Hello, everybody. This is Jennifer Matarise. And before I get started with the episode today, I'd just like to take care of a couple of things. First of all, if you hear some very audible breathing off to my right, that is the professor. He is happily sleeping about two feet away from me, not practicing social distancing at all.

He is fully prepared, though, to wake up at any moment and play quarantine cop and bark out

the window at people who are walking by in groups. So he is very, very tired from a day of doing that.

Second of all, I did just want to say a quick thank you to everybody

for being very patient. If you don't read the Facebook page for the podcast, I did make a post

about what's been going on with me. I have two jobs, as you know, one of them is currently closed, dog camp. The second

one, my factory position, is still open. It's still considered an essential business. And so,

I am still getting a paycheck. I'm still, you know, I'm getting a little bit of unemployment.

I'm, you know, I'm doing okay in terms of money when it comes to my mental health, my anxiety, my depression.

That's not so good. And it's not good for a lot of people. Even people who are regularly pretty good are not doing good right now.

This is really hard. This is a really tough once-in-a-lifetime thing to go through, you know.

And it's very, very difficult to go through something where all of society kind of shuts down

for the most part like a like a vast majority of society just kind of stops and that's difficult

to have to stay home and to to you know it doesn't sound like it's asking a lot it really isn't to stay home and to to you know it's it doesn't sound like it's asking a lot

it really isn't to stay home and to wear masks and to keep six feet apart from each other but you know

people are social animals and we need that uh even those of us who are introverts and don't like

going out a lot we need that human contact.

And so this can be a little difficult mentally for a lot of people.

As for me, I know that what has kind of been affecting me is it can be reflected in this tweet that has been going around.

There's a tweet that says something along the lines of,

if you're not using this time to finish your novel or start a podcast

or finish that side hustle or, you know, start that side hustle,

...