Four Ways to Make this Quarantine Memorable: Day 31

Day 31: April 26, 2020
Global cases: 2,993,262; Deaths: 206,915
Egypt cases: 4,534; Deaths: 317

Ahmed Samir
Economics Alumnus

Life in quarantine has been great.

Just kidding, it has been awful. The biggest issue is finding new ways to have fun, and by “fun” I don’t mean Netflix. To me, watching TV will always be a way to pass the time, I would much rather go out with friends or explore some new activity that can add some sort of memory.

Today has been a bit of a long day being the first day of work in Ramadan. Usually I would have worked longer hours but with waking up early, its difficult to stay focused for more than seven hours a day.

For some reason, a lot of people have started going back to working from the office, which is bewildering since we all know the coronavirus is far from gone.

Usually Sundays are comprised of work meetings so you spend the day discussing the rest of the week with any stakeholders you have. Its much more draining than I thought doing all that talking without the regular cooking break. Its also really frustrating because everyone I know pretty much sleeps the entire morning, meaning there is little content on social media.

Extremely mundane, I know, but most of the wasted time is now spent on social media, its impossible to walk in the morning by the time I am done with work I don’t think I would last two minutes outside.

The most difficult thing is not indulging in food when it’s time to break your fast, being as bored as we are, I’m sure everyone is struggling to eat healthy.

It is almost as if food has become the only source of fun.

But despair not. I will be giving you for tips for the upcoming period that are sure to last for decades, who said depression is a part of quarantine, right?

Tip #1 – Text Your Ex
Yep. Nothing beats it. Get a taste of the drama your life is sorely lacking right now. You might be reading this and thinking I AM NEVER TEXTING MY EX. You will.

Have fun with it, either way you aren’t going to get back together and if you do, you will surely break up within the next couple of weeks. One sure way of doing this is have an urgent matter that only they can solve. If you messed up so bad you think there is no way they will ever answer you, spend a few hours thinking of the most creative way to do it.

I promise you, the feeling of “what did I just do” will linger for a while.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

Tip #2 – Go on Twitter
I’m sure most of you are already on Twitter, but for me it was a COVID-19 surprise. People will tweet anything and it gets insanely personal and it almost feels like you are living in your friends’ heads. If you are on there and you feel like you aren’t having fun, please know that your friends are boring.

I opened my Twitter feed 15 times today and for reference it is 4PM at the time of writing this. You will also notice you will largely depend on the retweets and likes you get after a while, it’s a dose of dopamine that will certainly have side-effects in the future.

For now, I will be happy with the five likes my latest tweet just got.

Tip #3 – Ask your friends random questions
For some reason, everyone wants to open up and talk right now. Probably because we are so bored of the people we usually talk to, we will go ahead and say whatever to whoever. If you are curious about why a friend is always sad; this is the time. If you’ve always wanted to know why that one breakup happened: this is the time.

Fair Warning: do not ask about commitment issues, that conversation will last for up to six hours.

Tip #4 – Notice all the annoying things people do around you
For example, if you notice a certain member of your family makes a lot of noise while eating. Focus on that noise until you are so infuriated you can’t stand your own skin. That kind of anger will last a long time and you won’t be able to stop noticing it for the rest of your life.
That’s a memory that will always be in your heart.

These four tips should pull you through, but in any case, stay safe and don’t go out because if you do, you are directly responsible for the hell we are living in.