Today was a day of ups and downs. I suppose you can say it is a side-effect of the pandemic. To be honest, I have suffered these effects in the past. I have had a good handle on things over the past few years but the pandemic seems to have messed things up for me again.
Throughout the day I would find myself becoming sad or down for pretty much no reason at all. I would then start feeling happy, again for no reason.
I started to track these mood changes to see if a pattern was developing. It is now 21:42 and I can gladly say that the last down feeling was at 17:00! I have been listening to music since around 18:30 and chatting with a dear friend who lives in Korea.
I spent this evening listening to House music, then Korean ballads, then old skool Funk! I am listening to Funk as I write this.
I turned my Phillips Hue lighting to blue, got dressed up in blue clothing with a blue hat and started to dance. I then changed the lights to red and kept on dancing. I am now sitting here at one of several computers that I own.
Music does wonders for the soul. I love music and am sure music loves me. Here are some songs to enjoy:
Deja Vu – Larry Heard (House)
Apala New Skool – Qdot (Afrobeats, Apala)
Candy – Cameo (Funk)
지금이 아니면 – Taru (Korean Indie)
The above songs are available for your listening pleasure on music.youtube.com. Premium subscription is suggested if you are like me and hate listening to or viewing advertisements when trying to enjoy music.
Feel free to drop by https://www.traxsource.com and purchase your house music. Traxsource is the premier source for house music on the web.
These days I hear a lot of chatter about how we must adapt to this new way of life. It seems as though people are giving up and accepting this as our reality forever. I am holding onto hope that a vaccine will be found. I am looking forward to a day when we may return to living our real lives.
I would like to discuss what I am going to call the Three Ps: Post-Pandemic Plans. I pray and hope that our lives are not compromised for too much longer. Post pandemic, I would love to travel again. This is both a small and large world. There is more to our lovely planet than the place where we currently reside and work.
I plan to visit South Korea and Japan… no surprise to those who know me personally. I have many deep ties to those nations and have spent a considerable amount of time in each. I also plan to visit London, Paris, and perhaps Berlin. The most important place I plan to visit is West Africa.
Most of my multi-ethnic background can be traced to West Africa. This is a fast-growing region of 400-million people. Although I was born in Canada, my parents came from Jamaica. My ethnic make-up consists of Jewish (Iberian Peninsula), Arab (Syria/Lebanon), and West African (Akan, Igbo, Yoruba, Ewe, Efik).
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria Photo by Dr. Flynn from Pexels
I would also love to visit Spain and Portugal which exist on the Iberian Peninsula. I would also love to visit Syria once that nation stabilizes.
The West African ancestry in Jamaica is comprised of people from several ethnicities, the largest by far being Akan (Ghana) and Igbo (Nigeria). There are also Mandinka, Yoruba, Kongo, Fon, Ibibio, and others. Jamaican patois is comprised of several Akan and Igbo terms.
I love to watch Nollywood movies and have studied West African culture increasingly over the past few years. While I was in high school, I had studied Arab culture upon discovering that my Great-Grandmother was Arab. This past year I also did some research on Iberian Jewish history since my Grandfather was of Iberian Jewish ancestry.
Nigeria and Ghana have bustling entertainment industries. Both countries produce incredible music and entertaining film. The cuisine of West Africa is truly amazing. Jamaican cuisine has a lot in common with West African.
On my West African trip, I plan to spend time in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Warri Nigeria. I also plan to spend time in Accra, Takoradi, and Kumasi Ghana. Future trips will entail visits to Benin and Togo, two smaller nations situated between Ghana and Nigeria. Eventually I would like to visit all the nations in West Africa including Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Gambia, etc.
It would also be quite interesting to visit Sri Lanka in South Asia. I love their cuisine and have had nothing but positive experiences with Sri Lankan people in Toronto. I once went to a Sri Lankan wedding and was treated very warmly. Our group of eleven from work were the only non-Tamil people in a wedding party of 400 people! The bride is a friend from our office. She has taught me a lot about Sri Lanka and the Tamil people. They have a rich culture dating back thousands of years.
Sri Lanka is a lush, green, and beautiful nation which should be a vacation hot-spot. The tourism industry is growing now that political conflict seems to have subsided and the nation is building up its economy.
Speaking of weddings, I attended a wedding in South Korea where I was the only non-Korean person in the entire building! I had a great time and even posed for a photo on stage with the bride and groom and their friends. They took two photos on stage… one consisting of family members and another consiting of friends. I like to refer to the photo that I am in as my Where’s Waldo photo. I am the only non-Korean amongst of throng of 70 Koreans.
I am writing this while sitting on my balcony listening to Afrobeats from Nigeria, drinking Space Invader IPA beer from Toronto’s own Amsterdam Brewery, and looking at the sky wondering when air travel will pick up again. It really does feel strange not seeing airplanes flying overhead.
A couple of posts back, I mentioned that I missed certain things. I still miss them. There have been some changes in the province, but we are far from in the clear. Restaurants, cafes, and bars may now open patios. Patio seating is limited and must be reserved in advance.
I finally went out to one of my favorite establishments this past Sunday. After a couple of hours drinking beer and eating salad, I went home to prepare for work the next day.
All along I thought that I would enjoy going to a patio after months of isolation. I was wrong. The visit was a stark reminder of how grim life has become for a social being like myself.
I had to make a reservation the night before. Fortunately the manager is a good friend of mine. I made the reservation while casually chatting about our daily lives.
Since seating is limited, we are allowed 90 minutes to enjoy our table. At the end of the 90 minutes, I went to pay my bill and was told I may stay longer since the other table left early and the next booking for my table was going to be sent to the now-vacant table nearest mine.
I sat down and enjoyed some more beer. A few people from the neighbourhood walked by and stopped to chat. It was nice seeing those guys again.
I cannot escape feeling that the overall experience was not nice. The fact that the venue was empty due to restrictions had a huge impact on me. Since the patio is small, they are only allowed to have two tables. Indoor dining is not allowed, so all business asides from the two tables at the partio was takeout.
Having to keep 2m metres apart from my dear friend made me feel depressed. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been in contact almost daily. Now that her restaurant has opened the patio for service, I was able to visit but keep a safe distance.
I grew up in a very social environment. Our friends and family tend to be affectionate and physical via hugs, embrace, fist bump, chest bump, etc. To see my dear friends and not be able to get close to them hurts me to my core.
Another thing that makes going out to patios under these conditions an unhappy experience is the fact that one simply cannot chat with new people. How do you make new friends with people who you must keep far away from? In these pandemic days, it feels as if everyone is suspicious of everyone else.
As I walk down the street, or go to the grocery store, I cannot help but wonder if other people have the virus and are asymptomatic. This causes me to steer clear of random people. I find that other people tend to do the same. The whole experience is rather disturbing.
I do not plan to visit patios much if at all. The fun is no longer there.
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