It was just before Friday 13th.

I’d say the last real day was March 12th. Leading into a Friday 13th. I don't even think the date's connactation crossed my mind, not for very long anyway. For me, this was the day before all the news sunk in. I think in the week prior, the world was running as normal. You’d hear the common noises of our old lives. The continual drowning noises of stop-start traffic and generic city noises. It was in those days that alarm clocks had a purpose. When you'd engage eye contact with strangers. When you could walk into a store and buy a chocolate bar like normal. Or go to work as a barista. A time when hand sanitiser wasn't a commodity. Sports and concerts still ran as normal and, you could support your friends and be a fan in a crowd. On the news, the virus was always a foreign problem, a distant one. You felt safe and ignorant behind the digital screen. I'd still laugh seeing my friends faces from a hand away. I could sense the calm atmosphere together and get angry when they wouldn't pass the iPhone charger. That was before they flipped the switch.

Now we only have those around us and the outlet of a digital screen to meet others. Only virtual friends with virtual smiles. We used to run on inter-personal contact, and we'll have to survive temporarily with a constant wi-fi connection.

So, what happened on Thurday 12th March. This term, I remember waking up to my roommate on the other side of the room. I was lucky to share this year with him, we had similar energy. Anyway, I probably squinted my eyes as the curtains were drawn back and looked at the mess of a room I had. I was always running around and I didn’t want to wake him after my soccer game the night before. I’d shower and we shared a morning ritual. I’d wash my face and he’d put his contacts in and gel his hair. When we were good, we’d eat at the same time and it was good to get up early to start the day off. I remember feeling dreadfully tired from the semester itself but I’d keep calm and carry on. Even though I can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, I’m going to assume I ate a fried egg with some toast and a cuppa - cup of English tea. Then I realised I had class in 10 minutes and I had to go to my room and make the 10 minute walk to campus. As always, I had my priorities straight and grabbed my first coffee of the day. And somehow I made it, after a fast walk, I picked up from a life in London.

My friends were wishing they could to head back home – more so to end school early. Now everyone wants school to see each other again. They’ve had enough of their family and want to see their friends again. In the days before, we heard news of other universities cancelling their semester across North America. Yet, for us it felt as if the problem was foreign one, and a lifetime away from us.

Some things are always changing. The people around you, the news, which sports teams are winning that year. Some things don't like the stars in the sky, or the seasons or the fact that we have to go to school. Class was just class. Of course, I assumed that this class wouldn't be the last one and so I didn't remember it especially and expected the next class to come around. But it didn't, and the assumption of being at school broke. I miss seeing my friends without having to organise anything in particular. The act of just knowing that you’d catch up in that maths class and struggle and work together.

A quick note on online lectures. In person lectures, you can be distracted and miss content, but there’s the actual fact that time is passing and if you don’t pay attention this won’t be repeated. Yet, if it’s already recorded and online, it’s so much easier to procrastinate and not do the work. I know with most of my friends motivation has almost all but vanished. So, I along with most of my friends prefer in-person lectures. Anyway, I had my usual class schedule and it was fairly intensive but I was comfortable around people I could talk to and catch up with. They’d ask me about my football game the night before and I’d ask them about the band they were in or reminisce about the birthday party from the week before. Ah, the sweet taste of a birthday not in quarantine; many moons away. But in-person classes also brought us together with a competitive edge and a common evil - work. During online school, that's all that kept us together, the connections we'd made previously.

This year, I led a project that was focused on adapting a virtual reality headset with a meditation brainwave headband. So, confusing and ridiculous futuristic, something I would haven't expected to be reality so soon. I learned that virtual reality actually had a lot of social potential and unlike my first glance, I can see strong social intentions moving forward. Only now are some of those futuristic ideas necessarily in our isolation. We can get closer to being with our friends, whether they are on the other side of the street or the other half of the world. Technology can keep us together.

After another intensive day of class, I was going to sit down and relax, maybe play some ping pong. Yet, I was still sticking to my new year's resolutions and trying to squeeze in everything - now is the best moment. I'm use to being flexible and having to change my day for whatever hits. I was going to a comedy night, the 99th Engineering Night at Hart House Theatre on Friday 13th. I know my friends had trained for 10 hours a week all year for this show. That evening, Thursday was the single night it would shown and so I went 30 mins late with no ticket and I was determined to watch this highly spoken of event. I also learned that Lorne Michaels found his passion for comedy and acting at Hart House Theatre at U of T, which I think is pretty cool. I got there somehow before the night began as it was delayed for late parents for the only night of drama. I don't know how but I managed to persuade my way in and I saw my mates in the show. And it was a masterpiece.

For many, this was just another night of comedy and acting. For me, it's a glimpse into my personal story and it helps me remember why I used to act and why I stopped. Long story short, I was pressured and felt awful and this led to me quit. It still sticks with me and while I suppress it, I can also see how the artform, allows expression of unknown quality and inspires and brings smiles and happiness to the many pairs of eyes watching. It touched my soul and reminded me that my stupid worries must be forgotten and I should stand back up and try again.

Now, sitting at my desk, I count back the days to BC (before COVID-19). Many news outlets throw around the term ‘new normal’ and how we need to plan to get ahead. Activist and environmentalist groups believe this too. While I agree that there were ways we could improve, it seems too easy to ask everyone to shift suddenly and to tear down the barriers and structures in our societies. We had good lives before, but there's a whole lot of change before we can be together again. We can keep our old fantasies of Friday 13th being unlucky and our artist expression. They define us and give us character. We must keep these human traits and not those them with our new digital reliance. Instead, we should focus on how to adapt and move through this event together and working with each other. This age is a screenplay unlike any movie and scripts in a book. Unexpected as the human race is, I am glad to be part of our generation now. When we were face-to-face with our friends, teammates and environment, we had individual lives in a pile of misunderstood people. Now, we are individuals on the same team moving on similar digital boats, in our own little streams, we see each other digitally and paddle separately.