Should I be counting....but it is Day 5.

I am debating on whether to keep counting the days of Shelter in Place. Did Nightline count all 444 days that Iran kept the hostages?  Was it always 'The Iran Crisis–America Held Hostage: Day fill in the blank?

Thought of the band, Phil 'N" The Blanks, here is their video from 1983 'Head Screwed On.'




Today's discourse concerns why I left Twitter and FACEBOOK. I left those sites on March 14. I guess that was the day that I began to believe that the shit was real. I had first mentioned it in my journal on January 31.

"Well, back from LA with a broken tooth and fear of the corona virus."

At the time, the broken tooth was a bigger deal to me. I broke it at a restaurant in Atwater Village (or as I invented 'the AV.)


Later in that trip, we had lunch at the Paramount Studio dining room (and besides seeing Pauly Shore), our son's friend was worried about the 'thing' in China. I suppose I was just star-struck because we also saw Ryan Reynolds shoot a scene from the probably straight to video film, FREE GUY



 We were only in town a few weeks when we took a trip to New York to visit our kids and some old friends (like the waxed figure of Don King)

 Still everything was pretty normal. In Times Square, one of the characters wore a protective mask but besides being shocked by the prices at Applebee's, my world had not gone crazy.

When I got back on February 23, activities  were still normal. Jamming with my band, the Repeat Offenders (no link available), playing bocce ball with the guys, working on my novel, Liberty Day (no link available) and checking in on social media.



The 'normal' morning used to begin at the gym, breakfast, updating my spreadsheet (known as the Mentaculus by a LA film director), and then checking e-mail, FACEBOOK and Twitter. Throughout the day, I would return to E-mail, FACEBOOK and Twitter to catch up with friends, real and imagined, and follow the primaries, the upcoming baseball season, and a few strangers that I found interesting.

Here are three of them from England.

Anthony Ekundayo Lennon: A London based actor who looked like one of my characters in Liberty Day. Before all of THIS, I made up a board with pictures of the characters and followed all of them that I could find on Twitter. He is a controversial dude but I'll leave you to find out why. He actually followed me on Twitter.

Ben Burrell: This fellow (whom I linked to yesterday) does the Bob Dylan, Album by Album podcast. He has a wife and a baby and is now recording his podcasts and doing his radio show out of his house. He responded to a few of my comments. And yeah, I sort of had a crush on him.




Kerry Allen Totally had a crush on her. She came to my attention in January as she was reporting on the 'China Crisis.' Found out that she is from a small town, speaks fluent Mandarin, has pet groundhogs, loves dogs and was horrified at the lack of preparedness in England.


Saturday, March 14 as it turned out fell between Friday the 13th and the Ides of March. I spent the day in the usual manner but feeling anything but usual. I was uneasy at my last bocce game on Wednesday the 11, despite playing very well. Worried at my Thursday music get together and don't remember if I played well or not. Shabbat dinner on the 13th was peaceful, we sat by a fire with some social distance. But on Saturday, I became overwhelmed.

So much so that I had an official panic attack. I looked it up. Or Peggy did. It officially hit me that the shit was real. I had to back off uncurated social media. Too many numbers. Too many anecdotes. Too many 'takes' coming from the same crazy place they came from before when it didn't really matter.

Now, I still glance at the New York Times, sparingly and Forge because my daughter edits it and it is a curated site.

I miss the 'old days' of loose talk, Internet gossip, and the odd comments but it will be awhile before I go back. For now, I am going to make up my own loose talk, Internet gossip and odd comments. Blogging is a low stakes hobby in the high stakes world.

Stay safe and sane!