A shortish addition to yesterday’s rant:
In October, I am coaching both a theatrical production and a film. Yesterday, I got a form from the producers of the tour of Anastasia about COVID protocols. All well and good. I am grateful that protocols are strict. I have to submit a photo of my vaccine card. Okay. However, I also have to have two different COVID tests within 2 weeks (1st) and 3 days (2nd) of the 2 days I coach and there might be another day of work beyond that.
So. I have to schedule this stuff, find a place where I can be tested, and submit the results online to the producers. I haven’t had to deal with any of this yet and it’s a bit of a pain. On one hand, I’m grateful that everyone involved with this show will be tested and that rigorous protocols will be maintained. On the other hand, this wouldn’t have to happen at this point if everyone in this country had been vaccinated. The Delta variant wouldn’t have taken as strong a hold as it has. I would show proof of vaccination and we’d be good to go.
This is yet another thing that adds stress to a process that is already stressful for me. I have to travel into the city for Anastasia – most likely on the train because the air circulation is better – and I have to deal with actual people. In person. After a year and a half of not doing so. And I have to be tested more than once. I know this will be required by the the film, as well.
We could be so far ahead of this if only we’d had a vaccine mandate to begin with. I know that’s a slippery slope. I get it. But as I said yesterday, I have not one bit of tolerance or patience with this issue any longer. Not one.
Anyway, I suppose in the big scheme of things this is a minor annoyance, but getting the email on the heels of what I wrote in yesterday’s post was fuller validation of my feelings on this subject.
Moving on.
More coaching with Ben today. Lots of rain last night and today and tomorrow.
Let’s look at Sophie’s newest ensemble:
I got that Beatles t-shirt a while back and I’ve been looking forward to seeing what it looks like on Sophie. I couldn’t wait to show it to Don, as I’d kept it secret. He was surprised and delighted.
Since I’m playing around with finding the best way to pose her, I tried this one on the stair landing:
My caption on IG: Hangin’ out, old school.
I’m like a little kid. I love the moment I dress her in something new for the first time. Then I run and show it to Don. (God bless him, he’s always enthusiastic.) Then I bring her over to sit next to me in the den, so I can see her cuteness.
Stay safe.
Happy Thursday.
Can you do the rapid at home tests? My daughter got some at Walmart.
Love the Beatles shirt!
Stay safe
I think it has to be more official than that. Paperwork needs to be involved.
Thanks, Marilyn!
Stay safe.
Love the Beatles tee shirt!! It’s infuriating that some people refuse to be vaccinated. Over here most folk over 30 have been but we still have young folk who think they’re invincible or just can’t be bothered to get round to going for the jab. And they’re the ones that walk around in large, sociable groups !
Better news in that tonight the first episode of the second series of All Creatures Great and Small begins tonight. With a new series of Strictly Come Dancing and Great British Bake Off starting in the next couple of days, that’s my Autumn sorted😀
Happy Thursday
Yes, I know we’ll have to wait for the second season of All Creatures but I believe we can access Great British Bake Off via Netflix. Hurrah!
Stay safe, Dee Dee.
I know you know the reasons behind the rigamarole you have to go through….but it is still maddening….and. was. so. preventable. Grrrrr!
Ah…cute Beatles shirt. She almost looks like Twiggy there….guess it’s the big eyes. Enjoy your day! ;)
I do know the reasons. They just didn’t have to be a factor at this point. I better get used to it because I’ll be dealing with it on the movie, as well.
Thanks, Donna.
Stay safe.
You are so funny, but right about having to be with real people! Hopefully after awhile you will enjoy it…maybe😬
I wish I was there today with all the rain. At least it is under 110 today so I pulled some weeds, but not for long. Going to work on my dollhouse today where it is cool. Be well!
Well it hasn’t rained since this morning and I guess it’s not going to rain again until tonight.
Have fun working on your dollhouse, Deb.
Stay safe.
My family has fone rapid testing
For me a senior cotizen am staying home
From travel as recommended
My eldest granddaughter graduated Purdue and has a job for a publisher on NY C
They are having her work from
Home u til Covid better
Good luck with testing .
These non vaccinators are causing too many problems.
I’m a senior citizen but I have to work!
They sure are causing problems, Brenda.
Stay safe.
I don’t know about your area but here Covid tests are available at most pharmacies. Which doesn’t make it much less of a pain and certainly a whole lot of rigmarole that could have been avoided with a mandate but… hopefully you won’t have to look to far afield.
Don’s a good one!
Yes, they’re available here in pharmacies, but I can’t schedule anything until I know when they want me there. And I have to make an appointment at the pharmacy.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Oh my gosh. The cuteness level is over the top. Your choices for her wardrobe 😍😍😍
I love seeing her, please don’t stop!
I hope you can get your rapid tests scheduled, but grrrrr.
I’ll keep praying for you as your stressors present themselves🙏🙏🙏
I can schedule them but I can’t do anything until I know exactly what days they want me to be there.
Thanks, Jan.
Stay safe.
Hi Claudia, I totally get your frustration. I would say scforgetrew it and walk away, but I also get why you can’t. And, I bet the ones that put this protocol in place are exempt because of their lack of interaction with the performers.
Anyway, bless you for your diligence and hard work.
Sophie is amazing and adorable! I had not heard of these dolls before her.
Take care…
Oh no, they’re not exempt. Everyone has to be tested, in offices, on stage, whatever. Same with film. I have no problems with the protocol, in fact, I welcome it. That’s not where I get frustrated. My frustration is with those who didn’t get vaccinated which is why we are where we are.
Stay safe, Kelly.
Claudia — LOVE Sophie’s shirt — am an old Beatles fanatic!!! this summer I got my 14yr old ggirl an Abbey Road t-shirt that she says is her very favorite — of course, she had to look up info about Abbey Road, haha!! it is maddening re: virus surge — only 93 hospital beds in the ENTIRE state of Ky and med staff are having to ‘ration’ care to decide who gets attention — WHAT????? sure hope you/Don stay safe/healthy
It’s insane, isn’t it?
Thanks, Linda.
Stay safe.
Hi Claudia,
I rarely post, but just had to say that I love your rants, your politics and your many interests. My wife and I have followed up on many of your reading and viewing recommendations and have found them to be immensely enjoyable. Best to you and yours during this historic and tremendously challenging time, Mary Ellen
Thank you so very much, Mary Ellen! Your lovely comment means a great deal to me.
Best to you and your wife!
Stay safe.
About 25 miles east of Madison, a 13 year old died of Covid today. His school district bowed in the direction of the people screaming “no masks in our schools”. Wonder if theose people even understand??
Saw a cartoon today that said Biden should simply say “No vaccine to those who have refused it to this point”. Can you IMAGINE the screaming about denied rights??
Worrying about DC on Saturday. Hopefully it is a non-event. Take care.
Oh my God. How heartbreaking. It just didn’t have to happen.
I’m worried about Saturday, as well.
Stay safe, Chris.
She looks like a Beatles kind of girl! For some reason, she reminds me of Twiggy.
In our small family, for the first time, my husband got a Covid test last weekend. Friday, he’d been asked to come back to his former workplace due to an equipment problem that it seems only he could figure out, and he got a little antsy about it after he got out of there. Also that afternoon, a neighbor who’s a strident anti-vaxer and anti-masker, came right up to him in the yard, leaning over to sort of grab something out of his hand at the trash cans (this is just how she is; I cannot STAND the pushy, obnoxious woman!) and my husband wasn’t prepared, wasn’t masked at the edge of his own front yard. She talks loudly and forcefully so was RIGHT in his face. Anyway, unknown to me, he went for this Covid test on the parking lot of a strip mall and he didn’t get the results back for three days. If he’d been positive and not careful, look at how many people he could have infected in those three days. But he was negative for Covid, so it was one of those new experiences with the testing but it was essentially a DIY procedure monitored by health personnel; he swabbed his own nose but they sealed the sampling. I imagine the DIY ‘home kits’ would really come in handy for you in NYC, Claudia; if and when supplied? Or maybe they have a protocol you have to follow to the letter? But, yeah, what a lot of pain-in-the-tush ‘extra’ when you’ve already got a full plate. I hope this testing becomes cumbersome enough for the anti-vaxers, say in their workplaces which require vaccination, that it’ll lead them to getting vaccinated. Oh, this world! Sigh indeed.
I should’ve read the other comments; several readers mentioned the rapid testing/home testing. (I wasn’t even aware they/kits were currently available in pharmacies; we never go in-person to the pharmacy anymore; we have everything shipped to home for free.) But I realize you’ve got to do exactly what the film particulars tell you to do.
What a switcheroo; you’ve been home for so long, where life is simpler in complicated times, and now you have to be ‘out there’, going places, being around a lot of people, on public transportation. A lot of us have been so isolated from this type of ‘normal’ comings/goings.
On the one hand, the change is exciting; on the other hand, stressful because you have to be more mindful than if this was a ‘normal’ year/normal job. I don’t know if my own anxiety level could handle it. Maybe you can get your Pfizer booster soon, which would add to your power over any worry. I mean, you’re not sounding worried; it just sounds like a lot of details where you need to make a big checklist in preparation. (Like, sometimes, it’s so much work to get ready for a vacation, it almost feels like, ‘hey, is this worth it?!’ but, then, once you’re there and can wind down with all details in place, it’s bliss.)
No to home testing. Home testing is more for the individual who might be worried that they’ve been exposed to COVID.
I’m not eligible for the booster until the end of November, unfortunately!
I’m not worried, but my anxiety has been heightened by all of this.
Stay safe.
The home kit wouldn’t be advisable as they need an official test result.
I have a feeling I’m going to get very used to testing, Vicki. Especially if I want to work.
Stay safe.