Are you going stir crazy? You’re far from alone.
Though we know social distancing and other ways of limiting interactions with other people are the right things to do right now, we’d all prefer to live life like we were even two weeks ago. It’ll be a while before we get back to normal, or even something closer to normal.
But whether we’re simply social distancing or have tested positive and are going through 14 days of self-isolation, we can still keep ourselves entertained and distracted when we need to. Take a break from social media and the news every now and then and make some time for yourself.
‘LIVE’ MUSIC
Let’s face it: the only live performances anyone’s going to see in person for a while are in your home if you’re a musician. But many bands and artists are using the Internet as a means to get around that and bring us the closest thing we’ll get to going to a show.
A lot of these performances are going to be one-offs streamed on platforms like YouTube and Facebook, so you’ll have to remember to catch these shows online at a specific date and time. You can find out who’s playing these shows by following your favorite artists on social media and keeping an eye out, and you can also check out websites like bandsintown.com and Sofa King Fest (sofa-king-fest.com) that give listeners a directory for live concert streams with the artists’ preferred donation platform (donations are for the artists themselves or to a charity of their choice). Live Nation started Live From Home, a “virtual hub” for live streaming performances that began this week with Metallica, Miley Cyrus, Third Eye Blind, Gavin Rossdale and more.
Plant City’s own Casey Stidham is one of them. Every Sunday night, Stidham goes live on his Facebook page for a “Stuck Inside with Stiddy Watch Party” acoustic jam session where all kinds of requests are taken — you might hear Garth Brooks, OutKast and the Spice Girls played back to back to back. The shows are free and virtual tipping through Venmo or PayPal is available.
You can also check online for resources like NPR’s living document that will be updated regularly with shows in a variety of genres. That link is online at npr.org/2020/03/17/816504058/a-list-of-live-virtual-concerts-to-watch-during-the-coronavirus-shutdown.
Also, if you still have “Life is Good” by Drake and Future in your regular rotation, keep in mind you now have three more months to sing along as the IRS moved the deadline for filing taxes from April 15 to July 15.
MOVIES, TV AND GAMES
No one’s going to a movie theater anytime soon, which is a bummer for those of us who really wanted to see “A Quiet Place 2” and the next Fast and the Furious movie. But many movie studios warmed up to digital releases way before 2020 started, and Universal even made a few of its new movies (“The Invisible Man,” “The Hunt” and “Emma”) available for streaming shortly after their theatrical release. If the coronavirus shutdowns boost streaming numbers and digital sales, other major studios will likely follow suit and make their content available digitally later on.
When you buy movies digitally, you can still share them with your friends like you would let them borrow your DVDs. Disney’s Movies Anywhere service just launched its Screen Pass feature, which lets you share three movies per month with friends. Each shared movie is available for 14 days, but you have 72 hours to finish the movie once you start it. You can only share movies that are in Disney’s Movies Anywhere network, but there are thousands available and that does include the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars and much more. Visit moviesanywhere.com to make your free account.
Since you have so much time to chill at home, this is a great excuse for you to get through your Netflix and Hulu backlogs. Check online to see if any of the movies and TV shows coming to both platforms in April appeal to you, and it’s also a good time to see what’s leaving so you don’t miss your chance to catch it.
It’s also a great excuse for gamers to spend a little more time on the sticks. If you just got a lot more free time, it’s a great excuse to dive into a role-playing game or check out a title you’ve had your eye on for a while but never got around to playing. Xbox owners should check out Microsoft’s Game Pass feature, which is often on sale for $1 (new subscribers only) but is generally a cost-effective way to get access to hundreds of games at any given time.
This is also a fun time to watch livestreams, as dozens of NBA players are now regularly streaming video games while they wait for their season to resume. For example, Devin Booker found out about the shutdown during a livestream of Call of Duty: Warzone and now the Phoenix Suns are playing out the rest of their regular-season schedule on NBA 2K20 live on Twitch. The New Jersey Devils recently started playing out their remaining schedule on NHL 20 while streaming live on Twitter, too.
Disney World is closed, but anyone who misses riding the rides (but not waiting forever in line) should check out the Virtual Disney World YouTube channel, put on a VR headset if there’s one handy and experience all their favorite rides with a 360-degree camera.
BOOKS
There is no better form of escapism than that of cracking open the spine of a well-worn book and delving into a world far away from the one in which you live. In times of solitude there are countless adventures to mentally embark upon. Thanks to the advancement of technology, you can pick something up without ever leaving your couch.
The Hillsborough County library system lets anyone with a library card access a massive database of ebooks at hcplc.org/books/ebooks. Kindles or any online reading services like the Apple Books app on iPhones or Nook, or even Audible if you want someone to read the story to you, have streamlined the process. If you can’t get to a brick-and-mortar store, fear not: you still can track down nearly any book you’d like.
Library cards are free and you can get yours online at hcplc.org/account/get-a-card. Because libraries are closed, you’re stuck with a temporary card that lasts for 90 days before expiring and can’t register for the real deal online until they re-open and you can physically go there. However, if you’re worried about the library closures possibly lasting longer than that, you can get around this if there are multiple people in your household by having one person sign up for a temporary card at a time.
FITNESS
In theory — emphasis on “theory” — it should be really hard to find anywhere cleaner than a gym. In practice, it’s understandable why some people don’t want to set foot in one for a while. You never know if whoever used equipment before you wiped it down or if they drenched it in sweat when they got up and left it to dry.
So if you’ve ever been curious to try out a home fitness routine, there’s no time like the present. There’s been a surge of home workout videos popping up on YouTube since the shutdowns began, and many workouts don’t require you to have much (if any) equipment on hand. You can do HIIT training and use your bodyweight as resistance in the comfort of your own home. Sports Editor Justin Kline just started an Athlean-X one-month home workout plan (youtu.be/vc1E5CfRfos) that only requires a few things you may already have on hand or can get creative with (in this case, using a cooler instead of a box). When you do get back to the gym after the virus passes, please don’t stop wiping down the equipment after you use it.
If you need fresh air, you can still go outside. You can’t go to Plant City’s parks anymore, as they were officially closed Monday, but you can still use your yard or neighborhood or open walking trails and such for exercise. Just keep an acceptable distance between yourself and anyone else around you.
Chris Welbon Karate Clubs started streaming online classes for kids and adults last week. Visit plantcitykarate.com or check out the Chris Welbon Karate Clubs Facebook page for more information. Ares BJJ, formerly Senshi Do Kai MMA, has online training videos at aresbjjonline.com and anyone who wants to learn a thing or two about Brazilian jiujitsu can contact the Plant City dojo through its Facebook page, facebook.com/AresBjjPlantCity.
EDUCATION
Keeping your brain engaged during the shutdowns will go a long way.
Scholastic is offering a free Learn at Home online program for pre-K-12 students that keeps them engaged for three hours a day over a four-week period with STEM, language arts, social studies and social-emotional learning options available. Visit classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html to get started.
Higher-level education is also free online. All eight Ivy League schools offer more than 500 classes, many of which are self-paced. Visit classcentral.com/collection/ivy-league-moocs to see what’s out there for you.
Khan Academy is another free option that covers topics like math, grammar, science and history as well as standardized test prep for students as young as kindergarten through those who recently started college. Visit khan academy.org to sign up.
If you’ve always wanted to learn how to code, you can do so for free at sites like code.org and freecodecamp.org, as well as Khan Academy.
You can also explore many museums around the world with virtual tours. That includes the Dali Museum in St. Pete, which you can check out at thedali.org/virtual-tour/. Google’s Arts & Culture project has numerous virtual tours, online galleries, 360-degree videos, high-definition zooms and other offerings from hundreds of the world’s best and most famous museums, galleries, collections and curations. Visit artsandculture.google.com/ to get started.
FOOD AND DRINK
When you’re stocking up on food delivered by Amazon or during a necessary Publix run, don’t forget the protein. Ramen does come cheap, but your body will hate you if you don’t shoot for some meal balance where you can.
If you can find everything you need for some recipes you’ve long wanted to try, you might as well throw it all in the cart if you can. Getting creative in the kitchen will keep your eating habits from getting stale at a time when everyone’s hoarding all of the bread, snacks, meats and water bottle packs.
Keep in mind that take-out is still an option, at least as of press time. You may not be able to eat out like you used to, but it’s still a good way to both spice up your meal plan and help local businesses out. Many of your favorite local restaurants still have take-out options and some are even offering free meals to kids (sometimes with purchase of an adult entree) for as long as they can. Call or check online with your favorite restaurants for more information.
SPORTS
The latest NFL free agency period has been a blessing for those of us who were desperate to hear about anything that’s not the coronavirus, but that wave’s not going to last forever. Pickings are slim and sports fans have to be both creative and vigilant when it comes to finding something to watch. Fortunately, we do have options.
Two weeks ago, the NFL made Game Pass free and available for everyone. You can watch any game in full with commentary (and no ads) from the 2009 season to the 2019 season, including preseason and postseason games. You can watch the All-22 footage and Game Pass Film Sessions to learn more about the game, too. All you need to do is visit NFL.com/GamePass and sign up to get access. Sports Editor Justin Kline is going to watch the Sept. 25, 2011 Patriots-Bills game more times than he cares to admit.
Last Sunday, ESPN did us all a solid by bringing back “The Ocho,” its “Dodgeball”-inspired alternative sports programming, for a full 24 hours well before its annual Aug. 8 return date. A lot of us may have taken things like Jelle’s Marble Racing, Stupid Robot Fighting League, the World Sport Stacking Championships, axe throwing and more a little less seriously than, say, March Madness, but these are also most likely to be the sports we’re going to have to keep tabs on for the time being. Let’s hope they keep the Ocho programming going on ESPN2 longer than just one weekend. The WWE and AEW are still doing TV broadcasts, but the arenas are empty and that’s made some of the non-match segments a lot funnier, intentionally or otherwise. Also, WWE Network has opened up most of its vast library for free for anyone with or without a subscription.
YouTube is also your friend in the same way “The Ocho” is. Remember all those strongman competitions and alternative sports leagues ESPN used to broadcast all the time in the late 1990s and early 2000s? A lot of that stuff’s on YouTube now and you can easily kill hours on there digging up things you forgot about that could only have existed back then. Pro Beach Hockey? World’s Strongest Man? Lumberjacking? It’s all there. The UFC is still on for now, but if that ever shuts down and you still want to watch people beat the heck out of each other, dig up some old Pride FC fights. That was the jam. And, of course, you can search just about any sport you like on YouTube and there’s a good chance someone will have uploaded full games from the big four American leagues and the NCAA. You won’t be able to find every game ever broadcast, but there’s still plenty of content at your fingertips.
No major sports league has set a hard return date yet, so it looks like we’re at least a few months out from live pro sports making their grand return to our TV screens. Stay patient.