Look on the bright side ...

I haven't found any good in the last jeezless year.

 

I shower the people,
Before I foster the people.

 

Wearing a mask! I am not kidding. Almost no allergies. I haven’t gotten sick, not even a cold. I don’t like how it fogs my glasses though. But once things get back to as normal as they will get, I will probably wear a mask during cold/flu/COVID season. Maybe allergy season as well. It has helped me.

 

I foolishly (maybe?) tossed the job that got me out here to PRVI, where I will never leave, because changes in the corporation were making me a cranky b*****d. I went to a business (automotive) that is struggling and changing even more than the business I was in, and it’s not going all that well. I may have to move on, and I have no real skills. Mrs. German worked in an academic library, so (no surprise) she has been laid off. How is my year going? Actually, quite well. I’m less grumpy, she has more time to spend with her beloved granddaughter, and we have food on the table. (It helps that by a stroke of luck we managed a Baja vacation just before things went south. First proper vacation in almost ten years.)

And for the record, I still shower almost every day, whether I need it or not.

 

I quit smoking. Tried for years and years. Tried everything. Nothing worked. March 15 all my gigs stopped. I also stopped working at the little bar I managed part time, because it shut down. Starting March 15, I didn’t leave my house except to walk the dog and myself for almost four months. Never started my car in all that time. Didn’t even go to the grocery store. My wife would order curbside pickup and go get it. So I just didn’t go buy smokes.

It’s been almost a year now, and frankly I can’t imagine ever doing it again.

 

So you’ve turned into a dang hippie!

Escort yourself off of my well manicured lawn!

In all seriousness on the shower situation I find it’s all individual

I I’m slothing it for a while then 3 days is about the limit

Depends on the days work and activity, now the real quandary is-
Morning showers or night shower?

 

Congratulations! It took me 3 tries I will never go back.

 

So in April of last year I had Open Heart Surgery to replace a valve from a birth defect. In December I had a perforated gallbladder removed that almost killed me. So I feel blessed to be alive regardless of that which must not be named. I am now thankful for every breath.

All that gave me a new respect for life. Life is good.

LOL, dang hippie you say?

 

I run most days so clearly I’ll shower then, but certainly no showers first thing in the morning anymore.

 

I’m the same. Didn’t feel like my day really started until after I’d had a shower. Now? Often only every second day, but I do get smelly. Don’t even start on the hair.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

I don’t think it had anything to do with the current situation (maybe my fatness) but at the end of last year I decided I was too fat and going to do something about it
I started eating better and lifting weights and putting them down so I can reach my goal of being the worlds worst bodybuilder

 

I’ve practiced and also noodled more than I have in many years. There’s an instrument in my hands 5+ hours a day most days and I can’t walk by a guitar or bass without plonking something as I go. I’m not sure if I’m improving a lot but I have learned some new things. But I’m enjoying the escape hatch of an amp or some stupid effect I’d never use in a gig. I’m playing because I want to instead of some more practical reason. That little thing is an unexpected benefit of having less to do with more stress to try to stay ahead of.

 

I've taken up several new hobbies, rethought work, rethought a lot of things about the way I live, worked out more than ever, spent more time with my family.....this has been one of the best and most interesting years of my life.

But then again, I guess wildly unrealistic optimism has always been my weakness, according to many of my friends.

I do feel terribly that many of the world have not had this experience over the past year. For many, this has been a nightmare.

 

Yeah, I have to say, I’ve spent more time focused on my own fitness. I was never one for exercise, but I started lifting weights, and now I bench press around three forty five, three fifty...


...four o’clock, whenever I get around to it.

 

Thirteen weeks last spring when I was teaching from home was like being halfway on vacation.

As an introvert with a pretty secure job, this whole thing has been relatively painless for me, and I’m grateful for that, but it’s hard to think of any big actual pluses. We returned to semi-normal life (well, plus masks and minus restaurants) here back in late August. I’ve been goin to work, the kids have been goin to school, Amazon dude visits every second day or so, yadayadayada.

I guess one thing that’s happened recently is I’ve kind of had a renewal of interest in doing some travel around Japan. I haven’t actually seen that much outside of where I live, work and shop for maybe twenty years, but recently I’m like “let’s go to Nagasaki! Let’s go to Hokkaido!”. I mean, we’re still not GOING anywhere yet, but I’m starting to plan some trips in my mind.

oh, and since the pandemic we got Netflix, so I guess that’s another one...

 

I do the opposite. I am a Geologist. Working many years in underground and mining. So, I use to shower AFTER work. Going to a mine just showered is pointless. I do it after work to take out all the grout and coal and mud...

Regarding the thread... I started to learn how to make videos... sorry, is my first video attempt but is related with this topic. My first quarantine video... sorry

 

Not much has changed here in Oz due to swift measures and compliance ( mostly) by the general population.

 

Agree about the mask. Because of wearing it nobody in our family had cold last year.
Besides that I had lots of time for road cycling last year, which is my favourite sport.
AND I had lots of time for practicing guitar. I think my playing now is as best as it ever was.
Plus I really had some extra time to spend with my closest family which was really nice.