Oh, what a couple of months it has been! Many of you haven't left the house in days, maybe even weeks? This Muggle illness has taken the world by storm. Many of you haven't seen friends in months, the only company are the family/people you live with, and if you live alone, I'm sure you've made some imaginary friends. Anyone name their invisible friends yet? Some have picked up new hobbies, some have run out of things to do. Whatever you are doing during this time of distancing, I hope you are all well and safe.
For this month's issue, I wanted to share with you all how some of our very own SOUP writers are doing during this time of Social Distancing. Welcome to this month's issue of Chatting with ... SOUPers.
Serenity Black: Have you picked up any new hobbies during this time of Social Distancing?
Erin (snakesnitch43): Uh, well not exactly a hobby ... but I am "attending" a virtual Harry Potter Trivia/paint night tomorrow night (though obviously that will be past tense when you write the article). I've also done some Lego building and writing.
Morgana (Morgana Malipiero): No.
Nikky (Nicole Phelps): I won't say they are new hobbies, but I have gone back to doing the things I used to love when I was in high school and college and had free time. This has included reading lots of books, such as the entire Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris and the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. I've also begun sketching and drawing with charcoals again, which used to be one of my specialties years ago. I will say a new sort of hobby has been buying science experiments (which may or may not be geared towards kids haha) such as slime creation and crystal making stuff.
Z (paragonWizard): New hobbies? No. I've picked up some old hobbies that I haven't touched in a long time though. When the facial mask patters were blowing up my Tumblr and Pinterest stuff, I dug out my old sewing machine to use up the tons of fabric I had leftover after Christmas presents. I've been knitting things to use up my yarn stash more often, and I even started up that latch hook kit I had for years because everything is closed.
Adele (MalfoySwan): No, I haven't. But I have been able to work on the current ones that I have.
Janelle (Ragna Lokisdottir): I have not. Just stuck with reading mostly ... well, I may have gotten into several new shows and YouTube channels. But that was about it.
Nicole (Nicole2013): Unfortunately, I've not picked up any new hobbies. But, I've been trying to revisit a hobby I haven't done in a long while. Drawing! I'm trying to get back into it and try out new styles.
NK (Ninja Kitten): I've been reading a lot more than I had time to before. Also purchased a Nintendo Switch and became addicted to Animal Crossing.
Serenity Black: Favorite game to play during this time?
Erin: If you count HEX that ... otherwise one of the Apps I have downloaded on my tablet, but which depends on my mood.
Morgana: Cryptic crosswords and Quick, Draw!
Nikky: Hmmm, well, lately I've been playing a lot of Borderlands 3 with my roommate and that's been a lot of fun. Though my absolute fave would be Dungeons & Dragons which has been crazy and great trying out a new digital format for us all to play on. We've mostly settled on a combo of Discord and Roll20 for our games.
Z: All of them...???? I've been playing a lot of video games lately, mostly Dragon Age: Inquisition and Don't Starve. The games that I can put down and then pick back up with no memory of what's going on, but be totally fine with that. Those two are also multiplayer so even though I'm supposed to be avoiding other people I can still converse with my friends and play with them. Then if I get kinda frustrated and need to blow off some steam I can always play some Diablo 3 and destroy all the bad guys!
Adele: Lord of the Ring Online or LotRO for short.
Janelle: World of Warcraft. It's been nice being able to level and just play around on it.
Nicole: Uhh, probably Super Smash Bros. That's been pretty fun, along with Animal Crossing: New Horizon. As for more classic games, any type of Uno. Uno Flip! is pretty game changing.
NK: Animal Crossing, xD
Serenity Black: Are you currently homeschooling? If so, how has the experience been?
Erin: No, thank god.
Morgana: No.
Nikky: Nope! I have no offspring to speak of currently and am not taking any classes myself right now. I do not envy those that have to do that right now, though.
Z: No. I don't have any kids. I did briefly attend online school for college a couple of months before all of this blew up and that was a mess for me on its own, so I feel for the parents that need to be homeschooling their kids.
Adele: Nope.
Janelle: Nope. No school for me, lol. And no kids either!
NK: Yes, harrowing. My kids are very headstrong and while they do actually miss school and their teachers, they are not too keen on their new teacher. xD There are just so many extra distractions here at home than they have at school.
Serenity Black: What place are you missing going to the most?
Erin: Honestly, nothing much has changed for me.
Morgana: Traveling overseas.
Nikky: New Orleans. Hurts my soul I haven't been able to go back during the pandemic, but that'll just make my next visit all the more special. I currently still have a trip planned for early September, but am not keeping my hopes up in case it has to be postponed even further.
Z: Honestly, I wasn't really the type of person that went out all the time. This whole situation isn't much different than a normal day for me. However, I do miss being able to go down the street and play some pool with a couple of friends if I wanted to. Or going to movies if I had the extra money. I'm especially gonna miss my town's little festival in June, it was filled with a lot of artists and small bands playing live music. The city canceled it some months back and it was heartbreaking at the time. Anyways, yeah, I think I just miss the option to go out and do things the most. Since that's been taken away everything just feels forced at the moment.
Adele: Costa Coffee for writing sessions, work and seeing my family down south.
Janelle: Ah .... everywhere? Literally, it's at the point currently where just going to put gas in the truck is wonderful and exciting.
Nicole: Probably to a friend's house for Dungeons & Dragons! We were meeting up weekly!
NK: Church. I mean, I still go as I'm part of the digital worship team, but I miss being there with all of our members.
Serenity Black: What is the first thing you're doing once we are free to meet in public again?
Erin: Probably going get a tattoo.
Morgana: Go out for a meal with friends.
Nikky: Going to work. Which isn't such a fun thing really, but outside of that, I'm itching to travel, and as I've said above, New Orleans will absolutely be my first stop.
Z: I'm getting a tattoo done. I've been holding onto a couple of ideas for a good minute but don't wanna risk getting it then spiking a fever while it's healing and have everyone around me panic. Once the shops open up, yeah I'm getting me a tattoo of a Great White and a Hammerhead shark forming a heart on my arm somewhere, probably the forearm up towards my elbow? I don't know yet.
Adele: Either back to work, buying a Costa Coffee, or going down south.
Janelle: Grabbing a drink at either Starbucks or Tim Horton's and just sitting at the table. Or going to the library.
Nicole: Hm, well, I'm still out in public a little bit. I go grocery shopping and to work. I want to go visit my family, like my gramma! A lot of my family lives about an hour away, and of course, no one is going over without good reason. It'd be terrible to pass the virus to her.
NK: Go to a zoo. We had to cancel our spring break trip as it was right when all of this craziness first began.
A huge thank you to my fellow SOUP writers for taking the time out to let me know what they've been up to. I hope everyone is staying well and safe! This is Serenity Black signing off.