Life in the Age of COVID-19
April 7th, 2020 by Benj Edwards
How is everyone doing out there? We’re living through historic times, with most of the world on lockdown due to COVID-19 (AKA novel coronavirus).
My family and I have been staying at home since early March. We stocked up on supplies in February when it seemed things were getting really bad in China, so we’ve been ok regarding food. We’ve also received some supplemental grocery deliveries every few weeks. We typically buy non-perishables and let them sit for a few days before touching them, then wash them off before using. Any perishables get a scrub down immediately then sit quarantined in a bag in the fridge. Checking the mail involves surgical gloves and a multi-day quarantine in a safe spot before opening.
We’re fortunate enough to have a large enough house and a big enough yard that we don’t get cabin fever too badly. The weather has been nice in general, so me and the kids have spent a lot of our free time outside catching toads, gardening, and repeatedly washing the pollen off of everything.
And every night since it came out, I’ve been playing a little bit of Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Switch. It’s a fun diversion.
Since February 10th, I’ve worked for How-To Geek as a Staff Writer. It’s a work from home job, so not much has changed there — I work 8 hours a day Monday-Friday. The kids have mostly left me alone, but it can be stressful. Luckily, my wife has kept them busy. They just recently started doing online schoolwork, and that has been a stressful adventure unto itself. But I think they will soon get into the rhythm of it.
I hope everyone out there stays healthy and safe during these strange times. They’re not permanent; We will get through this, and I hope we will all be wiser and kinder for having lived through the experience.
Discussion Topic: How are you and your family coping during these times? Have you played any games or used any old computers to keep yourself busy?
April 7th, 2020 at 3:00 pm
We’re coping as best we can. Our jobs make it easy to work from home, so that helps. I have been taking the time to do some retro deep-diving – in particular I’ve been exploring the games of the Vectrex (through emulation, unfortunately, given how hard the consoles can be to come by, although I believe most of the Vectrex software may have been opened up by the IP owner). I have a deep affection for the retro-futuristic feel of vector graphics, and they make it a truly unique system. Someday I’ll have to try to find a working console – it really takes a proper vector monitor to appreciate them properly!
April 7th, 2020 at 4:24 pm
I’ve been playing more video games with all of this going on. I never thought I’d get to a point where I just don’t want to see any screen at this point. I’ve grown tired of the web, TV, video games. I never realized how much I miss seeing people.
April 14th, 2020 at 4:03 am
I’m a naturally reclusive individual, and work in a grocery store. Not much has changed for me.
But I HAVE been messing with an old socket 7 machine lately. I actually started resurrecting it right before everything went south.
Sadly, the monitor has developed some crazy-bad whine that it didn’t used to have after several years in a closet.