This is beautifully put. I am sorry for your diagnosis and hope playing FFX distracts you from the pain and discomfort you are going through.
This sounds like an interesting story.
Happy Birthday! Yeah you don't magically become wise when you turn 60. Actually if you pay attention you'll see a lot of 60+ people seem to be acting even less mature and smart than they used to. I don't know the reason for that lol. But one thing about getting older that I've noticed at least for me is you stop caring about other people's judgement of you. And if they say anything now you have a handy excuse they can't argue about. "Well, I'm old now."
I believe that one has worked for people for many centuries, lol.
I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
I'm sorry your gf will not take proper precautions in order to see you. I would tell her you could see her more often if she would mask around others more consistently, keep up her vaccinations, not see anyone unmasked for at least 3 days before you have plans and then test before seeing each other. I think that is doable and certainly not to much to handle in order to see the person you care for. I hope she feels the same.
I can understand your fear. But a lot of time we talk about worst case scenarios in order to think ahead and prepare ourselves to deal with the bad things that sometimes happen. If we make plans to get through rough patches they are easier to handle. But discussing possibilities and future plans does not predict them. You can be ready for something to maybe occur without sacrificing everything your life is now in expectation of it.
Covid happened. We dealt with it probably pretty badly because we somehow were caught off guard. Now we have a better idea of what it will take to survive another global pandemic. If that happens we know some of the steps we can take to mitigate it. The reason to check out subs like this is to reassure yourself that there are things you can do now to feel safer.
One thing I'd advise is stockpile some of your life-giving meds if you can. Talk to your doctor about what meds you could alternatively use if for some reason your heart med was no longer available. It's a valid fear. Many medications became difficult to find during points of the pandemic. So speak to your doctor about what you can do to avoid that happening to you.
If reading these subs are making you dread living, then step back from them for a while. Do something you enjoy and take your mind off it for a bit. And don't stop yourself from asking for reality checks like you have here. While H5N1 is a serious danger, right now it's not transmitting human to human. Illness and deaths have come from being infected by sick animals. Wear protective gear around animals, avoid drinking raw milk and undercooked meat. Keep watching the science and avoid doomscrolling. Have some masks always on hand. You got this.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9794489/
In case you don't feel safe clicking links, the study in summary states:
It was found that the micro-droplet surface temperature within two and a half minutes is enough to kill the bacterial and viral microorganisms on the droplet surface. As COVID cannot tolerate 70 °C temperature, within this time, it can be eliminated from the food surface.
I like that - have the fire in your belly. It's a great way to put it! And it really does work. Just think about how angry it makes you that all these people are running around spreading a deadly illness without regard for anyone else. Then use that anger to be ice-cold firm with standing your ground.
Last fall I had a retinal tear and emergency surgery for it. The follow up afterward indicated dry eye. I've seen my ophthalmologist twice since. So a total of five visits since last fall. I only took off my mask during the actual surgery. No doctor has ever told me to take off my mask unless it was medically necessary. I was never told my mask was to blame for any of my conditions.
I would not go back to this doctor. I hope you can find another one.
Eta: I see you did. Fingers crossed they are more professional.
I am sorry this happened to you but I really hope you take all the other poster's advice here. Don't go on this trip. You can be nice about it but firmly refuse. If your baby does get Covid and has complications from it, you will never lose the guilt. Let your husband go if he won't tell his parents that he wants to cancel, but he can isolate from you and baby when he returns.
I knew I'd get dv for that but I just couldn't resist.
No Mog? She did a great job really!
True, lol. I just enjoy the battles so the time kinda flies by for me.
If it's a trend it been one since the last forty years at least. I called my grandparents, I called my parents and I called my PILs. I don't need to call my kids cuz they live wit me but when they move out I'm pretty sure we'll text daily as we do already. Apparently for older parents the phone does not work both ways. Who knew?
No, I thought it was funny. Thanks for the chuckle.
We grow our own asparagus so we have it fresh every spring. It's really good most of the time but you aren't wrong about it being a battle, lol.
The canned asparagus is consistent, sweet and tender. I've never had slimy or bad tasting canned asparagus. Plus you can enjoy it all year and not just for a few weeks in spring.
Sorry you were dv for your culinary opinion. I gave you an upvote at least.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Chi-Chi's used to have this. And it was so so good.
I believe it's made from pollock which is a sweet white fish.
I like imitation crab too!
Did you mean effusive praise?
If you go to this website: https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-statetrend.html and scroll the state to Hawaii, it's evident quite a few people infected with Covid are going there for their summer vacation. 😰
It looks professional, appealing and so elegant to me. This looks good enough to be wedding desserts. I've seen bakery cupcakes with more frosting than this.
My family has taken all the precautions since March 2020. I briefly unmasked at a meal with out of state family in July 2021 because I was fully vaccinated and the table was more than 6' away from other diners. We thought the risk was low but in retrospect even that was a big risk. Fortunately none of us got Covid. We haven't done that since and are still Covid free.
We don't play sports, go to crowded events or dine indoors but we do everything else. Just with masking, hand washing, social distancing and vaccinations every 6 months. There is no 100% protection but we are going to continue to take precautions. I will do that as long as it takes even if it is forever. I never thought it would come to this but as long as necessary I will protect myself and others from this deadly illness.
As far as competing and strategizing with team mates go, perhaps some online video games might fill that need for you? But if you are playing outdoors, wear a mask on the sidelines and are fully vaccinated the risk might be lower. It depends on what you're comfortable with.
Plus a lot of subs are dominated by AI and bots. I don't want to chat about anything with a bot.
Anybody else finding themselves gravitating away from all media in general?
Millennials