Part 3 – We Were Supposed to Be Working

Mini shelf made from discarded hardwood cabinet doors.

It’s simple math really, when the lockdown did away with my one-hour commute, I was left with two extra hours every day with which to fart around. I learned some Portuguese, worked on carpentry, even made a trdelník. However, the luster of learning actual useful skills and home exercise soon faded and YouTube’s warm embrace beckoned. Its algorithmic tendrils ensnared my slushy brain and I was pulled down into the dark abyss.

I was a cable TV cord cutter, and it started innocently enough as watching news clips on YouTube. One story caught my attention amidst the barrage of toilet paper melees at Walmart and Karens getting their comeuppance, someone sold a single video game for tens of thousands of dollars (though we would later find out it was mostly concocted by a scammy video game appraisal service and its sketchy auction house business). Maybe because I watched it more than once, or shared it with a few friends, but soon my feed started including retro game hunting vlogs, people showing off the games they bought every week and room tours that housed said games. I was hooked.

Part of me said I needed to go back to doing productive things, like wood working. Part of me said I needed shelves to display my junk. I did both.