It's obviously not over yet (at least not for Hawaii) but it's been almost half a year now and I thought it would be interesting to reflect on what I learned for or about myself during this period that's such a specific and unique situation. It's not a complete list of everything I've done - just things that likely specifically wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the stay-at-home orders. Although I may have mentioned some of these in the past, this is meant to be more of a fun post so I can look back on this post potentially years from now and hopefully remember it fondly rather than a "reflection on life as whole".
Teleworking
Obviously the biggest change for me is being able to work from home rather than going into the office Monday-Friday.
When HI's COVID case numbers were on the lower side, we did get called back to 50% occupancy, but by the time my turn came around again, the numbers were on the rise again so that didn't last long. I definitely think I've adjusted pretty well to teleworking and consider myself similarly or even more productive than I would be in the office, especially because it's easier for me to just relax and not having to worry about sitting any weird way or about my appearance in general for most days. I love not having to commute, but I do miss some of my coworkers and having a reason to wear all the clothes I have lol. Although I can technically still wear the clothes while at home, it's been quite hot/humid here throughout the stay-at-home orders so far, and we generally don't run the AC, so to me it's difficult to justify changing into nice clothes and literally sweating bc I won't just wear a tank top instead lol. The other junk thing is that while we have a nice, large dining room table where I'm set up to work, it's definitely not perfect in like an ergonomic sense and my back or wrist will often hurt after just a few hours. I'm working on getting a "good" chair but I wanted a very specific one and it's taking forever to come in!
Ben and Jerry's
I had never purchased Ben and Jerry's ice cream before the pandemic started. I thought it was cool that they had so many flavors but I've never been able to justify purchasing it for the price. We took a chance and splurged on some early on and since then, our fridge ALWAYS has some stocked! 
Once I knew I wanted to keep buying it, I sought out deals and learned that grocery stores here sometimes have them for as low as $2.98/pint even without a special coupon. This is probably the most boring flavors someone could choose, but my favorite flavors are Chocolate Fudge Brownie and the Tonight Dough (ice cream or slices)!
Zoom calls
Another obvious stay-at-home essential is Zoom. We don't use this to conduct work, but we have been having weekly (and then eventually bi-weekly) calls with my husband's family which includes his mom, grandma, sister, 2 aunts, uncle and his cousins that are in college. It always takes a little bit to get everyone connected, but it's nice to see everyone on Saturdays. 
And although I don't use Zoom to do work, I do use it to connect with my coworkers every Tuesday and Thursday around lunch time and we exercise together! This was something we used to do in person when we were in the office, and we wanted to find a way to still continue it. Luckily the workouts are only 30 minutes (so it's within the free call limitations). There's 3 of us who regularly join but sometimes we have people in 5-6 different locations and it's nice to see them.
Burpees and working out
Speaking of exercise, when the stay-at-home order all started, I had no idea I would have done so many burpees! 
Again, this is something that I've posted about before, but I just wanted to briefly mention it because it's something I absolutely would not have done if it weren't for the pandemic. We started with 100 burpees every Tuesday and Thursday, and then after we reached the 5th week (so 10 sets of 100), it got to be a little bit boring and too easy, so after improving my form, I tried to incorporate other things like a jump box or just adding additional reps. From sets 13 - 20, I tried to match the set # x10 (so, for set 15, I did 150 burpees total) and ended by doing 200 burpees as my final burpee workout. We also purchased jump ropes and I'm just as awful at it now as I was as a child.
My husband and I have been trying to keep up with running every Monday and Friday as well, but lately I haven't been able to participate because I injured my knee and apparently the only thing that will heal it is several weeks rest :(
Ring Fit for the Switch
I'll be honest, I thought this game seemed really gimmicky, and I would not have purchased it on my own but one of my friends highly recommended it for me and I trusted him. I really don't generally like to pay to exercise (I don't belong to a gym or take classes or buy meal plans/apps) and my workouts previous to the pandemic were all "free", so $70 was a bit of a splurge but at least our local Target had it in stock when we wanted it!
My husband and I actually enjoy it a lot. It's not at all a 2-player game but since we like to workout together, I'll use the leg band and he'll typically take the ring-con and we just both do the actions even if the sensor is only picking up the movement from one of us if that makes sense. We even got a simple pilates/yoga ring from Amazon so I can mimic some of the ring-con moves better since you often need the resistance for it to make sense!
I've taken a pause on this for the time being as well since many of the moves do require me to put a lot of weight on my injured knee but I can't wait to resume.
Overcooked 2
Our Switch really wasn't getting much use pre-pandemic but we often turn it on at least once a day now! 
My husband bought this game because he wanted a co-op game we could play together and although it was pretty difficult for me at first, I really latched onto it and enjoy playing it a lot now. We played through all the original and seasonal update levels at the 3-star level, and then eventually went on to get 4 stars on everything as well. He recently bought all of the expansions and we're now in the process of going through them for the first time but are definitely planning on hitting 4 stars on everything as the ultimate goal! This is not the type of game I typically enjoy, but I really like the team aspect. Since we purchased the Nintendo Online, I've also been trying to take advantage of that and use the online arcade and versus modes too which is really fun.
Giving Blood
Prior to the pandemic, I had given blood just one time before at a work event.
I'm not super squeamish with needles but I do sometimes worry about the Iron and Weight requirements and get anxious about being turned away. We are now trying to give blood just about as much as we are able to (must wait at least 8 weeks in between) with our personal commitments and general health in consideration. I figured out that eating frosted mini wheats is a pretty darn good source of iron lol.
Sam's Club Scan & Go
This really doesn't deserve it's own section, but I just wanted to give Sam's Club App with the Scan & Go a shout out because it's been an absolute time saver this pandemic. 
Costco is wayyy more popular here in Hawaii, but my family has always belonged to Sam's Club so that's where I'm a member now too even though we live a similar distance to a Costco. We did debate switching over because we love a lot of the popular Costco products, but Sam's Club's unpopularity is actually a big redeeming factor during times when people are swarming the bulk stores. I've regularly seen CRAZY lines for Costco just to get in and haven't seen much of the same with Sam's and we've nearly always been able to just walk in. But the absolute best part is now the Scan & Go app which allows me to scan the products while we're shopping, pay through the app when we're done and then just walk out the door after the exit employee scans my QR code. We have never waited in a bulk store check out line since downloading it, and it is an absolute game changer that has made visiting Sam's so much less daunting during these times.
Online shopping/Using Tenso seamail
I've always been a bit of an online shopper, but obviously now much more so. Amazon Prime isn't all that great for us in Hawaii (still often takes 2 weeks to get some things), so we don't rely on that too much, especially since a lot of household products may not even ship here. But I did try looking at Nordstrom and Bloomingdales online a lot more near the beginning of the stay-at-home orders and I very rarely ever enter those stores in person.
I did however cut back more than I usually would on items from Japan. Not only because I just buy a lot less from Liz Lisa these days, but because shipping methods with Tenso to the US have been very limited since April. Because of this, I had to ship a package via Seamail for the first time and it did genuinely take about 8-9 weeks to arrive. It's really not my favorite shipping method and I would really prefer to avoid it at all costs because it's only a little cheaper than Surface Mail a lot of the time (when surface mail is an option). When I made some summer sale purchases in August, I was determined to splurge on DHL but FML because my package weight was right at the threshold where the shipping cost jumped from about $65 to literally $195 (and I missed the $65 threshold by just 0.15kg). So guess what? I'm currently waiting for it to arrive via Seamail and that's why I don't have better blog content for this month. I have learned my lesson and am very determined to just wait for EMS and Air to return before ordering anymore....I think lol. OR just be much more careful about the package weight.
Aeon's End
We've been acquiring quite a few board games over the last year but the newest one during the stay-at-home orders has been Aeon's End - The New Age.
My husband purchased this one after seeing some good reviews. This type of game is super unfamiliar to me, but luckily we've got nothing but time and my husband is pretty patient with me. I took me a while to understand how the game flowed, but once I did, surprisingly, I really enjoyed playing it and though the story line was engaging and understand why it has such good reviews. We played through all the expedition parts of The New Age and recently got Aeon's End - Outcasts as part of a pre-order with some expansion packs. We've only played through the original storyline so far with the same mages, but I look forward to trying out different combinations in the future!
Instagram Reels
This gets a section because I'm pretty dang sure if it wasn't for the pandemic, I wouldn't have even attempted to do these.
If my husband is studying or gaming on our days off, I get pretty bored by myself so I decided to just shoot some clips during the Labor day weekend for a blog post and see if I could also work them into some Reels as a trial. Although I probably won't be keeping it up with any regularity, it really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and I know there's quite a few possibilities if I just commit to doing them.
I may add to this post if the stay-at-home orders continue for a lot longer and anything new happens, but otherwise, I think I'll be happy to look back at some of the interesting things that came out of this whole situation for me. I'm very lucky to still have my job at full time hours and be able to afford my mortgage, and I know I don't have much to complain about.
Not a completely novel blog post, but after all the work I put into my previous post and it flopped, I decided to just give myself a break even if it's just because I'm feeling lazy. I've been super stressed with work this month and haven't been wanting to spend more time on the computer than I need to after some 12 hour days. Also, none of my purchases from earlier have come in, so this is all I could think of to produce some content for this month. This post is also being published on my 29th birthday :)
Let me know if you learned anything new during the pandemic that you wouldn't have otherwise or if you have any recommendations for me based on some of the things I mentioned here!
Hope you and your loved ones are doing well.
Happy birthday!
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