Blog Post #2

Tony Moore

English Composition 1

 

  When did Covid-19 affect my life the most? It all started early august, right around the beginning of the football season. In my senior year of high school, I was around 17 years old. My school was eleven floors with tons of elevators and stairs, so it was pretty big, so many students had different interests in academics, sports, clubs, etc. But during my early life, I quickly found a passion for football. I don’t know if it was me watching my dad cheer for his favorite team or if it was me playing backyard football with close friends that made me love the game this much. As soon as my senior year started, everyone on the team was forced to wear masks to practices, film studies, and work-outs. After a while, things got pretty standard until the season was about to start. The schedules were released, and the coaches notified players that parents couldn’t come to most games due to COVID-19. Once the news reached me, I quickly panicked because my parents could always go to my games in the past. I finished the season with offers from over 7+ offers from different schools. Most schools couldn’t offer kids in my class due to COVID and several college players being offered another year of eligibility for the same reason. Basically, my whole senior year was ruined due to COVID-19.

   Later that year, the pandemic started to get worse. Around December, the numbers rose, and people fought for their lives every day. I wouldn’t necessarily say COVID affected my life around this time, but it definitely affected the people around me. Going into 2020 was very stressful, from my parents making sure we had enough food to survive to a family member dying from the disease. Before these things happened, I didn’t really take COVID seriously; maybe it was because I didn’t know anybody who was experiencing these things that I saw on TV or perhaps because I didn’t think these things could happen to me. I soon was humbled and understood that I needed to take proper precautions to care for myself. 

 

 

It was a normal day of school that began at the very start of 2020. A lot of people were celebrating the beginning of a new decade with high hopes for the year.  Sitting at my desk at school, in a class full of students. No students online, and every work done solely on thin paper. Every student went in and out of these classes with no change of the entire world around us, without the threat of a virus that loomed over us. For me, it was just another normal day that continued on like all the others.
Sitting at home after a long day of school, I read rumors of a third World War at the first month of 2020. People on the internet were discussing how tensions between the U.S. and Iran were not doing well. It was a scary thought to be in the middle of a war right after a new decade began, but thankfully the illusion of continuity was upheld in the world.
Not too long after that, people began talking about the Australian bushfires that raged on, originally in 2019, but continuing to 2020. For a lot of people, 2020 seemed like it was gonna be a like a domino effect; one disastrous event after another.
While I sat comfortably in my house, China had seen the first cases of an unusual disease on December 2019. One that they probably never discovered before. It was named COVID-19.
Before COVID became a massive problem, I remember one thing distinctly. I had looked at a joke one person made that detailed how every 20th year of every century contained a massive disease that’d kill many victims. Like any unsuspecting person, I smiled at the joke, thinking it was nothing but a joke. Never would I imagined that that one joke foresaw a world changing event.
When COVID was made public to the world, most of us weren’t bothered. Perhaps it was just going to be like Ebola; a virus that sounded scary, but realistically wouldn’t be a threat to countries like the U.S.. Most of classes ignored the virus, as if nothing in the world was changing. However, once COVID began spreading to more countries, then the fear began building up like snow piling up in a blizzard. It was spreading and spreading faster than any disease we’ve witnessed. By now, my school realized that this disease may reach the U.S. eventually if it isn’t stopped, so teachers began discussing about a 2 week period where all students will work from home.  Of course, the U.S. eventually caught COVID, beginning the the 2-week quarantine that would last for almost 2 years for us.
The war on COVID had just begun.

My siblings and I piled out of the car when we got to the house, and eagerly looked around for any other cars that had already gotten there. We were glad the annual reunion hadn’t been canceled due to the new virus that was just stepping into the spotlight. We were excited for a fun vacation to relax and have fun with friends. Only two families had beaten us there. We unloaded as quickly as possible, wanting to explore the house we would be staying in for the next three days. Before we were finished another car pulled up, and everyone helped them lug their stuff inside too. Eventually, the cars stopped coming, and we were let loose to swarm the house. So many bedrooms to look at, so many stairs to run up and down, and, outside, such a big lake, and wonder of wonders, two kayaks! But they wouldn’t be pulled out today, so we reluctantly drifted off to pick rooms, investigate who had brought which board games, and try our hands at the table tennis in the corner. 

The days went by far too quickly. We went on hikes, played lots of board games, and ate lots of junk food. Sometimes I just sat and listened to the adults. With Covid-19 just starting to demand the world’s attention, that took up a significant part of their conversation. Were masks useful? Was the impending lockdown a good idea? How much caution was necessary? I listened, wondered what would come of it, and left life to carry on as it would. 

One night I and the other two oldest children started a game of poker. We set up after supper, and started to play. I, as Big Blind, put two chips into the center. Jane put in one for Little Blind and one for the rest of the bet, and Mark, as Dealer, put down two and turned over a card. So it began. While we played we talked and joked. Mark laughed that we were so bad at shuffling, we laughed back. We made mistakes, and dissolved into giggles. We were far too tired to take things seriously, and the hilarity mounted with every minute. Quite soon we were falling over with laughter at nothing. The adults, talking quietly in the next room, started laughing just listening to us.

It was a wonderful night, full of laughter and companionship. It was an island of calm between worrying, a dose of people to smooth the weeks of lockdown ahead.

I had known about Covid-19 long before the lockdown. I heard plenty of arguments for and against whether it would spread from China, how fast it would spread, and whether there were any measures that were actually likely to contain it. But while it has not been a fun time, I never really started to worry, before or later, and I consider that a blessing.

The last vivid social experience was at a small hangout with my friends. I planned for all of us to hang out and for all of us to reconnect.  It was so worth the planning and headaches. We played video games, exchanged funny stories, and just enjoyed the moment that we shared together. One of my favorite memories of the time was watching a scary movie and listening to one of my friends make funny commentaries to the entire film. During this time we were becoming more aware of the dangers of Covid-19  especially when the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services declared Covid-19 a public health emergency on January 31, 2020. After that, things became tense.   

 

 As the Pandemic grew and swelled in dominance. The world around me started to become increasingly difficult to settle in both mentally and physically. When Covid was declared a pandemic by The World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, all I remember is panic. With my friends and family, the experience was even more terrifying. Having people close to you catch the exact same virus that caused small businesses of decades to crumble, the exact same virus that caused us to isolate and break apart from the enjoyable social norms, and break families apart. As of March 2020 continued to go on social distancing and social restrictions started to shift and increase.

 

I remembered working in a hospital and hearing the stories from nurses, doctors, and even the lunch ladies in the cafeteria. People were on edge and in worse cases, some seemed completely detached from the pandemic. They did not take it seriously and ruled off the virus as a simple cold, and that mindset continued even when our death rate surpassed Italy on April 10, 2020. I can still vividly remember walking down the hallways and hearing conversations about dying patients and the lack of respirators in the hospital or having to shut down areas of the hospital due to the rising cases and despair that seemed to loom everywhere.

 

Sited Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html (Covid Timeline)

https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/mayor-s-office/city-of-atlanta-covid-19-response

 

 

 

hey, class, my name is Faisal ghulam I am 19 years old I am from Columbia south Carolina but my parents are from Afghanistan. one cool thing that comes from being from an afghan descent is the multitude of languages spoken there which leads to me being able to speak 4 languages fluently. it’s very cool but very rarely do I use it.  I am a big sports fan. I love watching sports and I love participating in them as well. Soccer, basketball, football, tennis, volleyball, and squash are some of the ones I currently play.

due to covid, I took a gap year. For me it was a lot of outside stress with schoolwork in my opinion. For my profession I want to do aerospace engineering. I love everything to do with space and building things and working towards the progress of building a better world.  I have high hopes for the semester of school. I feel if I do everything I am supposed to do I should get the deserved grade I need. 

 i had troubles pasting the picture so this is a link with the lynx picture for anyone interested,

Here is a picture of a lynx. I think they are the coolest and really want to own one but i just dont feel its the right call as they are meant for the wild. They are very interesting creatures and their fur is like my favorite color, kinda like camo it’s very cool. That’s a little about me. I hope to learn some about the rest of you as we progress through the semester. 

 

Before I realized Covid-19 was big, I went on with my same routine. Rising before the sun would shine, getting ready quickly because I always woke up late, going to high school for long periods, having tiring gymnastics practice, and trying to get my homework done in the time when I wasn’t doing anything. On March 12, 2020, I had school just like I always did, but this day DCSD told students that school would possibly be closed because of the new deadly virus. This was shocking to hear because school would close for nothing: Well that’s what it felt like. My school reminds me of a plain, dull building where you get locked up and can never escape – A prison. Time goes on and on and never seems to end. This day was more pleasant than others because we had a cheese day in French class.

We were learning about food and cheese culture in France, so everyone brought in something to have a cheese-like potluck. There were many kinds of cheese and other foods, like some blue cheese that smelled like it was decaying and very pungent; one taste of it and my senses were filled with dirt and old flavor. As known, this type of cheese has literal mold in it. To get rid of the horrid taste of the blue cheese, I tasted every other cheese, crackers, and jams that were there. My classmates and I all chatted and enjoyed this chance of trying new types of cheeses. In my last class of the day, I had an eye-opening conversation with my human geography teacher about his own opinion of this new virus. His face showed worry, and he knew that Covid-19 would escalate and become an even bigger problem. 

 

Weeks before Georgia or even the United States (as a whole) were worried about the Coronavirus, countries like China were already having deaths and going on lockdown. By Feburary 2020, borders of countries were now being closed, and no one could leave or enter. I, myself, didn’t know most of this was happening. My family mentioned Covid a little bit, but I never watch the news. It started to spread to more countries, like in Europe.

From my perspective, Italy and China had the most cases globally. Suddenly, cases in Georgia were a thing, then in Atlanta, then in Dekalb County. The United States was now leading the world in covid cases. Businesses all around had signs saying it was required to wear a mask to enter or that they were closed due to Covid.

BLOG POST #2 pt one:

  It was around the holidays when I was visiting my family. It was a lovely winter with windy leaves on the ground; I spent time with my brother, sisters, and cousins. I don’t get to be around them except for holidays later in the year. On this day, We woke up, cooked breakfast, got dressed, we went outside. It was a beautiful sunny day cool the sun was beaming; we played with the new toys they got. We came back inside. My grandmother cooked us some Mexican rice and beans with plantains we ate. They sat around in the living room, watched television, and talked about how school was going. We also spoke to my father on the phone because he wasn’t home. We bonded for a couple of days. My other cousins came over; I chilled with them; we talked and laughed. We listened to some rap music. It was hilarious when I heard my cousins’ music on TV. We didn’t even know about the pandemic.
The virus had already started developing in December 2019. I didn’t know a virus could cause so many deaths. The cases were rising every day and everywhere. The Cases of this disease from “The New York Times New cases and deaths” states, “From March 2, 2020, was 16 cases and upon January 18, 2022, they’re 1,178,403 New Cases.” I remember first hearing about the pandemic through social media, my family members, the news friends, their parents, my teacher’s people out in public on the phone just everywhere. At first, I couldn’t believe it was true. It was so many different storylines relating to the pandemic. Many people started experiencing all types of symptoms like fever and cold vomiting. It was like they were dying so fast. Many families lost loved ones or knew somebody who passed due to COVID – 19.
Many people who died from COVID – 19 had other diseases and heart problems which caused them to be at high risk for testing positive for COVID – 19. For some, we could’ve even gone to school or gone outside to have fun. The whole world was on lockdown , and we all had to be inside by a specific time. Some places were closed due to the pandemic   which was the saddest thing in the world for me. I never imagined being told to wear a mask in public, or you couldn’t enter. I never knew the whole world could be in quarantine like no school, no work, only health care, and essential workers. People were out risking their lives to save other lives. People were even working to take care of their families during the pandemic. As time went by, we returned to school, but everything was different; we had to walk a sure way to class. The building was one way in the other way out. Suppose caught walking the wrong way to class on campus by the administration. They make you walk around the right way even if it was shorter to your classroom; you had to walk all away round to the correct entry. At first, we couldn’t play sports. We started social distancing and wearing masks. Our classes were online. The tables in the lunchroom were six feet, with no more than three people at a table. Everywhere I went, somebody was talking about the pandemic. There were signs in everything store saying “masks are required ” in restaurants, stores, church schools. We are currently still in that pandemic today. Most things today are still virtual, and We are practicing social distancing. 

 

Before the covid pandemic hit, I met up with some of my friends at Vintage Pizzeria on January 20, 2020, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  We got to eat pizza and play bingo.  We all talked about how things were going in life.  I also got to meet a new friend.  I had a fun time hanging out with my friends.

It is said that covid started in bats.  The virus might have also come from an open market.  Covid was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.  I first heard about covid at the end of February 2020 when my parents told me about it.  I heard covid was a deadly virus that could possibly cost someone their life.  Covid started spreading when people were travelling around the world from china.  Washington, California, and New York were the first states covid reached.  In January 2020, there was a covid surge in Europe.  China was also under a strict lockdown.

On January 31, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency after finding out about a worldwide death toll of over 200 and finding out about 9800 covid cases.  On February 2, countries like China, Australia, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand restricted air travel.  People on their way to the United States could have faced a 2 week home based quarantine if they had returned to China.  Mainland visitors had to go through health screenings when they got back.  On February 10, China’s covid death toll became greater than the death toll of severe acute respiratory syndrome from 2000-2004.

Works Cited

https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020

https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus-history

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-timeline

Hey everyone, my name is Gabriel Jacob I was born and raised about half an hour away in Decatur and this is my first semester at perimeter. My hobbies include camping, video games and graphic design, although I suck at the latter two. I really don’t have a single music preference but I prefer upbeat, bass heavy and fast-paced music so my Spotify playlist is predominantly rap and edm. I also throw in some other random genres like sea shanties, pop songs from the 2000s and classic rock. I will happily accept music suggestions if it helps me expand my horizons. I don’t follow sports religiously but I’ll root for UGA football and Atlanta Braves baseball. lastly, I have ADHD so if I happen to become a class clown out of the blue, that’s probably because I ran out of meds that day. I love self deprecating humor so you don’t need to get caught off guard when I roast myself. If there’s anything you can’t do, I’ll do it worse. 

My major is Computer science and then I’d like to transfer to GA State (as opposed to perimeter) where I would major in Graphic design. My goal is to find a field where I can utilize both of these majors like video game or web design. Computer science is a really profitable career but the last thing I want is a 9-5 cubicle job, I absolutely cannot work in a job that I don’t enjoy and I don’t enjoy working in a boring or cramped environment. I suppose that’s kind of contradictory given I’m easily distracted but I’ve never had problems actually doing homework for a class I enjoyed. no offense. If all else fails, I would still enjoy working outdoors so I could become a park ranger, nature conservationist or something along those lines. Speaking of outdoors, If anyone is tryna go camping, I can make a mean Dutch oven pizza and I practice the art of golden brown s’mores. I ain’t supplying gear though. 

 

Hello, My name is Baw Reh. I’m 19 years old. I was born in Thailand and moved here about 12 years ago. I’ve been in Georgia most of my life. I don’t really like traveling much. I always rather be home. Some of my hobbies are playing soccer, video games, and watching anime. The game that I play the most right now is Warzone. If anyone wants to play you can add me on PlayStation. My username is Rehbaw. My favorite music is rap and RnB. I listen to Lil Tjay the most, but I also listen to others too. Favorite movie is now Spiderman No Way Home.

I don’t have a career that I want to purse yet currently. I do want to do either business or financing though. I’ll just ride along till I find what I want to really do. My future college plan is to go to a 4 year college to complete my Bachelor’s after completing my Associate’s here. At first, I only wanted to do 2 years. But I thought that I should just give it my best and see how far I go to test myself. I’m thinking of going either out of state or going downtown if I continue.