How are you coping with Covid? How you are doing?

[bosk1]

I know we have a coronavirus thread already.  But this one is different.  I just want to have a separate place to discuss how people are doing, individually.  How are you doing, DTF?  How are you coping with any of the various challenges?  What are you doing to stay positive?  What are you doing to have some enjoyment?  What is working?  What isn't?  How can we help?  These are the types of things I want to keep in this thread.

What this thread is NOT about:  political opinions, criticism, finger pointing, conspiracies, anti-conspiracies, general negativity, and the like.  There are plenty of places for those other things (provided they are done within the rules), but this thread is not the place for it, okay?  Let's keep this one positive, as much as humanly possible.

[XJDenton]

Honestly? Relatively well all things considered. In some ways my social life has got better, as a lot of my old friends back in the UK have moved onto online meetups/games etc, so I now have the chance to participate and have probably talked to certain friends this year more than I have in the last 6 or so years.

Not being able to travel to see family or for work is somewhat a downer, but I certainly am weathering things better than most.

[lordxizor]

For the most part I'm doing just fine. But every now and then I get really frustrated and just really want life to get back to normal. It sucks wearing masks all the time and missing out on casual interactions with others when out and about. Life isn't too different for us right now, but every once and a while the differences really stand out.

For as long as I've known her, my wife has pretty major anxiety about having her mouth covered, so she's very frustrated with the mask requirements as she can't wear one without having a panic attack. She was hassled at a couple stores before the mandate went into effect and now she has anxiety about trying to go anywhere and claim a medical exemption, so she basically just sticks to outdoor stuff. That adds to my stress about all of this because I can't understand what she's feeling. I have no idea if there a specific traumatic incident that caused this reaction in her or what it is. She's never mentioned specifics and I don't want to ask. She also doesn't want our kids to wear masks, so that basically means I do all of the shopping for the family now. It's silly, but I miss running to Target or the grocery store with her, or one of my kids.

[Anguyen92]

I mean, for me, my life is basically how it always been ever since I got a regular job, three years ago.  The twist is that I work home now, which saves an hour of commute time and 30 minutes of getting ready to get out of the house, so that's a big plus.  I mean I don't have much of a social life anyway, pre-lockdown.  I always stay home, play WoW, sometimes get takeout and go get groceries from Vons or Smart and Final.  That's been the same thing for the last couple of months with no changes.  I do miss going to concerts though and get that chance to actually have that itch to get out of the house and do something from the norm, but since the quarantine period started, that itch hasn't been there as much.

[Stadler]

All in all, on par.  I miss some things - concerts, meeting/talking to people - and some things are better - we've been saving money from not going out, gas/mileage on the cars, and I've been motivated to get out and do things around the house.   

Some anxiety with the school upcoming.  I'm scared of my daughter going back to school, and I'm scared of my stepson NOT going back to school (I've written about this before).   

I know you said "no P/R", but it's tangentially related: I will say that I've felt more isolated in recent months because of the way I look at the world, and not having the ability to talk it through with people in person has really impacted that.

[Adami]

It's been very weird. I live in Long Island, so there's not much to do anyway. The biggest change was me working from home.

That said, and I know this is EXTREMELY selfish, but COVID has oddly resulted in a lot of good things for me, even though a lot of it was very frustrating at the time.

I was originally scheduled to take my licensing test in April but it was cancelled because of COVID. Super frustrating. But looking back? I doubt I'd have passed it then. So I ended up taking it a month or so ago and passing it.

COVID also caused almost every university in New York to go on a hiring freeze. This means I couldn't apply to almost any job I originally wanted. Instead I ended up applying and getting a job at the only university in the city hiring. Not my first choice, but when they gave me the offer, the pay (while not ideal for NYC) is WAY higher than any job I would've gotten elsewhere. So that worked out.

Also ended up meeting the girl I'm currently dating because she swiped right on me despite my distance from her (the city to Long Island) which she wouldn't have done in a non-pandemic.

So due to covid, I passed my test, got a high paying job, will be starting a side business in teletherapy that also wouldn't have been big without COVID, and got a girl.

Feel bad, but that's the reality of it.

[El Barto]

I miss live music. I've also got 20+ days of PTO that I was planning to spend in Europe back in June, and since there's no live music, I probably won't be spending any of it stateside, either. And two of the casualties in Dallas were my favorite live music venue and the best Tex-Mex restaurant I've come across. Both nasty blows, and sadly, neither will be the last. As for me, I'm generally happy being a recluse, but this is getting old even for me. All that being said, I'm gainfully employed, which is better than a lot of people can say, and I'm saving a bit of money by eating out less.

[King Postwhore]

I've been working a lot.  Stressful at times but honestly grateful with so many out of work.  I've only taken off 1 day this year.  That changes in 2 weeks when I'm on vacation for 2 weeks.  Not much we can do but we can travel all of New England except for RI.  We'll do day trips.  Maybe a drive in theater.  Not go where there are big crowds.  I have to be careful since I have a heart condition.

[MirrorMask]

I'm one of the lucky ones, really.

Health: didn't get it. My immediate family didn't get it. Friends didn't get it. Not conclusive, but most likely the girlfriend and soon to be mother in law of a dunno-which-grade-cousin (he's the son of a cousin of my mum) got it but recovered without need for hospitalization. So all is good with me, thanks to a mix of luck and religiously obeying the lockdown and social distancing rules.

Work: We were always told ours was a job we couldn't do from home....... until a global pandemic arrived and lo and behold, we could work from home. Brought back home the computer and the monitor from work in mid March, and I'm still working from home now. Not a single penny of my income lost, and as a direct result, 4 months of public transports money not spent and therefore gained.

Social life: The introvert in me barely noticed the difference with the lockdown  and I use the internet a lot so I chat on Whatsapp with close friends. Managed to see who I wanted to see by now, but I really did went through the lockdown, Easter included, not seeing anyone.

I do miss the concerts. They were my life, the spice in an otherwise dull week. I don't go to clubs or to the pub, I go to concerts. That's where all my friends are. I don't mean Iron Maiden concerts, but more an active local scene mainly of folk acts which were the excuse for gatherings, I have all my major concerts planned throughout spring and summer and not being able to see any of them was beyond the suckiest suckage in the history of suck. At least I started to travel again, never in my life since I developed the passion for photography I spent 100 days without taking a single picture.

But again: I'm one of the lucky ones. Didn't get the virus and didn't lose my job or my income, scores of people haven't been as lucky as me.

[XJDenton]

It's been very weird. I live in Long Island, so there's not much to do anyway. The biggest change was me working from home.

That said, and I know this is EXTREMELY selfish, but COVID has oddly resulted in a lot of good things for me, even though a lot of it was very frustrating at the time.

I was originally scheduled to take my licensing test in April but it was cancelled because of COVID. Super frustrating. But looking back? I doubt I'd have passed it then. So I ended up taking it a month or so ago and passing it.

COVID also caused almost every university in New York to go on a hiring freeze. This means I couldn't apply to almost any job I originally wanted. Instead I ended up applying and getting a job at the only university in the city hiring. Not my first choice, but when they gave me the offer, the pay (while not ideal for NYC) is WAY higher than any job I would've gotten elsewhere. So that worked out.

Also ended up meeting the girl I'm currently dating because she swiped right on me despite my distance from her (the city to Long Island) which she wouldn't have done in a non-pandemic.

So due to covid, I passed my test, got a high paying job, will be starting a side business in teletherapy that also wouldn't have been big without COVID, and got a girl.

Feel bad, but that's the reality of it.

Taking joy in the opportunities afforded to you is not selfish. Acknowledging you have benefited from something terrible is not an endorsement of it.

[Grappler]

I'm good, though I'm getting more agitated with society the longer this goes on, whether it was the panic buying of groceries in the beginning to the continued increase in positive cases over the summer. 

I've worked from home since March and have started commuting to the office once per week to regain a little bit of normalcy.  My wife's position was furloughed, but she picked up a different job recently after a few months, so the dual incomes will be nice to have again.  My immediate and extended family has remained healthy, to my knowledge, though we have neighborhood friends that have lost people they knew.  We cancelled our first family vacation to Florida, which sucked and really disappointed my daughter.  I also had two concerts get cancelled as well.

In July, we opened our social circles up a bit further - my daughter attended summer camp with 8 other kids.  She's starting kindergarten with a full remote learning schedule.  I feel bad for her life being completely upended (not being able to finish preschool, losing out on her first day of real school, etc.) but I'm sure she'll be ok.  She's perfectly fine wearing a mask and doing things.  She visits my in laws a few times per week to get out.

I've really enjoyed being home over the last few months to spend more time with my kids, which I never got to do when commuting to the city daily.  I've seen my 2.5 year old son start to speak more and more words, I've taught my daughter to ride her bike without training wheels and go on rides with her.   So there has been good and bad, but we've done our best to look for the positive things and shake our heads at the negative without letting it get to us. 

[goo-goo]

Health: I'm dealing with an osteoarthritic knee. I'm 38 yrs old and my knee is basically shot because of the injuries, trauma, and surgeries I've had on my left knee. Because of travel due to work, I've never really been able to finish physical therapy and learn how to deal with this pain. This past 4 months I've been doing that. Trying to lose weight so that can help the knee as well. Been cooking a lot at home (see Barbecue thread since I just learned how to host and upload images). Been doing some Vietnamese plus smoking, grilling, sous vide...It's been a wild ride! Been also exercising a bit more but I need to "load level" the exercise because of my knee issue.

Self-improvement: Besides the exercising, I've been trying to read more books. I've been also reading up slowly/learning more on day trading and I  hope I can start by the end of the year. It's been slow on this end.

Work: I'm considered essential since we work for the power plant, pulp and paper, and oil and gas industries. I'm a forensic engineer/consultant so we have been able to keep working. I'm doing a blend of working from home and going to the laboratory/office.  Before Covid, I traveled a lot, once or twice a month. Haven't done that in a few months and I've been enjoying it lol.

Social life: I'm an introvert so haven't been affected by this a lot. My wife on the other hand, I think she has felt the lack of the social aspect. I've been trying to support local breweries by buying a 1-2 six packs and/or fill up a growler and buy a shirt from them. I just drive up, pick them up, and drive back home. I live in the Austin area so there's a lot of breweries trying to survive.

Music: I do miss the concerts a lot. That was how I handled stress. Having said that, I've been downsizing my CD collection by selling the artists that I just don't connect with anymore and keeping and completing the albums by artists that I know connect with. I was someone who had to have every single release by artists and musicians. 

Home: Been painting some rooms, some minor home improvements. Have saved more money and would like to replace the flooring at some point.  Been also unloading a lot of concert shirts and souvenirs that I don't wear/use anymore. I'm going Marie Kondo with the shit I have!

[Dublagent66]

Am I having Strange Deja Vu or did I post in another thread with a similar title?  Asking everyone how they are doing. 

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Am I having Strange Deja Vu or did I post in another thread with a similar title?  Asking everyone how they are doing. 

You definitely did.

[Cool Chris]

Work: Was shut down for 2 months, but with the unemployment bump I was taking home more money than I did working. I was confident my employer would bounce back and based on the past month or so it looks like we will. I fully enjoyed being a SAHD for those two months.

My wife teaches so the spring was a bit miserable for her, and this coming school year isn't shaping up to be much better. Though we anticipate she will (hopefully!) receive more guidance, and we will have more time to set up her virtual classroom. Incidentally, because of this she came to realization that she spends too much time working, and is going to try and swing the balance back a bit to time spent with family.

Social: I do not really have any friends, at least anyone I get together with in person. So there has been no impact in this area of my life. I rarely feel the need to go anywhere though we do miss taking the kids to the park, the pool, and such. But that is more for them. I haven't once felt like I was missing out on anything, but again I feel bad my kids are.

I have been pleased with how my family has handled this. My wife had the biggest struggle, and was at the tipping point a couple times. My 9 year old is going strong, though sad they just announced schools won't be open this fall. We are fortunate that we have a couple neighbor friends her age she can play with. We were all staying home and keeping interactions with others to a minimum so felt comfortable with them as part of our quarantine circle. Without them it would have been a completely different story.

The start of the school year may paint a different picture for my household... stay tuned.

[Zydar]

I'm doing just fine. It has actually not been that big of a change in my life to be socially distant and not going to big crowded places - I've always been that sort of person. Now I actually have a valid excuse to not be socially active. I don't have any friends that I spend time with. The only difference really is that I've been working at home from April to late June when my vacation started. Right now I'm back at the office since there are barely any people here at the moment, but as soon as everyone's back from their vacation I'll go back to working at home. That's the recommendations for at least the rest of the year here in Sweden. I haven't had any symptoms of Corona or anything like that.

[hunnus2000]

Am I having Strange Deja Vu or did I post in another thread with a similar title?  Asking everyone how they are doing. 

You definitely did.

I'm glad it's not just me!

[SwedishGoose]

Fine, thanks for asking.

Working from home since March. I miss my collegues a bit but actually not too much. We have short daily meetings on Teams which help a bit.
My wife has been home working and my son has been taking University offline. My daughter is the only one who has left home every day.

Vacation was not as it normally is. We did not go to France as originally planned. Stayed mostly at home and enjoyed an empty Stockholm city.
We did go visit both my and my wifes  parents. That was not normal either. Social distancing in the garden... but it was nice seeing them.

I do miss concerts a lot... hopefully next year will be normal for that.

[The Walrus]

I'm ight.

Honestly the biggest impact the virus has had on me personally is just making me annoyed and exasperated with my fellow humans who want to politicize this or think they have no obligation to wear a mask, because they value their individuality more than the collective good of society. I wear a mask when I go to the gas station and grocery store, and I'm already naturally kind of a hermit, so nothing's changed in a big way for me, especially living in a rural area. I am constantly nervous for my parents, but, c'est la vie, there's no controlling it at this point. But, I feel fortunate to live in a rural area and not anywhere near a very large city. Since I live alone, my life has stayed the same. I go to work, come home, and do my thing til I go back to work.

I did cancel my gym membership though, which is cool. Only $20/month so I didn't save too much, but it's been nice to consistently go outside and get cardio in. However since I haven't lifted anything since March, I've already begun noticing some muscle going away and I feel out of shape despite doing way more cardio and getting lots of fresh air. Meh.

[Tick]

I'm not going to lie, I'm struggling internally. Been out of work since March. Got called back a month ago only to be put back on the shelf again. Meanwhile my wife is working harder than ever from home so that's weighing heavy on me because she's over worked and riddled with stress.
Trying not to succumb to the heaviness I feel everyday.

[kirksnosehair]

Luckily for me and my family not much has changed.   Mrs. NoseHair is a legal secretary and is working from home.  I've been at the same job for over 20 years and I still come to the office every day just like I did before the pandemic.  We have guidelines here to keep us all safe.  I have my own office and it's quite big, relatively speaking; it's about 15' to the door from my desk, so I'm quite safe here since the only thing I touch when I come here is the door to the building the door to my office and my keyboard and mouse.


Not looking forward to the massive surge in cases that's coming in about a month to 6 weeks, though.  If you think the aftermath of Memorial Day was bad, think again.  This will be worse.  Exponentially worse. 

[cramx3]

I miss live music. I've also got 20+ days of PTO that I was planning to spend in Europe back in June, and since there's no live music, I probably won't be spending any of it stateside, either. And two of the casualties in Dallas were my favorite live music venue and the best Tex-Mex restaurant I've come across. Both nasty blows, and sadly, neither will be the last. As for me, I'm generally happy being a recluse, but this is getting old even for me. All that being said, I'm gainfully employed, which is better than a lot of people can say, and I'm saving a bit of money by eating out less.

Pretty much me.  I really can't complain because I've got my job still, I've got more time to work out, and I've grown accustomed to and am loving making home cooked meals every day and not spending money on eating out.  However, I can't see my parents, I haven't done anything with any of my friends, no concerts, no college sports (love college football which is now cancelled, and love college bball which we all know didn't get a ending to the season), all vacation plans cancelled, and time just seems to be meaningless has all made me not a very happy person.  I hardly know what day it is anymore, and have little motivation to be better in many aspects of my life including my career.  I've got my health and I've got my job which keeps me safe and alive, but I don't have a whole let else going on to get me excited about anything.

[Chino]

For all of us that are stockpiling PTO this year because of Covid (I'm only using my third PTO day this year on Friday), we should rent a huge house somewhere in the off season for next to nothing and have an exclusive DTF banger.

[cramx3]

For all of us that are stockpiling PTO this year because of Covid (I'm only using my third PTO day this year on Friday), we should rent a huge house somewhere in the off season for next to nothing and have an exclusive DTF banger.

 

My job said a few months ago that they would reverse this year's change and let us rollover days for next year... and now have reversed  it again saying you need to take your PTO before end of the year or lose it.  I've got 23 days left to use and no idea of what to do with it.  So I'm all down for a DTF cabin in the woods 

[The Walrus]

Bruh give me some of that PTO holy shit 

[Stadler]

I miss live music. I've also got 20+ days of PTO that I was planning to spend in Europe back in June, and since there's no live music, I probably won't be spending any of it stateside, either. And two of the casualties in Dallas were my favorite live music venue and the best Tex-Mex restaurant I've come across. Both nasty blows, and sadly, neither will be the last. As for me, I'm generally happy being a recluse, but this is getting old even for me. All that being said, I'm gainfully employed, which is better than a lot of people can say, and I'm saving a bit of money by eating out less.

Pretty much me.  I really can't complain because I've got my job still, I've got more time to work out, and I've grown accustomed to and am loving making home cooked meals every day and not spending money on eating out.  However, I can't see my parents, I haven't done anything with any of my friends, no concerts, no college sports (love college football which is now cancelled, and love college bball which we all know didn't get a ending to the season), all vacation plans cancelled, and time just seems to be meaningless has all made me not a very happy person.  I hardly know what day it is anymore, and have little motivation to be better in many aspects of my life including my career.  I've got my health and I've got my job which keeps me safe and alive, but I don't have a whole let else going on to get me excited about anything.

The concerts are starting to wear on me, because for me it's a social thing and I get some time to meet people and talk andput the phone away.  I was good this summer, still probably am, but I think as the fall comes and the days get shorter, it's going to get harder.   I can't imagine the holidays with this in full bore.

Sorry to go dark here, but someone else said something the other day that really hit home:  my 80-something parents are in Florida, and I can't go there without extreme measures, and without endangering them.   Up till now, I would see them in person once or twice a year (though we talk several times a week).   Depending on how long this goes, I may be in "single digits" as to the number of times I ever actually see my parents in person again.  That's heavy shit.

[Chino]

For all of us that are stockpiling PTO this year because of Covid (I'm only using my third PTO day this year on Friday), we should rent a huge house somewhere in the off season for next to nothing and have an exclusive DTF banger.

 

My job said a few months ago that they would reverse this year's change and let us rollover days for next year... and now have reversed  it again saying you need to take your PTO before end of the year or lose it.  I've got 23 days left to use and no idea of what to do with it.  So I'm all down for a DTF cabin in the woods 

That blows. I still have 27.5 including my floaters, as does pretty much everyone else I work with  We're already 2 quarters behind on our current project, and shit's going to really hit the fan is everyone starts dumping all of their days in Q4.

[Chino]

I miss live music. I've also got 20+ days of PTO that I was planning to spend in Europe back in June, and since there's no live music, I probably won't be spending any of it stateside, either. And two of the casualties in Dallas were my favorite live music venue and the best Tex-Mex restaurant I've come across. Both nasty blows, and sadly, neither will be the last. As for me, I'm generally happy being a recluse, but this is getting old even for me. All that being said, I'm gainfully employed, which is better than a lot of people can say, and I'm saving a bit of money by eating out less.

Pretty much me.  I really can't complain because I've got my job still, I've got more time to work out, and I've grown accustomed to and am loving making home cooked meals every day and not spending money on eating out.  However, I can't see my parents, I haven't done anything with any of my friends, no concerts, no college sports (love college football which is now cancelled, and love college bball which we all know didn't get a ending to the season), all vacation plans cancelled, and time just seems to be meaningless has all made me not a very happy person.  I hardly know what day it is anymore, and have little motivation to be better in many aspects of my life including my career.  I've got my health and I've got my job which keeps me safe and alive, but I don't have a whole let else going on to get me excited about anything.

The concerts are starting to wear on me, because for me it's a social thing and I get some time to meet people and talk andput the phone away.  I was good this summer, still probably am, but I think as the fall comes and the days get shorter, it's going to get harder.   I can't imagine the holidays with this in full bore.

Sorry to go dark here, but someone else said something the other day that really hit home:  my 80-something parents are in Florida, and I can't go there without extreme measures, and without endangering them.   Up till now, I would see them in person once or twice a year (though we talk several times a week).   Depending on how long this goes, I may be in "single digits" as to the number of times I ever actually see my parents in person again.  That's heavy shit.

Damn man, that's rough. I've gone back and forth a million times about whether or not I'd be willing to move away from CT for work or something like that... It'd be really hard for me to do. My mom and dad are 65 and 66 now (birthdays are in the next two months), and it's hard to want to get away from them. Not because I'm babied or anything like that, but mainly because I just really love them and like getting to see them once or twice a week. Especially with Covid going on. My parents account for like 85% of my human interaction these days. I have a very small family. I only have 4 cousins, three of which I haven't seen in nearly 10 years now. Once my parents go, I'm pretty much only going to have my sister left. If one or both of them were to ever take a turn for the worst, I want to be close by.

[cramx3]

Not being able to see my parents has probably hurt more than I even realize.  When my parents moved to Florida a few years ago, it didn't seem like a big deal.  I'd visit once a year and they'd come up like 4 or 5 times so while our time together was cut, it was never a very long period where I wouldn't see them.  It's been 8 months now, I think that's the longest I haven't seen my mom or dad in person.  Also had my trip to visit for Easter cancelled.  So I see my travel certificate to rebook sitting in my gmail but I just can't even realistically use it.  I could burn a bunch of vacation and drive down there, but I'd have to quarantine on my return and that's just not feasible since I go into work, plus doing that drive solo would not be fun.  But this also comes back to not having a light at the end of the tunnel.  None of this would hurt so much if I knew I could see them in a month or something.  But there just seems to be no end in sight and nothing to look forward to.  I told my parents (who ask when Im visiting every time we talk) that realistically, Thanksgiving seems the earliest at this point but even that is just a hopeful and unlikely guess.

[Stadler]

Yeah, my parents moved south back in the '90's, for my Dad's health, and then it was easy to visit.  I'm used to it now, we talk a lot, and I've remained close, but it's a cold slap of reality at a time where there's already enough reality floating around. 

[emtee]

Haven't seen mom or dad in over a year. Both are 80. I don't have much time left. Tough for me to deal with so I try not to focus on it and call often. Unfortunately dad is losing the battle with dementia so that makes it harder.

[Elite]

My dad lives on the other side of the world and not being able to visit him (or him visiting me without extreme hassle) is getting harder. Last time I saw him (and his wife) was in November 2019.

Other than that, I'm doing fine I suppose.

[cramx3]

Haven't seen mom or dad in over a year. Both are 80. I don't have much time left. Tough for me to deal with so I try not to focus on it and call often. Unfortunately dad is losing the battle with dementia so that makes it harder.

Sorry, that must be very tough

[TAC]

Haven't seen mom or dad in over a year. Both are 80. I don't have much time left. Tough for me to deal with so I try not to focus on it and call often. Unfortunately dad is losing the battle with dementia so that makes it harder.

emtee, are you and your father close geographically?

[emtee]

Florida and North Carolina. Easily drivable. But since I work in a hospital full of Covid patients, I just don't feel comfortable potentially exposing him. Mom is in Michigan. Losing this time is the hardest aspect for me.