Pandemic Journal, Day 694

We visited our lawyer to sign updated wills, powers of attorney, and health care advance directives today – I guess that must mean we’re grown-ups.

Beyond that, it was a quiet day – we fled the house this morning so our housecleaner could work without interruption, took a walk on the Los Gatos Creek Trail, shopped, failed to find pomegranate arils but eventually found a whole pomegranate, and watched some TV. I also had to adapt my “daily comics” program to work with changes that Comics Kingdom had made to their website – it was easy and now the program is shorter, which is always a good thing!

Three years ago, we were in Singapore, taking a full-day guided tour around the city. Our guide showed us places that had been used in Crazy Rich Asians, historic places like the former Ford factory where the British surrendered Singapore to the Japanese during World War II, beautiful views from high-rise public housing, and interesting places to explore later in our trip. We even visited an old haunt that had vanished from the Bay Area – but limited our consumption to a photo.

We did, however, have local ice cream a few hours later. :-)

Pandemic Journal, Day 693

When I was young, I didn’t always want to finish what was on my plate. Sometimes, my grandparents or my mother would try to guilt me into finishing by telling me that “children in Europe are starving”. I didn’t think whatever was left on my plate was going to help those children, so it wasn’t a very effective argument.

But even though it wasn’t an effective argument, it still rings through my head when I don’t finish something (unless there’s a plan to use it, of course). And I heard it clearly today.

I was on my own for lunch. I decided I wanted a burger and fries, and I wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t been in a while. I chose Gyros, Burgers, and More. When I got there, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted a gyro or a burger – but I saw the “Gyro Burger Plate” which included fries. A burger made with gyro meat sounded perfect, so I ordered it and brought it home.

Big mistake. And big is the word. When I unwrapped my purchase, I found a big burger, topped with a big stack of gyro meat, along with a generous portion of fries. It was good, but there was far too much of it for me – I think I ate half of the sandwich and a third of the fries before giving up.

At least I was able to put the remains in the compost container instead of the garbage.