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COVID testing - try it if you haven't?
Dec. 14th, 2021 02:13 pmThis only applies to you if you are someplace where it's feasible and not too expensive to get a COVID-19 test. And in particular it applies to you if you sometimes get overwhelmed by logistics, especially unfamiliar logistics -- for instance, if you have executive function problems.
If you have never been tested for COVID, or if the last time you got tested was more than a year ago, then it might be worthwhile for you to get tested, just so you know how it works. Even if you have no symptoms.
If you get tested sometime when you're not too worried about it, then you get the process of getting tested into the "known things I know how to do" category in your brain.
And that way, if/when you actually do start feeling relevant symptoms, or find out you've been exposed, then you already know the drill of how to go get a high-quality molecular (PCR) test, how to make the appointment or whether you need one, where the facility is, how it will feel physically, what documents to grab for insurance or whatever, etc. Or, for self-tests with antigen tests/lateral flow tests, you'll know how to administer it and read the results. And so you will be able to deal with the current scary thing without also having to learn and deal with a bunch of new-to-you logistics.
Example: during the pandemic I've gotten tested several times through New York City's free testing facilities. So back in September, when I learned that I'd been exposed at an event, I knew exactly what to do and was able to quickly get a same-day appointment at an express location that does high-quality PCR tests and got me a result within three hours. If I had been dealing with the oh-no adrenaline AND trying to figure out how to go get tested, I might not have gotten that appointment and I might have had to wait days and days to get some peace of mind.
Again: I'm only suggesting this if it makes sense for your situation. Hope it helps.
If you have never been tested for COVID, or if the last time you got tested was more than a year ago, then it might be worthwhile for you to get tested, just so you know how it works. Even if you have no symptoms.
If you get tested sometime when you're not too worried about it, then you get the process of getting tested into the "known things I know how to do" category in your brain.
And that way, if/when you actually do start feeling relevant symptoms, or find out you've been exposed, then you already know the drill of how to go get a high-quality molecular (PCR) test, how to make the appointment or whether you need one, where the facility is, how it will feel physically, what documents to grab for insurance or whatever, etc. Or, for self-tests with antigen tests/lateral flow tests, you'll know how to administer it and read the results. And so you will be able to deal with the current scary thing without also having to learn and deal with a bunch of new-to-you logistics.
Example: during the pandemic I've gotten tested several times through New York City's free testing facilities. So back in September, when I learned that I'd been exposed at an event, I knew exactly what to do and was able to quickly get a same-day appointment at an express location that does high-quality PCR tests and got me a result within three hours. If I had been dealing with the oh-no adrenaline AND trying to figure out how to go get tested, I might not have gotten that appointment and I might have had to wait days and days to get some peace of mind.
Again: I'm only suggesting this if it makes sense for your situation. Hope it helps.
If you are in the United States, and you have health insurance, and you have been delaying your preventive care visits (doctor, dentist, etc.) because you're worried about COVID risk, I have a suggestion for you:
Consider that if you don't go soon, you may not be able to go till, like, March.
After Thanksgiving and Christmas, it might be like it was a year ago. A bunch of people will travel and gather indoors and transmit COVID to each other, and then bring COVID back to their workplaces/schools/etc. So the case numbers will go up, and won't come back down for months.
This might not be what happens. It depends on vaccination rates, and Delta or other COVID variants, and whether the supply chain crisis affects our abilities to find asymptomatic cases through testing, and so on. But it might happen. If you're seeing a dip in COVID cases in your area, if it's safer to be in indoor spaces with strangers now than it was two months ago, then that relative advantage may dissolve soon.
You can use ZocDoc to find health practitioners near you who take your insurance and book appointments online. The next few weeks are a really good time to do that.
Feel free to link to this publicly and share it.
Consider that if you don't go soon, you may not be able to go till, like, March.
After Thanksgiving and Christmas, it might be like it was a year ago. A bunch of people will travel and gather indoors and transmit COVID to each other, and then bring COVID back to their workplaces/schools/etc. So the case numbers will go up, and won't come back down for months.
This might not be what happens. It depends on vaccination rates, and Delta or other COVID variants, and whether the supply chain crisis affects our abilities to find asymptomatic cases through testing, and so on. But it might happen. If you're seeing a dip in COVID cases in your area, if it's safer to be in indoor spaces with strangers now than it was two months ago, then that relative advantage may dissolve soon.
You can use ZocDoc to find health practitioners near you who take your insurance and book appointments online. The next few weeks are a really good time to do that.
Feel free to link to this publicly and share it.
Got my first COVID-19 vaccination
Mar. 2nd, 2021 08:50 pmPosted to my other blog about getting my first COVID-19 vaccination, eligibility in New York, booking the appointment, and how the process went. Please feel free to link to that publicly.
need to take a break
Feb. 11th, 2021 07:23 amA few days ago I read a Huffington Post article about pandemic burnout and a therapist suggested that people should try to identify the biggest things stressing them out and set some limits around them. So I asked my friend the other day if he and I could have a call and sort of help me talk through that exercise, and so we did that last night.
I'm working on a book proposal and it is kind of a drag. Right now I'm in the phase of rewriting and reformatting stuff so it fits in various publishers' templates, which is tedious.
My friend and I talked about when I had last taken something of a vacation (a staycation of course). I haven't really intentionally taken multiple days OFF from work (even if it's unpaid work on the book) since like September, I think. I feel like I tried to take some time off in late December -- I made a vid, after all, so I must not have been trying to do client or book work -- but also that was during the Biden-has-not-yet-been-inaugurated-oh-God-what's-going-to-happen-next political mood which was not particularly conducive to relaxation.
So once I finish and send off this book proposal I'm going to take a week off and, like, make fanvids and read some "I've been meaning to read those for years, I'm sure I'd enjoy them" books, like Max Gladstone's Craft series and/or Becky Chambers's books. Maybe binge-watch a TV show.
Cirbus advises her patients to first identify the things stressing them out the most — maybe it’s the news, a job, or toxic convos with a friend — and make a plan to address them and set some healthy boundaries. From there, she recommends focusing on one or two things a day that you can accomplish.
I'm working on a book proposal and it is kind of a drag. Right now I'm in the phase of rewriting and reformatting stuff so it fits in various publishers' templates, which is tedious.
My friend and I talked about when I had last taken something of a vacation (a staycation of course). I haven't really intentionally taken multiple days OFF from work (even if it's unpaid work on the book) since like September, I think. I feel like I tried to take some time off in late December -- I made a vid, after all, so I must not have been trying to do client or book work -- but also that was during the Biden-has-not-yet-been-inaugurated-oh-God-what's-going-to-happen-next political mood which was not particularly conducive to relaxation.
So once I finish and send off this book proposal I'm going to take a week off and, like, make fanvids and read some "I've been meaning to read those for years, I'm sure I'd enjoy them" books, like Max Gladstone's Craft series and/or Becky Chambers's books. Maybe binge-watch a TV show.
personal protective equipment
Jun. 13th, 2017 08:30 amI was waking up today and was glad my phone was in the other room. I'm trying to do that, to not have my phone right next to me when I wake up, because it's so easy to stay in bed and surf the net.
And I realized that it really does feel like the internet is a big hole that I leap into every day and then need to crawl back up all the time. And I do my work on the internet so I need to wear a harness to keep me from falling too far. Protective gear, like anyone doing anything dangerous.
("The abyss is no Sunday swan ride," as one Steven Universe character has said.)
I have sometimes referred to Twitter as an attention casino. And that is true and it's a metaphor that helps remind me that there is someone else specifically working to make money off other people's addictions and that the experience is designed to keep me there in the hopes of intermittent reward. But this sinkhole metaphor reminds me that it is the nature of the Internet to be an endless sink to fall down, and that I can wear a harness to help keep myself safe. And therefore I have just installed Leechblock on this machine.
Meditation would also count.
And I realized that it really does feel like the internet is a big hole that I leap into every day and then need to crawl back up all the time. And I do my work on the internet so I need to wear a harness to keep me from falling too far. Protective gear, like anyone doing anything dangerous.
("The abyss is no Sunday swan ride," as one Steven Universe character has said.)
I have sometimes referred to Twitter as an attention casino. And that is true and it's a metaphor that helps remind me that there is someone else specifically working to make money off other people's addictions and that the experience is designed to keep me there in the hopes of intermittent reward. But this sinkhole metaphor reminds me that it is the nature of the Internet to be an endless sink to fall down, and that I can wear a harness to help keep myself safe. And therefore I have just installed Leechblock on this machine.
Meditation would also count.
I do not have depression and I'm asking a question about how to be a better friend to friends of mine who have depression and who joke (or similar) about hurting themselves. It's under the cut.
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