Day 16 - Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California
Infected with Omicron on this day…
12/31/21. Friday. New Years Eve
9:30-10:00 – I’m up so I go downstairs to greet the animal. It finally stopped raining, but my backyard is still flooded. The dog pooped near the doggie door. I sit next to her and rub her tummy, then she grabs her toy and we go outside. I survey the damage to my plants, while she does her business. Return inside.
10:00-10:30 – Kitchen duty and I make a cup of coffee in my Keurig.
10:30-11:45 – Blog post.
11:45-12:00 – I upload my blog post.
12:15-1:00 – Shower. Spa Day. Covid-19 uniform.
1:00-1:10 – I grab my make-up bag and lunch bag and leave.
1:10-1:30 – Driving. I put my make-up on in the car
1:30-2:00 – I arrive for my therapy session. We continue to discuss my socialization project – I really like my therapist. In another life, we could have been friends…
2:00-2:30 – To Staples to return used ink cartridges. I eat carrots and hummus along the way. Then, to Michaels, next door to return the yarn I bought for the ornament project that never happened for Xmas dinner.
2:30-3:00 – I drive to two ATMs where I have separate checking accounts and move money from my BofA savings to my Chase checking, in preparation for L. and my annual car insurance bill [$3800]. I eat two of M.’s cookies along the way.
3:00-3:30 – I return B.’s comforter to Overstock, but am hit with a $30 return fee. Shouldn’t the company pay for this? I already asked and they won’t. A Mom and her fat, Baby-Huey, 20-something-year-old are waiting in line at the UPS store, UNmasked, when all customers and staff are completely masked in accordance with the Governor’s mandate.
-Have you ever noticed that the people who go around unmasked are typically ugly and gross-fat? [yes, I know the word “fat” is merely a “descriptor” in accordance with the “body-posi” (‘positivity’) movement, which is why I’m making the distinction and creating the word “gross-fat”. You know what I mean.] In all cases, the unmasked resemble down-trodden, white trash and they ALL have smokers’ voices when you hear them talk. Marjorie Taylor Greene [wack-job who represents Georgia’s 14th district] is a prime example…when UNmasked, Greene’s face looks like a muppet…an unattractive muppet with smoker’s skin.
I have NEVER seen anyone UNmasked –male or female - who could be described by hetero-normative standards as objectively handsome or beautiful. They’re all disgusting and “tore up from the floor up.” It’s so much better when these MAGAs “cover it up”…then I and my fellow Americans who are trying to do the right thing don’t have to be bombarded by their unsightly faces. Everyone knows that the main component of Trump’s base consists of uneducated, white, ugly, fat males.
3:30-4:30 – Home and I take out my braids and touch up my make-up. I change into jeans and a blouse.
-L. and her boyfriend, T., are here when I get home. They have New Years Eve plans of their own…
4:30-5:00 – B. arrives. We were unable to get reservations at The Junction due to the New Years Eve rush, BUT we’re told to come at 5:00 for a seat in the bar.
5:00-6:15 – We get a seat at a long table, smack-dab in the middle of the restaurant, extending the length of the restaurant. There are numerous people seated on either side of the table and the place is packed. I am so uncomfortable here, but when I look around, nobody seems concerned that Omicron is currently raging; only the staff are masked. Nevertheless, I order an excellent Chicken Penne and a glass of champagne; B. gets the Lobster Pasta. For dessert, B. orders Crème Brulee which is lackluster…I prefer it served hot, but this restaurant serves it cold.
6:15-7:00 – B. and I are going to the LeEmmle Theater to see one of the few movies that’s actually playing there. We’re early, so we sit in B.’s car for awhile then drive the few blocks to the LeEmmle parking garage. The ticket taker says she likes my hair [insert smile emoji here].
7:00-9:30 – B. and I see Nightmare Alley with Bradley Cooper and Kate Blanchet. This is a terrible movie by any objective standard. You know the movie is going to be a problem when it’s over 2 hours. The run time for Nightmare Alley is 2 hours and 30 minutes; the “Audience Score” on Rotten Tomatoes is a 68%. That’s a D.
9:30-10:00 – Driving.
10:00 – 12:00 - B. is scheduled to spend the night at my house, but when we arrive B. announces that he will NOT, in fact, be spending the night because he is SICK! Apparently, B. has had a sore throat and has felt under the weather for the past 24 hours. He took some Nyquil in an effort to combat the symptoms, but the Nyquil didn’t work and he is “hoarse” again. As a result of his “chivalry”, he is NOT going to spend the night to ensure I don’t get infected with whatever he has.
I know instantly that it’s Omicron…the symptoms B. describes are consistent with how Omicron presents in the vaxed and boosted. I am NOT boosted, however…not for lack of trying though. I was unable to get to Ventura on Friday, due to the “hurricane”, but rescheduled for the soonest available appointment at Walgreens in Lancaster on Tuesday. In the interim, it’s questionable if I’m even vaxed, having received only one, solitary dose of J&J EIGHT months ago, which the CDC ultimately rejected as a viable vaccine a couple weeks ago.
On this day, New Years Eve 2021, the data is still out on J&J and whether or not it holds up. If I contract Omicron before getting the booster, there’s a possibility I could actually die…
As casually as I am able, I say to B. that, although he is “protecting” me from transmission by opting NOT to spend the night, he just exposed me to a potentially lethal virus over a SIX-HOUR period. At no point did he ever mention he was sick. I don’t address the fact that this exposure also includes everyone in the restaurant, particularly those seated with us at the football-field-length table in the middle of the room, as well as everyone in the theater. B. replies, “BUT, I’m not going to spend the night.”
After telling me he’s sick, B. stays an additional two hours, until midnight, and asks me about my New Years resolutions and intentions that I already shared with him two weeks ago; in fact, I read from my same list. He doesn’t seem to recall that we had this exact conversation on 12/19/21, but whatever. We have a couple glasses of champagne and toast the New Year, although there’s a possibility I might die before 2022 ever gets off the ground.
I should add that it hardly matters that B. remains for another 2 hours after informing me that he’s sick. This virus is so contagious, I was infected within 2 minutes of getting into B.’s car when he picked me up at 4:30. And if it didn’t happen then, it sure as hell happened in the 30 minutes it took to get to the restaurant. Additionally, the “viral load”[the length of time you’re exposed to Covid] that scientists brought up ad nauseum during 2020 “OG [original gangster] Covid” has ceased to exist in relation to Omicron, which means the length of exposure no longer seems relevant to patient outcome. I guess it’s enough to know that you’ll contract Omicron within seconds of exposure… and yet…what does it mean for individuals who were continuously exposed to Omicron over several hours? If the length of exposure affected ‘OG Covid” outcomes, will it also affect the severity of an Omicron transmission?
B. and I discuss possibly meeting up for coffee tomorrow, if he’s feeling better. He leaves.
12:00-1:00 – I have more champagne and collapse in my chair, stunned…and in shock. There are dishes in the sink, but I leave them. In light of what I’ve just told you, who cares if the dishes are washed? Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 6:00.