I had literally never sat at my desk before.

The Week in Selfies: 3/23/20 - 3/29/20

For everyone else in my office, work from home (WFH) started on Friday, March 13, 2020. In preparation for a birthday brunch that I would end up canceling, I took that day off work so, for me, WFH began on Monday, March 16, 2020. I don’t remember much from that first week beyond that almost immediately I had no less than 400 emails in my inbox at any given moment which was…far too many. But it was also oddly comforting because there is absolutely no way to get through 400 emails in one day as hundreds more come in. You can only do what you can do.

By the 23rd, I was settling into a bit of a new routine. Getting used to my new commute (ten steps), figuring out the best way and timing to take breaks, often staring listlessly at the back of the building across from me. And that is where we begin this selfie journey.

But first, to set the scene a little further: At the time, I was living with two roommates in a good sized apartment in a small building in Astoria, New York. One roommate was already with her family in a different city, at least for the time being, so it was just two of us ghosting through the apartment. My job was essentially a theatre admin job so I was lucky in that I was able to keep doing my work easily from home. 

My room was the biggest by far, and had its own half-bath which made my intense introversion easy to accommodate. Of course, the scope of the world was decreasing rapidly and any amount of space was welcome but also suffocating and getting smaller by the day. 

So, it is with this backdrop that we will finally, yes finally, start looking at the pictures of my face. I decided almost right away in the project to try and not “pretty” up photos. To not worry about the best angles or settings and just take pictures of myself in whatever way I was feeling for the day. To be honest, that feels pretty vulnerable. Anyway…the jokes may be a mile a minute as I revisit these photos and the feelings™ that go along with them. Wocka wocka wocka. 

Monday, March 23, 2020

It should be noted that I had literally never sat at my desk before. This desk was left behind by the previous tenant and was basically held together by loose wooden pegs and hope. Previously, it had been a stuff receptacle for artful (messy) piles of notebooks and paper. But now, I was the stuff at the desk just…typing away.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

The next four pictures are basically the same picture with slightly different facial expressions. 

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

See? I told you.

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Oh! A different hand placement!

Friday, March 27, 2020

Wow, almost a smile even. 

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Apparently I did laundry this day in a bandana that would serve as my mask facsimile for the first couple of weeks. 

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Not that I wasn’t already spending an excessive amount of time in my bed before the pandemic because, you know, I never sat at my desk, but Sundays are the day I most like to remind my bed that they are important and I appreciate their cushy feelings.  

Well, week one down. And to finish up, here’s a photo from my birthday last week. It was a pretty good one.

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