Life is slowly returning to normal — sort of
Major events are happening once again
While trying to decide what to write about this week, it occurred to me how nice it is to once again have things to write about that I have covered in person — not via a Zoom meeting. For me — and I hope for you, too — despite the continued presence of COVID-19, life is slowly returning to normal, but with some differences.
I remember March of 2020 all too well. That was when COVID-19 (then it was more commonly referred to as the Coronavirus) had become real, and a serious threat to human life.
All of the events that I’d been scheduled to cover in the foreseeable future, like I had done for many years until then, were cancelled.
The 2020 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach had been cancelled, due to COVID-19
Eventually some would transition into online instead of in-person versions, but those were never nearly as useful as their in-person predecessors. Nevertheless, at least they provided something to share with you.
For safety, I did not get out much — not even to get fast food to take home. I knew three people who died from COVID-19, one of whom was a doctor.
During the run on grocery stores that caused empty shelves (I still have a ton of toilet paper!), I developed an aversion to canned sardines — but now I like them again (and just saved $18 by buying six packages of them at Costco, on sale).
Empty store shelves were a common sight during the early days of COVID-19
Disneyland closed for over a year. My Annual Passport card became a worthless souvenir. Recently, I just bought their new annual passport, which is now called the Magic Key. Unfortunately, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure now offer significantly less to see and do, and you need to make a limited reservation to go. So much for spontaneity.
COVID-19 gave me a lot of free time to do new things, like spending two hours after returning home from my infrequent, major Costco runs to carefully wipe my groceries with almost-impossible-to-buy Clorox wipes. It would have been a lot quicker if only I could have seen the COVID virus, so that I would have known where I did not need to wipe. Of course, eventually the experts told us that we did not have to disinfect our groceries after all.
I spent a lot of my new-found free time watching T.V. I learned what it meant to binge-watch. Eventually I got tired of watching T.V., so I looked for more useful things to do.
As you may know, there is now a new “AutoMatters & More” website (AutoMatters.net). That had been a goal of mine for many years, but I knew that it would take a huge amount of work to accomplish so I kept putting it off.
My new "AutoMatters & More" website at AutoMatters.net
I also learned how to give myself haircuts. I got lucky with the first one.
The result of my first do-it-yourself haircut during COVID-19
It was a pretty good haircut, so when it came time to give myself a second haircut, I thought I could speed up the process. Boy, was I wrong about that! Luckily nobody could see the irreversible mess that I had made. Eventually it grew out — WAY out. So much so that eventually, as I ventured out into the world again — thanks to having the vaccine to protect me against hospitalization or death — I badly needed another haircut. At first, I was going to try to more carefully give it to myself, but I chickened out and returned to my pre-COVID hairstylist. Thankfully she was still working.
It’s a good thing that my website is up and running (with a little over 400 of my over-700 columns), because I am getting really busy these days. I’ve already covered several local car shows and car club events. Later this month I will cover the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
I am looking forward to covering the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in Sept. 2021
A little while after that I will be going to Las Vegas to once again cover the SEMA Show, followed by the LA Auto Show, a scaled-down but in-person version of San Diego Comic-Can (YAY!), CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) and more.
SEMA Show 2018 in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Will the majority of the people return in 2021?
I hope life will someday be fully back to normal. In the meantime, I continue to wear my facemask most places, and I have still not eaten out in a restaurant — but at least now I do buy takeout food.
To see the most photos and most recent text, and to explore a wide variety of content dating back to 2002, visit AutoMatters & More at AutoMatters.net. On the Home Page, search by title or topic, or click on the blue ‘years’ boxes.
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Comments (16)
Now all we need to do is convince that dwindling group who think it ok to keep the virus going, is not PATRIOTIC OR THERE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO KEEP EVERYONE ELSE IN JEOPARDY.
There were over 6000 new cases of Covid-19 in the state of California yesterday. That's not normal by any means. Everyone needs to continue to social distance and wear masks to prevent the spread. Those who are vaccinated can still carry the virus and transmit it.
I live in San Diego and I completely agree with you.
Jan
My life was really good pre-corona, and a lot of the things that made it so are gone forever. Things don't really go back the way they were, generally. I hope all this mask stuff and limits on entering buildings goes away, but governments have taken a lot of control since this all started, and that's not going away. Don't get me wrong, I wear a mask and have my vaccines and all that, I just don't like being monitored. I don't know, I don't think my life will ever be the way it was ever again. Plus I'm a college student and this whole scenario has made it a whole lot harder to start anything. The corona world is just set up so you can continue with what you're doing, but if you're a young person trying to get into a career or relationship or school or anything you pretty much just can't.
I certainly preferred life as it used to be, but life is different now. I like how it has given me time to get things done that I'd been putting off for years, but the price has been the sense of relative freedom that I used to know.
Like it or not,...
Read moreThat's nice
Hi Jan. Life is slowly returning to normal here in PA. The only places I’m required to wear a mask are health care locations…doctors, dentists, clinics, hospitals, etc. if it’s not necessary or voluntary, I don’t wear a mask.
Even though I’m fully vaccinated, I try to avoid discussions on vaccinations with friends and family. There are so many opinions and “information” floating around that any reasonable discussion is almost impossible. Discussing the Covid and vaccinations has become as dangerous as discussing politics. In reality, vaccinations and politics are now the same thing, and can splinter a family.
I hope vaccination passports don’t become mandatory because recent experience shows that we will likely require booster shots or annual shots like the flu. Then you would have to revalidate a passport after every shot, or the passport would expire after one year. What a bureaucratic mess.
Although I’m not alarmed by the current situation, it does make me uncomfortable that I’m not sure what’s going to happen. For example, will there be a new Covid and four new variants every year? And will they be more contagious and dangerous than the previous? It’s clear the governments of the world are unable to deal with such a situation.
If you have a brighter or more optimistic outlook, please let me know. Thanks, David.
PS: Great haircut! (The first one).
David,
As long as a substantial percentage of our population remains deaf, dumb and blind to the hundreds of thousands of deaths around them in this country, and until it takes the life of a friend or relative, COVID may never go away. The key...
Read moreHi Jan. I was choosing my words thoughtfully and carefully, so possibly some of my points were a bit unclear.
I wear a mask wherever required, which is at all health care related establishments, so at all other locations, indoors and out,...
Read moreOver in the UK, we're having crazily high covid cases etc, but everyone has almost completely forgotten about restrictions. I was able to go to the National Motor Museum a month ago, and a local car meet more recently, but I don't believe restrictions should be lifted just yet.