My Little Lockdwon
In February 2020, I bought a nice camera. A month later, the world ended.
I knew what was happening was unprecedented, so I decided to record what I saw, and how it felt to be locked down in ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic.
We all have our own stories from 2020.
This is mine.
Office Photo, 3/26/20
I caught a train back to New York City. It was the 666, which felt a little on the nose, tbh. I got back to my apartment. I will now collapse on my bed, watch something stupid, and fall asleep.
Tomorrow is the beginning with no end.
3/16/20
Every morning I wake up and… I think I have it. Then I realize, no, I’m just hungover. Or sore. Or thirty-two.
3/21/20
Family Dinner
3/26/20
Last night I dreamed I was at some sort of party, with some sort of people I couldn’t recognize. There was a pretty girl, and we were flirting. And then I coughed. And then they threw me out of the party and wouldn’t let me back in. And then I woke up.
3/31/20
4/7/20
It’s the absence of noise that’s the weirdest thing.
New York fucking City is dead, dead quiet. Except for the sirens. There are a lot of those.
4/2/20
Nothing new to report.I didn’t go outside today. Did some stretching. The comic I ordered came. It’s called, “Mr. Nipples” and I’m looking forward to reading it.
3/30/20
Happy April Fools! Last night I fantasized about a handshake.I was watching narcos, and the new big boss guy made a deal with the old hat boss guy and they shook on it. And it was one of those deep, satisfying shakes where the thumb webbings touch and the camera held on it and it looked so nice. “Wow, that’d be nice,” is a sentence I remember thinking without a shred of irony or acknowledgement that hey, this is a weird thought you just thought.
4/1/20
Went out to meet up with Jen at Horses & Divorces for a 6ft to-go drink, and we spent most of the time talking about masks, and how we couldn’t believe we’d become the mask people. I still can’t. Then, about a half hour after I got back, New York announced that everybody needs to wear masks. So I guess we’re all mask people now.”
4/2/20
Lots of work calls today. One call, one debrief about said call to another group of people, and one terribly boring call where I, instead of paying attention, drank wine and put together a Lego set.
4/3/20
Today was a day, the same way Thursday was a day, and Wednesday before that, and Saturday to come, and so on and so on until the end of time.
4/10/20
The virus is potentially plateauing here, which is good.
But they’re digging a mass grave site on an Island off Manhattan, which is bad.
4/10/20
Walking around the block is bizarre. One block you forget you’re in a pandemic – people are out, some stores are open, no one’s masked – then the next block, everything’s shut down, everyone’s in a mask, people are waiting outside the pharmacy, an ambulance blasts by. I don’t care for it.
4/11/20
New York is starting to slowly open back up. We’re nowhere near the end, to be sure, but ever so slowly, we’re starting to see signs of life.
4/29/20
Today, I crossed into the City for the first time in 53 days.
At 7:00pm, I ended up outside the Bellevue Hospital. It was pretty crazy, right before the hour a fleet of charter busses rolled up to the hospital and out poured the nurses that had traveled here from all over the country, ready to do battle again. It was as sobering as it was inspiring. Then, 7:00pm, the banging started. It was my first experience in person, and my eyes definitely started to tear up.
5/7/20
As I crossed into the city I passed a woman on her bike, heading towards the Williamsburg bridge. She turned and waved back towards no one, towards the city, and shouted, “Goodbye Manhattan! I’ll see you soon, I promise!
Then she headed back up over the bridge.
5/7/20
