Feeling a little better. That’s good.

dayOne

I was feeling fine, happy, until the test result came. I was also feeling fine when the test result came, truth be told. Nothing changed, except I now had a positive test, something I had managed to avoid since this whole mess started.

I went out and got a test at the pharmacy, to make sure the self test result was not a fake positive. It was not.

Back home, ready to endure the isolation period. Seven days. That’s how long I’ll have to stay in.

The movieStars end theirs on Sunday and Monday, I’ll keep going for a few more days.

Spent a while texting and calling people I’ve been in contact recently, and let the campaign staff and candidates know I would, very sadly, be unable to join them for the rest of the time.

Still feeling almost the same, we went to bed at around 11PM. Watched a few more After Life episodes before doing that.

Woke up at 3AM, body aches and some shivering going on, but mostly good.

Two hours later, still unable to sleep. No headache, but now I feel VERY hot.

dayTwo

Waking up at 8:30AM. Feeling like I have a monster cold. Still have to get up to find out how is the body doing, ache-wise.

Took me a while to get back to sleep, I should ride this a little longer. I know I’ll be back to bed soon.

Got up, walked around. It feels like a mix of a monster hangover, a beating, and flu. Legs hurt, muscles hurt, lower back pain as well.

1PM

Fever. Yoghurt, some grapes. A pill was taken.

Slept for something like three hours.

Got the message from the Health Ministry, with a very extensive questionnaire. They got my test result, and I’m now a part of the statistics.

Fever comes and goes, chills also.

Central heating is blasting, full power, and I’m still wearing a hoodie, wrapped in a huge fleece blanket, a woolen cap, and gloves. And, thanks to movieStar’s memory, an amazing thing, a bag of cherry cores, that gets heated in the microwave. Brilliant.

No TV today. Not even 8PM, and I’m in bed.

tinyMovieStar joins me, we read a story (something a little more demanding when the fever is this high), and we’re all getting ready to sleep way before 9PM.

The way covid charts look right now are scarier than they’ve ever been to me. I’m aware this latest variant seems milder, and I look at the graphs, they prove that. Most people who are hospitalized, or die, are unvaccinated, and we were lucky to be able to get the vaccines, and the booster shot (movieStar still waiting for that one).

Then there’s a minuscule amount of people who still go to the hospital, and some will sadly die, even after getting vaccinated.

Before, the numbers were all abstract, or sort of, a reflection of a reality that was not mine yet, in a way. But now we’re also a part of that “infections” line, and I would really REALLY love to keep us all out of those other lines.

22:45

Couldn’t sleep, so we headed to the living room again, and finished After Life and Folk med ångest. Both good, but After Life is AMAZING!

Glad we were having trouble sleeping.

The girls are MUCH better, and I’m pretty well too. A little fever, a bit of coughing, some body aches. That’s it so far.

• 📷 Starting with work, since that’s how the week began. Quite early in the morning, as a matter of fact. Rougher neighbourhood on Saturday, and then I had to leave the campaign trail for a couple of days, Sunday and Monday spent on the road, visiting vineyards for one of my other clients. Always fun, even though I don’t drink wine. On the campaign trail things are on overdrive, as the election date is approaching. One more week and we’d done, or so I thought when the week started.
• 😢 Sleeping away from the girls is no fun. No fun at all! Being on the road used to be something I looked forward to, a part of my job that I enjoyed immensely. Not anymore. I end up worrying too much, unable to sleep. We have slept in different houses maybe twice before, but not too far apart. I knew it would take me an hour to get to them. This time I was further away, and with no easy way to make it back.
• 🦠 Of course the first Covid positive in the family had to be tinyMovieStar, and of course, this had to happen when I was away! Of course. movieStar also tested positive, one day after the little one. The timing was bad. I should be home helping out, and this is the one time I had work that forced me to be out all day, every day! Fear not, as the week ended with the three of us locked inside, isolating as a family! I tested positive on Thursday, and that was that. No more leaving the house, no more work, no more.
• 🍿 So happy that After Life is back. It’s a great show, one we waited for with anticipation, and it does not disappoint. Amazing writing, stellar performances, it’s wonderful in every way. Sadly, my work schedule during most of this week, and the fact that both movieStars were feeling exhausted with covid side-effects, has prevented us from bingeing this one. We’re good for another week, I believe. No movies were watched this week.
• 🎙 David Byrne on Smartless. Listened to this one while driving to work this week, trying to keep my brain away from the thought of the positives at home. It worked. Such a great show. The man is a legend. I’ve been listening to his music for decades, loved the interview.
• 🥰 This week my Ulysses theme was finally approved, and it’s now available. If you use the app, and want to check it out, you can find it here: movieStars.

🦠 Oops!

Of course I had to get a photo of this one.

Background art: tinyMovieStar.

(And I already went to the pharmacy to get a confirmation. It’s positive!)

We have a bingo! 🦠🦠🦠
I knew my time would come, today was the day.

Short day at work today, enjoying the girls at home while photos export.

Lying in bed with tinyMovieStar, and it’s just past lunch time! How great is this?

Sitting on the bed, doing yet another covid test before getting up. Girls in the room next door, sound asleep.

Still negative. How long will this last?

Off to another day on the campaign trail. Still negative, girls still stuck at home.

Ok, I’ll do one of these. Only one (promise) and that’s just because I got REALLY lucky 🤣🤣

Wordle 214 2/6

🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Two down, one to go. I’m the only one left with a negative result. Both movieStars are positive, and well.

movieStars

My Ulysses theme, movieStars (what else?), has been approved!

I’ve been enjoying the app (and the theme), for a while now, and I’m happy that everyone can now try it out.

Enjoy 😊

tinyMovieStar has tested positive. The bigger movieStar, and myself, negative. Of course that had to happen when I’m away. Fuck.

She’s ok. That’s the important bit.

I’m telling you, she knows when I have to get up early, and picks those days to stay up late!

Past midnight, and we’re going around in circles: pee, play, eat, drink, story time, it doesn’t matter.

Battery Bunny, you have lost the battle, there’s a new Queen in town!

Packing almost done for tomorrow’s and Monday trip up north. Most important items: powerbanks! Two of them, totaling 30000mAh. Gotta keep the phone happy and fed!

Also gloves, the temperature should get down close to 0 during the night!

A rather bland morning at the projects. The usual assortment of characters one finds there, on top of a couple of markets.

Highlight was meeting Tiago, after months without seeing him.

Back home, and spend the rest of the day with the movieStars. Not bad.

Today’s spot is a LOT less glamorous than the ones we’ve visited before.

Yesterday I had an amazing commute, with a few good photos. Today I’m back to driving, but I’ll get to see a friend I haven’t met in a while.

No two days are alike.

• 😔 A sad way to start the week, the saddest. As I had work to do during the weekend, I would be unable to spend the weekend with the girls and the in-laws, our usual weekend activity. So, I dropped the girls at their place, out in the countryside, and spent the weekend alone at home. That is, the brief moments I had to be at home. Missed them a lot. Not used to being away from them.
• 📷 Busy week, shooting the campaign for the upcoming election. Early start every day. It’s great to see old friends again, and being out shooting them is always great fun. We get around the whole district, that’s another plus. I also get some driving time, great to pick up new songs from the radio, or listen to a podcast episode on the way there and back. All in all, I enjoy these. Getting up so early in the morning is a pain, not being able to take tinyMovieStar to kindergarten is not nice, but it’s work, and it will be over soon.
• 🍿 Thunder Force (⭐️), The Hitman’s Bodyguard(⭐️⭐️⭐️), Who Am I (⭐️⭐️⭐️½), Flight (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️), Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord (⭐️⭐️⭐️), as well as a series, Folk med Ångest. But that is mostly me, movieStar didn’t find it too appealing. I might give up on it as well. We did finish Hit & Run. Nice enough, but we thought it was no match for Fauda. Next up: After Life, season 3. We’ve been waiting for a very long while.
• 🖍 Back to school for tinyMovieStar, and I couldn’t be the one dropping her off after the vacation. I had to work. Bummer! She did have a birthday party, from her closest friend no less, and was thrilled to get back. Happy for all of us.
• 🦠 Booster shot day was also a part of the week. We don’t have a vaccination center close to home now, at least not that close, so I drove to the other side of town, and got my shot. In and out in no time, just like before. Furthermore, the week when we started getting emails from tinyMovieStar’s kindergarten, people are testing positive over there. These are the first emails, which is a little scary, but also surprised we didn’t get any before. Classes started in September, it’s incredible that no one caught the bug until now. Anyway, side effects felt a little milder than before, but I had to work the following day, and that was not easy.
• 💻 No time for anything else. That’s it.

Taking advantage of the fact that today’s venue for the campaign was just across the river, I thought I might skip the driving part and just take the boat there.

The time I was supposed to be there was also a little later than usual, so I had the opportunity to take it slower.

Grabbed an electric scooter, rode it down to the river, managed to get a couple of sticker shots after I dropped it, and walked to the pier.

Boats leave roughly ten minutes apart at this time, and the packed ones are coming into town, not the other way around. My boat, as expected, was mostly empty.

Ten minutes later I found myself on the south bank, ready for a few more stickers, and another handful of photos while I made my way to the place where work would happen.

The city streets also empty, as most people are already across the river to work.

Did the work, walked back to the boat. Another short scooter ride and I was home editing. Still time to do it before tinyMovieStar left kindergarten.

No time for lunch. That happened at five.

A TON of photos on the way to work today. Post coming later, get that bandwidth ready!

She’s close to 2 years old, and I don’t want her to grow anymore. She’s perfect like this! 🥰

Must get some new photos for sticker spotter, running a little low…

Day Two after the booster, feeling much better. No work today, so I get to drop the little one at kindergarten 🥰

Some errands to run, but should be an easy day.

You’re missed.

Thinking about you often, but these days you’re even more present. Miss you.