flowers

A shot in the arm (literally)

I got my fourth COVID-19 shot today. Not the fourth one today, but the fourth since this whole kooky pandemic began. I opted for Pfizer, the devil I know.

The jab was quick and inconsequential, as usual, and my arm is a bit sore as I type this late in the evening. I did get a headache in the afternoon, which is a possible side effect, and was new for me. Not too bad as side effects call, so I merely grumble about it.

The clinic ran things very efficiently–I was in and out before my actual appointment time. Masks were still mandatory, of course, and they made me wait 15 minutes to see if I’d mutate into a super-being (I did not), but there was no real effort at physical distancing, unlike previous times. A decent amount of people were there (I had to stand in line waiting for the clinic to open), but I overheard staff say that this was pretty normal–most go in the morning and the afternoons are quieter.

I want to make a joke or use some metaphor about how the clinic is an old Best Buy, but nothing comes to mind. Have a picture instead.

It was also a warm and sunny early fall day. Having the weather continue to be summer-like is going to make The Rains that much harder to endure when they arrive. Maybe.

Also, here’s a photo of a flower at nearby Holland Park that I took when I realized how absurdly early I was.

Snakes and flowers

It’s the new board game sensation!

Not really, I just have pictures of a garter snake (that I saw on the trail post-run yesterday) and some white flowers in a yard on Fader Street.

The snake was completely indifferent to my presence, so I was able to get in close for a good shot (this one is cropped, I didn’t get that close).

The flowers were not going to slither away, so I got even closer to them.

Power flower

All of these close-up shots of flowers I take are probably my way of subconsciously saying I want a macro lens or a smartphone that has macro capabilities. I love seeing this weird, heightened sense of reality that you don’t get by just walking by a flower and thinking, “That’s nice-looking.” I also think it’s funny how some of the shots I take actually look better than reality when viewed through the “viewfinder”, which in this case is the iPhone’s display. The HDR in particular makes everything look more vivid. Maybe too vivid? Maybe. But maybe not, because the colors and lighting are so very pretty.

Daisy (2001 joke here)

Also, holy cats, 2001: A Space Odyssey was depicting a future that is already 21 years in the past. Based on current smart home technology, the main reason an AI wouldn’t open the pod bay doors is because of:

  • Communication outage with server
  • Didn’t understand your perfectly spoken English (substitute any other language here as needed)
  • Sudden power outage
  • All of the above, cycling through at random

Anyway, here’s a photo of a daisy I took at Lower Hume Park. I tweaked it a bit in Pixelmator Pro to make it more dramatic and stuff.

Photo of the Day: Flower up close and personal

Removing the date from the title of the post because I am more often that not posting these photos later than the day on which they were taken, making the title a LIE and a SHAM.

This was taken at the Nature house at Burnaby Lake on August 14, 2021. I basically wanted to get as close as I could and as straight-on to the flower as possible.

Taken with an iPhone 12