Colin: Unexpected changes...
Introduction:
Colin is a 23 year-old gay Irish-American male living in Boonton, New Jersey. The Covid-19 pandemic arrived in New Jersey during his final year of college. Classes went remote, and Colin felt it difficult to learn under such conditions. He was able to pull through and graduate with a bachelors degree, but did not attend the virtual graduation ceremony. It didn't feel real to Colin; it all felt like play-acting. For the first few months of the pandemic, Colin was at home with his family under strict quarantine. During this time, he and his boyfriend of four years were separated. Fortunately, as the lockdown slowly lifted, they were able to reconnect. Colin's circle of friends is small, so he was eventually comfortable extending his quarantine bubble to include them. Because the pandemic has affected job markets, Colin is still unemployed, despite having graduated in the spring. As for his sex life, the pandemic has (ironically) made him more comfortable with himself and his sexuality. Colin feels more adventurous than before, even going to a nude beach for the first time over the summer with his boyfriend. He and his boyfriend have an open relationship. While being careful to ensure a level of safety from Covid-19, Colin has hooked up with two people since the lockdown was lifted. Before the pandemic, he rarely sought out sexual encounters outside of his relationship. The pandemic's effects on Colin's sex life have been opposite to what one might expect.
Notable Quotes:
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR LIFE GENERALLY?
“Well, I mean, I was in my last year of college when it started. We all went remote, online. That was not a good change in terms of ability to do school like normal. It wasn't just easy to learn, in that way. So I was kind of stuck with that. I did graduate though.”
“The first few months were kinda hard just because I was doing pretty strict quarantine, just staying alone, in my house, with my family... ...And I do have a boyfriend of, over four years now. So it was really hard not being able to see him, cause I just didn't want to transmit [the virus].”
“I had a small circle of friends anyway, so it was not that hard to sort of build myself a little quarantine bubble of people.”
“It's not great, but I'm alright.”
“I've been looking [for a job], to no avail, sadly.”
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR SEX LIFE?
“So, obviously, the first few months of the pandemic, there was just a shutdown of all that. There was no, there was nothing with my boyfriend, nothing with anyone else. It was just sort of quarantine, in the realest sense.”
“So, the more cooped up, you know, you tend to feel, it's almost like the more you want to act out... ...At the end of spring, by the time summer came around, I was kinda feeling like, any sort of nerves or self-conciousness that I might have had previously were sorta, like, gone, because it was sorta like, well, what does it matter? I kinda want to do something fun.”
“In June, I think, we decided we would go to a nude beach together, for the first time.”
“Around that time actually, I did, I did actually start sort of hanging out slash hooking up with someone. We were pretty careful about, like, Covid stuff... ...So, I did a lil bit of that, which is actually pretty unusual for me. I'm normally much more reserved. I don't normally actually hookup with people that much. So, it's like oddly, the pandemic had sort of the opposite effect that you would expect.”