20 Days of Chill / Ultimate Blog Challenge - Covid / My Two Cents

Welcome back to another Combo of 20 Days of Chill and Ultimate Blog Challenge. Today's prompts are

<sigh> Covid

and

Share Your Two Cents

and I think they go hand in hand beautifully.

Of course there had to be a pandemic related topic over the course of this month, right?

Just yesterday we learned that in Switzerland the restrictions have been extended until the end of March, as infection rates are currently going through the roof.

The "good" news seems to be that while Omicron is super infectious, it's not as deadly. 

Hospitals that have been overwhelmed by the amount of Covid patients, are now facing a different challenge: their staff and / or their family members are affected by the virus, and the already short-staffed medical teams have to cover their shifts with even less personnel. 

I remember in March 2020, hubby said this is going to  

• be an intelligence test (as in "not willing to follow directions to protect yourself")
• cause havoc among our society and economy

I always hate to admit when his negative predictions turn out to be correct. In this case I have to add that it's become even worse. I somewhat lost my faith in humanity. I used to be a people person who was curious and open to get to know people of all walks of life and learn from their different perspectives.

Some days, however, I feel like I shelve (or box?) and almost hate certain people.

No - not "unvaccinated" or "vaccinated". 

More like "selfish", "super selfish" and "full-on jerk". 

I mean, there's regular people at the supermarket who irritate me because they won't keep their distance or wear their mask properly, but then there are people who not only should know better but should actually act as roles models. 

Think Justices at the U. S. Supreme Court.

As a Swiss person, I have never heard of Neil Gorsuch, and now that I have, I wish I didn't. 

One of his fellow Justices, Sonia Sotomayor, has diabetes as an underlaying condition and should not get infected with any virus, let alone Covid-19.

So of course she's trying to be extra cautious manoeuvring around the highly contagious Omicron. One would think the simplest little thing that her colleagues could do to make her feel more at ease, was to wear their mask, and I understand, most of the Justices actually do. 

However, this Neil person - who sits directly next to her - refused, resulting in Sonia's participating remotely from her chambers.

What ever happened to common decency and consideration?

You know what this feels like to me?

Sonia sits in time-out because Neil does not play nicely. 

Shouldn't it be the other way round? 

Better yet, if everybody was playing by the rules, they could all be working together in the same room.

OK, now that I got this off my chest, we'll resume our usual program:

Let's make the best of it.

That's easy for us to say. Our family has gotten off easy so far. No quarantine during all that time. We're triple-vaccinated and have been spared from a breakthrough. Left and right I hear of people who weren't that lucky. They got boostered, still caught the virus and suffer from quite severe symptoms. 

A friend's daughter suffers from Long Covid. She's not hungry. She's exhausted just from walking to school, once she's there, she has a hard time focussing. During PE she sits on the bench. Meanwhile the girl's Grandpa, who suffers from dementia, lives in a home. Visitors have to be vaccinated or tested. Among his family members there two people who meet these criteria: My friend and her sister. Meaning the others can't be bothered to get tested. So this man, he's not even that old but very fragile, may be wasting away, all alone. Oh, did I mention he tested positive. 

Didn't I just say we're focusing on the positive (and by that I mean, really positive, as in joyful) things? 

Let's try again.

Except for a couple of weeks in spring of 2020, Colin has always been able to attend school in person. While his category's hockey championship 2020/21 was canceled before it really began, the season 2021/22 looks brighter on many levels: so far every practice and every game was able to take place. Also they lead the table after 13/21 games. They have two serious rivals, one of which they will play on Saturday. Wish them luck!

Our business is going well. Some of our team members work from home (by choice), while others  - like hubby and I - are present physically. I am super grateful for that. Can you imagine living together and working from home with your spouse? It would strain our relationship. 

Supplies - as long as it doesn't involve microchips - are reasonably available around here. I notice that one or the other product is missing from the shelf, but nothing dramatic. 

Restaurants are open, and as long as you present your Covid Certificate (proof of vaccination or recovery) you're free to eat out, which is a blessing. After two lockdowns between March 2020 and June 2021 I'm all cooked out. Also, while Colin trains, where would I go? Last winter was tough for me. They had even the seating areas removed from shopping centers, which closed at 7pm anyway. I practically lived in my car.

So the yummy Poke Bowl you can see in the picture at the top of this post, is available at Freiruum, my favorite hangout place. It's a multi purpose venue with lots of food stands that offer all kinds of international cuisines. I was obsessed with the Taco Factory for a while, but I got tired of it, plus my favorite lady doesn't seem to work there anymore, so I sort of moved on to Hawaii. 

So, I seem to have managed to go from rant to love food & peace.

ALOHA!

What's your state of mind these days? More importantly, are you healthy and thriving?