I taught for many years. Sometimes trying to keep students' eyes from glazing over when you're in the same classroom is hard enough! Many props to the teachers who've been attempting to do their jobs virtually during the pandemic. It's a poor substitute for classroom learning, & I fear students have been falling far behind.

As far as dealing with the pandemic goes, I broke down & said "screw it" today. My best friend lost his wife almost two years ago. Before the pandemic hit, we'd go to lunch once or twice a week (he & his wife had no kids & have no family in the area). Restaurants here reopened last week at 25% capacity. Well, I went out to lunch with my friend today.

I feel kind of guilty since my partner & I have been maintaining a really tight social bubble. I'm not going to tell her I went out to eat because she might feel betrayed It seems I did a terribly careless & thoughtless thing. I'm extremely cautious about double-masking, hand-sanitizing & social distancing, but when you go out to eat, the mask comes off & social distancing kind of goes out the window. I won't do it again soon, but the fact that I did it at all feels terrible. Both the pandemic & the bitter cold of late-winter forced the walls to close in on me. That's a poor excuse, however.