"WDYDWIQ" ~ What Did you Do While in QUARANTINE??

[Zphal]

DAY 1: Began the day with my five mile run. Roads were pretty quiet. Saw more families walking in the park than typical for a workday.

Spent the majority of the day working on a quilting project I started sometime last year but abandoned. Pretty fabric, rainbow colored dragonflies, patterned as pinwheels. Finished putting the border around the front piece, currently working on the back piece. Worked while listening to music (Lady Gaga).

Also played some videogames (specifically, Surviving Mars-- ironically, while "surviving Earth" sweatdrop ). Watched Netflix (specifically, Deep Space Nine-- which, I'm on my third time rewatching).

Read ten or so chapters in an old fic I abandoned nearly a decade ago. Considering if I want to take this time to attempt to finish it. It's over 80 chapters and I'd have to study it intensively to remember where I left off and what remained to be written.  

[Zphal]

Day 2: Started out my day again with my five mile run. Quieter than yesterday. I did pass by a little old Mexican lady who I often see (she sometimes cheers me on and calls me Speedy Gonzalez!!) and she finally asked my name and introduced herself as Nina. So that was nice to establish a human connection.

When I got back I packed up a bag to take with me to my parents’ place so I could visit for a couple of days. Finished up some stuff on the computer before leaving. Took about an hour and a half to get there.

My mom had to do a zoom meeting with a lot of her students (she teaches Chemistry at UC Merced), so while she did that, I read a chapter in my own textbook for Strategic Analysis (my online class is tomorrow).

Then she and I braved Walmart. I managed to find milk but no eggs or bread, sadly. Bought a few other things and used the self checkout. Used hand sanitizer!

I helped my dad move some furniture around the house because with his free time he’s been redecorating. Mom cooked steak with mushrooms and it was delicious. We ate while watching a show on Amazon Prime.

Now we’re downloading TurboTax on her computer so she can help me file my 2019 taxes. Last year I’d gone to HR Block and felt like they ripped me off. Her help is most appreciated, especially when I need to be careful with my money expenditures while there’s no work.  

[wellwisher]

Okay, let's see......
Day 1 (monday), was told to stay home, did some netflix, played some games, talked to roommates about what we actually needed over what the general public thinks is needed.

day 2, went in to work, had a meeting about how this is all going to work (I work in a school, which has been closed until at least the 27th, probably longer) went home, started planning the next grocery run, checked my various e-mails, watched some videos, called my grandfather, he's pretty darn old, they closed visitations where he lives.

Day 3. went grocery shopping, things are pretty bare, but mostly with the pasta (and pasta sauce), meat, bread, and cleaning supplies, most everything else seems to be pretty well stocked up. eggs were a little low, but, really no more than if it were the day before restock (it was the day after restock, so, that's telling, but, it's not like they were out)

Day 4, today, dunno, probably going to stay home, do some stuff around the house, clean up a bit, watch some more videos, alleviate concerns in my various discord channels, which I've been doing for the past two weeks already.

Already a bit stir crazy, and I'm really not doing much less than I normally do. Just the time sink from my albeit pretty shitty work schedule isn't there.  

[Zphal]

Day 3: Again started the day with my run. This time I ran in an unfamiliar area because I’m visiting my folks, which made the 45 minutes go by really quickly.

Came back and got lunch shortly after that. My mom took us through the Carl’s Jr. drive thru. I got a Western Bacon Cheeseburger and deep fried zucchini. Really tasty. I ate it slow to enjoy it.

Spent awhile journaling, then we played a round of Azul. I won by just a couple points. Then I read another chapter in my textbook to prepare for my online Zoom class. That was about three and a half hours long. Then I had a short phone call with my partner (he got home late from work because he does home frozen food delivery— he’s basically everyone’s hero, haha). I’m just glad he has work so we have some form of income, and that it’s not a high-exposure job either. Mostly he’s doing porch drop-offs right now.

Anyway, I’m staying over one more night and then I guess I better get home. Since technically California doesn’t want people crossing county lines anymore and my folks live in a different county. So much BS. Also I ordered a “no step on snek” flag because I’m hating the government more than ever. Ironically I had to pay tax on the purchase.  

[wellwisher]

So yeah, Thursday, went and grabbed a friend to hang out for the weekend. The social distancing is mostly an in public thing. In private the important thing is to be around people who haven't been exposed. So, stopped at target to grab a few things, keeping relatively isolated.

Friday, slept in, did the usual daily things, got take out, normally I cook, but not today. otherwise doing a few relatively lethargic ish things. Just because of when i can actually go out and get my usual exercise. (I'm on call from 7 am to 5:45 PM, but they'll only call from 7 to 3:30) Gotta stay close to my car until 3:30. I can get out after 3:30.  

[Zphal]

Day 4: Started again with a run. This time I had a better concept of where was good in the neighborhood, so I did two big laps to complete my five miles. After I went into Walmart, and since it was early in the day, they still had bread and eggs. I also managed to get Farmer John's maple sausage. They were my favorite breakfast item for awhile, until I cut back on them because of cholesterol intake. That said, I'm feeling a little less like reigning myself in on stuff like that because shoot, I ought to be able to enjoy some little things!!

Anyway, I derped because I didn't know the Walmart didn't have Apple Pay. So I had to go back out to my car to get my wallet (I don't run with it– just extra weight). Thankfully they were really cool about just suspending the transaction and keeping my bag of items at Guest Service.

So then I went home and spent awhile working on the third part of my group research paper, which'll be due on the 25th. Ate lunch. Then I spent a long time videotaping my mom so she can get her Chemistry lectures posted online. That took up a big chunk of the day. Also played another game of Azul as a break, and took a afternoon nap as well.

Ate some leftover pizza for dinner while on a speakerphone call with my brother, then headed for San Jose to return "home." Thankfully no one stopped me or anything (I'd been a little concerned with the whole "order" to not go across counties), and though my gas tank was only at half, I decided to fill it since the price was low ($2.79) in anticipation of the camping trip we'll hopefully still be taking next weekend.

Did laundry just before bed.  

[Zphal]

Prof. Moonie

Let's see from the last time I posted...

I painted my teacup suncatcher. It's very pretty but I have to wait until I can get something to hang it up with.

I weeded a section of my backyard, so it's ready to have flowers planted... whenever I am able to go to store to buy some. Because I'm not working at the theater right now (due to it being closed due to COVID-19 precautions), I'm not doing any unnecessary spending at this time.

Things at the assisted living have gone into a further lockdown quarantine, which results in me taking a more "social distancing" approach with my activities. As a result, I had to let my parents know I won't be able to visit with them for awhile in person. And I'll be cutting back on my outings for walks and just get outside time in my backyard until things improve. *sighs*

Oh, and a group of my cosplayer friends got together on a Discord voice chat and watched Frozen 2 together via an app called Kast. It was a lot of fun doing it. It was the mood booster I needed since having no social interaction with friends since the end of last month has started to take a toll on me. We're already planning on doing another similar movie viewing "get-together" soon.

I still haven't seen either Frozen movie! surprised  

[Zphal]

Day 5: Because it was Saturday, my partner was home. He's an "essential worker," as he delivers frozen food to peoples' homes. Anyway, we typically run together on weekends, and this was no exception. When we got back, he made himself "second breakfast," and shortly thereafter we went to Smart & Final so he could get food prep ingredients for the next week.

Then he involved himself in doing coding projects for personal development, and I did a couple hours of work on the SEMI project, as well as a couple hours on my quilt project. The back is now ready to be attatched to the front!

During that time we'd slow-cooked a pork roast and potatoes, so we stopped for dinner and watched an episode of Longmire. Later we watched a couple eps of Paradise P.D. and then Neil read a chapter of Jam out loud, which put me to sleep!  

[Zphal]

Prof. Moonie

Zphal

Day 5: Because it was Saturday, my partner was home. He's an "essential worker," as he delivers frozen food to peoples' homes. Anyway, we typically run together on weekends, and this was no exception. When we got back, he made himself "second breakfast," and shortly thereafter we went to Smart & Final so he could get food prep ingredients for the next week.

Then he involved himself in doing coding projects for personal development, and I did a couple hours of work on the SEMI project, as well as a couple hours on my quilt project. The back is now ready to be attatched to the front!

During that time we'd slow-cooked a pork roast and potatoes, so we stopped for dinner and watched an episode of Longmire. Later we watched a couple eps of Paradise P.D. and then Neil read a chapter of Jam out loud, which put me to sleep!

I'm considered an "essential worker" as well. My work went ahead and created a letter for me to have on hand indicating as such, just in case Washington follows California's footsteps and goes into full lockdown mode.

That's a smart move on their part! I hope the police don't get so bored as to start pulling over everyone who happens to be out and about. rolleyes  

[wellwisher]

So far I've basically done my usual things, and then, found myself with roughly another 7 hours that I normally would have been working (things are a bit different for my work schedule normally though)

But I feel like a lot of my schedule is going to be: wake up, do some internet things, around 3:30 go on a walk, come back and start getting dinner ready, finish dinner, then get some guild wars 2 dailies done, then, again not have a lot to do.

Not really used to all this free time.  

[Zphal]

Day 6 and 7: Sunday played out a lot like Saturday; Neil and I went on a run first thing. He mainly worked on his projects while I worked on mine. We watched some Netflix before bed.

Monday morning I went out for my run after Neil had left for work. It's one of his overnight days, so he didn't come home and had to stay in a hotel room. I spent the day working on my projects (SEMI and quilting).

My "NO STEP ON SNEK" flag came in the mail. It's rather large (3' x 5') so I'm not really sure where to hang it. Part of me wants it visible outdoors because I'm really not happy about all the government intervention right now.

In the evening my groupmates got on a 3-way call to finish up the third part of our research paper on power companies (independent generators, utility providers, and a theoretical private fusion entrant). I'll admit that after working on it awhile, I decided to "let go" of my perfectionism and declare it done as they had. So now that's turned in. 20% of the grade in all. Now at least I can focus my efforts on my individual research paper (on Atari), worth 25% of the grade. It'll be really awesome to finish this last class and be done with classes, even if I no longer get a graduation. *sigh*

Stayed up sort of late. I have a tendency to do that on nights without Neil to keep me "regular." Even once it was midnight I didn't feel like sleeping even though I was tired, mostly cuz I wasn't looking forward to today.

There's nothing really wrong with today, except that I feel like I should work (on both SEMI and my paper due in two weeks). Whenever there's work to be done on days that I have off, I never quite manage to let myself enjoy them, mentally flogging myself to accomplish more, or guilting myself when I determine I didn't do enough. It's really a rather frustrating trait. Honestly, I just wanna turn on my Xbox 360 and play CivRev. And what does it matter during a pandemic anyhow?

Oh, also yesterday I filled out a job application for Schwan's Home Food Service (where Neil works) but in Texas. Figure if I got it, it'd make an easy transition to living over there with a wage that would support it. Neil could probably transfer too. Anyway, figure that one is a "Why not?" and "if it's meant to be, it's meant to be" and not gonna worry over it further.

Obvs I forgot to update here a couple days, but now I'm gonna go for my Tuesday morning run.