May 15: Every Day is Exactly the Same

Wake up. Dog wakes up. Get up, take him outside. We both eat breakfast. Read the paper with the morning news on TV. Shower and dress. Go to "school." Take the dog for a late-morning walk. Lunch break. Back to "school." Try to clean something. Watch TV. Eat dinner. Read or more TV. Bed.

This is how 95% of my weekdays have been spent since I started spring break. I filled my car's gas tank on the way home from my last work day at my actual school, and the gauge barely reads down a quarter tank. It's been so long since my alarm clock has gone off that I don't remember what it sounds like. My dog has learned that if I'm putting on my mask, it means he probably gets to go outside.

I have physically entered stores four times in these two months, and only stayed as long as necessary. I have fallen deep down the twin rabbit holes of curbside pick-up and delivery. I don't want to be around people because I don't like being sick, and I feel what I believe to be a slightly paranoid truth that if I do contract COVID-19, it's going to kick my ass and I'll be lucky to walk away from it. 

The thing is, if you were to replace writing time with "school" work, this schedule wouldn't be so different from many days of my summer. The big difference would be the flexibility of knowing it was safe to be other places -- to meet someone at a restaurant for lunch, to go see a movie during the hottest part of the afternoon, to make a shopping trip out of needing only one or two things instead of collecting them on a list to minimize the number of times I have to use the pick-up lane at Target. 

It's true that being an off-the-charts introvert helps a LOT in situations like this. But the biggest misconception about introverts is that being one means a person is anti-social, and that isn't true. We appreciate being alone, and in a calm and quiet environment; we're at our best like this because it allows us to recharge. 

But man, what I wouldn't give to order a couple of pizzas and have some people over for a game night right about now.