Sitting here at my desk, I have Pandora radio on station shuffle, which makes the music schizophrenic. So far, I have been serenaded with Damn Yankees, Amy Grant, Garth Brooks, Metallica, and now Peter Frampton, which likely gives you a somewhat fair impression of how varied my musical tastes are. This has certainly been the highlight of the early morning for me.

So how does on keep busy during a “shelter in place”, where the government expects you to stay home? Well, I have managed to catch up on updating my Major League Baseball database. I have also spent time creating quality control checks of the data that I do have – to insure that what I enter is correct. The next step is to migrate what I have out of MS Access and into MS SQL Server Express, where I can do a lot of SQL wizardry to develop trends and checks. (Pandora brings up Electric Light Orchestra at this point) But all of that will only get me so far through the day,

BBC-America has been kind enough to make Mondays and Tuesdays into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes day. I have the DVR catching all the episodes on DVR. Whenever I get the chance, I stop and watch an episode or five. DS9 is my favorite of the Star Trek serial shows. I always wanted a DS9 movie. 😦 I have quite a few movies gathered on the DVR. Not much interest in any of those. I am wanting to start watching My Hero Academia, so I may turn there for some TV watching.

How about a book? (As Pandora switches to Kitaro) Well, at the moment, I am reading two. The first one is “Wounded Knee II” by Rolland Dewing (ISBN 0-9646780-2-0), which details the events that took place at Wounded Knee, South Dakota in the early 1970s. So far, its been a really good and super informative read. Much of the background starts back in the 1800s and works its way forward to the 1970s. The other book is “A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood” by Rev. Lora O’Brien (ISBN 978-0-7387-5966-1), which has proven to be a much slower read, as I am making notations and personal commentary in my journal. So far, this read has provided some viewpoints into Priestly aspects that I have not previously considered. Both books are somewhat heady reading, but enjoyable for me.

Speaking of journals, what about writing? I am enjoying the opportunity to write blog posts with a bit more time. I don’t feel nearly as rushed as I have in the past. Plus, I am not trying to force blog posts based on a topic. I just sit and write. (Stevie Nicks with Lindsey Buckingham starts playing on Pandora) Sort of like this particular post. Not quite the topic I thought I might write about, but we’ve made it this far – let’s go further. Every night, I have taken to writing in my journal…mostly about what has happened over the course of the day, and some of the observations I can easily recall. I have even started to write my brand of non-rhyming poetry again, as well. Certainly, everyone has a latent writer of some sort within themselves. Well, you have the time…give it a shot, even if no one other than you ever reads it.

(Stevie Ray Vaughn is next on Pandora’s schizophrenic trip through my stations) Plus, there is a lot of other things you can do that I don’t. Play board games that are stuffed up in the upper cabinets by the TV. Knit. (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are apparently next) ANYTHING. And by the way, getting outside is not out of the question. Take a walk around the block, BBQ out in the backyard…the outside is not going to kill you.

Seriously, I am not sure what else I can say…there are ways to entertain yourself (I haven’t even mentioned the adult ways to do so). Being locked up is not a death sentence. You just gotta keep distance between yourself and others. Its an uneasy feeling, for sure – but its not too tough. You just have to adjust. Trust me, you are capable of doing it. That adjustment won’t last forever. It will make your eyeballs itch, but you can do it. So can I. (Pixel finishes things up with Jimi Hendrix – pardon me while I sing – just plug your ears – and its ‘The Wind Cries Mary”, if you wanted to know)

–T /|\