#pandemic lockdown

[rafagomo]

Media Stunts Against Administrative Neglect

What can a couple of architects do when three flats in their building have been squatted for two years by a gang of thieves and drug dealers whose business activity continues unabated even during a pandemic? What can be done about administrative neglect that effectively provides impunity to delinquent activity, and that moreover aggravates the current public health emergency? Doesn’t Lefebvre’s…

[magicalgirlcupid]

Random Poll time:

For people who graduated in 2020, high school or college (I think it could apply to college kids).

Do you ever have dreams about your diploma revoked because of lockdown? Like you got to go back and redo senior year years later.

Plz reblog for larger survey sample

[shesnake]

the problem with mainstream fictional media today is it is predominantly made for people who don't like fictional media all that much

[bloodydeanwinchester]

i can’t believe how much more insane this election year is already turning out to be compared to 2020. i fear the destiel girlies wont survive it

[most-normal-eccles-cake-ignorer]

Good Omens: Lockdown and Crowley not mentioning his living situation in S2*

*till S2E6 when he asks if he can have his apartment back bc he's bored of living in his car but Aziraphale doesn’t hear bc mentally he’s in Alpha Centauri.

Having read the 'Crowley doesn't tell him' Neil Gaiman ask close to when I first listened to Lockdown (I lived under a rock until recently), my initial thought was HAS HE BEEN LIVING IN HIS CAR FOR YEARS?! but I think he was still in his apartment in 2020:

as far as Hell knows, Crowley just had a pool party in holy water (the holiest) so the higher-ups are probably willing to give him some space (plus Beelzebub is busy going on pub dates w Gabriel)

while there should be ~8 months between the end of Season 1 events (The Very First Day of the Rest of Their Lives on Sunday, Aug 25, 2019) and the Lockdown phonecall (on or near the 30 year anniversary on May 1, 2020), I can't imagine that's a very long time for Hell, especially if you're understaffed and busy dealing with fallout from Almostgeddon / going on pub dates

Shax dropping off mail and asking about the boiler seems like something one does in the first few months of living somewhere, not ~3 years in (if S2 is in 2023)

That said, I think the phone call underlines why Crowley never directly tells Aziraphale that he is living in the Bentley in S2, and it's just a great conversation (all hail Gaiman) sooo I wrote about it:

***Note: This post analyzes the Lockdown phonecall from Crowley's perspective only. Our heroine is feeling quite emotionally vulnerable at this point in time so things are going to hit him harder than they normally would.

I do not think Aziraphale meant to cause him pain (!!) but Crowley can't see that yet and I've written this post in a way that reflects that missing insight. (I explain in more detail in this reblog if you are interested) I am working on a companion post for Aziraphale's side of this conversation and how I think it affects his behavior in S2 because if we know anything about these two, it's that their exactlys are different exactlys.***

Crowley’s habit of sleeping to skip time like an RPG character by a campfire amuses me to no end, but in this context it feels heavy. Crowley already worries about losing time with what he loves and he probably hoped things would be different between him and Aziraphale after the events of S1. But things don’t change much. Then lockdowns start, and Crowley is trapped in his apartment alone, transcendentally bored, and unable to make his brain shut up. Sleeping a month away starts to sound less awful.

But Crowley hasn’t given up yet; he’s still awake when Aziraphale calls, and he’s even giving it two more days. Was he waiting for Aziraphale to call? Is it even possible not to at least kind of wait for someone’s call when you are cut off from everything and the caller has been your only friend and crush for millennia?

Aziraphale asks why Crowley isn't "out and about" tempting people or setting a bad example and he responds:

C: Everyone's so miserable and cooped up right now anyway, and I just… well… don't have the heart for it. A: *glowing audibly* I'm not miserable~ C: Really?

Crowley sounds genuinely surprised at Aziraphale's happiness and quickly assumes it's because the angel has been around people. He's so lonely/depressed/in his own head that he hadn't even considered someone enjoying being 'cooped up'. *sob*

Aziraphale goes No actually I put the closed sign up in the window and I'm having the Time of My Life, never had so few customers, not in 200 years!, etc. Although, he says:

A: …There were a few young lads a couple of nights ago who broke in through the back and tried to steal the cashbox! But they soon saw the error of their ways~ C: *clearly amused* Did you smite them with your wroth? A: Well I certainly gave them a good talking to, and I sent each of them home with cake~ C: *annoyed, swooning* Cake? A: Quite a lot of cake, actually. C: *physically ill from having such a giant crush on this dumbass baker/security guard* eeeekkkgghhh I'm gonna regret asking but.. ...rrgh.. *30 seconds of Aziraphale joyfully describing his baking while Crowley probably tries very hard not to imagine the angel eating each item in sensual slow motion* I stg you can hear him struggling in the background once or twice

A: …And once I've baked them, I have to eat them all myself, which was why I was so delighted— C: To send your burglars home laden with baked goods, yes, nnyeaayeah I follow…

Crowley interrupts, finishing Aziraphale's sentence in his nervous hurry to say the next bit:

C: *loud inhale* You know, I could.. hunker down at your place. … Slither over and watch you eat cake. I could bring a bottle--a case of… something… drinkable…?

He's trying to sound so casual about it but this is someone who was rejected/abandoned by actual literal God after asking what he thought were welcome, uncontroversial questions. Asking makes him vulnerable. He's supposed to be the rescuer, not a demon in distress. He does not feel casual about asking.

Crowley knows it's unlikely but he's so miserable and desperate for company that he can't help but ask, just in case. Even the smallest chance of spending time trapped indoors with Aziraphale—with nothing to do but drink, watch him eat, and talk about things they'd normally avoid—is too tempting.

A: *panicking* Oh I— I— I— I— I'm afraid that would be Breaking All The Rules! *nervous breathing* Out of the question! I'll see you… when this is over. C: Right. gnnehh. I'm setting the alarm clock for July. Good night, angel. *dial tone*

And just like that, Crowley doesn't need two days to decide. The depression nap doubles in length. He doesn't hear how badly Aziraphale wants to say yes behind the fear, or maybe he does and it hurts worse because why isn't Crowley enough for him? You can almost hear the spiralling:

SHOCKING, asking made it worse. It always does doesn’t it? Why even bother? you just embarrass yourself.. SLITHER over? why did I say that *grumble grumble* of COURSE His Holy Holiness, your only friend in the universe, would rather eat cake by himself while everything goes to shit than ~deign~ to have you in his presence. "AsK aND yE sHaLl ReCeIvE" bugger this for a lark im going to bed

(a bit dramatic but we've all been there)

I imagine sleep doesn't come right away. Maybe his thoughts drift to when he sat beside the angel at a dark Tadfield bus stop after a rather eventful Saturday. Crowley must've felt a tiny bit hopeful when he invited Aziraphale to stay with him: Heaven had withdrawn its favor and the bookshop was gone; Aziraphale was like him now. Didn't that mean things would change?

"I don't think my side would like that." Apparently not.

In the end, Aziraphale did ride the bus back to Crowley's apartment and stayed till the next morning when he caught a cab, but only to sell the illusion. Crowley understood that as far as sides went, the angel was still on Heaven's, even if Heaven wasn't on his.

And now this: the entire world is shut down; there is nothing for Aziraphale to do but stay in and read and bake in his magically reconstituted bookshop and he still won't invite Crowley in. Burglars and un-fallen angels only—nobody who asks questions.

So... of course Crowley doesn't tell Aziraphale when he loses his apartment. He already knows what answer he would get; the angel has told him so many times. Aziraphale is a company man first, a companion to one very sad owl when convenient.

If Crowley works up the courage to say 'please take me in, I have nowhere else to go' and Aziraphale goes 'sorry, no, far too political, but I WILL risk being erased from the Book of Life to protect this nude amnesiac former coworker who always hated me,' it's going to be too much. You can't sleep long enough for that type of hurt to go away. Better not to say anything.

"Then nothing has to change, does it?"

[bsptourist]

ttt_snowed_in

created by lennrrrd

[wangxianficrecs]

looking through a window by glitteringmoonlight

looking through a window

by glitteringmoonlight (@glitteringmoonlight)

T, 5k, Wangxian

Summary: Everything about Professor Lan, from the way he speaks, thoughtful and poignant and never loud— like he was saying I will not raise my voice. If you want to learn, pay attention. It was one hell of a power move, in Hao Mei’s opinion— to the way he dresses, to the way even his gestures have a subtle elegance to them, scream that he is as meticulous as they come. Which is why it comes as such a shock to Hao Mei when someone in booty shorts appears in the background of Professor Lan’s video. In which Professor Lan's students try to figure out exactly who that person who appears in his video is Kay's comments: Despite this taking place during ... THE PANDEMIC ... it didn't cause feelings of horror in me and I could really appreciate how soft this was. I really enjoyed the POV outsider on Wangxian and the perspective of the students trying to figure out who their professor's hot roommate was. I wish my online classes had been this fun during ... THE PANDEMIC ... but alas, I already knew who my professor was dating. Excerpt: The class had progressed past the halfway point with no incidents— not even one person accidentally unmuting themselves and allowing their ambient environment noises to interrupt Professor Lan’s lectures until they either figured it out themselves or Professor Lan pointed it out. That all changed, however, when someone walked into Professor Lan’s background. Hao Mei has to blink and take a few seconds to register that there is a person in Professor Lan’s background, a very tall person dressed in black booty shorts— very tight booty shorts at that— and a bright red tank top— the exact opposite of the neutral, faded colour palette Professor Lan favours— hair pulled up in a messy bun, and one fairly muscular arm absolutely covered in tattoos. The very antithesis of Professor Lan’s entire being. The person walks past Professor Lan, not even looking in the direction of his laptop, and grabs a book from his bookshelf before leaving, not making a single sound in all that time. Professor Lan also makes no acknowledgement of the fact that another person had just walked into his room and grabbed one of his belongings and had left without saying a word. Hao Mei wasn’t sure she hadn’t imagined the person.

pov outsider on lan wangji/wei wuxian, modern setting, modern no powers, college/university, professor lan wangji, married lan wangji/wei wuxian, soft lan wangji/wei wuxian, fluff and humor, covid-19 pandemic, covid-19 lockdown, online classes

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[susanoos-wife]

Story of my life.

Not everything is covid but the way people will pretend that nothing bad is ever related to covid or caused by covid is such a bizarre and perplexing phenomenon that I can't wrap my head around it at all.

[treibholz-des-universums]

going on a 9h+ train ride all bc i decided to watch some tv with my parents in april 2020

[chubbychiquita]

Oh my God, you are helping raise foster cats? Pls explain in depth

yes!!!!!!!! i grew up w 8 cats and my "if i had a million dollars" dream has always been buying a lot of land w a barn to turn into a feral/stray cat sanctuary. luckily content creation has been treating me well and i've been able to rent a place w an extra room that i've been using to foster cats! first were cotton, poof, and bagheera from the humane society but i just signed up w a smaller shelter to help with longer term medical cases!!

[columboscreens]

[aimseytv]

[shop5]

You know those innocent notes you find in video games that are dated a just before the disaster - I have those in real life and they're these two random status' from 1.27.2020

[diy-fire-water-pups]

Have you pups ever taken ancestry tests before or looked at historical records? If so, do you pups have relatives or old family members from different countries?

I don't remember much of it, but I was born in a puppy mill... So I probably don't have historical records at all. Things must have been absurdly chaotic there.

I don't even know what breeds are part of my mix. My mother was mixed too and she was a stray, so I don't think I have this kinda stuff either.

I know my father is a Dalmatian from Australia, he spent a few weeks on vacations with his owners at my mom's town and that's how they met. I have no idea about his family tree, though. We didn't get to meet him, only pictures.

[uncanny-tranny]

By implying that children are too stupid and rude to learn about the world and learn how the world works and how to interact with others, you are casting responsibility away from the people who are responsible for that child's upbringing and placing the blame on the children (who don't have the autonomy given to them to be allowed to decide what they want) who can't help what they do and do not learn, often.

If the children aren't okay, then investigate why before turning to thought-terminating clichés of, "Well, the kids are just stupid and dumb and aren't even worth the effort because they're lazy!"

[sjofn-lofnsdottr]

sick again :)))))))

Most people who dread the holidays have important reasons to do so, meanwhile I dread them entirely because my immune system hates when I come into contact with more than two people at once.