My day-to-day is always solitary and monk-like, and at the same time I always feel tethered to everyone and everything. Reviews, recollections, rants, counterpunchings, confessions. I’m used to the focus and the discipline. And of course I love reading and watching films on my 4K 65-incher.

But now that the usual social activities (press screenings, movie theatres, parties, restaurants, cafe-sittings, film festivals, travelling, roaming around shopping centers) are off the table, I feel as if I’m sitting on the outer rim of an extinct volcano, with a very steep slope in front of me. And that all I’d have to do is lean forward a bit in order to slide down to the bottom.

In short, I feel thisclose to being hugely depressed. Because life without the above-described activities seems incredibly barren. I still have hiking and rumble-hogging, and I can still hit Pavilions and Gelsons and the Farmer’s Market when the need arises. But man, I’m feeling blue.

Friend to HE: “Not enough tests yet, which is why they’re sticking to only symptomatic testing. Yes, another Trump screwup.

“Your own test? Easy. Take your temperature. If it’s normal, you’re fine. If it’s high, you’re potentially symptomatic and you get a test.

“Have you got a mask? That and gloves before you walk out the door. And disposed of after one wearing. Even on the bike. This is the new normal.”