5, 4, 3, 2, 1... 2022.

2022 has started.

Did anyone else notice the New Year was over the weekend, like Christmas was?

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU to the frontline workers for fighting covid-19, you deserve a well-earned break and for those who worked and are still working over this holiday period, I thought of you. Your lives have been impacted and there is not much you can do about it. Many people forget you have husbands/wives/partners/girlfriends/boyfriends/significant others, children, brothers/sisters, parents, friends. You need to cook and eat and do the dishes, sleep, shower/bath, do the laundry, clean your house etc. Then maybe, maybe you have time to 'relax', but I doubt you can fully turn off.

I bet if you were given a paid month off, you could sleep for a week. You have no respite: every day you are mentally in overdrive, depending on your job, seeing death, sick people, scared people, and you can't reassure them, you can't even pat them on the shoulder if you wanted to. "We'll do our best" is all you can really say. You're at risk of catching covid and passing it on to your colleagues and loved ones. Those in health, especially nurses, midwives, orderlies etc. are overworked and underpaid and there are never enough of them, without covid. Doctors are in with you this time, but are probably still paid more.

You are some of the strongest people throughout this pandemic. Parents are some of the strongest people in non-pandemic times but frontline workers who are parents, I salute you. And if you're a frontline worker who is a single parent, you are amazing. You may not fully realize how strong you are but I assure you you are.

Has anyone made any resolutions? What kind? Why? Why not?

I didn't get my shit together in time for the 1st of January 2022 so I don't have as many resolutions as last year but maybe if I do get my shit together, they'll just be goals I work towards otherwise you defeat the point. I failed my 2020 New Year's Resolutions.

I suppose one big question is: will we be able to move more freely for a consistent amount of time? And will we be able to travel to another state and/or country more freely without wondering if we'll get infected with covid and/or stuck?

For me, we have just had scanning in become mandatory in certain locations, but no proof of vaccination needs to be presented as far as I know. We cannot travel overseas, but otherwise we can pretty much go about our lives without restrictions domestically. So that I think will probably stay the same. Flying I think will still be impacted, at least until the end of June 2022 if not longer. No place has opened up fully to all other places successfully and stayed as such. Small islands also rely on others such as the Cook Islands relying on New Zealand and/or Australia to open.

Another note to those who do not want to accept/believe it: vaccination reduces the effects of covid-19 but you can still be infected, regardless of the variant. Why? I can only speak for Oxford-AstraZeneca, but it could be the case for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna too: it was designed to reduce illness and death not protect you from covid-19 like a typical vaccine. Don't like it? Don't like the uncertainty? Not much you can do about it. Accepting you cannot always control every aspect of your life might actually be better for your mental health. Yes, covid is on a totally different level, but the concept is the same. Welcome to life: it is unfair, it is sexist, it is racist, you can't always have what you want, corruption is everywhere. You find a way, you achieve what you want your way, you get your happiness your way.

I don't see the point in saying Happy New Year. Instead I will say: Stay safe and healthy. Or if I'm pushed: have a healthy and safe New Year.

- A.M.

Mon histoire d'amour

I have to say I love the French and France: cheese, pastries, language, chocolate, films, culture, music, Paris and that je ne sais quoi. That is a lot and I really mean it for the je ne sais quoi. I can sometimes pick out someone who is French and I can't really explain why: their 'aura', walk, way they hold themselves, that chicness that only the French have which is why they are so fabulous at fashion. They also teach you philosophy in the last year of secondary school which shows a willingness to discuss. Yes, students then have to sit an exam, but my point is it's the discussion.

French films are also not Hollywood films and are comfortable with open endings, complicated endings etc., not the typical happy ending or ending that points towards hope. If there's a sequel in a Hollywood movie, maybe the ending won't be happy, it will be open or a cliffhanger, but that is different. French films also show life, reality, not a polished view where many female characters have perfect make-up and/or hair. French films are so much better than that Hollywood shit. Independent American films are closer to what French films are.

Paris is beautiful in my opinion. It has architecture, greenery with trees and their jardins, and culture is an intrinsic part of it, be it the people on roller blades, the métro, the living art, the smoking etc. It's all part of Paris.

France also have grandes écoles, a term and concept that can't really be translated. It's for super 'smart' students and there's an entrance exam hundreds of students sit. Practically all the French Politicians went to l'ENA. It's the representation of the French educational ethos: at school, marks are given out of 20 and the closer you get, the better it is and the better chances of not being unemployed. I think students in the French Education system are still some of the most stressed in the World according to reliable sources.

I have not met one French person say they speak English well. The education system breaks their confidence so even if you tell them their English is great they don't believe you. I have not met one French person who has bad English.

One last thing which I think is great. Voters for presidential candidates don't care about the candidates' personal lives: it's like "oh, really?" "Ok".

Au revoir.

- A.M.

Goodbye 2021, hello omicron

DJ Robert Etheridge aka Dimension, the first Omicron related community exposure in New Zealand. I am speaking to you, Robert Etheridge and Aotearoa.

Yes, he did not wait for the result, which was positive, before he went into the general population. This is not the first time this has happened.

Domestic positive cases went to Middlemore hospital and left before the result came back. Domestic positive cases have absconded from MIQ, which could be considered worse because they knew they had covid.

Why are some people in NZ angry at Robert Etheridge? I would safely bet it's not because he should've waited, it's because it's Omicron which apparently transmits faster than the original covid and any other variants before it. The potential of infection is 'higher'.

Because he is well-known? Other well-known people have also put people at risk: Rita Ora for example.

Because NZ is fed-up of living with restrictions and thought they would be fine, be it because they are an island etc? As I have said before, you are incredibly lucky, please go talk to Italy, Brazil, the US about living with restrictions/lockdowns. You have nothing compared to them. Or even your 'neighbours', Australia. You're an island? That means nothing to covid. Also, be grateful you have a competent government and Prime Minister and health experts, especially Ashley Bloomfield.

I haven't seen nor read it first-hand, but apparently Robert Etheridge said he's been on the receiving end of 'negativity', to put it broadly. I have never heard of him and I love New Zealand, I would still live in Auckland if I had the chance and if I was living there now, I would still choose to live there. So I could easily be angry at him and on NZ's side.

But stop targeting and digitally shouting at him.

Ashley Bloomfield said, and I think this is ad verbatim: "people are not the problem, covid is".

Give Robert Etheridge some credit too: he decided to reveal he is the first Omicron case with community exposures. He could have decided not to. The Ministry of Health probably wouldn't reveal his identity for privacy reasons. Him stating it online publicly could help in containing any possible spread. For whatever reason, Robert Etheridge is also vaccinated.

He is in NZ for a music festival. The organizers decided to hold it and people decided to buy tickets. How far back do you want to go? If you really have a problem, then blame the organizers for letting him be a part of the festival because if they hadn't then he would have never boarded the plane that left the UK. Do you want to blame South Africa, where Omicron was first identified? Or do you want to blame China which is where the original covid came from? In any case, it does not help, the focus now is to contain it as best we can.

It's good the close contacts are negative, but still, I say we need to wait because they could still turn out to be positive. A small and hopefully short side-note, but it is relevant: someone flew into Hong Kong and had 21 days quarantine. It was not omicron, I think it was Delta, but the positive test came back on day 19. I am not saying NZ needs to change anything, every country is different, but it's interesting.

Then I listened to Chris Hipkins and during, I thought: are people in NZ angry, or angrier this time because it's during Christmas/the New Year? What, you hoped in 2022 life would be like it was pre 17 August 2021? It doesn't matter if you contain covid-19, specifically Delta or even be the first country to be covid-free because you can't really travel out or into the country. Domestically, yes, it would be nice to have less restrictions, but this is covid-19. There are many things I want, you want, your friends want and it may happen immediately, it may take some time to happen or never happen.

I was reading a piece of the RNZ article with the video of Chris Hipkins: what if it was a Kiwi who brought it in? What if it was a domestic case? Ok, that's not possible, it has to come through the international border. What if they came from Australia? What if it was like the one case that started Delta? Would you be sending the same amount and intensity of negativity to DJ Robert Etheridge if he was a Kiwi?

Or is it because he identified himself? If he remained anonymous, you would just be angry and it would subside fairly quickly because you can't really keep being angry at so few details?

I couldn't understand why he didn't wait for the test result, but it has happened. Yes, it could have probably been prevented. But this is the now. And the future.

Many unplanned pregnancies can be prevented, contraception is only 100% effective when used according to instructions; many deaths at birth are preventable with the right skills, infrastructure and money, but too many babies die; deaths from being under the influence are preventable: New Zealand, the death toll from roads in New Zealand is often due to drink, drugs and speed, it is the "holiday death toll", it actually has a name; debt can be lessen or prevented by not having a credit card or a mortgage.

Omicron might be present in the community in a big way, just after it seems like Delta is being fully contained and possibly even eliminated. If it is, you will handle it, have faith in Jacinda Ardern and Ashley Bloomfield.

Aroha

Kia kaha.

I think if I was living in NZ during the pandemic, I would feel better because I would be on the ground. But if I had never left I don't think I'd know how much I love it. I would fly there in the pandemic if I could, my love is stronger and transcends MIQ and what you have to do to travel. I'd be so happy to be home and be there during covid.

- A.M.