Saturday, Arpil 18th, 2020
Weekend!
Normally Saturday is an activity-filled day. Today I languished in bed until way beyond noon; reading Jean-Luc Bannalec Commissaire Dupin’s 7th case., screening media and so on. Some nooks are just comforting, it is like meeting old friends. And in times of no travel, it is a way to escape.
The highlight of the week was our Zoom book club meeting. We discussed “News of the World”. I had a hard time remembering since finishing that book I had read another three, courtesy of sequestering. I enjoyed both Allende’s “ Petals of the Sea” and “Where the Crawdads Sing” between finishing “News of the World” and book club. What was nice about the book club, like our Aikido Tuesday a while back, was to see friends. How I miss interacting with people.
I really wish life could go back to some form of normalcy, but chances are it will be a few weeks at least. Here is hoping I will not turn into a lazy slob in the meantime. To combat that I practiced some Shikko walking today, but did not do my sword work. I did, however, work on weight shifts. I do worry, that my body will forget how to roll, a skill I was just on the verge of getting the hang of when this shit happened. I know I should practice at home, but am finding the floor a tad to hard. Maybe, if no rain or wind, I will practice with a matt on the lawn tomorrow. Of course there has always been the option of sneaking into the dojo. Somehow the 5 mile trip has become outlandishly far and the fact that there have been break ins on the property is not enticing. If I get desperate enough though, I may just ask the dojocho for permission to do a few rolls. I am sure the Showmen feels very lonely too.
Converting EM to an Aikidoka is hard, though I do follow Kaya Sensei on FB and am practicing some of the moves he teaches. Which takes me back to rolling. Tried backward rolls of the pen knife today. EM thought I was destroying the house… I really need to get back on the matt to practice rolls.
Some parts of life are starting to look a little bit brighter at least. I may just had a small bit of a break through at work, where communication with one of my colleagues had been somewhat strained to say the least. I may have reason to believe that the situation has abated, which may mean one less worry in my life. Cautiously optimistic at this stage.
Corona news, which continues to dominate our lives is still not good in the USA. Wile the rest of the world seems to make progress, this country is just stuck in some time warp. Testing is still extremely limited. Some States are starting to reopen, while the President is openly calling for revolt against protective measures. This of course goes against the advice of scientists, who warn the country is nowhere near ready to reopen.
Worldwide infections reported today are well above 2 million, mostly coming from the USA, where no one has an inkling of what the numbers are actually like; just assume what is reported times ten. At least scientists continue to be on the case; my only comfort. And here is more from the hopeful front, how to control over reaction by immune system.