VirtualExile

Back from my second trip to York for my second Pfizer shot.  The CVS was better organized than my first time there, which was cool.

This morning Dax was super fussy about his breakfast, which was particularly upsetting to T.  Dax is probably still feeling nausea, for whatever reason(s), so we've requested a phone consult with the vet today to discuss next steps.  Dax is not moping in a corner waiting to die, but he's definitely feeling sickly -- eating a fraction of his normal food amount, occasionally shivering and drooling, drinking too much water, peeing too much, less energy than usual.

The stress is getting to T, so I suggested that he take a night off and go visit B, we'll see if that happens.  I don't want Dax's illness to mean I NEVER get Time to Self anymore, or that I can't socialize with other people after P2+7, so I'm talking with T about how we need to give each other breaks so we don't burn out.  It doesn't require two humans 24*7 to care for a sick dog.

I'm feeling stressed also -- the pace of work is picking up, T is needing more support, I'm worried about Dax, I had the drive back and forth to get a second shot and I'm wondering what the side effects will be.  B's husband is in town again which means I'm T's only source of social support at the moment.

T gets his second shot next week, soon he'll be able to socialize with more people, finally.

Right now I just want some Time to Self but not sure when that will happen.  I might have to settle for a nap.  But first the dishes are waiting for me, it's my turn to do them.

fantasizing about solo outdoor dining on 17th street with my 80% badge, but also could fast today because I'm not actively building an immune response,

beer has calories,

remembering when I ate at an indoor restaurant that final March 2020 weekend before everything abruptly closed, and how there were only two of us in the entire place, how DC was suddenly a ghost town,

the outdoor tables on 17th street are pretty busy nowadays; before I shunned them; but not today, I think I'm leaning toward a beer-only fast, didn't really get going with the butt toys last night because of processing work stress, that 6-month eval sitting in my inbox is triggering, DON'T OPEN IT BUG,

so, yeah, fasting, I'll go get a pack of beer later,

Tomorrow is Dax Vet Day.  This evening T cooked dinner and then we discussed our goals for tomorrow's appointment -- we're on the same page.  Dax has improved since Sunday afternoon -- I'm not sure what happened last weekend while I was gone, but he's fine now.  Makes me wonder whether there was some drama at the house that upset the pets but that I never heard about.  Anyway.  Probably Dax just ate something he shouldn't have, again, which led T to freak out.  It can be scary when Dax is feeling sick.

T had wanted more emotional support this week, and more of a focus on yard work.  So my plan is to accompany him to the vet tomorrow afternoon, even though we have to sit out in the car.  Then I'll stay at the house Friday night, then Saturday morning I'll do some yard work.  After that I'll Metro to the condo for one night.

I lifted weights this morning, that's been going very well, probably better than since before I moved in with T, having our own basement gym is awesome.  Tomorrow morning I hope to run for the third time this week, the weather has been perfect for running.  So the current weekly routine is three runs, a yoga, and a weightlifting, for five days of exercise per week.  Although yard work on Saturday morning will also be an informal sort of exercise.  But I hope to turn the yard wark back over to the hispanic labor crew after we implement our current goals.

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My day job is work.  I do the work, they pay me, and I generally don't hate it.  I'm dreading looking at my 6-month evaluation after my last annual contained the two downvotes.  I'll wait until at least next week so the contents don't bother my Saturday Night to Self.

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Today I hit P1+14, two weeks since my first shot, so now I'm definitely in the 80%-protected zone.  But my life hasn't changed at all yet.  My first change will be riding Metro on Saturday/Sunday.  But then next week I'm getting P2 on Thursday morning, so I might be having the usually-worse second round of side effects, so I'm making no plans for next weekend.  I'll hit 90% at P2+7 so it's the following weekend when I may schedule a date/hookup.  Sir Ben wants to wait until P2+14, so there's a window where I might make a date with somebody else before my first date with him.  I've already decided I want my first orgasm with him, if he'll permit one, he'll get the right of first refusal.  After that first Sir Ben date, any fella can give me permission to cum -- any fella except Bug.

I don't think I'll be in a rush to get back onto the hookup apps, I think first I'll explore hookups and dates with the people I already know or whose contact info I already have from before.

And then it will become time to plan a trip to Portland, and/or for K to plan a trip to DC.

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I saw a Gallup poll showing that most fully-vaccinated people are not rushing back to normal immediately, most are still social distancing, wearing masks, and avoiding large gatherings.  I think I'll be the same way for a while.  Mainly because the shots are not 100% and the 7-day average number of cases is GROWING again in the US.  I'll ease into a gentle new normal in which I schedule some one-on-one social events on the weekends, maybe have a couple people over to the house for dinner & games.  Stuff like that.  Nothing big until all who want their shots have received them and cases are diminishing.

There will be pressure to hang out with family again, but I'm not sure about a big gathering with all the siblings and all their kids while kids still can't get the shots.  And I suspect my youngest brother's family may go unvaccinated because they're avid Republicans.  So, maybe I'll visit each of my sisters separately over the next few months, mixing with one household at a time.  And my local ex-sister-in-law's family

Metro and mixing with one household at a time.  A professional haircut when it grows out again.  And I'll start catching up on stuff like dentist, annual physical, car maintenance, renewing drivers license.  That's the plan.  No movie theaters, concerts, football games, bars, crowded parties, indoor restaurants.  Nothing big like that until later this year or maybe after the kids can get shots also.

I love old poppers, they're like ancient wines to me, but the boys demand new poppers, so I have a box of the new at the condo,

Bug: Should I wait until the vaccine takes effect before riding Metro, or can I ride Metro this weekend?

Public Health Friend: Are you going to wear a mask?

Bug: Of course!!

PHF: Don't sit near people who are not wearing masks, and you should be fine.

... ... ...

I'm gonna wait until next weekend (80%).  Sigh.

Not counting exposure to respiratory viruses, it is 16 times deadlier for me to drive downtown than to take the train.  Plus 5x as bad for the climate.

By next month I should be taking the train to the condo again, except for when I'm transporting something bulky [like a music keyboard if I ever upgrade the keyboard there].

I'd kind of forgotten that Metro existed -- haven't needed to think about delays on the Red Line in over a year.

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Deaths/mile, commercial airline flight safety is best, followed by train, bus, then car, with car by far the worst.  For the climate, train is best, followed by carpooling (3-4 people), bus, plane, with solo car driving a bit worse than flying.  I'd worked this out back when I was deliberating about how to travel to Chicago for work.  Ideally train, but train service outside of the Northeast is glacially slow in the US, generally taking twice as long as driving a car straight through.

As I cannot fly a commercial flight to the condo yet, taking the train is best for safety and climate.  This kind of thinking used to be automatic for me.  But then COVID.

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B ended up spending the night here after all, as we were all too busy to drive him to Metro until after 6pm, and by then he wanted to have dinner & wine with us.  He said last night he'd go home for work today and then return.

By bedtime my arm started hurting where I got the shot -- more than a typical flu shot hurts, but so far less than the horrible shingles vaccine.  I already lifted weights this week, so I can wait to lift again until after this pain subsides.  I may still go running this afternoon and do yoga tomorrow.  The pain in my arm means the shot is working! -- my immune system is going after the faux COVID spikes and the cells that are making them.  Before it started hurting I was wondering whether I'd received a dud.

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Time to get up and eat some donuts from York :-)

Traffic was fine, B was good company, we got there in time to make a donut run first, and then still had to wait in the car for 15 minutes because they wouldn't let us in until 15 minutes before the appointment.  B's appointment was after mine so he had to wait in the car another 15 minutes, but it was over pretty quickly.  Had to show ID, pass the forehead temperature screen, and give the name of our primary care physician, that was it.

I got the famous little CDC vaccination card --> first Pfizer dose: 4/1/21.

Unless I caught COVID from somebody while I was inside the CVS, I should be fine.  When I go back for my second dose in three weeks I won't have to worry about that.

So far my arm doesn't even hurt.

Had a light lunch, will relax for a bit, and then log into my work laptop to see what's up.  B is going back home this afternoon but will return to the house for the weekend.  T has lots of weekend cooking planned; the fridge is full of ingredients.  I may stick around for the entire weekend to avoid the intoxication temptation of being at the condo by myself.  We'll see.  I could run tomorrow and Sunday, do yoga on Saturday.  Monday is a Maids Day so I'll be back to the condo on Monday morning -- I do like keeping an eye on the condo for K while he's stuck on the West Coast.

If you're having any problems finding a shot, but can drive to York, PA --> sign up with the CVS there.

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While I was driving us back, B asked whether I felt different having received my first shot.  I said, "Maybe when we get back home, right now I'm busy driving.  But I did feel a huge mental shift once the appointment had been made."

I think most of the mental shift came from having the appointment, although I was a little worried about whether the guillotine would come down on me for coming into PA from MD, but it was fine.  So now I'm a little worried about being around all those other people at CVS -- not the staff, who were probably all vaccinated already, but the customers.  But there was masking and social distancing, so ... probably OK.

It will be weird to not be so fucking worried about catching COVID from random people while shopping or hiking or walking on the sidewalk downtown.  But that feeling is still a couple weeks away.