Some more control

Feeling better this afternoon because I feel like I have more control in my life right now:

- Figured out (more or less) how to do Zoom. Have two very short segments up on an unlisted YouTube channel that I can link to from BlackBoard. Will be doing more, probably not today, as I am VERY tired and I make dumb word  mistakes when I am tired. (I slept only about four hours last night). I might be getting a webcam/microphone for my aging office computer that doesn't have one; right now I am juggling using the computer screen (for "screen sharing" of my PowerPoints) and my iPhone for audio and it's suboptimal, especially when you're tired and cognitively damaged like I am right now from all the stress.

- Got discussion boards up and running for next week

- We are still allowed to be in here, apparently because we are a low density workplace that's not a problem as long as we socially distance. Hearing my colleagues voices before I saw them in the building, I admit I almost cried again.

- Grading the exams I gave before break, makes it feel a bit more normal.

- I don't have to worry about the intro labs, someone else (the lab coordinator) is taking care of them

- Found out the 12-pack of cheesy ravioli I ordered in a moment of panic this weekend is going to be here in 2 weeks instead of three and that helps, somehow. (If a miracle occurs and we're "sprung" from captivity before I need all of them, I will donate the rest to either Blessing Boxes around town or to a food bank). Also the Golden Syrup reinforcements I ordered will probably be here Saturday. I am telling myself that, yes, there will likely come a time when the supply will be interrupted (Britain is getting hit badly, and I suspect a lot of the "frivolous" food items will be gone for at least a while) but I will have it for as long as I have it.

- Tonight, maybe I go home and start something new. I keep looking at the acrylic yarn I bought for a stuffed Wooloo (a sheep-based Pokemon) and thinking it might be nice to make another critter. But I also need to wash my hair and it might be nice to do a load of sheets and change the sheets on the bed. And I'm going to bed early tonight, this trying to manage on 4 or 5 hours of sleep is not good at all for me.

but it helped a lot seeing most of my colleagues. And being able to talk to another human face to face, if even from six feet away. I do not think people are fully accounting for how damaging isolation is going to be for some people. My mom is talking regularly with her neighbors (a couple across the street, two women sharing a house next door) and I know she phones other people regularly.

And I still have a good strong sense of smell. Apparently that's a fairly diagnostic symptom of a bad case of the stuff and I admit when I read that I grabbed the lavender bunny sitting on my desk and...yeah, I can still smell the lavender. And I could still smell and taste lunch, so right now I'm okay.

But yeah. I really hope this is all over in less than 18 months. And I mean over-over, as in "it's genuinely safe to go out again" not over as in "we are willing to accept x number of people dying horribly of a virus that could be avoided by them staying home and not being forced to go to work, because we don't want to have to work so hard on rebuilding an economy in the future"