Like most of the country right now, The A.V. Club staff is practicing social distancing and spending the foreseeable future working from our respective homes. The downtime is giving us a chance to catch up on the pop culture we’ve been missing or to re-visit what we love. So today we’re asking:
What are you listening to/watching/reading/playing while you’re stuck inside?
Shannon Miller
Hey, have you heard of HBO’s quiet, feel-good dramedy Succession? It’s the story of a loving, attentive family going all-in on a super cute media company. They even play softball together from time to time! But, seriously, the amalgam of back-stabbing, long-standing father issues, and poor Cousin Greg’s good-natured bumbling has been a treasured escape from everything, including my own tax bracket. I’m amazed by this show’s ability to make me feel even a glimmer of empathy for any of these terrible people, but that’s part of the fun: hating these figures one moment and wanting to give them a very brief hug the next. I still have to watch the season two finale, which I’m sure will end with everyone getting exactly what they want, like Kendall earning his father’s respect, and Willa finally looking as if she can stomach proximity to Connor for more than 10 seconds.
Laura Adamczyk
There’s a bar a few blocks from my apartment. I like going there as much alone as with other people. Good cocktails, good lighting, good music. One of the owners is into books, and we often talk about whatever we’re reading. I can’t go there right now, and a television show certainly isn’t any replacement for face-to-face interactions, but I’m finding Cheers to be just what the doctor—I’m sorry—ordered. Sure, I skip the intro because the extraordinarily sentimental theme song makes me sad, but once I’m in, I feel comforted and entertained. There are no complicated plot lines to remember (Sam and Diane always find some way, hard as they might try to hide it, to let everyone know just how much they love or hate each other in any given episode), the jokes come easily, and the stakes never get too high. Cheers is not a bad place to hole up for a few drinks—or months, as the case may be.
Patrick Gomez
If you told 12-year-old me that I’d ever grow tired of sitting in front of the TV, I would have said in a high-pitched voice, “That’s impossible.” But over the weekend—after our fifth straight hour on the couch—my husband suggested we do a puzzle. “It’ll take a couple hours, max,” we thought naively. Almost 10 hours later, as the clock approached 2 a.m. and our dog approached livid, we finally placed the last pieces—even the one Jolene had chewed on around hour three.
Sam Barsanti
I take in a lot of comfort media as it is (something about covering the news, I dunno), so as it became clear that I’d need a meatier distraction, I settled on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the more manga-faithful remake of the original anime from the early 2000s. I never got into Fullmetal, but I’m digging Brotherhood a lot more than I expected. The mythology, which involves massive genocidal conspiracies and a pair of sad brothers cursed by their use of evil science/magic, is just fantastical enough to get into, and it has a fun knack for flipping wildly between humor, body horror, and ridiculously over-the-top action.
Danette Chavez
Seeing Blinded By The Light
in theaters last year was one of the most joyous moviegoing experiences, one that I look forward to repeating later this week, even if it is in the confines of my home. Gurinder Chadha’s film about a British Pakistani teen discovering Bruce Springsteen’s music (based on journalist Sarfraz Manzoor’s own fandom) is essentially the story of falling in love with pop culture. Blinded By The Light is immensely relatable, even when it digs into the tense father-son dynamic between Malik (Kulvinder Ghir) and Javed (breakout Viveik Kalra). Generation gaps are bridged, teens run exuberantly through the town square, and Hayley Atwell shows up as a literary mentor—all while “Born To Run” plays in the background. Who wouldn’t want to watch that over and over (though, hopefully not for the next three months)?
Randall Coburn
I like video games, but I am very, very slow at video games. I clock in probably two to three hours a week, at most, on whatever game I’m playing, so I’m usually locked into a title for months before beating it. I’ve been inching through Hideo Kojima’s hilarious and frustrating Death Stranding since early January, and my natural gravitation toward meaningless side quests has ensured that weeks upon weeks were spent ignoring the main story in favor of fruitlessly chasing boxes of “disc-based media” down the side of a mountain. That’s since changed, as I’ve spent much of my mandated indoor time laser-focused on reaching the game’s pivotal (and long) cut scenes, the likes of which I finally have the space to sit through now that the air is poisoned.
William Hughes
The great thing about having a regular gaming group is that it’s wonderfully easy, when needs must, to switch things to an online venue—social distancing without inflicting too much in the way of social distance. On Sunday, my regular tabletop friends and I logged on to Discord and blasted out a couple of hours of the raucous online multiplayer battler Duck Game; tonight, at least a few of us are finally going to get together (so to speak) to bring our dreams of a collective Minecraft server to life. Games are one of the great communal activities; reaching out to the people you care about to play them can do a lot to alleviate the isolation blues.
Katie Rife
I don’t usually need help filling my time with pop culture, and the same has, at least so far, proven true for this quarantine period. Most of what I’ve been watching have been screeners for films from the SXSW that wasn’t (more on that later in the week), but one thing that proved exceptionally diverting—and not under embargo—was an impromptu marathon of the Poltergeist movies. There’s something about horror movies, particularly rewatching horror movies you’ve already seen, that just serves as a balm for an anxious soul like mine. We may all be stuck at home, but that’s better than being stuck in the netherworld between dimensions, right? Small blessings…
Erik Adams
Other Podcast: The Ride installments might instill some longing for the pre-coronavirus days, when it was safe to leave the house and stand less than 6 feet apart from thousands of strangers for hours on end. But the 15-part (18-part for Patreon subscribers) Downtown Disney Ordeal tempers that premature nostalgia with Mike Carlson, Scott Gairdner, and Jason Sheridan’s own self-imposed confinement—in the various Super Mario Bros.-mimicking levels of the mall next to Disneyland, but also in the miniseries’ premise, as they heap hilarious degrees of mythology onto the established, ghost-child-in-purgatory setup of the Ordeal’s precursor in “extremely necessary” theme-park-adjacent-retail journalism, The CityWalk Saga. The Downtown Disney Ordeal invites the listener to share in its creators’ madness, until you too are googling the finer points of Planet Hollywood honcho and Earl Of Sandwich founder Robert Earl’s résumé and goading whomever you’re isolated with to say increasingly mundane phrases in the gravelly, extraterrestrial voice of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.
88 Comments
There’s so much goddamn shit to watch these days that I doubt I’ll ever run out, but currently, I’m on a binge of ‘The Office’ while I work from home. (Some weird irony there.) I’ve rambled on about it elsewhere, but I love this show, warts and all. I just started season 6, and it’s pretty apparent that Carrell is on his way out. Even if I didn’t know it was going to happen, I think I’d know anyway. They’re bringing in new people as test balloons to see who’s going to be the next big thing, writing Michael out of main storylines, all that. It’s pretty clear, and a little sad.Seasons 3, 4, and 5 are this show at its absolute peak, and I burned through them in record time. Infinitely rewatchable and enjoyable. And yes, of course, Pam Beasley is my dream girl. It becomes more and more clear to me with every episode. My crush continues from afar via Jenna Fischer’s Instagram. Sigh.
Honestly with this lock down, the wife and I seem to have less time to watch what we want to watch. With the kids at home and not getting much energy out, bed times are getting later and later. By the time the kids finally pass out, me and the wife are drained
All this just makes me more and more confident that I made the right choice in not bringing children into this fucking deathtrap world.Jenna Fischer’s making bread today. <3
I get that, I guess my theory was that if I raise good people they can help change the world. Maybe I am delusional. At least I am not a breeder. I have two kids, I love them and I am done. No net gain in population after my wife and I die. I just hope I leave better people in my wake
My children would’ve beheaded me in a town square by now. I’m good.
My older one’s trying to campaign for a new baby, and I keep having to find new ways to tell her it’s not happening.
This is your first time watching the show? You better prepare yourself for Season 8, my friend. It’s dire.
No, I’ve seen it all before.“Even if I didn’t know it was going to happen, I think I’d know anyway.”
its a little odd as someone who has worked from home for years seeing how people are losing it because they have to stay home. i guess we hermit people were just biding our time before we could take our rightful place as rulers
A whole lotta people in my feeds have clearly never had a snow day.
I’ve never had a snow day, but I have been stuck at home due to flooding before.
I grew up in LA, so I never had one either until I lived on the east coast for a few years. They’re pretty enjoyable unless the power goes out. One time it inexplicably snowed in Santa Cruz, CA, and we were stuck in the house with no power, and also no plumbing because my asshole father-in-law chose that weekend to work on it. We had to shit out in the backyard, and then pick up our turds with a shovel and heave-ho them into the creek out back. I remember the one time I had to do it, I flung my turd high and long, and the moonlight grazed its surface for a fleeting moment, and lo, it was beautiful. Just one lonely turd arcing across the yard with a faceful of moonlight. I was pretty high at the time.
Sheer poetry.
Finally, a patron of the arts.
Yeah I am like that. I have worked from home for over 10 years now. My wife is a stay at home parent/teacher and my kids are home schooled.You would think we would be perfectly set for this but its still tough. Since my kids are home taught, we use a lot of park district and library programs, as well as being part of two different co-op groups. All those act ivies are cancelled so the kids are stir crazy(it also doesn’t help that its been kinda crappy weather in Chicago the last couple days). Hoping for some warmer dry days so the kids can at least ride bikes and run around the yard
yeah, they closed daycare yesterday for an open ended period so my toddler is home with us. luckily i work afternoons and my wife ends at 4, so with naptime its not a huge amount to cover (and generally people are being cool about having to step away to deal with a diaper or a give my wife 15 minutes to answer an important email, but its still not perfect.)
Same! Very hard to work from home when my 4 year old is bouncing off the walls and acting out because she’s absorbing some of the stress and fear that’s part of the general atmosphere at present. At least I was able to explain things to her in a way that worked pretty well, I think – those WaPo simulations with the bouncing dots were really useful.
I work from home but I can definitely see how my personality is better suited to it than a lot of people’s. I’m finding myself kind of enjoying the fact that everyone’s now in the same boat and my day-t0-day reality is suddenly a shared experience.
It’s more that we’re stuck at home and also can’t really go anywhere else.
i did go for a walk earlier, even though the weather is pretty gross. keeps the dogs from going nuts
Yeah, it’s not that I’m working from home, it’s that I can’t go to a coffee shop for a few hours or walk around the mall or go to the gym.
And all of a sudden introversion has become an evolutionary advantage. 🙂
Work from home for the past four or five years. I hated the commute, but still liked being able to go to the library at non-peak hours, and to coffee shops when I wasn’t pressed by deadlines. The knowledge that I can’t leave makes my normal routine feel oppressive.[Also, my spouse is home, and while I would normally start cranking up my music or podcasts around 3 pm, that isnt going to fly when other people are also working from home.]
yeah, my spouse is also home, but i’ve decamped to the basement.
it is a little odd sitting at a desk isolated in the relative middle of an unfinished basement doing work, but i feel like i’m making it work
Headphones are your friend.
Giving myself hearing damage by playing it at full volume through headphones is not as satisfying as cranking up the soundbar.I can still listen to music, just at like, a 3 instead of an 11.
I never could work from home. Too many distractions. Wouldn’t get much work done.
the trick is to only masturbate occasionally
That’s basically accurate.
Right? This is is the first job I have where I didn’t have VPN. Now, wondering if I’m still employed, I’m having 2009 layoff flashbacks (which I was a victim to).
Citizens should be required to hand in their guns during the interim, cause I believe there will be blood in…. the sheets before this is over.I’m a hermit too. People may give us the side-eye, but I think it’s a sign of good mental health when you can be happy with your own company.
I work from home, too (and am a stay at home dad) but my wife’s just been told to work from home from tomorrow, so we’ll see how it pans out – her pop culture tastes are quite different from mine (we live in Colombia/she’s Colombian). I’m 50 hours into DIVINITY ORIGINAL SIN 2 and also working my way through some actual decent Spotify recommendations (Bambara, Chat Pile, Protomartyr, The Drones) but she’ll probably tell me to turn whatever I’m doing off so she can listen to salsa music haha
I’ve worked from home for over two decades now, and can’t believe how people are panicking at the thought. My best advice to them – get dressed as if it’s a normal day, and shower, shave etc as normal. I’ve known people who have gone freelance and within days they’re looking like something out of Quest For Fire.
I *wish* I could work at home!
I’ve been playing The Witness for the first time. I’m trying to play it without assistance (blind), and it’s amazing how a seemingly impossible puzzle can be solved if I just take a break and look at things freshly. I’ve only been defeated by one puzzle that I brute-forced my way past.
Gosh I love that game. It’s one of my favorite experiences in video gaming ever. I just love how meditative I began to feel after focusing so fully on a set of its puzzles for a while.I made it all the way through and I had to look up online hints for two or three of the puzzles, I think, but they’re almost all very solvable with the correct leaps of lateral thinking. Except for one.
Well I’ve sort-of cleared The Witness, but not really. I can tell there are several more portions to find & areas I can see but can’t get to yet. I’m curious which puzzle you found not solvable. Of course the puzzle I couldn’t figure out earlier is now easily solvable….
There are like three different “endings” to the game, depending on how far you go in. If there are places you can see that you haven’t gotten to yet, then you may not have seen this puzzle yet. It involves getting through a red door on a boat.
Thanks for the vague clue. I’ve either A. (unlikely) solved the puzzle before I fully understood it or B. just noticed a clue and am horrified by the implication. Or neither.I had to look up a solution to progress and, despite my good instincts, managed to go past the solution MANY times without paying enough attention.This game has more layers than a 3D printed onion.
Not really watching anything because I am able to work from home and can remote into my workstation in my office. During the day I have local news on my TV running and then switch it over to CNN so it is running in the background. If I don’t do that, I run POTUS on SiriusXM in the background while I work. I also listen to the Dark Wave show on SXM on Demand as well as a break form all the news. In the evening, if there isn’t anything on TV I want to watch, I have been logging into the MMOFPS, Planetside2 and putzing around in there. They just had a major game update/addition so pops are up and it has been kind of fun at times with good fights.
I’m watching Riverdale with my kids and Breaking Bad after they go to bed. Enjoying both. They really cast Riverdale well.
Amazon Prime has the first season of Julia Child’s show from the 1960’s. I’m not suggesting you cook what she is, but you should watch for fun.
I saw her original kitchen in the Smithsonian. I was amazed how tiny it is.
She used to use the Smithsonian’s kitchen? Was she friends with the guards or something?
Yeah, and she kept her bike in the basement.
The staff gained so much weight she’d always leave leftovers in the break room.
I watched. It WAS fun. What a natural.
Sorry to mention a competitor site, but Vulture has great lists of movies and TV shows to stream, curated either by category or platform.
RDR 2, 30 Rock, AC Odyssey, and BOTW. My wife and daughter are anxiously awaiting Friday, and my son is playing AC Odyssey along with me, soooo….Let the backlog flu continue!
Maybe I should continue that Pandemic: Legacy game that I abandoned about two years ago.
I wish I hadn’t watched all of Lodge 49 over the past week. I would have waited to watch it if I’d known I was gonna be working from home lol
If you’re tired of the familiar old stuff there’s always Viki Asian TV streaming service. I’ve only watched one Chinese rom-com. The series is flashback-heavy and started with a flashback to 2002 ‘It all started when I was transferred to a different school because of the SARS outbreak’. Weirdly topical. The series had an odd French title ‘Le Coup de Foudre’ (struck by lightning) and chunks of it were filmed in the UK. Actually, the full series appears to be up on Youtube for free!
I’ve been thinking about a Wuxia, because the kids can watch along. Maybe somethign loosely based on history, so I don’t feel bad about binge-watching with them.
“Coup de foudre” is more like “Love at first sight.”
anything that drowns out the people downstairs?
Just reading your comment makes my heart race. So obviously, I feel your pain. I’ve had some really bad apartment neighbors. I’ve just about had a breakdown from a couple of different ones. I got Bluetooth over-the-ear noise canceling headphones for TV watching. It helped some.With everyone home, all the time, this virus may cause deaths; just not directly.
i really need to find the best pair of noise-canceling headphones. any recommendations?
My previous pair were some Sony adaptive noise canceling ones which were good- but you need a battery or charge and they are heavy for how small they are. Currently I use a pair of Audio Technica MTX 50’s. They sound exceptional and work pretty well mitigating ambient noise because they are over the ear design. And you can freakin crank ‘em! I guess it depends on if you like Claude Debussy or Claude Von Stroke- I like both. I had read good things about the Bose ANC models but the price was too high so I didn’t give them a try.My only regret is not waiting until these cool ass blue ones were released: https://www.turntablelab.com/products/audio-technica-ath-m50xbb-professional-monitor-headphones-blue-black And don’t get Skullcandy or Beats, just sayin.
I’m sure others are more qualified to give you recommendations. I bought a $40 off Amazon. They weren’t great, but they were good enough.
Break a pipe in your floor.
well, apparently, my shower does leak…landlord’s problem, not mine.
Good headphones? And yet I’ve had neighbors who cranked it up so high my own apartment shook. That’s damn hard to ignore. I tried cranking my music while THEY were sleeping. That actually worked, but then it was just the one neighbor.
or the people upstairs, who are just as oblivious to their own inconsiderate douchebaggery.
RE: Death Stranding – I think I’m getting close to the end of the game… it’s been about three weeks since I played it due to some other games, trips, etc. I quite enjoy driving around and have everybody happy to see me.
RE: Puzzles – Ms. PRC and I have done a couple puzzles together and it’s pretty fun. They’ve been 1000 piece and have taken a decent amount of time, just done a couple hours here and there… She would suggest it at almost any opportunity. “I know we’re going to your parent’s at 6… wanna work on the puzzle for 45 minutes?”I also love podcasts… both activities above are great ways to kill time and listen to podcasts (Death Stranding during non-story moments)When playing Death Stranding I’ll listen to Behind the Bastards, How Did This Get Played?, or How Did This Get Made? … The episodes are an hour or two and kind of breeze by.My wife isn’t into the movie / game podcasts so much so when we puzzle we usually listen to Best Friends with Nicole and Sasheer… You might avoid it if you’re sick though, I’ve damn near hurt myself laughing. I don’t think there’s anyone that can make me laugh as hard as Nicole Byer though so YMMV. We also enjoy Everything is Alive, but I think we’re caught up on episodes.Re: Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood – I really loved the series, but I don’t know how good it is for someone that doesn’t have much context. I tried to get a friend into it and it just moved way to fast and had no idea going on. Depending on how long the quarantine lasts and how unhappy they want to be… maybe the best route would be watch the original series and THEN watch brotherhood. That might be excessive though.Maybe it’s because the show itself is basically a fever dream, but when I’ve been sick in the past I’d throw on Pee Wee’s Playhouse. I loved it as a kid, so that’s part of it… but I still find it comforting. Unrelated to being sick, I got to show it to my nieces 5 and 3… they really liked it, but opted to watch other things instead of a second episode. I couldn’t get them to stick with the whole “Magic Word” thing either.
I started playing Metal Gear Rising Revengence and it’s very good. I should have known that Platinum Games getting to play in the Metal Gear universe would have been amazing.
I “discovered” Podcast the ride at the beginning of the year and have been making my way through their back catalog. I think the Citywalk saga was better then the Downtown Disney Ordeal but they are both fun.I also love the fact that they did a whole episode on my local mall, Woodfield.
I (fortunately) have all of the Wheel of Time audiobooks digitally, and have been interspersing book one with a re-read podcast discussing the books in sequence, leading up to the premiere of the Amazon series (big oops). Fortunately, each book is about 3 work days and the podcasts episodes for each book probably each take a day, as well.But I work from home all the time. This is normal to me.
“English Dubbed” lulz…
The MST3K and Rifftrax channels on Pluto TV and Twitch never ever get old. There’s something comforting about them, and I don’t have to commit to watching whatever’s on. I can just have it on in the background while I try out the DLC Side Story in Fire Emblem, or plug away at a nonogram from one of my trusty puzzle books.
Yesterday, I watched Yesterday.
A pretty nice romantic comedy. Doesn’t try to bite off more than it can chew, explores the hypothetical concept quite well and actually has a positive message of sorts. I especially enjoyed the scene where the Jack is ‘outed’ and how differently it plays out from stereotypical movies of this sort, i.e. the genuine and realistic reaction of the two people who know his secret. It is certainly very high praise for a romantic comedy when a guy genuinely wants to watch it despite his partner not showing any interest in it.
I watched Yesterday last night as well! I also enjoyed it, and found it to be a nice pleasant movie. And maybe I waas still a bit flustered from all the news from the day, but the surprise cameo scene towards the end actually made me a bit emotional
I’ve been trying to get my boyfriend to watch Devs with me, but I may just go ahead by myself. I liked the first episode.Also, planning on finally watching season four of Peaky Blinders.
I’m listening to a perfectly-curated best of Slade playlist while I cook a giant pot of collard/turnip greens, and now a giant pot of pasta sauce. Some will get eaten tonight, some will go in the freezer, some will get delivered to our pals working at our local bar tonight — since we can’t go hang (kiddo is here), the bf is gonna go have a quick drink and leave them a big tip plus dinner. AND THEN, we’re probably going to re-watch that fan restoration of the OG Star Wars, because we re-watched Rise Of Skywalker the other night and we need a fucking palate cleanser, ugh. (Yay : Lando! WEDGE! Boo : Almost everything else.)
Laura, I still think Cheers is the best sitcom ever made, and still quote from it. So much funny in 22 minutes, we were spoiled.
lol lucky. you get to stay home and survive at the same time.
Finally watching The Mandalorian. It’s better than I thought it would be and that baby yoda is as adorable as promised. Also working through all the challenges in this season’s Dead by Daylight battle-pass-type-thing.
I just bought the Cowboy Bebop series on Blu-Ray and Amazon is gonna deliver it on Saturday (presumably?) and I’ll disinfect it and then force my wife to rewatch it with me while I cry and wax on about the music. She married me, she knew what she was getting herself into.
With four- and six-year-old grandkids and everything closed, during the day it’s an alternation of home-school stuff and school-adjacent materials and activities, and some sports or play, outdoors if weather permits— no screen time. In the evening, they get to pick a suitable movie before bedtime (the old Disney stuff usually goes over well, but the live-action Lady and the Tramp remake gave the 4-year-old a bad dream, so we select accordingly). After they’re down, Mom comes back upstairs for a few episodes of “Workin’ Moms” (presently about halfway through Season 2). Quite funny, and not just broad farce either—it is a smartly written show about three-dimensional and realistically flawed people unto whose imperfect relationships a child is born. Definitely for grown-ups, though!
I’m finally watching the good wife. Since I would be gone from my house for 12 hours each day during the week, I really could not watch a drama with 22+ episodes a season. Now I’m averaging about one season every 2 days.
I’d been putting off Game of Thrones for years for a bevy of reasons… Even though by all accounts it’s something I should love (boobs, dragons and graphic violence… From the rumblings I’ve heard).My wife and I just took our first dive and watched episode one. There were in fact lots of naked bits. It was okay. I’m not completely sucked in or anything yet though. I’m guessing it picks up though. One does not become a cultural Juggernaut on “okay.”Also feeling bummed because I had (have?) tickets/plans for a bunch of shows in the next 45 days: queers/dollyrots; bombpops/tightwire; lippies; sloppy seconds; off with their heads; teenage bottlerocket and Brendan Kelly; anti flag/ bad cop bad cop; and bikini kill.About half these shows have been (rightfully) cancelled, and I don’t have great hopes for the others. Guess I’ll just keep streaming and playing records.
𝚂𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜:𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵:• Dispatches From Elsewhere – Jason Segel’s ARG inspired series. Do not read anything about, just let it wash over you. Expect crying by the third episode.• Devs – Self contained 8 episodes (currently up to ep 3) tech mystery. So far just the right amount of weird and a breakout drama role for Nick Offerman.• Bong Joon Ho movies. Now’s the time to catch up on this man’s incredible filmography.• Bobs Burgers – Rewatch from the beginning. 10 seasons in and still hasn’t dipped in quality.• Michael Shur shows – Doesn’t get more feel good than that.𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻:• GLVES – Get on that incredible debut single• Hottest 100 of the Decade – On triple j today• Ehtiopian funk – Advancing beyond afrobeat• GenErik – There’s literally 1000s of hours of mixes online𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱:• The Book of Dust – Phillip Pullman’s unexpected sequel to His Dark Materials. Two books in so far and they may be his best work so far• How to Change Your Mind – On the growing resurgence of medicinal psychedelics𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆:• XCOM 2 – You’ll never tire of it. Even 2500 hours in• Plague, Inc. – You might learn something• Civ VI – Finally came in to its own with Gathering Storm • Animal Crossing – Coming soon to the Switch• Pokemon Go – Has adapted for you to stay in one place𝗗𝗼:• Dig up those unfinished Logic/Ableton projects you’ve started• Puzzles are surprisingly engaging• Wash your hands• Still go out for coffee / brunch and support local businesses
Don’t often see the ol’ Spinning Jenny / table lamp combination much these days.
My sister and I picked a nostalgia watch from Netflix to watch simultaneously and discuss over the phone. Last night was First Wives Club.
My daughter’s surgery dates got pushed back 3 months – it’s not the end of the world, and I’m trying to keep it in perspective, but it’s a big blow to me. That’s 3 more months before she can attend daycare without a nurse (who insurance says they won’t pay for anymore), 3 more months of pediatric colostomy bags.
I am so sorry you are going through this but the hospitals really don’t want people to get COVID while compromised. If it’s a heart attack or something they will have to treat the person but otherwise it’s all hands on deck dealing with this.
I get it, and intellectually I know it’s the right decision, but it’s still upsetting. I kept telling myself that while these are really major surgeries with difficult recoveries, at least she’d be young enough not to remember it all – not sure that’s still true with all the delays we’ve had. If it was just a few weeks more until she got her ostomies reversed, we figured we could eat the cost of nursing during that time if the insurance stuff didn’t get resolved. Now, not sure what to do (although she can’t currently go to daycare anyways, since it’s obviously closed, so irrelevant for now, I suppose).
Contact the insurance company and see if they will take into consideration the global pandemic that we are all trying to get through and see if they will extend your service until your daughter can get the surgery that she needs. This is not something that anybody can change we are all dealing with circumstances beyond our control here.