camaraderie in the time of corona

during this quarantine season, my friends and i kept in constant contact through: Jackbox Party and Chloe Ting.

it started out with online Cards Against Humanity first one Saturday night, with Ken, Austin, Tal and Irfan, and sometimes Chok and/or Danny. and then it became every Saturday night, regardless of our respective timezones. then, because Austin had Jackbox Party, we spent the next few weeks playing that. and then Tal discovered Covidopoly and we tried that out too. it gradually became a routine that i was looking forward to every Saturday night. while we hardly hung out on normal days after we graduated from Sunway (because of work, other responsibilities, timezones etc), the global lockdown presented the most apt opportunity to do so, and even more frequently than before.

i had never heard of Chloe Ting until the day Xin Qi sent a link of one of her workout videos to our Whatsapp group. since then, (almost) every evening, Xin Qi, Joyce, Ash and I would pull out our yoga mats and spend the next 15 to 20 minutes working out together while on a four-way video call. at the end of every session, we would clap and say “good job”. like, “good job for surviving another day of this pandemic, my friend. i’m glad that we still have each other even during this uncertain period of time.”

it’s an awful time to be living alone right now, but at the same time, the bizarre ways in which all of us still keep in contact with each other and carry out daily tasks together don’t make me feel all that lonely after all.

it’s also made me realise how fortunate i am during this MCO that most of my existing friendships and relationships are online in nature. the fact that they are long-distance in the first place sucks, but under the current circumstances, nothing much has actually changed, except for the additional perk that most of us have more free time now. (save for the fact that being away from my parents was initially a great source of anxiety, but it reassures me more now that Kedah is one of the relatively safer states to be in now.)

it’s a trying time for everyone in the whole world right now, but i am thankful for the company of my family and friends who may be far in distance, but close at heart.