Sebastian Hwang

“Yesterday…I had a birthday zoom with eight other people. Zoom wasn’t working for a solid 20 minutes, so we were late, but it’s okay….In the end, everyone got in, and we blew out an imaginary candle–even though…it was just fire on top of a cake [in Google Drawings]. Then, we played Drawasauras….That was a lighthearted moment in light of the pandemic. 

It’s not like the good will forever outweigh the bad, because there are going to be times when there’s not enough okayness in the world to overshadow the bad. But in moments like having a birthday, it’s better to focus on…the fun stuff than it is to think and constantly worry about the negative pandemic around us. I was a little sad [when I found out I had to spend my birthday indoors], [but] it’s not like I did much for my birthdays to begin with. Usually, I would be at school when they happen, so I would end up spending time with friends, anyway. It didn’t really feel that different–minus the fact I was stuck inside all day, and I still had schoolwork to do. My dad brought home Pasta House for dinner, my friend, Tanuja, made me cupcakes, and I ordered a laptop as my birthday present. [The zoom party] wasn’t bad, [and] we still had fun. The only difference is that you can’t…physically be with people, and you can’t go out….In the future, I feel like it would be nice to have this time where you don’t have to physically interact with people, but you can also choose to go out and have dinner with other people….”