Day 69: One thing after another

My sister has this hanging in her apartment, and the it kept coming to mind over the last 36 hours.

March 13, 2020

4:26pm

I call my parents to ask them how they’re doing. My stepmom tells me that they tried to buy supplies at Costco but that most things were out of stock. I send her a picture of me trying on the suit I’m wearing for my friend’s wedding in Atlanta tomorrow.

7:41pm

Dave, one of the organizers behind the Hacker Fellowship, messages me to tell me that they’re making an announcement tomorrow about changes they’re making to the fellowship due to the coronavirus. I tell him that I’m flying out for a wedding in the morning and ask if I can talk to him tonight.

We meet up, and he tells me that they’re going to ask the fellows to leave the house in favor of a safer location if they can. Fellows who want to stay can remain, but in effect, the house is going to disband.

8:18pm

I message Stedman, Zain, and Cathy, three fellows from the program who had already left for California, whether I can stay with them. They say yes.

8:38pm

My sister messages me saying that the school district that she works as a substitute teacher for is shutting down. This is concerning because that’s her primary source of income. I call her and we talk about how we could try to come up with ways that she can help out with Intention and Hide Feed and that I can pay her for freelance work. The idea of working with my sister both intrigues me and makes me a bit nervous.

8:58pm

I realize that I no longer can attend my friend’s wedding. Given the risky nature of being in a large gathering where people are flying in from all over the place, I had originally planned to quarantine myself in my room back in Brooklyn once I returned back from the wedding to ensure that I wouldn’t infect the rest of the house. I had planned on working from my room and being a soylent-guzzling hermit coder for a week.

But now that I’d be staying with Stedman, Zain, and Cathy, I didn’t feel comfortable exposing them to that kind of risk since I’d be living in close quarters with them.

I call my friend to tell him about my situation and let him know that I won’t be able to make the wedding due to moving out of the Hacker Fellowship. He doesn’t pick up so I send him a message instead.

9:44pm

I call a close friend who I’d been planning to hang out with in NYC and tell him that I’m leaving for California tomorrow instead.

10:08pm

I cancel my flight to Atlanta and book a flight to San Francisco that departs the following morning.

March 14, 2020

11pm - 6am

I stay up all night talking with Erica, Nicole, Waj, and Condon. We talk about life, love, and coronavirus. It’s like being a freshman in college all over again. I only think to take a picture at the very end, after Condon had gone to bed.

6am - 7am

Waj and I continue to talk while I pack my life into my bags.

7am - 8am

I sleep.

9:30am

I wake up exhausted and leave for the airport. I have a mask, hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, and a document detailing what precautions to take when flying. Some people wear masks at the airport, but most people seem like they don’t care. I rock my trusty N95 ventilator the whole time.

3:20pm

I land in SFO. Stedman and his partner Suzanne come pick me up at the airport. We go grocery shopping and go full prepper mode by stocking up on rice, beans, canned vegetables, bread, frozen pizzas, and many other goodies that will keep the whole house well-fed for the next several weeks. It’s my first time spending over $800 on a single grocery run.

7:30pm

We arrive at the house that Stedman, Zain, their partners, and Cathy are planning to stay in for the next two months to bunker down and work. It’s incredibly large and even has a music room with a full drum kit. We start preparing dinner — Suzanne and Stedman work on Thai curry while I work on vegan apple pie. Zain, his partner Serena, and Cathy arrive and help out with the dinner prep.

10:30pm

We finally eat and everything is delicious. Especially the apple pie. Because it’s my baby. Cathy disagrees and trash-talks the pie. She is wrong.

—

One moment, I’m in my room in Brooklyn trying on my suit for my friend’s wedding in Atlanta. The next, I’m in Santa Cruz baking an apple pie.

Life has no shape at all. It’s just one thing after another.