The night before the osaka trip, i started a post that went along the lines of "wow, i'm all packed in advance, everything's accounted for, it's all going so well for once!"

...when will i ever learn not to jinx myself!?

there were a few minor hiccups along the way, like my pasmo card somehow hiding under my keyboard and me not noticing before leaving the house, so i ended up using train tickets. also, i'd forgotten to pack a polo t-shirt which i'd wanted to wear to the visa appointment. no big deal, it still went ok.

what was not ok was that i started showing COVID symptoms on day 2 of the trip. day 1 was still fine, i made it to kobe, took the train to osaka, and had a good meal at the final fantasy cafe. but when i woke up the next day, i realized that in addition to a scratchy feeling when swallowing, i couldn't taste or smell anything. thankfully, i managed to get through the visa appointment (with proper precautions), then made it back to kobe and holed up in the hotel for the next 2 days. pretty sure i had a fever, and i guess that if i had to fight a fever, doing it in a hotel room where i could adjust the temperature freely at no added cost was a good place to do it. thankfully, i regained some smell and taste over the next few days, and was still able to venture out and try some nice food, although i definitely held back in terms of both quantity and cost since i couldn't savour it fully.

so, this is my first instance of catching COVID. it's been 3 years from the start of the pandemic, so i guess you can say i'm slow. my symptoms were mild, like i never felt i was in any mortal danger or that my body was going to give up on me even at the symptoms' worst. probably have the vaccine to thank for that. i did feel like my body was moving on autopilot, like my brain was just an observer. sorry, i'm sure there's a better way to say it - like...i was still in full control and my body would respond to any instruction i gave it, but my brain felt kind of detached from whatever my body was doing. currently, my main symptoms are inefficient breathing (still 96-97% VO2 max, so no cause for worry), and the whole taste/smell thing. i'd say that i'm tasting things anywhere from 0% to 35% of their usual intensities, depending on the flavour, and i really can't wait to get better.

reading up on the internet has told me that symptoms show between 2-14 days of exposure. is it me or is that range just a little on the huge side? i doubt i can pinpoint when i got the virus, but if i had to guess, it should have been the time i stayed over in the city and went to the onsen as well as aeon mall. that was the day with the most human interaction i've had by far, not to mention the damp conditions in the onsen. going by days of symptoms, today is day 5 (day 1 was on tuesday), and i've heard that it takes from 10 to 14 days to recover. this means that i may be better by the time work starts on 4 january, and that i should recover well in time for the start of school on the 9th. worst case i can take medical leave, i guess.

as usual, there'll be the year-end and new year's posts over the next 2 days. quite looking forward to writing them, as they'll help give me perspective and direction. my UK visa application appears to have been successful, so this trip wasn't a complete write-off. i may or may not include the balls post in the new year's post, depending on how we do for length.

-random thought of the day: Swab tests hurt!-