Day 73: What Day is it?

Day 73: June 7, 2020
Global Cases: 7,082,196 Deaths: 405,081
Egypt Cases: 34,079 Deaths: 1,237

Omar El Mor
Multimedia Journalism Alumnus

I’m slightly losing count of the days right now. They all feel the same now, I suppose. There are no more late Thursday night cruises, it’s not an option anymore. I still remember when my decisions had to be made about going out with the squad to eat shawarma or kebda (liver). Man, I genuinely miss the tug-of-war debates that keep on going just to choose between kebda or shawarma.

I miss those days when I knew I’m going to get wrecked in FIFA online against my friends; I was still going to the cybercafe turning the game mode on.

But I can’t stop thinking about what is next?

I wake up every day to the most trending obsession, the abomination that is  COVID-19. At the time of writing, it’s hitting the 34,000 confirmed cases benchmark. And I’m left with two decisions – watch things burn, or be a part of the fire.

I have to admit that I am not the best law-abiding citizen, sometimes I get provoked by the constant urges to stay at home. Add to that the peer pressure, like honestly, I love you mom, I love you dad, but staying in the house for 24 hours is not my thing. This is insanity, so sorry, not sorry.

And so, I put on my sneakers and go for a long walk. Doesn’t matter where I go, doesn’t matter if I leave my phone, my wallet, I just need to walk … It’s not normal staying confined within four walls, allowing the internal dialogues to manifest beyond their limits.

I realized that I don’t need the car that bad as I used to, and I found some clarity in taking long walks. I keep telling myself “It will pass”, و كل الأوقات تمر, Alles ist eine Frage der Zeit – and this too shall pass.

And I also can’t deny that I now have more time to pursue what I always wanted to study. Learning a fourth language, going for the fifth, I think time needs to be reallocated. At least I’m not wasting a third of my day commuting.

Now it feels normal: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I mean hey, what is Wednesday, anyway? What’s up with the seven-day cycle? Why can’t the week be 10 days? I marked my week using Saturday and Tuesday, as they are my main course schedules. I never did stop partying, now you’re thinking about a DJ and a couple of people dancing.

Online gaming saved my mental health. Whenever I feel salty about not being able to live my life as I used to, a couple of matches would ease the burn. 

Anything. I would do anything to keep myself busy. This quarantine made me realize that time is all I have. With time invested in learning, you always win. Doesn’t matter if you learned it five years ago or two weeks ago. What you learn, if you allow it to grow into a useful habit, can revamp your skill set. 

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page. 

My guitar started calling me like a siren, that’s probably the other main thing that keeps me sane. And this chatter keeps going on and on in the back of my head while I finish counting the bathroom tiles. While I silently contemplate the designs of those horizontally aligned tiles, I can’t stop wondering how seawater feels like – oh, for those long summer beach days.

Man, I took swimming for granted, instead of going back and forth confined to my premises like an animal in a zoo.