Quarantine Bucket-List: How I Plan to Overcome Boredom

BY LIANN MELENDEZ

Staff Writer

Before March 13th, my days were pretty much the same, stay home or go to school. Now that the latter isn’t an option anymore, you would think I would be used to spending so much time indoors — bored out of my mind.

It turns out that really isn’t the case when even going out to the supermarket is a whole ordeal in itself.

Let me know if your days are similar to mine: wake up, eat, watch YouTube, start homework, take various breaks from said work, preferably to watch more YouTube and snack, resume and finish homework, eat, then sleep.

While I agree YouTube has been my savior for the last couple of weeks, it has also been tempting me with its latest algorithm in the recommendation page in the form of “Watch me cut my hair and regret it after” videos. Trust me, I did not watch enough of those videos to say that what I did next was neither rational or well-thought out.

It was then, when I was rummaging through the fridge for my first snack of the day, that I realized that I was not hungry — I was just bored.

This brought me to a conclusion, a very impulsive yet simple conclusion. I must find a way to make my days less dull and depressing, or else I was doomed to be the next contestant on My 600-lb Life.

All jokes aside, I was determined to do something, spontaneous or otherwise, to spice up my day.

However, I wasn’t going to go all out on the first try — I’m not that impulsive. Hence why I decided to only add 3 things to my Quarantine Bucket List, so far at least.

At the bottom of the very short list is a box left unchecked, but who can blame me when there are 6 seasons of Teen Wolf to be watched. Like I said, I wasn’t going to put all my eggs in one basket, ergo watching all of Teen Wolf is a safe bet for my first shot at a bucket list.

So far in season 4, I can safely say Teen Wolf does not disappoint in the entertainment area. Nonetheless, I have to admit, and I hope I’m not offending any fans of the show when I say this, that seasons 1–3 were better.

It’s like after Void Stiles, the jokes just don’t do it for me anymore.

Knowing that the honeymoon phase of Teen Wolf was beginning to wear off, I immediately knew I had to add the second dare to my list.

I would say it was the most daunting of the three, and the first is pretty bold if I do say so myself.

Let me give you a little background of my experience working in the kitchen. Well, it can pretty much be summed up in this one instance; one morning I woke up to the sound of my grandma telling me that she made breakfast and that I should get up before it gets cold. Of course, as one teenager would, I went back to sleep. However, my sleep only lasted for a couple more minutes before she then came back and aggressively woke me up as any sane grandmother would, by loudly yammering on the phone as she started to noisily walk around the house. Finally, after getting my morning breath situated, I walked into the kitchen to find two nicely cooked boiled eggs waiting for me. Only, they did not manage to stay that way for long, not when I had the genius idea to warm them up in the microwave. If scooping the remnants of the eggs from the microwave taught me one thing, it would be that I have no skills whatsoever when it came to anything edible.

That’s why I added baking to the list!

It took a little bit of convincing for my grandma to allow me the chance to bake on my own, for good reason of course. Searching through the internet for recipes was not as hard as I thought, and in no time I found what I was looking for — Apple Crisp!

The recipe called for the most basic ingredients, and thankfully I had all but one — the lemon juice. With a little bit of Google magic and assistance from my sister, I found that orange juice and a bit of vinegar work well to replace the lemon juice.

After 35 minutes of baking in the oven, and 19 minutes of cooling off, per my sister’s suggestion, the apple crisp was ready to eat.

It. Was. Delicious. Also, a great danger to any diabetics, as the sugar rush I had after eating two slices was enough to last me a lifetime.

Just as the sugar crash hit, my level of boredom sky rocketed.

Not only was Teen Wolf beginning to bore me, but I also was too afraid of getting a cavity to even want another bite of the treat I made.

Feeling enlightened, I realized I had to do something lasting, something drastic. Like a haircut, only with kid scissors and with non-skilled hands such as mine.

It was probably the most thought out plan I had since the creation of my Quarantine Bucket List.

The Home Haircut Game Plan did not commence until my mom and grandma left the house to run some errands and bring back food. Which left me with enough time to persuade my sisters into not snitching me out and cutting my hair.

Honestly, it seemed like the first was easier than the last.

Turns out, I didn’t need to do it all on my own, as my sisters even volunteered to help me on the quest to look like Dakota Johnson and not end up in one of those “Watch me cut my hair and regret it after” videos that I mentioned earlier.

Truth be told, my hands were shaking as I began to snip away my hair. Even so, after about 10 minutes I could honestly say I successfully made bangs. Of course, it was after the deed had been done that I realized I hadn’t even made it to boss level yet.

I still had to share my new look with my mom and grandma — who were completely oblivious to my whole plan. For about twenty minutes, I waited until they returned.

I opened the door, calm and collected as you would expect. Yet, what neither of us would have predicted was their reaction, or rather lack thereof.

In fact, the explosives only went off when she discovered my haircut was a scheme amongst three. Not even my little sister’s puppy eyes could save her.

Just like that, as I expected, my older sister sang like a canary. It was like something from a movie, or like watching a car crash. In no amount of time, she admitted to my mom everything, that she had helped part and blowdry my hair, that my little sister even helped cut the left side of my bangs, and that I even dared to come up with the idea of this at home haircut.

It. Was. Breathtaking. Also, not as heated as I thought the conversation would be.

Still, I’ve got some time to fill when I’m not doing homework or deep diving through YouTube. If you have suggestions, plausible suggestions, feel free to comment down below.

Don’t feel limited to what you can do even though going out isn’t exactly an option, there are a bunch of indoor activities that can treat boredom.

P.S. If you’re going to cut your hair at home or dye it, look at the bright side, it will make for a good story, and remember who’s going to see it?