It’s been about 17 days since my last “Daily Phuket” entry and nine since my end-of-month wrap-up. It had also been nearly a week since my last article on my Philatelic Pursuits website but I knocked out four of those this evening.

Why the long silence, following a month of fairly constant online postings of various kinds? Well, in a word, I was bored. Doing nothing for weeks on end will do that to you. I don’t mean that I haven’t done anything, but I haven’t done anything for anyone but myself since the beginning of April. I am ready to go back to work and nobody knows when that might happen.

A step in the direction towards future opportunities was taken nearly a week ago, as can be seen in today’s featured photo. Yes, I received my first injection of the COVID-19 vaccine last Thursday. It was a long time coming and only came about through the efforts of some well-placed Thais and a huge amount of luck and perseverance. It might turn out that we were even luckier than we initially thought as nothing has progressed for the rest of those waiting on this island.

What I took to calling “V-Day” was a long day but great as I was surrounded by associates — former co-workers all in the same boat that I am in plus a few random former students now in positions of some prestige. I enjoyed talking to somebody other than myself. I felt a part of something.

Back at home, nothing really seemed different now that I am semi-vaccinated. I have not felt a real cause to celebrate yet. Perhaps that will come once I am fully vaccinated. Might be later this month (second jab); they might give us a third jab. Or, that might be the end of it as they seem to be dropping the ball once again. Again, everything here regarding the future days, weeks, months is a big unknown.

My daily routine has remained largely the same other than I have lacked motivation to write online. I certainly have a lot of new stamps to report on but I just could not past the boredom.

Bored. That is the word in the title. That was my constant state of mind for most of this past week. I would wake up and could not plan my day. Boredom took a hold and I could not see around it. It affected me when I went to the grocery store, it affected me when I read my book (still working on Thirteen Moons but I skimmed through a couple of chapters out of, you guessed it, boredom), it affected me when I tried to sleep.

The boredom grew each day up until yesterday. The longer you go without doing anything, the harder it is to think of something meaningful to do.

Please don’t misunderstand. I did not just sit in my apartment staring at the walls closing in. I just did different things. I knew I needed to stay caught up on New Issues articles for the website. That isn’t my job but I feel a responsibility to post as many of those that I can while I have the time. Right now, I have nothing but time. I just did not feel like it and each day that went by I felt worse and worse by not working on the site. I am happy I finally got around that a few hours ago. The first two articles went by fairly quickly but the second two required a bit more research. Both types were enjoyable and I look forward to writing a few more tomorrow or the next day.

Even when bored, I always I find something to occupy my time. While the past week has NOT seen much stamp-related activity, I have worked on other important aspects of my life at home. I spent a couple of days on my music collection but also watched a lot of downloaded TV shows. While searching for the latest episode of “Clarice” (this has been a STRANGE first season, hasn’t it?), I rediscovered “Law & Order”, specifically, “SVU”. I binge-watched the entire 22nd season over a few days and also found the latest spin-off, “Law & Order: Organized Crime”. You might find these shows rather dark choices, particularly at this time, but they reinforce my belief that, if I hadn’t become a teacher, I would have been some sort of social worker.

It isn’t all serious TV, either. I began watching something called “We Are Lady-Parts” which is okay and found “High School Musical: The Musical”. Also, “Grey’s Anatomy” which always picks me up although sometimes it is quite sad. And real.

However, now I have a new PROJECT.

To explain this new “reliever of boredom”, I am going to need some space. An entirely different blog article. Tomorrow….

To close this one one, here is a slideshow of V-Day. As you can see from the time-stamps, it was an all-day affair. For most of it, I swore that I would not take any selfies during the jab nor would I pose in front of the “We Did It!” backdrop at the exit. But, everyone else was doing both so I succumbed. I like the photos. I will probably have repeats after the second jab as well. You have been warned.