HOW THE CORONAVIRUS HAS CHANGED MY LIFE

If you are a regular to this blog site, I'm the guy who just went on a two-week trip to Thailand, with plane changes in Tokyo, and was about the only person not wearing one of those masks.  First, they're uncomfortable, but two, I think the pandemic is the media.  

Yes, COVID-19 shows potential for being more serious than the Swine Flu of 2009, where the H1N1 virus supposedly killed 203,000 people world wide.  But coronavirus deaths so far are only up to 5400, with China significantly declining. The reality is that after all this is largely over, I think most likely in May, the total number of world deaths will be far less than road kill of a week (3700/day, plus, the cost of injuries amount to $518 billion/year).

Here are the latest available data from the World Health Organization (TC=total cases, ND=new deaths from yesterday, TD=total deaths):

                         World                          China                        Italy                      USA                      

               TC       ND     TD        TC       ND     TD       TC      ND   TD      TC     ND  TD

M11  118319     280   4292     80924     22    3162     9172      97   463      472      6    25
M12  125260    321    4613     80981     11    3173   12462    196   827      987      4    29

M13  132758    342    4955     80991      7    3180    15113    189 1016    1264      7    36
M14  142539    438    5393     81021    14    3194    17660    252 1268    1678      5    41
M15  153517    343    5735    81048     10    3204    21157    173 1441    2815    18    59

The U.S. figures were not included in the WHO report for March 15.  This came from the New York Times.  The drop in deaths for Italy is a promising sign.  Incidentally, the CDC reports that there have been 22,000 deaths from the seasonal flu, just in the U.S.  Most of these flu cases were due to the H1N1 virus.

Processing all the above, considering my age, I've decided to shut myself down for now.  I don't go to movies anymore.  Restaurants?  Nope.  I did golf this past Friday, and walked 18 holes.  So I rewarded my body by stopping by Tamashiro's to purchase a Dungeness Crab and a pound of Chu-Toro, plus some ogo (seaweed).

I'm allergic to crustaceans, but not so for lobsters, crab and shrimp if they are alive when cooked.  Rather than an allergen or toxin in the flesh, my sense is that histamines form when decomposition occurs, and my body reacts to them.  With age, symptoms seem to be decreasing.

I started with what looks like a 17-year old Ballantine's on rocks with my bath.  Actually, that bottle is probably 25 years old, so the scotch must have been 42 years old.

The meal:

I was told that Yamasa is the best brand for sashimi.  I added a Mickey's Beer and sake with gold-flakes:

I ate the whole thing.

Then came the evening, and I would have watched the University of Hawaii baseball team playing Chicago State.  However, there are no live sports anymore.

I remember recording on PBS the Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers performance at the Ford Theater, with a rather tiny (for 2015) crowd of 1200.  Wow, are they old.  They first appeared when I graduated from college, in 1962.  Mick Jagger is 77, and a Sir.

That album Sticky Fingers was released in 1971, and they started with a 4 min 19 sec version of Start Me Up.

Of course, they left the stage...but returned and closed with a 5-minute Jumping Jack Flash.  Energized, I thought it would be cool to watch an old film entitled Jumping Jack Flash.  Rotten Tomatoes hated that 1985 film, giving 29%/58% ratings.  It was directed by Penny Marshall, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Carol Kane, Jon Lovitz, Jonathan Pryce, Jim Belushi, Tracey Ullman, Phil Hartman and Gary Marshall.

But how do I get it?  Went to Netflix and Amazon Prime.  Nothing.  Tried Roku, and it led me to RedBox.com.  Never heard of it.  They're the company that have kiosks in supermarkets, and ended Blockbuster's reign.  In 2017 RedBox turned to streaming on demand with 6,000 titles for rent from $1.99 to more than $6.  It took me half an hour to figure out how this worked, but I eventually was able to access Jumping Jack Flash for $2.99.  Loved the film.

On Saturday I decided to have a pre-St. Patrick's Day meal of corned beef and cabbage, but not the kind you have today.  Growing up in Hawaii, the Libby, McNeill and Libby brand dominated.  I started with some Japanese Wagyu Beef fat, and quickly prepared my meal:

I thought what better film to watch than The Irishman on Netflix:

It was FREE, because it was produced by Netflix, and I started watching at 7PM.  I don't know if everyone else these days is turning to their TV set, but I kept getting kicked out of Netflix.  Maybe Netflix is oversubscribed.  While this is a 2 hr 29 min film, I finally finished at 1:05AM, or more than 6 hours, about the time passengers returning from Europe had to wait to check out of the airport last night.  They could only stand in line.  While I was booted out of Netflix more than a dozen times, taking more than 5 minutes to get back in, at least I could read, and finished five of the 27 magazines that have been piling up for months.

About the film, Rotten Tomatoes bestowed 96%/86% ratings.  Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie starred Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin, Harvey Keitel and Ray Romano (did an excellent job).  De Niro plays a truck driver who became a hitman then union head, killing good friend Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).  Sure, I gave away a good part of the film, but if you wanted to see it, you would have by now, for it was one of the Oscar nominees.  To quote Newsweek:

Much of the film surrounds the death of Hoffa and there are still major questions surrounding the crime boss' murder. Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and though his body was never found, he was officially declared dead in 1982. Sheeran (De Niro) has offered one of the few accounts of what happened to Hoffa. He detailed the union boss' death for Brandt's book, I Heard You Paint Houses.

The technical marvel was that de-aging effects were performed making De Niro, Pacino and Pesci appear younger.  At the end, Sheeran lives in a rest home that looks like Kahala Nui.  The lifestyle reminds me of 15 Craigside.  Loved the soundtrack:

• In the Still of the Night
• Tuxedo Junction
• I Hear You Knockin'
• Delicado
• A White Sport Coat
• Canadian Sunset
• Honky Tonk
• Cry
• Sleep Walk
• In the Still of the Night....keeps returning

I don't know why, but the dialogue was in French.  However, the closed-caption made it mostly understandable.  A number of film critics picked The Irishman as the top film of the year.  I thought it was entertaining, and ideal for St. Patrick' Day, which is this coming Tuesday.

So what else am I going to do to replace going out and watching sport programs on television?  Well, I'll continue to enjoy my Honohono Orchids.

Notice in the background a cover of my electronic keyboard.  Might actually go back to playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

If Jokgu can do this, I too should be able to master that song.  I also got a two-mike Magic Sing:

Compared to most of the rest of the world, I certainly have it made.  At 15 Craigside, I'm overly-protected.  However, the average age of a resident here is in the mid-80's, so those security measures being taken are absolutely necessary.  We lived in a cocoon before COVID-19.  We are not quite at biosafety level 4, but close.  Having returned from Thailand 20 days ago, I commiserate with those who are trying to return home to the USA this weekend.  Most important of all, I am in good health and remain in high euphoria.
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