As of today, I'm officially fully vaccinated against the coronavirus!
It was quite the adventure getting that second dose. When I got my first dose through a neighboring county at a conference center, I was handed a note card with the date April 9th (which would be this coming FRIDAY) on it as the date for my second dose, so I asked to have that day off last week. But the county bot messaged me two days ago that actually my shot date would be THURSDAY the 8th instead and moreover during my work shift and at a different location farther away that I didn't know how to get to. Well there was no choice: I immediately put in to reschedule...and they haven't gotten back with me since. In the meanwhile though, I began looking for emergency back-up options because I know you have to get that second shot within a fairly narrow time window if you want the maximum level of immunity. I was having a tough time until I went to work yesterday and asked at the pharmacy. To my shock, they delivered me news that seemed too good to be true: the store where I work would be holding a clinic upstairs in the break room the very next day (today) with the Pfizer vaccine! Needless to say, I jumped on the news and signed up right away. And so today I was able to get my second shot over my lunch break without having to make any kind of special journey at all. My wait was 5 minutes, not the 30 I endured at the conference center last month, and all I had to do was hand them my consent form and wait for one other person ahead of me to be done. Then I was given my shot and my note card was signed off on, done deal! What's more, my employer, Albertsons, gives workers $100 for getting fully vaccinated, so I was able to use my completed note card to put in for that right afterward. Between my $600 stimulus check at the start of the year, my $1,400 stimulus check from last month, and this $100 from my employer, that adds up to $2,100 I wouldn't otherwise have this year, which I think will be sufficient, I think, to keep me out of hunger all year for the first time...like ever! I think anyway.
Anyway, no side effects or anything so far, just a little soreness in the shoulder where I got my shot is all. No big.
You know what the best part of it all is though? Well first a little background: You remember that horrible winter storm that knocked out the Texas power grid back in February right after Valentine's Day? Well during that week, I was among the only employees at the Albertsons store I work at who continued going to work throughout that week despite the roads being downright treacherous to drive on, despite the store relying on emergency back-up generators (i.e. they had no heating or anything themselves) for two days and therefore not opening for those two days, despite all of that. Why? Because I have to have the money. No choice. Also it was actually warmer there than at my house anyway. I was the only courtesy clerk who bothered showing up that whole week. And for the first two days, only two cashiers showed up too. One of those two cashiers was a new hire. (What a way to start, right?!) She and I wound up bonding a lot over those first two days of working in an empty store. I mean I completed all my normal morning chores invariably within a couple of hours and then had the whole rest of the day to do nothing and get paid for it. (They were just waiting for the regular electric power to come back on so we could open, but it never did those first two days.) So me and the few other people there had tons of down time to just hang out. Me and the new lady hit it off and over the subsequent month and a half, we have become an item. Yep, you read that right: I have a girlfriend now. Me!! I mean a steady one who hasn't lost interest after one, two, or three meets. We're looking forward to going on our first proper date in the near future. 
