Quarantine is like...

... the days of isolation during cancer treatment. Late 2012 and for the first 3 months of 2013, I spent mostly alone. I had chemo treatments about every two weeks with immune system boosts the day after. My white blood cell count never dropped, but I still remained vigilant as I didn't want to wind up in the hospital like the only cancer patients I ever knew as a respiratory therapist. 

I had internet and Netflix thanks to my family. I had groceries and the means to cook them. My only activities outside of my house were to go and exercise at the hospital gym and to get groceries. These two activities allowed me to interact with others. About 5 years or so later I really realized that these little bits of interaction gave me energy, not just in the sense of keeping the body moving, but also people energy. 

Isolation during treatment was a bit easier though because I could go outside. My cats and I explored the woods behind my house. They wound their way through some pretty cool cars, while I enjoyed the fresh air and laughed and took pictures. 

Other than these outside activities, I ordered my days around meal and nap times. That's really the similarity to now (along with some sort of exercise). 

I've set a schedule for when I eat and when I can have a snack. I watch the clock sometimes and do whatever I can to distract myself. Reading, watching some sort of program, listening to something. Today I used an app called Pacer to try and map my walk in the room. (Didn't work.  Said I went way beyond what i really did. )

 When I get tired of one thing, I just switch to another. Like language learning. Started digging into Korean yesterday. It's fun. I knew it is one of the most scientific languages. Each shape is made based on how the sound is formed with the mouth. For instance, do you know that all English vowel sounds are made with an open mouth? You don't close your mouth for a /e / i /  o / u . When you write vowels in Korean you start with what looks like an oval or a slight egg. What is written after is for which specific sound. To go from  i (ee) to ri (ree/ rolling L sound), you remove the oval and replace it with something that looks like a 2 as the tongue is elevated to almost an L. The shape of the mouth is reflective in the "2".