Into Week 3

So Week 3 of being home started for me on Friday.

Thurs evening was rough so I decided to stop watching the news, and as a result I have been feeling significantly better over the past few days.

Saturday I made waffles.  Belgian yeast-based waffles from scratch. I ate three and Daya ate the rest.

I have a walking route around the neighborhood, it's a few miles long and I do it pretty much every day.  Honestly I should do it twice a day. If I can wake up early enough I might do that.
I'm trying to maintain a regular schedule but as the days go on this is getting harder and harder to do.

Week 1 and 1/2 was Wine Week, but I'm all done with that and I don't even want wine anymore.
This is a good thing because my goal is to get through this without gaining 10 lbs.
But I figure that first week and a half is whatever-you-want-free-pass.

My alarm does go off on workdays but with all this at-home time I'm having to make a real effort to not go nocturnal.

I have been gaming a lot.  I have my online gaming friends and we game and voice chat a lot.
My ESO guild also has movie nights where one person streams and we are all listening and on voice chat together.

I also should be painting and I think I do have a new small series to work on, we'll see.

In 2018 a new Tomb Raider game came out and I never got it, so I did, and today I started it..... it is AWESOME. Daya started it too. I tend to get the Tomb Raider games when they come out, I just didn't with this one, I suppose there's some good benefit to that because instead of paying $110 I paid $20.

It's gorgeous.
I'm running it at ultra-high settings.
Click to view images larger, it's worth it.
I have barely started too. I'm only in the first full region.

So this will keep me happily occupied for a while.
I got a text today that NYC is officially having everyone but non-essential people stay home until April 15 now.

I can't wait til this is over, and til schools open again.

Shit is Real

Aside from doing the daily paintings but not writing much about the COVID 19 situation.

So here goes.

I'm not an alarmist person, and I deliberately don't watch/read much news.
So in general I don't tend to freak out or worry too much about things.
And even after this crap is over, I'll still be like that.

But I started really reading the news about this virus in Jan and thru Feb.
I wasn't worried abut the virus here at all, although I was aware of it in China and spreading, and containment measures.

Our first case in NY was March 1.
It started spreading fast.
So on Wednesday evening March 11th I decided not to go to yoga after work, that's when this started to really look serious for the city.

Thursday March 12 was my last day in the office.

Then Friday and that weekend I was going to the vet and doing prep shopping.
Other than that, I have been home.
Except to go to the store and that walk to work on Saturday.

*****
I'm at a point where I need to stop reading the news again.
It's bad here.
It's hard to see this as short-term, although I know it will pass.

The kids everywhere are going through a huge loss, especially the kids in milestone years.
Parents are overwhelmed.
Everyone is struggling with managing mental health and remote learning.

I'm glad we have our technology.
I'm glad I still have my job and I can do it at home.

Sometimes I think maybe as hard as this is- we need it in order to make new and better pathways for society.  Maybe this is a chance for the world to reset some things, I don't know.  But I can choose to have a positive mindset, because that's better than falling into a mental hole.  And the hard moments are hard.  I'm staying home. All we can do is wait and see and hope it ends soon.

My Paper Angel Strikes Again

I painted those first two #ArtApart Topiary Cats on Uart 600, and I mentioned it's not my favorite.

But my Paper Angel Tammy likes it, so when I can go to the post office I'm sending her what I have left.

And look- she sent me more of my beloved discontinued Richeson paper!!

AND this amazing painting, which has my favorite greens in it.
I put it up right by my computer monitor so I can look at it all day!!

United

United
6x8 pastel on Uart Dark 400

Isolated

Isolated
6x8 pastel on Uart Dark 400

Heal

Heal
6x8 pastel on Uart Dark 400

NYC is Empty

NYC is empty.

I walked to work to get some things from my desk, as we are going on lockdown and that "two weeks from home" turned into "indefinite"...

I also took my plants home.

Yes, I know it is a small and inconsequential thing to worry about in this whole mess but I was worried about them. They have been on my desk for years, 2 of them for more than 10 years.  I'd hate for them to just die because I can't water them. That would make me seriously sad.

It's about a 2 hour walk to work, I have done it before.
I stopped for pictures so the walk took longer.

Bye for now, desk.

Plants are home under their grow-light. :)

Mask

6x8 pastel on Uart Dark 400
For all the Photoshop geeks out there.

Muse

6x8 pastel on Uart Dark 400.
I'm sending all my 600 grit to Tammy.

It was so nice to go back to 400 grit.

TRUE STORY: I was only using the 600 grit because I pulled it out first but was too lazy to keep looking for different paper.