Home Alone: The 2020 Version

It’s been every high school student’s dream to stay home all-day, everyday and not have to go anywhere, but now that this is our actual reality, it stinks. Being one of those people who actually wanted to stay home, I now see that it’s no fun and it’s really sad. Sometimes when people wish for something and they get it, they find out they really didn’t want it. We have no idea how long it will take until things get back to normal and honestly that scares me.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to play video games all the time and chill on the couch but it can all get old really fast. Just before the stay-at-home order I was going to apply for a job but now, I don’t even want to risk it. I can’t even do my behind the wheel tests with my instructor. I love my parents and all but I really just want to be away from them just for one day. I just want to hang out with a friend, or even one of my cousins. Being an only child in the household during this is so boring. This virus is really taking a lot away from us high-schoolers.
Distance learning is honestly even more stressful than regular school even though they are “taking it easy” on us for now. I just find myself able to work better in a classroom whereas if I’m home, I have a lot more freedom which often distracts me. I’ve been procrastinating a lot more, but luckily some teachers understand and give me an extra few days to finish the assignments without docking points. The first week of distance learning Schoology kept crashing because of how many people were on it all at once. It was so frustrating that I couldn’t turn in assignments or even go to the assignments to see my actual homework. I ended up coming up with a strategy and it actually worked out.
Before school started I had to get on Schoology and open ALL the assignments in tabs from the day before, and then that day’s homework so I would at least have completed them but I couldn’t turn them in. With all the assignments building up I ended up completing 10 assignments all in one day. And I only have four classes! I felt pretty darn good when I was done. Since then, I believe they fixed the problem and it hasn’t acted up for me again.
The hardest part about all this is not being able to spend time with my boyfriend (in person). Granted, we get to play online video games everyday but it’s really not the same. We like staying active together and before the pandemic we were excited about going on runs, walks, and going rollerblading. All we got to do this spring was go on a 2-mile walk, and bladed 6 miles all on the same day. I will admit, I have called him numerous times and got really emotional about this whole quarantine thing. It’s taking so much away from us. It’s like living the movie “Five Feet Apart”.
Sometimes I realize I don’t actually understand how serious this is. Maybe I think of it as a game, or a test but every now and then I do find myself wondering if it’s all a joke. I know it isn’t, it’s very serious. It’s almost like the world is playing the biggest game of cheese touch. You don’t know who has it, but you stay away from them anyways in fear of getting it. When I pass by people while I’m walking my dogs I can’t help but look at them with some form of distrust and I move into the grass to be as far away as possible. Especially if they’re older folks. I just can’t help it. It’s becoming a new normal for me and I don’t like it.
This pandemic is surely going to ruin a lot of people’s summer plans. Me and my family love to go camping a lot and now we may not even be able to do that as much as we wanted. I really don’t know what summer is going to be like if the quarantine continues. I had so much planned with friends and family. It was going to be such a good summer. But now it could quite possibly be one of the worst summers ever. I’m hoping and praying this all doesn’t extend into the fall. I want to spend my junior year in the school because of all the hard classes I registered for. I don’t think I would be able to focus then. If I can barely focus right now, I don’t want to know how hard it will be for me next year.
One of the things that I really look forward to at the beginning of each school year is the start of swim season. Swimming is my life, and those girls are like family to me. I had some high expectations for myself for next swim season. I had strokes to perfect, and times to beat. But now I’m not even sure there will be a swim season. Or any sports at all for that matter. That’s really going to affect a good majority of the highschoolers.
Although things aren’t great now there’s still hope that things will get better. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.