May is the endgame

Yesterday, President Biden announced the United States will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May - two months ahead of the previous projection. It seems the emergency approval of the third vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson is an absolute game-changer. If we all play our cards correctly, the Summer of 2021 will surely be memorable and spectacular.

I know I can’t wait. Due to happy circumstances, most of my friend group are either already fully vaccinated, or on our way to our second shot. By the first week of April, we will have group immunity against COVID. So of course we are planning a get-together to celebrate the occasion. A proper redo of the Thanksgiving gathering back in November that happened over Zoom. There will be many hugs, and not a mask to be found.

The smugness I have in being one of the lucky ones to receive the vaccine will be short-lived, and that’s a very good thing. Honestly, I do enjoy the playful arrogance that comes with being amongst the special caste of people that got vaccinated first. That said, things aren’t going to get back to normal until way more people get the shots. I am happy to hear that this will be soon. May is a mere two months away!

The U.S. developing three vaccines in such a short period of time is downright a miracle. A testament to the science and engineering might that’s possible when failure is not an option. The tragedy of over half a million Americans dying from COVID shouldn’t take away from this amazing feat. We can mourn and celebrate both separately, respectively.

I’ll see you all soon on the other side. God speed.

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False facade.

Tough week

How can it be a “short week” - due to the holiday on Monday - and yet it still feels interminable? The stress from work that I wrote about last week has not abated, though not that I expected it to. In the grand scheme of things, I should be happy that I am still employed, and free of the coronavirus.

And indeed it’s been a rather joyous week. The Biden inauguration signals a return of competence to the executive branch, putting an end to four years of Trump craziness. My littler brother - in some trouble with the law - found out he won’t have to serve time in prison during his sentencing hearing. An absolute act of mercy by the judge. Hopefully my brother can truly begin to turn his life around from the transgression. His debt to society will be paid, just not in a jail cell.

I shouldn’t let the burden of work overshadow such happy events, but it’s tough.

What I really want to do this weekend is take the M2 out for long drives. Problem is, we are still in a stay-at-home lockdown situation. While the chances of me contracting the virus is very slim - it’s just me alone in a car; what happens if I get into a heavy accident? I’d be taking up a precious ICU bed from a hospital system that’s already running dangerously low. Besides, I’ve heard that people who live near the mountain roads are quite sick of us enthusiasts blasting through them in our fast sports cars. The BMW badge screams douche, doesn’t it?

The vaccine can’t be proliferated fast enough. I’ve signed up for San Francisco’s COVID vaccine notification. Working in education, and having to physically go to work, means I’m in the tier just after the initial one. Difficult to say when Phase 1B Tier 1 will get our shots, but I’m optimistic it will be soon (we have a competent federal response now, remember). I eagerly await the email.

Until then, I’m staying put at home. Seeing my friend utterly struggle with COVID symptoms have reaffirmed my thinking that the risk of going outside is not worth the momentary rewards.

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Morning rays at the playground.

Morning in America

Ah, how nice is it to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about what crazy stuff the President has done this time. It’s a liberation that we have not known for the past four years. The sense that actual competence is in charge, and that ordinary citizens shouldn’t have to constantly worry about the country’s executive branch. Character matters. Kindness matters. And it’s welcoming to see integrity return to the highest office, the leader of the free world.

As we celebrate surviving the four years of Trump, we have to recognize the many that did not. The hundreds of thousands of Americans that didn’t need to die, if only we had a proper response to the coronavirus from the federal government. Folks of rural America, believing a con man can save them from their misery, but with only overdose death to show for it. The friends and family members, figuratively lost to the conspiracy rabbit hole, egged on by the self-affirming mechanisms of social media platforms.

The economy was going great, until it wasn’t. The one excuse that Trump supporters point to to explain away the many deficiencies of his presidency got utterly upended by COVID0019. How Trump must rue the misfortune of the pandemic. A better person would have seized the moment and lead with conviction. Trump only made it worse for himself by each misstep, doomed by the destiny of character that he so lacks.

That’s all over now, turning the page to the Biden presidency. After four years of sycophancy and nepotism, it’s such a relief to see capable people put back in charge. Normal has returned to Washington DC. Hopefully, with renewed effort on the vaccine rollout, normal will soon return to the rest of us as well.

God speed.

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Night changes.