In The Time of Covid-19

When you get home after shopping for essential items (still no toilet paper - what the hell, Australia!) and greet fellow house occupiers (human or otherwise) with a smile and a wave and a 1.5 metre distance and you thoroughly wash your hands (with an extra chorus of "Happy Birthday", just to be sure) and then you can FINALLY touch that spot on your face that's been needing to be touched for the last 4 hours,

Walking through sparsely peopled shopping centres and worrying (or hoping) that you've been transported into classic zombie horror film Dawn of the Dead,

Being a high level introvert and not noticing too much difference between social isolation and normal life,

Being an introvert and feeling sympathy for extrovert humans who are more likely to struggle without the in-the-flesh social contact lifestyle - the internet is invaluable during this crisis but it's not a total replacement for 'actual' human contact, even for introverts,

Experiencing alarm that people are being told to wash hands after going to the bathroom - WASN'T THIS ALREADY HAPPENING?!?!,

Not feeling guilty for spending so much time playing video games - surely, in this extended time of having to stay home, passing copious hours lost in the worlds of Resident Evil or Tomb Raider is justified,

Wishing journalists and politicians would consult a thesaurus and find alternative words for 'unprecedented',

For example: extraordinary/unparalleled/unimaginable/freakish/novel/unique/holy guacamole,

Admitting that 'unprecedented' is probably the best adjective to describe this global pandemic.

The Hideous Tentacled Slime Beast

A recent, and mercifully short-lived, bout of existential loneliness seems to have been effectively curtailed. The soothing salves included port, marshmallows, tea, video games (Tomb Raider 3 and Silent Hill), sleep (replete with freaky dreams), and watching Slow TV (The Ghan: Australia's Greatest Train Journey).

Obviously, being afflicted with the malaise known as 'the human condition' - a condition which affects an overwhelming number of people - means that there is always the threat of existential loneliness (aka The Hideous Tentacled Slime Beast) brewing somewhere below the nebulous place known as 'the surface'. However, I find that as the years move inextricably by, and the sands of time slowly swallow and digest me (with their gritty grains that frequently get caught in painful and hard to reach places), it becomes easier to subdue (and, possibly, vanquish) The Hideous Tentacled Slime Beast.

Not that The Hideous Tentacled Slime Beast serves no purpose, and thus needs to be entirely obliterated from the human world. The presence of The Hideous Beast in the human psyche, with its seeping slime and its terrifying tentacles, seems to provide some kind of motivation; though the configurations this motivation takes can be myriad and obscure, and often with a tendency for destruction rather than construction.

Gruelling Television Watching Schedule (aka Too Many Shows)

Weekly TV watching:
Sunday night, 7:40; Dr Who
Monday night, 7:30; Dr Who (repeat)
Monday night, 9:30; American Horror Story - Hotel
Wednesday Night, 9:30; Fargo
Ongoing; repeats of Star Wars films (I-VI) - in preparation for Star Wars VII (in December)
Ongoing; News
Ongoing; documentaries of interest (ABC or SBS)
Ongoing; MovieMayhem films of interest (SBS)

Also, I am currently crocheting a blanket, sewing a pair of 'peggings' (pants + leggings), watching a stack of dvds, reading some books, and, in honour of the new release Tomb Raider game (Rise of the Tomb Raider), I'm replaying Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelation.

These 'activities' require a lot of time sitting on my couch. Ms Willow Pussycat is very happy about my extended couch time, which equates to much lap time for her, however, my circulation and overall fitness is less enthusiastic. Also, American Horror Story and Fargo are really quite batshit crazy/psychotically disturbing - I worry that maybe watching both at the same time isn't the best thing for my delicate psyche. Or maybe it's just what my psyche needs...

Seeking Solace in Tomb Raider

(So, kind of a rollicking, wild ride solace)

(Also, since I possess only playstation 1,  I've been solacing in old Tomb Raider - none of this new fangled, realistically rendered graphics technology for me; the tombs I'm raiding are polygon shaped)

I have much awe for Lara Croft (legendary adventurer and artefact collector of the Tomb Raider series); her unwavering, energetic devotion to the exploration of interesting and striking - and frequently dangerous - locations. (Also, unexpectedly dangerous - gorillas in the Monastery!). She never falters in the face of imminent death, probably due to her uncanny ability to re-animate from expiration after undergoing the mysterious process known as 'reload game'. She has incredible strength, stamina and gravity-defying gymnastics. I have never heard her use potty language, even when she catches on fire. And she has steely attitude.

(However, despite her almost supernatural capacity for maintaining grace under fire, Lara's serenity does, at times, elude her. She can be inclined to unceremonious bumping into walls, accompanied by guttural grunting, and she will let out blood-curdling screams whenever she (mostly) unintentionally plummets into cavernous depths and ravines. And when she's swimming, she has a tendency to position her bottom so it fills, and thus obscures, the screen.)

But I had not realized (until about a month ago) just how much these atmospheric games offer escapist comfort. (Comfort levels which are greatly increased by having cheat codes that allow unlimited ammo and health - though these won't save Lara when her enemy is a tricky set of jumps over cavernous depths and ravines; only incredible skill on the part of the console controller can do that).

I've found a Happy Place at Tomb Raider. An inner calm. I (as Lara) can wander Zen-like through snowy Tibet, searching for the Ice Palace (whilst carefully avoiding massive rolling snowballs, snow leopards and, of course, yeti). Or I can dive down to the bottom of the ocean and explore the tranquil metal-blue of the Wreck of the Maria Doria. There are also shadowy, not-quite-terrestrial worlds to encounter. And, most importantly, I can roam the ethereal ancient sands of Earth's caves and tombs, from Egypt to Peru.

And if anything or anyone gets in my way, I can blast them to the gods with my grenade pistol!

Here is a Flying Swordsman getting in my way on the magical Floating Islands (Tomb Raider 2):

And here are pieces of the Flying Swordsman after experiencing the 'magic' of my grenade pistol (note his disembodied sword at top of screen):