On the slippery slope to “Shining” mode

Gavin Morrison, Staff Writer|March 31, 2020

With COVID-19 keeping me inside for the past five days or so, I’ve had a lot of downtime. So much so that I’ve gotten bored of all this newfound freedom. How did it ever come to this?

In my past three years as a high school student, time is the one thing of which I thought I could never have enough. If my time off from school has taught me one thing, it’s that too much of something can never be good for you… even if that ​thing ​is something you’ve wanted more than anything else.

To top it all off, I’ve just discovered one of my favorite restaurants, Bravo, is closing. They—whoever ​they ​may be—have even taken it off of the maps. All of the maps. It no longer shows up on Google, Waze or Apple applications.

The Coronavirus has affected me on a personal level. It’s factually disproved my opinions on free time, and now it’s coming for my eating habits. Not only can I no longer relax inside a restaurant, but I will never be able to enjoy the heavenly bread of Bravo ever again.

There have been positives to this shut down: during my time off, I have been able to sleep in as much as I want. However, all the joy I get from that is counteracted by the fact that I can no longer see my friends, as Mike DeWine doesn’t consider it “essential” enough.

I’m starting to feel like Jack Torrance from ​The Shining​, minus the murderous rage and weird typewriter stories. I haven’t been able to go to the gym for around two weeks to work out my stress, since those were shut down as well.

I’ve used this time to write some, which has been nice. I’ve worked on a lot of homework, and even taken a few quizzes. All in all, I give this time off a 5 out of 10.

Things could be better, that’s for sure, but things could be a ​lot worse. I could have COVID-19. I could know someone who has COVID-19. I could go on a murderous rampage because of COVID-19.

But I don’t and I haven’t. That’s a win in my book.

As we continue in our time off, I’m going to try and take some time for myself, and remember to do fun activities that will stop me from chasing my family with an axe into the frozen tundra of the Colorado Rockies. I suggest you do the same.