I’ve been playing on Chess With Friends, it’s too bad it’s become overrun with bots that want to talk about bitcoin/binary options. They have no idea who they’re talking to. I happen to be a extremely familiar with both.
I am part of an LGBT politics group on Twitter that’s helpful. We’ve got some west coast members as well as a couple of Brits and a New Zealander so there’s almost always someone to talk to.
I’m also staying involved with my college alumni association online, there’s usually some sort of zoom meeting every week.
Air travel isn’t really that different, though. They had security on September 10, 2001, and the experience now is mostly the same. They had metal detectors before, too, and security lines. There are little things like the limits on liquids. That does not constitute changing “completely.” 95% of the experience is the same.
Things NEVER change completely. People who say “this changes everything” are just not thinking straight. Things change slowly and incrementally, and the thing that changes slowest is human nature. Anyone who thinks people will indefinitely tolerate staying indoors, not seeing family, not playing sports, not going to restaurants, and not being allowed to do their jobs and pay their bills… it’s just bananas.
The people who went apeshit over not being allowed to get a haircut for four weeks are, well, nitwits. But that’s just an early taste; every week that goes by, more people will lose their patience, and every week that goes by the people who finally lost their patience are less likely to be nitwits, because it’s also really silly to suggest whole countries should stay locked down permanently - which is effectively what “until there’s a vaccine” means.
I’m sorry, but I find this a bit hard to believe exactly as written. I know you can’t easily source something like this, but if you had a poll somewhere, that’d be interesting. Even then, there’s a lot of difference between a hypothetical and an actual.
Also, does this imply that anyone who is not financially hurting who objects to shutdowns until 2021 “and beyond” is a “Trumpist” or “Granny-killler”?
I’ve been writing a technical book, but progress has been dirt slow. I’m much more productive in places like Starbucks or Panera, but they’re no longer available.
My main source of excitement comes from a program I wrote to trade soybean futures. It makes a small profit on most days, but when it makes a bad trade, as it did this morning, things can get really bad.
Giving this a bump and hoping for a check-in from other live-aloners. I started this thread on April 6, approximately 100 years ago.
I’ve settled into a fairly pointless daily routine starting with a audiobook walk in my neighborhood. Highlights of the weeks include occasional trips to the grocery store or to take my dog to the vet. I’ve had a few medical Zoom appointments. Friday night synagogue services are also by Zoom. But none of my friends is inclined to Zoom, so we just talk/text. Many of them live alone, too. My anxiety has settled down into a low-level dread, punctuated by the shock of new statistics and stupidity (COVID parties ).
An article in yesterday’s Washington Post cited interviews with other oldsters like myself who said they are resigned to staying locked in to one degree or another for the next year.
I’m less closed in than I was, because I’ve started doing farmers’ markets. Masked, trying (usually sucessfully) to get customers to wear masks, and outdoors; in a county that’s had very few cases. Essential errands done as much as possible on the same day and in the same village as the markets.
The only person who’s been in my house since March was one (mostly also masked) person fixing the kitchen sink drain, which turned out to be beyond my skill and tool set level, though I tried first. The person who sells for me at one of the markets (and is also a good friend) has been in the packing shed, both of us masked and staying apart. A couple of neighbors have come by, and a tractor repair person, and I’ve talked with them outside. Other contact has been by email, mail, telephone, and occasionally a zoom meeting.
As I think I said earlier in this thread, I’m a person who copes quite well on my own as long as I’ve got cats. Usually in market season the markets are about enough in-person social life for me anyway.
After working from home for just over four months now, I’ve discovered that Crazy Cat Lady isn’t a matter of age nor the number of cats one has, but of having no one else to talk to in person but cats for weeks on end. (And the squirrels on the patio, who are more politely attentive to my conversation.)
Since March, I have occasionally masked up to shop or pick up things that aren’t deliverable, but it’s only in the past week that I’ve actually been out in contact with other people again. I went to the dentist yesterday; the dentist and dental tech wore masks and face shields and full PPEs, but it felt very strange for me taking my mask off with them so near. I also had the first other person inside the house since early March, a young man who came to service the AC/air pump; we both had our masks and kept our distance.
thorny_locust and Miss_Mapp, thanks for checking in.
It’s interesting how in only six months, behaviors that have been normal our whole lives are now shunned, practically in horror. When I walk, if someone is approaching from a block away, one of us immediately steps into the street to avoid passing too closely. Watching people on TV hugging or shaking hands makes you want to scream, NO!
I’m not sure if this lockdown is easier for us live-aloners or harder than those with one or many companions. Being alone is better than being locked in with someone you’re not totally wild about. But, as I’ve been reading in articles, too much togetherness under duress can erode good feelings. I miss just sitting around with someone. I miss eating with someone else. My principal way of socializing used to be having lunch with people.
I guess better to bear those ills we have, eh?
I’ve finally gotten medical stuff out of the way, thank goodness, so while I don’t have anything to look forward to, I also don’t have anything I’m dreading.
I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night. Not my usual panic over stuff I’m not sure about-- stuff that may or may not be a threat. This was reality-based panic over the actual threat that hangs over our lives and our country. Our very way of life. I know I’m incredibly lucky/blessed to be able to shelter in a comfortable home with plenty of food, animal companions, phone contact with others, and no money worries. Profoundly grateful for that. But we’re all still royally fucked, just some a lot more fucked than others.
I’m pretty tired of being alone 24/7 with only fish for company, but it actually hasn’t gotten incrementally worse, which is nice I guess. Or maybe being resigned to it is bad. It seems very doubtful that we’re going to be back in the office in 2020, so I guess resignation is okay…
One of my kittens will be old enough to come home in 6 weeks, so I’m looking forward to that. I hope I have luck finding him a buddy at one of the shelters pretty quickly, because it’s beginning to look like the other kitten won’t be born for 2 more months, and 8 or more weeks with just a human for company isn’t especially good for a kitten. Good thing three kittens was always the plan! A crazy cat lady starter pack.
@elfkin477 so glad you checked in. Being alone all the time is MAKING ME NUTS. Not that I had a booming social life before, but I did have activities outside the house and all of those are kaput now-- choir, lunching out, book club (yeah we zoom, but who cares?).
I know that factually and logistically I could do this for as long as conditions demand, but holy fuck–I’ll be a total basket case, instead of just a partial one.
My close high school friend (from 55+ years ago) who lives in another city had to have her beloved dog companion put to sleep last Sunday. It was one of those cases where she took the dog in for some symptoms that seemed treatable, but turns out 13-year old doggie spoilered for those who don’t want sad detailswas bleeding internally from a giant tumor on her spleen and her lungs were full of fluid, too, so she never even brought the dog home. She had so many rituals and routines involving her doggie–like you do with a person–and all week I’ve been beside myself with sadness over the utter emptiness of a day when there is no one under your roof who cares whether you even get out of bed.
Do you have a name yet for the new kitten? I hope when he comes home, you will post some pictures. I, too prefer to have more than one cat (I have two now, having lost one a couple of years ago), but I don’t think a kitten being with just one person is all that warping. And if it is, how will you tell? I love the term “crazy cat lady starter pack”!
“Resignation” as in acceptance (not as in quitting your job) seems to be our only alternative. Not knowing for how long is making Crazy People of us all.
Exact same story with our dog. And the ritual I miss most was spending my day “sung through”; making up songs about the mundane tasks I was doing, kind of a literal video, as if I were on an Off-Broadway stage (for the sake of the dogs, of course… well, me, too, because some days I still do it).
And thanks, Thelma. Your very first post here reminded me of how important audiobooks are. They’re getting me through this. Long walks, solitary bike rides, exercising, even just sitting on my porch…
I think of it like having a butler following me around, reading to me: “Excuse me, Jeeves, I’m going to ask you to back up 30 seconds. I didn’t catch the description of that pub. If that’s not too much trouble…” “Of course, sir, I do so endeavor to give satisfaction…”
I didn’t see the thread originally, so I’m glad it’s been bumped.
Like some of the others, I’m very happy alone (with my dog and cat), and my life hasn’t changed all that much. I work from home now, full-time since mid-March, and we’ve been told it’ll continue to the end of the year. The rest of my time is spent gardening, video chatting with friends and my son, watching tv, playing a few games on my phone and puttering around the house. I’m as happy as a clam, aside from the existential dread about the state of the world, and could continue this indefinitely.
My groceries are delivered, and aside from a few trips (masked) to the garden center and a couple of socially distanced, outdoor visits with family in the last few weeks, I’ve been home.
As an aside, I’m pretty certain I had COVID in March, and I’m still fatigued. That makes it even easier to be a homebody, but really, aside from nature walks, there’s nothing else I’d be doing, even at full health.
Thanks, y’all, for checking in. People who are sheltering with other people really don’t grasp what it’s like to go through this alone. And when you start to tell them (with a hint of complaining), they often pipe up with great insensitivity and say, “Oh, I WISH I were alone-- my husband/kid/mother/etc. is driving me nuts!” Followed by a hearty laugh and a change of subject.
All in all, I AM glad I don’t have anyone else to worry about or be responsible for. I don’t have to deal with an ill spouse or parent (all of them are dead) or worry if it’s going to be safe to send my child to school. BUT there are times when I wish there was someone to worry about ME, ya know?
It’s only other livealoners who really grok it. So thanks for checking in.
OMG-- this is absolutely adorable! A soundtrack like a Broadway musical, but sung to your dog(s). Beautiful! No doubt there were a few dance moves thrown in when appropriate, right?
This sentence caught my eye. Imagine an annual ceremony where you invite your friends to your home, they give you gifts, they sing a ritual chant, and then you breathe vigorously all over a large food item and serve them each a piece.
Yeah, I don’t think birthday cakes are going to be popular any time soon…
).
I love the term “crazy cat lady starter pack”!