KIP covid thread

go wide "emissions are way down!" or go personal "im catching up on a lot of movies"

but KIP

because nobody ever promised you there *wouldnt* be a major pandemic in your lifetime, chum. chin up.

still able to walk the park next door

working from home will have taken leaps and bounds forward and will have to be seen as a credible alternative to the problems of city rush hours and space pressures

ive been cooking up a storm

KIP?

may actually have lost weight due to no snacking tbh

tom, ilx is a website

caught up on movies

Key Management For Internet Protocols/

actually installed- tip of cap to forks and the ilplex cru- plex and have organised a load of content for viewing across my devices

using good local shops like butchers, greengrocers, fishmongers and deli and enjoying it

talked to the wife, shes actually pretty reasonable in person, even six weeks in

general air of *waves hand* a country working together pretty well, pretty reasonably (apart from on twitter or wherever)

fuckin hell really am not spending much money AT ALL

oh the airbnb thing, that could get interesting

slack is good

better at KIP than ye lot anyways, ill tell the world

zoom beers and online poker are an acceptable substitute for pints for the time being

.....nothing, lads?

I did my positivity bit on the other thread, you missed it.

But, basically, I'm thriving... pretty much.

glad to hear it!

Tell you what I did do today, went through files of papers and correspondence and statements and whatnot going back years and binned a large percentage of it - should have done it long ago.

... never had the time before!

god yes, adding to my to-do list

ive cleared up loads of hard-drive space and set up a network share

aim to tackle twenty years of digital photos next

seven gigs of graphic novels on my tablet

I was really sick but have recovered, I am so thankful for that. I haven’t ventured out of my house much yet, but I’ve been enjoying playing the piano, watching films and cooking.

good to hear recovery going well

ive been picking up the guitar a but more, im putting that in as a positive and if she wants to create a login to quibble it's a free country

:)

Theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4LtcagNWGk

KIP? Knowledge is Power?

I assume it’s’ ‘keeping it positive’

I’m also enjoying the peace in my neighborhood. I live on a major tourist street and there has been none of the usual constant foot traffic. I’ve been really noticing the birdsong in the mornings and evenings

all the clothes i wasn't confident enough to wear in public, i have had the chance to wear them!

Gf was making shit money pre-COVID,wasn't getting good shifts and the restaurant was quiet so tips were way down. So her getting the CERB (covid benefit from Canadian government) after getting laid off hasnt actually resulted in a huge change in our income. We usually have very different work patterns and dont get to spend as much time together as we'd like, so we are enjoying having lots of time together as I work from home and she isnt working.covid hasnt even hit that badly here in any case.extremely lucky.

xp I can relate to that rushomancy, I cleaned out my closet two days ago, I am letting go of a lot of stuff but have really been enjoying wearing some of it

xp I do envy a little all of you who have shelter in place partners

Can't play basketball (tho I did at least discover a single janky public hoop 15 minutes from me that's still open) so been hiking more. Don't feel like driving 20 miles each way to Sedona trails every day so been searching out ones closer to me. Found quite a few! On one now that winds up these foothills. High enough vantage point to see snowy peaks in the distance, in addition to the red rocks which are even redder due to the settings sun.

• not having to talk to strangers
• no small talk
• no having to look people in the eye when talking to them
• no hugs from strangers
• no handshaking (seriously, why the hell do people grip the palm of someone they’ve only just met?)
• can cross the street to avoid people without feeling rude
• all the hot people are training in the local parks since all the gyms closed

“all the hot people are training in the local parks since all the gyms closed”

didn’t know this

Feeling a little sick today, hoping it’s just the usual sinus infection/head cold that I get every few months and I am overdue for. Been enjoying the time with my family, and doing my best to make sure we stay safe and fed. Living in Florida now means lots of outside time and exercise which has been great. Work has been amazing during this time- just so proactive and supportive and caring. Couldn’t ask for a better company to work for, in the best of times as well as in times like these.

I haven't had hair long enough to go to a barbers for, oh, 15 years... acually more than 15... so, though I haven't quite got enough yet to run fingers through and definitely not enough on top to ruffle, it's a pleasant experience. Also the colours, mostly silver bordering on white with some stubborn dark bits.

spending more time at home has meant more attention to items of domestic comfort and organisation
15 hours a week commute back in my pocket
not spending *anything*
dreams seem weirdly vivid
getting Columbo villain length hair
paying more attention to cooking than i have normally had time for with consequently more enjoyable meals
more time for reading
morning coffee, lunch and post-work beer in the back yard in the sun
no work bantz
become more organised with work
starting at nine and finishing at five (generally anyway, have also found it's easy for work to bleed over if you've got a lot on, and having to do stuff with Australia and the states can mean early morning and evening calls)
peaceful neighbourhood, yes
no 4:30am Hong Kong flight into Heathrow

^ that last is not my commute, only the gentle sounds of jet engines over my house at that time each morning.

It looks like we are at the first peak here, so we will see the number of new cases and deaths drop for a little while

Cycling is great at the moment. Weather is perfect and roads are more or less free of traffic.

About the peaceful neighbourhood thing, when I woke up this morning I realized the reason it's so quiet is I'm not hearing any sirens anymore - police or ambulance but, in my case, it's predominantly ambulance. Quiet, apart from the builders next door, of course.

Have been running between 5 and 10k three times a week having been a 3k at most previously.
Been exploring my locality which is kind of edgelandy central belt scotland so farms and woodland and quite pleasant in a way.
Yep, spending nothing.
Cooking lots of good meals aye.
Also work had been driving me up the wall and I'd been desperate for time away from it, had been *this* close to walking out a couple of times (work in a v busy and understaffed restaurant) so this deadly pandemic couldn't have come at a better time for me

Air quality in London is so much better right now.

General good litmus test of the strength of a relationship/marriage is if you can spend months locked up together in stressful circumstances and still get on well and it's comfortably passing that.

Also yeah cooking, not spending money, getting enough sleep on the regular. Booze consumption down as well and only drinking really good stuff.

More or less total control over how much of my physical self to show to the outside world, and even when I do briefly go out my face is hidden behind mask & shades

*allows self to fall into ever more shocking states of dragglement* THIS TOO IS A MIXED BLESSING

Seeing a lot more of my friends back home - scheduling Jackbox game nights and groupwatchs of that Toei youtube channel.

finally tackling the jungle that is my back garden. a few hours every other day and hey presto the difference has been amazing. still some left to do mind you.

golf course shut but i found a patch of grass about the size of half a football pitch hidden behind some trees on the outskirts so have been practicing my pitching/chipping for a couple of hours a day so when the courses reopen hopefully my chipping yips will be a thing of the past.

oh and back up to being able to do 100 + keepie uppies which i haven't done since i was in my twenties

have explored every nook and cranny within 2km, including several good possibilities for buying if economy does crash

legit thought i had opened the animal crossing thread for a second

can’t read the thread title without thinking “kid n play”

so that’s a positive!

eke every drop of it in the circumstances imo

spending more time talking to family members i love

i'm getting more money than i ever have from a job

that being said i somehow got a job with the ut4h st4te 4rchives with a tentative start date of june 1, so when i run out of unemployment i'll be in a pretty cush position, credit cards paid down, etc.

today i'm going to the desert for two days to go running and buy weed

i'm "staying home and staying safe" with a hottie i love

and this isn't really covid related but i bought a really sick dark dnb release (homemade weapons, sorry ilm content) and rakka by that finnish guy to listen to out in the desert plus lots of stoner metal

It's kind of a positive that our situation isn't changing much - husband works from home most days anyway, and is now saving ££ on commute to London. I'm not working while my kids are little but was planning to start childcare for the youngest later this year. I'm glad the 5yo has had enough school to learn the very basics and can continue that at home without missing too much essential stuff, although he's missing it badly. Live on a main road which now has way less traffic, although is now 90% heavy trucks.

every time i see KIP my brain defaults to
https://i.imgur.com/G8bl74G.jpg

Wasn't doing any commuting and that's down to zero now. Which is the correct amount.

Reading loads more (that was on the way down). I think I'll only have a few 500 page+ books left in a couple of weeks.

Got my home yoga practice back (rather than just going to class) and might sign up to classes with a couple of advanced teachers on zoom that I might not had the chance to take a class with! Feel like I'm exploring sequences at the back of Light on Yoga too.

joeks aside, everyone i care about is healthy and safe, partner and i likely wont lose our jobs, are actually saving a bit of money because we arent spending it on stupid shit, & getting a load of reading done. Ive also been enjoying noticing that the constant low droning ambient far-off rumble of cars that you hear in basically every developed place on earth has disappeared from my neighborhood, and for the first time I can walk out on my porch and hear true silence.

the schools closure in the UK has meant there is a new daily podcast aimed at parents, helping them navigate the mountain of BBC content available for kids stuck at home and it's presented by..... yours truly!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p089l43b/episodes/downloads

tune in for some relentlessly KIP parent content

Cool! Are you William Whiskerson?

RUMBLED

big thing has been actually getting to hang out with our kids (5 and 3). our schedule during the weekday is packed, since we've got one in day care and one that does half days at school, plus my wife's commute is an hour long, so ultimately our time to actually "hang out" with our kids amounts to like, 30 minutes a day (not counting eating dinner or the bedtime routine). when it's over I'm glad I had this time with them

also...sleep. cutting out 2.5 hours of our routine every day actually lets us sleep 7 hours a day. before it was always a choice between getting a good nights sleep and like...taking any time to just relax and watch TV or whatever

Also sleeping more. Seeing kids more. Losing weight. Globally speaking: despite loudly amplified protest voices there seems to be broad public support here in the US for continued lockdown now, followed, when certain benchmarks are met, by careful and watchful easing of restrictions with least dangerous things allowed first, which is sensible. Whatever Trump may tweet about, the more sensible policy is what's actually coming out as White House guidance.

I'm weirdly into the simplicity of the routine, not having to think about social plans, travel, going out, playing gigs, etc.

Also the lack of a commute means we've had time to start doing yoga, in addition to our normal exercise routines (the yoga is also necessary to keep my body from ossifying due to working from home). I think I'm losing weight despite all the cooking & eating.

I'm genuinely happy for everyone that has more free time, but also I hate you all

dont make me tap the sign

* Life happens at whatever pace I want.
* I get to wake up slowly every day and my bf brings me coffee in bed (I used to have to leave home by 7am in the dark to get to work before 8).
* I have a garden to plant and am watching plants grow. Some are beautiful and some will be food in a month.
* I'm financially benefitting from the pandemic relief so I'm actually more stable than I would have been.
* Which allows me to give away a lot of money, so I'm supporting mutual aid/frontline efforts.
* I feel like I'm "playing house" in this lovely home, drinking coffee on various porches etc.
* Lots of evening campfires with the neighbors who are roughly my parents' age, and walks around the neighborhood. No touching/hugging, of course.
* I've cooked literally everything I've eaten in the last 6 weeks AT LEAST.
* Lots of lying on the sofa listening to podcasts.

Sorry to ppl with kids and ppl in small apartments and people who can't get any sunshine.

the schools closure in the UK has meant there is a new daily podcast aimed at parents, helping them navigate the mountain of BBC content available for kids stuck at home and it's presented by..... yours truly!!

wtf?

Also yeah cooking, not spending money, getting enough sleep on the regular. Booze consumption down as well and only drinking really good stuff.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, April 21, 2020 2:20 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah, most of these apply to me. the amount of money I'm saving (and hours of sleep I'm gaining) on not going out on the piss during the week, I'm instead drinking $50 bottles of wine at home at the weekend and being sober Sunday-Thursday.

I didnt expect how much this would change my perspective on almost every single aspect of my life - I feel like we're counting our blessings on an hourly basis, paying so much attention to small things and creature comforts we used to take for granted. Things like being thankful we have the cabinet space to store a months worth of food, we know how to cook & enjoy it, our apt has enough room to swing a cat, etc. It's a really strange feeling - on the one hand I'm terrified of dying in a very immediate way, but at the same time I feel much more grounded and emotionally healthy than any time I can remember.

Yes, all of that. Life without work, taken apart from financial pressures, is actually the RIGHT pace for a good life.

lol Tom that’s what i thought too. the controller of my department heard me on something and was like “you’re doing this” so i was like aye aye cap’n

nobody cares if I don't shower

Tracer do you work for that fat controller or the thin controller

since when is it not comptroller

a comptroller is a chief accountant for a local government

i'm amazed that some of you are managing to lose weight - if anything, I've been eating way more and exercising less. Grateful that the husband is cooking nearly everyday now though. Also relieved that Ramadan will be here in a couple of days - aside from cutting down on the snacking, it'll also be much easier this year without having to commute to work or forced socialising at fast-breaking dinners (count me in among the natural hermits who are enjoying quarantine more than others). 

music-wise, this week has been great with new releases by people I enjoy listening to + actually having the time to listen to them!

and I really do enjoy all the "nature is healing" bullshit, like this is just nice to see regardless of everything else: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/thailand-covid-19-beaches-turtles-nest-baby-12658224

I thought I would be running in the park three or four times a week but as it stands I'm barely leaving the flat. I think it's more that UK office/commute lifestyle tends to encourage unhealthier eating and drinking patterns and just removing those makes a difference.

There is something to be said for the total loss of even the illusion of control, it forces you to focus on the lowest of horizons and the most achieveable of goals. Getting dinner right can be one of the best and most enjoyable and rewarding things you do in a day. Just focusing on putting one foot in front of another and wringing out as many moments of enjoyment in the day is absolutely fine and all you can really do right now, along with appreciating that not everyone can have that luxury.

Spending lots more time with my seven-month old at a key stage of attachment and development

Watching her gradually learn to crawl, push buttons, turn pages on books, poop solids

Reading more and finally getting to Barbara Pym

Having a partner who enjoys disinfecting our food and has a generally less anxious attitude to everything

Zoom D&D every Saturday

I quit my job in December, can’t find a new job, fantastic - I hate work

Patting myself on the back for being less anxious and gloomy about everything than I expected (but not in a head-in-the-sand way)

Finally muting toxically gloomy/meme posting/advice-giving friends on Facebook

Not punching the guy on my walk who yelled “keep away! Haha just kidding” at me yesterday

I like being a homebody so it's all good. I'm walking my 'patch' loads and loads (one corollary of all this: so is every other fucker), spending lots of time with my wife, spending *some* time with my kids, who are of an age where they're happy to be in their rooms chatting with their mates, absolutely reconnecting with my stuff: records mainly but also books and films. I'm slowly cataloguing my records on Discogs. My absolute favourite thing is to play records and do puzzles. Like a pensioner.

I'm a teacher: remote teaching is shit and I miss the general mayhem of the classroom but I'm used to extended breaks so that's sort of manageable in that I've tricked myself into thinking I'm on summer holidays (the weather is helping). I need the routine when it comes to diet, so I'm drinking more and concomitantly eating more shit so need to sort that out.

New record for solar power generation in UK on Monday, over half power generated from renewables. https://www.renews.biz/59798/uk-solar-peak-generation-record-broken/

Not punching the guy on my walk who yelled “keep away! Haha just kidding” at me yesterday

― Chuck_Tatum, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 9:25 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I was jogging the other day and saw another jogger approaching about 50 yards away. I started to move over to the other side of the street, but at the exact same time she had the same idea. So I moved back and so did she. It was a long-distance version of that thing where you and another person are both trying to be polite about walking on the same side of the sidewalk but you end up dancing back and forth awkwardly. I finally did an elaborate and broad hand gesture indicating which way I intended on going and she flashed back a thumbs up. That was a fun, positive, and voiceless social microinteraction.

Just scored a free case of beer (surplus stock due to slightly damaged cans) thanks to covid 19 neighbourhood support whatsapp group.

with tokyo refund money ive scored a new media centre pc, a new laptop (both yet to arrive) and mrs mac got me a smashingly hipster bike (arrived yesterday) as an early birthday pressie for greater park exploration (its a big park)

I stayed at my apt for 1 night and saw my city roommate + neighbors on the roof, all carefully distanced, and they've been taking good care of each other and bonding/sharing resources. I shop for their groceries and my bf drives in and delivers them and everyone wins. It feels good to put little surprises or a bottle of wine in each person's packages.

Also I researched ear buds and got a fancy pair--which is my first non-spartan tech purchase in many years iirc. Trying to scale back on the fun stuff for now bc I have no idea how to re-enter the job market after (when?) some unspecified point but definitely looking forward to these little beauties arriving:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0404/1101/products/MW07PLUSJG_InsideChargingCase_800x800.png?v=1581695469

Also the wine store re-opened for curbside pickup. That's a plus!

are they as art deco as they look in that shot?

niice

Let's hope so! Years of using the free Apple headphones proved that their standard shape won't fit me so that ruled out ipods and it turns out the alternatives are all much more attractive.

what a world

had to cancel our wedding which was scheduled for late august. both feeling quite good about it though, right thing to do, will give us extra time to save up money for it for the aspects that weren't finalized yet, and a couple important people were not going to be able to make it. otoh we postponed it a year and it may not be possible due to COVID then either, but we can cross that bridge if we have to next year.

COVID really hasn't hit that badly in my province. new cases seem to be diminishing. only circa 2000 cases thus far . the only person I know to have been diagnosed with COVID so far - my ex-wife - was only sick for a week, very mild case.

working from home I'm not that fond of, but it beats being laid-off.

gf isn't working and we're really enjoying spending lots of time together.

counting my blessings rn

sorry bout wedding but positives to take from it it seems

So — like I needed a new hobby — I basically started a record store out of my home office. Spin-clean, grade and price records while I half-listen to conference calls, & post flip-thru videos on Instagram once a day or so when I’ve done a little stack. Not quite breaking even but my collection is GROWING LIKE CRAZY (also upgrades to stuff I already have inferior pressings or beat-up copies of) for a smaller outlay. Also keeping me sane while working from home. 90% of my job is talking to people & most of it got done round the water cooler (so to speak) so the isolation bit has been challenging. Fortunately my manager doesn’t seem to care too much about productivity right now so everybody wins.

Oh sick

hardcore dilettante indeed

We had to cancel our wedding and we are THRILLED

ILX slack and hangouts have played a huge positive role carrying me through this

Deep dive into ECM records

Deep dive into Test Pressing chill lists

My yoga instructor has been posting lessons on YouTube to follow along with

Been cooking more and trying some new recipes

Getting outside more

My job and my wife's job appear to be secure

This has given me a lot more clarity on what I want to do with my life when it's all done

this seems good

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/30/covid-19-crisis-demand-fossil-fuels-iea-renewable-electricity

The steady rise of renewable energy combined with the collapse in demand for fossil fuels means clean electricity will play its largest ever role in the global energy system this year, and help erase a decade’s growth of global carbon emissions.

did a zoom quiz for work and it wasn't awful at all

misread the thread title as 'KBP covid thread' and briefly thought I had missed out on something

{btw I am healthy, everyone I know is healthy, I still have a job despite working in the most covid-unfriendly line of work possible, and I have a fridge full of good beers)

working from home full time at full pay
deep diving into boxes and files that should have been cleaned out long ago
my mother seems to be healthy (if not happy) in isolation

j.lu that sounds like some kind of millennial bruce springsteen lyric

now i can't read "my mother seems to be healthy (if not happy) in isolation" in any other voice but bruce's

to the tune of Philadelphia btw

Built myself a beer garden.😂 pic.twitter.com/oKFiaiYOy3

— west belfast red. 🔴🔴 (@gabshit77) May 1, 2020

I thought this should be parked here

Lol, that rules

finally researched and procured an IPTV service, as well as setting up the home network file server id been mulling for months- pretty close to the ideal setup now

Portugal beginning to open up tomorrow. Its felt on the verge of opening up for a while but then police were asking people not to sit down in the park yesterday

Seven days nicotine-free; after the initial adjustment to lockdown life, I realised that the relative lack of social triggers made this an ideal time to quit.

Also: having shunned FaceTime for years, it turns out that I actually like zoom calls. Sure, there’s a performative element, but it’s a performative element that I can get with and work with.

Also: we have two butchers’ shops less than 5 minutes walk from our front door - their businesses are both booming, and rightly so, because they’re both superb and more people have started to realise this.

yes - that has happened with our local butcher too.

PHENOMENAL news about quitting nicotine.

An older sister of mine and her husband stopped by earlier today, after a follow-up appointment for her mastectomy last September. We hosted them outdoors, sitting more than six feet apart, wearing our masks, but it was damn good to see them both doing so well. They escaped to their car just about ten minutes before the sky opened and rain + hail poured down for 20 minutes.

British Columbia is the jurisdiction with over 5 million residents that has the lowest COVID deaths per capita in North America + western europe. the premier is going to announce what the plans to ease restrictions will be in half an hour.

a new benefit for hospitality workers my gf can apply for just came live today, on top of $1000 she received yesterday from the province of BC, and the CERB she receives from the federal government.

finally after 6 weeks or whatever of working from home I have all the software and hardware I require to do my job. will not have to return to work any time soon.

wfh estended thru September it looks like, and discussion at high levels seems to accept that the civil service will not return to a five day model working week

this is very good imo

Our “new normal” planning is looking similar

We got similar word from our executives on Monday. I'm making a trip to the office tomorrow to pick up a couple monitors, keyboard, mouse and docking station. I've been working on a laptop this whole time. They offered the office equipment much earlier, but the time has been slipping by like crazy.

- 2/3 of the way through an extremely involved and exhausting (relative to the last time) but also personally rewarding paternity leave that started the day tom hanks was diagnosed and the NBA was cancelled
- read as many books in the first five months of this year as i read last year
- got my instapaper queue (~150 articles that are all like 10-30 minute reads) to zero
- seriously dialed in my vim configuration

i wasnt aware of even one bun let alone two

they call it Bun B

i remember that day so clearly! i was in class and one of my students was like "Tom Hanks has the virus!" and we all talked about it. We were still meeting for classes, but it may have been in the last two weeks.

god it really feels like 600 years ago

I remember that day. it was 3/11. I'd seen Overkill the night before, and I knew things were about to change, but no idea how much. the morning was normal, but that afternoon, they'd announced a crowd-less March Madness, and a crowdless Golden State Warriors game. I go to rehearsal, Hanks is diagnosed right as it's ending, and Trump has banned Europe travel.

I get to my car 10 minutes later, the NBA has cancelled their season. That was a crazy day.

but the day before was wicked awesome! (KIP)

i don't have anything not-maudlin to say -- thinking about that day has made me so wistful about the pre-rona times

thanking u neanderthal this is ofc the kip covid thread

weather in dublin has been great and weve been enjoying cycling through the park and into a traffic-free city quite a bit

The Stax Records box set is doing all my KIP heavy lifting tonight, thank fuck for music rn

got laid off from my beloved but flailing non-profit in late December, but was soon joined at home by... the rest of the world, in a way.

my now-college age kids are home, and it's amazing. they're as fun as always to be around, but now they also actually spontaneously help around the house. they've been doing a lot of cooking but also art projects and music playin'

i'm doing a lot, it feels like. trying to keep up with a statistics course on Coursera. kinda important as my day jobs have featured lots of program evaluation and applied research, and i've always been stronger on qualitative methods than quantitative.

also involved in a research & writing project with a team of folks from around the country. i dig the work but it's *hard* (writing almost always is, isn't it?)

taking a dance class online (martha graham based), doing some "running" (i.e., walking with spurts of running every couple of blocks, and a bunch of other exercise-y things. i try to be pretty regular with this stuff, for many reasons, not least because it keeps the demons at bay.

built raised garden beds!

growing shrooms!

reading books and playing rekkids.

keeping in touch with a bunch of friends, mostly through texts and emails.

some of these projects move a lot slower than i'd like. i go into each day with a list of five things pretty big things to do and it's often the case that i can only manage one. i'm getting a little better at not getting too down on myself for this.

sad about Florian news today. Ride in Peace.

ooh, VG, i'm jealous of your Stax box set!

I remember that day. it was 3/11. I'd seen Overkill the night before, and I knew things were about to change, but no idea how much. the morning was normal, but that afternoon, they'd announced a crowd-less March Madness, and a crowdless Golden State Warriors game. I go to rehearsal, Hanks is diagnosed right as it's ending, and Trump has banned Europe travel.

I get to my car 10 minutes later, the NBA has cancelled their season. That was a crazy day.

https://www.wired.com/story/an-oral-history-of-the-day-everything-changed-coronavirus/

great oral history of 3/11 here

9/11, 3/11, so many fuckin' 11s

every crew, every clique, and every posse

I’m still having fun making music on my dinky laptop I bought for school and we’re baking excellent sourdough bread twice a week. I’m getting up when I feel like it and still getting the same (or more) amount of work done, even with the added effort involved in supporting COVID response. My social calendar is off the charts compared to the last decade, since I can now indulge in happy hour activities without the usual 45-60 minutes of travel time to get home. I still have my job, my wife still has her job, our daughter’s teachers are engaged and keep ensuring she has plenty to do during most of most days. I am so grateful.

i don’t think neanderthal’s baby joke is getting the attention it deserves. i see you.

idgi tbh

third child = pimp c

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UGK

heh if ever a pun was outta my wheelhouse ey

Probably a good thing that I'm thinking "I need a haircut" for the first time in about 15 years. The fact that I'm beginning to look like Gavin McLeod is not so good.

Lol

good news folks

Lmao, city of NYC thanks goddamn. pic.twitter.com/gbIxbaDflT

— L😯LC😯X (@smileyniv) May 7, 2020

... before, after and during

work from home looks set to run into 2021 for us at which stage if trends continue i'll be at my 1999 weight with a mortgage deposit saved

When they let me out of this joint to go shopping I’m gonna buy a truckload of books and a steak dinner

me, once my dad's recovered, I'm going driving to a remote location and not telling anybody where I am for a month

these are not kip posts imo

why is what I said negative? sounds like bliss to me even when we're not in a pandemic

#aftercovid not #kipcovid imo

wheres the covid appeals board

“When Tony Parsons’s new novel came out you couldn’t get hold of his book”.

https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/10/could-lockdown-herald-an-exciting-new-chapter-for-the-book-trade

here's a fun way to figure out what the fuck is making noise outside your window
https://birbs.glitch.me/

neat!

working from home means that I could have a nap on my lunch hour to help with my hangover today.

that is a golden gift from the spirit upstairs that should not be underestimated

Probably a good thing that I'm thinking "I need a haircut" for the first time in about 15 years. The fact that I'm beginning to look like Gavin McLeod is not so good.

Nah, it'll have to go before it strays any deeper into Michael D. Higgins territory

I'm straying deep into mullet territory

I feel relief because for the first time in my life I truly do not care what my hair looks like. Is it sticking up? No? I'm good.

The excess fluff irritates me, but I'm rolling with it

i went from a neat pixie cut to looking like my dad in 1978
oh well! if it burns someone's eyes out, i fake-apologize in advance

I've had the exact same Dana Scully haircut for the past fifteen years, so quarantine is forcing me to switch things up, which is probably a good thing. I might just not cut it until the pandemic is over, and then I'll finally know what it's like to have long hair.

Finally obtaining a set of hair clippers has changed my life for the better.

Given we're going to be able to sit in the park before too long, are there any decent foldable chairs out there that are better than dad-chairs/camping chairs but more portable than standard deckchairs?

These are a pretty classic staple
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/gunde-folding-chair-black-00217797/

this is wonderful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T65d1a574-I

I've cut my own hair since I was in high school. It used to be tricky back when I had hair. Now, being entirely bald on top with the sides and back cut very short means I can cut my hair quickly and easily using electric clippers. I did so yesterday. Feels good. Trimmed the beard short, too.

"sorry we are clothed" on all the strip clubs' marquees still p funny

my original plan was to grow my beard until the end of quarantine but I thought it was only gonna be a few weeks lmao

gonna grow my hair out just to see what kind of look I can accomplish. I've had it Italian Race Car Driver long but not Andrew W.K. long. luckily I've still kept it all at 34 but who knows what the future holds???

my hair is as long as its been since I was 18, which was 18 years ago. I got a haircut right under the wire as well, Friday March 13th, my barber's last day open was the next day.

the province is going to allow them to open back up in about a week tho and I'll get in for a haircut if I can, mainly to support the business. I've been with my barber for about 6 or 7 years, following him when he left his old job and opened his new place. really the only local business I am in anyway loyal too or care about (well i care about the resto my gf works at cause I like her having a job)

My utterly beloved stylist sold her salon and was going to have a chair in a place nearer to my home but instead she and her partner are moving to Chicago and I'll never see her again ;_______;

*taps the sign*

ok ok staying posi: I've been sitting on the deck in the sun a lot

I was enjoying my thickening beard until a friend asked me if I was trying to look like Scott Ian.

Was like, bitch I have HAIR

Went for a scooter ride in view of the Shawangunk Mountains.
Restocked wine & cocktail makings via curb-side pickup and asked the person in the store, who I kind of know from being a chatty repeat customer, to pick out some surprises for me to make up a case (for the discount). Looking forward to trying those.
Boyfriend hasn't made any income in like 8 weeks but his unemployment case seems to be inching forward, which will be a big relief. We've had serious conflict/resentment about his anxiety and my possibly overly blithe insistence that we're incredibly lucky and he should relax. He's watched his business tank and no idea if it will come back after. Otoh we are able to stock up on wine and ride scooters so I really don't want to hear about it.
I did a brief training to work as a dispatcher for a local mutual aid effort. First shift on Monday.
After tonight it should be warm enough going forward to move the tomatoes outside permanently.

dad is almost back to being his old self and not needing my help. bittersweet, as I've enjoyed the time, but i'm also looking forward to a little "me" time.

A bunch of people, including me, helped save our favorite bar: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/continuing-coverage/coronavirus/local-coronavirus-news/community-raises-25-000-to-save-the-side-quest-bar-in-lakewood

(NB I am currently the reigning champion in annual Star Wars trivia and Steven Spielberg trivia at this place.)

Hey cool! My gf lives around the corner from there. I'm glad it's going to make it.

The local queer community especially kicked in a lot -- it's really like a second home for a lot of LGBT+ people, and they have a no-tolerance policy towards bigotry. Something like 90% of their staff are queer, POC or otherwise marginalized.

that’s the kind of good news story the world needs right now

I’m dead 😂☠️ When I got back from the store all the goats had broken through the fence and were recking havoc on our street

This is the craziest thing to happen all quarantine 🐐🐐🐐 pic.twitter.com/Hc7XpuiBdT

— Zach Roelands (@zach_roelands) May 13, 2020

An army of marauding goats could cause all sorts of mayhem - best stay indoors!

took advantage of Chase's deal to give me $300 just by opening a new checking account and having one direct deposit go in. already got the money and just have to keep the account open 6 months to avoid having it reversed.

eaaasy cash.

mom's first unemployment payment came in, so less pressure overall.

In orbit, it seems to be an indisputable fact of the pandemic that no two people will ever be freaking out to the same degree at the same time. For example, I have found no one who will join me in the the utter depths of my fears when I am at my worst. Perhaps you and your bf are balancing each other out.

KIP? The weather here is really nice and I’m spending a lot of time outside reading, while occasionally drinking a to-go cocktail from any number of local bars.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/17/coal-industry-will-never-recover-after-coronavirus-pandemic-say-experts

lads if the freakonomics guys get any encouragement from this it will not be a kip development

First unemployment payment arrived, to much fanfare. There's still 8 weeks of back pay to wait for, but the first direct deposit resolved a lot of anxiety about getting it at all. Now it pretty much just flows from here, I think.

mom also got her first, but in typical FL fashion, only federal, no state, no taxes withheld as requested, and no record of this payment in the Payment History. but....last night, we finally got confirmation that they received the "retroactive payment request" form that FL requires for people whose application is delayed, so..that's a positive development.

I gave my mom a few thousand dollars as sort of an "advance" on this so she doesn't have to stress about it.

cos I've been drinking beer more and I don't have a beer glass at my folks place, ordered this monster

https://i.ibb.co/3FGV8Cs/97992583-10157593149732981-3331454532046553088-o.jpg

awes

vn

is that dishwasher safe

🤘🏻🤘🏻

only the stainless steel part

also i m druink rin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKf9aUIxdb4&feature=youtu.be

watching this is the best thing i've done since this pandemic started

hmm try this to the youtube page i guess link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKf9aUIxdb4

oh man, that was beautiful.

I have quibbles, but that was fun to watch

ow my brane

yeah, those are great; instantly subscribing

fuuuuuuck

I don't normally do sudoku but yep that was great.

So my friend wrote this story: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/sports/iditarod-coronavirus-thomas-waerner.html

TJ Dawe, playwright famous in Canada and on Fringe circuits, encouraged me to start writing comedy scripts today cos he thinks I'm funny.

I am now motivated to finish one of 100 scripts i left on page 2.

Top of my christmas list
https://i.imgur.com/rr8Vaup.jpg

well look at it this way. at least none of us stepped in a bear trap this year!

It is starting to look like there will be multiple vaccines approved for public distribution in the next three months. Assuming the approval processes are legit and the vaccines are safe and effective, the more that earn approval, the better!

In the process, proving out the mRNA vaccine platform, which is rapid to develop, easy to manufacture, and will probably be the first choice for finding future vaccines for newly emerging pathogens.

I thought the mRNA approach was very unlikely to work. I hope I'm wrong, but I definitely have doubts about durability of immunity.

The Pfizer vaccine which is applying for an EUA and the Moderna one which will be unblinding its preliminary data soon are both mRNA vaccines targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

And working with RNA is a real pain in the ass, so I would not describe it as easy to manufacture, not compared to flu or MMR or polio.

But anyway I am happy to be wrong about my scepticism.

Theoretically, mRNA isn't going to produce as robust an immune response as a live attenuated vaccine, is why I was/am sceptical. I was happily surprised the Pfizer data.

PIA or not, health care workers need to get vaccinated asap and now this is becoming a possibility, which surely is A Good Thing.

Ah yeah idk I skimmed a review (from pre-covid times) on mRNA vaccines and the authors cited manufacturing capacity as a potential advantage. I mean, synthesizing oligonucleotides is kind of a commodity service no? Been a year since I left my job working with microbiologists I can’t ask them anymore :(

I have not been a lab microbiologist for a long time now FWIW. But DNA is a very stable molecule and RNA is NOT. Manufacturing is not so bad, it is managing RNA-degrading enzymes (RNAses)--which are everywhere--that is tricky. Hence the very low temp storage requirements, another PIA.

assuming I did actually get the vaccine and not saline in the Moderna trial (which I don't know for sure, but I believe I did, cos my immune system never has reactions to flu shots or any immunization shots and certainly not placebo, and I had a 101 fever for 24 hours), the side effects were minimal - really just the fever.

many others that were in the trial reported the same symptoms as well, but I didn't hear much else, so assuming that's the worst side effect, that's not bad, but that does mean people would need to make sure they weren't working the next day or doing anything major, which is a bit harder if you're a parent or a caretaker. something people should be made aware of prior to getting it.

really hoping for multiple effective vaccines, because every day my mood oscillates from eerie calm to wanting to gnaw people's faces off.

have needed a haircut for like a month now and have been going back and forth about whether that's ok, but finally decided the other day that once I've reached the point in decision-making where I'm going on ethics subreddits, that's probably a sign I should just suck it up and cut it myself again

I got one done at a place where they were all masked and the seats were distanced well beyond 6 feet. I couldn't bear the rat tail that was growing

i am growing my hair until i can braid it like yulia tymoshenko

Going to get a hypodermic needle tattoo for every COVID vaccine I get as they're rolled out. Gotta catch 'em all.

I finally broke down and got mine cut about a month ago, at a pro place where everyone was masked and there were only about 5 people in the entire place, spaced well beyond 6 feet (closer to 15-18 feet from what it looked like). Everyone entering the door had to get a temp check. It was the riskiest thing I've done but my hair is super finicky and no one in my house felt confident or comfortable enough to even attempt a hair cut. So now I just have the super long quarantine beard to attempt myself at some point.

All that was above, plus restaurants look like opening again possibly and a chance to get home over Christmas if luck is in

Today I signed a legal permission for my daughter to receive the Pfizer two-dose vaccine when it becomes available. She's in an extremely high risk group and will have a fairly advanced place in line, but of course there's no firm date, yet. According to the RN who supervises her group home immunity becomes established about 4 weeks following the second dose. I don't expect any relaxation on the visitation regime for at least a couple of months, but... maybe... hopefully, by spring equinox?

i support grasping any hope where you can get it. this feels like a good development despite the unknowables <3 love to you & your family, aimless

really hoping there is a break in the clouds by then

let it be done

good luck aimless. i hope you can see her soonish.

fyi cad, we still do see her, but we must be outside, distanced by at least six feet and masked up. in rainy weather we can see her with her sitting in her wheelchair in the garage, so long as the garage door is fully open and we are only so far inside as to be under the shelter of the eaves. the falling temperature ensures these visits are not much more than an hour rn. as it gets colder, that duration will decrease, but we're damned if we won't see her even briefly, as long as we're permitted to see her at all.

glad to hear that. it's better than nothing.

wishing the best, Aimless. good that they take the disease and their visitation regime that seriously, but that's a tough arrangement.

Lads its gonna be a fuckin weird one

Anyone got kip-worthy covid christmas plans?

How are ye making the best of it?

Ive sent a ball of cards, first time in years

Dropped presents at doors and ran away (have been informed since that i got at least two wrong doors, ah well)

Travelling west to stay with her folks for a day on 23rd- both vulnerable so we've been fairly strictly isolating- then i will head to spend it with the brother, which will mean a lot of cleaning, repairs and cooking if history is any teller. But it will be good to get that done and see him.

Heading back up after a few days and have no idea what things will be like at that stage, had hoped to see a few more ppl but that looks less and less likely.

Not awful kip admittedly but it's something

I expect to zoom many present openings, godchildren and nephew are good ages for it

I've *had* more cards than recent years, one of which I found quite touching.

(Only 4 but that's 3 more than usual)

I'd've normally been traveling today and would've got there to find out that what I was doing was now illegal (mixing for more than the 1 day), except i cancelled plans last week, so am spending the first Christmas in 54 alone.

I bought a Christmas pudding today for the first time ever.

Oh, discovered that herself makes excellent mince pies, given sufficient motivation, have eaten two mince pies a day since tuesday

christmas baking has definitely helped my mood, practicing my pastry making, along with cookies, and mince pies & shortbread

the process, even the baking smells, just maintaining this small simple tradition has helped me kip

feeling a bit at sea without christmas eve mass this yr -not really religious at all but it’s how i have stayed “connected” w my departed family members, i think is another reason i have been leaning on baking. form of communion? idk

I get the mass thing, even if id skip it meself more often than not: the midnight mass is a lovely tradition

We're doing our own xmas dinner for two before heading down

Partridges

Dont ask

Haven't been home for xmas for 7 years so honestly dont mind just having it at home with my wife, although she is sad she can't he with her mother who lives alone in the suburbs.

Customary WhatsApp video call with the family back in lanarkshire around noon,an embarrassment of food - going to do Yorkshire puds,roast potatoes,Brussels,stuffing and a chicken (making a seasonal exception to my usual pescatarian diet and Turkey seems too big for 2) - and lots of Christmas telly which will have been acquired via torrents or found on streaming ahead of time. no bevvy as I'm recently off it,which will be novel - I've taken a drink at christmas for the last 20 years. But having it at home makes that easier. My smoke a joint in the evening

Xmas tree

Fair fucks on droppin the booze jim

Lockdown been good for that tbh, tho i take a drop at home but never to excess unlike when out

Amazingly,, this year will be the first time that my wife and I will actually wake up together in our own house on Christmas day. It will be very nice. Christmas with family and gatherings and church and traveling and visiting is fun, but I am very much looking forward to seeing what it’s like to have one quiet holiday at home.

Long, cold, clear walk in the park still legal and safe

So, which one is it?

https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/KIP

Long, cold, clear walk in the park still legal and safe

― spruce springclean (darraghmac), Sunday, 20 December 2020 16:21 (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this one's u&k

^ the whole basis of my sanity, or what's left of it

Happy we decided to stay put a few weeks back (or in-laws decided not risk it even with tests etc) as have ordered a chicken from the farm shop and bought a ridiculous pile of 'christmas treats' already so don't need to get much or change plans etc.
Took my 6yo on a 2-hour round trip to drop presents at my parents' (staying outside) and, well, this is the KIP thread but let's say I now feel positive about not spending Christmas with them :|
Kids will have fun with food, telly and presents so won't be missing out.

> So, which one is it?

Keep it positive

Im KIP by treating poms contributions recently as

obtuse

I'm flattered.

I won't get to see my parents for Christmas, so I'mma KIP by picking up a bottle of Rémy Martin.

Fuck that’s a great idea

Oh we just finished our own little christmas dinner (before doing all the shared ones) and opened 1/2 of our presents to each other- glenlivet 15 yr old

Very nice, very christmassy tbh

I'm thrilled about not having to deal with domineering Trumpoid in-laws, frankly.

Ive to do one day with himself, tis enough

glenlivet 15 yr old

My dad's a fan. It's 80.50 CAD (51.50 EUR) for a 750 ml bottle here – how much is it in Ireland, pray tell?

Maybe not the real KIP spirit but I don't care for holiday season at all so I'm kinda relieved I don't have to deal with parents and in-laws and celebrations this year. I'm sad for other people around me who do like that time of the year so it's a bit bittersweet but if I'm honest on a totally personal level I'd happily take a December lockdown every year.

No i think its KIP, KIP is a personal journey

Paying twice that, pom, ffs

Ah good I finally found the #ffs channel, been searching

Christ, even your Tesco-bought Founder's Reserve is scarcely cheaper when you take the missing 5cl into account. Then again, Montreal is a mere 4.8k km away from Ballindalloch.

I will KIP by entertaining the possibility of picking up a bottle of Glenlivet 15 in light of this new information.

Its fine, its not a redbreast nor green spot tbh (not rounded enough for my taste)

Facebook "on this day" has been reminding me lately of all the terrible, stressful train journeys home (and, usually worse, back afterwards). None of that this year.

(I enjoy the trains when I'm on them, it's the schedules and delays and the way they close Paddington for works seemingly every Christmas that I don't like)

Yes there were definite benefits to covid xmas to somewhat counterbalance the obvious rotten parts

xp must bump whiskey thread theres been a haul

No visiting over Christmas which meant that once the place was tidied and comfortable meself, the brother and the brat got to hunker in and enjoy cooking, movies, spins together for the few days

covid is an ideal situation for anyone who needs to keep their family out of their lives

Maffew12 has a fistful of dollars shared on plex and there were four types of cheese and three sweet chutneys left to finish

Paperwork, cupboards, obscure cleaning jobs etc have literally never been in better order

Signed the guy who has just shampood his suede shoes and vinegar soda'd the bottom of the curtains

Deeply grateful to have worked from home on 1/6/21, rather than going to my Southwest DC worksite.

.

Lockdown sure lets you play with hair/beard combos without unleashing them on the world

aye, ive grown my hair out, am less than fastidious on the shaving front, rather than beard-trimming every other day when im working in the office. thinking of pivoting towards a mullet when i go to my barber next week, bit off the top and sides and leave the back and i'll be in mullet zone

Pics ffs

if i remember. haven't posted to wdyll threads in yonks anyway

including: shaving multiweek-grown beard off in stages to see how one would look with various styles, eg full beard -> porn donut (circle beard) -> zappa -> dr phil or full beard -> lemmy -> horseshoe -> chaplin.

I've been bombarded the past few days with clickbait ads about men who used lockdown to grow "monkey tail" beards. Fellas, keep it positive, but do try to keep your composure.

Yes look the thread isnt a free for all either, agreed

yikes

That is not a clearly kip post, expand or face banishment from this blessed thread imo

https://i.ibb.co/1rJSyf8/Brian-Blessed.jpg

I'm trying my best to KIP right now but I keep getting into verbal aggro with arseholes who don't seem to realise a park I've been frequenting for over a decade doesn't have a dogs must be on leads rule. But the positive aspect to this post is: I was talking to another dogwalker earlier who gave me some encouragement for my hardliner "just tell 'em to fuck off" stance.

Take the positives where you can grab em these days imo

Having a fine time reading and writing a fair amount and catching up on music in a way that was impossible before.

Not traveling for work since Dec 2019, after many years of 40k+ flight miles, and pretty successfully working from home got me rethinking things big time. 20 years of renting ended on Friday when we got the keys to a place we bought.

yayyy Jaq! that's so cool.

Fantastic.

Also fingers crossed, same before too long.

Talk of three days per week from home going fwd too.

Good weather for nice strong hot chocolates (bournville cocoa powder none of yer shite)

What about green & blacks

Yes also fine its more the premix "hot chocolate" or flavoured stuff

Not that you cant get interesting flavour cocoa, mind.

But it must be cocoa, nothin with milk solids etc

belatedly realised that I can put in a holiday form for the whole of February and half of march because I've been on furlough since April 1st (barring working one week in November) and I have to use my holiday entitlement up by end of March ensuring that I get paid 100% of my wages for that time rather than 80%.

was thinking how i haven't been sick with a cough or cold or anything in over a year. which is nice.

didn't take all of my vacation entitlement last year so i have 6 weeks to take this year, not including statutory holidays and the week my work closes at christmas. if somehow, god-willing, i am able to make it back to scotland this year it will be for a whole month.

Our youngest was born last March and has never had a cold in his life.

Yeah ive a ton of hols to take before march 2021

xp Caek I also have a new one, born 3/5, and it's for sure been a weird change to the new baby experience that she has never gotten sick. Don't know if it's gonna come back and haunt her though when she eventually starts interacting with the big dirty germy world.

Grats to all covid parents obv

yeah i'm kind of dreading the "is it covid?" wave of monthly+ colds when they go back to/start daycare

i'll be vaccinated before that happens and my partner probably will be too, but yup

right, but the kids won't!

(in our case)

yes definitely, same here. honestly i am dreading the upcoming months of conversations around school reopenings, kid activities etc, because i can only assume it's gonna be quite awhile before the kids get vaxxed.

like those processes have been complicated and passionate enough as is, and folks pushing for things to be open (which sometimes includes me and sometimes not, depending on the particular circumstance) will be leaning in all the harder once the adults get vaxxed. But the kids still won't be. An impossibly complicated calculus when you combine the epidemiology, social psychology, etc, just gets that much moreso

I sympathise

But i will not hesitate to tap the sign

I busted my leg while out running near the tail-end of November and had to space out my runs for about a month and a half, which made a serious dent in my morale. I was worried I'd give up on regular exercise altogether since gym closures hit harder in unforgiving climes, but I decided to bite the bullet and order some proper wintertime workout equipment, which turned out to be less expensive than I expected. While the snow-covered terrain takes a toll on my ankles and the cold (-6 today) leaves me breathless more quickly, I've finally ascended to the rank of True Canuck by realizing that outdoor workouts are perfectly doable even in January. None of this would have been possible without covid, so... thank you, undead infectious agent.

Baby its cov outside

lol, resisting the urge to change my DN

More so inside iirc.

Japan saw 1K flu patients in the second week of Jan, compared to 800K a year earlier. England, which normally has several thousand flu patients in the hospital or ICU in early Jan, had zero new hospitalizations for the disease in the first week of 2021.https://t.co/IUEtCzN7cI

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) January 21, 2021

wow

An ill winds that blows no nose any good

i mean some of that is people avoiding healthcare settings (testing/treatment for anything other than covid) because they don't want to, you know, die, but that's still amazing!

So lockdowns do make a difference, huh. Whudda thunk.

Our daughter is now scheduled for her initial vaccine dose on Feb 1. We found out today! Woo-hoo!

otoh, she will also have to go to a DMV sometime soon afterward to obtain a photo ID for reasons too complex to share here. Here's hoping her exposure is non-existent, or at least minimal, while that happens.

congrats, KIP

great news re: vaccine dose at least!

I love every time someone uses the wrong word for "pandemic." Noted today: panorama, panna cotta. A++ work

Buscemic

my dad got his first shot today

Good good

The last lockdown here has been much more trying (nb still relatively luxurious and well aware) but at some stage over the past week im learning how to sit and relax in a way that i havent guiltlessly done since maybe my early teens.

Just long, peaceful weekend days over books and papers and surfing but without any undercurrent of "i should be doing more" or any of that shite and honestly its a healer

'Grats to all whose relatives are getting/got the jab.

Today's KIP in my household is that we successfully completed Dry January.

congrats to vaccine-getters

i remember feeling moments of just being-in-time back last may-june. it's very cleansing.

otm, its powerful and i need to hold to it after all this

My dad got his second!

my mum got her first jab yesterday. Stepdad still waiting to hear about his second, a month on.

I heard an optimistic prediction from a (the?) Covid Tracking Project guy. While he stressed that he was speaking exclusively in a personal capacity, he made a prediction that things will be on the upswing here by April and more or less back to something close to "normal" by August. He absolutely also stressed that this does *not* mean the eradication of covid, or anything close to it, just that it will be more significantly under control due to a number of different factors. He also thinks there will be another seasonal spike next fall/winter, both naturally (as coronaviruses tend to behave) and also in groups that were either reluctant to vaccinate or unable to get vaccines, but by and large he expects a big hunk of the population (here) will be either immune or express enough immunity to keep it somewhat under control. It was definitely a more optimistic view, but I appreciated the optimism all the same.

This state has not been particularly adept at rolling out vaccines (ironically, as I understand it, at least partly because they've been keeping so many on deck for more vulnerable populations, those in the first tier, etc..). But they found that so many eligible jab-getters in places like nursing homes were refusing the vaccine that they released an extra hundred thousand or so doses this past week. Maybe flexibility like that explains why the entire staff at the food pantry I volunteer at was apparently able to get vaccinated this week, or our local high school is starting to roll out vaccinations for the entire faculty and staff next week. That sort of acceleration makes me happy.

One of my kids goes back to school today (sort of; it's a complicated hybrid system) for the first time since March. This morning we learned that someone sympathetic to their ongoing ordeal anonymously donated $15 Amazon gift cards to every kid in the district. That's 6000 kids!

Wow

Discovering that lockdown is the right vibe to finally churn thru scandidramas

my parents had their first jabs yesterday

my parents this morning!

I was having a socially distanced chat with two local blokes, all of us carrying a can and with our dogs earlier and they aren't inherently bad people but I think I'd have been much happier not to bump into them. If I'm honest I don't miss the being amongst people element of pre-covid society that much at all!

As a social worker I'm getting my jab in Wembley on Friday. I need to get a better mask!

step-mom (in Knoxville TN) gets her first tomorrow afternoon, after an anxious period waiting for the threshold to drop from age 75 to 70. 65 is apparently coming soon, so her young man about town will also soon be eligible!

awesome news!

Got my first shot of vaccine yesterday. Arm hurts, was p spaced out yesterday during a v stressful parenting day, but still feel a bit more positive about everything.

Totally spaced out too, but could be due to wearing three masks in the vaccination centre

Passed my modest FEMA-adjacent Medical Reserve Corps certification (just the basic level, as required), which means I get to volunteer at points of local vaccine dispensing, as they increasingly pop up, which should in turn entitle me to my own shots. More importantly, though, is the (again, modest) qualification to volunteer and help out with future emergencies as well. There are other online emergency preparedness certifications I think I'll go for, too, like the CERT/Community Emergency Response Team. Good stuff to learn, kind of like getting an adult Eagle Scout.

awesome news stevie!

Yesterday I delivered a signed consent form for our daughter to get her second dose of Pfizer vax on Monday. She took the first dose a bit hard so we expect more reaction this time around. Still no question, doubt, or hesitation in our minds about whether this is a good thing for her. It is.

Was it the effect of the actual virus that did it, or something in the vaccine?

Was it the effect of the actual virus that did it, or something in the vaccine?

Pfizer's neither a live-virus nor dead-virus vaccine. It uses mRNA to instruct the immune system how to create antibodies. Not many people react badly to the first shot, more do to the second one - I've heard about a quarter do. Stuff like headache, muscle aches, nausea, fatigue.

Our daughter is non-verbal and can't communicate about her health, but pain will often trigger her seizures. She had both vomiting and seizures a day and a half after her first shot. Both these are things she does intermittently anyway, but this was a rougher day than usual. Pegging it as a reaction to the vaccine is mostly guesswork, but almost everything about her care involves making guesses.

Wow. Good luck with dose two. How long do they have you wait in the office/place after administration?

She lives in a medical group home (she's 34 years old) and the second dose will be administered there. No transportation needed. She'll be closely observed for the requisite 15 minutes to catch any severe anaphylactic reaction, but she'll be monitored pretty frequently as a matter of routine. Her home has 24-hour staffing, with two or three staff around the clock for four residents (usually five, but one bed is currently unfilled due to a death). They are all very medically complex.

Getting her better protected from covid-19 will be a huge relief.

yay! me and the big kid have been booked in for a double jab sesh on thursday!

Mighty stuff

fantastic news!

I wasn't going to send him back to school until he's vaccinated despite him being young and healthy and statistically unlikely to get it bad, if he ends up in a hospital too much risk of DNR notice getting pinned to his bed. Some bloody disgraceful stealth eugenics going on in the NHS and not making the front pages.

but anyway keeping it pos, thanks!

my bro is getting his jab this week as he is celiac (auto-immune condition). so anyone in the uk who is a diagnosed wheat-dodger might want to look into this.

^ artful wheat-dodgers were in the previous phase

Appt for jab #1 three weeks from tomorrow.

nice

one advantage to gaining quarantine weight is that it looks like I will qualify for vaccination a month early, so don't ever let anyone tell you that getting fatter is bad

Mazel tov

My mother-in-law is getting her first jab tomorrow, which is great. Now to just get the other four parents an appointment and I'll breathe a lot easier.

i weigh 217 now. I weighed 135 pounds when I was like...24. stuff jiggles that never did before :/

lol yes I might quality for vax right now based on my BMI alone.

I felt a bit of vaccine guilt earlier after I got into taxi from the health centre and the driver was telling me he is in his late 50's and still waiting for his. I lied and told him I have diabetes and was wishing I'd replied no when asked me if I had just been vaccinated, but I guess the big "Covid Vaccines This Entrance" might have been a giveaway. It's just there is no point explaining that you are a carer in the UK. To most folk it's just shorthand for idle benefit scrounging twat!

my phone swipey keyboard doesn't know about 'covid', keeps correcting it to 'vivid', which is annoying but also pleasant

got the first shot yesterday, left arm is very sore but no other major side effects so far. once they opened appointments to people with underlying conditions, everything was very smooth - and this is new york we're talking about, so no mean feat there

having been on the kidney transplant list for the last year and dealing with all of that (unrelated to covid), actually being able to see the finish line, at least as far as my own susceptibility is concerned, gives me an immense sense of relief

Good luck with that, seems like such a scary scenario.

After weeks of frustrations (in Pennsylvania) my mom is finally getting her first shot on Wednesday (in Delaware). Coincidentally, my eligible daughter is getting her first shot on Wednesday, too, though for some reason they scheduled her second dose several hours before her first dose on the same day; we spent a couple of hours trying to clear things up, to no avail, which is I assume one reason places sometimes end up with extra doses. And as part of my local emergency medical corps training I'm now on some list, too, so things are looking up in my family.

both my parents now have had both their shots! BOOM

My dad got his second shot today, and my mom is getting her second one tomorrow. Thinking back to a year ago and how scared I was for my parents (and particularly my dad, who's in a lot of high-risk groups), this is such a huge relief, and despite all my frustration with the way the vaccine rollout is going, it's so amazing that this is even happening.

Also, Alaska (where I used to live and where I have a lot of extended family) is doing brilliantly with the vaccine and virtually everyone I know there has gotten it, which is very cool.

That's great. My parents are having a terrible time getting appointments, I can sense their frustration.

My dad logs on a couple of times a day and has, on multiple occasions, found an open appointment within 15 minutes, unfortunately he lives about 25 minutes from the nearest place he can get one.

My parents are also in PA and just got their first shots. Of course they had to drive to a Wegman's 2 hours away in Wilkes-Barre to get it but ok

loving the shot updates folks, keep it comin'

Dad, partner and her kid got first shots yday

dad got his first two weeks ago; mom getting hers tomorrow; my wiiiiiiiife is now able to get one thanks to self-reporting her (real) asthma on the 'do u qualify?' form

I had mixed feelings about trying to get a boost on the waitlist for being primary caregiver to a disabled person. Ultimately I went ahead and checked the box.

Of course I would rather "my" dose goes to someone in greater need. But in all honesty I won't say no if I get an invitation.

I have a good friend, now vaccinated, that went so far as to speak to a literal medical ethicist, who encouraged her to get the vaccine when she had the opportunity. Remember, the goal is for everybody to be vaccinated, and the more people who are vaccinated the fewer people get sick, and the fewer people get sick, the fewer people spread to others.

I'm scheduled to get Pfizered or Moderna'd (the MDHS site is no help on which I'm getting) on the 18th but if the J&J vax becomes widely available in the next 2 weeks and I'm not taking anybody's spot, I'll jump at the chance to get it.

And just like that, my mom told me that her and my stepdad are set for their first jabs Saturday morning. Glad to see things moving better already this month!

Austin, TX now has a system in place where they'll release 4000 appointments for vaccines in the evening and anyone who qualifies can sign in and queue up for one. They are attempting to ramp this up to 4 days a week so long as there's enough vaccine supply available. So if you qualify for one and keep an eye on the Austin Public Health twitter feed between around 5 and 6 in the evening, you should be able to login when the appointments get released and you will have a very good chance of getting your vaccine the next day.

It was announced today that teachers in Seattle can now get vaccines. The decision is so new that none of the scheduling websites have been updated and I can't even start to look for an appointment yet, but yay! I can get vaccinated, hopefully this month!

COVID creating lols

Somehow the Hand Sanitizer Cam at NBA games is hornier than the Kiss Cam pic.twitter.com/KmmBtKCOfF

— Chaotic Neutral Pillow (@IJamEcono) March 3, 2021

is that real or made up?

It’s real!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/milwaukee-bucks-debut-hand-sanitizer-cam-and-in-arena-entertainment-will-never-be-the-same/ar-BB1eckev?li=BB15ms5qYes

My dad is getting his first jab today and my father-in-law finally got scheduled for his first jab March 12th, so feeling very relieved that all the parents are now at least scheduled.

Turns out my daughter was *not* able to get the vaccine, since although she is eligible and got an appointment, being 16 she can only get the Pfizer vaccine, yet there is as no way right now to direct people her age to a place with a specific vaccine. Kind of a bummer, but at least my mom got her first shot. Me, I had my first shift volunteering at a drive-through vaccine clinic today, which was really rewarding. It was heartwarming to see so many old people driving (or being driven) to get their second shot, though it was also kind of funny and scary watching them navigate and maneuver around the path. They should find a way to combine covid vaccine distribution and driving tests.

New cough bad, negative covid test good!

I got the result in under 24 hours as well.

That’s great onimo. Hope you’re doing well otherwise.

Did I mention that I brought in my younger kid for a covid test, and she tested positive for huge boogers? That thing was like the size of a pencil eraser.

Facemask bestows ability to mouth/lipsync lyrics to beloved earphoned popular songs walking down the street while only looking slightly, not entirely, idiotic.

Good post imo, this is def a thing

Got my first shot yesterday, so I'm letting myself think about the end of the pandemic for the first time. One thing I'm really looking forward to is being able to go places to write. I don't know about y'all, but I have had a really hard time writing at all during the pandemic because I don't generally write at home.

CNN is reporting that more people in US have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 than people who have had the disease since the pandemic began, according to CDC data.

— Will Cadigan (@WJCadigan) March 8, 2021

my mom just got the J&J shot

0 deaths reported in ireland today

First shot done!

My wife and I were just notified that we may make now firm appointments for our 'initial vaccine' shots, so I guess we'll be getting Pfizer. Until we follow the links to the appointment website we won't know how far out the appointments will be.

Right now we are packing for a short beach vacation that we booked before we got our notifications, so that's where our heads are at for now.

xpost nice!!!

https://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20181019/rs_1024x559-181119154143-beach.gif?fit=around%7C1024:559&output-quality=90&crop=1024:559;center,top

me and the bf booked a quick palm springs vacay in late april because holy shit airline prices were so low - bet they are going up right now though.

In other KIP news, the flu is/was virtually non existent this year (so far). Not just low, as I understand it next to nothing. I just saw that in Canada, for example, "Influenza activity remains below the threshold required to declare the start of the 2020-21 influenza season." In the US, "Public health labs across the U.S. reported a grand total of 3 cases of flu in the U.S. last week, out of nearly 16,000 samples tested. Clinical laboratories, which tested nearly 25,000 samples, found just 14 flu cases. So far this season, labs reporting to the CDC had just 1,585 samples test positive for flu of any kind. Compare that to last year over the same period, when there were more than 183,000 positive samples."

That's hundreds of thousands of people not sick, not in the hospital, and not dead. That's good news. Granted, it took some terrible news to get us there, but ... KIP!

More than anything it illustrates how contagious covid-19 is by comparison. The social upheaval of nonclinical interventions against covid, that still resulted in half a million dead in the USA, virtually eliminated flu transmission.

yeah it’s crazy.

ooo good point

Weekly COVID cases at skilled nursing facilities have decreased by 96% since vaccinations began.

From from 34,000 to 1,474 per week.

We keep going.

— Andy Slavitt (@aslavitt46) March 10, 2021

My wife and I went together for our first dose of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine today. We just returned, so it's probably too soon to know if we get some low-level aches, sore arms, or mild fatigue from it. Our second doses are already scheduled for 3 weeks from now.

Looking forward to browsing for used books again and feeling less anxiety when grocery shopping.

Congrats! Very happy to hear it.

We got our first Pfizer doses today too.

Dope!

ILX gonna have board immunity soom

I am looking forward to the day when I don't have to clean the screen with a Clorox wipe after visiting ilx

honestly, with all the filth posted here, it'll never end

Congrats, y'all!

Aimless, sincerely hoping that this, combined with her own shots last month, points towards more normalcy with your daughter's group home.... in addition to the book stores and all the other good things of life.

Still waiting for some category expansion in NYC but down in Knoxville my stepmom has had both shots and my brother has his first appointment Monday. My partner (who is a city employee) has her first appointment on the 7th! Bit by bit. It's getting a little frustrating as I see more and more people I know starting to get it, but they are in public-facing jobs and it's the right sequence. Keepin' it positive!!! I feel like there's a good chance of some expansion in the next week or two, and maybe me getting my first shot in April? Tryin to think so.

points towards more normalcy with your daughter's group home....

My wife and I are slated to attain full potency/immunity on the day before our daughter's 35th birthday and you can be sure we will be pushing for an end to the distancing requirement, even if we still are required to wear masks.

Fingers crossed, man. Good luck.

Got my first shot, and my second one scheduled!

First shot yesterdey

just back from mine. she stuck me before she'd even finished saying she was about to. no fuss. did have to ask for a sticker though.

(even the logistics of getting 55 million stickers printed is pretty o_0)

i was expecting the needle to be bigger ngl

it's a grower not a shower

It's not the size, it's what you do with it.

(felt it overnight. but i have the day off...

the other thing i noticed was that she filled the form in as "OXFORD / AZ", playing up the Oxford, playing down the astra zeneca)

Looks like 25% of the US has been vaccinated, which is impressive!

I kind of feel bad for the OX/AZ, which got the full Comey/Clinton treatment. Couple of people had bad or weird reactions, all these countries dramatically pause it for, like, a week, then the results come back and they say it's not only safe (again), but even more effective than initially touted. Yet trust in that particular vaccine has apparently declined significantly, at least in Europe. Talk about the needle and the damage done ...

Anyway, more safe and effectives vaccines means more people vaccinated!

got my first shot last Tuesday, second one April 4th, first plans to actually do something on April 17th

I know this is not very KIP of me but I can already tell the time from the first shot -> 14 days after the second is gonna feel like an eternity

I got my first one in January and my 2nd one is 19th April, thank you UK

FWIW, just going off the NYT's tracker, 25% is the "at least one dose" stat - full vaccination is at 13%. but it does feel like momentum is picking up a little!

gonna be interesting to see how covid cases track the next few weeks, I'm seeing a ton of people having parties and get-togethers right now and without a vaccine we'd probably be seeing a massive 4th wave soon

xpost Yeah, first dose, but I don't think you can get a first dose without booking a second, so it's kind of baked in.

The local place where I volunteer has been jabbing about 1000 a week!

I know this is not very KIP of me but I can already tell the time from the first shot -> 14 days after the second is gonna feel like an eternity

Lol def did for me. Every minor malady worried me. And then I got a bacterial sinus infection on day 10.

3 million vaccinations cleared both on 3/20 and 3/21 in the US.

In Florida, the age statewide was lowered to 50, but the Convention Center in Orlando moved it down to 40 (our mayor hates DeSantis). So I expect this to stay high as there's a lot of pent up demand.

Also Walgreens around here is starting to allow essential workers of all kinds and ages, so my bro is going to try and get his today.

I get my second on Thursday, and of course, one of the clients we're working with pushed up a launch...so I might be working from bed on Friday.

i fucking hate capitalism.

tho i guess that's not in the spirit of this thread....which is SECOND SHOT! THURSDAY! Made plans with my parents already, for two weeks later. :-)

awesome. got my first one tomorrow.

work sucks

i know

TIL Stakhanov was a capitalist.

Kidding aside, my parents got their first doses on Friday, sooner than I expected.

that's good to hear pom! I don't actually know anyone here yet who's had one, but my circle of QC acquaintances is quite small and skews young

Yeah, it's a huge relief. Looks like the vaccination campaign is finally picking up steam.

I know this is not very KIP of me but I can already tell the time from the first shot -> 14 days after the second is gonna feel like an eternity

have a 1st shot booked 6 weeks from now and i feel like a kid who starts torturing themselves by counting the days til xmas after halloween. still feels like KIP tho bc at the start of the year i was mentally preparing myself for a wayyy longer wait to get a shot. just having the appt on the books is surreal, i'm over the moon at the feeling of knowing the exact date time and place that a vax will go into my arm.

its just a total shift in mentality

like the idea of a 4th wave with one of these weird variants does scare me because my brain is already starting to process a post-covid world. mentally idk if I can go back to "you're gonna be in your house for the foreseeable future". I guess a lot of people were already there in May 2020.

It is less than a week since my first dose. I have been making a special effort to remind myself that even though this does confer some benefit and I am in a bit less danger, I need to stay vigilant and not suddenly go crazy in discarding my hard won habits. Still a month to go before the second dose has its best chance to achieve full effect.

As my compensation for being 'good', I've been thinking a lot about the camping and hiking I'll be able to do safely come summertime. I bought a new down-filled sleeping bag to replace my 12 year old one!

ooh new sleeping bag, heavenly

i accidentally 'resecheduled' my appointment for a day before the governor's order for 16+ goes into effect. so i had to reschedule again. refreshing that website like it's ticketmaster ca. 2005 lmao. appointments being available then not being available. rush to the last screen. haha. i got one for 4 pm on a saturday, thought about it, like - i really wanted to use sick hours for this, fuck getting vaccinated on the weekend - and then scored one for next wednesday afternoon.

My dad, his partner and her very vulnerable son have had their second shots and their home help (he requires round the clock care) is soon going to be able to attend again and thats going to be the end of a long year for them

Texas opening up to all adults on Monday

Got my first dose Sunday morning, started feeling pretty bad and barely slept Sunday night, basically fine now. 2nd dose in 4 weeks.

deems, that's most excellent news for your dad, his partner and her son. I'm not alone among ilxors to be able to feel how hard a year this past one must have been for them.

Ahhh, I love the sound of lockdown birds. 🎶 pic.twitter.com/pqcXrFsAbM

— RaRa Avis Press #FBNHS 💙 (@RaRaAvisPress) March 25, 2021

got my first Pfizer vaccine yesterday! first day of lowered age threshold in NYS. got really frustrated with the appointment website for the state-run sites (a looping maze of Captchas and appointment times that evaporate by the time you click on them). my partner pushed me to just try walking by the walgreens pharmacy counter a little before their closing hour. got lucky and was back out of there an hour later with shot in arm.

I’ve made tentative plans to meet up with a friend in May after we’ll both have been full vaxxed. I haven’t seen him since the end of January 2020. Considering we had both figured maybe we’d get to meet up in the fall, we are both delighted.

if anyone is eligible and struggling to get an appointment it might be worth trying https://vaccinefairy.org/

if anyone is bored it might be worth volunteering there too.

no personal experience, apologies in advance if they still your ID.

(steal)

Walgreens suddenly had a whole bunch of appointments so I'm now signed up for first vax on Monday

Team Pfizer 💉💪

Yeah, I got part one of that last Wednesday.

Pfizer part 1 today - elated!

Reviewing my initial posts itt and id rescind the one about the wife at this stage but the rest hold up by and large

got an appt at walgreens for one of them tomorrow - not sure if i'm in the same area as moodles but they do seem to be getting a ton of openings near me (maryland)

don't know which one it's for though

i kept this on the DL for, idk, personal reasons i guess, but mr veg & i got our 2nd moderna jabs two weeks ago & we’re basically fully vaxxed

:D

no side effects for me except the next afternoon i had fever/chills for couple of hours, but it passed quickly & then i was fine (confused shrug)

Hooray!

Very cool!

Yeah pretty much the floodgates have opened among my wider circle at this point, saw a huge slew of posts about people get their first shot. Which is hands down great.

My mum and dad will be Pfizer'd x2 this month, so they can hug our 1-year-old daughter again without causing me to sweat and look away :)

Pfizer dose #1 complete

And right on schedule, the deluge. I got my second Moderna shot today, my wife and older daughter got their first shots last week, two good friends got their first shots today, another good friend and her daughter got shots last week, their husband/dad gets his first shot Thursday, two of my best buds have gotten their first shots already, my mom's had both her shots. Pretty much the only person close to me that hasn't had at least one shot (kids under 16 aside) is my sister, who is in the UK but preggers and therefore apparently not slated for a jab, at least not yet.

got my child scheduled for Friday. Both of our appointments were through Walgreens. Obviously it's different state by state, but I've been stalking all the various vaccine options available to us, and Walgreens system has been the most straightforward to navigate.

Pretty much the only person close to me that hasn't had at least one shot (kids under 16 aside) is my sister, who is in the UK but preggers and therefore apparently not slated for a jab, at least not yet.

I would imagine your sister will have to wait till the UK has more stocks of Pfizer/Moderna.

Sorry to all the non-Americans itt, genuinely sorry that our country is an asshole who hoards things.

xpost As I understand it, it's actually explicitly recommended pregnant women *don't* get vaccinated, regardless of the vaccine.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-women-of-childbearing-age-currently-pregnant-planning-a-pregnancy-or-breastfeeding/covid-19-vaccination-a-guide-for-women-of-childbearing-age-pregnant-planning-a-pregnancy-or-breastfeeding

The vaccines have not yet been tested in pregnancy, so until more information is available, those who are pregnant should not routinely have this vaccine. Non-clinical evidence is required before any clinical studies in pregnancy can start, and before that, it is usual to not recommend routine vaccination during pregnancy.

Today they're saying pregnant women should speak to their GP about it.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/04/02/983666339/study-covid-19-vaccine-is-safe-during-pregnancy-and-may-protect-baby-too

Now, researchers are beginning to provide some answers. A study published recently in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows the vaccines are not only safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women, they may also offer some protection for their babies.

"It's a very important study," says Dr. Judette Louis, an obstetrician who until recently served as president of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine. "People have been trying to piece together as much information as they can and this study says, OK there is a benefit."

It doesn't surprise me that vaccines are safe for pregnant women. They certainly give them here. But they are (for now) still handing it with caution there. That link I posted says if you're in a particularly higher risk group you should definitely consider the vaccine, which I assume is what you would speak to your GP about.

Got Moderna #1 a week ago today, had a few days of feeling light-headed and fatigued afterwards, but that's about it.

My wife stumbled into her first shot too, had to drive to Michigan to get her father to his shot (J&J), since he doesn't travel, and they had a cancellation for a shot, so she got her Moderna #1 as well.

Very thankful, but now we have to see what we can do to swing her second shot closer by so she doesn't have to drive 6 hours each way for that one.

Just call the Cook County hotline (iirc) and speak to a person, it's what we did for our daughter. First shot in Marion, IL, at a Walmart, second shot scheduled in Forest Park at a mass vax clinic. Which reminds me, I need to call Marion to cancel the second one they scheduled there.

Thanks Josh, will definitely try that!

So it seems they've got Moderna in Scotland and Wales now, so that's something.

Another new recruit to team Pfizer here (Wales)

it was kind of a rocky process, but I finally got first Moderna dose this afternoon. I live in New Hampshire but was able to register for the vaccine in Massachusetts on March 22 due to the fact that I've been an essential worker in that state throughout the pandemic. so far all I've gotten from Mass are a couple of emails saying that "we don’t have an appointment available for you yet" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I registered for the vaccine in New Hampshire on March 31 (the day all residents over the age of 30 became eligible) and booked an appointment for April 9, but after refreshing the vaccine website obsessively, I managed to book one for later in the day on March 31. I drove an hour and twenty minutes to the pharmacy only to learn that my appointment had been double booked. I'd gotten a cancellation email during my drive, but I didn't see it until I began speaking to the pharmacy workers, who told me that they had enough vaccines to accommodate me but couldn't give me one because my name wasn't in the system. I guess I should blame the faulty registration system and myself for not second-guessing a too-good-to-be-true scenario. to KIP, my appointment today was only 15 minutes away, and at least I only had to wait an extra week

Just got a text to confirm my second Pfizer shot on Saturday. Crossing my fingers that my mother and sister will be able to make appointments ASAP.

got my second on Tuesday, no side effects whatsoever. just a bit of a sore arm the next day both times, though even that hasn't been too bad...the flu shot usually makes me feel like I got punched in the arm pretty hard. I'm kind of suspicious of the lack of response actually

Pfizer #2 in arm today.

got my 2nd pfizer today, all stocked up with soups & fruits for the probable flu-like side effects, hyped to exorcise a year's worth of pent-up silliness!! (in 2 weeks)

Slight pain at the injection site today. Frankly, my teeth are bothering me much more right now (c'mon April 23).

oh aye, sore arm here as well, same as last time. but in the interest of kip at least there haven't (yet) been any other noticable side effects!

should i knock on wood? i feel like i oughtta. okay, yes, definitely going to knock on wood but still k-ing it p

The four months of severe-ish lockdown here starts to ease tomorrow in very limited ways, which feels like light in the distance without in too many ways actually impacting us positively otherwise.

"oh aye, sore arm here" sounds like an awesome anagram.

hahaha

Second AZ is flowing through my veins.

I am now invincible (apart from all the cancer and stuff...)

I thought I was invincible after the first AZ jab, and so it's proven to be.

first dose is up in me!

team az 4evr

Headed over to get Jab #2 now for Team Pfizer. Given that I already had the Rona not expecting too many side effects but we will see.

i was wondering about that too.

team az 4evr

We laugh at clots.

Thought I might have reaction to Jab #1 but it was minimal

Think mrna vaccines have the side effects on dose 2 aiui

Fwiw my mom had a few unpleasant side effects post-dose 1 of the Pfizer.

Feeling surprisingly sleepy

22 hours after my second Pfizer dose and I'm feeling...pretty much fine??

How did you feel during hours 0-21?

Even better

I felt really tired and easily fatigued for a few days after Moderna #1, but I was also in a stretch of just not sleeping well anyway, so I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to the jab. Definitely bracing for a harder time with #2.

I felt exhausted all last week, but also not sure how much that had to do with the vax, I suspect probably more than I realized at the time.

I got Pfizer shot 2 about four hours ago ... feeling a little sleepy but probably no more than usual

I'm glad my arm hurts at least, otherwise I'd be doubting if there was anything in there

zero effects rn for me

in a flash, my whole household is booked for dose 1 on Friday, just up the hill at safeway

I'm pretty posi about it, partner and her sister both feeling much more dread, paradoxically

my az kicked in about 12 hours after the injection, i spent the night too hot and too cold at the same time, spent the rest of the week noticeably ache-y and going to bed before 9.

Yeesh!

I felt a bit woozy for a four or five days + sore arm, but other people I know had no side effects whatsoever.

well last night was horrendous. woke up about 8 times, needing to pee each time. shivering all over. massive headache. tinnitus. like the day after a rave! already feeling better now though. paracetemol to the rescue.

That...did not go well. Felt a tiny bit tired and spacey until about 10PM and then out came the freak show of terrible chills and fever along with aches and pains which went on all night long.

But then went away, right?

Hard to say. Still feel somewhat achy, didn’t sleep much at all and still have somewhat of a temperature. But I guess the worst is presumably over.

Temperature is back down at least. Still have headache and other aches

Sorry to hear JR. Yeah I thought it was over but then my headache came back with a vengeance.

Dang, now I'm just worried that my lack of side effects (except for some tinnitus and a sore arm) are indicative of a lazy immune system. I do take an aminosalicylate, but that's not supposed to actually be immuno-suppressive.

I had the same worry, but apparently a lot of people have no side effects.

yeah it doesn't necessarily mean that. we all have different reactions. I'm sure you're fine.

apparently, tons of people have rushed out to get antibody tests because of being worried about this. and if you get the wrong type, it'll show up negative because it was searching for the wrong type of antibody. and then you'll mistakenly think "I'm not protected"

Yeah I'm definitely not going that far, and will just assume I'm appropriately vaccinated, thanks.

you're COVID-proofed!

I imagine *most* people don't have side effects, at least not much more than a sore arm, and maybe a smaller percent with chills, fatigue, headache, possibly fever. I think side effects classified as "serious" affect less than 10%, and something like severe anaphylaxis well less than 5%. I also assume a lot of people are kinda wimps about this stuff, too. Like, the second shot did wipe me out for a day, but just a day, 24 hours total, with the worst of it (chills) being a few hours (sounds exactly like what JR described above). But I can't even remember the last time before that I even *had* a fever, so of course I immediately went into Big Baby mode. Anyway, in a weird way I was glad for this, because I didn't even feel the second shot, and briefly did consider, huh, maybe something went wrong. So when the shivers and aches started I kind of said to myself, ah, here we go. Regardless, nothing Tylenol didn't make better. I had a friend who reacted with a couple of days of nausea, which seems more unpleasant than aches and pains.

Probably true, but just anecdotally, it seems like more friends who have had a mRNA second dose have been laid out on the couch for a day than not.

everyone i know personally under the age of 50 who took it had symptoms. Everyone i know personally over the age of 60 didn't have symptoms. totally anecdotal but there you go.

Apparently I have the immune system of a senior citizen

forks, how many of those people got the pfizer shot, do you know?

Everyone i know personally over the age of 60 didn't have symptoms.

Equally anecdotal, but everyone I know personally over the age of 60 had symptoms, except for one, who got the Pfizer.

* weather is better and we're now allowed travel within the county, so it feels like things are actually, properly lifting (albeit at a slow pace)

most of the folks i know got moderna/pfizer in NYC/Nashville with the earlier ones going Moderna and tending to be more symptomatic

the symptoms sucked! but they went away in under a week and now i am vaccinated. everyone should get this!

BTW for my NYC artsy folks of any age who want help getting a jab:

The Actor's Fund is working with the City to help schedule vaccination appointments at ATC's Broadway Vaccination Site (ATC Vaccination Times Square, located at 47th Street & 7th Avenue) by accessing the link below.
http://actorsfund.org/BroadwayVaccination
The site is open to all members of the performing arts & entertainment community who are working, living, or attending school in New York City.

I got a haircut today! And went INSIDE the grocery store for the first time this year. Next week I am going to the dentist!

Nice.

Yeah I feel like I'm not KIP enough here. My headache is gone!

sadly I went in the grocery store hungry and ended up buying cupcakes, pringles, a few cans of coke with coffee, and a nutty buddy.

NO REGRETS

i went for milk & bought 2 bags of chocolate easter eggs, potato chips & french onion dip so i for one will never judge u

haha, I went looking for the 50% off Easter candy but it was already gone

you need something to go with your glass of milk

thats what the easter eggs are for

Whole point is the hunt tbf xxp

Still so sleepy today, as well as a tiny bit achy here and there, but otherwise no symptoms, hope that’s Positive enough for thread.

if I got the COVID vaccine I would simply not experience any unpleasant symptoms

if I got the COVID vaccine I would simply not experience any unpleasant symptoms

― intern at pepe le pew research (Simon H.), Friday, April 16, 2021 10:38 AM

qft

Well put

Already thinking of new numbers to add to my post-vaxx karaoke repertoire.

US crossed 200,000,000 shot threshold this afternoon (that includes first and second jabs)

had second shot yesterday, arm started hurting pretty bad within a few hours, went to sleep at my normal time, could NOT wake up like normal, slept for ~12 hours, now feel fineish? An ideal way to deal with side effects imo!

yayyy congrats man!

I am scheduled for my 2nd on May 6th

I ran into three friends amidst the chaos of the mass vax convention center yesterday, was the weirdest reunion feeling of my life

I feel like I missed out getting vaccinated in a dingy Safeway pharmacy all by myself and not at the football stadium

I have booked my first game of football for over six months for next Thursday, a beautiful moment in advance of a no-doubt painful hour but this feels major

got shot #2 yesterday, have felt like trash all day but it's fading

so happy everyone's getting all their shots! feels big to me! also terrified about how many people just blankly refusing to do it but, like, wrong thread for that!!!!!

cases appear to be slowly decreasing in the US after steady increase - but not a huge amount (something like 3.5% in my spreadsheet calculation). that trajectory seems to be continuing this week. cases too high to celebrate or declare definitively movement is starting but hoping this means the vaccination is stemming the tide finally.

I feel like I missed out getting vaccinated in a dingy Safeway pharmacy all by myself and not at the football stadium

― Canon in Deez (silby), Wednesday, April 21, 2021 6:57 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

if you get the shot you get to be on the team next season

the Covid Superleague

I feel like I missed out getting vaccinated in a dingy Safeway pharmacy all by myself and not at the football stadium

Was in a two-hour queue winding around hospital corridors after midnight, but I knew two couples elswhere in the queue, so we ept passing each other, and the solo schoolteacher in front of me also had a couple of acquaintances wend past him, so it did feel moderately vibey and social

so happy everyone's getting all their shots! feels big to me! also terrified about how many people just blankly refusing to do it but, like, wrong thread for that!!!!!

Not picking on this carefully equivocal post, but the "everyone" wording I see a lot these last weeks from Americans, just about eligibility, is a real gut-punch.

on the other hand sic everyone is welcome to come to America for a shot, our borders are wide open as you rightly note!

this Canadian got his first shot yesterday (and is feeling great about it)

sic by everyone i meant ilxors posting to this thread about how they got their shots and, as i mentioned, the many friends i saw at the vax site, i'm quite aware that the situation away from my exact personal eyeballs is far from ideal JEEZ

Not picking on this carefully equivocal post!!!

Tapping the sign

someone on the radio the other day was suggesting there'd be a glut of romantic comedy in a year of so's time about 50-somethings meeting in a covid vaccination queue.

(phone still insists that i mean to write 'vivid'every time i write 'covid'. or sometimes 'civic')

48 hours out from shot #2, feel normal again

Yeah I know people who've come from another country to get vaccinated. One has dual citizenship, one is here on a visa but someone worked out how to fake domestic address (by sending them mail, in case you were wondering). Obv it's only available to those with the ability to travel internationally, it's not a real solution.

Quite

Had J&J shot a couple weeks ago. Had zero side effects.

sexagenarian parents getting their second astra shots next week, which makes me happy. i won't be fully vaxed for probably 6 months or so but will be getting a first shot in the next couple months, im not too worried about it.

that’s awesome jim.

Got my 2nd pfizer this week and finally getting to an opticians tomorrow. Have needed new glasses for years and made do since lockdowns. One of my distance pair is held together with insulation tape, the dog had my reading glasses in his mouth once and one of the lens is scratched. My best ones slip down the bridge of my nose every time I get a sweat on. Lol having crap old glasses is not good.

Obv it's only available to those with the ability to travel internationally, it's not a real solution.

And the ability to pay for two rounds of hotel quarantine.

Apparently the Maldives are planning to offer vaccinations to tourists, just go there. I hear it’s lovely

xp I don't think their country requires that but yes, whatever is applicable.

Got my 1st jab this afternoon (AstraZeneca). Injection site slightly sore and shoulder a little bit stiff.

team clottz let’s get this

Resisting the urge to start doing some Rasta cursing.

lol, this is a daily struggle for me

Got my 2nd Pfizer shot this afternoon! I've been feeling kind of anxious about the potential side effects, so crossing my fingers and hoping my best. (With the first one, I just felt tired and had a sore arm.)

you'll be fine. but do your learned league now in case you get knocked down!

Congrats jaymc!

I've got Moderna number two coming up next week.

Moderna #5

loubega.gif

jump up and down
then move it all around

...then have a sit down because I have a very mild headache and slightly sore muscles (is fine - I've had heavy workweeks that have felt far worse)

2nd Pfizer shot this morning from Walgreens (cancelled a long-booked CVS appointment that was miles away after Walgreens added a load more local appointments yesterday). As with the first one, didn't feel a thing except a bit pleasantly light-headed afterwards. Love it.

2 weeks past my second helping of pfizer (slept for a day but no other side effects). yay temporary immunity, etc.

the posi slightly negged by, like, the world, and the unfair distribution of vaccines, and those bright sparks who have the opportunity to get vaccinated but instead bravely stand their ground against the so-called "experts" of so-called "public health" and "medical science" and "not being a fuckstick"*, thereby ensuring an endless slog through more of this godforsaken

okay i'm just gonna go ahead and tap the sign for myself right quick.

i am currently immune to the novel coronavirus. this is a positive development for me and for the people around me.

* who would be the experts on not being a fuckstick, i think maybe mr. rogers and dolly parton and perhaps buddha. jesus is out, he cursed a tree that one time. trees are lovely. how could anyone curse a tree.

jesus is out, he cursed a tree that one time. trees are lovely. how could anyone curse a tree.

To be fair, you can kind of understand why that guy might have had a complicated relationship with trees. Given how he died, and all.

Also his profession! Trees, Jesus, treesus. A fraught relationship.

Jeeship

As with the first one, didn't feel a thing except a bit pleasantly light-headed afterwards. Love it.

Went to a party outdoors yesterday. Loud music. New people. Sorta even flirted with someone. It was great!

✓

that is The Good Stuff

I'm two weeks out from my second Pfizer shot, and have started thinking about going to restaurants again. And maybe even bars, if DC ever opens up again. Lock up your grandpas....

Well, if they havent been vaccinated that is tbf the protocol

got my second shot an hour ago! :D

Ive been out to see our house (almost done thank you) then actually visited some friends for an evening of takeout and mario kart (with the nine year olds) and booze and music (without the nine year olds) and jesus i needed that and more of it yet

2nd Pfizer this afternoon, got a sticker from the pharmacy folks and it landed me a free pint at the local

had 2nd pfizer last tuesday, felt rotten for several days but better now and, don't forget, INVULNERABLE

Pfizer #2 is in my arm

Pfizer #1 had zero effect on me, but Pfizer #2 did a bit of a number on me. Woke up 12 hours later, shivering and feeling feverish. Note- I did not actually *have* a fever, but I certainly felt like I did, and I felt lousy all the next day (but was still able to power through work from home). Second day I just felt a little hung over, had a little Bourbon in the evening and felt right as rain thereafter.

The lesson here is that Bourbon makes things better.

Not sure why I dallied until day 2 before going for the obvious solution!

we had a second family gathering on Saturday for my nieces bday, all vaxxed, w her boyfriend’s parents (also vaxxed) who are originally from aus & nz too :D

it was so fun to sit around a dinner table w ppl again

although in the flush of giddyness (and slight drunkeness) i agreed that night to do an indoor tap class (!) with a friend on monday (today) (!)

had to beg out this morning because i was like ahhh wtf did i agree to i dont want to be indoors w strangers yet D:

Students at the university that is my employer will be required to get the covid vaccine to come to campus in the fall, which is nice. (No word on employees.) The same exemptions (religious/philosophical/medical) that apply to other vaccines required for students will be honored but it seems like this process is not simply a rubber stamped self-attestation.

That's exactly the position for the university that employees me silby, down to the (as we've been told) serious vetting process for exemptions. Officially we just don't have word for employees, but unofficially the talk is that they are afraid of faculty pushback on requiring vaccinations for them. Tbh, it seems... unhelpful... to require it of students, but not faculty that are more likely to suffer more severe consequences (though, I suppose less likely to be transmission vectors).

woke up around 2 am with weird joint aches and stomach cramps, took tylenol and that helped. Still feel a bit off today, but the side effects have been fairly mild overall.

*taps the Bourbon sign*

Has it been noted that the FDA has hinted approval for vaccine for those 12-15 could be as soon as next week?

A friend came over yesterday and we hung out on my couch.

Music may have been playing.

I had my first mask-free guitar lesson in over a year today.

but you still masked the guitar right

I didn't wear a mask, but I did wear a KFC bucket.

I’m going to see my parents for the first time in nine months.

<3

found out recently that a very very old friend of mine had bought a house like three blocks away from me so today we went on a 4 mile walk without masks and caught up and sat in her backyard and drank a beer with her and her husband and met her daughters and i barely even thought about covid the entire time and it fucking ruled

uk (england?) has been down to single figure daily covid deaths in the last week

(although, yeah, some of that may be lumpy reporting, but 6 and 14 and 1...)

I just got back from Trader Joe's, where I eavesdropped on the lane nearest mine. There was a sweet couple (not even that old) checking out that literally had not stepped foot in a supermarket in over a year. They talked about being a little nervous, then mentioned what a relief it was to be vaccinated, even just while making smalltalk, and spoke very optimistically about how strange it will be to readjust to things as they returned to normal. Not "when" but "as." Actually brought a tear to my eye.

only five new cases in my county last week

found out recently that a very very old friend of mine had bought a house like three blocks away from me so today we went on a 4 mile walk without masks and caught up and sat in her backyard and drank a beer with her and her husband and met her daughters and i barely even thought about covid the entire time and it fucking ruled

― "MVP Love" (Clay),

feel this

uk (england?) has been down to single figure daily covid deaths in the last week

(although, yeah, some of that may be lumpy reporting, but 6 and 14 and 1...)

― koogs, Thursday, May 6, 2021 10:10 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

you can remove the lumpiness (without taking fishy averages of small numbers) by looking at deaths by *date of death* (rather than date that the death was reported, which is what all the newspapers/tv are reporting).

i.e. look at the top set of data here, not the bottom https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths. it's been single figures for a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxm7Hu-IHJs

Guys guys guys the vaccine clinic wasn’t just in the Science Museum it was THE OLD LAUNCH PAD! pic.twitter.com/wi5cnog6nJ

— Alice Bell (@alicebell) May 8, 2021

and thread...

that gum commercial is... what's the german word for bleak, cynical, aspirant and horny? "Capitalism"?

It's a beautiful if chilly spring day. I just got back from dropping off my daughter's saliva test down the street (the New Normal is so weird), and on the way bumped into three neighbors for the first time in a year. One had gone a bit grey. Another was walking a big fluffy dog I last saw as a little puppy. All looked happy and healthy, and in fact I think a couple of them had lost weight. (The third is a part-time fitness instructor, so she doesn't count). The other day I saw a neighbor whose lanky teen had sprouted up to 6'2". It's all a bit like waking up from a coma, which I suppose it what it always feels like come springtime in Chicago.

for the first time since march 2020 my partner and i went inside a bookstore the other day, just wanted to grab one thing but ended up leaving with multiple bags of books like a couple of goofs, overwhelmed at rediscovering the concept of 'browsing'. they just had all these books, for sale, lying around everywhere!

Yeah

i cannot wait for local library to reopen, i had no idea i would miss wandering for hours browsing shelves ~so much~

I've got too many things I want to do now and not enough weekends! There's a new baby in the family (not mine) too!

Oh man. Visiting my uni library to drop off books, the student circulation task told me, "The sixth and seventh floors have reopened" (i.e. general collection). I went up for the first time since March 10, 2020.