DAY 1-March 18

My name is Brianne Nicholson. I’m a second year journalism student at Sheridan College. The COVID-19 pandemic has become more serious, and as a result, the Ontario government has recommended that everyone self-isolate and quarantine themselves. Classes have been suspended, and we’ll move to online classes starting next Monday.

Today is the first day of our blogs, but the third day of suspended classes. I’ve been isolating myself since Saturday, when my shift got cancelled at the restaurant I work at that is owned by Cineplex. Another shift got cancelled yesterday and, today, the restaurant is officially closed until further notice.

I’ve had a job since I was sixteen. I’ve always known where my income was coming from. It makes me nervous that I don’t know how long this quarantine is going to last, and to have no source of income for an indefinite amount of time. I’m worried about bills and loans of my own, but also my family. 

I’ve spent the last few days watching Disney+ and Netflix, and cleaning my room to keep myself busy. 

Other than that, I’m just hoping that all of this gets solved and dealt with quickly.

I’ve never been so thankful for streaming services than I have been in the past few weeks. I couldn’t imagine not having them throughout this experience.

DAY 2–MARCH 19

In today’s vlog, I talk about how I’m trying to focus on the positive even though I’m concerned about  what is happening. I also talk about how my house is filled with people, which can make it hard to focus.

DAY 3–MARCH 20

Today I talk about how it seems like time is going by a lot slower than usual because I’ve been locked inside for so long. I also talk about how the boredom is starting to set in now, as well as just wondering how long it will take for this all to be over.

DAY 4–MARCH 21

Today was probably the most unproductive day I’ve had since self-isolation. I usually go for walks, do school work or do some kind of workout at the field near my house. Today I sat around and felt very lazy. 

I’ve been sleeping in nearly every single day, and I’ve been struggling to stay on top of things.

Today I spent laying in bed watching movies with my mom. We ate a lot of snacks and were both very unproductive.

I tried to apply for employment insurance and got frustrated because there’s a lot of employment information I don’t have, which makes it hard to apply, which means I can’t get money. Because of this I started to become more stressed about not having enough money to cover any upcoming bills I might have.

After doing some laundry a few hours later, I FaceTimed with my friend and schoolmate Brandon Rollo. We talked about school work, what we’ve been doing and how long we think these global issues will last. I haven’t seen Brandon since last week when we were still in school, so it was nice to have some sort of normalcy back in my life.

DAY 5–MARCH 22

In today’s vlog, I talk about doing chores around my house to try to feel less bored–I’m doing a lot of cleaning and organizing. I also mention how it’s hard for me to focus because I can’t leave the house, and I usually need to be in a school environment to do school work, or a gym environment for exercise, etc, and how I’m dealing with that.

DAY 6–MARCH 23

Today I’m coming at you guys fresh faced to talk about how I only left the house once to get mail, and then I talk about how I was supposed to go on a trip this summer, but that doesn’t seem to be happening with this COVID-19 situation. I also talk about starting online classes, waking up early (well, 10am), and starting new shows on Netflix.

DAY 7–MARCH 24

One week into the quarantine blogs, and today has pretty much been the same as any other day, albeit a little more fun. I stayed inside for most of the day, but I spent a little bit more time with my family. My older sister Shannon came to visit with my nephew, Liam. I haven’t seen them since a week or two before the recommended self-isolation, so it made me happy to see some familiar–yet somehow new–faces. 

While they were here, my dad and I made everyone pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast and we all sat down and ate as a family. We never really do that unless it’s a holiday or a special occasion, so I was weirdly grateful that this quarantine gave me the opportunity to spend more time with the people I love.

After playing with Liam and catching up with Shannon, they headed home and I made cookies with my other sister, Caitlyn. She and I are really close so I’ve spent most of my time with her over the past few weeks.

After watching TV with her for a few hours, I FaceTimed with my friend Brandon—again—and talked about school assignments and the Ontario government’s closure of essential businesses.

Even though today was more eventful and more fun than previous days so far, I can’t help but hope for this whole COVID-19 thing to end sooner rather than later. I miss going out with my friends, going to the mall, and even going to school. I miss spending my days doing something, no matter how boring and repetitive it might have seemed before.

DAY 8–MARCH 25

In this video (taken the next morning because I forgot the night before) I talk about my hopes for getting out of the quarantine quickly, enjoying the nice weather, and starting new shows and movies, as well as getting an interview for a possible internship!

DAY 9–MARCH 26

Today was a good day. I feel like my energy was a lot higher today than it’s been the past couple of weeks. 

Before my interview, I caught up on Love is Blind.  

I might be slightly enjoying it–don’t tell my sister! 

I woke up late this morning—again, shocker—and slept in until almost noon. After I made myself breakfast, I watched Love is Blind as I got ready for my internship interview. The interview was through Zoom, which is a website/app that is kind of like Skype and has grown with the rise of COVID-19, so I guess it comes in pretty handy at times like this. 

I think the interview went well. I have a mindset where I aim low to avoid disappointment just so I don’t get let down, but I’m trying to remain optimistic for this one. They mentioned that with this whole COVID-19 pandemic going on, they’re not sure how it will affect the internship.

I went for a walk—again, another shocker—around my neighbourhood. I’m always conscious of avoiding people and staying out of people’s way. I know that a lot of people can be carriers of the virus and show no symptoms, so I’m constantly worried about affecting other people I cross paths with. Going on walks lifts my mood and allows me to feel less trapped and stuck in this situation.

I’ve been going on solo walks every once in a while to have some time to myself– 6 feet apart from anyone who walks past, of course!

I cannot wait until I’m able to just enjoy other people’s company again. I feel like I’m counting down the days, even though I’m not sure how many are left.

DAY 10–MARCH 27

In today’s vlog, I talk about how nice the weather was all day and the progress I’m making on the new shows I’ve started to binge watch (and how I’m apparently mixing a lot of them up), as well as news on the interview I did for a possible internship (hint: I got it!)

DAY 11–MARCH 28

In today’s vlog, I talk about the weather and its effect on my mood. My mom watched this and told me everyone should take a shot/sip of their drink every time I say “bored” or “boring.” Good luck!

DAY 12–MARCH 29

Things are starting to get a little too repetitive for me in today’s vlog. I talk about how I feel a little bit better than I did yesterday, and how other people in my house are starting to feel a little antsy as well. 

Turns out I was wrong, and this vlog was actually the last one! I think that doing these diaries was fun because they gave me something to focus on in the midst of this pandemic. I think it will be cool to look back on all of this in a few years and see how I felt going through it, since I’ve never been through something like this before.

I really hope that we’ll be out of this soon, because I’m really missing seeing friends and even going to school and work (and just being able to go outside without fear). 

I’m excited to see how the website looks when it’s finished, and see how my classmates have been doing in this time. I have a feeling we were all sleeping in late, struggling to focus, and stress eating (at least I hope I wasn’t the only one!).