This isn’t another post on the struggles of a pandemic life – I promise. It’s tough, there’s no two words about it. But with my incurable optimist hat on, here’s some things about pandemic life that I chuckled about. If that’s a no for you, maybe you’ll find this post an interesting read instead: 7 sneaky WordPress tips to make your blog-life easier.
Smiling with your eyes
Masks have now become a new normal in Melbourne, as it has in most other parts of the world. Apart from being annoying to wear and making it hard to breathe, they really get in the way when connecting with people. Because how are you going to smile?! Couple that with no hugs, kisses or shaking hands, and you’re one emotionless person! Have you noticed how most of us have got creative in dealing with masks? Yup, we now smile with our eyes! And oddly enough, you can tell when someone is smiling, just by looking at their eyes. Well, probably not if it’s a fake smile 😋. Who knew there’d come a day when we’d have to use our eyes as a main form of communication!
Mask or glasses – can’t do both!
The quirks of wearing masks doesn’t end there if you, like me, wear glasses – or sunglasses for that matter. Because how do you deal with your glasses fogging up? It means I’ve had to go into stores with a slightly blurry view of things. Luckily, I haven’t gone out to buy oranges and come home with tomatoes – yet. But it does make me think that we now need next-generation glasses with a built-in defogger or wipers! 😂
You need space? Take 1.5 metres
Ahh social distancing – one of the many ‘new normal’ things in pandemic life. Not going to lie though, it’s not one I’m particularly unhappy about. Now we can eat in a restaurant without bumping elbows with the person at the next table. People don’t get too close to you in a market on when queuing up. It’s great! My toddler is a big advocate of social distancing – he will yell out if a stranger comes too close. Smart boy! 😀
Before sh*t hits the fan…buy toilet paper?!
It’s incredible what panic can do to people. We’ve all been asked ‘what would you take to a desert island’ – and we’ve all given pretty logical and sensible answers. Food, water, clothes etc. And yet what did people actually buy to take them through pandemic lockdowns? It appears, mostly toilet paper! Maybe people took the saying ‘when sh*t hits the fan’ a bit too literally?!’ 😂
Face recognition? Yeah nah
I ended up upgrading to an iPhone 11 this year – finally! It comes with a face recognition feature, which means no more fingerprints or passcodes to get into the phone. And I’m one of those people who does everything possible on my phone so this comes in pretty handy. Apple hasn’t factored in the pandemic for this feature though because when I’m ‘masked up’ Siri doesn’t recognise my face. How rude! 😂 It might be a first world problem, but I do have to furiously punch in my passcode to get into Apple Pay to checkout from the supermarket now – all while there’s people queued up behind me and the cashier waits patiently. As I’m writing this though, I wonder… Can I set up face recognition while wearing a mask? Worth a try!
There is a little ray of sunshine even in the darkest of things, if you look close enough. That’s why these quirks of pandemic life had me chuckling.
What about pandemic life gave you a laugh?
© Jan Perera 2020. All rights reserved.
Jan On The Blog 
I totally agree with you 🙌🏻
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That’s good to hear and thanks for reading. Any other positives you noticed about pandemic life? ☺️
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Yes, spending time with our family! 😊
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Of course. That’s definitely been a highlight of the lockdown
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I am glad people follow social distancing rules there. Here, not so much. I laughed with smiling with the eyes because it reminded me of Tyra Banks and smizing. I do not know how to spell it correctly but it is a model thing apparently.
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Glad this gave you a laugh. And ooohhh smizing! Haven’t heard of it. But in the context of models, I can imagine what that might be. I always found it a bit odd that professional models aren’t meant to smile. But now that you mention it, they do really give you a look as they walk down run ways don’t they! 😂
I’d love to say we are on-point with social distancing here. But some stick to it more than others. Like I said, it’s honestly one part of the ‘new normal’ I don’t mind sticking to 😋
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Love this! Having to wear a mask every day at work has definitely shifted some perspectives. I enjoy that I don’t necessarily HAVE to smile haha, I always get accused of a bad resting face so now I can just smile through my eyes as you said! 😂😊
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Hahaha good point! It can get tiring smiling all the time – I bet it’s a struggle for people in customer facing jobs. So eye-smiles it is! Less effort and gets the job done lol.
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😂😂Don’t even start with toilet paper, who knew we liked clean bottoms this much
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Haha exactly! Thanks for reading Shahrin, glad it gave you a laugh.
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Love this! this definitely gave me a laugh. The thing with the glasses is so true especially in this heat when I want to don my sunglasses and mask but how do I stop them from fogging up lol?
Love that little anecdote about your 2 year old shouting about keeping away>It’s funny but I wonder how much damage this is doing to the younger generation. I worry that they will grow up thinking that no contact is the norm
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Thanks for reading Helen. The fogged up glasses are probably my biggest pain point with the masks 😬😂🤷🏻♀️
Despite having a laugh about it, I agree with you totally. I worry about socialising bubs – because he was in lockdown for a big part of his life. I make an attempt to get together with my local moms group, take him to shops: parks etc. as often as possible now – so that he gets exposed to other babies and people.
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OMG that explains why my glasses were foggy when I went to Walmart with my mask on about three months ago, haha! My mom always told me to smile with my eyes, but I never found the use in it. But now that we have to wear face masks, I may need to reconsider that! Great post!
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Thanks for reading Lana. I’ve started almost reading people’s eyes to judge if they are smiling 😂
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That’s smart! I like that tip. Thanks so much! Keep doing what you do because you are amazing! 🙂
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Aww thanks for the lovely words Lana. It’s been great chatting with you. Look forward to your next posts.
Talk soon xx
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The smiling with your eyes made me laugh so much!! When I am wearing a mask, no one can tell if I am smiling at them or if I am angry at them! You must feel the same?
Btw I emailed you regarding a collab post so reply when you get the chance 🙂
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Haha yup it is pretty tough to read people with masks on. But I’m getting better at reading eyes I think🤷🏻♀️😂
Yup thanks for that. I responded back. ☺️
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Exactly, the pandemic has turned the world upside down. We are doing things in a way which we never ever imagined. Also, the things which any one else has done earlier, we could have ended up laughing.
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Agreed, that’s how I like to look at it. Thanks for reading ☺️
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Seriously , it is very hard for me cuz I have very high eye power and have to wear it at all times because I feel sooo dead without it .
And it’s very hard for me to wear masks cuz it does fog up and makes it very irritating for my eyes .
We wear glasses to see better but I don’t get the point when it gets sooooo misty 😂😂😂!!!!
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