In a few days, I will be fully vaxxed. And I’m still feeling the effects from the second shot. This is not to discourage anyone from getting the shots. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. It’s just that I am the type who wants to have all the information available so I can make a good decision and prepare for it. Because I knew the second shot was worse than the first for many people and I had looked up the possible side effects, I was prepared. It helped that I knew I was someone who reacted badly to shots in general. I had a reaction to the first shot and I had a small achy bump on the jab site until I got my second shot three weeks and one day later.
I bought easy-to-eat foods before the second shot (ha! I first wrote boss), including gluten-free crackers and Kite Hill Cracked Black Pepper soft spreadable plant-based cheeze (no dairy). I was prepared to do nothing more than feed my cat and watch endless YouTube videos, which was pretty much what I did. It’s almost two weeks after the shot and I’m still tired as fuck. My arm is a little sore and I get body aches randomly, but I’d say I’m 75% better. So tired, though. So very tired.
Veering wildly, I’ve been watching Eurogamer’s Aoife Wilson play Resi VIII because I like her and I like Lady D, even though I am not a Resi fan. I don’t find horror games scary at all. I don’t know why that is. Actually, I don’t find horror movies that scary, either–especially the kind with jump scares. Psychological horror is different. But, the last Resi, eh. It was just body horror, which I don’t like at all. I will say that PT by Kojima was very tense, but that’s probably the closest I’ve gotten to scared while watching a game. I’m squeamish in that sense. But scary? No. I didn’t find Resi 7 scary at all. Then again, I didn’t play it. But I like the aesthetics of Resi VIII and the vampire ladies, of course. Oh, who the hell am I kidding? It’s all about Lady D. I just adore her in a large part because she’s a middle-aged woman who looks her age* and she’s not stereotypically hot.
I just went down the rabbit hole of reading the tweets from Maggie Robertson who voices and did the mo-cap for Lady D. She is definitely not what I expected (blond and cheerful) and I am here for it. She’s a delight and so appreciative of all the Lady D love. I want to be Lady D for Halloween or some other time when I can dress up. I have the boobs to do her justice and she just ticks off all my boxes. For cosplaying, I mean. I still find it funny that people are SO thirsty for her, but I’m glad. Anyway, I’m tired. This is all for now.
I lied. It’s not all. I have more to say as I alluded to in the title. Once I’m fully vaxxed, I expect I’ll go out more. I mean, I wasn’t a social person in the Before Times so it’s not as if I’m going to be going out every night all night long, but it would be nice to do more than my monthly pharmacy run. I’m planning on going to the co-op next week, which is causing complicated feelings inside of me. I’m watching the argument between masking up and not masking up after being fully vaxxed (and wondering why some people are so infuriated by those who will continue to mask up), and I’m going to keep masking up for now. Why? One, many people don’t believe in getting vaxxed. I did not put myself in a soft lockdown for over a year just to be careless now. Two, I have a terrible immune system. In the Before Times, I got colds/sinus problems all the damn time. Since the pandemic, I have not have a single one. Not a one! So, yeah, masks are not going anywhere any time soon. Three, I don’t completely trust the CDC. Trust science, yes, but the advice has changed radically from the beginning of the pandemic until now. Scientists are doing the best they can, but they are not gods. We’re still in the middle of this shit and I’d rather err on the side of caution.
Look. I know it’s been a tough year and three months. I know most people cannot wait to go back to something resembling a normal life. But it’s disconcerting to me how many people are quick to declare it’s over. Cases are still on the rise in several places around the world (such as India) and mutations are happening. Scientists admit that we’re probably not going to reach herd immunity in America, which means COVID is here to stay. Not in the pandemic form, but it’s not going anywhere any time soon. With all this, is it really that hard to believe that maybe people can’t quite trust that things are back to Before Times normal yet? I don’t think we’ll ever go back to that, nor should we. We need to hash out a new norm, but Americans are stubborn about seeing what they want to see. I’ve been so frustrated with ‘everyone needs to do their own risk assessment’. We have gone way too far on the individuality scale–the collective should matter, too.
I have more to say, but I’m really tired. My point is that things are changing all the time and we’re really not good at seeing the big picture. Science is not infallible and maybe we could ease into opening everything up rather than just doing it willy-nilly. On top of it, it now seems that there’s a strain of the coronavirus that younger people are more susceptible to. You know, the ones who aren’t vaccinated. I hope we’re at the tail end of the pandemic; I just fear we’re not.
*Yes, yes, she’s a vamp, but she presents as an unapologetic middle-aged woman. That’s refreshing in video games.