We made it to the PNW and back and didn't even catch Omicron. Yay, us! Our travels were relatively uneventful, thankfully. Our connecting flight on the way there was delayed a bit and our return flight was stuck at the gate for like an hour because of cold weather (apparently there was a line at the deicing platform) but nothing major. We certainly can't complain given all the flights that have been outright canceled in the past week.
The lead-up to flying is truly one of the most anxiety-inducing times for me. It's the anticipation that stresses me out. Once we get up in the air, I'm totally good. Being boxed in for a few hours next to some strangers doesn't even really bother me that much. I just throw a movie or two on the iPad and by the time they're over it's time to land. This year I watched Snowpiercer and Blindspotting on the way there, and El Camino and Chuck & Buck on the way back. Don't ask how I decided on those movies. There's no rhyme or reason to it. I have a giant list, dating back years, of films I heard about somehow and want to watch. Then the night before I travel, I chose a few, pretty much randomly, and download them. My only criterion is that they have to be $5 or less for rental. There's no need to pay more than that with such a long list.
Anyway... we had a New Year's party at our house on Friday -- just a few couples and their kids (seven boys and one girl -- poor K!). One of the guests bought a bunch of rapid Covid tests a few months ago, so we all tested (negative) before we got together. I certainly didn't mind testing -- it gives you peace of mind -- but it's not a requirement as far as I'm concerned. If it's a group of fully vaccinated people, none of whom are showing any symptoms, then that's good enough for me.
It's a weird time. Cases are absolutely skyrocketing -- they've doubled in the US the past week; easily surpassing the previous high -- but serious sicknesses and deaths are barely budging. The pessimistic view is that cases will continue to rise and overwhelm the healthcare system and otherwise wreak havoc, through sheer volume, all while the virus uses us as human incubators to produce the next, worse variant. The optimistic view is that Omicron will relatively quickly burn through the population, mostly leaving vaccinated people unharmed (though not untouched), all while conferring another level of inoculation that will lead, finally, to the end of this pandemic -- Covid really will become "like the flu."
I'm going with the latter view, and it's not just wishful thinking. I'm not an expert, by any means, but I am pretty good, I think, at consuming and filtering expert opinion to form educated predictions of what will happen next. And a relatively rosy scenario is my best guess for now -- "relatively" being the operative word.
In other news, it's supposed to snow here in DC tomorrow, which is crazy considering highs today were in the mid-60s. I guess the white weather is following us -- we got several inches dumped on us the day after Christmas at my parents'. It stuck around too, which is kinda rare for that area. (My sister in-law said it was the coldest it had been in over a decade.) We even got another little flurry the morning we left. It made driving annoying, but otherwise was kinda cool. It actually got the kids out of the house more, because they could go sledding or frolicking in the snow. Prior to that, it was raining almost nonstop, and the one day we got a bit of sunshine, it was so damn windy, we still couldn't bear to go outside for long. I love spending Xmas with my family, but, weather-wise, summertime visits are far superior.
DC Public Schools already announced school is closed for tomorrow. They were already closed for class, but we were supposed to go and pick up rapid Covid tests for the kids, and now we can't even do that. All students have to test negative 24 hours before they return, which was supposed to be on Wednesday, but now is on Thursday, since the test pickup day is delayed. Whatever. As long as they don't go back to virtual full-time, I'm not going to complain too much. And really, really hope they don't do that. Partly it's because it's a huge disruption to my life personally, but more so it's because we've learned that the negative effects of learning loss and social isolation for kids are incredibly damaging. From a public wellness standpoint the tradeoff of closing schools just doesn't make sense.
Alright, let's see some pictures and call it a post.
Until next time...
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