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!