Tues. Sept. 19: Re-envisioning the Week
image courtesy of Sh1ra from pixabay.comTuesday, September 19, 2023
Waxing Moon
Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde
Partly sunny/cloudy and cool
I hope you had a good weekend! Ready for our regular Tuesday catch-up?
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain:
Episode 121: Brother Risipi Comes to Help
Shelley enlists the monk to help the forger.
Friday was busy, but it was a good busy. I worked on the play. I did a run to the library and the grocery store. There were more books than I expected waiting for me at the library. I sent some questions to a residency in a place to which I would have never thought to apply, but it sounds fun; they urged me to apply, so I will.
I did two small client projects and one medium client project. I had another one come in unexpectedly, but I had questions, and they weren’t answered in time to turn it around on Friday.
I worked on the episode graphics for Legerdemain, but wasn’t happy with them.
I did follow-up from Thursday’s reading, and some more publicity out for the BHPC reading.
The client projects ate up a good portion of the day, but in the evening, I managed to finish the book for review.
It was lovely sleeping weather Friday night, and I wanted to stay in bed on Saturday!
But I was up and at ‘em, so to speak. I redid the graphics I disliked. I did 16 episode videos for the serials, and a video for the upcoming BHPC reading, and uploaded as much as I could to TikTok.
I polished the edited pages for THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE and uploaded them to the Nightwood folder, in case anyone wants to read them in the interim.
I did a residency application for something that’s a little off-the-wall, but I love the idea of it, and I had a good conversation with them, and they encouraged me to apply (mentioned above). So that went out the door.
I packed the books I’m taking into the residency (quite a few, but I like books around me) and some of the other bits and bobs that I’m going to use in the studio.
I finished reading Claire McMillan’s ALCHEMY OF A BLACKBIRD, a novel about Remedios Varos, and it was fascinating. Yet again, the question presents itself: how much amazing art did the world lose because she wasted so many years in a relationship with a mediocre man who did not do his share in the emotional, financial, and practical aspects of the relationship?
In the evening, I got an email from CVS saying they were sorry that we cancelled our vaccine appointments for Monday. WTF? We most certainly did not. On top of sending us this crap on a Saturday night, when there is no one to contact, they put in a phone number that is “no longer taking calls.” What the fuck is wrong with those clowns?
If they didn’t yet get the vaccination doses, the correct response is to send us an email apologizing for THEM having to cancel the appointment. Not to lie and say WE cancelled it, and then give us an invalid phone number.
Trying to rebook online, the only vaccines available are an hour or more away and a month out. FUCK THEM.
They were dumb enough to send us a customer satisfaction survey on the interaction, and got, shall we say, a few choice words.
CVS refused to give us the boosters last year due to “insurance issues.” Our insurance is just fine AND someone who got into it with CVS about them trying to charge for the vaccine last week sent me the directive from the CDC about the Bridge Access program paying for it this go round. So CVS has NO leg to stand on (and never did).
This is about CVS’s economic discrimination. Again. They can’t profit, so they don’t hold up their end of the bargain. Instead of sending the vaccines to this location, they are sending the doses to the richer communities. And then they LIE about it.
Stop & Shop, where we got our boosters last fall, doesn’t have the vaccine in hand yet, and therefore is not booking appointments. You know, like professionals. Not promising what they can’t deliver.
It looks like Walgreen’s has it in hand and is booking, but they only have the Moderna Spikevax. I had Moderna for the first two doses, and it took me down for 5-7 days each time. I’m also worried if I take it, I’ll give a false positive on the home COVID test required before the residency. (The Pfizers took me down 3-5 days).
My mom has flat out refused to go in for the Moderna. She said she will wait until she can get the Pfizer (she’s had all Pfizer).
If I don’t get the vaccine this week, I can’t get it until November, which is too late, because I can’t block off the necessary recovery time. I’m not as worried about the residency (because everyone there has to be vaxxed and tested before arrival) as I am about jury duty. I want the booster before I have to show up for jury duty.
I am furious about the way CVS mishandled the whole situation. I’m not surprised, because their executive office doesn’t give a damn about actual human beings, but I’m furious.
I heard from people across the country, via social media, that all their appointments are getting cancelled, too.
That did not make for good sleeping Saturday night, but I got a little rest.
Up Sunday. It was a gorgeous day. Read my friend’s play and sent him notes on it.
Headed down to Pittsfield. I’d hoped to go to a particular store and introduce myself, with a thought to possibly teaching there in spring, but I didn’t have the energy to put on a performance, so I skipped it. I’ll go down later, after the residency.
I picked up a couple of notebooks. I want to keep my handwritten journal of the residency separate from the rest of the diary, the way I would a travel diary.
Because the residency is a form of inward travel.
Went to Michael’s, with a whole list of things I needed, very little of what I found. I need frames, and did not find anything remotely close to what I wanted, not to mention the prices were ridiculous. Although even if they were cheap, none of the frames in stock were worth settling for. So I will look elsewhere.
Didn’t find the brush trees I needed for a project, or the Gelli plates. I found the soft wooden boxes I need for another project, but I know I won’t start that until after the Winter Holidays, so I didn’t want to buy the supplies now and have them sit around, staring at me and filling me with guilt.
I found some ribbon on sale and grabbed that (you know me and ribbon – I have five tubs of ribbon in the sewing room). I found some fabric for the word/textile piece I want to play with in-studio, another piece I’m going to tack to the wall just for inspiration, and a piece for Mabon.
At least I found a little of what I needed.
Came back, washed the fabric, headed to yoga for a two-hour workshop on yoga for stress management. We did a 45-minute yoga Nidra practice (always my favorite) and then did some work on the science and the connections behind why yoga works. It helped connect some dots for me, and understand how and why some previous situations were so damaging.
We got a settlement check from the class action suit against TD bank on something or other – I think it was overcharging on their fees. Not much, but the fact they had to cough up means something.
Home, dinner, reading Harvey Fierstein’s memoir. We crossed paths now and then when we were both working on Broadway. When he was in HAIRSPRAY, I was across the street doing FLOWER DRUM SONG, and we used to meet on our way into the theatre getting coffee at the corner bodega and chat. His dressing room and Lea’s dressing room faced each other, and they used to shout across 52nd St. to each other as they got ready to go on.
But growing our careers were very different paths (not just because he was an actor/playwright and I was in tech – I didn’t realize how much tech he’d done until I read this). He was very involved in the downtown performance art scene, and I was involved in the classical and naturalistic shows (even off-off Broadway). I admired the work in that other faction, but I didn’t want to work on it. I wanted to work on classics and work by women breaking ground like Caryl Churchill.
The memoir is interesting, because we intersected with a lot of the same people (again, six degrees of Kevin Bacon), and the different perspectives/experiences we had with them are fascinating.
Woke up to rain on Monday. I’m recommitting to the daily yoga practice again, after letting it slide for too long. My instructor is right – class once a week is not enough. I need the dailiness of it again. Some of the people at the studio attend class every day, but I just can’t.
Got this week’s Ink-Dipped Advice post polished, uploaded, and scheduled. Headed out to the library to drop off/pick up. Tried to sort things out at CVS. My mother’s appointment was canceled because they are only honoring morning appointments and “ran out” – then don’t fucking BOOK THEM. I wanted to punch the smirking twat in the face. And I use that language with deliberation. My appointment was canceled because my health insurance isn’t covering it (which is a lie, I checked with them before I booked; CVS just doesn’t like them), and CVS is not honoring the Bridge Access program – which they are REQUIRED so to do by law.
Fuck them.
Don’t worry. I have Plans for them.
It means looking to book appointments elsewhere the week of Indigenous People’s day, when we’re going to be out of town for a bit, but before jury duty. I will try again after the residency is over. I might not get something, and I might have to wait until November. I mean, no matter what, I was planning to mask during jury duty.
I’m so sick of living in a country with a Death Promotion System instead of a Health Care System.
Picked up some plates and napkins for our reading. Will get the hot/cold cups and other beverages later this week. Will see if/when I can swing by the Studios to print out our programs, or if I need to do it those early days In-studio.
Wrote and submitted the book review and invoiced this last batch. Received my next book for review, which I will turn around before the residency.
Around the time I would have had to settle down post-vaccine, my body just went, “you booked this time to rest, and you are RESTING” so I read on the couch. I did a little research for a down-the-line project, and turned over, in my mind, a couple of things I want to work on In-studio.
It rained like crazy most of the day and was windy. It was cold enough to close the door to the front porch overnight.
It was sunnier earlier; now it looks like it wants to rain again. On today’s agenda: draft an episode or two of Legerdemain, promote the episode that goes live today, promote the reading, and type up some material with which I’ve been playing for the residency, to put in that folder. I have some visuals I’ll also put in a folder to go over. I want to decide which of the WOMEN WITH AN EDGE monologues I will read at the reading, time it (it should run 2-3 minutes), and see if there’s time for another piece or not. I might rework the Quicksand piece, if I can get it down to under a minute, and do that as the button. I need to do a new information sheet, too, but that doesn’t have to happen today. I also need to get one more Process Muse post written and scheduled this week, but again, it doesn’t have to be today. And there are two small client projects to turn around, which I would like to happen today, making room for more this week.
I hoped to walk downtown later this morning to deal with a few things like the bank and the post office. We’ll see.
Had a conversation with a theatre acquaintance who is encouraging me to submit to a couple of theatres I wouldn’t have considered right now (thinking they are too far out of reach), but this individual thinks FALL FOREVER is a good fit for their play development programs, and, even if it’s not contracted, it opens the door to future submissions.
Nothing ventured and all that, right?
Time to hit the page.
