Now we have so much time, but so little to do

Before coronavirus plunged most of the world into its current state of suspended animation, a common complaint was that there weren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything we needed to do.

But now there are too many hours in the day, because there’s hardly anything we can do.

Schools, stores and restaurants are closed. Theaters are dark. Sports are cancelled. Even holidays are affected; there’s a good chance Cinco de Mayo won’t be observed until September. Just about the only way to fill the time is to drive from supermarket to supermarket in search of toilet paper.

With no end in sight, the situation is particularly difficult for suddenly unemployed workers and parents of suddenly homeschooled children.

But it’s also problematic for senior citizens, who are supposed to self-quarantine because we’re at higher risk of infection.

I appreciate the concern and, of course, am happy for the opportunity to spend all day after day after day at home with my wife reading books, watching television and trying not to think about our 401(k)s. But eventually you run out of books to read and television shows to watch and days start feeling as if they’re lasting 39 hours.

On Tuesday, USA Today published a list of “100 things to do while you’re in quarantine,” but I didn’t find it very helpful.

The list including suggestions such as “organize your spice rack alphabetically,” “memorize the periodic table” or “look at pictures of puppies.” But my spice rack already was organized alphabetically and I never saw the point of memorizing the periodic table in 11th grade and still don’t. I didn’t get around to looking for pictures of puppies, but I did come across a video of penguins waddlng at the

Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, so I watched that. Twelve times.

For the next few days we filled time by cooking. She baked cookies and cake, I made bolognese pasta and chicken paprikash. So now we have a refrigerator full of food we really shouldn’t eat because they’re packed with calories we can’t work off since the gym is closed.

Inevitably, my wife decided this would a good time to do some projects around the house, such as cleaning out closets. Before this self-quarantine thing, I could dodge ordeals like that by explaining I was getting ready to go the gym.

Or that this was the day my tennis league played. Or I needed to get to the office. But now the gym is closed, the tennis league probably won’t get together again until it’s warm enough to play outdoors and I’m supposed to file my column electronically from home.

And the days keep getting longer.