NAMI Walk this year

Hi everyone, I hope you are getting through the coronavirus okay.  I hope they do a rent freeze soon. That does not mean I do not care about real estate people but I think that is the thing that would also benefit them whereas most other solutions would cost people more unevenly.

I am signed up to do the NAMI walk this year for the first time, so if anyone wants to donate to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, I have a donation page posted:

NAMI Walk Fundraising Page 

I have been participating in support groups through NAMI for several months after years of just knowing about that organization through more of a distance.  One year I was going to do the walk on a team called the Bipolar Bipeds, which I think is pretty funny.  But I have not really participated until this year. The team I am on is called Connection Care.

It is kind of a hard time to donate, but to me it helps a lot with getting through the coronavirus experience to do some things that I know have helped other people. It makes me feel better to think of people having food because of me, or being able to get mental health support like the NAMI helpline or support groups.

Something interesting about NAMI is at the groups I feel a certain kind of mental health that also includes people's mental illness itself.  Like you are allowed to be mentally ill, and then the health and comfort you achieve is within that context instead of some form of relief at the cost of your life participation or some kind of pretending to not have mental illness.  Anyway, their theme this year for the walk is "Mental Health for All," and I hope anyone who wants to be included with NAMI's mission will be able to in some way.

kind of like cola wars but handing out cans of soup

Well everyone, I hope you are doing okay. I have been doing some chores and volunteering and still trying to figure out how to have the right amount of groceries.  Today I went and helped some soldiers from the army pass out food in the Bronx.  I told them that they should change their camo to this:

Quarantine Activities

  Well hi everyone, I hope you all are doing okay. Some people are not doing okay right now, and it is good to keep them all in our thoughts and prayers.  I personally got discouraged yesterday after not succeeding at a boiled custard recipe, so I can only guess how exhausted grocery store workers feel and people who are sick right now and need medical care.

    I have some masks finally and think I will soon volunteer again at a food place starting next Wednesday. I think that is definitely all I can offer, and I am determined to not chicken out and refuse to do my part in helping people have groceries.

     I am okay on groceries myself and might be able to wait until next Monday to go to the grocery store. Has anyone gotten a check yet from the government? It is hard to tell how the timing is working out on that.  But for me it helps to know the cash is on the way. With this kind of delay, the schedule probably could have been staggered instead and used to prevent a rush on stores and a new wave of hospitalizations.  But I guess we don’t know what will happen. It is great to see signs of the hospitalizations flattening out, and all the work people did to make that happen is a great thing to be thankful for.

    I am working on a poetry book and almost posted it on Easter. But I decided to wait and keep adding to it while I am quarantined.  Should I call myself quarantined when I am not sick?  I do not know if avoiding the illness itself is the same thing as preventing contagion personally. Maybe it is with this illness because of how people can supposedly have it and not know it.

     Anyway, here is a picture of my book cover. It will soon be posted with my other books on smashwords, including my recent short novel called Pizza Novel, which is a kids book about imaginary mice, leaks in the abyss, and cookies.

Grocery Store Eve

     Well everyone, today is Thursday night.  It is grocery store eve, which is an exciting holiday for me. I have not left my apartment in two weeks and tomorrow I am going to try to go get some milk and eggs and a few other things from the grocery store.  One thing I am going to try to get is vanilla ice cream to use instead of milk for coffee when I run out of milk.  I think I am going to try to stay in my apartment for a whole month after this trip to the store.  I signed up for some volunteer work to help people have groceries, but I think I am instead going to try to avoid getting the virus. I think that I am actually at a pretty high risk for having trouble if I do get the virus, and I should do the best I can to stay alive.
    Tonight I played Scattergories over Skype with one of my friends from Greenville which is my hometown. It was pretty fun and I told her something funny which is that I have been so focused on groceries that whenever I think about getting the virus and going to heaven, one of my main thoughts is hoping they have the same groceries there that we have here.  I think that is kind of funny that I would mainly be wanting certain brands of packaged goods like Campbells soup instead of caring about other things in heaven like having sanity again or seeing loved ones or missing people. But I do like food a lot and I like grocery stores, and I think a lot of people will want some of the same blessings from earth in heaven. It could be kind of comical.
     Anyway I finished the third book of my imaginary mice trilogy this week and feel mostly excited about it.  I think it turned out pretty funny and all the rodents in my apartment are excited about it, too.  Well have a great day everyone. Hopefully I will be able to pray some more soon for all the hospital people and anyone who needs food.