An extremely quirky list that attempts to explain why I haven’t blogged all summer.

1. I am tired of looking at screens.
2. I work from home using a screen for every meeting, every conversation, and every training that used to take place in a physical location.
3. I watch screens to relax and enjoy art, from Netflix and HBO Insecure binges to Andrea Bocelli’s Easter opera.
4. My sisters, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, a best friend live 3 time zones away, so I receive a tour of the new house via FaceTime and read books to my niece over Zoom.
5. Even my friends who live 15 minutes away join my Zoom room for a book club.
6. Even reading books involves screens.
7. I had a brunch book club that turned into a brunch Zoom club.
8. One week we decided that the following week we would each demonstrate a skill via Zoom.
9. Baking is a skill that does not require looking at a screen.
10. Until I choose to demonstrate the perfect pie crust, perfected because it was my nonscreen, pre-summer hobby and the irony doesn’t escape my English-teacher soul.
11. My friend chose to teach us the basics of making cocktails, inviting me to make one with her via Zoom.
12. In making said cocktail, I raised a shot glass full of fresh lemon juice close to the screen to show her how much I poured.
13. Somehow forgetting that I was interacting via a screen attached to a computer, I poured the half-shot of fresh lemon juice onto my keyboard.
14. I tried to save the keyboard by Googling mostly useless advice on my phone.
15. My boyfriend valently concocted a rescue plan involving painstaking shredding of coffee filters and squirting rubbing alcohol.
16. And all the repair avenues were closed because COVID PANDEMIC.
17. So I haven’t blogged during this pandemic summer for so many reasons, not the least of which was a keyboard full of citrus, constantly reminding me of my helplessness to fix anything.