by I was up bright and early yesterday for my 8am booster dose. I got it done in some nearby businessy building on the other side of the railway tracks which goes by the rather obscene-sounding name of Incuboxx. The nice lady at the desk asked me if I took any medication. I told her about the pills I take for depression, and then she asked me if I was anxious about getting the injection. Oh no, I said. Everything is în regulă. I got the Moderna jab. I expected it would be the half-sized booster dose, but no, I got the full shot because I’d previously had Astra Zeneca instead of an mRNA vaccine. This surprised me, and googling tells me nothing about different-sized third-dose Moderna shots depending on what you got for your previous two doses, so it’s possible it was a mistake and I got twice as much vaccine as I should have. I felt fine the rest of the day, but last night I had chills combined with a (probably unrelated) headache, and I slept for only three hours or so. I had to drag myself out of bed in time for my 8am lesson.
I didn’t know much about Moderna, but there’s a lot to like about it. For a third dose, it probably offers you more protection against severe disease than Pfizer, and almost certainly does better than Astra Zeneca or Johnson & Johnson. (All four of these vaccines are available in Romania. In New Zealand, you can get whatever you like as long as it’s Pfizer.) The Moderna company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I spent a fantastic day six years ago, and it’s a lot smaller than Pfizer; vaccines are literally all Moderna does. Dolly Parton partly funded the Moderna vaccine, and here’s the video of her singing “vaccine” to the tune of Jolene and then getting the jab. Seriously, who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? The name of Moderna’s vaccine is also way cooler than Pfizer’s. The Pfizer jab goes under the brand name Comirnaty, and what sort of name is that for something that can literally save your life? It starts off fine (Com…) but then turns into total mneh. It’s not even obvious how to pronounce Comirnaty – the –aty ending (as opposed to the extremely common –ity) just isn’t a thing in English, outside words where the a is part of a vowel combination, as in meaty or throaty. Moderna’s vaccine, on the other hand, is called Spikevax, a proper badass name. Finally, when so many people have had Pfizer (if they’ve been jabbed at all), getting something different is a talking point.
Of course all of the above, with the exception of the first point (and even that is debatable), is basically a joke. Get whatever goddamn vaccine you can.
Because my jab was nice and early, I was able to call my parents and still be in time to play three tournaments. And guess what, I had another win, this time in the no-limit single draw. Apart from the speed wobbles I suffered in the middle of the tournament, which could easily have led to my elimination, I thought I played good, aggressive poker, and made more moves than I normally do. I didn’t play with fear, and best of all I had fun. I made $52 on the morning; my bankroll is now $1147.
