I really wish the chaos would go away. Again, I was hoping to slowly get back into things, but all of that came to a sudden crashing halt. Real life again woohoo! Gotta love that real life! But yeah, as you may have guessed from the title, and already know if you follow me on Twitter, I had to get tested for COVID-19! Don't worry, the result was negative, just to get that out of the way, and I'll talk more in detail about my experience later in the entry. All I can say is if you think wearing a mask is uncomfortable, try getting tested for the virus. It's... it's traumatizing...
Anyway, so yeah, overall things got hectic again, which is why I haven't been able to update my stories. I was able to bounce around ideas and get some planning done at some points, but other than that, I've got nothing done thanks to real life being stressful again. In fact, I can't even remember where I left off in my last entry, so if any of this ends up being a repeat, I'm sorry. But yeah, this has what has been happening to me for the past few weeks.
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way first. I had a coronavirus scare. It wasn't pleasant. I had been feeling a bit weird one night about two weeks ago at this point, but I thought nothing of it. Sometimes I can feel off during the night, and usually it's a result of my anxiety. So I just chalked it up to that. Especially since I woke up feeling fine the next morning, if not a little on the tired side. I was the duty manager at work again that day (go figure), and it was the day of the inspection. All throughout that I was feeling fine. I could feel myself getting progressively drained, but that's it.
It wasn't until around midday that things really started going downhill.
The inspectors had left, thank goodness, and I was just beginning my lunch break when I started to get a pounding headache. Again, nothing too unusual. I can get headaches when I'm tired and haven't slept properly. But then I started feeling really hot. This wasn't the usual hot flush side effect of my medication, this heat was coming from my head and radiating to the rest of my body, and no matter what I did, I just could not cool myself down. I was stood directly in front of an open door with the AC on full blast above me, and it did nothing.
That's when I started panicking. It's been so long since I've had a fever, and I'm pretty sure I haven't had one since I was a little kid, so I really couldn't remember what one felt like. Was I developing a fever? Or was this just my anxiety playing tricks on me?
So I hid myself in the office and called my manager and explained my symptoms. So then she panicked and reassured me that though it probably wasn't the virus, I should still probably go home to be on the safe side. That then created a dilemma. I use public transport. So I had no choice but to ask my mum if she could give me a lift home so I could potentially avoid contaminating other people. She said no because of course she did. She didn't want to leave work, though I have no idea why they wouldn't be okay with it, especially since it might mean that my mum was contaminated as well.
I was stuck. I had no choice but to get the bus. So I wore a mask (like I do when I go outside anyway) and ended up staying way more than two metres away from everyone. I probably went a bit overboard, but I wasn't taking any chances. I didn't touch anything, paid for my bus fair via contactless payment and prayed that no one would sit near me. Luckily, there was only me and one other person on the bus during most of the journey.
I got home and was ready to change into my pyjamas and go to bed when my mum rang me. She had told her work what was going on, and they said that she couldn't come back into work unless I got tested. Brilliant. But I suppose it made sense. I have no idea why my manager didn't tell me to get tested, nor why I didn't think of it myself. Admittedly, I had been a bit stupid.
But I had no idea how to go about getting tested. I knew that it was possible, but how and where? It was something that had never really been properly and clearly explained to us. So I ended up having to do my research and thank goodness for the NHS. They were able to help and guide me, and finally I got onto the UK government's website and was able to book a test. The problem was the testing site was in the next city and it was a drive-by thing. Luckily my mum was actually willing to help me this time for once, so I hitched a lift off her. I was able to book the test for the same evening which was pretty awesome and impressive.
We got lost on the journey there, though I have no idea how we missed the place since as soon as you reach the testing site, it's like driving into the scene from a post-apocolypic movie. It's pretty hard to not notice. They had turned the city's university car park into a huge testing facility. There were guards and security everywhere and we had to go through a variety of barricades to get into the place. It was like being near Chernobyl with them telling us to keep our air vents shut and windows closed. We had to communicate with the staff by phone as they instructed us on what to do. There were warning signs and biohazard symbols everywhere. It was pretty intimidating.
I ended up having to carry out the test on myself which was fun. They gave you the test kit and some instructions and just mainly left you to it. I'd heard horror stories about what the testing procedure was like, so I was already really nervous. My mum offered to do it for me, but I thought I'd pull up my big girl pants and do it myself. Though I could understand why a lot of people would need help with it.
The test involved taking a swab stick and sticking it down the back of your throat and scraping it along both tonsils for about ten seconds. If you don't have tonsils, you took a sample from where they used to be. Thankfully, I still have my tonsils, so I didn't have to try and figure out where to take the sample from. It was the longest and most uncomfortable ten seconds of my life though. The swab on my tonsils felt really weird and all the while I had to fight off my super sensitive gag reflex. I did end up choking and nearly throwing up towards the end though.
Next I had to shove the swab stick right up my nose, as far up there as possible. This one was actually probably the most uncomfortable, because although shoving it down the back of your throat doesn't feel great, at least it doesn't hurt. This one did. This swab had to last fifteen seconds, which again felt like an eternity.
When all that was done, I had to place the swab into some sort of weird liquid and then seal it inside a biohazard bag which we then gave to one of the guards. It was really stressful, but all the staff were really nice, so that made me feel a little bit better. Overall it actually didn't take that long, and within twenty minutes we were heading home. I rewarded myself with some non-contact take-out before passing out.
Waiting for the results the next day was murder. I had to self-isolate along with my mum and brother since I live with them. I missed a day of work, which I wasn't too devastated about. Though to be honest, the distraction probably would have been nice. My manager informed her manager of the situation, though she didn't really seem to care. In fact, I don't even think she replied to the message now that I think about it. My manager was really worried about me though which was sweet. Though I did start to get sick of people texting me, asking if I'd had my results yet, despite knowing the results would be texted to me and that I'd tell them as soon as I did hear anything. They kept making me think my results had arrived, so I was increasingly losing my temper. And by people, I mainly mean my mum.
My boyfriend was my rock throughout the whole thing and he tried to keep me distracted as much as possible. I was beginning to worry that I might have to be under quarantine for an extra day when my results finally came back - negative! Woop woop! I was so relieved. I was pretty sure that it hadn't been COVID-19 the whole time, but still, there's always that worry and possibility. I was all clear. I no longer had to self-isolate (not that I noticed a difference since I'm always locked in my room anyway). I could go back to work and the whole nightmare was over.
To make things even better, my work schedule has somewhat gone back to normal now that we have our new supervisor. So hopefully no more working illegal hours for me, which means, more time for writing! I technically could have got some writing done this past week, but I was just so exhausted after everything that had happened that I just needed some time to myself. No work, no anything. Just me focusing on the casual stuff that I enjoyed.
I managed to get a bunch of gaming done, including finally investing some proper time into Animal Crossing which I haven't been able to do for weeks. My island is now currently undergoing some huge renovations so it's a bit of a mess at the moment. I haven't really had the chance to host or visit any other islands lately apart from my boyfriend's when we've needed something off each other. So if LycoRogue and her husband are up for it any time soon, I'd be down for that. If any of you guys also want to be my friend on the Nintendo Switch, hit me up and I'd be happy to add you. It just might be best to let me know first so I don't accidentally ignore your requests.
In other news, I've finally adopted some gerbils! They're so cute and I love and adore them!
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| Ceres |
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| Venus |
I know, I know, their names are pretty unusual, especially Ceres. I'm not one for typical names, okay? I love mystical sounding names and I'm an astronomy nerd, so I decided to name them after the planets their fur resembled most. Ceres was named after the dwarf planet famous for it's bright white spot, and Venus was named after, well, Venus, due to how light her fur is just like Venus' light clouds. I get judged for their names, but oh well. I like them and think they fit. Again, especially Ceres.
Within just a day I was already starting to notice their unique personalities. They're both pretty brave as far as gerbils go, but Ceres is definitely the most curious, cheeky, inquisitive and hyper of the two sisters. She always has to investigate what's going on and likes to watch the world from the top of their cage. She also seems pretty protective of her sister as well as she seems to jump into front of her whenever I'm lurking about. Though I think they like me so far since I've only been threatened once by Ceres. After that, she's been happy to come up to me and have a sniff.
Venus seems to be the more laid-back of the two. She's usually happy doing her own thing, mainly digging tunnels. She also seems to be the laziest of the two, as if she's not digging, then she's sleeping. She's pretty brave, but nowhere near as inquisitive as Ceres is. She might curiously watch me sometimes, but for the most part, she's not that interested in me. Ceres also seems more interested in self-care than Venus, which is ironic since it was Venus that was the goddess of beauty. Ceres is contanstly using the sand bath and grooming herself whereas Venus doesn't seem to care as much.
You'll probably definitely be seeing a lot more of the two of them, especially if I do end up creating an Instagram account like some of you keep asking me to do. They're settling in very nicely and soon I'm hoping to begin the taming process. I'm just letting them get used to their new home and the sound of my voice at the moment.
As for writing news, well, I don't have much for obvious reasons. My stories are still very much on my mind, and soon, I have two weeks off work, which will give me plenty of time to get some much needed updates done. I'm still stuck with Chat Vert unfortunately, so I guess that story is kinda semi-on-hold at the moment. My main focus is going to be Madness Within and Immortal Bonds. I'm also hoping to start some more in depth work on Professeur Noir soon. I have the whole story planned out, I just need to start writing and hopefully get it published soon. It's a much more casual story that I can work on when I'm not quite in the mood for the darkness, depth and complexity of Madness Within and Immortal Bonds.
Anyway, I think this blog entry has gone on long enough now. I'm hoping to have my review of the episode Felix out on Monday, but my stories probably won't be updated until early next week. I'll be sure to keep you guys posted, and remember that you can email me now at thetauruspixie@gmail.com if you want to get in touch, but don't want to leave a public comment. Or even if you just wanna say hi.
In the meantime, I have a lot of catching up to do. See you all very soon!
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