I suppose everyone is different in how they experienced the last year and a half-plus. Still, there are things that really changed in the pandemic, although our lists will differ.

I got my Moderna booster yesterday, and I’m beyond grateful that I could get one. Also, I was pretty darn impressed by Kaiser Permanente and how quickly they seem to have ramped up and repurposed areas for vaccine administration and testing.

That got me thinking about how much has changed in the last 19 months or so and about how our lives are different. My life in particular, of course.

Here are the top five things that really changed during the pandemic – for me, anyway.

Exercise/Working Out

During lockdowns I was relegated to taking walks in the neighborhood, then incorporated some resistance band workouts to my routine once I was able to buy them. Slowly, I added various pieces of home equipment including a dip bar, a chin-up bar, and finally, a set of adjustable dumbbells and a legit flat bench.

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Like everyone else, I was thrilled when the gyms reopened, first as an outdoor venue in a parking garage, then back to the old building with a mask mandate. Problem was, they didn’t enforce the mask mandate and I was uncomfortable, even being vaxxed myself, around maskless heavy-breathing gym bros and gals. So –

I’ve gone back to working out at home and hiking. For now.

Sex

As a single gay man of a certain age, the ready availability of partners had been dwindling already pre-pandemic but came to screeching halt once lockdowns kicked in.

I didn’t go into the pandemic with a partner or any FWB’s like I may have had earlier in life. The helpful venues we had in the community (the baths, the sex clubs) also closed down. Hookup apps don’t really work for me (I just really don’t want to meet status-unknown strangers for right-this-moment-sex at this stage of my life).

Honestly, it reminded me a lot of the fear of the early AIDS days. So basically I went back to what I did then – porn and chat lines became my closest friends. As some sex positive play venues reopen now with mask and vax mandates, I’ll be testing the waters – slowly.

Cooking for One

Can you believe I never ordered food delivery at all pre-pandemic? Yet ordering takeout to be delivered right to my door became my Saturday night treat for months during the pandemic.

It was one thing I could look forward to all week. Even though I mainly ricocheted between a gourmet burger joint and a Lebanese restaurant over and over. It was worth it.

Also, I continued to bake bread for myself, something I’d begun pre-pandemic. I also made a few different kinds of stews (all vegan) which I portioned out and froze. It got to be a steady habit so I’d have to say I ate more consistently and much more healthy during the pandemic. (Basically the cratering of dining out just by itself made me healthier, I could feel it both in my waistline and my wallet.)

Structure

I began to structure my solo days, and soon realized that my life had come to resemble a never-ending kind of high school schedule: The morning walk was first period PE. My creative writing/book work became second period Creative Writing/English. Firing up Mango Languages/Novela watching became third period Spanish. My piano practice became fourth period Piano/Music Theory.

Finally, the Sciatica stretching/Kegel routine became fifth period PE-lite. Then came lunch. And then I made everyday a short-schedule day so I’d have the afternoon off.

I kept this structure six days a week. On Sundays, I replaced most of it with grocery and other shopping and then cleaned the house. I ended up getting a lot done and having much cleaner floors!

Is Going Out Worth It? The New Calculation

Finally, I’ve had to make a new calculation about leaving my house for really anything at all. As in, is it really worth it? As strange as this sounds, living in Los Angeles definitely has its drawbacks, the chief one being, for me, traffic.

Closely followed by general congestion in that there’s just too many people out there. Most of the time.

Things that I do: movies – even if theaters are open, do I wanna sit in a closed theater with strangers for two hours? Maybe I’d rather watch the movie at home where I can pause it to go take a piss?

Back to the gym – do I wanna fight traffic, find parking, and spend an hour in a gym with inconsiderate unmasked bros (and gals too)? Maybe it’s more pleasant and safer working out with my own tunes in my little hybrid home setup.

The 12 Step Meetings I’ve been going to for over 30 years: Same as gym with traffic and parking. It’s so much easier to log into a Zoom call. And I don’t have to be wearing pants to do so! So there’s that.

Restaurants – the main attraction had been the company. Not the food, really. I am not a great cook, but I almost never sicken myself in my own home. I often feel sick the next day after eating out.

So yeah, I think I make a different kind of calculation for going almost anywhere – is it really worth it or can I get what I’m looking for right in my own backyard, so to speak?

I guess time will indicate whether or not these changes are permanent. At the same time I don’t intend to be a hermit.

A sense of isolation pervades all this and I didn’t/don’t like that. But I do want to make better choices for myself and the planet.

Overall, I know these pandemic changes will appear shallow to anyone who was really impacted by the pandemic by getting sick or having loved ones die, and I’m aware of that disconnect. I’m grateful every day that I have been privileged to have access not only to vaccines, but also to government actions that did their best to mitigate the pandemic’s damage in our city – and I’m talking about masks and lockdowns.