1034 days since the start of the pandemic, the dreaded second line appeared on my COVID test. For the better part of the past two and a half years, I have been waiting and fearing this. Maybe the illness gives me some well-earned rest that is much needed after an overly active working vacation. In the rare act of self-indulgence, I lit up the candle, made myself some coffee, cracked up Nina Simone and went to town editing all the unscanned and never-looked-at work from 2022.