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!