Though newspapers generally report on current or upcoming events, we decided to record my personal experiences during April of the COVID-19 pandemic to be looked back upon later. This article will be updated daily and is a continuation of a log started in March, which can be found on the Torch website (torch.glenbrook225.org/lifestyle/2020/05/14/quarantine-chronicles/). This article will be updated daily.

Day 50 – Thursday, April 30

4:19 a.m. – I wake up. I haven’t been sleeping well, partially from stress and partially from the whipped coffee I reward myself with if I finish school early. My cat is lying right in the middle of my bed, so I have to try to go back to sleep around her to avoid waking her. Instead of sleeping, I just lie there.

Day 49 – Wednesday, April 29

11:58 a.m. – I finally decide to hem the shirt I painted weeks ago. I feel like the timeline is indicative of how I’m doing right now. Normally, I would start a project and finish it by the end of the week, but I’ve been putting off finishing this for over a month.

8:25 p.m. – I have finished the hem and mended every item of clothing I own. Now, I’m staring at my ceiling listening to the same five songs over and over again because my Spotify playlist got messed up, but I don’t have the will to fix it. 

Day 48 – Tuesday, April 28

7:07 p.m. – I try to work on writing a Torch article, but I don’t have any motivation. I have an impending sense of dread that I can’t pin to anything. I go to work on my research paper instead. I accidentally write in block formatting and when I change it to MLA it goes from three pages to seven, putting me over the page limit. I give up and take a nap. 

Day 44 – Friday, April 24

7:50 p.m. – I pick up boba from my favorite cafe. They reopened this morning and I’ve been looking forward to it all day. The parking lot is filled with cars waiting for their drinks to be brought out. In my rearview mirror, I see three cars with their backs open. Girls are sitting, chatting and drinking boba together with one in each car. I wonder if it would be safe for me to do that with my friends. I don’t think you’re allowed to spend nonessential time with people, even if it’s six feet apart.

Day 37 – Friday, April 17

5:55 p.m. – I receive an email from Superintendent Charles Johns that school will remain closed through the end of the year. I would be shocked if I wasn’t already operating on the assumption that we wouldn’t go back. One thing I am afraid of, however, is that this will creep into the 2020-2021 school year. As we learn more, the timeline stretches further and further into the future. I’m still tired of this. My days are short and strange. I wake up at 9, fill out my attendance form, do my work (which is sparse) and finish around noon. The rest of my day is spent walking my dog and watching TV. 

7:20 p.m. – My phone rings. It’s a call from a Northbrook number. I decline it, assuming it’s a telemarketer. About five minutes later, I receive another call from the number. I pick up. It’s the school calling to notify me of the closure. 

8:00 p.m. – I check Instagram and I am met with the woes of the class of 2020. My entire feed is composed of old photos of them with their friends, with captions saying goodbye. It hits me that, despite the pandemic, they were all secretly hoping, even just a little bit, that they would finish their senior year in the halls of GBN. I feel sorry for them. In just a year, I’m going to have to say goodbye too (though hopefully under more normal circumstances).

Day 35 – Wednesday, April 15

1:09 p.m. – Nothing’s going on. I haven’t had the motivation to do anything in the past couple weeks (including this log). I’ve been watching a lot of TV. I tried to go on some virtual college tours, but they weren’t helpful and gave me a headache. I guess I’m just going to take a shot in the dark applying. I have no sense of time. Days and weeks and hours are all synonymous to me right now. I haven’t been trying very hard at online school. My baseline grades are in, so as long as I complete everything I should be fine. It’s hard to focus on differential equations when there’s a pandemic going on. I downloaded TikTok a while ago. I prefer it to the news. I think I’m going to start writing my Common App essay. I’m bored and I want to feel productive.