Day 45-Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California

Turned away from the Verizon store…

LA County is averaging 61 Omicron deaths per day.    

A Kaiser study, released today and spanning late December 2021 until the end of January 2022,  reveals that out of 50,000 Kaiser Omicron patients, none of the patients were put on a ventilator and only ONE died. Out of 17,000 Delta patients, 11 patients were placed on a ventilator and 14 patients died.  

So, back to LA County…why are so many more people dying from Omicron in LA County? Who is actually dying?  And from what? Nationally, we’re hovering at 900,000 Covid deaths.    Hmmm…are we really, though? Did these people really die from Covid? Something doesn’t add up.

 1/29/22. Saturday 

8:00 – L. leaves for work. I hear the garage door open and close.

8:30-9:00 – I can’t go back to sleep so I start a load of laundry and go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. It doesn’t look like she bothered to get up when L. left for work because she’s asleep on the couch when I come downstairs. I sit next to her and rub her tummy until she’s ready to go outside. She grabs her toy and we head to the backyard, where I stand around and wait for her to go potty. Return inside and I make a cup of coffee and give her pieces of turkey. I go upstairs.

9:00-11:00 – bullet journal. I listen to Citations Needed.

11:00-12:30 – I go to work. I check email at College No. 1, then submit and complete a letter of recommendation for a student. The “O” key on my computer keyboard has been sticking for several weeks so I pop it out, clean it, and replace it.

-I go through my physical Inbox.

-I cull the books my Mom gave me and make my selection for next month’s reading rotation.

-I hang my laundry.

12:30-1:30 – I eat the rest of my turkey burger and steak fries and start Loved and Wanted, a new book from my Mom. Trigger Alert :You may feel like vomiting after you read the rest of my food choices for today.

1:30-2:45 – Shower. I sit in the shower, lean back against the tiles, and place a bag of ice over my eyes. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform.  Light make-up.

2:45-4:10 – I go to the mall to exchange a pair of Lulu Lemon athletic leggings that B. gave me for Xmas. Staff is masked and so am I. Although I typically wear a size 0 in pants, Lulu Lemon 0s run small and I couldn’t get the leggings on past my knee. I request a size 4 and change the color to red snakeskin. It’s a smooth transaction and the new leggings are going to be mailed to my home as they didn’t have what I wanted in stock.

-LuLu Lemon is in the outdoor section of our mall, so I feel less anxious navigating this area. HOWEVER, now I’m on the hunt for the Verizon store because I need to cancel my Verizon phone on account of I’m on my ex-husband’s plan now, since I bought a new-to-me used Iphone. But, where is the Verizon store? I have to go inside the mall to try and locate it, which is something I did NOT want to do.  

The mall is somewhat crowded, although it’s no Disneyland, but what I find surprising is the number of people aimlessly strolling past the stores with no real agenda. Why would you want to be in a crowded, indoor space…in a mall… in the middle of a pandemic? Consumers are sauntering by, many of them unmasked, to do what exactly? To shop? How stupid. The only reason I’m here, today, is because the LA County Dept. of Public Health says Omicron cases peaked last week.  I listen to Citations Needed while I conduct my never ending search for the Verizon store. 

-I feel fatigued – this seems to happen regularly since I’ve had Omicron – so I stop by Paradis, and order two scoops of banana split.  I sit outside to eat it and read a Money Diary.

-Back inside the mall and I resume my Verizon search. I walk through most of the upstairs portion of the mall, breathing other people’s air, even though I’m masked.  All of this is so disgusting but…I see it!...I see the Verizon store! It’s at the furthest possible corner of the mall.  I had to check 3 mall directories to get here.  

I stand in line, waiting. When I finally get to the sale’s associate and explain that I want to cancel my phone plan, he informs me that “we don’t do that here” and gives me the number for customer service. I leave. 

4:10-5:15 – L. is home from work and edits several Specialty Class 1B lectures for me. Using the double-speed option, I’ve listened to every lecture [11 lectures] and made notes of the content that needs to be cut. I didn’t ask L. to make the changes  until I compiled ALL the edits, so L. could make the changes at one sitting. I don’t like asking L. for help constantly – she doesn’t like it either – and this semester is much better because L. and I figured out how I can airdrop my own audio files into the Canvas shell. Now, the only thing I can’t do is edit the material. 

5:30-7:00 – I upload my blog posts while listening to the Core Class  Chapter 4 lecture on double speed.

-I pay my insurance umbrella policy

-I resend links to three podcasts that I previously emailed to L.

7:00-7:30 – I take the dog for a walk.

-T. arrives and L. and T. go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner.

-7:30-8:00 – I have a CVS coupon that’s going to expire so I head to CVS before they close. I find an old, stale bag of L.’s Ruffles potato chips and snack on those in the car.  I listen to Maintenance Phase.

8:00-8:30 – At CVS and I buy a multi-colored eyeshadow kit, a hair drier [mine broke two days ago], some hand sanitizer, tampons, and two chocolate bars. TMI, but I didn’t order tampons during my 2022 master inventory because I keep holding out hope that my period will finally STOP. It disappeared for the month of December, but resumed in full force in January (sigh).

-Since I’ve had Omicron, my chest is often congested at the end of the day and today is no exception. I have a lot of phlegm and I can’t stop coughing, although I’m masked.

-Inside my car, and I start eating the white chocolate Lindt bar that I just purchased.

8:30-9:00 – I deposit a check from my Mom, then stop by the gas station and add $20 worth of gas.  It doesn’t even give me a half tank.

9:30-12:30 – Home and I am absolutely overcome with fatigue. This is unlike me…at least it was in the past…it’s fairly typical now, in that I will suddenly “hit the wall” from exhaustion. I really wanted to get a workout in, but I can’t imagine moving my body right now.  In the past, I would just “push through”, but now…I can’t do it. Sometimes I wonder…am I just lazy?  Or is the way I feel a Long Covid residual?

-I spend this block of time working on blog posts and listening to old By the Book episodes.

-L. and T. return and I ask L. if I can have some of the cheese puffs she recently purchased. L. gives me the rest of the bag (uh oh) and says I can have the rest (oh no!).  I then proceed to finish the bag…at this late hour.

12:30-1:00 – I do a bullet journal and accidentally fall asleep. I keep telling myself, every few minutes, that I’m going to do an Insanity workout.  Spoiler Alert: I don’t.

1:30-2:30 – I take the dog out and lock up.  Unfortunately, she pooped right in front of the doggie door. I suspect that she was mad at L. and T. because they didn’t spend enough time with her. She lets us know when she’s angry by pooping in the house.  She also poops in the house when she’s happy, bored, lazy…basically she poops in the house on an almost daily basis.

-Nighttime routine and I have a few more bites of my white chocolate Lindt bar.

-No workout today AND I ate like shit. Tomorrow will be better. Bed.