I'm seeing most of my senior-citizen-age pals posting Halloween party pics on social media. These are folks who have for the most part been uber careful so far, but they are letting their hair down this weekend for some reason. It's puzzling. Waiting now for the next inevitable round of positive test pics. As for moi, I'm sticking with doing All The Things, N95 anywhere indoors that doesn't have HEPA units, and even outdoors if walking through a crowd, vaxxed and boosted, flu shot and keeping to myself. Hold the line folks, we're far from done here! I'm good with staying home. I have wine and snacks! 🍷🥓🍤🍫 https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/epidemiologist-jeremy-farrar-on-the-next-viral-threat-i-fear-we-are-at-the-beginning-of-an-era-of-pandemics-a-564b1dae-1c3d-4eb3-b76f-f3c5da6e8289

...the one with the epileptic adult daughter at home who has had covid three times and has been on the long-covid rollercoaster ever since -- also the one with the diabetic high-school teacher husband -- is postponing her bivalent booster because she doesn't want to feel ill this weekend because.... wait for it.... her old pals are flying in from Australia and she needs to go out to a restaurant with them and show them the town. Husband is super-cautious, so he's probably going to stay home. I can't even.

The paranoid Q-folks are going to spin the "Q" in this into something related to adrenochrome and WEF, just wait for it. In other news, 10% uptake of bivalent vax in the US is REALLY BAD NEWS. Buckle up, get your boosters, order up some more N95s, it's going to be a shit show. https://www.thedailybeast.com/deadly-twist-in-covid-variant-takes-the-world-by-surprise

Double-double boosted, who's joining me in the club today? I just got the not-the-latest Moderna (but adequate for now says the pharmacist) and the extra-strength flu shot for seniors. Feeling very sleepy and have a sick day booked for tomorrow so I can just relax and snooze. She said they've been super busy because most folks in my town are pro-vaxx (lots of seniors) and we all want to do the right thing. YAY US! 😎

I'm not religious or anything, but it's kind of weird how all this smiting with biblical storm action happens after that stunt with the migrant folks. Just something to think about.

Professor where I work holds an annual party at her house for returning grad students. I turned down two invites as part of my virus-avoidance strategy. She (who recently recovered from her mild case...) made a funny face yesterday and said I could just hang outside and wear a mask. I told her you can't drink wine with a mask on, but that wasn't really the reason - I didn't elaborate on the fact that I'm not really interested in small talk with folks I don't know well anyway, it's torture at the best of times, but masked and outside in the fall chill, um, double nope. I'm 4x vaxxed and looking forward to the next booster but still wear the N95s pretty much everywhere I need to be indoors that isn't my 3x HEPA filtered office space. I'm also nearly 70 and am really not interested in getting it or any of the other lovely things going around right now. Also I think I'm just not a fan of people in general anymore... Hold the line folks, the pressure's building to just get on with things, but I'm DOING IT MY WAY. 😎

He and his GF both got it in August. She's vaxxed, he is down the rabbit hole. After nearly 7 years she FINALLY decided to bail on the relationship and now they have to leave the rental house. In between spreading more disinformation, he's posting lots of drum kits and studio gear for sale because he's probably going to wind up living in a basement somewhere with the dog and the cat. Stubborn fuck finally burned her out with his BS. Oh well. Good for her for finally seeing the light. NEXT!

Just saw someone (a woohoo naturopathic vet lol) state that the vaccines aren't working because so many people are getting covid. Such a great example of one-dimensional binary thinking. More people got boosted, which made them feel they could take more risks, hence more vaxxed people getting infected as they embraced huge rock shows, sports events and summer weddings, with all the flying about that those entail. Good lord these deniers, so fucking stupid. 😜

Former friend of mine, drummer/carpenter, helped me produce my last album and was pretty cool until he went down the corona-is-a-hoax rabbit hole, tested positive today and now has the mother of all man colds. Has been resolutely anti-vax, believes in the plandemic bullshit, red pill, flat earth, sheeple in the matrix, the whole nine yards. Also a Trump fan which really made me realize that him unfriending me was no big loss. His poor GF has been putting up with his shit for a couple of years now and she's vaxxed and now sick also. FUCK THESE IDIOTS. Part of me hopes that he winds up in the hospital as penance, but that would be tough on her, so no. Doubt if he'll change his tune, but seriously hope he has the dose from hell.

... I shit you not! This is why we're never getting out of this pandemic. 😷

Pharmacist recommended the half dose of Moderna yesterday to see me through until the Omicron-specific one. Woke up with the familiar old hit-by-a-truck feels and a punch in the arm, took some codeine and nothing planned for today except lounging on the patio. I told him I call it 'the magic juice of science' and he thought that was hilarious, and thanked me for making him laugh, because lord knows we have to grab the laughs whenever we can in the middle of this shit show. In other news I go back to work after a year off (because hey I love money...) starting a new job on Monday at my alma mater, HEPA units galore in a large office shared with one other person, and I'm getting my own desktop model for my space. Pretty much everyone masking when going from A to B and meeting in offices, would not be surprised if they bring back the mandate when the big O gets ripping in September. I plan on keeping the N95s handy and just keeping my head down and my powder dry. Stay safe everyone!

So my province is opening up #4 to everyone in September. The rationale is to wait until then to get maximum protection over the fall/winter, which I think is logical. I'm starting a new job at the university sharing a large office with one other person with HEPA units and plexiglass at the counter with very little traffic. I plan on wearing my N95 when out and about, and bought a personal Dyson HEPA/cooler combo for my desk. I reckon I'll be ok to wait for the more specific booster in Sept. Call me crazy but after 13 car-free years I also bought a vehicle so I don't have to ride transit, because I take Covid very seriously after two years of virtual isolation. 😉 I have the option to get #4 sooner if I want, but I'm leaning more toward waiting for the fall rollout. Might just go for mid-August to get it before the term starts. Thoughts?

So my haircutter told me today she has long Covid. Has had weak lungs since childhood so she was a sitting duck for Omicron. Been sick off and on since January after a trip to Mexico, been feeling fatigued ever since. She's had to cut back her hours to half days, which is a drag because she runs her own biz. She's always been good about masking, except she hasn't upped her game from the floppy blue. Told me that the specialist she's been seeing for long covid told her MASKS DON'T WORK and we NEED TO MOVE ON. ummmm ok.... 😫 So she only wears one if the customer wears one. I wear my N95 religiously, only there for half an hour with the door open (people bringing their elderly parents in with no masks SMDH...) and just didn't want to get into the discussion with her, but I did say that I thought what he said was BULLSHIT, and sure you can get it through your eyes but why not cover up the 2/3rds of the access points whenever you can? She just shrugged and said she trusts the doctor. Well guess what? Doctors make mistakes too. So sad, but there you go. Another casualty of indifference and misinformation. We are so fucked with this Mass Casualty Event that's under way.