 |
| I think I usually insert a random picture for these posts so here's a photo of my go-to order at Blaze (it is very yummy) |
I'm back for an update y'all! Currently in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and quaratine/shelter-in-place/stay-at-home/self-isolation has me revisiting all my old things, like this blog! Thought I would give an update on my life for my non-existent readers, but mostly for myself because I think it's fun to look back at these things.
I started journaling my freshman year of college, and have been doing it consistently ever since, and I have amassed a collection of notebooks filled with the juiciness that is my thoughts. I guess this blog post will be sort of like the journal entries I do (less juicy of course) mixed in with the current situation, as this is a major historical event we are living through.
A lot of media I have consumed related to this pandemic have used the term "unprecedented," which I find to be very fitting for these times and is my go-to word if I had to describe this situation. Everything has been happening around me, and I'm only now really starting to feel the weight and gravity of this situation, even though I have been taking it seriously. Major events have been cancelled/postponed, including big music festivals like Coachella, UCI commencement, and even the Olympics, but the one thing that happened before all of that which really opened my eyes was Disneyland closing. Yes, I work at the Happiest Place on Earth, and for a while I believed that Disney wouldn't close, and if anything it would only close for a short period of time. This was early March, and at the time all the Disney parks in Asia had already been shut down, and the world around me was still (from my perspective) normal. Disneyland has been closed for about two weeks now, with no re-opening date. Thousands of cast members (including myself) are about to be furloughed starting April 19th, but thankfully Disney will still be paying us until then. I'm looking into filing for unemployment insurance, at a time where applications are at an all time high (I think around 6 million or something like that) because so many have lost their jobs. UCI and pretty much every educational system has suspended in person classes and switched to remote learning, so I'm looking at an all online spring quarter. I'm doing fine, with my introverted-ness well suited for this type of situation of being stuck at home, but it's starting to get to me, and I can't even imagine how all the extroverts are feeling being stuck at home. I'm trying to use this time to work on myself and finally achieve the goals that I have had for YEARS—reading, cooking, fitness—and I'm making progress on some of those things, but definitely not all.
But aside from all that happening, I read through my last post on here which was around the start of spring quarter of first year, and now it's the start of spring quarter third year. So much has happened since then, and thinking and looking back at the two years in between then, so much growth and change as a person too. In those two years, I:
- changed my major (and almost got kicked out of it oop)
- went to many cool events/festivals
- hired into Extension
- hired into Disney
- grew SO much as a dancer (but also left MCIA oop)
- met a ton of amazing people
I think that the biggest thing that I've noticed though was that I've become much more comfortable and confident about myself. Not to say that I'm like super confident, because I am still insecure about a lot of things, but comparing my mindset/mentality now to Matthew from 2018, it's a HUGE difference in my eyes.
I guess my goal for this post is just to reflect, and to look forward. I feel like I'm in a good place right now mentally, and I want to remind myself of where my mind is at right now so that if Matthew from the future reads this and needs some MILK, he can get some. My favorite quote/idea/word-to-live by/idk-what-else-to-call-it is that the best things in life are unexpected. Truly, truly, truly, some of the best things that have happened to me over the past two years have been unexpected. It's hard to have this mindset since it requires you to basically abandon all expectations that you have about something or someone and just let the world run its course, but everything will fall into place. I still struggle with this, but Matthew-from-the-future, if you're having a tough time right now, just remember these things. Everything will be alright, keep ya head up!
This was longer than I expected, but it felt good to just type it all out. There are so many more things I look forward to in my future and so many aspects of my life that I want to work on and improve, I really hope I can pull it together to achieve the goals I set out for myself. Anyways, see ya when I see ya!
P.S. Please listen to this beautiful song because I lov it sm and it make me cri everytim
