The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Off Topic => Topic started by: Loa on December 31, 2020, 07:34:31 PM
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Guys, we're free of 2020!
But those long lockdown hours must have taught you something other than baking Banana bread.
Did you hone or learn a new skill?
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I learned how much I thrive with absolutely minimal human contact! As far as skills, I've really been improving my dead bird specimen preparation skills. We've been able to leverage that to earn additional income for my department during the pandemic. I've also done more digital art for work and pleasure. Basically I am loving the lockdown experience... :lookround:
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That even my worst points can bring something good. For those who don't know around April/May I got a bad bout of depression. As I do when I can't face the real world, I drifted into fantasy, imagining anything else but the rubbish of my real life. One particular theme wouldn't leave me alone, & after days or weeks in bed I dragged myself out of it to write it down. It grew into an obsession, & as my depression bout eased more, I found more influences for the story I was writing. Just days ago I finished the first draft of it, & am working on a side project & a sequel, with other side projects springing up everywhere.
Aptly the main theme of the story is turning curses into blessings.
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Crochet, cross stitch, cooking and how to recognize misinformation in the news, lol.
Most importantly, I learned that I am a lot less introverted than I thought. :lookround:
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The only skill I managed to hone was anxiety :lookround:
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How to effectively escape reality.
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That I can exist is a state of near panic for almost an entire year.
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The only skill I managed to hone was anxiety :lookround:
Same here!
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How to effectively escape reality.
Ditto this.
Post Merge: January 01, 2021, 06:25:11 AM
That it's okay to turn off the news, watch nothing but vintage TV, and pretend it's 1985 for months on end.
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How to effectively escape reality.
Same.
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Hrm.
That I can keep myself amused for a lot more time in a day than I thought I could.
That I can survive nine months locked down with my parents xD.
How much I miss my sister being able to come home, and being able to see her.
I guess overall - how important family is, and how much more important it is than anything else, material or otherwise.
Also, that neurotypical people struggle just as much with change and uncertainty as neurodiverse people, only are less well equipped to respond to it. It occurred to me in a conversation with my parents, when my mother was worried about my neighbour because we hadn't seen them. "Maybe they're isolating," I said. "Maybe I should go knock on the door and see if they're ok", said my mum. Who is shielding.
We agreed that lockdown, social distancing, and all of those things come much more naturally to me than to my parents. There are other aspects that are not like that, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Finally, I learned that empathy is a pipe dream and a myth if it gets in the way of people doing what they want to do. THe extreme callousness of people not caring about spreading infection so long as they get their way is staggering.
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In mid-October, I learnt that following the health guidances like regular handwashing and disinfecting and wearing a mask can help me greatly remaining uninfected even when the nursing home where I work became a covid-19 hotspot.
This covid-19 virus can be a very sassy virus.
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Columbo is streaming for free on Peacock.
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I learned how much I thrive with absolutely minimal human contact! As far as skills, I've really been improving my dead bird specimen preparation skills. We've been able to leverage that to earn additional income for my department during the pandemic. I've also done more digital art for work and pleasure. Basically I am loving the lockdown experience... :lookround:
That is really cool Sunpony, Do you do vulture Culture stuff?
As for me... I learned to Lucet! It's a really neat way to make braided cord. I also managed to find a new job... definitely not something I thought was going to happen, and I learned that being alone isn't too bad honestly.
Oh! and I also learned that Anxiety is a verb as well as a noun...
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I learned how much I thrive with absolutely minimal human contact! As far as skills, I've really been improving my dead bird specimen preparation skills. We've been able to leverage that to earn additional income for my department during the pandemic. I've also done more digital art for work and pleasure. Basically I am loving the lockdown experience... :lookround:
That is really cool Sunpony, Do you do vulture Culture stuff?
As for me... I learned to Lucet! It's a really neat way to make braided cord. I also managed to find a new job... definitely not something I thought was going to happen, and I learned that being alone isn't too bad honestly.
Oh! and I also learned that Anxiety is a verb as well as a noun...
I don't know what culture vulture is... Maybe I am and I don't know it? I work for a museum hence the birds ( and other animals but we mostly get birds). Lucet sounds neat, I'd love to see something you've made if you have any pics!
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That it's okay to turn off the news, watch nothing but vintage TV, and pretend it's 1985 for months on end.
I learned this too. At first I tried to watch all of the news updates and press conferences but eventually they became overwhelming and I would go do something relaxing instead of submitting myself to every news report.
Hrm.
That I can keep myself amused for a lot more time in a day than I thought I could.
That I can survive nine months locked down with my parents xD.
These also ring true for me except the lockdown with my parents was about 3 months.
I also learned not to take the little things for granted. I missed being able to go out whenever I wanted and do things that I like.
Sadly I also learned there are some people who will steal items that don't belong to them without a second thought to how this will affect others. Two of the Christmas gifts I sent out were stolen before they reached their destination. :sad:
On a happier note I started diamond painting and really got in to it. I had bought a kit sometime in 2019 and put it away. One day I was really bored and got out the kit. I discovered that I enjoy diamond painting. :D I am working on my 4th project now.
I also began watching more anime and got really in to an amazing series that I might have taken much longer discover/watch in its entirety if 2020 had been a normal year.
Ponyfan
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I learned how much I thrive with absolutely minimal human contact! As far as skills, I've really been improving my dead bird specimen preparation skills. We've been able to leverage that to earn additional income for my department during the pandemic. I've also done more digital art for work and pleasure. Basically I am loving the lockdown experience... :lookround:
That is really cool Sunpony, Do you do vulture Culture stuff?
As for me... I learned to Lucet! It's a really neat way to make braided cord. I also managed to find a new job... definitely not something I thought was going to happen, and I learned that being alone isn't too bad honestly.
Oh! and I also learned that Anxiety is a verb as well as a noun...
I don't know what culture vulture is... Maybe I am and I don't know it? I work for a museum hence the birds ( and other animals but we mostly get birds). Lucet sounds neat, I'd love to see something you've made if you have any pics!
Ok... A museum curator?!~ Thats even cooler! Oh! Vulture Culture is the people who pick up and preserve freshly killed critters, like roadkill and such for private or sometimes public display! Like... Taxidermy but more sustainable.
And as for my Lucet, here's my current ongoing braid, it's a cool fall color ball I found.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isDBNOGSxDsrcFDkq1WUJN4xlp5MO_GL/view?usp=sharing
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It taught me that 2019 might've been bad, but things can always get worse!
At least I didn't have appendicitis again this year. :P
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Literally learned that I have infinite patience for everything in this world except driving to and from work. Hubby and I were carpooling, then both working from home (Mar-Aug). I went back in person to work, hubby has not; road rage reared its ugly head...
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It taught me that 2019 might've been bad, but things can always get worse!
At least I didn't have appendicitis again this year. :P
I love that not having appendicitis is one of your plus points. It kind of says everything about 2020 xD.
...This also reminded me that I should be careful what I wish for.
In summer 2019, when I was finishing off my PhD, I remember thinking how nice it would be to have a break before I went on to whatever next, since it had been such a manic few years.
...Not quite the break I was wanting, thank you, fate. I would absolutely rather be back in that situation of teaching, deadlines and invigilation right now. I genuinely miss every part of my life before COVID. Even the squinky bits.
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Well, I was lucky enough to go to Disney World at the beginning of the year. It was a last minute decision to go with my sister who was there for a conference. I learned all the times I thought Disney was over hyped was very wrong. I had a great time and want to go again.
I also learned that wearing a mask isn't so bad and that I went to the store waaayyy too often before the pandemic.
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Oh yeah. I learned that there have been ways and resources for people like me who don't drive but companies just didn't utilize them until Covid. I could have been having video meetings with most of my doctors, grocery delivery, pharmacy delivery, restaurant delivery and so much more for all these years.
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I learned that when the aliens come we won't all band together as humans like in the movie Independence Day. We'll all divide and take sides while they aliens wait for us to kill each other.
I also learned that if you have a family history of high blood pressure you really need to monitor your blood pressure. (everything is fine, just a life tip)
Not everything is depressing I also learned that there are a lot of people who are willing to sacrifice to help others and work hard for good causes. and there are a lot of people who will not tolerate injustice and will stand in line for hours to exercise their right to vote. and yes we have a messed up system. but there have also been a lot of people who are helping it function in spite of a lot of personal consequences.
i've also learned way more than I ever wanted to know about the US electoral system.
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Ok... A museum curator?!~ Thats even cooler! Oh! Vulture Culture is the people who pick up and preserve freshly killed critters, like roadkill and such for private or sometimes public display! Like... Taxidermy but more sustainable.
And as for my Lucet, here's my current ongoing braid, it's a cool fall color ball I found.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1isDBNOGSxDsrcFDkq1WUJN4xlp5MO_GL/view?usp=sharing
Ah, your Lucet project looks very nice! Pretty sturdy braid, eh? That tool is quite interesting, I don't think I've seen one before. It has a timeless look to it...
I'm not quite a full-blown curator, although I am qualified for that position now. But I think I could say I fit the vulture culture term, I do pick up dead animals from outside and prepare them! These days a great deal of museum specimens are road kill or birds that flew into windows and such, we don't often go out killing stuff for the collection like in the past.
Oh yeah. I learned that there have been ways and resources for people like me who don't drive but companies just didn't utilize them until Covid. I could have been having video meetings with most of my doctors, grocery delivery, pharmacy delivery, restaurant delivery and so much more for all these years.
I heard an interview on the radio about this yesterday, it was really interesting - about services that COULD have existed but didn't until it became useful for average, nondisabled people. I'm glad that people can now benefit from them...but its frustrating that it took a pandemic to make it happen! I hope these services stay available to you even after the pandemic ends. I think they will :)
Loa, what did you learn?
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I learned Americans are incredibly selfish. -_-
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I learned Americans PEOPLE are incredibly selfish. -_-
Just fixing that for you >.>
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It certainly re-confirmed the hellish-ness of retail work...
But on a positive note, I can sew! I've been a pretty avid crocheter and have dabbled in many different crafts including a bit of hand sewing. But when mask wearing started becoming a thing I decided I wanted to make my own and borrowed my mother's sewing machine. I'm at the point that people are very impressed with the quality of my masks and I finished this vintage style dress in a gorgeous Halloween fabric for my sister. My parents gifted me a sewing machine for Christmas too!
So thanks 2020, you were terrible in so many ways but you gave me a sewing machine and the skills to use it.