Friday Five

[ironymaiden]

1) How is your year going so far?
If my year started on the 20th (i feel like it did) then it's been mostly good, very busy at work, shadowed by having my dog get hurt this week. But she's on the mend and it's nice to have insurance for her and just say "yes" to the vet.

2) Have you gotten vaccinated yet? If not, when do you think it's likely to happen?
No. I'm at the bottom of the list: hoping for June/July if Washington keeps up the target pace, but if we're looking at national pace then, well, I guess maybe for Christmas.

3) Are you bored or are you busy these days?
Busy. Work has really picked up and even though I'm done with school I am soon to be in four RPGs so I'm likely to end up with five regular social things a week, which in the before times would be unacceptable. We'll see how this goes.

4) Is this pandemic good or bad for your finances?
Good? I still have my job. We order takeout regularly because we're sadto support the locals, I have fits of online shopping, but the truth is that there's no small item impulse shopping or lunches out or transportation or live entertainment or movies or conventions or travel. My yoga teacher got a desk job and the pool is closed. For example, there were so few in-person soccer games in 2020 that almost our entire season ticket buy rolled over to this year (and of course we weren't buying concessions).* Our rent went down when we renewed the lease. We've given more to charity than ever and our savings are growing.

5) What are you missing most these days?

it changes from day to day. today, it was being in my office - there's a Slack channel called #slobs-at-the-eyrie where we used to post pictures of messes found in the office. it has, of course, been dead for more than nine months and today someone posted about how neat and responsible we've become. it was funny and horrible at the same time. we're getting ready for our annual team "offsite" and fuck it's just going to be a two-day video call.





* I would lay money that we'll have a similar situation this year, with no in-person games until near the playoffs

Comments

Glad you’ve made it thus far.

[jesse_the_k]

In addition to the pool, I realize I miss the chitter-chatter in the locker room. I didn’t appreciate how small talk and pleasantries and minor whining about dry skin (winter)/mosquitoes (summer)/road construction (year round) were in fact vital insulation against the starkness of daily life.

But swimming! That wonderful woosh when I dive in and sploosh when I step in. The unparalleled freedom of movement as I roll between left and right in the crawl. The exquisite final moments where I float on my back like a starfish, with almost zero pain.

[yourlibrarian]

The finance question would have been a slam dunk for me too, because our income didn't change but the big expense every year of travel was absent. And while I did very little impulse shopping or ongoing expenses anyway, I've bought even less in the past year. What's more we've been able to make more of some of them such as our streaming services. Our biggest expense was Mike's new computer desk and my monitor, but then he's spending so much more time at a screen now and having more workspace was a must. And because everyone gave me gift cards this year instead of physical stuff, we didn't even have to pay for the desk which is a major plus.

I am spending more on takeout, both because prices have been rising as well as wanting to help out local businesses. But Restaurant Week just launched here and we spent a good bit on it last year, trying out various places and taking advantage of specials at old favorites. This year there are fewer participants and they're offering more limited stuff because it's all geared to takeout. We'll be buying from two places but there's little for us at the rest.

I think our lease renews this year (we have 2 year leases) and I'll be interested to see what that comes to this time around. I've seen less moving than usual but empty places do seem to get new tenants. The downstairs apartment has turned over twice now since the start of 2020.

I also upped charitable giving since we were not only saving money but the need is so great.

[novel_machinist]

So much all of this. My wife and I are both employed and we order way too much food because there's no energy for anyone to do much else. We still use the same butcher, CSA, and markets. Since we're not going to work in another building all day, we've saved a TON of money.

Even if we've basically ordered food for the past three days straight.

I try not to think about what I miss too much. It's too depressing