#MyCityandMe

[mycityandme]

How do you think COVID-19 has affected/will affect your future? By Amanda Skipper

A short comic on how I feel Covid-19 will affect my future. This one took me a while to do with all the colouring.

Despite the rough year 2020 has been, I feel more confident with my future. Media Trust has given me so many opportunities and confidence in myself. I have made Vlogs, started a YouTube channel, learned how to make a podcast and pushed myself so I can create content. Although I am still wondering in which direction I want to aim for, I am keeping my mind and options open.

This year has been a struggle but we are all in this together, we can pull through this. That is what I believe anyway :)

[mycityandme]

What I’ve Discovered since Covid-19 by Amanda Skipper

At first, I wasn’t sure what to write or do for this question. I struggled with what to come up with, as I didn’t feel like I did much since quarantine started. So instead, I written a list of anything I did including shows I watched. I noticed there were a few hobbies I’ve rediscovered like animating, photography and even gaming. I’ve learned new skills as well, from starting a business to how to make a podcast and filming.

However, one thing I’d like to talk about here is being more self-aware of my body. Around March I discovered a lump on my breast, it wasn’t cancerous thankfully, but still a hard lump so my thoughts were all over the place. I managed to get an appointment to the doctors at the end of March. They did a thorough check-up and since I showed no signs of the other symptoms, they were able to rule out cancer. They did still refer me to the hospital so I could find out the cause.

Due to covid19, I didn’t get an appointment until June. I was told I would have the appointment by the end of the week but it never happened. Although it was fine, as I understood why, I just couldn’t help but overthink the worst outcomes in my head. Some days I forgot about it, other days I was panicking and stressing. I was in pain whenever I slept on my side, as it was very sensitive. It wasn’t until at the end of May that the pain started subsiding and I felt like myself again.

At the 1st June I got a call from the hospital asking if I’d be free for an appointment that week. I went in on the Thursday calm and stress free as I was no longer worried. If anything, they struggled to find where the lump was as I no longer felt the pain. Nevertheless, they still found it. I’ve waited a couple hours and they told me it wasn’t anything serious. Rather it would heal overtime and that lumps was normal considering my age. Despite this, I was still shaken up from everything. I was worried about it for so long and I finally found my answer. Before I left, the doctor gave me a leaflet to help distinguish breast pain. Even having a mini calendar to mark off how long the pain had started. I took it upon myself to read and learn the differences, one thing I know for sure however. NEVER RELY ON GOOGLE!

[mycityandme]

What I Have Learned During Lockdown - Bertrand Dowuona

Everyone will agree with me when I say being in quarantine is not easy for 3 months; whether it’s missing going to the gym, missing your friends and family or missing the simple things like sitting in Starbucks and getting a coffee, we’ve all changed the way we live and work. However, this hasn’t been all doom and gloom I can safely say there are a few things that I’ve learnt during quarantine that I can say that I’ve gone through and revolved.

Money. I used to spend a lot of money, and now that I’m at home, I’ve saved a lot. I can live without so many things that I once deemed essential, as well as realising I dont, it’s helped me save a lot of money. In this time period, I’ve been lickyy enough to still have a job which allows me to earn an income.

Time: time is of the essence, and in quarantine, time has acted strangely. It has gone quick, but gone slow at the same time, does time even exist? During this process, I’ve spent time learning to coding, practicing my Spanish on Duolinguo and reading several books that I bought along the years that I never hadthe chance to read until now. Whatever happens after the pandemic is over, I will always and very much cherise time even more now no matter what happens

Relationships: not being able to see my friends and family has been tasking, and despite being away, it has in some cases strentgheted a lot of my relationships. Thankfully, we live in an age where Zoom, Skype and Facetime exists, so we can always be together with those we love, even a long way away

While I cannot wait for the world to open back up, I will miss lockdown in someways. The world running on a much slower pace led to me not feeling as much pressure, I took the chance to reflect on my plans and goals for the future, as well as realising what I took for granted as well as realising that not everything I focused on beforehand was as important as I thought. But most importantly, I am most thankful that my loved ones are fine and well during this period.

[mycityandme]

What am I discovering in the COVID-19 outbreak? By Orla McGroarty

[mycityandme]

Lockdown 2020 Poem by Orla McGroarty

What worries me and what brings me joy in this time? 

I woke up in the morning,

Everything had changed,

No more meeting friends and family,

It all felt so strange!

  I wondered what was going to happen next,

My worry started to begin,

So much uncertainty,

I was not going to let this feeling win!

  As much as did not want to be anxious,

I could not let this feeling go,

How will this virus affect my friends and family?

I started to feel low.

  Is my work good enough?

How long was lockdown going to last?

What do people really think of me?

These are all the questions I asked.

  I thought what should I do?

How do I stop worrying in the day?

Do things that bring me joy,

That’s what my family would say!  

  What makes me happy?

Hearing all the birds singing in the trees,

Walking my dog in the park,

Makes me feel really at ease.

  What brings me joy,

Has to be baking,

Cake, biscuit, bread,

Also, cheesecake making.

  I love to watch TV,

At the end of the day,

Comedy, drama, lifestyle shows

It helps my worries go away.

  Lockdown is finally coming to end,

Its rather been a strange time,

I can’t wait to see my friends and family,

I’m so grateful we are all fine!

  What’s the future hold? No one knows,

Well done to everyone who’s helped each other,

During this time there has been real hero’s !

[mycityandme]

My 4 Quarantine Fashion Essentials (by Steph Santos)

[mycityandme]

Task1: What I discovered in quarantine by Aaron Charles

For the first task of this page, I’m suppose to answer the question, “What have I discovered during the corona virus pandemic?” and after thinking about how to go about answering this, I came to the conclusion that for me, it was less about what I discovered and more about what I re-discovered.

For instance, when I had to clear out the spare room, there were a bunch of old books that needed to be sorted out. Within some of those old books were a lot of crosswords puzzles, some of which had pages that hadn’t been finished yet. So naturally i did a few and wound up finishing the book, and threw it away since it was keeping up space. I enjoyed it so much, that i downloaded a crossword app on my phone and play it from time to time.

Furthermore, there were a bunch of Maya Angelou books we had to sort out as well. Some of them are in the loft, a few were sold to eBay many moons ago and the rest I managed to liberate and are now occupying a corner of my room. I read a few chapters of her book “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” but it didn’t keep my attention for very long.

I remember a situation happened, where a family friend was in the neighborhood. He rang the door bell and obviously I didn’t let him in (social distancing and what not), though we did talk outside the door for a bit. And before he left, he convinced me to have a turn on his bike; I thought it was a bit strange to take him up on his offer ‘cause again, social distancing, but I figured that it would be fun. As I rode his geared bike up the road and started feeling the burn in my legs, I remembered how much I used to love taking my bike around the park and peddling 'round my area for hours.