Feeling emotional

jtweigandt

Well-Known Member
I had to replace a wifi repeater in my mumble stage communictation setup today. It was wreaking havoc last week.. kinda working.. intermittant failure.. I ripped it out by the roots today mid day, and replaced it with dedicated router for my hard link from stage to booth. So I went to ride herd on it tonight and rode shotgun in the booth for my first live show in a year and a half. I had the dubious honor of lighting the last show we did there pre pandemic. I have volunteered for this org for 20 years now.. have done something for multiple shows every season onstage or off. Acting, Directing, Set design, Lighting Design, Created specialty props and magic, made smoke, flash,confetti, and fake fire. Stood in the rain as parking attendant, cleaned the toilets. And here we were back with 550 people in the seats for Mama Mia. Vacc rates hovering about 50% local incidence extremely low for the moment. Is it too soon? I served on the Board of directors for 12 of those 20 years, but not currently. Kind of glad I was out of the loop for the decision making this time.. I was there when we shut it all down. I installed the first video feed of the music director, the first LED lights, Video monitors throughout the stage area, The stage communication system. Babysat and organized the tech while we were mothballed. It was great to see it all back in action, with the cast singing and dancing their hearts out. But is it too soon?.. will we hurt someone in the name of entertainment? It's been a rougher year for those of you who make your living at this than we who do it on the side, but I just had to lay this out there somewhere. Thanks for reading if you waded through the whole ramble.
 
Is it too soon? From a biology standpoint, with the relatively low average vaccination rates in "too many places", the answer is "probably so."

From an emotional and economic standpoint? It's late.

What I've discovered in doing a gig a week (average) for a couple months... I've lost my muscle (and gray processing) memory. Doing a show is not like riding a bike - you *can* forget even after decades in the crafts. Things about shows that haven't worried me for decades now become nagging internal questions about my ability to do gigs whether simple or complex. It's a level of anxiety I don't remember having since 1995.

I've tied bowlines since I was a Boy Scout but the first show I ground-rigged, I stood there with the rope in my hands and in a full brain-lock. Took 3 tries. At least I didn't build the point upside down, like the ground rigger next to me...
 
Is it too soon? From a biology standpoint, with the relatively low average vaccination rates in "too many places", the answer is "probably so."

From an emotional and economic standpoint? It's late.

What I've discovered in doing a gig a week (average) for a couple months... I've lost my muscle (and gray processing) memory. Doing a show is not like riding a bike - you *can* forget even after decades in the crafts. Things about shows that haven't worried me for decades now become nagging internal questions about my ability to do gigs whether simple or complex. It's a level of anxiety I don't remember having since 1995.

I've tied bowlines since I was a Boy Scout but the first show I ground-rigged, I stood there with the rope in my hands and in a full brain-lock. Took 3 tries. At least I didn't build the point upside down, like the ground rigger next to me...
We just finished a 2 month total maintence cycle, basically took all the systems in the building apart and put them back together again. One of the reason I wanted to do it was to just get the business back in my crews body.

I do think it might be too soon. We just dropped all restrictions in New York. I was getting ready to open up with full capacity, no mask, BUT with vaccine passports. They just dropped that requirement for our venue size. So, we're basically full send open and our first shows next month are sold clean. I'll be interested with Delta running around if we the vaccine passport thing comes back... I think it will. Our region is around 65-70% fully vaxed, so thats at least positive. But ya...
 
I'm hoping that we aren't setting ourselves up for another shut down, which is always in the back of my mind these days. It seems, on the one hand irresponsible to continue reopening with cases rising so drastically, but on the other hand it is past time economically for a lot of venues, or even too late for some. Soon I think it will get to a point where those of us that are vaccinated need to continue our lives; we can't wait for others to take care of themselves and get the shot when we need to also take care of ourselves in a different sense. It feels harsh to think that way, but there few reasons not to get the vaccine which has been proven safe and effective for months now. We had a real chance to knock this thing down in June before Delta took hold and the only reason we didn't is because of those who have been fed misinformation about the vaccines.
 
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Those who willingly refuse a vaccine for which they are medically eligible.... well, the word is "repose". The upside is we'll have fewer vaccine deniers.
 
Is it too soon to go back to normal? Probably depends on your local vaccination rate but here in Florida the answer is apparently yes.

Not yet reflected in the chart below, but FL reported 12.6k new cases today, which puts us basically right back where we were a full year ago in terms of case trajectory. And there's nothing particularly unique about FL to many other parts of the country. We're at about 48% fully vaccinated rate, which puts us in the middle of the pack in terms of vaccination rates by state -- literally dead center ranked 25th between Michigan and Illinois. So anyone who wants to dismiss this as "it's just Florida", well, it may be spiking in Florida right now but rest assured it'll begin spiking elsewhere pretty quickly too.

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Yes, I find it amusing (in a depraved and cynical way) that Gov. Desantis wants to kill his acolytes and sycophants, and that those folks are willing to sacrifice themselves. There's a whole set of dissertations to be written on this behavior.
 
Yes, I find it amusing (in a depraved and cynical way) that Gov. Desantis wants to kill his acolytes and sycophants, and that those folks are willing to sacrifice themselves. There's a whole set of dissertations to be written on this behavior.
He's running for president. Getting reelected as governor in the interim is only a formality but it's not where his heart is.

He's also denied a state of emergency for our red tide problem this year, which has killed 800 tons of fish and is the result of nutrient-rich pollution from a phosphate mining stack into Tampa Bay. The state of emergency would've allowed mobilization of resources to clear the dead fish out of the bay. Without that, the fish rot in the water and serve as a feeding frenzy for the tide to get worse, impacting public health, tourism, fishing, and the local economy. His concern for his constituents is lacking.

I do think he sees the writing on the wall and is pleading with people to get vaccinated, but the damage is already done and I don't think you can put the genie back in that bottle. Saw an interview today with a guy hospitalized with COVID and he insisted if he could go back and do it again he still wouldn't have gotten vaccinated because government this, government that. Mitch McConnell's beating that drum for people to get vaxxed as well but I just don't see them being able to deprogram their base after a year of propaganda about COVID being a hoax and vaccinations being loaded with metals and microchips. That ship has sailed and the remained of this pandemic will have volunteers, not victims.
 
Washington has reached the 70% partially vaccinated goal, yet we're seeing an upturn in case rates again. We "fully repopened" just before the July 4 holiday, so only time will tell whether the cause for the increase is the delta variant, the reopening, or due to people gathering and getting careless during the holiday.

We've seen people's actions, and the resulting virus reactions four times now since the pandemic started, yet we still seem to expect a different outcome every time. The graphs show the results from every move made by the governor, the effects of vaccination, and every major holiday clear as can be. What I find sad is that the news media hasn't found a way to convey this in a meaningful way. TV thinks graphs and numbers are boring. Newspapers spew a bunch of meaningless numbers without context, but their graphics departments were closed years ago. Only those of us that go looking at health department websites really get the full picture.
 
Washington has reached the 70% partially vaccinated goal, yet we're seeing an upturn in case rates again. We "fully repopened" just before the July 4 holiday, so only time will tell whether the cause for the increase is the delta variant, the reopening, or due to people gathering and getting careless during the holiday.

We've seen people's actions, and the resulting virus reactions four times now since the pandemic started, yet we still seem to expect a different outcome every time. The graphs show the results from every move made by the governor, the effects of vaccination, and every major holiday clear as can be. What I find sad is that the news media hasn't found a way to convey this in a meaningful way. TV thinks graphs and numbers are boring. Newspapers spew a bunch of meaningless numbers without context, but their graphics departments were closed years ago. Only those of us that go looking at health department websites really get the full picture.

Last year you could look at rate of positive infections going up, count backward 10-14 days, and find a major holiday. Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving... This year will be the same except for who will do most of the ICU time and contribute to *my* prediction of another >50,000 Covid deaths in the USA, 95% of which will be people who didn't take the vaccine jabs.

Joke I've told before (irony, sarcasm triggers) - man living near a river that is dangerously rising, and an evac truck stops at his house. "Get in, sir, we'll take you to safety!" "Nope, I'm staying here, the Almighty will take care of me." A day passes and the waters have risen; the man is on the roof of his house and a boat approaches to rescue him. "Nope, I'm staying here, the Almighty will take care of me." Later, as the waters rise further, the man climbs to the top a tree. A helicopter hovers over him and lowers a rope ladder. "Grap the rope, this is your last chance!" "Nope, the Almighty will take care of me. The man drowns shortly after, and as he makes his first appearce in the hereafter, he asks "why am I here, the Almighty was supposed to take care of me?" The voice for the other side boomed "I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"

We have Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. What more do folks expect?
 
Joke I've told before (irony, sarcasm triggers) - man living near a river that is dangerously rising, and an evac truck stops at his house. "Get in, sir, we'll take you to safety!" "Nope, I'm staying here, the Almighty will take care of me." A day passes and the waters have risen; the man is on the roof of his house and a boat approaches to rescue him. "Nope, I'm staying here, the Almighty will take care of me." Later, as the waters rise further, the man climbs to the top a tree. A helicopter hovers over him and lowers a rope ladder. "Grap the rope, this is your last chance!" "Nope, the Almighty will take care of me. The man drowns shortly after, and as he makes his first appearce in the hereafter, he asks "why am I here, the Almighty was supposed to take care of me?" The voice for the other side boomed "I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"

We have Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. What more do folks expect?
I spend a little time self hating in the fox news/brietbart comments sections... and the fact that you have people both saying "Biden isn't thanking Trump for the vaccine/if it wasn't for Trump we wouldn't have it" followed by "I'm not taking no vaccine" is rather amazing. The Republican Govenors who weren't full throated in their support of the vaccine since the beginning shot themselves in the foot here.
 
Is it too soon to go back to normal? Probably depends on your local vaccination rate but here in Florida the answer is apparently yes.

Not yet reflected in the chart below, but FL reported 12.6k new cases today, which puts us basically right back where we were a full year ago in terms of case trajectory. And there's nothing particularly unique about FL to many other parts of the country. We're at about 48% fully vaccinated rate, which puts us in the middle of the pack in terms of vaccination rates by state -- literally dead center ranked 25th between Michigan and Illinois. So anyone who wants to dismiss this as "it's just Florida", well, it may be spiking in Florida right now but rest assured it'll begin spiking elsewhere pretty quickly too.

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Gee... since the governor told them not to *release* daily case numbers, I wonder where that graph got it's data?
 
Yes, I find it amusing (in a depraved and cynical way) that Gov. Desantis wants to kill his acolytes and sycophants, and that those folks are willing to sacrifice themselves. There's a whole set of dissertations to be written on this behavior.
Jonestown all over again in slo-mo ...
 

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