It might be because today is a "buying day." Due to circumstances (in this case I had the day off), I am spending money, and as such, I seem to buy (or donate to political campaigns; more on that in a future blog post) so much I might subconsciously be trying to make up for being a good boy by not buying stuff the other days of the week. For today, at least, I had so many things I had to do for which I needed to spend money (get my physical at the doctor's, get my shoes shined, get my hair cut) that anything I wanted to purchase (or to donate to) I have to do today.
That includes buying masks. I still am using the masks Mother made for me. But with new, improving guidelines recommending a third, replaceable filter/layer inside masks, I have begun to think it would be better for me to buy masks that have a pocket into which I can put these filters, about 20 of which I purchased and (after some delay) received from Amazon a few weeks ago. (Mother has promised she would make such masks for me; I would like that.)
So after a lot of daydreaming, I have finally put my plans into action. For one thing, last week I bought a Minnesota North Stars mask through Etsy from someone who lives in Hutchinson, Minn. I also plan on buying a mask branded with my alma mater, though I have yet to do it. And on top of that, I am trying to design my own mask through Vistaprint, a business that specialized in, like, business cards and printing brochures but pivoted to creating masks and, so long as the world needs to wear masks, business for the company is booming.
I got this idea of a mask that is black except for one tear of blood underneath a corner of one of my eyes. I think that image might be a gang thing, so I am kind of scared that I might get weird looks or even get jumped. But I think it'll look cool. Anyway, Vistaprint allows someone to upload an image (I uploaded a rights-free one from Shutterstock after I signed up on its website), and then you can see a 360-degree rendering of a mask with that image in any number of places -- right in the middle, to the left or right, or even a pattern all over the mask. The tear of blood didn't seem to line up right under the corner of where my eye would be according to the renderings, so there is a feature whereby I can ask a Vistaprint designer to do a more detailed design and e-mail me back. If someone could do that for me and the cost of the mask would still be what it would be if I just slapped an image on one and ordered that without asking for human help ($18 plus, I assume, shipping and handling fees), yes, I will get a mask of that, too.
And on top of that I have been collecting free masks. I signed up for a T-Mobile-adjacent application called T-Mobile Tuesdays, where T-Mobile offers up these offers for other companies, but only on Tuesdays. One recurring one is 10 cents off per gallon at a Shell station, for example. Well, a couple months ago one such offer was a mask. You just go into a T-Mobile store and ask for one. (I tried to do the same thing today for a free keychain flashlight, but that offer ended Wednesday night.) And that's what I did ... after which I changed my cellular plan to a cheaper one. The T-Mobile-branded mask has a pocket, but like the Etsy/North Stars one, the pocket doesn't allow me to just slide the filter, which is oddly shaped, through the hole because it's too small. I can't see how someone can't just make a mask with a hole big enough to slide in a filter.
Anyway, I got that, and I'll use that after, according to the washing suggestion, I find the time to wash it before I use it. Also, today, my parents were sent through the mail masks -- and they each got two!! -- from their health insurance company. Mother gave me one of hers. She told me to put it in the car in case of emergency, but I already have in my glove compartment two masks Mother made for me (she made me four, and I rotate the ones in my car with two I keep in my bathroom after I get done washing them). Also in my glove compartment: A mask my company sent to me through the mail. So now I have four masks in my car. (By the way, both the mask my parents' health insurance company gave them and the one my company sent me do not have filter pockets.) And I don't need to use any of them during the week because at work, I get to use a surgical, disposable one provided by the company!
So ... one-two-three masks I have or will buy, plus another two I have gotten for free, all of which to go along with the four Mother made for me. Wow -- I will probably wind up with nine masks. And to think at the beginning of the year, none of us in the country even had a thought we would ever have to deal with a mask. Heh -- life is weird.
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