JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

“Enhanced Community Quarantine” has been extended until May 15. Not a surprise—the news has been on the grapevine so long, it’s raisins now. Mmm, don’t think about raisin M&Ms.

I hadn’t been sleeping well since Tuesday—could be the extreme heat, could be anxiety leaking through my defensive wall of schedules, chores, and writing. I would say it’s normal to be anxious, but that would mean acknowledging that there is such a thing as “normal”. If there is, would I want to be it?

Smithsonian Magazine says extra vivid dreams are…normal in the current situation, as your unconscious tries to process your anxieties and digs deeper into your memories for material. Except for a few images, I don’t remember my dreams at all, and I don’t think I want to. Let my unconscious do all the work, there’s enough crazy in waking life. I do envy my friends who have dreams that are basically David Lynch movies. Which reminds me: time to watch Twin Peaks.

Without my 8-9 hours of sleep every night plus 40-minute nap in the afternoon, I feel out of sorts and spend the whole day planning to go to sleep. Last night I went to bed at 11, fell asleep at 12, and woke up 9ish to the news of more lockdown. Ah well. I agree that it’s the correct decision, I don’t have to be happy about it. I’m not even unhappy, just…blank.

I decided to go back to bed and sleep the whole day off, but the cats gave me guilt-trip eyes. I got up, opened a can for my feline overlords, then went back to bed. Then my inner drill sergeant started barking at me to do my chores. I ignored it for ten minutes, then I got up and made coffee.

Spontaneity doesn’t work for me right now. Routine gives me a sense of control while everything is beyond my control. I negotiated with myself: Do your chores, and then you can spend the day in bed, reading and watching TV. So I did my chores, then I made lunch. I ordered 4 kilos of leafy green vegetables online that were delivered on Sunday, and now there are just 2 kilos left. Holy crap, I’ve eaten 2 kilos of greens in 5 days, my systems may go into shock from healthy eating.

While not sleeping, I watched the new Apple TV limited series Defending Jacob on my phone. I’ll watch anything with Chris Evans in it. Chris Evans has played a lawyer before—in Puncture, where his fine acting had to compete with his appearance as a very muscular junkie. There, at least, was some element of surprise. There are no surprises in the first two episodes of Defending Jacob, where he plays a lawyer/dad who is…defending Jacob (his son). The series is as sleek and handsome as Apple product, which it is, and is a showcase for. (I could not take screenshots of a Macbook whose logo was covered by…a bowl of apples.) You can see the plot turns coming like a new iPhone announcement. Maybe it’ll pick up in the next episodes. Evans is an underrated actor, the emotional fulcrum of the MCU. We saw him having fun as a dastardly rich brat in Knives Out, and hopefully he’ll be the psychotic dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. Defending Jacob is not fun. Morten Tyldum’s Danish movie Headhunters is fun, but his English movies are not. They are too busy being prestigious.

Also starring Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Jaeden Martell (Young Bill from It) and the brilliant Betty Gabriel who played the maid in Get Out who could do wildly conflicting emotions in the same facial expression.

Richard said one of his first thoughts when waking up is what time he will listen to Fiona Apple’s new album. It is perfect for this quarantine. She recorded it at home, and her dogs are on it.