A reflection of and on COVID-time
This is my memories of COVID-time [note; COVID-time is not over.]...
(pictured above is my second known masked picture)
It's January 2020 and we [my beloved, primary caregiver and wife -- I loves her] start hearing news of something spreading documented starts in China. We're in western Canada (Calgary, AB.) but not coastal and knowing a bit of how historical epidemic travel globally, I make a note to pay attention to it. My nervous, disabled self trying to plan ahead.
We did not modify our behaviours at all and were happily eating out at various restaurants and hosting a monthly social gathering to watch MCU movies.
We always tended to prefer the local restaurants over large franchises. And local sellers of stuff we want vs. further away. We want our good local businesses to thrive. We prefer to do neighbourhood then city, then province, then region and then country.
By May 2020 we were already wearing a mask... there's a replaceable filter inside of that mask. We also decided to stop the monthly socializing at that time.
Any time we left the apartment, we were masking. Even just to let our cat out in the hallway... masked. Grabbing mail from the mailbox... masked.
I started to collect and read vintage FASA BattleTech novels.
Got a my hair trimmed and beard groomed in the early summer.
In October 2020, our beloved cat Poptart passed away.
I started eating outside of restaurants but didn't stop eating inside very occasionally when few people were around until November 2020.
My cannabis as medicine (inhaled 4g / day) continues with no problems.
By December 2020, I had stopped going out unless I absolutely had to.
Also in December 2020, an anti-mask/anti-lockdown protest was held in Calgary.
This was a huge personal set back in my disabled life.
But we did not catch COVID.
2021 also had anti-lockdown / anti-vaccine protests right outside our apartment for a few weeks... and then they were moved to a park area not too far away and we could still hear them occasion.
I already had a negative view of individuals who... apparently did not understand basic science.
I started having an even dimmer view because those people actively want people like me dead.
The whiplash from celebrating the endurance and skills of front-line workers across many industries to these protests was intense.
I started to think, very unkindly, that unmasked individuals were also dead people.
I balance that thinking with remember NO ONE DESERVES TO GET SICK.
June 2021 (pictured above), we do the mass vaccination event at the convention centre [also the hottest day of the year and my Parkinsonian brain really doesn't like that] and that's when we first decided to use a wheelchair in larger areas where I had to otherwise endure standing and walking for long periods of time.
No side effects or even much in the way of sensitivity (bruising) to the vaccine injection site.
No hair cut or beard trimming.
One friend started coming over once a month or so after we all were feeling good about how masking and the vaccines had been working out.
Odds of all three of us being asymptomatic were pretty low.
My disappoint in local, provincial and federal leadership regarding controlling and mitigating COVID-time is profound. I'll never forgive them.
After putting effort into trying to figure out where to eat outside safely, one obvious answer was the farmers market and their outdoor eating area and the burger bus that opens early so we can also avoid the larger gatherings of people (pictured above, in a very Canadian way, January 22, 2022... chinooks are rather nice).
If the weather was a bit too chilly to sit outside, even with quilted flannel on, then we sit inside at a table near the doors and still early enough to avoid the larger groups of people.
But that was about it for eating out. If I could verify a place to eat with outdoor seating and worked with my disabled-schedule, then we would try places. Grab a taxi, head off, eat outside, taxi back home.
As a way to kill a lot of time and give some entertainment to some people, I started to remaster my mixtapes and uploading them to Mixcloud.
Friend was still visiting around once a month.
No haircut or beard grooming.
Had our vaccine boosters on schedule.
2023 continues with the same sorts of routine. Buy records for remastering mixtape purposes, collect and read more BattleTech novels, etc., etc..
Just going out to eat outside occasionally (picture from June 2023).
Still having a friend visit every month or so.
Still regular COVID vaccine booster shots.
2024 (picture from April 2024) we decided to take a calculated risk. We decided to go to the Fan Expo Calgary (or the Calgary Comics & Entertainment Expo, if you want).
This was to be our first mass gathering event since the first mass vaccine event at the convention centre.
Ordered VIP tickets for the primary perk of being able to get into the venue earlier.
Got our vaccine boosters.
Due to the nature of the event, we used one of the event center wheelchairs each day I could make it to Fan Expo (due to disability schedule, I can make 3 of 4 days).
Since I couldn't smoke my cannabis at the event, we loaded me with gummy edibles (4 on average to start) and away we went!
My beloved got to indulge happily into some animated X-Men fandom.
Started buying the G.I. Joe Classified line of toys.
By November 2024, I had burnt out on remastering or making new mixtapes. 30+ in 2 years is a lot (don't ask how much I spent).
(picture from April 2025)
Eating outdoors when we're up to it. Vaccine boosters.
Did the 2025 Fan Expo Calgary (VIP again). Still had a lot of fun. Mainly we're focusing on the sellers floor more than panels or other events.
Same as before, load me up on edibles, get me a wheelchair and have fun for the time we can be there.
Our beloved cat Mystique died in June.
We adopted our new beloved cat Collie in September.
(picture from April 2026)
Same old, same old. Vaccine boosters. Eating out when we're up to it. VIP Fan Expo.
We're at July 22nd today. It is hot and smoky right now.
We're just about to eat dinner from a local franchise (stuffed naan) and have a quiet night.
No one deserves to get sick (but I still very much struggle with looking at unmasked people in larger gatherings as dead people... this includes a whole lot of YouTube people I watch, sadly).
Rest in peace, all the people who got COVID and died.
Much empathy to those who got COVID and it never went away, the long-COVID cohort.
We can still turn this around to be a much more freeing time.
Public health measures that are actually enforced can still work.
I still haven't had a haircut or a beard trim since 2020.
If I had the resources...
2087
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