Pandemic coping? What have y'all done?

Sadie-f

Senior Member
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What a couple years. I have the (good?) fortune to live in an urban area that's weathered the repeated waves well, & the area is highly vaccinated. Downside, my area was also one of the very first epicenters, my boss and another colleague had both contracted the virus by April 2020. Our high population density makes it hard to keep a pandemic in check, and when a new variant hits, we're always first in line for it.

Anyway, how have folks here adapted? For me the first step was picking up guitar after 30 years of not playing, and I bought myself the Martin I'd always wanted before the serious rush hit our music stores.

I wrote some fiction in the first year of covid also.

I've designed & executed several electronics projects, mostly analog, one analog + digital.

Then obviously, I built a warmoth (& musikraft) electric, also pedal board and speaker cab. The second warmoth is in progress.

In early spring '21, not too long before I finally got vaccinated, GF and I started beekeeping. This has been super rewarding, and we're glad that our two hives look on track to surviving a colder than usual New England winter. We didn't harvest any honey last season, the girls needed all they'd made. I'm hopeful we can steal away some this year, and we're expanding to 5, maybe 6 hives.

The newest project has been making mead (again a resurrection of something I'd done many decades before). We plan to bottle a barleywine styled mead on Mar 15, a more wine-styled product that wants a longer bulk aging we'll probably bottle midsummer. We've been using raw honey made by our beekeeping guru dark and rich flavored.

Below, bees, hives in winter, and 2 batches of mead.


 

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i retired (quit) , fed some pigs, built some guitars and hid out in the woods with a congress of cats and dogs.  hate to say it but the pandemic has been good to me
 
I have been working a lot. In my few spare hours, I built my first guitar and learned the basics of guitar building. That's about it :)
 
Pandemic made me build more guitars, increase my learning, and also play more again.  Built a whole workshop as a result, too.

Lost 15 lbs. in 2020 (gained some back in 2021 :( ), was able to make big strides in getting my daughter potty-trained, and took some time to introspectively reevaluate my career trajectory.

Not making any rash decisions in the immediate future, but we'll just say that had CV19 not happened, I may not have thought about or considered things I'm thinking about & considering now.

And I also met you bunch of enabling miscreants. ;)
 
Just did the things that got me to as normal life as possible.  Online church instead of in-person. Did my job, tried to set an example. Showing people it's OK to get back to work.  Getting our society up and running again (I work in the labor / construction areas.)    Made plum wine and vinegar.  Made canna brownies to share.  Socialized when possible.  Looking forward to exercising more.  I gained 30 pounds so I'm looking forward to getting out there in the warm weather.

And more guitar playing and  building!
 
Sadie-f said:
The newest project has been making mead (again a resurrection of something I'd done many decades before). We plan to bottle a barleywine styled mead on Mar 15, a more wine-styled product that wants a longer bulk aging we'll probably bottle midsummer. We've been using raw honey made by our beekeeping guru dark and rich flavored.

very cool.

Funny thing is I usually brew 2-4 batches of beer each winter/spring, but for some reason didn't do any brewing in 2020/2021.

I got into some woodworking.
My first project when I was on furlough was to build a proper workbench, so I built the "Paul Sellers" workbench. It's a bit like an English Joiner's bench/ Nicholson but with some adaptions for more stability--plus it can be broken down with not so much effort if it needs to be moved.

I am almost entirely doing everything with hand tools. I don't have space for drill presses/Table saw etc.

I have also learned that chisels and planes  and scrapers are great in that they don't create a ton of dust and when sharpened right, make the need for sanding much less.

I also built a couple BYOC stomp boxes. Prior to around the time I joined the forum (and put together my Warmoth), I never soldered anything before, and didn't know a transistor from a resistor. It's still "color by numbers" for me, but I think I am slowly getting more understanding of what is going on in electronics.
 
I did a lot of Jigsaws.


Not with bandsaw thingy with the wood, the things that old people waste their time with.

Strangely addictive though https://youtu.be/shNvl96teFU?t=320

 
I heard someone say the following noting that people in 2019 would have no clue what was being discussed:
"Wordle is the sourdough starter of 2022"
 
Personnaly, I improved my coocking skills a lot, since working from home give me more time to cook.

On the musical side, havin no show gave my band the time to finalize the writing of our 3rd album, and we plan to enter the studio within a few months.

The rest is more time with the kids playing a variety of board games (because they have the time to do so).

 
Well I'll try to keep this short:

The company I work for was hit hard losing 10K plus people. I did a lot of work streamlining analysis/reporting processes as the workforce to do it wasn't available (We are talking about items that would take 1000 hours over a year and decrease it to 30 minutes for the year). I was kept and my VP and I have joked I have saved enough on-going dollars that my salary is paid for.

My wife left her job (non COVID reasons) and started her own business.

Where I was playing was impacted greatly. Live was gone and everything was online. Though I am mainly a guitarist, our 2 primary bass players were not available (1 being stuck in Italy through all this). and I took over the bassist role most of the time. I went from playing 2 weeks a month to 2 weeks off every 8 months.

My wife's business hit a lull so she took a regular job in the same discipline (proof reading).

We sold the house in FL, packed up, and moved to IN so we can be closer to her family and help them. Soon I'll be job hunting as IN was a second choice, KY was the target, but alas, I couldn't move there and work for my company. Time to find an employer that will, and one where I can ideally complete my working years.

Have a sit in with a new place here tomorrow with some auditions coming up.
 
It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but the pandemic has been good to me too.  Aside from my mother in law passing away in her sleep unexpectedly 2 years ago yesterday, once I returned from Arizona from attending to my father in law, within two days of my return I was fully equipped at my employer's expense to begin working from home.  This eliminated my commute and related expenses.  I eat lunch in my own dining room, get more chores done around the house during my lunch and breaks, including working on customer instruments in there as well.  The stimulus checks helped to nearly eliminate any debt, and the lowered interest rates enabled me to refinance my home from its prior outside lender to the credit union that I work for, and as an employee, I get a full 1% below the lowest quoted rate for my 800+ credit rating, and I went from a 30 yr fixed down to a 12 year, with goals to pay it off in 8 years.  I went from 4.725% down to 1.25%!

The one and only drawback to this has been that my daily work desk had to be put into my home studio room, which takes up more floor space that I would prefer, but I have adapted and I am never more than 3 feet from an instrument to pick up while I am on hold or between calls.  I’ve actually done edits in Pro Tools while I am on hold with people…
 
Due to down-time at work and slow recovery from my own bout with covid, I've been playing flat-top in the park and wondering if retirement is choosing it's time for me. After playing hours and hours on the good days it's like Pablo Casals said, 'I'm starting to see some improvement.' Not a bad way to live.
 
I didn't want to write the curse words. On many levels the shut down made my life harder. I'm just glad it's over. I want normal. I'm so glad to do a gig and see people, see them talk and have a drink. Actually meet people in person at work. Don't want to go thru that again. Covid. ... phooey!
 
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