I started feeling sick on Tuesday, March 13. I didn’t think much of it, I mostly felt tired and had a bit of a headache, but I had to take a test, try to get some sources for articles and generally live my life. By the next day I was completely out of commission.

I had a fever, then I had chills, developed a cough, and I ached all over. I immediately thought that this was checking off marks that you don’t want to be seeing, given the current situation over COVID-19, but I still haven’t gotten the chance to get tested.

All I keep hearing about regarding testing is that there aren’t enough to go around, and if I’m being honest I don’t think I could even have driven to a doctor because of a combination of how awful I felt and how disoriented I was from a lack of sleep. I did decide, though, that this seemed too close to what the symptoms of the new virus can be, and I was going to ride this one out in self-quarantine.

The day before I started feeling fatigued, my partner had actually left on a trip for work (awful time to travel, but they are actually doing fine), which means I am quarantined for real. Rolling solo through COVID-19 (or some other nasty bug). I was lucky enough to have the essentials already in my apartment before the worst of this really hit me. I had enough food to last me, though I’ve got to say that I’m tired of ramen and soup, and I have plenty of toilet paper and soaps.

The only thing I had to restock on was cold medicine. I pulled that off by using a food delivery service to get cold medicine from a local gas station along with some snacks. I noticed that the app had an option to leave the stuff at the door for me, which was a convenient way to keep myself isolated and still get that sweet relief.

The worst parts of being self-quarantined was passing time. I was mostly just looking forward to feeling healthy again. Fantasizing about what it feels like to be able to breath through your nose again, or what it feels like to not be hot and achy.

Past the first day, I wasn’t really down to do much but move around for maybe half an hour at a time before feeling tired again, which meant that most of the things I did to entertain myself was watch shows and play old games. With the occasional phone call from my partner to keep me company.

I watched all of “Code Geass,” a crazy movie called “Tales From Earthsea,” and some old Star Trek because that’s my jam. I started a new file on my old copy of “Wind Waker” on my Gamecube and generally just tried to relax when I felt well enough to.

 Overall pretty much all I got out of this experience was a massively messed up sleep schedule, a real sense of disconnect from the outside world, and the somewhat assuring knowledge that I can keep myself fed and somewhat healthy when left to my own devices.

People keep telling me that streets are pretty empty and there are shortages in stores, but I have yet to see these things for myself. I almost wonder what I’m going to see when I go out to get food and live my life regularly when I finally feel all better.

I would not recommend self-quarantine for your next vacation, but if you think you might get sick or are getting sick I would say make sure you have plenty of cold medicine to help you through, get yourself a stock of some food you are confident you can make in a fever dream haze, and have somebody call to check in on you every once in a while, it helps a whole lot.

And don’t go crazy hoarding all those supplies, you need enough for about two weeks, so don’t go overboard. Stay safe and healthy everybody.