Maybe I have a little too much time on my hands, but here are some random questions that are going through my mind lately.
To start with… does anyone else think the Olympic biathlon is a strange event? It’s cross country skiing, but the contestants stop at various intervals to shoot at a target with an eight pound rifle they carry on their back. While I was watching today, the announcers explained (after someone skied well but missed a few of his shots) “it’s not a skiing race, it’s a shooting race.” Wait- why is “shooting” a winter sport? I did enjoy the race (as I’ve been enjoying all of the Olympics so far) but it just seems a little odd to me.
Next question. Is anyone actually excited about Valentine’s Day? Since I like most holidays, I’ve tried to get into Valentine’s Day but I just can’t. As my sister said, “It’s hard to get excited about a holiday that’s happening on a Monday in February.” Having said that, I did make these cookies to put in a care package for my son. I vegan-ized them by using a flax egg, Miyoko’s vegan butter, and vegan white chocolate chips. Instead of using food coloring to make them red, I used beetroot powder. They don’t taste like beets, and I’m thinking of using the powder to make red heart pancakes on Sunday.
I know- you might be thinking “Red heart pancakes? Maybe you do like Valentine’s Day a little, after all!” No… I really don’t.
Okay, here’s a more serious question. When can we start saying that Covid is endemic rather than a pandemic? On this episode of The Dive podcast, they discuss all aspects of Covid, attempting to make sense out of all the confusion. One of the doctors said they believe we’re already at the endemic stage. Yes! Let’s call it endemic and move on. “Classifying a disease as endemic indicates a level of permanence, whereas a pandemic has a defined end.” It has to end sometime.
Is anyone else wondering these things? Or maybe someone can explain why shooting a rifle is part of the winter Olympics, or why Valentine’s Day is actually amazing, or why we should stay in a pandemic a little longer? I’m all ears! Let me know the answers.
22 Responses
I can’t weigh in on the Olympics since I don’t follow sports but I can give my two cents on V day and the pandemic. We use V day as an excuse to do a little something special for each other. He sometimes gets me flowers and sometimes I’ll make an extra-decadent dessert and that’s about it. It’s fun and we don’t take it seriously.
I’m not a scientist BUT I don’t think that anyone is saying that COVID has an end point so that would be an endemic;-) I think once omicron clears out that we’ll see the official switch over. Where I live life has pretty much been normal since the vaccine rolled out.
Yes, life has been pretty normal here as well, except for mask wearing- which not everyone does, and it depends where you are. You definitely do more for Valentine’s Day than we do- especially with it being on a Monday this year, we probably won’t even do anything special for dinner.
Don’t get the shooting thing either; though I guess in years past people would have had to hunt in the winter…and needed to be in reasonable shape to do that? We’ve just exchanged snowshoes for state-of-the-art skis and there isn’t an animal in sight?
Valentines Day – meh. I’d gladly skip it. I’m relatively romantic, but being told a specific day is supposed to be extra special is kinda lame to me (an anniversary, or birthday, for example feels more personal since it is not shared with the world). I won’t buy anything for my husband; I sometimes make heart-shaped things for the kids. There hasn’t been a single word about making Valentines for school so there is one silver lining from all the restrictions, I guess. I hate the waste and excess of annual Valentine’s for entire classes. Sigh. I’m a Valentine’s scrooge.
And COVID has to be endemic now, right?
Ha ha… I actually used to kind of like it when the kids exchanged valentines in school- but you’re right, it was pretty wasteful, and there was a lot of candy involved. My husband and I don’t exchange anything for Valentine’s Day- I guess I’m a Valentine’s scrooge as well.
I don’t get the biathlon. LIke you said, HOW is shooting releveant to one’s performance on skis? Then again, I think curling is more of a science experiment than a sport….
Ha ha… I don’t really get curling either.
I’m with you on the biathlon.
And V day I’d skip it. So commercial. I’d rather be treated special on more than one day a year. It seems that I’m usually on vacation without my hubby that day too.
No clue on the Pandemic. I’m just waiting it out. I’m living my life and staying safe at the same time.
Yes, you’ve been continuing your activities as much as possible all along- and you haven’t gotten Covid, so whatever you’re doing seems to be working!
I never really understood the biathlon event but it could be fun! I am not huge on Valentine’s day with my hubs but I love to send things off to my kiddos.
Yes, funny you mentioned that because I just sent my son his cookies today! And I did get my daughter a little present. It’s more of a kids holiday, for me.
I don’t watch the Winter Olympics as much as the Summer Olympics, but the biathlon sounds very interesting, especially since its not a “skiing” event. Very odd!
I’m not a big Valentine’s Day fan, but I always try to make it fun by ordering a heart shaped pizza and picking up some Reeses candy. I don’t really mind that it falls during the week since I’m not going out to dinner or anything, lol.
Hmmm! I would eat a heart-shaped pizza on Valentine’s Day! I wonder if I can get one around here.
I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying the winter Olympics- I wasn’t that excited about it coming up but now I’m into it!
I love watching the biathlons – it’s a fairly popular thing in Europe. Not surprisingly, it used to be a military discipline (hence the un-olympian shooting).
Imagine, being in high-cardio mode on the cross-country skis, huffing and puffing your way to the shooting stand. Your body is shaking from all the exertion, but you throw yourself on the ground while trying to calm down your breathing.
Finally, with very still and unshaky hands, you shoot at a target.
What control over the human body! I find it fascinating. 🙂
Well, your description does make it sound exciting. I did think about that, how hard it would be to hit the target while you’re huffing and puffing like that.
There are many sports that I don’t understand or that I wouldn’t call sport.
I think that Valentine’s Day is only a commercial event.
About Covid…. I am so confused…. too many chats, too many opinions, too many experts…… However tomorrow I will get the booster shot.
Good luck with your booster! I agree… Covid is so confusing.
Right, I think the biathlon is a winter sport because of its history as a military discipline. I don’t really have a lot of details about it, but when I think about it as a sort of thing solider might do, it actually seems like a cool sport.
A long time ago, when my husband and I were engaged, but not yet married, I had too many jobs and too little time, and I absolutely forgot that it was Valentine’s Day until eight at night. I got out some construction paper and markers and made my husband a card. Now our little Valentine’s Day tradition is to sit next to each in the evening with some school supplies and make each other cards. It requires no planning and represents my headspace for a holiday in the middle of winter. Ha!
Aw… that’s a nice tradition! I’ll picture you guys doing that on Monday.
For the biathlon… that makes sense, kind of. It’s the best explanation I’ve heard so far.
We’ve never really acknowledged V-Day… I didn’t grow up with it (although it’s now more popular in Germany) and Jon’s romantic but not “on a specific day” LOL I will make some waffles though.
Ha ha… I’m having waffles tomorrow. Monday is too hectic to make a special breakfast.
The whole endemic vs pandemic discussion is really interesting! I feel like we are definitely moving in that direction and hopefully we get that distinction sometime this year. Wouldn’t that be amazing!
I’ve always been weirded out by the biathlon, too, but hearing other commenters talk about how it was developed makes it make a lot more sense!
Just since I wrote this post I think we’ve made a lot of progress towards the endemic side- fingers crossed we stay on this course.