Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

So close yet so far

Hey, remember the COVID pandemic is over? We don’t think about it anymore, right? No news of frightening new variants, no daily death counts. There’s people working in hospitals that no longer wear masks! That last one is kind of stunning when I went in a few months ago for my annual checkup. Things are truly back to what it was at the end of 2019. If we don’t counting the millions dead…

Just when I thought we would end the year at work with no one getting truly sick from COVID, a coworker caught the disease last week. (So close.) Unfortunately for him, COVID absolutely knocked him out. Every single flu-like and cold-like symptom you can come up with, he got it. The coworker was out for the entire week. Compounding the misery is that he can’t pinpoint where and how he contracted COVID! He would’ve felt slightly better if he were able to offload the blame somewhere.

I am fine, by the way. Very unlikely the coworker contracted COVID at work as the rest of us were business as usual. I still have not knowingly contracted the thing, though I maintain it’s because I don’t show any symptoms (thank god if that is indeed the truth). No symptoms, no tests, less chance of positives. Didn’t the smart people say that it is statistically likely that all of us will get COVID at some point?

Nothing will make you appreciate good health like coming out of a serious bout of sickness. The recovered coworker is filled with gratitude today in his return to work. He definitely do not want to experience that again. I bet if his COVID vaccine schedule isn’t up to date, it will be shortly!

Might not make it

Last week, a good friend of mine had a running high fever along with stomach pains. It necessitated a trip to the ER. she ended up staying at the hospital for about two days. Her entire reproductive system was inflamed to the point of a needing a full round of antibiotics. More bad news: the doctor looked at her blood results and said quite pointedly that if my friend doesn’t change her lifestyle, she won’t make it pass age 40.

You know how for the longest time we looked at age 40 as some life event that’s far out into the distant future? Well that’s no longer the case for me and my group of friends! When I heard the doctor’s grim warning for my friend, I internally calculated, “Wait a minute, 40 is only six years away!” It goes to show just how drastic of a condition my friend is in. The situation is dire.

The solution is simple - on paper. For a healthy lifestyle, all you need is a combination of good diet, exercise, and proper amounts of sleep. Everybody knows this. But much like the smoker who understands he merely has to stop smoking, the execution is exponentially more difficult that the prescription. I mean, if it were so easy, we would all be fit and healthy.

I sincerely hope this health scare is the appropriate wake up call for my friend. From talking with her, she seems to understand the precariousness. She knows what she must do, so fingers crossed the process gets followed through. Slowly!

The cold is back

Tuesday morning I woke up with a strong head cold. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind is: oh my god, it’s COVID! However, I didn’t immediately do a rapid test because I felt bad enough that I emailed in sick to work. No point in wasting a test just yet if I weren’t feeling well to even leave the house. Besides, it was a only a head cold, nothing more.

On Wednesday I woke up feeling immensely better. I would put it as about 80 percent of normal. Much of the head congestion is gone, no doubt thanks to the heavy hydration routine the day before. I certainly felt good enough to go to work. But first things first: a rapid COVID test. No way I would go to campus with a positive result.

It was actually my first time doing a antigen test of the nasal swabbing type. The procedure is simple enough: swab each nose canal five full turns, then dip the swab onto a solution. The solution gets poured onto a result pad - not unlike a pregnancy test. 15 minutes after that you’ll know the result, provided you’ve done the steps correctly.

I luckily tested negative. It was indeed just a severe head cold. I guess as we head into the waning days of the pandemic that’s turning endemic, we are once again experiencing common respiratory ailments. Say what you want about mask wearing and hygiene theater, but they’ve really saved our butts from the cold and flu. As we relax those preventative measures, it’s only natural those ailments make a triumphant return.

It was kind of nice to stay home for the day, honestly.

Forced relaxation

Part of being an ever aging adult is that some days you wake up and feel like shit. For absolutely no reason. This past Sunday was just that kind of day for me. I woke up in a massive fog of unwell, plus the pain of a right-side neck muscle from having slept on it incorrectly. I did nothing strenuous nor taxing on Saturday, yet there I was feeling like crap the day following. It never fails: you don’t realize how much you take feeling well for granted until you get sick.

It probably isn’t COVID, because I am typing this on the next day Monday, and I feel absolutely peach. Also, I’m fully vaccinated with the best vaccine available: Pfizer. According to new guidelines from the CDC, I have nothing to worry about whatsoever. No masks anywhere!

Anyways, feeling like crud on Sunday allowed me to do the one thing I can’t force myself to do: nothing. Yes, even on weekends when I am suppose to relax and chill, I usually still stack it full with stuff to do. Like working out, practicing the piano, or read. I didn’t have the mental power to do any of those things yesterday, so I sat in front of the laptop watching stuff, while keeping hydrated with plenty of fluids.

It took a bout of sickness for me to take a “day off”, which is kind of sad if you think about it. What is it about me that can’t seem to let everything go for a day and simply laze around? All the stuff to do will still be there the next day (and the next day). Even machines need to cool down and take a break every once in a while. I chuckle when I hear friends say they’re just going to chill for the rest of the day. It’s more envy than anything: I wish I can bring myself to do the same sometimes.

But soon as I woke up this morning feeling normal, it was back at it again. Break time is over.

A different kind of joy

Recently, our pet kitten got a case of the stomach virus. He’s been refusing to eat much food, and was not drinking any water from the bowl at all. At the initial phase, the cat was vomiting regularly as well. He’s lost a few pounds of weight, and has been quite lethargic around the house. It’s the first time since our family adopted the kitten back in April that we’ve experienced it being sick, and I have to say it’s rather heart-wrenching to see your beloved pet struggling with energy.

I would be working throughout the day and at the back of mind I’m instead thinking of the well-being of the cat, hoping the stomach sickness will soon pass. As I go to check up on him every now and then, it’s utterly discouraging to see him sitting down with downcast eyes, lacking in the usual pep and welcome. The worst feeling is to watch him refuse to take any food or drink, try as I may to switch out the variety, hoping that something would catch the cat’s taste buds. How can an animal go so long without taking a sip of water? Apparently cats can, though probably not the most ideal.

There’s a joy of relief when the cat does take a bit of food, and some vitality have returned in him. It’s enough to make a person emotional, and it’s a feeling that I reckon is unique in pet owners and parents with young kids. These little creatures are absolutely under your care, and you will try your best to accommodate it in any way. When your pet is sick, you feel it as well, and it’s a constantly nagging pain that won’t go away until its revived to proper health. It’s difficult to concentrate at anything I am doing when I know our lovely little kitten is sick and unwell.

To be selfless in caring for another being whose well-being is totally dependent on you. I get it now.

First of the year

Greetings! It’s indeed 2019 isn’t it? I know what you’re thinking: “Healy, it’s almost February already; where in the heck have you been?”

Well, I’ve been tremendously sick.

I returned from my annual trip back home to China on the 12th all ready to get back into my regularly scheduled programming, but on that same day I caught the worse cold/mild flu I’ve had in many, many years. It felt hopelessly endless as I woke up everyday to the same wretched feeling, without any signs of improvement. It was one for the long haul and it’s not until this, the last week of January that I’ve finally shaken off the majority of the ills and feeling completely myself again.

Nothing like a proper span of being sick to have you realize you’ve been taking your good health for granted. The utter lack of energy to do absolutely anything; being crushingly tired just from the hours at work (I wasn’t going to take two weeks off from work after having already taken two weeks off prior for vacation); and not being able to get a wink of good sleep, compounded by the crushing jet-lag. It has not been the greatest of starts to my 2019 on our side of the Pacific.

A silver-lining to the prolonged cold was that it provided me with some precious perspective as I planned out how to tackle life in this new year. I think I’m going to try for less structure: work is work, nothing to change there, but outside of the job I shall try to be less stringent with my hobbies and tasks and to simply go with the flow.

The strict scheduling and timeliness was adding a level of stress I didn’t realize existed until I got sick this past two weeks and all of that structure got put away. An ideal came back into my purview: enjoyment. Having unceremoniously tossed away the burdens of needing to do this and that for the day, I found myself greatly enjoying the time spent just doing whatever came to mind. It’s not about skirting responsibilities, but rather not letting them consume me.

Work itself is stressful enough as is, no need for my time away from it be equally taxing. So that’s what I am going to focus on these next few months; some days I may indeed accomplish reading non-fiction for an hour, and other days I may not, and that’s completely okay. Being at peace and being in the present moment is what’s most important.

Nevertheless, the show must go on, and I’ve got tons of photographs from the China trip to sort through, and there’s also the matter of the GT3…

Back from the sickness

You know how when people survive a serious illness like cancer, it’s as if they receive a new lease on life? All the fake trappings and responsibilities imposed by others fade to the background and the healed person instead focuses on what’s most important.

One doesn’t necessarily have to beat a big disease in order to feel this way. For the sum total of last week I was sick with the usual cold. It explains why there weren’t any updates on here. I basically slept for 10+ hours each day, and for the rest of the time it was eight hours at work (gutted it out) and then lots of lounging around at home watching Youtube videos.

Good news: I’m all caught up on Mighty Car Mods episodes.

I’ve recovered now, obviously (and thankfully), and I do feel a modicum like the guy who’ve conquered cancer: a new opportunity at this game of life. It’s so easy to take health for granted, even for someone like me who is super health conscious and exercises on a regular basis. The common cold doesn’t discriminate however and in those hours of feeling like shit and viscous fluids keeps coming out the nose, I resolved to be even more carpe diem as soon as I recover.

So there’s much to catch up on, and much to write about on this blog. My initial impressions on the iPhone XS Max (ridiculous name remains ridiculous) will be tomorrow, so please look out for that. In the meantime, a happy Monday to you all, let’s be healthy and get after it.

Now that’s a good color combination on this classic light-rail train. I wish SF MUNI would have kept it.