Author: RANIT637@oneonta.edu

November 5^th, 2020

            Today the weather was really nice. I went out for a walk with just a hoodie on and it was extremely refreshing. It was pretty windy, so I held my hoodie closer to my body to gain some more heat. I looked at my phone to check the time and my eyes immediately landed on the date. How was it possible that November had started already? It felt like time was moving at a pace that I couldn’t keep up with, and I was terrified, but at the same time comforted because that would mean that we might all reach a state of normalcy amidst this pandemic really soon. It feels like I don’t remember much about how life was before the pandemic, but at the same time, whatever it was, I want to experience it again because I’m slowly forgetting what “normal” really is.

November 15^th, 2020

            It was hard to get out of bed today because of the freezing weather. It felt as though I had no motivation to get up, even though I had plenty of assignments to do, and quizzes to take. Maybe it was the stress, or how every single day that went buy seemed to be identical to me that made me want to stay in bed all day and do nothing. How cool would it be to just shut your brain off for however long you wanted, and then turn it on again when you were ready to face the day and all your responsibilities again? I don’t know about you, but I would for sure invest in something like that because sometimes you need to take a huge breather and just not think about anything that’s going on to sort just yourself out.

            Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky enough to spend a Sunday in bed, so I had to get up and start the day with an omelette and a cup of coffee. A very watery cup of coffee, but coffee nonetheless. I opened up my twitter feed to see if there was any interesting tweets or headlines, but there were none. Immediately after, I sat down to get my work done, and was very distracted throughout the whole process because of my mom telling me repeatedly to do my chores, but I think I did a good job of getting a pretty decent amount of work done.

November 20^th, 2020

            I had very little to do today and was in a very happy mood because of this. Finally, being able to relax for a day, I decided to continue watching a Korean drama I started a few weeks ago and was so engaged during every episode that I finished watching the first two seasons in a day! Around 8pm, I decided to go for a train ride to the city because New York City is even more beautiful during the nighttime than it is during the day, and there’s less people. I usually dread going to the city because of the number of tourists always venturing the city, but after COVID, there were way little people out on the streets than normal.

            The Christmas tree at Rockefeller is always pretty, and it was equally as pretty this time around. It’s bittersweet that we have to experience the holidays this way, but there is always a first time for everything so why not enjoy the holidays differently? A lot of people are not looking forward to the holidays, but I am and hope to enjoy it wholeheartedly.

November 26th, 2020

            Happy Indigenous People’s Day! I always try to encourage everyone to try and help any indigenous people in need because many of these families are still suffering from the displacement of their ancestors, and their wealth. They are not given the facilities they need in order to thrive as a community, which in turn, leads them to live in poverty with little to no guidance or help. Today, I am thankful for being able to survive through this raging pandemic. I am thankful for my family and friends. I am also thankful for the education I am able to receive that many others around the world do not have the chance to pursue. I am thankful for being able to celebrate today with a meal on the table and a roof over my head.

            Although my mom dislikes anyone bothering her in the kitchen while she cooks for us, I wanted to help with the mac n’ cheese so my mom didn’t mind my presence as much as she usually would. I don’t think I could say I did a very good job though because it was way too runny and overcooked to everyone’s disappointment so that will definitely be the last time I set foot in the kitchen to cook for my family, but it was a learning experience!

November 29^th, 2020

            Finals are right around the corner and I still can’t seem to let go of that holiday mindset because I am already planning gifts for Christmas and making plans for the New Years (but keeping in mind that we are still in a pandemic of course.) I need to hit pause on all of that though and focus on the last week of the semester and finals week! Although I’m excited to finish off the semester and go on break, I am also a little upset because it was my first semester of college and it seemed to end very quickly. I had fun attending lectures and getting adjusted to the college experience regardless of the fact that I started college on different terms than I expected. This year has taught me more things about myself than ever before, and it was difficult to get through, but it taught me a lot. All in all, I hope I can pull through and not slack off in order to finish off the semester strong.

October 15, 2020

            I decided to make an appointment for the dentist today and was on my way early in the morning when there aren’t that many people. I had a huge tooth ache, and I’m terrified that I’ll have to get it removed since I’m around 80% sure that the tooth that hurts is one of my wisdom teeth. Once I got on the 7 train, I had a realization: I forgot my mask! Disappointed in myself, I get off the train and use my shirt to cover my face to get into a pharmacy nearby. How ironic huh? It’s mandatory to wear a mask almost everywhere you go; even when you need to go buy one.

            After I get to the dentist’s office I walked straight to reception, and the receptionists frowned at me. Confused, I look behind me and see a person holding a temperature gun taking the temperature for everyone that walked in. Of course, how could I forget? I went back to get my temperature taken and then went back to reception and apologized. Luckily, they understood, and I was able to see the dentist after a few minutes of waiting. I found out that my tooth ache wasn’t that serious, and it was because I hurt the gums on one side of my mouth because I flossed too hard. All in all, I need to floss carefully from now on, and try not to forget about wearing my face mask and getting my temperature taken.

October 19, 2020

             The week has been extremely stressful for me. With exams coming up for two classes and multiple assignments being due, I am overwhelmed with the amount of work I have. However, I have decided to manage my time better so that I have adequate time to prepare for the exams coming up. In order to do this, I will be sure to complete any and all assignments by Wednesday. So far, I have completed one assignment already, I have an essay to write, and homework to do for another class. This seems like not too much work, but it is to me because I seem to procrastinate a lot. The exams will for sure be my main focus this week so getting the assignments over with will be a huge help. Wish me luck!

October 21, 2020

            Today, the sunset was breathtaking. I have been working on my assignments and needed a break so when I saw how beautiful the sky was, I immediately took it as a sign to take a walk outside to admire the view. On my walk I took some pictures and also made sure to breathe in the fresh autumn air.

I realized how lucky I am to be able to watch a sunset for a few minutes and admire life as it is because, for many people, they live too much of a fast-paced life to have the opportunity to do this. Even if you are one of those people, make sure to relax once in a while and be thankful for everything you have today because tomorrow is unpredictable. Being in quarantine for a while at the start of the year made me realize how fast things can change for anyone. So, why not enjoy how everything is right at this moment?

Hearing about all the new cases of COVID on campus was really nerve-racking. I feel relieved in way that I am an off-campus student because it would be so devastating to have to go back home for the remainder of the semester. Understanding how hard it would be to make that transition after just recently moving out of one’s home, I have a lot of respect for my peers who are able to get through this tough time, and hope for better times to come. 

 Today started off as very uneventful for me. However, after I decided to do more research on a reading assignment I had to do for history class last week, my day became way more interesting. The reading was specifically about the witch-hunt that started off in Europe after the publishing of Malleus Maleficarum. This was a extremely misogynistic book about how women become witches by working with the devil. The book explains this, and how to identify witches, as well as, what to do to stop these women and punish them. After some research, I found that commoners in Europe were going through many unfortunate events, causing them to ferociously find the sole source of why such things are happening to them. In this case, they blamed all these tragedies on the wrongdoings of witches.

  In short, I am glad I have such immaculate taste that I was able to choose such a fascinating read because through this excerpt I was able to identify how sexist people have been towards women for a very long time, and this type of sexism still exists to this day, but people are not as open about it as they were before. I am glad I was able to spend my time doing something productive because history is indeed a compelling aspect of our society, and it is always useful to be knowledgeable about it.