Notes from Exile...We had ONE job

Y'all. We were so close. SO close. It was really looking like we would turn this pandemic corner to find the light at the end of the 16 month long tunnel. We had two jobs...well, really, one job.

Get vaccinated. Man, I hate needles and I did it. We talked about this. I had reactions afterward. I powered through it. And you can call this post virtue signalling if you like - I call it letting folks know that I did all of this so that we ALL can get back to normal, not just so I can take off my mask and I can go back to activities. It isn't an I, after all. It's a we. We want to get back to normal.

But we apparently aren't as anxious for that as I am. Because we haven't all* gotten vaccinated. We continue to demand to be maskless. We continue to deny that this virus can kill us. We refuse to stop gathering in large groups and carrying on with our lives as though nothing has changed.

And we continue to ignore that herd immunity doesn't work on a virus that can mutate to continue to spread. 

So now, because we don't seem to care about the us as much as the I, we are seeing cases spike again. We see people getting so sick they have to be hospitalised again. We see health care workers pushed to the brink...again. 

We the people becomes every person for themselves...and if I sound even more preachy than normal, it's because I'm angry. The news is full of politicians - not epidemiologists, but politicians - like the Governor of my state that made it illegal to have a mask mandate. Illegal to do something that hurts no one* but will save everyone. 

Please. Get the vaccine if you can. Wear a mask if you are able. If you can't do those things, stay home. It is so simple. Think about someone other than you or yours. 

*I am not referring to anyone who, due to age or medical/health condition cannot get the vaccine or wear a mask. You are part of why I got it, and why everyone should that is able.

Notes from Exile: ...Exile?

Swatch...masks.

Well, that proverbial light seems to be shining, faintly, at the end of the pandemic tunnel. First, our governor (though I think that we're playing fast and loose with that word because it usually means someone in charge) decided on his own that the mask mandates were over and went so far as to ban the mandates. Thankfully, most businesses (outside of the school systems here) decided to keep their mask mandates in place, especially for indoor activities.

Well...on Thursday the Center for Disease Control announced that people who have been fully vaccinated - please hear that, FULLY VACCINATED meaning a complete series of vaccine jabs and the two weeks post-vaccination required for the mRNA to do their thing - no longer have to wear masks. I don't know how I feel about that.

Mind you, I don't love wearing a mask. It's one of the reasons I've stayed home and isolated for most of the past 14 or so months. So in that respect, I'm happy. I can be around my friends that are also vaccinated and not worry.  The big events, such as ConCarolinas in June, are still requiring masks for indoor spaces. I will probably still wear one when I go places like Costco and Trader Joe's because I don't know everyone there.

But what worries me most is that this relaxing of rules will lead to another spike. There are still too many folks that have not been vaccinated - some of them for ridiculous reasons and some for very legit reasons. Other countries are relaxing lockdowns but not mask regulations, and I think that might be the way to go.

For now, though, get your jab if you haven't yet. Wear a mask until you do and you are two weeks out from finishing that requirement. Wash your hands. Take care of each other. There's no room for selfishness anymore - we've seen what selfish can do, for the last 14 months, and I don't know about you but I'm over it. Completely.

Notes From Exile: There was no circle, nor were there dots...

Quite possibly the worst pic of me, ever.

Well, I've done the thing. Two of the things, to be exact. That picture there is what I look like when I'm so scared that even my hair is trying to run away.

I have mentioned before my fear of needles - and to be honest it is also a fear of injections, my partner and I have figured out. With the first shot, I was more freaked out by the feeling of the vaccine actually going into my arm than the pinch of the needle.

I was NOT freaked out to get the vaccine because I am against vaccines. Not even a little bit. I don't understand the arguments against it that include fears of microchips in the syringe so that the government can track us - y'all, if you have a mobile phone, you're being tracked. I am not an anti-vaxxer. I'm just a big old chicken.

I want to share my experience because I have spent a lot of time looking up after-effects of House Moderna - none of them ended up being the undeniable urge to belt out Dolly Parton songs. I also want to encourage everyone to get vaccinated if you can, whatever vaccine is available to you. I know that I blogged before about waiting for the Janssen just because I wanted to do a one-shot rather than two, but my DayJob worked with a local pharmacy to offer the Moderna and help us get appointments, so I put on my big girl pants and went.

Since then I have had "Covid Arm" or welts that itched and were hot on my arm near the injection site, my arm is still sore, and I've had a few visual migraines. That's all. No debilitating symptoms like friends have had. And now, in just over a week's time, I will be fully vaccinated and able to breathe a little easier. 

It was much different than the cootie shot I mentioned in the title, but the cooties are different now. Get vaccinated if you can. We are all in this together, and we all need to do our part. And if you figure out how to trigger a mini-concert of Jolene at top volume, I'm ready.

Notes from Exile: Light at the End of the Pandemic

My tiny studio - cluttered. It's a metaphor, I swear.

Well, y'all remember the post about vaccines, right? All 'I'm determining my own path' and 'Don't @ me for waiting for the one-shot vaccine!' Yeah, so...that isn't how it turned out. The DayJob™ let us know that because...reasons, we were going to return to the workplace prior to the end of the semester. Suddenly, I got worried about having to go back to an office that I share with someone, figuring out a bus pass, being in a classroom again with germy students, etc...and I remembered that I took a survey last year that said if my Employer offered a vaccine or a path to an appointment I would be interested.

Well of course I said that. Y'all, I am the epitome of a team player. Stop laughing.

Anyway, the very day I made my first appointment to join House Moderna (long may Saint Dolly walk this earth and make our lives better) I found out that if you are waiting on a first appointment date or in-between appointments you don't have to return to the workplace until you are fully vaccinated. The universe provides, y'all. My first jab was on 30 March, the second will be on 27 April, and I will be two weeks clear and able to 'return to the workplace' on 11 May. That is the second day of my summer break. So...

Now, I do have to work at least one major event for The DayJob™ in person before 11 May, but with two doses in my body and a good mask, I should be all right. Goodbye to the tiny studio I've created in the office I share with my dogs. Goodbye to shaky zoom classes and even shakier internet connections. 

So are we seeing the light at the end? Is this awful 'only a few weeks' turned '13 months of canceled plans, constant worry, and inability to feel at all okay' almost over? I hope so. I have a con to attend as a guest author, at least one book release, and autumn of Rennie life to look forward to if so. But you will still see me wearing a mask and keeping a distance, even if things do return to 'normal,' whatever that looks like. At least in the beginning.

Get vaccinated. Do your part. I will see you in the sunshine outside this tunnel.

Music Monday: Almost time for Nano again...almost.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, I have no idea what I'm working on come Thursday of this week. Truth be told, I may not start until the weekend because I get my first Fauci Ouchie on Tuesday and officially join House Moderna (may the Sainted Mother Dolly's name always be praised). So enjoy this tune that I came across on TikTok that may play into Tairn's story...but also may not. It's anything can happen Monday! 

Pierre, by Ryn Weaver

I danced in the desert, in the pouring rain

Drank with the devil and forgot my name

Woke with somebody when the morning came

No one there to shame me for my youth

'Cause I wouldn't be with you

And then I found me a lover who could play the bass

He's kinda quiet, but his body ain't

Spend the days dreaming and the nights awake

Doin' things we know we shouldn't do

'Cause I wouldn't be with you

Says he can't believe he found me

Wraps his arms around me

Yeah-eah, eah-eah-eah-yeah

I can't let him in

You call me up and ask me how I've been

I'll call your bluff and

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

No, I can't let him in

You play me rough, but I won't let you in

So, call my bluff, I'll

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

Oh, count down to the day they may come true

And I fell for a vagabond, a month at tops

Lied and said his bike was in the "motor shop

Drove my car once and made the tire pop

Still we had some fun, till I came to

'Cause I wouldn't be with you

On the Fourth of July, I met a man, Pierre

Lied about his age, but I didn't care

Spoke in broken English but the heart was there

In those eyes of sky and ocean blue

'Cause I wouldn't be with you

Says he can't believe he found me

Wraps his arms around me

Yeah-eah, eah-eah-eah-yeah

I can't let him in

You call me up and ask me how I've been

I'll call your bluff and

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

No, I can't let them in

You play me rough, but I won't let you in

So, call my bluff, I'll

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

Keep on telling, telling, telling you lies

Oh, count down to the day they may come true

I'm counting dow-ow-ow-ow-own

I'm still so dow-ow-ow-ow-own

I'll come around

Notes from Exile: On Choices and Vaccines

Before I go any further, I want to say that I am not anti-vaccine. I completely agree with the science, I'm a big fan of Dr. Fauci, and I know that this is the best way to get this beast under control so that we can all have a life again. It feels like we finally have some direction here in the US, and that is an amazing relief.

But there is one thing you should know about me. I have, as I have explained recently on social media, a near consciousness-losing fear of needles. I have been watching all the news reports about the vaccine and forcing myself to watch the actual injections and it is getting better, but not anywhere near resolved. 

Fun Fact the First: I once went on vacation with Starter Husband and his family and he got very dehydrated and ended up in the emergency room. Since that was in the Before Times, I went in with him and was there the whole time until they had to run an IV for hydration. I had to leave the room. 

Fun Fact the Second: I was interpreting once for a mammogram to pinpoint (ha, that was an interesting choice of words) the place for a biopsy, and when they gave the deaf client a shot to NUMB the area I got swimmy headed. When they inserted the needle for the biopsy the nurse came and asked me if I needed to sit down or have some water because apparently "that shade of greenish-gray comes on you right before you faint, sugar."

That, mind you, was in response to someone else having a needle inserted into their skin, not me.

So, I have been preparing myself for months for this two-step vaccine, understanding that it will require me to go ON PURPOSE and REQUEST two injections. (I can feel all of you rolling your eyes, it must be nice not to be afraid of anything, moving on...) Then I heard the best thing I've heard since "we have a vaccine," and that was "the Janssen/J&J vaccine is only one injection." One and done, y'all. ONE.

Apparently here in SC, this particular vaccine is available via CVS, so I've been camping out on their website. Right now when the unicorn of an open appointment time appears it is still reading as a Moderna injection, which is two-step, and not the fun Texas kind. So I wait.

And I wait. And I watch. And...I am ridiculed and teased. For making an adult choice (getting the vaccine) and having patience (staying in relative isolation) for my turn to come. I don't have to go to a workplace any time soon. I don't have parents that I miss hugging. I can wait - and I am being responsible about it, and those folks that want to tease me about my fear or guilt me into doing something other than what feels right to me...well, I don't know what to tell you other than you aren't going to change my mind.

I am not paranoid. I am not a hermit. I am not anti-social (well, no more than I was). I am not unfriendly, cold, or childish. I am not most of the hurtful things that I've heard about myself over the last year. So please be kind to those of us planning vacations and visits and generally time AWAY from our homes who are choosing to do what we feel is right and not running headlong into two injections - it is okay for us to wait, at home, isolated and safe.