Leaderboard

What is it about a small town that can help us curb the spread of a virus? Is living in a small town safer? And, is all this change going to affect how we interact as a community? Two words. Population density. Population density is a major consideration when it comes to the spread of viruses. As we saw in the early stages, viruses spread rapidly in dense populations like major cities. Small town life allows us to interact with our community and get what we need without having to expose ourselves to lots of risks. What are some of the things we can learn, especially from the small-town life of the past, that can help us today? Obtain Products Locally If you remember in April when covid first began to spread many of the meatpacking facilities had to shut down. The cost of meat immediately doubled, or more. This wasn’t the only supply chain affected. Milk and produce also were interrupted. Huge waste occurred. And the virus spread quickly through large facilities. This highlights the need for small-scale local production as opposed to large-scale production and transport. In most of the world, local food production is still very much a reality. By obtaining as many goods as we can from our community we grow our local economy, and ensure that they don’t have to travel through lots of hands to get to us. Return of the Schoolhouse We all know that it wasn’t too long ago every neighborhood had its schoolhouse and it contained a small number of students, and a teacher or two. The tiny schoolhouse has its benefits. Students create bonds with the local community, and teachers are very accessible to the parents. This prior model is ideal in a world where large masses of people is not a good idea. It may be possible that students going back to school this fall is the major contributor to the numbers skyrocketing again. I’m sure people will resist switching to the small schoolhouse model, finding it difficult to justify the expense of current large schools. But, it seems that the mass production of our children’s education is no longer in our best interest. The Resurgence of the Small Business The shift in our society since the onset of covid-19 has been devastating. Families have lost loved ones and livelihoods. But, this change in our lifestyle is going to present new economic opportunities. If we can roll with these changes, maybe people can find growth within our communities. The idea of getting in my car and going to the store is not appealing to me. Fighting traffic for 45 minutes, bustling through a parking lot to grab ahold of a shopping cart that 200 other people have held that day, push it through a crowded store trying not to touch anything, knowing that we’re all sharing the same immediate space and everyone has got their hands on everything anyway! I know I would love to have someone delivering milk, eggs, and bread. Yes, large companies are rushing in to pay people next to nothing to grocery shop for you and bring it to your door, and they charge you a fortune to have it delivered. We don’t have to let it go this way. The situation presents opportunities. I would rather pay a local person to deliver my food from a local grocery store. When that large company isn’t skimming 90% of the delivery, everyone else makes out better in the end. By taking some lessons from our roots, and considering how these changes in our lives are going to affect us on a local scale, as well as a global scale, it will be possible for us to affect the way our community cares for itself. Maybe we could be stronger than ever. Twin Tiers Living welcomes Mathew to the Local Writer's section. His blog, RambleNewYork.com, offers a look at some of the best New York State has to offer. Born and raised in Upstate New York, Mathew lives in a wooded valley north of the Susquehanna River with his wife and kids. His first book "Simple Sutras" was published in 2014.

For the past few years I looked at the year 2016 as one of, if not the worst we have had to endure. I’ve long since forgotten most of my issues with that particular trip around the sun, with the exception of our family having to endure not one but two burglaries barely six months apart. So from that alone you can understand why I was happy to see 2016 ride off into the sunset. Or to Hell, it didn’t matter to me. Then 2020 came along and said, “Hold my beer.” Now, I knew 2020 was going to be a challenging year before it even arrived. By this time last year we knew Ginger, our adopted beagle was going to be leaving us. When we visited the vet that week before Christmas I got the news and the advice of, “When it’s time, you’ll know. Call us.” And yeah, we knew. But there was no was in hell we were going to give our sons that news right at Christmas. Doc said we should be able to get through a few more weeks, and we got through the holiday. Shortly thereafter, it was time. On January 17th, 2020 Ginger left us, wrapped in a warm blanket and her belly full of treats. She could be a pain in the ass, but she was our pain in the ass. Additionally, I’d begun mentally steeling myself for the day when our oldest went off to college in the Fall. Granted, he’d only be a couple hours away, but still, there was sure to be an adjustment period as the ‘ol nest half emptied out. There were some good things on the horizon though. Our band was scheduled to headline a major event in Scranton again after several years of not playing there. We’d get to have a big graduation party come Summer. A bunch of other things I can’t even remember at the moment. If this post had a soundtrack, right here is where you’d hear the needle dragged across the record ( “vinyl” as the kids call them these days). That little virus we now all know and hate so well made its debut. Life as we knew didn’t just become crap, it swirled the bowl a few times before becoming a clogged toilet. Event after event was canceled. In fact, life itself seemed to become canceled as shutdowns happened across the nation, including here in Chemung County. "Ready to go to Wegmans?" I’m sure I don’t need to write a list of ways 2020 sucked. ( “Oh 2020, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways.” ) We all know what happened. A pandemic, a year of heightened civil strife, a contentious election cycle, businesses shut down for way longer than we ever thought, etc. Here on the home front, we knew things would suck and we prepared for it, as much as anyone could that is. Some things threw us for a loop but for the most part we managed to hold it together with each passing month, largely by trying to find the silver lining in those depressingly dark clouds. It missed both the building and my head, so I had that going for me. High school graduation managed to happen, albeit differently than any class before them. Freshman year of college would start online, but hey, it beat having to go back and bring him home after a major outbreak closed the campus down less than two weeks into the first semester. I spent a lot of time at home and when I returned, things at work changed in ways that really make a job I love a little less enjoyable. But it’s temporary, and at least I’m still employed. The holidays weren’t what we wanted them to be, but as I told myself repeatedly, maybe they were the “holidays we needed.” Quiet, subdued, and affording time to reflect. Yet, if you’ve guessed by this point I am Pollyanna-ishly optimistic about the coming year, you guessed wrong mein freund. I will consider it a minor miracle if things stay steady early in the coming year. I think any plans for the next six months need to be made with a huge frickin’ asterisk next to them and written in pencil. Things in the “new normal” ( tired of hearing that yet? ) are going to be different on the other side of this thing, and I just hope they’re different in ways that are good. Because let’s face it, many aspects of the old normal weren’t working so well. James Taylor sang, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time,” and if ever there was a time to enjoy changing the calendar, it’s now. I just don’t think I’ll be getting my hopes up too high for what’s to come. Keep the bar set low, and then maybe be able to celebrate the minor victories as they come. And they will, eventually... someday.... maybe....

How about this? This year’s last essay on the last day of the year! It is a transition time! Betwixt and Between! Transitioning reminds me of the Star Trek method of travel. Teleporting, however, provides rapid transit from one place to another while this year has required mental and emotional transitions at a slightly slower pace. As a comment for 2020 ---- I’ll just quote Charlie Brown: “ARRRRGGGGGHHH”! And 2021 -----will hopefully be a TA-DA as we land on our feet! Actually “new years” occur at different times (depending on the cultures) around the world. The Jewish New Year begins in the fall, usually September I believe. Then Samhain, our Halloween, was the Celtic New Year --- harvest time. The general new year around the world is January 1st . Tet is the Asian new year in February, with a different symbol for each year --- a kind of Zodiac ---- the Year of the Horse or the Year of the Rat. The Christian Calendar puts the new church year at the beginning of Advent; four weeks before Christmas. We all crave new beginnings and carve them into our calendars whether of stone, paper or IPhone. The Roman calendar depicted the god Janus – a two-faced deity who looked back to the old year while also looking ahead into the new, as we humans tend to do. Tonight is New Year’s Eve and that old song is running through my head ----- “What are you doin’ New Years? New Years Eve?” Actually we are doing very little as is appropriate right now. We plan a comfortable evening with hot chocolate or eggnog, shrimp cocktail, maybe a little conversation and a bit of TV until we get too sleepy to stay up. Forty years ago this would have sounded pretty dull. Now it sounds perfect. My brother, Ken, would be amused. I was always a bit miffed because I was considered too young for Ken’s and Lois’s New Year’s Eve parties. Then when I was of an age to go, they stopped having them! I can’t say that I’ve really been deprived though; Kerm and I have been through 56 New Year’s Eves. We’ve attended parties and we’ve given parties. One gala event that sticks in my mind was early in our marriage. We invited a young singles group, all in their twenties and not much younger than we were to join us on New Year’s Eve. Our wonderful old rented farm house, had a “summer kitchen”, attached to the main kitchen by an enclosed porch. Originally used for summer cooking and canning, during our tenure, it was a play room for our toddlers and, on occasion, a party room. It had a huge walk-in fireplace for heat. The weather was unusually mild that year, and the room was quite usable with doors open into the house. We did charades, made balloon animals, chatted and laughed a lot. My feelings cup, as a novice party-giver, was overflowing when one guest told us he had been in Paris for New Year’s Eve the year before ---- but had more fun at our party. Maybe it was the cookies. Many years later, our sons were college-age; old enough to have their own party ---- at our house. Kerm and I decided we’d go out for a while; games of Risk or D&D could get pretty vociferous. Do you know that, without prior planning, nothing much is open on New Year’s Eve? Most places offer a package for the evening or weekend and are not welcoming people who just wish to drop in. We drove around Ithaca for awhile and finally ended up at Purity Ice Cream, had milkshakes --- and went home to join in the celebratory din of college kids. Then perhaps you remember the turn-of-the-century (1999 into 2000) when everyone feared the collapse of life as we know it? People were sure that computer systems would crash and that many things including utilities would come to a grinding halt. There were anxiety-driven groups who tried to prepare as though humanity would need to begin all over again. One of our sons now lives in a house that was part of a rural enclave designed for that very time with all sorts of back-to-the-earth plans. Most of the original residents have now moved elsewhere; hopefully wiser, if a bit chagrined. That stellar year, we opted for a quiet and fearless (though we were a bit curious) evening at home. I managed to stay awake long enough to watch the fireworks displays from New Zealand to NYC; from the Sydney Opera House to the Eiffel Tower. Instead of apprehension, there was a feeling of a world celebration ----with perhaps a bit of relief that not a single network or facility fell apart as expected by the doom-mongers. One year flowed smoothly into the next year without more than normal fanfare. Moving into a new year doesn’t necessarily change life a whole lot. However, it is human nature to like clear endings and fresh beginnings even if they are mostly imaginary. So --- we celebrate the end of 2020, with perhaps, a sigh of relief ---- and have high hopes for 2021. Hope is a good thing! We should take every opportunity to enjoy the wonderful, good, fun things in life; friends, art, nature, music, dancing……! Appreciation and gratitude strengthen us for the down times that are also a part of life. In this household, we believe in planning for the future and in maintaining our hope that the future will be one in which we can thrive gladly and be of use. Of course, this year, parties are definitely not encouraged. But that is OK; I have come to appreciate quiet and the space in which to think: What can we take with us from this unusual year? What would we like to find in the year to come? Do we have relationships that need repair? Are we living according to our own standards? I hope we wish for more than a return to “normal”. What have we learned that will make life better in 2021? A few things pop into my mind: 1) how much I’ve enjoyed not running hither and yon, even if the running is for very good reasons. I have appreciated less of the stressful getting ready for something. 2) I have found I need fewer new clothes; somehow what I wear has become less important. And I’ve been wearing all my odd socks. Who is going to notice??? 3) We’ve all discovered that we can use technology for meetings, saving both time and gasoline. I think many people will continue to work remotely. We have learned a new way of accomplishing things. I have also noted that with this year’s distancing, we are all more concerned with how the people around us are coping. “How are you” is something we now ask with sincerity and real interest in the answer. If we have managed to maintain contact and become more aware of each other, this lesson needs to remain with us. At the same time, we miss and crave the closeness of our small groups whether they are Bible studies or pinochle friends or just Sunday brunchers. We need friends with whom we can be open, honest and share where we are and what we need. Perhaps we will now be better at balancing. As I’ve gotten older I have noticed an annoying need to make several small transitions/day. I can no longer come home from shopping and leap into baking or cleaning. I have a need to sit down and allow my mind to adjust from the shopping mode to whatever I wish to do next. I need some time to move my focus and restore my energies; sort of like changing from reading glasses to those that let us see at a distance. If I try to accomplish something without this interval, my efforts may well illustrate Murphy’s Law ---- If anything can go wrong, it will! So along with the major transitions, like a new year, I experience mini-transitions as part of every day. We are now transitioning into more light and probably more winter. The Solstice is past and the light will slowly begin to increase in another week or so. Tomorrow, we step into January with all its potential for snow and cold (even as it rains tonight). It will be boots and mittens weather for the next two or three months. And when the Christmas tree goes down, plugging in my “Happy Light” again will be a priority. Even in this traumatic year just past though, the months have seemingly flown by, so I am sure that spring and planting season will be coming sooner than we can imagine. I like this thought about each new year from poet, Ranier Maria Rilke*: “And now let us welcome a new year, full of things that have never been.” Happy New Year to you with wishes that it may be a year with fewer troubles and a multitude of blessings! Carol may be reached at: carol42wilde@htva.net. *Rainer Maria Rilke ---an Austrian poet and novelist with a very long name: Rene Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke but better known by Rainer. 1875-1926.

I won't be surprised if he unveils some compromise (opening indoor dining with some new guideline attached like 25% capacity, max 1 per table, logbook with required ID etc) during one of his Emmy performances. And that he revises history by pretending the new revelations were entirely voluntary and based on "his" esteemed research and dedication to New Yorkers.

2020 has been a pretty massive bummer. Yes, it’s true. However, saying it over and over again isn’t going to make it any worse or any better, nor is continuing to focus on all of the reasons (all 5,479 of them) why 2020 has been so bad. We need to focus on the positives, kid and yes, even in this God-awful flaming pile of dog feces that has been 2020 there are positives. Here are 20 good things that happened this year. 1. We Took So Many Walks Around Our Neighborhood So many walks! In spring, walks were what outside time must feel like for people in prison. We got some fresh air, made cautious eye contact with other people, and strictly adhered to a NO TOUCHING policy put in place by the guards. Some days called for long walks, some days called for short walks but every single day called for some sort of walk. And the weather? Get out of here with that nonsense. Walk in the rain, splash in the puddles, giddy the eff up. 2. And We Spent So Much Time Outside! If you had a backyard, which I’m lucky to have, it was a Godsend. But even beyond that, we were outside a lot and it was fantastic. That firepit of ours did work. Then we bought this tree swing and even though I couldn’t get it far enough away from the tree itself so there wasn’t the danger of the swing banging into it, it was still a hoot. And yes, someday I’ll make it safer. I don’t know how, but I will. 3. Tik Tok Became The Go-To Spot To Find New Comedians First, there was Sarah Cooper with her lip-synch Trump videos that like Run The Jewels’ albums, only got better as they went along. Then there was Brent Terhune who started releasing videos where he posed as a diehard Trump supporter that were so believable, you could be forgiven for thinking they were the real deal. Around the same time of Terhune’s emergence, came Blaire Erskine. Erskine is a comedian from Georgia and throughout quarantine, she routinely dropped timely videos where she played conservative politician’s wives, daughters, and spokespeople, as well as “attendees” at various Trump rallies. Her attention to detail was amazing. 4. Sports Actually Came Back For a while there, it didn’t look good, and in lieu of not having live sports, we were going to have to get by rewatching old games, something that was cool for a little while but got old pretty fast. Well, except for the Pats/Falcons Super Bowl. I watched that damn game every time it was on and did so happily. But then leagues started figuring out how they could either restart or start their seasons. The NBA and NHL had great success with bubbles as the NBA set up shop in Orlando and the NHL took their show up to Canada and played games in two different locations. No fans? No problem. For the most part, you didn’t even notice and the NHL especially did a great job piping in sound to make it feel like there was a crowd there. The NBA had virtual fans and that was cute, but also forgettable. Major League Baseball started up in the middle of the summer after finally agreeing on a shortened season and rolled out a geographically based schedule because I guess in their mind, keeping teams somewhat close to home was safer. Sure, tell that to the Cardinals who because of COVID outbreaks I think played six games total, give or take. There were a handful of times when the baseball season seemed on the brink of being canceled, but somehow they pulled it off and then employed the NHL’s bubble model for the playoffs. The NFL? Well, the NFL is gonna NFL because that’s what the NFL does. COVID? What COVID? Oh, that COVID. Eh, just move the game back a day or two and it’ll be fine. The NFL’s stubborn refusal to really acknowledge COVID has kind of been hilarious. 5. We Reconnected With Friends Isolation is a funny thing because it prompts you to do things like text people you haven’t talked to in years. And eat. Isolation also prompts you to eat. 6. We Got Down With Some Leisure Wear The last time I went into the office was on St. Patrick’s Day. That was also the last time I dressed like a properly functioning adult for work. For the first few weeks of quarantine, I went through the motions and lived by self-imposed, made-up rules like I was going to wear jeans each day. Why? I don’t know, man. I just decided it would help. Yet the weather eventually changed and with spring, I started wearing shorts every day, specifically this one pair of old board shorts. I’ve worn those board shorts every day since and settle down, they’ve been washed. I’m not a complete savage. I will say that it was kind of nice because prior to 2020, I always kind of wished I could live a life where I was able to just wear a t-shirt and board shorts every day. Then poof, it happened and for the most part, it was a glorious as I imagined. Dreams do come true, folks. 7. Whether Or Not You Were A Beard Guy Was Determined Beards are a thing right now. They actually have been for a few years. Long gone are the days were only homeless people, hippies, and beatniks had beards. Now people like lawyers have them. And doctors. Respectable people have beards. Even that goon Ted Cruz has one, although I’m not sure that’s a pro-beard example. There is very little about Ted Cruz that is good and/or makes things good. Hey, Ted Cruz sucks! Anyway, for dudes that had yet to dabble in beards, quarantine ended up being the perfect time/reason to give one a test drive and see if they are a beard guy or they’re not. Under normal circumstances, you’d need to go on vacation to give a beard a shot, and even then, it’s really only a vacation beard because it only had a week or so to grow. That doesn’t really count. Quarantine really gave beards a time to spread their wings, for better or worse. I gave a quarantine beard a shot and sure, it was fun and I liked to stroke it while thinking and concocting plans but ultimately I decided that no, I’m not a beard guy. I’m more of a few days stubble kind of guy and that’s okay. And more importantly, now I know where I stand on beards and never, ever have to worry about it again. Unless I need to go on the run. But that’s a different story all together. 8. Seth Meyers Was (And Still Is) A Lot Of Fun On His In-Quarantine Shows When the country shut down in March, late-night hosts quickly had to switch things up and move production to their respected homes. Results were mixed although, for the most part, they all nailed it. Jimmy Fallon was adorable with his family, Stephen Colbert gave off a hanging out with a cool professor in his office vibe, and Conan O’Brien kept letting his hair grow until it no longer went up, but out. This was notable. But I think the winner was and continues to be Seth Meyers. For most of the quarantine, Meyers did shows from his home, broadcasting them from his attic where he incorporated reoccurring gags involved copies of The Thorn Birds, wasps, and more. For a few weeks during the summer, he operated out of a room at his in-laws’ house where he was routinely joined by a painting of a sea captain that became something of a sidekick to him. Other strange knick-knacks and random stuff you’d likely find in an old couple’s house started to make appearances and the whole thing was tons of fun. Over the past month or so, Meyers has returned to his studio at 30 Rock but has been doing shows without an audience. It’s just him and the crew and the lack of an audience has actually made things more enjoyable. Meyers’ A Closer Look segments had already become required viewing, but since returning to the studio, it seems like the segments devolve into a brief bit of lunacy and absurdity at certain points, hijinks that could only happen without an audience. It’s just silly and it really is a lot of fun. I miss the sea captain, though. 9. Streaming Services Released Some Really Good & Really Fun Movies At some point during the quarantine, the new movie pipeline dried up. This made sense seeing as how theaters had closed and therefore, new movies didn’t have a place to start, let alone end up (i.e. OnDemand and available to stream at home.) Things were starting to look bleak on the new movie front. And then the streaming services stepped in to save the day, which was really the least they could do because dude, they make so much money. Netflix released Extraction starring Chris Hemsworth and that movie was a lot of fun. Netflix also released The Old Guard starring Charlize Theron, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Meanwhile, Hulu released the Andy Samberg time-loop comedy Palm Springs and Apple released the Tom Hanks World War II naval film Greyhound. There were others of course, but those feel like the main ones, and in the absence of studios being able to pump out new movies, these offerings from streaming services were a sight for sore eyes. 10. Trolls World Tour Was A Lifesaver For Parents With Young Kids There was a novelty to that first week or so of quarantine but it quickly passed and for parents with young children, we had to figure out a way to fill the days in which kids couldn’t socialize with other kids or go to playgrounds, etc. It was some tough business and by early April, we needed something to parachute in and offer up some help. Trolls World Tour to the rescue! The movie might not be good and has some weird ideas about what rock ‘n roll is, but I could care less. Dreamworks wisely decided to skip theaters and release it to OnDemand in mid-April. Thank you, Dreamworks. Thank you so much. Our five-year-old was nearing something of a breaking point and no amount of pillow forts would be able to save us. But that second Trolls movie sure did. But no really, the rock trolls don’t make any sense. Are the punk or metal or classic rock stoners? Seems like we’re generalizing here, Trolls. 11. The Fourth Season Of ‘The Crown’ Was The Show’s Best Through three seasons, The Crown had been solid. Sometimes it has been better than solid, sometimes worst but on average, solid. Part of the appeal of the show was how it taught us ignorant Americans about British history and while sometimes the connections the show attempted to make between things that happened in the Queen’s life and events in England’s history seemed like a stretch, for the most part, it worked. I mean, sometimes it didn’t but again, it’s fine. The show’s fourth season was the meat and potatoes though because it introduced us to a young Diana. Season four also then brought us inside the rocky first few years of Diana’s marriage to Charles, which could best be described as “not ideal.” However, Emma Corrin was amazing as Diana. Man though, season four was a rough look for Charles. Up to this point, most of the story was buried so far in the past for the majority of the audience that it was kind of thrilling for them to all of the sudden start portraying Royal events that we remember happening. Oh and Gillian Anderson was several levels above solid as Margaret Thatcher. 12. Zoom Was And I Guess Still Is Pretty Cool I mean, no one really likes being on Zoom but beyond that, it’s not bad. Early on, Zoom was fun and Zoomin’ with family and friends, doing happy hours and whatnot was wonderful. But you know, all things must pass. Zoom now, all these months into quarantine and working from home, is significantly less wonderful but even still, it gets the job done. I’m anti-Zoom backgrounds though and I will not be convinced otherwise. 13. Quarantine = The Perfect Time To Get Caught Up On Your TV Consumption Normal life is busy. Normal life has limitations for how much television you can watch on a regular basis and as a result, normal life tends to mean that you’re going to miss a show you would have liked to have watched but just didn’t have time for it. Quarantine Life is most definitely not normal life (although it’s frighteningly starting to feel like it) and so all of sudden, there was more than enough time to get caught up on all things television, whether it was rewatching shows you’ve been aching to rewatch, getting back on track with shows you had fallen behind with or finally getting around to watch a show you had been meaning to, but just hadn’t gotten to it. Me personally, I dove back into The Wire, and the wife and I started rewatching New Girl because man, it just felt good to laugh again. We also finally checked out Ozark and no, I am not going to get into money laundering anytime soon, thank you very much. I had been reluctant to watch the show because it reminded me so much of Breaking Bad. And while yes, it does have a Breaking Bad vibe to it, it’s pretty good in its own right. It’s also incredibly fast-paced. I feel like everything that happens in one episode of Ozark would be all that goes down in one season of The Sopranos. Next up is Succession. Giddy up. 14. Lawn Care & General Landscaping At Home Was A Welcome Distraction/Activity Because yeah, we all spent a lot of time outside once the weather started to turn in the spring and it served as the perfect opportunity to plant plants and flowers that you had been talking about planting for a while now. I’d like to say my lawn benefited from this extra time, but alas, it was not the case. Maybe next year, you patchy bastard. 15. Tiger King Was A Fun Way To Be Both Entertained & Disgusted Netflix dropped Tiger King, a limited documentary series about Joe Exotic right as quarantine was starting to wear on people. We were desperate to talk about something besides the pandemic, the government’s piss poor response to it, and being stuck inside because of it. The story of this Joe Exotic fella, his zoo, the folks who worked there, the exotic animal game, and more was just what we needed. Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. There were quite a few moments in the series that were at the minimum cringe-worthy and at times, just hard to watch, especially if you care about animals. There was a lot of talk about caring for these animals but not a heck of a lot of demonstrating that supposed care. Also, one guy shot and killed himself just off-camera. If you’re keeping track, he was the second dude who was “married” to Joe Exotic. I believe there were four total. Then there was Carol Baskin, Joe Exotic’s nemesis, who owns and operates her own exotic animal sanctuary and may or may not have murdered her first husband and fed him to a tiger. It’s true. She definitely did. And then she went on Dancing With The Stars because even amidst a global pandemic, some things are just going to keep making absolutely no sense. 16. A Lot Of Musicians Were Inspired By Quarantine To Drop Albums Phish did it. My Morning Jacket did it. Taylor Swift did it twice. Quite a few acts did it actually. Thankfully quarantine didn’t stop artists from releasing new albums and given the circumstances, every time a quarantine album was released, it was cause for celebration. Phish released Sigma Oasis on a Friday, just two days after announcing its release, and My Morning Jacket elected to cobble together unreleased tracks that were recorded while working on their 2015 album The Waterfalland release The Waterfall II. Ms. Taylor Swift spent part of her quarantine in the woods with a few folks and ended up recording not one, but two albums, folklore and evermore. You may have heard about them. I was a little concerned when shutdowns started happening that it would turn off the spigot of new material from musicians but it’s nice to see those concerns weren’t necessary. My concerns about picking out avocados at the grocery store remain though. 17. Joe Biden Was Elected President Like four or five times. I’ve lost count. 18. Instagram Became A Source Of Comfort In A Comfortless World Before quarantine and this whole pandemic thing, I was partial to Twitter. Twitter topped my personal rankings of social media platforms and Instagram was probably second with Facebook third. I had felt that Twitter was a good source of information and news and if you followed the right people, a good place to get a good chuckle every once in a while. But then quarantine changed all that. Twitter became super depressing. And frustrating. And sad. And maddening. Bottom line, lots of cons with Twitter and few pros. That’s not a good ratio. Instagram though was nothing but a good time and as a result, it shot past Twitter and has yet to look back. You can’t travel anywhere, but you can follow Instagram profiles that can make you feel like you’re traveling and you can get more laughs on Instagram. There’s some news on Instagram, but you can filter that out and not feel like you’re missing anything. It’s a win/win Facebook might have fallen to four or five in my rankings. There is nothing in the third spot. 19. Musicians Found Different Ways To Make Up For The Lack Of Live Music With governments throwing the hammer down on large (or even medium or small) gatherings, it meant live music was canceled for the foreseeable future. Now I don’t go out to a lot of concerts anymore but still was bummed about the unfortunate development. An evolution of sorts then got underway. First musicians did live streams from the home and it was fine. Then musicians dabbled in more adventurous live streams. This jam band Goose performed virtual concerts from a barn in Connecticut for a couple weeks in late spring. It was cool. Then musicians dipped their toe in the murky waters of socially-distant concerts, usually at drive-in movie theaters where concert-goers stayed in or very close to their cars. It was pretty inventive. The drive-in shows got fairly popular and popped up around the country. But with the weather turning, they weren’t going to be an option forever. At some point, artists would need to move inside and find out ways to make virtual concerts work. In October, Trey Anastasio of Phish announced The Beacon Jams, an eight-night run at New York City’s Beacon Theater. For eight Friday nights in a row, Anastasio and his band would live stream shows via Twitch. The shows were watched by thousands of people, a community was activated and it was the closest anyone had come to making virtual shows feel like the real thing. Going forward, who knows what will happen but the hope is that someone influential caught The Beacon Jams and took notes. 20. Bubbles Weren’t Just For Sports As ‘The Bachelorette’ Used One To Pull Off A Season The 2020 season of The Bachelorette was supposed to happen in or around September and would feature a Bachelor Nation veteran, Clare Crawley. But you know, the pandemic, and because of that, production was halted. Seemingly inspired by what the NBA and the NHL did, producers of The Bachelorette put together their own bubble, isolating Clare and the dudes vying for her heart at a resort near Palm Springs (one presumably not impacted by time loops.) We were all systems go and the new season premiered in October. Giddy up! Giddy down because Clare found love way sooner than expected and after only a few short weeks, bailed on the show to run off with this dude Dale. Once again, it looked like the show would be torpedoed. But also once again, the producers were quick thinkers and brought in a replacement, another Bachelor Nation veteran, Tayshia Adams, and the show barely missed a step. In fact, it got better as Adams is a much better Bachelorette than Crawley. Also, the production team for this season is killing it, getting super creative to come up with date ideas as they’re still camped out at the Palm Springs’ resort. We could deal without many things in 2020. But I’m not sure a season of The Bachelorette could be one of those things. Oh, and we have a COVID vaccine. So see, it’s not all bad. Ryan harbors a constant fear of losing his keys, prefers flip flops and will always choose cereal if it's an option. He maintains his own blog, Giddy Up America and hasn't gotten a speeding ticket in over the year. He has previously contributed work to UPROXX & Heavy. Ryan is on Twitter: @ryanoconnell79