Nova, Jo, Mom, Christy, Me, Nadia (Taken 4.17.22) |
I forgot to share this funny story, so since I'm up late and am tired of doomscrolling and am suffering major outrage fatigue like every other pro-choice American, I'll share it with you now.
If you read here often, you know my dad is technically in hospice at home. He still takes a ton of medication, but there are no real medical interventions that will help him at this point, so he's in full palliative care mode, which means beyond his medicines, my mom and the support aides try everything - lotions and potions, stuff for itching and pain, things to help him sleep, anything to make him as comfortable as he can be for as long as his heart still chooses to beat. A while back, a friend was working at a CBD distributor, so we had some drops and topical stuff, then we suggested THC remedies...cookies, gummies, tinctures. A relative sent him some cherry gummy strips that seemed to help in small quantities, but they ran out and so we've been on the hunt to find replacements.
So last Friday, I went to help transfer him from his bed to his chair in the afternoon, and when we were done, my mom said she needed to go to a dispensary and wanted me to go with her. She had one in mind, but a friend recommended March & Ash, which was closer and had a better reputation.
I should rewind and say I've never purchased weed before. When you're in experimental phases, it just always seemed to be around, and I never much liked the effects, so even when legal, I had no cause to partake. I was a marijuana dispensary virgin.
Mom and I drove separately to Telegraph Canyon Road, but it wasn't where we thought, so we parker her car in a strip mall, she got in the van with me, and we found March & Ash further up the road. As we walked in, it occurred to me that it was probably cash only, but I had some money on me so I wasn't too worried when this was confirmed by the front desk, who scanned our IDs and told us we'd get a 10% discount for being first-timers.
We enter the immaculate shop, with it's cases and cases of everything. A guy immediately becomes our concierge, so we tell him about our hunt for gummies. He shows us a few but they're not the potency we're looking for; he says 100mg THC is the California limit. (I later found out our previous ones came from Oregon, another story for another time.)
We're flustered and overwhelmed and my mom is telling the dude all about my dad's conditions...way too much information for anyone's benefit...but she can't stop herself as she rattles off everything she and he go through in a day. Like everything. He repeatedly suggests tinctures while she wants to make sure she can get his veteran discount (even though it was the exact same as our first-timers discount) before she says, "What about drops?"
"MOM! Those are tinctures. That's what he's been trying to tell us for the last five minutes!"
So we go to the tincture fridge and there's flavored drops and pure THC and pure CBD and then a million varying combos of THC + CBD and some are for sleep and some are for pain and some are for clarity and some are for general wellness and we must've made the guy read us 15 packages before she settled on two. One ran about $110 and the other about $60. Cool, I think I have enough cash to cover that.
So we get to the counter and the concierge got the Veteran's discount approved even though my dad wasn't present, and even though it was the same as the first-time discount and he rings us up and it's $180.32. We hadn't accounted for the steep State and City taxes.
Whoopsie.
Now of course, they have ATMs on premises, but my mom and I are the same in that we will NEVER use an out of network ATM. Like, not ever. Her car was parked at her credit union and we could've just left and come back, but instead, we start counting out our money. I had $173 and some change, which I must've nervously recounted at least four times. She found a $1 bill in her bag. And then another $5 bill in her wallet.
$179. We're sweating. She starts pulling out change, a couple nickels, dimes. I dump my coin purse into my hand. By some miracle, I had a $1 coin, some quarters and others, to pull off the final $3.32 of the transaction. And if I didn't, I think he just wanted us to get out of there.
We laughed all the way to the van, then I took her to her bank, where the teller must've thought I was elder abusing my mom and making her pull out cash to give to me. "You're not Christy. You're not on this account. Mrs. Bystrak, am I free to discuss your account in front of her?" "Yes, of course, this is my other daughter Rosemary," as she handed the money over to me on the spot. I'm sure I'm now on some watchlist.
Anyway, my crazy mom can now make my dad sleepy smoothies again, and maybe get some sleep herself every once in awhile. Happy Mother's Day to her and all the mom's who are batshit crazy but we love all the same.
Nova has a doctor's appointment on Friday, then a piano recital in the afternoon, then I'm working for Yumi Zouma at the Casbah, and the weekend is full of stuff to do and Mother's Day, so have a great weekend and I'll catch up next week.
COVID is back on the rise. Stay safe out there.
- COVID-19:
- 14.9 million excess deaths were associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 - WHO (5.5.22)
- Proms, Graduations Call for COVID-19 Precautions - County News Center (5.5.22)
- U.S. CDC says travelers should still wear masks on airplanes - reuters (5.3.22)
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Limits Use of Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine to Certain Individuals - FDA (5.5.22)
- Covid's toll in the U.S. reaches a once unfathomable number: 1 million deaths. "It's an exponential number of other people that are walking around with a small hole in their heart," one widow said. - NBC News (5.4.22)
- Omicron as severe as other COVID variants -large U.S. study - reuters (5.5.22)
- CDC MMWR:
- Effectiveness of a COVID-19 Additional Primary or Booster Vaccine Dose in Preventing SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Nursing Home Residents During Widespread Circulation of the Omicron Variant — United States, February 14–March 27, 2022
- Politics:
- Voter Information Pamphlets Go Out for June Primary Election - County News Center (5.5.22)
- County Budget Builds on Commitments Across Key Areas - County News Center (5.5.22)
- Fletcher: County Budget Reflects Change Set Out To Achieve 4 Years Ago (5.5.22)
- Chair Fletcher: Draft Supreme Court Decision on Roe v. Wade is Wrongheaded, Regressive (5.2.22)
- ‘Lives could be at stake’: CDC’s Walensky warns of dire stakes surrounding abortion access - STAT News (5.4.22)
- Mayor Gloria Highlights Budget Proposal’s Public Safety Investments - Office of Mayor Todd Gloria (5.5.22)
- Office of Governor Newsom:
- California Continues to Send Life-Saving Support to Ukraine
- Governor Newsom Signs Blockchain Executive Order to Spur Responsible Web3 Innovation, Grow Jobs, and Protect Consumers
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta:
- Attorney General Bonta Files Briefs in Support of Wage Protections for Federal Contractors
- Attorney General Bonta: California’s Net Neutrality Law Is Here to Stay
- California Department of Justice Investigating CHP Officer-Involved Shooting Under AB 1506
- Attorney General Bonta Announces Nationwide Settlement Against Intuit for Deceptive Advertising of “Free” TurboTax Products
- Attorney General Bonta Reaffirms Commitment to Protecting Reproductive Rights
- News:
- FDA Issues Warning Letters to Companies Illegally Selling CBD and Delta-8 THC Products - FDA (5.4.22)
- County First to Use Rapid DNA-Based Beach Water Testing to Protect Public - County News Center (5.4.22)
- Behavioral Health Experts Urge San Diegans to Check Their Mental Well-being - County News Center (5.4.22)
- Government:
- White House
- President Biden Announces Karine Jean-Pierre as White House Press Secretary
- Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, May 5, 2022
- Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, May 4, 2022
- Remarks by President Biden On Economic Growth, Jobs, and Deficit Reduction
- FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Two Presidential Directives Advancing Quantum Technologies
- Executive Order on Enhancing the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee
- Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on the President’s New Directives to Advance Quantum Technology
- National Security Memorandum on Promoting United States Leadership in Quantum Computing While Mitigating Risks to Vulnerable Cryptographic Systems
- Dept of Defense
- U.S., South Korean Defense Leaders Condemn North Korean Missile Launch
- DOD Leaders Say Training Ukrainian Forces Is Paying Dividends
- State Dept
- Dept of Justice
- Oil Tanker Owner and Operator Sentenced for Obstructing Justice and Concealing Deliberate Pollution
- Missouri Man Charged with Federal Hate Crime and Arson for Burning Down a Church
- Justice Department and the Department of the Interior Take Important Step in Addressing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Crisis
- FACT SHEET: Justice Department Efforts to Address the Crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons
- Super PAC and its President Plead Guilty to Dark Money Scheme to File False Reports with the FEC
- Justice Department Launches Comprehensive Environmental Justice Strategy
- $300 Million Yacht of Sanctioned Russian Oligarch Suleiman Kerimov Seized by Fiji at Request of United States
- Justice Department Announces New Training Resource for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations
- Leader of North Carolina Chapter of Oath Keepers Pleads Guilty to Seditious Conspiracy and Obstruction of Congress for Efforts to Stop Transfer of Power Following 2020 Presidential Election
- Interior
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Investments for Irrigation and Power Projects Across Indian Country
- Secretary Haaland Highlights Efforts to Increase Equitable Access to the Outdoors During Detroit Visit
- Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 5.6.22 1:20am):
- 516,186,916 Known Cases/19,857,611 28-Day New Cases
- 6,247,592 Known Deaths/76,436 28-Day New Deaths
- US COVID-19 Stats
- CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker
- American Academy of Pediatrics Children and COVID-19 Dashboard
- JHU
- 81,694,169 Cases/1,390,025 28 Day New Cases
- 996,964 Deaths/11,993 28-Day New Deaths
- CDC Data Tracker:
- 64,780 New Cases/81,492,170 Known Cases
- 334 New Deaths/994,187 Known Deaths
- 2,231 New Admissions/13,281 Current Hospitalizations
- California COVID-19 Stats:
- State of California Safe Schools For All Hub
- Vaccination progress dashboard
- Coronavirus: Resources for Californians
- R-effective: 1.13
- San Diego County
- Free Testing Sites and Schedule in San Diego
- Vaccination Locations San Diego
- Vaccination Dashboard
- COVID ActNow Daily Updates for San Diego Metro
- San Diego Unified School District COVID Dashboard
- State Data:
- R-effective: 1.2
- County Data:
- Inflluenza Watch
- Slight Decline in Flu Cases - County News Center (5.4.22)
- 169 New Cases/2,728 Total Cases
- 0 New Deaths/5 Total Deaths
- 837 New Cases/763,422 Total Cases
- 513 Avg Daily Cases vs last week 377 Avg Daily Cases
- Weekly Case rate: 106.9 per 100,000 residents overall (High Transmission >100/100k/Week)
- Daily Overall Case Rate 11.3/100,000 people
- 5.3 for fully vaccinated people
- 8.25 for fully vaccinated/boosted (this age group skews older, thus at higher risk of infection/waning immunity)
- 14.36 for not fully vaccinated San Diegans.
- 5 New Daily Deaths/5,244 Total Deaths
- 7,872,185 Doses Received/7,203,112 Doses Administered
- 2,950,180 Partially Vaccinated/2,614,708 Fully Vaccinated
- 1,310,571 Boosted
- 83.1% 5+ Population Fully Vaccinated/78.2% Total Population Fully Vaccinated/58.2% Boosted
- 4.1% 7-day average/5.2% 7-day average after 7-day lag
- 104 COVID-19 Hospitalizations -5% over 30 days
- 13 ICU Capacity. -57% over 30 days
- 66 Staffed ICU Beds Available
- 24 Community Outbreaks
- Universities:
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