Who knew Wearing Nitrile Gloves in Target makes you crazy? We will Get By.

I'm the only person I know that has already voluntarily isolated themselves for a long period of time. This entire blog up to this point is filled with the much younger less woke version of myself when I was in Alaska figuring out how to make it through extreme amounts of solitary time. Other than Christmases and Summers I was essentially on my own for the rest of the time in my little village walking around in the weather alone, picking berries, fishing, making music, writing a dumb blog. _____________________________ What has changed? Everything. Nothing. _________________________________ This time I'm in a self imposed quarantine with my wife Katie and my son Biggie in our home in Tacoma. This time I am trying to navigate the new world that will be born out of this COVID-19 pandemic. ____________________________ There is no where to start that will be an easy entry so I will simply just start. Jack Kerouac style. Just write. Don't think. Minus the Dexedrine plus the IPA. __________________________ To backtrack I had this pandemic nailed two weeks ago. My "crazy" cousin Dave had it pegged a month ago. I used to look at his facebook posts and think what a whacko. Today I was the only one in all of Tacoma Target wearing any gloves or protective equipment and people were looking at me like I was a lunatic. Maybe I am. I am the blue nitrile glove wearing lunatic buying vodka (multiple uses), batteries, coffee tequila, whiskey and a pair of shark/pizza/donut pajamas for Biggie. People just hanging out in Target trying to act like buying the last paper towel rolls on the shelf as a substitute TP is normal while sucking down another (maybe their last) Starbucks. _________________________ The problem as I see it right now is that most people aren't scientifically literate. Most people don't read graphs. Most people don't want to believe something of this magnitude will happen. My brain started to ripen to it when I first started getting info on it. Everything actually makes sense. A new virus transmitted from an bat apparently (not the US government I'm not a conspiracy theorist), attacking the old, sparing the young, growing exponentially. Those living in police states that actually do what their government's tell them finding a way to combat it and us in the US woefully prideful and free ignoring science on par with our ignorance with climate change. We get to be American kick ass free the rest of the time and that is what makes this country great I guess but when it comes to following simple instructions we kind of suck at it. Living in other countries where a more totalitarian and draconian government controls you sucks the rest of the time but when its time to follow the rules it does serve it's function. So here we are free as hell but not for the next six weeks. _________________________ This is where the story begins at home. The first day off of many to come. We had to get last minute supplies including batteries, coffee, vodka (dual purposes as hand sanitizer and... well... cocktails). Everyone in Target was quietly peacefully panicking and simultaneously not ready to accept it. An old lady who shouldn't even be out asking the pharmacist what aisle the hand sanitizer was on and he un-exhausted by his impending future still able to muster a bit of a chuckle as he told the elder they were all out. __________________________ We gassed up the van. Rambling Rosie is her name. A brick red 96' Dodge B350 with a 28 gallon tank that is brick red with a dent in the tail. We have to put Biggies car seat in the front seat so we look extra prepper sketchy. I was pleased the beast was driving so well after a long winter sitting. We took extra precautions getting in and out of the van. We also stopped at Marlene's for Mycocommunity Extract, Elderberry/Echinacea Extract, and for some reason I bought some Tibetan Prayer flags. Odd choice for an Atheist I know but I like the colors and don't judge ok? ________________________________ Our Day one plan was to finalize all trips to society and start executing our plan ______________________________ 3/14 Pie Day Schedule (Its Saturday) Sleep in till 7 Snuggle and watch Grateful Dead Videos with Biggie till 8am Make coffee and eat breakfast and dance till 9ish Target Run (see above) 11:30 Nap Time (he took a long one thankfully) Noon: BEER! Falafal from Marlenes. Clean out and organize Pantry, Food, Containers, Bags. Clean out and organize and inventory medicine, first aid, cleaning supplies and household items. Only one lightbulb dammit. Way way way too much Ibuprofen, children's Tylenol and Pepto Bismol. Seriously. 2pm Wake up, dance, vacuum. 3:30 Go upstairs and make beats with Biggie, read 5 Dr. Seuss books (Oh the Thinks you can think). Dance Play music. 4:45 go outside (BRRRRR) Harvest lettuce and greens and Kale florets for dinner and juicing. 5Pm Biggie Decides its time to Perform "Touch of Grey" with his pretend mic stand and Grateful Dead Ukulele karaoke style on the front porch for the entire empty neighbor hood. (This may become a nightly ritual especially as the weather warms. 6pm Tricycle indoors! Go ahead and break all the rules homeboy. 7pm Katie made an amazing dinner: Potato mash with chicken bone broth, steam kale florets and garden salad from our garden. 8pm Night Night Big Boy (I love you most I love you best much much more than all the rest). 9pm Beer and blogging and news and facebook/twitter/ 10pm fell asleep on the couch watching Rachel Maddow. _____________________________________ Take always from our first day. Grateful Dead song lyrics are surprisingly apropos for these heady times. Several songs in particular: Throwing Stones: I mean really just read this shit its hard to believe someone wrote this. Click HERE to watch on youtube _____________________________________________________ Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free Dizzy with eternity Paint it with a skin of sky, brush in some clouds and sea Call it home for you and me A peaceful place, or so it looks from space A closer look reveals the human race Full of hope, full of grace, is the human face But afraid we may lay our home to waste There's a fear down here we can't forget Hasn't got a name just yet Always awake, always around Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Now watch as the ball revolves and the night-time falls And again the hunt begins and again the blood wind calls By and by, again, the morning sun will rise But the darkness never goes from some men's eyes (Well I know) It strolls the sidewalk and it rolls the streets Staking turf, dividing up meat Nightmare spook, piece of heat It's you and me, you and me Click flash blade in ghetto night Rudy's looking for a fight Rat cat alley, roll them bones Need that cash to feed that Jones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Commissars and pinstripe bosses roll the dice Anyway they fall, guess who gets to pay the price? Money green, or proletarian gray Selling guns instead of food today So the kids they dance and shake their bones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Heartless powers try to tell us what to think If the spirit's sleeping then the flesh is ink History's page will be neatly carved in stone The future's here, we are it, we are on our own On our own, on our own, we are on our own If the game is lost, then we're all the same No one left to place or take the blame We will leave this place an empty stone Or that shining ball of blue we call our home So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones And the politicians throwing stones Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Shipping powders back and forth Singing black goes south and white comes north And the whole world full of petty wars Singing I got mine and you got yours While the current fashions set the pace Lose your step, fall out of grace The radical, he rant and rage Singing someone got to turn the page And the rich man in his summer home Singing just leave well enough alone But his pants are down, his cover's blown And the politicians throwing stones So the kids, they dance, they shake their bones 'Cause it's all too clear we're on our own Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down Ashes, ashes, all fall down Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free It's dizzying, the possibilities Ashes, ashes, all fall down (Ashes, ashes, all fall down) Ashes, ashes, all fall down (Ashes, ashes, all fall down) Ashes, ashes, all fall down (Ashes, ashes, all fall down) Ashes, ashes, all fall down (Ashes, ashes, all fall down _______________________________________ And Touch of Grey the previous video has a short break before they encore into Touch of Grey (Dead and Company at a Benefit show for Marion Stoneman Douglas after the shooting) ____________________________ It must be getting early, clocks are running late Paint-by-number morning sky looks so phony Dawn is breaking everywhere, light a candle, curse the glare Draw the curtains, I don't care 'cause it's alright I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive I see you've got your list out, say your piece and get out Guess I get the gist of it, but it's alright Sorry that you feel that way, the only thing there is to say Every silver lining's got a touch of grey I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive It's a lesson to me The Ables and the Bakers and the C's The ABC's we all must face Try to keep a little grace It's a lesson to me The Deltas and the East and the Freeze The ABC's we all think of And try to wean a little love I know the rent is in arrears, the dog has not been fed in years It's even worse than it appears, but it's alright Cow is giving kerosene, kid can't read at seventeen The words he knows are all obscene, but it's alright I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive The shoe is on the hand it fits, there's really nothing much to it Whistle through your teeth and spit 'cause it's alright Oh well, a touch of grey kinda suits you anyway And that was all I had to say and it's alright I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive We will get by We will get by We will get by We will survive We will get by We will get by We will get by ___________________________ Yeah we will get by but many won't. People are going to go crazy. People are going to sit in front of the tv and eat processed crap and get sick even if they don't get sick. 6 weeks. We should all have six pack abs by the end of this. I don't know what I would do if I was younger. I heard kids in Chicago (20 somethings) were still out partying hard on a pre St. Paddy's day bender, meanwhile the O'Hare airport filled with thousands of Americans trying to return before the travel ban (like every other international airport) inoculating all of America one last time. I think I would have done the same in my 20's. I was invincible. I was irresponsible. ________________________________________ For those of us sitting at home cleaning and organizing our homes. Finishing projects. Eating in for once. Reading. Writing. Drawing. Singing. Dancing. Playing instruments. Crafting. Gardening. Walking. Working out. Meditating. Spending quality time together who knows we might just come out on the other side of this better off. When you get a virus you get a fever. Its your bodies last defense to try and burn out the invader even if it gets you in the end. The earth is getting hotter too. I hate to say there is a connection here but it does cause one to pause if you think about it. ___________________________________________ So. Make a schedule. Be your best self. Stay home. Stay positive. _______________________________________________ Carl Sagan can wrap this one up better than I can: Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. Click Here to listen to him say it himself