With the entire state of Ohio quarantined, The Cauldron’s staff wanted to share how they’ve managed to keep themselves entertained while having to stay at home.
Ben Hercik, Sports Editor
While I’m someone that is considered an essential employee and has been working a lot, that has actually been a very good way for me to stay sane during what’s going on. Other than working, things that I have been doing to entertain myself is playing video games and writing other articles.
As the sports editor, you would think that I would be writing things related to sports, but that is only slightly true. I have one in the works, but most of what I have been writing is about random video games. I am a big fan of sitting down for a while with a controller in my hands and relaxing for a bit.
Whether it’s fishing and digging up fossils in “Animal Crossing New Horizons” or beating people up in “Mortal Kombat,” I find it to be the best way for me to relax and de-stress right now.
Kristina Markulin, Features Editor
I started playing “Persona 5” again. I originally started during winter break but didn’t have much time until spring break to really get into playing it. Clocked in 40 hours so far, and it’s kind of stressful but rewarding. I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube, especially commentary, reviews and video essays. They’re nice to have on in the background while doing other things.
I’ve also been drawing a lot, but I’m still not where I want to be with it. I caught up with the “Castlevania” anime on Netflix, which isn’t for the squeamish. In all honesty, it got kind of hard to watch at times, but I got through it. They’ve been showing the “Harry Potter” movies a lot on TV so I’ve been popping in from time to time and watching them a bit. This is all in-between my school work of course.
Nathan Parin, Staff Writer
I’ve been learning how to make new foods and teaching myself how to bake from scratch. I’ve been playing card games with my mom, enjoying long walks with my dog, learning legal rights to transgender people in the U.S. after a name change, learning to cut hair and, of course, binging Netflix.
Nick Hawks, A&E Editor
I’ve mostly been binging TV shows, most notably the new season of “Ozark.” I’ve been experimenting with several new ambitious combinations of chips and dip, even giving salt and vinegar chips with french onion dip a shot (it did not end well). Barbecue chips with guacamole was a pleasant surprise, however. I’ve spent numerous hours ranking my favorite things in my head, most recently types of cheese. As I long suspected, pepper jack is the runaway winner.
I’ve been recording myself saying normal sentences but with a southern accent, trying to see if I can pull it off. I can’t. Then I tried an Australian accent and realized I know nothing about Aussies except they say ‘mate’ a lot and love kangaroos, which I’m pretty sure I took way too far. Halfway through every sentence, the accent somehow turned British. I’ve been going through a lot of people’s Instagram, careful to not accidentally hit the “like” button from posts from 2017.
About once an hour, I say to my dog, “can you believe this?” Basically, this quarantine has made me the most productive version of myself I’ve ever been.
Jamison Schroeder, Opinion Editor
I have actually tried to stay extremely active during this quarantine; it hasn’t always worked every day. After losing four jobs due to the virus, I have had a lot more free time on my hands.
During the first week, I kept myself busy by doing a deep clean of my room and the basement, also moving all of my dorm stuff back into the house and organizing it properly. More recently, I have also tried my best to remain physically active, riding my bike around my small town for about an hour each day, taking in nature and just feeling a sort of peace, especially since no one else is out.
I have tried to be more helpful around the house for my parents’ sake, having two younger siblings home from middle school and high school isn’t always easy to deal with. For the month of April, I am sitting down every night and watching one horror movie from Netflix and giving them a rating, so far none have been all that great unsurprisingly.
I have other plans for the remainder of this quarantine, however long it is, as I hope to get through a couple of books I have set aside, as well as finally finishing organizing my baseball card collection.
Connor Mahon, Graphic Designer
I’ve been participating in lots of live music and art events. Attending live events is a great way to still feel connected to others, even if you’re still just sitting behind a computer. While it’s recently blown up due to quarantine, including the Elton John hosted “iHeart Living Room Concert for America,” these events were pioneered by underground queer artists and can be found all across Discord, Zoom and even Minecraft. In addition to that, I’ve put an absurd amount of hours into Animal Crossing and watched a lot of movies and shows I’ve been putting off.
Megan Keleman, Managing Editor
My proudest accomplishment this quarantine was when — after a year of having my MacBook — I finally figured out how to type em and en dashes without having to google it and copy-paste it into a document. So needless to say, this has been going very well for me. In all seriousness, the past month (has it been this long?) has been extremely productive for me.
I have slowly been cutting out toxic people in my life, dyed and cut my hair, decluttering any space that needs to be organized, filled out an ungodly amount of applications, gotten ahead in all my classes, taught my brother high school geometry, found a house for when my current lease is up, somehow held together my sorority as president, managed to stop eating 10 meals a day and going on an outdoor run or walk and gotten a lot done at work since I am allowed to work remotely.
My boyfriend ghosted me, so I am thinking of this quarantine as the ideal timing to slowly change my Netflix and Hulu passwords since he’s in the middle of watching “Tiger King” and “Rick & Morty” on my accounts. I am thriving once again. Dare I say this might even be my peak? I cannot wait to come back out of quarantine as a blonde and show the world my glow in the dark chaps. West 6th after quarantine anyone?
Kourtney Husnick, Editor-in-Chief
Over the course of the last two weeks, I’ve essentially become nocturnal. It’s not the best for the few things I still need to do during daylight hours, but it’s made binge watching “Law & Order: SVU” and playing “Animal Crossing New Horizons” on nice, sunny days feel a little better. I can’t feel bad about being trapped inside if I’m only awake at night, right? I do my homework and most of my editing for the paper at four in the morning, and my mom wakes me up for dinner.
While it’s been a great time for new music releases and catching up on the TV shows I got behind on at the beginning of the semester, I don’t think my cat appreciates how much I’ve been singing to him in the middle of the night while I’m writing. Personally, the ability to socially isolate without too many people questioning it is exactly what I needed.
Aside from moving back to my hometown for the first time in three years, it’s almost a relief. I highly suggest looking into Netflix Party if you need some interaction with friends that takes off the pressure of unstructured conversation, though. Let’s face it, there’s not really much new to say, so engaging through activities makes things feel a little less empty.