Happy new year
I'm not sure how to punctuate "happy new year" -- should it be with an exclamation mark, or a question mark? Let's hope for the exclamation mark!
I often do a year-end summary of books, poems, movies, etc., but not this year; I'm just not up for it. Not that I had a bad year! Webster and I often stop to give thanks and appreciate how much easier we've had it than so many other people. Mother passed away prior to the pandemic, we are both retired and can spend as much time at home as we want, neither he nor I nor my sister nor her wife have caught Covid (thus far), and we're lucky enough to be able to have just about anything we might want delivered to our door. As much as I miss Mother and my sister, I still count everything as lucky.
Though if I were still working, my old school system has everyone over a certain age who can work from home doing so, and the entire system is mandated to have vaccinations and the booster. I love those people. We have a friend in Florida (of course it's Florida) who is convinced that because he had Covid early on he doesn't need any vaccine; I finally sent him a ton of research -- and I mean real research, not fucking Facebook research -- showing that people who had have Covid and get vaccinated and boosted appear to have a super strong immune response but that's all I'm going to do. We love him but I feel we've done all we can without really alienating him. Thank god his wife works in health care and is fully immunized and boosted.
I still find it difficult not to get angry at anti-vaxxers, even though that only hurts me and doesn't change their minds. And I don't think it's healthy for me to wish ill on such people (though I often do). So it's best we stay home and not interact with the morons here in Arizona.
Another reason to be thankful: tele-medicine. Our doctor was able to see Webster, order blood and urine tests, determine he had a UTI, all without him having to venture into the office, not that we go anywhere without an N95 covered with a high-quality three-layered cloth mask. And the antibiotic worked so he's feeling much better and is back to his usual self. The change in him was pretty dramatic within the first couple of days, too.
But it's been a super year for television and movies -- all the Marvel and Star Wars stuff plus the associated podcasts has brought me so much pleasure. And some terrific movies like Mare of Easttown, Only Murders in the Building, and right now Station Eleven. SO GOOD.
So 2021 is coming to an end. I wonder what 2022 will bring? Omicron, of course, but I read a lot of epidemiology newsletters and most of them are cautiously optimistic. I hope they are right. I want to visit my sister in Hawaii in the fall -- wouldn't that be amazing? I have a friend who was supposed to come out in May 2022; maybe she can? God, I hope so. I miss seeing people. I miss friends!
So here's to a much better 2022 for all of us. Happy new year to all of you and yours.
I often do a year-end summary of books, poems, movies, etc., but not this year; I'm just not up for it. Not that I had a bad year! Webster and I often stop to give thanks and appreciate how much easier we've had it than so many other people. Mother passed away prior to the pandemic, we are both retired and can spend as much time at home as we want, neither he nor I nor my sister nor her wife have caught Covid (thus far), and we're lucky enough to be able to have just about anything we might want delivered to our door. As much as I miss Mother and my sister, I still count everything as lucky.
Though if I were still working, my old school system has everyone over a certain age who can work from home doing so, and the entire system is mandated to have vaccinations and the booster. I love those people. We have a friend in Florida (of course it's Florida) who is convinced that because he had Covid early on he doesn't need any vaccine; I finally sent him a ton of research -- and I mean real research, not fucking Facebook research -- showing that people who had have Covid and get vaccinated and boosted appear to have a super strong immune response but that's all I'm going to do. We love him but I feel we've done all we can without really alienating him. Thank god his wife works in health care and is fully immunized and boosted.
I still find it difficult not to get angry at anti-vaxxers, even though that only hurts me and doesn't change their minds. And I don't think it's healthy for me to wish ill on such people (though I often do). So it's best we stay home and not interact with the morons here in Arizona.
Another reason to be thankful: tele-medicine. Our doctor was able to see Webster, order blood and urine tests, determine he had a UTI, all without him having to venture into the office, not that we go anywhere without an N95 covered with a high-quality three-layered cloth mask. And the antibiotic worked so he's feeling much better and is back to his usual self. The change in him was pretty dramatic within the first couple of days, too.
But it's been a super year for television and movies -- all the Marvel and Star Wars stuff plus the associated podcasts has brought me so much pleasure. And some terrific movies like Mare of Easttown, Only Murders in the Building, and right now Station Eleven. SO GOOD.
So 2021 is coming to an end. I wonder what 2022 will bring? Omicron, of course, but I read a lot of epidemiology newsletters and most of them are cautiously optimistic. I hope they are right. I want to visit my sister in Hawaii in the fall -- wouldn't that be amazing? I have a friend who was supposed to come out in May 2022; maybe she can? God, I hope so. I miss seeing people. I miss friends!
So here's to a much better 2022 for all of us. Happy new year to all of you and yours.