I was in Northern Central PA for a few hours today and was appalled at how many people were going around without masks despite signs on the door saying they were required. This includes staff at several of the places I visited by the way. I'm still not convinced we're beyond another spike and shut down.
Right now I’m hoping the Blue Jays and Rangers aren’t getting infected by 40,000 fuckhead Ranger fans per night. What is WRONG with those people?
Our numbers here have spiked HUGE in the last couple of weeks... to the point that they are outside of our "worst case estimates", which is what prompted the emergency 1 month stay at home order. Of course people are freaking out, but the MSM has done such a fucking shitty job of explaining WHY there's the lockdown... they haven't shown ANY trends of any numbers, or the impacts in the ICU's, etc. All they've done is say "well, we have 124 new cases today, and no deaths". It's like reporting on a football game without giving any context as to how the season is going. And then they give 10 minutes to the bullshit government critics who do nothing but bitch and complain about what is being done, all while providing ZERO fucking help or advice on what to do... just "they suck, you should vote for us." I fucking hate this shit. Fucking hate it. Combine all of that with stupid people and it makes me nuts. It also made me dream of an interesting premise for a book series... basically a Jack Reacher type character who had tons of cash and training, and for an early retirement basically killed stupid people for the benefit of society as a whole. Doesn't matter if it was a Senator, or a local drug dealer... "you are not benefiting society as a whole, therefore I'm going Judge Dredd on your ass and taking you out." (Is that wrong?) Drug cartel heads, corrupt politicians, religious leaders, doesn't matter... all walks of life, regardless of the scope of transgression.
The most common (and damaging) philosophy of today is “It's not happening, because it’s not happening to me.”
I just got my first dose today. I was able to get it because "vaccine resistance" is so prevalent in Republican areas that the vaccine hub at Cal State Bakersfield was openly saying "we can't use all the doses we've been allotted for eligible locals, so we'll vaccinate literally anyone." Tons of younger folk from LA are driving up to take advantage. Spoiler: My Reaction When
I had my first Pfizer jab a week ago. The day after, it felt like I took a fastball to the arm. I was able to work but having to move around a lot, it wasn’t pleasant (but I figured I should save sick days for next dose). Two weird things: it took three days for the bruise to appear. And also - sometimes it feels like there’s a rubber band tied around my arm just under my armpit - like it’s constricted. Anybody else have that feeling? I mean, I also deal with anxiety and mild OCD, and this is the first shot I’ve gotten in years other than blood tests. So it might be my brain.
Yesterday, our county added 2 cases for a total of 2,180. That means 7% of our county population has been reported to have tested positive. I think the US, as a whole, has reported positive results that equal a little over 9% of the population. Several nearby cities are above 10%. So I'm still pretty proud of our county.
Yeah, the provincial government is freaking out, and for good reason... our medical support systems are becoming overly saturated, and are on track to being full. We've had a few cases of front line medical staff committing suicide because they couldn't handle the stress, and it's NOT getting better. The good news is that the older demographic is trending way down, thanks to vaccines, etc, but the 18-22 age group is growing exponentially, and represent the vast majority of hospitalized cases. This is a major and recent shift due to the variants spreading like crazy. It's NOT GOOD... and we can't get the vaccines out there fast enough. This month-long stay-at-home mandate is 100% justified, in my opinion.
Part of me is kinda hoping the next dose hits me enough for a good fasting...maybe lose a quick five pounds. Nothing drastic.
Wifey got hers an hour ago. Tried to see if there were any cancellations but there wasn't any and if there was, there is a very long waiting list. Drats.
Luckily I found a place where the lady administering the shot was an LPN and this wasn't new to her. In and out with and I barely felt the needle. Only thing I noticed last night is I got really tired a lot earlier than I usually do. Today the arm definitely feels like I had a shot yesterday, but nothing that's restricting movement or any worse than if I did a hard workout the day before. So far I'd rate it a 5/7, would recommend vaccinating.
I didn’t really pay attention to who gave me the shot, but she was in scrubs and I didn’t feel it at all. I know how my mind works, so I don’t think it was user error with the syringe. It’s just me overthinking shit.
The latest conspiracy is that your DNA has now been altered so that you’re committing copyright violation, against the evil technocracy that created the vaccine.
Had my second shot yesterday afternoon (Pfizer). Felt fine afterwards, until about two hours ago. Way more tired than I should be (walking a couple of blocks wore me out), generally achy all over and generally just a mental daze of sorts (which is not good when I'm trying to work). I could totally see a more potent version of this just knocking people out of commission.
So far, so good. Pretty much the same arm ache and feelings that came with the first shot. My wife caressed my hand on the drive home and said, "Dear, that shot must have you feeling bad, you have your cranky face on." I told her, "Shut your damn mouth or you can fucking walk home." I'm just kidding, I didn't say that. But I was cranky, so I did think it.
So I finally figured it out (enough to assuage my brain anyway), and verified it with a relative who works in a hospital, and some more extensive searching. The vaccine can cause a swollen lymph node on the arm where you got the jab. Which I suspected, It just didn’t feel (visually, and after prodding) like it was swollen. But yes, it feels like I’ve got something jammed up in my armpit, or like my shirt sleeve is bunched up that far.
Yeah, that's 100% normal. The vaccine will cause a white blood cell reaction, where they will attack the vaccine pieces parts, which will then cause them to be needed to be filtered out of your system. Lymph nodes do that filtering, so that means the place you got jabbed has a shit-ton of white blood cells that now need to be filtered, so the local filter (lymph node) is getting filled up (swollen). As the white cell reaction dies down, and the filtered material gets carted away and processed/excreted, the swelling will go down. That means it's working. Congrats!