Brin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brin_bellway) wrote2021-05-16 03:16 pm
brin_bellway) wrote2021-05-16 03:16 pm
23:59
[cw: illness]
I received my first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday. My brother got his yesterday. In thirteen days, the whole household will have had a dose kick in.
This will be, overall, a big improvement. It's an important milestone.
But I find that vaccination is not *the* milestone for me, the way it was for, say, Randall Munroe. I'd actually already escaped the timeless eon.
I've been titling vaccination posts with New Years terminology because that was the original plan, but I think that in my own visceral sense of time, New Year's Eve was the day I ordered my respirator, and New Year's Day was the first time I went out wearing it (or perhaps the first time I went out with correctly-attached filters, such that they would not fall off of their own accord). *That* is the line dividing the During and the After. Immunity is important, but it need not be wetware: immunity strapped to your face serves the same purpose.
---
I find that I'm actually kind of dreading having my shot kick in. The thing is, [one dose of Pfizer + cloth mask] is significantly *less* protection than [no vaccine + airtight P100], but I'm worried I will no longer be able to justify inhibiting my ability to speak to customers. I'm facing a big step *down* in safety.
Sure, yes, people under the age of 80 with one kicked-in dose approximately never die of COVID-19, and are almost never hospitalised. Soon, COVID-19 will be a minor illness with respect to me: definitely less dangerous than a flu, and possibly less dangerous than a cold.
"Minor" is a relative term.
---
I don't grok why "freedom from fear" is an anti-mask slogan. In 2021, for the first time in my *life*, I heard a person cough down the aisle from me in the grocery store and was not afraid. I have had a taste, now, of a world free from fear. Who could want to go back, after that?
In the long run, I think I'll eventually loosen up to a significant extent, but still taking valuable lessons and valuable tools from my experiences here. Certainly, if I ever go to a con, I know what I'm wearing.
(Maybe I'll integrate it into a cosplay. I don't consume much visual media, but I'm sure there's some neat character out there I could mimic. I think I've heard there's respirators in Mad Max, maybe?)
I received my first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday. My brother got his yesterday. In thirteen days, the whole household will have had a dose kick in.
This will be, overall, a big improvement. It's an important milestone.
But I find that vaccination is not *the* milestone for me, the way it was for, say, Randall Munroe. I'd actually already escaped the timeless eon.
I've been titling vaccination posts with New Years terminology because that was the original plan, but I think that in my own visceral sense of time, New Year's Eve was the day I ordered my respirator, and New Year's Day was the first time I went out wearing it (or perhaps the first time I went out with correctly-attached filters, such that they would not fall off of their own accord). *That* is the line dividing the During and the After. Immunity is important, but it need not be wetware: immunity strapped to your face serves the same purpose.
---
I find that I'm actually kind of dreading having my shot kick in. The thing is, [one dose of Pfizer + cloth mask] is significantly *less* protection than [no vaccine + airtight P100], but I'm worried I will no longer be able to justify inhibiting my ability to speak to customers. I'm facing a big step *down* in safety.
Sure, yes, people under the age of 80 with one kicked-in dose approximately never die of COVID-19, and are almost never hospitalised. Soon, COVID-19 will be a minor illness with respect to me: definitely less dangerous than a flu, and possibly less dangerous than a cold.
"Minor" is a relative term.
---
I don't grok why "freedom from fear" is an anti-mask slogan. In 2021, for the first time in my *life*, I heard a person cough down the aisle from me in the grocery store and was not afraid. I have had a taste, now, of a world free from fear. Who could want to go back, after that?
In the long run, I think I'll eventually loosen up to a significant extent, but still taking valuable lessons and valuable tools from my experiences here. Certainly, if I ever go to a con, I know what I'm wearing.
(Maybe I'll integrate it into a cosplay. I don't consume much visual media, but I'm sure there's some neat character out there I could mimic. I think I've heard there's respirators in Mad Max, maybe?)
no subject
(Con-respirator cosplay is a great idea (though I suspect I would not actually enjoy the process of cosplay). Will set that down as a thing to tag about characters in my brain from now on)