I've been wanting to write about a very dark period in history, and I have been hesitating because, well, I have never been quite sure if it ever truly ended.
No, I am not talking about the dark era of Pauly Shore movies...and unless you look for them on a streaming platform, the era is dead.
Sadly, I refer to the COVID pandemic, and it seems that the pandemic ended officially in May of 2023. It had its roots in late 2019, but the real "fun" began in 2020.
The effects linger. If you look around, there are still people who refuse to remove their masks in public. Health providers and pharmacies still try to push the latest COVID vaccine. Truthfully, I got the vaccine pair in early 2021 because my job security kind of relied on it. I know people are still getting the vaccine yearly just like they do the flu vaccine.
A question: are the vaccines a form of brainwashing the public into thinking the vaccine will save their lives? There is so much debate on this, actually there is debate on pretty much every vaccine that is out there. Here are some things I know.
I had the MMR shots when I was a baby. I never got measles, mumps, or rubella. Measles disappeard for a long while until recently when poeple stopped getting or giving their kids the measles vaccine, and now measles are on the rise again. The causality here seems clear, but there is also the question of, were there everlasting effects from those vaccines?
You know what I am getting at, right? The whole autism thing. Well, I have figured out over the past few years that I have some Asperger's upstairs that has been a major factor in terms of my thinking and social experiences in my life. I think my dad has a little as well, so I don't think the vaccines made me a lovable social outcast.
Until some solid research is done and causal data is found, there won't be an answer...and I do not think many people really want a factual answer because they want to stick to their beliefs...sometimes it is all they have to hold on to.
Vaccines were not the only celebrity panelists on The COVID Squares. There was also the disruption to education. That's the part that hit me and many teachers and students the hardest, because students stayed home for pretty much a whole year. I remember how it all began...lots of rumors and less than solid news reports about the COVID disease for two months.
Then one weekend in mid March 2020, Vickie and I were treated by a friend to floor tickets for the Billy Idol concert and it was a blast! I was belting iut the lyrics with everyone else and having the time of my life. The next day, Natalie informed me that school was canceled for the next 3 weeks, right up to Spring Break.It was the start to one of the weirdest times I can remember.
The first week was a lot of nothing, just a pause while the school district figured out what to do. I just sat at home with the family watching TV or doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles. The stores were populated with long lines of panicked folks buying bottled water and toilet paper. I assume they are down to their last 7 TP packs by now.
And then the district had us doing well checks on the kids while we tried to assign them things. I kept it light but a lot of kids weren't engaged in much anyway. Before long it was Spring Break and the district kept everyone home on the same program throughout mid-late May.
Mind you, before this whole debacle began, I had lost 20 pounds doing a low carb, high protein and fat regimen. Some of this home time brought it up a bit but not badly. When one is stuck at home waiting for whatever, the eating can become quite shitty, especially when we were grateful to have food on the grocery shelves.
As all the hotels and casinos had closed, we took a drive on the Las Vegas Strip one night in April. What used to be up to an hour of stop and go no matter what time of night took us a mere 16 minutes from Fremont Street to Russell Road.
One casino hotel that was a favorite of ours, Texas Station, would never oppen its doors again, and was demolished a few years ago for alternate development. Buffets and salad bar places like Sweet Tomatoes also shut down for good.
The casualties of war I guess.
In later May, it was decided that since the fifth grade could not have an official graduation, we (the school staff) would do a car parade with all the graduates driving by as we held up signs of congratulations. It was the first time many of us had seen each other in person in 2 months.
And then...nothing for a bit. At least as far as work went. I proceeded to begin my famous walking regimen that month, trying out different routes. Walking up into the Aliante area was my regular bit, going anywhere between 5 and 8 miles a few times a week while staying low carb and cooking healthy. By the time mid July hit, I had lost about 40 pounds.
Meanwhile, everyone was mask obsessed.
One day some of us gathered at school to gather items for the popcorn sales we had done prior to the shutdown. It was also an opportunity to get some belongings and papers some students had left behind. That would be about it until August...when the real fun would begin...
