{"id":2456265,"date":"2020-03-24T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T04:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/sean-beckwith-from-isolation-with-love\/"},"modified":"2020-03-25T07:29:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T13:29:57","slug":"sean-beckwith-from-isolation-with-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/sean-beckwith-from-isolation-with-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Beckwith: From isolation with love \u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are ideal writing conditions and then there are \u201clock myself away from the outside world\u201d writing conditions. I can understand the thought process behind barricading yourself in a cabin and getting into your own head until something worthy comes out. But it\u2019s also your decision if you\u2019re going to do that.<\/p>\n

While secluding myself from walking COVID carriers wasn\u2019t how I wanted to end the ski season, s\u2014 happens. That said, you could spend your time following this crisis hour by hour, minute by minute and stocking up like Aspen might be the setting for Snake Plissken\u2019s next \u201cEscape from \u2026\u201d movie and end up buying enough booze and weed to reevaluate your life priorities.<\/p>\n

Or you could take the approach I\u2019ve been trying when I\u2019m not buying out Local Spirits, which is to immerse myself in the arts and the opportunities isolation has weirdly provided.<\/p>\n

I have listened to a load of reggae, specifically Bob Marley (Mostly the B-sides because I wore out the classics years ago). I\u2019m looking for positivity. If you want hip-hop that leans fun and carefree, try A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Big Baby DRAM or even Lil\u2019 Yachty. Blasting various Rat Pack artists at dinner makes everything taste better. Basically, try replacing CNN with music as your background noise and you\u2019ll be a lot happier.<\/p>\n

Speaking of dinner and music, this current situation feels a lot like the cooking scene in \u201cGoodfellas\u201d when they\u2019re passing the time in prison, confined but with access to most* of life\u2019s luxuries. Obviously, don\u2019t make all meals an event \u2014 you\u2019re in isolation, not some kind of reverse fat camp \u2014 but cooking a nice, balanced dinner is not only delicious but is another distraction to stave off negative sensory overload.<\/p>\n

Also, as much as I love \u201cGoodfellas,\u201d that type of programming isn\u2019t exactly light. (I have been rewatching \u201cNarcos,\u201d which also isn\u2019t light, but it\u2019s a dope show that I haven\u2019t seen 25 times.) I love Joe Pesci and Robert de Niro, but there needs to be balance for action movie junkies and \u201cLaw & Order: Molested Children Unit\u201d fans alike.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m open to any comedy right now. I watched \u201cGet Hard\u201d for the first time the other day because I knew there were at least four good laughs \u2014 and Will Ferrell and Kevin hit the over. I\u2019m seriously considering catching up on a decade-plus of below-average Adam Sandler movies because it\u2019s better than trying to get back into \u201cThe Walking Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been watching more or less every episode of \u201cJeopardy\u201d because it\u2019s nice to have some sort of competition to critique. I can\u2019t wait for questionable Double Jeopardy wagers to get scrutinized on \u201cFirst Take\u201d when ESPN runs out of topics if they haven\u2019t already. I wouldn\u2019t know; I haven\u2019t had the heart to turn on Sportscenter since the NBA went dark.<\/p>\n

To that note, I\u2019ve also scaled back social media because there are no more fun, new videos of Zion dunks or deep Dame 3s, so I missed the Tom Brady news by a day or two. So, yeah, at times I have felt like that isolated writer, cut off from the outside world, trying to get the most out of my brain with so much free time on my hands and nowhere to go. But then you remember, \u201cHey, I\u2019m not the only one who\u2019s forced to work from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

My fantasy football group text has produced some of its best moments. We had a debate over would you rather take a weeklong cruise right now or spend a weekend in jail. We still haven\u2019t figured out how to set up Texas Hold \u2018Em or Rummy tournaments but I feel like there\u2019s a breakthrough coming soon.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the opportunity to spend time with the people you\u2019re closest to. Normally, in order for my girlfriend and I to be able to see each other, we have to chart out schedules like they\u2019re business appointments:<\/p>\n

\u201cI can do Wednesday at 5 p.m.?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, that works. Can you do noon Friday?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me check, I might have something with Amy and Rose. I can definitely do 12 on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might work. Let me see if I can shift my 10:30 with Ben up to 9.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now, it\u2019s like, \u201cHey, what time do you have to go into the office?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean my living room?\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cI\u2019m stuck with my family\u201d jokes have been coming in faster than confirmed COVID cases, and I\u2019m not sure how reflective those are. Work gets in the way of spending time with significant others and, for me, to be able to hang out with Caitlin all day, every day, it\u2019s been f\u2014ing awesome, and I\u2019m not sure you can say that about much going on these days.<\/p>\n

So whether it\u2019s blowing up your friends on the group text, binging B-list comedies, listening to \u201cKeep On Moving\u201d for the umpteenth time or spending time with people you love most, be safe, be kind, stay positive and slug a beer or two because this will pass and hopefully sooner than later.<\/p>\n

*I say most luxuries because at this point I would pay money to listen to any sport, not even watch it. Sign me up for the Croatian water polo league pass right now.<\/p>\n

Sean Beckwith is a copy editor at The Aspen Times. Reach him at sbeckwith@aspentimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are ideal writing conditions and then there are \u201clock myself away from the outside world\u201d writing conditions. I can understand the thought process behind barricading yourself in a cabin and getting into your own head until something worthy comes out. But it\u2019s also your decision if you\u2019re going to do that. While secluding myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 08:14:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456265"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456284,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456265\/revisions\/2456284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}