LEFTBANKED.: 1 king west

4.10.2020

739. Recent Quarantined Life

I think now it has been 3-4 weeks since the quarantine started. At this point, the only stores open are grocery stores and pharmacies. Certain businesses like hardware stores and restaurants are offering curbside pick up or delivery (if they are even open - many are not). We are still allowed to go outside for walks but cannot be in groups of 5 (?) or more. I am still busy working and have gotten used to this life. I guess at least I am able to accomplish more while being at home all day. I am also saving more money and saving up to buy more stocks when the time is right.

I am worried about the effects of this on the economy though. I hope it will be a fast recovery and not years of another great depression. I feel grateful to still have my job and regular income for now. Back in 2008 during the previous recession, I was 18 and had just moved out on my own and started university. I studied Fashion Communications and was shopping a lot more than I am now. Being around all fashion students was encouraging for that. To be honest I wasn't even aware of the economy being in recession. One day I was in Louis Vuitton and there was a reporter there from National Post (if I remember correctly) and I got interviewed for the article. The story was about people who were still luxury shopping during the recession. It's funny when I think back on it now lol. I was still young and carefree with no responsibilities. At least not the same level as now.

I hope the situation will improve soon. I don't mind the day to day life of quarantine but I hope to be able to travel again soon. I am aware it will probably be a year or more until everything goes back to the way it was before. At least not until we have a vaccine made.

Here are some photos from the past few weeks:

A Coronavirus edition from Bloomberg Businessweek. It was super interesting and very informative. It was the first magazine I read entirely from cover to cover. I will keep it as a memory. It will be interesting to read about it again decades from now.

No seating areas anywhere in the PATH now

A few Starbucks are open but no seating either

I was so upset about this lol. One of my favourite grocery stores I frequently go

My lobby bar is closed. This was a few weeks ago - now all the chairs are gone

I am not even sure how many hotel guests we have now. I rarely cross paths with anyone when going in and out. It feels nice and peaceful though. We still have security and some staff members.

This is Going to Hurt - Adam KayI loooooved this book. I was excited to read it judging by the amazing reviews (click the link to see) and I was definitely not disappointed. I just finished it yesterday. It's actually really funny in some parts. I wish it was longer. I highly recommend it - especially in times like these to really appreciate all that frontline workers/doctors do.

Ordering dim sum for delivery from my favourite - Dynasty. Trying to support local Chinese restaurants. I hope they will be able to survive this. I feel many restaurants are going to be gone by the time places reopen again.

Dog walking around my area..completely deserted when normally it's packed with people (especially rush hour)

The New Farm by Brent PrestonHaven't finished this one yet but I love it so far. It's also pretty funny in certain parts. The author is from Toronto and moved a few hours out of the city to start a farm. I really like farms so I was interested in reading it, and it was a bonus that it's also based in Toronto.

Home project - resealing the bathtub. The part where it meets the tiles. I am not sure if there is a special name for that lol. The caulk we had doesn't work well so now I had to find and buy another one online (since hardware stores all closed just as I needed them!!)..and delivery is delayed. Hopefully it arrives soon. One thing I realized from this Coronavirus situation is that we may have taken everything for granted before - when everything just worked smoothly.

One of our rotating meals during quarantine - chicken pesto pasta. It's soooo delicious. We finally got it right with the pesto amount lol.

Grunt by Mary RoachI only read a bit of it so far but she is one of my favourite authors so I am sure I will love it. I am not sure how to give a brief description of the book but you can find it in the link! I accidentally got the large print edition of this.

One of the perks of living in a hotel! We got provided another suite (for a few hours) while the AC in ours was being worked on. Due to social distancing we were not allowed in there with the maintenance worker.

Looking down on King Street East...so empty.

& this is King Street West.

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1.15.2020

733. Christmas Part 3 & New Year's

Finally the first post of 2020! I haven't had much time to blog these days (or motivation) unfortunately as I've just relaxed during the holidays, then got quite busy with work after the new year. Also I've been in my reading phase so I've just been doing that a lot in my spare time. Here is what we did over Christmas and New Year's Eve. This was my building's NYE decorations. They always go pretty over-the-top with them but I love it! (The bottom part of my building used to be a bank many years ago (the headquarters of TD) so that's why we have a vault downstairs). The first year I moved in here, I celebrated NYE in my lobby. I remember that was quite an eventful night as there was a shooting at the party in the vault (I think it was 2-3 shots fired and nobody got hurt though). I didn't see it happen as I was in the lobby but I did see the guy run out with a gun.