The pandemic has been a very busy time for me! My whole world changed, as I’m sure it did for many people. First off, my home life has been crazy. My mothers were constantly changing back and forth between work. It was hectic, one of them coming close to burnout while getting the vaccine into the community. I began to feel disconnected from them. Also, one of my mothers’ friends came and moved in during that time. Now I see her as an aunt! 

Despite living with an extra person, I missed a lot of people during the lockdowns, such as my grandmother, who lives all the way in Camarillo. Not seeing her was very upsetting. The person I missed the most, however, was my cousin Alex. She and I are very close, and she has made it through so much, such as a major surgery on her back and dealing with severe ADHD. She was born the size of a large coke bottle and was not expected to live long, yet she will be sixteen next year. I am SO SO proud of her. 

While I did miss a lot of people, I also learned a lot about myself. I discovered some new hobbies, such as gaming (my favorite game is Genshin Impact, an open world game), and I learned to play piano (which to me is astonishing). I focus a lot on Genshin; I have so many friends there! Sometimes my cousin and I do online gaming streams of Genshin Impact, as well as a few other games, such as Among Us and Super Smash Bros. 

Aside from hobbies, I also began to understand my sexuality, which has been great. At first, I was convinced I was bisexual, but then I realized I only liked girls! Despite this, my girlfriend came out as trans-to-male, so now I suppose I’m bisexual again. This has been my first “real” relationship, which has been exciting. 

In terms of school, I’m doing well these days. I have all A’s (except a B- in math). Even though I’m doing well with my work, other students have made going back to school WAY more complicated. People have been stealing soap dispensers… all because of a TikTok trend. I swear that app is going to be the death of us humans (says the person who watches YouTube pretty much all day every day). 

So as you can see, my life has been VERY complicated from the beginning of the pandemic to now. Being isolated is really hard. However, like I’ve been explaining, there were lots of positives! The best thing is that while we were visiting my grandparents, I reconnected with my parents, whom I hadn’t talked to very much over the summer. Finally, I got a new kitten! Her name is Raven, and she is just too cute! She’s adorable, but she’s also a little monster most of the time. Well, I suppose I should stop here. I’ve said a lot. Sayonara!