I’m curious, and looking for ideas. I mean even if you’re lucky enough to have a significant other and kids that you love, being around them constantly has to get to you.

Marc

A combination of Mack Ultra Soft Foam ear plugs 32NRR and Bose QC35 does the trick. Lock yourself in the room.

Rule number one: Do not engage.

Luckily I am still working though this. On my time off I watch 90 day fiancé and Paris Hilton. With some ESPN and Larry David.

I live alone. My unemployment checks are coming in + the stimulus bump.

I've been doing lots of home improvement projects around the house and the yard. Its actually been great.

A few suggestions:

1. Keep your house clean and in great shape, do some house work or yard work if you can.

2. Leave your house at least once a day - take a long drive, get some fresh air. I don't understand these people who only leave to go to the store, unless you live in Manhattan and don't own a car you can easily and safely find your way to your own outdoor activity far enough away from others.

3. Take on a hobby you can do in the house - cooking is one of the best things you can do if you aren't already good at it.

4. Fitness - work out at least 4 times a week. YouTube is full of great workout videos you can follow along with.

5. If you feel yourself losing sanity, take a break from your significant other and/or kids if you can, and collect yourself, and remind yourself that one day it will be in the past and let yourself process the negative thoughts in your head so you can decide what is just a side effect of being cooped up and what is a more deeply rooted issue that you can work on.

6. Try to see the positive in this - it's kind of nice to be able to have a few months where you barely have to wear pants or deal with traffic, you can sleep in a little more, and most of us have a little more free time and control over our schedules than we usually would.

7. Video chat with friends - video chatting with friends and drinking and playing games virtually has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

8. If you use great caution and trust that they have been careful I don't see the harm in having a small number of friends or family who you can visit in a group of 4 or less by setting up some chairs 10 feet apart in the back yard on a sunny day.

My significant other and I aren't used to spending EVERY hour of EVERY day together and it's crimping our style. She has a lot of projects she wants to do at home, so I have been taking drives into the backcountry vineyards 30-40 min from where we live, and there are also mountains and beaches for long walks all around, but she usually joins for those. The other day I got on 101 and planned to see if a Mexican restaurant in Santa Maria was still doing pick-ups, but decided to keep going, ended up in Santa Barbara, walked along the deserted coast in Goleta, and then headed back. I also found a cafe off highway 1 last week, still open, that lets people sit outside, properly distanced, and work in the sun using their wifi - luckily I had my laptop and did a couple hours' work with a view of the ocean.

Probably the best change is one or both of us are cooking dinner six days a week.

World of Warships, Netflix, exercise, youtube, drinking with my flatmate. The lockdown has been partially lifted here in Vietnam, so I have been able to see a few friends, have a couple of meals out and a couple of beers, it has helped. Supposedly back to work next week, hopefully there's no second wave.

It really depends upon where a person is and the level of lockdown.

Here an hour 1/2 drive north of Dallas, TX, USA - life has not really changed that much for us. We are retired, live in a 36' RV trailer, so we spend a lot of time together. We are in a nice campground where we usually base ourselves while visiting my children and grandchildren in this area.

What we are not doing is (1) eating at a restaurant a couple times each week, (2) social gathering at the clubhouse in the early evening - card games, talking with friends, etc;; (3) attending campouts at different places with groups of friends; (4) we cannot have the children/ grandchildren over on weekends.

Grandson in junior year of high school is very unhappy. No prom, no spring sports, no workouts at the gym, no training with school mates. He is in JROTC, and should be at a national shooting competition this coming weekend, which has been cancelled. He is bored because his school work is completed in less than two hours each day. On the plus side, he is actually getting better grades because of fewer distractions.

We had a family tragedy almost two weeks ago, and proper mourning is difficult. Very rough on granddaughter who lost the child. We make a couple trips to Plano to visit with her each week. One grandson who runs maintenance for an apartment complex is getting more work/ hours than normal, but everyone else's income is down.

We are on fixed pension and SS, so financially we are not hit badly. And with many government campgrounds closed, we are traveling less than we normally do. We have made no plans for travel this summer.

--------------------------------

But we are lucky. A fellow on this forums is in Spain. Yesterday for the first time in weeks, he was allowed to take his children out of his apartment to play. They were not allowed out for any reason before. For ONE hour, and no more than ONE km from their residence.

In agreement with Kno -

I do cook breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, mostly, as I try to eat out for 2 meals a week to give business to local restaurants. In cooking, I generally challenge myself with at least 2 new recipes a week either being a finger food, appetizer, entree or a dessert.

I do try to leave the house - the next 2 houses down are relatives - so I take their dogs for walks. Then I get in the car and just drive around randomly for a half hour. With the weather being nicer I definitely try to get outside in the yard more for at least an hour a day, if not more.

As also mentioned - I clean regularly. You could pretty much eat dinner off the floor, but it just makes for a more comfortable living environment. I also do get dressed for the day and don't lounge around in pajamas all day long. Makes a difference.

As far as television - it's on and I do my best to catch up on things I haven't seen in a really really long time or haven't watched at all, movie-wise at least. I'm actually quite thankful for all the corny and cheesy movies on Hallmark at this point.

Not much has changed around here. More kids more often, but they stay next door where they live. I had been cooking at least 5 nights a week and still am. We had been watching "Bold & The Beautiful" every night before bed but, with production suspended, they are showing reruns. Not the good ones like the summer Stephanie got amnesia and lived on the streets of Los Angeles. We had "Baby Driver" on because there was nothing else we wanted to watch. I was half listening to that and half listening to "Milk Street Radio" podcast.

Cleaned out Garage
Cleaned out Attic,
Working on scoping out various canine exercise paths
Xbox skills
Beer variance plan

On weekdays, I have some work I can do on my computer, including some long procrastinated document processing.
Spending time on the internet at news sites, this and other sites I regularly go to.
Some spring cleaning. Review, clean up, shred documents with personal info, like old bills. Review and clean up old travel stuff.
Unless raining, every day I go out for a walk around 6 PM for 20-40 minutes.
TV including old movies, mini-binges of old shows on cable stations, some news including my (NJ) governor's press conferences.
On Saturdays, go do food shopping for me, some stuff my 91 year old needs and did get in a delivery or prefer me to get, and for a long time and disabled friend of mine and deliver them. On the return, pick up a burger and from a fast food drive up.
Every other Sunday - go to the laundromat.
Maybe take afternoon naps.
The main thing is to keep busy enough.

I’m retired. Lots of piano practice; reading; some little repairs around the house. I’m moving a lot of music from CD to electronic storage for easy acess.

As I live in a state where the governor and local officials are not power and control freaks, trips out to shop or keep appointments are not an issue.

My government has declared an emergency weeks ago. But my life hasn't changed much........ I even feel a bit disappointed.

What I had to replace were refereeing (volleyball and floorball), going to the movies, and eating out. So I began to run the marathon distance every week, I watched more films at home, and finally revisited some interesting Project Euler problems.

Also, more drawing, painting and writing.

The governor of the state of Texas announced today that the state wide stay at home order will expire on Thursday 4/30. The order will not be extended. Restaurants, movie theaters, all retail stores and malls will be allowed to reopen, but limit themselves to 25% of capacity, and ensure patrons practice social distancing. Civil and criminal penalties may be assessed against managers and owners of business, include suspension or revocation of business licenses.

In two weeks, if there is no spike in COVID-19 cases, those businesses will be allowed to function at 50% capacity.

Places of business such as barber shops, hair salons, nail salons, gyms, bars at to remain closed. The Governor says he hopes they may ban begin partial reopening in 'mid-May' but his medical advisors say it is not safe to reopen those at this time. He will wait until the medical professionals say it is safe to start.

EDIT - I need to add that some Counties and Cities will likely retain stricter limits. Most large cities have restrictions on outdoor gatherings, close more types of businesses, etc. Statewide Texas has been relatively open during this crisis, the stricter measures impacting about 80% of the state population have been imposed a the country or city level.

We are not quarantined. If you were, you would not be going through a drive-thru coffee shop or buying groceries.
The stay at home orders were intended to FLATTEN THE CURVE, i.e. prevent the health care capacity from being overwhelmed.
They were *NEVER* intended to somehow cure the virus or magically make it go away.
The entire economy should be re-opened immediately.

I was born without sanity

I’ve been working from home, but nothing has been going on since I work for a big US airline. I’ve built some LEGO architecture sets, started biking since the weather has been getting nice in Denver, and my friend has started making virtual game nights playing a knock off of cards against humanity. I also got an Xbox Live subscription and started doing that again. I also totally cleaned my apartment, I.e. dusted, vacuumed, dusted surfaces, threw stuff out, rearranged stuff, and even put LEDs under the counter for cool ambient light.

After work, I go for a walk in the immediate area of my apartment with some whiskey and a cigar.

My partner always worked from home, since mid March I am too. We have 2 daughters (both in early teens) who can’t go to school.

What I learned the 1st week: it’s very hard to work full-time and give the children the attention they need. I really can’t tell them to piss off every time they come asking for help with school or just come looking for some distraction. So from the 2nd week I started to take up 1 or 2 days off per week and use that time to start a bit later every day, have a bit longer lunch break (and do the cooking), put work aside when kids need help. In this routine, we can manage very well. Lucky I’ve got a lot of holiday days saved up, I can keep this up for several months and still have plenty days left for real holiday.

Then also my daughters are competitive sports players. This took up a decent part of our free time. Enjoyable, having a coffee with other parents during training or watching them at tournaments (and having coffees with the other parents). None of that now. On the bright side: they get training schedules to stay in shape and my partner and me just do those together with the girls. So we’re getting quite in shape as well! Not quite the running times I had when I was 25, but I’m not at all unhappy with the progress. This running, I hope we’ll hold on to that when we’re back in our normal life.

Evenings are pretty much like they were before the crisis. Well, the pre-crisis evenings where we weren’t going out that is. Every evening is exactly the same as the evening before. This is something we need to change in a way.

And finally, well, not seeing family, friends, collegues, I miss them all. But we can deal with it. All in all, we are very lucky to only suffer some inconveniences and not get into trouble because of this crisis.

KFTG wrote:

We are not quarantined.

Quite a few people on this forum are not from the United States, and have been under very strict quarantine for weeks.

Did you read the post of a forum member in Spain yesterday?

He was allowed to take his young children outside the apartment for the first time in weeks, for ONE hour, to play yesterday. It was the highlight of their month.

I do agree that people in the US (1) think the whole world revolves around them, (2) seldom care about what life is like in other countries, (3) and whine about their rights when the have no idea what losing rights is really like.

And I say that with all awareness of how ironic it is that I spent the most productive years of my life in the US military. Shed my blood, and eventually my son's blood, in service of that nation. He, and I, have seen first hand what lack of freedom/ rights really is.

rfields5421 wrote:

(3) and whine about their rights when the have no idea what losing rights is really like.

The endless whining and completely over-the-top hyperbole of a few posters in all the Covid-19 threads has kept me amused throughout this crisis.

Having spent most of my life living in the US, since 2000 we have become expats. Currently retired and living in Spain, just outside of Alicante. Spain has imposed the most stringent movement restrictions in Europe, if not the world. To be honest, it's not a big deal. After spending 11 years on active duty in the USAF and sitting a week at a time of alert, this is really nothing. The only real imposition is not being able to go out to lunch or dinner. But then again, that's a first-world problem. We don't have the ability to just jump in the car and drive randomly as there are constant roadblocks to stop people and see where they are going. We have 2 labradors, so I can take them out for a walk and I do several times per day. But other than going to the grocery store and getting petrol and the occasional doctor's appointment we are housebound. My wife isn't handling it quite the same way. She teaches at a private British School and trying to teach computer science online is very difficult. It is almost as difficult as trying to be quiet when she is teaching!!

Cadet985 wrote:

I’m curious, and looking for ideas. I mean even if you’re lucky enough to have a significant other and kids that you love, being around them constantly has to get to you.

Marc

One of my 3 kids went back to school yesterday, it was wonderful, she loved it, my older two probably won't be back until the new school year starts in August.

I miss travelling, I want to get on a plane real bad, I have customers to see, products to sell. At least we are coming into summer and I can work from my deck.

rfields5421 wrote:

KFTG wrote:

We are not quarantined.

Quite a few people on this forum are not from the United States, and have been under very strict quarantine for weeks.

Agreed but even our celebrities are loosely using the term quarantine, while they are jogging at local park every day.

And what's up with the beards, don't they know how to shave or missing their makeup artists dearly.

Week number 5 of working from home for me (Melbourne, Australia). I try to finish work by at least 4.30, so I can go out for a walk for an hour or so, the lack of moving around during the day is the worst thing about WFH, We're only allowed to leave the house for work or study that can't be done at home, to buy food or 'supplies' - basically this is any business that is allowed to remain open, medical attention & exercise, although I've heard of cyclists being fined for being too far from home. No more going on long drives for the duration. The police here have been enforcing these rules very heavily, with an AUD$1,600 fine. Socialising with friends is also forbidden, gatherings of more than 2 people from different households are banned. So Zoom catchups, and FB messenger chats instead. Pubs, restaurants, gyms & Golf courses have been closed for 6 weeks. Most school students have been at home since before Easter, although schools have been told to remain open to cater for the children of essential workers who can't work from home.

Nearly all organised sport has been suspended, with the exception of horse racing. Though it's continuing with no spectators in attendance, and with off-course betting outlets closed (most are now located in pubs), online betting is the only way to have a bet. Normally we'd be in the middle of Football season, having to make do with watching replays of old games on TV.

3/4 of the stores at my local mall are closed, this includes a 4-level department store. One of the few non-food stores that was busy was the EB Games. Sports stores have sold out of home exercise gear. Though have noticed that traffic on the roads has picked up over the last week or so, and a lot of stores that initially closed are talking about reopening in the next week or so. There is some talk about a slight easing of some restrictions in the next couple of weeks, but the government is concerned about a possible second wave like what happened in Singapore, so restrictions will only be lifted gradually. Did hear the other day that pubs & restaurant dining rooms may not reopen until October.

A lot of cooking and baking, I definitely feel like I've awakened a new passion there.

I work out roughly every other night with some barbells as well as some mats for body-weight exercise we luckily still had in the basement. I also try to go on a run or a >30km bike ride on the remaining days which has been very feasible these last weeks thanks to some unseasonably warm and dry weather.

3 days ago my university finally reopened their academic advising offices and I've been granted a timeslot and a supervising professor for writing my bachelor's thesis, so that's what I'm doing now.
It's an aviation-related topic that I find interesting so I'm very motivated to get back to doing some academic work.

I had COVID-19 in December/January. I banking on the antibodies giving me immunity. I go out two or three times a day to a small convenience store to bullshit and get fountain pop. I also visit my pharmacy once a day to bullshit with the staff.

Building the Constructo Enterprise 1:51 ship model I have had in my closet for 10+ years. And proof that I am a better IT Engineer that a Carpenter/Cabinet maker..............

...but it is fun and helps to burn up the boredom.

I just feel myself slipping. I’m dealing with ADD, insomnia, ASD, depression...I just can’t get happy.

On top of that is the possibility I’m going to need a fifth surgery on my back at some point — I refuse to set foot in a hospital until October/November.

Then comes stress from the stimulus check. Yes, stress. I’m lucky in that I live with my dad and he won’t let me help with bills...but I want to buy something and I just can’t decide what. I want to support business and the economy, so I’m not using any of the stimulus towards credit cards — an idea I got from an episode of “The West Wing.”

Marc

hubby and I are pretty compatible. He ordered groceries online, and I order groceries online. I know everything he orders is going to be junk. So I plan the week out and order what we need to have healthy meals. I can't control him I don't even try anymore. I have been after him to fix things around the house. So far he sort of fixed the toilet. every couple of days it doesn't work. He has to fix it again. My kitchen cabinets collapsed under the weight of all the groceries he put in them. so. now we are down 1/3 of our space. He went and bought all these expensive tools to fix the cabinet. I told him why don't you just ask Home Depot to cut the shelves for you. He actually listens to me, and we were able to bring back hundreds of dollars in tools. A week later, I'm still looking at my kitchen cabinet not being fixed. I will have to hire someone to fix them. Not sure what he's doing all day. I just plan on hiring someone to fix it. Especially since it needs to be done right, I will have them fix the toilet he sort of fixed as well. lol

He's after me to get rid of some stuff, which. I really should. but I am slowly decluttering the house. I am glad he is there every day, and when things return to normal, I will miss not having him around. I was worried that we get on each other nerves, but that has not happened. At first, he was watching too much T.V. and it got on my nerves, but now it doesn't both me.
I do other things.

Honestly between telecommuting a full-time job and trying to do our best attempt at teaching there's not that much time left.

Since we can't go out (hard lockdown in Spain) we have tidied up everything in the house (garden, garage, closets, etc.), a bit of small time home improvement, trying some new recipes and so on.

Our old secondary school RPG group started a couple campaigns through rolld20 which is a pretty neat platform. After a couple decades without touching pen and paper RPGs it's being a great experience.

I started up one of my favorite games (Fallout: New Vegas) again and have been playing it pretty often. This evening tried to fix a notorious bug by downloading a fan patch... didn't work. Tried a different fan patch. Didn't work either...

Books.

LabQuest wrote:

I've been doing lots of home improvement projects around the house and the yard. Its actually been great.

I would agree with this. I replied to another thread on a similar topic to this, so this is kind of an update. The working from home has been happening these past few weeks. A great opportunity and one that has proved successful - as I perceived it would. I would even say it is a career highlight - this pandemic opening up that opportunity.

Only going out for essentials, the restrictions about the same as what melpax has described - the 'stay at home order' hasn't done anything negative for me up to this point. I guess I am much more introverted than I give myself credit for. I have not really missed anything about pre-pandemic life - so far. Sounds weird I am sure. The fact that I am spending more time at home means that I am seeing things through creative and not so tired eyes. I notice things more - things that need doing, or need changing.

I was aware that I needed to spend more time at home - but there was always a need to be somewhere, do something, see someone, go someplace. Now that the decision has been taken away I've relaxed into the comfort of home life. Coming into winter in Australia, I think it is easier. I feel justified that I am spending x amount of time in a place that I have put a lot of time and investment in. There is more of a balance. Mentally I am better than I was a few months ago - bushfires aside. It has also allowed me to get over that summer and move on.

I haven't been able to buy all the supplies I need for my home jobs, so I have been making a lot of lists. A rest of 2020 list. A to-do 2021 list. Clarity is the key.

Easter has come and gone. That was fine. It has been so quiet. Hadn't spent an Easter home for about six years. The airport is eerily quiet, very little air traffic. Each week it becomes more noticeable. We had our annual Anzac Day last weekend. Seeing the few shrines outside people's homes was something that was mostly new to the remembrance in the current stay home at restrictions, but I hope it becomes an annual tradition. I've met neighbours when out walking. I've seen my neighbourhood on a more regular basis.

This week the rations on the supermarket products have been lifted. I had been able to buy toilet paper for the last three weeks and have not hoarded - well maybe slightly now. Pasta and hand sanitiser are the only products that are still noticeably absent or in short supply. Glad that social behaviour has passed. Being able to eat pickled onions, and feast on garlic-fuelled foods has been good. All the non-sociable stuff, but very good for the immune system - as if an excuse is needed LOL. Been trying out 'tricky' dessert recipes, and things I've never had the confidence or patience to try before, like crème brûlée and panna cotta and home-made ice cream, and cassata.

I finally got my points back from my cancelled trip to Tasmania, but am still waiting on the refund on the $ portion. My local area of Tassie I visit turned out to be one of the worst hit areas for the virus, with cruise ship pax being the source of a lot of cases in Australia. I cancelled my trip to Victoria in July, on the premise that it will be cancelled. Got a credit voucher for this one. I can always book afresh.

Not too worried about the hair cuts. Haven't had one in twelve weeks now. Am letting it grow (female) so not too worried about looking shabby when us gals can wear it up. Couldn't care less at this stage about the colour growing out and the grey creeping in (not too abundant) because everyone is much the same, it's kind of a novelty. It's the 2020 look.

I haven't had enough time to go insane so to speak, there are still not enough hours in the day. I've got so much to do. I spend too much time watching YouTube. Not as much Netflix yet, and definitely not enough reading - but I do try and make some effort, and really enjoy it when I get lost in a book. I am doing a jigsaw, and I enjoy an app called 'Rush Hour' where you need to get the red car out of the 'car park' square - by moving the other vehicles out of the way. I had used it as a board game, - the original sliding block traffic jam puzzle, and yay - there is an app equivalent. I guess work still takes up a lot of my time - seven to nine hours a day blocked out, five days a week.

I am managing to eat quite well, and not put on weight. That is a really important thing. Of course my steps are down. 10K a day is optimal but I am averaging less than half that now. FitnessBlender.com is my choice of home exercise routines. Social media is much the same as it was before. Same for contact with family and friends, minus the visits of course.

The gov are talking about easing restrictions in a week. The first thing I will do? Go to IKEA. Go to the airport fence. Go to the hardware store. Buy a new iPad and a new iPhone too maybe (upgrades).

I am fortunate of my situation, and that my family and friends are well at this time, as am I.

Considering I have no life as it is and I work from home all the time anyway, it's been more like, "There's a quarantine?"

But, seriously, it's been mostly okay. Going to the grocery store is incredibly annoying now when it used to be very easy.

What *will* cause me to lose my sanity no matter what is when college football season officially is canceled or delayed to spring. I will *not* be able to handle a year without college football, especially when my team is expected to be pretty good and maybe take the next step to the College Football Playoff.

Not going on social media, because vile negative people resides there. That's how I keep sane.

Although I do sneak a peek once in a while...

Other than that I play games on my PC since I just got myself a new Logitech steering wheel, watch a lot of streaming TV from other countries (been watching MTV Classic UK for quite a bit now) and from time to time go out on an essential item run just to get my cars up and runnning.

And it seems that my government's easing up on the restrictions next week. Not sure what I'll do on Monday, but I doubt it's going to the office...

I’m still working and it is very busy.

Work is basically empty, most people are at home so I’ve gone into the office where I have a few key people also there and basically very quiet.

I’m riding a bicycle a lot, that’s allowed provided you are alone. I’m at about 8550km for the year so far.

All overseas riding is stopped I think, I cannot imagine the government will let me fly out of the country for that and I’m also not keen on travel at the moment. All local racing is stopped for the time being too.

I'm working from home, my kids still go to daycare and my wife has to work in the office (we work at the same company but some people aren't able to work remotely). I am biking more as well, in my basement while I work. Mostly during meetings. But I'm also trying to support some of the restaurants who are doing carry out so thats my public interaction.

Sane? Sane you say?



Seriously though... If i run out of Netflix/Prime/Acorn/Apple TV/etc things to watch... I don't know what ill do.

I am vegging... my wife is working... dog is getting walks, I go out to get coffee once or twice a day... and I go shopping as little as possible...

I was working from home for a couple of weeks and then went into furlough, which started at the beginning of April and isn't expected to end until the end of May earliest.

I had a house move planned before the lockdown started - I'd bought a house and was waiting to move in. Then the week before it began, all removals companies cancelled planned moves, including mine. I already had a substantial amount of my stuff in the new house. However my tenancy on the place I was living in was due to end within a couple of weeks so I had to move. The government said you could move as long as a) you were moving into a place which was vacant and b) it didn't involve anyone outside of your household. So my partner and I moved everything into the new house using the car which took a considerable effort. Preparing the move and recovering from the move took the best part of two weeks so it kept me busy during the first part of furlough.

Since then... there have been up days and down days. My partner is still working (from home) so I need to let him get on with things. We didn't have internet for the first few weeks other than a very poor mobile wifi setup; what little data bandwidth we had, we had to reserve for my partner's work so I didn't have much contact with other people.

I've been reading, running (trying the Couch to 5k app), working on the garden and cooking, but days seem pretty long at times. Some days I feel able to relax, other days I just feel like I'm hanging round listlessly with no sense of purpose just waiting for the day to end. I am very grateful for having a garden - this would be much more difficult without a bit of open space. There are various things I'd like to do around the house that aren't really possible until hardware stores reopen (having never owned a house before I have none of the tools etc. that I could use to improve the place) but I'd like to do something like that. I also want to start making a more permanent model railway, but I will need the raw materials to make a baseboard first. I've spent a bit of time this week trying to work out what level of French language I have.

Shopping is odd - you can occasionally get in without waiting in line if you time it right. Some things are still not available but generally it's better than it was. Flour would be nice but I haven't seen it in shops for about seven weeks now! I notice as the lockdown has gone on, the awkward politeness and distancing has definitely lessened and it feels a little more 'every man for himself' in the supermarkets now.

Between work during the week and DIY / gardening at the weekend, I've not really had much time to get bored. And in the little time around that I've been shopping and running supplies to older family or friends who are dependent. Actually I swear I've actually been out of the house more than usual, as I'm the only (functioning) person in the house who isn't considered more vulnerable and can therefore leave.

Work wise, our business (Essential Oils and aromatherapy) has seen it's busiest ever period during this crisis, which has been challenging. This is in the middle of me trying to completely overhaul the commercials and map a new website, meaning I've had to put the spreadsheets down to bottle, label and dispatch product instead, as our usual extra workers are also isolating.

And the house and garden... well maintenance wise they have both basically been abandoned for years - a large, older house (which now has ivy growing inside it) and acres and acres of once formal garden. So we're going right back to basics, planned some major building works including a new roof and conversion, whilst outside we are currently doing a full tree and plant survey - planning out what to keep and how we are going to bring it all back into use. I think it would take 5 years, even if we work every weekend solid, so definitely a challenge.

I should by now start my second weekmof vacation of Cuba. But obviously that fell through.

To keep busy during my vacation I have started to replace the wallpaper. In addition to movies (may thr fourth be with you ) and games.

Kno wrote:

7. Video chat with friends - video chatting with friends and drinking and playing games virtually has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

That has been a big help.

One group I'm a member of is a maker space / community workshop. We have online meetings around twice a week with Google Hangouts as our platform of choice. We usually get a dozen or so members online. I also gave a tech talk on Software Defined Radio and GNU Radio which was well attended. It was a great opportunity for me to sharpen up my knowledge on the topic and to exercise my presentation skills.

Another group I'm a member of had a Webex with 50 participants from all around the world. The group started out as a gathering of fans of a 70s prog rock group and three of the former members of the band were online as well. It was great seeing people I hadn't seen in years since I missed the last several years of gatherings.

Another video thing is me getting on Skype with my aunt in the UK aged 91 and helping her try to re-establish connection to my mom in Florida (age 80). We've made progress but her son is going to have to visit to figure out if she is seeing invites from my mom and if not resend invites to my mom.

I've also been remote IT support for my mom. She complained a bunch of things like her scanner and her camera stopped working. I talked her through installing Team Viewer and then figured out the issue -- she decided on her own to install Windows 10 without telling me! Damn! She said some "friend of hers who knows about computers" told her Windows 10 was better and offered to install it for her and she said yes. Damn it! They didn't even check to see if her hardware was compatible. It turns out her camera has no Windows 10 support and (get this!) it's a f*cking Microsoft camera! The usual M$ bullsh*t, sigh. They can't help themselves screwing over people every chance they get. Good luck finding a replacement camera these days.

So all the remote connectivity tech (Zoom, Hangouts, WebEx, Skype, TeamViewer, etc) is a key to staying sane in this great pandemic.

We’ve both been working from home since early March, a few days before daycare for our two-year-old closed.

The first couple of weeks were among the most stressful I’ve ever experienced. We tried to work in shifts so one of us could look after the little one, meaning that my partner would get up at 6am every day. Problem was, our daughter would also get up, so I had no chance at all of sleeping in. I suppose we all had to adjust to the new reality of staying at home, and a toddler needs more time to cope.

We now manage to work in parallel, at the cost of the little one having to find ways of entertaining herself and doing stuff I would normally not allow (writing on furniture with crayons/pens etc.). Work calls/video meetings are also a challenge since my daughter is going through another “daddy phase” and she’s too young to understand that daddy needs her to be quiet for half an hour.

I’ve been doing some small home improvement works, as well as cooking every day, which was always my passion. Strangely, I’ve lost weight even though I hardly exercise. I also definitely have more grey hairs than I had two months ago.

I went for a haircut today, which felt liberating. But there is still no indication whatsoever from the government when kindergartens/daycare will reopen, and I find it hard not to have any perspective of any kind in that respect.

While Germany never had a tough lockdown, we keep getting daily reports from our parents and friends in Italy. Especially my girlfriend’s parents have been hit hard in terms of having lost friends and acquaintances to COVID-19 - be it their 80-year-old neighbour or 45-year-old co-worker. While my in-laws are healthy, it’s still a heavy burden to carry for us, and it made it that much more difficult to bear the German government’s slow reaction and general indifference over here.

When it takes you weeks to muster the courage to just go out for a walk, and you are constantly on the lookout lest there be someone ignoring the social distancing rules, you realise that it’s time to get a grip and try to relax a bit.

In a nutshell, it is great to spend time at home, but I am mentally and physically exhausted.

I just feel my mental health slipping more and more each day.

Admiring my snow globe...

Can't go insane if you were already crazy. Frankly none of this has changed my lifestyle, I already stayed home all the time only going out once a week for groceries, to work 3-4 days a week and to my folks house across town to do laundry and catch up every over weekend.

Score one for my crippling agoraphobia (or maybe its laziness)

My mental health is greatly suffering right now. I'm a very extroverted person.

My coworker (my dog) is laying on the floor next to me and appears to have some severe indigestion or some sort. She should stop eating the scraps from our children. Its so loud that is quite disturbing.

trpmb6 wrote:

My mental health is greatly suffering right now. I'm a very extroverted person.

I’m an introvert, and I don’t know how much longer what little mental health is going to hold out. I feel it getting worse daily.

Marc

I thought I'd throw in my story here, as it's quite interesting.

I went back home to Canada to visit my brother, first time in over a decade actually just a few days before they shut down the airspace and flights from Poland. So, essentially I became stuck in Canada. I could have taken one of the rescue flights but I had my partner taking care of our company back home which has slowed down to a crawl, and I saw an opportunity to have some fun here.

While everyone was quarantining I signed up to deliver food by bicycle with Uber Eats, being a cyclist already I thought it would be a good excuse to get some exercise. Since March the 15th I've been getting in 500km/week on average and making pretty decent money while I'm at it, about $250/day and I work 5 days a week.

I've always been fit, but doing this plus the home-gym/callisthenics 6/days per week have literally turned me into a bit of a superhuman. Literally 8% body fat and properly ripped. I have to head back home soon but I've used this time to make some very serious personal transformations and build up some serious self-discipline and mental strength, not to mention physical.