Besides taking care of my kid and rekindling my love for toys, being connected online is one of the things that kept me sane during this pandemic. Well, it’s not like I really have loads of free time—spell A.K.I.R.A., my son, and house chores—but the Internet does help in keeping us entertained, traveling being out of the equation as of the moment.

ONLINE MUSIC

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MY CD COLLECTION, BURIED BENEATH OUR BED

I do have a big music CD collection from the seventies up to the nineties, mostly rock and alternative music. Having an extensive library is good if you have a CD player, but it has been more than a decade since I last had one. And I have yet to digitize all my compact discs on my computer yet. Plus, all my discs are stuck under our bed. So, for quick solution, Spotify is there to fill in the gaps. Plus, if I don’t feel like listening to full albums—I’m an album guy, by the way—I’ve made several playlists on it to cater to my mood.

SERIES, MOVIES, VLOGS

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NETFLIX AFTER AKIRA HOURS

VHS and DVDs used to rule parts of my bookshelves, now I barely have any of these. The Interweb has indeed revolutionized the home viewing experience. Our movies and TV series are now sourced from Netflix, local TV shows and news, we now watch on YouTube—heck, we don’t even have cable TV now, nor an antenna for local channels. For shows that we just run in the background while doing something else, we turn to vlogs.

A tip for Netflix users who want to access shows available only to other countries, you can try using a VPN. What’s a VPN?

ONLINE GAMES

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TANK WARS AT PLAYS.ORG, IT IS BATTLE CITY!

I’m a casual gamer at best, but I do have a few games installed on my phone—hello, SimCity—and I do indulge now and then with a quick online game or two. That’s me taking a tad too long in the toilet, lol. Being a nineties kid, a bit of nostalgia is a good thing during this pandemic, and I found Tank Wars, an update to the Family Computer classic Battle City to be a real stress reliever.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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SOCIAL MEDIA BY WIKICOMMONS

Everyone’s on social media these days, even my mom. While I really don’t interact much on Facebook, I mostly scroll across the newsfeed to check what’s happening with my acquaintances and friends. I’m more active on Messenger as a way of keeping connected with my real-life friends since meeting up isn’t really possible at the moment.

ONLINE SHOPPING

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SHOPPING AT A GROCERY STORY IN MOSCOW. I MISS THIS!

If you check the app time usage on my phone. Shopee and Carousell hogs the spotlight. No malls. No problem. Don’t tell my wife. Lol. But online shopping is not just about toys. Who says it is? My wife would probably say. With going outside too risky, I now do even our grocery online. No need to carry everything back to the house, and you also earn points and discounts for your purchase. I do miss going to the supermarket though. Happy place.

VIDEO CONFERENCING

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FRIDAYS IN OUR HOUSEHOLD. OR MORE APTLY, IT’S FRIYAY!

Weekends used to be held in bars, amidst bottles of beer, fried food, and crazy stories—a total impossibility nowadays. Though I still religiously celebrate Friyays inside our home with the wife, we sometimes try to recreate the good ol’ pre-pandemic Fridays with a Zoom call with our friends. Same bottles of beer, fried food, and stories, but on a smaller screen. It’s still better than nothing.