-
Vaccination Required
And so everything returns to normal. I ride in Ubers. We sit inside restaurants. The physical menus come out. I go to the airport. I visit Manhattan. Back in Seattle, there are art shows and there are concerts. I see a musical at the Paramount. Tents line the freeways. Parking is scarce again and tickets are doled out liberally. The leaves turn ( Read more... ) -
Past Phases: Re-Mask Mandate
Things got grim again around two weeks ago although it's all relative. Everyone in the world watched news footage of Afghanis clinging to a US military airplane on the tarmac about to leave the country, two bodies falling off in flight. All day walking around, strangers looked at each other and knew the other was thinking about the same things: ( Read more... ) -
Phase: "Safe Reopening"
May 15, 2021; Facebook:
I’m feeling lots of ambiguous grief about the “end” of the pandemic. I know that makes zero sense because we should be overjoyed (and trust me, I am so *very* thankful to be vaccinated and so excited to see and hug people again) but also... what the hell was that *wormhole* we all just went through??? How are we supposed to ( Read more... ) -
Phase 3 - Extended bonus!
The second dose of the vaccine is a kicker. I'm sick for two days. Then I throw out my back. Then I get a stomach virus ( Read more... ) -
Phase 3 + Dose 2
Our region moved to Phase 3 at the beginning of March just as the first Cherry Plum trees were blossoming. This means we're back to 50% capacity at restaurants and large gatherings of up to 400 people at places like farmer's markets. At the end of the month, the Japanese Flowering Plums--the Yoshinos and Kwanzan--started blooming and, in mid-April ( Read more... ) -
Parentals Vaccinated
Both my parents got the vaccine at least.
Meanwhile, Capitol Hill's Broadway looks like documentary footage of downtown L.A.'s Skid Row or b-roll from 1970s Warriers-era NYC. Everyone I walked by this evening on the way to the supermarket was homeless. I should have just had my groceries delivered but I was dying to get out for a walk and to feel ( Read more... ) -
Forever Phase 2
Captain's Log, Stardate 10999.24. Funerals are permitted again. Restaurants are at 25% capacity. It has been maybe almost two months since both my parents became eligible to get vaccinated. Both are over 70 and work as translators in the hospital system--other people's doctor appointments get cancelled because my parents aren't available. My dad ( Read more... ) -
Annual Report: 17th Edition (Phase 2, Temporary Rollback)
Restaurants and gyms are closed again and the ICUs overcrowding. Thanksgiving and Christmas were quarantined affairs. The governor tells us the "temporary rollback" in pandemic restrictions will last into the new year, ferrying us out of this strangest of years in the annals of Strangest Years.
1. What did you do in 2020 that you'd never done ( Read more... ) -
Eased Restrictions
Early this month, the governor announced eased pandemic "Phase 2" restrictions. This Kafka-esque list is worth documenting: The "eased" restrictions mean movie theaters and libraries can be open up to 25% capacity (of course, the entire Regal chain of cinemas has closed indefinitely). Restaurants can be at 50% capacity and can seat 6 people ( Read more... ) -
AQI: 151, still Phase 2
We went indoors a little over a week ago when it was still summer and 80 degrees out, and it hasn't been safe to come out since then. As the smoke from the wildfires has settled in, I've watched morosely from the window as the leaves begin turning fall colors. If I watch things from the window too long, I get a headache, so I move to the back room ( Read more... )