My Daily Struggle in the COVID-19 Lockdown

  Dawson's Lament   Words: Itzhik Manger                                                                       Music: Philip Laskovski (Oyfn veg sheht a boym)   Tell me now, Mother Dear Why you’re always crying When you think of the year Of despair and dying When the plague hit the land Like a blazing fire Causing frenzy, causing panic— Everything turned dire Then my Grandpa stayed in bed Coughing and in anguish When the plague took him away Oh, did Grandma languish! Till the plague took Grandma too, With much of the family No one came to comfort you; They were quarantined.   Then...

 It's the second day of Christmas. No matter what anyone tells you, Christmas is NOT over. Tomorrow, I am going to light the candles on the Advent wreath for the last time, and then I will put it away. I will probably put a few other things away to straighten up the house. Still, there are 12 days of Christmas, people! So, this year, I spent Christmas with my mother; the wife had to work. It was a good Christmas all around, though.  Speaking of Christmas, I saw something that really annoyed me. I passed by the Greek Orthodox church next to Loretto Hospital. On the church's property, there was a mailbox that said "Santa's Letters." This reminded me of when I was a child and there was a deacon who dressed up as a Santa Claus and children lined up in the church to see him. This made me angry even as a child, since my mother, who was mortified at the idea of lying to me, never indulged me in the belief of Santa Claus. She taught me that if I were good to make a list o...

 The Pfizer vaccine was released on Monday, but only hospital workers and first responders are getting it first. This is understandable since they are the ones taking the most risks. It is being said that the rest of us, excluding those with serious health problems, will not get the vaccine for another few months. Also this week, a second vaccine, Moderna, was approved and will be available soon. When they become available for me to use, I will take Pfizer or Moderna. Astra Zeneca's vaccine is still only 70% effective, but I doubt that I would use it anyway--especially with the allegations that they use cell lines of aborted babies for these vaccines. I don't know how true it is, but I would not put it past them. With whatever is approved, however, this issue might be moot.  There is something I have been seriously thinking about. I think that March 13rd, the day President Trump declared a national emergency because of COVID-19, should be declared a national holiday. After all...

 It happened. Yesterday, December 11, 2020, The FDA approved Pfizer's 95% effective COVID-19 vaccine. After all the sickness, drama, death, finger-pointing, isolation, unemployment, and chaos, a vaccine could be available as early as Monday morning. Very soon, COVID-19 will take the same exit as the Spanish Influenza and the Black Death. Very soon, I will hug my friends and shake hands with strangers without worrying about becoming ill. Very soon, stadiums will be filled with roaring fans, and churches (hopefully) will be standing-room-only. Yes, very soon, social distance will be replaced with social closeness. God be praised! The question that lies ahead is, "What have we learned?" Indeed, what have we learned--as Americans and as humans. Regrettably, for some, no lesson was learned. They will still be just as selfish and overindulgent as ever. They will still have the wrong priorities. They will still celebrate immorality and hatred. If anything is learned, I hope it i...

 Yet another week passed. The good news was that the COVID-19 infection rate is starting to plateau, meaning that new cases and deaths have plateaued. Also, there is more talk of the vaccines and when people will begin getting them. As for the unpleasant news, I have learned personally what my commuting clients must endure with social distancing. I took a bus with him, and three buses passed us by before one could stop. Whenever a bus no longer has space to socially distance, it runs express. Hence, it took three times as long as it usually does to get where I am going. Also, I was talking to my friends about what to do on New Year's Eve, but it seems like we probably won't be able to get together as we planned. Damn you, COVID-19! Ruined the whole year and killed over 250,000 Americans. I think this video from Office Space sums up what I think of 2020, possibly the worst year of my life (hint: the year 2020 is the printer):  At least I accomplished one good thing this week; I...

 I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was okay, all things considered. First, the holiday did not allow as many people as I hoped. Because of the pandemic, my friends and their children could not come over, and my wife had to go to work because it was short staffed. Then, while I had to make the dressing, the stupid oven would not turn on even though it worked the night before. So, I could not use the oven to make the dressing or warm up the turkey. So...I had a meltdown. My wife and my mother tried to console me, but with the year we had, could we not have something as simple as a trouble-free Thanksgiving? Is that too much to ask, considering almost nothing went right this year? Thankfully, I remembered my troubleshooting skills, and I warmed the turkey on the stovetop and made the dressing in the Dutch oven She-Sits-by-the-Fire gave me. The meal turned out well after all, and my wife and mother reminded me that Thanksgiving is not about food; it is about thanking God fo...

Hello Friends, So, I have good news, aggravating news, and a question. First the question, and I see that 24 people, on average, read my blog, so I would like at least 10 responses--preferably in the comments box. Should I end this blog after the New Year, or should I continue until the USDA approves a vaccine? That leads me to the good news. Pfizer came out with a vaccine this week that is 95% effective. Halleluyah! People are already talking about WHEN they will start giving the vaccine to others. I made the mistake this week of listening to the news. Within a few minutes, my chest became tight, my stomach felt as it someone punched it, and I struggled to breathe. Now Illinois has officially been moved down to Tier 3, and schools are completely virtual again. This news about Pfizer was truly a lifeboat, and if anyone tries to stop me from luxuriating in it, let them be anathema. Well, not really.  Now the aggravating news. I went to a Walmart close to my mother's house to pick up...