The inevitable happened

 It started out as a typical, good week. I went running on the Woodbriar Trail and came across a tarantula, since August is the month they come out. 

This zoomed-in picture turned out better than I expected. I didn't want to get too close, because tarantulas will flick their hairs at you when they feel threatened.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, Reggie was sleeping next to me in bed. I looked at his adorable face, thinking how he has an easy life. I give him his food and water, and he gets to do whatever he wants all day in the house. He doesn't face the struggles I face. But then I thought, maybe his life isn't so easy. Does he miss his previous owners? Does he miss his front claws (which his first owners had removed)? Does he miss the dogs that lived in his previous place? Maybe I'm humanizing him too much.

Wednesday afternoon at work, my throat felt a little sore, and I felt unusually tired. I hadn't slept great the night before, but it was nothing unusual for me. So I decided to leave work early, since I clearly had a cold of some kind.

I slept poorly because I had to keep drinking water to soothe my throat, and then I had to keep getting up to use the bathroom. I did some work from home, but then I was too tired to keep doing so.

On Friday, I didn't feel as tired, but I continued to work from home. My parents got back from a trip they took this week, and they encouraged me to take a COVID-19 test. I thought it was just a cold, but I agreed to take it anyway.

Gulp. It was positive!

It has been two and a half years since this virus first disrupted our world, and it finally caught up to me. But I'm so glad that it didn't come to me until I had already been vaccinated (two doses) and boosted (once). It hasn't been too bad. I've had a cough, a sore throat, and some congestion. There might have been some mild chills. I've had other sicknesses that were worse. 

But since I got the result, I have been confined to my room. That has been boring! When I was in high school, I said that my hobby was watching TV. But now I think watching too much TV is boring! And I have lots of reading material, but I read for learning, not for entertainment. And I brought my Nintendo Switch into my room, but I already beat Super Mario Odyssey and I'm really not a gamer.

I finished reading Patrick Mason's Restoration, which should be required reading for Latter-day Saints. And it's only one hundred pages!

I have spent some time working on my Pioneer Day research, but that gets boring too.

Cats can get COVID, so when Reggie comes onto my bed, I stay away. I feel bad that he doesn't get the cuddling he so desperately loves. I have had to lock him out of my room at night so he doesn't sleep next to me.

Late August is when summer starts transitioning to fall, and I'm disappointed that I have to be stuck at home while this happens. But my mom did feed my holiday Squishmallow habit by bringing these home to me yesterday.

The skeleton and the coffin are the inside-out counterparts to the tombstone and the Grim Reaper (they're called Flip-a-Mallows)

Tomorrow (Monday) will be day 5, and I should be able to end my isolation on Tuesday, as long as I wear a mask. I do seem to be getting better. I slept better last night than I did the previous nights.

Welp. I'm glad that when COVID-19 finally got me, it wasn't that big of a deal.