Daily Check-In

[mecurtin]

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time on Sunday) to midnight (8pm Monday Eastern Time).

Poll #23669 Daily poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 67

How are you doing?

I am OK
57 (85.1%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
10 (14.9%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
30 (44.8%)

One other person
18 (26.9%)

More than one other person
19 (28.4%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

---

Welp, I tried one experiment, and it failed. Try, try again!

Comments

[darkemeralds]

Another okay day. Haven't run out of anything crucial yet, though I'm going to be needing something alcohol based for wiping down frequently-touched surfaces.

Coming back to DW has helped me stay off Twitter. I'm trying not to sink into the negativity online. One of my friends seems to have contracted the virus. She's a lot younger than I am, without any of the big risk factors, so I'm not super worried yet, but it's sobering and much more real now.

Wishing everyone the best.

[mific]

Windex is good, But maybe yours is used up? But any soap breaks down the virus's lipid coating, so soap'd be a reasonable fallback option.

[mecurtin]

My kids & I have all restricted our Twitter use of late, and find it improves our mental health substantially. I think it's not just the negativity, it's that Twitter is very emotionally dense: there are a LOT of items per screen, and most express or evoke strong emotion. And nowadays the emotion is often anxiety, so I can feel mine ramp up as I scroll.

I now use the Block Site extension to lock myself out of Twitter for most of the day, and it really helps.

[twistedchick]

I am OK. Let's call it 95% OK.

The other part is a combination of somewhat nervous (I have a treatment at the clinic tomorrow), and annoyance that I am trying not to let become anger because that's not helpful. And what I'm annoyed about is that I have a good friend who is slowly dying of cancer -- let's say he's at home on the good drugs, 24/7 -- and I can't go visit. If I went I'd be risking giving him a much worth death, and risking his wife, also a good friend for more than 25 years, who is taking care of him. And it bums me out that I can't go hang out with them because being *there* is better now than online. He's online, and i see his sardonic comments. But I miss hearing his voice. And the way things are going, I don't know if I will again.

(yeahyeahit'sallaboutme, ignore this.)

[mecurtin]

Can you set up a video call with him? Or at least a phone call?

[wyomingnot]

You can do voice chat on discord! Or do a skype?

Or, y'know. Phone call. Those are still safe.

[libitina]

That sounds incredibly painful. You probably have a sense memory of exactly what visiting should feel like, and the world is thwarting that. I'm sorry. Hopefully you will find a way to capture some elements of that comraderie and comfort separately.

*sympathy and theoretical hugs*

[darkemeralds]

What a hard thing for you. Others have suggested Skype or Zoom, and those options do pretty well for me, but it isn't the same as being there. I don't know if a video call would be harder than text communication in the circumstances, too much of a reminder of what you can't have.

I'm so sorry. This is just hard.

[goddess47]

I had the dodgy gall bladder out last week, so I've been recuperating from that... it's given me a good reason to sleep (a lot!) and I've been slow to do much around the house beside sleep and read.

I've been craving mac and cheese (which the hubby dislikes), and I may try making some tomorrow.

We're mostly okay otherwise and we're taking it a day at a time.

[mific]

Oh, bummer to have that at this time! Is the mac n cheese celebratory because you can eat it
now as the gallbladder won't flare up? Good plan!

[dine]

mostly ok - now not working, but that just started Friday, so I haven't yet had more than my usual weekend. things will likely start to feel different about Tuesday, when it really sinks in that I'm at home for the duration

I do have one outing a week planned - going to the office (no one will be there) to water my plants and do a load of laundry (which feels much safer than the laundromat), and maybe grab food on the way home for a chance at a meal I didn't prepare

[wyomingnot]

Glad you have an alternative to the laundromat!

Sounds like a good plan. :)

[darkemeralds]

How handy that your workplace has laundry! Back when I was working, I would sneak into the office on weekends and use the giant conference table as a cutting table for my sewing projects.

Ah, those were the days. Sewing might be making a comeback.

[sixbeforelunch]

I went for a long walk today down to the intersection with the Publix and the Walmart. I was disappointed to see both parking lots so full. (Everyone is in a car where I live, so walking means almost no human contact. I saw two people, and both times stepped off of the sidewalk to let them pass at a safe distance.)

[wyomingnot]

The sidewalks! Things are clearing up here, so I've noticed a difference in sidewalk usage. The past couple of months, everyone gave one another a wide berth on the sidewalks. Now, it's basically back to regular.

I've avoided the walmart here, but given the improved conditions here (no new cases in like a month. and no active cases at all for two weeks), I may brave the place. Mainly for cheese. ;)

[melannen]

I saw this post!

I am about to go try eating one of my first wild-yeast sourdough biscuits, because sure there's no actual *need* to go full survivalist, but on the other hand, why not try all the things I've been meaning to try?

[mecurtin]

Do you bake with yeast a lot in your kitchen? I gather that "primes" the yeast in the atmosphere to be more bread-friendly.

[darkestabsol]

I'm doing okay for now. A bit frustrated over having to get Employment Insurance to make up for my workplace being closed down right now, though.

At least I got my taxes done though, so that's one thing out of the way.

[mific]

OMG I hate doing taxes. Double whammy of nasty things all at once!

[mecurtin]

My brother is doing well enough to be b-o-r-e-d in isolation, which is music to my ears, frankly. My parents called him today, I'll call him tomorrow & ask if he's so bored he wants two family calls per day, or only one.

So I'm doing better. He's also not coughing when we talk to him, so I'm feeling reasonably optimistic that it's not moving down his chest. In the past he's had a tendency to get an upper respiratory infection and keep going until it becomes bronchitis, AND STILL KEEP GOING ... So being *forced* to stay put and not do stupid shit is a big change for the better in his approach to illness.

[wyomingnot]

I'm really glad to hear this! <3.

[starwatcher]

.
I ate too much sugar yesterday -- candy and cookies. I know better! It led to an acid reflux attack last night. So today my stomach is all woozy... and my temp is almost a degree above my baseline.

There's only one (diagnosed) case of COVID in my county -- but I know that insufficient testing = undiagnosed cases. And I'm the "healthy one", been running to the stores for two friends. I'm not so worried for myself -- what will be, will be -- but if I have it and if I gave it to one of them, I don't know how I'll live with the guilt. I've been washing my hands religiously before visiting, and wearing a face mask, but...

I know my physical condition is probably the result of my bad choices, but I can't help worrying.
.

[kathmandu]

I baked today, for the first time in months. The upside of work-from-home is that, without the long commutes, I have *time* again.

[feng_shui_house]

Spent the day figuring out how to make face masks. Made one and wore it for an hour or so- it wasn't too bad, not uncomfortable or difficult to breathe through.

So I counted it a success and washed up a LOT of quilter's cotton cut up scraps. NOTE: Washing unhemmed cotton fabric results in a LOT of fraying twisted tangles. Oops. So by the time I got through 2 washes in hot water, picked it all apart, dried it on hot, and then ironed it all it was bedtime.

Of course that was an hour and a half ago... :^) I'm winding down, so much ironing, so much... I'm not used to it-wrinkles are my friends.

[mific]

I downloaded instructions, too. Will have to hand-sew though as have forgotten how to use my machine. :(

[mific]

No real change, knee's still sore but I'm surviving. I hate that it makes it so hard to organise stuff, even to put away groceries. But I have groceries, so I'm lucky. NZ goes on lockdown from midnight Wednesday - preventative to flatten the curve. We hope.

[lexin]

I am about to run out of bread. I have asked my cleaner to get me some if she can, but my hopes are not high. On the other hand, she's very resourceful.

[lexin]

Plus, I may have to ration milk.

[lastrega]

Is anyone else not sleeping? I'm not sleeping well at all. To be fair, it is my default reaction to stress, but it's a fkn pain in the ass nonetheless.

[mecurtin]

Oh yes. I woke up at 5ish this AM, read fanfic etc until 7 when the cat decided it's People Waking Time, petted him for a while and then got up.

After Trump was elected in Nov. 2016 I slept very poorly for *months*. I re-read a lot of old favorite longfic in all my old fandoms, lying in bed but awake between 3-4 and 6 in the morning ...

[gwyn]

I'm mostly just a constant ball of stress and fear, and things are about to get more draconian in Seattle, so I'm worried. I will run out of some things, and I'm in need of stuff, so am resigned to getting to the grocery store soon. Plus I may have broken my wrist a few weeks ago, and now I have to deal with that just as my clinic is shutting more stuff down. Plus people are just being assholes, which is why we can't have nice things have things be less confining.

[mecurtin]

♥