Some people swim in their basements. At least, the rich folks who have basements. We were poor and had to swim in the cellar whenever there was a tornado threat.

My advice is to write in your native tongue. It makes writing more comfortable and it's less painful for readers to get through. I don't mind using my page translation browser extension.

And happy writing!

Using Google Translate, myself, doesn't make my eyes and brain bleed like slogging through something someone else has before publishing. I can't explain the difference, though.

Sorry. Kiel took down A Game of Life and Death before leaving the site.
And welcome!

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways, such as building a time machine and going back to when you were thinking of entering the contest to slap yourself in the face or maybe hacking the site and deleting the name yourself. But, the easiest way would probably be to actually finish one that you've entered. At least, that's how I would do it.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to open their borders right now. In fact, if I could I'd erect a border around my property to keep Americans out. In lieu of that, I'm prepared to put up a wall of lead if worse comes to worst. I've been preparing for just such an occasion for decades. ;)

With my dad now in a nursing home, this has been my biggest fear and I'm still losing sleep over it. They're still in phase I which means total lockdown, but since a lot of the staff have children and their own personal lives to deal with, it's only a matter of time until it makes its way inside.

I've been in near complete isolation since early March and haven't come within thirty feet of another person other than my asthmatic, 87-year-old business partner since we reside in the same house. I've had to tell younger family members with nothing to do that want to come for a visit to stay away until this virus goes away or is no longer a threat. ...and I've been climbing the walls since about the second week.

Now that there's a bit more known about the virus and more people are surviving it, I hope your mother comes through it alright. We're all in this together.

This is the site I've been using to keep up with the climbing death rates since the TV news seems to always be a few days behind.

Oh, and I've hand-sewn up a couple masks from patterns I found online in case I might need 'em. Thankfully, I've come up with creative ways to get things done that don't require me to leave my property so haven't needed them.

My grandmother used to talk about that when we were kids and we'd complain about the mustard poultices and whatnot, then Grandpa would start in about how fresh cow manure was great for cold sores and chapped lips since it'd definitely keep you from licking them.

You're still here? Anyway, I've only been a member for roughly half a year longer than you so I probably need my head examined, as well.

Anyway, congrats!  I can hardly wait to read your future stories.

Sorry. I just now noticed this thread.

I've been an insomniac for a couple decades now. Both sleeping and pain pills don't agree with me and I end up seriously considering ways of opting out. That's not who I am, though, so I steer completely away from them nowadays. I have taken an aspirin shortly before going to bed after it was recommended to me, but I couldn't tell if it had any effect.

I don't know if anyone else has mention this, but I find that just dragging myself out of bed and doing some sort of heavy labor seems to help with the following night. Maybe taking a brisk walk a few hours before bed might help? Or just rearranging a few heavy pieces of furniture might work, too.

I also have less trouble in the Spring after doing some heavy gardening prep. I don't know if that's an option for you, but there may be something similar you could try.

Anyway, I hope it gets better or, at least, not any worse.