“Remoted” – Workday Twenty – Saturday Four

Yup, it was Saturday, and it was also workday twenty. In my personal challenge of seeing how long I can go without leaving the house, this is day 26. And it was good.

The special work project is in high gear, we had the option to work, and I jumped on it. It’s not like I had someplace else to be or something better to do. If not working in the super awesome new home-office space, I’d probably be in the living room half-watching a bunch of something on Netflix while also playing Scrabble online and filling and editing various online shopping carts.

The work flow was busy enough to be interesting with only a few slow spots to watch “Chuck,” the ground hog /wood chuck /whatever it is that spends time under my shed and dining at the back lawn. Six hours flew by.

When work was done, it was time to roast some Brussels sprouts and cauliflower steaks (aka thick cut cauliflower), which started out as “stuff for food for the week” and quickly turned into “supper.”

Ready for the cocktail party.

Then it was time to spruce up a bit for a cyber cocktail party some friends and I were having via Zoom. Yes, I dressed up a bit – traded the gray gap ¼ zip fleece pullover for a vintage top and vintage crystal necklace with light makeup. Yes, it was the first application of makeup since my last department meeting a week ago. It felt special and important to look like I cared (because I did). And yes, I was a bit (ha! a lot) jealous when one of my friends logged in looking like an international supermodel and said she didn’t have makeup on and hadn’t even showered. Social isolation is really working for some of us.

In preparation for the cyber party I brought my laptop, the remainder of my bottle of Merlot opened  23 hours ago, and a bag of Sun Chips from my 35 bag Frito Lay assortment into the living room. There were seven of us plugged in from four locations in Massachusetts for two hours and it was an amazing, awesome, much needed, welcome relief. 

During the course of our “cocktail party” we had cameo appearances from an adorable toddler, a reluctant husband, our cats, and our dogs. These were the last friends I saw before the confinement and it was the best collective social moment of the past 26 days. 

Technology is awesome, but my friends and I look forward to meeting again “in real life.”