19 Thoughts after COVID-19 Quarantine

I spent 2 weeks of social and social media distancing. No people, no memes, no nothing. I lived to tell the tale:

1. Even one week in, I still caught myself opening a new tab, whenever I was bored, and typing “F”*….only to whisper to myself, shortly thereafter: Fu$#me!
2. Gloves in Arabic are called قفازات, it sounds like they’re going to jump off. Hilarious
3. Empathy is not a thing for me. I have just two modes:
   • legitimate worry for people I care about
   • a vague nonchalant suspicion that “it must suck for so & so”, with a fog of guilt for not caring more. There is no in between…
4. I cheated and used my sisters insta to check Massimo’s lives and check on any new videos on instakhrameuses: guaranteed prime content
5. My mum, sis and I have worked from home. And we have helped each other tremendously career wise. We exchanged daily tips on how to deal with assholes. The gist of it is to keep things passive aggressive and to remember you’re not paid enough to care that much.
6. Working from home is heaven. Career wise, I need to make sure whatever I do as a career allows me to work remotely. Notice here a not so subtle distinction between “job” and “career”.
   • I can’t stress this enough
7. Which leads me to : I think I want to be a journalist. I’ve entertained the thought before, particularly after watching The Post and Spotlight. But as with any movie I watch, I always feel a sudden yet urgent need to get in the field that I just watched a movie about. (I am proud to confirm that this held true even when I watched the Step Up movies. There are 6 of them, and every time I finished one, I knew, in my heart, it was my calling to become a dancer). But this time around it’s different. I genuinely think journalism is something I want to delve into seriously. It seems like a good way for me to channel both my curiosity and my compulsive need to recommend stuff to people.
8. I’ve been preparing for this kind of catastrophe my whole life. I’ve always had a dystopian world view and did everything in my power to “stress test” my life and brace myself for such a crisis. And for 26 years, I’ve been blessed with insane luck and my BCP was never implemented. This is my first time expecting the worst and actually watching it unfold on a global scale. Like, the simulation has been glitching for a couple years now, but never this bad. This thought is muffled by many other quarter-life worries and first world problems but it remains the loudest.
9. In less than a month, I’m going to be 27. I have 3 white hairs. It’s downhill from heeeeeeeeerrrRreeh.
10. Is it fair to say that Um Kalthoum is the ultimate soundtrack for any tragedy?
11. I need to move to Singapore: I am normally allergic to cities where average rent is more than half your salary (Toronto, I’m looking at you) but Singapore may be the exception. Lee Hsien Loong > Trudeau
12. I need to save. I am no where near my goal to retire at 40. NOWHERE.
13. I made a mistake and listened to the Top Charts in Canada. None of that music sounds 2020. Like, a lot of it could have come out 10/20 years ago and no one would have noticed anything futuristic about it.
14. I was so bored I actually went to a couple museums. Don’t worry, it wasn’t a spontaneous thing. I didn’t just wake up one day and think let me go on a virtual tour like it’s 2001 and I only have Encarta on my computer (Remember that???). TAYP actually sent an email on all the cool things you can do from home. And I thought my uncultured swine ass could use some culture.
15. I envy creative people. To have an intrinsically rich (inner) life is literally my wildest dream. Here’s a link to my friend’s poetry.
16. If you’re looking to binge anything: Next in Fashion will serve you a good dose of drama and good taste. Also, I’ve been living under a rock and never heard of Mustapha El Atrassi before and OMG vous devez l’écouter, khey!
17. I hate that the reflex when any crisis hits is to throw money at the problem. But still, anything helps
18. If I had kids, and was working full time… (I can’t even finish that thought…)
19. We’re all gonna get it. Just flatten the goddamn curve

*for facebook, in case this doesn’t make sense anymore in 20 years