Friday night. Time to party it up! (But solo and at home and responsibly, this being a pandemic and all.)

Today I consumed the last multivitamin from the bottle I started a year ago. I remember writing this post at the time: a little time capsule from myself to myself. I measure life in bottles of vitamins… A year ago, I was a different person. The world was a different place. I still live in Toronto’s suburbs, I still have the same position at the same job, but the rest… I wouldn’t have guessed that by the time I eat that 365th vitamin pill, I’d be a seasoned pandemic survivor with a small hoard of PPE. I wouldn’t have imagined that over a million people worldwide would die of a virus that hadn’t yet existed when I bought those vitamins. I wouldn’t have considered that I’d run off with that special someone to three different towns in rural Ontario and Quebec, always trying to stay just a step ahead of the virus.

This new bottle has 250 vitamin gummies. It says to consume between 2-4 per day. That should last me 125 days, until late February. I know I say this a lot, but nevertheless, I can’t stop wondering how different the world will be by then. How different I’ll be. How many unimaginable things will come true… Chances are, it’ll be more of the same: more infections, more deaths, more lockdowns. Regular life will remain on hold. No real-world dating or meetups, but perhaps some more self-improvement, both physical and intellectual.

But then again… Who could have imagined that 2020 would have the worst pandemic since 1918? Granted, the only ways 2021 can get wilder than this is if there’s a nuclear war, or zombies, or if aliens land and ask to see our (hopefully new) leader. Anything can happen, though: the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is heating up, and some nuclear powers might get involved. A zombie virus is a stretch, but weaponized rabies? Easy-peasy. And as for aliens, the Pentagon has been declassifying an awful lot of of reports whose conclusion amounts to a big ol’ shruggie emoji when they describe strange objects encountered in the sky. So yeah, let’s knock on wood and hope nothing wilder is in the works, eh? (Though with luck, the nuclear war will wipe out the zombies, and the benevolent aliens will help clean up the fallout – and maybe the global warming while they’re at it.)

In self-improvement news, I might have to go out and buy more weights soon. I won’t post the exact figures because they’re a bit laughable, but over the past month or so, I’ve been able to benchpress dumbbells 50% heavier than when I’d started this whole exercise thing. Ditto for the slow and steady progress in my chin-up routine. I’m slowly getting back to a somewhat healthy weight after months of self-neglect, so that’s something.

In covid news, yet another suburb of Toronto (the York region) has gone into modified stage-two lockdown, just like Toronto itself did a few days ago. I dropped by the local Costco to pick up more protein powder and chicken earlier tonight: this was the first time I’ve seen a line to get into Costco. It was approximately a five-minute wait, with an airport-style line and little barriers. There was a cop car with the siren on parked in front of the entrance: I can only assume there was a fight or a violent anti-masker. Perhaps both. A sign at the entrance said they’ve sold out of toiler paper, paper towels (aka “sponge towels” in Canada), Lysol wipes, and toilet paper.

I guess folks are panic-buying again. Some plague profiteers probably made a bundle if they stocked up on the basics when things briefly got better a few months ago. I know that history repeats itself, but must it do so in just six-month intervals? Come on, history, you can do better than that. On the upside, things were pretty civil inside, though the six-foot distancing rule stopped being enforced ages ago. I’ve got enough snacks, food, and drinks (the local non-alcoholic apple cider is delicious!) to last 10-14 days. I imagine things will get even wilder next time I venture outside…

Have yourselves a safe and socially-distanced weekend, y’all. Make the most of it, will you?