Coronavirus

Based on documented AZ rates and casual observation, we will definitely be having some sort of delta surge here imo. Don't know how large, but there is a big reservoir population of unvaccinated in many states but it's going to vary by state, I think. The Northeast? Maybe not! They're starting to press up against herd immunity if memory of the stats serves.

The UK Delta surge is continuing but because of the advanced position of the vaccination program hospital admissions are way down compared to our 2nd wave last Autumn, an indication that cases are either younger people (under 40) or the vaccine is doing its job (keeping people from getting very ill).

We're on about 60% of the adult population double jabbed and 80% of all adults having had at least one, that being (one jab, according to the medicos) the minimum to keep people from getting very ill. The govt announced a push two weeks ago to get all adults at least one jab so the country could properly re-open (still a lot of businesses not open or on reduced trading restrictions) so dropping my lad in for his first shot tomorrow.

There have been recorded deaths here from the Delta of people who had had two shots, but no details on their existing age or health states, so the vaccine is not the 100% magic bullet. And investigation is ongoing on a booster 3rd shot in the Autumn here.

I was going to add a few graphics but I still can't add attachments with my browsers so you'll have to look over here:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274

Several pages back I complained about a "friend" of mine who deliberately didn't take the vaccine. Nor did his wife, and they didn't get their kids vaccinated either. Both parents are teachers. I really went off on him and considered, for not the first time, never talking to him again. I did, however, continue to talk to him now and then.

Fast forward, and someone sends me a picture that he posted on Facebook, of himself wearing a "I survived the Plandemic" shirt. I was fucking livid. This guy also considers himself quite the Christian. I texted him that I considered that shirt extremely disrespectful to anyone who had lost someone, and that I expected better of him. I told him that all that shirt can cause is harm.

After a couple of hours, he texted me a fucking novel, explaining how the Government lied to everyone, hydroxychloroquine could have saved thousands of people, his shirt wasn't meant to be disrespectful, and for every "icy cold stare" he got, he got someone wanting to shake his hand or buy him a drink. He topped all of this off by saying that God intended to kill all of those people anyway.

That was it for me. I blocked his number, blocked him on Steam, Xbox, and Facebook, not that I have visited Facebook since 2019 anyway. This ignorant asshole is not worth my time and energy.

I'd also like to say, after I posted the above, somewhat out of morbid curiosity as I noticed I was on page 117 of this thread, I started at the beginning and went over the ENTIRE thing. It took a while!

This thread is like a group diary... and I experienced all sorts of emotions. The beginning, we were so naive... oh no, things might be shut down for 3 weeks!

This thread goes places. For my part, I'm glad I posted about key events that occurred, so that I can remember how it all fits together.

I'm thankful for this site. Last year was a long, terrible decade.

It appears that my long-term relationship is another casualty of the pandemic. We started dating in 2003. We've had some issues over the years, and she moved out in 2018. But 2019 was a very good year for our relationship, and she was ready to move back in with me in 2020. Then the pandemic happened. Due to cancer and a chronic illness, she has a weak immune system. At the time, I was still interviewing several job candidates every week, face to face. So we agreed that it would be better for her to not move in with me until after the pandemic. We stayed in regular contact via emails and phone calls, just like a long-distance relationship. Sometimes she would work from home from my place while I was at the office, so she could do some yoga while watching my big-screen tv. She got me Marvel Champions for Christmas, which turned out to be a great gift.

I got my first shot in late March and was fully vaccinated by the beginning of May, so I was looking forward to finally seeing my girlfriend again in May. That hasn't happened yet, and may never happen.

She stopped dropping by after January. Her unforwarded mail piled up at first, until she started having it forwarded. She never picked up her Valentine's Day presents. I was letting her pay her two charge cards with my checking account info, to help her out with medical bills, until she stopped doing that in April. I asked her about that, suspecting that this was a very bad sign that she was feeling guilty about something, and she returned to normal in May. In June, she didn't make the cc payments from my account again, so still feeling guilty I guess.

Her responses to my phone calls and emails gradually faded over the course of 2021, to the point where I now hear from her maybe twice a month. 90% of the time that I call, she doesn't answer, and she rarely calls back. I have tried to get her to talk about what is going on, and she deflects and cuts things short. It's possible that she is just very stressed out by her bad boss, busy job, and dysfunctional workplace, but those were all issues in 2020, so I don't think that's it. Her job started forcing people to come back into the office in February, so I suspect that she may have hooked up with a co-worker and is doing a slow fade on me just in case her new relationship doesn't work out.

Has the aroma of clinical depression. You're both old enough that she should clear the air so you know if she needs help or has already found it.

Sagrilarus wrote: Has the aroma of clinical depression. You're both old enough that she should clear the air so you know if she needs help or has already found it.

I hadn't considered that possibility. She has struggled with great sadness a couple of times in the past, but it was triggered by the kinds of things that would make anybody sad, like when her cat died. As far as I know, she hasn't suffered from clinical depression in the past. If it is happening now, I'm just not able to see any signs other than the lack of contact. She has sounded warm and friendly on all of our phone calls this year, except for the last one. That time, I finally got through after she ignored several calls, and then she spent most of the call coughing loudly and complaining of a cold. But when she finally responded to a question, suddenly her voice sounded completely normal, as if she had been faking the cough. Then she started coughing again, so I let her go.

Sagrilarus wrote: Has the aroma of clinical depression. You're both old enough that she should clear the air so you know if she needs help or has already found it.

I finally got a clear answer, and it's a worst case scenario. Yes, depression. Also, a bone fracture. And she is questioning her sexual orientation and she is worried if she is getting too old to start a family. And the kill shot is that she has decided to move to California, where she has a couple of friends and some extended family members.

Shellhead wrote:

Sagrilarus wrote: Has the aroma of clinical depression. You're both old enough that she should clear the air so you know if she needs help or has already found it.

I finally got a clear answer, and it's a worst case scenario. Yes, depression. Also, a bone fracture. And she is questioning her sexual orientation and she is worried if she is getting too old to start a family. And the kill shot is that she has decided to move to California, where she has a couple of friends and some extended family members.

Wow. That sucks. But hey, you know. And that takes away a world of potential regrets. Make sure she's getting help for the depression. It sounds like she has a lot of issues to deal with.

I offered her any help that she needs right now. Her fracture will take months to heal. Her depression is probably clouding her judgment, but she mentioned the California thing once a few years ago, before she landed her current job. So I think she will be leaving, no matter what. But I still love her, and will help her as much as she will allow.

I hesitate to say this, but be careful. Some here have said this to you for many years, I think, but your relationship really raises red flags for me personally. I don't know what things are really like in Real Life, I'm just a guy on the internet with that specific window into your life, but it really feels like you could use a cleaner break here. I don't think it's fair to be stuck providing a long-term relationship worth of support to someone who is not/does not want to be your partner. Does not feel fair to you.

Gary Sax wrote: I hesitate to say this, but be careful. Some here have said this to you for many years, I think, but your relationship really raises red flags for me personally. I don't know what things are really like in Real Life, I'm just a guy on the internet with that specific window into your life, but it really feels like you could use a cleaner break here. I don't think it's fair to be stuck providing a long-term relationship worth of support to someone who is not/does not want to be your partner. Does not feel fair to you.

You're right, it isn't fair to me. And I reflected on it this afternoon and realized that I truly love her unconditionally. That love compels me to help her in anyway possible that she allows, until she has moved on. I don't expect anything in return at this point, I just genuinely can't stand the idea of her current suffering. In a couple of months, she will leave, I will grieve, and then I will get my clean break and get on with life. Or maybe the depression will lift and she will change her mind. "And maybe the horse will learn to sing." (google that quote for the reference.) She is a recent (2019) breast cancer survivor, so I already knew that she might not be around for the long run anyway.

Sorry this is happening to you.

Shellhead, my condolences.

Like all of us, I’m just a random internet dude with no special insight into your life. I will say that the various times over the (10+! crazy) years of FAT and now TWBG, the times you’ve shared about your relationship have been red flaggy to me.

Now, there’s obviously a selection bias at work here — most people don’t vent about their relationship when everything is great — but it’s seemed for a long time that this lady is not on the same page as you about y’all’s future. It has a very strong vibe of “she is not into this, but it is comfortable so she sticks with it because change is scary.”

If you are fully vaxxed and she does not want to move back in, then cut bait. The weird dodging of calls just cements it. You sound like a guy who’s been very giving over many years, both emotionally and financially, and she is not reciprocating. So stop letting yourself be taken advantage of. She is free to explore her sexuality or spirituality or whatever, but if she is not enthusiastically inviting you along for the journey, you owe it to yourself to wish her good luck and then move on.

Much like planting a tree, the best time is 20 years ago, the second best time is right now.