Pandemic Atlanta Lockdown - Week 2

Some music videos in my projector

We are the new Wuhan

When the outbreak happened in Wuhan, everyone was curious to know how the feeling of getting locked down is. There were some Quora threads from those in Wuhan, documenting their daily life. Now, the USA has become the most affected country and we are all Wuhan. Perhaps Atlanta is still fine. But New York is suffering more. I don't see ambulances roaming around my community so far. I hope it stays that way. But it is uncertain as the pandemic continues to spread rapidly across the western world.

Entering the Week 3

We are entering the 3rd week of WFH. The first 2 weeks were not much of a difference than the regular weeks. I miss going out and meeting friends, colleagues, and overall random humans. I also had to cancel my flight and bookings to Bolivia for the last weekend (+2 additional days) and postponed my Suriname travel plan indefinitely. But other than that, weeks were busy with work. I miss my family and I wish they were here locked down with me. But on the other hand, it seems the USA is going to be the riskiest country during the pandemic. So probably it is good they are not here for now.

Food as usual

I cooked and had my meals as usual. The groceries still had regular vegetables. Ground meat and canned food have mostly run out. But I rarely buy them anyway. Food perspective - nothing changed so far for me. I eat regular Sri Lankan food that I cook for myself. Although I work from home, I did not indulge in snacks. Probably my tea intake may have increased slightly. But that too green tea with honey, but no milk in it. In fact, we went to have hot chocolate or a cup of coffee like twice a week while at work. So probably my sugar intake is only the honey in the tea and the sugar in my mojito last night.

Work goes on remotely

Like the previous week, we continued the daily standup and weekly progress calls for work. We also had the Friday coffee/liquor hour at 5 pm Friday. I made myself Black Russian. Mostly I drink only on Friday nights and Saturday nights. That means I have sufficient drinks for quite a long time. I am thankful that we can work from home and support each other remotely.

Grocery shopping

I ordered some vegetables and meat from Amazon PrimeNow WholeFoods. It was contactless doorstep delivery. The expected delivery time window was 5 - 7 pm. But the order was delivered at 4:41 pm. The delivery person left the products stealthily not even knocking the door. Usually, they knock the door and quickly leave - just to notify that the products are delivered. I think, this is to ensure no contact. That's good. That means less than an hour since I placed the order. Much faster than the regular days. That's quite interesting. Most of the things I ordered were available, except for bananas. I asked for 6 bananas. But at check-out time, the quantity reduced to 1, stating there is not sufficient stock available to deliver more than 1. Not even two bananas in Whole Foods? That's strange. But not unexpected during a pandemic of this scale.

Twitter and updates

These days Twitter has been a communication medium and entertainment channel for most of us. It also has become more negative and people are less patient on Twitter now. I can understand that the pandemic has made everyone more pessimist. I don't blame them.

This pandemic has shaken the normalcy bias in me so hard. If a virus can turn the life upside down within 2 months on a global scale, how we can say that hibernating dinosaurs won't wake up from melting Antarctica and come to hunt and eat us? We should act fast for the future.

— Pradeeban (@pradeeban) March 28, 2020

I kept updating Twitter with my feelings. My feelings are darker now during the pandemic. I want to cut down spreading negativity. Therefore, I decided to reduce updates to Twitter. However, I will keep these weekly blog posts for my future reference and as historical evidence if needed in the future.

I also watch music videos on my projector during the nights after work. It is fun for a change. I must note that my taste in music videos has slightly changed towards lyrics or tunes with overall sadness. Maybe it is normal. Maybe not.

Kiss me baby I'll must be stay here Day by Day...

Where are we now?

There is also a dashboard that shows the current status of the pandemic. I check it frequently. Quite depressing to see it change rapidly to the worse, to be honest. I used to check the updates from GlobalTimes frequently. But now that the pandemic has moved to other countries, those China-based updates are less relevant now.

Everyone, please stay home and take care of yourself and your family if you are lucky enough to be around your family during these days, unlike me. I seriously have no clue how the pandemic will progress and when we will return to normalcy. Let's wait and see. Hope for the best!