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By Finn Bell

Inside a young mind

 

For the past eight or so weeks, I have woken up to emails notifying me about my new daily schoolwork assignments. Each day brings a new math lesson, a new writing activity for English and another free response question for AP Human Geography.

I try to get these done quickly yet methodically, and I’ve really focused in on Human Geo since that is my one surviving exam. From there I normally eat a bowl of cereal and wait until noon when my parents let me play video games and other less productive things, in the meantime I just get what I can do done.

That seems to be the bulk of the day for me and many other people my age. I know that a few may have projects at home that keep them busy, or some others may be on little excursions to the beach or the lake.

Unlike some, my parents seem pretty focused on staying in one place for the time being. I’m quite alright with it since I have a job in downtown Saluda, something that is one of my only tethers to life from only a few months ago. I’m really glad that people are finding things to do that also bring a sense of normalcy to their life. I’ve seen way too many beach pictures on Instagram, and a lot of home projects that I know people wouldn’t have dreamt of completing on a normal schedule.

One thing I find funny is Zoom. I think it is hilarious that there’s now a cliche to quarantine!

I don’t know what happened to FaceTime or Google Hangouts, but the new video chat app must be making bank off of the online cousin birthdays and college classes. I really do think it’s good that people are still finding ways to connect and be happy throughout all that’s going on.

I’m really lucky to have been working in a restaurant before the shutdown and was never laid off. It’s one of my only connections to society and it is very pleasant to see the same people on the same schedule as before the shutdown. We have actually been very busy at work. We sell pizzas on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. I am amazed at the number of customers we get, a few nights we sold out entirely.

It’s good to have something that keeps me busy, but I am worried about the leisure activities everyone will be missing out on until the state reopens. I know I am looking forward to the summer, when hopefully I’ll be working at a summer camp in Brevard, but it’s looking like there’s no chance of that happening. I also think that if the government lets us open up too early, then we may miss school next year if the virus spreads over the summer.

It will be interesting to see what people come up with to entertain themselves during the hot summer if they can’t travel or interact with a ton of people. Personally, as long as I have a job, a few friends to meet up with occasionally and a family that doesn’t drive me crazy, I’m sure to survive this and see everyone else when this all wraps up.