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Weekly Roundup 2020 #2

Sixty-some days since my last roundup post? Well, glad I made no guarantees of consistency.

Coronavirus

We are obviously in a pretty unique and scary time in the world right now due to the coronavirus pandemic. There is a slew of information and mis-information out there. I am by no means an expert, but wanted to pass along some resources I have found helpful. This won’t be the entirety of this post. If you need to skip over it for your mental health, you can jump to the rest.

  • Wikipedia can be a good way to digest information without some of the media sensationalism and talking heads. It can also be a good way to avoid mis-information since Wikipedia editors are pretty good about maintaining reliable sources on the page. Obviously double-check things, though. There are separate pages specific to countries, territories, and many US states. I have found the California page helpful to keep up with the timeline of cases. h/t to Tantek for this tip.
  • Mike McHargue (Ask Science Mike) has been a good voice to listen to. He did a podcast episode on COVID-19 this week. He talked about our emotional reaction and facts about the disease / our bodies. I appreciated that he first acknowledged how scary this time is and the importance of recognizing our feelings so we can make healthy responses to the pandemic.
  • If you or a loved one need help with food assistance, paying bills, or other reduced-cost programs, try findhelp.org

The Rest

I met up for drinks with my friend Clinton last week on the 10th. It was good to catch up and we had some good conversation about therapy and mental health. I have mostly been self-isolating since then. It’s not very different from my normal since I work remotely. Not going to coffeeshops or meetups has taken a bit of a toll, though.

I decided Friday night that we should have a virtual hangout. Several years ago the winetoreach crew would have them every week or two and they were always a good time. I proposed one for Saturday night and several people came by. It was great seeing faces and laughing together. We’re planning another one this Saturday, March 21st at 4pm Pacific and I am sure we will continue having them more regularly. Winetoreach also has a Discord server for chat. Let me know if you’d like to join the hangout this Saturday and/or the Discord server.

On Wednesday night there were some IndieWeb Meetups, one for east coast and one for west coast. Quite a few people turned out for both of them. We did have someone join the west coast to grief us, which reminds me we should keep the winetoreach links off of public Twitter.

My therapy has been going okay, though I should set up a more regular schedule. Unfortunately, during my last phone session the app did not cooperate so we had to use live chat instead. BetterHelp requires using the app so they can keep track of time and billing. I get it, but it was frustrating. I was already considering switching to in-person therapy and dropping BetterHelp. That’s on hold for now, but I probably will do that once things are safer.

I have been learning Spanish using Duolingo and am on a 76-day streak so far. It teaches some phrases I will never need, though, like “yo no quiero mas pan.” If you're on there, add gRegorLove as a friend so I can unlock that badge. Must. Complete. Badges.

Here are some ways to connect, socialize, and entertain during these times:

What are some ways you’re socializing online? Any recommended games or apps?

If you ever need to talk to someone, you can reach me a variety of ways: contact form, Twitter DM, gRegorLove on IRC freenode (webchat). Let’s look out for each other.

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