Passing days during this Virus & internet investment addiction

[pacergal]

Reading, gardening, try to get in a daily walk in the neighborhood with DH, online a few hours each day, plan one home project each week--which doesn't't always get done !, help DS and DD with DGK each week--we keep a small family bubble for exposure.
We do go out 1-2 times weekly for take out with curbside pick up or drive thru and go for a nice drive.
Planning a socially distanced meal with my siblings soon outside in the yard, and we have done some zoom meet ups.
Doesn't seem like much, but each day I am busy and have accomplished something.

 

[Chuckanut]

I was worried about being bored and needing structure when I retired - so I signed up for an Italian class at the community college. 2 x a week, plus homework. Took 3 semesters, enjoyed them... but when it came time to pick another topic to study opted out.

I find plenty to fill my time... most of it basically lazy. (Reading books, surfing the internet, watching tv, putzing around doing not much.)

Studio anche l'italiano usando Duolingo. Ma, gli italiani redondo sempre ancora quando parlo.

 

[ejman]

i'm still working on mastering il dolce farniente

 

[Retired Expat]

I wonder how other retirees are passing time these days during Covid ?? I am trying to find out some activities which I can learn or.spend time in.

I am getting BORED STIFF most of the day, I would have loved a day off while I was working, but now in retirement along with Covid I do not know what to do, during a major part of the day.

Most of the days in the week are filled with -

-Exercising at home for 45 mins,
-An hour's walk
-Volunteer an evening a week which I stopped to prevent exposure.
-Tend to a small back yard garden after taking a Gardeners Course at our County Extension, where I attend infrequent zoom meetings.
-Stopped indoor meetings, although phone calls & Zoom Meetings continue with our group of nearby friends & far off relatives.

I did not develop many hobbies while busy during working days.

My default is my faithful Laptop & most of the time I visit earlyretirement.org, Bogleheads.org, occasionally Mornining Star, Vanguard & Fidelity where I have my investments, apart from occasionally seeing youtube videos.

Financially we are doing well & will die rich. I have checked many Retirement Calculators & fortunately we will do fine like most of us on this Forum.

DW says it is Internet/Investment addiction.

Please share if you are able to, thanks in advance

My days are mostly the same. Plus way too much time reading the news and now lots and lots of cooking. Where we are there are no ethnic restaurants so doing my own Thai, or Indian, Middle eastern etc subject to available ingredients and spices. ( Can’t order them online as they are not allowed by customs)

I would say average for the week would probably be A total 4 hours a day in grocery shoppings, food prep and cooking. Then lots of leisurely meals time.

Fortunately I enjoy cooking now as a hobby and trying new things, reading recipes and figuring out how to make them all low carb being a diabetic....

 

[flyingaway]

We have some vegetable gardening to spend some time every day, and walking ever day. Other things:

(1) Go to hiking in a state park at least once every week.
(2) Go to fishing twice a week.
(3) Visit a casino one in a week.

We are in 55 and 56. I figured that the other people in casinos are mostly older than we are, and therefor they are less risky in terms of transmitting the virus. (They would be sick if they have the virus).

One thing we do not do is to play cards with our mostly early 60s friends. We used to play cards once every weekend.

 

[aja8888]

Tomorrow I am going to the driving range for a warm up (slowly, of course). Then 9 holes with a friend of mine on Friday.

See how it goes.....

Update: I hit about 1/2 bucket of balls this morning at the range and it felt good. I started with a soft 7 iron and worked my way up to a driver. It felt just like riding a bike again...like it never left.


Friday or Saturday I play with a friend on a local course. We'll see how that goes. But, it sure felt good to smack some golf balls again after all these years!

 

[steelyman]

Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch (you there, W2R?) has been a reliable and relaxing way to kill a lazy hour or so while playing possum during the pandemic.

I can see why their sales figures have zoomed!

 

[RAE]

It's a little hard for me to relate to this, as I usually have more things to do than there is time in the day. Some of those things include: tending my vegetable garden (it is large); picking fruit for wine-making; house and yard maintenance (lots of grass to mow, painting, minor repairs on things); kayaking and fishing; helping a friend with outdoor projects at his lake property; cooking (we almost never eat out); preserving some of the garden harvest (made pickles the other day; pickled and fermented beets are next); and on, and on. I enjoyed all of these activities before I retired, so none of this is really "new" for me. In the evening, I do a lot of reading, some of it online, some books and magazines. I have no problem filling my days, that's for sure.......

 

[W2R]

Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch (you there, W2R?) has been a reliable and relaxing way to kill a lazy hour or so while playing possum during the pandemic.

I can see why their sales figures have zoomed!

Yes! I still play this game for hours and hours every single day. I bought a Switch Lite as well as my original Switch, so that I can have two copies of the video game on two switches, and thus two islands; my characters travel back and forth via the Switch's "local internet". I have two characters on one island, one on the other, so there is a lot to do.

Also, I restarted the island on my Switch Lite in May, and again in July, just because I thought "Why not?". For me the beginning of the game is more fun and busier. My island on the other Switch is the same one that I began on the game's release date.

Other than this video game, I surf the internet, do laundry, listen to hours of youtube videos (either political or about Animal Crossing), and also I play a lot of jigsaw puzzles and sudoku on my iPad. We eat lunch out every day and spend probably 3-4 hours chatting, partly while bird watching in the car after lunch or going on pleasure drives, and also later around bedtime. Also I let myself take a nap for about an hour every afternoon if I want to, just because I can. I record what my investments are doing and what our COVID situation is doing here, and mess with those numbers. Lately I have been working on weight loss so I also calculate and record carbs, calories, and weight every day.

If I start feeling bored, I do housework. Early in the pandemic, boredom and depression were more of a problem for me than they are now. I guess I'm getting used to the restrictions (plus there are fewer of them now since we are in Phase 2) and have adapted to some extent.

When I was a kid, if I went to my mother and said "I'm bored!" she'd say "OK then you need to make your bed and clean your room and weed the garden and mop the floor and... " so that taught me to shut up and keep myself occupied and not bored most of the time.

 

[steelyman]

Yes! I still play this game for hours and hours every single day. I bought a Switch Lite as well as my original Switch, so that I can have two copies of the video game on two switches, and thus two islands; my characters travel back and forth via the Switch's "local internet".

Wow, I’m impressed. That’s a lotta bells! This is the guide that’s helped a lot in getting me going (might be of interest to those who wonder why the fuss):

https://www.gamesradar.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-guide/

Someone in Winston-Salem has gotten interested and has been waiting for prices to come back to earth. They went crazy high due to supply problems at the beginning of the pandemic. When they get one, they want to do online and visit islands.

 

[W2R]

Wow, I’m impressed. That’s a lotta bells! This is the guide that’s helped a lot in getting me going (might be of interest to those who wonder why the fuss):

https://www.gamesradar.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-guide/

Someone in Winston-Salem has gotten interested and has been waiting for prices to come back to earth. They went crazy high due to supply problems at the beginning of the pandemic. When they get one, they want to do online and visit islands.

Thanks for the link! I had not seen it. I like this link too:
https://nookipedia.com/wiki/Main_Page

I'm lucky I bought my Switch Lite on February 23rd, before the pandemic was an issue here (not because I'm clever, but because I'm an Animal Crossing fanatic). I think it's hard to find one at all, now, except from scalpers.

 

[Ronstar]

I’m doing almost all of the same things now that I did pre-Covid. Still hiking, biking, kayaking, and photography. But I’m doing them in Illinois close to home.

I’ve had trips to Glacier NP, Acadia NP, Sedona, and other great outdoor places cancelled. As we get older and personal situations change, it becomes questionable when or if we’ll be able to get to the places that we want to go.

So while it is a bummer to have travel hampered now, it is more concerning not knowing when or if things will get back to pre-Covid normalcy.

 

[Mango1956]

I'm a big fan of Ernie Zelinski's books on figuring out what retirement means for you. The Joy of Not Working is the one I found most helpful.

+1

 

[Dtail]

Miss travel, but never bored.
Play Pickleball 6x weekly from 8:30am to 12:00pm. Then usually gardening and errands in the afternoon.
Still loving retirement after 3 years, despite the virus restrictions.

 

[RobbieB]

I'm so used to "covid normal" that I don't miss the old routine so much as I used to. I'm getting ethnic take out and crossing chores off the list. I just got a deep fryer as fried foods do not travel well. When this stuff gets mitigated by vaccine and treatments and the masks come off for good it will be like an enormous gift.

 

[W2R]

I'm so used to "covid normal" that I don't miss the old routine so much as I used to.

I am so glad to read this! I am experiencing the same and I am much happier now than I was in March or April. I sure didn't expect to get happier but I am. So maybe I am not totally nuts after all.

When this stuff gets mitigated by vaccine and treatments and the masks come off for good it will be like an enormous gift.

Oh you KNOW it!!! I'll be so happy and so will everyone I think.

 

[Chuckanut]

Passing days during this Virus & internet investment addiction

I am so glad to read this! I am experiencing the same and I am much happier now than I was in March or April. I sure didn't expect to get happier but I am. So maybe I am not totally nuts after all. [emoji23]







Oh you KNOW it!!! I'll be so happy and so will everyone I think.

Think about it. We can celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Native American Day and maybe Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year all at once!

 

[W2R]

Think about it. We can celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Native American Day and maybe Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year all at once!

For sure! And Mardi Gras!

 

[pacergal]

When I was a kid, if I went to my mother and said "I'm bored!" she'd say "OK then you need to make your bed and clean your room and weed the garden and mop the floor and... " so that taught me to shut up and keep myself occupied and not bored most of the time.

LOL! my Mom did this, too! I only told her I was bored once.......learned quickly to keep myself occupied

 

[Calico]

LOL! my Mom did this, too! I only told her I was bored once.......learned quickly to keep myself occupied

Who knew we all had the same mother?

 

[Moemg]

I have gotten into a routine . I exercise every other day at home . I read . I do house stuff . We go to a nearby park twice a week and walk then stop for something to eat . We also go out twice a week for dinner and watch a Netflix show for two hours every night . I have tried to get more motivated to clean closets but that is going slow.

 

[atmsmshr]

DW and I walk 3 miles (but not together because I'm too fast) every other day.
I work out every other opposite day with free weights in the garage.
Cooking together our evening meals.
Family chats on the phone
Floating in the pool and listening to music of our youth
Play 1 hour video games together several times each week.
Watch a movie together each night (Its Marvel Universe this week).
Occasional car repairs has been longtime hobby (less with fewer miles now)
Home repairs for me with fulfilling trips to the dump and Lowes.
Home improvement for both (she designs and I implement)
Organizing the weekly neighborhood happy hour outdoors.
Facebook (What a tremendous time suck!)
Read Wall Street Journal in the morning
Read a few books
Growing pineapples, oranges and tomatoes.
Weekly boat trip via Freedom Boat Club
Weekly eating lunch at a outdoor cafe'
Neighborhood HOA activities for me
DW works one day a week - I am self-unemployed
Doctor visits (between DW and myself - near weekly in July and August)
Bi-monthly haircuts for each other (getting better each time)
Oh - and the internet thingy too

This does not suck too badly. However, I had international travel penciled in for this part of our lives until the pandemic upended that dream.

 

[H2ODude]

Gotta admit this is getting old. I take solace in the fact that while no, we can't do a few long distance trips a year or go out to lunch a few times a week (choose to avoid the exposure) the impact is NOTHING compared to so many out there.

My biggest problem is that while I could never return to work and am glad to be done with it, my "hobbies" have all generally been related to accomplishing something tangible. Building furniture, remodeling, yard improvements, etc. A day of nothing but laptop leaves me sort of down. Pulling out that soft window sill and restoring or replacing it? Just the opposite. So after 9 years of retirement there's not much left to do. DS returned from overseas and ended up 3 miles away; built three pieces of furniture for them. Last one, a rather complex dresser, I designated as "the corona dresser."

So the 2 hour bike rides and walks in the woods help, but damn it, I'm getting tired of this. Ground hog day indeed.

 

[eytonxav]

I play senior softball on Tuesday and Thursdays and on alternate days for exercise, I do various stretching routine for my back, legs, shoulders. I really miss going to the gym for my resistance workouts which I had done religiously 3X/week for years. Normally, I walk the dog 4X/day, but now it's too hot so that has been cut down to only 2 walks. HOA related activities as President and being the mod for our neighborhood FB group consumes some time, as well as time on FB looking at various posts from groups I belong to and then there is TV. Currently am investigating whether to start a new hobby, either building model ships or a model railroad. I suppose there are a lot of other things I could do, but between Covid, power outages in our city, west nile spiking locally, and all the civil unrest and bad news it gets a bit depressing, so am feeling a bit of malaise and lack motivation in doing more new things.

 

[Dtail]

Yeah, this is the best time for travel in retirement being 60 y.o. and healthy, but no plane rides right now.