COVID-19 hobby and life impact

I still have my job, as well. I'm in telemedicine as a software engineer, so we're considered "essential." We've seen a fall in our normal business, but we're also ramping up some covid-specific stuff as fast as we can. In my department, we were always set up to work from home as an option, encouraged but not required to come to the office regularly. We're now all working from home, and IT was able to set up everyone else to work from home (aside, of course, from mail).

Hobby-wise... luckily, I'd bought some new filters for my respirator a while back, misplaced the box, then found it again recently. I haven't quite had time yet to do anything, but I'm hoping maybe this weekend I can sit down with a doll and start working on faceups. I was supposed to be staffing a convention this weekend (as well as running a BJD panel), so I think instead of just constant day-drinking followed by night-drinking when it was supposed to have been happening, I'll grab a dolly or two and do some faceup/blushing work on them. It's really easy to lose myself in that, so hopefully it'll be a good distraction from the outside world for a while.

Location-wise, I'm in Minnesota, metro area, we're under stay-at-home orders here too. I'm very disappointed in all the people I still see heading to the hardware store across the street, especially as when I was in there over the past weekend getting a few essentials, people were absolutely not following social distancing guidelines. I'm not sure how international mail is moving here, but I heard this morning that our airport was running at about 2-4% of normal, for passenger flights anyway. (One of my roommates works for UPS there, though, and they still seem to be getting their flights in and out, so there may not be as much of an impact on freight.)

 

There's a lot of uncertainty for me. I'm a preschool teacher and have been working from home as much as I can do interact with the kids, but I know it's not the same. We get paid until Friday, but it's all a mystery what happens after that, so that's stressful. My partner and I also have a cruise to Vancouver/Alaska in July that we are in the process of trying to cancel, since Canada's ports are closed at least until July 1. At least we have money saved from that, but only assuming they don't charge us when we've been trying to cancel for two days.

I have lots of accessories/clothes/etc. purchased that I've been waiting for as well as a doll from Fairyland, so I'm rather bummed I'll have to wait even longer for those things, but I also completely understand. I noticed a lot of my packages from Asia are stuck ready to be sent to the US, so more wait time. For now, I'm trying to make due with what I have here or find sellers in the US.

I'm in Ohio, so we've been basically in lockdown too. I'm trying to make the best of it by enjoying/photographing my dolls, looking at others' dolls, playing Animal Crossing, and cooking. I'm grateful for what I do have and am trying not to be burdened by my anxiety and be there for others.

 

I work as a supervisor is a pharmacy in Canada. We are mostly on lock down with only essentials open as well. I'm both thankful I have a job and also wish I didn't because I'm at high risk and it's still getting worse. We're at the point where it's going to get worse before it gets better. Sadly because we are still open and nothing else is, people are using us as an outing with their kids and a way to get out of the house. People have also been ruder than ever. It's been stressful and depressing, nothing like a global pandemic to bring out the worst in people.

Hobby wise I'm also a little nervous. I ordered my grail doll last July. A DZ Kerze. I was told she will probably be sent out to me sometime this week or maybe next. I have NO IDEA what kind of delays to expect or if she will even make it to me. I'm scared she will get lost in the mess that's happening. She's the most expensive doll I ever purchased and I've been waiting so long. I just want her to be home with me.

 

@buckiris , make sure to visit Elliot.org. They're a travel advocacy website and I found them via a reddit post a while back. They have a lot info on canceling trips to make sure you actually get your money back. I am not affiliated with them.

So I don't post as much to DoA anymore because I get busy shuttling my kid around everywhere.

Now I am my child's teacher because we've had no school for almost 3 weeks. My husband has been working from home for almost a month.

I don't feel comfortable going to the PO so I've not been working on sales or thinking of purchasing anything that might need to be signed for. Mostly I've been ordering groceries or household products on-line.

I went to Japan in February and had been hoping to go in June but I am pretty sure that is not happening now. I'm hoping some time later in the Summer it might be possible and if not February 2021.

We're in Seattle.

 

This pandemic has actually been making me go more into the bjd hobby. I was looking for work prior to the pandemic and now with the shelter in place in my state and so many places closed, I have no hope of even getting interviews in my field until this is over. So with all my free time I've been crafting, spending time with my dolls, and I've even traded two dolls in the passed month, one of which I then turned around and sold only to buy another doll. I also purchased a head this morning. If anything, this pandemic has been making the secondhand market flourish now that so many people have extra time. But there's also the sad aspect of people having to sell their dolls to get funds, so I've at least been making sure to pay fair price for anything I've purchased.

 

I'm dealing with fewer challenges than a lot of my fellow professors. I took the semester off from teaching to focus on costume designing all the large shows this semester. Everything is canceled now. I still need to go into work to approve of work-study hours and turn in my receipts from before our campus closed. I really wish they'd just let us do it over the internet and forgo doing receipts right now. They said we could email them in, but my receipts are at work. We closed really suddenly during spring break so I didn't bring a lot of my personal supplies home along with my receipts. I do have a mask and gloves so I'll be as careful as I can going onto campus, but I'm still dreading it. Outside of that, I've been helping students with their class projects via zoom and trying to figure out how to have seniors complete their thesis project without the productions they were supposed to be graded on.

I live in Michigan. It's one of the hardest hit in the US right now so we're totally locked down. I've left the house twice in the last month and after I get stuff done at work, I'm home for the foreseeable future. Restaurants are allowed to deliver food, including groceries and alcohol. We're still getting mail fine so far.

I'm trying to work on projects, taking pictures of my dolls, baking, and sewing. My siblings and friend are trying to put together some tabletop rpg campaigns we can do online. My brother usually DMs for D&D and I usually am the Keeper for CoC. I've tried starting to make the maps in roll 20 a few times, but so far the motivation hasn't been there.

Good news: I'm still being paid through August and my SO is teaching his classes online so we're doing fine and our jobs are secure. My friend that was working on the Diamond Princess when he got Corvid-19 just got of quarantine in Japan after 40 days. Now he just has to figure out getting home. A lot of people in my field are making masks for hospitals.

 

So far I’ve been getting orders (I have an Etsy Shop). So my income has slowed, but not completely gone. I am very careful about buying as my income is sporadic, but it still is stressful. Thankfully, there are no bjds that I’m interested in and have no pending orders. The only international package I’m waiting on is from SOOM. I lost one of my Rudy’s horns and had to order a replacement pair. SOOM sent them out this Monday via EMS. I’m not even going to track the package. It will get here eventually.

I’m in Washington State, so I’ve been staying at home unless it’s to the post office to drop off mail, or grocery store. I live in the country, so I have to drive 6 miles round trip to the post office as they won’t pick up, only deliver to our mail box which is 3/4 of a mile from our house. Thankfully, I can use the outside drop off box as my packages are small.

I’ve been at home for two weeks already, with another four to go(?). I prefer to stay at home, but even I’m getting tired of it. How ironic, lol. I have been working on projects, playing New Horizons, or watching YouTube. I have been enjoying my family (parents and aunt) during this time. There have been some really enjoyable days!

 

I'm in southern Ontario (Greater Toronto Area), Canada. The Premier of Ontario initially ordered the province into a shut down for 2 weeks. 1 week into that shut down he extended it for an additional 2 weeks. The mayor of Toronto has just announced that the City of Toronto will be shut down for the next 12 weeks (likely due in part to the blatant disregard to idiots on the weekend who flocked to the beaches and parks). I'm not employed in an essential service, I'm immuno-compromised, I have a lung disease and my husband is currently 1400km away in northern Ontario but hoping to come home in a week (flight is booked) as long as they still allow domestic flights. Not sure what's happening on the income front, which is unsettling to say the least. It's going to be some interesting times....

For the hobby, I've been doing a few doll things here and there, writing, watching Netflix and playing Elder Scrolls Online. I've left my apartment once in 7 days and that was only to go throw out the garbage. I'm very much an introvert so the alone time (well, me and the cat) isn't a hardship for me since very little has changed for me as far as socializing goes. I'm hopeful that I can work through my dolly To-Do List during this time off work since all the things on the list I can do with stuff I have here.

Edit to add that I have 3 doll orders outstanding but no idea when I'll receive anything. 2 are for outfits and wigs through 2 different dealers and the 3rd is for a doll the company needed to re-make as they sent me the wrong custom colour earlier this year. I also saw a doll in the MP that I'd LOVE to take home but even with the global crisis going on, the CAN$ still sucks balls and I can't, in good conscience, slap down what amounts to a month of rent on a doll when I don't even know where/when I'll next see a paycheque.

 

I’m in Colorado too, and luckily, my workplace is paying us regular wages as we stay home. (It’s a public library, so we’re not losing income by being closed. I just hope people won’t vote against library funding in coming elections...)

Due to the uncertainty, I’ve sat out a few sales now. My bigger worry is the shipping notice i got a month ago— from the tracking, i saw that it was headed to the United Kingdom, instead of the United States. According to the tracking information, it was accepted into the country... and there's been no movement or updates since March 11. I don’t know who to contact here... the doll company that shipped it to the wrong country? The UK postal system? And because of the lockdowns (and anti-Asian racism), i can’t imagine that a lost package hailing from South Korea is going to be a priority for the Royal Mail.

As for interacting with the hobby... i expected to sew clothes, take photos, and take this time at home to really get into doll stuff!!! But... the anxiety has really taken over, and i haven't done anything doll-wise, except look at other people’s stuff on instagram. I’m really grateful for the people on instagram who are posting stuff!

 

I'm in California and I work for the state, considered essential so still thankfully working and getting paid. We're trying to do all appointments over the phone and we're all teleworking at least twice a week starting this week with just 1 or 2 people in the offices to keep them open. It's certainly been a sudden transition. Just a few weeks ago my boss was still calling it all overblown panic and didn't want to grant telework applications so one of my colleagues got a doctor's note that put her out for a month and another one just refused to come in when clients were coming in with others (well, me) considering doing the same... thankfully word came from upstairs and it's being taken seriously now.

At least, at work it is. There are still so many people in my city out and about that you'd hardly believe we're under orders to stay inside. There were kids playing basketball at the (admittedly, mostly abandoned) park yesterday that for SURE weren't social distancing and even my (elderly, immune compromised!!) roommate refuses to stay home despite that we've already had deaths in the county. It's really scary. I have only been going out for work, laundry, grocery, and dog walks, which was pretty much my schedule before the virus anyway. The only thing I've had to deal with personally so far was that I had a very successful interview for a better paying job in my department early March but of course all hiring is now on hold...

As far as the hobby is concerned, I'd really like to sell some of my dolls for an extra bit of a cash cushion/emergency fund (got no savings, and aside from my car they're the most expensive thing I own...) but with everybody else facing similar financial uncertainty it's not like it's the best time to try.

 

I live in northern Japan. We've had schools, libraries, public gyms, etc. closed since March, but not much official beyond that. I've spent the past month staying at home, though, with some trips for groceries and books. The numbers in Japan are just starting to really go up (with the Olympics postponed, they finally started testing a tiny bit more). Perversely, I feel more relaxed because now other people are starting to take more precautions.

I work part-time teaching other people's kids, but since March I've been working part-time teaching my own kid. I got paid for March, but the contract has changed for the new school year so that I only get paid for what I actually teach. At this moment, the schools are supposed to re-open next week, but the number of patients is going up, so it's really hard to tell if they will.

Hobby-wise, I have done nothing except look at my dolls when I'm in their room. I really want to at least change their clothes. It's getting warmer now; maybe I'll do it today.

 

I work as a CNA in a Assisted Living and we are short staffed and my building is on lock down in Memory Care as well as the Assisted Living building. It has been rough, no gloves, no masks and the family members are going crazy because they are worried about their loved ones. They stand at a window to talk to the ones that still know them or by phone. It is very frustrating and when we send residents to the local hospital that has Covid-19 patients we are even more stressed when the hospital sends them back to us. They have to get tested and test negative before they can get re-admitted, but the administrator is saying otherwise. I am NOT trying to get sick with this virus let alone bring it home to my hubby and mom that have health problems too. Both are diabetic and have high blood pressure. I have asthma and high blood pressure along with sinus allergies and the pollen is very bad here in south east VA. If I ever win the lottery or at least $1milllion I will leave my career for good. So far my dolls are fine, but I am too tired to do anything with them.

 

My job ended as things started ramping up, but my next job starts in June. In California. I'm kind of just crossing my fingers right now that things are a bit better by then. I'm with my family for now, I've only left the house twice so far. I hope no one brings this thing home to my grandma, that would be bad.

 

It appears to be a problem with young people not obeying the social distancing - and apparently with some old people too, who figure something is going to get them anyway, who are out and about.

I work in a pre-natal testing lab - our lab personnel are sequestered from the rest of the building, and most of the rest are working from home, but a few of us have to go in to pick up calls from doctors offices. Some offices have stopped seeing some patients, but you can't put a pregnancy on hold, so testing is still being ordered.

My mother's primary care doctor's office called today to ask if we were interested in a "video visit" for her appointment later in the month. I don't see the point of that since she's in her 90's and has to have her heart and lungs listened to and you can't do that over an app.

 

In Toronto this weekend past, people were ignorant enough to actually remove the closed due to COVID-19 signs put up by the City and removed the caution tape so they could go into parks, basketball courts, etc. Fines are now being levied against anyone caught breaking the shelter-in-place order. We had a large surge of cases and it's everywhere on the news but people are shrugging their shoulders and doing what they want anyway.

And then you get others that are obeying the stay home order and finding ways to amuse themselves and sometimes others. One dude in T.O. projects an old school video game he plays onto the blank wall of a building across from his apartment. People in his building can watch him play Mario Cart 10 stories high.

 

Well, I still have a job, and for that I'm grateful...so I'm going to go on a brief rant about said job. I work for a property management company - it's not a large one - we own a dozen apartment complexes and two commercial properties. The government has now declared that people can forgo paying their rent, without consequence, for the next four months, which is a ridiculously random number to begin with. Of course they're supposed to pay it all back afterwards, but I've been in this business for a long time, and I know that the majority of people who take advantage of such a situation won't do that. In the meantime, we pay mortgages that go as high as $75K per MONTH and city water bills that go as high as $35K per MONTH per complex. We are also expected to keep on replacing appliances, carpets and vinyl, and do anything else as far as costly maintenance is concerned. And oh, yeah - there are close to fifty employees to be paid, right? No matter, we are now responsible for the finances of every tenant at horrifying cost to our own business. As far as I am concerned, this is no different than telling grocery stores that all of their customers should now be allowed to run a tab for the next 120 days, and if they spend their money elsewhere and won't pay what they owe, then oh, well. So while I am lucky to have a job now, when all is said and done and the government has helped a lot of businesses through this crisis, they are giving our money away, instead...so a lot of people like myself who are still fortunate to have a job while others are temporarily without...may lose ours permanently when all is said and done. So yay for that. Thanks for thinking it through, all wise and powerful powers that be.

 

I live in Michigan and we're currently on stay home, stay safe orders. As far as my job goes, I'm luckily still able to work and receive steady income. I work as a secretary for a child welfare agency, so our business is essential. However, some of our physical community based offices are closed for general operations. I'm able to work mostly from home as my job is mostly data entry-related, occasionally having to travel to some of our offices to check on mail and such.

As far as the hobby goes, I haven't been doing too much with my dolls. I'm just patiently waiting for some dolls/accessory orders to ship (which of course understandably will be extended due to the current situation). I also recently ordered a head off the marketplace. I just received my Legend Doll order I made back in February. It was stuck in customs for a while, so I'm glad it arrived safely!

 

I'm in Texas and fortunate to have a job still and allow work from home during this pandemic. In fact, we have more work since my company provide an indirect essential for people that are home on the internet. We are also on stay at home order on necessary item/stuff only.

I have a couple of orders that is delayed and have stop selling my stuff temporary until the pandemic is closer to being done/a better solution in place.

None doll related, I'm really worried for my elder parent who I take care of. It make me sad when people talk about how they don't see a point in stay at home for nonessential needs or it's all a hoax when they are the healthy one and have way higher survival rate than of my parent. I know people are not saying it on purpose, but my mind go into a dark place and I hear "I dont care if your parent die. Because their safety inconvenience me to go to the bar" or something inessential. My husband coworker who we are good friend with have a close relative that died from the virus so it hit homes for us.

Anyway, on a happier note, the stay at home order made me more healthier. I haven't eaten out/fast food in almost a month now. And my fur baby is definitely enjoying the bonding time.

 

The scariest thing with the virus to me is that you can be asymptomatic yet still spread the disease. If you spread it to me, it will probably not go very well for me in rather short order because of pre-existing conditions. That's a rather dangerous game you're playing with my life and I don't appreciate it.

My cat sees this as an opportunity for me to pet him until my hand falls off or I'm completely covered in cat hair (whichever happens first).

 

I took a personal leave from my job since it’s an “essential” but I am at risk of getting sick due to health issues. My roommate, however, is very essential and works with hazardous waste and maintenance, so it’s likely one of us will get it. I just hope we will be alright.

It is a bit of an unlucky time for me to have joined the hobby this year since all of my dolls are stuck in various areas; I worry they’ll never arrive.

Fortunately though, I’m okay with being at home so the quarantine hasn’t bothered me. Our school switched to online which is very strange for all of us in the Art and Design courses, but it’s been an okay transition. I hope everyone stays safe and stops going out regularly for fun. It’s just ignorant and selfish to be doing.

 

I'm a freelancer and I currently have no income, luckily my fiancé is working from home so we have some money. I had only one BJD and had to sell him since our wedding was supposed to be on April 11th, our honeymoon on the 17th and we needed the money, both things had to be postponed, we're both completely heartbroken but since that happened we were able to save some of the money we were going to spend on that, the only thing that brought me joy were dolls but I have no BJDs now, I had one layaway and I thought "Hey I'm gonna get another layaway!" now I'm stuck in limbo waiting for two Dollshe dolls that I have no idea when they'll get here, no possibilities of buying another one because layaways are really expensive for me since we make our money in Mexican Pesos and the cherry on top is the Dollar is going up every day, it used to be one dollar for 18 pesos, last week it reached 25 pesos for one dollar... I'm not even sure if I'll be able to afford my layaways now... Things are really crazy right now and I'm really struggling with my anxiety and depression after all the plans I was really looking forward to suddenly got canceled. In México things are getting really bad since we can't file for unemployment (that's not a thing here) poor people can't stay at home they need to go to work and rich people are blaming it on them, our health care providers are being denied public transportation and getting attacked in the streets which is ignorant and moronic, doing self quarantine is a privilege really. I'm really happy to see that many of you can work from home or have source of income, so yeah... We got to be strong right now, I hope things get better soon.

 

Things are really difficult, to be honest. I was supposed to start a new job on March 16th, after having been unemployed for three months after I got laid off in December...but then the office I was supposed to be starting at stayed open and didn't implement work from home procedures. I'm a Type 1 Diabetic and so I had to make the unfortunate choice between risking my health by going to work in an office with 50-100 other people during a pandemic, and staying unemployed with no income. My health won.

I've been really wanting to get back into the hobby, and I was so excited to start a job and get some income so I could put some work into my boys. All three of them have been in pieces for months. I was hoping to restring, do some coating/body blushing, maybe order some new wigs/eyes and sew some new clothes for them but that's unlikely to happen with no income right now. I know in the grand scheme of things I'm very lucky - I'm safe and in a good position to socially isolate - but I'm a little heartbroken that I don't really have my boys as a stress outlet.

 

I am also in Michigan, and I am fortunate that my employer had the foresight to get the entire company set up with work from home before our stay home, stay safe order went into effect. I'm a software engineer so I can easily work from home, and grateful for it. I have asthma so I am also classified as high risk.

When all of this started ramping up in February, I was one of the people who thought it was all out of proportion. Now I'm wishing myself and everyone else would have taken it more seriously sooner. I just lost my grandfather today due to complications from the virus. I have been strictly adhering to social distancing and have not left my house for two weeks, but I know many have not done the same. We can't even have a funeral for him. I hope people start taking this as seriously as possible. It is so very real and has hit me so hard.

 

I work non-essential mall retail (Spencer's) and both my company and my mall are currently closed. We were paid for the first week and a half, but now we're on work furlough. The CEO of our company has advised us all to file for unemployment and said it will be approved so we at least have some income. We have no end in site right now, though I've heard it estimated anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months before we return. Money actually might not be as tight as it would be normally, as we're not going out to eat, not impulse buying/shopping, not spending gas money for work, not needing work clothes/shoes, etc. Maybe this will actually teach us to budget better.

For location, I'm in Kentucky, under orders of our beloved Gov. Andy Beshear. The memes about him are getting hilariously out of hand, but he's keeping us safe. All non-essential stores and businesses are closed, though a few can do curbside online purchases. All restaurants are closed aside from drive thru and pickup. We are advised to only go out for essentials and not to leave the state, no groups larger than 10 people, social distancing 6 feet from each other. Things are strict here, but the governor is giving us straight facts and not spreading fear or panic. It seems to be working well, as our number of cases and deaths are much lower than those of the states surrounding us. Unemployment is waiving the usual waiting period and getting people started as fast as possible.

I'm an extrovert and being stuck home is absolutely miserable. It's been two weeks since quarantine started, and I've already dusted, vacuumed, cleaned out stuff to donate/throw away, painted and redecorated an entire room, sold a bunch of stuff and bought a new doll, done two puzzles (one was 500 pieces, one was 750 pieces), played the entirety of Mario Party 1 & 2, rewatched most of Ouran High School Host Club and....I'm bored out of my mind. I'm staying home except as necessary, as I have immunocompromised family members and it's not worth the risk, but I'm at the point where I get more excited to go on a car ride than the dog does!

 

I... live in Tokyo and since some of the japanese here dosen't seem to take it serious, the number are start jumping.

(At least that's what I saw > Ohanami! Now!? Are you kidding!? )

About my job, I'm still go to work using public train, sadly, I don't think my company will let me stop until the town got locked down. Beside going to work, I stay in my house almost all the time and going out to groceries once in awhile.

My partner start working from home since March so nothing to worry about him (except he might geting infect by me )

The best part is all my doll are staying with me (the only one on order should finish next year and that's fine too)

 

I feel very fortunate because my job is deemed essential so I don't have to worry about my income. Currently, there's no official lockdown here in Germany and I can go to work as usual. But should this change I'm also able to work from home, just last week I successfully tested working from home.

Of course, I'm only leaving the house to get to work or to buy groceries. It's comforting having my dolls with me at my desk at home, just looking at them makes me happy. So I'm glad that I can at least change their outfits and pose them differently to distract me from the current situation. But aside from one pre-order that I've already agreed on, I won't be buying dolls anytime soon - especially not from overseas. I just saw that my favorite doll company made an announcement that from today on they have to stop taking orders from outside of Asia... I sincerely hope that some of the smaller bjd companies won't have to shut down because of the virus. But only time will tell if they are able to stay in business.

 

i’m in north carolina and things have really been slowing down here. it’s funny, i thought that our town’s stay at home order would put a damper on the good weather and spring flowers, but from what i can tell it has been bringing people together more than anything!

i’ve been seeing more people out on walks than normal, and lots of family groups spending time together outside. i’ve also been reaching out to loved ones and being reached out to in return, and there is a strong sense of community around here.

as for work, my husband is a solar panel technician, so he’s got to keep on trucking with no chance of working from home. i’m a stop motion puppet maker, and surprisingly enough stop motion projects are still going while most live action productions have shut down. our studio has taken precautions, normally there are between 4-8 people working, but right now it is just me and my boss, and we have been avoiding cross-contamination as much as possible.

as for doll stuff, since our deadlines have all been extended somewhat and we had 2 weeks of catchup, i’ve been making great strides to get shop based doll work finished before our workload inevitably increases again. at home, i’ve been neglecting craft projects (mostly wigs and clothes) but have been taking everybody out more often than usual for outfit changes and photoshoots.

 

I am a quick service restaurant manager living in Florida, and our industry has been hit hard. Fortunately, because my restaurant is known primarily as a takeaway place (I'll give you a hint, my username is directly related to my occupation), we have still been able to operate as "essential", though at diminished capacity. I am the only salaried worker, so I am still required to work overtime every week while all four of my full time employees under me are filing for unemployment. I am very very lucky to still have a full time job.

This pandemic has brought out the worst in some people, but largely the best in most, I feel. Our customers, though they are much fewer and far between, are just grateful we are open and available. Living in Florida, we have a huge percentage of elderly customers, and some have said they feel safer coming to our restaurant than trying to pick up bread and lunch meat at a crowded supermarket. Also, our customers have been extremely generous with tips, which I distribute solely to my employees. Even though their hours are being cut severely, the kindness of others has been able to make up for some of the lost wages while they wait for unemployment to pull through.

Of course you get one or two rotten eggs in the bunch, but I do try to remember that this is a really stressful time for everyone and people are dealing with things behind the scenes I don't know anything about. Plus, it makes for some interesting stories! We had a woman last week insist upon taking the temperature of the two employees working night shift - she had brought her own thermometer and everything to pick up food! (They gracefully declined the procedure.)

In my personal life, I practice social distancing by living alone and being an introverted homebody by nature. Two of my very best friends don't live anywhere close to me, so regular Skyping is the norm for us anyway. Very little has changed for me outside of work, and for that am I also thankful.

I know I am one of the lucky ones. My job is considered essential and my mental health is perfectly fine. For those of you in less-than-ideal circumstances, stay indoors but also stay strong! It's a mess right now and it's scary to even turn on the TV. Find solace in what you can, be excellent to each other, and we'll weather through this together (but at least six feet apart).

 

I think it's amusing that there are references out there on how far apart to stay to maintain that 6' distance. It helps to inject a little humour into a stressful situation but be practical at the same time. Here in Canada, people are told to keep a hockey stick length, the length of 1 moose or the distance you'd normally give between you and the cobra murder chicken (Canada goose).

For us doll people, we should maintain 3 average SD's in length from other people (6'=182.88cm). Or 4 average MSD's in length. Measuring in tinies gets a bit cumbersome in my opinion.

 

Here in Minnesota, we have a notorious billboard ad campaign showing a specific real estate agent (or sometimes other employees of his agency) with his arms completely outstretched. An edited version of the billboard is going around as an example of the distance to keep here!

 

That's the most amazingly Canadian thing I've ever heard.

Also love the BJD unit of measurement! Agreed, tinies are too variable to really be of much use for this practice.

 

That sounds like the coolest job ever! Can I see your work??

 

@lorenav6661 haha! it sounds a lot cooler than it is. most of what our studio does is armature work, and i'm pretty much stuck on part manufacturing right now. but there is a lot of crossover between doll stuff and puppet stuff, so it's nice to be surrounded by people with a ton fabrication experience directly related to dollmaking!

unfortunately, most of my work is sealed inside of layers of foam latex and silicone, but i have been working on some doll projects that are basically simplified stop motion mechanisms. i've been sharing some of my progress in the workshop if you are interested!

 

I wanna see!! The armatures are one of the most important parts of stop motion!! I've never done one that works properly hahaha

 

I'm a legal assistant in Edmonton, Alberta and while I've been isolated for several weeks, working remotely, today was my last day of work. I am laid off. I do understand that this is supposed to be temporary, but I not very good at sitting on my hands, waiting, when it comes to my personal survival. I feel like I should be doing something. I feel like I'm holding my breath.

 

I'm in Maryland and I work in healthcare. Our office is small, because our boss works with the elderly (house calls) and a lot of Assisted Living facilities. We are still open, but all of our assisted livings have gone on lockdown. Dr. G is doing telehealth visits for them, which means that he actually does a video call with the patient and one of the facility nurses. Most of our patients suffer from senile dementia, so it's usually the nurse he actually talks to. My Mom is in one of the facilities our boss visits, so I know she's safe on lockdown, but honestly, these poor old people can't understand why their families stopped visiting all of the sudden. Sadly, it's useless keep explaining; they just can't remember. Our house call patients are fearful, and they call us just to have someone to reassure them. There's not a lot of reassurance to be had right now, but we do what we can to cheer them up.

Our boss has been great to us. It was so cute; the other day he was concerned that the Police might pull us over on our way to work, so he sat down and wrote us each a statement that we were "essential personnel" in his office. I haven't heard of that happening yet, but our state governor did warn that it is a possibility. That tells me the virus is very serious; when is the last time you heard of US citizens being told they could not travel?

The only really stressful thing for me right now is my husband, who has decided the government can't tell HIM what to do. I told him that I knew we were both children of the 60's, but now was not the time to "question authority and think for yourself". Thank goodness he's retired....at least I have the only working car during the day, so he has to behave and stay at home.

I have been much busier with my dolls lately. They have always been a form of stress relief for me (read: shopping therapy). I have actually bought two dolls, after three or four years of not purchasing any, and I'm enjoying rearranging everyone, and trying different looks on them. It works better for me than knitting; I think too much when I knit. When I play with my dolls, all I think about is the dolls.

I hope everyone remains safe and well!

 

Anyone who says it's a hoax or ignores stay at home orders would hide a zombie bite. They're the same idiots who would stay home during a flood/fire evacuation thinking first responders will come and save them and drive around road closed signs because flood waters don't look that deep.

As an already making less than minimum wage long out of the workforce person the only difference has been the local food bank not having it's hand outs, because of social distancing, and the places I would go to get out being closed. So generally it's a lot like when we didn't have a working car.

In times when you have to fart in your wallet to have gas money you just have to prioritize hobbies. Dolls made me cut down or out other things. I would keep a picture of the doll in my wallet with my money/card so every time I bought something I had to look at them and justify it.

 

I haven't heard of anywhere yet where police are pulling people over (thankfully), but at least here, the "essential personnel" letter is useful for continuing to have access to other services. Here, daycare centers are closed to non-essential personnel, but still taking children from essential workers who still need to drop them off to be able to do their jobs; the letter lets those workers prove they're essential because, unfortunately, there are a lot of jerks out there who will use services they aren't entitled to, along with their TP hoarding and bringing their entire family into stores to browse. My work also provided them to anyone who needed one (telemedicine), since even though we're all WFH right now, parents of the really young kids still need to take them to daycare so they can focus on work.

 

Yeah, they're not pulling anyone over here in southern Ontario (yet) but fines for gathering in large groups and not maintaining social distancing have already been issued in the city of Toronto (this is a City of Toronto by-law that was emergency passed not a provincial thing). Base fine starts at $750CAN and depending on belligerent a person gets/is, they can smack you with an additional $1,000CAN fine. Apparently some idiot had a house party, which was reported, and the people attending the party all got hit with the max amount.

 

I work housekeeping at our local hospital, so I'm working a lot of extra hours thanks to the pandemic. I wish I had time for my dolls or just any of my hobbies, really. I did order a body from FDoll back in January, but I heard somewhere they were shut down due to COVID, so not sure where that order is standing. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed things go back to mostly-normal soon.

 

I have a doll sitting by my back door, it got here Friday but my girlfriend isn’t comfortable with me opening her till Monday just to be safe. I get it and agree but it’s driving me just a bit crazy.

 

Important info, but maybe add that you still have to keep your distance at all cost as if you were not wearing a mask at all? Because the average cotton mask only holds back about 50% of the breath aerosols, the remainder passes through. Also, as soon as the mask is wet from breathing, it is holding back nothing at all anymore. (I speak as a professional health care provider, please stay safe!^^)

 

Are you okay? I hope you get well soon!! I will definitely start using a face mask if I need to go outside, thanks for sharing.

 

One of the good pieces of advice I've heard is that when you go out, behave like you DO have the virus. Wear a mask, wear gloves, avoid touching things more than necessary (including your face). When it comes to interaction with other people, behave like you've just seen them bitten by a zombie (although, don't automatically attempt to destroy the brain in this instance) and keep away lest you become infected.

There's a couple of videos on YouTube on the Mythbuster channel that shows how easily and far infection can spread from just one person to 6 people in a simple dinner setting. There's also a video that shows how far vapour/water droplets will go from an average sneeze/cough.

 

Part of the reason the spread is happening like it is, is that there seems to be a good number of asymptomatic people. That makes trying to moderate this thing very hard because those people look and feel fine yet spread the virus and the only way to know they have it is to test them. But they appear healthy so testing doesn't pop up as something to do unless people around them get/are sick.

People also ignoring the stay-home mandate aren't helping either. The longer it takes for everybody to treat this like the issue it is, the longer it's going to take to get a handle on flattening the curve and the longer this isolation has to continue.

 

We had that happen here too. There are many people social distancing, but then there were the thoughtless people going to Alki Beach and doing hiking trails and hanging out. Now all the playgrounds are covered in yellow tape and lots of parking lots and hiking trails are closed. Like @idrisfynn , I think we need to do more testing here. We don't have a mask measure yet, but I would not be surprised if we get one since we seem to be following a similar trajectory to the Bay Area when it comes to rules. I am glad our governor is so proactive.

There are a lot of 65+s who are not taking it seriously. I am sorry to say that one of those is my mother in SoCal. My brother, sister and I keep begging her to take this seriously, to not have conversations with random people and to stay in, but she is bored and lonely and the risk seems distant, for now.

I really hope both you and your wife are on the mend. I'm glad neither of you needed to go into the hospital.

 

This is exactly why I've been trying to wear a mask every time I have to go into a store (I'm doing curbside or delivery where I can, but those aren't always options). I've been isolating as much as possible for more than three weeks now, one roommate lost her job a week ago, and the other one doesn't have heavy interaction with others for his job, but I still don't want it to turn out that I've somehow picked up the virus somewhere and become an asymptomatic carrier. (On the flipside, I also have allergies that have come with a cough this year that's been bugging me for almost a full month, and if I have to sneeze or cough while out, hopefully it'll make other people feel a little better.)

There's a lot of people here not taking social distancing seriously, either. My roommates went to a dog park, and another guy showed up, let his dog attack theirs twice, and made them drag the dog back to him both times. The suburb next to mine implemented stricter guidelines after nearly every park was filled with people immediately after our "stay at home" orders went into place. Stores are starting to limit the number of people who can come in at a time, and the number of people per party, because of the number of parents taking their kids to stores just to browse. The roommate who lost her job found a photo from one of her former coworkers (also, thankfully, now unemployed) having a bonfire with her friends where they were all squeezed onto a narrow bench and sitting on each other's laps. We've already lost summer here--all the beaches are closed through the entire summer now--and we're risking losing the State Fair, sci-fi con, and Renaissance Festival that all come at the end of summer due to these irresponsible people.

I never knew this was a thing! I'm going to check in with our local Facebook geek group to see if we have any teams doing similar here.

And I'm very glad you and your wife are both doing okay!

 

We're very lucky and our rental is huge. Over the Summer, my spouse got a new job in Seattle and we moved West. I admit, I feel much safer where we are now, even though Seattle was the first place with a big outbreak over living in the countryside. Our rental was much bigger than what we needed (and a little more expensive than we were hoping) but it has an amazing location. We have no yard, like at all. I think that is my biggest regret. We've been doing Zoom martial arts. I think the hardest thing is school work and loneliness as an only. I have actually been debating ordering her an FCS. She's been painting 1/6 Azone for about a year.

 

My husband is now displaying symptoms so tomorrow will be an interesting journey to try and get tested. Under-testing is a huge concern of mine as well; the less testing is done the longer this will last!

 

@idrisfynn I'll be honest, right now I'm glad I moved from my old apartment building into my friends' house. It's nice to not have to worry about the other people in the building and what they're doing, and it's nice to not be completely alone. Though a voice group dolly chat yesterday revealed to me that I am craving some interaction with people outside this house, so we're trying to do D&D via conference call. That way we can all see each other and maybe feel a little like we're all at the same table together.

I know we have a really good local drag and burlesque scene here; the convention I was supposed to be staffing this weekend was all set to have its first burlesque show (and I was set to find an excuse to go "patrol" that area ). If I can't find a local stream, though, I will definitely take a look at the ones you linked and toss 'em some tips! I do love a good drag show!

 

@vicemage I did a D&D gaming session today via Zoom. It worked out well and it was nice to actually talk to other people but at the same time, I'm also now done for social interaction for the rest of the day.

 

I'm a preschool aide. I am laid off until May 1st at minimum, and I have been out of work since March 13. I have not left my house in nearly three weeks-- my girlfriend's mother doesn't understand that self-quarantine and social distancing are not the same thing, so she has put all of us on lockdown. I am not allowed to leave (and if I do, I've been told to find another place to stay, because I won't be welcome back for two weeks.) My last paycheck will be next Friday, and because I haven't lived in my state for a year yet I do not qualify for unemployment or food stamps. We'll be without any income. My mental health has plummeted, to say the least without oversharing, and my therapy appointments aren't an option as we pay out of pocket. Without an income, we simply cannot afford it.

All of my orders are delayed. I preordered a very special doll in November. He was meant to arrive in March, but he likely won't be coming for a long while. It's very hard to see the Korean collectors posting their domestic order box openings of him; I'm in the USA and likely won't see him for a long time yet. I have two DiM heads stuck in Russia, a Loongsoul body stuck in China. No updates on any of them in several weeks at this point. Just waiting for shipping notices, but the dolls are really my only hobby right now, and it's very disappointing that I can't even really look forward to them coming any time soon.

On the bright side... my mother has bought me a new TV. She was worrying about me, and she only knows how to help through sending gifts (I told her I did not need a new TV, but I'm very grateful to be able to binge watch all of the streaming services on something other than my chromebook, now.) My doll discord server is planning a virtual meetup. I'm thinking about taking up knitting again, as well as embroidery.

I can't wait until this passes. I will never complain about going to work again.

 

We have some concerns about using Zoom, and one of our biggest hurdles is hybriding a group that is meeting in person with a group that can't. After some evaluation of what was most important, we decided seeing, talking, and being able to feel like we were together by having paper, pencils, and dice was most important. (Unfortunately, one person did get themselves uninvited when they insisted that the mechanics were what we should be emphasizing, and that we should be using Roll20, and that by using something other than Roll20 we were all selfish jerks who weren't taking "the rest of the group" into consideration. Completely related, she thinks she is the "rest of the group," and because she already worked from home and rarely went out, has seen virtually no day to day impact to her life.)

Here, only one person has had very minimal daily impact, the other two of us have seen some serious impacts to how we normally live, and a number of the people we're bringing in have also seen hard impacts and are struggling with being alone right now. So while yes, something like Roll20 would be better mechanically, we've all been doing enough sitting at computers for now.