Pandemic Diary, August 3rd, 2021: Delta Blues

Well, it is now been a month and a half since my second vaccination, and I am heartened by reading recent research reports which show that the AstraZeneca/Pfizer combination is highly effective against the coronavirus!

I am happy to report that I have been able to visit my mother and stepfather in their seniors life-lease condo across town, give them big hugs, and even stay for supper! And last week, I finally went and got my hair cut, something I have not done since January of 2020! Yes, I am no longer rocking a ponytail!

Things are slowly, very slowly returning to something closer to normal. I’m still working from my apartment four out of five days of the week, however, and my library remains closed. My university is planning to offer a hybrid of remote and in-class learning come September (classes with fewer than 20 students will be held in person, with face masks and social distancing, while larger classes will continue to be held online and remotely).


Unlike Alberta and Saskatchewan to the west, which have already lifted their mask mandates and essentially all restrictions, Manitoba is still operating under a series of partial restrictions after a disastrous third wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths which, for a time, was the worst hotspot in all of North America.

However, the Manitoba government will begin to lift some restrictions starting next Saturday, given that our vaccination program is proceeding swiftly, indeed ahead of schedule! CBC News reported today:

As of Tuesday, 80 per cent of eligible Manitobans ages 12 and up had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the news release said. The province expects to reach 75 per cent with two doses within the next week.

Those numbers were set out in the province’s reopening plan as targets for the Labour Day long weekend in September.

Contrast Manitoba with the truly lamentable and avoidable situation in the U.S., where only half the population has been fully vaccinated, and the highly-contagious Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has led to a surge of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths among the unvaccinated in places such as Florida.

It’s clear that COVID-19 still has the capacity to throw a few curve balls at us. Stay healthy, get fully vaccinated, stay home if you can, and stay safe!

Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash

Better (Virtual) Homes and Gardens: I Am Hosting an Open House Until August 11th, 2021!

Many people in Second Life choose to set up a virtual home for themselves, creating a house and garden that would be impossible (or impractical!) to have in real life. There are hundreds of SL home-and-garden enthusiasts who showcase their design work via a blog or a Flickr photo account!

This blogpost is an update to one I made last Christmas, when I first moved into a community run by Bray Preston-Rising, which I have written about previously on this blog, called Bray’s Place (SLURLwebsite). In my 14 years of visiting thousands of Second Life sims, I have never received such a warm welcome, or encountered such a wonderful community!

Unfortunately, Bray has suddenly taken seriously ill, and as a result, Bray’s Place Blues club will close immediately, and the Bray’s Place sim will close on August 11th, 2021. I wanted to take the following pictures to remember this place, before it is gone forever!

Here is what my Second Life home looks like inside, plus a few pictures of the front patio and the back yard. Please click on the pictures below to see it them in a bigger size and get all the detail! I am quite happy with my little virtual home! (Now, if I could only keep my real-life home as neat and tidy as this!!)

Be sure to read the spines of the books in my bookshelf 😉

I will attempt to update this blogpost later with some details on where you can pick up my home decor; much of it is from Apple Fall (particularly the living room and kitchen). The magnificent Queen Nefertari bust on the coffee table in the final picture—something I could never hope to own in real life!—comes from the Archaeology gacha at Silas Merlin’s store and gallery (here’s the exact SLURL). The wonderful planetary orrery on the kitchen table actually works, and it is available for only L$10 on the SL Marketplace! (I found it while cam-snooping through someone else’s house, always a guilty pleasure!)

OPEN HOUSE: And if you’d like to pay a visit yourself, you’re in luck! I am holding an Open House until August 11th, 2021, when Bray’s Place sim closes. Here’s your taxi! The welcome mat is always out and Blues Music Fan Radio is always on! Please note that there are NO adult/sex animations of any kind in any of my furniture 😉 so behave yourselves!