moon_custafer | Entries tagged with love in the time of corona

Went to the pro-healthcare workers demo. Saw a lot of the antivax side on the way, including on the subway. Found them disturbing in a way I haven’t in the past— they seemed so confident, swaggering around maskless, a lot of them in plaid flannel like they were cosplaying lumberjacks. “COWARDS WEAR MASKS!” a pickup truck broadcasted.

“I feel like we’re in a video game and someone’s yelling into his mike,” observed one of a group who turned out to be on his way to support the healthcare workers. I felt a bit better once we found the counterprotest— considering it had been, as the organizers said, been pulled together in twenty-four hours, it was relatively large.

The cold had drained my battery, so I couldn’t follow what was happening elsewhere downtown, but the convoy seemed to have above-ground traffic tied up downtown, and getting home was a hassle.

Grinding on with the job search. I’ve expanded to looking for data-entry/office clerk/receptionist work as well, and my EI runs out mid-to-late January, so I may get desperate enough to apply for call-centre jobs. In the meantime I’ve emailed all the job agencies that have previously tried putting me forward to employers, in case they’ve got any other positions to fill. However, Fiona came by on Monday, which was both pleasant in itself and a reason to tidy the apartment. Also I have got us booster-shot appointments for January 5 (I’d earlier booked Andrew one for Jan 4, but this location will be easier to get to); and we had a get-to-meet-you phone call with our new GP early this afternoon, so I at least feel like I’m going to get a good grade in accessing medical care, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve, as they say on Tumblr.

Had a 1-hour Zoom call with my parents and brother early this afternoon. They seem to be ok; some of my other relatives have tested positive but I’m hoping their cases are mild (I think all involved had had the first two shots, but I’m not sure any of them had had booster shots). Dad continues to be barely-audible (Parkinson’s), and I guess that’s going to be his new normal for the rest of his life, but he looked fairly responsive to the conversation.

I’ve stepped up my mask game and switched to three-layer disposables, buying a package of ten in black this past week. Thanks to internal wires they seal better across the bridge of my nose than the cloth ones, and I can wear glasses without fogging. They don’t fit as closely to my jawline, but I can fold a dart in them and duct-tape it in place. They do get uncomfortably damp on the inside after about an hour’s wearing, but that’s probably a sign that they’re doing the job.

On a happier note, my Yuletide gift was a Kolchak the Night Stalker casefic and I enjoyed it very much:

The Cemetery Dwellers (12,307 words)

Based on the first, Andrew will likely have a sore arm for a couple of days, and I’ll be feverish tonight and zonked out till tomorrow evening, but I have lemon jello and painkillers.

This has been Jason’s annual birthday celebration for 29 years, called off last year and held this year over Zoom. The randomly-generated page number this time was 171. I read p.171 from Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely, and Andrew read a page each of Ray Bradbury and Robert E. Howard, but we logged out early as it turns out I find Zoom conferences exhausting when more than one other device is involved.

If you call your pharmacy about getting vaccinated, now that the minimum age has been lowered to 40, and they say they’re doing vaccines by “walk-in?” You still have to register in advance online.

This message brought to you by me, now waiting at the back of a line-up for the second time this morning.

ETA — Got the jab eventually, and was able to help someone in the second line up who also hadn’t been told they needed to register before “walking in.” “You can profit from my past errors,” I said to her.

It’s now 8:12 pm and I’m starting to feel a bit achy, but don’t know if that’s due to the shot or to having stood about in line-ups all morning, then run off to our regular pharmacy in another part of town to pick up prescriptions, all while the temperature decided to take a plunge. Andrew only had soreness at the injection site and neither of us ever feel side-effects from the annual ‘flu vaccine.

In any case I’ve posted my latest chapter for the classic Who fic, and I’m giving myself permission to be inert tomorrow.

ETA2 — 8:30pm — Oh yeah, these are aches and chills, all right. *Takes ibuprofen, goes to bed, sends a telegram of congratulations to my immune system but secretly hopes they’ll be done with their practice drilling soon.*

Managed to get Andrew his first shot— he’s over 55, so two weeks ago I’d put him on the waiting list on the Shoppers’ Drug Mart website, but in the past couple of days I’d heard anecdotes from people who’d called Shoppers to ask why they hadn’t heard anything yet and been told that the web system doesn’t work, but that they could book over the phone.

So this morning I tried calling, they confirmed the web booking system is a mess, and two hours later we were at Bloor and Runnymede getting Andrew, at least, his shot (it’s Astra-Zeneca, so they only do 55+, but if that’s you and you’re still searching for the jab, phone instead of looking online). It’s intra-muscular, so his arm’s pretty sore. Guess we’ll see tomorrow if he has any of the other side-effects, but neither of us get bad reactions to ‘flu shots, so I’m hopeful this could be mild.

Still don’t know at what point I’ll qualify. I was previously checking the CAMH site for Andrew because apparently anyone with mental health issues can get vaccinated there, but it’s one of those things where one day of slots opens up at 8am each morning and by 8:05 they’re all taken and I’ve heard some claims you have to keep refreshing the site and others that doing so will drop you out of the queue.

Felt a bit listless most of this week— not sure if it was the weather or if the past year is finally getting to me. I don’t feel too bad emotionally, just physically.

Continuing with the knitting and the fanfic-writing. Also the David Lynch movies— today I finally watched Inland Empire. I’d previously heard this one described as weird and incomprehensible even for Lynch, but until I saw it I could not truly comprehend that this movie is two hours and forty-five minutes long, and at least 60% of the run time is Laura Dern’s face making ‘WTF is going on?!!’ expressions, and actually, I can respect that.

Had an errand today that took me to the downtown core for the first time in months, and my ideas about what constitutes “a lot of people” have evidently shifted, because while I knew I was seeing dozens where I used to see hundreds? Some part of my brain kept trying to parse it as “the buildings all got bigger.”

Also more ornate and detailed.

With older buildings, the upper stories over the shop fronts seemed to loom in a way they hadn’t before. I kept asking myself if brick had been sandblasted recently, or if a sign sheathing the upper windows had been taken down, but I think it’s just a matter of not having been by recently: I’m now perceiving once-familiar buildings as complete objects instead of tuning out the parts that aren’t open to the public.

I was already kind of uneasy today because even as the numbers here in Ontario have started to tick up again, I overheard some of my co-workers on break talking about how covid is all an exaggeration (this is why I’m glad that most times the people around me are speaking Russian and I don’t have to know what they’re saying); then I heard the news this evening. Her memory for a blessing.

Everybody else hang in there, is all I can say right now.

I was confused by this article, about an Australian company marketing face masks as protection against air pollution, making no mention of viruses— I kept checking to see if it was from a few years back, but the date of publication was January 2020.

Then I remembered that back in January we weren’t yet masking against covid, but Australia was on fire.

ETA— I now suspect this is an unauthorized use of K.C. Green’s comic. His licensed stuff is on sale here (but does not include masks, unfortunately).

Since July 1st fell on a Wednesday this year, my workplace took a poll and gave us the Friday off instead. Not much to recount from my three-day weekend, except that I bought some cheap cotton-blend yarn from the Dollarama on Thursday and have been doing a test version of a sleeveless top.

Also yesterday while I was out and about I saw a woman wearing a rose-gold sequinned face-mask, and later a guy on an old-school motorcycle with his dog wearing googles and riding in the sidecar.

Was on the bus and nearly at the station this morning when I realized I’d forgotten my mask at home. Strangely, most other people I saw on the commute seemed to be unmasked as well—I don’t know if things have been further loosened, or if we’re all just brain-tired after this week. Didn’t make me feel any less awkward.

Guess I can skip grocery shopping after work today.

“There’s only two people out on their balcony in the whole building across from us.”
“What about the guy in the black t-shirt sitting behind that white dog?”
“What dog?”
“OK, you see the two red chairs? One floor below and two to the left.”
“Oh there’s the dog. Where’s the guy?”
“He’s sitting at a table. I think he’s having a drink.”
“I still can’t see him.”
“Maybe you’re looking at a different dog?”

That is all.

Every time we’ve been to the Art Gallery of Ontario, the art+sound-baffle wall coverings makes Andrew go hypnagogic. Today Andrew’s ears feel blocked, possibly due to the POLAR VORTEX weather, possibly due to bits of cotton fluff coming off the end of the cotton swab he was using last night.

Andrew: I’m at the AGO.

Me: In These Troubled Times, are we not all at the AGO? Except not really, because that would be a vector for disease transmission.

Andrew: (Glares at me)

Me: (Whistles innocently, goes back to browsing face masks on Redbubble.) Ooh look, here’s a nice one:

ETA— Andrew: (posts his version of this exchange on Facebook, illustrated by a still from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)

Well, they want me back at work tomorrow; Friday seems like an odd day for it, but I’m guessing it’s because it’s the first of the month.

Last night I finally had a pandemic-inspired dream— I was wandering around downtown, got lost and began trying to find a Sobey’s supermarket that isn’t there in real life. At one point I found a sub-basement to Union Station that was being used as a co-op mushroom farm. Above ground, every big-box store I approached turned out to be Not the Sobey’s. Finally I saw it on a neighbouring hill, with a giant line-up outside. It looked like that photo from a few years ago of Mt. Everest at the height of the climbing season with several hundred people waiting just below the summit.

https://www.cp24.com/news/city-planning-live-stream-of-high-park-cherry-blossoms-amid-covid-19-pandemic-tory-1.4906634

Also, apparently 28 is the number of days of self-isolation it takes for me to get bored and start messing with my hair. Just gave myself fluffy side-swept bangs.

Another week and I may give into the urge to bleach/dye them.

This morning I finally watched The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was wonderful. I don’t think I’ve watched any other Wes Anderson — his style struck me as somewhat like Kubrick but funnier (except when it’s not). Googled Stefan Zweig afterwards; should probably try reading some of his works.

Other movies I hope to getting around to viewing while I’ve got the time:
The Shape of Water, Yellowbrickroad, Knives Out, Fast Color, Annihilation.

Andrew’s back has been bothering him worse than usual, so he asked me to get us a new shower-head that’s supposed to provide more pressure. Purchased it by phone from Canadian Tire then went downtown for curbside pickup. Lineup was maybe forty minutes, which was actually slightly better than I’d feared— I kept worrying that when I reached the corner of the building and turned I’d see the line continuing to the end of the block and doubling back, or that I’d discover the line was actually for Best Buy and have to begin again at the back of another line; but there was the door at the corner and they had my purchase ready. Went up to the Bloor line and got groceries on the way home. Also shawarma, but I got mixed up and forgot to say “no” when asked if I wanted hot sauce. Managed to eat my first half of the wrap anyway (I usually end up saving the rest for the next meal).

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Stuff and Moonshine

Entries tagged with love in the time of corona

Saturday Report

Mid-week Report

Christmas Report

We Both Got Our Second Shots This Morning

Reading of Single Pages, 2021

Important Note

Modified Rapture

Weekend Update

Thursday Report

RBG

I Dunno-- 2020

Mask Finally Arrived

Long Weekend Report

Friday

Currently living the boring version of Rear Window

High Park is back open

Saturday Morning Report

Quarantine Update

Well, That Answers That

Friday Update