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Awkwardness
While I was on my holiday in the US, I did a road trip and visited various friends and family along the way. This particular story relates to a visit I had while in Pennsylvania.
I spent three nights in Pennsylvania with my aunt and her husband and during that time I had a visit from my cousin. Actually, it’s my mom’s cousin but she is my age. We grew up calling her a second cousin but I’m not too clear if that’s the right terminology. My grandmother had eight younger brothers and sisters. This cousin is the daughter of the second youngest brother.
My cousin K and I made arrangements for her to visit me at my aunt’s house one afternoon. She came there with her partner, much like she did the last time I saw her. We had a pretty nice visit while there and caught up on a few things in the family. It was going okay until we started discussing her brothers. One of her brothers had been in the hospital at the time with issues that hadn’t been diagnosed at the time. We talked a bit about that and suddenly she decided to phone him and put him on to speak with me. This is where it gets awkward because I have seen cousin K2 since we were children, maybe teenagers at the oldest. There’s another brother, my cousin, K3 that is pretty much the same. So there’s nothing quite like speaking to a virtual stranger for a few minutes. We did exchange a few words and I wished him better health and all that. But it was super difficult.
My cousin K and I spoke a bit more and then she decided I needed to speak to her other brother and put me on to him too. Another awkward conversation followed. It was slightly less awkward since he wasn’t in the hospital but it was a strange conversation.
I love my cousin but I guess this is part of her character and she is totally clueless about the situation she put us in. My guess is the brothers have been put in this situation many times before.
Fast-forward a few months and I see my cousin has posted on her Facebook account that her brother has lung and brain cancer. :( She and I aren’t close but I was watching for an update on her brother. I had kind of thought that whatever issue that had existed had resolved. Apparently not. I can’t imagine a double diagnosis like that has even a hopeful prognosis. I know brain cancer is particularly difficult to treat in a lot of patients. Knowing that he is unlikely to survive this makes me really sad. And partly sad for the fact I don’t really know him. Not that it’s possible to know all those in your family, especially when there are large families involved.
A couple of days after that post, she posted her other brother had gotten married. She also put up a bunch of photos of the bride and groom. Mostly there were photos of the bride’s family. There was one with my cousin and her brother with his bride and one of her partner, I think (It was a blurry photo). All the rest were of the bride’s family and friends. Maybe my aunt and uncle weren’t there due to the health issues of the other brother? I think this was the cousin’s first marriage and I hope it’s a happy and long-lasting marriage.
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Travel hiccups due to COVID
I got a message last week telling me the itinerary of my travel had changed and I now had to change airports in Tokyo. The problem with this is that foreign nationals aren’t able to use public transport in Tokyo, leaving me without a valid flight. I called them and was on hold for some time then gave up. The next morning, the Scientist phone when their customer service opened and waited for close to an hour while he was working. He then put me on to the representative who had found alternative flights that would help me reach my destination. The problem was they only had code-share flights which would mean I wouldn’t have the generous seating space that I purposely chose. And the code share flight was a considerably cheaper option, based on what I saw while searching flights. After discussions on a couple of days with the representative, I finally chose to cancel the flight and choose another option. I will point out this was a call center in Hong Kong and the connection by phone was terrible. Also the last rep I spoke with was so hard to understand because every time he spoke there was static on the line. I don’t fault the reps at all but the rest of the service was rather poor. Even the hold message was done in quite broken English. The app for the airline was also rather poor so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. It’s unlikely I would book any further flights with the airline in the future. By the way, it’s going to be two to three months to process the refund. :(
While waiting for return communications on the previously booked flight, I went searching for flights through other airlines. I might have gone with Singapore Airlines except the flights would be in and out of Perth and I didn’t want to risk not being able to get back into the state. Also the flights were a bit more expensive than they had been when I booked my original tickets. But I had a pretty good experience on my previous flights with them and the food was good too.
Ultimately I chose to use Qantas Airlines and book the most direct flight to Dallas, which includes 15 and 16 hour flights between Sydney and Dallas. This shortened my trip by nearly a day and the only layovers are in Sydney. On the way, I have a ten hour stop and I’m thinking of going into the city and being a tourist for a few hours, mostly outdoors. Anyway I booked my trip and went to pay and had an issue trying to use Paypal where I clicked on done to avoid the payment (there were reasons I tried Paypal that didn’t come to fruition). When I tried to go back to the payment page, it showed my ticket was confirmed and I soon got a strange email telling me they couldn’t issue the ticket until I filled out the information for entry into the US. Not that filling out the information made any difference. I tried to call the airline but the hold times were long so I didn’t stay with it. I decided to wait and see what happened over the next day. Still there was no way to make payment. I then noticed my account showed something in the “basket” and I went there and paid for a ticket. Except this had a different booking number. This time I got an itinerary and several other emails but nothing like the strange one I got with the previous ticket. My account now showed two trips that were the same except for one flight. There was no way to remove the other one. I ended up calling the airline and waited for three hours to speak to an agent. Once I got through, it was a matter of five minutes to fix the problem.
Within a day of getting that sorted, it was announced our border was going to open in full on March 4th. I don’t think I’d have been able to get a reasonable fare but it’s possible more airline options would have been available. Still I have always had pretty good experiences with Qantas so it should be fine.
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Adjusted plans
With the recent changes to plans for opening borders, I was really unsure of whether my travel plans were still going to be doable but I think it’s all going to be okay now. My trip involved a return through Hong Kong but I have changed the route to go through Sydney. In this way, I can now transit in Sydney back to WA and then quarantine for two weeks at home. For all I know, the borders may well be open by then but it seemed prudent to make a change now rather than risk waiting to see what happens and have difficulty changing flight arrangements. Making this change did cost me extra money but it leaves me feeling much more confident in my plans than I was after the recent announcements..
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Uncertainty
It was announced on Thursday that our state borders won’t be opening on February fifth after all. I’m not terribly surprised but there is no new goal in sight currently. My travel plans have reached some snags and they might turn out to be rather expensive. At the moment there’s not so much of an issue in traveling to the US but getting back into Western Australia is. There’s a cap of 40 arrivals per day internationally, based on hotel quarantine limits. The problem I have with this is there’s a totally different rule for people traveling from within Australia. I could return through another capital city in Australia, spend two weeks and then come home to quarantine at home instead. I’d have to change my ticket but it could be done. It’s still two months from travel so I won’t make any decisions yet as it can all change so quickly.
We now have omicron spreading locally so I am curious to see how things will play out here. Yesterday there were 24 local cases but today it was only thirteen. Today’s cases are almost all related to one cluster through close contacts and householders and I think many are already isolating. Interestingly, exposure sites have mostly been in the southern suburbs and not many are anywhere near us. Still, I think it’s unlikely we will be able to wipe this out locally like other strains. So it’s a watch-and-wait situation for the time being.
Meanwhile, my dad ended up at the ER again recently due to really high blood pressure and struggles with a bladder infection. That trip didn’t go well with his bp supposedly being normal even though it was something like 196/89 before they left home. After that, he was left waiting for hours and got agitated enough that my mom took him home, where his bp was still quite high but better than it had been earlier.
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Changes already and other things
Yesterday I received an email from Japan Airlines that my stopover in Sydney is now five hours instead of three. This means I’ll be in Tokyo for fifteen hours. This doesn’t affect my travel time in any way so I accepted the changes. I recall when I made travel arrangements two years ago that there was a change in that plan too. Of course, that trip never happened in the end.
Originally I wasn’t bothered about spending the better part of the day in Tokyo. But I have learned I won’t be able to use the capsule hotel as I am not a Japanese resident, due to COVID issues. So I now don’t know how I will spend so much time. The one hotel is expensive and is not an option unless they lower the rates when I get there. In any case, the capsule hotel is also in a different terminal and I’m not sure how much hassle going to a different terminal might be. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem but there might be limitations.
In other news, even though we have low numbers of COVID cases here in WA, the supermarkets have started placing limits on some items due to shortages. In a lot of cases, it’s hard to source the items at the moment. I suspect in others it’s just some forward planning. I was surprised to find toilet paper shelves empty last night and today while shopping. This is not an issue for us since we have been having it delivered every few months since last year. But it must be quite a problem for others.
I had ordered a few new masks a week ago or so and they hadn’t yet arrived. I wasn’t worried as there have been delays with the postal deliveries. But I got a notice from the post office that another package had arrived today. This was for some melatonin for Lego Lover that I ordered a while back. It’s been sitting in limbo at some place here in Perth for a while. But today it was delivered to a parcel locker. While checking the postal service app I noticed the other package should have been picked up from a parcel locker and was being moved to the post office. I never got a notice to pick it up and most certainly would have done so in a timely manner. Hopefully, it will be available tomorrow and I can pick it up.
I have a follow-up appointment (from the colonoscopy/endoscopy) with the gastro doctor tomorrow. I’m not quite sure what to expect as this will be the first time I see her in an appointment setting. I haven’t had my iron levels checked since my infusion so I don’t know if the levels are dropping still. Like the previous infusion, I haven’t noticed any marked improvement in energy although I am pretty sure I am doing somewhat better.
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Plans
So I did a thing and now I have a plane ticket. I spent ages checking airfares and going back and forth and I finally chose one before my chances of getting a good seat at a good price went away. I travel on March 25th and will return on May 16th. It’s going to be such a long time away from home and I hate that. But I hope I can get do a lot during this visit and spend a lot of time with family. I will write more later.
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Opening borders
It’s been a long time coming but Western Australia’s borders are opening up on February 5th. The announcement came yesterday just as we reached 80% double vaccination in the state. This means I can go overseas and avoid hotel quarantine when I return. It’s a relief to have a date in sight and now I can look at possible travel for next year. It’s going to be a bit strange at first as COVID will actually be in circulation in the community once we open. Apparently, our state has only had one death from COVID-19, according to what I heard at the press conference yesterday. The premier claims our hospital system is prepared but I’m not totally convinced. However, we should be at or near 90% vaccination by then, and hopefully, that means fewer patients from COVID requiring beds. This is in a state where ramping (leaving patients on beds awaiting treatment) is widespread right now, often for hours.
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Stuff
I am still keeping up with exercise to some degree. That isn’t translating to any weight loss as yet and it also isn’t translating to increased muscle mass. I am a bit stuck on that part because I know I have built up muscle but to stay the same that would mean I’d have to lose muscle somewhere else and I don’t think that’s happening. That said, I am not sure how much stock to take in the scales that do all these fancy computations on the body. I am finding it’s been a struggle to get through exercise sessions lately. Usually, I will start feeling better after going for a while and the rest comes more easily. Not the case recently though.
I don’t think I mentioned here yet that my dad went home just before Thanksgiving and is doing okay. It seems he is suffering a bit of confusion since the second stroke but other issues don’t seem to have changed a lot. I did speak with him a few days ago and had a slightly longer conversation. Still quite brief but he was able to get more out on that occasion.
Game Fanatic has been trying to get hold of a Playstation 5 for some time and the pickings have been limited since its release whenever it was. Then EB Games said they had some available for pre-order last month and I rushed there to get an order in to find out they had sold out. I was put on a waitlist in case more units arrived than predicted. These units were supposed to come fairly soon after the orders were taken but I didn’t hear anything further. So I stopped in one day last week to check on the status. It turns out they were still working on calling people about orders and I was able to collect mine after all. So Game Fanatic now has the monster-sized machine which blocks our tv and was able to add a couple of items to his limited Christmas list.
The Scientist hasn’t had any real holiday from work in ages. I don’t count the time taken off when he had surgery earlier this year. As of tomorrow, he’s off until early January. Here’s hoping the time off allows him to recharge a bit for next year. Also, the Scientist had a birthday last week and he’s now started his last year of his 50s. I took him out for lunch at a Thai/fusion restaurant where they had robots to deliver meals to tables and it was a good meal. Then we went to Holey Moley to do mini mini-golf and a game of bowling, both of which were lots of fun for us.
We still don’t have any definite dates on our borders opening here in WA but it feels like it’s getting close to reality now. I have been playing around with dates for travel for next year and it seems like it might be okay in the second quarter barring any delays from newer variants.
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Not fully functional
That’s kind of how I am feeling today but I know it will pass. The past few days I have had to really push to do exercise and I must admit I didn’t feel better afterwards either. I got a new workout routine on Monday, having gone a full eight weeks going to the gym already. This one uses the machines less and requires more abdominal work, which I hope will improve my core muscle groups, which have been really weak since having kids. I’ve noticed my foot/toes are handling activity a lot better now than they did before. The exception is when I am doing yoga moves that require me to be on my toes. I suspect that may just be painful activity when the toes are stretched like that. Anyway, I have started walking a lot more than I have been and have even gone on short hikes in the hills, which I hope to continue through the warmer months.
I had a bunch of blood tests recently and went for a follow-up to discover I have low iron stores. There’s been a gradual decline over the past couple of years. My last test was borderline normal but it dropped quite a bit over three months. Since I am post-menopausal, the usual reasons don’t apply so I’m going in to have a gastroscopy and colonoscopy later this month to check for any internal issues. It’s been several years since my first colonoscopy so I guess that’s okay. Not looking forward to the prep for it, of course. I have been put on iron supplements but they are wreaking havoc with my digestive system. I am trying to eat more red meat but it’s a struggle since I don’t have much appetite for it on a regular basis. I came up with the idea of having small amounts more often and seeing if that works for me. I will also see about switching to a gentler iron supplement since I am not even taking the current one daily and I am having a lot of issues. Tonight I made a stir fry with potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, and a spinach/kale mix along with some stir fry beef and that worked okay for me.
I’ve been feeling what I call draggy the past few days. I’m not sure if that’s due to low iron or something else since I wasn’t feeling like that much before I was told about the iron deficiency. I also learned that I shouldn’t have iron and calcium together either as it affect iron absorption.
My liver tests haven’t been consistent lately so I also had an ultrasound which I imagine will show fatty liver disease, which was there before. I’m hoping it’s not so bad as the last one in 2016. I’m due to have repeat blood tests plus a panel of liver and celiac and other tests at the end of the month so it will be interesting to see how things go. I did find that after two months of exercise I had not only gained weight but my muscle mass hadn’t changed at all. I am sure I have more muscle in some areas so it doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m not that fussed about the slight weight increase and it actually has dropped in the past few days.
After a pretty mild October, we’re getting some warmer weather now but it’s not constant. We go to eat at the food trucks on Monday nights and it’s not been all that comfortable since the first week when we had some lovely warm weather. We even missed a couple of weeks, one of them due to wet and chilly weather. Tomorrow’s forecast is quite positive so I am looking forward to it.
A Lego store opened in Perth about ten days ago so we had to make a first visit. I was expecting really long lines and big crowds but it turned out to be reasonable when we went. But there wasn’t a lot of merchandise still available by the time we got in on day four. We only had to wait for about 15-20 minutes to get in and it was fine in-store. It was worse finding parking at the shopping center, which has mostly doubled in size very recently. I found I didn’t recognise much there and it took a while to find the area of the original structure. I suspect we’ll be visiting there more often once the excitement over new stores dies down (lots of new shops just opened, enough that there was an electronic sign advising there was an “event” ahead on the road.)
I had been considering an upgrade to my Apple watch but finally decided to wait another year. My watch is working fine and although there are features I’d like, I don’t know if it’s enough to upgrade yet. Assuming the iPhone gets a couple of features I want next year, I will update both watch and phone.
Our state finally has a plan for opening up to the world set so I have a more likely chance of going home for a visit next year. No definite dates but our premier is waiting for vaccination rates to reach 90% before we open up properly. Once that happens, I think it might be doable, if things like travel insurance will provide sufficient coverage. I’d really like to get home to see my family, especially my dad. He’s doing okay but has had a couple of scares lately and his blood pressure is definitely not under control.
There’s surely some other stuff I meant to write about but I can’t recall all of it lately. So hopefully I will update again soon.
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Half a year gone
Hard to believe but half the year has gone by and it seems like just yesterday I was having a birthday. During lockdown it seemed time went quite slowly sometimes and other times it was just speeding past.
Here in Western Australia we are still quite fortunate and have reached stage 4 restrictions. We still have limits on numbers to stadiums and such but life is certainly close to being normal here. Our borders are still in hard lockdown and it looks like it might be some time for that change. It was due to move to stage 5 on the 18th but that has been put back to due to spikes in cases in Victoria and to a lesser extent in New South Wales. Now the plan is to move to stage 5 on the 1st of August. So we continue in our rather large-ish bubble in WA. International travel is likely some time off although it’s possible we will extend the bubble to New Zealand which has been mostly covid-19 free for a while now.
My swimming lessons restarted a few weeks ago. The first lesson back was quite a mess for me. I felt like I couldn’t do anything I had learned. But I was doing much better the following classes and I’m even improving on my breast stroke kick.
My exercise has been up and down. This past week I’ve done limited exercise but the couple weeks before I did much better. Overall, I think I’m doing far better than last winter but I could be better. I’ve got plans to do some swimming this evening along with tomorrow’s lesson and some swimming on Wednesday when I go to the pool with my client.
Our tai chi classes are back to meeting in person again and it’s so much better now. We got going again the last week of term and now it’s term break. However we are doing workshops during the break so we’re still attending and for longer hours.
One of the things I missed out on earlier this year was the opportunity to get my Animal Crossing Switch when it was released. I had no idea it would sell out so quickly and there weren’t restocks happening in Australia. But that changed late last month when new stock was announced for Australia and I managed to pre-order one for release on the 10 of July. Happily my order worked out and was deliver on the day and I am quite pleased. It’s rather expensive but I’m a long time lover of the Animal Crossing franchise and if ever I would buy one of these, this is the one to get. Even the box is quite lovely and it likely will be the only one in this how to be kept in the long term. Now we have consoles available for each family member and can play against each other. Lego Lover has the lite version of the console and the rest of us have the regular one which can be used with the tv. I had just about given up hope of getting one when the new stock was announced so I guess I was quite lucky in that.
Another thing that we are back to is organised games nights with our friends. At first we were taking a lot of precautions but since community transmission here has been zero, we have relaxed quite a bit. On the 4th, we had a special 4th of July day with special food and decorations for the day. It was more than our family normally does and we had such a good time together. It really helped to improve moods among us to be close with people we care about.
I am so frustrated to see the situation back home and to see people I care about about carrying on about wearing masks and the whole hoax conspiracy stuff. So far nobody close to me has got this but I worry that it’s a matter of time.
And who knows when I will get back to see my family. I imagine it might be still another year and a half before chances of getting back to the US is possible. And that’s only if the leadership actually changes since the current leadership is so lacking.
Well, I guess I have rambled on enough for this post. I am going to try to update on a few more things in the next week or so.