I`m playing by all the rules and it`s not much fun.

Getting squirrely...?

Not really.

Short tempered...? No more than usual.
Drinking more......? No, I smoke grass.
Feeling isolated...? Absolutely.

Mental health suffering and in need of counselling or Jesus....? Jesus just left Chicago, and he`s not answering my texts...so there`s that.

I don`t drink and I`m not dating so pubs aren`t on the radar
I cook better than most of the restaurants that I can afford, so not really missing that.

A short temporary retirement, has turned into a much longer period of no work due to Covid...dragging my feet in getting back out there due to many things Covid related I suppose.

The thing I find sad is that this shit is now a fixture in our daily lives, it`s not going away, and that is truly depressing. There`s too much money in vaccines for this to ever go away now that this shit has been "normalized" by the gov and media. People will adapt and survive but some generations will remember what we`ve lost in this.

 

Well, I got an earworm from the thread title. Great album but not my fave track so I have to counteract it.

 

Thanks for this! Never heard that before. Great tune.

 

for me, ,what started out as a medical layoff for a knee replacement last December, has become over a year of unemployment thanks to Covid.
Covid and summer was just fine. I had a very productive summer and a great time. Covid and winter is proving to be a little tougher. I don't know if it's the isolation or the unemployment/forced retirement, but I think I am experiencing depression for the first time in my life.

I really feel for people who have limited interests, no hobbies, limited space. It's got to be tough. Really tough.

 

truth be told there will be some things about going back to 'normal' that i might find tough
i do miss live music but some of the headache inducing nerve fraying parts of being sociable in large groups have just gone away now and although i feel socially kinda out of shape i don't miss a lot of that stuff
i definitely sleep more than i did before which has been good.
j

 

Biggest impact on me is that my wife is working from home, which means that making loud noises is essentially off the table. But apart from that, and the fact that ordering parts from one of my preferred component distributors has become restricted to shipping via DHL (so too expensive to order), not much impact. My puttering isn't that much different now than it was a year ago. Wouldn't mind a jam session, some schmoozing with the guys in our congregation, or a night off from cooking and doing the dishes, but that's about it. I'm patient and easy to please.

 

Well, 2020 was nothing new for me as I am used to live at home with my wife and very rarely go out as I was also used to wash hands frequently and wear a mask while I used to work in hospitals. My wife had refused to use facetime while we were away, that says it all. Yeah, we missed some dinners with friends and relatives in 2020 but that was not that bad.
You can make lenghty local phone calls that cost nothing more.

As a youngster, we used to live at home playing outside or inside : nothing new in 2020.

You know what ? I feel containment is like the beer you cannot drink while on call for an hospital : Geee ! How good would taste that forbidden beer !!! But you cannot take it. You may postpone that beer to tomorrow, but you would not feel for one that day.

I can nurse and play my guitars, chat with some folks on guitar forums, make a bit of this and that, read books, listen to plenty of TV programs... Unfortunately there are less real news in newspapers and TV, so they take much less time to be read or watched. And I will most probably have another great golf season as no tournament will close the course as we were used to experience two years ago.

We will survive and our kids will have another reason to think that "boomers went away with the cash"...

Enjoy the real "cold" season guys ! ;-)

 

Big changes.

We moved way north to a more isolated community. But that's it. We don't find our world has changed much. We're home bodies and don't go out for entertainment or much else other than supplies. So, other than wearing a mask for shopping basics, not much change at all. Just location. We do walk more though, it's beautiful up here. The few neighbours we have met have the northern hospitality and warmth that I remember from my younger years. Really happy to be out of southern Ontario.

Thanks for asking though.

 

Almost a year ago my elderly mother went to the hospital. Then Covid hit. Shortly after we couldn't visit her. She was isolated. Her mobility was bad. They stopped exercising her. Then she was moved to a room in a retirement home, of course no contact. Her mental faculties declined with the isolation. Before she left home she was using a Windows PC to Google, and Outlook to check emails and reply to friends. She also played solitaire and knitted. Now she's like a child. One of her friends who called her weekly called my father a few days ago to let him know she wouldn't call anymore because my mother is having communication issues and doesn't remember who she (the friend) is. My mom cries all the time and wants to come home, and doesn't understand why she can't. She needs the care we can't provide.

 

When my father was dying in the hospital, my son after holding his hand for awhile, said to me, 'let's bust gramps out of here, take him down to the river and give him a Viking funeral like he deserves'. Good kid.

 

Big time shift in the whole earth dynamic, not seen since the atomic bomb was unleashed, setting off ripples through out every society on the planet. I can't remember a time with so many joy destroyers set loose, along with the greatest transfer of wealth in human history, all going to the elites. Evil is afoot and it's not even pretending to hide anymore as it moves step by step to destroy western civilization and enforce the assimilation of the compliant and submissive grey global citizen in a land of heavy technocrat surveillance. The rot is deep....the rot is all around you. As Van the Man said, Stand and Deliver....what do you got to lose, except everything.

 

I have found over the years that if you sit at home looking for doom and gloom it will come up, spit in your face and kick you in the nuts. If you go out looking for good times you'll stumble over them and enjoy life and life will enjoy you. Maybe on occasion even give you a hummer or two.

 

Personally, I'm doing fine. Lots of fresh air and exercise - I've actually shed a few pounds. In the absence of hockey, I've taken up winter mountain biking and I love it! I'm missing live music and our music community something fierce, but I enjoy my own company and that of my wife and kids. My wife has a secure well-paid job so no real concerns financially. My teaching studio is shuttered again until at least January 25th but that's okay as I have a number of household and musical projects to work on. We've been having friends over for backyard campfires which really helps with the isolation.

I really feel for anyone who is grieving, struggles with mental health, or has an unhappy home situation.

Thanks for asking.

 

feel for anyone who is grieving, struggles with mental health, or has an unhappy home situation.

that's for sure. I've been feeling pretty cheery recently but take my happy life and put it in a too-cramped apartment with both adults laid off and more kids than you have space for all trying to use the wifi with remote learning with a sick elderly parent in a care home and the wheels to fall off the enthusiasm wagon pretty quickly

j

 

It’s been great for me. Completed lots of projects, working from home alongside my wife has been great. Having a built in excuse to not do the group social things I never wanted to do is awesome.

My band is on hiatus but we talk everyday and potentially have a couple albums worth of new material myself and other band members have been writing.

I even started playing a video game my kids are into and found it really fun and now we play online together daily.

I also feel for those struggling. Everytime I have negative thoughts about the way things are right now I think about all the positives around me and it helps

 

I have been working on my Carnyx chops.

 

Just came back from my first test. What a shitty feeling that was, getting a Q-Tip jammed up my nose.

 

I take it you didn't get a nose bleed. I did....the nurse who did the test said it's because my nose has been broken 3 times. It's a bitch when that happens.

 

 

luckily, I have always been an inveterate tinkerer so I usually end up totally immersed in some obscure detail of a minute guitar related item which usually keeps me busy for hours and hours.. kind of saves my sanity ... oh yeah, and I smoke hash now too .... it gives me endless amounts of patience ... never watching Canadian television news (because all they do is non-stop complaining) I actually knew nothing about the new lock down and found out by accident during a phone conversation .. I must admit that I'm having a difficult time mentally processing this latest one, I just was not expecting it ... however, the daylight is increasing a little each day since Dec, 21 ... warmer weather will eventually arrive, hopefully easing the restrictions and with the new Vaccine looking promising I believe that things will improve .. so yeah, I hate the Virus and everything associated with it .. but I see light at the end of the tunnel ... and no, it hasn't mentally broken my spirit yet ... hope lives on !!!

 

They couldn't get it in the left side of my nose, after two tried. They had to switch to the right side to get it done. Broken twice

 

Next time I go in for a test I'm going to ask for the throat swab one.

 

This thread... it’s too late.

 

Honestly I am doing great. Both my wife and still have our jobs. I love working from home. I am getting more sleep and saving money. Kids are fine, wife is fine. I'm a bit of an anti social homebody anyway so not much has changed for me. Probably making me more anti social.

 

I've worked from home for over 20 years so that hasn't changed except to move on or off Zoom as the law allows. I'm back to Zoomland again now as the regs disallow people outside the household from entering. It does affect my income a little, but I'm not into flirting with the grim reaper having tried that a couple of times and barely survived to tell the tale.

Mrs. Mooh and I have been getting along better than ever it seems, we've recently concentrated on eating better and we're both losing a little weight, she's organizing household stuff, I'm helping her and doing my own household repair jobs etc. We take drives, momentary holidays if you like, and we talk.

Personally I've got outside a bit. Yesterday I took a few short walks in the cold, the beach, a local trail, the mine road. I play with the dogs, play a bit more music, record, prep lessons, and exercise (light free weights, squats, etc). Listening to music a lot more. A lot more, A lot more.

In spite of social networking I miss my kids tremendously. I want to hang out with them, exchange the little things, the looks, the smiles, the subtle nuances of life. I want to share a walk, a coffee, a meal. It's miserably hard to break bread with my kin right now.

 

Mixed feelings for me/us.
I wish my kid could have more social interaction...tougher on a kid that is an only child, somewhat sensitive and hasnt found her "BFF" yet, and was immersed in activities like figure skating that have been spotty this year due to lockdowns. She always loved spending time with us, and we get along great so thats softened things. School effectiveness has been spotty over the year as well due to remote learning but she was always a good student so we arent worried.
We got a puppy just before the pandemic, so thats kept us busy...for better or for worse, as puppies can be lots of fun, but also demanding.

My wifes recent cancer diagnosis was a game changer. I think realizing your own mortality can have profound effects on a person. we had our struggles earlier in the lockdown as we werent used to spending as much time together and shes always been a little more stand offish than most women, but shes "warmed up" a little recently. The cancer meds will put her into menopause as the cancer is hormone related, so will be interesting to see how that turns out. Her job has been one of the benefactors of the pandemic (food/grocery) and shes always been passionate about it, so that a plus.

we finally finished our backyard/ pool project at the end of fall, so thats exciting for next year, although the pandemic effect (tons of home projects) meant contractors had more business than they could handle, so it took much longer than expected. It sucked living in a construction zone for a couple years.

Ive been working from home in various ways since 2004, so not much new for me...except i wasnt used to doing it with a full house, so some growing pains there. At the end of the year, I lost my job, but it was one I hated and at times suggested to them it may not be a good fit, so cant really complain, although they went about it in a shitty way that wasnt necessary. I hate small companies.
at the same time, my stock portfolio wishes 2020 would never end....its done surprisingly well in this turbulent year. Im wondering if i can find a way to make make enough of a living managing it so finding a new job isnt so critical?

I lost a few pounds and gained a few pounds this year, spent a lot of time on my mountain bike this year, usually with my kid, doing charity rides etc so that was good for us. Using the app Strava to track rides was motivating for me. I miss it. I bought a new rowing machine to make up for it, but havent fallen into the habit of using it regularly yet.

I didnt play guitar as much as I should have this year. only 2 acquisitions, a LP Trad and a last minute acquisition this week that I will post a NGD thread for later, a Fender Joe Strummer Tele.

we get a lot of takeout, more than ever, so dont really miss restaurants that much, and havent been to bars in ages. Only sat down in 2 restaurants since the pandemic, one was The Keg for our anniversary in Sept.
I do get cabin fever at times. My kid and I have a standing weekly date to Dollarama that we both look forward to, in order to get out a little. My car usage has gone way down...I fill the tank once a month now, instead of twice a week. Which also means, I likely wont be replacing it for a couple more years more than I expected to.
im not much of a drinker, so no change there...but I did order a few things on OCS.ca so have been exploring some of that on my own.

If you're getting squirrrely from this whole thing, well, welcome to what middle aged life feels like lol.

All in all, I cant say it was a trainwreck year for me, but it certainly had its ups and downs. wouldve been nice to take a vacation somewhere warmer this year. we think in the early summer we might rent an RV and drive somewhere domestically this year. maybe next year, rent a houseboat.

 

All the best to you and your fam.

 

One observation I've made.

People you know and who know you, are still able to recognize each other even with masks on. I was sort of surprised by this. There's a lot more at work in recognition than just whole faces.

 

I talked about this in a thread back in the summer. I've been out a few times where I totally recognized someone I knew who was wearing a mask. I still knew who they were because of their hair, the way they were talking, their mannerisms, etc.

 

Had a Zoom lesson yesterday with a young student whose face I had never seen before. Having started only last September, she was always masked, as was I. I'm not sure it made any difference.

 

It's been an interesting year. Being at home really hasn't bothered me. My wife even thinks I'm a loner. LOL And I'm not. Its my first time working from home. Being a consultant, the places I have been working wouldn't let us work from home until the pandemic. And surprisingly enough it took just a day to set us up. I find working from home less stressful as I don't have to deal with the commute. I have to wake up at 4:30 to be at work at 6:30 to avoid traffic. Productivity has been better actually.

As for music, I guess I've been saying that I've been doing a livestream show every other week since June. We've done close to 20 of them. And the best part for me is, my duo partner and I have been writing songs ever since and so far we have written 10 songs together. So this coming year, we are changing our focus from playing covers to being an original band/duo. We are hoping by the time we can play out, we should have 2 sets of original material. We're also looking at expanding the duo to a band setting. Maybe a 5 piece.

The biggest thing for me is I am unable to get close to my children and grandchildren for different reasons outside of having to isolate ourselves. Another thing is, this pandemic has taken a toll on my 'big' family as opposed to 'my' family meaning my kids, their husbands/partner and their kids. My big family which includes all of my mom, 6 siblings with their partners and the nieces and nephews. Some of my siblings have refused to follow some of the protocols and a lot of us are concerned about my mom who is 83. We have a what's app group for the family and there already has been 3 blowouts since then. None of my siblings want to do the zoom thing for various stupid reasons. And it's very frustrating. I really don't know how this will pan out. We'll see how it goes when we can start socializing again.

Anyways, thanks for asking.