Sick & tired [Like You Know Whatever]

Oh, friends–

How are you?

Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

This has been an extremely difficult week in the U.S. for anyone who might need access to an abortion, AKA MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. I don’t even know what to say about it, because we’ve been through this so many times before. Over and over and over again we just have to endure while our rights are threatened and chipped away. We have to get up and go to work and be part of a society that fucking hates us, that doesn’t care if we live or die, that values us less than the idea of an imaginary “innocent baby” that they’ve made up, that doesn’t respect what we believe so long as they can shove their beliefs down our throats. I am so angry and so, so tired.

I will list some resources for ways to help later on, but can we just sit with the anger and exhaustion for a moment? It’s not fair at all that we have to deal with these attacks on our bodily autonomy, and it takes an emotional toll. We should be able to take a moment to process this before we have to immediately open our wallets and hit the streets and hit the phones… again, again, again.

On top of living through this national crisis, I regret to inform you all that I tested positive for Covid the Monday following my last newsletter, the day after we returned home from visiting our buddy in Portland. So, I have been stuck at home, sick, coughing and blowing my nose for more or less the past two weeks. I was really hoping never to get this damn virus, since we still don’t know what the long-term effects are, but I guess going two+ years without it is a pretty good streak and I should be grateful for that.

I am certainly grateful that I did not get it until after I’d been fully vaccinated and boosted, because even with all these antibodies, it has not been fun. For the first three days, I pretty much slept 18 hours a day. I would wake up for an hour to drink fluids and take more medicine and then go back to sleep for another two to four hours, wake up again and repeat. After that, things calmed down and the experience has been like having a bad cold. I had a sore throat and my voice was shot, and I’ve been really congested, which occasionally fuels a cough or three, but it’s been manageable. I have not lost my sense of taste or smell, although I have lost most of my appetite, but whether that’s the virus or the Sudafed I’ve been taking for it, I couldn’t tell you. In the past couple of days I have tested negative, but since I’m still coughing and experiencing symptoms, I’m staying the fuck home for now.

Being in quarantine now feels a little like spring 2020, except that instead of isolating because I’m afraid of catching the virus, I’m isolating because I’m afraid of spreading it. It feels weird to see my friends on Instagram out and about, at events or bars or weddings or on vacation. I’m tempted to scream, “BE CAREFUL!!!!” at all of them, but was I being careful when I caught this virus? No. Not really. I was telling myself to get over my anxiety and get used to the return to normalcy. I mean, sure, a lot of the indoor things I was doing required us to show our vaccine cards, and I appreciate that, but we all know now that you can still get and spread the virus even if you’re vaccinated. It almost feels like we’ve come full-circle with all these variants and are back to the beginning. Siiiigh.

I don’t have too many recs for this week, since I’ve spent most of it sleeping and all of it inside my apartment, but here are the ones I have for you:

• Donating to abortion funds. The best way to support abortion access in the U.S. right now is to support abortion funds, which fund people who need access to abortions and sometimes have to travel hundreds of miles and/or out of state to secure them. The Cut has a wonderful list of funds ranked by how dire the situation is in each state. This Google doc is another great resource that lists funds alphabetically for all U.S. states and territories. Finally, if you find yourself in need of an abortion and need support, you can find more information at ineedana.com and, if you’re interested in a self-managed at-home abortion with abortion pills (available in all 50 states), plancpills.org. Maybe bookmark those sites if you don’t need them right now.

• Now for something totally stupid and unrelated to our political hellscape: pudding shots! Let’s take it back to that wonderful time in Portland before I got Covid. My friend’s actual birthday was quite a day, complete with a trip to wine country for tastings, a shmancy French dinner out, an electro-swing concert, and finally, drinks at The Vern, a tavern/dive bar in SE Portland. While there, I was introduced to the concept of pudding shots, which are exactly what they sound like: peppermint schnapps-laced “shots” of chocolate pudding. I thought they sounded disgusting and absolutely fascinating; in reality, they were delicious and deadly. Google tells me that these are, in fact, A Thing, and can come in many different combinations of pudding and alcohol: vanilla pudding and whipped cream vodka, for example, or chocolate pudding and Bailey’s. Next time I’m on a sloppy group vacation or throwing a party, I might just whip some up.

• Cold-brewed iced tea. I have been drinking a lot of iced green tea since I’ve been sick, and did you know that you can cold-brew tea just like coffee? It comes out sooo smooth, and not watered down like normal iced tea. It’s more or less the same process as cold-brewing coffee, but here’s a recipe if you want the basic tea-to-water-to-time formula. I’m not a big tea drinker normally, but when I’m sick it feels like I have to drink tea.

• Ready or Not. I really enjoyed this horror movie about a bride fighting for survival against her murderous, Satanic in-laws. It combined a lot of humor with suspense, and had a great cast (Adam Brody! Andie MacDowell! Samara Weaving, an Australian actress who somehow looks exactly like Margot Robbie yet is not Margot Robbie!). Here’s the trailer. It will make you grateful for your in-laws, no doubt.

• Astro Poets on Substack. I’ve long been a fan of the Astro Poets on Twitter, where they share poetic mini-horoscopes and funny reads of the zodiac signs, but in the past year I’ve also subscribed to their paid Substack, which has a ton of content for only $6 a month. They share weekly and monthly horoscopes, chart readings, “the signs as ____” lists, and astrological love matches (still waiting on Libra/Capricorn!). If you dabble in astrology at all, it’s a must-subscribe.

Okay, friends, I think that’s it for me this week. Sorry that this newsletter is going to be a lil’ shorty, but blame the Covid.

Don’t forget to like, comment, and share this newsletter if you feel so moved–you can use the buttons at the bottom or the top.

Until next time—stay safe & stay mad.

Love,

Liz

XOXO