Tuesday night.

Over at my previous place, I might have made some tacos to celebrate Taco Tuesday. Over here, though, in my Studio of Solitude, there are really hefty fines for setting off the fire alarm ($1,300 CAD, I think), so I figure it’s best not to risk it. Besides, fried food is bad for you, etc.

Even with my healthy-ish instapot cooking, though, I’m gaining some weight. It’s nothing by American standards, but not acceptable for myself. I’m 6’1″ and typically weight around 165 lbs, give or take a couple. I hit 171 lbs and 14.5% body fat (up from the usual 13%) a couple of days ago, and there might be a pandemic pouch developing. (Like freshman 15 but in a pandemic, get it?) I’m reasonably certain that extra weight did not come from muscle. Heh. I’m going to be a bit more conscientious about the things I shove in my piehole over the next month or so. That means just one Tim Hortons meal per week (as opposed to random minor celebrations), no more cider or coke or fun flavoured wines (cranberry wine is amazing, y’all), etc. Random dumbbell exercises will continue, but it’s all about how much you eat, eh. I might not come out of this pandemic looking like a bodybuilder, but I can at the very least get out of this in mildly better shape than in early 2020.

In other news, I think my video game distractions are wearing off… Even the beloved zombie game is growing too formulaic. (My character has a slow little motorbike, a pump shotgun, and a cool leather trenchcoat: what else does one need for happiness in the post-apocalyptic world?) New idea, then: I can finally catch up on the very, very long list of popular and/or classic movies that I never got around to watching. I don’t think I have it in me to watch every Bond movie, but stuff like Casablanca and Godfather? Might as well. Tonight’s big show: The Big Short. I lived through the worst of the 2008 bubble back in Reno: I knew things were bad when a bartender at a sushi restaurant offered to sell a mortgage to my friend and I. That was a year before the crash, and my friend and I exuded the aura of broke college students, so you can imagine how wild things had gotten just before the bust. I’d read the book the movie is based on years ago, so I already know how it all plays out, but still – should be entertaining. (And it’s been long enough now that I won’t get filled with rage over the destroyed economy. Maybe.)

In covid news, remember the federal quarantine program for travelers that Canada recently rolled out? It’s not doing so hot. Instead of keeping people at designated hotels for 10-14 days, it’s the worst of all possible worlds. Travelers are supposed to book their own hotels prior to flying back, and they’re supposed to stay there for just three days. After that, they’re released to presumably self-quarantine at home. (Even though this whole program was introduced because people are really bad at self-quarantining.) We’ve know for a very long time now that covid can take as long as 10 days to manifest if you get infected, so the three-day timeout won’t do much to stop every incoming case. It’ll piss off the anti-lockdowners and fail to appease the pro-lockdowners like myself. I suspect it would’ve taken too many resources and people to actually organize something as efficient and strict as Taiwan’s strict but comfy quarantine for all incoming travelers. The intentions were good, I’m sure, but the execution… What a mess, eh. I won’t tempt fate by saying this can’t get any worse, so might as well stop typing here. Heh.

Stay safe, y’all.