How are you coping with the pandemic?
- Sculptor1
- Posts: 7148
- Joined: May 16th, 2019, 5:35 am
Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
I've had one dear friend die from covid.
And other friend had a positive test after mild symptoms. His wife and four kids are all well.
Second lockdown and my son (23yo) is back with us to save his sanity. He's not had any work, and not likley to have a job now for years given the massive downturn that has hit the economy.
My work as a teacher has switched to Online, but it's been a massive learning curve. I am now a video maker, directed, actor, editor, and designer. Uptake for Patreon based tuition has not been great, as many of my students previously were retired folk looking for hobbies or fulfilling a life long ambition to make some sculptures. Tech savvy is not a high priority in the older community and as they are in the most vulnerable category, most are tucked up in front of the TV or with a book during the pandemic.
On the bright side I've re-read Asimov's entire sci-fi ouvre. Have begun to try to like Kim Stanley Robinson, Norman Spinrad, Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova and a few others with variying success.
I can't beleive that my committment to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead has meant I have watched every episode except the last of each of the series.
High spots in TV binging: Preacher; The Boys; Osarks; Schitt's Creek.
I've manged to fight lack of insiration by completing a few sculptures for myself. Grendel and Beowulf have been completed from wax through the mould making to Bronze resin. And I've made a bust of an old friend and actor Jack Nance, which is now in mould.
The start of the Pandemic co-incided with a diagnosis of Coronary artery ectasia, which I managed to get a angiogramme for just as the numbers were filling the hospitals in March.
The diagnosis along with being post cancer and having a compromised respiratory system has meant that taking care of social distancing has been of vital importance.
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- Posts: 141
- Joined: October 21st, 2020, 4:20 pm
Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Got the results, both negative late last night, my son came dancing out of his room. We've heard today that all the rest of his classmates family have all tested negative. It's so strange this virus, my oldest daughters friend got infected along with all the others when they ate dinner together in a group of seven where one had it with no symptoms, and didn't know. They hadn't been together except for the dinner. How can this spread simply through the air when it has so dramatically different patterns in just these two cases? Also here in Denmark 200 foreign workers employed in the mink cull have been infected in the last few days. They do live and work together but still, they'd taken precautions. People working with mink have been very vulnerable with lots of examples of infections but people in kindergardens haven't with no reported infections there. seems to me that we have surprisingly little real knowledge about how exactly this virus spreads despite a whole year with it and millions of infections around the world.SimonP wrote: ↑November 20th, 2020, 5:40 am Update. I didn't get the test result from Monday despite my wife testing at the same time and testing negative. I assume the test was inconclusive or maybe lost so I tested again today this time with my son. He'd been sent home from college and has to go into isolation as his classmate and good friend who he's spent a lot of time with at her house ie over night, has a little brother who has tested positive. The little brother was in a class where he and another tested positive after one had. Fortunately our son spends almost all of his time in his room when he's home with us anyway. I have a feeling this is something we're going to have to get used to but it sure feels like the dreaded virus is closing in on us.
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- Posts: 141
- Joined: October 21st, 2020, 4:20 pm
Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Sorrry to hear about you diagnosis and work situation. Being in my mid 60s, also post (very) cancer, and male I feel a bit vulnerable and my wife has respiratory problems too. I admit I had relaxed a bit since the start and the lockdown here. I feel for the younger generation, my son's college start has been very different from the norm and he hasn't really made any new friends with so limited opportunity. My oldest daughter was supposed to be in New Zealand having the time of her life. Only my youngest daughter is minimally affected although I think her moving from home would have been a bit a bit different but she's still working and in college. I'm concerned about the longer term impact with the economy, there's a lot of money that has to come from somewhere.Sculptor1 wrote: ↑November 20th, 2020, 6:39 am My work has completely crashed. Luckily my partner mostly works from home.
I've had one dear friend die from covid.
And other friend had a positive test after mild symptoms. His wife and four kids are all well.
Second lockdown and my son (23yo) is back with us to save his sanity. He's not had any work, and not likley to have a job now for years given the massive downturn that has hit the economy.
My work as a teacher has switched to Online, but it's been a massive learning curve. I am now a video maker, directed, actor, editor, and designer. Uptake for Patreon based tuition has not been great, as many of my students previously were retired folk looking for hobbies or fulfilling a life long ambition to make some sculptures. Tech savvy is not a high priority in the older community and as they are in the most vulnerable category, most are tucked up in front of the TV or with a book during the pandemic.
On the bright side I've re-read Asimov's entire sci-fi ouvre. Have begun to try to like Kim Stanley Robinson, Norman Spinrad, Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova and a few others with variying success.
I can't beleive that my committment to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead has meant I have watched every episode except the last of each of the series.
High spots in TV binging: Preacher; The Boys; Osarks; Schitt's Creek.
I've manged to fight lack of insiration by completing a few sculptures for myself. Grendel and Beowulf have been completed from wax through the mould making to Bronze resin. And I've made a bust of an old friend and actor Jack Nance, which is now in mould.
The start of the Pandemic co-incided with a diagnosis of Coronary artery ectasia, which I managed to get a angiogramme for just as the numbers were filling the hospitals in March.
The diagnosis along with being post cancer and having a compromised respiratory system has meant that taking care of social distancing has been of vital importance.
- Sculptor1
- Posts: 7148
- Joined: May 16th, 2019, 5:35 am
Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Shame about your daughter. New Zealand is the safest place in the world in terms of the Pandemic.SimonP wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 2:02 pmSculptor1 wrote: ↑November 20th, 2020, 6:39 am My work has completely crashed. Luckily my partner mostly works from home.
I've had one dear friend die from covid.
And other friend had a positive test after mild symptoms. His wife and four kids are all well.
Second lockdown and my son (23yo) is back with us to save his sanity. He's not had any work, and not likley to have a job now for years given the massive downturn that has hit the economy.
My work as a teacher has switched to Online, but it's been a massive learning curve. I am now a video maker, directed, actor, editor, and designer. Uptake for Patreon based tuition has not been great, as many of my students previously were retired folk looking for hobbies or fulfilling a life long ambition to make some sculptures. Tech savvy is not a high priority in the older community and as they are in the most vulnerable category, most are tucked up in front of the TV or with a book during the pandemic.
On the bright side I've re-read Asimov's entire sci-fi ouvre. Have begun to try to like Kim Stanley Robinson, Norman Spinrad, Robert Silverberg, Ben Bova and a few others with variying success.
I can't beleive that my committment to The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead has meant I have watched every episode except the last of each of the series.
High spots in TV binging: Preacher; The Boys; Osarks; Schitt's Creek.
I've manged to fight lack of insiration by completing a few sculptures for myself. Grendel and Beowulf have been completed from wax through the mould making to Bronze resin. And I've made a bust of an old friend and actor Jack Nance, which is now in mould.
The start of the Pandemic co-incided with a diagnosis of Coronary artery ectasia, which I managed to get a angiogramme for just as the numbers were filling the hospitals in March.
The diagnosis along with being post cancer and having a compromised respiratory system has meant that taking care of social distancing has been of vital importance.
Sorrry to hear about you diagnosis and work situation. Being in my mid 60s, also post (very) cancer, and male I feel a bit vulnerable and my wife has respiratory problems too. I admit I had relaxed a bit since the start and the lockdown here. I feel for the younger generation, my son's college start has been very different from the norm and he hasn't really made any new friends with so limited opportunity. My oldest daughter was supposed to be in New Zealand having the time of her life. Only my youngest daughter is minimally affected although I think her moving from home would have been a bit a bit different but she's still working and in college. I'm concerned about the longer term impact with the economy, there's a lot of money that has to come from somewhere.
When you say post (very ) cancer. I assume you mean very post, or do you mean very cancer!!
Mine was stage 4 tonsil cancer and the radiation was in my neck and mouth. Very nasty - but although that was 2008 I still have the consequences of the radiation damage - better than being dead!! LOL
Where was yours?
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- Posts: 141
- Joined: October 21st, 2020, 4:20 pm
Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Yes, I was also looking forward to visiting her there. In terms of the pandemic she's not worried about herself, all the people she knows about in her age group have either had no symptoms or only slight ones and no longterm problem, her worry is us.Sculptor1 wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 4:12 pm Shame about your daughter. New Zealand is the safest place in the world in terms of the Pandemic.
When you say post (very ) cancer. I assume you mean very post, or do you mean very cancer!!
Mine was stage 4 tonsil cancer and the radiation was in my neck and mouth. Very nasty - but although that was 2008 I still have the consequences of the radiation damage - better than being dead!! LOL
Where was yours?
Mine was in the lymph system in the neck and upper torso. I was incredibly lucky to have it diagnosed very early which was due to having had operations for completely unconnected, concealed congenital problems with my neck and mouth in early childhood, after which my parents and I had been told to keep a very close eye and with the least swelling or abnormality, to go straight to the doctor. I didn't feel ill at all only a very slight swelling that I could feel, not noticable to anyone else. This was half a century ago when treatment was in it's infancy. Following operations to determine the spread I had radiation therapy in my neck and torso. It was nasty, I lost my hair and appetite with even favourite foods having a bad taste, and I became lethargic. My parents never spoke about it, never told me what I had but I sneekily opened one of the letters I had to take from department to department at the hospital before resealing it. I first talked about it my father before he died at 101, at the end of last year. He had a bad conscience about it. In the few years between recovering and moving out of home I had a bad relationship with them which didn't improve until my late 20s. It obviously had a major impact on my life but I had no longterm consequences, at least not that I know of. Later on i had an accident where I suffered a fractured skull and lost my sense of smell making me a 5% invalid but that's something else. Sounds like you were very lucky too, to survive.
- Sculptor1
- Posts: 7148
- Joined: May 16th, 2019, 5:35 am
Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Was it Hodgkins or non-?SimonP wrote: ↑November 23rd, 2020, 5:16 amYes, I was also looking forward to visiting her there. In terms of the pandemic she's not worried about herself, all the people she knows about in her age group have either had no symptoms or only slight ones and no longterm problem, her worry is us.Sculptor1 wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 4:12 pm Shame about your daughter. New Zealand is the safest place in the world in terms of the Pandemic.
When you say post (very ) cancer. I assume you mean very post, or do you mean very cancer!!
Mine was stage 4 tonsil cancer and the radiation was in my neck and mouth. Very nasty - but although that was 2008 I still have the consequences of the radiation damage - better than being dead!! LOL
Where was yours?
Mine was in the lymph system in the neck and upper torso. I was incredibly lucky to have it diagnosed very early which was due to having had operations for completely unconnected, concealed congenital problems with my neck and mouth in early childhood, after which my parents and I had been told to keep a very close eye and with the least swelling or abnormality, to go straight to the doctor. I didn't feel ill at all only a very slight swelling that I could feel, not noticable to anyone else. This was half a century ago when treatment was in it's infancy. Following operations to determine the spread I had radiation therapy in my neck and torso. It was nasty, I lost my hair and appetite with even favourite foods having a bad taste, and I became lethargic. My parents never spoke about it, never told me what I had but I sneekily opened one of the letters I had to take from department to department at the hospital before resealing it. I first talked about it my father before he died at 101, at the end of last year. He had a bad conscience about it. In the few years between recovering and moving out of home I had a bad relationship with them which didn't improve until my late 20s. It obviously had a major impact on my life but I had no longterm consequences, at least not that I know of. Later on i had an accident where I suffered a fractured skull and lost my sense of smell making me a 5% invalid but that's something else. Sounds like you were very lucky too, to survive.
I can certianly relate to the rads.
Since I was stage 4 (the cancer first showed in my neck lymph node) they sort of threw the book at me as regards the radiation which was all focussed at the back to the neck. Loss of apetite, food like ashes, I lost 23lbs in six weeks. Had a deficency in saliva for two years. Could'nt eat at all for weeks for most of ,and after treatment and then no yogurt, tea, chocolate, wine, and a few other things too for months. They also gave me weekly Cisplatin (chemo) which meant I was sick for most of the week, so what I could get down I tended to throw up past my bleeding sore throat.
So what age were you when you were treated? I can't image parents keeping you in the dark. Honesty is always best I think.
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Hodgkins. I was fortunate not to have chemo. Now you mention it I also had saliva deficiency that stayed with me, I've just got so used to it, I'd forgotten, but I have to drink when eating and my mouth dries out when I sleep. I was 14. It's tough, what can a parent say? I had a cousin who died a couple of years earlier from leukemia she'd had for years. Her mother, my auntie was very active in the Leukemia fund and very interested in me but my parents didn't get on that well with her anyway, and more or less froze her out. I had friends but I never said what I had and they never pressed me. I remember one friend's father, I think he didn't believe there was much wrong with me and didn't believe me when i said I was losing my hair. He pulled a tot and, well it came out in his hands and he got a shock. I did too as I hadn't tried losing a whole tot like that before. That was in the start when I wasn't noticeably bad.I was allowed to stay living at home which was good but had the downside that I was picked up every day by a kind of taxi service that drove around picking up others. I was at the end of the route and it took over an hour each way plus waiting til the last patient was done which was sometimes a long wait. All the others were old and one of them died without the taxidriver being told so we all discovered it when he went to pick him up, not nice at all. He used to sit in the back with me a lot as we were the least car sick.Sculptor1 wrote: ↑November 23rd, 2020, 10:20 am Was it Hodgkins or non-?
I can certianly relate to the rads.
Since I was stage 4 (the cancer first showed in my neck lymph node) they sort of threw the book at me as regards the radiation which was all focussed at the back to the neck. Loss of apetite, food like ashes, I lost 23lbs in six weeks. Had a deficency in saliva for two years. Could'nt eat at all for weeks for most of ,and after treatment and then no yogurt, tea, chocolate, wine, and a few other things too for months. They also gave me weekly Cisplatin (chemo) which meant I was sick for most of the week, so what I could get down I tended to throw up past my bleeding sore throat.
So what age were you when you were treated? I can't image parents keeping you in the dark. Honesty is always best I think.
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
However, the rest of the United States is deeply divided, with many people convinced that COVID-19 is a hoax. It was sad that something as serious as the pandemic has become so politicized that people actually take sides and reject facts.
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
It's sad when people have so little faith in the public health administrators.fionaimmodest wrote: ↑November 26th, 2020, 3:08 am I am in the state of Maine where people have been largely compliant about social distancing and wearing masks, but a few churches have held services or weddings that involved larger gatherings of people and these events caused several outbreaks. Up until then, the number of cases was remarkably low. But Maine has been cautious. Most restaurants continue to be closed for indoor dining although they will offer takeout in many cases. Stores are open but no one is allowed in without a mask, and in some cases, the number of people inside at any given time is limited so as to maintain social distancing. And if your phone in order, they will pack it up for you and deliver it to your car. Both department stores like Walmart and supermarkets like Hannaford are practicing this kind of shopping experience. It's a big state, so there is no overall rule for school attendance. That's determined by the district, although I think most schools are working in person most of the time.
However, the rest of the United States is deeply divided, with many people convinced that COVID-19 is a hoax. It was sad that something as serious as the pandemic has become so politicized that people actually take sides and reject facts.
- Jack D Ripper
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
fionaimmodest wrote: ↑November 26th, 2020, 3:08 am ... It was sad that something as serious as the pandemic has become so politicized that people actually take sides and reject facts.
Rejecting facts is way of life for most people. It has always been so. People mostly believe what they want to believe, and what they want to believe is largely a matter of what they have been indoctrinated to believe as children. For example:
https://www.pewforum.org/wp-content/upl ... -01-00.png
From:
https://www.pewforum.org/2016/10/26/lin ... -identity/
As a general rule, people don't use reason to form their views of the world; they believe what they were indoctrinated to believe when young.
In fact, many claim it is a virtue to forget about evidence and just believe things. They often call this having "faith".
Not caring about facts is nothing new.
- Soloda
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Feeling Defeated
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
It's also interesting how Power becomes exposed when events out-run that ability to control the narrative. One could make a list of quotes many pages long cataloging the bizarre responses of people in leadership positions, as well as, the response of BIG business and the desperation of mom and pop operations attempting to hang-on.
Here's hoping that all of you have fared well and that 2021 will be a better year with good health and prosperity in the offing.
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
Facts. It's funny, Jack, one person's facts seem to be another person's fantasies. It's just the way it is when people have the freedom to pursue their own line of thinking. Just the same, consider the following...Jack D Ripper wrote: ↑November 28th, 2020, 12:09 amRejecting facts is way of life for most people. It has always been so. People mostly believe what they want to believe, and what they want to believe is largely a matter of what they have been indoctrinated to believe as children.
As a general rule, people don't use reason to form their views of the world; they believe what they were indoctrinated to believe when young.
In fact, many claim it is a virtue to forget about evidence and just believe things. They often call this having "faith".
Not caring about facts is nothing new.
There is very little chance that anything thought to be true today will be accorded the same privilege in x amount of time [10 years, 50 years, 500, years, whatever]. The implication of this inconvenient truth is that what is thought to be a 'fact' should be more appropriately be called, a theory [although that would be too generous], perhaps a "temporary notion" might be a better descriptor.
So people use these facts against each other as they have throughout history. Look at the number of people who have been slaughtered in the name of some fact over the ages.
If you have worked in science at all, you might understand the relative nature of all information and come to the conclusion that there really are no facts as thinking and knowledge are as fluid as the temporary notions they spawn each and every moment.
- Sy Borg
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Re: How are you coping with the pandemic?
As long as our livelihoods are not taken away, I have no problem with government restrictions in a time of crisis. A local builder who has done jobs for us - young, fit and strong - became seriously ill with the virus. He was laid up for some time and now, months later, he has lingering issues.
It seems to me that a surprising number display a childish response to the virus, an unwillingness to accept any restriction to their freedoms for even a short period. We locked down for a while and then the restrictions lifted and we returned to normal. (This churlishness is about "loss of freedom", not to be confused with lost livelihoods or inaccessible relatives).
A recent blunder by a complacent NSW government - failing to separate American flight crews from hotel security - has us perhaps returning to lockdowns if the test and trace program doesn't halt the current outbreaks.
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