Keeping Busy During Quarantine
I am officially working from home again for the foreseeable future. My “essential service” office decided to close to the public for a time—not sure when I will be back, but I have plenty to keep me busy at home. I also spent the weekend finding things to make our stay-at-home experience a little more entertaining.
For any of you getting a little stir crazy from the stay-at-home orders, social distancing and quarantines (self-imposed or otherwise), here are a few things I found to help pass the time. Again, let me say that we are all in this together. Stay home and be thankful there are healthcare workers and other essential workers doing what they can to help us through this time.
Be kind to each other.
Podcasts are a great way to pass the time, but there are so many of them, it can be a bit overwhelming. I will start you out with just one—Reply All. This podcast, hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman is fascinating. The hosts talk to people from all over the world, often times those who have a question or problem to pose that has to do with the Internet or technology. It is so much more than this though. It is a wonderful amalgamation of storytelling and detective work. I have been listening to it a lot lately, and I suggest you give it a try.
The episodes below are very compelling—one will have you changing your passwords and thinking differently about how you interact with the Internet, and the other will prompt you to listen a little more closely to ambient sounds. Don’t want to start here? There are currently 160 episodes for you to peruse. Listen to them wherever you get your podcasts.
My adult children have been spending a lot of time on their phones and game consoles while we have been home together so we found a game we could all play together and still be on our phones. It’s called Drawful 2- you can download it to a computer or to a game console and every player uses their own phone to play. Basically everyone is given a prompt they have to draw and then one-by-one they are posted on the computer/TV screen for players to try and guess what the phrase is supposed to be. It is a lot of fun and is the cause of a lot of laughter.
The game is free or on sale for a really reduced price right now. Find all the available platforms here:
Looking for something to watch? There are so many movies and series to stream, but here is my new favorite series and the last movie I watched:
Striking Out is an Irish legal drama starring Amy Huberman. There are two seasons available to stream, and I’ve already watched all the episodes. I watch this on AcornTV, but you can find it through other streaming services as well.
If you prefer a movie, my daughters and I sat and watched Blow the Man Down on Amazon the other night. It is a thriller, dark comedy/drama and only runs about 1-1/2 hours, which is the perfect length for me.
I can’t forget to leave you with some book recommendations. I have searched my bookshelves to find a few that I have read over the past several years that you might enjoy. As always, I urge you to purchase from your local independent book seller, or utilize the resources at your public library.
Golden State, by Ben H. Winters, is a story about an alternate society where truth is law, but everything is deceiving. I loved this book, and it feels like it is an appropriate read for this strange time we are experiencing.
Of Things Gone Astray, by Janina Matthewson, is about lost things—a house, piano keys, a parent—and learning to appreciate the things that we still have.
The Red Notebook, by Antoine Lauraine, Jane Aitken (translation), Emily Boyce (translation), is a short, endearing read, about a man trying to locate the owner of a lost handbag by taking clues from the bag’s contents. He starts to feel a kinship to her from the notes she leaves in a red notebook.
Have a wonderful day.