Quarantine TV Watching

UPDATED
When everything's closed and you aren't supposed to leave, what else is there to do than catch up on new and old tv shows. This is what I've been watching the past couple months.

Girls
I already watched Girls a couple years ago out of curiosity. This time I watched it because of Adam Driver specifically. His character, Adam Sackler, and Hannah have such an interesting relationship and when they break up I am reduced to a mess of tears because it feels so real.

Angel
I started this rewatch when I got to season 4 of my Buffy rewatch. I had a newfound appreciation for season 2, but it's still my least favorite. Season 3 is my favorite with the epic story of Darla and Angel having a baby, even if we are supposed to believe Angel and Cordelia are in romantic love. Season 4 is grand in scale, and is for the most part good but Cordelia truly was terrible. Season 5 is overall fun, with some great episodes and arcs. I hadn't seen the finale since it originally aired and I was reminded how good it is.

Tiger King
A train wreck where everyone is a villain and no one wins.

Fleabag
I had heard about the "hot priest" and was tempted to skip to season 2 just to see if it was as good as it was made to be. But, since season 1 is only six 30-minute episodes I stuck with it. Glad I did because I ended up enjoying season 1 and it really made a lot of the character motivations clear from earlier in the season and is pivotal to understand season 2. The hot priest storyline definitely delivered. So. Damn. Heartbreaking.

Succession
Dang. So good. This was one of the shows offered for free from HBO Max when quarantine started. Season 1 was so amazing, and season 2 I almost gave up on after the first episode. I kept with it, though, at the urging of my coworker and I'm glad I did because it was amazing. I mean, that ending. Also, everyone is super terrible and it's hard to pick who I dislike the most; sometimes it's Tom, most of the time it's Logan, and occasionally it's Logan.

Single Parents
I randomly started watching this when I saw a commercial for an upcoming episode. It's simple fun, and there were a lot of times when the kids made me laugh out loud.

Killing Eve (adding this after I originally posted because I forgot about it)
I get most of my t.v. recommendations from my coworker (she recommended I stick with Fleabag and Succession), and she has been urging me to watch Killing Eve more than anything. I started it one Saturday when, like most other Saturdays during quarantine, there wasn't anything else to do. Most of season I really liked, but the ending didn't really do it for me. I unenthusiasticly started season 2 but didn't get past the first episode. I love that it's female-written and stars two females (both took home awards for their roles!) but I'm just not into it.

One Tree Hill
I just had a hankering for a teen drama and this is on Hulu. I watched the first season when it aired way back in 2003, but knew random things about what was happening over the years due to my general interest in pop culture. The first season is pretty classic, and was the last time before a long span of truly terrible hairdos and wardrobe choices for Lucas. The show started embracing the crazy at one point, but dang if I wasn't fully invested in the star-crossed relationship of Lucas and Peyton. Season 5 stretched the limits of what was believable in the quest of the writers to keep them apart one last time, but it eventually paid off. The show, in my opinion, went on much too long; I'll probably stop my rewatch at season 6.

What's next???? Who knows....

Quarantine Update

Today is Day 30 of Working From Home and Day 40 of Stay Home Order.

This break down is more for me than anything.

The week of March 9 was a busy week for work projects. I had a huge item on the Council agenda that I had been working on since December and was at City Hall on Tuesday and Thursday. The item was postponed for two weeks, and we had a game plan in place.

But then everything changed Thursday. Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19. Tom Hanks test positive. Trump had a crazy press conference. Austin had their first two positive cases. I worked from home that Friday - Friday the 13th no less - and Austin ISD cancelled classes.

I had gone grocery shopping earlier in the week and was pretty well stocked, but needed litter and cat food and decided I might as well get some groceries as well. When I went on Monday, the craziness hadn't hit Austin yet and everything was still stocked up well. Friday, though, was a madhouse. Empty shelves where there should be pasta, sauce, toilet paper, hand soap, vegetables. It was wild and a stark contrast from just a few days earlier.

That weekend was supposed to be the first weekend of SXSW, but it had been cancelled the week before. People were wanting to support local businesses in light of that. I had already bought a ticket to see Dazed and Confused at the Alamo Ritz Saturday afternoon. I wanted to do my part to support my favorite theater, but was torn about going out (we didn't have stay at home orders yet). I went to the viewing, and it was such a weird experience. The theater is on 6th Street, and on any normal Saturday, especially the one before St. Patrick's Day, it is crowded with people. While not completely dead, it had more people than I was expecting.

I got home after the show and immediately cancelled my ticket for Sunday to see Portrait of a Lady on Fire. That was the last time I went out for something that wasn't exercise or a trip to the grocery store.

All Sunday night my coworker and I were texting, wondering when the City Manager or our director would issue work from home direction. We were planning to start working from home anyway, but wanted leadership from our leaders. The email came late Sunday night.

I went into the office on Tuesday to get one of my monitors and a laptop to make working easier.

Stay Home-Work Safe Orders were issued, initially through the end of March, then extended to April 13, and now to May 8.

This is the sixth week of quarantine. Day 30 of work from home. Day 40 of staying home. Time doesn't really mean much, though. I looked at photos from that first week and I can barely remember it. Everything is muddled in my memory. I learned quickly that I needed to follow somewhat of a schedule - exercise, shower, put on mascara. And it worked pretty well for a good number of weeks.

Last week was rough though. I got out of a schedule. Didn't wash my hair for several days. Felt unmotivated during work hours. I know that staying home is important and I want to do my part to keep others safe.

But it's hard. Not always, but some days. Even with my cats as coworkers.