hi guys. it has been a while, and i hope you're all doing alright. i probably wouldn't have posted this at all if greenluigi hadn't made a thread of his own a few days ago, so big thanks to him for inspiring me...as he often does, in many respects. :p

i understand the quarantine has been difficult on many people pretty much everywhere. the struggle doesn't discriminate. students, workers, kids, adults, everyone's taking this hard. it might be in different ways but i'm pretty sure it's thrown us all off balance in one way or another, and it's easy to see why.

even for people who aren't officially under quarantine, the constant fear and uncertainty must be a lot to deal with and i'm sure they've seen some changes in their lives too. so my question applies to you too, if you fall under that category.

how are you dealing with the situation? is there anything you've been doing in particular to keep busy, or at least keep calm? are you focusing more on your work or your hobbies? whatever it is you're doing, feel free to talk about it here. i'm curious.

in my case it's been very difficult to focus on my studies, but on the other hand i have noticed a spike in my creative drive as there isn't much else for me to focus on right now. so i've been trying to work more on hobbies i'd grown distant from, like animation and such.

unfortunately it's been difficult for me to keep up with texts from friends and things like that, but i don't regret the times i do make an effort to communicate. voice and video calls definitely helped me feel more grounded when i resisted the urge to shrink away from them.

anyway that's my experience. again, i'm looking forward to hearing everyone else's and i hope you're all doing okay. best wishes from green and i

Most of the things that I've been doing have involved watching TV or playing games. I probably put in around 70 hours into Animal Crossing and Minecraft over the last few weeks.

Other than that, I still go out for food and to exercise once or twice a day and I try to go to work for 8 to 12 hours a week, but the days I go constantly change.

I haven't actually been quarantined, since I'm still considered an essential worker... but what I've been doing to pass time that I'd otherwise be spending going to bars, having fun with friends, or going out to eat, has been playing more video games.

It's actually been kind of nice, since I don't usually have the time to play video games.

NintendoFanDrew : since I,m still working and don,t work from home I haven,t been in quarantine I work at walmart and while the store remains open they are on reduced hours in order to keep myself and others safe I always practice social distancing when in any public place which for the most part is not hard to do since all businesses that remain open can only allow so many people in at a time where I work the most amount of people they can allow is 50 and when they reach that number the other people have to stand in line outside until the security allow them to come in also along with wiping all the handles on the shopping carts they have red lines on the floors at each checkout to show everyone how far apart they should stand from the person in front of them and there are plastic shields up at all checkouts and at the customer service counter in front of the store as for myself I feel lucky to be able to work since there are so many people who have lost their jobs as well as those who have lost their lives due to the corona virus still I pray the someday things will return to normal so that myself and all of us will be able to go back to being able to do the things we were once able to do but no longer can do to the virus in the meantime I hope that everyone stays safe so that we can all live through this together

zanderlex : ahh i see. i'm glad you're able to maintain some form of routine at least -- i know having a bit of structure helps me stay grounded personally. also i haven't played the new animal crossing (i assume you're talking about new horizons?) but a lot of people seem really into it so i might give it a try!

legacyme3 : that's cool, i know these past few weeks i've been playing a lot more video games than usual too. it's been a pretty nice distraction and i'm glad it works for you as well. one thing i'm curious about by the way, what exactly counts as an essential worker? i get it probably varies from place to place but i'm curious what jobs are considered essential where you live.


no 8120 : it's really great you're managing to stay positive, and even feel lucky despite everything that's been happening. it can be really hard to feel even remotely grateful in tough times like these, so i definitely admire it when i see it.

NintendoFanDrew : If you call waking up at 1PM a routine, then sure lol.

I didn't even want Animal Crossing. I went with my friend the day it came out so he could get it for his girlfriend and I had no intention of getting it.

Then the next day I was at Game stop to cancel preorders and while I was on the line, right before checkout, I decided to get it.

NintendoFanDrew :

It's a good question... one that doesn't really have an answer. Food services, some retail outlets that sell certain supplies, network places (IE Cable/Internet), and any job that people use to get to their own work places (public transit).

In my case, I work in the medical field, which is obviously essential.

But for most people, the line is blurred. A shocking number of people I wouldn't consider "essential" are being considered as such.

NintendoFanDrew : awww drew im so happy to hear that, this means a lot to me really <3 <3 <3. I hope I'll always make you happy, and you inspire me too btw

as for me, well I either listen to songs, play games, working on my 3 houses OCs (i guess you can see that everyday haha!), tryyyyying to study but it's hard for me lol. I'm resuming online classes the upcoming week, and i tend to study more out of pressure so i guess it will be easier for me to concentrate haha, but it'll still be hard.

I also recently resumed some manga series. I've caught up with Black Clover, and now I finished 7 Deadly Sins. Author's working on a sequel but idk if I'll read it though.

Honestly nothing TOO different... I really miss going out, but being pretty introverted I can handle it fine.

University has moved online, of course, but the semester has nearly ended so that won't be a thing for much longer. My job was online in the first place, so really the only thing that has changed about that is there being less tasks to do since *everyone* has more time now lol.

For just passing time, definitely nothing any different. Animal Crossing / Final Fantasy 7, watching anime, making random food out of ingredients I think would be interesting / reading interesting recipes online. Stuff I've always done lol

Well I miss going out, I’m actually on this site to pass time. I know shocker. Been nothing much but playing games, calling people and texting. The usual new hobbies like crocheting helps time pass by and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it seems. That’s all I can say really... I need to get back out there and socialize

greenluigi : yupp there's definitely been a spike in your creative side too, even if you only really show me and my sister lol. honored that i'm one of the people who gets to see it!


Minuano : being introverted definitely helps yeah. still, i get missing the outside to some extent. also experimenting with food/recipes sounds super cool, i've always been interested in messing around with that kind of thing but never really got around to it for some reason.

becerra95 : crocheting doesn't sound easy yeah, i've got a few friends that do it and all i can say is *dang* does it seem complicated. i doubt i would have the patience for it myself honestly. :p

I'm basically playing videogames with my girlfriend or playing cards with my parents, besides eating a lot and exploring some creativity at baking to kill boredom.

I've been rekindling some friendships recently, or at least trying it. I also have in mind close ties with my parents regarding certain subjects, but it's not yet the time for that.

Once my girlfriend goes home, I may go back to writing and playing other kind of videogames all alone. I'll surely be bored to hell or glued to any videogame, so the worst part of the confinement will surely come when it's nearing the end.

With her gone, I could use the chance to tidy up and update my MP3 list, which is long overdue, and maybe update a few other things I may have left unchecked while I had time to go out.

I'm doing well! I've also had a great increase in my creativity. After nearly a year of not writing any stories, I've felt a drive to revisit a short story series I didn't follow through on when I planned it out. I look forward to writing that more probably this weekend!

I've been dealing with the quarantine by texting and calling my friends a lot more than I usually would. It's been very refreshing for them and me. I've been keeping busy by writing poems more as well, and editing ones that I wrote in the past.

I think I've had a pretty good balance about balancing work and hobbies. I haven't had nearly as much homework as I was going to because my professors have graciously taken out some of our assignments! I thank God for that!

What have you worked on for animation?

EX Palen : i'm glad you're spending time with your family and girlfriend, and trying to rekindle old friendships. the latter isn't always easy for me personally, so i find it really cool when i see other people do it.

Pacman+Mariofan : glad there's been a spike in your creative side too! it feels pretty great huh? maybe we could even post a bit of our work here sometime. anyway, to answer your question, my animation projects have mostly been related to fire emblem three houses since that's been my favorite video game (and story in general) as of late

NintendoFanDrew : Pretty much all the stuff I usually do. Eat, sleep, cry, play video games, etc.

NintendoFanDrew : Yeah I'm glad to be more creative lately! It makes me happy! Oh nice! I've seen some great and hilarious video game animations on YouTube so I think video game animations should be made more!

So the crazy thing is that I'm still working 40 hours a week, because I do retail and let's just say it's completely insane. Not to mention my state just had their lockdown time increased because people are acting childish and dumb. But other than that nonsense I'm crying while taking online classes that the teacher's barely know how to work.

dominic1369 : huge mood

deggle : ughh that sounds like a nightmare dude i'm sorry. as for the online classes, i relate. a lot of my professors are really struggling to adapt and it's been pretty hectic unfortunately.

I haven't actually been quarantined since I am, unfortunately, an essential worker. However, 2 days ago, 2 people at the store I work at were confirmed to have the virus and now I am taking a 2 week leave of absence (without penalty) waiting on my face shield to arrive in the mail before I go back to work. In the few days I've had off though, I've been catching up on my backlog of games, which has been nice. I've also been reading more often since I have the extra time. All things considered, I have plenty to keep me busy, so I'm not bored in the slightest.

Since I had a somewhat easy end to my college semester, I have been playing more video games. I've even been taking on some video games I didn't try to beat or get achievements in before. I've still been getting creative with my writing, but I've also been relaxing some more with those video games. I've made quite a bit of progress on some Mario Kart games