Day 3 of quarantine

If you can't tell by now, I'm actually really bad at keeping up with all this. I said I would do a blog every day of my quarantine, and missed the entirety of yesterday. To be fair, describing my actions would be rather boring, as I mainly read, played video games, and rested. Today has been a bit more exciting, as I've been trying to do a lot of job applications. Our economy is slowly sinking, but I'm hoping to try to find something online, maybe a tutoring position or a virtual assistant? If anyone knows about anything let me know in the comments section.

Besides job hunting, I've been spending a lot of time with my pets. They're the only ones I can touch during my quarantine, and even then I'm trying to be careful and wash my hands and stuff to make sure they don't give anything to my family. Cooper, our kitten, is such a character. We're pretty sure he's part dog, because even when he goes outside, he just stays in the backyard, and doesn't wander everywhere. He's also a huge lap kitty and snuggler. He purrs quite loudly and always is looking for attention. I find him constantly reaching out to me, paws outstretched, trying to grasp my hair, or jeans, or anything to get my attention. He also loves exploring, and according to my parents, he now knows how to open cabinets...so....who knows where he'll end up.

Emmie, who I've mentioned before on this blog, is doing quite well, but she gets quite jealous of all the attention Cooper gets. they wrestle and play all the time, it's quite cute and good to know that they entertain each other.
Besides spending time with the pets, I'm continuing to do research for my dissertation. Though all classes have gone online, it's just better to get ahead on things, plus it makes me feel good knowing I've done productive things. My research, which is on cold cases, is mostly archival so quite easy to do online, which is helpful as well.
For those of you wondering, I'll still be doing the podcast, Human Angle just may be slightly delayed due to remote recording and delay in research. But it'll get there! I promise, now is as good a time as any for a podcast.

For those needing book recommendations, I'm currently reading In Search of the Trojan War, which is all about the archaeological digs that helped to discover the ruins of the Trojan War. I picked it up at the British Museum when they had their Troy exhibit on, and before they closed. It's quite a good read so far, and I'm a sucker for good nonfiction stories. It's odd but I'm pretty sure I read more of those than actual fiction these days. I can't complain it's just the scientist within me.

That's about it for now, everyone in my family is doing well and keeping safe which is good. I'll write soon about my next few days. Hopefully, things will be more exciting then.

Cheers, and stay safe!
Kenna

Home sweet home

Hi, my lovelies! Sorry, it's been ages since I've written. To be honest, I kept telling myself I would write and then the weeks went by, and nothing had been written. Clearly, that method didn't work. As I am now back in Colorado due to the COVID-19 virus, and in self-quarantine for 14 days, it makes sense to write, and I really have few other options. So I thought I would sum up my last couple weeks in London and then talk about moving forward.

My birthday was a couple weeks ago, and I was supposed to go to Scotland, but Flybe collapsed due to the virus and lack of government funding, so I didn't actually end up going anywhere! Well, that's not true, I decided to go to Kew Gardens the morning of my birthday, and honestly, I've very glad I did as Kew Gardens is now closed. It was a grey and very cold day, but thankfully no rain.

I hopped from conservatory to conservatory and then wandered the grounds, balling my fists to keep my fingers warm. I was proud of myself and only bought one item in the gift shop, a book on evil plants in literature. Seems fitting for me I suppose. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring it home as my suitcase was already 50 lbs due to me fitting my entire wardrobe inside. But at least I got to enjoy a bit of nature on my birthday.
Earlier in the week, my three closest friends and I got together at my favorite speakeasy bar for birthday drinks. None of them had ever been to a speakeasy bar before, and it was fun to introduce them to how it worked, where you had to convince a detective to let you into the bar by explaining why you were there. Only when he believed you would he open the bookcase door into the bar. The detective I talked to, Tony, was a 1920's New York cop with the accent to prove it. Don't ask, but I ended up spending more on drinks than I planned on. That's the downside with speakeasy bars, they're not cheap. But the cool thing with this one, Evans & Peel detective agency, is that each of the drinks is named after a famous gangster. Really getting into the mafia vibe, and they have 1920's music and posters on their walls. It probably has to be my favorite bar in London if I'm being honest.
Besides enjoying my birthday, I've been trying to stay in as much as possible. It has been difficult with working in retail at Harrods, but at least my flat is close enough I could walk to work and avoid public transport.

My anxiety has gone through the roof with this virus epidemic so I haven't been sleeping well. Plus not knowing whether the UK would be closed and I even would be able to get home or not was a terrifying thought. I originally was supposed to leave March 28 but moved my flight up to the 18th just in case the UK shut down sooner than that. Once I knew my classes were canceled and I didn't have to be on campus, I packed up and shipped out. After 16 hours of exhausting travel, I finally made it back home to Colorado! I do have to self-quarantine for 14 days just for safety reasons, as both my mom and sister have asthma, and the last thing I want to do is pass them anything. So I'm currently 6 feet apart minimum from everyone, except my pets. But I'm washing my hands often and am very glad to be home. It's currently snowing here, and I could not be more excited!

So I'm now going to convert this blog into a daily journal of my self-quarantine, just so people have something to read while the world self isolates.  Know that we're all in this together, and I'm happy to talk to people over skype if people want to talk.
Thanks to all my readers for staying with me! Keep safe and healthy!
Kenna