Dear Aunt Nosey,
I got a shot Thursday.
My COVID-19 booster.
Yep. Piece of cake.
Days earlier, I had been perched like a 77-year old parrot benched by fear of a repeat of the digital polka I undertook last January to secure the elusive first COVID vaccine!
Would there be a return performance of computer hell?
No friggin’ way.
As one of the the oldest persons still working at the Sun-Times, my site-by-site computer scramble had been a logistical nightmare equal to the construct of Donald Trump’s hairdo … and an excuse to eat more Reese’s peanut butter cups.
No way would I again traverse Walgreens’ woo woo website or the city’s cuckoo tango for a shot slot without another serious case of the “shpilkes” … my favorite Yiddish word for high anxiety.
Never again would I stay awake until 1 a.m. to log in early to the city’s ever changing list of unavailable vaccine site locations; or incessantly check Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s MyChart site (despite five of my superb doctors working or connected to them); or visit Walgreens online where its drugstores were forever in my “unavailable” area code.
In early February, a friend finally succeeded in helping me log into Rush University Medical Center’s MyChart site, where I had my knees replaced — and a vaccine date was available ... but not until April!
So, last Wednesday — fearing another fraught vax booster search — I put my old Audi in gear and PERSONALLY drove over to my local Walgreens drugstore Wednesday night anticipating another chilly drill.
And ... hallelujah!
The slow finally had morphed into a go.
My mojo was up! I was able — in minutes — to make a 1:45 p.m. appointment for the next day assisted by the world’s most thoughtful young pharmacist!
Please note: Contrary to earlier advice, I did have to bring along proof of my earlier COVID vaccines. (I had.)
And before the dose was administered Thursday, a document also needed to be filled out requiring my signature — although I was permitted to decline the pharmacy’s “request” for my driver’s license and state I.D.
Nothing is ever perfect (except maybe a vodka martini with a hint of olive juice).
Thus, seconds after the vaccine was administered, I discovered my car keys were missing.
Yikes!
I had accidentally left them wedged on a store shelf between large bags of mixed Halloween candy en route to my shot slot.
Gosh!
Determined not to make such a stupid mistake again, I headed home with a giant bag of candy to immediately follow the pharmacy’s instructions to take a capsule of Tylenol — and to rub the bandaged area on my right arm to prevent soreness.
Then I did what any clear headed person would do.
I made myself a dirty vodka martini.
Took a deep breath.
And then tore open my giant bag of mixed Halloween candy … extracting all the mini-Snickers bars and Reese’s Pieces … for myself.
It just seemed to be the right thing to do.
A random thought and observation…
In this age of provable internet misinformation, I am now grateful for being too old to have acclimated myself to a life dominated by the dopamine of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter.
Traversing the internet is magic, especially when your legs are too old to climb on a camel.
But do I have to know everything?
I will now declare it a good thing having difficulty finding the “basket” when ordering something on the internet.
And from now on consider it a fine disability not being able to warp speed the internet insanity or link in with Linked In.
But text me anyway.
Sneedlings …
Congrats to Chicago photographer/architect Tom Rossiter on the video he produced while filming the city’s skyline every day for the entire pandemic year, 2020. It will not only be shown at the Primitive gallery opening in Chicago on Nov. 12 — but has been been selected to be shown at a United Nation’s environmental conference in Glascow, Scotland later this month. … Saturday birthdays: Sharon Osbourne, 68; Bella Hadid, 24; Marie Kondo, 36 … Sunday birthdays: Carol Marin, priceless; Peter Coyote, 80; Dan Stevens, 39.
