Another Pandemic Birthday

Last year I wrote about celebrating my birthday during a pandemic.  A year later it’s the same story.  I got another ice cream cake from Dairy Queen like last year, but at least now I can occasionally enjoy sitting on a patio with friends. 

I took my birthday week off as vacation from work.  In terms of employment I am much better off than many of the people I know.  I’ve been working full time remotely, so I haven’t had any interruption to my income.  Due to business needs during the pandemic I have had to switch departments a couple of times, which has proved enjoyable.  Never-the-less lately I’ve felt myself hitting a wall where I just didn’t have any energy left.  Work was becoming tedious and I just needed a break.  So, I took one.

It is one of the more low-key vacations I have ever had.  It mostly consisted of lying in a hammock and binge watching every episode of The Mandalorian. 

For my birthday, as is tradition I purchased an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.  Now that I am decidedly in my mid-30s I didn’t each very much of it, and I long for the day when the gyms open up and I can work off some of the weight I’ve put on by stress eating during the past year and a half. 

I also look forward to finally getting a haircut.  Before the pandemic started, I was trying to grow out my hair to have long hair at least once before it goes grey or bald, and now it is longer than it has ever been in my life.

There are more signs of life in London. Not only are patio’s open but London Major’s baseball is starting up for an abbreviated season.  If all goes well, I will get to attend on Friday.

I don’t know if life and travel will ever return to normal, but for now I just hope I won’t be writing a similar post one year from now.

Jordan without a haircut during the pandemic

Sheldon Collins – Tough Kid in “Star Trek : A Piece of the Action”

After starting this hobby of contacting actors from the original Star Trek series, I have focused mostly on the people who are older.  For that reason, I haven’t attempted to contact very many of the child actors who worked on the show, who are now in their late 60s. 

The first one I attempted was Sheldon Collins.

The now Dr. Sheldon Gollomb worked as a child actor in the mid to late 1960s, appearing in various shows like the soap opera Guiding Light, sit coms like “I Dream of Jeannie” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and the sci-fi series “Time Tunnel”.  His most prominent role was a recurring performance as Arnold Bailey, a local boy from Mayberry, in “The Andy Griffith Show”.

He was reportedly a fan of Star Trek when he was cast in the Season Two episode “A Piece of the Action”.  This is one of the silly episodes of Star Trek, but its one of the better ones.  Captain Kirk and crew visit a planet that was last visited by the federation a century ago.  In the previous visit the landing party left behind a book on Chicago gangsters of the 1930s, and the planet whose population are strong emulators reinvented their society around gangland Chicago with districts controlled by Al Capone style mobsters surrounded by gun molls and henchmen with machine guns.  

At one point in the show Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock need a distraction and a local boy, played by Sheldon, offers to provide this in exchange for cutting him on the score…or getting “a piece of the action”. 

This was his only appearance on Star Trek and following a guest appearance on a 1972 television show he completely retired from acting at the age of 17. 

He studied biology at California State University earning a Bachelors Degree, and his interest in biology and physiology let him to study dentistry, earning a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Iowa.

Now age 66 Dr. Golomb works as a dentist in Colorado.  An interview in 1995 explains that Dr. Golomb aged out of child acting roles and grew disillusioned watching his peers burn out and become bitter.  His academic success proved the route into a new career.  The same interview describes Dr. Golomb’s office as displaying autographed photos from various co-stars from his acting days.   

The website for his dental office makes no secret of Dr. Golomb’s past in the entertainment industry, and even says he is still a big fan of Star Trek.

I have no idea the volume of mail he receives from nostalgic television watchers.  I mailed this autograph request to his office in June, and received them back in March, although its likely the COVID-19 Pandemic slowed down non-essential correspondence from a medical practitioner. 

Dr. Golomb moved on from Star Trek and acting, and by all accounts has been very successful, and I hope he wasn’t upset by the intrusion of my letter to his dental office.  Hopefully it was a reminder that his work from many years ago is still enjoyed. 

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Pandemic fatigue

I could have sworn that I did my most recent post in December, but when I looked at the blog today, I discovered I haven’t uploaded any content since September.  I am finding that the days blend into each other more and more and I lose track of how much time has passed.  I’ve been working at home for months, so unless I am getting groceries, I never leave the house.

There appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  The COVID-19 vaccines are rolling out.  My friend who works as a PSW in a nursing home tells me she is scheduled to get her first dose next week. 

Never-the-less people are getting stir crazy and are generally unwilling to voluntarily stay home any longer. My friend who lives in a Toronto grey zone, came to London Ontario in order to be in the slightly less restrictive red zone for the Christmas holidays.

She certainly wasn’t the only one, and Ontario has declared that as of Boxing Day the entire province is on grey-zone lockdown for the next two weeks to prevent the pandemic from overwhelming our health care system. 

The autograph collecting hobby has been a nice excuse to take a walk around the block at lunch to check the mailbox, but I miss gathering with people.  I had no idea how extroverted I was until I was stuck in a basement. 

Hopefully life returns to normal someday.  Until then stay safe everyone.