Diary of a Pandemic Survivor

Quarantine Log

To anyone who is reading this: I have decided to create a journal in which to contain my daily thoughts, ramblings, activities, and general reflections during the time in which I am quarantined in my home. I’m hoping that my disorderly cognition and and entertainment interests will be relatable to at least one fellow Highland student. Each week I’ve updated the log with various tidbits of my daily life, thoughts, and struggles during the seemingly eternity that I’ve been trapped inside my home for. 

As I aforementioned, my hope is that my fellow classmates will find my variety of quarantine struggles relatable and possibly comforting. It’s important to find community during these trying times, and if I can console at least one other boredom-filled virus survivor, I will have succeeded. Though my entries may seem exaggerated and at times untruthful, I assure you that they are all incredibly real. I caution you to evaluate your mental abilities before proceeding. My mental state has regressed and I have been quite feral for almost two months now. You’ve been warned. Enjoy!

March 20 (Week 1)

I have been in quarantine for a week. I’ve already forgotten all of my math skills and regressed back into a caveman-like state. I saw Coach Winn on a Zoom call and I have observed that he has experienced a similar change, as his hair has morphed into a mullet-like condition. My hardest experience so far has been not being able to go to McDonald’s for a McFlurry. 

March 27 (Week 2)

My second week in quarantine began with astounding productivity regarding my classwork. However, due to the impending doom of the pandemic that surrounds us, the productivity that I once had was stolen from me within minutes and I returned to the state of procrastination and dwelling indoors. Unfortunately, procrastination no longer brings me the joy and relief that it once did, and I am left with both apathy and no work completed. 

April 4 (Week 3)

My cat is now my best friend. My family has questioned my mental condition, as they’ve heard me talking to her multiple times a day. I’m seemingly stuck in a state of delirium, a never-ending cycle of sugar intake, procrastination, and the occasional venture outside to play tennis. I’ve made a total of 5 batches of cookies in the past four days, not including the approximate pound of cookie dough I’ve eaten in the process. The best part of my day is in the early hours of the morning, when I creep downstairs, quietly open the refrigerator, and take three oranges and my secret stash of cookie dough, before entering the laundry room and shutting the door so I am able to enjoy my snacks in peace and open multiple bags of Doritos without awakening my family. Despite my junk food-filled diet, I have somehow lost weight during this quarantine. I’m not sure how. Everything is strange.

Facetime has been an important tool in terms of communicating with my friends and classmates, as well as Zoom. The weekly Zoom meeting I have with my friends to do biology homework is keeping me sane. The only social media apps that I use are Tik Tok and Instagram, and they’re what keep me up until 1 or 2 AM every night. Without these resources, I surely would have gone crazy by now.

April 10 (Week 4)

As I mentioned in the past week’s log, I have been playing tennis frequently. It is one of the few activities that keeps me sane. The action of repeatedly hitting a ball assists me with the anger I feel when my parents do not allow me to eat only oranges, cookie dough, and Doritos for all three of my meals. Another motivating factor for playing tennis is the fact that my muscles become weak and sore if I do not exercise for even just a single day. Speaking of tennis, I am reminded that Coach Winn and I scheduled a tennis match for this summer. I hope he’s ready. My only worry is that the severe lack of sunlight that I’ve experienced (despite my tennis playing) has weakened my joints. It’s not improbable, as my brainpower and basic cognition skills have already been dulled. My eyesight has also been dulled from the fact that I spend a large portion of each day using either my computer or my phone. I’ve somewhat adjusted to the amount of schoolwork I have, but it’s difficult to focus on one assignment for more than 15 minutes, which is when I begin to wander around the house and mindlessly open doors and cabinets, looking for what I can only assume to be any whim of motivation. 

April 17 (Week 5)

I’ve now been quarantined for over a month. I’ve started embroidering in an attempt to fill the void in my heart, which can only truly be filled with the joys of breaking a ceiling tile in Coach Winn’s backroom, or eating expired food from the table by Highland’s doors. It’s been fun, but my heart longs for what can only be described as good-natured procrastination in Highland’s halls, rather than the dull, lethargic procrastination that weighs down on me as I lay in bed for hours at a time, along with the impending downfall of my grades. Despite this fact, I have grown used to my suddenly-shrunken life and I feel as though I will become feral if and when exposed to actual classes in an actual building with actual people. It is my hope that I will emerge from this quarantine with the ability to return to physical school. We’ll see.