Quarantine Diary May 20, 2020

I am, hopefully, at the tail end of a 2 day migraine, so don't expect much in the way of coherence in this diary post. I'm mostly documenting my continued existence.

Life continues apace here at Maison Martin. We get up in the morning and eat breakfast. Patrick and Minh do their school work. I knit, read, and play video games.

Yes, I play video games. Christopher has introduced me to Animal Crossing, which is apparently now some sort of cultural phenomenon. I'm finally to the point where I can visit his island, though, and he's so busy with work that we can't get together!

In any case, I've been spending at least thirty minutes and sometimes up to two hours just running around and collecting and building and selling thing so I can make a bigger and prettier house online. Occasionally, I do things like get up and clean the regular house. Just occasionally.

The two day migraine really messes with things, though. I try really hard not to nap because it messes with my sleep schedule, but the migraine meds are so sedating and life is so much easier when I can just sleep through the pain. I also can't do the stuff around the house that I want to so when I'm feeling better, I have extra stuff to do, even though Patrick does keep up with feeding us and cleaning the kitchen. For example, paying the bills has been on the to-do list for an alarmingly long time.

I hope I'm not migraine-y tomorrow, but there's a good change that I'll be "hung-over" with a mild headache and exhaustion and brain fog. It's better than I migraine but not exactly full capacity.

We just finished watching Upload on Prime. It's not bad and there's a serious hook for the second season, so I hope they made a second season. We watched a couple of episodes of the Medici's which wasn't bad. The best media choice so far has been watching Monk from the very beginning. We're three episodes in. Very familiar and lowers the anxiety.

I'm reading Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd and The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel. Both are wonderful. Check out my Goodreads page. I'm in there as Catherine Martin.

I actually did a little writing yesterday. Not quite a chapter, more like a vignette. A writing teacher friend of mine is doing a podcast called Write in 10. If you are a writer or aspiring writer, you should listen. It's good stuff in little chunks of 10 minutes per session. I also have several writing books and memoirs that I'm slowly working through.

I think we're getting past the time where the pandemic anxiety is controlling everything. It's still there, but I'm able to push it aside to live normal days - if chronic migraine days can ever be called normal.

I have deep thoughts that I want to write later, but it's my bedtime and I do so love my sleep. Have a wonderful and deep sleep everyone. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend with small groups of people while social distancing and wearing masks when appropriate. And pray. Always pray.

Catherine