Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

In early May I tested negative for antibodies. In mid June, I tested positive. A few weeks after that my wife tested negative, and today one daughter tested negative. So right now I'm going to presume I got a false positive. But I'm donating blood again in a month, and if I come up positive *again* when they do their complimentary test I'll consider it more likely that I *am* positive, and that (maybe) my wife and daughter tested false negative. Or true negative and just never caught it from me? Or maybe because if I had it it was super-mild, so it was not enough of a viral load to transfer? For sure I was not coughing or sneezing or anything, and by March we were all washing our hands a lot, so maybe they just lucked out.

Yeah, clearly I need to get my shit back in perspective. I know this, logically. In practice though, it's proving tougher than usual to do.

I tested negative for antibodies. In mid June, I tested positive. A few weeks after that my wife tested negative, and today one daughter tested negative. So right now I'm going to presume I got a false positive. But I'm donating blood again in a month, and if I come up positive *again* when they do their complimentary test I'll consider it more likely that I *am* positive, and that (maybe) my wife and daughter tested false negative

It's Schrodinger's test. It's simultaneously positive and negative, false and true. You cannot know unless you test, and then the quantum waveform collapses.

If I got a taste of my old life - gigs, friends, family, night life, restaurants - and had to go back to this, I am not sure my heart could take the whiplash.

Yesterday me and the wife and kid drove 9 hours back to the area of michigan where we grew up to meet up with 2 friends and their two kids who live in chicago now. Both households totally isolated themselves for two weeks - no socially-distanced visits, grocery delivery only, no going into gas stations and peeing on dirt roads off the freeway while traveling - and three of the four adults got tested and everyone is negative.

We're all staying at a house on Lake Superior and walking into the place was INTENSE as it was the closest any of us have been to other people since March. It was like a huge weight lifted and everyone was just so eager to talk to each other and drink beers together and the kids (4, 5, and 6) went crazy and have been playing with each other like mad and stayed up til midnight and it's so good to just be around other people and to see our only child have actual interaction with other kids. It's going to be incredibly harsh to give this up in a few days and I expect to feel incredibly depressed by it but it's still worth it.

aww

A+

Isolation is, to quote the Catholic mea culpa, is just and necessary, but we need contact. Socialize with relatives and friends, wear masks, hang out outside.

god bless. i am preparing to go back to my ceramic studio in the next week or two and it's giving me heebies and jeebies to just think about getting back on the subway again. it's gonna take time.

By chance I ran into my beloved niece this morning and gave her... an elbow bump. It felt radical and daring. I washed my elbow.

Later (as noted) my wife and I went for an outdoor meal (tapas and way too much sangria). We were served food by a waiter! We asked for more sangria! Paid the check with a credit card! Walked home in disbelief at the novelty of it.

Fun but probably won't happen again for at least three months.

for at least three months.

maybe consider doing it again before all vestiges of good weather disappear :-)

went to the pub a couple of weekends ago for the first time since mid-march. felt weird, but very needed. though we're relatively unscathed here (so far) - a study in the news today suggests that likely less than 1 in a 100 people in the area have been exposed to the VID - so it doesn't feel too weird or irresponsible. also made sure to tip well because I know all the servers

Feeling the recent posts by joygoat and table.

You won’t catch me dining in before 2021 probably.

We’re going to an island to spend two nights in a beach place at the start of august tho. I plan to bring the waffle iron.

My mom, sis, and two nieces ate outside at an almost deserted restaurant on Sanibel yesterday. I say "almost" because a geriatric couple hobbled in with masks held on by what looked like duct tape. Mask requirement in place. I/we felt safe.

maybe consider doing it again before all vestiges of good weather disappear :-)

Gah, I am not looking forward to this when it starts dropping down below 50 again, let alone in the dead of winter.

local theatre is putting on a production of Assassins. can't even believe it.

they claim the seating will be limited, social distanced, thorough cleaning of the theater, temperature checks, etc, but....my god is that a tone deaf move. and right now, most people have no interest in going.

the kicker is that one of the people sponsoring the show claims it needs to happen now because the message of the show is too timely to delay it (we LITERALLY did this production, he and I, back in 2018 - it gets done ALL OF THE TIME to the point where it's saturated in Orlando).

it opens tomorrow so I guess any chance of canceling it is over.

meanwhile, my other best friend (who I don't talk about as much) invited me to go to a local brewery Sunday. I was dumbfounded, and said "dude, did you forget bars without kitchens are closed statewide right now?".

even if they weren't, I'd only consider it with outdoor seating, which is my rule atm, and that particular brewery only has indoor seating due to food trucks taking up the outdoor space.

I also just want to say to Jon via chi and any others, my recent comment wasn't meant to be some 'woe is me but I'm positive so you should be too' type of thing. I've never found that sort of thing helpful so I'm sorry if it came off that way.

It was more explaining how I manage to stay even remotely positive in spite of the situation, and that is a direct result of the fucked-up nature of my past year or two of life.

Trust me when I say I am frightened and totally pessimistic at the moment. But the sky looked nice tonight, eh.

No worries table, I didn't take your comment as such. Just a reminder to myself more than anything. I was able to get out for about an hour and a half walk last night while the temp was still in the 70s, before it rockets back up to the 90s, so that helped quite a bit. Right now I'm just wishing some anxiety around work would resolve, but I'm trying to remind myself that its out of my hands and I'll just have to wait and see.

Okay, I'm glad! So much of what is happening at the moment is out of our hands, and so what we can do is simply embrace the necessary safety precautions and care for those around us in the best way we can...and also advocate for the destruction of a system that values capital over human life.

one side effect of only briefly leaving the apartment every third day or so for four months seems to be finding every person i encounter of the gender i'm attracted to unusually gorgeous

i myself, on the other hand, look like absolute shit

I bet all those other hotties are thinking the same thing though

feeling these posts

Gah, I am not looking forward to this when it starts dropping down below 50 again, let alone in the dead of winter.

god when all this bullshit started I was taking a nightly walk in a hoodie and workout pants and now it's 92 at midnight

Spring can’t come soon enough. I want to sit out.

I'm not in any hurry to get back down below 50 or anything, but considering we are going to be planted firmly in the 90s here all weekend I wouldn't mind some middle ground.

You can still socially distance outside with friends at 92. Enjoy it now while you can. Quarantine in February in the 20s-30s is going to be grim.

I’m far more likely to socialize outdoors at 32 than 92. Fire pits and whiskey can do the warming.

Agreed with Milo. All I want to do is be naked in my house atm.

Also feeling mookie's posts about everyone being hot. But while I feel like I look like shit, gotta say that I have been cruising and getting cruised at the grocery store lol.

when this is all said and done, the orgies in local town squares will be glorious

blood results came back, no antibodies. and I finally know my blood type.

also gave me my cholesterol, which is still 'high', but about 35 points lower than last checkup.

I have a friend who has been not so subtly flirting with me for the last year, and just dated some guy who actually shares my first name (only to break up with him 3 weeks later), so she's started up again.

I'm friendly with her but I've never really been interested (honestly, I'm not interested in dating ANYBODY during a pandemic), so I low-key found an excuse not to hang out today (besides not wanting to increase my social bubble, since I am visiting a friend with cancer this week).

just dated some guy who actually shares my first name

that was more "coincidence" than anything, but he turned out to be some weird sexist and COVID truther.

Didn't know your first name was Donald.

fuck that the very concept of "COVID Truther" exists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPObzJkWueY

xp

It doesn't just exist, it's extremely widespread

xpost LOL

Former coworker on FB asking "serious questions" about how the data for testing numbers is collected and are there various ways it could be screwed up. Very clear that she and her circle of friends are looking for reassurances and reinforcing their own beliefs that it's all massively blown out of proportion. RMDE

Just send her links about how certain states are suppressing numbers.

I opting not to engage and considering hiding or unfriending.

Yeah, that's a mute minimum, drop a link then defriend if you're feeling frisky.

$200 Fines for not weaRing a mask out of home in Melbourne from Wednesday

I got a (sad) hoot out of the video of the surfer bros comically trying to hand out masks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3PSISAZL8

It's like watching a mash-up of "Bill & Ted" and the fight scene from "They Live."

I did enjoy

surfer bro pulling his mask over his nose while talking is making an interesting point

more depressing than funny, i have to say

just dated some guy who actually shares my first name

if this is flirting, it is expert level
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, July 18, 2020 10:30 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

"Oh please, like there aren't hundreds of guys in this town named Casimir"