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Miscellaneous 🤷‍♀️ The Post-Pandemic World

Maister

Maister

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Let's engage in catharsis. What things are you most looking forward to in a post-pandemic world? Or put another way, in what ways have you personally been suffering most keenly this past year?
 
Travel with Mrs. P. - We had planned to take a 20th anniversary trip across the pond along with several other shorter trips.

Several of The Girls activities. - She lost out on HS soccer & marching band, among others. Her senior year was way different than expected.
 
Planit said:
Travel with Mrs. P. - We had planned to take a 20th anniversary trip across the pond along with several other shorter trips.
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^^^This (albeit with Mrs. Bubba, not Mrs. P.)

We'd been planning a 25th anniversary trip (also across the pond) for last year - scrapped and postponed to this year, and realistically to be postponed again until 2022. We were also planning a trip with some friends to go sit on a beach in the Caribbean, probably for June or July of this year - now to be postponed as well.

Also, larger family reunions - my Aunt on my mother's side of the family that loves hosting everyone has been going nuts with the pandemic. I am really hoping we can get everyone back together again for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas this year.
 
Attending professional hockey games.
Drinking an ice cold beer while sitting in the stands of the local minor league baseball team with friends.
Making up for kids birthday parties with 1/2 birthday parties.

But the biggest thing...
Not wearing a freaking mask everywhere I go!
 
Travel - like others, we canceled a long trip across the pond. Once vaccinated, we will fly again, but not overseas just yet. National parks and cities we haven't been to before foreign travel.

Eating out in groups - we haven't met up with family or friends except for 2 occasions. Both were outside, spaced apart, and short. Hubby and I haven't eaten in a restaurant since March of last year. Take out, drive through, delivery - yes.

Going to museums/events/movies/similar - again, not since early last year. My dad likes to go to the movies, and Hubby and I like museums, festivals, etc. Hubby wants to see "his" professional and college sports teams.

Simple get-togethers with friends for no other reason than to chat or because we want to. No advanced planning needed!
 
Going to Punk shows! Gosh, I miss the scene more than I thought I would.

Fitness! I had a great gym routine, was relatively fit and ontrack to achieve my target bodyweight. I had taken up grappling training and was really beginning to get into a good groove. Lockdown put an end to all of that, and Ive been so unmotivated and unhealthy since than.

Mask free life: I hate wearing them, although I will continue to wear one for as long as I need to. Protecting others > my feelings.

Indoor dining and going to punk rock dive bars (shout outs to Casa del Popolo in Montréal, Anchored Inn in Brooklyn and Black Dots in Buffalo!)

An end to the fear and stife, most importantly.

Im honestly not expecting any type of "normal" to reemerge until early 2023 :(
 
Salmissra said:
Travel - like others, we canceled a long trip across the pond. Once vaccinated, we will fly again, but not overseas just yet. National parks and cities we haven't been to before foreign travel.

Eating out in groups - we haven't met up with family or friends except for 2 occasions. Both were outside, spaced apart, and short. Hubby and I haven't eaten in a restaurant since March of last year. Take out, drive through, delivery - yes.

Going to museums/events/movies/similar - again, not since early last year. My dad likes to go to the movies, and Hubby and I like museums, festivals, etc. Hubby wants to see "his" professional and college sports teams.

Simple get-togethers with friends for no other reason than to chat or because we want to. No advanced planning needed!
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same
 
Healthy socialization for Itty Bitty. She has missed out on so much.

And travel! 10 yr anniversary trip to warm spot was cancelled, Itty Bitty's first trip to New Orleans was cancelled.
 
Big Owl said:
Personally, I am going to miss using covid as an excuse not to go places.
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Truth. :D

My needs are simple - Travel, monthly flea market, coin collector shows, the boys back in the school buildings fully, so I can come home at lunchtime for some...;)

:daydream:
 
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I just want to move about freely and not have to go back to the car because I left my mask in it.

I believe that we'll start to see mask orders during the flu season from now on.
 
kms said:
I believe that we'll start to see mask orders during the flu season from now on.
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This will likely, at least, become many individuals' SOP post covid.
 
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Big Owl said:
Personally, I am going to miss using covid as an excuse not to go places.
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This x1000. Seriously.

Having a good excuse to not attend family gatherings or large social events over the past year has been fantastic. We went to zero holiday parties in 2020 and even my wife begrudgingly agreed that it was the best holiday season ever!

If I think hard, the two things I can think of that I'm actually looking forward to are feeling comfortable enough to go to the grocery store more than once every 4 or 5 weeks and going to the gym to sit in the steam room.

As much as I don't care about going places or doing things for myself, I am bummed that my kids have missed out on so much over the past year. I am looking forward to them being back in school full-time and being able to participate in extracurricular activities. I'll be happy when my oldest gets to go back to her climbing gym because I know how much she loves it and needs that physical outlet. I'm looking forward to not feeling so anxious when my youngest wants to get close and touchy with some kid she just met at the playground. I'm looking forward to being able to take them to the movie theatre and load them up with popcorn and sugary treats and drinks.

Oh, and I do miss hugging my parents.
 
kms said:
I just want to move about freely and not have to go back to the car because I left my mask in it.

I believe that we'll start to see mask orders during the flu season from now on.
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You know, decades before covid I remember seeing folks in Japan widespread and voluntarily donning masks during flu season. Given the public resistance to mask orders during a more deadly outbreak, I doubt we'll see them enforced for flu seasons every year. That said, I don't think it would be a bad thing at all to take a page out of the Japanese play book and adopt it as a form of being considerate to others and acknowledging the benefit to the public at large.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
I don't know...staying away from people has been rather nice.
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One if my favorite parts of the pandemic was the first lockdown and people actually complied. I still had to work and there was no traffic, no one at the grocery store when I ran in for supplies. It was great!
 
Travel, concerts, and select conferences.

There are things that I hope stick around: flexible work from home schedule, Zoom/Teams meetings that don't require cross town traffic and parking nonsense, etc.
 
kjel said:
Travel, concerts, and select conferences.

There are things that I hope stick around: flexible work from home schedule, Zoom/Teams meetings that don't require cross town traffic and parking nonsense, etc.
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Absolutely on the meetings- as much as I'm "zoomed out" I am so over "come to our meeting downtown from 11:00-1:00 which basically means your day is shot from 10:00-2:00..."
 
I am going to bump this thread.

In anticipation for an upcoming trip, I was watching some travel videos on YouTube and one of them was taken 5 years ago today. They focused on a walking history tour, because everything was boarded up and closed still. 5 years ago today, we were about 6-months into the pandemic and the CDC announced that the US death toll from COVID related cases surpassed 200,000. But that was 5 years later.

We are clearly post pandemic at this point. My question to you is how has your world changed in the past 5 years because of the pandemic? What are some of the lasting issues that you have noticed? How has your work environment changed. Did you do the things that you were looking forward to once the restrictions were lifted and everything opened up?
 
Back to work in the office 5 days a week, general disregard for science, and everything closes early. I miss the days of having a late night joint to eat, especially after a concert, or a night out.
 
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