How do you think isolation is affecting us?

Type 1 and LADA
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Do you think it has any effect?

I think I’m becoming a bit like a feral barn cat - uncivilized and unpredictable. I look a little weirder every month that passes. I’m more wary of other people. Not just because of the virus, necessarily. Its because they, too, have a feral feel about them. Something about them just feels ‘off.’ They might seem a little driftless, desperate, or dangerous than usual - like barn cats, not normal cats. There is a sense in the environment that everyone and everything is transient. There’s a wildness that I think comes from a lack of social presence that would typically enforce social norms. Maybe theres something to do with the anonymity that comes with masks.

What will the winter do to people? Other people could become quite dangerous once seasonal despair sets in with the first snowfalls. Those who lack anymore resiliency will become super spreaders. Something bad is coming. I smell trouble again. Its different this time than in the Spring - more despairing and deeply, deeply troubling. The smell is still faint, but it will get stronger as the weather gets colder. I think that we will know more in a month. Be ready for anything, you guys.

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I already know too many people - the more isolation the better for me

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You’ve always been half a wild animal, anyway, Tony - adherent to no social norms.
I’m sure you don’t bite people if they feed you.

You should hear the police radio, Tony. Even for a fairly drunk part of town, in a fairly drunk State, things are completely outa control. 3 calls in last 1/2 hour for an unknown drunk person passed out on someone’s front step. Someone was just, ‘possibly thrown from a moving car.’ You can hear gunshots regularly in any neighborhood. What are people shooting at? It’s not even the weekend yet. There was a bear walking around in the middle of the city the other week because everything is so deserted. It’s been like this since covid started. People gotta get it together before the snow falls. I just don’t know how that is gonna be possible.

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I just fed my feral cat - Kits - Wild as the West Texas wind - A TNR because her ear is clipped - I had two ferals out for 16 years thru PA winters - would not come in no matter what the weather.

Desiderata

GO PLACIDLY amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

By Max Ehrmann © 1927

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This is beautiful and perfect advice for today’s world.

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In the time that it took me to read Tony’s post, my Walgreens was both robbed at gunpoint and the suspect was apprehended. I guess I’ll give them 4 hours until I pick up my insulin?

Wow, Tony’s advise is already paying off. I think a CVS just went down, too.
Its very, very difficult to get away with armed robbery of a business (and often individuals, too). What are people thinking?!?!?! They have lost their minds.

I declare everyone insane.
If the snow came today, it would kill a lot of people.
There’s not enough time left to get it together.

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The alternative to isolation is being surrounded by idiots.

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Get this, Tony!!!
The police just got a report of a suspicious backpack in the parking lot of Medtronic.
The caller said it is full of bones.

We have reached something beyond mere idiocy. It’s really, really, strange out here.
I think its the combined existential threat of both flu and winter. Also, maybe the breakup of social networks. I think that people in cold climates are more reliant on other people to survive in cold climates.

MT had a bunch of layoffs, though. Maybe it has something to do with that.

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I swear, my husband and I are developing our own language. Nobody would understand half of what we say to one another anymore. It’s more like an accumulation of inside jokes, but I really do think it’s getting extreme and it’s definitely our “new normal” . Sometimes I wonder how he’ll integrate back into the work environment. I was already reclusive before the pandemic, so won’t affect me nearly as much.

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Social distancing and isolation are better because we don’t have the vaccine but have winters which could spike the cases. According to medical experts, the second wave could be more dangerous and we need to save our lives and should also think about our paramedics. For sure, we need to support them and shouldn’t increase their burden.

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