2023 Week 5: WE HAVE COVID

3 years late to the game, but we finally have COVID. At least, I do. Jon probably does too, even though he's testing negative at the moment. He's clearly sick though.

Well, what is there to say. Initially I was quite excited about this milestone, but that quickly faded what with the 3-day fever and head congestion. 

I was also slightly looking forward to my dream of staying in and ordering food delivery. What would it be like to give myself completely in to slob-dom? But so far, we've only ordered in twice: once from Beauty Nutritious Soup (which lasted us 2 meals) and once from Boost. Now that I've regained my appetite (with a vengeance) I will probably get more.

Before COVID ate up half my week, I had been as angsty as a zitty teenager. I tend to put myself through a lot of grief around not achieving things like being a famous writer or working on my magnum opus: basically I have this idiotic literary hero image of myself that I KNOW I have no real desire (or motivation) to live up to, but which I use to torture myself regularly.

This behaviour irritates me because, objectively, my life is about as splendid as anyone can wish for. I have a wonderful partner and pets and have a good relationship with my family, I have a beautiful house that is a joy to live in, I have little to no day-to-day worries. Heck, we're semi-retired in our 30s and about to go on a 2-month trip to the UK... if that's not The Dream then what is?

But I keep looking for things to be sad about. Like plantar fasciitis. It was acting up last week, which causes a vicious circle: trying not to step on the inflamed tissue, I point my toes when I walk, which causes tight calves, which worsens the pain... 

After moaning "I wanna die" for a few days I finally snapped out of my self-pity thinking about she who DID die. Mel imposed her will on death itself: if she can do that then surely I can do the same for something as small as foot pain? I decided the solution to my plantar woes was not to walk less, but to walk better. (Secret of perambulation: ensure the entire foot rolls on the ground, from heel to toe.)

So after drying my childish tears I dragged Jon out to McDonald's for fries, muffins, and non-caffeinated drinks. $10 well spent. I read half of Scoop here and I dare say Jon made some progress with Don Quixote. Scoop is amazingly funny. I might want to read more publishing satires, maybe New Grub Street?

Not much else to report book-wise. I haven't been reading much because the words kept swimming in front of my eyes; I will try again today now that the fever is gone. 

By the way, someone threw away this really nice IKEA table at the next block, and now it is all mine!