The COVID-19 coping thread

[Sarah_Munn]

Not the best day today. Combination of reduced contact with friends and no work has allowed a few things to rise to the surface. One in particular has been screaming in my face for days. Over the last twenty years I have beaten seven types of shit out of it, and it’s still there. Today it hurts. It is ridiculous, pointless and of no discernible use except to torment me periodically.

[eversonpoe]

Not the best day today. Combination of reduced contact with friends and no work has allowed a few things to rise to the surface. One in particular has been screaming in my face for days. Over the last twenty years I have beaten seven types of shit out of it, and it’s still there. Today it hurts. It is ridiculous, pointless and of no discernible use except to torment me periodically.

:: hug ::

ok, so, starbucks is allowing me to take a personal leave for 30 days starting may 4th (to be reassessed near the end of that period if the virus situation hasn't gotten better). i won't be getting paid (which i don't expect to be; i was lucky enough to get catastrophe pay for the last month and going up until may 4th) but i also won't have to put myself and sarah at risk.

i also just got a potential lead on a job (when all this is over) at a publishing company where a friend works. i've never had a desk job so it sounds really weird but might be a nice change from the a/v world and from food service. i love my coworkers (and especially my manager) and don't mind working at starbucks but i know i won't be able to do it forever, especially with what i make per hour and the fact that we have a kid on the way.

[allegro]

On another note: You know you’ve been in quarantine when you first start looking at Daddy Long Legs spiders in the ceiling corner and start wondering what they think sitting in the same spot for days or weeks on end.

Then you really know you’ve been in lockdown when you actually notice that the spider* in the ceiling corner has moved to the other corner. And that it’s starting to become a pattern.

*I now feel foolish for using the word spider since said video reminded me that their closest cousins are actually scorpions.

They’re arachnids. He’s a harvestman. They don’t build webs; they hunt their prey. He’s not a spider because he’s missing a thorax. This is a cool list of info. We took a spider class with a lab at the Chicago Botanic Garden that was pretty cool. Without spiders or arachnids, the Earth’s ecosystem would be in complete havoc in a pretty short period of time (they eat so many other insects).

[eversonpoe]

love what arachnids & spiders do...hate they way most of them look and what happens when they bite me; i'm allergic and my bites end up being 2-5 times the size of most people's

[allegro]

Contrary to what nearly everyone believes: Spiders don’t bite unless they’re really scared or threatened. Most of what people think are spider bites are actually the bite of another insect. The vast majority of spiders don’t have fangs long enough to break through skin. Those spiders that can bite are often fairly dangerous spiders (with venom). Everyone has a reaction to the fluid that many insects inject into our skin, especially mosquitoes, bedbugs, fleas, and midges; but many of us are particularly sensitive, even allergic, to that fluid (meaning, our immune systems react to that fluid).

My husband’s cousin raises and breeds tarantulas. He has, like, 30 of them. His real job is a roadie for a blues guitarist. But he’s currently unemployed, natch. So, now he posts pics of his tarantulas all day on Facebook. Some people love cats or dogs. He loves tarantulas. (Shrug) I never knew that tarantula species had this kind of colorful variety, with pink or blue legs.

One of the females just laid two egg sacks. He had to cut the egg sacks open, and I asked if that was bad to do. He said it was that, or the mom would eat the babies. Or the babies would eat each other. My reaction: JESUS!! He just laughed.

My husband told me a story about how scientists discovered that spider silk was as strong as tensile steel. So they figured they’d try to get a bunch of spiders to produce silk. Except the spiders all ate each other.

[allegate]

thanks to @TheBang for the gifv code!

[allegate]

[eversonpoe]

^^^ is Lucifer a good show? i feel like if i thought he was hot i'd want to give it more of a chance but he just doesn't do much for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Sarah_Munn]

^^^ is Lucifer a good show? i feel like if i thought he was hot i'd want to give it more of a chance but he just doesn't do much for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I found it a bit dull. Don't think I finished the first season. As for his hotness, he's almost too pretty and lacking in, well, burning evil.

[Archive_Reports]

My wife and I are insanely fortunate during these times as we've been able to live off of my salary alone and anything she's gotten from unemployment (she's a hair dresser) has been put into savings. Yesterday, however, we had a talk about her going back to work once everything starts opening back up and it looks like she's not going back. She brought up the contact she would have with both clients and co-workers would put our family (us and a kiddo) at too high a risk. This led to a rather stressful day/evening. Scary to go down to a single income in the blink of an eye, but we're trying to focus on the positives as she's previously talked about home schooling our son, but yeah.

Again, I know my situation is way better than a lot of people out there so I'm not trying to be all "woe is me" here.

[allegro]

Again, I know my situation is way better than a lot of people out there so I'm not trying to be all "woe is me" here.

That’s anxiety talking. Especially since she doesn’t even want your child to eventually return to school. i suspect home has become sanctuary against this scary virus. Eventually, this virus will be tamped down. We’ll get a vaccine. Etc.

Give her time. She may decide to change her mind eventually, or do private visits with clients at home where she can control the environment. Once her unemployment runs out and reality sets in, the bubble bursts but people ARE able to make things work by adjusting their lifestyles and expenses - which is the same as making more money.

[Archive_Reports]

That’s anxiety talking. Especially since she doesn’t even want your child to eventually return to school. i suspect home has become sanctuary against this scary virus. Eventually, this virus will be tamped down. We’ll get a vaccine. Etc.

Give her time. She may decide to change her mind eventually, or do private visits with clients at home where she can control the environment. Once her unemployment runs out and reality sets in, the bubble bursts but people ARE able to make things work by adjusting their lifestyles and expenses - which is the same as making more money.

I do think everything will turn back around in one way or another and he's not even two for another month so home schooling wouldn't be a change. We've been very frugal so I'm honestly not even that concerned about finances in the near future. Everything more has to do with where we were hoping to be in a couple years, be it location or career. Like everyone else though, we'll have to adjust our plans and adapt as best we can.

[eversonpoe]

stay at home orders got extended til the end of may in illinois. saw this on twitter and couldn't stop laughing:

for context:



pritzker on the left, platt on the right

[GulDukat]

This will sound seriously stupid to some, but I've been watching Father Knows Best. Every episode is available online for free.

I like to go in my room, shut the door, watch this crap and imagine that it's not really 2020 and I've never heard of coronavirus or Trump. It's really the 1950's, Eisenhower is the president and everything is swell.

[allegro]

This will sound seriously stupid to some, but I've been watching Father Knows Best. Every episode is available online for free.

I like to go in my room, shut the door, watch this crap and imagine that it's not really 2020 and I've never heard of coronavirus or Trump. It's really the 1950's, Eisenhower is the president and everything is swell.

Lol, you know, I’d never seen ONE episode of that show until last summer when I was watching digital antenna TV late at night and there was NOTHING on and I stumbled into that show and was sucked into its vortex and I binged-watched it for like 12 episodes! I did the same thing one night with the Donna Reed Show! It’s some odd Outer Space kinda WTF is this thing, yet oddly comforting. Especially since I grew up in a single-parent household my ENTIRE life, and was an original Latchkey Kid, that shit’s like TOTALLY foreign but still fascinating.

So, golly gee, thanks for the link, I’m going to watch that.

[GulDukat]

Lol, you know, I’d never seen ONE episode of that show until last summer when I was watching digital antenna TV late at night and there was NOTHING on and I stumbled into that show and was sucked into its vortex and I binged-watched it for like 12 episodes! I did the same thing one night with the Donna Reed Show! It’s some odd Outer Space kinda WTF is this thing, yet oddly comforting. Especially since I grew up in a single-parent household my ENTIRE life, and was an original Latchkey Kid, that shit’s like TOTALLY foreign but still fascinating.

If I grew up in the 50's and watched this show and looked at my family, I'd be like WTF? I hope that's not what other families are like. But yeah, I've been watching old commercials, shows, political speeches from the past, as a way for me to remove myself from the Trump/coronavirus shitshow.

[piggy]

You guys are making me long for the 90s era Nick At Nite. I watched the shit out of that growing up... The Patty Duke Show, My Three Sons, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Mr. Ed, etc., etc.
Lately, I've been watching a little bit of children's programming from when I was a kid. Like, Today's Special, for example. LOL.

[allegro]

If I grew up in the 50's and watched this show and looked at my family, I'd be like WTF? I hope that's not what other families are like. But yeah, I've been watching old commercials, shows, political speeches from the past, as a way for me to remove myself from the Trump/coronavirus shitshow.

I actually like Father Knows Best and Donna Reed better than Leave it to Beaver. I just don’t get the appeal of Leave it to Beaver.

The only show where the family looked like my family was “One Day at a Time” and I hated that show LOL.

My husband and I have been distracting ourselves from Trump and Covid-19 via our favorite Train Wreck TV:

90 Day Fiancé and Married at First Sight

We also watch what he politically incorrectly calls “the midgets” - Little People, Big World and 7 Little Johnstons. (He doesn’t watch the 2nd one.) I was also watching Sister Wives because they are a total train wreck.

All of these seasons are over, now, as of this week so now omg

[eversonpoe]

You guys are making me long for the 90s era Nick At Nite. I watched the shit out of that growing up... The Patty Duke Show, My Three Sons, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Mr. Ed, etc., etc.
Lately, I've been watching a little bit of children's programming from when I was a kid. Like, Today's Special, for example. LOL.

oh man, i forgot about Today's Special!

i've mentioned this on the board before, but i think it's worth mentioning again: if you're feeling really nostalgic, there's a youtube channel called 80s Commercial Vault that has playlists of 70s, 80s, & 90s commercials transferred from VHS. the video descriptions tell you when/where they were taped, and what commercials are in them. but we've just been watching them in order of upload (if you go to the playlist you can just let it run) and it's so fun. we mostly watch 80s commercials, but the 90s ones are great, too. just watch out for the short news segments that pop up sometimes, they're usually upsetting :/

hilarious that when commercials come on now on streaming platforms, i almost always mute them and can't wait for them to be over, but watching old ones is like a warm blanket.

[allegro]

You guys are making me long for the 90s era Nick At Nite. I watched the shit out of that growing up... The Patty Duke Show, My Three Sons, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Mr. Ed, etc., etc.
Lately, I've been watching a little bit of children's programming from when I was a kid. Like, Today's Special, for example. LOL.

Mr. Ed was on TV on prime time when I was a kid. I miss shit like that and My Favorite Martian and I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched and Lost in Space and the Brady Bunch. That era was comforting, too. Stupid and comforting.

[allegro]

hilarious that when commercials come on now on streaming platforms, i almost always mute them and can't wait for them to be over, but watching old ones is like a warm blanket.

YES! Aren’t ALL commercials also kind of weird, now?

I mean, I see people in commercials playing in parks and my mind says OH THEY ARE NOT SOCIAL DISTANCING! Like this reflex thing.

“Oh, look at the thing we used to have 40+ days ago and we miss, from the Olden Days.”

[GulDukat]

I actually like Father Knows Best and Donna Reed better than Leave it to Beaver. I just don’t get the appeal of Leave it to Beaver.

Two words: Eddie Haskell. I loved that little bastard.

[allegro]

Two words: Eddie Haskell. I loved that little bastard.

Haaaa ha ha ha !!!

[MrLobster]

Coping today by watching this... BootieMashup Twitch

[piggy]

We also watch what he politically incorrectly calls “the midgets” - Little People, Big World and 7 Little Johnstons. (He doesn’t watch the 2nd one.) I was also watching Sister Wives because they are a total train wreck.

All of these seasons are over, now, as of this week so now omg

Yes, I've been watching 7 Little Johnstons as well. One of the only reality type shows I can handle. I've also been watching tons of Flea Market Flip.

oh man, i forgot about Today's Special!

i've mentioned this on the board before, but i think it's worth mentioning again: if you're feeling really nostalgic, there's a youtube channel called 80s Commercial Vault that has playlists of 70s, 80s, & 90s commercials transferred from VHS. the video descriptions tell you when/where they were taped, and what commercials are in them. but we've just been watching them in order of upload (if you go to the playlist you can just let it run) and it's so fun. we mostly watch 80s commercials, but the 90s ones are great, too. just watch out for the short news segments that pop up sometimes, they're usually upsetting :/

hilarious that when commercials come on now on streaming platforms, i almost always mute them and can't wait for them to be over, but watching old ones is like a warm blanket.

Today's Special was awesome. Jodie and Jeff are cute, and Sam and Mrs. Pennypacker reminded me of my grandparents. Muffy was annoying, though. LOL.
I did check out the vintage commercials on YouTube when you mentioned them before, but I got impatient when there were so many that I didn't remember. I'll try again, though. This is also a great time to go back and watch the VH1 I Love The 70s/80s/90s stuff. There's a whole YouTube channel for that, called ILoveTheVH1.

[ninlive]

Thursday night was weird... I am usually a person who studies in the evening, as that is when I usually do it. My brain got too wired really late and I was just up. all. night. I knew I was gonna be grumpy all day Friday. Girlfriend and I were just on different wavelengths, I hate arguing. But it's bound to happen during this time of being super close to one another 24/7. I've been feeling a lot better and come to accept my fate of graduating later than expected... Only to find out that all of the prometric centers around me are closed until May 31st.... I take my board exam June 13th. I can only assume that it will soon be delayed until October. It's just not looking good.

In some better news, I have gotten more videos up on the nin archive with this down time and I've been getting a lot of help from people with new sources and helping with the website. Which I am eternally grateful for. Other things, I started to brew my own coffee... Just pour overs. But it's nice to experiment with brew time, grain size etc... Some chemistry shit that I absolutely love. Been reading a lot about it. Then lastly, my brother was an absolute legend and sent over his old PS3 to me so I could play some video games. May have told people that already... I sold my PS3 back in 2009 to buy my brother and I Noblesville 2009 tickets, LMAO. It's been great to get back on GTA V and just do the campaign.

Anyways, reading how everyone is doing here and hope that your weekends are filled with positive energy and being kind to yourself. <3

[allegro]

Shelter in place, boredom, draw eyebrows on baby

(Jerry Seinfeld’s wife reposted)

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2017 at 12:00pm PDT

[kel]

i don't know where to put this ....

my partner of 21 years, a little on and off, died last monday. i felt his heart stop. i am utterly lost. i so wish he could have taken me with him. i'm not okay and i never will be.

[MrLobster]

i don't know where to put this ....

My condolences.

[allegate]

i don't know where to put this ....

my partner of 21 years, a little on and off, died last monday. i felt his heart stop. i am utterly lost. i so wish he could have taken me with him. i'm not okay and i never will be.

my sincerest condolences.