I planned to do some blogging the other night, but gave up. I could not think. The thing about being quarantined is my youngest kid is often online with his friends, communicating via a headset, and just as I start to think, he will start to whoop and yawp some blather and blarney that is undoubtedly the highest wit and badinage in the world of fifteen-year-olds, but it just makes me want to flip a table. So I gave up, and tried not to weep. I'm aware being on the verge of sobs sounds absurd, but we're in a heightened situation at the moment, and things get stressful.
As I've no doubt mentioned in other posts, my day job is an essential service, so I still work. My major routine and income have not changed. But it's getting harder and harder to think as a blogger, because all we hear about is that damnable disease. I want the restrictions to lift. I want to be able to send my kid to school so he can whoop and yawp with his friends in person. I know my eldest wants to return to campus and resume university life with his friends. However, I don't want the restrictions to live so quickly there is a second wave of this fucking thing - let's make sure it's REALLY stamped out, hey?
I miss little things like going to play trivia. However, I've joined virtual pub trivia and whilst there's no drink vouchers or vouchers for the pub bistro, there is the trivia fix and interactive fun. I miss the gym, so I've been doing yoga from videos on YouTube. I'm actually improving at it, although I'm still far from limber. But I can do a semblance of the dolphin pose for eight breaths now; a few weeks ago I would have been unable to even lift my knees from the floor. I can walk my dog for all the 'allocated' distance without stopping to rest as my back is getting stronger.
One of the things I cannot wait to do when this crisis has passed is go to the theatre. I don't necessarily mean a major frothy musical. I want to go to a venue on a side street in the inner eastern suburbs of Sydney, where there are tall trees and rows of terraced buildings, and the venue itself is made of brick with peeling paintwork, and I can sip champagne in the crowded foyer, and then go into the auditorium which is an intimate space with amphitheatre-style seating, and watch a serious play. I love live theatre. Its not like I attended every week pre-lockdown (I'm in the Upper Hunter Valley), but whenever I could, I would travel to Sydney and, in the company of my cousin-in-law, watch a production.
Speaking of theatre, I've decided to return to a genre I've not worked in for a long time: script writing. I have quite a few commitments at the moment which are all going to make novel writing a bit difficult; whereas a play script need only have ninety pages. I've got an idea churning in my head, and I've been making notes. I didn't work on my project today, because I was told about a production that's been posted on YouTube. It's a live recording of a stage version of Frankenstein, with the roles of the creature and Dr Frankenstein being played in alternate performances by Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. The one I watched today had Miller in the role of the wretched creation. Holy crap, what an awesome actor he is. I first became aware of him as Sick Boy in Trainspotting, and thought him good, but the performance I viewed today had me mesmerised. Cumberbatch was great, too. He brought an insane and garbled intensity to the scenes where the doctor is pondering actually acceding to the creature's request for a bride. I'm pleased I wore my slippers over my socks, because they would have been knocked off otherwise, and I didn't want to get on the floor and go looking under the couch to retrieve them (a few more months of yoga and I will be no doubt able to limbo under the couch for them, but not today).
Speaking of actors, another one I admire is Ricky Gervais. His series Extras is being shown in reruns, so I'm going to sign off and watch.
Yeah, work and study are keeping me a bit busy at the moment, but today is the only day I really have off this week, and I'm glad I put my feet up, grabbled a glass of cab sav, and watched the show.
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