The Corona Chronicles - They've Come To Save Us, The Space Invaders

What's this? A followup post to an entry made over three years ago?!

An empty WalMart aisle; ignoring one odd stack of plates

That's right - another natural disaster has fallen upon us; this time not a hurricane, but a horrible, world-spanning sickness! Coronavirus - How nice.

International travel has been barred, supplies are running out fast, and people - broadly speaking - seem to be driving directly into a wall of panic; perhaps rightfully so. As stated in my last "chronicle", I'm a bit of a "don't believe it until you see it" type when it comes to mass chaos. I've seen enough world-ending disasters tumble by to grow totally unphased by yet another black death. Anyone remember Swine Flu?

Occam's Ashes' "PigBus"

Still, as I mentioned, there might be a bit of legitimacy to this round of hysteria. Enough mass gatherings and everyday services have cancelled to the point where the American economy is taking a serious hit; many workers being left empty-handed, jobs being forced to close due to government mandates hoping to keep the public as safe as possible. Even my job, a shipping gig Bealls Outlet, seems to be taking a hit; with only one very sparsely packed truck coming in this week, rather than the usual two or three.

My friend and co-worker, Chica, texted me this morning imploring that I ought to call off of work, as she has done out of fear of the virus - herself being extremely susceptible, being of an older age, and very sensitive to allergens as minor as mold or dust. I don't plan on skipping, but I can hardly blame her for choosing the safer route. I'm betting on my own youth to keep me safe - but I'm also a bit wary of potentially contracting something that doesn't affect me, but does affect others.

Who knows - no good in being paranoid. Better to keep rolling in the dough, if you ask me; especially as a near-twenty-something who's not exactly all that unhealthy.

Allegedly.

That said, though, not much has particularly affected me. I'm still coasting along my odd, dreary life - bouncing between drawing, writing, and haunting around the local soon-to-be-gone Macy's.

It's interesting how the slow decline of Macy's has closely paralleled not only the concluding days of my authoring of Fate, but also the end of my life in Florida; the store's dwindling shelves and disappearing furnishings mirroring my fading regard for what many experiences I've gathered here; from long-lost friends, to sullen experiences, to sights and sounds of days passed. MidLife itself retells my life as an unwilling Floridian - unbelievably fitting that it finally reaches birth as I prepare to abandon the state in which it was conceived. Things always make sense in hindsight; as I've always strongly believed, everything happens for a reason.

Only seven days left until the store finally closes it's doors. I've only bought one thing thus far... a clipboard. Hey, I needed one anyways! I really wanted to buy one of the huge fiberglass leaves taken from the store's pillars-turned-palm trees, but sadly, I don't think it'd be all that worth it when I'm weeks from a nation-crossing move. Still, very neat pieces of obscure history. Guess that shows what'll happen to the store's huge entry display, itself a sized-up version of the aforementioned palm trees.

There really isn't much else of interest, unfortunately. Loads of branded shelves, some random brand iconography, but nothing all that unique. Even the clothes themselves aren't that enticing - I think the core crowd, as of now, are just above the thrift store types. A little too proud for Goodwill, but not quite above Ross. In other words, the Bealls Outlet society.


Surprisingly the store, as well as the attached mall itself, isn't all that quiet in the midst of the Corona scare; probably because we all have little else to do, bored out of our minds without work, school, or any other viable time wasters. Odd time to be alive, isn't it?

Also, I drove by the seemingly abandoned "chocolate factory" I discovered a few posts back, only to discover it is finally back in business! Glad to see things are going well.