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I never did get my COVID test done yesterday. Neither did Shobhit. We got texts
on our way there that our appointments were canceled:
we are unable to allow cars in and fulfill appointments. Because it then added,
The Sodo site and the University of Washington site will remain open, and we were driving right up to the U District when I got the text, we made the choice to divert and try the UW site.
This decision is the biggest reason my entire afternoon got wasted yesterday, because Shobhit is terrified of driving in snow, and we were using GPS on the phone to get directions to the site, which is a bit northeast of the UW campus and there were several snow detours. People outside Seattle forget how many steep hills this city has. It's actually relatively comparable to San Francisco, which is maybe the only city in this country of comparable size that's hillier than us. Basically, just imagine San Francisco covered in ice and snow.
Still, I do think I would have done better, and gotten there more quickly, driving in the snow myself. I don't have nearly as much panic and fear over it as Shobhit does. He tried to convince me to work from home all week, not because of the COVID thing, but just because of the snow. When I finally said, "I'm going back to the office today whether you give me a ride or not," he accused me of being stubborn. He's convinced it'll be dangerous even for me to
walk in this snow, which is really going overboard. I was like, "I grew up in snow. I know how to handle it! Even if I do slip, big deal. It happens. I'll be fine." I mean, shit, it's not like I haven't already walked to work and back
multiple times over the years here in Seattle itself. Why is he acting like this week is any different? I did compromise and help him put the chains on the front tires of his car this morning before he gave me a ride—to make it easier for me to transport my laptop, keyboard and mouse back to the office—just to help put him at ease, even though the roads were effectively clear the entire way wherever we drove. The chains made a lot of kind of clanging noise against the body of the car and every person we passed on the street stared at us as we drove by, chains running along clear pavement.
Anyway, I'm really digressing there, by getting ahead of myself. I was writing about our attempt to get tested at the UW testing site, which was only open until 3:30. We finally got there at about 2:45, and the guy there just told us they were not accepting appointments from any other centers. Shobhit was very openly frustrated, and the guy, to his credit, was patient with him. In all likelihood they have a finite number of tests they can administer, although now I'm thinking of all the tests that just went unused yesterday.
Being turned away, we decided to drive up to the Aurora site anyway, and see if we could just park elsewhere and walk up. But no, the cars were all gone, the gates were closed, and a huge sign read SITE CLOSED. Shobhit tried to get me to get out of the car and shout through the fence at a guy walking past the building in the distance, and I wouldn't do it. The signage was clear. No one was going in there and getting tested. I looked up all the other Seattle sites online, and nearly all of them also said CLOSED FOR WEATHER.
What a royal pain in the ass. The most frustrating thing about this is that we had actually managed to book appointments for Tuesday after we got our "potential exposure" notices on Friday and Saturday. We probably lucked out with that, in the midst of a giant surge of testing demand in the wake of the Omicron spike we are experiencing. And now, all appointments are booked through the next three days. I don't think I'm going to get a PCR test done this week. I almost managed to book the single one I found available today at a site at the Paramount Theater but it got booked by someone else in the middle of my trying to fill out the form on my phone.
I'd like to get some at-home test kits. Those are sold out everywhere too, of course. A lady at the Bartell Drugs on 5th Avenue downtown yesterday told me they may finally get a new shipment on Wednesday.
So, why am I still back at the office today? Well, the "potential exposure" notice I got on Saturday noted that it had been from nine days before. And I happened to find
this updated CDC guidance on isolating for potential exposure:
Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure. Well, shit. Ten from December 16 is December 26, two fucking days ago! I have exhibited no symptoms in the intervening time, which, combined with Ivan's twice-weekly rapid tests at work consistently coming back negative, makes me pretty confident I'm out of the woods.
When it comes to whatever I was exposed to on 12/16, anyway. Besides that, I also thought about this: that notice only applies to everyone using that feature on their phones, which is not everyone. In all likelihood, I have such brief exposures on a fairly regular basis, virtually all of which would have been around people who have masks on, as do I. (With the exception, of course, of when I am at work, with very few people here most days—but, on December 16 we had our Ugly Holiday Sweater Brunch. But again, when it comes to that date, I am basically out of the woods.) There is still the fact of family I was around over the weekend, of course, though it was vaccinated family, at least.
So. I felt from the start the odds were low that I had COVID; I just wanted the test for my own peace of mind. So much for that. I do plan to walk in at the Paramount on my way home from work tonight to see if they'll take walk-ins, but my hopes aren't high. I'm not even all that worried for myself should I ever get it at this point, as being triple-vaccinated means I would likely have either mild symptoms or none at all. The real worry is spreading it, of course, which I was slightly worried about staying with Dad and Sherri. It's pretty clear now that the 12/16 exposure did nothing to me.
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And, since we were out anyway, Shobhit and I drove up to the Shoreline Costco to get gas, then drove over to the Total Wine & More to do some planned booze shopping. They had bottles of gingerbread rum on clearance, like $5 each! We got two of those just because they were on sale, and a few other things. After that, the timing now perfect, Shobhit dropped me off at Pacific Place so I could go to the 4:45 showing of Joel Coen's
The Tragedy of Macbeth.
I think that may be the last movie I review in 2021, unless I see one more on New Year's Eve—even though I plan to post my top 10 of the year tomorrow morning. I just have so much work still to do on year-end retrospective posts, I don't want to make things even harder for myself by adding more time at movies and writing reviews.
I had to walk home from the movie, the bus schedules were so fucked up. One Bus Away told me there would not be another bus at the 9th Avenue stop on Pine Street for another 54 minutes! Which was clearly wrong because by the time I got to Broadway on foot, a #49 actually passed me—that's the intersection where it turns up Broadway anyway. I did see a bus labeled #90 pass shortly before that, and I had no idea what that was. Turns out it's a "
special snow service" route, so had I waited a bit, I would have gotten a ride on that right up to 15th. I was halfway up Capitol Hill when it passed me by though, so I would have saved myself maybe ten minutes at best at that point.
So it was around 7:00 when I got home, and Shobhit had a delicious dinner of stir fried paneer with rice ready, and he was just frying fresh puris when I came in. Delicious!
I spent the next hour or so working on the movie review, then spent the two and a half hours or so after that working on the "
Top 20 Audio 2021" post that I made public this morning, which I hadn't even started a draft of yet. Shobhit tried to tell me I could just postpone my year-end posts, which I have never done before. When the year is finished it's too late, so that is not an option!
On the upside, the "Cinema 2021: Best & Worst" is the last year-end post of notable substance of size I need to write, and at least tonight I won't have another movie and review cutting into the time I can spend working on it. I do still need to finish up the "2021 in Ten Minutes" video to be posted the morning of New Year's Eve, which I should have more time for as of tomorrow. The only thing I post on the 30th is my "2021 at PCC" email, which isn't as labor intensive. Still, I do have something to work on for each day the rest of this week, and I really need to start reminding myself to get earlier starts on these in years to come. I may actually post reminders to myself for next year, to get drafts going earlier. At least the Book Log is one I've learned to write as the year goes on every year, which saves me time in December. It's just that when it comes to what albums I listened to the most or what movies were the best, I don't tend to know those things until December itself.
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[posted 12:28 pm]
