Zachary Boykins
4/19/2022
Dr. Crowther
ENGLISH
My last social experience before COVID-19 even existed was later in March 2020. One thing I remember is always getting up at 8 AM, did the same routine. Brush my teeth, take a shower, and drive to school. I never had to wear a mask to cover up myself and everything just seem more peaceful and normal. But also, at
the time, I was always working. I work at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but I didn’t always work like 40-60 hours a week. I worked a solid 30 hours a week. Working here was my last social experience and interactions
was fun, as usual, I got to know more people around the whole stadium and seemed more adaptable. I was always able to walk to work from either Georgia state or Marta train happy listening to music. The music I listen to Dan is the same as I listen to now. Straight Taylor Swift and Chris Brown. I also did not read as much before the pandemic. I also always had a chance to watch my favorite sport basketball every day at 7 PM. The last fun activity I’ve done before everything got out of here was going for a walk on the trailer with my friend. Just walking in the woods with her looking at the water and ducks taking pictures and videos. It was a very fun experience in that was the last thing I’ve done before the crisis. Another social event I would like to add was when I was downtown with my friend we both got to go out and eat at a nice restaurant in Midtown. We got to get out of the car maskless and walk in the restaurant freely, Smiling and ordering some food, even got to get A drink. Just Walking into a restaurant and sitting down to eat without no one telling me to put my mask on. It all just felt normal.
When I first started hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic, was in January. I saw on the news that there was an outage in China. My reaction was that I ignored and it wasn’t going to come to the United States of America. I’ve then got serious about it. It was probably mid-March. I saw it on NBA news. Once Adam Silver (A.k.a. NBA commissioner) Decided to shut down the NBA season. Everything started to become real. Then I went on social media and saw a lot of posts about places being shut down, people going into panic mode with tissue outages, and more. I don’t truly remember the specific day. But, I remember the week of March 15, 2020. I was getting ready to watch Utah jazz versus Oklahoma City. I saw a player named Rudy Gobert. The news reported that he tested positive for COVID-19. After that, I knew everything was getting shut down. Once that happened I immediately went into my room and got on the joysticks. Turn the TV on and “immediately” play the 2K. After a couple of hours Of intense gaming, I went downstairs and grabbed a snack, changed to the real TV, and watched TV. I grab my phone and looked into Instagram. I saw that more people were getting COVID-19 and I took it seriously. So we all got into lockdown mode. The next day, it was just another regular day I couldn’t really go anywhere. I wasn’t able to go to work and loads of events were canceled due to this crisis. I started getting very happy because there was about to be a lockdown and very actually, I was super curious about how this was going to go. Once the government started shutting everything down I started to think and think, and think that what is this it. What if this is like what I saw in a movie. But, I started to wonder if we were going to two get toilet papers in here sanitizer. Before I started wondering, one day I actually saw on Instagram that people were going crazy that there was a shortage of toilet paper. So eventually stepdad came home and got the toilet paper! This was really fun for me because I get to play
a game with my boys, classes were moved online & I get to eat up all the food.
what comforted me during this lockdown?
Oh, I got to play so many video games. I loved it. I completed tons of 10-hour shifts by playing the video game. I literally volunteered to work 12-hour shifts playing call of duty. All jokes aside, I actually went and got a job 15 days after the lockdown. I started working at a particular place named Amazon. Amazon help me buy so much food and also had a very easy job up there. Whenever I got home from work, I got to play some more video games. TV shows I watch during the lockdown, I’ve binged watched big bang theory twice and I’ve also got to watch NBA bubble basketball. I found a show on Netflix called You. Those are some great shows that I spent little time of my day watching. In my other free time, I got to play some more video games. But there was one month that I actually spent 1 to 2 hours conditioning my body. July 2020. I spent a great amount of time trying to get my body back until I had a toe injury. Another great thing during the lockdown was my job was giving back every month. Besides working at Amazon, I got a little income for the sixth straight month which was very generous of Arthur Blank. The best day of the lockdown was Thanksgiving 2020. I ate some food, watched football and lastly, I play 2K! I got to the party with my friends debated for about two hours over nothing and went to sleep. Over the past year starting from March 2020. The world feels more normal before we even thought about a lockdown. Around 2020, I found out that not everybody is your friend. Through the course of the lockdown, I wondered who I will hang out with every day. Despite me not having a lot of friends in the neighborhood, it didn’t bother me as much but I was a little curious about who I hung out with. During the course of the months, I found out social media was a huge distraction. During the lockdown, there were times that were boring and we just go on social media and see what our friends or others are doing. Throughout 2021, I found out that I have a bunch of hobbies and interests in life than I expect it. I always thought I could do one thing but then I learned that I love multiple things. When I stop playing video games on January 14, 2021. I thought I’d be super depressed. I learned that it actually makes me happier. Presently, I’m balancing out everything from social media to reflection to work. I think going forward I will always balance my work, my free time, and alone time. I also worked during the 2021 PHASE that my ego was bad and I needed to be changed. The lockdown and social media made me look at the world differently. I saw the changes, accepted them, & worked on myself. I think the lockdown was a great thing for me, but also harmed others badly.
REVISED VERSION
My last social experience before COVID-19 was late March 2020. One thing I remember is always getting up at 8 AM, did the same routine. Brush my teeth, take a shower, and drive to school. I never had to wear a mask to cover up myself and everything just seem more peaceful and normal. But also, at the time, I was always working. I work at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but I didn’t always work like 40-60 hours a week. I worked a solid 30 hours a week. Working here was my last social experience. The interactions
with people was always fun as usual, I got to know more people around the whole stadium and seemed more adaptable every time I went up there. I was always able to walk to work from either Georgia state or the Marta train, happy, listening to music & even dancing. The music I listen to then is the same as I listen to now. Straight Taylor Swift and Chris Brown. I did not read as much before the pandemic. I would always watch my favorite sport, basketball every day at 7 PM when I left work. The last fun activity I’ve done before everything got out of hand, was going for a walk on the trailer with my friend. Just walking in the woods with her, looking at the water & ducks, taking pictures, and videoing ourselves. It was a very fun experience. That was the final social interaction, I’ve done before the infamous outbreak.
When I first started hearing about the COVID-19 pandemic. it was early January. I saw on the news that there was an outbreak in China. My initial reaction was to ignore it and that illness wasn’t going to come to the United States. I suddenly got serious about it around mid-March. I saw it on NBA news. the illness. COVID-19. Adam Silver (A.k.a. NBA commissioner) decided to shut down the NBA season after a player caught the disease. I remember this happened on March 15, 2020. I was getting ready to watch Utah jazz versus Oklahoma City. I saw a player named Rudy Gobert. The news also reported that an NBA player tested positive for COVID-19. After that, everything was getting shut down. This started to become real. I went on social media and saw a lot of posts about places, restaurants, cities being shut down immediately. People went into panic mode. There were tissue outages, food shortages, and more. Once that happened I immediately went into my room and got on the joysticks. Turn the TV on and “immediately” played video games. After a couple of hours Of intense gaming, I went downstairs and grabbed a snack, changed to the real TV, and watched the news. I grabbed my phone and looked on the news app. I saw that more people were getting COVID-19 and I took it seriously. So we all got into lockdown mode. The next day, it was a unique day. I couldn’t go anywhere. I wasn’t able to go to work and loads of events were canceled due to this crisis. I started getting very happy because there was about to be a lockdown and super curious about how this was going to go. Once the government started shutting everything down I started to think and think, and said to myself, “What if this is like what I saw in on the Simpsons Movie”. But, I started to wonder if we were going to go back out. This was really fun for me because I get to play
video games with my boys, classes got moved online & I get to eat up all the food!
What comforted me during this lockdown? I got to play so many video games. I loved it. I completed tons of 10-hour shifts by playing the video game. I literally volunteered to work 12-hour shifts by playing call of duty. All jokes aside, I actually went and got a job 15 days after the lockdown. Staying inside playing video games got boring. So, I searched up for jobs. I then got a job. I started working at a particular place named Amazon. Amazon helped me buy so much food and also had a very easy task up there. Whenever I got home from work, I got to play some more video games, watched TV shows like Big Bang Theory, which I binged twice during the lockdown, and I’ve also got to watch NBA-bubble basketball. I also found a show on Netflix called You. Those are some great shows that I spent little time of my free time watching. In my other free time, I got to play some more video games. But there was one month that I actually spent 1-2 hours conditioning my body. This month was July 2020. I spent a great amount of time trying to get my body back until I had a toe injury. Another great thing during the lockdown was my job (Mercedes Benz Stadium) was giving back every month. Besides working at Amazon, I got a little income for six months which was very generous of Arthur Blank. The best day of the lockdown was Thanksgiving 2020. I ate some food, watched football and lastly, I played 2K! I got to the party with my friends debated for about two hours over nothing and went to sleep. starting from March 2020. The world felt normal. Then during the months of the “LOCKDOWN”, I found out that “not everybody is your friend”. Through the course of the lockdown, I wondered, who I will hang out with every day. Despite me not having a lot of friends in my neighborhood, I was a little curious about friends.
During the course of the months of February 2021- July 2021, I found out social media was a huge distraction. When I was locked inside my house in 2020, there were times that were just boring and I just go on social media and see what my friends or others are doing. Throughout 2021, I found out that I have a bunch of hobbies and interests in life than I expected. I always thought I could do one thing but then I learned that I love multiple things. When I stop playing video games on January 14, 2021 because of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I thought I’d be super depressed. I learned that it actually makes me happier. I balanced out everything from social media to reflection to work. I think going forward I will always balance my work, my free time, and alone time. I also worked on my ego and changed it positively. The lockdown and social media made me look at the world differently. I saw the changes, accepted them, & worked on myself. I think the lockdown was a great thing for me.
