Update for Everyone VIII: He who laughs have the last laugh

[Torrain]

I tested negative again today.

My uni's decided to throw money at their testing program to stay open through the winter, so I've opted into a weekly SARS-CoV-2 saliva-test trial. It's weird, and I now spend more time dribbling into sample cups than I do meeting people face-to-face, but it's kinda reassuring to get a text from the local NHS lab each week, reminding you that you've not got the virus.

If only they'd alter the format so that the preview didn't read as:

MR ******, YOU'VE TESTED

......


NEGATIVE.

That's caught me out several times.

[Torrain]

My 82 year old grandmother got her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday! They actually phoned her up, in a rush to find some locals to take the last few doses of the vaccine before the local stocks expired (it's got.

She's been living by herself for a few years now, and has been rather isolated through this whole affair, so it's been a real boon for her. A more social, less isolated future seems possible again, even if that's still months away. (Don't worry, we've talked, and she knows well enough to keep masked up, and especially to stay safe while she waits for her second dose).

She was one of the family members I've been most concerned about, and I've been on edge thinking about her since last March. She's got at least one underlying condition, in her lungs of all places, so it's genuinely exciting that she's able to get this kind of support.

So, here's to Liz, who survived being orphaned as a young adult, made it all the way through the Troubles in Northern Ireland while raising three children, and has remained chipper, even when she had to care for both her husband and daughter while they battled terminal cancer, through her 70s and 80s.

[Torrain]

Got an offer to undertake a PhD in molecular virology this week.

It’s been a long, arduous application process, and I’m just in shock that I actually managed to make the cut. Four years in the north of England will be a strange change, but I’m excited to get to study COVID-19 full time. It’s going to be a fascinating four years.

[Torrain]

Got my first jab before heading down to England.

Was served in a huge, emptied supermarket, in a struggling local town. Was impressed by the sheer scale of the place. A ton of planning had gone into the floor plan, from waiting stations to shielded booths. The staff, most of whom were clearly retirees, were excellent.

They were servicing a dozen at a time, and the place was running at full capacity. Never been so proud of NHS Fife, a service which already has a big mandate, trying to serve a number of isolated rural areas with long, crumbling roads and populations with poor health outcomes.

Most proud of my country I’ve been in a long time, comparable only to our moment on the international stage in the 2012 Olympics.

[Torrain]

Finally got my second dose of Pfizer.

Feeling the lethargy today, but very relieved to finally be fully dosed. 

[Torrain]

My clinically vulnerable (but vaccinated) father and grandmother have both recovered from COVID-19 after a particularly rough fortnight. Finally breathing a sigh of relief.

[Torrain]

The online proctoring programs universities/professors are making students use for exams are creepy as hell.   AI analysis on you through the camera & recording your screen, requiring ID and a room scan, etc.   Seems like students of an earlier generation would have made a much bigger fuss about it.

Dang, that’s intrusive.

I’ve sat exams at two separate universities since the pandemic began, and both took the better option of retooling the exams to test your ability to understand and explain the course material, rather than just recite the syllabus. As a result, they could just leave us to our own devices during the exam hours, secure that if we hadn’t bothered to learn the material, our essays would be crap, and they could just mark us down (pass rates remained fairly stable, so something must have worked).

Seems a lot easier, and safer, than forcing students to download spyware.

[Torrain]

I’ll be graduating from my Masters with a Distinction!

Really thought I might have flubbed it, but managed to make it through despite COVID screwing up all my original research plans.

Fees a bit weird, because I’ve just moved cross-country to a new city, on a tight budget now I’m living off a PhD stipend and trying to save-up, so I can’t really celebrate with friends. Guess the result is relief enough though.

[Torrain]

hello all

do u think it is possible for ppl or demonic entities to remote view ur dreams

i have been for the last few days it feels like in my sleeping brain there is a intruder viewing my dreams or hovering around me in my sleep

wild stuff, greatly concerning tho bcuz idk how to prevent demons from being in my brain while i am asleep

That's not a fun experience, whatever's going on. Sounds a wee bit like the side effects of sleep paralysis:
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/sleep-paralysis-demon-in-the-bedroom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis

It's famous for making people thing there's something evil or dangerous in your room as you sleep. It's thought that something goes wrong in your midbrain, which triggers a hyper-vigilant state, and contributes to a sense of wrongness that can lead to hallucination in some cases.

It's a longstanding phenomenon - here's an artistic rendition from 1781:

[Torrain]

So, I was dozing off, trying to sleep off the virus I caught this week (pretty sure it’s not that one), when my phone blares to life with the BBC News klaxon. Somehow I’d knocked silent mode off, at the highest volume.

Blearily pick up phone, and see the words “Charles pays tribute to Queen…”
Have a small heart attack, as I hazily think about constitutional chaos, huge crowds of drunk royalists already in London getting more emotional, and the absolute glut of media that’s about to hit the airwaves.

Recheck notification, and realise that the Queen hasn’t died in the middle of her Jubilee, Charles is just saying nice things about her on TV, and the BBC are having a really royalist week. Guess I’m awake again now lol.

BBC News context for non-countrymen: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xavWxTsclDQ

[Torrain]

I keep coming across posts that seem a tad edgier than I usually write - and wondering what kind of weird mood I was in when I posted them...

...And then I realised Mr X is using the same avatar as me, and my observation skills might just be bad.

[Torrain]

i want to brutally exterminate mosquitos

You may be in luck…
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/07/28/1020932493/how-an-altered-strand-of-dna-can-cause-malaria-spreading-mosquitoes-to-self-dest?t=1661818412757

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02087-5