#lockdowns Masks

[aropride]

at this point anything's better than nothing when it comes to covid. a cloth or surgical mask rather than a kn95/n95/ffp3 etc respirator is still better than nothing. masking sometimes is better than not at all. keeping a window open or running an air purifier is better than not having any airflow. eating out less frequently / sitting by windows / outdoor dining is better than not taking precautions at all. even just reading up on it is better than avoiding it entirely. anything's better than nothing

[outer-andromeda]

Being sick sucks so much eugh

[barzfrommarz]

[victusinveritas]

[primarining]

I loooove blocking insane people

[transslycanthropy]

Idk it’s hard. Not to feel like you’re losing your shit knowing. Things could’ve been prevented. Or at least slowed down had they not been set up beforehand to begin with. And then you watch people talk about how nice it was before, how it was “peaceful”, how they weren’t constantly dreading the news, and you’re wondering if you lived in the same reality as them because for you, you were already watching immigrants be treated horribly, you were listening to peoole talk about how the support against the border camps had dwindled during that four years, you’re watching your rights to your healthcare and legal recognition get stripped away in different states across the country, you’re waking up every single day to videos and images of burnt and dismembered bodies from a genocide that your country is providing both the weapons and the consent for, you’re watching another ceasefire deal get vetoed by your country, you’re watching all this happen and you’re in fucking despair about it. Only to watch your fellow citizens talk about this time period like it was uneventful for them, enjoyable even, while you’ve felt like you’ve been losing your mind, you’re watching people parrot the same exact “we’ll make America great again” rhetoric because they think this one guy is the sole problem and not the entire history supported by both parties of genocide and racism and bigotry.

[drowningincaffiene]

first case of the HMPV virus found in my country and i REALLYY hope we dont go into another lockdown coz I WILL go insane this time

[windupaidoneus]

i forgot i have allergies no wonder

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 3, day 18

Mizu sketch!

[an-ruraiocht]

really jealous of people who are like "i've been masking since 2020 and i haven't had a cold since" i've been masking since 2020 and i'm still constantly catching gross colds because my immune system is USELESS

[iloveschiaparelli]

moments I should have known I was autistic

This one is a little different bc it indirectly resulted in my first time flagging autism as a thing I might have

Covid lock down in 2020 was really hard for several reasons, mainly not having any friends and not being able to leave the house. But once I finished the school year and made some friends online... I never before nor after have had a year that was better for my mental health and creativity. I organize my art chronologically in my computer and 2020 still remains as the single most productive year for my art ever, by file count. The majority of progress I've made in developing my fictional worlds and stories was made during lockdown, both in 2020 and 2021 throughout my senior year, which was a hybrid remote so I only had to go in 2 days a week.

I spent maybe 30 mins to an hour a day on Instagram looking at crossposts from tumblr. Seeing that I was relating to a very high concentration of queer and autism posts was what first caused me to begin questioning whether I might be autistic. I grew up in a straight, conservative household. I'm a cis female. And yet I observed and said at one point in 2020 "I relate more to the experiences of an autistic gay man than I do to the experiences of anyone in my demographic". I would joke that maybe I'm autistic, but didn't really do any research until the next couple years when I hit college. This was also when I started thinking I had ADHD, but it was 2 years until I got my diagnosis for that.

Looking back it makes so much sense. The reason why I couldn't relate to other straight neurotypical girls is because I'm NOT neurotypical, and I AM attracted to women. (I do not label myself as bisexual or date women for personal & religious reasons, but I do accept that as part of myself and I don't try to force myself to change.) I had spent 17 years trying to fit in with the normal kids and yeah, it was never going to work because I wasn't normal no matter how much I thought I was.

The reason why lockdown was so productive for me creatively and why I felt so healthy and at peace was because I didn't have to leave my house, which meant I didn't have to mask. Even on occasional trips to the grocery store, the building was so empty that it was quiet. I never had to suffer through sensory overload. My house was clean (never before nor after lockdown has my family's home ever been clean enough for me to function in) meaning I could cook in thr kitchen and hang out on the floor or in the livingroom with no sensory problems.

Even once I went to my senior year of high school, it was only 2 days a week in-person. I wore my mask and didn't talk to anyone unless I had to. The food was awful and working with clay in the ceramics class was difficult on a sensory level but as long as it was wet I was fine. They had remote work for us to do on the 3 days home, but I just did it on school days and did art and played minecraft on the off days.

My mental health was abysmal at the start of lockdown, so of course I suffered plenty mentally throughout. But I made SO MUCH progress.

Now that the world has gone back to normal, I'm back to struggling. It's hard to hold down a job because every job available to me isoverestimating. Going to the grocery store is overstimulating because there are crowds of people there. The roads are full of traffic, strangers try to talk to me or wear heavy fragrances/have body odor and stand less than 6 ft away. I can't take 5 days a week to rest, I have to work to pay my bills. If I don't work, I spend those 5 days wondering where my next source of income is going to come from. I sleep way too much, or at least at all the wrong times, because of how stressed I am at the end of every day keeps me awake late into the morning, and then I overslept because I'm exhausted. I used to live in a rural area but now I live in the city, at an apartment complex where it's never fully quiet. (My roommates and i are touring houses this week! Fingers crossed!!).

It seems like I really am disabled in the context of my environment.

I can function OK when I'm in school with no other responsibilities. I can function OK when I have a job and no other responsibilities.

I can barely function, or not at all, if I have school AND a job.

I function best when I have minimal responsibilitie's to fulfill outside of what I enjoy doing. Because I'm disabled. And the covid lockdown was an illustration of how I could function in an accommodating environment.

[alpaca-clouds]

Can't we please go back to masking at least?

I honestly am so frustrated right now. As I said a couple of days ago: I got COVID again and right now Germany seems to be hit hard again, just judging by how many people at university and work are sick with the virus again.

Now, university decided that last week and this week were gonna be remote (with the exception of one workshop two days ago, that was done with some people (who had the virus) participating from home while everyone else was in class). But that is supposed to be over next week. And my workplace also insists we are supposed to be at the office 3 days a week. My manager is not as much of a dick about it as some other managers (so, basically when I said "I am gonna stay home, because I cannot get sick again" he said: "Yeah, that's fine.")

And the people... are all still running around without a mask. Germany did away with the mask mandates more than a year ago, of course. And I guess we just will not go back to them. And right now... Like, I do not have exact numbers, because we also stopped testing.

But at university we are 11 people in class. Out of thos 11 right now 4 people (including me) have the virus right now.

And I need to remind everyone: The virus increases the likelihood of suffering a lot of debilitating deseases later on - or at times immediately.

Right now the guy my roomie does dogsitting for? He is in rehab, because he got the virus a month ago and it put him into ICU. A young, healthy guy. Sure, a smoker. But also someone who does a lot of sports.

And I just... I just cannot deal with this right now. Even if they really just want to keep the economy going, because capitalism has turned them into sociopaths... They have to say that keeping the economy going when people die early and suddenly, when folks are diabled and all that... Will not work out, right?

[starkid-innit]

hello again! quick question, do you know what the opinion is on masks for Starkid Innit is? I know that the audience wore masks for npmd, but that it was also a request from the theatre (i think, i might be wrong though)

I hadn’t even thought about this so thanks for brining it up!

Unless starkid specifically requests that people wear masks (in which case I’m sure we’ll get an email) I would assume that 99% of people will not be wearing masks

You’re very welcome to wear one to the show but I’m pretty sure most people won’t as the venue doesn’t have any guidance about wearing masks and I didn’t see anybody in a mask at the show I went to in London last week