Quarantine

Here’s one of those survey thingies...

You have to spend a year in quarantine -- alone -- "they" will provide the following items for you: Food, Water, Toiletries and a Bible. Plus you have the Basics of Couch, Table/Chair, Bed/Bedding & Electricity for: Lights, Heat, Air, Cooking, Cleaning, Listening to Music and Watching Videos ONLY.

You have to pack your survival bag. You can bring...

2 CD's
3 Books
3 videos
1 project
1 article of luxury
1 item of comfort
And can request a years supply of your favorite "junk" food.

OK--so what do I bring. A year without a computer??? Oh my...already I’m going into withdrawal. But let’s get practical here.

2 CDs...

Well, obviously it would be a Steve Schalchlin CD and a John Denver CD. Those are constants in the car and I probably have listened to them over and over again for a year anyway, so why should my period of quarantine be any different. The trick would be choosing which of their CDs to bring, but probably one of the "Best of John Denver" CDs, since those are longer than others.

As for which of Steve's CDs to bring, that is a bit more difficult, but probaby "The Bonus Round Sessions," which has all the songs from The Last Session, as well as most of the (then) new songs that I really liked.

Three Books would be a bit trickier. At least "they" (whoever "they" are) would be providing me a Bible, which is a nice long book and will fill in the times when I am bored with the three books I’ve brought. I wouldn’t want to bring a real page-turner because I’d finish it too quickly.

Steve Peithman, a friend of ours, once published "The Annotated Tales of Edgar Allen Poe," and I think that would definitely be one of the chosen books. It's big and thick and offers a lot of variety.

James Michner’s "The Source" would also be a good book. I’ve started it several times and never made it through to the end, though my mother loves it and has read it several times, so that seems to be a good recommendation (and during a year, I’m sure I could finally get it finished!).

I think the last book may be Steinbeck’s "A Life in Letters," the collection of a lifetime of letters by John Steinbeck, which is a fascinating book. I could easily read that more than once. But I may, at the last moment change my mind and pick Ken Follett's "World Without End," the sorta sequel to his "Pillars of the Earth," about the building of a medieval cathedral (probaby Salsbury). I loved "Pillars" and haven't gotten around to reading the >1000 page "World" yet. This year of quarantine is sounding better and better!

As for Videos (or DVDs)...Well, "A Star is Born" would have to be there. Just because it’s a nice comforting movie to have with me. I think the other two would be "An Affair to Remember" and "Shadowlands." Just because they’re all "comfortable" movies that I have enjoyed watching more than once.

As for a project, since I obviously can’t have a computer, this gets a little tricky, but I think I’d pick scrapbooking. With no computer, no digital camera, and lots of time on my hands, perhaps I could finally finish putting all of the photos in scrapbooks. Of course "they" would have to pay for all the supplies, since one thing which is keeping me from finishing that project is the cost of supplies.

As for an article of luxury, I’m going to chose something weird--it would be a luxury for me to have some way to write. If I can have a computer, I choose that. If I can’t, I’ll choose a typewriter. If it has to be a manual typewriter, I’ll take that. If I can’t have a typewriter, I’ll have an endless supply of paper and pens. Writing is both work and a luxury for me.

And finally I have to choose a comfort item. It would be a little difficult to pack my recliner in an overnight bag, so I guess I have to choose something small. I'll just have to combine "luxury" with "comfort" and bring my laptop. Besides, how else am I going to keep a year of journal entries?

They also say they will store a year's supply of a comfort food for you. Assuming that I get balanced meals three times a day and this is just a bit "extra" to pack on those pounds and prevent me from wasting away to nothing, I'll choose a year's supply of raised glazed and/or sugar donuts. Maybe if that's the only comfort food I have for a year, I'll get sick of them--I rarely have them now, so they are a real treat when I do. (I just hope they replenish the supply regularly, and not just give me a year supply up front! If that's the case, I will have to review the situation and choose something else. Nothing less palatable than rock hard donuts! )

Obviously I need to read the fine print a little more closely before I agree to this quarantine! But if I go, I'll miss you all.... :)