awanderingbard (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
awanderingbard) wrote2022-09-10 05:37 pm
awanderingbard) wrote2022-09-10 05:37 pm
Entry tags:
I live!
My goodness, I keep getting worse and worse at posting here! My computer has been BSODing randomly for quite awhile, despite my best efforts to sort out why it's so upset (each time it did it, it was a different error message), so I was working mostly on my iPad, and I've never quite found the rhythm of typing long pieces of text on there. I tried reinstalling Windows but keeping my files, and that did not work, so now I've done a completely fresh install in hopes that will sort it out. I had to go buy flash drives to save my stuff to first and then work up the courage to do it. The Great Flash Drive Crash of 2015 was extremely traumatizing and I was so afraid of something going wrong in the process and losing everything again. But it went well and my files are safe, knock on wood. We'll see how Flynn likes his new start.
Things have been pretty good around here, for the most part. Very good on the kidney stone front. I'm just really, super exhausted, so I've been trying to rest a lot. It's hard to give yourself permission to do that, but Mum has given me strict orders and I'm trying to obey. I've been knitting again, which I haven't done in awhile and it's going very well. I have my first Christmas present done and and am starting on the second. I like to start very early due to how fussy I am and my tendency to change my mind on the pattern I thought I was doing and having to scramble to find something else. Mum and I are trying to get ahead of Christmas this year so we aren't so worn out and rushing everywhere. I've also been working on my singing voice and that's also going really well! I'm happy with the progress I'm making. I've also been practising my French on Duolingo. I feel like my creativity is waking up again a little bit.
Dad got COVID boosted last week and Mum and I did ours last Wednesday. Dad and I didn't have as bad a reaction as the last time, but Mum is not doing great. We can't tell if its the shot or season autoimmune flare up, or a combo. I have given her strict orders to rest, but apparently it's okay for me to rest but not her. I think that's a mom thing.
I have to confess the death of the Queen hit me harder than I would have thought. I was very teary on and off for the first couple of days, though that could have been part of the reaction to my booster shot. I've found it difficult to see such grief from the British public and feel bad that the royal family, especially Charles, have to be so much in the public eye during a time when they most need privacy. I did find the accession ceremony really fascinating, though. It's so archaic and I'm sure a lot people think it's silly to go through such rigmarole, but as a lover of history, it's just cool to see these sorts of rituals and the tradition behind them.
My grandmother, my dad's mother, bore, at least in my mind, a passing resemblance to Queen Elizabeth, and when I was a little girl, we had a portrait of the Queen circa her coronation in the school lobby and at Brownies that looked somewhat like my grandmother's wedding photos and, for many years, I thought it was a picture of my grandmother. I did not question why they should have a photo of my grandmother there, I just sort of thought 'yep, that's her'. I didn't know my grandmother very well, she had a serious stroke when I was very little, and died when I was about 10 or so, but even now, when I think of her, the image in my mind is closer to that portrait of Queen Elizabeth than I think my actual grandmother. Knowing what I do of my grandmother, I think she would find that funny and probably a little appropriate. She always joked my dad should have been Prince Charles because of how fussy he was when he was a boy.
Anyway, I hope, as always, you are coping through this strange and mysterious times and that soon we will stop living through major historical events.
Things have been pretty good around here, for the most part. Very good on the kidney stone front. I'm just really, super exhausted, so I've been trying to rest a lot. It's hard to give yourself permission to do that, but Mum has given me strict orders and I'm trying to obey. I've been knitting again, which I haven't done in awhile and it's going very well. I have my first Christmas present done and and am starting on the second. I like to start very early due to how fussy I am and my tendency to change my mind on the pattern I thought I was doing and having to scramble to find something else. Mum and I are trying to get ahead of Christmas this year so we aren't so worn out and rushing everywhere. I've also been working on my singing voice and that's also going really well! I'm happy with the progress I'm making. I've also been practising my French on Duolingo. I feel like my creativity is waking up again a little bit.
Dad got COVID boosted last week and Mum and I did ours last Wednesday. Dad and I didn't have as bad a reaction as the last time, but Mum is not doing great. We can't tell if its the shot or season autoimmune flare up, or a combo. I have given her strict orders to rest, but apparently it's okay for me to rest but not her. I think that's a mom thing.
I have to confess the death of the Queen hit me harder than I would have thought. I was very teary on and off for the first couple of days, though that could have been part of the reaction to my booster shot. I've found it difficult to see such grief from the British public and feel bad that the royal family, especially Charles, have to be so much in the public eye during a time when they most need privacy. I did find the accession ceremony really fascinating, though. It's so archaic and I'm sure a lot people think it's silly to go through such rigmarole, but as a lover of history, it's just cool to see these sorts of rituals and the tradition behind them.
My grandmother, my dad's mother, bore, at least in my mind, a passing resemblance to Queen Elizabeth, and when I was a little girl, we had a portrait of the Queen circa her coronation in the school lobby and at Brownies that looked somewhat like my grandmother's wedding photos and, for many years, I thought it was a picture of my grandmother. I did not question why they should have a photo of my grandmother there, I just sort of thought 'yep, that's her'. I didn't know my grandmother very well, she had a serious stroke when I was very little, and died when I was about 10 or so, but even now, when I think of her, the image in my mind is closer to that portrait of Queen Elizabeth than I think my actual grandmother. Knowing what I do of my grandmother, I think she would find that funny and probably a little appropriate. She always joked my dad should have been Prince Charles because of how fussy he was when he was a boy.
Anyway, I hope, as always, you are coping through this strange and mysterious times and that soon we will stop living through major historical events.
no subject
I hope the new start works for your computer.
And I hope your mother feels better soon. I'm glad you and your father did well with the boosters. Did you get the new booster specifically for omicron? I know the new boosters aren't available everywhere. We got our previous booster too recently to do that for a couple of months still, but we're pretty protected for folks not much over 50.
Funny what children's minds do! I have a memory of my grandmother that my mother says she can't imagine is true. I remember her sitting on a table, looking down at me, and saying that everyone says you can't sit on tables, but she could and I couldn't, or something to that effect. And now I'll never know if it was real, a dream, a melange of real bits, or a complete fabrication.
I could use fewer major historical events too!
no subject
It did! No more BSODs since I reinstalled Windows!
Mum’s on the mend now, I think she had some seasonal autoimmune flare contributing to it. And just being hard on herself. She gets furious at herself when she’s not well, like it’s not acceptable for her to have a normal human immune system or something, lol.
We got regular boosters, we don’t have the bivalent ones yet. They’re starting at the end of the month for the over 70s and high risk only, so only my dad would qualify and we wanted to be boosted for Thanksgiving and the holiday season. According to docs here, it won’t make a lot of difference to your immunity levels. Omicron isn’t the dominant variant anymore, and because of how long it takes to get new versions out, it’s always going to be a step behind the trend. They advised getting boosted with whatever was available before autumn arrives and we’re all indoors again. Very few people are masking here anymore and they’ve just decided you don’t have to isolate if you have COVID, so I expect we’ll see a spike in cases again. :(
no subject
It's really hard when family are down on themselves for something out of control like illness. You can tell them it's not their fault, but they already know that, and it doesn't help a lot. I hope she feels better soon.
Hurray for no more BSOD!
no subject
I was half right and half wrong. Omicron is still the dominant variant, but the vaccine targets BA.1 and not the current dominant subvariant. So, yes, it should be effective against omicron, but according to my mum, not enough for us to wait for it to be approved here. If it’s already approved where you are, for sure go for it, but our doctors advised getting boosted with whatever was available. Vaccine roll outs here have been notoriously poorly planned in my province, so who knows when someone my age might be able to get the bivalent and how much I’ll have to fight for an appointment. They’ve been doing the equivalent of tossing food into a herd of wild animals and running away to let them fight over it.
no subject
We've handled vaccines so badly in Florida I'm a little surprised that your province is doing even worse—but our federal government poured tons of money into developing and distributing the omicron vaccine, so it makes sense that it's more readily available here. We're the 800 pound gorilla on this continent.
I find it stunning that 2 1/2 years in, our governments cannot get it fully together to make things available and make the guidance clear and consistent!