DAY 0

As of tomorrow my government has ordered a complete lock-down of the country. New Zealand is pretty far behind a lot of countries, many are already coming through the other side of the Corona-virus issue, we're still only now moving into stage 4:

"Alert level four: Eliminate"

"This is the top-level and would be activated if it is "likely" COVID-19 is not contained nationally or at a local level. There would have to be intensive and sustained transmission with widespread outbreaks. Under this level, people would need to stay at home, all educational facilities and non-essential businesses closed, supplies would be rationed, facilities would be requisitioned, travel would be severely limited and all healthcare services would be reprioritised."

So, what does that mean?

Four. Weeks. Of. Total. Isolation.

Fun times. Therefore I have decided to attempt to try keep my socially-deprived weeks sort of productive. I am going to try and keep this daily journal as a record of this attempt. To start it off, my brother has challenged me to learn how to kick-flip by the end of the isolation period, so that could be VERY interesting.

But Emma? You're terrible at sticking with things, won't these posts just get boring after a few days?

No. I really hope not. I have a few things that I really want to get done besides mandatory school work (ew), such as painting, photography for a project, learning how to ride a motorbike, watching some new TV shows and movies (what else do you do while in isolation, honestly) and as mentioned before, attempting to learn to kick-flip, which unfortunately I believe will not go as great as my brother would like. Nevertheless, I will give it my best shot.

What else are you going to do on this blog?

So I initially created this blog as a travel diary for our big Canada trip in July of 2020 (this is what the countdown timer is for) and was going to begin it when we began that. But because there is a chance that trip will be cancelled, and this blog won't be used, I thought, why not? Let's start it now and try to be somewhat productive in this four weeks of surviving being at home all day. This blog or website also double as my photography portfolio, if you haven't explored already, and I plan to be updating that as much as I can.

Something I should have touched on before, who am I?

Well. Very interesting question.

I'm Emma; a sixteen year old kiddo from a small town in the North Island of New Zealand with a love for photography, travelling, writing, skiing and horse riding, to name a few things.

I shoot my photos currently with a Canon EOS 70D, and have loved being behind the camera ever since I was little. I wouldn't define my photography to one category, but sports and action photographs, personal portraits, pet and animal shoots are among my favourites. However despite this, I love to try and learn new things. If you have any questions, or want to talk I would love to hear from you!

I have traveled a lot around New Zealand, as well as to Australia, America, Rarotonga and Vietnam. I hope to travel all over when I'm older, and beat my dad's high score of 33 countries!

I have been riding for just over ten years, I began riding lessons in 2010, and had lessons for five years before getting my own lease pony, Monty. I now own a 14.2hh pony called Cruise, who I have owned since 2017. He sure is a handful at times and is way too smart for his own good, but he has brought me so far.

Some of my other favourite things to do are writing, skiing, football and reading books! I have been skiing ever since I was about three, despite living at least 5 hours from the closest ski field, and have been playing football for about five years on and off. I love reading and watching sci-fi books and movies, their complex plots and ability to get people thinking always excite me so much. However you can't go wrong with a bit of romance and drama too. I have a low-key obsession with Coldplay, my two particularly favourite songs being 'Sparks' and 'Magic.'

I have tried and failed many times to write a story, would you believe I have about four I'm working on right now, all with basic story lines, complex characters and aesthetic pinterest boards.... just no story aha. One day I'll get there. Fingers double crossed.

SO!

Currently, at 7:44PM on a Monday evening, I can not claim that I have learnt anything or been productive besides writing this post. As the days go on I'll start creating a list of everything I have done and keep track, hopefully if I'm not kidding myself.

1. Launched Blog

2. Written my first blog post

And now that you know a little more about me, I hope you stick around for the next 28 days and counting.

Until tomorrow,

Bye ✌