COOP5 (May - August 2020)
The slow days of lockdown.
Life back home during the pandemic was strange as it must have been for so many others. The shift from savouring the twilight of my university years to feeling like I was back in high school was aggressively abrupt. For better or for worse, I think humans are extremely adaptable and after not too long, that week bunkered in with my roommates in Waterloo felt like a lifetime ago. Though the summer obviously wasn’t what I envisioned, with so much else going on in the world, I felt like I got off pretty easy. I still had a co-op job (many got theirs cancelled), I had a roof over my head, I was healthy, and I was getting to spend more time with my parents in a way I hadn’t in years, something that increasingly feels like a gift over time.
Days were far from eventful, I’d work during the day (and in those early days of remote work, let’s just say, I did a lot of multi-tasking), and run once I was finished. I’d help make dinner and eat with my parents, after which I’d usually watch a movie or play tabletop simulator online or StarCraft with friends into ungodly hours in the morning. There were an unfortunate number of nights ending at 3am or later, my eyes stinging from the light of the computer monitor, head pounding from fatigue and whatever incredibly complex board game picked (we peaked at 4.39 complexity on BoardGameGeek with Gaia Project). An arguably unfun experience but one I don’t regret.
Later on in the summer as restrictions opened up a bit, I had a small circle of high school friends that I would hang out with and we’d go on little adventures around town, usually into the wooded forests surrounding Guelph. I remember one of them saying that it felt like the summer after twelfth grade a bit and he was definitely right. Not a lot was “happening” but I still felt like I was making memories, none too major but delightful, like buying a guitar on a whim and hanging out under a tree in a park learning how to play it.
Since I had a co-op the following semester, I conducted the job search and interview process remotely while working this one. That was a challenge with substantially fewer job postings than previous semesters but once again, I was quite fortunate and got something I was pretty happy with.
There were no races or competitions but I kept running and later on in the summer, I would occasionally meet up with some of my Waterloo teammates for a run together. In August, once a lot of restrictions were lifted, a local track club hosted a few unofficial handtimed “time trials”. The results didn’t mean much but it was a great way to scratch the itch again and have fun in a friendly atmosphere.
My co-op ended about a week and a half before the next one started so I crammed as much as I could in, did a backpacking camping trip, rented an airbnb by the beach with some of my Waterloo teammates, and went to a cottage with my family.
Overall, the summer was a slow paced and leisurely time that completely removed me from the continuity of my university journey. At times, it felt like a rare treat being able to step back into a previous lifestyle without the fear of missing out on things going on in the paused life. Part of what kept the semester cheerful was the dangling carrot of a “return to normalcy”.
Throughout the semester, as COVID cases progressively dwindled and restrictions were removed, there was a real sense that the end was near and come fall, life would resume where it left off in March. As such, I was enjoying the “break” from my old life and not rushing it to end, assuming it would be forced to after not too long. You as a reader likely know how that actually panned out but we’ll continue that into the next section.
Scattered memories:
- Daily lunchtime patio bbq meals with the family
- Late night hangouts in downtown
- Epic StarCraft nights
- Coming back from a summer jog, laying on the couch with a protein shake, completely care free
- Craft beer sampling
- Guelph lake sunsets
- Downtown dining district and summer energy
- Life in Day submission
Songs:
- The Difference - Flume
- I Wish You Love - Laufey
- Sending Me Ur Loving - The Jungle Giants
- Blueberry Faygo - Lil Mosey
- She Makes Magic - Big Wild
- Superblood Wolfmoon - Pearl Jam
- Could Have Been Me - The Struts
- Entire Hamilton Soundtrack
- Yeah, went deep down the Hamilton rabbit hole with the release of the D+ movie