Grigory Lukin.com

Saturday night. This is the four-month anniversary of our decision to escape Toronto, the start of the 72-day odyssey, and the strangest part of my life thus far.

Made up with xgf (though we’re still exes) and dropped by Walmart to buy some of her beloved cheese. I was shocked to see that everyone – absolutely everyone – wore masks, but then I remembered about the bylaw that made masks mandatory indoors and went into effect four days ago, on July 11th. The bylaw claims violators will get fines, and that folks with health conditions can get around the rule without having to explain what their condition is – that seems like a giant loophole, but it looks like everyone was conscientious and didn’t choose to break the rules just for the hell of it.

A week from now, I’ll be far away, sleeping in my rental car, halfway to Thunder Bay and all its amethyst troves…

Earlier today, one of my sisters admitted that she’s a Trump supporter (for the silliest reason, too) and that the 137,000 Americans would have died of covid anyway, regardless of who was in charge. …I think I’ll stop sending her books on epidemiology for Christmas – I’m not sure they worked. So it goes…

In covid news, Trump finally deigned to put on a mask during his visit to a military hospital in Maryland. His supporters are split between “yay masks!” and “that means masks are only required in hospitals.” We’ll see how that develops. The fact that he’s getting kudos for doing the absolute bare minimum… Well, that’s the state of the United States these days.

There’s an interesting trend online: thanks to the pervasive social media, it’s easy to pull status updates of covid deniers who ended up dying of covid. The way Twitter formats screenshots, that forms a four-act play consisting of denial, a public event, a final status update, and an obituary screenshot. That’s morbid as hell and would’ve served as a fine old-timey-styled warning to the masses, but at this point everyone is so entrenched that the compilation would only reinforce existing biases. (“Fake news!” or “he wasn’t a real person!” or “but I’m special and lucky and Jesus loves me!”)

Now that I’m in Canada, I hope they keep the border closed forever…

It’s Thursday evening, and I need to catch up on sleep. My favourite podcast, “Welcome to Night Vale,” had a live streaming show tonight. (Well, technically, that’s the only podcast I listen to.) They had some connection issues halfway through, so I turned down the volume, went on Twitter on my phone, and woke up when the livestream ended. Oh well. The script is out there, so I can always catch up later.

Between the work (still very busy) and the gaming (still very addictive and helpful), there’s just not a lot of hours left in the day, but I suppose I could make a concerted effort and force myself to get seven hours of sleep per night, eh.

Either there’s something seriously wrong with Toronto or I didn’t take out trash often enough, but there’s a lot of fruitflies circling all around my room and getting in the way. I’ve closed the window, removed all organic waste, and swatted a bunch of them out of the way, so maaaaybe that will help?

…I haven’t been exercising enough. My nutrition is fine, but I’m definitely not burning enough calories. I saw someone mention the Wii Fit Trainer the other day, but when I went looking, I discovered that a) Nintendo Wii got discontinued years ago, b) its replacement, Nintendo Wii U, also got discontinued years ago, and c) the replacement’s replacement, Nintendo Switch with the Fit Ring Adventure, is pretty neat but completely sold out. Poor Nintendo: just when they figure out their manufacturing bottlenecks (2006 was brutal), there’s a once-in-a-century pandemic. Heh. Here’s hoping all the hiking I’ll do on my vacation will make up for months of no gym.

In covid news, more and more hospitals in the south are running out of space. Fifty-six in Florida, quite a few in Mississippi. Trump keeps insisting (in the least literate way imaginable) that if the US stopped testing for covid, all the cases would go away. …I wonder if he thinks that over 100,000 Americans are just playing dead to spite him. Then again, he probably doesn’t think of them at all.

Forgot to mention this a few days ago, but the US is officially leaving the World Health Organization. WHO has its flaws (so many, many, many flaws) but it’s still a net positive in the world. Maybe. Sometimes. It’s maybe sometimes a net positive somewhere in the world. With the US stepping away, that almost certainly won’t make either the US or the world safer. On the domestic front, the CDC and the White House are in a strange tug-of-war. The CDC’s new guidance claims schools must take safety measures. The White House (namely Trump) criticized said measures, followed by mixed messaging (which ended in defiance) from the CDC. Everyone is as confused as you are, dear reader. We’ll see.

Typing this up, looking at the giant Canadian flag hanging on my wall, I’m once again so very happy that I’d taken the leap and moved to Canada. It’s not perfect, but it’s without a doubt better than the US during a global pandemic. Stay safe out there, my US compadres.

Wednesday evening. It really is amazing how fast time flies sometimes: the understaffing at work has gotten serious enough that they’re importing random backfills from the US. Can’t say I’ve seen that happen before. Some part of me wonders what exactly I’ll see when I return from my two-week vacation. (Only seven business days away now!)

Not much in personal news. It occurred to me that it’s been about two months since my last haircut, and 45 days since my last shave. The Apocalypse Beard still leaves much (so very, very much) to be desired, but I’m kind of curious to see what will happen. (No one aside from my landlords will see my unmasked face at any point soon, anyhow.) The hair is definitely getting longer: when I was 18, I thought I’d cheat the system by saving time and money on monthly haircuts. That was a bad idea. I ended up ruining my own freshman year of college: by the time I cut it off, 18 months later, I looked like a Russian Carrot Top. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to rock the hairdo much better now that I’m 15 years older and (allegedly) wiser. Heh.

Covid news. In a very surprising move, Houston’s mayor Sylvester Turner has cancelled the Republican National Convention that was scheduled for next week. The convention was supposed to flaunt all the mask rules, though Texan VIPs had already said they’d give their speeches remotely. Heh. As far as I can tell, this might be the first time in modern political history where a major party won’t get to hold an annual convention. It’s partly funny, but partly beneficial, since there’ll be less covid spread.

[Edit on 7/10: I misread the article: that was for the Texas Republican convention, not the national convention that will take place in Jacksonville, FL.]

Arizona’s ICU beds are about 85% full now. Dr.Anthony Fauci keeps sounding the alarm about uncontrolled exponential growth, but he keeps being ignored by everyone with the actual power to change things. Fauci isn’t a saint: early on, he was part of the chorus saying that masks are useless. (All part of the ridiculous strategy to sideline them for medical personnel.) Still, he’s as good as it gets in this toxic mess. I’m reasonably certain that if he’d tried going against the party line in, say, Russia, he would’ve been defenestrated ages ago, just like the few Russian doctors who dared to contradict Putin.

The real tragedy of the US approach (if you can call it that) is that it would’ve been so much faster and cheaper (though still expensive) to just lock down the whole country, give everyone a few thousand dollars a month, and just wait it out for three months while shutting down absolutely everything. Instead, here they are, with the economy that’s neither shut down nor running, with masks becoming a symbol of political division, with more cases that were entirely avoidable. Other countries are already opening back up. Canada is almost free of covid. And yet… the moment the US border is reopened, all our efforts here in the great white north will be nullified by irresponsible American tourists. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, eh?

Monday night. More strange news at work. Nothing that would affect my long-term plans, but still quite disappointing. Just nine business days till my vacation… The first vacation in 3.5 years that would be longer than a few days, involve travel, and would not involve hospitals or health emergencies. (Why yes, I did just knock on wood.)

I did my thrice-monthly grocery store run today because, while I had a bit more food to last another day or two, the work news demanded some cider-assisted mind-numbing… About half the shoppers wore masks this time around, though relatively few cared about social distancing.

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro has allegedly tested positive for covid. He’s 65, which isn’t terrible, but he’d also had pneumonia in the past, and that’s not good for his odds. It’s interesting that he got it after all his bravado and downplaying the pandemic’s effects. Regardless of whether he survives, there’ll be major repercussions.

On the personal front, I’ve decided to pursue cooking (inspired by the one, the only Elder Scrolls Online and my kangaroo-riding, snack-stealing character) and acquired the four major spices: paprika, ginger powder, onion powder, and garlic salt. Preliminary results: garlic salt is amazing; ginger powder exploded when I tried to open the bag, leading to some sneezing and a bad first impression. The lockdown adventures never cease!

Sunday evening. Thus endeth another weekend, and begins another workweek. So close to my vacation, though! Just 10 more business days…

I took a break from gaming to walk to a nearby park: one of the strange things about suburbs is that all the trees are young. There was no old growth, no branches lying on the ground, and no convenient chunks of wood to take home for whittling purposes. Ditto for the local Lowe’s: they had some hickory chunks for BBQs, but they were a) tiny, and b) made of the hardest wood on the market. I’m going to do my thrice-monthly raid on a grocery store tomorrow, so I might as well try out the Michael’s curbside pickup and get some basswood to practice on. (Is the lockdown life exciting or what?)

The news is more of the same old: at least four hospitals in Tampa, FL have run out of ICU beds. I used to live in Tampa. (I’ve lived in so many places…) Not a bad town, filled with mostly good people, who were likely failed by their inept government and its equally inept reassurances that it’s okay to come out and party. It’s a minor miracles that the Villages (a retirement community with over 100,000 elderly) haven’t been hit yet.

Speaking of my old haunts: the CHAZ, which I mentioned earlier, is no more. Seattle’s tiny rebellious community got flooded with the police four days ago. Depending on your level of cynicism, that was caused by either a) far too many shootings and either violent crime in and near CHAZ, or b) the fact that a mob of protesters found the mayor’s address (allegedly provided by a rebellious councilwoman) and spraypainted her fence, or c) all of the above. Either way, there goes another somewhat-covid-related cultural artifact.

I can only wonder what strange news this coming week will bring.

Saturday night. Well, technically, Saturday ended 35 minutes ago, but nothing is truly over until you let it go. The weekly hangout with xgf didn’t end well. She thought I was minimizing her chronic pain when I mentioned that one of my friends lost the ability to drive when she developed epilepsy. (She then continued to minimize my friend’s condition by claiming that keto would fix it, even though said keto almost killed her just three months ago.) I thought she was infantilizing myself and my cowokrers when she said that anyone can handle Amazon’s high stress if they just embrace therapy. That conversation did not go well.

Two-thirds of the time, everything is fine, we go for a ride, on a hike, play some video games, etc. The other third…

Not much to say about covid today, except that the US Independence Day will just result in more clusters. From what I’ve heard, folks were barbecuing and celebrating together in very close proximity. Some of the people who decided to do that today will end up dead 2-3 weeks from now. What a strange risk/reward calculation…

Not that Canada is any better. At a grocery store where I picked some snacks for xgf earlier today, there were three types of people: mask-less employees and customers (about 50%), masked customers (the other 50%), and myself, in a mask, glasses, a face shield, and a small spray bottle of 70% alcohol in my hand. I do believe some employees might have actually recoiled in horror after seeing my outfit. Heh. The printed signs around the store claimed that all customers must be masked, but nobody actually enforced it. Just how much of our society relies on the unenforceable unwritten consensus? More than in the US, I’m sure, but still very far from perfect.

So it goes.

Friday night, and I’m trying to learn to laugh. Everything can be viewed as either a tragedy or a comedy. Just a matter of perspective, since none of us can really affect large-scale events. So instead of growing more horrified by the headlines, maybe I can try to find humour in them instead.

The US Independence Day is tomorrow, though everyone’s three-day weekend began today. It’s unclear if that was a deliberate insult or not, but Sonora (a Mexican state) picked this date to close its border with Arizona. American tourists (and their money, and their viral loads) are no longer welcome. It’ll be downright hilarious if Trump’s 2016 campaign promise comes true, if we really do end up with a border wall and if Mexico pays for it – but to keep Americans out, and not the other way around.

Also, a private jet filled with rich Americans was turned around in Italy. Their non-US friends were welcome to go through customs, but they chose to fly back to Colorado with their yankee compadres. Also also, a couple of days ago Toronto’s mayor straight-up said that he doesn’t want his city to get as sick as the US. In normal times, that would’ve been a diplomatic incident. These days, everyone just sort of shrugged and admitted that yes, he does have a point.

There’s some good news from the Oxford vaccine trial. It appears to provide three times more antibodies than found in recovered patients. It’s still far too early to celebrate, and even if it passes all the human trials, it’ll take a while to produce almost 8 billion doses – but still, this might be it. And just in time: at work, they’ve reneged on the October promise. They’re trying to corral us back from WFH. The plan is to have myself and my colleagues start by showing up just one day a week, working on site just a little. That’s as absurd as being “a little pregnant.” I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking on which days the virus is off the clock. There’ll be an interesting discussion with the new management about why precisely I’d much rather stay home. (I’m not the only one appalled by that decision.)

I likely wouldn’t die if I catch covid, and I probably wouldn’t develop lifelong complications (though who knows), but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I got infected at work and passed it on to xgf and her compromised immune system…

Amidst the flood of disturbing headlines, there was a funny one: 7-Eleven is stopping their annual Free Slurpee Day which happens on – you guessed it – July 11th. It usually generates small crowds, so this is a wise choice. My best friend and I used to hit up every 7-Eleven in the neighborhood back when we were hungry college students: it was more symbolic than filling or nutritious, but hey – free food is free food. Here’s hoping there’ll be a delicious raincheck to come when all of this blows over. (Also, kudos to 7-Eleven for showing more responsibility than the US government.

My whittling kit and cut-proof gloves arrived today. Now I just need to find some wood branches and hope they’re from a pliable tree. (With my luck, it’ll be hickory.) Such simple tools, yet so much potential. This may end up becoming a perfect hobby, what with the free supplies and non-existent entry barrier. Easy to learn but hard to master, I bet, but hey, gotta do something even marginally productive with all this free time, eh.

Thursday night. I know I keep saying the world is getting stranger, but come on… Now there’s a video of an osprey holding a shark as it flies over Myrtle Beach, SC. 2020 will never cease to surprise us, and we’re only halfway through!

My online game got to the part where there’s a widespread pandemic, with corrupt politicians being somehow involved. Fortunately, I managed to skip that mission. Things get pretty meta when you need an escape outlet from an escape outlet…

Herman Cain, who was once a frontrunner in the 2012 Republican primary, has been diagnosed with covid and hospitalized. He’s 74, which puts him into the high-risk group. He also mocked the pandemic by taking pictures (maskless, of course) at a crowded Trump rally. I hope he recovers and learns from it. If not… Every death is tragic, but some are less tragic than others. Meanwhile, the governor of Texas has made masks mandatory outdoors, which marks a sharp departure from his previous line of thinking, if you can call it that. It’s quite refreshing to see one’s quest to piss off absolutely everyone around him. Awe-inspiring, really.

More people at work have transferred away, leaving us severely understaffed and overworked. My vacation can’t come soon enough. Incidentally, that wood-cutting thing I was thinking of is called whittling. I spent $50 CAD on some basic supplies (as well as top-notch cut-proof gloves), and they should arrive tomorrow. I’ll just add it to my French lessons and pandemic-chronicling as another fun activity to do while avoiding others.

Bad news with xgf’s as well: the gal pal who offered her the free basement apartment may be coming back. The apartment is too small for two people, so it’s back to the drawing board – but for 39 days there, she had a place of her own…

There’s other worldwide news that I’m not including: the arrest of Epstein’s accomplice (who will almost certainly commit a mysterious suicide), more gun madness in the US, etc. With everything else combined, that does not make for a calm lockdown. Then again, it’s likely that my self-inflicted sleep deprivation is finally making itself known. The weekend is almost here – thing should get mildly better then…