Words by Brennan Lockwood
Feature image by Lan Chi Dang
What if I were to tell you that 2020 has played out roughly just as well as I thought it was going to. Under the harsh morning sun of New Year’s Day and surrounded by the day-old aroma of burnt citronella, I sat around a dingey glass table in my good friend’s back yard. It’s become a tradition of ours to sit down together and envision what we think the year ahead holds in store for us. It’s a practice that made for an absolute ripper of a 2019, but I distinctly remember being unable to see a bright future ahead for this calendar year. And now I know why.
Corona hit, and it hit hard. What was once a word commonly associated with the Fast & the Furious franchise (and in my opinion a sub-par beer that I pretended to enjoy in front of my friends) is now the utter bane to my existence. I miss pubs and I long for cinemas. I can just picture it now, the thrill of paying $11.50 for an over-priced IPA with a side of chipotle infused curly fries (or something similar that people my age froth over @anythingavocado). These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night. Now instead of paying to watch a movie in a dark room full of strangers, I’m forced to watch a movie on Netflix in my dark room on my own. It’s just not the same.
I’m sure I’m not alone in my first-world angst, thankfully though my situation is a tad unique. Rather than being locked indoors with my loving family that I’m sure wouldn’t for a second drive me to the brink of insanity, I live at a residential college here in Adelaide. Influenced by the American Pie movies and ‘Frat-boy’ culture, you probably have an idea of what college life looks like in your head. But rather than keg-stands and parties, college life here in Adelaide is shaped from a reasonable amount of normalcy. With an emphasis on study and sports, we really only ever have one night of the week dedicated to drinking and partying. But unlike our American counterparts, keg-stands are not a regular occurrence. A goon-stand on the other hand—that’s a whole other topic.
We’re all adults in the eyes of the law here at college, and we try our best to act like it. We abide by the rules that have been set by government and college administration in regard to COVID-19. Social distancing can be a real pain at times, but when lives are at stake you just gotta do what you gotta do. As a large collective of individuals, everyone has their own unique way to pass the time. So, with nothing but an overpriced iPhone in hand and a bucket load of time to kill, I set out to ask my fellow collegians, ‘What is your favourite way to pass the time during Corona Virus?’ Here are the responses I got…
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