A great excuse to do nothing

11 April 2021, 12:15 PM

quote:
William absolutely loved getting COVID. His symptoms weren’t severe: lethargy and the loss of taste and smell. “My girlfriend somehow tested negative. She packed a bag and went to her parents’ house for like three weeks and it was amazing,” he said. “I had a great excuse to do nothing … It was the best. I feel guilty saying it. I just really love solitude. I ate Thanksgiving by myself. I binge-watched Boardwalk Empire on HBO. I got to set up the apartment the way I wanted. It was amazing. When I think about it, like you know how when you think back to a summer between grades when you were a kid or a vacation? Like, I want to catch it again on some level.”

It’s not like William is particularly proud of how much he’s loved his pandemic life. (He asked me to refer to him only by his middle name due to the sensitive nature of his job working with people who have substance-use disorder.) “I have COVID-love shame,” he said. “I don’t tell anybody about this … A lot of my dread is purely, for lack of a better word, selfish.” Pandemic life has been easy for him: He is in the business of conducting interventions, which are trickier on Zoom than they are in person — the interventionee can “just get up and leave the room” — but nevertheless, work has been mostly great. He got a promotion after the pandemic started. He’s in “the best shape of [his] life” because he’s been using “the extra time” lockdown has given him to ride his bike, box, and swim. “I’ve had explicit permission to just stay home and I have got my own self-sustaining ecosystem here … work, food, exercise, recreation,” he said. “I just feel so much more control of my experiences. I’m just dreading traffic, ‘meet me at the coffee shop at three,’ ‘I’m ten minutes late,’ baby showers, [gender] reveals. Like, I don’t want to do any of that f***king sh*t.”

https://nymag.com/intelligence...source=pocket-newtab

11 April 2021, 04:27 PM

Daniel

Malingering.

11 April 2021, 05:24 PM

wtg

I resemble that remark. Big time.

11 April 2021, 05:26 PM

ShiroKuro

I'll have to read the whole article, but ultimately, it's not that surprising. If you can avoid getting dangerously ill, keep your job, but also stay home, I mean, there are a lot of good things about that.... It's complicated.

I am definitely sick of teaching on Zoom... I'm sick of teaching while sitting down... I'm sick of not having face to face interactions with my colleagues.... I really miss our social life, esp. for Mr. SK, bc social distancing has been much more isolating for him than for me (since I still have to attend waaay too many meetings etc...)

Another problem for Mr. SK: when we could do things in person, he was able to socialize with our friends who don't speak Japanese. But we found he really can't participate in a Zoom social event when English is the language of interaction, the language barrier is much harder to overcome virtually than it is in real life, esp. when it's a Zoom call with say 5-6 people. So among other things that he's lost because of the pandemic, social interaction in English is another one.

So, yeah, I'm pretty ready for this pandemic to end.

Still, I'll have to read the whole article. I think I get it, it's complicated.

11 April 2021, 05:43 PM

wtg

I connected with what the guy wrote in the article. I'm a bit of a hermit, occasionally bordering on misanthrope, so the isolation hasn't affected me the way it has people who are more social.

But I think we're probably outliers.

11 April 2021, 06:14 PM

Doug

quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
I resemble that remark. Big time.

Yeah, I feel the need to tell people my middle name is NOT “William”, to head off any assumptions people might make.

11 April 2021, 08:15 PM

Piano*Dad

quote:
Originally posted by Doug:
quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
I resemble that remark. Big time.

Yeah, I feel the need to tell people my middle name is NOT “William”, to head off any assumptions people might make.

Somehow I don't see you in "the best shape of your life ..."

11 April 2021, 08:23 PM

Doug

quote:
Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
quote:
Originally posted by Doug:
quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
I resemble that remark. Big time.

Yeah, I feel the need to tell people my middle name is NOT “William”, to head off any assumptions people might make.

Somehow I don't see you in "the best shape of your life ..."

Set myself a goal of walking 12 miles a day (or the equivalent calory burn biking or jogging) back in December of last year. Have not missed a day in over four months. my average is quite a bit higher than that. OK, not the best shape of my life, but probably the best of the last 15 years or so.

11 April 2021, 08:25 PM

Daniel

I personally don't think it will be over for years. So, I'm focused on my second shot and the two weeks following it.

(wtg, Lol.)

11 April 2021, 10:49 PM

Piano*Dad

quote:
Set myself a goal of walking 12 miles a day (or the equivalent calory burn biking or jogging) back in December of last year. Have not missed a day in over four months. my average is quite a bit higher than that. OK, not the best shape of my life, but probably the best of the last 15 years or so.

Really! That's awesome... says someone who is clearly not in the best shape of my life.

I used to be a pretty decent runner. Not competitive runner, but I could drag my carcass over 5K in less than 20 minutes. Life, back problems, other stuff, and I stopped running. Ooh, I went for a short jog today and ... embarrassing.

12 April 2021, 04:28 AM

Amanda

quote:
Originally posted by wtg:
quote:
William absolutely loved getting COVID. His symptoms weren’t severe: lethargy and the loss of taste and smell. “My girlfriend somehow tested negative. She packed a bag and went to her parents’ house for like three weeks and it was amazing,” he said. “I had a great excuse to do nothing … It was the best. I feel guilty saying it. I just really love solitude. I ate Thanksgiving by myself. I binge-watched Boardwalk Empire on HBO. I got to set up the apartment the way I wanted. It was amazing. When I think about it, like you know how when you think back to a summer between grades when you were a kid or a vacation? Like, I want to catch it again on some level.”

It’s not like William is particularly proud of how much he’s loved his pandemic life. (He asked me to refer to him only by his middle name due to the sensitive nature of his job working with people who have substance-use disorder.) “I have COVID-love shame,” he said. “I don’t tell anybody about this … A lot of my dread is purely, for lack of a better word, selfish.” Pandemic life has been easy for him: He is in the business of conducting interventions, which are trickier on Zoom than they are in person — the interventionee can “just get up and leave the room” — but nevertheless, work has been mostly great. He got a promotion after the pandemic started. He’s in “the best shape of [his] life” because he’s been using “the extra time” lockdown has given him to ride his bike, box, and swim. “I’ve had explicit permission to just stay home and I have got my own self-sustaining ecosystem here … work, food, exercise, recreation,” he said. “I just feel so much more control of my experiences. I’m just dreading traffic, ‘meet me at the coffee shop at three,’ ‘I’m ten minutes late,’ baby showers, [gender] reveals. Like, I don’t want to do any of that f***king sh*t.”

https://nymag.com/intelligence...source=pocket-newtab

Heh. Seems it's a "thing"... (a fun read)

The introverts who are dreading a return to "normal"