We’re into full rehearsal mode on Into the Woods and multiple fifteen hour days this week between work and rehearsal obligations are making me feel every one of my sixty-one years. Fortunately, I have only about fifteen minutes of stage time in a two and a half hour show so I have reasonable down time in rehearsal and can nod off when necessary and recharge for the next bit. It’s also fortunate that it’s not a dance show – just some movement in the big numbers that’s not beyond my limited dance skills. I have long joked that I am a graduate of the Terri Schiavo School of the Dance but, as I age, I’m starting to think it’s more Stephen Hawking. I’ve got a three day weekend and I’m pretty caught up with work stuff so I should be able to take a little down time so I can conserve my energy for next week.
I had a call with my publisher last night. The books continue to sell slowly but consistently. For some reason, copies are moving in Germany at the moment. I have no idea why. I’m still trying to figure out a way to do some no budget PR and see if I can raise their profile a bit. I’m using my social media, working my few connections and seeing if I can get those who cover LGBTQ writing to consider including it in their recommendations as I do talk about my two same sex marriages in them. Maybe I can get Moms For Liberty to try to ban them from Florida classrooms. If that were to happen, then I’ll know I’ve arrived.
Steve (my publisher, not late husband #1) has an idea for a new book using my original proposal of writing about the intersection of the aging Baby Boom and the health and senior care segments of society. His thoughts are not what I originally envisioned but it may be a more practical and quicker project as he has outlined it. I’m going to mull it over some and do some noodling around with ideas over the next few weeks. I’ll then likely post something and ask for some thoughts and feedback. More details to come as it becomes clearer in my mind. The Accidental Plague Diaries would never have been written without the comments and conversations people had with me about the material as I was writing them so I’ve come to trust all of you out there to help steer me in the right direction.
Making a brief detour into Covid, the numbers keep going up and it’s having real practical consequences. UAB was completely out of bed and emergency department capacity on Wednesday of this week. Was it due to Covid? That’s unclear as without the emergency to subsidize the collection and publication of data, it’s hard to really get a handle on things. It certainly seems to be due to respiratory illness in general. Influenza, Covid and RSV are all heavy hitters at the moment. RSV seems to have peaked and be tapering off, but the other two are definitely continuing to ascend. There is some evidence that the JN.1 variant of omicron which has rapidly become the dominant strain, is more infectious than other omicron strains, binding tighter to the ACE receptors of cells. I haven’t been able to find much about whether this is translating into increased virulence.
On the good news front, those who have kept up with their Covid boosters (which is a distinct minority) are much less likely to catch the disease this go round. (If you’re vaccinated and boosted, you generally have to be in close proximity with an infected person for something like six hours for transmission to occur. It’s much less than that for the unvaccinated). You are also about 70% less likely to develop long Covid after a case. So I continue to suggest that you keep up with those shots, especially if you are aging (like I am) or have significant chronic disease burden or immune deficiency. But I don’t argue the point. In the words of the hosts of keyboard warriors out there, ‘Do Your Own Research’. I just hope you do it at sites with actual science and not with sites full of propaganda masquerading as science. This lengthening time of exposure to transmit which seems to be a benefit of vaccinated populations means that you’re relatively well protected in normal social situations and activities which rarely last more than two to three hours. It’s best to be wary of close colleagues and might be reasonable to continue masking on long plane flights.
I haven’t written a movie column in quite some time. I’m trying to figure out why. Some of it has been lack of time and energy with all of the other things happening in life, but it’s more than that. Mrs. Norman Maine seems to awaken and go dormant on her own cycle. I can feel her stirring in the back of my brain so something may be forthcoming relatively soon. She’ll just have to explain her absence. It will have to be something other than cryogenic freezing this time as I can only use that once.
I don’t have to be at rehearsal until 11:30 tomorrow morning. I plan on sleeping in. The cats may have other ideas. If they’re too insistent too early, they will receive a free flying lesson.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 