So how is everyone doing, really?

Mike Brady wrote: Altered Carbon is pretty legit as well! Both the books and the show

I don’t know about the books but the show is cheesy as fuck, both seasons. It could have been so much more if only Netflix took time to do it right , it has great ideas in it but as with many other Netflix shows it gets round with quick release. Just my 0.02$. 

We’re going about our lives as usual, following the guidelines and keeping ourselves entertained any way we can. There’s always some unfinished project in the house, little one is on the go all the time which helps with our wellbeing. I’m working, apartment maintenance, and I can’t afford myself to spiral into what ifs. At this point the healthiest thing for a lot of folks is to tune out the TV. Most of us are healthy, still have jobs and at the end of the day all the rocks will be still there, although some of us might not. If it gets really tough you’re phone call away from people that can help you. Here’s how we’re staying fit :)

Ice Crow wrote: ...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....
Stay sane out there.

Well, I might have some sympathy for your "plight" and doomsday viewpoint if the US were the only participant in this "plot". However, take a read here: https://www.sailingtotem.com/2020/03/the-south-pacific-is-closed.html , and see if you want to re-think your position.

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? 

Mild symptoms like not being able to breathe?

Oh, and you also left out is that it can kill you. Current estimates for mortality rate are around 1%.

The other part of understanding this disease is that it's also highly infectious. Without any measures taken to prevent transmission, it's estimated that 70% of the world's population would be infected. With a world population of 7.8 billion, that's 5.46 billion people. With 1 in 6 needing hospitalization, that's 900 million people in hospitals. With a mortality rate of 1% (which assumes that they actually all get into hospitals, which wouldn't happen), that's 55 million people dead. Given many 900 million sick people would completely overwhelm our hospital system, the death toll would likely be three times that, closer to 165 million.

That's why "the whole planet has stopped". The world hasn't stopped to avoid minor symptoms. The world has stopped to avoid letting a disease kill 165 million people. 165 million people who would suffer as they died. 165 million people with parents, children, lovers, friends. Let's not lose sight of what we're trying to avoid here.

That's without any measures taken to prevent transmission. This won't happen, because we are taking measures to prevent transmission. I don't want to make anyone more afraid than is warranted. In fact, I don't think we need fear at all. Instead, we should take measures to prevent transmission out of love: for ourselves, for our families, for our friends, and for the rest of humanity. Love does not have to be blind: we can look at the reality of this crisis and face it with love and courage, and do what is necessary to save as many lives as we can.

Stay well.

Guys please, this is an island of soothing humanity in the midst of chaos. Let's try to keep it this way.

Andrew Gram wrote: 
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 sorry, that is really rough. My daughter is in high school, and doesn’t need my involvement in school work, for the most part, but being separated from friends has been really rough for her, too. Obviously they chat/text, but it is wearing her down. She is not sleeping well, and has no energy for anything. 

We turned my hangboard warmup into a whole-family activity, and I’m assigning more house/yard work than usual. She grumbles, of course. But seems to be happiest when we do it. The only bright spot was getting her ACT scores in the mail. She did really well, and I know that was/is one of the things she is stressed out. 

So far my experience of my mood is still pretty positive, but it's obvious that I'm under some strain and it's coming out in unhealthy behaviors. I was restless and kept getting up last night so I didn't sleep much, which is probably a result of not getting enough physical exertion the past few days. I ate a bunch of cookies this morning, which is usually something I'm more disciplined about. Bringing awareness to these things means I change them, but I'm sure the stress will come out in new ways. It's a work in progress.

I'm trying to choose my reactions to events with love and not fear. Buying supplies, but not so many that I don't leave enough for the next person. Social distancing, but not so rigidly that I yell at people when they make mistakes. Avoiding risks, but not so much that I won't bring groceries to a sick friend.

Old lady H wrote: 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.

As a school teacher I disagree with this. Please do not start, "unschooling" your children. I acknowledge schools are not perfect and all kids learn differently, but most high achieving schools have found ways to address the aforementioned and are generally doing a pretty good job of it. I akin statements like, "pull your kids from school let them learn on their own," to anti-vax type stuff. 

Lee Chandler wrote:

As a school teacher I disagree with this. Please do not start, "unschooling" your children. I acknowledge schools are not perfect and all kids learn differently, but most high achieving schools have found ways to address the aforementioned and are generally doing a pretty good job of it. I akin statements like, "pull your kids from school let them learn on their own," to anti-vax type stuff. 

Respectfully, there is more than one way to do everything, including learning, and we look to agree on that. I am not saying take your kids out of school, but that is the reality people face now, kids at home. Yes, online learning is happening, our teachers here were on this ahead of being told they had to, but it may or may not be going swimmingly for everyone out there. Rather, I'm simply saying this is a viable option for some kids, and some families. 

Please don't kneejerk into dismissive stereotypes. I would hope a teacher would know better than that.

I'm that old lady that makes it a point to vote for school bonds. I'm old enough to have helped my cohorts in high school win the right to vote at 18, and I've voted every election since.

There's more than a little support for teachers and education from my side of this.

Personally, other than tetanus now and then, my last vacs were in high school. And included small pox! My son is totally up to date, and then some. He's an EMT.

Best, Helen

EDIT to add, for the record, I loved school. My son did too, until a certain point when he had to change schools and it totally fell to pieces. Again, it isn't always the best choice, all the time.

Lena chita wrote:

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. 

 

Thanks for the tip!  I've heard about that series from a few people now and it's definitely next up on my list.  Dune is my favorite book of all time actually, and I remember hiking up to the Steck-Salathe debating with my partner whether the next few books in the series were great or rubbish (I loved them, but they are different in style).  

On a similar note, fingers crossed that GRRM can finally sit down and finish Winds of Winter!

Other than having a narcissistic wannabe dictator in charge of my country. I am keeping well and trying to be positive!

Franck Vee wrote: Guys please, this is an island of soothing humanity in the midst of chaos. Let's try to keep it this way.

+1

It's spring here, sunny, about 42 now.....but I'm an optimist and have a tank top on under the sweatshirt for the yardwork this afternoon! Onion sets and spuds that need garden space prepared so they can get planted. Flowers too...just..cus.

I'm sneezing a lot, but hey, if all the plants in southern Idaho would stop trying to procreate with my nose, we'd be fine.

Best, Helen

Ty Gilroy wrote: Other than having a narcissistic wannabe dictator in charge of my country. I am keeping well and trying to be positive!

I agreed until I realized you're from Canada.

To the point, I'm using it as a time to recover and catch up on house work I'd put off to climb. The rain keeps the stoke at bay and I'm lucky enough to work from home so I'm making out okay.

Joe Ko wrote:

I agreed until I realized you're from Canada.

To the point, I'm using it as a time to recover and catch up on house work I'd put off to climb. The rain keeps the stoke at bay and I'm lucky enough to work from home so I'm making out okay.

Yeah. We have a bit of a tendancy for drama sometimes.

Although to be fair, they did do a bit of a dick move (slipping power grab into measures that were already mostly agreed to by opposition parties). The thing is we have a minority government in Canada right now too, so the government NEEDS support from other parties to get... anything really done. So it's not as bad government-wise, but we still have our concerns....

David K wrote: I'm trying to choose my reactions to events with love and not fear. Buying supplies, but not so many that I don't leave enough for the next person. Social distancing, but not so rigidly that I yell at people when they make mistakes. Avoiding risks, but not so much that I won't bring groceries to a sick friend.

I've also found that this has been a good opportunity to practice this. Recognizing that we're all going through this simultaneously has helped me soften my reaction when someone says or does something that annoys me or that I don't agree with. Trying to be kind to others has also helped me be kind to myself. And it's been heartening to see so many other people practicing the same.

Bored and stressed, but at least I'm still working and employed. My stress reliefs used to be skiing and climbing, now I can't do either! I hate going to the grocery store as no one has concepts of personal space. Had someone try and push my out of the way yesterday and I was getting bananas, just because they wanted some and the store was almost out.
And to make matters worse I'm down to 2 rolls of TP at home, maybe I should have bought some a couple weeks ago when I was laughing at everyone else...

my eating has gone to shit... i started this out around 156. i now weigh 164 this morning. there's nothing to do but snack on the chips and salsa, watch tv, bake a cake and eat half the damn thing. work on the woody then drink a beer. fuck

I’m doing ok now, but this past week has been one of my worst. Living full time in a van makes me feel outcast right now and on top of that our electrical issues continued to the point where our van almost burnt down. Now we have no lights or refrigerator and we are sort of stranded. Pretty much out of money and our seasonal gigs aren’t going to be happening. It did stop raining for a day though, so that is nice. We are away from town, where I want to be, so my mind feels a little better and we have enough food to last a month or so. Hopefully everyone else is hanging in there, I definitely feel the effects on my mental health being stuck inside a box with maybe 40 square feet that’s mostly taken up by belongings and food. 

jessie briggs wrote: I’m doing ok now, but this past week has been one of my worst. Living full time in a van makes me feel outcast right now and on top of that our electrical issues continued to the point where our van almost burnt down. Now we have no lights or refrigerator and we are sort of stranded. Pretty much out of money and our seasonal gigs aren’t going to be happening. It did stop raining for a day though, so that is nice. We are away from town, where I want to be, so my mind feels a little better and we have enough food to last a month or so. Hopefully everyone else is hanging in there, I definitely feel the effects on my mental health being stuck inside a box with maybe 40 square feet that’s mostly taken up by belongings and food. 

Yeah, the coronavirus basically ended truck life for me. Luckily my friends had a spare room for me to retreat to. I hope you find a way to make it work for you.

Nat Vorel wrote:

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.

No dude, that's pretty much exactly what she did, that is, responded to the question of how she's doing.  If you don't like the particular answer, that's your problem.