By Eric Tice '20 (SLUH)
Like everyone else that’s reading this, I am stuck in quarantine as ordered by Governor Parson and my parents. With no friends to hangout with, no gyms open, and the county libraries now online (harder to flirt with librarians over email), what is one supposed to do to fill the time? You could go for a run, but unless you're an ultra-marathoner, you’ve only killed about 30 minutes. You could watch a show on Hulu, or any other comparable streaming platform, but you could get nearsightedness from looking at a screen for a long period of time. Which leaves you with reading a book(which, frankly, isn’t that fun knowing you can’t flirt with the librarians after you’re done reading).
Since you’re probably not going to read a book because Viz isn’t a place for nerds, I suggest starting a new hobby, one that highlights your natural creativity and talent (I know my audience). For some that could be painting, for others, sketching. For me, it was whittling. The idea started as a joke to one of my Viz friends, hence the article. Not only did she think the joke wasn’t funny, but she probably thought I was a little bit strange because of it (I don’t want to say her name publicly, but her initials are E.B.) Well, the joke is on her now because I really did start to whittle. I took my pocket knife from my desk drawer, a stick from my backyard, and went to work. A few hours later, I had my first whittle, which my little brother says looks something like a Native American spear head.
Over the past two weeks, I have fallen in love with whittling. It is so relaxing to put on a podcast or music (Louis the Child) and whittle. Whittling can make an hour and thirty minutes feel like ten and has been a slight bright spot during my quarantine. So please, find a hobby or activity that you think you might enjoy and otherwise would have not done, and do it. Don’t let the drabness of quarantine suck you into a state of melancholy. Thanks, Eric.