Hello. Good to ‘see’ you again!!!
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Well, to help the integration along (and just because it’s fun, too) - it would be great to meet up next time I’m home. 
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My son and I were playing stuffies this morning, and he said the way to beat the bad guy was to give him a Covid vaccine shot, so I guess that’s how we’re living now.
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I worked at Walmart, so nothing changed in that aspect. We were among the first to wear masks. I got covid injection in the end of March/early April 2021. During the lockdown, because I worked overnights, I had to carry a work slip, in case I got pulled over. This was because of the curfew. It has been funny, in one way, to find out what people look like without a mask. I mean we’ll stand over six feet apart and take off the masks and be like, “I thought you looked completely different.” I never took off my mask, even for the short period we could. In fact, there’s a Facebook post of me basically, calling the CDC a bunch of sellouts, because I didn’t like the numbers and didn’t think it had improved enough to warrant no masks.
Unfortunately, I was right.
I don’t know if I’ll find it safe to go without a mask, for sometime.
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Agreed!!
I continue to wear a mask even though some others don’t. I think we elongate the virus by not doing so. It learns to morph. But that’s just my 2 cents. .
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The unfortunate thing is, as the two sides of how to deal with this converge – the “let it rip” camp against the “lock it down” camp – things like masking become less based on science and more personal/political will.
True! While there’s no science behind it, no way to quantify the impact, one has to believe that in a small way it helps. The other, giving someone else the strength to wear a mask, if they’re “scared“ especially here in the south, to wear one. It is and can be a political statement, but that’s not why I do it.
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There’s blunt force mitigation, which is vaccination or prior infection. Next is actually ventilation more than masking.
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True. But it all adds up. One doesn’t ignore a small part of that because it is a small part. Plus, IMHO, it’s awareness.
Speaking from the south, btw, who won’t be told what to do, even though they may want to control
what others do with their body. That in itself can be a hot topic.
My blue self in a red state can hold her own though.
I started following Covid19 when reports started coming out of China in Jan 2020. I’m interested in pandemics so was keenly following it and tracking numbers etc. I figured it would travel but I had no idea how long it would have a major effect on the world’s lifestyles.
I really hope this is the chance we needed to get a head start into a better society. Reduce commuting to reduce carbon emissions. Redeploy large offices as housing or to facilitate community functions. Find a way to address the inequalities that led to such poor outcomes for disadvantaged groups.
My hopes are fading for that in the UK due to the egregiously greedy government. But I can do more on a personal level to keep up the momentum
I’ve been working from home from March 2020. My job as a procurement manager is well suited for it. The colleagues and suppliers I need to interact with are scattered across the country and I find I have more “FaceTime” now with video calling apps. I’m more productive because I’m not being interrupted as much or distracted by chit chat.
I feel so much better now that I’m not getting upset in traffic twice everyday. I’m not spending loads of money on fuel, car maintenance, “work clothes” that I hate wearing, and eating out or convenience foods because I’m was too tired when I got home. I’ve been cooking a lot more and eating more healthily. I can make very good curry now! I love having 3 hot meals a day. And the summer was glorious when I could spend my lunch in the garden watching birds.
I’m almost certain I won’t be asked to go back to the office and I am very happy with that.
I’m an introvert and like solitary pursuits so it fits with the pandemic culture. I have missed having things to look forward to, like a holiday trip or concert or something. I have felt a bit untethered.
I’ve been lucky though. I’ve lost an uncle to COVID and my cousin was very I’ll but pulled through. It could have been so much worse and has for millions of people.
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So I finished my doctoral dissertation December 2019 with the goal of figuring out what to do next. I knew I wasn’t staying in academia. I still don’t know what to do with myself. My son is 8 now so I don’t have as much to do during the days when he’s at school. This is when my anxiety kicks in. I’ve been formally diagnosed with severe depression and social anxiety, though I feel I have both under some control, I’m scared of upsetting my precarious balance so that’s fun.
My wife works at a local museum where she deals with cataloguing artifacts. She enjoys it mostly though Covid has tested her patience with it. Combine that with frustration at having no success getting pregnant and things are stressful around here.
I’m not comfortable going out much these days. Haven’t seen a movie in a theatre since Knives Out. Most weeks I only go out to the grocery store and to pick up my son from school. The grocery store makes me so anxious with little distancing, etc. Luckily mask mandates are in place.
I cling to my small pleasures and contemplate what to do. I’m thinking of volunteering but I haven’t looked into it too much yet, mostly because of Covid concerns. So I’m stuck in a limbo of my own making.
With all that I’m in a better place than I was and hope seems possible, regardless of the shit show. 
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Welcome to Brazil, with only one difference: it’s not “becoming”; it’s been like that for a year and a half now. And both sides are usually wrong, overreacting, filled with misinformation and bad blood. It hasn’t been easy to stay a balanced person with some common sense around here.
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2022 has to be better. It just does. My dad used to say my generation
(Boomers) were spoiled, lazy pampered drug addled fools because we had never lived through a war. He thought we were pissypants poseurs. Well, we’ve lived through a war now. I can’t tell him because he passed away. If there is an afterlife there are many things I need to set him straight on and that’s one of them.
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Well, since the last time I wrote here many things happened…
First of all, excuse me for my poor english, but Iit is not my first language, so what I tend to do is thinking in portuguese and then write it in english and many times it looks weird.
From late November I had some syncopes. Began once at work and started to become more frequent, every 2 weeks or so. Apparently my blood pressure drops so much, due to vagal reflex that I lose senses and faint, sometimes even losing control of sphincters.
At first, doctors said to just relax, put more salt in my food, drink 4 espressos a day and to not quite smoking at this point. Ok… weird, but ok.
Last week they discovered something in my brain and I do have a pre-diagnosis of something really not good.
It is the second time I speak about this, not even my family knows it.
To be honest, and if all of this confirms, I’d rather not have surgery. I do prefer to have a couple of decent years than to have 10 bad ones. And this leads to another big question, euthanasia, when it and if it gets really limitating. Being a catholic, euthanasia shouldn’t be an option (as I say sometimes, only God should take what God gives)… much to think and still don’t know if I’ll ever get the answers.
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Dogma rarely ever holds up when things get personal, so you’re probably doing a lot of soul searching right now. I’m wishing you strength and that you find an answer that works for you, regardless of what the Vatican has to say about it. I’m wishing you even more that the something really not good turns out to be a false alarm…
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Even thought I’m a convict catholic, don’t follow exactly “Vatican’s rules”, just because i guess that everything is an interpretation and no ones speaks for God. In fact I do believe that only God should take what God gave but everyone should be free to take in own path.
A confession: from many years suffered from anxiety, depression, didn’t feel fit anyplace so had suicidal thoughts (and even a couple of attempts). Asked God to take me… right now, look back and think a lot about it.
I had “pre diagnoses” from two doctors of a brain tumour that ranged from abscess to a worm from eating raw fish to metatastic melanoma. After surgery it turned out to be none of these and I’m still here 18 years later.
I hope yours takes a similar course, but without the brain surgery.
Have you just had MRIs or a biopsy as well?
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That is heavy. I really feel for you and hope you find some peace through this (and obviously hope the doctors are all hacks who were completely wrong and it was a smudge on the lens).
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If you’ve just learned about this, it’s probably still very overwhelming. Sometimes the doctors can help break the diagnosis down and go over all the different steps you might be able to take. There may be non-surgical treatments that will help. And if you have a family member or close friend you can trust, it can really help to take someone with you to the doctor to help take notes and remember the questions you want to ask.
I hope it helps for you to come back here and let us know what’s on your mind. I doubt that anyone here is going to try to pressure or judge you.
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Oh man. I really hope I say the right things on this one. Your health is first and foremost here. I understand people have (or don’t) beliefs. However, sometimes one has to put those on the back burner. The best advice has already been given and I’m not trained, as some are. The advice of taking someone you trust to the doctors is one of the top advices. If you don’t have that person, then get a notebook and try to write every symptom, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, because sometimes…it might be the MOST significant. That’s all I got. Sorry… I wish I had more.
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