Vicky Blogs: COVID-19 (& beyond)

I honestly cannot comprehend that it is almost September.  This summer has been such a weird time because of COVID.  I've been inside more than I'd like, job searching, along with almost half of the U.S population, and the normal summer activities have been extremely limited.  My family normally has an open house party every summer where we invite friends and family from all walks of life to come enjoy some good food, good drink and good company (hopefully in the sunshine).  This year, the party was supposed to double as a masters graduation celebration for me. This event was cancelled, just like so many other celebrations and reunions.  Summer is normally one of my favorite seasons, but it hasn't really felt the same this year. The feeling of missing out is something that younger generations call FOMO, but I think most generations understand the sentiment.  The world is pretty crazy right now and most people are feeling isolated and uneasy.  Even thos...

Today, I went to get a COVID test.  This was not because I am having symptons, but instead because I will be driving to see my family soon.  I wanted to get a negative test so that I knew I was not bringing the coronavirus into my parents' home.  Plus, in MA we have access to free asymptomatic testing. I went to one of the many free testing sites.  This one just happened to be in a hospital.  The process of getting tested required that you get registered in a tent that was set-up outside the building.  The sign-up process was actually quite simple and the workers were very pleasant and helpful.  I didn't expect it to go so quickly, but within ten or so minutes, I was waiting in line to enter the building. At 9:45am today it was already in the mid 80s.  With the addition of a mask, it was quite warm and I was sweating.  This didn't seem unusual for me.  I am definitely someone who sweats a good amount and it doesn't take much for me to ge...

I have a t-shirt that a friend of mine gave to me as a gift that says 'Everything hurts and I'm dying'. I laughed so hard when she gifted me this item a few years ago because I would often talk about being sore from my workouts, but that didn't mean I was going to go any easier in the next one. I would take pride in how hard I had worked and how challenged I felt during workouts. To wear that shirt while exercising sort of meant that the shirt was telling everyone else around me how hard I was working. It also highlighted my incredibly sarcastic personality. So, all in all, a fantastic gift for me.  (Also a reference to Leslie Knope in Parks & Rec, which is a wonderful show that I enjoy very much!) I haven't worn that shirt in some time. And to be honest, I think I feel that putting it on right now would be just too real. Everything does hurt right now. And while I don't feel close to physical death, I feel physically weak and emotionally vulnerable. Fragile...

For the final few classes of my Gamification course through UPenn, we discussed the future of gamification and where it could possibly go.  For this, our professor first had us watch a short film regarding augemented reality called Sight .  A 2012 Forbes article speaks about this film in relation to the release of the Google Glass at the time.  Both deal with augmented reality devices, but in Sight , the characters have the technology behing Glass imbeded in their eye.  One quote from the Forbes article that I personally enjoyed was: "One of the effects of the immersive augmented reality software that we see through his eyes is that everything in his life is "gamified." Every action is rated by difficulty level, every scenario is broken into steps and coached, and every successful action rewarded. You will never look at slicing a cucumber the same way again!" This reference to a cucumber is hard to understand if you haven't seen the film.  I highly recommend t...