Blog

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

Sugar how you get so high

Yesterday was the first time in my life I got the flu vaccine. And let me tell you, I am feeling like crap today. Make sense, right? The vaccine is effectively introducing a small strain of the influenza into my body. Of course it is going to react as if I actually got flu. At least the symptoms aren’t truly on the levels of a real one. The last time I got it - more than a decade ago - I was bed-ridden for two days.

It was a smart decision to not get the latest COVID vaccine at the same time. Despite what the Travis Kelce commercial says, asking your body to fight two invading viruses concurrently might not be the best idea. My coworker got both the flu and COVID vaccine at the same time, and he was down in the energy dumps for two days. I’ve a history of symptomatic reaction to the COVID vaccine (the second Pfizer shot was killer), so I am delaying what would be the fifth shot to a later date.

I also got the annual blood test yesterday: the usual cholesterol and glucose measurements. Turns out I am pre-diabetic? My HbA1c is 5.7, which is barely into the pre-diabetic range. I am kind of dumbfounded at this. I’m rather religious with proper diet, sleep, and exercise - and have been since my early 20s. I don’t drink or smoke, and I avoid added sugar whenever possible. My weight is completely normal for my height. How the French am I pre-diabetic?

Since I already get eight hours of sleep per night consistently, and exercise multiple times per week, any adjustments to be made will not be in those two areas. It will have to be diet. Moving forward I will cut back on carbs as much as possible, and eat more vegetables and fibrous foods. Let’s check back in six months when I get the next blood test.

The green tree of Ethnic Studies and Psychology building.

Booster round two

I read on the news an update to the Pfizer COVID vaccine that targets the latest omicron variant is now approved and available. I never did get my second booster shot: the first booster was way back in November of last year. Seems like a good time now to get what would be my fourth shot. And because it’s flu season, might as well get the flu vaccine at the same time.

Sadly, the local CVS pharmacy at Target is not offering the COVID vaccine any longer? It’s where I got my booster last time, but I wasn’t able to book any appointments. That’s a shame because I now have to get in a car. A friend informed me that Walgreens pharmacy is offering the updated booster - plus the flu vaccine. So I mimetically went to the Walgreens website to make an appointment. There were plenty to be had at locations around my zip code.

Next Friday evening will be the day. It should offer enough leeway over the weekend should I experience heavy symptoms. The two primary Pfizer shots only resulted in a sore arm, but the booster shot absolutely wrecked me hard. I’m definitely tempting fate here by getting the COVID and flu vaccine concurrently. Perhaps I can bro-science my way out of this: if I expect symptoms to be mild, then my body will react accordingly.

This is going to be the yearly dance, isn’t it? COVID vaccine boosters every fall. It’s truly become just like the flu. Hopefully as the years go by, as herd immunity grows ever stronger, further COVID boosters would only be something necessary for the immune compromised and the elderly.

Third time is the charm

Well, that was a bit unexpected.

I got my COVID-19 booster vaccine shot this past Sunday, and yesterday - Monday - I felt rather terrible. It’s unexpected because the first two times I got the Pfizer shot, all I had to show for it in terms of symptoms were a sore arm. Physically otherwise I felt great, quite unlike some people I know who got absolutely clobbered with COVID-like symptoms. Those federally-mandated COVID sick days sure come in handy!

Well who is eating crow now, because I got symptoms on the third shot. It wasn’t too bad, all things considered: just slight chills at the extremities, and a woozy feeling to the head. As of this writing - Tuesday - I feel completely fine again, and consider myself lucky to be amongst the group currently eligible for a booster. Working in education is finally paying off, because the paycheck sure isn’t compared to the private sector!

Hopefully this is the last COVID vaccine shot I will ever have to take. It’s November already, and 2022 is almost done. With kids five and older now eligible for the (Pfizer) vaccine, I think soon we should reopen everything back up completely. No more mask requirements. COVID-19 will truly become like the seasonal flu, something to be managed, rather than aiming for some delusion of zero cases. It is time.

Let's get on with it

I think it’s time to treat COVID like the seasonal flu: a virus we simply live with normally. Look at how Britain has opened back up completely about a month ago - zero restrictions - and they don’t seem to be any worse off. Right now, it’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated: look at the data out of Texas and Florida. With vaccines widely and freely available in the United States, the choice is merely personal if someone wishes to die.

Those of us who are vaccinated, who have followed every guideline and restriction since the start of the pandemic, are getting rather tired of it. I know it’s only temporary, but to have to show ID and vaccination proof just to eat inside a restaurant is kind of insane. Breakthrough cases are ultra rare for those who got the shot(s), and at worse we likely to only feel some flu-like symptoms. Let us go back to our previously normal lives!

San Francisco State University - with a Fall semester on-campus population that’s 98 percent vaccinated - still inexplicably doesn’t allow public indoor eating. All the campus eateries are open, but you’d have to bring it outside to eat. This is fine and good during this time of the year when the weather is warm (for San Francisco anyways), but what about when it gets cold? I don’t see any heat lamps. What if it ever rains again? Where are the students to eat their lunch?

It all seems a bit draconian given nearly everyone on campus is vaccinated. It’s not the university’s fault: local policy dictates people have to be vaccinated to eat indoors. I suppose SFSU don’t have the resources to perform checks at the entrances to places like the student union building. Much like our local McDonalds, it’s cleaner and simpler to forgo any form of indoor dinning, and do carry-out only.

I hope the rules on that change soon. San Francisco itself is 80% vaccinated! It’s time to get on with it.

I should go to a game

Our local SF MUNI metro line - the M line - has returned to service. For over a year we’ve forgotten just how loud a passing train on the tracks can be. Alas, the windows in my studio in-law unit is not double-paned, so I get to hear the rumble every time a train goes by. Honestly though it’s not that intrusive; it’s the previously prolonged absence that have made it noticeable. At my old place I lived right next to a bus stop; I’m sure I’ll get used to this just the same.

It’ll be great to walk the one block to the metro stop and take the M train right to the baseball stadium at the downtown waterfront. For whatever reason, I’ve yet to attend a baseball game at Oracle Park this season, even though things have completely opened back up. The Giants also have the best record in the major leagues going on two months. Perhaps we’ve been stuck inside for so long, we don’t quiet yet know how to get back “out there” completely. I’d nearly forgotten there was actually baseball last year.

Gone are the halcyon days of attending half dozen of games a month.

The super virulent delta variant isn’t helping things, though I’m not particularly concerned about it. Everybody in my family who’s eligible have already gotten the vaccine (and looks like we’re going to need that third dose). Except for my grandmother, whose stubbornness and lack of mobility in her old age have thus far refused to make the trip downstairs at the old people home to get the shot. Even the threat of not seeing her grandkids is not enough of an incentive. None of us want to be the one to get her sick with COVID.

This isn’t some indoctrination of constantly watching Fox News (unless there’s a Chinese language equivalent I don’t know about). My grandmother just doesn't like needles, and want to avoid the potential initial side-effects of the vaccine. I’ll keep badgering my mother to badger her mother to get the shot, though. Ultimately it’s the safe thing to do.

Hanging out with friends again

This past Saturday was a super special occasion: my friends and I got together - indoors, unmasked - for the very first time since the the COVID-19 pandemic began. Going back to this normal part of our pre-pandemic life was weirdly surreal. Throughout the evening I paused to amaze at that we are indeed hanging out together without any safety precautions whatsoever. There were many hugs.

Well, aside from the fact that everyone in the group is fully vaccinated (so calm down, people). With the good mRNA stuff too, and not the Johnson & Johnson single-dose with an infinitesimal potential side effect of blood clots. It is nothing short of a miracle that we were able to effectively eliminate the worse of the coronavirus symptoms less than a year since the outbreak. And it’s also nothing short of a miracle that the Unites States is able to rollout the vaccines so proficiently.

It is thanks to the tireless work of countless others, from medical researchers to volunteers, that I was able to hang out with my friends so freely once again. I shall never take for granted the social joy of sitting around a dinner table, breaking bread (literally: we had sandwiches) with the people dear to me. As last Thanksgiving proved, socially-distanced gatherings and taking food back to our respective homes just cannot offer the same magic and merry. Even an ardent introvert like myself needs some proper social interactions every now and then.

There were lots to celebrate as well. Firstly, we are tremendously grateful that we’ve made it through the pandemic relatively okay. We and the people around us are healthy and employed. As for the rest: one friend just closed on a home, another is starting a new job, and another’s second child has his third birthday soon (it’s today, actually). That’s what these gatherings are all about: celebrating the milestones and turning points of our lives.

Once again, thank you to those that made it possible.

Good news!

Good news! The cargo ship that’s blocking the Suez Canal is finally free and moving.

Better news! I received the second of two Pfizer vaccine shots this past Thursday. In a few weeks’ time I shall be considered fully vaccinated, ready to meet the world again without fear of dying from COVID.

Best news: my parents are finally due to get their vaccines later this week! California will be opening up the eligibility to any persons 50 and over starting on April 1st. Half a month later on April 15th, vaccinations will be open to all adults over the age of 16. The endgame has truly arrived, and it’s a small miracle that we are this close to returning to normalcy.

It sure looks like San Francisco is already there. If this sunny and warm (for San Francisco) weekend is any indication, any semblance of lockdowns and restrictions are de-facto over. The citizenry are out in droves! The city has entered the orange tier, so practically everything is open, with capacity restrictions. I cannot wait to sit down and eat a meat inside a restaurant, though I’m going to wait out the initial rush of people. I’ve never seen Costco so empty on a Sunday noon: people have things to do now other than grocery shop!

You really love to see it.

It’s really perverse that United States have seen some of the worse COVID figures in terms of infections and deaths, yet we will likely be the first country on the planet to sufficiently vaccinate to fully open back up. Of course, countries like Taiwan and New Zealand didn’t need any vaccines to keep the numbers low and lives normal, but at least the problem here is getting solved. Bottom line: way too many people have died needlessly from COVID in this country.

But we’re almost there at the end. Thank you to the cast of many hundreds of thousands that made it possible.