covid actually did me a huge favour haha.
i took advantage of last year's lockdown to pass an exam to "jump" an year in school, so i graduated highschool one year soon. everyone was at home anyways, so i thought i wouldn't be left out of anything, and instead of being bored and not really doing much i studied like 10h a day and i passed! i also took the entry test for a great university just a few weeks later and i got in! i'm glad i didn't spend my time being depressed as usual, i managed to leave my parent's house to live with my bf, and it's been the greatest period of my life since. i'm not sure i would have been able to do all that last year, if we weren't all kinda forced to stay home.

i'm also thankful for oline lessons since i've always had trouble attending school, so i'm doing great with my studies now. i also made lots of friends since it's easier when you're chatting, social situations were so hard irl
i'm getting better at both things now, since i'm taking it slow because here we get like two to three weeks of attending live every two months, so i'm slowly "training" myself, and it's working, it's easier every day

i'm truly sorry for all the people struggling, i've been lucky and i know most people weren't. i hope this will all be over soon for everybody!

I'm just glad that, for reasons, I was already staying with my family for a while, so when shutdowns hit I could easily. I get into a real depression spiral if I can't see 'em for a while, so for how annoying family can be I am so glad they helped me keep my sanity during all this.

Re: Auto-immune diseases and vaccine, there's actually some research finally put out recently that's interesting about how the two interact. It depends on how your body retains its B cells, whether through natural or medicine. If you weaken but retain B cells, the vaccine actually works extremely well, perhaps even better than those without autoimmune problems. If you are destroying all your B cells regularly, the vaccination (like kinda all vaccines if you have this) will usually be taken out with the B cells that hold it.

I'd suggest looking into it for yourself if you have autoimmune issues. I know people with the 2nd type who are planning on wearing masks for quite some time after stuff opens. I'm lucky and have the 1st type, though perhaps because of my increased responsiveness to it, I got immensely ill for 3 days after...

when the pandemic first happened, my biggest change was having to deal with my folks being home for two weeks or however long lockdown was here. Then, the masks. I don't really go anywhere anyway, so staying in wasn't that difficult for me. The worst part was losing out on income from conventions and shows where I vend and do Artist's Alley, plus not being able to see friends I only get to see at those.

Then, we had a scare where Dad potentially got exposed, which would've been bad if he had, because he and I are both high risk, and Mom's moderate risk. Mom and I chewed him out good for that, but I dunno how well that sank in. I wear my mask everywhere when I go out. One plus is that I no longer have to worry about people staring at my chin.

Been stockpiling food and things for when they bring in forced vaccines and start putting people in camps and civil war fully starts.

JosieQ wrote:Been stockpiling food and things for when they bring in forced vaccines and start putting people in camps and civil war fully starts.

...I'm going to guess you're being sarcastic?

'Fraid not. Australia's already firing people who won't vaccinate on the step to putting them IN camps, which they have already spent millions building. And I read a truly horrific article about a man in Vietnam jailed for 5+ years for breaking curfew, talking about it like it was a good thing along with the fact that they're quarantining neighborhoods and just turning them INTO camps, refusing to let "high risk" (ie: unvaccinated) people even leave. Again in this tone like it all made sense and was just super.

We've got people getting fired for refusing the vaccine here in the States. But honestly? I'm not even concerned about that. They chose not to do what's right, and they're dealing with the consequences of that choice.

"They chose not to do what's right"? So, doing what's right is taking a non-approved, experimental, killer vaccine for a mild cold with over a 99% survival rate?

Even if you don't believe it's killer (it is), and even if you believe in cramming something in your body that was rushed through and has no precedent, and even if you believe it's effective in preventing covid (it isn't, they admit it outright), you have no right to tell anyone what to put in their bodies for the good of others. Even if it's a harmless freaking vitamin, telling someone they have to take it to keep their jobs is a fascism so monstrous we need a new word for it, because "fascism" isn't cutting it.

You should apply for camp guard now, get in early. You've got the right attitude for it; groupthink, negation of freedom, absolute belief and faith in government and authority.