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 Monday) to midnight (8pm Tuesday Eastern Time).

Poll #23680 Daily poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 71

How are you doing?

I am OK
61 (85.9%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
9 (12.7%)

I could use some help
1 (1.4%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
31 (43.7%)

One other person
19 (26.8%)

More than one other person
21 (29.6%)

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.

Comments

[melannen]

So far they're only asking for local drop-offs I'll let you know if they put up a mail address!

[darkemeralds]

I checked "I could use some help" in this post for exactly this reason. Not specifically the grocery store, though there is that, but the stress levels. It helps me to know I'm not the only one.

I wonder if or when that off-kilter feeling is going to normalize. I don't want to waste energy longing for it to be gone, but it's hard to know how best to spend my mental and emotional and even physical energy at all.

We don't "know" each other, but I hope you're doing okay.

[feng_shui_house]

Ok! I think tomorrow I will take off a few hours from sewing in order to make banana snack cake- I just realized some bananas I bought on the 17th are now at the NOW or NEVER stage. Would be a pity to waste them.

[melannen]

Silk's breathable though, isn't it? I mean I can see why they wouldn't specifically request silk, but it ought to work.

I've been assuming it's cotton because breathable, easily washable, cheap. The high cotton poly-cotton blends keep most of the breathability and improve washability, but I'm worried there's something about sterilizing or something that really matters. I went looking for science on this back in the early days a month ago and all I found was that one equivocal study with the t-shirts, so I'd love more links. (It worries me that the local hospital linked for patterns to two mommyblogs with no citations and no discussion of fabrics or fit.)

[darkemeralds]

I'm so sorry. The stress is so high!

It's not much, and I don't know whether you can access it, but this one-hour free call with a couple of my writing-business mentors (Tim Grahl and Sue Campbell) might be interesting for you. Pretty sure they're using Zoom.

LIVE Q&A WITH ME AND SUE CAMPBELL

This Thursday at 3pm Eastern I'll be live along with Book Launch Coach Sue Campbell to answer your book marketing and mindset questions.

There's no training or agenda here.

Since we're all stuck inside and isolated, I thought it would be good for us to spend some time seeing each other and hanging out together for an hour.

Here are the details:

What? Open-ended Q&A for you to ask whatever you want.
Who? Me, Tim Grahl, and Book Launch Coach Sue Campbell.
Day? This Thursday, March 26th.
Time? 3pm Eastern / 12pm Pacific / 7pm GMT / Convert to your timezone.
Register? All you have to do is click this link. You'll automagically be registered.

[darkemeralds]

A good friend of mine has worrying symptoms, so this day seems worse than yesterday. I'm holding up okay--no real hardship, and I'm used to being mostly alone--but I have to acknowledge that the stress is getting to me in weird, subtle ways.

No will to do anything. No willpower either. No focus. Just zombie-ing through the day. I hope tomorrow will be better. The vicissitudes of mood and good news/bad news are unsettling.

[velvetglovefic]

Well, I do love kittens! <3

[feng_shui_house]

I looked at SO Many many links, trying to find something useful. I'm *guessing* most hospitals sterilize cloth by autoclaving (steam under high pressure) which... I don't know if it's hot enough to melt polyester? That's a possibility?

The design I chose is probably just for adults, but since it's held on by a single loop of fabric it's readily adjustable within the usual adult range.

I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to make one for children- children are hard to fit even with the professional equipment (one of the many links I looked at said that no matter what type used, there was always a higher failure rate for children's face masks.)

Right now, I figure you do your best research, limited as it is, and hopefully the result is useful. Let the professionals at the hospital/facility judge its merits.

[velvetglovefic]

Oh, that's great! I might be able to show up for that! Thanks so much for the link.

[minim_calibre]

We just got the stay-at-home order. As going on drives is not on the list of allowed activities outside the house, my kid's last nerve has snapped and now I'm dealing with a complete meltdown. (Well, my spouse is, because I've been kicked out of the room. It's not great.)

[velvetglovefic]

I definitely think it is an accomplishment!

[twistedchick]

I cannot guarantee that it helps everyone, but it helps me to do conscious breathing in the following way:

1. Imagine that you are breathing in and out through your heart. Ignore actual biology for this. Just imagine that's where the breath is going in and out.

2. Breathe slowly in and out. Breathing in and out with this concentration on the heart area tends to reduce stress -- it lowers my BP significantly.

3. When you're comfortable with this, make the exhalations longer. This triggers a physiological relaxation response.

4. After a few long breaths, when you're feeling more comfortable, just breathe normally and consider it's flowing through your heart.

It costs nothing to try, and it can help.

[azurelunatic]

https://www.deaconess.com/How-to-make-a-Face-Mask has scaled-down proportions that is their recommendation for children's face masks.

The PDF instruction there was incredibly hard for me to grasp, but the video demonstration clicked for me.

siderea found https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/best-materials-make-diy-face-mask-virus/ which compares the effectiveness of various fabrics.

[darkemeralds]

That's marvelous! So simple, so effective. I just...forgot about conscious breathing.

Thank you so much. I feel better instantly.

[azurelunatic]

Today I finished cleaning my desk and setting up my desktop computer, which had been down for various reasons including repair since early January. It feels good to have it again, though sitting in the chair is making my back yell.

[twistedchick]

You're very welcome -- now, just keep breathing.

If it helps, you can touch your chest for a stronger focus. It doesn't have to be exact, just in that general region.

[mific]

Ah, I feel for you. There are a lot of ordinary colds and flu around, though, so fingers crossed.

[wyomingnot]

A colleague called me today and said that the 'stay home' order here will be expiring in less than three weeks. I haven't heard it from my boss yet, though. So I'm not counting it as official. She also said there was no official word on school resuming. So. Who knows. Nobody does.

This reminds me that I need to call and see about cancelling my flights for July. Ain't no way that trip can happen.

[twistedchick]

Silk ... it depends on the weave. I have worn silk saris and they are NOT breathable. And a loosely woven silk would not be good.

The other issue with silk is that if it catches on fire, it releases some quantity of ... cyanide gas? Some sort of poison gas. There was a news article a while back about a silk warehouse that burned, and this was mentioned. (No, I have no idea why silkworms create something poisonous.)

[jb_slasher]

Yesterday work issued an order for everyone to work from home until further notice so today is my first real self-isolation day. I'm bad at stocking things long-term so my pantry has some things but nothing to last for weeks. The closest grocery store is just a few minutes' walk away and I'm thinking of making some kind of food plan at some point. So, yeah, really slowly easing into this situation. I still can't quite believe this is actually happening.

[mific]

It reels good to use the time to get things organised. I have to do it sitting as I have a bum knee at present.

[mific]

Damn, that's tough. They're letting us go outside or drive here, as long as we're solitary or in pre-existing family groups.

[darkemeralds]

That's so sad! And the kind of little but huge thing nobody thinks about till it happens. I'm so sorry. And the students will be forever shaped by this experience. "What grade were you in when COVID hit?" will be their "where were you when the Towers came down/Challenger blew up/Kennedy was assassinated?"

We'll get through it, but so much change is really hard, and I try to remind myself that it's okay to grieve what's lost in the process.

[darkemeralds]

I feel the same way. Constant disbelief, followed by yeah, it's happening all right, followed by more disbelief and disorientation, and around and and around we go.

I'm hoping the human capacity to get used to anything will kick in here pretty soon. Until then, deep breaths...

[ratcreature]

I've developed a sore throat last night that I'm now feeling disproportionately paranoid about, considering that I don't have a fever or persistent cough or anything.

Also it's kind of sobering that even if it isn't the new one, I clearly still got some bug despite having stayed home for two and a half weeks now, only venturing out twice for a brief trip to the supermarket and twice downstairs to bring my trash out. And I washed my hands a lot too.

Also I'm bummed that having some respiratory symptom now means I can't go out to get fresh vegetables, dairy and stuff later this week, like I intended to.