I am not due for my booster until mid Dec. But my daughter gets hers on Thursday, will be interesting to see how she is feeling on Friday.
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I got my third shot (Moderna, after two Pfizer shots) and the flu shot last night. I feel pretty crummy today. Same side effects as js619. Feels like I got punched in the arm. Mild headache, fatigue, some mild body aches. Similar to my second pfizer shot. Treated with some Ibuprofen. Small price to pay to protect myself, my family and friends, any my community.
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Getting my booster in the first week of December.
My goddaughter, despite her parents’ best efforts and her own conscientious approach, has got covid because the government thinks it’s just super to let it run wild in schools. Not fucking best pleased, am I. On the plus side, she’s young enough that there’s minimal chance of her being harmed, AFAIK, and is weathering it with her usual cheer. I wish I could say the same for the 100+ dead children we’ve had in this country this year from covid. Fuck the Tories.
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I’m visiting Plague Island this week to see my Dad who’s in hospital with (non-COVID-related) breathing problems. I’m a bit bothered that my young nephew will be there - as @OhBollox said, the UK seems astoundingly relaxed about the virus recirculating in schools.
Germany is still talking a lot about who gets boosters, and when, and why, but that just seems to be how things are done. Hopefully agreement comes by the new year when my 6 months are up.
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I haven’t had a booster yet, but my second dose of Moderna also sucked, and I figure that’s a good thing. More reaction, more antibodies. You can probably go out and lick doorknobs now without issue, if you were so inclined.
Kids both got Pfizer dose 1 on Saturday, went well with no ill effects. Scheduled dose 2 for 12/4, so Christmas at least can be totally normal this year, if also a bit rushed to do a lot of our running around in the span of a week or so between when they are fully vaxxed and when Christmas Day happens.
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Didn’t consider the suckiness / antibodies equation, but that is a plus, as I’ve seen some rather tasty looking doorknobs as of late.
Good to know on the kids too, was pretty concerned for that. Hard enough to keep them still for the shot itself, let alone having to worry about the side effects.
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also glad to hear, the kids fared well. As I mentioned above, my daughter gets hers tomorrow. What I would have given for this to be a month ago though. We travel Thanksgiving week (week of 11/22 here in the US) to Nevada from NY to see my family. She will be 11 days into her vax round 1. We will probably have the 2nd shot in 2nd week of Dec. I would have been happier to have had both shots before plane travel, but at least this will be better than nothing.
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We’ve got to get my daughter scheduled for her vax (my wife may have already done this without my remembering, surprise surprise) and boosters for ourselves, but it’ll be a small price to pay to feel (more) comfortable around my immunocompromised father-in-law at Christmas. We’re driving out to Illinois then simply to avoid the wonders of plane travel–did it over the summer and don’t want to repeat the experience any time soon.
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Took my son last week for his first shot (he’s 5), and kind of had to spring it on him, as we received the notification that they were available that day while he was in kindergarten. So it was essentially him getting into the car at pick-up, and me saying, “So, uhm, guess what we’re going to go do?”
He was not pleased.
They do them at the health dept here with assistance from Army medics, and all the personnel were wonderful. My son hates shots (I had to hold him on my lap), but afterwards, he told me he hardly felt it and that Corporal Smith was the best doctor ever.
We then went and got a waffle cone, so all in all it was a good experience I think.
I am looking forward to getting my own booster asap. I wasn’t aware that they were available for the general population here in the US.
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I’m not sure if they are available for g-pop yet; at least in NJ there are certain criteria to be met. That being said, no one really checks if you’re immunocompromised or have an underlying health condition. 
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That “Normal Island” photo has me pining for the courage to propose my favorite idea for a t-shirt for my kids’ school. I’d love one which says “A perfectly normal school, in a perfectly normal town” to be sold in early fall, as a Halloween-themed thing.
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Having a weird one. Whatever it is, I’m halfway through a 10-day board gaming retreat, and I haven’t had the heart to play anything today. Or see or talk to anyone here, all of whom are friends, some I’ve known for decades. Whether I’ve grown used to being on my own a lot or what, I don’t know, but today my mind and my mood are not co-operating. I feel worse because I’ve wasted a day, and there are games to play and fun to be had, but something inside me is not working properly. I don’t have a hard time being social, so this is confusing and painful. I wish I could blame lack of sleep (we’ve had some 4 a.m. finishes), too much booze (possible, but my capacity is widely spoken of), or both, but I think I’m just having a harder time with other people in general.
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My group has our week long board game holiday at a town that has thermal hot pools. It’s not uncommon at all for individuals to take a break and go and relax their bodies and brains at the pools. Sustained multi day board gaming is hard on the brain, specially combined with late nights and early mornings trying to cram as many games in as you can. I’ve had to practice a bit of self care and walk away to let my brain relax before getting back into it
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There’s also something to be said for the difficulty of “getting back to normal” after all these months of pandemic-imposed restrictions. I’ve been teaching college courses for 15 years, but my first couple of months this semester felt like I was a newbie again. Reacclimating to being around others has been tough. Some days, I feel not only that I want to leave work (normal), but I also don’t belong there at the moment.
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10 days is pretty intense especially after a year and a half of relative isolation. I agree with @Snotty128 here; it’s ok to step away from the boards and people and have a quiet day with a book and a few pints or whatever. Listen to the weirdness, step out for a bit of self-care, and if and when you’re ready go back in and kick arse, recharged.
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There’s also an element of deprivation of solitude. So many of us have transitioned to working from home a lot that, while socialization with friends has been rare, being the only person at home has also been rare. Depending on what restores you, this could be a worst-case scenario in which you don’t get rich social experiences, but also don’t get genuine breaks from social concerns.
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Ack, the downside of encroaching middle age. Had the recommended general check-up including blood tests, an ultrasound (not part of the checkup as such, but the doctor took the opportunity to do a general inspection*), and an uncomfortable but brief inspection of my man bits. All good, no problems spotted, and my liver looked especially healthy in the ultrasound - I expressed interest in the results and the doctor talked me through the images, and those were indeed some fine looking hepatic blood vessels.
This is something I’d been putting off, especially given the indignities involved, but I’m happy to have done it finally. To any other of you gentlemen of a certain maturity out there, do the same. You never know.
*I resisted the urge to ask if it was a boy or a girl. Didn’t want to test my German doctor‘s sense of humour.
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Yep. I had the doctor have a general rummage of my parts and have encouraged my friends to do the same. I did feel quite insulted that he checked my blood pressure and lung capacity twice, but thankfully he did not double check my prostate.
Never too soon to get things checked out, including stuff you will put off, like colorectal check ups.
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