Covid-19, isolation, pso, etc

cameron-

cameron-

fka jingle
Hi Ephinea:

while it is present and recurring topic in our community's discord, I have not seen any discussion of the novel coronavirus on the forums nor its effects on our lives. Covid19 has very majorly and rapidly shaken up our lives, whether you are working from home or laid off, isolating, sick, essential, vulnerable or immunocompromised, etc.

I would like to give everyone a chance to talk about it and talk about their experiences if it would be useful. Are you alone? Are you with roommates, family, or an intimate? For those who already spend a lot of their time isolated or inside, what does this feel like? What feels like it is working and what are some of your stressors? Are you getting outside? Are you exercising?

I would like to urge everyone to be kind to yourselves during this crisis. I work with an elderly clientele, ages 60-80, and in the last few weeks I have asked each one whether they have ever in their lives experienced something like this. These are new yorkers who lived through wars, 9/11, hurricane sandy-- and without fail, they all report that they have never seen or felt anything like this. These are completely unprecedented times and panic, dread, or anxiety are all adjusted responses. Isolation and cabin fever powerfully alter our brain chemistry and can test the mental health of anyone, no matter how resilient or robust your psyche is. I hear from many who say they should be using the time to read more, to exercise more, to clean or do projects around the house. Please remember that your only task right now is survival. If all you're doing is streaming content and staying in bed, that is enough. If all you are doing is watching twitch, that is enough. Now more than ever we all deserve patience and understanding from ourselves.



with love and courage and photon drops,
Cam
 
cameron- said:
Hi Ephinea:

while it is present and recurring topic in our community's discord, I have not seen any discussion of the novel coronavirus on the forums nor its effects on our lives. Covid19 has very majorly and rapidly shaken up our lives, whether you are working from home or laid off, isolating, sick, essential, vulnerable or immunocompromised, etc.

I would like to give everyone a chance to talk about it and talk about their experiences if it would be useful. Are you alone? Are you with roommates, family, or an intimate? For those who already spend a lot of their time isolated or inside, what does this feel like? What feels like it is working and what are some of your stressors? Are you getting outside? Are you exercising?

I would like to urge everyone to be kind to yourselves during this crisis. I work with an elderly clientele, ages 60-80, and in the last few weeks I have asked each one whether they have ever in their lives experienced something like this. These are new yorkers who lived through wars, 9/11, hurricane sandy-- and without fail, they all report that they have never seen or felt anything like this. These are completely unprecedented times and panic, dread, or anxiety are all adjusted responses. Isolation and cabin fever powerfully alter our brain chemistry and can test the mental health of anyone, no matter how resilient or robust your psyche is. I hear from many who say they should be using the time to read more, to exercise more, to clean or do projects around the house. Please remember that your only task right now is survival. If all you're doing is streaming content and staying in bed, that is enough. If all you are doing is watching twitch, that is enough. Now more than ever we all deserve patience and understanding from ourselves.



with love and courage and photon drops,
Cam
Click to expand...
Well said Cammy-Dono~! Mew herself is both Being cautious but at the same time ashamedly Enjoying the Post PSO2 Population spike within our community...well, that and the lighter traffic on the streets...the Drive-thru lines are getting on mews nerves tho lol! XD! You're right though. Some of us who are usually used to being house cats Should be exercising moar while mostly laying around in bed playing PSO! Mew's Total Gym and treadmill are keeping her Sane ATM. Mew will be relying heavily on MAG farmers and Random PD shops for toys and starter gear for the flood of new tribesmen we are acquiring to keep their residency on Ephinea as joyful and distracting as possible so that time will fly~! KEEP UP THE FIGHT~! <3
 
Have been self teaching coding to help pass the time. Have had others in family go out to get the groceries so today was the first day that I went outside to the park, really needed some kind of movement further than going to the fridge, felt really good. It was a nature trail, so very spacious with not too many people and of course 6ft+ away from anyone that passes by. My main worry is I have a family member that works at the grocery store, I worry for their health. A few managers that work there have already caught it. I just try to stay 6ft away from the family member when ever they come home just in case but worry if they did catch it that it would be pretty hard not to get it and that it would be passed to the whole family. I also worry for my friends in NY (<3 ses/cam) that are in the areas hardest hit by it, can only imagine almost any interaction with a stranger is terrifying considering how much of the population there has it.
 
Times of crisis can often be opportunities in disguise. Yes, it's going to be tough for everyone and many will have to do without some common creature comforts for a while. That being said, dewdadash has exactly the right idea. I also recommend people spend some time (if possible, if your mind is that way inclined) looking into 'pen testing' aka 'penetration testing'. Even during the current crisis, it's an expanding field with a lot of free courses, qualifications and learning on the go. It's basically a form of ethical hacking with a very high average wage, which anyone of the right mindset - can get into
 
Clearly the Government knows best about "Social Distancing" and "Avoiding Large Gatherings".

JDRgSno.png

*Just an observation.
 
Heyla, y'all. Not really sure what I'm going to write here, but I feel like writing something... Guess y'all will just have to put up with a rambling post- and probably a text wall if I really get going, lol. You've been warned!

Well, if we're sharing our experiences thus far, I guess a bit of background is in order... I'm 40 years old; live in the far northern reaches of California, up near the border with Oregon; am a cook by trade (specifically, I run a small catering business) so I'm essentially out of work for the immediate future. I've lived all over the USA, though most of it was on the east coast- Cleveland, Erie, Pittsburgh, New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Detroit... The list goes on. I've worked as a lot of different things:a carpenter, mason, landscaper, run the irrigation for a large nursery (plants, not children, lol), been a painter, a city councilman,a clerk at a video game store, and more.

My current household is just me and The Wife, who is 32. The Wife works in the health care field, on the staff of the local Urology specialist office. Because of The Wife's profession, we're considered to be at increased risk of catching The Big Sniffles (what they're calling it in her office; apparently saying 'COVID-19" might distress patients, so they use code words... Someone high up the chain of command in the health care system read too much Harry Potter, IMO). We've both decided to act as if we're 100% guaranteed to catch it, and worked hard to accept that fact so that if we DO, in fact, get sick, we have responded to it emotionally a fair bit already and can simply move directly into dealing with things. We have done a certain amount of basic physical prep as well... While we're not hording things, we did pick up a little more of many things than we normally stock. Basically, we went with a "one extra" approach the last two shopping trips (we go once every two weeks, essentially once per paycheck- I imagine most people are similar.) If we normally would buy three cans of tomatoes, this time we got four, that sort of thing. We picked up enough cold medicines over the last two months- a little at a time, never buying out anything, anywhere- that we are set for both of us coming down sick for up to ten days; things like DayQuil and NyQuil, Tylenol, etc. Also fruit juice and Gatorade- The Wife and I are both generally the type who live on it while we're sick. And a couple spare CO2 canisters for our Soda Stream... We don't drink soda, but some fizzy water with a dash of lime and cranberry juices, or a mint leaf, are very popular in our house.

Having already prepared ourselves as much as we reasonably can, I've spent my sudden increase in free time helping friends, family, and neighbors deal with the situation. This has, obviously, consisted of things that don't involve direct interaction, so that we can maintain a safe distance; much of this has been helping them with their meal planning (sharing new recipes, or modifications of old ones, that sort of thing), hobbies or tasks that can help them stay occupied, and exchanging interpretations of what information we can glean from various news sources.

Currently, my main project (I'm taking an extended lunch break from it as I type this) is coming up with a mask that is simple in design, doesn't require special tools, skills, or materials to make, and can be cleaned/sanitized for multiple uses. I've got a basic design using an old t-shirt as the main material, building a mask with a pocket into which one can insert plain coffee filters for increased protection. (I figure this design splits the difference between the good disposable medical-grade masks and expensive re-usable ones, and the crap dust masks that are about all that's available to the public, allowing for more protection while not using up a finite, in-demand resource- coffee filters can be purchased by the hundred for a few bucks.) The coffee filter can be quickly exchanged, in case you have to be out for an extended period of time, while the fabric mask can be washed and re-used.

For those interested, the masks I'm making are basically two pentagons of fabric, joined together on the edges. A slit is then cut across what will be the inner side, to create an access point for adding the coffee filter. The straps for holding it on come from the seams of the t-shirt, as they are far stronger than simply using strips of fabric. You should be able to make at least two of these out of t-shirts that are Medium size (unless it's an Asian size, Asian sizes are practically children's sizes by the standards of the western world.) The entire project only needs a t-shirt, a pair of scissors, and either (A) basic sewing skills, a needle, and thread, or (B) an appropriate glue- fabric or super glues work well; hot glue will generally either not be able to flex without cracking, or will pull away from the fabric. There are certainly fancier ways to do it, but I'm going for something simple that almost anyone can make... I've got a lot of elderly family and neighbors who just aren't that crafty, but are also too vulnerable to be in close contact with people who could do it for them right now, too.

Ah... Hm. I think I've just about run out of things I feel like I want to say, for the moment.

*glances up*

That's probably plenty for now anyway, though, lol.
 
I work in a supermarket, and the majority of customers seem to think social distancing goes out the window once they're inside. There's constant reminders not to touch things unless you're going to buy them but I still find as much misplaced or opened items as I used to. There's a limit to the number of customers that can enter the store but they all still manage to gather around the same areas. We still have non-essential areas of the shop still open. No doors are left propped open in the staff areas so everyone is still touching doors. No PPE supplied.

It makes me super anxious just being there, it honestly feels like no one higher up cares what happens to us. Because they're one of the few places that are still open, all they're concerned with is getting customers to spend as much as possible. One of my colleagues has taken sick leave from the supermarket but still works her other job in a hospital, because she feels safer working there.
 
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