Coronanoia

Right, so... concerts cancelled left and right... my wife has a conference in the States upcoming that might get postponed... there are petitions at UBC calling for face-to-face instruction to be suspended. Friends have gotten afraid to shake hands; others are staying home. And the hell of it is, I'm half-convinced that at least some of the panic is because people are excited about this: ooh, apocalypse! Finally! All the stresses and pressures and desires to panic over the state of the world suddenly have a focal point - a sickness that, while obviously very virulent, is described as being akin to a cold or flu.

Other than washing my hands a bit more often and taking advantage of the hand sanitizer at work (and wiping down computer mouses - or is it mice? - with sani-wipes once all the students are gone home), my normal life hasn't been affected much at all. I'm just not that afraid. I don't care for the flu but I'm not all that unhealthy. I'm much much more afraid of the panic that seems to be breaking loose around the world. Suddenly two old quotes that I have often heard - the Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times" and, who was it, Truman's admonishing that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" actually have meaning for me. Doesn't mean I'm gonna fight people for jumbo packs of toilet paper, though.

If Tom Hanks dies, the world is gonna lose its fuckin' shit.