My Daily Struggle in the COVID-19 Lockdown

More bad news today. Illinois faced its deadliest day. This day, 125 people died from this plague, bringing the death toll to 1,072 and the total infections over 25,000. Both Lightfoot and Pritzker say that the curve is flattening and that they are still trying to decide if they will go easy on the lockdown or not, whilst Indiana and Wisconsin are prolonging it well into May. Because non-essential businesses have been forbidden to open, millions of Americans are seeking unemployment benefits because they have been furloughed or simply laid off. This is madness. Thank God I am an essential worker. What are everyone laid off going to do? Who is hiring now? How many of these stimulus checks can the government disperse? Speaking of checks, I figured out why I didn't get mine yet. Because the government likes to overtax married couples without children, I only received state refunds for the last two years. I ended up having to pay more money to my least favorite relative: Uncle Sam....

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...

Another rough day. I received yet another example of how stupid and reckless people, even professionals, can be. Since Chase Bank decided to change their policy and tack on a monthly fee to my account, I asked them to close my liquid card. What did they do? They closed my checking account! Because of how I have things set up, I would have to be high on glue to cancel my checking account. So, I called customer service, and after 30 minutes of waiting, I get this woman who said that there is nothing they could do! Seriously? They cancel a checking account via messaging, but they cannot stop my account from closing by telephone? For one of the world's biggest banks, they certainly are incompetent, and this is just one of many examples. What if the government tried to send my stimulus check? What if I had a bill payment being processed? So, I went down to the local branch to talk to a banker on my lunch break. I had to sign in at the front desk and then wait outside because social di...

Slept in very late today. Tried to order groceries via Shipt, but their website decided at the last minute to announce that I could only get groceries through them if I paid a monthly fee. So, I decided to bite the bullet and go down the street to Aldi. At least today, there was no shortage of milk, eggs, or bread like the other times. I was reading the news reports yesterday, and I was concerned to read about people losing their jobs because of the lockdown. Though I hate having to contact my clients via telephone (I hate talking on the phone, period), at least my agency is considered essential, and at least my job is considered essential. The last time I heard the term "essential worker" was on Schindler's List. When we do have to go out, we have been encouraged to carry our work IDs in case we are stopped.  Still, tomorrow is Palm Sunday, and yet again, the only church service available to me is via a computer screen. Perhaps I should not complain so much about it ...

Today was almost decent. Was finally able to spend more time outdoors since I needed to buy groceries for my clients. Do you know how difficult it is to buy groceries for 8 people? It took me about 2 hours, not to mention how long it took to unload them. At least a client came and helped me put them away--using social distancing, of course! It was so annoying though, having to wear those gloves and face mask all that time. Plus, there were limits to half the items, and they were out of some of the affordable things. For instance, the maple-flavored syrup supply was completely depleted. At least my clients will have a chance, for the first time in their lives, to taste 100% maple syrup! I just had a sad thought, though. Another Sunday in Lent, and I won't be going to church. I don't know how I am going to cope if this thing continues through Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday. Enough of this lockdown! Would it help if we arrested all the irresponsible people who won't use d...

I was so glad to get out of the house after work today; staying cooped up in the house since Monday afternoon was more than enough for me; I don't know how people can do it. I had to get some medicine and a few things, so I put on my mask and thick gloves and went out. I had a growing craving for a Coke, so I bought a Mexican import while I was at the store. Sure, I was one of the few people wearing masks, but so what? So, Chicago's mayor laid down the law today because some people are too stupid and/or inconsiderate to obey the lockdown. People are going golfing, and they are socializing on the lakefront or in the park. After all that is going on, people still don't get it. Because of this, she closed all parks and lakefronts, and she told people that if anyone violated the restriction, she would fine them or even thrown them in jail. Right on, sister! It is disgusting that it had to come to this. Personally, I think it should be legal to take such monstrous morons and s...