Saturday night. Spent most of the day keeping xgf company: I’m one of the three people in her social circle. Aside from my landlord family, she’s the only one in mine. In a normal world, we would’ve put far more distance between ourselves following the amicable break-up, but there’s nothing normal about this here world.

…I wonder if at some point in the future, we’ll just jokingly refer to 2020 as “that gap year” and pretend it never happened. Sort of like they did on the TV show Community: one of the middle seasons had remarkably bad writing, so henceforth they just referred to it as “the gas leak year.” Heh.

The traffic in Toronto is pretty much back to the pre-pandemic levels, or at least it sure feels like that. I’m seeing quite a few pedestrians wearing their masks around their chins, so they could talk/breathe easier. That’s not exactly how that works, but it’s the thought that counts, eh? Xgf is making me a bit nervous by not wearing her mask outside on her 40-minute daily walks… She generally walks laps around her local park, and claims she just holds her breath when others walk by. She’s right that the virus lasts way less outdoors than indoors, but that still won’t save her if someone coughs near her… I tried to explain. She shrugged it off. I hope her luck holds.

Interestingly, Arizona still hasn’t done anything about their reopening, even as their hospitals fill up. They’ll probably take some token action within five days, but still. Yeesh.

In personal news, the Elder Scrolls Online game I mentioned yesterday is remarkably addictive: I finished installing it around 10pm last night, and stayed up till 5am trying to do all the things. (Remember what I said about my addictive personality a few days ago?) I consider it a personal triumph that I never played World of Warcraft because I just know it would’ve gobbled up my 20s. (Not that I spent that decade particularly wisely, mind you.) The ESO game is a calculated risk: since there’s no way to escape into a parallel universe physically, a mental escape into a fantasy universe should work just as well.

Earlier today, I got my oximeter and digital thermometer. It’s interesting: when the pandemic started hitting the headlines in March, these gadgets were unavailable anywhere. Even now, you can’t find thermometers at Walmart. I’m not sure when exactly Amazon got them in stock again, but it must’ve been fairly recently. Despite having stockpiled lots of medical and camping supplies (most of which were from my time with Search&Rescue in the US, I was remarkably short on gadgets. The oximeter in particular will make a world of difference: there have been articles about doctors who realized they had to rush to the emergency room ASAP when they saw their blood oxygen drop to the mid-80s. Here is hoping that won’t happen, but if it does… That’d be a damn fine $50 investment, then.

Enjoy your weekend, fellow gap year misadventurers.