That second booster was nasty. I was sick and spent a very restless night, waking up almost every hour. Then I slept the rest of the day today and did nothing else. I’m still aching, still in a foul mood, and I still want to kill people. I must be having my pre-menstrual syndrome as I want to bite everyone’s heads off. I’m a hazard to humanity so I’m locking myself up here in my room in the meantime.
I saw on Instagram this noon that you can just “walk in” or rather drive through for a booster shot at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Pasay City and they’re giving Moderna. I quickly took a shower and got dressed, hoping that I could make it because they’re offering it only until 3 pm.
It was 20 km away from my apartment but it only took me 30 mins to reach DFA via Skyway 3. It’s ok if I had to pay PhP 400+ for roundtrip toll as long as I’m done with this booster business ASAP.
I had to wait for 30 mins after receiving the vaccine for any allergic reaction (my histamine went haywire twice when I got Sinovac before) but so far I had no no rashes or itchiness.
It took me only 30 mins to get back to QC so I took this opportunity to run errands since I’m already out. I bought A LOT of paracetamol and antihistamines from The Generics Pharmacy near our house and went to UP for veggies.
It has been a long time since I last been here. They built a makeshift half basketball court in the middle of the compound (the old tennis courts) where Enriquez vegetable and fruit shop is located. It seems like life is normal here except for the sight of masked people. Sharp contrast to the streets earlier today where it’s eerily quiet and only a few vehicles are out.
Finally, I could feel the effects of the vaccine. I took one paracetamol tablet and now I feel like I’m high or floating. I’m sleepy and my whole body aches. It’s only a few mins past 6 pm but I think I’ll call it a day.
G’night.
The vaccination process this time is much quicker (under 30 mins) and I don’t have a headache yet. I’m itchy but I’m not sure if it’s going to be as bad as after I had the first shot. I’m developing a rash now and I have body pain. Let’s see if I would be feverish later this evening or tomorrow.
This morning, I received a gift that made my girl (who’s with me now) happy. She has a sweet tooth.
This went well with tea.
They say I took after my mother. I owe my mother everything: the best of me and the worst of me. That’s why whenever I go home to her, I bring her flowers from the flower shop in my hometown and a box or two of Korean Solomon’s seal tea that she liked because every homecoming for me is Mother’s Day.
I think I’m going to sleep early tonight. My body is fighting off the inactive coronavirus and it is getting heavier by the hour.
I was working my ass off last week until late last night. Would you believe that I still edited a story at 11 pm while I was having a Zoom drinking session (e-numan) with friends? That’s how insane last week was.
I just wanted to curl up in bed today but I had to go to my hometown to fetch one of my girls as she got homesick. She says she misses me and the cats. Her sister stayed since she wanted to be with her grandma and cousins. And she wanted to ride the bike. Until MECQ (a.k.a. more lax lockdown) is still being implemented, we can’t ride our bikes here for leisure. UP is still closed to outsiders (i.e. joggers, bikers, etc). So my other daughter is better off staying with her grandma so she can somehow ride her bike near our house.
Tomorrow is my second vaccine dose. I read on my newsfeeds that some people’s reactions after the second shot are worse than when they had their first. Most of them complained of terrible non-stop headaches and body pain. Gee, I wonder how sick will I be tomorrow evening until Monday.
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN burned Duterte with this quote:
For context:
A company sent me one complete set of PPE gear just in case we may need this for home care. This is so timely as one colleague from my former TV network just messaged us that his whole family is down with COVID and is at home isolating. I need to order more from Lazada, which I will be doing tonight. I wonder how much of this will I need? Probably seven? 10?
I hope that I will never have to use this.
Speaking of COVID, my second dose will be administered to me on 9 May and I hope the side effects won’t be as bad as the first one. I was so sick for 24 hrs after getting the shot. I had all the side effects listed here. But at least I know that the vaccine (albeit Chinese) is working. I just don’t know if I won’t die of COVID if ever I catch it.
Gaaaahhhh too much work today plus I feel sick so I wasn’t able to bike to buy veggies for the community pantry today (I still have leftover funds from my cousin donor). Hopefully, I will be able to do it tomorrow morning, for my health too. I can feel the lack of exercise is taking a toll on my body already.
So the old man is still alive and kicking, as shown in his sort of recorded press briefing, whatever proof-of-life broadcast they did last night. Based on the snippets of whatever is posted on Twitter, there was nothing there of note, just ranting against his critics, no concrete plans about the frickin’ lockdown, no plans–period. And yet the DDS keeps on applauding.
Meanwhile, I am much better today compared to Sunday night and yesterday. I felt so rotten for 24 hrs because the side effects of Sinovac were so pronounced. I was itchy all over and felt like I had flu but not full-blown flu. I just wanted to sleep and stay in bed but I had three calls yesterday so…oh well.
So that means my antibodies are fighting off the inactivated coronavirus? I don’t know but damn it should work, after all the crappy feeling I had yesterday.
My aunt had a stroke and is now suffering from pneumonia. She is diabetic and in her 80s. No hospital in Manila took her in because they are so full so not even non-covid cases could be accommodated. My sister assisted them in finding a hospital in my hometown and thankfully they were able to admit her at 1 am yesterday. My cousin drove back to QC to get clothes and other stuff since it seems like they would be staying there for quite a while. She didn’t have enough masks to allow her to double-mask so I bought a box of surgical masks and gave her all my cloth masks when she stopped by my apartment so she could double mask in the hospital. She went back to my hometown to isolate in one of our rooms in my mom’s house until she could bring home her mom.
So now I’m back to sewing cloth masks again because I don’t have any left. Plus my cousin may need more.
Something horrific happened earlier. I was supposed to message my brother and send him the Lazada link to a laptop that he can check out for his son but damn it I mis-sent it to J. I was wondering why my brother wasn’t responding. Too late, I realized that I sent it to J, because his chat box was next to my brother’s. I had to quickly recall it but it would still show that I sent something. In disgust, I deleted J altogether.
I should have deleted the chat box a long time ago. Now he would think I’m trying to get his attention. Fuck. I’d rather die than do that. I no longer have anything left in me except my dignity. I can’t lose it again.
He may not be my biggest error but he’s my biggest regret. No more, I will never be duped again.
Come to think of it, I don’t know if he really knew me. I bet you he even doesn’t know when my birthday is.
Aside from feeling horrible physically, I am also feeling crappy about that mistake. I needed something to make me feel Ok-things-are-shit-right-now-but-you-will-be-fine-later so I came back to music. I used to listen to “The World I Know” by Collective Soul way back in college when I feel like I’m going nowhere. I would just lie down on my bed and feel the lyrics. I need this right now, after ranting to a friend this morning about work and how I hate it these days and I already wanted to resign but I still don’t have an alternative lined up.
I need this right now.