How have your experiences been so far this year? Anything positive?

Jeanette Isabelle

People started hoarding too much. That can be a nuisance.
Somehow my coffee consumption doubled.

There were positiv things:
- helped little sister to save quite a few bucks with felling trees
- spent some quality time with my nephew at above action
- had more time to practice with my musical instruments and improved my playing
- lost a few pounds
- had several really nice motorcycle tours
- got to work remotely, saving me trips to the office
- learned about MREs of different countries by watching a dedicated Youtube channel and got some ideas for creating my own ration packs
- did not get to be one of the infected

In conclusion I´d say life is good. I expect it to stay this way for the rest of the year.

Everything has been positive!!! Being somewhat newly retired things have been pretty easy for my wife and I, though a tad boring. The great news is that we still get along great and love each other, so we are still enjoying the many hours and days together.

I'm very happy to hear that the vaccines are coming. Looking for life to get back to normal so we can start traveling around our new retirement home's area.

The glass is eitheer half full, or half empty.....

Mostly good things this year, with adjustments for covid. I don't find mask wearing either onerous or an invasion of personal liberties. This traces back to a dig I directed where we wore masks 9 hours a day, five days a week (at least), for three months at a time, for four straight years.

Good things. I got my arthritic hip replaced, regaining mobility, although timing was delayed due to covid. Mrs. Hikermor and I celebrated our 30th anniversary yesterday, capping a wondrously satisfying, fulfilling, and productive relationship.

Haven't ben ableto do the field work I would like to accomplish, but I have been able to do laboratory work at home at times I choose, so I am still involved in meaningful projects. Mrs. H has published some of her research, which is enormously satisfying to both of us.

Life goes on. I know I won't be here forever - it is the fourth quarter, the clock is ticking, and I am out of timeouts. I just need one more score - even a field goal will do....

True positives? No. Taking some of the lesser negatives and trying to turn them around to be thought of as positives, yes.

Musn't grumble!
And how is your 2020 so far jeanette?
Qjs

My 2020 has been a sucking hole punched through life, so far at least. Yeah, I saved some mileage and gas working from home for half the year but given the choice I'd have rather not had a pandemic. With a couple months left to go I wound up with Bell's Palsy! It's accurate to say that I'm just warehousing my physical body until it's healthy enough to do something with. On the bright side I'm not dead, my family is well, etc so I'll try to dwell on that instead of how miserable things are right now.

I'm unable to answer that question without breaking forum rules.

Jeanette Isabelle

Yeah, those anti-obscenity rules for comments really suck about now!

I could swear in French, but even that would be deleted.

Jeanette Isabelle

Try finnish. ********************

Realised I was being stupid, did the editing myself.

I don't speak Finnish.

Jeanette Isabelle

Google does.

I had to use a translator to know what you said. Though I agree with what you said, I'm surprised it hasn't been deleted yet on the off chance there is a Finnish speaker (under the age of thirteen) reading your post.

Edit: I had to edit my post after seeing that Herman30 edited his post.

Jeanette Isabelle

How about we stop playing cutesy games and resort to meaningful conversation and useful communication (like we did in the good ol' days)....

I can't do that either. Any mention of what the modern-day prophets say about the remainder of 2020 would also be deleted.

Jeanette Isabelle

According to the "Newest Posts" navigation tool on this website, other than two posts on dash cams and this thread we're reading now, there hasn't been anything posted on ETS since the 17th (5 days ago).

I guess we can cut out the fun and games that are used to keep the forum semi-alive during the bleak periods. The forum would probably die if we did that, but we could cut them out.

2020:
- Picked up doing exercise in the morning.
- Road bike season started way earlier.
- Working from home: can now make a fancier lunch and take a nap after lunch.
- Picked back up doing lots of online courses.
- Did lots of optimization and cleaning up in the house.
- When in the car I now listen to a radio channel, that is far more informative. Less time wasted on popular music stuff.
- My 4th language is getting better and better.
- Far less waiting/less crowds, by changing my habits/schedule and because lots of places require reservations to limit people at places.
- Got Covid, apparently my immune system works fine. Even got my taste and smell back before my quarantine periode was over.

What languages do you know?

Jeanette Isabelle

2020 has been great for me! I'm lucky that my income doesn't depend on retail stores being open. So during the shutdown in the spring, I enjoyed the extra quiet. I don't live in nature, but a bit more of nature -- birds and some plants -- returned, thanks to decreased human traffic.

Many events went online. I've been able to "attend" concerts, lectures, performances, screenings of rare movies, etc. that aren't available at my location. I have "been to" concerts in Europe, "visited" museums in Asia, "gone to" conferences abroad (alright, that's for work), etc. I like that a lot! I hope the streaming option is here to stay.

Paradoxically, people reach out to me more often during the pandemic, I think because they're bored stuck at home. So they think, well, let's give him a call since we haven't talked in a while...

My dog loves it, too! We go on walks a lot more.

Wearing a mask doesn't bother me at all. It doesn't really impede my breathing during regular activities. I don't say it, but I really wonder why so many people have such weak lungs. I see mostly the upside. I don't smell bad smells, and my allergies seem better.

Sure, there is some bad stuff for me, too, but overall, I can't complain. I recognize that my experience is not typical, and there are lots of people who are suffering -- financially or medically. My sympathy is with them.

Try eating spicy Indian food for lunch, then put your mask back on. Don't ask me how I know about this.

The Good -

Saved a lot of money by not eating in restaurants or going on vacation.

Plenty of time to read and watch old movies.

The Bad -

Not being able to see my new granddaughter, except from six feet away.

At 73, have not been to the gym since March - feel myself going down hill physically.

As a retiree with Social Security and an IRA I have not suffered financially, but I feel sad for all the people who are now out of a job or have had their business ruined - along with all the money and work they invested. Not to mention all the premature deaths caused by Covid and co-morbidities.

Cantonese
Dutch
English
German

Hahahaha
You remind me of some funny pictures about Google Translate funny results. Like in a restaurant they google-translated "meat balls" to (Paul is dead). LOL.

OK.
Back to original topic

2020 has saved me a few gallons of gasoline and a bit of depreciation mileage on the car. But the biggest plus (for me) is that I am a very introverted type of guy. Staying home is like heaven for me. And I am retired, not required to go to work anyway.

Another bonus. Because of Covid and being 65 with chronic illnesses, medical services started home delivery for some of my medicines. This further helps me stay home and not go through crazy traffic.

Another "good" thing about 2020, if we can call it "good". The pandemic has shown many people that SHTF CAN happen. They have seen it first hand. I am conscious about safety and wish all people were the same, but sadly they are not. This year was a shake up for many brains. It's very sad to lose so many lives, but certainly hope many have learnt something out if it.

You got that right. And yet, even with everything that has happened so far this year, there are still some things that we can't talk about.

Jeanette Isabelle

I went from almost full-time overnight travel to zero travel at all for work. It’s been nice to spend more time with my family.

For me specifically, 2020 has been pretty good. Medicine Man Plant Co. started in January of the year and frankly, starting an herbal health care business was probably the 2nd best type of business to start in the apocalypse.

However, this has been extremely hard on my teenage daughters. TX schools closed down during spring break back in March with little warning so they haven't seen their friends since then. That has been a very hard loss for them. They no longer have the social interactions they need.
-Blast

I've been able to do repairs on the house and cars unencumbered by any social schedule committments.

I'm able to recognize many of the neighborhood dogs as they get their feet walked off by their owners like never before.

Chisel & Jeanette are talking about SHTF. I don't know the technical meaning of SHTF, but we should be aware that this pandemic isn't the last one in human history, and it is likely not the worst we will encounter, and it may not even be the only one of the decade.

In recent years, there were some terrible diseases, and they got under control only through intensive effort -- ebola (50% fatality), MERS (~30%?), SARS (10%), and probably others, too. When COVID started, I was taken by surprise, and I wasn't all that prepare. Perhaps it's time to think about getting ready for the next one.

For ourselves, we can gather equipment & get more medical knowledge. This will likely represent a new expense. Unlike food, you can't eat your PPE or sanitizing products when the expiration date nears. Can we do something other than throwing it all away after five or ten years? That seems like a waste.

During this pandemic, I realized there is only so much an individual can do. We rely on the whole society to stay safe. This is another thing to think about. What changes do we need to make as a society?

I think recent events have shown how dangerously unprepared our society is a pandemic. Ignorance and fear has supplanted reason and tribalism has replaced medical science as our primary guide. Obviously wholesale changes need to be made in human civilization but they're likely beyond the purview of this forum!

I found that people panic buy the strangest things. Who would have ever thought toilet paper would be an issue? It's not like coronavirus makes you %^(#! more than usual. But yet, you didn't see TP on store shelves for weeks and weeks a few months ago. And it's disappeared again over the last two weeks.

Luckily, I'm in good shape regarding TP. Not because I was smart and prepped for it - rather, because I am cheap and buy the big packages of it when they are on sale. You save a lot of money that way, "Buy it cheap, stack it deep". That same mentality goes for ammo and a bunch of other things as well.

As a side bonus of my money-saving buying habits, when my neighbors are running around with their legs crossed trying to dig used Kleenix out of their trash for emergency reuse, I could build a three person fort inside my house with the TP stockpile I have in the basement.

Yeah, at least TP, paper towels, sanitizer and soap won't be an issue for me for a good while.

To quote the great American philosopher Homer Simpson: "In times of trouble you've got to go with what you know."
People know they need supplies and want to have something not perishable. So they go for pasta, rice and TP. As others are panic buying, they need to do so too.
On the plus side companies selling emergency rations have a turnover that ensures that customers receive fresh items instead of "had it in storage for a year"-"kind of fresh".
When I was much younger, it was not unusual to use news papers or ad papers to wipe the backside. Ad papers come in huge amounts and for free to my mailbox. Most of them are not printed on glossy paper. In a pinch I could that.

Here is kind of a strange thing we're stocking up on, but not because of COVID.

We like Bounty paper towel, but we've been noticing that the store near us is starting to only carry their "select-a-size" version, which has half-size sheets, with the idea that you can pull off two sheets if a standard sized piece is needed. My experience is that when using two connected half sheets with anything that gets it wet it simply falls apart at the perforations, and quickly becomes two too small sheets. That irritates me. I hate them.

Even online my wife noticed a reduced availability of regular Bounty, while the select-a-size Bounty is still quite available. With a concern that Bounty was phasing out the standard size, we've started stocking up on the standard size. Time will tell if this was virtual hoarding.

I should also say that we've started trying to use microfiber towels for more and more regular cleaning activities that might have been done with paper towels in the past - in order to be more environmentally friendly, but for microwave cooking and for some really grungy nasty cleanups there is nothing as good as a disposable paper towels.

Well, it's not TEOTWAWKI for sure, but in my view, SHTF is any event that disturbs our 'normal life' for long enough period so much that forces us to make hard changes and tests some of our limits. Let's remember that some people are elderly and with chronic illnesses, so what makes a big challenge for them maybe seen by an atheletic teen as nothing but a simple disturbance.

About a year from now, I am starting construction is another town ( plan delayed by the pandemic). Being 65 and with several health issues, and the site is 100 miles or so from home, it is something near SHTF for me. It tests my limits, even as humble limits as : how long I can keep myself before having to go to the toilet. I am diabetic. When you add hot weather, and having to drink lots of fluids having no WC nearby is , LOL, near TEOTWAWKI for me.

I also have to be extra careful and extra safe. Being diabetic, I don't want a nail going through my foot while I am busy arguing with the contractor.

Sorry for the detour.
2020 tested some of our prepping mentality. I have seen it that a prepper-minded person can be a bit calm in such circumstances compared to other people who are "always enjoying themselves", but were caught by surprise when lockdowns were announced.

I wonder how many people bought 50lbs of Spam in their panic, without having previously known what Spam tastes like? And when the stores ran out of Spam, these same people probably prepped with an additional 50lbs of Spaghetti-O's.

Maybe that's why they needed all the toilet paper...

Spam - Salt, sweet, fat. Everything I love in a handy can.