MilestonesMonday, May 11th, 2020 Lately for the last week the weather has actually been pretty good. It’s been a little cold here and there but nothing too serious. My boyfriend and I have been going on mile runs along a trail in Schererville. Honestly, I hate running, but running with him makes it bearable. I’m not used to running for long periods of time as gymnastics is a sport where we have short bursts of energy, so this was a major change for me. However, I am adjusting well and actually starting to enjoy it. It’s nice to get outside and breathe the fresh air every once in a while. As we get deeper into May, the sun starts to peek out more and more from behind the clouds. I can’t wait till this whole quarantine period is over and things go back to normal. But I wonder what the new normal will be. Will everyone continue to wear masks? Will restaurants open back up? So many questions that no one knows the answers too. We just have to continue to take it one day at a time. Prom Week …. supposed to be Wednesday, May 6th, 2020 It’s crazy, prom was supposed to be this Saturday. But due to the virus there is no prom. I’m very glad that my boyfriend and I attended prom last year because if we would’ve waited we would not have been able to go at all. I feel really bad for the girls who already had their dresses bought and tailored. Most prom dress companies don’t do refunds but I hope they make a way for some of the girls to get their money back. It’s so crazy to think some girls spend $600 dollars in a prom dress. Yes I know don’t get me wrong, my prom dress was about $400, but that’s because I wanted to look extra special because I was on the prom court. But all in all, prom night is just a night where you spend lots of money on a tux, car, and a dress that you’ll probably never put on again. It’s actually pretty stress relieving knowing I won’t have to stress over making sure everything happens right on prom day and I get to say money so that’s a good thing that has come out of this quarantine. Yesterday we also received The news that our graduation will be done virtually. They did not elaborate that much but they told us we have to go pick up our cap and gown and take a picture in our cap and gown and send it in and that will be our picture for our virtual graduation. Some think this is a sad event and don’t get me wrong I do too; however, I think this is really cool and a really different experience that none of us anticipated. It is going to be really fun to be participating in a virtual graduation that really hasn’t been done before. This way no one will ever forget the class of 2020’s graduation because it was indeed unlike any other. Many of the students are complaining that they do not want a virtual graduation and that we should have an in-person graduation, but they do not realize that this is not the school‘s decision and they cannot keep emailing the principal talking about how mad they are about this whole situation. The principal is just as mad as we are, but these are the times we live in and we all have to abide by the government's rules and regulations. May the fourth be with you Monday, May 4th, 2020 Usually on this day I would be walking around the school halls with my star wars shirt on telling everyone “May the fourth be with you”, as a pun to Star Wars statement May the force be with you….but today is May 4th. Yeah I know it's very corny, but it was just something to help lighten the mood for others. Today I have no big plans. I will probably just paint and watch some netflix on my phone. The days are no longer boring but they are not fun either. It's just in the middle. I went for a run yesterday with my sister and it felt good. Yeah it was a short run but it was a run, we’ll have to do more of them in the future. Sorry my blog today is boring….but that's all there is right now while still being stuck in this quarantine. Day? Birthday monthFriday, May 1st, 2020 Wow, a new month. Seems like the days and months merge into each other while stuck in quarantine. However since my calendar says it is already May, that means it is my birthday month. May has a lot of my family’s birthdays in it. My auntie’s is May 13th, my dad's is May 15th, Mine is May 22nd, and my boyfriend’s birthday is May 31st. I don’t know if this quarantine will last all the way till May 31st so we don;t really know if we should make plans to go places or not. Since my birthday is on the 22nd I am a Gemini. I don’t really pay attention to all that horoscope stuff, but I do think I may have a twin out there. I mean there are a lot of curly haired light skinned girls out there lol. I’m sure someone is bound to look like me. But oh well it doesn't even matter if I have a twin out there or not. I’m glad I'm the only Briana Thomas. Day No one knows because all days are merging into each other. Rearrange Wednesday April 29, 2020 Soon I plan on rearranging my room. I need to move my bed from the spot it is in now to a different side of my room. I have a queen-size bed and it takes up some space in my room. Yes I know what you’re all thinking. What is one girl doing with a big queen size bed? And honestly I don’t really know lol. I only use one half of it when I sleep anyways but since I’ve had it for so long I can’t imagine myself with a smaller sized bed. So I plan on moving my bed from one wall to another wall in my room. I also plan to paint my wall a different calmer color from the bright turquoise I have right now. As well as getting rid of my bright purple dressers. I plan to get more furniture that isn’t as kiddish. I also plan to get a desk in my room. That way I have an actual place to do my homework in in my room other than while sitting on my bed and doing my work. I just really think it’s time for a change in my room and I have all the time in the world now to do it. Day? Week? PlansMonday April 27, 2020 I have many plans for this week. My main goal is to get my life together. By this I mean I need to start drinking the recommended amount of water day, eating healthy, and working out more. Whenever I wake up I start by drinking at least one whole water bottle to replenish my body from a long waterless night. I then go downstairs to take my vitamins. I usually take hair, skin, and nail gummies, biotin, and other various pills to boost my immune system. The next steps are to eat healthy meals but it’s just hard being home everyday and being bored just wanting to stuff your face with desserts. Also today my family is participating In a family friend's birthday drive-by. We did one a week ago for my friend from gymnastics and today it is her mother's birthday. So her children are sending their mother on a scavenger hunt across town and she will end up at CVS. We were told to all be parked in the parking lot waiting with signs and balloons ready to scream and celebrate….from inside our cars of course. I’m really excited because this is the second quarantine birthday celebration I will be a part of. I really love that we are all making light of a dark time and not letting it crush our spirits. I may get some quotes from the drive by birthday today and create a short story on these quarantine drive bys. Day ?. Early start.Wednesday April 22, 2020 Last night I went to sleep very early. I went to sleep at 1:40 am, yes that’s the earliest I’ve been to sleep this whole quarantine. I set my alarm for 9 am and surprisingly I woke up right on time and I was not tired at all. I had a lot of energy. Maybe I should start going to bed earlier, but if I go to sleep earlier then I have to cut my binge watching short at night and I end up ending on cliffhanger episodes. But then I went downstairs and drank my morning Apple and Ginger refresher drink to get my body fueled up and ready for the day. Today I think I have a pretty chill day. However I will be helping my mom paint in her room, I layed the tape down in the wood earlier and we’re going to paint the walls today. My mom has been doing projects around the house and I really like helping so I can learn from her and mimic those projects in a house of my own one day. The rest of the day was filled with rest and relaxation and doing some follow along ab workout YouTube videos. Day ?. Adding fun to a sad time. Tuesday April 21, 2020 Today was a special day because today was my real good friend and also former gymnast coach Cryst’n’s birthday. She turned 20 today! When texted her at 12:00 a.m.and told her happy birthday it made me sad because she said her and her family probably had no plans or anything…..little did she know she would be getting a surprise in the morning. I decided we needed to add a little fun to this sad quarantine time so I put together a drive by for her birthday. I contacted everyone I knew that was her friend and they contacted more friends and we all helped to make this day special for her. I was the organizer of this whole event and so I asked everyone to meet in the parking lot of this Goodwill by her house. In the parking lot we all got situated, decorated our cars and waited for everyone to arrive. I was texting her sister throughout this whole time to have her get Cryst’n ready to come outside. We stopped traffic in both sides of the road and all the cars in our party drive across in a line. We all pulled up to her house honking, screaming, waving and had a really good time. It brought a huge smile to her face and it was a huge success. Day: I don’t think anyone knows anymore. Creative This quarantine has continued to go in and I’m actually getting used to it. My body wakes up early on school days and sleeps in on normal days all on its own. This quarantine has messed up my, and many others, sleep schedules but it has also developed a new sleep schedule of it’s own. I’ve been trying creative things to not go crazy being stuck inside. Yesterday, I made orange chicken from complete scratch and it was so good! Way better than Panda Express! The flavor was just so much better you could taste the real orange used due to the orange zest. I even decorated the plate and presented it to my family. I’ve been learning to cook a lot of other things, including Lasagna and Oxtails. I have also started to get creative with my workouts I do in my living room and in my backyard. Many people’s birthdays have been happening while in this quarantine. There are more and more “birthday drive arounds” popping up on social media day in and day out. My birthday is May 22 and I’m already knowing it will have to be celebrated inside. Wednesday April 15, 2020 -- Day I still don’t know. Becomings Still having to stay inside because of quarantine is starting to take a toll on me and everyone I believe. I’m starting to become a little lazy. However, I force myself to make my days as productive as possible. My friend Jadyn and I, who are both coaches for the Merrillville Gymnastics Club, have started to do Zoom workouts with the gymnasts. This way we keep everyone semi-active and in shape for when we return back to the gym. They basically missed their competition season, and yes, it is sad, however, it’s my favorite part of the season now. Now they can work on all new skills and attain new goals. I love helping them achieve a goal they never thought they could reach; it is the ultimate feeling. In my free time, which is a lot, I have been planning workouts and practice schedules for the girls for when we get back. I’m ready to turn these girls into state champions, just like their coach. Wednesday April 8, 2020 -- Day……. Strange Times Today was a very eventful day I actually got out the house. the government said that this coronavirus should peak in 2 weeks and have the largest number of cases. Therefore they suggested everyone go to the grocery store and get all the things they need and remain in the house for 2 weeks. Because of this my mother and I decided to go to the grocery store. We went to Sam's Club in Merrillville. as we were pulling into the parking lot we noticed there were not a lot of cars and so we were happy assuming we could get in the store fast and get out quickly. After we parked the car, I got out and it was a strange sight for sure. Everywhere you look everyone has on a face mask or some type of covering around their nose and mouth; they're also wearing gloves. Literally everybody. Although you would find that rare person in the crowd who didn't have anything on their face. As we walked to the entrance of the store, we noticed a line of people with face masks. This had become common around stores this time as they only allowed 300 people in the store at once. Of course, the number of people varies depending on the size of the store. There is one worker at the entrance and one at the exit both with a walkie-talkie exchanging numbers between each other and allowing people to enter and leave when the capacity is right. My mother and I stood in line for about 5 minutes; we were lucky because it was a bright and sunny day. Walking around the store, we noticed almost all the aisles empty; a lot of the cleaning products were gone, shelves labeled next to the cleaning products said “limit one per person.” However, all the cleaning products were gone, anything with bleach in it was not on the shelves, but in people's carts. Canned goods and soups were all off the shelves as well. In every cashier lane, there were markings on the ground signifying where to stand so you and your cart were 6 feet away from the peron infront of you. This was a step-up from just having paper printings all around the store reminding people to stay back 6 feet. After leaving Sam's Club we went to Aldi's to get other products. When we arrived at Aldi's, they already had carts that were wiped down and had quarters preinserted in them. I guess this was their way of saying we don't want everyone put in their own money in and possibly infecting the store with their carts. The young lady at the door had received the job of wiping down the carTs as soon as they got returned to the corral. After shopping at Aldi's we went home and me and my sisters decided to take advantage of the good weather. we went outside play music and we're flipping and doing gymnastics in the backyard. We also went on a bike ride, but we only had two available bikes and there were three of us so we each took a turn jogging. However, the only bikes we had are my big bike and Meagan’s little bike. I'm sure it was a fun sight for the neighbors to see a 17-year-old riding a 10-year-old’s bike down the street. But I'm sure they didn't question it because we are all living in strange times. Monday April 6, 2020 -- Day. New Month. Well, the month has turned into April. My school was on spring break last week and although it was supposed to be filled with travel, friends, and family it was filled with the same thing we've all been doing during this quarantine. When spring break comes I look forward to staying up all night watching TV, hanging with friends, and reading School approaching the following week. However this spring break not feel like break did not feel like spring break at all. I have been staying up late every night since this quarantine has started. The only way I talk to my friends is through text message, phone calls and FaceTime calls. I could not wait for school to start. I was ready to get back and see my friends and ready to finish my senior year off strong even though the end of it had a rocky start. Little did I know all that was about to change. On Thursday the governor Eric Holcomb ordered all Indiana schools to continue school building closures through the end of the Academic Year, turning instead to remote learning. Wow. No words. Senior year has been cancelled. We will no longer step foot inside that building to have class. I wouldn't no longer be able to get a full last day of classes in. My last day was Friday March 13th and that day was not a full day. It was only two class periods for me because I left early to travel to Ball State University for the gymnastics competition. It was actually only one full class period and half of the other. this is crazy, and this is something new. None of the school system's nor the teachers or students nor superintendent's know how to handle a situation like this or what to do. No one can even fathom that idea of this senior class is not having a graduation, senior breakfast, Senior Walk Around, senior Choice Awards, prom and the list goes on. Myself and my mother are deeply saddened by this event.There are no words. Day Idk -- Spring Break. Today is Friday. The day before were all supposed to be flying places, hanging out with friends, and seeing family. It’s the day before spring break. However everyone’s spring break plans got canceled because of this virus. However, many other people are still traveling simply because they spent money on this trip already. Yet in doing this, by traveling, they are not helping slow the curve of this virus. Making us wonder how long this virus will continue. We are supposedly going back to school May 1st, our prom is May 8th. I’m scared because I'm thinking should I even buy a big fancy dress in case it gets canceled? But then I will have spent that money for nothing. But then I think should I just get a simple cheap dress but then i don't wanna look plain. So idkkk. But to everyone reading this, enjoy your spring break, stay inside, and stay safe. Thursday, March 26,2020 -- Day I still don’t know. Same old. My routine is the same old routine as it has been. This week I should have been packing and getting ready to fly to Florida for my spring break. Instead I did a lot of rearranging in my room and I vacuumed every corner in major. There was no dust anywhere. I cleaned up my drawers and under my bed, which I’ve been meaning to get done, and I’m glad I got it done today. I also re-organized so I hung up more pictures. I also painted some new pants today with a Tokyo theme. I learned that the Olympics will be postponed for a year and they were now be in the year of 2021. I don’t know how I feel about this because a lot of the athletes who are trained for it to be this year kind of got cheated out of it. However, then again, young athletes who would not have made the age limit for this year can join the Olympics next year. We’re just living in strange times. Day ? -- Thankful. I am actually quite thankful for this time off of school and other activities. And this time I have learned and acquire new skills that I did not know about I have suddenly took an interest into painting as I have been painting a jacket. I also have started to paint shoes I am quite a good artist even though before this time I never had an interest in art at all. Watching YouTube videos of artists mixing paint together, smoothing the colors together, gliding the paint brush against their canvas and creating a masterpiece from their mind and heart has really inspired me. I sit down turn on some relaxing music with which happens to be Japanese music, weird right?, And I pick up the paint brush and I just paint whatever comes to mind. I also listen to podcasts while I paint. I’ve tried to sew a couple of times but it never work but I have two months to learn so excited for that. I’ve still been cleaning the house in anyway possible organizing everything that’s not a new skill though. I have begin going through my drawers and organizing and re-folding my clothes and getting rid of the ones I do not need. I have also been reading the Bible more and really deciphering scriptures and trying to figure out what God is trying to portray to all of us. In that case I am so thankful for this time. Or as it is helping me mentally, physically, and spiritually. Quarantine Day 9 -- New Today is day one of the states recommended lock down where only healthcare providers and any other major jobs are allowed to leave. Everyone else is to remain in their homes. The death rate of this virus has gone up since it’s first started. In order for things to go back to normal, the death rate will have decreased dramatically and plateau and stay constant for a while. However, I wonder will things actually fully go back to normal. While in the midst of boredom, I have started to paint. Yesterday I was up late last night painting a black denim jacket that is inspired by Jaden Smith’s album SYRE. Yes thee Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. His music is so relaxing, hype and fun to listen too. He is definitely in my top 5 artists. I haven’t listened to a lot of music during these times cause I’ve just been relaxing and not filling my brain with muscles. I’ve actually started listening to new podcasts as I clean my house. Monday March 23, 2020 -- Quarantine Day 8. Bored. I chose not to blog over the weekend just so I could try and experience more new things however I really didn't do much. are we painting my nails this very nice turquoise color because they were chipping, turquoise is my favorite color. it's starting to get really boring doing the same thing every day in stressing over all the Google classroom assignments teachers assign. today I hung out with my boyfriend again as usual but then we received notice that the governor of Indiana is going to put us on a two-week lockdown. where you only need to leave your house for essential tasks such as work, getting gas, and going to the grocery store. Illinois has already done this and now Indiana is following. well looks like everyone's going to be locked up inside their house for the next two weeks even though my parents who work in the steel mills will still go to work. our principal sent us a video message confirming that they have not yet made a decision on Prom and all the senior activities held in mid-may. Since we go back to school May 1st they said those activities will be decided on later so I believe that gave students uplifting spirits that those events will not totally be canceled just yet. Friday, March 20, 2020 -- Day 5. Outside I woke up rather late today, noon. This is a very late start for my day I had to get all of my Google Classroom done in a short amount of time. Maybe I shouldn't be staying up that late at night. However I had a good reason for staying up. I found a website that allows me to watch one of my favorite shows that is not on Netflix so I was up late last night binging it. I told myself now though that I have to go to sleep early since I still have school since most teachers classroom Google time is between 8 and 10. Today I actually went outside. My boyfriend and I, yet as you can see throughout this whole quarantine besides my family, he's the only other person I hang with, went to go get food. We drove to Portillo's and Wingstop. there was surprisingly a lot of cars on the road a lot of people out. However, it was really dark due to a lot of store is not having their parking lot lights out nor their front inside part lights on. Many stores including Wingstop in Portillo's did not allow customers to come inside so we had to order online and wait outside and go up to the door for a designated pick-up time. it's really weird, but hey Weird has only become The New Normal. Thursday March 19, 2020 -- Day 4. Routines I’ve noticed I've sort of made a daily routine for myself. I stay up late bored, I wake up early and from 9-12 I get all my online schooling done. Yes it takes that long because every teacher decides to pile work on top of each other every day. I do my classwork in the order I would usually have those classes in the day. My schedule includes newspaper, government, Spanish, pre calc, and AP language. Today for work I had to video chat with my class and teacher in English to get some notes done and then for Spanish to read chapter three of our book in Spanish together. I was in my bonnet and pajamas while in the video calls because well that has become my daily routine. I then proceed to finish up any other work and double check a teacher did not assign something last minute. This online school really is a pain. After all my school I go downstairs and start to make my sisters and I had some breakfast. I then sit at the table scrolling through social media, watching youtube, watching the news and even sometimes writing theses. Once my breakfast has been devoured I start to clean. And when i say clean i mean clean celam. I clean every inch of the house top to bottom to try and occupy my time. I also try and see if I can get all those chores done before my mom gets home at 3 from work. After that I lay bored all day. Yesterday and today I've convinced myself I need to start working out. I began to do Just Dance workouts while jamming to my favorite songs and wearing ankle weights on my legs. Being locked in the house and just eating and laying around has made me see I need to stay fit because who knows how long life will be like this. OMG! I'm having to edit this again, but guess what. The governor of Indiana held a press conference today Thursday March 19th, 2020 explaining how all Indiana schools are closed down until at the very least, May 1st. This is crazy. I am going to be out of school for a whole 2 months. What is the world coming to? However this means maybe I’ll get to have a graduation and prom. If that was taken away from me like most schools in other states have done by closing for the rest of the school year, my mom would be broken. Wednesday March 18, 2020 -- Quarantine Day 3. Beginnings I stayed up until 5am last night and woke up at 9:30. Only 4 and a half hours of sleep. I do not know how but I feel energized. I checked google classroom and saw work from every teacher. My spanish teacher even had work from two days ago on google slides, she had us dancing, singing and participating in quizlet live all through google classroom. Us Government had us complete two sections of notes. Precalc we had an assignment that I then printed and completed using my handy dandy calculator. AP Language arts we began to read The Inferno, better known as Dante’s Inferno. We also had to watch two 30 minute lectures of her explaining the background of the book. This was the beginning of my CoronaVirus school shutdown experience. My newspaper teacher however gave me something fun and interesting to do. She tasked us with keeping a daily vlog of our experience during these times. I’ve been meaning to do this and now I finally had a reason to commit to it. I went downstairs, put some water on the stove and slept with my lemon ginger tea. After drizzling honey and sprinkling sugar into my cup I poured my tea into my tea cup and sat down in front of my big window and began to type. It was quite relaxing recalling the recent events from two days ago. I am glad I received this assignment, and I will most definitely try to update it every day. Tuesday March 17th, 2020 -- Quarantine Day 2. Adjustment Late nights, late mornings, still tired. Life of a teenager right? Life of a highschool senior. Stressing over graduation, prom, senior breakfast, senior drive around, senior ditch day, your grades, teaching yourself precalc, and the list continues. Speaking of grades, I needed to go to the highschool to retrieve my books from my locker so I could complete the iminate google classroom assignments that would be uploaded to my computer in less than 24 hours. My sister also had to get her band instrument so she could blast her flute music all throughout the house all day and all night, While at the highschool they allowed us to rent Chrome books so juniors and seniors can stay on track to graduate... if there will even be a graduation. On the way to the band room we heard rumors that the school board is talking of closing school for the remainder of this school year. That means no senior activities and no last day of high school. “We’re all still in the adjustment period, we have to take it one day at a time and can’t worry about a month from now.” As we left, they informed us that after today no one would be permitted in the school. Until, hopefully, April. Back at home my boyfriend came over and we began to binge watch the show All-American, which was released today. It’s been a year since season one and I forgot a lot, but I have a whole month to catch up right? Monday March 16, 2020 -- Quarantine Day 1. NormalToday is the first day of quarantine. Now now it’s not like a national shutdown or anything, it's just we don't have school…. for a whole month. We’ve been having Mondays off for the past two weeks so today it feels normal not attending school. I’m not sad or anything, I am elated with joy. I'm coming off a high from placing third at the 2020 gymnastics state championships held at Ball State University on the floor exercise. I even received a medal and everything. All my hard work, blood, sweat, and tears finally paid off.
Because of my win my boyfriend took me out for breakfast. Well it was actually brunch, I had a late start to the day. You know sleeping in and all. I also was tasked with taking my sister who is in fourth grade to her elementary school to receive her packet of work, crayon box, texts books, work books, and instruction on how these 9 year olds will communicate through technology with their teacher to try and give them the most normal learning environment through this time period. After dropping her off at home I drove to my boyfriend's house where we then drove to a restaurant called Tomato Bar. We’ve never been but have been dying to try it. The waiter began to take our orders and asked us what we would like to drink. Me, knowing the natural taste of water wasn't enough to satisfy my taste buds, I proceeded to ask for a water with lemon, a simple request in my mind. However she responded by saying “ We are not serving any fruit due to the CoronaVirus." She said it with such ease and contentment it made me even more confused. What does fruit have to do with the CoronaVirus? I just said okay despite my confusion and me and my boyfriend then ordered our Philly Steaks on pita breads. It was delicious! Leaving the restaurant we went back home and watched Netflix as anyone would do on a rainy drizzly day. We watched all the way up until he had to get ready for work. I then drove back home, checked google classroom and saw my teacher explained e-learning will start on wednesday. Great one more day of relaxation and then the work begins. And relaxing is exactly what I did the rest of the night.
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AuthorMy name is Briana LeeAnne Thomas, aka BLT. I am a senior in high school and the captain of the gymnastics team. Gymnastics is my life and I love doing it. I recently made it to state after 4 long and hard years of trying and I received the third place spot in the floor exercise, and I even received a medal. Besides being a gymnast some other things about me are: I’m 17 years old, my favorite color is blue, I LOVE tomatoes, and I am the oldest of my two sisters. Enjoy my daily blog and embark on this strange journey of my life while quarantined in my house due to the corona virus. Love BLT ArchivesCategories |