Tag Archives: BioLife

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The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Days 4-5: Keeping Busy

I missed a day, so this entry will detail my first weekend in quarantine/lockdown.

Saturday I returned to BioLife, where I was able to donate. They’ve told me that plasma is desperately needed now, especially since the number of donors has dropped with people staying home. Just because there’s a pandemic going on doesn’t mean other medical issues have ceased. Also, they told me that there is some preliminary research that says plasma from people who’ve recovered from coronavirus may help those who are suffering from it. That may not hold up after more research, but it’s a good sign.

After returning to the Fortress of Solitude, I set up my podcast equipment to interview Eric Elliott, the mastermind behind the fan comic Batman Meets Godzilla, which is based on an unmade film back in the 1960s that would’ve featured the Adam West Batman battling the Big G himself. No joke. That interview should drop April 15. We had a fun time nerding out about comics and superheroes.

After lunch and more UltraSeven with Jarod, I got back to grading papers. I was determined to get them all done that day, if for no other reason than to do right by my students since we aren’t meeting in the classroom anymore. Sadly, I let myself get distracted (again) and got started a bit later than I wanted to. I spent the entire afternoon slaving over their papers, but even at 10-15 minutes a paper, I didn’t feel like I was burning through them fast enough, especially since I got a few late submissions the day before. It got to the point where I just couldn’t force myself to get going and took a break for thirty minutes to watch some YouTube videos. That left me rejuvenated. I wanted to have dinner with Jarod, but his eating schedule is so wacky, we ended up not doing it. That break lasted longer than I wanted it to. I plowed through what was left of the papers and had them done by late evening.

I punctuated my day watching a cheesy 1994 action film starring Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba called Immortal Kombat on YouTube while giving live commentary with friends on Facebook messenger. The movie was kinda boring in the middle and had too many subplots, but the beginning and end were fun.

The next morning I “attended” church at home through their livestream. I was working a bit during it, though. I recently became the webmaster for their website, so I was updating the site while the livestream was going on. While I’m glad they’re doing this, it isn’t the same as actually being there. I miss the community.

Lunch and a double helping of UltraSeven followed. Then I spent some time writing a script for an upcoming podcast episode. But during that writing session, some friends asked me to play some video games with them online, and given that chatting with them while playing has become another avenue for me to connect with the outside world in all this madness, I took the offer. All I have to say is if you’re playing The King of Fighters XIV and meet a player named “Bumba Chunga,” you better bring you’re A-game. I finished that, but then another friend invited me to play after dinner, so I did.

Here’s the stream video my friend Sergio took of that session. It starts in the middle of my match. Sadly, you can’t hear my side of the chat.

By then it was close to 9pm. I still had to finish that script and do some reading for school, so I spent the next few hours doing exactly that. It wasn’t the most productive time, but hey, I needed a Sabbath.

What’d you do during your first weekend in quarantine/lockdown? Comment below!

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The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 3: What Artists Contribute

My day started with a trip to BioLife to donate plasma. I was late (I’ve gotten into a bad habit of doing that), and with the coronavirus scare, the check-in procedures have been reordered. Today, unfortunately, my protein levels were too low to donate. It was the first time in months this has happened. But as Scarlet O’Hara said, “Tomorrow is another day.”

With no excuse to be out of the Fortress of Solitude, I returned. First order of business: I finished editing the trailer for Kaiju Quarantine. I had to bug my fellow podcasters to send me their lines. One recorded the wrong lines and, for whatever reason, his audio file was a garbled mess in Audacity. So, I had him send me a new file. Despite Audacity giving me issues with file locations (an issue that concerns me), I put the trailer together and posted it in my podcast’s feed. I shared it with my fellow podcasters for them to disseminate.

That brought me to lunch and more UltraSeven with Jarod.

My plan was to spend the rest of the afternoon grading papers—and the distraction issues plagued me again (no pun intended). I didn’t get through all of my students’ papers. I don’t know what it is with me. Perhaps I’ve allowed myself to think I have more time than I do. Maybe the lack of structure is making me careless. Conceivably (hey, I needed a synonym, okay?), I’ve been away from school for too long, and now with everything turned upside down, I haven’t found a new rhythm yet.

(Random aside: Has anyone noticed how weird the word “rhythm” is? It has no true vowel and is a weird combination of consonants).

It might be more necessary than ever for me to keep myself off my phone, especially now that it’s become my only real source of social interaction.

While eating dinner, I watched a bit of Super Sentai Jetman on Tokushoutsu through the PlutoTV app. Every time I see it I’m shocked at how bipolar it is. One scene it’s being a silly teen rom-com, the next a hero is slashing his palm to save his girlfriend. And this was a kids’ show in Japan! Talk about cultural differences!

I punctuated my day with a new endeavor: video game streaming. I broadcast my playthrough of the game Override: Mech City Brawl through my PS4 to my podcast’s YouTube channel. It was one way I’ve tried to provide some much-needed entertainment for people who are stuck in lockdown/quarantine. I’ve realized that what artists/creatives provide in troubled times like these is exactly that: entertainment. We create an oasis in the desert of uncertainty. Listen to, read, or watch us to forget your worries, if only for a short time. It helps fight off the depression. It’s a vastly underappreciated service. People don’t realize how important it is until they desperately need it.

Here’s the video of my stream, if you’re interested in seeing it:

I may do it again. I (foolishly) tried to play the game on hard mode, so I wasn’t able to finish the campaign even after four hours. I think I’ll move on to Shadow of the Colossus after this.

What did you do to pass the time today? Let me know in the comments below!