Coronavirus Diary: Jan 10th

What's happened in the past couple months since my last diary post? Well, hmm . . .

Anyways, for Christmas, I did a modified drive by to see my parents. Gifts were exchanged via the use of an automobile trunk. Gifts were placed in the trunk and then retrieved. A brief conversation was held from the driveway and the garage. Masks were worn. I think it was all done with an extreme degree of safety.

To keep my camera skills going, I've started taking my camera on my walks. I go on multi-mile walks so it is extra weight, but worth the camera memory workout. If I haven't said this already, I have the intension of buying a Canon R5 once the music scene opens back up or soon after that moment. 

In terms of the Los Angeles music scene, if you've read through my blog, you'll notice I've started paying attention to even the smallest news about the scene. I honestly wonder if Save Our Stages is enough to keep our venues open until September (my bet on when the music returns). And when I walk around Los Angeles, I see all these buildings up for lease (not exactly a great sign for the economy) and wonder, "Would that make for a good venue?"

If you're looking for a movie to watch from the 1950s, check out the move "The Big Heat." I caught it recently on TCM. A rather intense film noir crime film that looks into the criminal underground who has the politicians in their back pockets and a police detective who won't back down from his investigation. I've caught a lot of old movies on TCM. I mostly focus on catching movies that are rated 3 1/2 or 4 stars. Since I've been doing this from the start of the pandemic (replaced catching local bands to watching old movies), I have to wonder when I'll have gone through the vast majority of their top film library. I already notice while going through their daily schedule that a lot of the top films have already been watched over the recent months. 

Coronavirus Diary: October 12

The Dreams Diary. I must really be missing live music. I recently had two dreams that featured local Los Angeles musicians -- I'll leave out who the musicians were. 

Dream 1. This was just a brief encounter with a local musician. I was in a coffee shop, making my order. As I was waiting for my order to arrive, I turned around and saw a musician having a cameo role in "The Office." For some reason I knew it was "The Office." I wasn't watching this musician on a television set. And it wasn't being filmed by a camera crew. It was two individuals at a table in the coffee shop, having a conversation. So it was like a live situation in my dream and yet really was an episode of "The Office." And yet even though I could have gone over and interrupted the conversation to say hi, I knew that I wasn't doing a cameo in the comedy series myself. Seemed like there were two parallel universes or something like that.

Dream 2. I was moving out of an apartment. It was the end of college life. Everything was getting moved from the apartment into a U-Haul truck. Where was I going? My parents apparently had a vacation house and I was moving all my stuff there while I figured out what to do with my life. Driving the U-Haul was Musician A. Someone was in the middle seat. And I was in the passenger seat. So there were three of us. Just as we were about to leave the apartment drive way, crossing in front of the truck was Musician B. I asked Musician A to stop and I jumped out and ran over to Musician B. I said something like, "I just wanted to say good-bye. I doubt we'll ever see each other again." 

Dream 2 was really depressing. Was my dream telling me that the Los Angeles music scene is dead and gone?

Coronavirus Diary: Sep 20, 2020

I haven't written one of these in a long while.

One thing I can say is that I survived the month of August and first half of September. Was that not one of the hottest periods in years? Of course, it didn't help that I was working from home and couldn't work in an air conditioned building. Per Weather.com, Glendale hit 112 on September 6th. On another site, I read 115, but perhaps 112 is the official number. I slept with wet frozen towels over my head. These sort of periods just gives me one thought, "My next apartment or house is going to have central air."

I'm still using my free time to catch up on old classic movies. TCM is now probably the most watched channel for me. Some of the highlights would be The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with Clint Eastwood. Bullitt and The Sand Pebbles with Steve McQueen. A number of Charlie Chaplin movies such as The Kid, City Lights and The Great Dictator. Peyton Place with Lana Turner. 

Peyton Place is perhaps the movie I loved the best. It felt like the city was in a parallel universe to what was going on in the world at the time, World War II. Sure, there was interactions between the two worlds. There was a military draft. High school seniors were sent off to war. But it was also a world where everyone was beautiful and handsome. And sure, this movie took place in the early 1940s, but it felt like everyone was living in the 1950s.

With the heat, my exercise routines have been greatly diminished, but I do try to go out when I can. One of my favorite walks recently is a rather long walk that takes me into Atwater Village and I walk alongside the Los Angeles river. On one walk down by the river, I saw a musician packing up his monitors, microphone, etc etc. He had done some sort of live set. If only I had known about it in advance, because I would have come with my camera.

Okay, Los Angeles music scene speculation time. Let's say that live music doesn't start up until sometime in Q3 2021. I predict that Live Nation will have to sell off The Echo and Echoplex. Maybe not the Regent. Who will buy it? Mitchell Frank of Spaceland Presents. Yep, what was merged in 2019 will be undone in 2021 (or perhaps in early 2022).

Other assumptions that I'm making: It doesn't matter if Save Our Stages goes through Congress or not as Live Nation won't benefit from that legislation. Mitchell Frank will have had to keep his money that he got from the merger. Now it is known that Live Nation spent $20 million to $25 million on the transaction, but I doubt Michell Frank got that much. I'm sure a lot of that money went to take over loan amounts associated with the venues, but surely he walked off with a few million. Now perhaps he spent most of his money, banks would likely still take a chance on him. Or he could easily raise the funds via investors.

I don't say this will happen with 100% assurance, but I give it 50%. Music venues have to stay shut until Q3 2021 before this speculation kicks in.

 

Coronavirus Diary: July 12

It was more movie watching from years past. What was on the TV screen over the last few days? West Side Story. The Defiant Ones. The Seventh Seal. October Sky. The Defiant Ones was the best of the bunch with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier. By the end of the movie, you were hoping these criminals would find freedom and a fresh start. The Seventh Seal is listed as a Top 100 movie. I found it mediocre. A philosophical discussion with Death. Whatever. Death is cruel. West Side Story was a fun take on Romeo and Juliet. October Sky is the most recent of the movies on the list. When I was working at Universal Studios, I had two posters on my wall: October Sky and Reality Bites. The VP asked why I had those two posters. I said sometimes you dream high and sometimes you realize that reality stinks. I'll have to catch Reality Bites in the near future.

For a period of time, I was very busy in my working-from-home situation. This week was easier with me perhaps working with just half my brain. I got to spend time in the evening going on walks. I've gotten into this one cycle of walking through either Atwater Village or Glendale.

I traveled over to Highland Park for the first time since February. I visited the RockinHotChick-Un food truck. It is a vegan food truck that parks across from The Hi Hat. It is the same owners as the Tacos La Tehaunita food trucks. Those food trucks have shut down as the owners are going to open up a storefront. Amazingly, I hadn't gone to Tacos La Tehhaunita or RcokinHoChick-Un since late January, but the owners still knew my name. That's close to 6 months if you're counting.

Since I'm a Canon camera loyalist, I was eager to watch the launch party for the EOS R5. This is the first mirrorless camera that I've seriously thought about buying. The launch party was great. The Canon photographers were breathless about it. Yet, in the back of my mind, I was thinking: no one is doing any photo comparisons. For me, I'd love to see how the photos are in low light situations -- which applies to me as a concert photographer. I want to know how much better it is when compared to the 5D Mark IV. Anyways, this isn't a camera I'll be buying in the near future. When the music scene comes back sometime in 2021 (hopefully), that will be the time I consider if I want to get the camera or not. It'll be an expensive purchase. I'll need to upgrade to some new lenses and I'll probably need to buy a new computer (which honestly, it probably is time to upgrade my computer). So I really want to see some low light comparisons.

Coronavirus Diary: July 6

I haven't done one of these entries in a few weeks. So back in mid-May, I wrote about some early fears I had about going to get takeout food and how I felt that might have been an over-reaction. Well, I've started to go out about once a week to some of my favorites. I went to Hugo's a couple times in Atwater Village. I am partial to their nachos. As many might know by now as it made the news, they decided to temporarily shut down due to people refusing to wear masks. Hopefully, they open back up soon. I've gone to Cena Vegan Tacos. I got to say I love their burritos. Finally, I went to El Flamin Taco food truck to get a vegetarian huarache.

I'll likely be heading to RockinHotChick-Un in the next few days. That'll be a trip over to Highland Park. I have not been to Highland Park since February? It has definitely been awhile. I wonder if Taco Zone is still running. I might head to Echo Park for the first time since February, as well.

I've definitely noticed a change in attitude towards wearing masks in Los Angeles. I've spent a lot of time walking around Los Angeles and Glendale. I would say that for much of March through June, people were not wearing masks that often while just doing normal walking around the neighborhood things. I'd say maybe 30% of the people I crossed paths with would be wearing masks. During the weekend of the June 27th/28th, I'd say that had increased to 75%. Now if that trend would occur in Glendale (where I live) I'd love it. I swear that Glendale is still at 30%. Of course, back to Hugo's, that likely means that 25% of their customers just didn't want to wear masks.

With movie theaters shut down, I've been spending a lot of time watching old movies. I recently caught Audrey Hepburn in "Two for the Road." That basically was the inspiration for "Marriage Story," right? I saw Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce." That movie is basically set in Glendale. I saw Humphrey Bogart in "In a Lonely Place." I've seen a few other older movies, but I'd say those were the best of the lot. Well, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" was rather funny. Of those movies, I'd say Mildred Pierce was the best. Though this was a Joan Crawford movie, Ann Blyth (who played the daughter) was deliciously evil.

I continue to be lucky in terms of being employed as so many people are now not employed. Work throughout June was very busy, giving me little time to go out and exercise. That along with the fact that I've been going out to eat may have contributed to some weight gain. During the start of the pandemic, I lost up to 8 pounds. I've gained back about 5 of those pounds.

Coronavirus Diary: May 25

How many times can I write that I've been super busy working from home. So busy that I barely even left my home for a few days. How can one get any Vitamin D if stuck inside all day? Apparently, Vitamin D is important in the fight against COVID-19.

Anyways, things have chilled over this Memorial Weekend.

I had a dream Saturday night. For some reason, I was in a very small spaceship. Much smaller than my apartment. I was taking a lonely journey that would take years to reach another planet. The mission was unknown though in my dream it felt like I was out to save Earth and this planet was suppose to hold a solution of some sort. In an attempt to stay in communication with Earth, I flipped a couple switches. That turned into a disaster. Sounds started going off. The spaceship seemed to start flipping. I freaked out and returned the switches to their original positions, but I continued to feel like I was traveling out of control. Then I looked at my monitor and I was still on the proper course. In fact, I was travelling so rapidly that I was nearly at the planet. I don't know what awaited for me at this planet, because I immediately woke up.

Also, on Saturday I went outside to get some Vitamin D. I walked from Glendale to Atwater Village. I walked pass the restaurants in the area, taking a peak at their menus. I stood outside of one restaurant too long and one of the employees walked out to ask if I needed any help. I apologized and said I was just out for a walk. I felt a guilty.

After a couple weeks, I finally caught a movie, "Blinded By The Light."  The movie is based on real life experiences of a then teenager named Javed, a Pakistani living in Luton, England. The story takes place in the late 1980s during the economic turmoil that occurred in the UK. It also deals with the racial discrimination against Pakistanis. The twist in the movie is that Javed becomes obsessed with the music of Bruce Springsteen. In some ways, it is the typical autobiographical movie about a teenager who 20 years later becomes a writer and reflects on his youth. What makes this movie unique as compared to other future writer movies such as "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is the prominent role that the parents play in the movie as it explores the tensions between immigrant parents and their children. (A similar parent-children relationship was shown in the movie "Bend It Like Beckham.") Also, it gives one an appreciation for Bruce Springsteen. When it comes to teenage coming of age movies, do I think "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Bend It Like Beckham" are better movies? Yes. But this movie does explore that parent-son conflict that will be something that hits home for many.

While working one late evening, I couldn't help but hear the children in my apartment complex having the time of their lives. I think for a number of weeks, parents were keeping their children largely separated from everyone else in the complex. The parents seem to be relaxing their stance. I don't know if that is wise, but it was nice to hear the children having fun.

Coronavirus Diary: May 17

Like my previous blog post, I was stuck in my apartment, working hard on the computer keyboard and mouse. I was actually finding myself working until 1 a.m. on a couple days. Though I will admit that for some reason I don't seem to get energized for work until like 6 p.m. Maybe working late is turning into the equivalent of me going out to catch music late into the night? I hope not. This upcoming week will involve long work hours, but hopefully my life will return to more normal work hours so that I can spend time reading books and watching movies.

I learned recently that my cousin came down with  COVID-19. He works at a nursing home. I also learned that 50 people in the nursing home got infected.

I had some long hours at work, but I did spend Saturday night with friends via Zoom. We did a short game night of Pictionary. Then we just hung out for a number of hours. For some reason, Zoom decided not to kick us off after 40 minutes so we just had a great time talking and playing Pictionary from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. Luckily, a family friend has a child who walked us through how to use the Whiteboard option on Zoom.

One question that was asked during our conversations was: is anyone increasing their talents during this lockdown. Honestly, I had to say, I haven't done anything new. Does that reflect poorly on me? I've just been doing my normal photography, but just doing photos of a computer monitor versus a stage. Hmm, maybe I should be looking into expanding my skill sets.

One of the things I haven't been doing since this stay at home order started in mid-March (in fact since late February) was going out to eat (or in this new world just get a pickup of food) at a favorite restaurant. I'm like, "What if a worker has COVID-19 and gets it on my food? Do I really want to be consuming food that has the virus on it?" I am starting to think about shifting my position on this. The main reason is that I'm seeing various restaurants delivering food to hospitals. So I'm thinking, "If nurses and doctors don't seem to be worried about eating food made at restaurants, maybe I shouldn't worry either." Also, I haven't read any reports about individuals getting the virus from eating restaurant food. And I know that here in Los Angeles, there was an outbreak at a Domino's (and probably other restaurants that I don't know about). I would assume that if there was an outbreak among customers that the news of that would be reported.

Coronavirus Diary: May 11

Oops -- noticed that this didn't post for some reason so posting this a few days after it was written.

I basically stayed inside my apartment Monday thru Thursday due to being very busy working from home. I went out briefly at night on Wednesday to go grocery shopping. That's a pretty boring life (though not complaining at all about having a paycheck). There was a heat wave so I was burning up in my apartment. I do have a wall air conditioning unit, but I hate the noise. I haven't used it in years. I do have a ceiling fan, but that is in my bedroom. Maybe I have to move my work computer into my bedroom. The problem with that is that I kind of enjoy turning on the television every so often while I work.

Last Saturday evening, a group of friends and I got on Zoom to talk. We're planning on getting together again to have an online game night in the future. My work monitor has a camera so I plugged it into my home computer (due to hacking concerns, my company doesn't want Zoom used on their computers). That worked well for me. Others were using their cell phones.

When it comes to Instagram, a vegan bakery randomly started to follow me. I decided to follow them back. Now the advertisements that I'm getting on Instagram are significantly biased towards vegan food.

Since I was so busy, I didn't get very far along in the Stephen King book I recently started. I'm probably going to be busy for the next couple weeks so I won't be doing much reading, at all. Though I'm not reading much, what spare time I do have is spent watching online sets. Folks can read other blog posts to read more about those moments.

Oh, I finally went through some old mail and opened up a piece of mail from a bank. I have (had) a small checking account with a bank that I opened up years ago and just stopped using. The letter said that since I hadn't used the checking account in 3 years that they were going to transfer the money to the state of California by May 16th. Now, of course, since I hadn't opened the mail for a couple weeks, I was closer to the deadline versus if I had actually opened the mail when I should have opened it. Inside was a piece of paper that I needed to sign saying that I was still around. I quickly signed it and walked over to the local post office and put it in the mail slot.

Then I started to think: would coronavirus cause delays at the bank? Would my bank then hand my money over to the state? I quickly jumped into my car and drove off to the bank where I closed down my account. So I have to say there are two different situations here. First, it wasn't that big of a deal to close down my account. Maybe it took 30 minutes to close down the account, but most of that time was me waiting at the counter for the banker to close the account and give me a cashiers check. Second, the other situation was having to be inside a building with other people. When it comes to coronavirus, I have no problem walking out in the open (away from crowds), but when it comes to being inside I have issues (even with small crowds). This is why since March 15th-ish, the only time I've been inside a building is to go grocery shopping. This was the first time I went into a non-grocery store in two months. I have to say that the bank was well laid out for this virus world. It took me a minute to figure out the process, but I figured it out. Yet, I have to admit that in the back of my mind I was regretting that I had to be inside the bank.

Then on Saturday, I walked to my other bank to deposit that cashiers check into my now only checking account. I used a paper napkin while using the ATM. Then tossed the napkin into the trash. I got to the bank prior to opening and noticed 20 people waiting in line for the bank to open. I wondered why so many people were waiting for the bank to open, but was happy that everyone was keeping their social distancing from each other.

Coronavirus Diary: May 3rd

For a few days there, I was taking breaks from work to rearrange my apartment and toss things into the garbage. After going through part of my closet a couple weeks back, I've stop that home chore. I really should get back to it. My apartment is way too crowded and there are a lot of things I could probably toss. I should go through my desk drawers and such and see what I can toss from there. Take this period to just downsize just a little bit, I say. I hope I move out of this place someday in the near future (near future probably meaning 1 to 3 years). And the less I need to move, the better.

I finished reading a book called "The Feather Thief" by Kirk Wallace Johnson. It is a true story about a college student named Edwin Rist. He was a fanatical fly-tier. For those who don't know (and I surely didn't know this), various designs use feathers from exotic birds. (SOME MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.) Well, this college student decided to break into the British Museum of Natural History and stole hundreds of dead birds that dated as far back as 150 years ago. The first half of the book was interesting. The writer discussed the history of how many of these birds went extinct or nearly extinct. He looked into the crime and how for awhile it looked like Edwin was going to get away with it until there was a random chance encounter encounter that led police to Edwin. The second half was boring. The author decided to do further investigations on his own into the missing birds as not all birds had gotten tracked down by the police. (Edwin had sold many of the birds to other fly-tiers.) To me, it didn't add anything to the story. In fact, if felt like the 2nd half of the book was really meant as a guilt trip to anyone who might still be holding these museum birds. Well, I definitely don't have any of those birds and didn't really feel like reading the author's guilt trip attempt.

Having finished that book, I've switched over to "Revival" by Stephen King. I've only gotten through the first chapter so can't really give my thoughts on that book.

In my last post, I mentioned I was binge watching HBO's Ballers. Well, I did do a whole lot of binge watching, because I finished up the 5 seasons. I obviously enjoyed the series as I watched it so quickly, but I also found it irritating how minor characters just disappeared and then story lines just ended without a clear resolution. I'd say this especially occurred in Seasons 3 and 4. The coolest thing was watching Reggie mature as a business person.

In terms of real life, I try to take daily walks. I don't go out every day, but most days. I'm always wearing a face mask. I'd say only about 25% of the people in Glendale are wearing face masks.

Also, I'm finding that I often forget what day it is. This happened pre-coronavirus, of course, but it seems to be getting more of an issue now. The problem is that there aren't specific time stamps anymore. Like I used to always go out on Monday nights to catch the various band/artist residencies. That's not there anymore. I can't say, "Hey, this is my Monday."

Finally, I do believe I used my car only twice during the month of April. Both times I went to the grocery store.

Coronavirus Diary: April 25th

Luckily, I've been rather busy working from home. So that has kept me occupied over the last couple weeks. In fact, it is rather stressful. I really can't complain about that too much. I do wonder how much my electric bill will increase with my having my work computer and lights on all day long.

One significant thing I did (significant is relative) is that I went to Smart and Final on Monday night at around 9:15 p.m. It was on a whim. I've avoiding going to Sprouts, Trader Joe's and Vons since mid-March due to fear of crowds. I don't know what spurred me to do it, but I did a Google search on store hours for Smart and Final and noticed that they were still open as always until 10 p.m. The other grocery stores have all shortened their operating hours. So off I went just to see how many people were shopping inside the store. There were maybe between 15 - 20 customers AND employees inside. I was so thrilled. The only time I really got within 6 feet of anyone was waiting in line where there were three employees doing check-out and maybe 4 of us waiting in line.

I did feel the recent earthquake that rattled Los Angeles. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it was an earthquake. My upstairs neighbors started to run around upstairs and so I wasn't sure if it was an earthquake or my neighbors just making a lot of racket and causing the ceiling to rumble. One thing I have noticed about my upstairs neighbors is that they vacuum their apartment one to two times a day. I don't know if this is a COVID-19 thing that they do or if they've always done it and I've just always been at work when they vacuum.

Another strange thing that this COVID-19 life has impacted is my sleep. This past week, I've gone a couple nights where I couldn't fall asleep until 2 a.m. while other nights I sleep from 11:30 p.m. until 8 a.m. It might be driven by the heatwave the has hit Los Angeles this week. My body might need to get used to these higher temperatures again.

In terms of TV/movies, I've kept myself busy watching HBO's Ballers. I got through all of Season 2 this past week, watching a couple episodes every night. I'm not saying it is a favorite TV show, but I am enjoying the series.

Coronavirus Diary: April 19

There doesn't really seem to be much interesting happening in life other than the mundane. I went out for an hour walk on Saturday morning. That seems very similar to what I've been doing on a daily basis. I did skip a couple days in the middle of the week. Lucky for me, it was driven by the fact that I was busy working from home. That honestly isn't something to complain about these days considering all those who are finding themselves unemployed. Though I will say that I find it hard to keep motivated to do my work. For me, there's just something about going to the office vs always being at home.

I live by some hills in Glendale. I used to climb up them, but stopped when I started to wear a mask while walking. A couple weeks back, I went walking up a hill in a mask and nearly fainted by the time I got to the top. I decided to not do that any longer until I can exercise without a mask. I noticed a Facebook comment from an old summer camp friend who also said she had difficulties exercising with a mask on. It does bring a whole new dimension to exercising.

What I continue to do is jaywalk across the four lane boulevards that cross Glendale. I just don't want to touch those "Walk" buttons. I just keep an eye out to see if any Glendale police are driving around and then just go for it.

There were some scary moments on Tuesday night (4/14). It seemed like throughout the night, ambulance sirens were heard constantly throughout the night. A friend asked if maybe it was just police sirens. I replied back that this would have been even more scary if the police were having to turn their sirens on so often throughout the night.

A couple new things I'm doing is re-arranging my apartment and tossing things into the garbage bin. After having to create a small office space, I tossed everything that was in that area onto the floor of my bedroom. Well, I finally got into properly re-arranging some of the stuff (most of it) in an organized manner. It only took 4 weeks. On Saturday, I went through my closet and started to look through everything. I tossed a number of things. I didn't go through the full close, just 1/3 of it. I'll go through the rest eventually. 

In terms of going through my DVR library, I watched the movie "Wonder." I found it very enjoyable, but in the back of my mind I couldn't help but think it was a totally unrealistic view point of someone living with disfigurement. Of course, the message of the movie is to treat everyone with respect and love and to look beyond appearances.

Coronavirus Diary: April 15

Easter Sunday was spent doing a very long walk in Glendale. Maybe I was a little too aware, but I swear I heard some serious coughing coming from two apartments/condos and from a parked car. I'm not talking an occasional "my throat has a scratch," but really long worrisome coughs. Other than that, it was a nice walk with a lot of jaywalking across Broadway and Colorado (two major streets in Glendale). There weren't that many vehicles on the road so it made it rather safe to run across four lanes of roads. I did it, because I have this issue with pressing the "Walk" buttons these days.

I went through the movies that are on my DVR and checked out the British alien movie, "Attack the Block." I really enjoyed it though I honestly couldn't understand the accents half the time. It is a movie from 2011. These street punks rob a young nurse. As they're robbing her, a space meteor slams into a car. One of the punks checks it out. Out comes an alien. The movie then turns into an amusing tale of the young punks (eventually joined by the nurse), fighting off aliens that have invaded their block. The lead actor is John Boyega before he went on to the 3 recent Star Wars movies.  Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead and Into the Badlands also has a nice part.

I turned on the radio briefly to KFI AM 640. There was a quick discussion about a Los Angeles Domino's that had to shut down, because workers tested positive for COVID-19. I previously wrote about my desire to support some of the local mom and pop restaurants that I used to hit up. That story on the radio really had me re-think that desire.

My fears of restaurants hasn't stopped me from going grocery shopping. I went out right after my long walk to two local grocery stores near my neighborhood. I checked out a grocery store that I always walk pass, but have never gone inside. I also went to another store that I have gone to before. I will stick to my original grocery store. The first store just seemed too tight for me, making it really difficult to keep any social distancing. Also, when I went to check out, someone stood within a foot of me, which really freaked me out. My original store is a little larger, which makes it easier to keep some distance from the other customers.

Coronavirus Diary: April 9th 2020

One thing I've been doing during this period of self-isolation is going out for a walk during the lunch hour. I've probably been doing one or two miles during these walks. I've actually run into people I know during these walks. Once, I ran into a young family that I know. We said hello from 6 feet away from each other. Than I ran into Kat from Holy Wars. That wasn't unexpected as we live about half a mile away from each other. Keeping about an 8 foot distance, we chatted about some random topics such as the local grocery stores that we visit as both of us are hesitant to go to Trader Joe's and Vons that are near our neighborhood. One thing about our neighborhood in Glendale is the fact that there are a number of locally run Armenian and Mexican mom and pop grocery stores. A lot of times when I'm in these stores, there are only 2 to 4 other shoppers around. Sure, the selection isn't the same as it would be at Trader Joe's or Vons, but I am willing to adjust my diet. I've bought a lot of dry goods such as lentils. I've told friends that once this is over, I will never eat lentils again. I figure it might be another 3 or 4 weeks before I head back to a Trader Joe's. My theory: the less people there are around, the less likely you cross paths with someone who has COVID-19.

I usually walk in my specific neighborhood of houses/apartments, but I decided to venture out recently onto Glendale Blvd to see what the city of Glendale was looking like. I'm usually at work so I don't know how busy this boulevard is during the work week, but there was a nice flow of vehicles. There really weren't a number of cars waiting at the stoplights; however, so maybe there really wasn't that much traffic. I can't help but wonder, "Where are these people going to or coming from? Are they going to work at the local Vons or Trader Joe's? Are they going grocery shopping? Are they breaking self-isolation and heading to see a friend?"

What do people think about eating out versus cooking your own food? I've been cooking my own food for a very long time. The last time I actually went to get food at a restaurant was in late February. I was talking to some friends and was saying how I felt a touch guilty for not supporting some of the small restaurants, food trucks and food stalls that I visit. One of those food stall, which is now operating out of their kitchen versus Highland Park, is Cena Vegan. Based on their Instagram photo, it looks like they are taking the virus seriously and are attempting to protect the cooks and those ordering from them. Also, I am seeing photos/videos of restaurants providing food to the local hospitals. If doctors and nurses are eating food provided by restaurants, why am I so concerned? Maybe I am being too paranoid and will start to patronize my local food spots. Of course, Los Angeles is saying the next 2 weeks are key so maybe I'll wait for 2 weeks to past (technically, I suppose, the next 1.5 weeks).

On the television front: I saw the movie The Commuter staring Liam Neeson. Oh mercy, what a mess. It started off well. I figured it would be about some deep state conspiracy or sci-fi intrigue, but then it ended being some rather boring outcome.

Coronavirus Diary: April 7th 2020

Unlike many people in America, I'm lucky to have a job. And luckier still, I am able to do that job from home. In fact, I'm in week 4 of working from home. If my company every put me on furlough or laid me off, I suppose I wouldn't be surprised, but that might not happen as we're still doing business. From that perspective and the fact that I feel healthy (knock on wood), I really don't have much to complain about in life.

One thing I've realized during this period of quarantine; however, is how much of my pre-COVID-19 night life revolved around music photography. I will admit that my time out and about during 2020 was limited. I got the flu (let's assume it was the flu and that I wasn't one of the first individuals to come down with COVID-19) in mid-January that hit me hard for 5 days or so and it took about 3 or 4 weeks to feel really up to speed. I still went out, but missed a number of shows that I wanted to catch as I didn't want to relapse. Then towards the middle of February, I started to pick it up again. Then music came to a screeching halt. I came down with a mild sore throat and cough at the start of March that got me worried about getting the flu again and so I put a stop on going on. The sore throat and cough never went beyond that, but by the time it passed the world had changed and the chance of catching bands ended.

I was talking to a friend recently over the phone and mentioned how I was busy during the day (work), but my nights felt way too open in this new world. I was/am spending way too much time watching television or surfing the web. Then I started to describe how my nights were in the past. I probably averaged going out 2 times a week to catch bands/singers. The following nights after going to shows would also be busy as I'd spend time going through my photos and sending out e-mails to conduct my Q&A interviews that I post on Instagram and then later end up posting on this blog site. Then other nights would be spent collecting responses as well as doing things on this blog site. I personally at times felt like I was spending way too much of my life doing this, but then it is a fun hobby and I enjoyed it. So now, there is this big amount of free time that I need to fill.

So yeah, I've been watching some online concerts (as can be seen via my Instagram posts: @notesfromvivace if you're randomly coming across this). But actually most of the sets I've seen have been watched while taking breaks from work as many of the sets are between noon and 6 p.m. As mentioned above, I have been watching too much television. One show; however, that I really loved and did a big binge watch of was "War of the Worlds" on Epix. Season 1 of the show just finished and was 8 episodes. Instead of taking an American point of view, the show focuses on France and the UK. I found it really edge of your seat watching and perhaps too relevant in this day and age. In the second episode, we learn that billions of the world population has died due to the space invaders. I personally find the story line intriguing. I get this sense of dread as these invaders hunt down human survivors and then there is also hope as two scientists do research from two different angles. And the soundtrack provides a level of slow-burn fear.

I've also started reading a book called "The Feather Thief," which is about an individual who stole bird feathers from a museum. I'm only about 20% of the way through the book. It isn't as intriguing per say as "War of the Worlds," but there is some interesting history about birds in the book. 

Anyways, I did accomplish one major thing during my time: I finally submitted my taxes. I always have a dread of doing my taxes as I'm always fearful that I've made an error. But I decided to finally just hit submit and if I get audited, I get audited. Hopefully, I made no mistakes.