COVID-19 and your life

[Zorral]

31 minutes ago, Starkess said:

Ha, well I'm a transplant and she's born and raised, but yes their house is about 2 blocks from me!

I haven't been there since 2016, I think, still book touring then, until the election put an end to all that and ever since it's been deathcultchief 24/7 everywhere driving out EVERYTHING ELSE!

[Iskaral Pust]

Best wishes to everyone, especially those still going out to essential jobs or anyone struggling with loss of income.  It’s not easy to deal with anxiety all the time.

My family is all healthy and well, and we’ve coped pretty well so far, but it has been tough.  I’ve been working remotely for nine weeks now because my firm started physical distancing very early.  Until this week, we were still living in a small temporary apartment, which felt very cramped.  Now we have moved into our new house so we have more space and a garden for fresh air, but it also means we’ve had an exhausting time with the move, and challenging logistics, plus all the financial anxiety of purchasing a very expensive house just as a major global recession starts.  By mid February it would have cost us a lot to back out of the purchase (10% of the purchase price), so we felt we had to go ahead.

And work has been extremely busy throughout this period, although normalizing now.  Our firm expects everyone to continue working remotely at least through the summer and perhaps throughout the year.

 

[Whitestripe]

14 hours ago, Zorral said:

Thank you so much!  Trust me, it feels like a different world to us too.

Upstate is so beautiful; glad it is safer than here, the land of super density and super inequality!

 

Yes, upstate is a different world than downstate right now.  My geography-compromised relatives need constant reminding that I am 5 hours away from the city. 
 

Things are pretty ok in the Stripe House.  Both husband and I are  working from home and getting paid. I don’t have a ton to do, since my job is to run a performance hall on a college campus with no students, but I get paid my full salary through June 30, at least. (When hopefully I will know if there will be a fall season and I can get to the job of planning for it).  It turns out that teenagers don’t really act all that differently during quarantine, at least not mine. They still spend all their time in their rooms. High school distance learning has been a bit of an adjustment, but at least the Regents tests (state mandated exams you need to graduate) have been cancelled for June.    I will admit that the big old Victorian house is starting to feel a bit small, but I am also aware of how good we have it. 

[Fury Resurrected]

16 hours ago, Guy Kilmore said:

Yeah, that is some very, um, hopeful thinking?

Luckily, it was extended and Walz made it pretty clear we would not be in the first wave of reopenings. But I am seeing a lot of people in my industry turning mad about it who were supportive before of doing their part.

My unemployment came through yesterday (in the wrong amount which hopefully will be fixed but it came in time to pay the May rent which is excellent), and I hope as those start processing for other tattooers they’ll step away from the pitchforks they’ve been eyeing.

In silver lining news I am almost done doing engine swap and dress up parts on the el Camino, none of which I would have bothered doing at all in this restomod project if I didn’t suddenly find myself with enough time to scrape 43 years of engine grease off stuff I am rarely going to look at so I can paint it. I am really more interested in the aesthetic of cars than the performance and no matter what I did this old beast would never be as fast as my very unexciting 2019 Buick Regal Sportback because it is the heaviest least aerodynamic piece of machinery in the world. Next up is to gut the interior (it’s tan and that won’t do) and drop in the black interior I have had waiting for it since September. I was waiting to have the car painted first but might as well do it now. Someday I will have my dream ride finished, and it’ll be 90% goth and 10% crime. I cannot wait to put my hand engraved chrome steering wheel center on it. 

Another silver lining is my 16 year old cat Guava is LOVING this. He’s wanted me to stay at home with him his whole life and I can’t go to the mailbox without him acting like I went on an Arctic expedition when I get back. Who knows how much longer he will be around, I’m lucky I get to steal some extra Guava time out of this.

Young Boring Danzig sensed I was nearing the point of strangling him so he started wearing a mask and he cleaned the bathroom. He can live another day and he remains fun to look at and otherwise pleasant to have around so that helps.

[Jeor]

2 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

Another silver lining is my 16 year old cat Guava is LOVING this. He’s water me to stay at home with him his whole life and I can’t go to the mailbox like him acting like I went on an Arctic expedition when I get back. Who knows how much longer he will be around, I’m lucky I get to steal some extra Guava time out of this.

This paragraph is so awesome. As well as his name!

[Seli]

Coping quite well. Restrictions in the Netherlands are light, and I was never the most social person to start with. So not much has changed.

My work is deemed essential, and it is actually getting more and more busy. Which leads to chaotic situations that I am navigating surprisingly well so far.

Doing the shopping can be slightly stressful, too many people don't really respect the distancing. But I can pick quieter times for that.

[Zorral]

For the first time, our internet went out.  In the middle of the afternoon.  Couldn't get any info about local outage, whatever  via partner's ifone.  We rebooted more than once.  Partner's pooter's connection returned immediately, but mine, just wouldn't.  Finally ... at least with second pooter -- haven't checked again on the larger one.

Ay-up.  I am convinced that if the internet actually goes, finally there will be a physical uprising across the nation, virus or not.

[Darth Richard II]

22 minutes ago, Zorral said:

For the first time, our internet went out.  In the middle of the afternoon.  Couldn't get any info about local outage, whatever  via partner's ifone.  We rebooted more than once.  Partner's pooter's connection returned immediately, but mine, just wouldn't.  Finally ... at least with second pooter -- haven't checked again on the larger one.

Ay-up.  I am convinced that if the internet actually goes, finally there will be a physical uprising across the nation, virus or not.

Yeah I read that Robert Harris book too

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Darth Richard II said:

Yeah I read that Robert Harris book too

What book?  Obs, I haven't read it.

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

What book?  Obs, I haven't read it.

Uh, The Second Sleep? You talked about it.....a LOT....

[Zorral]

 

13 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Uh, The Second Sleep? You talked about it.....a LOT....

Gads, that was Before.  I've forgotten everything from Before.  Even from Before last night now.  

 

[Iskaral Pust]

My wife gave our son and I haircuts today.  There was blood, sweat, but thankfully no tears. 

All home gym equipment is still out of stock everywhere.  I really miss proper exercise.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

My wife gave our son and I haircuts today.  There was blood, sweat, but thankfully no tears. 

All home gym equipment is still out of stock everywhere.  I really miss proper exercise.

Blood? 

[dbergkvist]

I live in Oxford, UK.

Me and my company worked mostly from home anyways, so there is not a big impact for me.

My mental health is unchanged. Although my physical health has diminished as a result of the virus and lack of exercise.

I live alone and didn't socialize with other people anyways, so there hasn't been any strain on household relationships.

[Theda Baratheon]

In the UK - so during lockdown. Sounds so first world problems ad obviously I agree with the closure of pubs and although I’m not enjoying it I would prefer a much longer lockdown to be sure than to end it quickly and then have to keep going back but my goodness I’m missing the pub with friends 

It hasn’t changed my job but it has changed my work. I work in a small industrial museum and my role as a Trainee Curator is very much collections based and there’s a lot of things I can only do properly on site. As it is, being the youngest member of staff by far I’ve essentially become a social media manager in the last few weeks which takes up a LOT of time actually. I’ve been making and editing videos, writing blog posts, recording audio clips for bbc radio. All new stuff. But old stuff I can still do some interpretation work so rewriting old signs, updating guidebook information. 

My mental health isn’t brilliant, I have to admit. But then, it never was. I think I’m definitely doing much better than I tell myself though. I keep telling myself I am not being productive at all and not doing any work whatsoever as I am technically full time still and it doesn’t feel like I’m doing eight hours worth of work a day and then I think even on site there was a lot of waffle so nothing was ever purely eight hours of work. And I do a lot of little tasks (social media and emails) outside of work hours so I am not finding a great working from home balance atm. I either go too hard and do way too much work or nothing in a day. I love deadlines and tiny bits of helpful stress and having goals to reach so this new weird floating and no sense of urgency feeling in work and all the uncertainty is making me feel really strange. 

Having said that I am really lucky to have a job, I’m living with my parents at the moment and actually other than a couple arguments with my dad things are surprisingly pretty good here. Not massively strained at all. And I can tell when my dad is pissed off with something so I just avoid him when he’s being an asshole anyway. 

[Theda Baratheon]

I go for a long walk most days but I’m missing running and more exercise. We can only go for one trip outside a day in the UK for exercise so I have to use mine to walk with the doggy which I love anyway. I sometimes try to find an empty field to run with him though. Something I guess. I’m eating a lot in lockdown from boredom. 

I cant do a huge amount of exercise from home because I live with my parents in a tiny bloody house & any exercise upstairs would sound like the floors are caving in and any exercise downstairs would disturb my dad working down here. So have to some really basic stuff. 

[Zorral]

East Village ain't playin':

 

[RhaenysBee]

On Saturdalyevening, I called a number of Emergency Pet Clinics only to find out that 24 hour services aren't open for business due to covid-19 related restrictions. Fortunately, our dog emergency was more of owner paranoia rather than an actual emergency - the dog was fine next morning and has been his cranky old self ever since. (We will of course give the regular vet a visit later today to have him checked just in case) This experience did make me wonder though what on earth I would (and more importantly, could) have done, if there was a real emergency and my pet was hit or poisoned or had internal bleeding or a seizure or any other emergency. I suppose it's not too far fetched to hope that I could have found a vet who would open for $300-500 to see him....? I hope I don't ever have to find out. 

[Buckwheat]

On 5/3/2020 at 11:44 AM, Theda Baratheon said:

I’m eating a lot in lockdown from boredom. 

Yep. It was great having a whole family lunch every day (we take turns cooking), but sometimes I feel there isn't anything else to do apart from eat. The most important part of the day was the discussion about what to cook for lunch for some weeks.

I think it must have made a difference on my body. Is it a good thing that we don't have a working scale?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Odd, I'm eating a lot less. I just have two meals most days, maybe with a protean shake for lunch if I'm really hungry. Typically it's a few eggs with chicken, hot peppers and onions for breakfast with a protean shake, and maybe some fruit, then a large meat serving for dinner. Last night I had two chicken fajitas and some ribs on the side.