Day 64 of Isolation

We've spent more than two months in a state of suspended animation, and for me, things are looking up again. I write to you from the weekend between AP Week One and AP Week Two, an island of peace amid ten days of frantic studying, praying, and cursing Collegeboard.

I will (potentially) bore you with the scandal because I think the inflamed emotions of this time are worth recording. You know the saga of unsubmitted tests, computer glitches, and passive-aggressive fairy comments drowning out any other kind of discourse on Collegeboard's Instagram page. You know the absurd hilarity of Dinosauce313, the Collegeboard employee who posed as a teenager online in a failed sting operation to catch attempted cheaters. You may, but hopefully don't, know the pain of clicking the "Submit" button to no avail. Basically, AP tests, like many things this year, are a dumpster fire.

Personally, my work is done, and because next week is apparently the last week that schools can assign work and because I've already taken my AP test, I'm pretty much mentally on summer break. We're not going out in a blaze of glory this year but, rather, halfheartedly coasting to the finish line, downhill on an empty tank. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll probably end up doing SAT prep purely to stop myself from letting hours disappear into my phone. Without the pool open, summer camps, or vacations, it won't really be summer anyway.

High schools and colleges are beginning to speculate about plans for the fall. Some are already planning to close for the first semester, while others are throwing out plans in which only half of the student body is on campus at a time. I'm not thrilled about it, so I'm trying to focus on the present, as cliche as that sounds. Another YouTube workout, another batch of cookies to balance things out, and I'm keeping myself relatively happy.

People are starting to ignore social distancing and post pictures of them hugging friends. I click "like" on the posts - I don't want to make enemies among my future classmates - but it really grinds my gears to see someone hanging out in a car with four of their friends as if there isn't a global pandemic going on. "Oh, are they all your sisters? :)" I send them. Passive-aggression is the most I can directly respond to this idiotic conduct with, but if any of you guys are reading this: Dude. Seriously. Get the hell away (6 feet away) from anyone you don't live with.

We've arrived at the paragraph where I mention how I'm doing. Today, I'm actually pretty good. The past two days, I've seen three of my friends in person and we've biked to the college quad near my house to sunbathe 6 feet away from each other. The weather is criminally beautifully lately, and I'm not going out of my mind anymore after being reminded that I actually have people in the world who I can get along with. I made cookies, which my family and friends really enjoyed. I've actually felt pretty good about my looks lately, a development that I probably owe to seeing a few more real-life people instead of the skinny hourglass figures all over social media. I've been getting nine hours of sleep, and I'm running inside instead of forcing myself to run in my neighborhood and am having a blast. Today is National Pizza Party Day, and I was driving to pick up the pizza, blasting "Fernando", and I was truly happy. I can confidently say that my social skills haven't atrophied to an non-recoverable level.

Also, I've started watching Gossip Girl. Weird that I started this series with a sign-off parodying a show I hadn't even seen yet, but now I'm glad that I did. Like Kristen Bell as the omniscient narrator, I enjoy New York City, other people's drama, and shameless puns, so I guess things have weirdly come full circle.

XOXO, Quaranteen