So, those two months where we weren't as worried about covid was fun, right? All across the United States, we're back in the same place as we were in about January 2021. High hospitalization numbers, high transmission rates, plenty of worry. The only difference between now and then is that we have a way to begin to fix it, but roughly half of the country believes it's fake/going to kill them/worse than a Monster energy drink/that they are high educated scientists. It's wild how this August roundup would showcases two different Augusts. There's August 1, tentative hope in the air. By the end of the first week, that was gone. By the end of August, ha.
I spent a lot of time living it up outdoors in the first week of August. I went paddle boarding twice. Then I finally made it to the beach and spent 26 hours in Charleston/Sullivan's Island for a glorious day of thinking about nothing, and caring for no one but myself.
Dinner was with a friend at a semi-new place in Charleston called Neon Tiger on Upper King. It's all vegan, and so hot you need reservations on a Thursday. I was very interested in their vegan seafood, since I don't like real seafood.
We ordered the konjac shrimp, and the trumpet mushroom calamari. Our consensus is that neither item was "spongy" like real seafood is. Nor was it very oceany. However, it was tasty! I preferred the calamari over the shrimp, and really liked the tartar sauce it came with. If you're in Charleston and want to give it a try, get a reservation on the Neon Tiger website. They are located on Upper King, almost under the bridge.
As for other food, it's been mostly eating at home. Here's the August recipes and reviews:
August recipes
Meatless chicken tenders and waffles with hot honey
What else is new?
At the end of this month, I started working with a SEO coach to better improve the SEO of this site! I have over 500 posts, and want people to better be able to find everything. Courses are great, but sometimes personalized, hands-on learning is the better route for some people. Posting in September will likely be sporadic due to my SEO improvement efforts taking up much of my usual evening and weekend blogging time.
It's hard to believe it's autumn-time, and hard to believe that we are still in this weird holding pattern to life, while simultaneously watching the world crumble in different places and different ways each day. I'm struggling with it like everyone else. This article about why micro-stressors are ruining your day explained a lot about why I feel like I do some days.
In theory I am supposed to go back to an office setting next month, partially, but with the case numbers so high and the vaccination numbers so low in South Carolina, I'm pretty perturbed. I know several vaccinated friends who have gotten breakthrough cases and their symptoms, while not hospital-level, seemed pretty awful to have to live through. I'm hoping something will change in some way to make things not so dire. Stay safe out there, ya'll.