It looks like peak COVID crisis has passed. Hopefully. With counties, cities, and
states reopening (which is a weird way to phrase it, imo), the "new" normal
seems like it will be history pretty soon. The past three months and some change
have definitely been trying and weird.
When I say "trying and weird," I know I'm in a pretty fortunate situation. I
still have a job, I'm able to work from home, and I don't have kids to homeschool.
This isn't meant to be a "look at me" thing (though I guess that's kinda what
a blog is), I just thought it would be worthwhile, for me at least, to document
my experience during this wacky time.
At my work in early March, the company (or maybe just my division) implemented a
rotating work schedule. Half of the employees would be in office, and the other
half would work from home. After two weeks, we would switch. Seemed like a novel
idea. I was assigned to be at the office for the first leg. Given the limited
knowledge at the time, I was feeling a little petty because what if this whole
thing went away before I got my turn to stay home? Lolz.
The way things went, we didn't even make it a week in. The first Monday, there was
a decent turn out. We have a pretty liberal WFH policy in our office anyway, so
I was expecting low attendance. Come Tuesday, noticeably fewer people. Wednesday,
there was only like five of us. The handful of us that were there had a
conversation about whether or not it was worth showing up. I made up my mind
to not go in the next day. And that would be the day the governor issued the
initial stay-at-home order. So the two teams had become
one.
I never really liked the idea of me working from home. As a general thing,
it does seem cool, but personally, I just thought it was a bad recipe full of
distractions. That hasn't been disproved, but I don't think my productivity
has declined. I like that it feels super relaxed. I don't feel like I have to
be "on" all of the time—if nothing is going on, I can go build a Gundam
for a bit. On the flip side, it does kinda feel like I am "on" all of the time
because I'm always at the office. No bueno.
Some things I do differently at home-work:
- I start about an hour later than usual. I still wake up at the same time (for
some unknown reason), but I have a habit of just laying in bed and playing on
my phone.
- Sometimes I work at my desk (kitchen table) with my monitor and keyboard.
Sometimes, I sit on the couch and work.
- Sometimes, I go upstairs to work and put on some records.
- I eat lunch at a more appropriate lunch time.
- I take "walks" inside my house.
From a mental health perspective, work has been rough. I've been working on the
same project for the last few months, and it's not fun. It was fun for a bit,
but now it's just pain in my ass. It's not a bad project, just too much of the
same. I need my brain to be stressed out about something else.
Aside from work, normal life has been about as good as it can be. Not leaving
home feels normal now, for better or worse. At the beginning, we were really
good about bulk shopping (and for three families no less). We were able to eke
out a shopping trip every two weeks. We probably got take out once every two
weeks as well, which was difficult for me. I missed eating out, and still do.
I guess I could go without a dining experience, but having prepared yummy food
is something I desire. Not that our home-cooking was bad at all. We definitely
stretched out left-overs. A lot of baking was done, especially "banana bread"
(basically anything, usually brownies, infused with banana).
I think one of the hardest things to deal with is the passage of time. The days
really seem to blend together, and they go by so quickly, too! We have handful
of landmarks to keep track of the weeks. Thursday is trash day. Friday is
lunch delivery day. Saturday is visiting my parents (and maybe it's becoming
boba day). Sunday is root beer and video game day. And then all the other days
are just there, I suppose.
I actually finished a video game. I played Gears (of War) 5. Never played
the other ones. It was pretty fun. I'm still not good at games that involve
shooting. I've also started playing Monster Hunter World. Not sure if I
really like it yet, but it's something to play for now. When I got my new X Box
One X, it came with a free month of Game Pass, which has since turned into
me just having Game Pass. Lots of stuff on there that I want to play. I think
I'm going to try Nier: Automata next.
We've watched a good amount of TV. We got through all three seasons of Ozark.
A very enjoyable yet very dark show. A lot of (fair) comparisons to Breaking Bad.
I think I might enjoy Ozark more, but to be fair, it probably wouldn't exist
without BB. We also just finished the latest season of Dead to Me. Also a
very dark show, but in a comedic way. I watched the final season of Future Man.
Highly recommended if you enjoy pop culture references and potty humor.
Anyway, not much else is going on, as you can imagine. With things opening up and
restrictions being relaxed, we do get out ever-so-slightly more than we have been,
but we're still playing it safe. I'm hurting for a haircut (the top of my head;
I've been able to keep the sides and back manageable), but I'm not in hurry to
get back to my guy. Really not looking forward to heading back to the office,
whenever that may be. If there's an option for a flexible, work-from-home schedule,
I'd be about it.
Let's hope the curves have flattened for good. Be safe and take care of
y'allselves.