And it’s T minus three days and counting. I’m nearly caught up with everything that must be done before I leave the country for a few weeks of R and R carrying out some Good Neighbor policy through Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The travelogue will start up on Friday sometime as my flights on Thursday are overnight so I can’t imagine I’ll have much to write about that day unless you really want to read a diatribe regarding the indignities of modern air travel. Now I just need to figure out what I’m going to take with me as the trip seems to span several distinct climate zones from subtropical to temperate mountain. Fortunately, I was raised in Seattle and one thing all Seattleites learn at an early age is how to pack for a long weekend taking into account that it can be anything from dreary rain to exquisite sunshine, usually within fifteen minutes of each other.
Binx, my remaining cat, now that he is in the alpha position, has completely changed his behavior. In the past, he would spend most of his time under the furniture peeping out, even if I was the only one at home. Now, he wants to be where I am and is leaping onto the bed or couch, snuggling up to me, head butting me and nibbling on my fingers with little kitty nips. This is not useful when I’m trying to type and he has had to be corrected a few times that there is a time and a place. If I add a second cat again, I imagine there will be yet another shift as I have long since figured out that the cats in multi-cat households have all sorts of rules they lay down and enforce with each other. As long as they use the litter box, it’s their business.
I had a rehearsal tonight with a pick up community choir for a benefit on Tuesday for the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. It’s an easy gig. Rehearsal tonight and tomorrow night and performance on Tuesday. We’re singing Barry Manilow’s ‘One Voice’ (which I last sang as part of an on line chorus during the worst of the Covid shut down) and ‘We Are the World’. Neither is difficult. As I was looking around the room, it was as if my last twenty years of music theater performance were gathered round. People who were in the first musical I did locally back in 2004. One of the juvenile leads from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang earlier this summer. My Fraulein Schneider and ‘Married’ singer from Cabaret in 2020, the last show before the world spun out of control. Opera Chorus people. Symphony Chorus people. It was just a reminder of how thoroughly embedded I am in the life of this town. The program is at the Wright Center at Samford University on Tuesday at 6:30 PM if anyone local is interested.
I’m starting to hack out material for the next book, which is about how Covid has changed us. And it has, in so many ways, and we’re not going back. The only way forward is forward. It’s as if American society were a billiard ball rolling across the table and in 2020, another ball hit it and it’s gone careening off in a completely new direction. I’m trying to figure out what those changes are and what they are likely to mean for all of us moving forward. My publisher has lots of ideas of how to make this material live in a world of new media so it may end up being something more than just a book. Websites – ebooks – audio. I don’t completely understand what all he’s doing in the background but he seems to get it so I’ll let him work in his area of expertise and I’ll just continue to write. I figure my one small talent in all of this is a knack for explaining complex problems in an engaging and understandable way.
I’ve written some pieces but I haven’t put any of them up in this forum as of yet. I haven’t figured out if I should do so or if I should save them for the book project or if I should make them available on request or what. I’ll eventually figure it out. I may put one or two up just to get some feedback from my readers as to whether I’m going the right direction or not. This is a very different process than ‘The Accidental Plague Diaries’ and I haven’t quite figured it out. I’m going to try to do some writing while in South America. As I don’t have a travel companion, I’ll likely have some evening downtime after a day of touring and I might as well spend it constructively.
Speaking of Covid. It’s still out there and we’re still in a wave. It does not appear to be causing significant issues with hospitalization numbers but there are still about 5500 people hospitalized nationwide with about 500 in the ICU and it’s killing about 1,000 `people a week. Covid isn’t dropping out of the top ten causes of death in the US anytime soon. Some quick updates: the US is going to start requiring hospitals to report Covid admissions again as of November 1st. That requirement lapsed last year and, without it, we haven’t had very good data to determine what the real impact on the health system actually is. The newly formulated booster is out and available (I got mine this past Friday). The current recommendation is a booster once a year (delay if you have had an active infection in the last four months until that time has elapsed) – twice a year if you have significant immune issues or serious respiratory disease or are an elder in congregate living. The government is again providing four free Covid tests per household (COVIDTest.gov). You can also stock up from Amazon or at Walmart or Target. Those three seem to have the cheapest prices. Paxlovid remains available but is no longer subsidized so it is up the vagaries of your prescription insurance as to whether it will be covered or not and what the copay may be. Pfizer, the manufacturer, is pricing a five day course at about $1400. If you are under sixty and have a functional immune system, Paxlovid won’t do all that much for you so, unless you have gold plated prescription insurance, you might not need to cash in your children’s college fund for it. As always, avoid the obviously ill and keep those hands washed.
Life, The Universe, and Everything 