Burning the Dawn Oil
It's 5:55 AM here, and I'm not particularly tired. I plan to go to sleep in about 2 hours.
Why? Because I'm in Poland, with my wife, Ras!
This Glitchet will mostly be a personal update.
Pandemic air travel
Traveling through the airport in the middle of the pandemic was perhaps one of the most existentially dreadful (in the true, "dreading" sense of the word) activities I've undertaken so far, a damn-it-all-or-be-damned, no-way-around-it venture to spend a dear, darling three months with my beloved.
I made every logistical, practical, magical, and divinatory preparation I could to make sure that this trip went off without a hitch (except for not wearing the face shield I purchased because wearing one for 9 hours ended up seeming far too daunting--and ... "silly" ...--despite it being precisely the time I should wear it). Thus far, about 3 days in and no sign of symptoms, but the trip was nonetheless harrying.
Usually I try to sleep-starve myself in order to sleep on a redeye, but between the man on my left who repeatedly took off his mask and was subsequently harangued by the flight attendants and for some reason expected me to know how to change the language on his seat-embedded entertainment TV screen and the ever-uncomfortable 787 economy class seating, I slept perhaps 4 hours through the entire flight. My only saving grace was a free Audible copy of the second Dexter book, in which I could listen to the narrator's sardonic and gravelly take on my favorite fictional psychopath.
![](https://i.imgur.com/uczyZx1.jpg")
Nonetheless, I arrived safely, exhausted but happy, and hopped the big hurdle: proving to the EU passport control that I was legally allowed into the country because I am married to a Polish national. The German border guard said "perfect" upon looking at my documents, and I breathed a sigh of relief; just a 1.5h flight and smooth sailing from there. 3 days in and no evidence of COVID-19 symptoms yet; breath held, batedly.
Some other bulleted miscellanea:
- O'Hare airport's brontosaurus had a cute mask on
- Eating in an airport is a complicated affair, involving finding a space a safe distance away from families and their plague children, unmasking, eating, and then promptly remasking. In the plane, there is no escape.
- Transiting internationally to the EU generally requires a PLF or "Passenger Locator Form" for contact tracing if you show up positive
- Ras and I agreed to wait until I got to her place and showered before touching, with added a nice touch of surrealism and "oh, well, hi!" to our meeting
- Overall, people were very kind to me, including the check-in attendant who booked me an earlier flight since I arrived so early
Day 21 Shenanigans, Kurtis Peskleway
Home
While I'm very early in my stay with Ras, there's a distinct difference between merely cohabitating with a partner versus having to live in the same space, doubled down by fresh marriage. Almost immediately, we both seem to have adapted from "Ras' stuff" to "our stuff", and I find myself suddenly invested in the care and maintenance of our space, even though it's technically hers.
Also being hours off, I'm still figuring out my schedule here, adjusting to the new sensation of straddling two timezones for professional purposes despite the only thing I really care about at the moment being right here, asleep down the hall while I push and push and push to burn the dawn oil.
More cogent thoughts next week. This week, I'm only a bundle of time-experience contradictions, jet lag, and love.
Some links
Nortosce: the Italian town where just two people live, but wear masks | CNN
They're the sole inhabitants of Nortosce, but Giovanni Carilli and Giampiero Nobil aren't taking any chances when it comes to upholding Italy's strict Covid-19 rules.
