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What Are You Doing to Stay Sane....

In a world where everyone is telling you to "shelter-in-place" or self-quarantine. (For the record, "shelter-in-place" should only be used during times of potential immediate destruction, like a tornado or earthquake.) 

We are all victims to the Coronavirus. Whether we actually have it, know someone who has it, or just based on all the restrictions placed on businesses. The Coronavirus is real and the smart thing to do is to stay at home except when absolutely necessary. The reason we have government officials making the proclamations about the dangers and forcing people to be unemployed is because the Coronavirus is serious and people are too stupid to take the proper precautions.

That being said, "What are you doing to stay sane?"

The advantage of being 67 years old and semi-retired, is that I have found numerous things to keep myself busy. I tend to buy physical books (the kind you can hold in your hands, not ones about doing physicals.). I have probably close to 100 books stashed around the house. Starting today, I am going to read the works of Tolkien, beginning with the Hobbit. 

I have hobbies, too. I am still working on restoring a box of estate pipes for a lady. I work on two or three per day and so far, I've completed eight pipes.
I also took up leather crafting last year, in order to make accessories for my seasonal appearance as Santa Claus. I have a supply of leather and tools for working on.

And, I have my pipes and enough pipe tobacco to last for at least five years. I have gone from smoking one bowl a day to being a two bowl a day smoker. 

Finally, there is the internet where I can defeat boredom for short periods of time but logging into forums and venting.

What are you doing?
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Comments

  • Whaddya mean "stay" ? ? ? ? ?

    LOL!
  • @AnantaAndroscoggin
    This discussion is for those of us who are sane to begin with. Relatively speaking that is...

    @KA9FFJ
    No one should do more traveling than absolutely necessary at the moment. I've seen too many people advocating closing down state borders and the interstate system - both of which would cause more deaths than the Coronavirus.  On the other hand, I am seriously concerned about the economic damage being done to this country because of the lack of commonsense when it comes to taking precautions. 
  • @PappyJoe You have hit on one bright spot. Most of us now should be able to get in at least one more bowl daily... I'd call that a plus... 😉
  • So far since schools were shut down I have been the Mr.Mom/Teacher.  It's been a handful so far, kids are starting to get punchy. No more work here so I picked up what tools I could from there and hopefully I can get some alternative source of income going. Other than that I have taken up full time drinking. Remember kids, you don't need an excuse to day drink.....just a coffee cup.
  • Tree House beer, bourbon, pipes and cigars. Unfortunately, my b&m closes Sunday night per the virus and the state of Connecticut so cigars are out til it reopens.
  • @Zouave
    And school teachers around the country are now telling parents, "My students would never do something like that."
  • Over the years I've amassed quite a collection of DVD and Blu-Ray movies and season long TV series. I realized that several movies and box set collections I received for Christmas haven't even been opened up yet. So I'm settling back and doing some serious binge watching. Also incorporating the old Universal Classic Monster flicks into my daily viewing when the sun goes down. I love watching those old horror movies after 10:30 PM. Takes me back to my youth when movie packages like Shock Theater or Creature Features were on the air each Friday or Saturday night. And I'd never miss a screening of the classics. It's like transporting myself back to simpler times when the only thing I had to worry about was getting a pimple on the end of my nose the day before a school dance.
    I also have a ton of CDs to listen to, and books I've yet to read, as well as a few old favorites I want to return to. Music and reading go hand in hand, so that's a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. With all the rock music at my disposal I prefer listening to instrumental movie soundtracks when reading so I'm not distracted by lyrics.
    On the constructive side, yesterday I went through my cellar and cataloged my collection of tinned tobacco. I had previously done a similar inventory of my bulk tobacco last week. So I can now say with certainty - if I never buy another ounce of tobacco I have enough to last me till I reach 95 years old. So a personal request to the Coronavirus ... "Please don't kill me."
    I also seem to be using this extra time at home to create some record or physical legacy of accomplishments in my life for posterity.
    I started by archiving all my 'Ghosts Of Pompeii' music projects into the computer, transferring CDs into the computer to create a back-up system, then backing that up, insuring I'd have a history of all the music I've created over the years. There were a lot of songs I've recorded and never put on an album (short snippets or what I considered throw away tunes that didn't quite fit into the flow of the specific album I was recording at the time ... ideas to be expanded upon at a later date that I never got around to doing). Doing a similar thing with the surviving audio tapes of my old 70s' band 'Vesuvius'. Trying to salvage old studio recording which have seriously deteriorated due to the ravages of time, and poor storage on my part in an unheated garage. Hot, cold, and damp conditions play havoc with magnetic tape. Especially 30 year old recordings.  
    Another project I'm now working on since there is no where to go except from room to room is compiling all the CD reviews I'd written for the progressive music website Prognaut into book form (not that I have any plans for writing a book). For about five or six years I was a reviewer for Prognaut and had written about 200 reviews for a variety of bands. So I'm going back through the Prognaut archive to copy and paste the reviews to a file in my computer. Due to health issues the site is no longer active but owner Ron Fuch's has currently left the site up, but it's just a matter of time till he pulls it down. Then I'll no longer have access to my reviews. I lost my originals when my computer crashed a while back. So I'm taking this time to retrieve the reviews from the site while it's still up and running and reloading them back to my computer. 
    Might also use this time to create a massive file that will eat up the remainder of my computer memory to assembled a book style collection of the pipe photos and write-ups I did here at The Pipeline combining the 'Daily Pipe Photo Shoot' and '30 Days Of Halloween' . 
    So that should fill up the time nicely. And let's not forget to include a lot of free time for pipe smoking and the contemplation that goes with it.   
  • @PappyJoe it's been alot of field trips, reading and whatever math I can still remember. So far no one has been suspended.
  • @mapletop nothing motivates me faster than my wife saying "nevermind, I'll just do it myself" 😂
  • @RockyMountainBriar that sounds about accurate 😂
  • Finally getting into some rescued Latakia, quality time with the boy, quality time with the dog, time with the wife of a certain quality(oh wait you said STAYING sane jk), time with Tolkien and Kipling among others,...after all that time for bed. Wake and repeat. Add scotch as needed. 
    @PappyJoe love the Tolkien idea. Can’t go wrong there!
  • daveinlaxdaveinlax Connoisseur
    I normally live a fairly isolated life with endless yard/house work so not much has changed. My son and his wife are nurses and we are standing by if they need us to watch our grandson,
  • I am venturing out every other day to search for needed supplies (damn you toilet paper hoarders) and to shop for one of our daughters. She has asthma and allergies and the less she goes out in public the better.

    On a brighter note, I was so bored I started cleaning out part of the garage. I found a box of painting masks I bought for use when woodworking and painting last year and a half box of latex gloves.
  • As most of you know, I make it a point to read the Hobbit and LOTR twice a year. 
    It's only been about 4 months, so I think I'll start with the Silmarillion... AGAIN.
    At least I have my selfmade ongoing notes for the book to reference from the last 3 times I read it. 
    So that one first, then it will be time for the other two...
  • ...if your sane to begin with 🤪
  • Haven't had a visitor show up at the house for several years now.
  • PappyJoePappyJoe Master
    edited March 2020
    @ghostsofpompeii
    On Dec. 8, 1941. 

    As for the fitness nuts, the one thing they are being told is to go jogging, walking and other solitary exercise and to maintain a 10-foot distance from the next person. So if you see someone out walking their dog, they aren't being an idiot.
  • I know this will probably start a $h!t storm, but..... why do I have to be imprisoned in my own house?  If someone is afraid of getting this virus and croaking, quarantine yourselves.  There are plenty of virus's and disease in this world at all times that one could catch and either die or not die.  That is life, take precautions sure, but this is the land of the free and the home of the brave.  If you can't live your life...what is life worth living for?  As has been referenced many times, I think the number is 220,000 people in the US die every year from the flu and it's complications and what are we at now in the US from covid-19 <500?  and we are a couple months in at least.  Yea, shame me or whatever, just don't try to imprison me in my own house, because I sure as hell won't imprison myself.
  • ÎReading,My history projects Then & Now, I’m pretty much a stay at home guy so it hasn’t bothered me to much. I’m not a hermit mind you. Still go out for long walks at night with IPod and of course pipe and tobacco.




  • Londy3Londy3 Master
    edited March 2020
    Yes, these are crazy nutty times we live in.

    This too shall pass. 

    I'm not letting the media hype bother me. They are useless. 
    Don't allow them to control your thoughts. 

    Always be prepared. Be neutral and observe, you don't have to participate.
  • AnantaAndroscoggin - Amen, brother. 

    In all seriousness, working, walking and watching too much Netflix...  The dog loves having us home, however!
  • @RockyMountainBriar
    There are a lot of things you can do that doesn't imprison you in your house during the "social distancing" mode we are supposed to be in. I sit outside and smoke my pipe and wave at people driving by. You can take walks in the woods, go fishing, sit on the beach, work on restoring pipes, etc. It's the things you can't do that is really bothering some people like sitting in a bar or going to a restaurant or a movie. 

    I haven't sat in a bar in years. If I go into a restaurant, it's usually to pick up our to-go order, and why pay a movie theatre big bucks for concessions when you can fix your own at home way cheaper. 

    The only thing I'm missing out on is the Annual Pipe Night that has been cancelled and the monthly New Orleans Pipe Club meetings that are cancelled until further notice.

    I will survive.
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