Saturday night.

Today, I did a lot of what my fellow Millennials call adulting, though I personally like to think of it as 20th century roleplay. (Engaging in pen&paper bureaucracy that could be done much faster online.) In my best imitation of Kurt Vonnegut, I undertook an urban hike that lasted about 90 minutes, while trying to make the most of it. (I did not wave at any passing fire trucks but I did stop and ogle at a giant construction crane. Heh.) Picked up some document printouts, had my picture taken for my new Canadian PR ID card, and then mailed them both.

Such a strange experience: deliberately taking off my mask in a local grocery store to get my picture taken. (They had a remarkably efficient little setup.) With both the cashier/photographer and other shoppers wearing masks and ever so nonchalantly backing away, it felt borderline obscene. The best way I can describe that is doing a nude photoshoot in a public park at high noon a Saturday. (I know, I know, r/oddlyspecific.) So very, very weird. I wonder if pandemic-induced habits and phobias will persist across decades, the same way the Depression Era generation always stockpiled food…

If the description of my urban hike bored you, try to imagine what life must be like when that’s the single most exciting event to happen in weeks.

My little zombie survivor died again – this time because his impromptu mine collapsed on top of him. I’m not even upset at having lost those 11 hours of progress – I was just extremely amused by that particular bit of randomness. The next two characters I made got eaten by zombie Rottweilers that popped up in the strangest, least expected locations. No lessons were learned today, but it was amusing and helped kill yet another grey day, and that ain’t nothing. (Just in case y’all think I’m an utter degenerate – the game involves a lot of downtime or sheltering in place at night, so I do a fair bit of reading as I play. Not all of that time is wasted.)

More online shopping in pursuit of yet another temporary hobby. At least it’ll be cheaper and more useful than that $150 digital microscope which I’ve successfully talked myself out of buying. This pandemic would’ve been a lot more boring in a world without Amazon or high-speed Internet. (So in the early 90s, I suppose?)

In covid news, Mexico had more than 417,000 excess deaths in 2020 and early 2021. (326,000 in 2020; 91,000 in the first six weeks 2021.) Not all of them were caused directly by covid, That’s even more horrifying when you consider their population is 130 million, or 39% of the US. The 2.5 million AstraZeneca vaccines the US is sending them will help, but it won’t be nearly enough. As more countries sum up their 2020 data, we’ll likely see more reports about the pandemic’s true impact. Here is hoping 2021, at least, will be better than the year we just left behind.

Good night, y’all. Stay safe.