The Eagle's Scream Quarantine: Week 3

Elementary reunions, self-care, and Tiger King. Enjoy the third round of journal entries from our very own staff, giving a closer look into the life of a self-isolated teenager.

Want to send in your own journal entry? Contact us at erhsjournalism@gmail.com

Oscar

My time at ERHS was something I’ve never really experienced mostly because before 7th grade, I normally never stayed in any school for more than 4 years. Having gone to 3 schools before then, I was used to friendships not lasting a long time. I established some pretty intense ride-or-dies in my elementary schools and when I left a school I was pretty much convinced I’d never see them again. So, having a Glendale Adventist Elementary zoom call reunion is something I’d never thought would be happening. (Also most of these people I also never discovered on Instagram, I was seeing them for the first time since 3rd grade). All praise zoom.us.

I realized a lot of bullying happened back then that I never noticed. Or maybe I should say repressed. My mom explained that I came home crying on multiple occasions because my friend kept on slamming my face against a fence. Yet, my memory’s blank. So yeah my brain got right to repress that. In addition, my best elementary friend Suki (Who put together this iconic zoom call) apparently was pretty much either ignored or made fun of by a certain group of girls while simultaneously being accused by Valerie that SHE was a bully to her throughout Kindergarten and 1st grade. Yet, my memory’s blank. I seemed to only remember the happy memories like the reenactment slide and field trips and nap time. God, please bring back nap time.

The weirdest part, however, was probably taking heat from my kindergarten girlfriend about having had crushes during our committed relationship. The worst part was my crush was actually her bully. But she had the audacity to throw shade at me when IT TURNS OUT that SHE had a crush on Andrew (the guy that slammed my face against a fence). So we’re pretty much even. I have to recover however from the discovery of all this Kindergarten tea.

For a time of social isolation, I made some of the weirdest connections and gone through nostalgia frenzies I was not expecting. We’re only in quarantine once, so it’s the best time to rekindle old relationships to remind us that we’re not alone. Or if that doesn’t work, there’s always Yubo, which is basically friend Tinder for bored teens, right?

Anyways tune in next time to when I work 2 hours in the midst of the most dangerous essential workplace right now, Jamba Juice.

(Avatar the Last Airbender, was AMAZING btw. Still think Zutara should’ve happened tho)

Pearl

Life is starting to feel normal again, or as normal as it can possibly be under the circumstances. Quarantine is starting to feel like summer break if summer break had a lot of work and was also just really bad. Now that it’s spring break I look forward to an even more mind-numbing week than usual, but I’m going to try to bake with the ingredients I have and see how that goes. (My master baking strat is to just guess with all the proportions.)

It’s been raining, and it’s surprisingly comforting listening to the rain patter on my roof at night. I like knowing that it’s the same rain that my friends and family are hearing.

Speaking of my family, my grandma sewed me some masks! Very exciting. Also, my grandpa texted me to say that as of yesterday, I am 5900 days old, 141,600 hours old, 8,496,000 minutes old, or 509,760,000 seconds old! He’s kept track of how many days old I am since I was little. He also sent me a very cute photo of a four-year-old me as a flower girl.

I volunteer for TeenLine, which is a crisis hotline for teens, staffed by teens. It’s been interesting seeing how we’ve changed for the times. This is the first time since the 80s, when it started, that our hotline room has ever closed. We’re doing meetings over Zoom to ask our supervisors questions, and taking our texts in a room (away from people, because of confidentiality). Our texting services used to only go until 9 PM, but we go until 10 PM now.

Nearly all the texters I’ve gotten (and I’ve done a couple of shifts since the beginning of quarantine) texted in because of the quarantine. Everyone is going just a little bit insane under these conditions, I think. In general, it’s just really important to keep a routine, and focus on doing things you love or are good at-- think writing, art, exercise of some sort, an instrument, etc. Also, take care of yourself! Paint your nails, drink tea, watch your favorite movie. These are weird, hard times, where the boundary between working and being at home is blurred. You have to make time for yourself.

The way I’ve been doing that is playing Minecraft and calling people I like. I had a long call (think a couple of hours) with my childhood best friend! (We’ve known each other since second grade.) She made fun of me for the amount of times I said “vibes” in one conversation. She also helped me repair Sims 4 on my computer, which I have been playing obsessively since. I made one of my close friends in Sims and have been reporting to the real friend what her Sim-self has been doing in the game. I’ve also been calling another close friend, and we decided to reread Homestuck (an 8,000-page webcomic that we loved back in 7th grade) together.

I finally watched A Woman Under the Influence, a Cassavetes movie that my friend has been obsessing over and aggressively recommending to me for at least a thousand years, and oh my god. I was NOT prepared for the emotional rollercoaster I went through and just how much emotional pain it put me in. If you want to reach me in the next couple of weeks, I will be in bed obsessing over every tiny detail in that movie.

I’ve also been watching Drag Race with my dad. I have a lot of opinions about it (also, one of my favorite contestants got eliminated like, the third episode). There’s a couple of things about this season that I take issue with (besides the very obvious issue with the season, which is that Sherry Pie is a literal predator), but I’m still enjoying.

Anyways, that’s all for now. Tune in next week, where a horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, “why the long face?” Bye!

Sarah

Well, I’ve never procrastinated this much in my life. I know that I have work to do, and going into this, I knew I had to keep myself on track. I made a to-do list to budget my time, but what I’ve found is that honestly, it’s so much easier to just not do anything. Seriously, it’s really difficult to sit down and do math homework when I could just as easily be doing, say, anything but that. So far during this quarantine, I’ve read 5 books and watched so much Netflix that I am scared for my own health and annoyed my cats to the point that they don’t come near me unless they’re hungry. My parents probably don’t think that I’m taking classes seriously, even though I am. Really. School is just as important to me as before, but now, while I’m in lecture, diligently note-taking, all my parents see is a blob of PJs, blankets, and snacks that looks like she hasn’t showered in days. I assure you, I do shower on a regular basis, and although I do live in virtually the same PJs and sweatshirts, THEY ARE WASHED REGULARLY. What’s the point of not dressing as comfortably as possible if you aren’t going to see anyone?

I don’t know about anyone else, but my sleep schedule has been destroyed. Today, I slept until noon, a new personal record. When I was younger, I would wake up around 6, but I’ve found that if you don’t really care about anything, sleeping in comes much easier. Who would’ve thought? It could also be that I stay up into the wee hours of the night reading (I’m not allowed to have my phone in my room at night in order to prevent Netflix watching, which is probably smart because if I could, I wouldn't sleep at all). Although this new schedule is nice, I miss everything so much. None of us have seen our friends, and I’m really missing everyone. I know I complained about having school, but now I just want everything to go back.

Alas, I can’t do much about that right now, so onto something lighter (and perhaps something that will show you just how far gone I am at this point), TIGER KING. I know thatwe’ve all seen the show pop up on Netflix, or have come across a meme or two. My dad forced me to watch it with him, and it is both the best and worst thing I have ever seen. I have a really hard time believing that any of these people are real because they all seem like characters in a poorly written and budgeted country drama film. Unfortunately, they are all very real, and I am scared for life. From arson to murder conspiracies to INCREDIBLE country music from Joe Exotic, this 7 episode series seems to reflect the time I’m having in quarantine; I wish it wasn’t real, but sadly it is, and the whole time you just wish it will end soon. But unlike my quarantine experience, which I would give a solid 4/10, Tiger King deserves full marks. Please watch it, I assure you, you will regret it.