Shockingly, this starts with commentary that some guy thinks is important*
For me, covid hasn't been so bad. But it's not covid I worry about. I wonder what happened to empathy. Hell. Not even full strength selflessness. Just slightly flavored human compassion. Like a LaCroix. A beverage thats fruit ingredient is the mere thought of a strawberry on a distant wind, filtered through an ancient tree and suffocated by bubbles. Just that much. That's all anyone is asking for.
I hear it all of the time. "It isn’t that bad." I texted my gym to say I wouldn't be able to make it and the reply was, "It's really just like a cold." No kidding. But I don't want to kill Merl from Tai Chi. The comment came from a man who addresses the need for masks as fear. Like we're afraid so that's why we're taking the slightest measure to protect others. The only thing I'm afraid of is a society so quickly and easily trained not to give a damn.
We could have been told to care. I guess I never fully realized the power of the executive and the chain of command during 9/11. We immediately cared. This was the biggest thing to have ever happened and it was drilled into us that we would never forget. We did, and pretty quickly, when we exacted the kind of unnecessary global violence that leads to terrorist attacks, but we were emotionally available for whatever the state needed. And now, with the Covid death count at 300 9/11s later, we're still not united in our assessment about the loss of life. This is concerning. That is my fear.
This isn't the kind of alarm that makes you want to hide, but rather run into the streets and shout what in the fuck is wrong with you? How is it that you can drive a giant truck with a pistol under the seat and think that the simple measure of not exhaling on someone is somehow fear based? How in the hell are you emotionally moved by thousand different Marvel movies racing to save at least half the humans but not do your little part for a single one?
How do you retreat from a common enemy and think it’s someone else who’s apprehensive?
the dogtor is in
It's not that big a deal. It's a cold. It's a cough. Right? Or is the mask you're wearing that says "masks don't work" a hood ornament for the truly terrified? Someone pretending to be macho shouted from on high and now you're too insecure to wear it? The strongest person I've seen is the one who lifts people up. Who doesn't care how they look or what people think when they improve the lives of those around them. The people who step out of pigeon holes and go on to make a much bigger impression.
I think of my grandma who left high school in Lyons, CO early to get a job in Denver. She was an adept typist and caregiver whose talents were combined as a secretary and nanny for a family in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood. But not only did they not always pay her; they also took her WWII rations. She kept finding her ration cards depleted. Imagine that. The theft aside. But being asked to sacrifice food. Imagine America losing its collective shit. What do you mean we have to limit on basic staples? Is this Communism? Are we slaves to a New World Order? Fox News would have a 24/7 orgy attacking the policy of personal sacrifice. Yet for our freedom to say whatever blithering idiocy we want there had to be a lot of motherfucking sacrifice. People perished. A lot of them. Most who, upon hitting the dirt of some strange land, might agree that little acts of compassion aren't so bad.
But what happened? Even deeper, more sinister and, sadly, pathetically limp, is this desire to cave to the loudest person in the room. Someone questions masculinity or patriotism and the melee to be on the dog pile of prostrate idol worshippers is a nationwide frenzy of Facebook rants and violent behavior. Children. Eagerly awaiting instructions to find out how to look like they're not following instructions. No one will tell me what to do! shouts someone at a rally that culminated in marching orders from one of thousands shameless grifters who've found that people will do most anything you tell them to do. Even if it's against their own self interest.
It could have different. I've argued that Trump could have had the presidential moment he'd been waiting for (I may have done a 10-minute video about this: www.major.wtf.) His George W. Bush rolling up of the sleeves. Instead, he did his thing in dividing us over caring for one another. Empathy. Now just a memory. A lost sense of one another flickering on a thought in a hurricane. And not to absolve Biden or any other official. Because the void is begging to be filled with the opposite. The pendulum is defying gravity and jammed beyond its gears. Tremoring with mechanical failure. The time to act grinding to a heated halt. It needs a push. Perhaps a fiery punch in the other direction. A bucket of gall grease to the stuck-ness of a silent majority that needs to put up a fight. A battle without guns or tanks but one of simply demonstrating the right thing. Steering away from the wrong. Inspiring admonishments of the wayward. It's not "you're wrong" but more, "aren't you better than this?"
I'm still the idiot who thinks we are.
Tricks of the Test
I love any opp where I can be helpful and jotting some notes is a good low-energy covid activity. I’ve finally confirmed covid and just in that process I learned some things. For example, home tests are very accurate as far as positives go. I had two of these danger popsicles go pink within 24 hours.
UPDATE
PCR tests could be dead to the ‘Cron. Or something that would make them less reliable. My son and I each had one positive and one negative in the same day. I guess there’s some viral load issues that hamper the genetic sniffing that the PCR does, but it only adds to the ‘Cron chaos. Or, as some much wiser person/organization has suggested: if you’re sick, just assume you have Covid. Good call.
conversation with wife
So I thought, “crap. I have covid.” I also have (had) a trip to Mexico City on Monday so wanted to be sure. So called in a PCR test and have to give major props to Covid Check Today. They were at my door in an hour, but their test came up negative. Cool, right? Or. Um? what? And suddenly I was this entire bungled disease response in one chilled, congested package. What does any of this mean? So I called the PCR test people back and told them that I two self tests say I was positive. They booked another test and I did some interneting. Turns out your typical home test needs a lot of covid to ring the bell. So if it goes double pink, it’s very likely an accurate positive. And that’s why you hear about some people getting false negatives. Well, there are several reasons: they didn’t swab enough, their body wasn’t particularly covid-y at the moment and, with omnicron, people are finding that swabbing the throat has been more effective.
So the PCR people came back and pop goes the positive. The second guy went deep, btw. He didn’t waste our time together & pretty much humped my head.
Trip to Mexico cancelled. The family has sent me to the basement. It is here where I type and think about how good I have it. We have a basement. And food and I can wfh and all the things. Although my bean is large and this N-95 mask is giving me cauliflower ear. My left one may never go back to its leisurely position.
angry elf
Symptoms of Covid
So far it’s pretty light. It started as a cold with congestion, chills and fatigue and has pretty much maintained. The one thing that sticks out is the fatigue; like walking up stairs is exhausting. Not saying I was an athletic phenom a week ago, but I’m a pretty decent bounder. Two, sometimes three, stairs at once. Here are some notes, labeled for convenient reading.
Take care of yourself
Maybe my covid will take a terrible turn and i’ll perish (at least I’ll be free from all those stories I need to write). But it hasn’t been bad and I chalk that up to vaccines (see below) and that, after two years of being chronically ill, I finally did that thing where I take advantage of modern science and see a doctor. That’s where I discovered I’ve had A) an ongoing mystery infection that had my white blood cells in a tizzy and me dragging from day to day and B) my wfh had turned me into a carb-eating monster and sugar was making me sick. The Covid-era lifestyle transformed me into a pre-diabetic who was getting knocked flat every time he ate sugar. I cannot tell you how happy I was to stop eating one thing and suddenly be better. Sugar, mofos. It’s bad for you. Had I not fixed those ailments, who knows what covid would have done to me.
This sh!t is for real
Not sure how to say this without sounding like an asshole, but we were “lucky” early on in that we were very close to some severe covid cases. This helped instill in us the need to be careful. And it’s not just the ten days you’re sick. We have several friends dealing with long haul. Some very very severe. One very young woman is just learning to walk again. A buddy of mine from work was recently in the Denver Post because his post-covid life has not been the same.
which, btw, here’s what he told me upon my positives
Dan is really smart.
Vaccines
I’m vaxxed and boosted and I know it’s helping. Why do I know it’s helping? Because I’m not a moron. Because I’ve gotten vaccines my entire life so I didn’t get riddled with mumps. Whatever the hell that is. Just the sound of mumps doesn’t make for the most glamorous death. “What happened to Jared?”
“Mumps.”
But two points here:
We gotta stop getting manipulated. For the most part, we revile the tobacco companies for their decades-long charade that lighting something on fire and shoving it into your lungs isn’t bad for you. But we continue to let people use their playbook to hijack the conversation around the likes of vaccines and climate change.
There is an inspirational moment here. Remember when anti-vaxxers were Jenny McCarthy and three people with oxy habits and a spare bedroom for Elvis? Now, with the help of Facebook and a treasure trove of grifting assholes, they are everywhere. Remember that whenever you’re trying to get something started. Even if it’s pretty stupid it has a chance.
Oh, and let’s not overthink vaccine science. Quite simply, if you train for a fight you’re more likely to win it, right? And you don’t even have to actually workout. That’s the breakthrough this country needs.
*me. i’m talking about me.