by Allison Danish, MPH

Most of us have been experiencing some form of quarantine, social isolation, social distancing, or shelter-in-place for well over two months now—and while we’ve got great tools for staying connected virtually… there’s only so much Facetiming you can do before you have nothing left to talk about. And while things are starting to open back up, it’s still important to keep distance. Hang in there! 

So, whether you’re looking for new ways to stay connected to your friends, your partner, or a new romantic interest—we’ve gotcha covered. 

1. Hide and Go Peep

“So I started talking to this guy on Hinge and given the circumstances, we couldn’t go on a “real date.” We’ve been doing the usual movie-watching and chatting, BUT THEN we discovered our mutual love for geocaching (while watching National Treasure). Now we hide new geocaches (like stale Peeps) around our city for each other to find (while taking the appropriate safety precautions ofc).”

-Heidi

2. Sweat's the Name, Roulette's the Game

“My friends and I have made up this ridiculous workout (which I’m very proud of). It’s called Sweat Roulette and we all get on Zoom and everyone has to lead 5 minutes of a workout. We all have to make up a persona, make a playlist and we get really, really into it. It’s a ton of fun.”

-Sarah from Tight Lipped and friends

3. “We’re Riding the Bus to Flavortown!”

via GIPHY

“My partner and I are long-distance, and we’ve had to be apart longer than ever given the current circumstances—so we’ve started to get a little more creative about virtual date night. So, we made ~fancy~ ramen (same dish, different apartments). Like, soft boiled eggs (which did not turn out right, it’s really hard okay??), spam, fish sauce. The works. Oh, and did I mention he dressed up like Guy Fieri? Yup.”

-Mariana

4. Skills: Proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint

“I dunno where we got this idea from, but my close friends and I started hosting weekly “dissertations.” We each pick a ridiculous topic, build a PowerPoint (or Prezi if we’re feeling really fancy). And then we just rotate through people each week.

“Here’re some recent winners:

• Ladies’ Underwear through the ages. 
• Stock Photo Images: A Systematic Categorization from Strange to Almost Believable. 
• I didn’t have time to research, so here are a bunch of pictures of my dog.”

-Asha

Pandemic or not, humans excel at finding weird ways to say “I think you’re neat” (don’t believe us? Check out 10 Weird Ways to Show Your Partner You Care). 

Drop a comment below to let us know how you’ve been getting weird with your loved ones! :)