face masks

On the road again

I was a bit quiet beforehand because I didn’t want to jinx it, but earlier this month I travelled out of WA for the first time in two-and-a-half years and returned without incident. 😀

I got to catch up with family and friends in Sydney and despite it raining most of the time I was there, it was great.

Oh, and my hotel came with a lightsaber! Okay, it was a torch/flashlight, but everything vaguely cylindrical is a lightsaber if you put your mind to it. Here’s a demo — I’m not very active on TikTok, so this will probably remain my most viewed TikTok video for the foreseeable future. 😛

@leeannkhoh
Found a torch/flashlight/lightsaber in my hotel room… 🔦😄 #StarWars #StarWarsFan #GeekingOut #Lightsaber #Jedi #Nerdtok
♬ original sound – Lee-Ann Khoh

Video “when you find a torch in your hotel room…” shows Lee-Ann taking a torch mounted in the closet of her room. She swings it around in both hands, making lightsaber noises under her breath before returning it to its original position and laughing.

I’m pretty anxious at the best of times and was nervous before I left, but surprisingly, I wasn’t really stressed during the trip. Between booking it and actually going, most travel restrictions were lifted so I guess I didn’t have to worry about accidentally doing something wrong.

I also wore a mask wherever I went, even though I didn’t have to. The Airinum Lite Air masks I opted for in Sydney are definitely on the pricier side, but my glasses didn’t fog up once while I was away, so that’s always a plus. And Airinum recently sent me a referral link, so you can use it if you want to check them out: Get 25% off Airinum masks

But the point of this post wasn’t to advertise masks. It was to muse about how I’ve dipped my toe back in the travel waters and… it went well! I came, I saw, I didn’t get COVID (yet). My passport expired during the pandemic and I’m not planning any around-the-world vacations at this point in time. But interstate trips might be on the cards again.

Truth be told, I actually hate travelling (the getting there part, yuck)… but I do like having travelled. 🙂

The future is unwritten but this blog post isn’t

Pharmacist: “Are you okay with needles?”

Me, internally: Yes, I remember getting vaccinations at school and they would tell us to count to 10 to take our minds off what was happening, but I would literally watch needles go into all the kids’ arms as I was counting ’cause I’m a sadistic biatch like that.

Me out loud: “Uh, yeah, they’re all right.”

It’s okay, you don’t have to keep me away from your children. Though if you do, I’ll understand. 😜

Anyway, I got my COVID booster a week ago. (Moderna after two doses of the Pfizer vax — figured I’d hedge my bets. 😉) I’d planned to get my booster ahead of the reopening of the WA border — which was supposed to be February 5, but has now been delayed indefinitely. I guess I’m both sad and relieved about that.

Sad because it means people will be separated for even longer if they can’t get an exemption, with no knowledge of when that will change. And relieved because the “let it rip” approach to living with the virus disproportionately kills vulnerable members of the community.

Like I said in my last post, I don’t know what the right balance is. But neither do all the armchair epidemiologists who barely scraped through high school science. At least I know what I don’t know.

We’ve lived mostly mask-free in WA during the pandemic but I think they’re probably here to stay now. I don’t mind… they’re not the most comfortable things to wear, especially in summer, but I feel the same way about bras and I’ve been wearing those for most of my life.

In the not-too-distant future, I’m hopeful of flying away, staying somewhere well ventilated where I can chill bra-less, going out and buy supplies from fully stocked shelves (probably with a bra and mask on), and coming home to Perth without infecting anyone or forcing my family into isolation or quarantine. Whew!

But until then… we’ll always have these nutty blog posts. 😉

The mask giveth and the mask taketh away

I don’t know if you’ve ever attempted to do a HIIT workout while wearing a face mask, but I probably won’t be trying that again.

Technically I was doing vigorous outdoor exercise far away from everyone else in the park, so I would have been exempt from wearing a mask under current restrictions in Perth. But I wanted to show that I wasn’t a pussy who couldn’t hack it.

Turns out I am a pussy who can’t hack it. 😛

But I have managed a couple of (less intense) masked workouts in the gym since they reopened and I was okay. And the Premier has announced an easing of mask restrictions from this weekend so I won’t have to wear one at the gym anymore.

I don’t mind the mask too much when I’m not exercising though. I mean, I don’t love it. It can be uncomfortable and it’s annoying when my glasses fog up. But given a choice between wearing masks and going into lockdown, I’d take the former.

Besides, some people have had to wear a mask every day for over a year and counting, so I can imagine what they’d think of me whinging about my face being sweaty as I go on with my life almost as normal.

And if I’m having an acne breakout, the mask makes me look like a stylish ninja instead of a hormonal hot mess. 😉 Although some breakouts can be linked to mask wearing. The mask giveth and the mask taketh away. I’m sure that’s in the New International Corona-Version of the Bible or something…

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I feel lucky (in spite of my anxiety disorder and lack of stamina). Things could have gone very differently, but we’ve been fortunate in Australia. Which is not to say things don’t desperately suck for a lot people. But it’s not sucking because bodies are being piled up in the street for mass cremation while hospitals run out of oxygen.

I know I have a habit of catastrophising, but it’s not like I’m pulling that scenario out of thin air. 😦

Masked up in the wild west

I’m currently staring out the window at the rain in Perth, where our five-day hard lockdown ended without another COVID-19 case being identified in the community. There are still a few restrictions in place for the time being, including wearing masks — a foreign concept to most West Aussies until a week ago, though the vast majority of people have gone along with it.

Having had one community case in 10 months, many have asked if the State Government overreacted. Maybe. But as much as I miss travelling, I look at what’s happening in other parts of the world and I’d definitely prefer to overreact than underreact.

Besides, it’s not really about me. If I’ve ever been seriously ill in my life, I don’t remember it. But I share the planet with people who are more vulnerable than me. So I can put up with some mild discomfort and foggy glasses. If that makes me a “sheeple” then so be it.

I’m not oblivious to how fortunate I am though. I’ve kept my job throughout the pandemic. When we went into sudden lockdown, I just opened up my laptop and kept working… I didn’t have to shut down my business or lose all my income.

So I’ve been lucky. Lots of people haven’t. But it seems like every approach to COVID involves the sacrifice of something — or someone — whether it’s the economy, physical health, mental health, the ability to move freely, etc…

I’m no expert on any of these things, but neither are all the armchair epidemiologists who have suddenly graduated from the university of hard knocks over the past year, so I figure I’m equally entitled to give my BS opinion on the internet. 😛

Hopefully we’ll get through the other side and people will still remember how to wash their hands and respect one another’s personal space.

And if someone wants to wear a mask in public once it’s no longer mandated, they should feel free to do so without being stared at like they have five heads. 🙂

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