Stuff You Can Do While Confined with Covid

 As of today (June 12, 2023) I have been confined for four weeks due to covid. My doctor was so surprised as to why I'm still confined whereas others have just been confined for two weeks or slightly more than that. Tomorrow I am due to have another RT PCR test and I'm worried that it might turn up positive for covid again. That's because my mom is shouldering all my expenses for this illness and I can't get exposed to her and her husband for another month which will limit how much housework I can do.

So anyway, yes, covid is waaay boring. You can't go and do something energetic because it can make your symptoms worse. I don't watch TV but I do go to YouTube daily and listen to music from my preferred artists. I also read newspapers online. My friends are all bored with me now considering all I can talk about is covid and how it's affecting me. But since I lack tact and common sense, let's delve into what I said in my blog title: there is indeed stuff you can do while confined with covid.

1) Get a Writing Job.

That sounds like a contradiction with my blog title but be patient with me. The jobs I'm talking about are white-collar writing jobs that you can do if you have a computer and homebased Internet access. You could be a writer online which I noticed a lot of people are getting into. Generally, the writing field has content writers and copywriters, that's a given. But there are also other writing jobs that I have been exposed to while under covid quarantine, such as YouTube scriptwriting and screenplay writing. And if you're really into academic writing, there is opportunity for this as well though it can be hard to get into if you're not really into academic subjects you may have taken up in school.

2) Become a VA.

This is another online job that has seen boom times lately. It seems that almost every business out there, especially in the US market, is looking to hire a VA. This is great if you have computer skills such as word processing, Excel spreadsheet processing, social media management, and other lesser known areas to excel in. However, the pay for a VA is small so get into this if you want experience in working online and don't mind interacting with clients in their time zone.

The fantastic thing about becoming a VA is that you do stand to have long-term employment if your client really likes your services. This means that you get to monopolize the compensation for one client since most clients want exclusivity of your services, which means you don't have to keep job hunting every once in a while. The downside of becoming a VA is that you don't get to have multiple clients simultaneously to work for. But if you're patient and absorb the necessary skills, you do get to negotiate for a higher rate than a beginner could as you keep working as a VA.

3) Learn How to Cook.

I must admit I cheated with this one because I've known how to cook even from childhood. But there are people I've encountered online who have never cooked even a fried egg in their life yet are now capable cooks. To cook, you need to have the necessary ingredients and cooking equipment. If you like, you can take videos of you cooking and then upload those into your blog and social media. That might open up more doors for you. Personally, I have to cook because I don't have a helper, so no matter how lousy the covid symptoms are I have to get up and start preparing food. Plus I have 9 cats whom I have to feed on time or else they'll fire me.

4) Write an eBook.

I didn't include this in #1 above because this is one of the most demanding writing tasks I've ever encountered. Why? Because you literally have to provide your own content for the entire ebook. That can be difficult if you don't really have much to say. You might be so immersed in writing 50 pages with a goal of 75 pages then suddenly realize you've run out of content to talk about. This is why plagiarism is sooo tempting to get into. If you steal a little bit from each source you track down on Google, then that is how some ebook writers manage to come up with content. But personally I don't recommend that since the main reason people want to buy ebooks is that you as an author might have something unique to contribute. I recommend writing an original ebook since it might be a gold mine of knowledge and wisdom so you can sell your ebook online and possibly strike gold. (You already know the result if that happy ending doesn't happen right?)

5) Learn to Launder and Iron Your Own Clothes.

This isn't a money maker idea but many people actually don't know how to do their own laundry. This is because their spouse or their parents may have been doing this for them all this time. If you're really lucky, you might have a loyal servant at home who is skilled in this. Why do I recommend this? Because you might be surprised at how soothing laundering and ironing your own clothes is. A writer I came across before said that "the ironing was therapy" because she was so anxious about whether the publisher was going to publish her manuscript or not. It's not what you would want as a career, especially if you're with covid, but there's only so much food and desserts (plus liquor and coffee) that you can snack on in between meals so you might as well burn off that extra sugar by learning to use your washing machine and flat iron.

6) Re-learn Math.

This is something I've been delving into today. I never got rid of my high school and college textbooks so today I got the Elementary Algebra published by the MSA educational material company from my other pile of stuff and started reading. At the same time, I opened the mathsisfun.com website to compare the concepts being taught with. And you know what? I do understand Algebra after all. The reason I must have performed poorly in elementary and high school math must have been my innate fear of the subject. But now that I'm learning for enjoyment (rather than because our teacher threatened to drill in Algebra concepts into my brain with a power drill) I have found I do understand it. And there are other Math subjects that I now seem to be able to comprehend in an easier manner. If I can find a way to monetize this renewed talent in Math, then I can possibly start tutoring students in this. It's possible.

7) Go Back to School.

If you have the funds, you can apply for admission to training centers and schools online. This means committing to a particular degree or diploma program for some. Others might prefer short courses only for financial reasons, or because that's all they can accommodate in their free time. Whichever is true for you, the main goal is to be reaching for an academic or intellectual goal while you recover from covid. As long as you're sure you're not super stressing yourself by studying, this is a good way to prepare yourself for the end of covid quarantine when you'll have to face the real world again.

So that's what I learned all these four weeks. I must admit it's been an enlightening experience since I learned more about how this covid infection affects humans after the covid virus has mutated. It also helped me see the boundaries of my sanity when my patience is sorely tested by boredom. And of course, it has helped me recognize that I have time to write in my blog again which wasn't possible back when I didn't have to quarantine myself and had other things to occupy my time. Hopefully, that virus will stop mutating so that we can get vaccinated again. But if not, then at least I have the online world to keep me company as I try to beat the virus using my own immune system with help from modern science.