Ugh

[grammarwoman]

So I was going to post about how I'm proud of myself for making a treat for Festivids, and accepting that it received an average response and not the glowing dozens of comments I've had in previous years, which is fair because it was kind of a slapdash effort, but then I tested positive for Covid yesterday and I'm just done with this week.

I mean, I do have a lot of feelings, like determination that NEXT YEAR I'll have made an impression on the vidding community such that someone will at least post my vid in the "Guess the Festividder" chain, even if my name isn't mentioned, maybe by working on a treat in advance so it doesn't end up a hot mess.

I also have feelings about the friend who attended a gaming session sick and didn't mask or test beforehand, thereby infecting me AND the kid, but I'm trying to be gracious, because 4 years was a good run to avoid it, and it's partly on me for not getting the family in for the latest vax (though I did get the flu shot, and spend most of December and January slogging through with an unrelated cold), and apologies were offered, but we're still sick. At least our schedules are flexible enough that it's more of an annoyance than a crisis, and so far our symptoms have been pretty mild, and I am not borrowing trouble by worrying about Long Covid just yet. Though the taste of a metallic rat having died in my mouth can go away any time, thanks Paxlovid. Today we wait to see if the spouse is also positive; it was almost cute yesterday the way he kept forgetting that maybe he shouldn't be in close quarters with me until he's confirmed one way or the other.

I took yesterday and today off work, since my brain is noping out of concentrating right now. Heartstopper in its various forms has been keeping me company. Bless fandom for sharing.

In short: UGH.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

So sorry. Feel better soon.

[grammarwoman]

Thanks! Right now I'm feeling jetlagged tired and spacey more than anything.

[misbegotten]

UGH

[grammarwoman]

INDEED

[pallas_rose]

I tell everyone to consider getting paxlovid, if you don't have contraindications. There's data that it can prevent long COVID. Your mouth may taste like ass, but that's temporary

[grammarwoman]

The telehealth nurse didn't even hesitate in recommending pax to me, between my current conditions and the long covid thing, so yeah, I'm betting on it being worth the yuck.

[kass]

Aw, hell, honey, I am so sorry. May your case be mild with no lasting effects.

[grammarwoman]

Thank you! I'm finding it a bit ridiculous that I'm on day three and it's been nowhere near as bad as the cold I had over the holidays, thank goodness. I'm high-fiving past!me for getting vaxxed, as well as the vaxxes themselves.

[dirty_diana]

yay treat! boo covid! I feel like vid event commenting is down in general, it's probably not a reflection of your vid. (But if you're on the vid watching discord server, there were surely some nice things said there?)

Feel better!

[grammarwoman]

Thanks!

I think you're right that comments are down this year, or maybe people are having a hard time making it through the list and haven't gotten to everything yet? In any case, I would love a link to the discord server if you have it! I wanna be in the room where the squee happens. :D

[ghost_lingering]

<3 That all sucks. I hope you guys feel better soon & avoid the nightmare of long covid.

& as said above by dirty_diana, vid commenting is definitely down (which, I too am guilty of! beyond my gifts, I've just been hitting the kudos button, which I feel bad about since I definitely prefer getting comments to getting kudos on my own stuff). I also sort of feel like ... hmmm, vid tastes have changed some since the last time I was vidding in a way that I'm still trying to feel the shape of? Not sure how/if that affects your treat, but it's something that I've been noticing as I compare my reaction to various vids to other people's reactions.

[grammarwoman]

<3 - Thanks! Not gonna lie, Long Covid scares me, especially for the kid's sake.

I saw your recent post and realized shamefully that I completely neglected to include the music details on my vid. I will fix that when I post the updated version for reveals.

I've only left a few comments myself, so I'm certainly failing to be the change I want to see and so on. I am...bemused, maybe?...at the tension between the older vidding style of no talky-face, to the newer trend of including dialog and sounds from the media. I'm kinda tempted to try my hand at the newer style, if only to see how the heck they separate out the different audio tracks to get only the sounds they want, while still making them discernible above the vid's music track.

I'm also giving myself grace about skipping vids for things I want to watch unspoiled, or DNWs with gore/horror, and stuff like that, and giving others the same grace for passing over my vids.

[ghost_lingering]

You are by NO MEANS the only one who didn't list song details. At some points in my vid watching it seemed like more people DIDN'T list songs than people who did. I'm not sure if I feel better or worse knowing it's not just The Youth who are not listing songs though. HMMMMM.

I enjoy vids that include dialogue & SFX, at least when they do it well (there are definitely some that don't properly isolate the tracks!), but I think what perplexes me more is song choice? It feels like there's been a narrowing of the artists & songs being chosen? I haven't actually looked back at past Festivids or VVC playlists or what have you, so maybe this is perception only & not a real thing. I mean, it's not like I never choose songs / artists that other people vid. [Redacted comment here because I don't want to inadvertently give away the treat I made.] & I don't think it's possible OR desirable to go back to the days when it was a faux pas to vid a song that already had a vid made to it, but IDEK it feels like there used to be more emphasis placed on song choice? I could totally be talking out my ass though.

I've definitely skipped some vids that I don't know the source, so I think giving grace is good all around. & I think about the years when vids I made did numbers (the time I vidded Saga) & even then I was still comparing myself to vids & vidders that seemed to getting a better response.

[grammarwoman]

Huh. I hadn't really picked up on the song choice issue this round, though I have by no means watched everything, so maybe I didn't have a big enough sample? I know I get obsessive about picking The Right Song when I'm diving in, enough so that I feel like I spend more reviewing music options than actually putting the vid together. For me, once I have The Right Song, everything else just flows.

I still feel weird about re-using songs that been implemented before, but I also have all the cringes about my Pirates of Penzance Festivid experience from years before when I inadvertently used the same song that had been used the previous year for the same source.

[umadoshi]

Ooof. I hope COVID vacates the premises quickly and leaves no trace behind.

[grammarwoman]

Thank you! We are invoking all the lucky charms that my husband manages to avoid it; being three introverts who separate to different corners of the house has really helped, I think.

[burnishedvictory]

https://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/805203.html Some treatment ideas.

And I'm sorry you're sick! I hope you heal quickly and fully.

[grammarwoman]

Oh, that is awesome advice - thank you for the link! And for the sympathy. :)

[catwalksalone]

Well, that sucks. /o\ I'm glad you have access to paxlovid (not really a thing here) and hope that everything continues mild and easy for you and the kid. In anecdotal news, when TB got covid, I didn't and vice versa, despite us not isolating due to not living in a place where that's really possible, so spouse may be off the hook. Fingers crossed!

Commenting culture in general is completely different these days. At least part of it is how much you sell yourself on the social medias, which in my case is not at all due to not actually using them. :D I 100% avoid looking at numbers for other people because it's easier to be pleased with the response on my fics that way instead of thinking, well, why not me? Because loads of reasons! Not the tropes/pairing/set up/other they were looking for, wrong time of day, don't take a chance on an unknown author without a rec, lots of other stuff to get through, etc etc etc. It's hard to not take personally, but I'm mostly able to stay in the headspace where if I like what I wrote, then that's good enough for me. This is not advice, it's just me musing about Kids These Days. :D

Many many many many healthy thoughts for you both.

[grammarwoman]

I know people who've had such wildly varying experiences around paxlovid - doctors recommending against it, trouble getting it, getting it and then rebounding - that I hope that the yuck taste is the worst of it. That's good to hear that your household managed to avoid cross-contamination; here's hoping we go the same route!

Schmaybe it's the long sabbaticals I've taken from fandom, but boy howdy do I hear you on Kids These Days and how different it all feels. Authors, like, use Xitter and Insta to communicate with their readers? Publish their updates on Tumblr and such? In My Day, everyone was in the same fandom pool, and you followed your favorite creators, and stumbled on new ones from rec lists and such, while posting in your space and maybe some of the relevant fandom communities. Promoting your own stuff to all the social media options is so foreign! I mean, I'm Old enough that lots of the social media outlets didn't even exist then. (Not doing the math, not doing the math...)

I think I'm getting better about comparisons, because yeah, all the reasons you listed. I know I like going back and reading/watching the stuff I created, and appreciating the comments and reactions left; everything else is (should be) less important.

Thank you for the thinkies and the well-wishes!

[beatrice_otter]

Oh no! I hope you feel better soon and that the spouse is negative.

[grammarwoman]

Thank you on both counts! Fingers crossed and all that.

[aurumcalendula]

That sucks! *hugs*

tbh I'm very behind on vid watching, let alone commenting (I'm hoping to get caught up this weekend)

[grammarwoman]

Thanks!

So many vids is an embarrassment of riches, eh? I'm not done with the list myself.

[the_shoshanna]

Belatedly catching up on DW, and hoping that you're still not feeling too bad and spouse hasn't caught it! (And really annoyed on your behalf at the sick friend; WTAF, seriously.)

[grammarwoman]

Miraculously (or thanks to our regular introvert habits), the spouse is still in the clear! I'm also feeling grateful that I stocked up every time free tests were available, because we are sure going to use a lot of them.

Yeah, I'm mostly over being mad at my friend and onto exasperation. I feel bad for them and their spouse, who are having a much worse time of their infection than me and the kid. Ah well.