I have COVID (Status Update) (Patreon)

TLDR; I have COVID, annoyed over personal situation, story progress this weekend might be a bit slow, but next chapter of Illegal Immigrant is still guaranteed.

Hello everybody! Sorry for the lack of things at the moment. I prefaced Illegal Immigrant's last posting with me possibly slowing down just for the 4th of July weekend, which is partially accurate, but not for the reasons I had hoped. I'm going to partly rant in this posting somewhat because I feel like I've earned it, but the gist can be read at the top of this post.

First and foremost, I tested positive for COVID this morning. I was feeling symptoms two days prior over the weekend and was hoping that it might just be generic sickness, but apparently like most plot points, if a conflict is mentioned, then apparently that's the only conflict you can be affected by. I am extremely annoyed and aggravated by this, not only for being sick and simply hating COVID, but also being extremely frustrated with how I came to be sick.

I had plans with my siblings to spend the 4th of July weekend going to multiple cookouts with family that we rarely get to see, and at most, 2 times a year, this being one of those semi-usual times. These were plans made over a month in advance, so color me a little surprised when I hear from my step-siblings that my step-brother had a birthday coming up on Friday and wanted to celebrate. Very last minute, but it didn't interfere with our schedule, so having just about 24hr notice, we made it work.

What wasn't made clear to me or my siblings however was just how sick said step-brother was. It was unfortunately a situation that wasn't as obviously as mistake in happening as it was until we were well-exposed by this point. That being said, we were assured he'd been tested a little while back and even saw a doctor and was diagnosed with something else. Sick, but apparently not COVID sick. Still sick and still wanting to get everyone together, however.

The night went on and ended and we didn't think much of it. Come to find out, the next morning he had a positive COVID test. The first thing we did was notify the family we planned on spending the weekend with, and unfortunately we were promptly uninvited from everything happening that weekend. It sucked, but we understood, as conflicting as it was, and the worst was that it was all for good reason. Slowly my symptoms started to build up starting from Saturday until come today on Tuesday when I now have a positive test and feel like complete and utter crud.

What makes me even more angry and frustrated is that only up until today have I received an apology for unknowingly being involved and exposed to my step-brother being sick. Whether it's COVID or just some generic cold or sickness, it does not excuse the selfishness and thoughtlessness that there is in putting family into that kind of situation. I don't think it was with malicious intent whatsoever, but it doesn't change just how frustrated I am. This has now become something that's affected my ability to see and spend time with people I barely get to at all, its affected my ability to work my day job and my ability to produce for all of you.

Without pushing any kind of particular opinion, I am as vaccinated as can be, I have practice every kind of recommended caution and procedure to not be put in this kind of situation. I've done everything I've possibly can to avoid COVID and stay healthy, so I can't even begin to describe just how upsetting and frustrating it is to have all of that suddenly not matter because it feels like I was effectively tricked into a compromising situation.

There's so many layers to this that is leaving me feel jaded and agitated, and as I lay here in bed with the feeling of an absolutely shitty cold and waves of heat, probably my emotions aren't in the best place. It becomes even more frustrating to imagine just how this is likely to affect plans that I had later this week.

I'm sorry for the delay with Sheltered. It's slightly shorter than its average length but I wanted to make sure I could give something to all of you regardless. If you've messaged me at all about anything the past few days, I'm extremely sorry for not getting back to you. As what I hope might be clear from this post, I'm feeling a little under the weather...

By the end of this week I hope I can at least put the physical drawbacks of COVID behind me and get back to some kind of 100%-ish feeling soon. Despite my skeleton crew attitude right now, I will still be getting things out to you all!

Take care and have a good one!