What an exciting day I've had so far (not). Just as I do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings now, today I got up and immediately headed for my computer so that I could stare at a little blue dot for roughly 45 minutes. Thrilling eh?
I know that every state and even sometimes individual counties within states are handling things differently so I can only tell you how it's working here. To get the COVID vaccine, (and why wouldn't I want to do that ?), first you have to be eligible which means a Florida resident and proof of such (I have that) and age 65 or older with proof of that (I am and I have). Then you have to register on the various sites available. Some of the sites contact you when there is an opening. To date, nobody has contacted me. Or I can use the above site which is online. Cool. It involves logging on at a specific time of day and then starring at a little blue dot entitled, "waiting" until the blue dot moves over to "book the appointment". Then, as instructed, I would click on the the book appointment and, actually book the appointment. Simple enough. And it is simple. It is way way way simple. I'm just sitting in a queue, waiting for my turn. Hum dilly hum. The only hard part about it is paying continual attention to that blue dot, to be prepared, the instant it turns blue, to click my mouse button as if I knew the correct answer for the final question on Jeopardy! And to do that I need to keep my eyeball on that dot. Which I am finding increasingly difficult to do. This is what happens. First of all, it's early in the morning. I haven't even showered and changed yet. So I'm sitting there in my jammies, barefoot, wrapped in a blanket because while the weather is beautiful most of the day now, in the early hours it is chilly. While I did mange to brush my teeth, I have not had anything to eat or drink, my eyes are not completely focused and my brain is definitely fuzzy. Once I have settled onto the chair in front of my computer and logged into the site, I stare at the screen for about 10 seconds and immediately realize that my feet are cold. Trying to keep one eye on the screen, I fuss with my comfy, warm blanket to try to cover my feet. Once my feet are covered I resume starring with both eyes. Which lasts another ten or fifteen seconds and then my cellphone blips to let me know that I have received in email. Now the beautiful thing about emails is that they can wait. They will sit there very patiently until the owner of said emails is darned good and ready to read them. I have good about ignoring emails and other cell phone blips while driving, bathing, reading, doing most housey chores, having a walk or a hike or enjoying a meal. But since I'm not supposed to take my eyes of the screen, suddenly more than anything in this world I want to know what that email is. I try desperately to ignore it. But the more I try the more I am positive that this is The Most Important Email Ever Received By Anyone Ever. Of course I give up and check it, taking eyes off the screen for the two seconds necessary, all while trying to keep watching the blue dot peripherally. Hmmm Wayfair is having a sale. Not important. I put my cell phone back down a resume starring at the blue dot. I sing to myself a little to entertain me and eventually break into a little chair dance. The song is Super Cali Fraglistic from Mary Poppins. I don't know why. I nearly fall out of the chair in my exuberance and in catching myself, my eyes have left the screen for mere seconds once again. So I go back to sitting still and watching the blue dot. I don't sit still particularly well. I glance occasionally at my desk calendar even though I already know what is and is not on it. I re-arrange my pencil jar. I probably pick up and put down every single item on my desk. All while trying to keep on eye on the screen. hmmmmm. The blue dot has not moved. I realize that I am both hungry and thirsty. I think about what I want for breakfast. As I consider various ideas, I keep my eyes on the dot. But I'm not really thinking about the dot. I'm thinking about food. A few more minutes and I am more thirsty than hungry and I cannot think of anything except how thirsty I am. This continues until I realize that I also need to pee. Dang it. I must distract myself. I concentrate hard on the screen and begin playing word games with the text. How many words can I make out of "Vaccination"? For example (Not that many is the answer) I start counting the number of letters in every word of each sentence, first separately then cumulatively. All while at least peripherally watching the blue dot. I fall into a fugue state and a minute or so goes by without having moved, or even blinked. However, I realize that although starring intently at the screen, I really wasn't paying a single bit of attention. I move the chair and stand for awhile. I march in place and do side bends, while watching the screen. I make note that when I do side bends instead of the blue dot being on the left it is now either on the top or the bottom. Neat. At some point, it occurs to me that I ought to check and see if my county actually has any appointments left. So I scroll down to Sarasota County and yes there are some left. At that moment only 44% of the appointments are filled. But in scrolling down, my eyes were off the dot!!! Oh NO! What if the blue dot moved while I was scrolled down? Crap! Ok. Back to starring at the dot. I know that I'm not alone. I am not the only person doing this and yes I want the dang vaccine. But for a wiggly fidgety person such as myself this is torture! I suppose I am building some sort of positive personal growth by doing this three times a week, every week, until I finally get an appointment. Yeah, let's choose to believe that. I kept it up until there were no more appointments available and I will try again on Monday.
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
November 2024
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