OT; It's been a year . . .

[Winston Psmith]

Back on March 5th, 2020, we had our first reported cases of Covid here in Maryland, 3 people in all. It seemed weird, kind of scary, and yet still somehow remote, but yesterday, our Governor held a memorial for just over 7,700 Marylanders who have died since last March.

 

This day last year, March 6th 2020, my wife and I met up with Danzilla and his lovely wife, to have dinner and go see Steve Hackett in concert. The virus was already on people's minds - we bumped elbows instead of shaking hands, for example - but there were no restrictions, no masks, and no obvious signs of concern. At at a table near us, 6 younger folks were jammed together where 4 might have sat comfortably. Inside the concert venue, people milled about as usual, met up with friends in the hallways and concourse, or lined up for the bathrooms. It was a great show, and I saw more old friends at the show that night than I've seen the entire year since.

 

That was the last night of "normal" life for us, and probably for a lot of other people, at least in the D.C. area; your timeline might be a little ahead of or behind ours, depending on where you live, and when the virus reached your community. Not exactly a "Happy Anniversary" moment, but still, anyone reading this has beaten it, so far; that's a good thing.

 

This past Monday, March 1st 2021, I got my first Covid vaccination; I go back on the 29th for the second, but for me, I guess the New Year really started on March 1st. I know it isn't a "Get Out Of Quarantine Free" card; I still wear my masks, and keep my distance, and follow all the other protocols I put into place for myself when this started, but I'm just a little less paranoid than I was, even if my behavior hasn't changed, yet.

 

I know that I'm fortunate to have made it through the past year, and I'm glad to see all the Forum members still here, too! Whatever you've been doing, or avoiding, keep up the good work, and maybe some of us will even be able to meet up IRL sometime! Until then, be well!

[Larryz]

We flew down and were at a concert in Vegas on March 4th with 3 other couples last year. We had a great time and there was little if any knowledge of the virus. I noticed when we returned to our local airport in Sacramento that there were very few cars in the parking lot. So I guess word was getting out and people were not flying. We were all lucky as this may have been the last of the concerts in Vegas and all of us have made it through so far.

 

I have had both of my shots through the VA and my wife will get her 2nd shot on the 15th at CVS. California is starting to open up now but we both will still be wearing masks when around others.

 

I am very thankful that most if not all, our forum members are still with us. Looking forward to things getting back to normal as soon as possible...Take care everyone and stay safe!

[Caevan O’Shite]

It's been a doozy of a year and issues gone... viral. Thanks to the extreme lack of leadership, outright LIES, and abjectly irresponsible and reckless jackassery of resident rump and the throngs of so-called "patriots" (self-centered red-hatted morons and traitors to a one, fuckindipshits to be spat upon), nearly half a million souls suffered miserably and died, among them my Mother. It could have been avoided and shouldn't have happened that way, to that many undeserving people.

 

The beginnings of that, among other things, is what this is an anniversary of.

[desertbluesman]

The year for us has really been easy. I have had both my shots and the wife gets her second shot on Wednesday (Although she broke her foot on Wed March 3)(She has a boot on and is actually working today as a hair dresser) I live in a gated community which followed the CDC guidelines so not many people have contracted the Covid in here. I just mask up when I go out shopping in the wider world, or to the gym and post office in our community. No restaurant going or party going for us till this thing dies off.

[Dannyalcatraz]

We"ve had our ups & downs, but most of our trials have been relatively minor. Dad- an MD- had 3 C19 exposures, but never got it, and is currently fully vaccinated as of late January. Mom got her second dose the Sunday before I got my first one this past Tuesday. When the winter blast hit Texas, we experienced a series of 4-8 hour blackouts, but that was it- no prolonged misery, no busted pipes.

 

The one constant was that a bunch of our major appliances are all dying at about the same time. Expensive, but merely inconvenient, not earth-shatteringly difficult to deal with. Besides, now I have a new dishwasher, microwave and oven as of this past Thursday.

 

But one thing is for sure: the pandemic lockdowns in Texas were imposed between my Dad"s and my Mom"s birthdays. Dad got to celebrate, Mom really didn"t. And this year, both turn 75, and we still can"t really celebrate. For Dad, we did get a nice cake, and delivered slices to a few other households.

 

For Mom? I"m trying to cater to her whims as much as possible, precisely because she got shortchanged last year. So her request that I cook breakfast for dinner is definitely going to be honored. And for the first time in decades, I"M baking her a cake, instead of getting one from a pro. Not my decision, she wants me to do it. Not only that, but she wants a layered cake (something I"ve never made) with cream cheese frosting (something I"ve never made). But I think it"s within my culinary skills, so she"s getting that, too.

[Caevan O’Shite]

We"ve had our ups & downs, but most of our trials have been relatively minor. Dad- an MD- had 3 C19 exposures, but never got it, and is currently fully vaccinated as of late January. Mom got her second dose the Sunday before I got my first one this past Tuesday. When the winter blast hit Texas, we experienced a series of 4-8 hour blackouts, but that was it- no prolonged misery, no busted pipes.

 

The one constant was that a bunch of our major appliances are all dying at about the same time. Expensive, but merely inconvenient, not earth-shatteringly difficult to deal with. Besides, now I have a new dishwasher, microwave and oven as of this past Thursday.

 

But one thing is for sure: the pandemic lockdowns in Texas were imposed between my Dad"s and my Mom"s birthdays. Dad got to celebrate, Mom really didn"t. And this year, both turn 75, and we still can"t really celebrate. For Dad, we did get a nice cake, and delivered slices to a few other households.

 

For Mom? I"m trying to cater to her whims as much as possible, precisely because she got shortchanged last year. So her request that I cook breakfast for dinner is definitely going to be honored. And for the first time in decades, I"M baking her a cake, instead of getting one from a pro. Not my decision, she wants me to do it. Not only that, but she wants a layered cake (something I"ve never made) with cream cheese frosting (something I"ve never made). But I think it"s within my culinary skills, so she"s getting that, too.

 

Sorry about your and your family's woes, but glad for the great memories that you're making, figuratively and literally alike. I'm sure that you'll make an excellent cake, and that your Mom will love it and you'll all remember it for years to come.

[surfergirl]

I don't expect any return to normalcy for months. I'm job hunting, but prospects are not good. Are only significant employer, Turtle Bay Resort, took this time to remodel and won't be opening till summer. Our tourist season doesn't restat till November and we didn't have one this year. Hawaii just lowered the age for vaccines from 75 to 70, so my paternal grandparents are now eligible.

With everything that is not good, I realize we are much better off than many others. Sometines it was just heartbreaking to see what was happening.

[Scott Fraser]

Had my 2nd dose a week & a half ago, for which I'm very thankful. A few brave clients are slowly returning to the studio, so work, which has been non-existent for a year, is starting to come back. Slowly. The aftermath of World War II took years to climb out of. I feel this will be the same.

[Guitarzan]

This past year has been pretty crazy. I managed to keep working until I retired in Aug. Before that my mother had a kidney removed, while the wife's grandmother had hip surgery and eventually took a turn for the worse while dealing with that and dementia. She passed away.

Retirement made my situation easier with covid protocols.

My son had to leave Ontario when the entertainment industry stopped cold.

He's now working at my former employer and me being an idiot has gone back for three months.lol

My mother and step dad has a rough couple of weeks, Ron had surgery on his kidney the day before mom had cataract surgery which is on top of the early stages of dementia. We took turns staying there with Mom and Ron while they healed but I'm afraid everytime mom gets a procedure done she slips a little.

Last night I went to bed early ( I never really do that normally) at 11. I woke in a groggy state hearing concerned voices.

My son noticed water shooting from the cold water feed to the water heater.

Great, working on a few brain cells I jumped at it wondering why the wife didn't even call for me, she was half asleep and thought I was already gone to work.

 

So when I tried to shut of the water , the handle broke off, great off to the shed for vice grips..got it.

Spent a long time looking for a piece of rubber and a pipe clamp for the pinhole in the pipe.

Found a suitable piece cut from a pack of rubber washers but couldn't find a clamp anywhere until I remembered I put a quick release on my garden hose , outside I go to remove that from the hose. Still not sure if was going to go small enough , it did, now at 5 am I showered and got ready for work. Went in but tapped out at lunch and came home to sleep.

I'm sore from lack off sleep and glad I don't go in until 7am tomorrow.

On top of all this my cousin who lives in Philadelphia who had been receiving cancer treatments developed covid and passed away the same week mom and Ron were getting their surgeries.

 

It has been stressing but we're getting through it.

On a positive note I seem to have musical diarrhea. I finished my up " anti social media" I only to write two more songs in minutes. I can't seem to stop, the band hasn't played the funk song yet and I'm producing more. Which is nice, really excited about music again. Haven't stopped playing but it wasn't exciting for awhile.

 

Surviving and waiting to retire again.

[Dannyalcatraz]

THAT"S a rollercoaster ride!

[KuruPrionz]

Yes, it's been very different this year.

 

I got my second Covid vaccine last Weds. Like you, I am grateful but not willing to let my guard down, yet.

 

I have a friend who got Covid and his wife got it too. They've both been very ill. It's possible they will never be the same but we'll wait and hope for the best.

I wish everybody a safe continuance, there is light at the end of the tunnel but we are not out of the tunnel yet. Stay strong and be well!!!!!

[skipclone 1]

I was informed of how serious it was when I found out I would not be working for a month. Then another. Much of what happened after that was in my year-end wrapup. I won`t bore anyone with anything except to say, that now I have both a music video AND a film which have been delayed. The song is done, I did still photos in January. The song is supposed to be from my character`s younger days-but at the rate things are going, time is doing exactly the opposite.

The studio where I recorded it, and where I was working on my song, has stopped operations, just when I was getting to the guitar parts. For once it has nothing to do with covid; Mr. studio guy is having personal issues. The other studio that I know has closed permanently. That leaves one other place in Tokyo where I`ve worked before. It`s not as expensive as the pace that closed but definitely more than where I was working.

I really miss home. My mom is in assisted care. My brother tells me that he can`t visit due to the virus. Even if I was there I wouldn`t be able to see her. At least we can keep in touch by phone.

A few days ago I wrote some lyrics for a new song. It`s clearly full of anger and rage but, in a way that comes off humourously. Better than imploding I guess.

Anyway wishing everyone good health and safety. the vaccine rollout is really slow here. Japan is one of those countries with a bad experience with vaccinations. A lot of people are suspicious, which is likely to prolong the freeze on socializing. I find it hard to believe they are seriously planning on going ahead with the Olympics, that is completely nuts.

[Sharkman]

I make a big chunk of my annual income from selling outdoor sporting goods at big hunting and fishing shows in the Great Lakes area. I have not had one of those shows in just over a year now. Last April, my mom died from the coronavirus, but since she had dementia and her health was declining fast, she wouldn't have made it past June if the virus never existed. In April, I bought over 15,000 surgical masks, in hopes of undercutting everybody else in price and making up for it in volume. There were no weekend shows for me to attend until August, and by that time, almost everybody had purchased masks. By the way, the majority of face coverings I see people wearing are about as effective as wearing a fishnet over your head, but it's their face, not mine. Since I am only 61 years old, I am still not eligible to get the vaccine yet, although that is supposed to change in a couple more weeks. The gym I work out at re-opened last June after installing a new state of the art air purifying system. The place is crowded now, nobody wears a mask there, nobody has gotten sick, but I'm up to 215 pounds of nicely defined muscle. My life is as dull as dishwater, but at least I'm healthy.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ripped 215 at 61? Shame on those of us who can"t make a similar claim.ðð½

[Sharkman]

Danny, I'm at the gym five to seven days every week, and I train at least one hour, and some days three or four hours. I have nowhere else to go, nothing else to do, and plenty of time to do it. It's either work out, or sit around the house all day watching tv and plinking away at the guitar, which I can do already.

[surfergirl]

I've talked to friends who are still in school and they feel that they have lost a year of education. I think the hardest hit in the long term are going to be those in 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, those below that have time to regain what they lost. I realize it will differ by family dynamics and availability of wifi.

[Dannyalcatraz]

I"m so glad I"m not a teen, right now. I was a real bookworm, so I enjoyed my classes, work, and schoolmates*. I mean REALLY- I was in summer school (by choice) almost every other year on average between 4th grade and HS graduation. And EVERY summer in college and grad school.

 

Being cut off like kids are right now would have been torture. Yeah, I know about online courses- I"ve taken quite a few over the years. But it"s not quite the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* wellll....most of them.

[surfergirl]

Love's Bakery has survived 170 years and the pandemic was the end. They are closing at the end of March and we will now be blessed with frozen bread from the mainland. Yumi!!!

[Dannyalcatraz]

Sorry to hear that. It sucks to lose beloved local institutions. Hope you can find another local bakery that can fill the void.

 

In minor but positive news, I got my 2nd dose of Pfizer on Tuesday!

[desertbluesman]

Love's Bakery has survived 170 years and the pandemic was the end. They are closing at the end of March and we will now be blessed with frozen bread from the mainland. Yumi!!!

 

Bummer surfergirl, That is some bad news. I don't eat bread, especially anything that has gluten in it. But I loved wheat bread when I could eat it.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Love's Bakery has survived 170 years and the pandemic was the end. They are closing at the end of March and we will now be blessed with frozen bread from the mainland. Yumi!!!

I'm so sorry to read that...

[Larryz]

Very sorry to hear about your favorite bakery going under SurferGirl...Maybe try your hand at making some homemade bread? My daughter made me some and it was some of the best bread I have ever had!

[surfergirl]

Love's isn't just a little local bakery, they supply almost 100% of bakery products. We are trying to be brainwashed into believing that frozen bread will be healthy, good and not to expensive.

What do they do with frozen bread? Do they thaw it out and put it on the shelf?

That the least of my problem, my father wants to send my 11 year old half sister to live with me. We are about 80% Asian/PI, he thinks it will be safer for her. The virus that just keeps giving.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yeeks! How does a virtual monopoly fail?

 

Is yours the only market they"re in, or is your island one of many of their markets?

 

As for the frozen bread...

 

I"m here in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and I know of a few restaurants that import French bread baguettes and mini-baguettes from New Orleans, many from the same bakery, Gambino"s. In fact, it"s sold in big boxes at one of our local chef/restaurant supply stores. And it"s pretty good. It may not be quite as good as fresh back home, but it does compare well with the local alternatives available from the Vietnamese (basically French) bakeries here.

 

A grocery chain here called Market Street has a decent bakery as well, but all of their dough comes from some centralized professional kitchen. All they do at the store is the final bake. And while their stuff isn"t as good as some of the teeny-tiny bakeries scattered around the metroplex, they"re definitely a step up from the pre-bagged stuff in the sliced bread aisle.

 

So whether or not the Love"s alternatives will be worth a damn will depend HIGHLY on who is doing the baking and how they handle the dough or loaves.

[KuruPrionz]

Love's isn't just a little local bakery, they supply almost 100% of bakery products. We are trying to be brainwashed into believing that frozen bread will be healthy, good and not to expensive.

What do they do with frozen bread? Do they thaw it out and put it on the shelf?

That the least of my problem, my father wants to send my 11 year old half sister to live with me. We are about 80% Asian/PI, he thinks it will be safer for her. The virus that just keeps giving.

 

I'm not suggesting that anybody should do like I do but I hardly eat bread at all. I used to love it and I still acknowledge that fresh bread from a great bakery is going to be indescribably better than pre-frozen store bought bread.

 

Long ago, I learned to bake bread from a book called The Tassajara Bread book or something like that. The recipes were simple and the bread was fantastic.

As to your little sister, that is a difficult situation for everybody.

[Larryz]

SurferGirl, Wishing you the best of luck with your sister's housing situation. It has me wondering how the vaccination programs are working on the islands? It would seem that smaller island populations would be vaccinated 100% quickly. Is there some kind of hold on getting vaccines to the locals in Hawaii?

[surfergirl]

SurferGirl, Wishing you the best of luck with your sister's housing situation. It has me wondering how the vaccination programs are working on the islands? It would seem that smaller island populations would be vaccinated 100% quickly. Is there some kind of hold on getting vaccines to the locals in Hawaii?

 

I don't know how we are doing compared to other states. All I know is what I hear on the news, we are about 17% fully vaccinated and 29% have 1 shot. We are vacinating over 60 starting Monday. My mother finally got appointments for my grandparents, was very frustrating. They have had their 1st shot.

[Larryz]

Thanks for the info SurferGirl, it sounds like your state compares very well with our California stats. My wife and I (70 & 71) have both had our 2 shots and they are lowering the age for appointments for the last couple of weeks as well. So far the vaccines have had a very positive affect on our Covid 19 numbers and our businesses are now opening up more in most of our California counties. Glad to hear your mom and grandparents are getting their shots!