I worked at the hospital, got burned out, and retired.

I worked at walmart so people were angrier and I wore a mask. That’s about it. The paid 2 weeks off when I got covid were nice tho.

The week evening shut down:

Finished a vacation and was about to start a new job and then told not to come in for a while. They eventually mailed me a laptop but got like two weeks being paid to do nothing.

Matched with some lady on a dating app and were planning to meet but had to switch to a virtual date. We’re married now.

I’m a doctor so I was at work, I was extremely butthurt at all my friends who got to chill at home playing video games during the lockdown.

Went back to school. Graduated. Now, just like in 2008, I can’t find a job.

Like, how many times is this economy gonna fuck me?

I kept going to work at a so-called “essential” job until they laid me off, and spent the rest of it with my amazing spouse. It turns out we are one of those couples who genuinely enjoy being together 24/7 while the world outside goes to shit.

I mostly worked from home, and this allowed me to spend more time and bond more closely with my two young boys, and I also improved my cooking skills.

For me, the pandemic was a catalyst to improve my life.

covid quarantine was not really different from my non covid day to day. I was already wfh and I do not go to crowded things. masking was the only thing that changed for me.

Alcoholism

Do you look back on any aspects of it nostalgically?

I miss having a socially acceptable excuse to hang out at home and not have to spend all my spare time out & about.

I miss having a full workday where I could complete all my actual work in an hour and spend the remaining seven hours playing video games while being available through Teams & email should something arise.

I miss being able to wake up at 755, chug a diet dr pepper, and still get to work on time.

I miss being able to spend the workday in flipflops and boxers, and only putting on a shirt if I had a video call.

I don’t miss all the death & misery & related bullshit, but those are the things that I do miss.

I got up to Covid, and then Long Covid. I could do very little, except sleep, lie in bed listening to audio books, and doing jigsaws. It was basically that for about a year. Yay. I’m nostalgic for the time off work, and learning about how to recover, and manage my health. I eventually got to a place where I was eating super healthy, doing loads of yoga and light weight training, and my body was getting really strong and feeling good, even though I couldn’t do much with it because of the fatigue. I wish I had the time now to be as healthy as I’d like to be, but I’m back full time working, as well as caring for my mum. I’d like to get that back, being able to focus on my health.

My wife and I had just moved and were living in my relative’s field in a 5th wheel while we arranged to have a house built. The pandemic hit and construction immediately stopped, so we continued living in that 5th wheel for another six months. The two of us, a dog, and three cats. I shockingly didn’t get laid off but didn’t have any work to do, so I just slept and played video games.

We bought a house in June, at the very bottom of our market. We couldn’t afford our house now, even if interest rates were still super low. We definitely couldn’t afford to build the house we could have afforded to build in early 2020, despite making nearly twice as much as when we first moved here. Fuck this economy.

Anyhow… We moved in, then the whole west coast lit on fire. The skies were dark purple some days. It was wild. I still didn’t have much to do at work, so video games and naps it was. I found a half face respirator and a cache of P100 filter cartridges while unpacking, so I got to go around feeling invincible for the rest of the pandemic. That was nice.

I was living at or below the poverty line for years before COVID. As a senior developer, I wasn’t finding any work. Then when COVID hit, I wasn’t able to keep up with the work. I was finally earning 6 figures. I was able to travel (like in a jet, legitimate travel) for the first time–just because. It was amazing. I was able to network with people and provide value for people. I felt like my career was suddenly moving!

Then around 2021-2022 all my clients abandoned me, my network ghosted me, and I was back to square one. That’s where I am today.

I’m working on having a breakthrough because someone college-educated with a GitHub profile should not be standing at food bank lines every month.

I was feeling challengey and became the world record older for the most sites having signed up for. A self-experiment that turned into a victory. Not quite the same as my grandfather’s “I’m going to walk from Ushuaia to Cape Agulhas and back”, but still.

Not too much different.

• worried about my kids staying focused on school. Lost cause
• same job but from home
• saved money on train passes
• video games and bread machine!
• walking as an activity
• more of my shopping is online