The First 3 Months of Quarantine — A Look Back

Hey guys!

It’s been awhile…

The last post I wrote in here was back in March! It’s the end of october now! How did the months pass by so quick!

I really wanted to post something here but with everything that happened and is still happening (hello pandemic, hello corona virus), I wasn’t really motivated to do so. I mean who knew we would all be stuck at home and be quarantining and social distancing?! Countries went on lockdowns, people lost their jobs, global movement went down, everyone was on zoom meetings etc. The world and lifestyle as we know it has turned upside down, like literally (See here an easy to understand 54 ways coronavirus has changed our world).

Since I haven’t posted anything in months. I’m going to make up for it with this long post. It’s the longest one by far.

You’d think it’s all fun having all the time in the world and just be chilling at home but boy was I wrong. In general, I do love staying in but the fact that we were advised NOT to go out, made me want to go out even more. You know that feeling right? The first few weeks of social distancing was hard—not able to go out as I pleased, not able to meet friends, not able to go about life as how I was supposed (or thought) to. The uncertainty, no direction, no purpose (I wasn’t even working from home because well there wasn’t work to do), and being stuck at home with all these negative thoughts got a bit depressing. It gradually got better of course.I adjusted to the situation, I fixed my schedule and established a routine and things fell to place.

So, what did I do during the first 3 months of quarantine—or rather what I did to stay sane during this time.

PUBG

Yes, I play video games. For those who don’t know what PUBG is, it stands for PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds. I play the mobile version and Pubg really helped me with the depressed phase. A quick backstory, I started playing Pubg in June 2019. I was addicted to it for like 3 months and then I quit playing. Fast forward to 2020, I started playing again because of the said situation. Prior to this, I never really played with friends before nor do I use the microphone to talk during the game. I always matched up with random players every game and I would never talk to them.

This time though, it was different. I got introduced to a friend of a friend who plays, who then introduced me to their friends and next thing you know I have pubg friends. I never knew how much more fun playing pubg was until using the microphone! It makes sense too because it’s easier to coordinate and communicate tactics (duh Tina). So then I invited my friends to join the game and before you know it we have a squad.

Playing pubg goes beyond than playing “video games“ especially during this pandemic. We weren’t just playing a game, pubg was (still is sometimes) a medium to catch up with each other and it turned into our virtual hang out since we couldn’t in real life. There wasn’t a dull moment when playing with my friends. There’s always laughters, inside jokes, funny things happening and thats why till date I still play.

Read a book or two

I use to read a lot before and I’m trying to get back to that habit again. I did manage to read two books (I know it’s not a lot but I did it) — “Everything is F*cked. A book about hope” by Mark Manson & “My not so perfect life“ by Sophia Kinsella. The book title by Mark Manson was funny considering the 2020 situation. I’m not going to write a book review here but I just want to say for those interested in Mark Manson’s books, his style and use of language is like as though he’s talking to you. I love it. Before his books came out, I used to and still am reading his articles on his website. Thanks Shoaib for introducing me to him. So, my advice before reading his books is to check out and read his articles and then you’ll know if you’ll be interested in his books.

As for Kinsella, her books are such fun books to read. It’s my go to feel good read. I’ve always enjoyed reading her books. They are very witty and page turning and this book particularly covers how obsessive we can get and the things we do for social media. How we portray ourselves sometimes in the virtual world does not reflect our daily lives.

I felt that coincidentally these two books were such a match to our current situation and that’s why I wanted to share about it here.

Painted on Canvas for the first time

I’m not an artist nor am I trying to be one. I’ve painted back in school, I’m not bad at it nor am I great at it and I’ve always enjoyed painting landscapes. During the 3 months of being at home, I started painting in a book. I started with water colors then moved to gouache colors as I was having a hard time with blending. I’ve never painted on canvas before and I really wanted to try it. Also, I wanted to paint on canvas keeping in mind that I could give this to a friend as a birthday gift.

I searched online for a reference photo and came across a youtube tutorial on how to paint with gouache color. So, I followed the step by step tutorial and a beautiful landscape was created. This was my first canvas painting ever and I fell in love with it. I thought to myself since its my first canvas painting ever, I’ll keep it and I’ll make another one as a gift. I did make another one but it didn’t quiet turn out the way the first painting did. I was in a dilemma whether to give the painting or not. At the end, I did reason with myself that I shouldn’t be attached to materialistic things and just give the painting away. After all, I did create it with the intention of giving it as a gift. Also, it is always good to give.

Creative Videos

A few years ago, I stumble upon this app — stop motion. I didn’t really use it for what it was then, however, since it’s quarantine I thought to myself let me create something. It’s funny, these days we have apps that makes editing, animating anything so easy. Few years ago, you had to learn softwares to filter or create video transitions etc from scratch. Now, there’s presets and you just have to select it and add it to your photo/video. Technology I tell you, are these tools making us lazy? I know it’s making me. I use to create custom filters through photoshop, now, I just use preset filters and apps that would turn my photos/videos to the finish product that I would take hours to edit/make. Maybe, I’ll write more about that in another blog. I kind of went off topic there, didn’t I?

Anyhow, I created this “Stay safe, stay home” video. It was fun and it’s the only take. It wasn’t planned at all. I genuinely wanted to try the stop motion app for it’s actual purpose and this is the result after adding the music and effects of course.

During this time, I was also able to go through my files and dig up videos from the previous years and I was able to edit and compile them which I shared on my social media accounts. I also helped a friend edit her first youtube video. This was a challenge because she lives in Saudi Arabia and we had to share videos across over the internet. There were issues with the files and sharing photos is way easier than sharing videos. Anyway, at the end it all worked out and I was so happy I was able to help her.

Baked my own Birthday Cake

I was really inspired by Megan Batoon, who for her birthday baked a three tier cake. When I saw that video, I decided and planned to do the same for my 30th birthday! Yes, I’m 30! It’s just a number and I look younger than I am (Thank you asian skin). Anyhow, since it’s quarantine and I can’t really invite friends over. I decided to bake my own birthday cake and I must tell you — it was fun, challenging and tiring. I mean I should be aware of this since Megan herself struggled but her end result was worth it. This was the motivating factor that mine could be good too.

So, I decided to get 3 different flavored readymade cake mix — Vanilla, Red Velvet and Dark Chocolate (of course). Like in Megan’s video, things that could go wrong went wrong. First, the cake mix for the red velvet was less than the other two cake mix which means my cake layers would not be equal. Second, the oven wouldn’t work but luckily we have an electric one on standby. Third, the whipping cream liquid wouldn’t turn into whip cream. I wasted time whipping and adding icing powder to realize that I think it’s because of the icing powder being in the fridge for so long it didn’t react the way it should. So I had to run to the market and get whipping cream powder instead and fresh milk. It worked this time. Fourth, I was running out of time. I wanted the cake to be ready in time for lunch with my family. So, the impatient me started icing the cake when it was still a bit warm. The first layer of icing was almost melting into the cake but at the end it worked out. The cake wasn’t straight at all but it was massive and I was so happy I was able to finish it just in time for lunch. Also, I realized it wasn’t a three tier cake but a three layered flavored cake which was even better.

Since I baked it the whole morning of my birthday, I wasn’t really keen on eating it yet. However, the next day the cake tasted so much better and only a small slice remained because we gave the cake to our neighbors and friends. It tasted so good that I thought why didn’t I save a little bit more for myself.

Anyway, it was a fun experience baking my own cake. It was quarantine time and I didn’t really celebrate it the way I do every year and baking a three layered cake was something that I will remember I did for my 30th birthday.

So, that was the highlight of the 3 months in quarantine. There were a lot more than happened but these are the ones that stood out that I wanted to share. Anyway, after 3 months everything started going back to (the new) normal, kind of. It took a while to adjust to the new norm. Now, I’m so used to wearing a mask when I leave the house that when I don’t wear it, I feel naked without it. Activities and flights have opened up and we just need to live with this virus and take extra care of our health.

With everything that is happening, in the end life goes on. Now, it goes on with wearing masks and excessive use of hand sanitizer (I’m obsessed).