Hahaha at last, the day I got jabbed is the day I also got something I haven't had in a long while! What a day. 😂 Let me tell you what happened this morning. I think it's kinda funny in a not so funny way. 😆

If you've seen my noise cash post you'd know what I'm gonna share here. 😂 Ah but the devil is in the details or so they say. 😆

♦ Last Night, I Received a Text Message

So around past 11 in the evening, I got a message from the vaccination department. It says my schedule would be this morning. I saw the text around past midnight as I was busy finishing the last part of my Manila travel blogs.

I was surprised to receive a text after 2 or 3 weeks since I filled up the online form. Hey I wasn't prepared! I had to stop working on the article immediately so I could sleep early. I have to use my bicycle to get to the vaccination site. Why spend money on fare when I have a bike right? 😁

It's been almost 2 to 3 weeks since I also last used the bike. Thank the recent quarantine/lockdown and me not feeling like going out.

I got used to being a couch potato. 😂 It's nice to just lay in bed all the time and eat, sleep late and work online. ☠️😂

Anyway, I set up several alarms on my phone so I wouldn't be late. I couldn't sleep immediately since I'm used to sleeping until early morning. I played some mobile games and then maybe around 3 am I was finally able to sleep.

♦ Vaccination Day!

I realized I've been swiping off the alarms until the last one rung. It was a little past 8 am. Uh oh. 😅 That woke me up. 😂 Only an hour to prepare. 😬 The ef was I doing always shutting off the alarms when I should have gone up earlier. 🥴 I almost forgot I had to go somewhere today. 😂

Good thing I already took a bath yesterday. All I had to do in the morning was eat and get on my bike.

I remembered the banana an aunt gave me yesterday. Was happy to have received one at the right time. It's the fruit that's good for cyclists so it's important to eat it before getting on my bike.

Because it has potassium and other important minerals, that's the first thing I ate. Drank some water too then I poured some in my mug to heat in the microwave. I have to mix my all natural superfoods healthy coffee in it too.

Yeah we have to have a really strong immune system these days especially since I'm gonna get a vaccine against Corona virus. This is one of the health drinks I consume to keep myself healthy. Not everyday though.

Haven't bought some of the 15-in-1 superfoods juice I used to drink regularly so for now I'm drinking the 12-in-1 coffee.

"Ting!" The water was finally hot. I prepared my drink, breakfast and posted on noise cash that I got a text last night, yada yada yada. "Oh look at the time it's past 8:30 already."

I was thinking of just not eating but I had to have breakfast because I needed strength or body fuel today. Using a bike is energy consuming you know. Alas, I could not finish the entire meal because it's not good to bike on a full stomach too! Uh oh...

With less than 15 minutes left I did a bit of stretching and warm up exercises. Also pumped the rear bike tire with enough air then took it outside our apartment. I was just out the door when I saw the lady in charge of getting the trash and its segregation. Well, I had to get back inside and bring out the garbage before I could get on my way.

After that was done I was on my bike to go to my destination. I wasn't in a hurry at all even if I think it was already 9 am. (Look up Filipino time for context.)

♦ The Diving Incident

Everything felt good. I enjoyed the wind in my hair, biked with ease with no worries. There were only one or two cars that would get past me from time to time. I then went up an inclined road and exerted some force. When I got to the second upward sloped road I felt like I couldn't exert too much effort anymore. Maybe it was because I didn't have enough sleep and my muscles were surprised with the sudden activity. I decided to get off my bike instead of riding upwards.

So while I was slowly pedaling up the bike lane, I put my left foot down same as always followed by my right foot over the bicycle and bam! My left knee suddenly hit the pavement and my face almost touched the ground. What the? 😮 My bike fell beside me. Good lord what an embarrassment. I was practically almost lying face down on the ground. 🙊

I immediately got up, pulled up the bike and walked onwards while I massaged my knee for a bit. Wtf just happened? 🤔 I was laughing inside and shaking my head.

Good thing the street was almost empty because of the recent lockdown. I did notice a woman walking across the road in the opposite direction. She was looking at me. Then I noticed the second or third vehicle that passed by was an idly running police car. Oh boy. I don't know if they saw my "accident" but I just kept on walking until I was past the downward slope.

It was then I thought it must be terrible to have an illness when you can't control your body. You'd literally just be a ghost in the shell. 😅 Like how can you not have control over your own body? Wtf.

It's not a laughing matter but if you experienced what happened to me you'd probably think the same way. I wasn't expecting to suddenly be on the ground. It happened so fast like my legs were jelly. In fact, I didn't have any legs. Crazy. Smh.

Have you ever been so drunk you don't remember what happened that night? It felt quite the same, like you don't know what happened but you knew something happened. One minute you're stepping off your bike, the next instant you're almost kissing the road. 😮 Whut?

♦ How I Got Jabbed

While those thoughts were running through my head, I biked all the way to the vaccination site like nothing happened. Well, I could feel my knee burning like I scraped it real bad. Good thing I was wearing thick pedal jeans so I know if I got a wound it's as clean as possible.

Don't know the exact time I arrived at the elementary school. Once I was there I saw a loooong line in the covered sidewalk going to the gate. I had to ask the guards and traffic enforcers where I could park my bike safely. (I still haven't bought any lock and chain for it after more than a year of owning it. 😅)

Once I got it parked I was told to go to the eeeend of the line. Oh well... And so apparently I'm the last in line, so I wait.

Of course taking pictures is part of passing the time. Hahaha.

Eventually some more people came by and lined up behind me. (Of course we observed social distancing and we're mostly wearing face masks and shields.) Heard some of them talking, they were scheduled for 9 am too. One woman walked to the entrance and asked if they can be allowed to enter. Came back afterwards and waited in line. Okay.

I sent a reply to the info text I got last night. Noticed the time was 9:28 am. Asked them if I could go in or not since I was in line even if I'm scheduled for 9 am. Never got a reply though.

And so I post the pictures I took and add some captions on my Facebook and Instagram accounts. Eventually we hear some guy calling out something in front. Couldn't hear what he was saying at the distance he was at so we just continued to wait.

While in line I was sweating a lot, thanks to my morning exercise and the weather. 😆 As I kept wiping my forehead and neck I realized I left something. I didn't have my helmet on! 🤡

Somehow it slipped my mind as I took out the trash and semi-hurried out the door. No wonder I felt incomplete for some reason. Silly me. The one time I didn't have a helmet on, that's when I suddenly fell off my bike. 🙄 What a day. 🙅‍♀️ Good thing I didn't bump my head and it wasn't caused by another vehicle. Thank you Jesus! 🙏

Eventually the next time the guy came around he was louder. He asked us who's scheduled for 9 am. Those behind me got too excited and moved right beside me. Hey I and the woman in front of me wasn't moving because the guy was walking towards us in the line anyway. So I told those behind me that he's coming to us, meaning they can patiently wait in line too.

Few at a time, the man asked those in front for their IDs and the text message we received. Some people still cut in front of us. They gave their IDs and showed their phone and was told to go inside. Well it was already my turn so I did the same next.

I followed those ahead of me inside the gate. I saw a desk and someone was behind it. There were forms on the table and I thought he'd give us one upon entry. The desk guy told me to follow the other people to the empty seats. Once the chairs were filled, the frontliner personnel from earlier started to call out the names on the IDs. These were given back together with the form. Once all forms were given out, we were instructed on what to do.

I finished filling both pages when I saw the bottom of the form. And then I saw the top part too.

My brain said, "Surprise!" 😂 Hello Sinovac! And here I thought I would get Janssen. Last I heard that was the brand they were injecting in our city. Previously when a sibling got one, it was Pfizer. Oh I think I felt relieved because I've heard some bad things about the J&J one. I didn't really like Sinovac but it's better than nothing or something worse.

After a few minutes we were taken to the evaluation area and sat in line again. I was 3rd to the last in our batch.

Then I became the last one in one of the rows.

Suddenly the girl in front who's next in line called out to me and said we should switch places. Well hey I didn't ask why but just agreed to it. Maybe she was waiting for someone, I dunno. After we swapped she went back to looking at her phone so I just waited for my turn.

Once I was next, the evaluator asked me the questions on the form. Afterwards she signed it and gave me a vaccine card. Told me to carefully fill it up as it will serve as my proof of vaccination. Then she motioned for me to go to the jabbing area. Oh boy here we go...

When I got there, there was no line but all the single chairs were filled. When the person in front of me was done, I sat down on the empty chair. I gave my form and card to the person behind the semi-enclosed counter. The guy then proceeded to prepare where he would jab me. Of course I took out my phone to take a selfie. Hahaha.

And then he stuck the needle in and took it out again. It was over that quick. Like, that was it? Huh? As quick as snapping a picture!? What the...😮

He then signed the vaccine card and told me to come back on the date indicated at the back of the card. There was no time indicated though. I also didn't think of asking until I was out the gate.

My 15 minutes wait time at the last step of vaccination was over. Didn't feel anything bad at all so I was allowed to leave the waiting area.

As I passed by a woman selling vaccine card plastic sleeves I heard someone complaining about the lack of 2nd dose schedule. Indeed, nobody said anything about what time we'd go back for the next injection. Huh. I went back near the gate and bought a vaccine card sleeve from the old lady vendor.

After that I went on my bike and dropped by the mini supermarket. Once done I went home and cooked lunch and other viands.

Suddenly I just decided to finally do some meal preparation. I've been planning it but never got to doing this until today. It means I cooked more viand than I should so I can store most of them in the freezer. Instant and ready to reheat for next time!

The end. 😄

♦ Friendly Reminder

Remember to sleep and eat well before your vaccination schedule when it's your turn. Also exercise regularly or else you know what might happen. 😂

By the way my wound is doing better now. I already put some medicine on it. Long time no skinned knee. 😅

Also just to be clear, this bike incident has never happened to me before. I always wear my helmet and mostly have enough sleep before using my bicycle. Otherwise I would commute if I had too little sleep.

Seems like the experts weren't kidding when they said to always have a full night's sleep before riding a bike. We really have to have good sleeping habits otherwise we might get in trouble.

As for my vaccinated area... Well it feels kinda heavy or like it's tired. What I do is I whirl my arm around like it's a wheel. Or I do a punching motion. Well, it's just to keep the blood flowing or something. I dunno. It's a slightly annoying feeling so might as well move the whole limb to make it feel better. Other than that I feel like I never got any vaccine but got a wound instead. 😂

It feels like I have two wounds actually. One is near my left shoulder and another one is on my left knee. Hurray! 😂

What a day huh? Skinned my knee and got my first jab without any other major issues whatsoever. How did your vaccination day go?

XOXO,

@LucyStephanie

P. S. Tomorrow I will finally be able to post that last Manila travel blog! Haha.

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Lead/header image via Pixabay.

Other slice of life articles:

• Newbie Cooks Pastillas, Guess What Happened?

• Oh That Anime Face Caricature!

• Paano Ako Nakakuha ng Libreng Swab Test sa Metro Manila Sabay Gala na Rin

• The Trouble With Riding Bicycles During the Pandemic

• About Me