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  2022-04-18

  COVID-19 and my life.

  I’ll keep this as short and detailed as possible since I could go on and on about how the past few years sucked but also were good. When COVID-19 came to the United States in 2020 I was a Senior in Highschool about to graduate. I was in band with the wind ensemble and I did winter guard as well. I went to Meridian tech in the afternoon for biomedical sciences and was in all sorts of honors clubs. Because of COVID-19 I missed all of our band competitions in the spring, the rest of winter guard, all of my senior activities, a “normal” graduation, and more. I graduated in July instead of May. I respect and followed the mask mandates but it definitely sucked during times like graduation because that was such a special moment that was tarnished by the pandemic. I feel for the 2021 seniors but they at least had a warning. We didn’t. They had time to plan and we didn’t. After that I went to Oklahoma state university and I’m still there. It’s hard to believe that I’m about to be a Junior in college. The last few years have flown by. I missed out on a lot of opportunities and experiences along with everyone else. Luckily, the pandemic seems to be dying down but I know it’s still here. It pisses me off when people say it’s not that bad. One death or millions of deaths is bad and I wish people respected and understood that. But sadly, some don’t and they take this pandemic as a joke. I have yet to get COVID and I’m very happy about that and don’t plan on getting it ever hopefully. It’s caused de watering consequences on both a personal level and a nation wide level. This past year I had other personal experiences that didn’t help which was that my Grandma passed (from heart condition) unexpectedly, I came out to my parents as a lesbian and they’re homophobic, one of my dogs is in renal failure currently, my elderly neighbor who is like another grandma to me got run over by a car (she’s doing good now), I’ve made mistakes that caused me a lot of pain but I corrected them and am working on myself, and more. I know everything I’m saying is so negative but I can’t recall a whole lot that was positive in the last two years. My best friend is my girlfriend and we’ve been dating for 4 years, I just went to an oddities expo, etc. so at least there’s some positive things. There’s more that I haven’t said but not a whole lot more. Either way since 2020 life has been very hard. Not just for me but everyone. I just hope it goes up from here.
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  2020-04-13

  Art by Me

  At the start of the pandemic, the only thing kind of entertainment people relied on was the television or their phone. Like most other high school students who are addicted to their phone, I was one of them. I was always laying in my bed scrolling through TikTok or looking on Snapchat. I mean, that was the number one thing to do. We weren't allowed to be out of the houses, going to sports events because the sad reality was that all of them got canceled. A couple months after the pandemic began, I started to lose interest being on my phone, it was no longer a source of entertainment, more rather repetitive. I've always loved art, drawing, crafting, making things at home. I grew up with an artistic, crafty mother. I decided that I wanted to create panting to hang up in my room, that is how it all began. I wanted to add more decorations to my room, and I admired the fact that it was my own art. Every day, I would sketch, draw and paint a different piece. I honestly fell in love with it, and I realized it was kind of like an escape from reality. I wasn't ever focused on anything else when I was painting, even though I am a perfectionist. I started showing my family members and friends my artwork and shortly after, people were asking me to paint them a custom piece. Of course, I couldn't say no so, I got the opportunity to paint my, soon to be, little sisters name board for her baby room. My family absolutely loved it and so did I. I wanted to expand the type of art I was creating so I decided to decorate my high school cap for my graduation that had been postponed, due to the pandemic. I sketched the outline of a paw print and filled the inside with different types of orange flowers, since I was going to Oklahoma State University and studying in animal sciences, I thought it was fitting. Through the rest of the pandemic up until school started back up and I was off to college, I was creating art. I used to look back at the pandemic and remember all negative moments that had happened, like the second half of my senior year getting canceled and summer not feeling like summer. Now, I feel like I've matured enough mentally to realize that I got to explore more about myself and learn about what kind of things make me happy, something not a lot of people get to do or even realize they can do.
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  2020-03-12

  The emails

  It's March 2020, a young freshmen college student is packed and ready to head to the airport for her one and only shot at study abroad for the next 4 years. As she lugs her suitcase down the stairs of her dorm she gets an email that she will never forget, the study abroad trip has been cancelled do to an outbreak of new viral disease in Berlin Germany. Disappointed she headed back upstairs to call her parents and let them know. She unpacks, and repacks from her home in Texas instead. Once home she receives another email from her school, classes will be online for 2 weeks after spring break due to this new viral disease going around. She's upset but settles in to doing class at home. Then comes another email. School will be online for the rest of her semester, move out from the dorms will be staggered over the next couple of weeks and return date to campus is unknown. She is upset and sad over the loss over the end of her freshmen year, but hopeful that this new disease will settle down and that life will be able to return to normal in the fall. Alas this was not true and the series of unfortunate emails just keep coming, email after email. She kept being disappointed and heart-broken over all the loss of memories and chances do to a virus. 2 year later, she now wonders will the emails ever stop?
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  2022-04-13

  The College Years: Pandemic Edition

  When I was a sophomore in college, I had just gotten my dream job of being a community mentor when the campus heard the rumors that we might be getting an extra long spring break because of the virus. Originally, I thought everyone was blowing it out of proportion but then I quickly learned I was wrong. The extended break quickly turned into two years later. Most of my friends had graduated and I was now a senior becoming a supervisor over the community mentors. The pandemic was a major period of growth for me, but I learned something important in the process: you never know when the last time you see someone or experience something will be. So many people I know lost someone to this virus, including me. I wish I could go back and cherish more time with those individuals before the pandemic.