3/21/2020
Ithaca NY, USA
Day 6 of self imposed isolation

Today was interesting, got up at 5 am and headed to Walmart only to find they had changed the store hours to open at 7 instead of 6.  I decided to talk a walk around, ended up looping around the edge of the jungle, was interesting, i hadn't been back there in a few months, it was still dark but i could see a lot of lights and activity inside, clearly there are still a lot of people there, even saw a light in my old house, seems returning there is out of the question.

Got a lot of stuff at Walmart, considering it my final big shopping trip, we are well stocked up now, a few of the things i got at Walmart:  Gallon of cooking oil, 2 bottles Acetaminophen, peanut butter, dish soap, a bar of chocolate, instant coffee, honey and some other stuff i can't think of right now!
We also went to salvation army which was giving away boxes of food, got a whole bunch of good stuff.  Then me and my roommate walked to the outdoor farmers market, was pretty cool, not a lot of vendors, got 2 pounds of frozen ground beef and a bunch of veggies.  Feeling pretty good about my preparedness level, hoping not to have to go out much more, except to do laundry or go to the woods.
Tomorrow me and my roommate are going to train the Yagyu Shinkage-Ryu style of Japanese sword we practice.  We are trying to keep our regular Sunday morning time even though we cannot train with our teacher as he is older and at risk, it's difficult and sad but we will continue to train, it is important to me we keep our school going through this.

Tired today, starting to get a little stir crazy, felt like i kept running into more and more disinformation and stupidity, driving me a bit crazy.  Saw this Joe Rogan video where he was putting out the most ignorant and dangerous ideas, just completely unaware of the situation, even seemingly that you can have Corona Virus and show no symptoms.  I am continually both impressed and disheartened by peoples reactions to this crisis.

Decided two nights ago to quit drinking and mostly quit smoking, a little worried about compromising my immune system, seems to be going well so far, been going to bed at a good time and trying to eat healthy, drink lots of liquid and working out. 

The news keeps getting worse, Italy had more deaths today than ever before with no sign it is slowing, i fear we are about to plunge into the abyss ourselves, tomorrow they are implementing a full shutdown of all non essential business effective at 8pm, shouldn't change much for me but trying to be prepared to stay in from then on, except for going on nature walks to get exercise and keep my sanity.  Hoping to take a walk with one of my coworkers from the restaurant in a few days, nice to have something to look forward to.

Beyond that, things still very much feel up in the air, not sure i can make any predictions now about how this country will look in three weeks.  Keeping my options open.  We will see what tomorrow brings, people seem to be taking social distancing more seriously, i hope the Governors orders can bring some sense to those who are still not complying.  That's all for tonight i think, be safe out there.

Your Humble Servant,

Luc