Left Plague House for Office and back again..

[shadowkat]

So, I dragged my sorry ass to the office today. (For those who haven't been following along? I live in South Brooklyn and work in Jamaica, Queens - which is an hour and a half commute give or take. I walk, take a subway, walk, train, walk. Plus lots of steps in between - because trains being trains aren't at street level.

The commute is mostly exhausting because of other people. It's public transportation. And the public is annoyingly self-centered.

They either aren't wearing masks or taking up too much room or both. Tempting as it was to take off mine and see if I infect anyone (unlikely, my viral load was gone by Sunday), I didn't. And wore the tight fighting KN95 mask.

On the commuter train, I got up to put my backpack on and get out of my seat, when the dingbat a row behind me got impatient and tried to jump ahead only to ram into me.

Dingbat (actually make that short Dingbat): Excuse me!
Me (turning to look down at the little woman): Sorry?
Dingbat: You should say "Excuse Me!"
I give her a weary look. And whisper hoarsely. "I'm sorry." (I really don't give a shit about this woman.)
Dingbat realizing that getting angry and picking a fight with an annoyed giant (who is taller and bigger than she is) wearing a mask who looks a bit wobbly on her feet, and is putting on a back-pack that appears heavy and comes just above her head, while de-boarding a train early in the morning, during a pandemic is possibly not the brightest idea on the planet - makes a quick last minute save. "Okay, do you want any help with the bag?" (Possibly concerned I may wop her in the head with it.)
Me: No. (Irritated I move ahead, quickly and off the damn train.)

By the time I got to my cubicle, put away my lunch, went to the bathroom, and filled my water bottle - I was about ready to collapse on the floor in a bedraggled heap. Instead of sitting down though - AA waylaid me and proceeded to throw a ton of information my way on a whole new process that management had bugged him to tell me first thing this morning.

I'm not a morning person, normally. Add recuperating from COVID to the mix, and well. I just stared up at him...in bewilderment. Up, because I managed to make my way to my chair somewhere in the midst of the diatribe, and collapse. Afterwards, I told him that I got maybe half of it.

AA (whispers): Were you sick?
Me (in a breathy whisper): yes. I feel like I've had the wind knocked out of me.
AA: Why are you back? They don't give us nearly long enough. I made them give me at least seven days. Five is not enough. I still had a cough, couldn't make it up and down my steps at home, and half my house still had it - so I was barricaded in my room. This thing isn't like a cold it wallops you.
ME: Eh...I didn't think I could stay out any longer? Also no real fever..
AA (livid): you should have asked for more time. (he stalks off)

Sigh.

Then I was inundated with emails. And everything I'd been waiting for on all my projects was leveled at me at the same time.

Good news? I don't have to follow up with anyone. Also, the attorney has COVID too - so there may be a little wiggle room before I have to release the next thing.

At any rate, Crazy Workplace decided to come at me full force, in the face, guns blazing. "WELCOME BACK! HERE'S WORK! YEA!"

And I'm like, frigging hell, back off, work. I'm here. What do you want? You gave me this bloody virus, now back the fuck off.

It did. Kind of.

I told more folks than I planned to that I had COVID, just to get them to back the frack off. Babs had gotten worried about me - and texted me at home Monday and Tuesday to see if I was okay. And so did Sci-fi/Book Buddy Co-worker, and BYT. They all know it's COVID. Breaking Bad asked if I was feeling okay today at work. I let him know it was COVID. (Mainly to get him to back off a little.)

Babs: So how are you?
ME: (I regale her with the same crap I regaled you.)
Babs: Ugh. I feel so bad. And I'm so sorry.
Me: Why are you sorry? You didn't give it to me.
Babs: I know. I'm sorry you got it and you it here. You shouldn't have. This was so wrong.

She's right. There's no reason why we couldn't have continued working remotely.

D: Do your time sheet.
Me: I was out sick yesterday.
D: I thought just Friday.
Me: I had COVID. It was five days. I was out Friday - Tuesday. I told you this on Friday, remember?
D: Yes, I remember. But you didn't complete your time sheet and I am doing time sheets now and don't want to make any mistakes. Did you get the forms?
Me: the forms are attached.
D: I don't need the forms, just wanted to know if you got them.
Me: Do I do the time sheet now or do you?
D: I'll do it.

I swear, I'd have been better off if I had tested positive on Monday - then I'd have gotten the week and the weekend.

The cough, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, head ache, are pretty much gone. Well there is still some congestion in the chest, and an occasional cough here and there - but nothing major. I never had much of a fever to speak of. I honestly can't remember the last time I ran a fever over 100 degrees or even a 100 for that matter. It may have been in 2019. But god, the fatigue and brain fog are the absolute worst.

I felt like I'd run a marathon by the time I got to work this morning. Or climbed fifty flights. I felt dizzy, and kind of wobbly. Also very winded, like I had to pause for a bit to catch my breath.

The brain fog is also present and comes in waves. I be going along, and then forget what I was doing. Or head to pick up something from the copy machine, get interrupted and forget about the copy machine completely.
I can't do Wordl at all - not that I was brilliant at it to begin with.

None of this is helped by the hot flashes. I'm averaging three - four a day at the moment. And they bring on the wobbly and light-headed off feeling.
I get hot, sweat, and suddenly cool down. Body's air conditioning system is out of wack. Doctor refuses to fix it. And I'm hoping it passes. It does eventually. But I have noticed that COVID does tend to cause it to spike. The vaccines did. And so does getting sick with COVID, apparently. COVID and its vaccine throw my body's heating and cooling system out of wack.

Messaged Doc about these entertaining side effects, and she informed me that they were normal, and unfortunately the fatigue would last a while. They'd monitor it of course, and keep them updated.

Anyhow, after about two or three hours at work - I was more or less fine. Although, in hindsight, deciding to eat the five day old chicken salad I made myself last Thursday night, probably wasn't the brightest thing I've done. I picked at it, and ate a little. I threw out the rest. It was disgusting. It's a minor miracle that I didn't have digestive issues.

I did get a lot done today - things that would have been harder to do at home. (Although not impossible). More than expected, actually. And I didn't let work overwhelm me - so kudos.

The main side-effects of this thing seem to be:

* Irritability
* Exhaustion (most likely the cause of the irritability)
* Fatigue
* Brain Fog
* Hot flashes/night sweats (which may just be menopause)

It's so much fun to go through menopause during a pandemic.

Tomorrow, I've got to do laundry when I get home. And hopefully make my bed up clean.

***

Discovery S2

As stated in a previous post - I finished S1 Discovery on Monday, I think. The ending was better than well, everything prior? Fuller and Star Trek are unmixy things - keep show-runners like Fuller out of the franchise. They don't understand Trek. Really, you should just have Trek fans run Trek, anyone else will just muck it up.

S2 has Michelle Yeoh, and we actually have an arc for her, and she's a delicious ambiguous character. A kind of trickster character. Far more interesting that her previous incarnation. So, for that - I'm grateful to Fuller. But that's about it. I'm on the fence about the complicated Tyler Ash, who is a Klingon inside a human skin, with a human mind. He's kind of a meld of Klingon and Human. How he got that way is gross and something out of Hannibal or Farscape. At any rate, everyone including Ash and the audience is confused about who the heck Ash is. That said, I'm glad that he sticks around - he's kind of intriguing. And brings a nice friction to the show.

If S1 killed characters off, S2 is bringing them back. Wilson Cruz who was killed off in S1, is brought back in S2, providing Anthony Rap's Paul Puntz with something to do besides sit in the spore chamber. We also have the cool addition of an old female engineer - who does things the old school way.

I liked to get rid of a few characters - fish head, and the robot. But that's just me.

We also have the additions of Anson Mount's Pike, and Spock. Both of which are more than welcome. Also the current incarnation of Spock is far more attractive and more interesting than Leonard Nimoy. Granted he has a better costume and material at the moment. S2 also references a lot of old original Trek stories, and delves into the history, science, and mythos of Trek more. (While S1 spent far too much time with Klingons, and warfare, and torture. Hence the reason it was a slog to get through. The writing so far is better with this season.)

Comments

[mtbc]

Saru grew on me over time. The Klingons, less so.

[atpo_onm]

I live in South Brooklyn and work in Jamaica, Queens - which is an hour and a half commute give or take. I walk, take a subway, walk, train, walk. Plus lots of steps in between - because trains being trains aren't at street level.

Some time back I had posted a reply where you had mentioned the (to me, astounding) distance of your commute, and I had humorously given you the superhero name "Commuterwoman!!"

"Look! Up on the El! Down in the Subway! It's..."

(And you corrected me on the "El" part, that that was Chicago or somesuch. Heee...)

But in all seriousness, I am amazed that you (normally) do all this on a 5-day-a-week basis, and are still even reasonably sane or not in a hospital with all manner of stress-induced illnesses. The longest distance I ever had to regularly ride in a bus was in my sophomore year of high school, which was maybe 45 minutes as the bus worked it's way through southern Lancaster County picking up students. The kids were nearly always rowdy-- I genuinely pitied the poor bus driver who would keep telling them to behave and they'd simply ignore him.

One of the best moments in my life to that point was getting a driver's license and a car and being able to drive to school (and elsewhere) for my junior and senior year. Still, it was at least 25 to 30 minutes from where I lived then in the southern rural area to school or to the city, and before moving there, I simply could walk or ride my bike pretty much anywhere I wanted to go, often arriving in 10 or 15 minutes.

Since then, the longest commute to work (by car) would have been about 35 minutes, and later on when I worked in the audio biz it was a mere 15 minutes.

I literally could not do what you do, my brain and body could not stand it. I would be in a stress-induced hospital stay or else jail when I got fed up enough to ram my car into some idiot driver who pissed me off sufficiently.

And... I'm actually a very good driver, and normally very calm, and not subject to road rage. (There are a few epithets hurled at the deserving on occasion, but they never hear them, so...)

For me, it it was an absolute necessity to take on a certain job, I would simply have to move closer to it. For the last twelve years now, there are a number of drawbacks to being self-employed and working out of one's home, but missing the commute? Big, big plus for me!

So, as I said, you are extremely impressive in this regard. Kudos. :-)

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, that seems way too soon to have to be back alright -- both for you and your office mates since you could work from home.

Also, the attorney has COVID too - so there may be a little wiggle room before I have to release the next thing.

We're down to being relieved other people are also sick...

[svgurl]

You definitely should've been able to continue working from home and that sucks that you had to go back in so soon, both before you got COVID and after you did. Sounds exhausting. I know things can pile up but hopefully you're not taking it too hard outside of work, which seems unfortunately unavoidable.