~Quillum

Boy, I really don't write journals often...

Ok, so I debated whether to post something about this or not. But, I don't want to forget to inform anyone, and with all that's on my mind here, I know I will.

Monday morning my brother tested positive for Covid-19. He is also my roommate, so I am self quarantining in my room as best I can, and taking as many precautionary steps as I can to ensure I do not catch it as well. The odds of me catching it, however, are, well... its a pretty good chance that I will despite everything that I do. Rest assured that I am taking the precautions necessary to keep myself safe. Wearing a mask whenever I leave my room, washing my hands/using hand sanitizer before entering my room, etc. My brother is also doing what he can as well, wiping down anything he touches, using the mini fridge as his own fridge while leaving the main fridge as alone as he can, wearing a mask whenever he leaves his room.

I'm currently going to be staying at home from work for the next two weeks, but I may not be all that responsive on the different social platforms I'm on. I will do my best to remember to post an update journal if anything changes. As it stands right now, I am not going to get tested myself because there's no point in spending the money on it until my brother rids himself of the virus. I will get tested if I show any signs of a fever, as I already had a cough going from a known source that I do not feel is Covid-19 related.

There's a lot of stress going on right now, most of it related to the Covid-19 thing, parents and my middle brother were exposed as well, though everyone was wearing a mask, so fingers are crossed that they don't catch it. But, on top of the stress of the virus is my father's continuing degradation of mental health. His memory is getting worse still, and despite my brother's setting up his computer to be as fool proof as possible, he still unplugged cables he shouldn't have unplugged (unclear on the reasoning, though he says its from cleaning around his desk.) A 2 hour FaceTime call later and the issue still isn't resolved because of needing to repeat myself, needing to 'fix' when he paused the FaceTime video and other issues. The inability to be there and help him makes this incredibly stressful, and to see how far the mental health has deteriorated is... incredibly painful.

I ask for patience from those who know me and talk with me regularly, i will try my damnedest to not let my frustrations and stress boil over into any conversations or interactions I have with people, but, it is honestly getting to be too much for me, everything that's happenign right now, and I can't, in all honesty, promise that I won't 'break' from time to time when it gets to be too much.

This is, yet another, depressing and negative journal I've posted up, and doesn't give the best of impressions to people. Life is, generally (aside from current situation) going well for me. There are positives to enjoy and to hold onto, not the least of which is the fact that I am an Uncle for the first time this year. So, as I said, there are positives.

I hope you all stay safe, stay healthy, and stay kind to one another. The world needs kindness, spread it around, try to make someone smile every day... even if you can't see their face beneath their mask. I had made a goal for myself to try telling at least one joke a day when I'm at work, even if they are the type of joke that make people shake their head, or groan, or want to throw something at me, but that will take a pause for now until I return to work.