Thinking of My Friends

I felt a bit stronger today in my conviction to act with purpose, so I at least tried to stick to a schedule of tasks. Once again, the grim reality of the disease that surrounds me distracted me from my practical intentions. I was able to work on a coding tutorial and I did a whole workout, but I also found myself watching the conferences of Governor Newsom and Mayor Garcetti. The river of hard facts pouring into my ears made me numb and too sluggish to get back to the task of doing something other than looking at what my friends are doing on Facebook. Social media isn't always the misdemeanor I make it out to be, but I'm doing it more than I want to. Sometimes it helps me connect with people, though. My friend, Kendra Munger, recently worked on an episode of Star Trek: Picard. I took a screenshot of her scene and put it on my Facebook timeline to share with people and maybe add to her fame a little bit. That's her in the picture. She played a Romulan character, Tal Shiar Female #2, a member of a Romulan secret society. A few people liked it, and Kendra loved it.

"Thank you Ramon Sanchez ❤️," she commented. 

I've been using Facebook for many years now as my primary method of socializing. There have been many times that I've used it to to hang out with Facebook friends in person. Usually, this happens when my actor friends are in a play. I go to the play and then hang out with them after the show. Is this the best way to be social? I like that I've been able to use Facebook to keep in touch with people who are far away, and most of my friends and loved ones are all over the country, but during times like these, Facebook can become a crutch. That may be why I used my phone to actually call someone today, my friend Natalie. She is a Facebook friend, but I met her in person first, when I went to meditation meetings with her and some other friends, including Alycia. We talked for a long time about her problems dealing with her elderly mother and the strangeness of celebrating Passover on video chat (she's Jewish), among other things.

Getting back to Facebook after the call, I found out that my friend, Josie, is pretty sure she has been infected with the coronavirus. She has been in bed with a fever for eighteen days. She's afraid. She's tired. From what I gathered on her post, she's been communicating with doctors who are sure that she has it, but apparently she wasn't able to go out to get tested before the Big Self-Quarantine. I've know Josie for about fifteen years. She auditioned for the staged reading of the vampire musical I wrote when I was studying with The Academy for New Musical Theatre. The director of the reading, Tommy Redmond Hicks, didn't choose her for the part of Roxana, the lead female in the show. We had problems finding someone to play that part until Gary Mattison, the music director and composer, brought in Kendra. I knew Tommy because we were both substitute teachers at the time, and I slowly got to know Kendra and Josie on Facebook. They are wonderful friends. I watched on Facebook as Kendra rallied her friends to support her when she battled cancer. She got over it, and I'm glad to see her doing great things now. Josie is a fun, witty person with a lot of heart and talent. Both Kendra and Josie want Trump out of office as much as I do. I hope Josie gets better soon. I've had enough death already.