I’m sitting here thinking about what I should write about, but my mind is blank. I usually have a response to everything. My mind is normally full of thoughts about turning in assignments on time, completing Mr. Bernal’s essay, finishing Mr. Garza’s notes before the fifth period, and getting signatures from all of TAFE so that Mrs. Brown can turn in important paperwork, but right now I have nothing. I guess it’s not really that my mind is blank, but that it is filled to the brim with so many different things not school-related. Right now, I am thinking about how much I miss the ice skating rink. I’ve even been thinking about just putting my skates on and walking around my room for a while. Crazy, right? I’m also wondering what the people that used the school as an escape are doing right now, those people that were able to leave their toxic homes, even if it was only for eight hours. I am thinking about my birthday is on April 10, and how I’m not going to be able to have anybody overdue to social grouping restrictions caused by the pandemic. That one really stinks. I’m thinking about how much I actually miss school. Usually, I’m not looking forward to school because of the toxic environment, but now I am counting the days until President Trump allows for this quarantine to be over. I think that it is just the fact that we can’t go back to school right now, which makes me want to go to the school that much more. I have been thinking about how COVID-19 cut the National Hockey League season short just as it was getting good. My team, the Chicago Blackhawks, had a shot at making it to the playoffs, but I guess now we’ll never know. Even though this quarantine has been relaxing, I have been so bored. I ran out of things to do, so I started writing some songs. One of which I am thinking of sending to Mr. Silva so that he could post it on the school’s Instagram page. I’ve even thought about doing some covers of random songs and posting them to my Instagram. I’ve been using this time away from school to try and make myself more productive. I have started going on early morning runs, and I have started working out daily. I took the time to thoroughly clean my room, and now it doesn’t even look like it’s mine anymore. My family has also been taking advantage of this quarantine. We have been able to eat together as a family more than we probably have since the beginning of the school year. It’s absolutely crazy. I see my sister all of the time since they temporarily closed down her workplace, and UTRGV made all of their classes online. In conclusion, I believe that, although it was brought to us under such disappointing circumstances, this quarantine might be just what we needed after all—a pause.

The World on Pause