So how is everyone doing, really?

Altered Carbon is pretty legit as well! Both the books and the show

my favorite scifi book series so far is Remebrance of Earth's Past by Cixin Liu (3 Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Deaths End). they suffer from some awkwardness in translation and cardboard characters, but DAMN the scifi ideas are awesome.

I'm working everyday from home and really enjoying that.  I have trails behind my place so I'm able to get out. I feel like I don't have the right to complain and I know I'm lucky.  So for the stake of statistics, I'll admit that I'm having a hard time shaking the feeling of anxiety that lives in my throat.  I always thought I was expert level loner but being alone now day after day after day, is really getting to me.  Makes me wish I had a roommate or something.  Good thing I can handle it.

I just heard that in my County, out of the 69 test administered, they have 4 positives so far. 

I've been reading the Wheel of Time series, on the third book now.  I can't think of a better time to start a 4 million word fantasy series!

I've used my free time to expand my horizons. 

As you can see, I've read enough Facebook posts to earn this. So, yeah, I'm a pretty big deal.
I've also been rounded up with a lot of other dissidents and kicked off of Facebook for 3 days, for a 5 year old post in a private group I couldn't even see, so that's why I'm creeping around here a lot tonight.

Mark Straub wrote: I've been reading the Wheel of Time series, on the third book now.  I can't think of a better time to start a 4 million word fantasy series!

Many years ago, I randomly picked up A Crown of Swords, I think it is the 6th it 7th book... I read it, and liked it, and thought I would read the series, when I had time, but it never happened. Last year, I finally got the audiobook for the first book in the series. And I just couldn’t get into it, for some reason...

I think at the time when these books came out, they were amazing, but tastes change with time? Or maybe it’s me who is changing.  I’ve read the Dune series as a young adult, and loved them so much! I made a mistake of trying to re-read them a couple of years ago, and I wish I hadn’t. It took a lot of the glow away. I wish I has just remembered the books as I had experienced them first .

But speaking of fantasy series... if you haven’t read Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller chronicles: Name of the wind and Wise man’s fear, that is, hands down, my favorite of the genre. 

 

I'm doing okay.

Professionally: We switched to work from home a week and a half ago (city planner). It's amazing how much I can get done without all the interruptions in a normal office day. Able to work on "longer term" projects that we could never find time for before. Actual planning vs. development review. So that's cool.

Personally: I miss climbing, of course. Some actual phone calls and meaningful dialogue with old/distant friends has been rekindled, so that's good. Seems like people are checking in more now that we're all isolated. Odd thing I didn't expect is that I've kind of reconnected with and come to enjoy my small studio apartment better. I've spent a lot of time bummed about it, not being able to find a house in Santa Fe, bummed that I live in a very small (but nice) studio, but now I've come to appreciate just how cool and artistically built the space is, how good the views off my roof deck are, etc. I think I appreciate it more now that I am truly confined to it.

How I plan on spending my free time

Legs Magillicutty wrote: I'm working everyday from home and really enjoying that.  I have trails behind my place so I'm able to get out. I feel like I don't have the right to complain and I know I'm lucky.  So for the stake of statistics, I'll admit that I'm having a hard time shaking the feeling of anxiety that lives in my throat.  I always thought I was expert level loner but being alone now day after day after day, is really getting to me.  Makes me wish I had a roommate or something.  Good thing I can handle it.

I just heard that in my County, out of the 69 test administered, they have 4 positives so far.

I can relate to that feeling. I have roommates and a cat, for whom I'm grateful, but I still feel painfully lonely sometimes, especially when I wake up. For me I mostly feel it in my chest, like heartbreak or grief. I've been thinking that maybe some of us who are used to being alone are feeling this particularly strongly, because it feels kind of painfully familiar; and it can be hard to believe that it's really only temporary.

For a while, Boston was sending out text messages with updated statistics on cases. They seem to have stopped doing so after our first death on Sunday. My guess is that they felt those numbers were no longer helping raise public awareness/action. I think for many of us, the numbers have been becoming less and less abstract.

How am I am doing? I am ANGRY!
Angry at the tremendous stupidity of people for not realizing that the damage this global lockdown is causing, and it will continue to cause is going to hurt us much  more than this virus will ever do.
Fear has taken such a toll in my boss, and now she’s acting a bit irrational. I have contacted the founder of the company, and thank goodness he thinks just like me.
This is going to be a long rant, so please, bear with me, and take a seat.

The WHO website states: “The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don't feel unwell. Most people (about 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. People with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical attention.”

Really that the whole planet has stopped over an illness that causes mild symptoms?  Seriously?? It’s beyond absurd to extremely disrupt people’s lives over this mild illness. Coronavirus is not a disease, it’s an illness. A disease needs a cure, while an illness needs to be managed. Someone can have a disease and show no signs of illness. While all diseases can show signs of illness, not all illness is a disease. Yet, they keep calling this virus a disease like they call measles and chickenpox  a disease. Those are childhood illnesses. I got both of them and in two weeks I was all better and truly immunized.Some diseases don’t even show any sign of illness for a long time. Heart disease is called the “silent killer” for a reason. A friend of mine died of heart attack from night to day a the age of 52 without ever showing any sign of illness. One night he mentioned his chest was hurting and next morning he was found dead. 

Don’t get me wrong, of course precautions should be done to minimize the spread, (and I’m taking as many as I can), but NOT to this extreme. Again - NOT to this extreme. For those with a compromised immune system even a fever could be lethal to them.

My mother had the HIV and who knows for how long she carried the disease without ever showing any sign of illness at all. We never knew she had it, and she probably didn’t know either, but we didn’t know for sure. If she knew she had it then she kept it a secret. After a couple days in the hospital she was fine, and then the doctor told us she could leave the next day. Then next morning we got the news that she suddenly became very sick through the night to the point she couldn’t breath and was taken to the ICU, then that’s when they found out she had HIV and pneumonia. Right away the doctor told us that due to having HIV, chances were that she wasn’t going to survive the pneumonia. It wasn’t the pneumonia that killed her, it was the HIV disease. Her immune system was already compromised, so her body had no strength to fight the pneumonia.  My point is, for those who have a compromised immune system pretty much anything could kill them. If my mother didn’t have the HIV disease, she would have recovered from the pneumonia just fine. Again - Coronavirus is not deadly, and it’s not a disease.

Deadly is something that could permanently injure and/ or kill someone who is healthy. Vaccines can be deadly, for they have the potencial to permanently harm and/or kill a healthy person. When I was a child everyone got chickenpox and measles, some even got mumps. I have never heard of a healthy child who died from these illnesses.

The mass brainless sheep are falling for the terrorism that the media is doing, and that really scares me. The system is fueling you with fear, and you are all under its thumb, and that’s scary as hell.If most people thought like me, we would be in the streets protesting against this stupid lockdown telling all businesses to keep their doors open because we are coming, but of course this will never happen. People are acting crazy like it’s the end of the world. It’s beyond ridiculous. When the real crazy thing is not doing anything to stop this stupid lockdown. They are laughing at us at how easily we can be manipulated to think what they want us to think.

Americans are worldly famous for being the most mentally stable people on the planet, right? Very few people in this country are on some kind of psychotic drug, *sarcasm*.
1 in 13 children in the US are on psychiatric drug.

The emotional and financial damage that this will cause on people is much worse than this this virus will ever do.
To mandate the whole planet to stop over a virus that causes mild symptoms in majority of people is the most stupid thing I have ever seen.
This global lockdown over a virus that causes mild symptoms, but the media makes seem like it’s one of deadliest diseases ever, will be remembered as the most pathetic event in modern history.

I really hope I’m wrong, but I think that ultimately, this is all about mandating vaccines. When the vaccine is released to the public the mass brainless sheep will run to get their shot. I will be running away from this vaccine just like I run away from all vaccines. Mandatory vaccination in California was what ultimately got me out of there and brought me to Washington. Vaccines are the greatest fraud ever.Organic, raw and whole foods are the solution to fight off diseases. It’s the true way to be healthy. But majority of people are too lazy to care to eat healthy, plus, the corruption in our government doesn’t help as the FDA has been allowing tons of bad things in our food, however, for those who really care to eat healthy there are a load of resources and information out there, and affordable options as well.

The system in the United States of America does not want us healthy nor dead. For they have found out that there is no profit in healthy people or dead people. They have found out that making its population chronically ill is the way to go to make a ton of $$$$.
All the terrorism around this virus is about anything but because they really care about our health.

The amount of people who die in this country over diseases that are totally preventable prove that. What has the government and the media been doing to make American people’s health better? Nothing. Much on the contrary. There are other things killing Americans right now that are much more alarming than this virus.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US and globally. In the US cardiovascular diseases kill 840,000 people a year. Globally, 17 million people a year.  In the US heart disease kills 1 American every 37 seconds. THAT is a reason for panic, but nobody gives a damn, instead they are losing their mind over a virus that majority of people will experience mild symptoms and will recover just fine if they get it. That’s INSANE! Not to mention that young and middle aged Americans are dying at an alarming rate, and about 27% of American children are chronically ill and/or obese. And again, nobody gives a dam about these disturbing facts, but everyone is loosing their mind over a mild virus.
This is such a lengthy topic. I could go on and on about this in 100 pages, if I only had the time...

Stop following the system so blindly. Question everything they do, learn how to really want to know why they do things the way they do, go deep... And you will never again trust them with your health.

The brilliant Aldous Huxley predicted the future, the mass brainless sheep are having their liberties taken away, and they are loving it.

DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating that people should not vaccinate. I have never done that and never will. I advocate for people to want to know both sides of the coin, and only then they can truly make an informed choice. It’s your choice if you want to take the risk with the vaccine or with the illness. But true informed consent is only when you fully know both sides of the coin.
Read vaccine inserts and research the ingredients, and then only then you can say that you have really made a conscious decision based on true informed consent.
No matter what choice you make, either choice will come with a risk and only you can decide what risk you are comfortable taking. NOT the government.
In my case, I have chosen to trust my mighty diet which is rich in organic, raw, whole foods, no dairy, no processed sugar. I trust that the immune system can fight any illness when it’s fueled with the right foods, and it never ceases to amaze me how healthy and strong we can be when we do that. I see that everyday in my 8 yr old son who got his first real cold for the first time at the age of 8, and he has been around other children since he was 2 yrs old. His immune system is so strong that most of the time his body fights off illness without even the illness manifesting itself.
I am not worried at all if my son ever gets this virus or measles or chickenpox or any other illness. At least 80% of the money I spend in groceries goes to organic vegetables and fruits.

I have never felt more threatened than right now. I will be learning how to shoot and get a gun as soon as this madness slows down. It’s something I have been wanting to do for many years, but never took the time to do it. This is the time. South Dakota is planning on a bill that will ban all mandatory vaccines or any other mandatory medical procedure.
If there’s something that’s truly ours is our body. Nothing is more ours than our body, to have anything done to our body against our consent, it’s the ultimate violation of human rights. I believe in that with every cell in my being, and I’m willing to die for the cause, if it ever comes down to it.
I absolutely do not trust the United States of America at all, or any other government whatsoever, to decide what’s best for my health. I will continue making that decision myself until my last breath.

The people I feel for the most during this turbulent time, is pregnant women. What a time to be pregnant and give birth to a new life...
But if I happened to be pregnant during this time, I’d have nothing to fear, for I’d just give birth at home again in the same way I did with my son without any medical assistance. It’s so sad how the modern medicine has turned birth into a medical event, when it is a physiological event, and how they have turned giving birth into a beast of 7 heads. Most  women are terrified of giving birth the way we did back in the day. But then again the system has turned birth into a business. There’s no profit in women giving birth the way I gave birth to my son.  Everything  revolves around the mighty dollar.


The absolute last place I’d want to be right now is a hospital. A place infected with bacteria, germs, viruses, infections, illnesses, and the worst part - a place full of healthcare professionals who know nothing about nutrition. A place that, apparently, you go there to get better, yet, nobody knows nothing about nutrition, the thing that will really get you better and healthy. But they know everything about making you dependent on their ongoing treatment and their drugs.
I have met many people in healthcare and only one of them lives a healthy lifestyle. The last person I met in health care has a master in nutrition. She eats ice cream nearly daily, drinks  Starbucks drinks, doesn’t cook, doesn’t juice, doesn’t exercise, and she’s a bit chubby. Sure, I’d love to pay this healthcare professional  to give me nutrition advice. She told me she doesn’t think her body would be able to fight the “disease” if she were to get it. I think being passionate about nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle should be a requirement for any person wanting to enter the healthcare field. But no, so many of them live a poor lifestyle. Doctors and nurses who smoke, who are overweight and are on some kind of psychiatric drug. Any person who really cares about helping the public with their health is pursuing a career in the holistic/naturopathic field.
I trust convencional medicine as much as I trust the CDC and the FDA. Only in case I’d need a surgery I’d trust convencional medicine. Most people in conventional medicine are there because of the fat paycheck that comes with the career. That’s the brutal reality. If those people really cared, they would be fighting the system to make the reform that only they can make.

Once upon a time, I really wanted to be a nurse, until I found out the truth of how ugly things are. At first, in my naivety, I dreamed about entering healthcare to try to make a change and inspire more people to share my values. For once I believed that the reform we need in healthcare could come only from the people who work in the industry, but after researching how the industry works I realized that it would be nearly impossible, and if I were to enter healthcare it would be a very challenging and very stressful career because I was going to remain loyal to my values and ethics above everything else. I was going to have a very hard time keeping a job.

Once I met a lady from Ethiopia who was a nurse, and I could barely understand what she said. And I wondered how she made through nursing school with such bad English. That just shows how much they need nurses. Have you ever looked at the number of people who die due to medical errors?
Medical errors is the third leading cause of death in the US killing 250,000 to 400,000 people each ear. Now, that’s alarming! Are you panicking yet? Oh wait, you only panic when the media tells you so. You are all just like a puppet with strings.

I already ate super healthy before all this, but now this whole thing has been inspiring me to eat even healthier. The only bad sugar I’d eat was the sugar in the jelly. Now I’m no longer eating jelly and have been using raw organic honey instead. I’m drinking plenty of homemade carrot and lemon juice, turmeric and ginger shot, and have just made vegan chocolate ice cream with avocado, coconut cream, banana, real cocoa powder and raw honey, all organic.
Your true defense against this virus or any other illness starts with every bite you take. Processed sugar is POISON to our health. Just getting rid of processed sugar will do wondrous to your health.

This world is getting madder and madder. This also could be the beginning of the New World Order. If you don’t believe in the Bible, there couldn’t be a better time than now to start believing. We are living through the last days more than ever, yet, we gotta keep on fighting until the end, because that’s what God want us to do.

Some of you will probably give me shit over these things. Go ahead, I can take it lol
Ultimately, this global lockdown is all about power, manipulation and mandating vaccines.

Rather than that, I’ve been working. I had two jobs, the other one is gone, but still got the other and working full time. So grateful for that. I’m paying my debt and dreaming of starting a new life somewhere in New England, or South Dakota... or whatever life takes me...and dreaming of finding true love in a time where so many have lost faith in that...
And most importantly, trying not to lose my sanity.

Stay sane out there.

And most importantly, trying not to lose my sanity.

try hard

Ice Crow wrote: DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating that people should not vaccinate.

Stay sane out there.

Take this to another thread. The whole point of this thread is how you’re holding up and coping with what’s going on, and what you’re doing with your time, not your opinions on the virus.

Ice Crow wrote: [ ... ]
And most importantly, trying not to lose my sanity.

Stay sane out there.

Because this is a nice thread and we're trying to keep it upbeat, I'm just going to say I hope you get to keep sane in these trying times. Seems like you have a lot on your mind. But perhaps some measure of staying home and having time to chill out would help... Or just making that time in your life would help. 

I find it hard these days to not just get stuck in a rut of recurring thoughts, too.

Ice Crow wrote: Wall of text

[CITATION NEEDED]

I work from home and have a secure job, which I am very grateful for.  My wife mostly can work from home.  She works in HR, and is having a terribly stressful time dealing with strategy, furloughs, helping people work through unemployment claims, etc.  

I could definitely have done without the earthquake last week in salt lake city.  That and the aftershocks have really added to the feeling of doom.  

The best and also the hardest part is taking care of my kindergartener.  It is extremely difficult to have both my wife and i do demanding jobs and try to stay engaged with my daughter's distance learning, and we are not doing very well at all at it.  She is an only child and it sucks that she can't play with any other kids, but a bit too young for videoconferencing to keep her attention.  I love the extra time with her, and she is a great kid with a big imagination that is making the best of things.  It was pretty heartbreaking yesterday when she asked about going back to school and I told her it would be at least another month, and she burst into tears.

I'm also very grateful for my pets - a big fat cat, a tiny 8 pound dog, and a 180 pound irish wolfhound.  My family takes the dogs on a lot of walks around the neighborhood, and people crack up seeing my daughter walk the tiny dog right next to me walking the giant.  We keep our distance of course, but seeing something unusual and absurd like that has brightened a lot of our neighbor's days.

Andrew Gram wrote: I work from home and have a secure job, which I am very grateful for.  My wife mostly can work from home.  She works in HR, and is having a terribly stressful time dealing with strategy, furloughs, helping people work through unemployment claims, etc.  

I could definitely have done without the earthquake last week in salt lake city.  That and the aftershocks have really added to the feeling of doom.  

The best and also the hardest part is taking care of my kindergartener.  It is extremely difficult to have both my wife and i do demanding jobs and try to stay engaged with my daughter's distance learning, and we are not doing very well at all at it.  She is an only child and it sucks that she can't play with any other kids, but a bit too young for videoconferencing to keep her attention.  I love the extra time with her, and she is a great kid with a big imagination that is making the best of things.  It was pretty heartbreaking yesterday when she asked about going back to school and I told her it would be at least another month, and she burst into tears.

I'm also very grateful for my pets - a big fat cat, a tiny 8 pound dog, and a 180 pound irish wolfhound.  My family takes the dogs on a lot of walks around the neighborhood, and people crack up seeing my daughter walk the tiny dog right next to me walking the giant.  We keep our distance of course, but seeing something unusual and absurd like that has brightened a lot of our neighbor's days.

Well if it makes you feel any better a friend of mine in OR is having a hell of a time homeschooling his 2 kids as well. 

He tells me that they are acting out and have been suspended multiple times and the teacher has been under suspicion of drinking on the job multiple times. 

Lena chita wrote:

Many years ago, I randomly picked up A Crown of Swords, I think it is the 6th it 7th book... I read it, and liked it, and thought I would read the series, when I had time, but it never happened. Last year, I finally got the audiobook for the first book in the series. And I just couldn’t get into it, for some reason...

I think at the time when these books came out, they were amazing, but tastes change with time? Or maybe it’s me who is changing.  I’ve read the Dune series as a young adult, and loved them so much! I made a mistake of trying to re-read them a couple of years ago, and I wish I hadn’t. It took a lot of the glow away. I wish I has just remembered the books as I had experienced them first .

But speaking of fantasy series... if you haven’t read Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller chronicles: Name of the wind and Wise man’s fear, that is, hands down, my favorite of the genre. 

 

+1 for the Kingkiller Chronicle; such a fantastic story! I'm hoping that during the shutdown Patrick has time to finish editing book 3... He's had a draft done for a while now, but he's not happy with the current edit, and has been chipping away at it for some time.

The same goes for George R.R. Martin. With the inevitable slow down in his travel schedule, I'm hoping he's able to hunker down and make some progress on finishing the series.

For those of you with school kids at home, this odd time might change how some choose to educate their kids.

We chose to let our son stay home the summer after fifth grade. He did fine with that, so sixth grade I homeschooled him....until I realized it was still just info in, info out, no matter how fun I tried to make it. After he aced a half sized practice GED test without even reading any of it, just zooming through, I simply cut him loose. Clearly he could do the standard stuff if pressed. We went to unschooling.

He pursued anything that interested him. Which means, he truly learned, and in far greater depth than would have happened in school.

He volunteered various places, got his GED, got his EMT ticket near his 18th birthday, and has been an EMT and SAR guy for years now....at 25.

So? You know your kids best. Depending on the rules where you live, it's a great opportunity! IMO, younger kids are naturally curious about all sorts of things. For some of them, just stand back and help it happen.

It's also fun! Anyone here ever learn about prehistory by throwing an atlatl with your kid as your excuse to play? He's death to mammoths, if anyone is interested...

Best, Helen