My Daily Struggle in the COVID-19 Lockdown

Today started out rough. As you can tell from my previous post, yesterday was pretty bad. I went over to see my grandmother, my cousin, and her children. They are doing as well as can be expected. They are getting ready for next week, going through her belongings. That is such as stressful and emotional thing to do as it is matter of going through old pictures and memoirs. Aunt Hattie certainly took a lot of photos! In fact, she took photos of everyone! I am going to look for some photos tomorrow and will post what I find. In other news, it seems that governor is planning to "reopen" the state in 5 stages. With all that has transpired, I hadn't the chance to read more into this. I should do that tomorrow. Alas, this lockdown has placed us into a stalemate. On the one hand, if we reopen the state too hastily, more people will get sick and die. On the other hand, if we keep this strict lockdown for too long, the state, and its less fortunate residents, will go bankrupt. ...

Today was a busy day. I helped my clients, over the phone, apply for their stimulus checks. I hear that people are getting their checks already. When will mine come? Besides, they are not GIVING me anything. They overtax me as punishment for being married and not having human children. As far as I am concerned, they are giving me money back for the times they taxed me too much and for the unjust laws they create to take even more of my money. I am in favor of taxes, but didn't we give the British the boot for their taxation without representation? The only people I see profiting off of my taxes are the wealthy corporations and the victicrats. What about the working and middle classes? We are too busy fighting off poverty. Since when do the resourceful Republicans and bleeding-heart Democrats show that they truly care about the other 80% of the population? In other new, things just got worse for my best friend and her family. First her mother-in-law died, and now a tornado smacked...

CHRIST HAS RISEN!!! Today was a pretty good day. It was, after all, the beginning of the Resurrection Season. I went to a social-distancing prepared church and could actually take Eucharist. It felt so good to be in church again! I will probably go there until the lockdown is over, and if that means I need to drive 1 mile to get to Schaumburg, so be it! According to the major, today's death toll is the lowest it has been in 6 days, so that is good news. On the other hand, I read horrible stories about how a Michigan woman lost her whole family to this virus, and a Louisiana man lost 10 relatives and friends. I am not ashamed to admit that these stories made me cry. There has been so much death the past week. A friend of mine recently lost his grandmother from COVID-19. Thankfully, my mother, wife, and grandmothers are all safe and relatively healthy, and so are my golden-year friends. I have suffered so much loss, yet I have barely become numb to it. Each loss is still a dagger...

Good Friday. A sobering day in which I remember how my Savior suffered and died for the forgiveness of my sins. It is the second holiest day of all Christianity. Our Vicar had another livestream, and I almost missed it because Mozilla Firefox cannot stream well from Facebook. On Chrome, there were no problems. Just as you think the mudslinging had subsided, Governor Pritzker just had to open his 100 lb mouth. He is now repeating the rhetoric of his extremist comrades. He had the nerve to insist that Trump was failing to help with providing necessary materials for fighting the outbreak. What is the proof? Also, why are governors like Pritzker and Cuomo becoming more apt to depend on Trump for support? Another thing: Illinois and New York have GDPs greater than 1/3 of Europe. Why aren't the governors making resources for their states instead of demanding resources from the President, especially considering how they told him to take a hike ever since he was elected. Maybe if they wo...

Today was a good day. I had gotten up around 7:30 and watched the Palm Sunday service livestream. I then went out and delivered palms to people from church, as well as my mother and grandmother. Also, I was able to get some work done on my new book; I had been neglecting it for too long.  This will make an interested Holy Week. Indeed, though I keep saying this, this is the first time since I remember missing church on the major festival days. At least there is livestream. I hope we can agree to some sort of compromise on Resurrection Sunday; I know that this day will be very hard for many. Still, I understand and submit to the lockdown, and I would have for what happened to  Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne of Tampa, Florida to happen to our Vicar and Maintenance Pastor. I am confident we can think of something to observe the holiest day of the year safely, like a drive in service. After all, would we not be in the protection of our vehicles? Communion may be another story, but I ...

Another Sunday without church. At least there was a livestream through our Vicar and a Pastor in Schaumburg. I loved the sermon. It gave me comfort. The increase in cases around the country is demoralizing. Dr. Fauci is projecting that the death toll, once this is over, might reach 300,000. I felt out of it all day. I just feel sad. Is this pandemic, though human-made, a punishment from God for all of our sins to Him, His creation, and ourselves? If so, when will the world, America especially, repent so that this plague will end? Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, but will we get palms? Then the Sunday after is Resurrection Sunday (aka Easter), my favorite holiday, but will we celebrate the Lord's resurrection as a congregation or at a blasted computer screen?  Signing off.

Another day spent at home. While I went to my patio to "summerize" my bicycle, I was in the house all day. Besides Tangaray flirting with me and the occasional "Hey Devin?" from the wife, I didn't get many interruptions today. That was good since I was busy checking in with clients via telephone, plus the clients of my esteemed colleague since she was out sick (no, she doesn't have "it", God be praised). Of course, the day could not end without correspondents criticizing the President. So, there was a press conference today, and when the President said that he hopes that the crisis would be over by Easter, Dr. Fauci, the medical spokesperson of the COVID-19 task force, said that it is necessary to be flexible. Because of this, people not only think Fauci is openly defying the President, but they are congratulating Fauci for their illusion. Let's get something straight. President Trump is NOT a doctor. He has no medical training. Ask him you...