A friend sent me a link to Tomas Pueyo’s analysis on the COVID-19 Omicron variant. He writes in a nice, lucid style, with simple explanations and some interesting, illuminating charts. Knowledge is power, so check it out.
Cheers
Friday’s Theme Music
Hi, Friheads. It’s 31 degrees F on this sunny Friday morning. Today’s date is December 10, 2021. The high will be 36 F. The burst of gold we call sunrise struck at 7:28 AM and the sun parade will cease at 4:39 this afternoon.
We’re calling it sunny but a flotilla of long, sketchy clouds are cruising the altitudes, pulling a foggy net behind them. Then the sun fires beams at the fog and zips it away. Looks like the weather might be variable today.
I don’t know why, but REO Speedwagon’s 1980 song, “Keep On Loving You”, inhabits the morning mental music stream. Bit mellow for this Friday AM. I was thinking that I needed something with a hard beat to stir my feet. I reflected on the lyrics for a while, looking for a connection. It came out just before our move to Okinawa on military assignment. I listened to the song quite a bit on the rock but I can’t connect dots between now and then. Something with the dreams? Can’t address that. Only remember two and half dreams from last night. Nothing in them relates to the song. Cats? Doesn’t seem to be. They’ve headed outside, into the sunshine, despite the cold air temp. Wife? Perhaps something on the subconscious level is there. Or maybe it’s a response to life. Feeling a little down and weary this AM. It’s a monthly thing, where the effort and tedium just sucks the joy out down to the dregs. Life dregs are like coffee dregs: cold, black, and bitter.
Well, stay positive! (Ha, ha.) Test negative, wear a mask as needed — have you been following the Omicron developments? — and get the jabs when you can. Reading this morning that Omicron might cause the pandemic of the vaxxed, and they’re suggesting that everyone needs a boost. Got boost? I do. Hope you do as well.
Here’s my coffee. Oh, sorry, you’re looking for the music. Here’s the music. Have a better one. Cheers
Saturday’s Theme Music
This is it. 2021 is about to enter the home stretch and gallop into history. It’s been a rush of hours. Despite being limited in where we can go, I’ve stayed busy with writing, housework, tending cats, reading, and some limited socializing. My wife, who is more social, laments that we’re just marking time. I don’t feel the same. I’m writing, after holding off on pursuing a writing career, or even much writing effort, while working in the military and business. Wasn’t supposed to be like this; when I retired from the military, I was going somewhere to write. But no; she was pursuing her career and pleaded with me to stay in the SF bay area for that purpose. Five years later, her career was done. One company bought another and she was let go. She never worked again. Meanwhile, I worked another twenty years after putting my twenty in the military. So, not sorry. This is now my time. It may be too late as I dance through my sixties — hell, I can pull my social security now, if I wish. But I’m going on, writing and trying until health or death stops me.
Okay, that screed is out of the way. Today is Saturday, November 27, 2021. Oh, a gray day is on us. One great smear of dull gray clouds blots out the blue sky, sunshine, and surrounding mountain tops. Stillness is holding, like the valley is holding its breath. Sunrise came upon us at 7:15 AM and sunset will take place at 4:45 PM. Temperatures are warmer, already 52 F and we expect 62 F. I’m a little disconcerted by the warm trend. By this time in many past years, we’ve already experienced a few inches of snow from at least one storm. Nothing of that sort has taking place this year. The fear is that the snow we need to have piled onto the pack won’t come, leaving us mired in drought and subject to more wildfires next year. Breath held, fingers crossed.
The COVID-19 Omicron variant is the big news. Just as we thought, hey, a light, maybe it’s the end of the tunnel, another variant hurdles toward us. The world races to react and contain it, headlines blare. We know that’s not true. Many people are shrugging it off as fake news or not really that bad, or so what? Let’s take our chances and die. We’re in the same boat but same don’t care. They’ll pull in the direction that they want, and damn the rest.
Sour mood, isn’t it? And I’m already drinking coffee.
Today’s morning mental music stream is occupied by Rick Astley singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” from 1987. Started because of a cat. He was singing it to me as he tucked in against me in bed this AM, kneading my shoulder with his claws and singing a deep baritone purr. I had to get up to attend other cats and my bladder but the fur beast was singing, “Never gonna give, never gonna give, never gonna give you up.” At least, so it seems to my demented mind.
Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get thyself vaxes and boosters when possible. Looking at the trend started in 2020 and continued in 2021, 2022 is gonna need more patience, more masks, and more endurance.
Here’s the music. Pretty lame video. Think I need more coffee. Cheers
Friday’s Theme Music
Friday’s greetings, fellow voyagers. Today is November 26, 2021. The sun kicked in around our environs at 7:14 AM, guiding us out of the dark night into the bright day and lifting our temperatures from 35 degrees F to 37. We do expect to climb into the fifties with the temperatures as clouds and sunshine continue the battle of evermore. The sun will steel away with its light and warmth at 4:46 PM. We’ll do our best to enjoy the hours between.
Speaking of evermore, I have “The Battle of Evermore” by Led Zeppelin (1971) in my morning mental music stream. Came upon when I was out last night. We’d finished Friendsgiving on some friends’ farm. It was about 8:30 PM. I was preparing to leave. I stepped outside, out in the country a bit where their property sits, and admired the stars and breathed the air. Memories from doing this as a child, teenager, and adult throughout my life came up and stood beside me. Hence the song’s presence. We’re here for a short while, but those stars are evermore.
Stay positive, test negative, listen to the music (like how I slipped that in there?), wear a mask as needed, and get the vax and boosters when you can. Just read of another variant emerging in Africa which has kicked the stock market down the stairs. COVID-19 and its variants seem like they’ll be another facet of evermore. Don’t get complacent now.
And now, coffee time. Here’s the music. Cheers
Jab Boost – Day 2
My wife and I received a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster shot on Tuesday. It little affected us that day.
Day 2 was different.
It’s nice to have retrospect. We were both experiencing pain and stiffness in our shot arms (left for both) by the end of day 1. Both of us were heavily hydrating but I was constantly drying out. By day 2, I noticed a drop in energy level, dry and burning eyes — seriously, I kept splashing my face and added drops to my eyes twice — and diminished concentration. Writing, where I’m juggling twenty sharp objects in my brain, was a flawed and troubled endeavor. She, though, had it worse. Her energy level went off a cliff and nausea rolled up on her. She took several baths to address a general assortment of aches and napped for almost five hours in late afternoon. Her appetite was done, although taste and smell weren’t affected.
My energy levels have jumped back up today, though I did spend an extra hour in bed this morning. The jab site remains stiff and sore but I’ve applied a topical CBD cream to it, which helps tremendously. My wife remained in bed longer. She reports her eyes are tired but she feels a lot better.
So, small matters for us. Nothing significant, and certainly worth enduring if the vaccine and boost reduces our chances of being severely impacted by COVID-19. Must say, though, watching Dopesick on Hulu did little for our moods. Born in the fifties, we remember different corporations being exposed for lying to protect profits and image throughout our lifetimes, like Ford, the Pinto, and exploding gas tanks. We also recall times when government malfeasance, through individuals betraying their public trust to enrich their situations, was exposed. Remember how doctors were paid to say that cigarette smoking wasn’t bad for you? Ha, ha, what kidders! Do you remember Enron? What about Love Canal? Should we discuss the Dupont C8 scandal? Other scandals involving real estate and financial markets of more recent memory rise through my consciousness when we talk about companies lying and government oversight failures.
So here comes Dopesick. Based on Beth Macy’s nonfiction book about the opioid crises in the U.S. with sharp focus on the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, the limited series shows how an FDA cog manipulated a warning label that claimed Oxycontin was non-addictive, and then the battles by doctors, patients, families, communities, and the DEA to get the FDA to admit they fucked up and find accountability for Purdue and the Sacklers. Well, the Sacklers escaped prosecution and stepped away with tens of billions of dollars from the swath of death and destruction they spearheaded. The company went bankrupt and no longer exists. They’re paying out billions to states to help deal with the opioid crises but it’s a shitshow.
So, I do understand why some people are skeptical of the vaccine, FDA, and the corporations behind it. There’s been sufficient lying and failures for many to wonder.
The Boost Jab
My wife and I received our boost jab yesterday.
We’d been trying to get it since approval came out. As J&J was our initial shot, we desired a Moderna booster. CDC and studies showed that improved our level of protection. Finding the Moderna booster was easy; making an appointment was more challenging. While several sites claimed they could do what we needed, their actual processes failed to meet the promise. Calling was like chasing snowflakes in a storm. We did call 211 to see what the state could suggest. They couldn’t hook us up either. Exasperating.
Then, we read on NextDoor that the Presbyterian Church was giving the boosters. They included the phone number. I immediately called and we were slotted in. The program isn’t being done by the church, but by Wellness 2000, a corporation contracted by the state. The church, less than a mile from our house, was the venue. This church is always doing great things for the community, from helping to feed the homeless, to opening their doors during the winter to provide them a safe and warm place to sleep, to opening their church in the summer, when the smoke is a health threat. I’m not a member of their congregation, but I applaud their approach to community.
My appointment was for 12:05 PM yesterday. My wife’s was five minutes later. I arrived at 12:01 and was immediately greeted by two women at a table. They processed me, updated the paperwork, then bade me sit until called. 12:03, I was called. 12:03, I was done. Impressive organization and efficiency.
The shot, given by Beth, an RN, was so quick, it left little impression that I’d been jabbed. After waiting fifteen minutes to confirm I didn’t have a severe reaction, I waited five more minutes for my wife, and we were finished.
Twenty-one hours later, I feel great. The injection site aches. My arm complains about being raised above shoulder level. That’s all I feel.
My wife feels the arm issue, but she’s also complaining of nausea and mild congestion. She does suffer an underlying condition, RA. I hope she recovers quickly and easily. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, I feel fortunate to have gone through this so painlessly. Hope others have an experience like mine.
Cheers
Thursday’s Theme Music
I woke up thinking, this feels like Saturday. I knew it was Thursday and sacrificed about ten minutes thinking about why this Thursday felt like a Saturday. Only thing that emerged was that I had no reason to leap out of bed. No structure of rushing off to work, or hurrying somewhere to meet someone. No urgency to leave the house and go to a coffee shop and write. Yeah, we’re still under COVID-19 restrictions. I haven’t gotten the booster, and my wife has underlying issues. Well, I have some, too. Underlying issues is part of the aging gift package for many of us.
Anyway, today is Thursday, November 21, 2021. Lackluster weather. A bit of sunshine burst through and fired some joy through my synapses. Seeing this, a heavy cloud hurried over and blocked the sunshine. The temperature is 52 F and there’s no indication that it’ll get any warmer than 56 F. Sunrise came at 7:47 AM and sunset will launch at 6:01 PM. Basically, we’re coming down to eight hours of sunshine per day.
I’m a little aggro this morning. Feel like I’m on the precipice of my monthly trough, sliding down toward the dark waves. The cats didn’t help this AM. Opened one of their favorite foods. They all chowed down but one returned, asking for more. I fed him and he gobbled away. Then, as I was preparing my brekkie, he walked in and puked at my feet. Three facets then emerge: why did he puke? Just eating too much too fast? Two, damn it, there’s a mess to clean. Three, damn it, I’m hungry and I need to clean this up before I can eat my oatmeal. Bah.
Trying to get the vax booster is also agitating me. Websites are all, we have the boosters! Make an appointment. But. They then ask about which vaccine I’ve had. I received the J&J. These websites — RiteAid, Fred Meyers, Costco, the three primary sources for COVID-19 shots in our area — all then direct me to get a J&J booster. Which I don’t want; I desire a Moderna. This is per CDC guidance. All their websites say that as a J&J recipient, I can have whichever shot I prefer. Yet their appointment form won’t let that happen.
I complained to my friends last night about it. They clearly weren’t paying deep attention, telling me, “Just go to the Fred Meyers website, just go to the Costco website, just go to the RiteAid website.” Exasperating, n’est pas?
Other acquaintances relate that they made appointments only to show up and discover either the vaccine of the people to administer it wasn’t available. But others made appointments and got the shots, no prob. Seems like a dice game when it comes to getting the booster, just as it was back when we were trying to get the vax.
Oddly, perhaps, all this angst and irritation stems from having strong writing sessions. I get immersed in the writing; pulling out to participate in real world activity requires a major energy shift. I don’t want to give it many times. Just let me keep writing, damn it world.
I had “Sister Golden Hair” flowing through the morning mental music stream. A Rush song, “Show Don’t Tell” from 1989, supplanted it.
How many times do you hear it?
It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything
And no one’s ever wrong
Until later
Who can you believe?
It’s hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends
We don’t take anything on faith
Until later
h/t to songlyrics.com
Ah, good music for this Thursday for me. Stay positive — hard some days, innit? — test negative, wear a mask as the situation requires, and get the vax and booster when you can. Now, excuse me, but a cuppa coffee is screaming my name. Here’s the music. Cheers.
Michael Seidel, writer 