I always assumed that the world would end with some sort of plague. Perhaps its because I’m a hypochondriac and it just seemed more likely to me that when we all do get taken down, it would be the Karens who won’t vaccinate their kids rather than a nuclear war. It’s kind of funny to me that the same people who’ve been denying climate change this whole time and telling us that its not their problem are the ones who are most susceptible to this strain of virus. Cosmic karma maybe?

Maybe not. If you’ve been to any store recently, you’ll find that all the cleaning supplies and toilet paper have been wiped (pun intended) from the shelves. The cleaning supplies I sort of understand, kill the virus and all, but toilet paper? Not so much. Coronavirus is an upper respiratory infection, not a stomach bug. Even so, you could always just shower off if needed, it seems silly to me that toilet paper is what people have been going for.

This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen the world grind to a halt like this. No travel, no large gatherings, and my apartment complex just announced that they are closing the office until further notice. Most people are working from home, schools are closed, and a majority of people have quarantined themselves inside for the foreseeable future. It’s hard not to get a little freaked out when something of this magnitude happens, I get that, but if this situation has taught me anything its that people are very easily thrown into a panic.

Part of me wants to know what’s going on in the government in terms of research and aliens and all that. But another part of me understands why if aliens are real, the government would have kept it from us for so long. We as a society can barely handle a flu-like illness epidemic, let alone little green men.

I’m a little bit surprised that the looting hasn’t started yet to be honest.

For as much of a germaphobe as I am, I’ve been surprisingly cavalier about all of this. Probably in part due to the fact that, as a millennial, the only way we know how to handle crisis is through humor. Besides, the depressing thing is that a majority of our lives haven’t really changed too much despite everything.

Hospitals overcrowded? Well most of us can’t afford healthcare anyway. No traveling? That’s funny, with what money? The world is ending? Very astute Karen, it’s been ending for years now. Most of us are just continuing to hang out inside and enjoying the lowered socialization expectations. Not that I don’t miss spending time with people, because I really do, and being inside all day is a little bit exhausting after a while. But I think I was surprised at how calm most people, millennial and younger (including myself) were being about all of this.

If this is the virus that takes down mankind as we know it, I think I speak for most people when I say that it’s a little bit disappointing that it doesn’t turn people into zombies. We’ve all prepared in our heads for so long, coming up with the perfect zombie apocalypse scenarios, that it would be sort of a let down if this was how it all ended. Though I don’t think that it will, to be clear.

I just think its interesting to speculate about it all since everyone is acting like it’s the end of the world. I ponder to myself how long after everything collapses will I be able to stop paying my car bill? Most bills, if I’m honest. I don’t think that the internet and phone services would be down for long, we would probably prioritize getting those back up. But I could probably stop paying my student loans, car payments, debt, and car insurance; what a world that would be.

Is it weird that my first thoughts when pondering the end of the world are; how long will I have to keep paying my bills until I’m not culpable for them anymore? Maybe we could all start from scratch and make it so everybody has healthcare and the government wasn’t allowed to bleed us dry for degrees that we need to get jobs. Perhaps.

Anyway, this is all just the ramblings of someone whose been watching people fall apart for the past couple weeks. How have all of your quarantines been going? Any fun hobbies you’ve discovered? Let me know!