Dean Daley’s social distancing boredom guide

I’m thankful I live in Canada because, despite our difficulties during the ongoing pandemic, several countries around the world are not battling COVID-19 as well as we are. That said, for us to continue flattening the curve, we need to start taking social distancing seriously, so stay home.

I live in a house with three other roommates, so during social distancing, we’ve gotten to know each other better by hanging out and playing games like Cards Against Humanity. I’m also spending a lot of time doing more solitary activities.

Below are some of the things I’ve been doing to keep busy while social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each member of the MobileSyrup team is writing their own guide regarding what they’re doing to get through quarantine. You’ll see these stories appear on the site over the next few days.

Streamer goals

I’ve decided to start streaming my video game playing. Because, well, why not? I play video games all the time and a lot of my friends are doing it, so I decided to jump in as well.

But to become the ultimate streamer, there are some steps I need to take.

I first needed to buy a PlayStation Camera (yeah, that’s right, I’m becoming a console streamer.)  Secondly, I had to rearrange my room in a way that makes sense for streaming. I think I’ve accomplished this step, but I’m still working on it, and also need a more comfortable chair to game in. I’m also looking at putting some artwork up on my wall to make the backdrop of my stream look better.

Following that step, I need to come up with a catchy streamer name. This has probably been the most difficult part of my quest so far since I’ve yet to come up with a good idea. I’m currently considering names like ‘Stormborne’ and ‘NamelessStorm’ because I really like the Marvel character Storm and I’m a Soulsborne fan.

I’ll likely stream games like Overwatch, Apex Legends and titles I get in advance for my work at MobileSyrup. Keep an eye on my Twitter account over the next few weeks for a link to my streaming channel.

Ring Fit Adventure / Home workouts

I’ve been using Ring Fit Adventure to keep active over the last few weeks. Ring Fit is a game that you can get for the Nintendo Switch that comes with two accessories. One of the Switch’s Joy-Cons slides into a strap that wraps around your leg. The other Joy-Con goes into a ring-shaped resistance band that the player holds and moves around to perform various actions.

The game offers adventure elements with Pokemon-style turn-based combat that requires the user to perform an assortment of exercises. There are even boss battles included in the game. However, what I typically do are the sets and the new Rhythm game mode.

The sets offer a variety of exercises that work on specific areas of the body, similar to sets that you can do in the gym.

The Rhythm feature allows players to exercise to music from different titles like Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2 and Wii Fit. It doesn’t seem like a workout because the longest song is only three minutes, but after 20-minutes of trying to beat your score, you’ll end up sweating like a beast.

Apex Legends

Yes, Apex Legends is just another battle royale game, but I’ve been playing it a lot with my friends lately.

The character I select the most is Bloodhound because they have the power to track their foes. Apex matches feature 20 squads of three players and there are 12 legends with a wide variety of weapons to use.

To be clear, the game isn’t new and released more than a year ago, but with all this quarantine downtime, it’s a great title for passing the time.

RuPaul’s Drag Race

I’m quite happy that Bell’s Crave streaming service has RuPaul’s Drag Race because it’s been one of my go-to shows to watch during the quarantine. With new weekly episodes and its reality TV format, there’s always a lot of drama and new looks each week.

While I’m having fun watching this latest season, I’m wondering how the show will end considering the finale has yet to be filmed. Will the final episode of season 12 be delayed due to COVID-19? While I’m enjoying the show a lot right now, I’m definitely going to be sad when no one gets crowned for months.

Reading

Reading is something I should be doing regardless of COVID-19 and social distancing, but it’s not an activity I often find the time for with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. However, now that I have more time on my hands, I’ve had the chance to catch up on a lot of books. I’ve started the second novel of the Champion of the Dawning of Dragons series as well as RuneBinder by Alex R. Kahler.

Additionally, I’ve been catching up on manga like My Hero Academia and have an ever-growing library of other books on the back burner.

One of my dreams in life is to write a book, so reading a lot more should help with this goal.