I am not sure I want to stop wearing a mask...

[Decoy of Fenris]

18. I haven't been sick in a year now. Not just COVID, but with any sickness. Mask is a way of life now.

On top of the huge boost to personal self-confidence anonymity offers, I've felt better about interpersonal interaction than I have in my entire life. For the socially anxious, prone to illlness or otherwise impaired, this has been an incredible boon (body count notwithstanding). I just had a conversation at the local gas station that folk like us, we're unlikely to stop wearing masks regardless.

My wife agrees, and because of COVID, she's been able to make the full push to remote learning, allowing her to finally move from her country over here to be with me and still being able to work at her old job.


I know the pandemic reaped a large toll in human life, but it's completely overhauled a lot of the less savory natures of society, like the starvation wages or completely unnecessary infrastructure (Like corporate offices that can be utterly eliminated in lieu of remote work.) A lot of awful shit has happened, but a large amount of 'good' can still be claimed from the ashes. Far less need for cities and super-urban development when companies have realized they don't need to hyper-concentrate their workforce into as small a cubicle-filled area as possible.