A second run of this? Too soon

[William Brownstein]

One of the comedy improv and teaching organizations announced it was closing their doors today in Hells Kitchen, because they can't afford to pay rent, which was a problem even before the Corona Virus. I put it up on my Twitter today. It dealt with Improv and Amy Poehler at ties to it.

This will play out over and over with businesses going down and never coming back, in all types of industries, not just in New York, but everywhere. Especially small businesses owners being affected the most and taking the hardest hit. While it may not be death, in a way it is. It's people's money they worked very hard building up to live the American Dream and prosper. Both the owners and individuals with ties to the various businesses lose big time.

I texted my boss the article I saw and he responded he saw that yesterday. I am going to share what I texted back to him. Politics is mentioned briefly in my conversation, and is part of the exchange. Not meant to stir up anything here. While I don't usually agree with politicians that I don't subscribe to, I am being open minded to what'll all are saying now. I am more favorable to Governor Cuomo than Mayor DeBlasio's words. There's no denying this is an election year, and throughout this ordeal I thought at first and still do to some degree, that this is being used for political gain. I have mixed feelings and my text message puts my views I play of how I feel.

Here is the text:
Who knows. I look at it this way, when NYC opens up, a big part of it functioning thrives on Sporting events, Broadway Shows, concerts, restaurants and nightclubs. Tourists make the economy happen and survive. If they open up Broadway, then Comedy Clubs will be ok. Broadway drives millions to NY. I don't think they can keep shows from opening. The amount of time that it will take concerns me and how people will respond to it once things resume. I think it all comes down to Broadway and Theater, and if that happens, we should be ok. If not, that will be a problem.

In the meantime, how many businesses will close for good, as they can not recover from this, makes it vital to try and open up the economy as soon as possible, while keeping people safe. Lots of unknown questions regarding people's health.

It doesn't help with Liberal politicians calling the shots in NY, especially DeBlasio.

While we are seeing people returning to businesses this week around the country, and even beaches opening again in Florida, as well as people protesting openly on the streets, with no social distancing or face masks, I'm not sure that's the smartest idea.

If it comes back, we will be at the same point we were when everything shut down again. The news yesterday mentioned that a second run of this could return in the Fall. I believe it was mentioned that it could even be stronger than the current epidemic.

It's still not great here. NJ yesterday had its highest number of deaths in one day, even though the epidemic is moving towards South Jersey, and now Massachusetts is getting hit hard by this.

It seems to be traveling to different areas, at different times. All it takes is one person visiting New York to spread it again. The person from New Rochelle who travelled to Grand Central Terminal by train was one of the earlier persons to get it. Within a few days and weeks, it went from one state and spread quickly all over the country, first originating in Washington State.

Hopefully a vaccine will take care of everything. Despite the talk of testing people, that is impossible to test everyone and anyone who you miss that has it, just contaminates other. I seriously doubt NY/NJ will be over this anytime soon.

I have mixed feelings about all of this, but at least we will see how the other cities and states opening up will be affected.

[William Brownstein]

Tweets I found https://twitter.com/marcel_g/status/1252918812149678081?s=21

Link to direct article
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/04/21/upright-citizens-brigade-closes-new-york-theater-and-training-center-due-to-coronavirus?cid=twitter_NY1

[kevin]

Post by William Brownstein
One of the comedy improv and teaching organizations announced it was closing their doors today in Hells Kitchen, because they can't afford to pay rent, which was a problem even before the Corona Virus. I put it up on my Twitter today. It dealt with Improv and Amy Poehler at ties to it.
This will play out over and over with businesses going down and never coming back, in all types of industries, not just in New York, but everywhere. Especially small businesses owners being affected the most and taking the hardest hit. While it may not be death, in a way it is. It's people's money they worked very hard building up to live the American Dream and prosper. Both the owners and individuals with ties to the various businesses lose big time.
I texted my boss the article I saw and he responded he saw that yesterday. I am going to share what I texted back to him. Politics is mentioned briefly in my conversation, and is part of the exchange. Not meant to stir up anything here. While I don't usually agree with politicians that I don't subscribe to, I am being open minded to what'll all are saying now. I am more favorable to Governor Cuomo than Mayor DeBlasio's words. There's no denying this is an election year, and throughout this ordeal I thought at first and still do to some degree, that this is being used for political gain. I have mixed feelings and my text message puts my views I play of how I feel.
Who knows. I look at it this way, when NYC opens up, a big part of it functioning thrives on Sporting events, Broadway Shows, concerts, restaurants and nightclubs. Tourists make the economy happen and survive. If they open up Broadway, then Comedy Clubs will be ok. Broadway drives millions to NY. I don't think they can keep shows from opening. The amount of time that it will take concerns me and how people will respond to it once things resume. I think it all comes down to Broadway and Theater, and if that happens, we should be ok. If not, that will be a problem.
In the meantime, how many businesses will close for good, as they can not recover from this, makes it vital to try and open up the economy as soon as possible, while keeping people safe. Lots of unknown questions regarding people's health.
It doesn't help with Liberal politicians calling the shots in NY, especially DeBlasio.
While we are seeing people returning to businesses this week around the country, and even beaches opening again in Florida, as well as people protesting openly on the streets, with no social distancing or face masks, I'm not sure that's the smartest idea.
If it comes back, we will be at the same point we were when everything shut down again. The news yesterday mentioned that a second run of this could return in the Fall. I believe it was mentioned that it could even be stronger than the current epidemic.
It's still not great here. NJ yesterday had its highest number of deaths in one day, even though the epidemic is moving towards South Jersey, and now Massachusetts is getting hit hard by this.
It seems to be traveling to different areas, at different times. All it takes is one person visiting New York to spread it again. The person from New Rochelle who travelled to Grand Central Terminal by train was one of the earlier persons to get it. Within a few days and weeks, it went from one state and spread quickly all over the country, first originating in Washington State.
Hopefully a vaccine will take care of everything. Despite the talk of testing people, that is impossible to test everyone and anyone who you miss that has it, just contaminates other. I seriously doubt NY/NJ will be over this anytime soon.
I have mixed feelings about all of this, but at least we will see how the other cities and states opening up will be affected.

I don't think there has ever been an event like this in my lifetime. I agree that a lot of places will close forever, and with big sea change events, even what does come back will be different. I'm retired and reasonably safe, but that could change if the economy craters for a greatly extended time. Friends of mine in the restaurant business are adapting as best they can. Two places I use regularly are remodeling to update their places for re-opening - whenever that may be. Some carry out places are going great, other places that were primarily eat in places are having a hard struggle adapting to a Doordash economy. Undoubtedly many of these places are at risk.

The tourist economy is going to be a challenge. In my area it is important, but we're not too much into big events that cost a lot. People come here because we're a rural area with some history, kind of low key. New York on the other hand is a big deal. Out of towners looking to visit may hold back after the re-opening on fears of a sudden new round of the virus causing another lock down. They may be reluctant to commit to show or other event tickets in a really big way. I think people are going to be naturally wary about crowds - except for the nutjobs that are trying to liberate 'hot spots.' I could not begin to guess how this will end, or if we'll even survive it.

Everything is 'wait and see,' - and it is maddening. I feel for you. I know you're pretty much on your own most of the time and your work is going to be limited for god knows how long. I really don't want to be picking with you - suffice to say we disagree on a lot, but just getting through this in one piece with our sanity matters more right now. Try to stay well, be safe.

[William Brownstein]

Actually Kevin I may be more in agreement with this one. Republicans seem to be taking the side of how exaggerated this is. That was my original thinking, because of the election coming up and one way to finally attack Trump. They seem like nut jobs demonstrating openly, while putting themselves and others at risk.

I'm seeing too many numbers reported of people getting it and very prominent musicians and entertainers passing away, which is frightening and scary, as well as sad, depressing and other feelings of skepticism, and even if we are being told the 100% truth to everything.

I discussed with someone perhaps the president knows more than what he is showing and keeping people calm. He will be critisied no matter what he does, but that's politics.

Same could be said about Governor Cuomo, but I think he has done a very good job here unlike Mayor DeBlasio. Both do not want to open New York soon, and I hate to admit this, but I tend to agree. It hurts me and others, but again, I can't see how Georgia is opening nonessential businesses over the next few days that include bowling alleys, movie theaters, hair salons and restaurants. Some of the owners despite being given the all clear will not open yet. One business owner said on the news, that she does not want to put her clients at risk. I think this is the right move.

Mark Levin and others on the Right are saying the deaths are lower in number than the overall amount of people that die from diseases and the accuracy of the reporting is off and not being counted in proper terms and other nonsense. I don't feel that way at all when I hear of famous people dying and the numbers of strangers dying in my state and NYC.

They think this will prolong until after the election to gain leverage. I thought the same, but I have mixed feelings and tend to favor the science being reported. This is no time to be political on either side, and unfortunately we are seeing that.

The argument from Conservatives is this is benefiting the Left. That's BS! I do tend to agree though that we are getting a taste of what some Democrats like to campaign on, which is giveaways such as benefits, and boy are we seeing that happen.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren wanted free healthcare, free tuition, loan forgiveness, higher minimum wages and other things that make the economy weaker by passing it on to the wealthy and business owners to carry the burden. I'm sorry, but I disagree with that view.

The tremendous impact on this crisis is the long term it will have on our nation, economy. It's like they are printing money nonstop right now, but unfortunately I had no choice and needed it to survive. Millions need it and the argument on the Right is to open the states up. Not so fast! If people die, it's something that should not happen, but how long can we keep surviving with no one working? Both are death sentences in retrospect. I tend to feel like you do with your comment.... "If we survive." While I'm no fan of Elizabeth Warren, it saddened me to hear of her older brother's death on Thursday. Here was one of the top contenders that possibly could have won the White House as the next President of the USA, and it hit her family. It's definitely not safe now.

Today the first four weeks of my Pandemic Relief Compensation was deposited into my bank account with back pay that came to 8 itemized payments since I've been out of work since Friday the 13th. I immediately paid two months of back rent and two months of cable. A new cable bill, which includes phone and Internet too, will be generated tomorrow. While the money helps, it goes by fast and is short term. 26 weeks with 50% of your based income is what is generated. Thank God for the additional benefit of an extra $600 weekly paid with your regular pay. But that is only until July 31st, even though they have extended your regular benefits from 26 weeks to an additional 13 weeks if necessary, for a total of 39 weeks. That being said, once the $600 stops, it will be too low to live on, so I guess the essentials are strictly what the focus should be on.

Food was delivered to me for 7 days on Tuesday, and while I'm grateful for the assistance, it is very little. It's only one meal a day, that is ideal mostly for dinner, but could apply for lunch. The meals are good, but the portions are small frozen food like you buy in supermarket, like Healthy Choice, Stouffers, Marie Callender's and so on. They give you 7 pints of milk, 7 small oranges, about the size of a tangerine, 7 slices of bread with 7 cups of small margarine, along with 7 small desserts to small fruit cups; cookie and cracker packages and pudding.

While the dinners are small, they are nutritious, healthier than the ones you buy in the store and each one in the microwave takes about 7 and a half minutes. You don't get breakfast or lunch.
I will definitely lose weight, but at least now I can buy additional food, that my benefits came in. They told me I can keep receiving the food if I want until I go back to work, or I can wait a few weeks and let them know if I want to stop the deliveries. I told them I appreciate that and will try and make a donation to their organization down the road.

The focus is trying to conserve my money and make it last. A half gallon of ice cream and some small inexpensive lunch items, as well as fruit and cereal will help, including bottled and fruit flavored sparkling water, which has replaced my long term soda habit. I basically gave up on soda recently. I stopped for about a year and then tried diet sodas, which I never liked, but suddenly tasted great after not having soda for a long time. While it has zero calories, the other ingredients are pretty bad too and I like the fruit flavor variety sparking water choices, which are good for you.

The amount of money deposited into my account today was big, but with rent due on the first and my Electric and Gas bill still unpaid, that will leave me with very little until the next amount deposited next week. The good thing is I will be caught up on bills, the bad part is the money will not last if I remain out of work more than about 4 or 5 months due to the ongoing crisis.

As for the food, I eat out a lot and eat very well. I usually average $40 to $50 for dinner. I tend to skip lunch and have one big meal a day, so I'm used to that, but with much bigger portions. Even the frozen dinners I buy (I don't cook) in the supermarkets have changed since I've been working in NYC. When I'm home I usually buy the family style dinners that serves up to 3 to 5 portions, and can eat it all at once. It's filling and satisfying and comparable to the portion sizes I have when I eat out. I also have delivery when I'm home from a great Chinese Restaurant and Italian Restaurant. I usually order a large pie and eat the entire pie. I have no problem doing that but do it only on occasion because of the high sugars. That's one time when soda is perfect with it. I probably will refrain from food delivery for now to save money and for safety, and instead buy some frozen dinners to keep on hand in case I'm very hungry or get a meal that I don't want to eat like pork. I eat a bit, but mostly stuff mixed in with Chinese Food such as egg rolls (I usually have the vegetable rolls) or Wonton Soup. Even the main courses I order, I ask them to make without pork such as Chicken Chow Mein, which has chopped up pork in it. One type of pork that I don't mind is Salami. I love that in an Italian Sub.

Anyway here I am at 2:45 in the morning talking about food and posting long like Ronny used to do. I think of people that were in this group in the past like him and others and wonder what became of them and how they're doing. Richie replied a few times about a year or two ago, but seemed to drop off. I wonder how Jerry is, Paul and so many others and hope they are all coping with this. It's extremely sad with us facing an uncertain future. The politics are things important to both of us, and I definitely don't want to battle and just respect each other with the philosophy that we can agree to disagree. In the past I rubbed it in your face in here and shouldn't have posted topics that were one sided that sounded like boasting. Twitter is full of that. I keep two accounts and really didn't touch my old account much for about a year until the Corona Virus surfaced. Recently I followed media and information sources as to keep me better informed during this enduring ordeal. Some politicians from both sides, and some local radio stations and hosts I listen to. I'm trying not to engage with too many people on that Twitter account, but mostly the music account, which makes me happy and has me bonding with people that share similar tastes in music I enjoy.
It is definitely more pleasant, peaceful and productive. The people attacking each other are nuts, and that goes for both sides. They are hurtful and have no regards for each other. If I comment on something now, I'll try and just make a general comment in a thread without signaling out anyone individually. If things interest me, I'll just retweet someone's comment or the article. That's about the extent of it now, but important to me, as I like to keep up with the news and stay informed.

I must say, I enjoy talking to you and have missed that. Our disagreements over the years have been on and off, but very explosive at times. It seems that applied to others such as Tyler (who seemed to disappear entirely), Phil, Trevor, Danny, Carol, Hermie, Ronny, Richie, Chad Knight (looked up his criminal sexual records registry site the other day) and so many others. The fights that were constant in these groups. Also Jerry was abused by many because of his politics after 9/11. We all battled here and now look at the world. We were all clashing even before Sept 11th and since then the world has become hateful with terrorism and people being mean spirited and insensitive to one another, thanks to the advancement of social media.

Our group was one of the first to make the transition from a Internet box that gave us connectivity before everyone had computers. Since then everyone is online now with either a computer or a phone, that has more memory and
than probably the rocket ships that got man to the moon. The world has changed rapidly to how we can instantly communicate with people to how we get our news, with a breaking story in
a matter of seconds. Even the diseases and epidemics have traveled faster with people rapidly going from country to country faster and with more advanced technology. With that comes the spread of these epidemics faster and to more places, basically leaving almost no one untouched.

The people are definitely different these days than the kinds of people I grew up with, when we seemed to live in a more slow paced and gentler time. Last night I was looking at Aaron Carter's Twitter account and he's a nut and attacking everyone from family to people he interacts with. That sweet innocent kid has had many contributing factors from a sister and father that died within the last few years, to a controlling show business mother he disowned, and to his famous Backstreet Boys brother, Nick Carter, who he clashes with publicly. Nick seems to be the normal one and Aaron seems lost with dangerous habits such as unprotected sex and drugs. It wouldn't surprise me if we hear of his death in the near future. The real sad thing is the people who are enticing him on his Twitter, making fun of him and being mean spirited, despite Arron putting his whole life on public display. I know what that's like. He has become a freak show. While it's certainly interesting, it's sad. That's the effects of what social media has become.

On the other hand there's always the other side and people that do good. Over the last two nights, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir reported a story about a Vet who like many others is short on food right now. You see the long lines every night with people in their cars lining up at food banks. This gentleman has young children and needed to feed his family. He spent hours lined up to get food, only to be told they ran out. He then got in a second line and after another long wait was told again, that they also ran out of food.

This was reported last night on the telecast with David Muir. Tonight they did a follow up, 24 hours later. A couple wanted to help that young family and donated $1,000 dollars. Another family also helped, and others followed as well.

Then there was the farmers dumping food and milk they had to get rid of because they couldn't move it. People came together and the food was donated to those in need. Volunteers transported it all over the country, and finally people wanted to give back to them with Go Fund Me Pages and even helping the farmers out by buying some of their food to in turn help them out too.

In times of crisis, people come together and help one another out, as should be. It shouldn't take a disaster for people to be kind or help others. It does unfortunately.

Even the cities are cleaner now with very few cars on the road, with people staying at home. Whether you believe or not in Climate Change or Global Warming, the photos from various cities around the world more visible without smog and cleaner.

People say some things take on a bigger meaning and are meant to be for a reason. The positives in all of this. You don't hear of terrorism or mass shootings now and people seem to be kinder (but that's debatable on the Internet). We are seeing fundraisers and even living rooms of celebrities and how they normally appear without the makeup and wardrobes. It makes them more human, yet is this really the way you want to see them, instead of the glamorous side we are accustomed to seeing them as. It just shows we are all alike no matter who we are.

The impact from all this will linger on for a long time, but the recovery process should be productive while keeping people safe. At the same time keeping others from working will once again split this country as do our political leaders. We already are beginning to see an uprising. There are no winners here. The backfire of the virus reemerging again is risky, while the prospect of people losing their livelihood and everything they worked so hard for, only to be wiped out by this will shatter people's lives.

It is sad and almost hopeless from my view.

I think I said almost everything I've been feeling and questioning by me, while being isolated by myself for over a month, venturing outside only a few times for groceries and laundry. It's good to put it out there and have this conversation with you. 3:58AM as I conclude my thoughts. Have a good weekend and stay safe Kevin and others reading this.