Pandemic Stress, Pandemic Continuous Traumatic Stress, Tribalism Coping, & More!

I wish they could vaccinate the doggies and cats. They can get the virus, too.

My dog has only had contact with me so as long as I don't get it he won't. He's a fit strong dog who doesn't have any immune issues so hopefully he would be ok if we did get it!

I didn't really get a bad headache but had really bad Tinnitus this time so took a flu capsule that makes you drowsy to help me get off to sleep and it wasn't so bad this morning ..only in the 'deaf ear' which can get relief from hearing aid on masking program

So we've been for our morning run to find a field I could get scooter on for doggy to charge round with his ball as our garden is horrible and muddy with all the rain we've had here!


Just have to organise a food shop now before the next lot of snow comes!

Glad you finally got your booster @InkyTinks!

well I'm still here...the Tinnitus did quieten down though it's taken a couple of days, but I didn't get the severe headache this time. so glad thats over for now!


Still have to put up the over bed table I got for xmas and take down the tree. I want to get back into art this year, learning to sketch better as well as just colouring in. ...but the tree is on my 'art desk' and I don't usually take down the tree until the 6th January in memory of my mum - who always put it up on the 12th Dec and took it down on the 6th Jan! ..so I have always done the same every xmas since she died when we were teens.


Guess I'll just have to play on the switch a few more days...still trying to unlock the same breed as my dog for the dog sledding game!

I'm glad the side-effects of your booster are tapering down now. I hope you feel better, and yay for being protected!

Your tradition with the tree sounds beautiful!

Dog sledding? Do you mean a board game or a real dog sledding thing where you interact with your doggie outside? Either way, that sounds like fun!

I'm still trying to wake up now. LOL. I need to eat something. I have to break out my ladder to get to my coffee machine and teapot.

I'm hoping that my creamers are still good (not expired). I'm craving coffee.

It's a video game on Nintendo Switch Console.


Here's a short clip from YT






You can get different dog breeds though in different colours and I'm trying to unlock the one that looks like mine to complete the Intermediate and Advanced Levels with!!

That looks like a fun game, InkyTInks!

@InkyTinks. I'm so glad you were finally able to get the booster and that the side effects are subsiding.


My husband and I were watching some sporting events from England - rugby and soccer. We find it amazing that spectators are crowded into the stadiums and hardly a mask in sight. It seems like some people there have decided to just ignore that the virus is still here with us. My country is relatively open, but we still have a mask mandate most places and there are capacity limits places like stadiums.

I've always wanted to travel to England! I used to attend a church a few decades ago in Southern California, and many of the members there were from England (I think they had dual citizenship between the USA and England, but unsure). Later, when Harry Potter came out, I really wanted to visit England to see where they filmed that show. I think it was in England, if I'm not mistaken! And people from England are super brilliant with words and songwriting, IMHO! I've always admired the culture of England, even though I don't know much about it.

Part of my father's heritage is English. My father is Irish, Scottish, English, German, and French, or what some USA people call a "mutt." My mother is Japanese (but born and raised in Hawaii, with Hawaiian customs). My father identified as Caucasian, but my half-sister (from my dad's side) used to insist that we were more European than Caucasian. I had no idea what the difference was. But my dad used to call me Eurasian, which was somewhat accurate with the European and Asian mixture that I have. Hawaiians would call me "hapa" (half) for short, or hapa-howly (half-white) in the long version. I do NOT call myself "white" anymore, or as much as I can help it on forms, because I'm more aligned with being European and Asian American than I am with mainstream "white" culture. I certainly don't look white, nor do I follow the traditional customs of white culture (other than being somewhat of a patriot in my country, since I am a veteran and believe in the tenets of homeland security).

Anyway, the sports in England sound fun to watch! I've not really known much about Rugby, other than maybe a lesson in college on Nelson Mandela's peace-building suggestions.

Soccer and the World Cup - I think it's called - was always a famous thing to watch in the Americas (South and North America), and perhaps globally. I used to love watching the World Cup in sports bars because it was a global phenomenon, not just a local sport to the USA. I loved learning about cultures outside the USA, and still do. I just haven't been able to learn as much of it lately.

Anyway, I think many places have let down their guard on mask and vaccine compliance. That said, I just avoid going out anywhere, as I'm still isolating/shielding in place until this pandemic is over. The pandemic is said to be over in the future, even if it turns endemic, but the latest news on that reveals that omicron won't be the end as we hoped it would.

I get upset whenever I see many maskless persons at stadiums, rallies, protests, concerts, festivals, carnivals, and more! Masks do help reduce the dosage and spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that can lead to the disease, COVID-19, if the dosages are high enough. By reducing the dosages via masks alone, and even more via both masks and vaccines, this can also lead to reducing the disease, COVID-19, and, by extension, long-covid, deaths, losses, economic issues, relational losses, long-term disabilities, and more. I wished that more people would understand that the more we do to slow its spread, the quicker this pandemic will end. But the more we allow the excuse of pandemic fatigue to infiltrate our protections and decision-making, the more we prolong this pandemic and the economic and emotional tolls that ensue thereafter.

Your country obviously has more sense! ...I'm not really into sports, watching or playing so I don't even watch it on TV! ..but they are probably adding to the numbers...despite ours being really high now PM in his wisdom is still not adding further restrictions for England!


Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have tighter restrictions, but also cos of that many scots and welsh crossed the border for NYE as our nightclubs, restaurants and pubs weren't closed! ..so if they caught it off anyone that night they've taken it back over the border with them!


Although Omicron may be milder the problem is staff and employees of public & emergency services who get it still have to isolate if they test positive and we have had shortages of lateral flow tests , so they're stuck in isolation until they can get a test ..so staff shortages are getting worse and worse in hospitals, schools, public transport etc.


Some schools go back tomorrow and teachers are being told to mix classes if there are shortages of teachers and pupils (stick two or more different classes of pupils in one room to one teacher, depending how many kids turned up). There's also a severe shortage of supply teachers and agency carers to replace care staff in nursing homes and homecare.


Boris (PM) must have something he doesn't want cancelling which would have to be if we locked down again! or he's under pressure from business men not to close down places cos people are struggling to stay open. eg a small sandwich shop/bakery located near a large office block may get easily enough business when everyone is going into work daily, but when they're been told to work from home and only a few customers passing their shop, they may not be able to make enough to stay open.

So true, even if it is milder, Omicron seems to be causing problems with staffing shortages in many places due to the sheer numbers being infected and needing to isolate.


We watched a game from Scotland as well and there were pretty strict limits on capacity, maybe 500 fans? The difference was striking compared to England.


Rugby is a fun sport. My country, Chile is not very good, but we have the Pumas next door in Argentina who are very talented. Before the pandemic, we went to a few Chilean national team games in person. I don't know if you have seen the movie Invictus @SprinkL3, but it is about the Rugby World Cup in South Africa during Mandela's time as president. Worth a watch. The US is better at rugby sevens, which features only 7 players and shorter, faster-paced games. They do tournaments over a weekend in different places around the globe. I assume it is televised in the US if we can usually get it here at the end of the world.

I have seen the movie Invictus - excellent movie! We actually had to watch that for our college course on Peace Studies years ago.

I hope things are okay out there in Chile - in terms of the pandemic.

@SprinkL3 That's great you liked the movie.

Compared to the rest of the world, we are doing pretty well right now.The last report shows 1,058 new cases out of 25,783 tests. Positivity is 3.8%. Most importantly, we only had one death. There are 518 people hospitalized. When things were at their worst, we had around 4,000 people in the hospital. Cases are up a bit week on week, but hospitalizations are down. I am thinking that is the vaccine effect.

I think I mentioned to you before that the antivaxers are a very small fringe here and the booster program was rolled out earlier, which has allowed us to get to one of the highest vaccinated and boosted rates in the world. So far, Omicron is not a huge issue, but that could change, of course. I guess we will probably be a test case as far as the efficacy of boosters for Omicron.