I finally got my Covid-19 Booster
vaccine Saturday morning. This booster
was the Moderna mRNA at a private hospital, and Tuk had bought “full dose” (two
shots) appointments for herself, her parents and me ahead of time early last
year. But the Moderna vaccine didn’t
arrive in Thailand until November or so, and by that time Tuk had two shots of
Sinovac and a Pfizer booster, and her parents and myself had already gotten two
doses of the A-Z. So, Tuk had to do some
trading to get me just a single Moderna as a booster.
The private hospital was only
several klicks away and easy to get to.
The staff was terrific, there were no waiting lines to speak of, and the
whole affair was completed quickly. Our
goal now is to get the parents there for their boosters, but we will have to
allow time since their last A-Z shots and figure out how to transport them
there. When they are finally fully-vaccinated,
with boosters, then I will feel more confident to go out into more crowded
venues for music, etc.
Our Cool Season has lasted for an
unexpectedly long time. We had one “cold”
week in December, as normal, with following weather that lacked the usual
brutal humidity of the rest of the year.
In my experience, February was never as semi-comfortable in past years
as it has been this year. I still sweat
horribly if out for a long walk, but it has not been 24-hour suffering with
rising dew points.
But this will change soon. The Hot Season normal will begin, and I will
long for the relative shade of the Rainy Season come June or July.
I cannot get a haircut. My regular hair cutter is not working right
now (and I don’t know exactly why). She
speaks good English and knows exactly how I want a cut, and I have been a
regular customer for well over five years now.
I’m vain about my hair, and I abhor being scalped by barbers who don’t
understand what I want. I’ve always been
this way, searching for barbers who I can stick with for as long as
possible. My hair is now slowly growing
out long, like it was many times so many years ago. The difference now is that it is silver. I cut some around my face to keep it out of
my eyes. As the Hot Season comes, we
will see how long I can take the heat.
I am still enduring bad hip pain, especially
when trying to sleep, and I don’t know why this is happening. I haven’t fallen. I did pull low back muscles, above my rump
and on either side of my sacrum, many months ago when lifting storage boxes, and that set
me back, making most exercise go on pause for a long while. Also, I had minor surgery in December and had
stopped exercise for a while, with a lot of leg cramps when starting back up
again. Those stops in exercise routines
are killers. It’s hard to start back up
without further injuries. I’ve had
painful episodes on the treadmill and have had to stop that for now. I have better luck sauntering my walking haunts
in the neighborhood without pushing it in a Gung Ho frenzy, then slowly ramping
it up when possible, listening to my body.
Push ahead – steady. (It’s
tedious. What’s it going to be like when
I get old?)
However, all in all, life is
good.
-Zenwind.
.
