Day 71.
Wake up. Brush teeth. Make coffee, some eggs. Open the computer.
When I came home from WashU on March 7th, I intended to stay just 5 days. Although I’ve now been back home in California for about 11 weeks, I’ve “self-quarantined/isolated/locked myself in the house until further notice” for 71 days. When I wrote my last post (drafted on the plane home from school), life was admittedly different than it is as I’m writing this article. With the few marbles I have left, I’m using my best effort to not only stay vigilant, but optimistic.
This article is sponsored by ~solidarity~. In an attempt to share something encouraging, here’s a window into my journey living with my parents as an unemployed college student the last couple months. Before I go on, to the people who are working tirelessly to take care of, feed and provide essential services to others — thank you. To others, follow guidelines and do what you can. No matter your politics, I believe John Oliver from Last Week Tonight, albeit blunt, said it best:
“Don’t be complacent, and don’t be an idiot”
Great general life advice, but especially applicable (and necessary) to stay sane, healthy, safe and active during a global pandemic. I’d like to preface future paragraphs with the understanding that this is an insight into my perspective, my experience and ways I’ve continued to operate. I recognize that massive spells of unemployment, continued viral outbreaks, protests and other social issues plague our country at this point, however I can also admit that I, a 20-year-old junior in college, don’t have the answer.
Now without further ado, and far less seriously, here is my quarantine condensed down into a Medium post:
Online learning sucked. That said, utterly impressive to see an entire semester of courses pivot from in-class to online in the matter of a week. Coming from a student who took 6 classes while trying to balance 3 TA positions remotely, I got a chance to see from both sides that professors, teachers, TAs and students all deserve a raise. Side note: I had a chance to chat with the team over at Piazza about using their platform as a student and instructor during the pandemic. Check them out!
Recruiting woes and career difficulties. I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say this has been especially frustrating. Fortunately, I have my health and can only strive to get involved/find work in other ways. Here are a couple alternative opportunities and avenues I’ve explored in the last month: Meals on Wheels, VolunteerMatch. Also, for comprehensive, vetted lists of who’s hiring look to these two sites: Candor (hiring freezes), gcreddy42 (incredible resource)
I’ve worked on some side projects. While school was going on (and I tried to find ways to occupy my time in the house) I worked on Project Covid, a COVID-19 resource and data centralization mobile application, doing data analytics and basic natural language processing with a team of 20 developers, medical researchers and students from around the country. After a couple rounds of beta, we ran into some issues with final release on the App Store, so we decided to move on. As summer began (and still), I’m involved with Practicum, a platform for teams of (primarily engineering) students and mentors with industry background to work together to get an idea to its next stage of development. The whole project has operated as a startup itself, fully run by 8 students from schools around the country, without expectation of monetary (or otherwise) benefit and the express interest of helping students affected by COVID-19 by finding them projects for the summer.
Spending time with family and keeping in contact with friends. The big buzzword out there when talking about the virus, unprecedented, is getting on everybody’s nerves. It’s in TV commercials, comes up in every Zoom call, phone interview and (in some way, shape or form) in the conversations we have daily. Unprecedented benefits of living back home with my family include the additional time I get to spend with my younger sister when she absolutely destroys me in Monopoly, with my Mom cooking innovative dishes given our limited ingredients on random mornings, and with my Dad negotiating how many sheep he’d trade me for a brick in online Settlers of Catan. Considering I’d regularly only come home a few weeks per year at most, I’m grateful to have an excuse to be with them and for their continued support. I can’t say the same for keeping up with others, as the whole “being locked in the house” thing is not particularly conducive to me having friends over. For now, Zoom, FaceTime and Snapchat among other media keep me engaged, but I wonder if I’ve lost all my in-person social skills. If we’ve lost touch, or you’re someone reading this and want to reach out, send me an email at zachglabman@wustl.edu!
And finally, self-maintenance. This is my last and biggest target area since I’ve been home. I’m the kind of person that is uncomfortable when not busy. I love picking up and practicing hobbies like scuba diving, golf, language learning and making hot sauce from scratch in my free time. Although I pictured myself as more of an extrovert, these small (individual) activities have kept me the most sane of anything else I’ve listed out above. My dad and I have become farmers, working on a garden outside where we grow Hungarian Wax Peppers, Carolina Reapers and Ghost Peppers in addition to a bunch of herbs for my sauces. Even writing this post at my kitchen table, I find myself enjoying the silence and clacks of the keys on my keyboard as I express my thoughts. Maybe the 100+ hours I’ve spent watching Hulu and Netflix show me that I am more of an introvert than I thought, or maybe I just need some time to decompress and escape from other stimulae. Additionally, staying active and practicing my cooking + baking skills have contributed to me keeping my immune system strong and my stomach happy. I’m not much of a runner, but working out or taking a long walk every day is the reason I haven’t yet turned into a complete recluse.
To wrap this post, I’ll leave you with this thought — Evaluate your priorities. Often we get distracted by relatively insignificant matters. Take a step back and breathe. Now is a time of great uncertainty (sorry, but you knew the word would come up). Everyone is dealing with crises of varying magnitudes, mental health challenges, physical health challenges and more. Take care of yourself, take care of others and take time to sit back and bake some bread or read a book. For me, today is day 71 and I’m just trying to make it to day 72. Stay well.
In Summary:
- Thank your healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, essential workers and people keeping life moving for the rest of us
- Online learning isn’t perfect, but it is the band-aid we have for now
- I’ve struggled to find a summer internship/job. You’re not alone.
- We’re all trying to stay sane. Reconnect with friends, family and take time to recoup your own mental health
If anything I said here resonated with you or if you want to share your experience, shoot me an email (zachglabman@wustl.edu) and let’s talk about it. Thanks for reading!
