The Joy of Isolation

LAST NIGHT, I POSTED this video on my Instagram story – because it was really a perfect Friday night at home! I played a little music on the keyboard & guitar and then spent a couple hours on my pinball machines. Had Material Issue’s best CD Destination Universe on the stereo, a Revolution Anti-Hero IPA in my pinball machine cup holder, and ultimately set my 2nd best high score on the Sorcerer machine (#3 on the machine itself). The only reason I stopped playing after midnight was to go watch the movie Passengers (kind of a great “isolation” film!) on the big screen.

So, it turns out, I’m finding I’m perfectly suited for the Apocalypse! As of yesterday, thanks to the coronavirus, I’ve been telecommuting for three weeks and have barely left the house during that period. Unlike a lot of posts I’ve seen lately, I don’t feel cooped up or stir crazy at all. I’m still putting in 9 and 10 hour days at the dayjob, which means the weekdays fly by. Telecommuting has meant that I don’t waste two hours of life on the road everyday, and that’s an amazing gift – it’s meant that I’m a little more “alive” at the end of the workday to spend some time with my family and do some “writing” work and play some pinball.

I have a huge stack of books and movies I’d like to get to in the coming month of quarantine, but I’ve been doing copy edits on my next novel over the past couple weeks after work, so… I haven’t dug into those entertainment stashes yet.

Since they have more time and aren’t running around every night, I have gotten to watch an awesome Amazon Prime series I’ve wanted to see for awhile with Geri and Shaun — Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens. I loved that book when I read it 20 or 30 years ago, and the adaptation is great. If you want hilarious British humor about an angel and demon teaming up to try to stop the Biblical apocalypse, I can’t recommend it enough.

Over the next few weeks I’d like to find time to use all of the music instruments in my basement again. I used to spend hours every weekend playing and writing songs, but life’s pace ultimately pushed music to the side for me. Last night I played a little for the first time in awhile… but I still haven’t spent “quality time.” Maybe this enforced slowdown will finally let me get back to that.

Basically… I guess I’ve been putting together the perfect basement in my house over the past decade to prepare for this! I’m very happy staying here… As long as the power stays on and there are IPAs in the beer fridge… I’m good!

Hope you are keeping some distance from the panic machine, finding pieces of your life that you’ve had to put on hold and spending more time with the people who really make your life have meaning.