4 ms·

I think you are wrong. It's a great excuse to get out of the house and go out to do something still somewhat lowkey social. You can't always just hang out at ho

I think you are wrong. It's a great excuse to get out of the house and go out to do something still somewhat lowkey social. You can't always just hang out at home.

grugagag 4y ago
I still do go to the movies but not much option for holywood movies. Independent movies are worth watching in theaters though.
bookofjoe 4y ago
I disagree. I leave my home for 2-3 hours/MONTH to refill my prescriptions and run a couple errands. Been that way since March 2020 when Covid appeared and have no intention of altering my routine.
- dylan604 4y ago
  well i'm so glad you get to define what everyone else gets to do. it's such an honor to be limited by your preferences. thanks for being that person for us all.
- pharmakom 4y ago
  Hope you are doing OK
  - bookofjoe 4y ago
    See above
- wonderwonder 4y ago
  I am not attacking here, I am genuinely interested. Why do you isolate like this? Are you or a family member severely immunocompromised? Or is it a general unease over catching COVID? If it's the latter how long will you continue to live this way? Just curious, you will of course live your life however you want.
  - bookofjoe 4y ago
    Source: 74-year-old retired (2015) neurosurgical anesthesiologist (38 years) I isolate because it's the safest way to live in terms of avoiding Covid. It works just fine for me: everything I need can be ordered/delivered to my front door/mailbox. I live alone (with my cat so, far from alone... but I digress) and am not immunocompromised or otherwise ill. In fact, the opposite is true: I won the Richmond Half-Marathon in 2018 in a time of 1:55 [sub-9-minutes/mile] (Men 70-75); finished 3rd in 2019 in 1:57; and am determined to win this year's race (Men 75-80; I turn 75 on June 8 and the race is on November 11, 2023). People I know keep getting Covid; some 525 people/day in the U.S. die of Covid; long Covid basically destroys lives and is doing so to millions of Americans. It's as if by declaring an emergency over, by some magical spell it becomes true to many; not to me. I already know EXACTLY how long I will continue to live this way and have told this to my family (daughter/son-in-law/6-year-old grandson who live in Pittsburgh, whom I last saw in person in November 2019). When the U.S. death rate from Covid equals that from car crashes (45,000 in 2022; 120 people/day), that is when I will toss my 3M N95 masks in the trash and live like everyone else. What with the current figure of 525 deaths/day — up from around 300, the lowest it's ever been, in October 2022, since when it's risen steadily — I project around 2027-2030.
    - wonderwonder 4y ago
      Interesting approach. Why choose a metric such as car crashes instead of something like the flu? Although I think they are both likely in the same ballpark. I'm glad to see you are still active despite being isolated. You are obviously a smart person and likely more familiar with the medical aspects of this than me due to your background. Do you feel at all that you are staying this path due to the initial justified fear of the disease and now it's simply a part of your mindset or do you think you are able to frequently reassess your isolation from a new unbiased point of view? Again this is not an attack, you are obviously making many sacrifices to live this way and sometimes it's hard to take a step back and see the whole picture. Pros vs cons. Were you an introvert before (as that may have eased the transition)? What are your thoughts on those that no longer isolate, especially people with kids? Feel free to ignore some or all of my questions:) Again, no judgement, just interested in the mindset and perspective of those that have made this decision.
brightball 4y ago
Totally agree with you. Going to movies is a fun and easy group activity with friends. Box office numbers for blockbusters still shows plenty of people like going to the movies. You just don't hear about much outside of the blockbusters anymore. Comedy and romantic comedy seems to have largely died out for some reason.
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
Agree with this, but the overall effect is that there will still be a great reduction in the overall numbers of theatergoers. Used to be that if you wanted to see a new movie you had to see it in theaters. Now you have a lot more options, so going to the theater is more of a planned, special event. I think the analogy to music fits. Before recorded music there were tons of music venues because if you wanted to hear music (and not your own), you had to get out of the house. Live concerts and performances most definitely didn't die, but they became more of a special-event type of thing.
- andsoitis 4y ago
  > Before recorded music there were tons of music venues because if you wanted to hear music (and not your own), you had to get out of the house. recorded music has been around for many many decades, predating everyone alive.
prepend 4y ago
I love movies and agree it’s a great excuse to get out. But that doesn’t stop my sentiment. I also love paper comic books, but they are basically dead as far as a popular art form in and of themselves.

I think you are wrong. It's a great excuse to get out of the house and go out to do something still somewhat lowkey social. You can't always just hang out at home.

grugagag 4y ago

I still do go to the movies but not much option for holywood movies. Independent movies are worth watching in theaters though.

bookofjoe 4y ago

I disagree. I leave my home for 2-3 hours/MONTH to refill my prescriptions and run a couple errands. Been that way since March 2020 when Covid appeared and have no intention of altering my routine.

dylan604 4y ago
well i'm so glad you get to define what everyone else gets to do. it's such an honor to be limited by your preferences. thanks for being that person for us all.
pharmakom 4y ago
Hope you are doing OK
- bookofjoe 4y ago
  See above
wonderwonder 4y ago
I am not attacking here, I am genuinely interested. Why do you isolate like this? Are you or a family member severely immunocompromised? Or is it a general unease over catching COVID? If it's the latter how long will you continue to live this way? Just curious, you will of course live your life however you want.
- bookofjoe 4y ago
  Source: 74-year-old retired (2015) neurosurgical anesthesiologist (38 years) I isolate because it's the safest way to live in terms of avoiding Covid. It works just fine for me: everything I need can be ordered/delivered to my front door/mailbox. I live alone (with my cat so, far from alone... but I digress) and am not immunocompromised or otherwise ill. In fact, the opposite is true: I won the Richmond Half-Marathon in 2018 in a time of 1:55 [sub-9-minutes/mile] (Men 70-75); finished 3rd in 2019 in 1:57; and am determined to win this year's race (Men 75-80; I turn 75 on June 8 and the race is on November 11, 2023). People I know keep getting Covid; some 525 people/day in the U.S. die of Covid; long Covid basically destroys lives and is doing so to millions of Americans. It's as if by declaring an emergency over, by some magical spell it becomes true to many; not to me. I already know EXACTLY how long I will continue to live this way and have told this to my family (daughter/son-in-law/6-year-old grandson who live in Pittsburgh, whom I last saw in person in November 2019). When the U.S. death rate from Covid equals that from car crashes (45,000 in 2022; 120 people/day), that is when I will toss my 3M N95 masks in the trash and live like everyone else. What with the current figure of 525 deaths/day — up from around 300, the lowest it's ever been, in October 2022, since when it's risen steadily — I project around 2027-2030.
  - wonderwonder 4y ago
    Interesting approach. Why choose a metric such as car crashes instead of something like the flu? Although I think they are both likely in the same ballpark. I'm glad to see you are still active despite being isolated. You are obviously a smart person and likely more familiar with the medical aspects of this than me due to your background. Do you feel at all that you are staying this path due to the initial justified fear of the disease and now it's simply a part of your mindset or do you think you are able to frequently reassess your isolation from a new unbiased point of view? Again this is not an attack, you are obviously making many sacrifices to live this way and sometimes it's hard to take a step back and see the whole picture. Pros vs cons. Were you an introvert before (as that may have eased the transition)? What are your thoughts on those that no longer isolate, especially people with kids? Feel free to ignore some or all of my questions:) Again, no judgement, just interested in the mindset and perspective of those that have made this decision.

brightball 4y ago

Totally agree with you. Going to movies is a fun and easy group activity with friends. Box office numbers for blockbusters still shows plenty of people like going to the movies. You just don't hear about much outside of the blockbusters anymore. Comedy and romantic comedy seems to have largely died out for some reason.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago

Agree with this, but the overall effect is that there will still be a great reduction in the overall numbers of theatergoers. Used to be that if you wanted to see a new movie you had to see it in theaters. Now you have a lot more options, so going to the theater is more of a planned, special event. I think the analogy to music fits. Before recorded music there were tons of music venues because if you wanted to hear music (and not your own), you had to get out of the house. Live concerts and performances most definitely didn't die, but they became more of a special-event type of thing.

andsoitis 4y ago
> Before recorded music there were tons of music venues because if you wanted to hear music (and not your own), you had to get out of the house. recorded music has been around for many many decades, predating everyone alive.

prepend 4y ago

I love movies and agree it’s a great excuse to get out. But that doesn’t stop my sentiment. I also love paper comic books, but they are basically dead as far as a popular art form in and of themselves.