1/15/21

This is my first time sharing how my quarantine has been and I’m gonna start from the beginning. Last year school got pushed to only online. It was a heck of a lot easier too. Over the beginning of quarantine I was working out constantly. Then I got the news that football was cancelled and I lost my mojo. I have started to get it back slowly. The worst part of quarantine was when the fires were raging. You kinda feel helpless in the way were you can’t control anything. School this year has been kinda rough, it has been hard to stay motivated to log onto to zoom everyday. It can really take a toll on someone mentally that’s why I try to hang with people I like as much as possible. Now there is the political drama and people just can’t seem to accept someone with different views. That’s all for this week.

June 8, 2020

So much has happened over these months in quarantine. There have been so many ups and downs, and there has been so much uncertainty in the world. As the school year comes to an end, the United States has less sickness and more chaos. We have not seen chaos like this since the 1960’s. When I look back over this crazy time, I realize just how mind-blowing all of this has been. However, throughout this time, everything had an odd sense of normalcy to it. Even in the beginning, when all the stores and restaurants had signs on them saying “Closed due to COVID-19”, it almost felt normal. It was almost as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Now, as I am writing this, it has been 89 days since March 11, 2020. 89 days since one of the key dates in this pandemic. 89 days since stepping foot in Cal Young. 89 days since seeing my teachers and classmates. Over 89 days since eating inside of a restaurant. 89 days since being able to go places without worrying about risks. 89 days since normalcy, or something close to it. 89 days of quarantine.

This pandemic has had so many negatives come out of it. However, there have also been so many positives. I have always been very grateful for school, especially for the teachers and other faculty that work so hard to give us an education. However, I have become even more grateful for school during this time. I have seen how hard all of the teachers and staff have worked during this time, and they have done an incredible job creating a new environment for us to learn in. I am forever grateful for them. This pandemic has also made many people more grateful for the simple things in life. Such as, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, medicine, etc. I feel like we never see the significance of something until we almost do not have it. Sometimes, we have to lose something just to realize how much we appreciate it. This also applies when talking about school, friends, family, restaurants, stores, etc. In some ways, this pandemic has provided us with many positives. Some of which, we may not have realized without COVID-19. 

Now that the school year is winding down, I am realizing that I am ending my time at Cal Young, and that I will be a freshman at the end of this week. It still has not fully sunk-in. I never thought my 8th grade year would end like this. However, I am excited to see what next year will bring, and I am forever grateful for all of the amazing staff at Cal Young who made this strange year, and the other years, possible. I am excited, and nervous, to be starting high school. But, I am excited to see what the future holds, and to see what will happen next. 

June 1st, 2020

A few days ago I made my own Midori style travelers notebook from by hand and I’m really proud of how it came out! It has a faux leather outside and an Aztec pattern lining with stitching on the edges. I wanted to make this journal to keep all of my quarantine entries in because I really like writing about my day and the affect quarantine has in my life. I’m probably going to keep writing journal entries about my day even after quarantine. I was feeling super awful yesterday because I had a lot of stress and quarantine wasn’t helping because I cant really be with my friends to kind of unwind. My head was pounding and my neck hurt a lot. I couldn’t go to bed because I felt BAD. I really wanted to paint or create an artwork but I just couldn’t come up with ideas, so I started watching art YouTube videos and it “inspired” me. I got out my journal and started making a pencil drawing of a sunflower, but I wasn’t feeling like I usually do when drawing. I had art block! I finally just said “whatever” and started scribbling with paint markers and other mediums. Then I made sort of a representation of how different art mediums can make one object be so different. That really relaxed me and I could finally go to sleep.

May 28, 2020

We have been in quarantine for 78 days now. Throughout these days, more things have happened in the world than I can count. Everyday is completely different. That is weird to think about, however, because for the majority of us, everyday seems to be exactly the same. In response to the prompts for today; I try not to look at the news too much. In the beginning of quarantine, I looked at the stats and news a lot. But, I realized that it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to always fill my head with negatives. However, I do still know things that are happening, just not every little detail. Throughout this pandemic, I have definitely felt very alone at times. It’s strange to think that even though (almost) everyone in the world is dealing with similar circumstances, we can still manage to feel so alone. I honestly never realized until quarantine how important socialization really is. I have never been the best in social situations, but it feels weird to not be surrounded by people all the time. So, I just try to keep a positive mindset, even when it’s hard at times.

Friday May 22, 2020

Since it is nearing the end of the school year, I thought I would go ahead and submit a journal entry. Yesterday was my sister’s birthday and we ate at a restaurant for the first time in almost 3 months. It was honestly one of the most exciting things that has happened since quarantine. Speaking of quarantine, some people are highly anxious and worried about this whole pandemic, but I have been finding the good in all of this. I have used this time to focus mostly on myself. I have been focusing on growing closer to my siblings and I have been focusing on growing closer in my faith. I have also been spending a lot less time on my phone and I have been reading instead. Some books I have read and are reading are The Girl Who Dared To Think, The Unwanteds Quests: Dragon Captives, and To Kill A Mockingbird. I have also learned to enjoy what we have right now and not to take things for granted, especially friends and family because you never know when you won’t be able to touch them again. I have also reflected on my life’s past, present, and future. I also know that we shouldn’t panic about this pandemic because everything happens for a reason and there is so much good that has come out of this. This will all be over soon and we just have to get through it. That doesn’t mean that I am not missing anything either. I am missing my friends like crazy, I am also really missing swimming and hiking, and I am really missing traveling. I miss being able to drive places and listen to music as we drive in the car. That is another thing too, when we went in the car to go to the restaurant yesterday, that was the first time that we had all been in a car in a really long time. It was another thing that I had taken for granted that I really enjoy. I also desperately miss going to church in person. I am Catholic and so attending mass is something that is very special and important to me. Going to church online just isn’t the same.  

May 22, 2020

Although we are all in similar situations; stuck inside, cannot see our friends or extended family, cannot go out in public for many things, or even go to school; we are all spending our time in quarantine differently. In response to the prompts for today; I am trying to fill up my time as much as I can. Whether it’s with school, doing some sort of activity, taking a walk or bike ride, or even just relaxing and watching a show. On the one hand, this time is passing very quickly. But, on the other hand, it feels like we have been in quarantine for years. I sometimes cannot even remember what happened just a few days ago. But, like I said, I have been trying to fill my time as much as possible. I have been enjoying reading, baking, cooking, sewing, watching shows, re-decorating some things in my room, taking photos, doing the GooseChase scavenger hunt, and doing other fun school work. There are still some things that I want to do during quarantine, especially once school is out. I think one of the best ways for us to get through this time is to turn the negatives into positives. Instead of sitting around all day doing nothing and being bored, we should try new things and have fun, because we have plenty of time to do it.

May 11, 2020

As I am writing this, I am realizing that we have been out of school for exactly two months now. On the one hand, it feels like a few weeks, but on the other hand, it feels like years. In response to the prompt for today, I know that everyone is in a different situation right now, especially when it comes where they are living. Some people are out in the countryside with acres of land, while others are in an apartment building in a big city with no chance to get even a little fresh air. For me, I am right in the middle. I don’t live in an apartment in a big city, but I also don’t have acres and acres of land in the countryside. I live in a fairly big neighborhood, in a decent-sized house, with a decent-sized backyard, and plenty of opportunities to get fresh air. In that sense, I consider myself to be lucky, and I am very grateful for that. Throughout the day, I am surrounded by the noise of construction across the street, cars driving on the road next to my house, my little brother playing video games, and my dogs playing downstairs. The only site that consistently changes is the progression of the houses that are being built across the street. One of them is being worked on a lot, and it is getting closer to being done everyday. The other one hasn’t really changed for a while, and it kind of reminds me of us right now. We are all, in a way, standing still, without progression, for what seems like years. I think this virus is teaching us many things, one of which is that we are lucky to live in an area where we have access to fresh air, trails to walk, run, or bike on, and many hills and mountains that we can travel to the top of. For a long time, I think I took advantage of all of these things, but now, I will always be grateful for them.

May 7

I have no clue what week it is being quarantined so far it could be a year into it for all I know life has become pretty boring while you’re doing almost the exact same thing day after day. I thought doing school and having to look what day it was would help, but it didn’t. Me and my dad have been trying to work on stuff to pass the time but it doesn’t help, the best part so far is when we have to go into town and see all the people being paranoid and hoarding toilet paper. When I visit my mom and we go to town waiting for the pick up at the Lebanon Walmart 1 out of 3 people will walk out with a 50 to 80 inch tv. (Why do you need that big of one when in a few months there going to break) When we do have to go into stores it’s chaos the cashiers are freaking out with the cornholio virus and they will stay about 8 feet away until you are right behind the plexiglass and if you move so your not in front of it they jump back and freak out. Then there are some people that just don’t care if they get it or not.

5-4-20
Happy May the 4th, May the 4th be with you!!! Today I was thinking about how much having connections with people matters. Talking and seeing people is something that I would not normally notice the importance of. But now since, I am not talking to very many people I really miss it. Through all of the covid-19 stuff I have spent more time in nature and enjoyed more family time. I think being outside in nature helps me calm myself and stay positive about this whole situation. I like this quote that says “look at the sunny side of everything”. So even though the Covid-19 Pandemic has a lot of sad stuff there’s also a lot of benefits. I have noticed that I can spend more family time, life is a lot less rushed, school is a lot less hectic and I have more time to do my hobbies. It’s easy to focus on the bad things because it’s easier but when you look for the positive that’s what you’ll see more of. I think that this covid-19 pandemic is like a jungle. In a jungle there are lots of dangerous things but there are also beautiful things. In the time of covid-19 there are lots of scary outcomes but there are also valuable moments with ones you love.