From The Interwebs - ET's LIst

 

The Trials of Man Solo - It's a Puzzlement!

Before there was a pandemic, muh DAB, Dennis and I enjoyed working the jigsaw puzzles into full images.  It usually happened during weeklong vacations in Palm Springs, where we took our time and did a little every day until we completed it by the time we left.

From this photo of us behind one of our first collaborations, you would never guess that there was a huge divide between Dennis and me. 

The divide is filled with arguments for and against having the box around for reference.  

Dennis thinks it's fine and I am vehemently of the thought that it is cheating!!!  

Even so, Dennis and I work together to get the job done, without me looking at the box.

Then, Covid hit and we were all stuck in our homes, some of us alone.  Jigsaw puzzles became all the rage again!  Dennis already had some on hand, but I was not prepared, as I always left him in charge of our puzzle assignments.  Luckily, Dennis had a few that he had solved and made a contact free delivery to me.  I grabbed one and shoved the others under the sofa, so I wouldn't be able to subconsciously memorize the image and CHEAT!

Here's two...

They were lovely and fun to solve, but the pandemic kept going on, so I had to get some of my own.

 I happened upon a Marvel heroes puzzle on Mondo.com, thought it looked cool and bought it.

Once I opened the box, I noticed this puzzle was different from all the others I had done before.

ALL THE PUZZLE PIECES WERE THE SAME SHAPE!

Look at the pic below.

I was quite intrigued and thought I was ready for the challenge.

I started with the white portion with Captain America's Shield attached.

That was extremely difficult and time consuming... luckily I had a pandemicful of time available.

After the lower part was complete, I thought the upper area with faces and objects would be much easier.  All of a sudden, I felt intimidated by the rest of it because all the the other pieces were red, white & blue and looked very similar.  I soon discovered that pieces didn't fit where I was certain they would.  It was another long test of my sanity to complete it.  Even the last five pieces didn't seem like they would fit anywhere in the puzzle.  Ultimately, I was triumphant and I felt like an actual Avenger.

I was very proud of my work, but also a little traumatized.

It was a little while before I could even think of starting another puzzle.

Believe me, this puzzle spent a lot of time just sitting on my dining room table. 

The day I took it apart and put the pieces back in the box, I cried a little on the inside.

It was my birthday, October 2020 when I got a horrible gift from my friend Stacy McQueen.

It was a jigsaw puzzle.  It was an image of the twins in THE SHINING.  It was all red and black.

It was untouched until November.

I girded my loins and got to work.

I immediately felt the challenge.

Adding to the challenge, stuff was opening up, again,

so I didn't have as much spare time to work on it.

The puzzle sat, unsolved for weeks (Months?) at a time,

waiting for me to get a few pieces in place before moving on to something else.

Time passed and I'd give Stacy periodic updates here & there.

It became even more difficult as I returned to the office half time.

It got so bad that I broke out the box for reference and even then, it was so hard!

Finally, on December 29, 2022

I FINISHED the puzzle!

Over two years later, I was made whole.

I can't tell you how many times it occurred to me to just take it all apart and forget about it,

but that's not me.  I just had to finish it... it was FUN! Right?

And we all know, all work and no play makes Danny a dull boy.

I bought a frame and framed that shit!
I don't even have anywhere to hang it, 

but DAMMIT I'm proud of it.

Also, it's nice to have my entire dining room table back.

 

From the Interwebs - Normalize Dying Alone Together

 

Gay of a Certain Age - Oh No, you Covidn't!

You guys, I thought I was invincible!
I've gotten all the shots! I stayed in my apartment for almost 2 years! I'm blood-type O+ for piss sakes!
How did I get the Covid-19????

Let's start with the good news; I'm not dead.

Now the bad news, I caught Covid while celebrating Thanksgiving with the gang.

Over the weekend, one of these folks sent out an email saying that they had tested positive and that we should be on the look out for Covid symptoms. ...But, not me!  I had the 2 Moderna shots and all 4 boosters and if I believe stuff I read on the internets, it helps that I'm O+ AND to top it all off, I'm gluten-free!
Monday I felt the sniffles and immediately tested myself- NEGATIVE. I just have the sniffles, I'm fine.  Besides, I was working from home that day so, I wouldn't have to worry about blowing my nose in front of people all day.

Did I mention that after two years of not visiting New York or seeing any shows on the Broadway, I'm finally going?  Yeah, I even managed to get a fancy apartment right in the heart of the theatre district to stay in! So excited to see 7 shows in five days!

Anyway, Tuesday morning (the day of my flight to New York) my sniffles were a little heavier and I tested like a good, responsible, dumb-ass citizen.  There it was; a red line under the T.

POSITIVE as a Mutha Fucka!

WHAT?? NO!!! WAIT! NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

It hit me like a hammer.  I must admit that, for a brief second, the thought of going anyway flashed in my head.  ...But, of course I couldn't do that.  If not to the people on the plane, certainly not to the Broadway performers who would be out of work, or maybe a show shut down, for at least a week.  Speaking of out of work, my vacation hours suddenly became sick leave hours.

Immediately, I got to cancelling my Jet Blue flight and requesting refunds for all the shows I would miss.

This is them:

Most went well; Luckily I purchased trip insurance, so my air fair was returned with no questions asked.  I got refunds for all my shows (only one asked for proof) except INTO THE WOODS.  That was the last show I was requesting a refund for and I was getting pooped... it was Seat Geek and instead of digging around on the site for where to request a refund, I saw the SELL SEAT button and just pushed it.  I figured it was a popular show and the ticket would sell right away- which it needed to, since it was a matinee ticket for the next day.  No such luck.  I even tried to lower the price by 50%, but Seat Geek wouldn't let me list it for that low.  So, no refund on INTO THE WOODS.  I AM a proud supporter of the arts, after all.  The only other thing I didn't get a refund on was my airport parking.  I totally forgot about that, because of my grief and all.  ...and the disease.

Oh, yeah, I 'm sick, that's right... that's the reason for that ill feeling... not my missing the trip to NY that I had been anticipating for months.  So excited.

Anyway, as far as the sickness, I texted my doctor, Dr. V, 

Back in 2020

and he immediately prescribed Paxlovid, sent the prescription to my CVS and muh DAB, Glenn picked it up for me and dropped it off at my doorstep.  I may be Dying Alone, but it's nice to know I gots a nice little network right now.

I started my five day Paxlovid regimen the morning I tested positive and I must say, that seemed to help a lot. Although, on Wednesday, I was very intimidated, because it only took 20 seconds for a thick red line to burst onto the T column

 So, under the influence of my meds and illness, I slept watched HOLIDAY BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP 

(Not my Photo)

(Not my Photo)

on the HBO Max Tuesday & Wednesday.  It took two days, because I would wake up and go, "Hey, when did HE leave the show?" and go back and try to stay awake through the last one I think I fell asleep on... several times.  When I was awake enough, I watched some Broadway at home, thanks to Broadway HD - a nice pro-shot of MR. SATURDAY NIGHT starring Billy Crystal

Kinda glad I got to see this at home and not use a New York night on this. Oy!

I also watched all of  the final season of DEAD TO ME

Which I really enjoyed.

And I watched FROZEN again. 

(Not my Photo)

 It's really good you guys!

After those two days of sleeping my symptoms away, I felt much improved Thursday morning.  The worst part of the illness was the constant metallic taste from the Paxlovid.  I must confess that the thought of catching Covid scared the hell out of me because I feared the worst.  After only sleeping symptoms away for two days, there are worse things than a taste in my mouth that felt like I'd been giving sexy robots blow jobs... A LOT, for five days.

(Not my Photo)

I spent the rest of my recovery just waiting for the negative test result.  I didn't test on the weekend or Monday to conserve my few tests.

It drove me crazy seeing that dumb faint red line!

So, while I was I trouper during the lock down, loving it, in fact, it was a little harder this time.  It's a little different when you see everyone else out & about when you're stuck inside.  It also is much harder when you have calendar alerts that the Broadway shows you're missing are about to start.  Sure, I could have removed those shows from my calendar, but that would have taken a few minutes.  To make the sting a little more, this trip was the only chance I'd get to see those shows. STRANGE LOOP, INTO THE WOODS and ALMOST FAMOUS have posted closing dates. LUCKILY, I have learned that INTO THE WOODS is coming to Los Angeles, at the Ahmanson in 2023 with most of the Broadway cast.  I can only hope that the other 2 announce a tour, as well.  Also, I have to hope that the other shows are able to stick around until I can organize a trip again.

I finally tested Negative on the Wednesday I was scheduled to go back to work. 

I had run out of my own supply, so I had to borrow a cup of Covid Test from Glenn, all he had was this weird one, but beggars can't be choosers...

 Fortunately, because I was scheduled for vacation time, and scheduled to work from home on Monday anyway, the Work only had to worry about my physical absence for 2 Tuesdays. Also, because I had contracted the Covid during the Thanksgiving weekend break, we didn't have to worry about tracing back which employees I was in contact with. I credit the vaccinations and quick action of Paxlovid regimen for my quick recovery.

I feel lucky that my bout with Covid was so uneventful (as far as I know), especially since 1.1 million people in the US have died from it. The thing is, now I don't feel as invincible as I had had before. ...or maybe complacent is the word.  Anyway, now I worry I may get it again and miss things I have planned, like my trip to El Paso for Christmas, or shows I have tickets for.

Like INVINCIBLE

I worried that I might miss this show because of illness. And, now that I've seen it, I know I'll never get a chance to see it on the Broadway.  (It was a fine cast, but the show is loose and some song choices and treatment were off the mark- missing a lot of the big hits and when they are present, one should not  have to work THAT hard to recognize a song.)

As a Gay of A Certain Age, I have realized that I should not take health for granted and not become complacent.  We knew from the beginning that the vaccines don't necessarily prevent infection, but lessen the impact.

I also learned, at least for now, I have a nice network of friends and DABs who will help me in times of need.  Thank you friends- this includes you, Dr. V!