oyceter. One year later (Reply)

Wow, a year ago, I was unceremoniously sent home from work in the middle of the day because the entire Bay Area was going to shut down the next day. CB had already been working from home for a few weeks by that point, and stuff in Taiwan actually looked worse than here, so I didn't think everything was going to be better by the end of the shelter in place order in three weeks.

Even so, I was hoping things would be somewhere near normal around summer, and I was really really hoping we wouldn't still be here in a year. And yet here we are.

Some things that have kept me (mostly) sane:

Magic Puzzle Company puzzles and puzzles in general. I bought two at the very beginning because I heard they were selling out, and I wanted to support my local game store, and I didn't open them until a few months ago. Then I went through about five in a month.
Fullmetal Furies and other beat 'em up games. This was particularly surprising because I am terrible at fighting games--usually I just button mash. But I played through Streets of Rage 4 with CB, which was pretty fun, and then the first 3 Streets of Rage games, then some other ones. Then we found Fullmetal Furies, which is kind of a combo fighting game with RPG stats and puzzles. It is fun enough that I have actually been mastering several of the character classes, the story is pretty good, and the puzzles were entertaining as well. CB and I played through the whole thing, and then we started playing online with some of his friends. Weirdly, it is one of the things I look forward to the most each week. As everything has kept being stressful, beating up random enemies has been very satisfying. And I have gotten better! I am not totally button mashing the entire time!
Animal Crossing! I have stopped playing daily now, but this was such a lifesaver the first few months, particularly socializing with other players. I even spent New Year's Eve on my island with friends watching fireworks, because all the fireworks IRL had been canceled.
Daily walks + Pokemon Go. I was going to try and exercise more in 2020, but that all went out the window. Instead, it was hard enough just trying to get my step count every day. I've never been much of an outdoors person, but I guess I kind of am now. I think I will be associating "outdoors" with "safe" for a while. And Pokemon Go provided the incentive to get out on the days when I needed that nudge.
Random food pop ups. Hunting down places and trying to reserve boxes of pastries or whatnot is weird, as is picking them up from people in parking lots. But it is something different! And I like supporting small food makers (and found good pineapple cakes!).
Knitting. I went on a big lace shawl kick in 2019, then stopped for most of 2020. And then once winter hit, the knitting bug did as well.
Weekly and biweekly chats and video calls with friends and family.
Jackbox games for family game nights, and virtual bingo nights with neighbors.
New outdoor art installations, drive-in movies, zoos, parks, gardens, and etc.
Pandemic book club and watching stuff like Contagion.