# 10 August 2020 - The Semi-Obligatory Iso-Life Update

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My first face mask arrived today! It took 3 weeks to arrive, so I'm
glad I ordered it when I did. I only ordered one, because we still
don't need face masks yet where I live, and I didn't want to take them
away from people who do need them, like Melbourne where masks are now
mandatory when leaving the house. My city has been 4 months without a
virus case in the community, apparently even longer than New Zealand.
There's only 3 active virus cases in the whole of the state. But I
worry that if the virus does sneak in, it will spread like wildfire.
And if it takes 3 weeks for face masks to be delivered here, I need
to prepare for that possibility now. It also seems likely that when
our state border reopens, we'd probably need face masks when in other
cities, so it seems wise to get a few stylish masks. The latest
estimate is that our state border won't open for another 5 months,
and international travel is still a year away (and even then, only
for essential travel like business, politics and compassion).

While the stores are mostly sold out of masks, thankfully things like
pocket hand sanitizer are back in plentiful supply. The stores have
new scented Palmolive sanitizers, and my current favorite is Japanese
Cherry Blossom. So I'm starting to stock up, one to take with me when
I go out, a spare to keep in my backpack, a refill bottle that I keep
at home. If the stores stay well stocked, I'll get a couple for my
permanently packed travel bag as well. I used to travel a few times a
year, so I always kept my luggage packed with clothes, electronics,
toiletries, vitamins, spare glasses, basically everything I need when
I go away for a couple of weeks. But that also makes it useful as an
emergency bag, or something I can grab and have everything I need if
I need to care for my parents at short notice.

But for the most part the virus isn't affecting us here. I might not
be going out very often, but I'm aware that life is back to normal for
most people here, for as long as our protective border bubble holds.
I know I should get back into catching up with friends and back to
the cafes again - and I have visited the cafe a couple of times. But
I know that also worries some people around me, and I'd rather be
cautious & conservative. I still like working on my own and isolation
life, my only real reason for going out is so that my social skills
don't atrophy. Well, that, and the obligatory haircut... I've let it
go a bit long, and I'm starting to look like Bernard Black from Black
Books. Though part of me is okay with that aesthetic....

Work life is going okay. Actually I'm finding it hard to concentrate
and get into flow lately, so I've not actually accomplished much in
the last fortnight. But I got some customer enquiries today, so
that's a chance to stretch my customer support muscles again. And
it's also a reminder that some people are still interested in using
the things I make. It's been easy to lose track of that as things
get quieter during iso-life.

As for Gopher life, I'm still enjoying reading nm03's updates from
Japan, there's something calming about seeing those short glimpses of
how things are over there. I'm sad that other Gopher phlogs aren't
being updated very frequently though, at least from the usual quick
checks on SDF. I guess I kinda wish that RSS over Gopher was common,
but updating an RSS feed file is more complicated than the simplicity
of just editing and saving a text file. The simplicity of Gopher is
one of the things that keeps me interested in it.

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