Lockdown Projects

[Josquius]

There's a novel I mean to write.

But I continue working from home and don't really have any leisure time to myself outside of that.

[Razgovory]

English translation?

Literary Spanish tends towards long sentences and Cervantes certainly was fond of that.

English.  It takes me 15 minutes to get through one sentence as is.

To repeat my favorite Henry Kissinger quote, "Senator, you know that in one minute I don't even get to the verb."

Cormac McCarthy occasionally throws in very long incomprehensible sentences.

A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets, one in a stovepipe hat and one with an umbrella and one in white stockings and a bloodstained weddingveil and some in headgear of cranefeathers or rawhide helmets that bore the horns of bull or buffalo and one in a pigeontailed coat worn backwards and otherwise naked and one in the armor of a spanish conquistador, the breastplate and pauldrons deeply dented with old blows of mace or saber done in another country by men whose very bones were dust and many with their braids spliced up with the hair of other beasts until they trailed upon the ground and their horses' ears and tails worked with bits of brightly colored cloth and one whose horse's whole head was painted crimson red and all the horsemen's faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools.

[Savonarola]

Still working, but I have some additional free time.  My plan is to finish up the Duolingo Spanish course and put a serious dent in the reverse (English for Spanish speakers.)  Strangely, my ultimate goal is to read Don Quixote in Spanish; but that's a long way away.  I plan to at least get through some of the Boom first.

I've also been putting up food.  So far I've made pickled eggs , a specialty of my college town of Houghton, Michigan.  (I'm guessing because of the Cornish influence in the region.    Pasties (the meat pie, not the nipple coverings) are also a specialty of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.)

[merithyn]

I'm working on five historical book recreations, making three dresses, and one skirt.

Mostly, I'm just cooking and baking, though.

[mongers]

I'm working on five historical book recreations, making three dresses, and one skirt.

Mostly, I'm just cooking and baking, though.

Nice.

I had considered doing a woodwork project or two for the garden, but my inexperience with power tools and a shed full of sharp traditional tools, would be an accident waiting to happen. And not a good idea to risk going to a hospital at the moment.

[Barrister]

For projects, mostly just cleaning/decluttering.  Still working, and Mrs B is busy trying to home-school the kids, so we don't have a massive amount of free time.

Where I've noticed it is A: the commute.  If I work from home there isn't one.  If I do have to go to the office/court it takes half the time.  Definitely getting more sleep than before.

B: the weekend.  Weekends used to be non-stop with kids activities (mostly hockey).  Now there's... nothing.

[11B4V]

Not on lockdown, so I will try as many bourbons as I can.

[KRonn]

Just finished Thucydides, he was decent. Going to re-read the Gospels and Paul's epistles now that I've got the proper historical context to read between the lines and then finally dive into the 5th century Christological debates because why the hell not. After that I'm going to tear through the Icelandic sagas, maybe study Old English in the process. Now's probably a great time to sink your teeth into all the Western heavyweights you always promised yourself you'd get around to. Augustine, Origen, Aquinas, Dante. Feel free to add suggestions.

Working from home now part time so my routine hasn't changed much, but I do have a list of books I've been working on for a while. Europe between the Oceans, Sapiens (a bit like Guns, Germs and Steel), a history of Rome, and a couple of novels, mostly sci-fi and fantasy. I just read different ones depending on mood, not always reading one book through at a time.

[HisMajestyBOB]

I am still working fulltime and have three kids. Sometimes I feel kind of frustrated that I am staying home so much yet am not getting many projects done, but then when I think about it it isn't too surprising.

Same, except one kid, a two year old.

I'm actually reading a lot less now that I'm not on the Metro for two hours a day, and the time saved by not commuting is mostly spent playing with my son. I highly recommend having a toddler on hand if you need to be quarantined, because you will definitely not be bored.

Iormlund, if you're learning machine learning using Python, I can send you some books and online courses that helped me.

[Grey Fox]

Yeah, I have a 6 & 8 years old, I am not bored!

[mongers]

Damn, enough arseing around, I need to get organized;

I wonder if there's a useful computer programming language I'd be able to learn?

What needs to be organised in the house?

[Iormlund]

Knowing the "right" programming language is not as important as people think. If you know your basics you can make the jump between languages relatively easily.

That been said, I always recommend starting with Python. Simply because it forces you to learn good habits from the start, plus it has tons of resources online.

[Grey Fox]

Learn to manage memory, it is dieing skill in the young ones.

[mongers]

Knowing the "right" programming language is not as important as people think. If you know your basics you can make the jump between languages relatively easily.

That been said, I always recommend starting with Python. Simply because it forces you to learn good habits from the start, plus it has tons of resources online.

Thanks Iorm I shall look into that this weekend

[KRonn]

I'm working on five historical book recreations, making three dresses, and one skirt.

Mostly, I'm just cooking and baking, though.

Those are relaxing and productive projects! I have a sewing machine at the house but never really learned to use it much.