Shuffling towards Armageddon...

Okay, I hyped that title a bit, but it should trigger the memory if I review this post in the years ahead. We’re just on the edge of the cliff here in America, coronavirus wise. Each day seems to bring an incrementally more serious development and today I woke up to the news that Trump had suspended most European travel, the NBA had apparently canceled the season (which really seems crazy to me), and Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson had both announced they had tested positive for the virus.

At present, the CDC is reporting 938 cases in the US and 29 deaths. I think this number has to be way below the actual total, seeing that very few people can even get tested. Reading around the net, it seems private interests and individual citizens are taking the lead in getting information disseminated and trying to mitigate the rapidity of the spread. The earliest moves by the government (Trump) were trying to downplay the severity and prevalence of the disease, likely for financial and political reasons. This may prove to have grave consequences as things play out in the coming weeks and months. It’s vivid evidence (on top of the mountain that preceded it) of how incompetent and capable he is as any sort of leader, especially the country.

We’re fortunate in that we’re already sort of living the lifestyle that limits exposure since I typically only work 2-3 days per week and we only go out for groceries about once weekly. The only other recurring social interaction is concerts, and we’ve cut back on those quite a bit. Seeing the number of live events and tours that have been canceled, it feels inevitable that the upcoming shows in April and May (Who, Stones, Primus) are likely to get canceled or postponed. At work, there hasn’t been any forced stoppages or reductions in hours, but I feel it’s inevitable at some point. It will probably apply moreso to non-essential admin jobs since the healthcare workers will be needed to care for patients, but I’m curious how this will impact the FWOPC since they don’t have any inpatient capability.

I imagine my job as C&P examiner is going to take a further hit since we depend on exam requests from the regional office, which is all admin type jobs. We’re already planning to scale back our expenditures for the foreseeable future since we don’t know how long this might take to play out. As long as I can work and they get me patients, I will plan on going in and just following protocols. I assume we’re all likely to be exposed before this is over.

My hope is that this pandemic (per WHO as of two days ago) will serve as a wake-up call for disease and disaster preparedness as well as an example for the electorate of just how incapable Trump is at doing his job.

Saturday means Opeth

At least this Saturday it does. I’ll be seeing them tonight at the Pavilion in Irving. One of my preferred venues all things considered - drive, parking, venue. The opener is Graveyard, haven’t heard of them but I assume they’re appropriately heavy. I’ll follow my typical practice and depart about thirty minutes before doors, 7:00 pm in this case. It’s been a fairly long time since my last concert, at least by my standards. Unless I’m forgetting something, Iron Maiden in September was the last show I attended. Over five months is a long time compared to my concert frequency for the past ten years or so. I’ve actually been enjoying the break and foresaw a decrease as preferable. As luck would have it though, there are several can’t miss shows this year - The Who (actually rescheduled from last September), the Rolling Stones in May, and Roger Waters in October.

The Who and Stones are two long time bucket list bands that I want to see at least once and I should be satisfied. Roger Waters is someone that I can’t imagine has too many tours left in him, but he keeps a pretty steady pace so there’s no telling and I’ll probably go see him whenever I can. That goes for a few bands like Steven Wilson and Opeth as well. I also got tickets for GnR at the new baseball stadium, and although this goes against my normal conventions, there is a pit and I’ve found that makes the gen pop experience much more tolerable. GnR isn’t necessarily a bucket list band since I saw them in 1988, but I was way back and it was hard to really take in that whole show. I’ve said before I thought Slash with Myles Kennedy was more enjoyable and I’m doubtful this will change my mind, but it’s another one-off I wanted to see.

Primus managed to pull a few nostalgic strings when they announced a tour in which they’ll play all of “A Farewell to Kings” followed by a regular Primus set. I haven’t listened to Primus that much, but I’ve been aware of their association with Rush (and Geddy has given his blessing for this tour) and so this seems like a worthwhile show to see. It’ll definitely be the first time I’ve seen the title track, Cygnus X-1 (full version), Madrigal and Cinderella Man played live, even if it’s Primusized. I’ve seen Rush play Xanadu and Closer to the Heart a few times. I also got tickets to Jason Isbell in August and will attend along with the Garrett boys and few old high school friends that I haven’t seen in thirty years - Tom Harris and Jamey Warneke.

I tried out the Nintendo Ring Fit yesterday, and I can say that it’s possible to get a decent workout, at least for my fat ass. They have enough variety so you’re exercising most major muscle groups - arms/shoulders, legs, core muscles as well as some cardio to boot. I’ve got some mild muscle soreness this morning but not as bad as expected. I assume my normal elliptical and running workouts, as well as the various instruments I play, haven’t allowed total muscle atrophy. I’ll probably continue using this program, maybe every other day or at least a few days a week. The limitations of the apple watch are evident with this program because I know I was demonstrably more “worked out” at the end of a thirty-minute session compared to my normal 45-50 minutes on the elliptical. That being said, my calories burnt was about half what I normally achieve on an elliptical workout.

Yesterday was otherwise a decent day. I DTD for the most part, although some elbow soreness made me skip bass practice. There are times where even if I have the mental motivation, I’ll decide it’s a better decision to rest if my old friend the repetitive strain injury is waking back up. I’ve been in a period of decreased severity with the symptoms, which has been nice and has afforded more practice time, but the symptoms have never completely gone away. They mostly manifest with guitar and bass, and so when I do practice I’m often stopping after thirty minutes when the symptoms start to kick in more severely. I’ve come to accept that I just won’t be able to put in several hour sessions on guitar/bass as long as it remains like it has been for the past few years. I try to pay more attention to fatigue and pain signals and I’ve also tried to notice anything I can change ergonomically to mitigate the issues as well.