How is COVID19 where you live?

Having a hard time keeping it together today. My wife and I have been in the house for 2 weeks now, with as-needed only trips to the grocery. I am high risk with various breathing issues and my wife is still recovering from a dbl pulmonary embolism she had last year.

Can’t maintain focus, can’t sleep well, just filled to the brim with anxiety, none of which is normal for me. I had to take today off work, and I guess I should be thankful I still have a job. Just yeah. Hard to keep it together today. My groove state never happens when I sit down to play any game, or try to read/listen to books. Seriously my brain is shit right now.

I’m in Ohio, Gov. DeWine and Dr. Acton have really done a terrific job with their leadership and sensible closures. I know I am over-reacting, but still feel like I could scream for a couple hours . Thanks for letting me vent.

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I think a lot of folks are feeling this way; it’s not overreacting at all. You’re definitely not alone.

Have you tried going for some short walks (if you’re able to in your area)? I know it’s cliche, but that’s helped me a ton if I’m feeling overly stressed. A glass of wine before bed helps me as well. Who needs dessert when a red is so tasty? :stuck_out_tongue:

I grew up in Ohio, but in the middle of nowhere with the cows :cow2:. My parents are feeling pretty isolated and have embraced a remodeling project to pass the time. They’re both retired tho, so don’t have to schedule around work time.

Try to stay positive. Remember the little things.

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Hey there ProfX, I can relate and am sending good thoughts your way.

My son and I are in the back of our neighborhood near a cul-de-sac and so there is limited traffic. But because most everyone in the subdivision is on septic, our plots are fairly large per local mandates. But because of our location we have a patch of wild behind our house that curves around behind most of the houses on our street which makes the area seem like its been dropped into a nature preserve (which of course its not).

Lots of birds and every once in a while we see deer running around behind our houses and so the feeling of being in the wilderness is nice. Can hardly hear traffic which is about 2 miles away because the trees tend to block that sound very well.

I take my dog out for walks about 4-5 times a day and I am starting to see my neighbors out too, which is nice. We all are practicing the 6’ distancing but can chat as we walk. Its nice for us since neither of us can really afford to get sick. My son’s company started him on telecommuting from home about 4 weeks ago which was provident when you consider the timing of all this chaos.

I’m retired but I do the grocery shopping online and then go to the pickup point when I have it scheduled. But the cabin fever feeling still creeps in.

Now that the weather is getting nicer, I spend more time walking the dog just to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. Mostly playing wow evenings these days with only a few times during the days when I have nothing else to do.

If you can, I recommend walking, even if only a few house distances away and back. A small outing always lifts the spirits. :hibiscus: :blossom: :tulip:

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I spend a lot of time at home (retired) so play games and read.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ has over 61k free books to read. I like the Sci-Fi section;

FYI you can also read it online with HTML or Plain Text.

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Oh nice, they are downloadable. I have a small Kindle ipod that I use for downloaded books. This will be nice to add to my collection. Thanks for this info.

Well, been a couple weeks since I first commented, so thought maybe I’d update.

My sympathies to those that are having a harder time of it. I hope all are staying healthy. I don’t know if it will help you, but a mental trick I used to deal with stress and ‘prioritize’ what is worth worrying over was to imagine myself looking back from 10 years in the future and how I would remember it and tell people about it. Most of the time, I realized thing would make for a good story and it helped put things in perspective. Works best, obviously, if you or someone close is not currently sick, of course. Most other set backs we ‘will’ overcome in time.

I hadn’t been out for a couple weeks when I last posted and still haven’t since. I thought I might go out for some fresh veggies last week, but the frozen veggies I had have been more than enough. I stockpile non-perishables pretty good - partially because I often forget what I have when I AM out shopping - so I really do have plenty. I ‘might’ go out to the local grocer this week. :slight_smile: I ‘could’ use some fresh veggies, milk, some eggs.

Maybe some canned chick peas… I have dried I cook when I need, but…

I make a “mayonnaise” out of the chick pea juice (“aquafaba”). I prefer it because when I make it myself, I can flavor it a few different ways - sometimes more lemon juice, sometimes garlic flavored, sometimes pickle juice flavored! Yum! Maybe my favorite. Anyway, when I cook them myself from dried, the juice doesn’t seem to work like it does from the canned stuff. (“Aquafaba” can work as an egg substitute too, in some stuff, so that is handy for someone who might go a month without leaving home.)

Interestingly, I’ve actually put on 4 lbs in the past month. LoL. In doing an evaluation of what I had and how long it might last, it kind of made me think of some new ways to use stuff - I did too well at it, I’m afraid. Some of the things I’ve tried came out pretty tasty. Heheh.

I did see one person - the UPS guy when he dropped off some bamboo plants I ordered. Shook his hand, hugged him close, relieved to see another soul.

Just kidding, said hi, thanked him, asked him to thank his coworkers, said to keep safe and ‘get off my lawn!’ (Okay, j/k about the ‘get off my lawn’ too. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: )

My kids and their spouses are all well. The boy is noW (edit) working from home all the time as opposed to most of the time. His wife’s work has extended remote work through at least mid-April - reassess then. My daughter, the flight attendant, did work some up until this past week. She will now be off at least all of April. I ‘thought’ he husband might see more work since he builds and maintains robots used in factories and gets busier when they shut down, but he is also actually working a little less. Even though the factories may be shut down, getting to some of the states is a no go. And others aren’t bothering to see if that kind of work is considered ‘essential’ in the places with those kind of restrictions. But they are fine anyway - had plenty of emergency fund set back and the airline is maintaining benefits like health insurance.

Still no cases in the county I live in. No cases in four of the counties that touch this county’s borders, one case in one county that shares borders and, though there are 7 in one county that ‘technically’ shares a little bit of border, there are no roads directly between them.

So, again, for me, life is pretty much the same as always. Not much changes the life of a country recluse…

I hope you all continue to do well.

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A nice little article (bit tongue in cheek at times) about my generation :slight_smile:

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LoL. Perfect:

“Gen Xers have limited expectations too. We were completely satisfied to play with our Pet Rocks (which was literally just a rock) …”

And that right there, I think, is probably the real secret to living a life of contentment: “Limited expectations.”

:slight_smile:

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For perspective, btw, I don’t mean expect to be disappointed like my statement could be read. Rather that humans are not capable of living constantly in a state of “happy” - constantly smiling and laughing. Or “unhappy” either - constantly frowning and sad.

Most of our lives we are neither ‘happy’ nor ‘unhappy’ but somewhere in between. Once you are ‘content’ with not being constantly emotionally stimulated, life can be very nice satisfying.

I’ve seen a lot of people destroy themselves thinking they were ‘unhappy’ because they were not ‘happy.’

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And for those stuck at home, a game that fits the times: Rimworld :slight_smile:

Where all your colonists start with “low expecations”, and they can all get the plague. Hehe.

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I may have to try that again.

I installed Rising World again yesterday - I ‘think’ you may have gifted me a code for it, thanks - but struggle with the first person only view. I really do much prefer a game with a 3rd person perspective.

Still, it is nice to have since the afternoons have gotten hotter. And ECPT seems to be all the time now that so many are staying home.

Went grocery shopping today. There was stuff! People were mostly polite and maintained distance. They had canned goods and frozen veggies and even some toilet paper and paper towels!

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I live in Cincinnati, OH and, although retired, have worked part-time at the Holocaust and Humanity Center Museum at Union Terminal. We have been closed since mid March. The date to return is April 5, however, it does not look likely. Schools are closed in OH and we are all asked to shelter at home. Restaurants and bars, etc. are closed, hair dressers and the list goes on. I believe our Governor has done an excellent job in a very difficult time. I have friends in NYC and other places hit more heavily. For the Marylanders here, I used to live and work in Western Maryland. Best wishes, everyone.

Thanks. I use Kindle a lot and love sci fi.

I also live in Ohio. Yes, DeWine and Dr. Acton are heros. OK to rant, be human. After two weeks, it has, indeed, become our new reality in Ohio. Blessings for you and your wife. We are now, I feel, in such a “game changer” time. I do have a rather unique experience to share. We had a block birthday party last week, keeping distance and bringing our own beverage. Also, keeping social distance I can walk in this neighborhood, although, I prefer being near woods. Both of my daughters, who live in other locations belong; they are Zooming and Skyping with me. I “attended” my youngest daughter’s wedding electronically-- muted, too! Oh, yes, venting is good; venting is human.

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you don’t need bleach, just use regular old soap. The cell wall of coronavirus is made of protien and fat.

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Yes, I know. It’s easier to just mist a package made of cardboard with 10% bleach than scrub it with soap and water! :rofl:

And if you do it on pizza boxes, it’ll be extra tasty!

(As a side note, good grief does the US love the chlorine in their water. Everything smells and tastes like chlorine if you’re not used to it!)

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errr chlorine is almost scentless in water. If it smells like a swimming pool then its urine interacting chemically with the chlorine and forming trichlorine. Its trichlorine that makes pools smell like pools. The stronger the pool smell is the more urine is in the water.

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