WAKWIR: Quarantine Check-up #1

Well, everyone, the coronavirus has gotten almost everywhere, in the slip of a couple of weeks. And you may have predicted that schools would eventually close in Minnesota. Well they did. First, they were going to be closed until yesterday, the 27th. But now they are closed until Star Wars Day. Well, you may have assumed that I would be like: “This is the time of my life! No school till the beginning of May!” But as always, my school has to be one of the many, many, many unlucky schools to have computers that students take home. Now, you may be thinking: Why might that be bad? You can play on them on your so-called “break”. No. One of my spies, whose dad is our school's superintendent, told me in advance that the school was plotting something called Distance Learning. I was appalled by the fact that we would have to do - not just any regular homework, like a big packet - no. Online learning. It was a fact I had to embrace. The only thing that was good about this school closure, was that the MCAs were cancelled! That news just about made my day yesterday morning, when I saw our principal's message. Until I realized that I had over ten assignments to complete by midnight. More on that later.

Anyways, that was a long intro paragraph. Now to the main story for today! Starting with March 18th. I couldn't help it. I slept in till 10:30 in the morning. It was the first time I had done that in 2020 as far as I know. It is rare when I sleep in late. But, I will say, that the night before, I was binge watching Star Wars: the Clone Wars TV series for about 4 hours before I went to bed. After I got up, all I did was my daily Czech homework then I semi got dressed, got back in bed, then finished season 5 of The Clone Wars. Very great use of time. I basically played games, downloaded season 6 of The Clone Wars, went outside to fly my brother’s drone, and went back inside. Wednesday in a nutshell. 

Thursday was more productive. I got up an hour earlier, 9:30, which is not normal, but not uncommon either and I started working ahead on some school stuff. The school uses this app called Schoology. I haven’t figured out how to turn off the notifications, so when I hear a certain sound on my phone, I always feel guilty when I swipe it away, because it's work that I need to do and I know I’m putting it off. After some school stuff, I kind of watched all of Season 6 of The Clone Wars, because each episode was so good, I thought, “Just one more episode.” I did that about thirteen times before I found out that I had finished the season. I went outside and I did some ice harvesting, which was pretty cool, in one of our ditches. I took a stick, stuck it in the water, cracked the ice, then did a circle of cracks, so I could get this one large ice piece. Then all I did after that, was take the piece of ice, show it to everyone, then break it. 

Friday was similar to Thursday, but I got up a little earlier and was outside more. I downloaded the Star Wars Rebels TV series, and started watching Season One of it. I did a lot of ice harvesting and I also watched a lot of videos about Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series Lego Sets. Some Lego sets get pretty crazy. Thousands of pieces. 

The weekend was chill. I lounged around, harvested ice, played Geometry Dash,(a cube game) and went to church online. 

Here it comes. The 23rd of March to the 27th. First week of Distance Learning. In a nutshell, I was expecting less homework. And I was not productive at all. I just kept saying to myself: “I’ll do it in an hour… no, tomorrow. Nah, the day after that.” I kept saying that, and yes, I did get some done, like doing a video how to draw an optical illusion triangle, but I had soooooo much left to do. I eventually finished Season 1 of Star Wars Rebels, then I downloaded Season 2 and I watched some of that. 

Thursday, the 26th, was my birthday, and I turned 14. It was a chill birthday. I got up at about 9, did my homework, and watched Star Wars Rebels till noon, and then played Minecraft. I had my birthday party planned, but the school closure canceled it. That night, I had my birthday celebration, then I watched some more Star Wars Rebels, then I went to bed at midnight.

Last week, I had made a promise to my mom that I would do a post for her. Because I thought I would get it done in about half an hour, I put it off till Friday. I was wrong. Friday came, and there was a list of about twelve things I had to do before midnight. What did I do? The sensible thing. Watch about 3 hours worth of Minecraft videos on Youtube. Don’t worry, I had my brother take my phone, and my sister to watch me, and I eventually got my last piece of homework done at 10:33 PM. Then I started to write this post. Now, as I’m writing this at 12:07 AM today (Saturday), I realized I don’t always make smart choices. 

Well folks, that's it. My first quarantine checkup. I hope to improve my time management skills and not put things off to the last minute.

David

Aka WAKWIR (Wannaskan Almanac Kid Writer-in-Residence)

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

1990 - Jesse Owens receives the Congressional Gold Medal
The African American athlete dominated the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, which were held during the reign of Adolf Hitler's racist nazi regime.

1979 - Three Mile Island nuclear power plant experiences a partial meltdown and radioactive leak
The coolant leak was the worst commercial nuclear accident in the United States. A continuous string of nuclear disasters, such as Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986), and Fukushima (2011) continue to raise doubts about the security and environmental benefit of nuclear power.

1969 - Greek poet Giorgos Seferis speaks out against the military junta
The Nobel Prize laureate issued his now famous statement against Greece's repressive right-wing Regime of the Colonels on the BBC World Service.

1963 - Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds is released
The film about a swarm of birds wreaking havoc in Bodega Bay, California has become a classic of the horror movie genre.

1910 - The first seaplane in history takes off
French inventor Henri Fabre's Canard (Fabre Hydravion) was the first floatplane to take off from water under its own power. The first flight measured 457 meters.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1986 - Lady Gaga, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress

1955 - Reba McEntire, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress

1946 - Alejandro Toledo, Peruvian politician, 48th President of Peru

1936 - Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian/Spanish journalist, author, Nobel Prize laureate

1483 - Raphael, Italian painter, architect

Remembering You

2004 - Peter Ustinov, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter

1969 - Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general, politician, 34th President of the United States

1943 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, conductor

1941 - Virginia Woolf, English author, critic

1584 - Ivan the Terrible, Russian czar

Love on your family, play some Parcheesi, and make it a great Saturday!

Kim