Other than the obvious, what little thing do you miss the most from what you did a year ago?
11I was thinking about this this morning, because Saturday was grocery day. My routine was to go out for breakfast, go to my favorite local coffee shop, then the farmer’s market, drinking my coffee, and depending on how long I shopped there and how much, finishing the coffee as I walked the aisles buying the rest of my weekly groceries.
It’s the walking around shopping with a cup of fresh coffee.
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I really miss that as well. We had a favorite breakfast place of ours that we went to nearly every weekend. Just good coffee, great pancakes and the best service. It’s going to be one of the first places I go once it’s safe for everyone to dine in again.
@riskybryzness Hopefully your favorite breakfast place will be financially able to reopen. Several of my old “go to” spots are sadly gone for good…
Going out for dinner or a drink. Texting, emails and phones are just not the same. Even seeing a person with a mask hides expressions. I also discovered that I read faces and lips more than I knew!
@speediedelivery I do this too! It really sucks that I can’t now. I do now read masks. Saw a mask today that said “This mask is as useless as our government” and had to work hard to contain my laughter.
@fatterinperson I also pay attention to mask designs. Some are an interesting reflection on the person. I work retail so plenty of people watching.
Just wandering around aimlessly in retail stores, not so much for what I need but for whatever catches my attention.
@narfcake Ah, so like the analog version of Meh?
@narfcake @rogerbacon More like Sidedeal.
I miss being able to shop late hours and not be limited to the a maximum number of customers in the store at one time, otherwise wait on line to get in. I also miss the local shops that have gone out of business. And I miss going into the office seeing my co-workers in person, not by video.
Browsing the shelves in the local library, and spending some time discovering stuff I didn’t know. (I’m a little old school, and like real books…)
Getting a paycheck.
@cinoclav hard to “like” that but it’s a like of support.
That’s what so many that talk about how everyone should just spend their time on some self-improvement strategy just don’t understand. This has not been some grand vacation time for many people where the biggest struggle is boredom. My income was off maybe 30% or so, but I’m glad I still had enough to keep a roof over our heads.
Here’s to a profitable 2021!
@ybmuG It’s only been since November for me and I’m fine financially but the concept itself is frustrating. I’ve worked since I was 14 except for a few brief stretches while in school. The difficulty for me is finding a job in my profession as they’re few and far between. I’m waiting to hear back about one I interviewed for just before Christmas. Just knowing how many people out there have lost their jobs and have to worry about keeping a roof over their heads or food on their table is awfully depressing.
Offer a smile to folks I meet. Well, I still smile, but nobody sees it.
I guess that sounds petty…
@PlutoIsAPlanet I joke that I can stick my tongue out at people and they don’t know
@PlutoIsAPlanet @speediedelivery Not petty at all. If it makes you feel better, I think people are learning to see it in our eyes, etc. I know dogs can! (That has been kind of an interesting social experiment for me, incidentally - dogs’s perception of people’s attitudes toward them is astounding, regardless of any mask).
@PlutoIsAPlanet I so agree! I hate people not knowing I’m smiling at them because sometimes i feel it really brightens people’s day - not MY smile but smiles in general
@PlutoIsAPlanet @speediedelivery
That is related to what I told a 7 year old about always having to have the last word with his grandmother. If you say it in your head you can have the satisfaction of saying it, even using bad words, and she will never know you got the last word. Plus then you don’t get punished either. HA! He bought it and I was later asked what I did to get him to stop fighting with his grandmother.
Being optimistic
Winter Jam (not exactly a little thing). Since it’s usually in Des Moines in January, I was able to attend last year’s show. The final 3 weeks of concerts got cancelled as they were in March when everything was starting to go haywire.
There’s been nothing about 2021… not even an email or updated note on the website. (I’d thought maybe they’d do a socially distanced online show this year like so many others have already done.)
@msklzannie yeah, those were real casualties. We missed the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Along with about a dozen other festivals. We get some fantastic groups to come through here every year. You can get some lobster mac and cheese and wander between a local jazz trio on one corner and Spyro Gyra on another. They were scheduled for 2020, as was Nora Jones. Really bummed. Rescheduled to June 2021. Let’s hope!
@ybmuG The local high school had to postpone last spring’s play/musical. They were going to do it this fall instead. Now it’s been postponed yet again to at least February. There’s a community theater nearby that does plays every February (around Valentine’s Day), but they are waiting until then to reassess whether to even do anything this year. (They haven’t even cast the parts yet.)
@msklzannie unfortunately, you don’t get school years back. Been very disappointing for so many kids.
I really missed clapping along with the audience to the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Eve Concert when they play the Radetzky March. This year, there was no audience, due to COVID. It felt very weird as they closed out their performance with this traditional final piece.
That said, this years performance was filled with gusto and energy in every selection, and in my experience, their second best all-time for enjoyment. Just a spectacular show this year.
Bavo, Maestro!
Bravo, Vienna Philharmonic!
/youtube Vienna Philharmonic Radetzky March
P.S. Check your local PBS station for a repeat broadcast in the “Great Performances” show.
@mike808 I’ve never seen a conductor (?) like that…and I’m a music major! lol
I think he directed the audience more than the orchestra. lol
@Tadlem43 The best NYE performance I’ve seen was a few years back, and the conductor intentionally included the audience, and it was pure joy from everyone participating - the orchestra, the conductor, and the audience. I’ll go back and find the year and the conductor.
@mike808 I’d love to see it. My point was, he conducted the audience more than the orchestra. I think it’s great when conductors include the audience, but they still should conduct the orchestra. I guess they’ve done this so much, they don’t need it. lol
@Tadlem43
Some history: Walter Kronkite hosted the annual show on PBS Great Performances for 25 years until his passing on 2009. Julie Andrews took over in 2010-2017 (With Paula Zahn standing in in 2011), followed by Hugh Bonneville the last 2-3 years now.
The best performance I referred to was the 2010 NYE (meaning 2009-12-31), conducted by George Prêtre. The pure joy in his face during his performance and inclusion of the audience made us fans ever since, and it is part of our must-see NYE celebrations.
I am so fortunate to have recorded it.
Attending in person is on my bucket list.
Here is a link to the writeup.
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/from-vienna-the-new-years-celebration-2010-preview-the-concert/901/
@Tadlem43
The 2016 NYE concert with Maris Jansons conducting was equally stunning. It really shows when everyone is clearly enjoying themselves and are at the top of their professional game as musicians amd conductor.
FYI - the VP orchestra chooses and invites the conductor to conduct them for these concerts.
Here it is:
/youtube ulZVgsb-CBA
@Tadlem43
I found the 2010 performance!
/youtube 37knt9RF4Ok
In retrospect I think the 2016 performance was the better of the two. But I was hooked in 2010.
@mike808 Thank you so much! I just watched (most of) the whole concert in 2010. Spectacular!
I don’t know if you have watched the whole video, but when they play the Strauss waltz, they show a videography of the river, from it’s humble beginnings. Beautiful countries!
Thanks, again, for sharing this with me!
@Tadlem43 I have recorded them every year since 2010. I also have a few of the summer concerts they hold on the palace lawn. The interludes with the Vienna Ballet are also wonderful.
@mike808 I’ll check them out, too!
Going to RailWatch in Folkston, Georgia twice a year. I haven’t been in over a year now. :C
@PooltoyWolf Any steam engines participate in RailWatch?
@compunaut As it’s an event that takes place on the CSX double track freight mainline, nope.
@PooltoyWolf An edit to this image’s description text: both 7806 and 7864 are actually still in service on CSX!
Owning 50 shares of AMD and half a bitcoin. Though the profits from selling them have sustained me through the shutdown.
@rogerbacon
What wallet do you use? I’m looking at Atomicwallet. Are you familiar with it?
Lingering over coffee and a book at my favorite breakfast place on my day off.
What do you mean that never happened? Are you sure?
Every year we’ve had a Christmas Eve party at our place, with way too many family & friends crammed into our little house, and way too much food to graze on.
To be honest, I think I miss my nieces & nephews most.
I missed having my family around for the holidays. This was the first year that we weren’t all together. Out of four kids, one daughter made it for Thanksgiving and another daughter was here for Christmas, so there was at least that. I haven’t seen my son since August and my oldest daughter and grandson since Christmas 2019.
All of the extracurricular activities in our local school were shut down, and some (maybe all) of my best students will have advanced to another school before we start up again.
@mehcuda67 Hugging is #1 that I miss most.
@mehcuda67 I miss hugging my friends as well.
As for the robotics, the FLL (FLL:Challenge if you’ve upgraded to the new names) team I coach is making a go of this this season. We started out trying to meet completely virtually and did okay on Core Values and reasonably well on Innovation Project but the Robot Design and Robot Game portion was just incredibly hard (I had four team members ages 10,11 and 13. The 10 and 13 year old were rookies. The two 11 year olds were on the team the previous year.). Back in the middle times, when things didn’t seem so bad, three of the four families decided that virtual wasn’t working for them and asked to meet in person. I decided I was okay with it (with some precautions) and we cautiously met for robot work with the fourth student Skyped in. Eventually drama ensued, the all virtual student dropped out (still not entirely certain why) and the rest have continued. We’re making progress, doing robot game stuff in person and everything else virtually. It’s slow, but steady and having some success. Still no word on when even our qualifier tournament will be (all tournaments will be virtual. We were told we would get training on the platform that will be used and tournament registration would happen in December.) But the kids are enjoying it. The parents are happy. I’m going to need a long off-season to recover from it. But at least it’s happening.
@gt0163c That’s encouraging - I’m impressed!
First dates. Like how does one do that right now. I so miss it. I want to go on a first date but how? I mean you don’t really know them so they could be covid reckless plus bars and restaurants and coffee shops out since you really should not be unmasked around people not in household. How does one get a kiss I really want a mind melting kiss.
@CaptAmehrican I’m guessing somebody is working on this and probably has a working prototype already. You wanna volunteer to be a beta kisser?
KuoH
If we are talking about January’s, I’m really going to miss the Strange Brewfest in Port Townsend, WA this year.
Being able to visit my mom.
Watching my son’s AAU tournaments with the other basketball moms. We were a snarky fun group.
talking to strangers in elevators, i used to do it in every trip i made up to my dorm or to classes. made so many friends that way.
a job with benefits…like health insurance that doesnt cost me personally an arm and 3 toes monthly (also a job w/ a steady paycheck as well)…I also miss social gatherings to play games…and live theater…and fixing to miss mardi gras…that actually hurts alot…that was/is my favorite holiday season…
Talk to my Dad.
Also, hit the shops and just browse.
Social gatherings (2-3 league nights a week). Watching football games with my friends. Our group had expanded beyond being able to sit 6 feet apart in a garage.
My friend Ken. He got tired of being cooped up and shot himself. So my #2 is being able to be with people so someone catches their mental state before it’s too late.
@IWUJackson I’m sorry for your loss.
@IWUJackson How terrible, I’m so sorry.
@IWUJackson kind of puts our petty complaints into perspective. Condolences to you and the family. May you find peace.
@IWUJackson @ybmuG
Mental health was one of the biggest problems associated with masks, social distancing and ‘safer at home’ orders. Much as the medical benefits were significant and valid, the blow-back in mental health, child/spouse abuse, food insecurity, homelessness etc was devastating.
Now more than ever you have to reach out to those in fragile states to be sure they have the support they need.
@IWUJackson so, very sorry
I miss living in a nation widely regarded as the paragon of democracy.