xaxas

For whatever reason the Ranch was causing me stress.  Most of the cause was, I think, mine.  But there are some elements there that constantly grate at me and ultimately I sent the email this morning saying I'm backing away.   For personal reasons.  The owner said thanks and prayers and such.  So it is done.

I recently offered to assist in our community's tech support committee.  They are an advisory group that is supposed to help make recommendations to the tech in the area.  After a month they had one meeting.  Two people of the five showed up.  The guy that is on the board and who sent out invites to the committee membership asked if I'd be what turned out to be chair.  He wisely didn't call it that but I agreed.  And then I reached out to the paid facilities guy to connect with him.  He said he was going camping and did not offer a different time, clearly just as happy to not have a volunteer in his face.  So as 'chairman' I called a meeting.  No one signed up but the one other guy that was at the first meeting.

The community needs to have a tech support company come in and run their tech but they don't know what they want, how deep they want the vendor to go, how much they want to pay them, what response times, nothing.  They have not done any thinking about it at all.  

So I just wrote the board member and said if no one else is going to join me I'm out.  I'll see later today how that goes.  I know exactly what needs to be done and how to do it.  Stephen Stills recently was asked if he was going to retire.  He said, hell no, retirement just means people want you to start doing things for free that you used to get paid to do.

Right on, Stephen.

Meahwhile I did apply to help with our local animal shelter.  It is MUCH closer and even though it also has cats it is a nice, well run, place.  So I might get involved with them but now will keep my finger ont he eject button.

Got up and suddenly felt everything spin around, faint, nausea etc. All morning. Always had low blood pressure, but this is insistent and often. Is it the blasted Letrozole?

Letrozole's reputation is for sending blood pressure up so if low blood pressure is an issue, this drug might actually help. I had so much difficulty with it in the beginning they were up for experimenting with other hormone suppressants, but as the drugs are all in the same chemical family it seems unlikely that matters would improve. Tamoxifan has its own spicy rep.

Still, these symptoms are weird AF, am very tempted not to take this stuff at all. Supposed to keep this up for 3 years, then if necessary 5, then up to 10. But it's not great, feeling so muggy headed and exhausted all the time. Am I up for a decade of this? What would happen if I stopped?

Docs go Noooooo! Don't do it! But eh, this feels so very uncomfortable.

There was The Last of Us; beginning with the computer game, where a particular event turned players right off. If that particular event is repeated in a TV setting, who wouldn't expect viewers to react the same way players did? Bad storytelling when it happened first time, bad storytelling now. I am amazed at content creators blaming 'audience toxicity,' but then I guess folk must cover their bums. The question remains though, if you believe in the malignity of your audience, how the hell can you connect to them, more, why would you want to?

Meanwhile there was 1883. This was great. Not perfect, but sufficient in itself, poetic, heartbreaking, raw. Does it make me want to watch 1923 or Yellowstone? I don't know, I'm not quite ready to leave feral Elsa and the empty seeming land.

It reminded me to my trip to the West Coast back in the 80s. That was a strange dusty year in the city of angels. Decades later I could probably handle LA but for then I ran away, unimpressed by Hollywood and Rodeo Drive, on to San Francisco, to San Diego, out to Arizona and Monument Valley, eventually finding my best place in Yosemite, which brought me so much happiness I spent most of my holiday there. The very first beastie I saw was a bear, and much later strolling along the trails, I walked parallel to a mountain lion carrying a bird in its mouth. This was one place I couldn't wear perfume because all I wanted to smell was the warmth of land and trees, I loved it so much I never wanted to leave. But in 2015 when R suggested we get married there I demurred, practical reason being because it felt odd to ask friends to spend so much on our wedding, but also because I was afraid Yosemite might have changed beyond my memories.

One thing I learned long ago about stories is that they should make sense alone, but it's often their way to sprawl out, to spiral into connection. Would I love Grand Teton or Yellowstone as much as Yosemite? How would it feel to redress my one regret about California and go spend time in Joshua Tree? Would I find myself facing that sense once again, that there is so much more, further up or in or down, more and more to be found across this strange continent? And then the travellers voice warns me that yes, all this is true, but it applies to everywhere. Wherever I go I'll find more. Stop falling in love it laughs at me.

I am no Elsa Dutton, but I feel for her, and her story brings me a never known, half glimpsed landscape. I'm glad I stayed with her to the end. That's the power of great storytelling.

I just got a note from Erica that the pool's issue which was a thermostat, is now a boiler. Very sad trombone.

No telling how long that's going to take. And, so, it means I'm going to have to do something else physical in the meantime. And, apparently, knitting does not count.

I just reviewed all the classes they have and they have a lot and none, not one, appeals.

So I think it's going to be the machines down in the gym. They have treadmills and elliptical and bikes. I need to get my ass over there and do one of those for some minutes every day. I should start today. But I probably won't.

I'm not enjoying my time at the Ranch anymore.  It's not the dogs (of course), it is the management and it is not so much their fault but more mine.  I don't like not having an input but being told to do it this way now or do it that way now when both changes make my job less enjoyable and contribute neither to safety nor efficiency.  If I were getting paid I'd either fix it or live with it but I'm creating my own conflict and I don't need to do that and I've been unsuccessful stopping.  I end up leaving every time I go there in a state of annoyance.  At myself as much as anything, I guess.

So I've written an email to the woman who owns the place (there is not, far as I can tell, a volunteer coordinator, which says something) saying that for personal reasons I need to step back for a couple of months hoping to return later.  Very vague.  And I don't have to explain personal reasons.  And I don't want to fix the place or own the place.  It would be nice to have someone ask my opinion but that has not happened once in two and a half years so no reason to think it might now.

I wrote the email and saved it in draft.

But I think I'm going to send it.  Back away.

I hate being away from the dogs but dealing with the people is just not working right now and it is screwing with my internal calm, exactly the opposite of what I want from going there.

Like I say, it is mostly my fault.  My personality.

Maybe after a couple of months I'll feel differently.

I checked my alarm a million times. It's been more than a week since I had to get up at 5:30 for volleyball and I did not want to miss it. So I woke up at 4, 4:30, 5 and 5:30 and the alarm did actually go off. I fed the cats and hopped into my suit and went to the pool. Where I found Steve sitting in a chair on the deck and no one else around.

"Waiting for me?" "Waiting for you to find out if you want to play in the cold water." So the pool was supposed to be fixed yesterday and warm today. We don't know about the former but the latter definitely did not happen. Steve and I agreed that playing the cold just was not fun and we called it. We put a sign on the door and split.

I set Alexa to close the blinds at 1 am so that the morning sun will not scream at me first thing. Alexa got the shades all lowered and I think it pissed off the sun. No sign of sun. It's a drizzly day.

Biggie has decided he does not like any pill pockets any more but he's fine with my just tossing the pills down his throat so ok.

The Phillies play two games today! The first one starts at 10. Excellent.

I had this giant decorative plate that I picked up at Goodwill years ago. It just appealed to me. When I moved in here, Christian picked a great spot for it. Except. Julio also picked that spot to climb, sit, crawl on so for a year and a half now, I've been waiting for the crash. It finally happened last night. Scare the bejesus out of Julio. I replaced it with a nice tall basket. And now there's no more waiting.

I forgot to attend my last HOA meeting on Tuesday. Oh well. The end. Tomorrow.

Time to hop in the shower and get this day really going.

In a Mood—chiefly because of the weather, which is all opaque white sky & rising ground mists. Since I know The Mood is entirely due to the weather, it seems to me I should be able to control it, force myself into a better mood, and the fact that I can't contributes to my general sense of failure: Like if I were a Real Human Girl, I would have planned better! I wouldn't be in this place I so clearly don't want to be.

Yesterday was filled with small frustrations. The propane tank ran out, & the wrench I've used before to change it didn't seem to want to fit over the joint—initiating a testy email exchange with Icky. At the gym, the spinning bikes were all occupied, so I didn't get to do a complete workout. Mabel has this enormous mat on her back near her tail, which she won't let me loosen with detangler & brush out even after I try calmly to explain to her that it will be a lot more traumatic if I have to take her to the vet to get it shaved off.

None of these things would bother me if it were sunny out.

###

RTT has been logging on to his father's FB account, which is weird because I see Ben's name popping up on the list of People Now Online, & I think, Wait! Aren't you dead? And haven't you been dead for—what? Six years now?

This inspired me to look back at some of the many, many Messenger chats I'd had with Ben, preserved for all eternity in Facebook amber.

We messaged each other often between 2009 and 2019. I'd forgotten all about that. And I suppose if I really wanted to go all archeological, I could exhume all our texts—I have the same phone account now that I had back then.

###

In 2010, I wrote him this letter:

Afterwards I turned on the radio. And you know what was playing? The end of Prekoviev’s Romeo and Juliet. That strange effect with the bassoon breaking through the violins that’s exactly like the sun rising after a night where you imagine everything’s changed but really nothing’s changed because there’s the plow horse, there’s the torturer’s dog and for them it’s just another day above ground.

I used to snoop around quite a bit when we were together. I never found out anything much. Once I ran across a letter you’d written to Shari. I will always love you, you’d written. Nothing’s changed for me. Words to that effect only much better written. It was a very romantic letter. That hurt. Not because you loved her – did you use the word "still?" I don’t remember. But because I didn’t know you loved her.

Another time I found an email you’d written to a friend describing an imaginary day we’d spent at the Skywalker Ranch. (Did you have a long conversation with George Lucas about cigars? I can’t remember now. Maybe I’m embellishing.) That one made me laugh. That one was more your garden variety confabulation, akin to your career as a keyboard player for Flipper.

It was Lucius who first used the word. “Ben,” he chuckled and shook his head. “That guy is just the King of Opaque.”

You remember different things than I remember. You remember me sinking into despair. Calling Cynsa. Calling Andrew. What should I do? She wants to kill herself. But that was after Reno, wasn’t it?

I remember driving to Reno. Your storyline unraveled bit by bit and each change in the script did things to my heart I didn’t know could be done. The cliché turns out to be the best description after all. Your heart literally sinks. The elevator stops and you get out. “Welcome to hell!” says the greeter.

I didn’t understand it. You were supposed to be my redemption. I was supposed to be yours.

And it kept happening.

It kept happening.

Kept happening.

Here’s the thing: you probably did me the biggest favor anyone’s ever done for me in my life to leave me. Because I was the man with my arm in the bear trap. The only way I was going to survive was by cutting off my arm. But I couldn’t. It was a part of me. I was miserable but I couldn’t cut off a part of me. So you did it for me. Surviving’s easier than being miserable. It’s hard to be that miserable.

I’ll never forget how you followed me into my labor with Robin. I don’t know what it was like for you really, I suppose, but for me it was like you were walking right there beside me listening to the wolves howling on the dark side of the moon.

But I could never trust you.

I couldn’t trust you because I knew you’d shaft me given the slightest opportunity. At first you’d shaft me just because you could, I suppose – the Reno thing with the stolen license, the novel contract you never bothered to pursue, that whole web of deception around the Time Warner remuneration.

Was it then that I became such a bitch? I suppose it was – our survival was at stake and that pronoun “our” included two dependent children. Once I became a bitch, there was a reason to lie to me, I suppose. I was such a soul-sucking bitch, wasn’t I? I probably deserved it.

Thing is, I still feel with the arm that’s been hacked off. I still hear your voice in my head. It stopped for a while. But it’s back now. Though I suppose you’ve found your next redemption. My guess is that you’ll marry The Girlfriend in another month or two, when the divorce comes through. What jolly trips the two of you will make in the Girlfriend-mobile – whoops! I mean the Spouse-mobile. And she’ll pay for you to get your teeth fixed too because otherwise how’s she gonna introduce you to all her family and friends?

You have some serious fence mending to do with Robin.

###

Whoa! I thought upon reading this letter. You wrote so good back then, girlfriend!

And that was really my only reaction.

I don't love Ben or his memory anymore, and the 17 years we spent together are actually an embarrassment. Like: What were you thinking? How damaged were you?

Which means, I suppose, I'm considerably less damaged now.

And that's a good thing.

Important Hummingbird Cottage updates! First, I am sad to report that the geese after all decided not to nest on the pond, presumably flying off in search of a larger pool. However, the pond is still frequently visited by ducks and geese, and also a red hawk which swooped across the pond and snatched something small and dark from the rocks. You go, red-shouldered hawk! Keep the small rodent population in check!

The flowers have begun to blossom. Velvety purple irises, blue-violet columbines, yellow roses, lovely gold-pink roses like a sunrise, these last outside the window of the downstairs bedroom, which at last forced me to remove the mattress blocking the window -

I have not yet told the story of the mattress. So. At a mattress fundraiser for my old high school, I bought a queen size mattress on clearance, only to discover upon delivery that my bed frame was, in fact, a full. This ended with the mattress leaning against the window for a month, until the roses forced my hand, and I took apart the old bedframe and lowered the new mattress to the floor, where it will reside till I get an appropriately sized bedframe.

(Hilariously, a week after my mattress misadventure, my former roommate bought a new mattress for a bedframe that was surely a full. But NO. That bedframe was in fact a queen.

One would like this to end with the trading of the bed frames, but Julie understandably wished to keep the charming wooden sleigh bed and therefore cut it down to size.)

The weeds are getting away from me, in particular the lemon balm (a variety of mint that is spreading all along the shady north side of the house). However, yesterday evening I did get rosemary and chives from the farmer’s market, which I planted, having cleverly come out through the garage in order to keep Bramble inside… only to look up from planting the rosemary at the sound of a happy meow. Bramble trotted past, intent on exploring the neighbor’s patio, which I must admit I’ve also been curious about, so I followed him nothing loath.

The Hummingbird Cottage is half of a duplex - all the houses in this condominium development are, except the ones that are fourplexes - but I’ve never seen the neighbors in the other half of my duplex. Nor have I heard any noise from their half of the house, seen their car, or seen a trash can pulled to the curb by their driveway.

Through the patio door as I chased Bramble (happily hiding under an overgrown bush), I saw a dining room set with a jacket draped over a chair, so someone must live there at least occasionally? A mystery.

Bramble eventually scampered down to the pond, and then apparently decided he’d had enough, as he docilely allowed me to pick him up and deposit him inside. Possibly all that water was a little alarming. I finished planting the rosemary and chives and contemplated the best place for a cherry tomato plant, but as I have not yet acquired said plant, that is a problem for another day.

Also, I found the perfect little wicker cart for my houseplants! Admittedly there is currently only one houseplant, but now that I have a home for more they will surely come into my life. The cart is currently a somewhat battered yellow and needs a wash and a coat of white spray paint, but it was only twenty dollars at the secondhand shop, and anyway how often do you see a charming wheeled wicker cart for sale anywhere?

Monday, Memorial Day.

We didn't do anything to celebrate, except try to relax. Which is hard right now because Jameson starts his new Disney Producer job tomorrow!! I am so excited for him!!

He still had work to do, so while he did that I drove alllll the way out to Sprouts and Whole Paycheck. Now that Epic is open going to those grocery stores before or after work is out of the question. Got misc favorite things like Koia shakes and Mezcla bars and tofu bites, and a few low-cal sodas for Jameson, and some bulk candy for my Snack Pod. And ingredients for dinner tonight. I also recycled my old bricked iPad at Walmart using a weird ATM in the Money Services area. It prints a QR code for your device, then you drop it in a little drawer that looks like a scanner.

Dinner was gonna be unauthentic pork satay skewers with peanut sauce, so after lunch I got to work making the marinade for the pork. Practiced trombone, rested, threaded the pork onto skewers and Jameson grilled them up while I made the sauce on the stove along with coconut rice and peas. The pork was great, tender and flavorful, but the sauce was bland. Next time I'd like to try a different sauce recipe.

We watched LEGO Masters, I worked on Foodie Finds and planned what to do while Jameson's gone tomorrow.

I washed and refilled Snack Pod! This week's treats are chocolate mint cookie bites from Sprouts, Runts knock-off candies from Sprouts, Gushers, plain M&M's, Cheerios, and dry roasted edamame.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday we were both up early, excited for Jameson's first day at work.
After he left all I could do was cross my fingers for him. I'm sure he'll have a great first day!

While Jameson was gone I went out for bagels and groceries, picked up a shirt from the tailor, and sneakily snuck over to Disney's Property Control to shop :D I'd asked Jameson if he wanted to go and he seemed disinterested so figured this was a good time to check it out alone. Property Control is where castmembers can shop overstocked park merch at a discounted rate. It's not just the stuff found in gift shops...it also includes overstocked FOOD, dishes, uniforms, and setpieces! This time I didn't find anything that I could use, but it is always fun to look.

Back home I cooked some leftover turkey to get rid of it, packed my Epic meals, ate lunch, swept the garage, filed down my bass mute corks some more, and practiced bass and tenor trombone. I'm really dreading this upcoming Chicago tribute band gig, but too late to get out of it now.

In the afternoon I got an invite to join the Beauty and the Beast tour WhatsApp group. Joined, and then used the opportunity to message management about allowing my Foodie Finds invite to be distributed. I sent screenshots and a link to the Google Doc for the first city of tour. Not sure if they'll approve it, but I think it doesn't hurt to ask.

Halfway through the day Jameson messaged to share photos of his new office.
On the desk you can see cookies. His boss made them!

Alexa, set the door at 50. And Alexa lowers the shade halfway. Perfection.

The installer guy ignored my instructions and showed up at my door at 11:20. BUT he turned out to be very nice and very efficient. And the shades are perfect. Plenty dark enough for what I want. When the window and the door are down, the TV picture is much better. And I'll have my table back for coffee in the morning.

The actual shades are great but the key for me is the software which is actually shockingly good. I paid for top of the line automated shades in the condo. To say their automation hardware and software was built by monkeys is an insult to monkeys everywhere.

But, this hub jumped to attention when paired and the app is lovely. Just what you need and no unneeded frills. Alexa linked right up.

I got all the automation going very easily. And the installer, who kind of probably maybe could have cobbled together the solution but started out wanting to get his hands on my modem. Er, ah, no modem and it's not needed. So I just did it.

At one point he said we needed a long USB cable or an extension, did I have one? I swear I heard my brother snort in Texas. Turns out one weirdness is that the shades need USB mini to USB A (but this is for charging only which apparently is not needed often). The hub wants a USB C to USB A. But, no big deal I have a house full of both of them.

He was done and gone by 12:45.

All is fine and good.

The notices they sent me said the installer would be here at 8. There were several different emails and texts. On close examination ONE of them said to expect him between 8 and 10. So at 10, I texted him and asked him if he planned to install my blinds today.

At 10:30, he texted back saying he was 30 minutes out. I texted him directions on where to park. It's now 10:58. Crickets so far. Under impressive.

BUT while I was waiting, I made the cuke and melon salad. And it's delightful. I used cantaloupe. I bought cubed cantaloupe and little Persian cukes and a red onion. I chopped equal amounts of cantaloupe and cukes into cute little squares (using my box chopper) and then sliced the red onion very thinly and added that.

Then I moved a portion of it over to a smaller bowl for testing. I added pistachios and a light dusting of coriander powder and enough store bought balsamic dressing to wet everything and mixed.

Delish!! Bright and juicy and chewy and just excellent. I'm now storing the cuke/melon/onion mixture without the nuts or dressing. I may try a portion with nuts and dressing and store it to see how that works. BUT it is definitely my new fav.

11:05 and nary a peep.

As my alarm want off this morning and I was thinking about pickleball the lightening storm hit.  Rain for about an hour and the courts are wet until 11, so no PB today.  As soon as the sun came out the temp soared.  It says that it feels like 83 out but I took Zoe and Toby for a walk and we agreed it felt a lot worse.

So, an A/C day. 

Dana is going to a luch with her buddies and I'm driving her.  Nothing else I'm doing of import for it is fine.  I'm glad she's getting out.  She is making progress and is at the 'it doesn't hurt as much be shouldn't I be doing better?' phase.  No.  Not only did you replace a joint a month ago you broke a bone and had an infection.  Your hip might hurt a bit for a while.  Say, six or eight months.  Get used to it.  She got the message.  I'll be repeating it every couple of weeks for a year.

My transition from USAA to SoFi is moving along.  I got paid today from my pension and wrote another check to deposit.  I don't want the accounts connected and am not really wanting to transfer anything to or from USAA.  Fortunately I have old USAA checks and it is easy to write one and upload it to SoFi.  In the midst of doing that I realized that I need SoFi checks.  About two times a year someone wants a check for some reason or another.  I looked on the SoFi app and, sure enough, it has a check order.  I clicked the button and 25 checks are on their way.  Should do me for years.  No cost.  I respect the low number of checks (you can order more in a day if you want) and love the zero cost.  Meanwhile I've got everything  but Social Security and Oil income moved over so I'm feeling good about it.

I had a stupid idea to help out with the technology committee in our community.  It is volunteer so I can easily drop it whenever I want but since I'm retired they put me in charge.  The first thing they want to do is get outside help fixing the tech stuff.  I gather so far they have just piecemealed the work and depended on one off jobs to do things and volunteer labor to do the rest.

So they said "we need to get bids to get someone from the outside to do the tech".  And they said the paid maintenance guy would ask for bids.  I sent him a note asking what he was going to bid out, scope, SLA, ballpark cost, etc.  He kind of said 'that's what you guys are supposed to figure out'.  Meaning he had intended to approach some tech companies and say 'hey, how much to fix our tech?' without any definition or idea what the hell we were asking them to do.  And this is the company that is managing the entire development.

So, being as how I'm in charge, I called a meeting.  Got to have a meeting, right?  So far one of five has responded and he did not read the subject line.

This might take a while.



 

Karina Ahmed's parents have gone to Bangladesh for a month to visit family, leaving her with her grandmother, her younger brother, and the class "bad boy" (he wears a leather jacket) she's supposed to be tutoring in English, if he ever shows up.

In this, I think Bhuiyan wrote the book she needed—a dutiful brown girl finds a rich white Tumblr-therapy speaking boyfriend and the courage to defy her parents—and I hope it finds the readers who need it. The story is moving and the romance is sweet, though the prose often reads as unpracticed and the romance eventually devolves into saccharine cliches with Ace (his name is Ace) saying things like "you've stolen my heart" and "you're the brightest star here" which dulls its originality and makes Ace the most supportive, considerate, loving, patient, woke, rich white teenage boy in all of New York City, which was a bit hard to swallow. It's 100% wish fulfillment and I'm 100% cool with that, but it made Ace and the actual dating the least satisfying part of this for me. Instead, I was most interested in Karina's struggle to figure out what she wanted from her life and whether or not she could stand up to her parents and ask for it. The family dynamics are well drawn and I was invested in Karina and her relationship with her parents, her brother, her grandma, and her many, many cousins.

Features:

• a Muslim Bangladeshi-American teenager
• teenage poetry
• fake dating
• a kick-ass Dadu (grandma)
• the unconditional love of two OTT best friends
• depictions of anxiety
• controlling parents

The sun is coming into my living room with a vengeance this morning. I'm beginning to worry that the blinds I ordered aren't going to be enough to fight it. But... too late now... I hope.

I just got a Do Not Reply text saying they are looking forward to our 8 am appointment - obviously bot. It's now 7:15. I am and ready.

After blinds, I need to hop over to Petco or PetSmart whichever it is there next to Trader Joe's. I need some salmon pill pockets. Biggie takes two pills every morning. The big one is easy but the little one is a bitch to get down his throat. He was all for the catnip pill pockets originally then no. But, sure, those chicken ones are ok. I am running out and just got more than now he's all NFW on the chicken. So we'll try salmon.

And that's about it for plans for the day.

I did have someone (online) ask about how I attach the hair to my dolls so I plan to picture that up into a PDF. I was thinking about gathering all my tips and tricks into a doc and I might or not. It's always a lot more difficult than it seems. I so admire a good pattern creator.

The Wall Street Journal has an absolutely fantastic article on AI movie-making this morning (which I think I am offering to you unlocked!)

Apparently, on VEO & Runway, you can get AI to model video characters after real-life people if you subscribe at the very highest tier ($200 a month.) As someone whose disposable income is prone to disappearing acts, I have been experimenting with the lower subscription tiers that don't offer all the features, so I always assumed there was a blanket prohibition against using real-life people. As a safeguard against Deep Fakes & revenge porn!

I am very tempted to splurge for a single month, though, to see what I might be able to create!

Maybe I should have a long talk with the cats: Do you really need to eat? And what's up with all those catnip toys? They always end up under the sofa!

###

Meanwhile, the sky is rapidly darkening even as I type, and a quick look at the weather forecast affirms we are in for five fuckin' days of rain! So! Do I kill myself now, or do I subject all 4.3 of my faithful readers to five days of angsty rants before I step in front of that speeding bus?

Also, the New Paltz Community Garden finally offered me a space! After I'd already started gardening again at the Hyde Park Community Garden.

I drove to New Paltz to check the garden out. It is really spectacular: five acres, 150 plots, right along the Wallkill River, which floods the garden regularly, providing the garden with that ultra-rich river silt. The whole garden is surrounded by an electric deer fence & an obliging hawk keeps the vole population in check:



There are something like 200 gardeners, a real community. So, I thought, Okay! If you really want to connect with other humans in the real-life here & now, this is your chance! New Paltz reminds me so much of Berkeley circa the 1980s, I figure it's gotta be teeming with sympatico souls.

The extremely nice Plot Coordinator showed me around. The full plots are huge, 20' x 10', and the three he showed me were completely overgrown with (ugh!) deep-rooted nettles that would take me a solid week of hard labor to clear out. So, I settled for a half-plot:



This one, I estimate, will take me three days to clear out. That's doable.

Because of the driving distance involved, I'd already set up the Hyde Park garden to be as labor-free as possible. Planted tomatoes & chili peppers inside a marigold border. Piled on lawn-mowings over the plot to reign in moisture & keep down weed growth. Self-sustaining was my goal!

This garden I'll use for veggies that require a bit more nurturing. Basil! (Gotta guard against premature bolting & aphid infestations!) Cucumbers! (There's a weird kind of fungus that always seems to attack mine.) Flowers! (I ❤️LUV❤️ bouquets in the Patrizia-torium, so consider flowers an essential crop.)

It'll be a summer of hard physical work.

Assuming it ever stops raining.

Apart from all these mundane happenstances of a small existence, I have this sense that things are changing very fast. Planetary collapse? Nuclear annihilation? Dunno. But something.

I can't do anything about what might be going to happen.

So, the feeling is unsettling.

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

Rebecca Romney’s Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, in which Romney tracks down many of the books Jane Austen admired (often as ebooks, which I must admit takes much of the romance out of the rare book hunt) and discovers many lost gems of literary excellence. (And also Hannah More, whom she did not take to.) An engrossing read.

D. E. Stevenson’s Mrs. Tim Gets a Job. Like all of D. E. Stevenson’s novels, this is cozy like sitting curled up in an armchair by the fire with a cup of cocoa while a thunderstorm beats against the window in the night. It’s not that she’s writing in a world where bad things don’t happen, or even where bad things don’t happen to our heroes, but by the end of the book it will all turn out right.

Amerika: Russian Writers View the United States, edited by Mikail Iossel and Jeff Parker. An essay collection published not long after 9/11, although only a few of the essays actually touch on that event. Many of them include potshots at American political correctness (hard to embrace the concept if you come from the country where you could literally be sent to a gulag for “political incorrectness”), as well as lists of American books the authors read at a formative age.

I thank my lucky stars that I didn’t read this before Honeytrap, as the book might have been delayed indefinitely while I tried to work my way through the works of Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, as well as some other authors I’ve never even heard of. With truth the author of this essay notes “the average Soviet person probably knew [American science fiction] better than the average American.”

What I’m Reading Now

Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. Sadly suspicious that none of these characters are ever going to make it to the lighthouse.

What I Plan to Read Next

Does my lightning zoom through Jane Austen’s Bookshelf mean that I will at last read an eighteenth century novel? MAYBE. The library boasts Fanny Burney’s Evelina, Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Romance of the Forest, Charlotte Lennox’s The Female Quixote, and Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda. Any recommendations among those works?

In the end I bought 50, because aphids have overtaken both sides of the garden. Followed the instructions, though the advice about using a pencil to place them on the infected plants is just nonsense. They determinedly ignored the pencil in favour of my fingers, hands, arms. One gave me the teeniest bite so I found it a big plant stuffed with snacks to make up for it being slightly freaked.

Today, no ladybirds. No aphids either.

It's uncanny, positively eerie in fact. The ladybirds will have flown off but maybe they'll stay in the general vicinity, cos I inevitably have merry legions of thrips for them to pursue later in the year, not to mention returning aphid armies determined to avenge their fallen comrades. Apparently though, mine has not been the most efficient approach; voracious as ladybirds are, their larvae leave them far behind in terms of appetite, plus they cannot fly away yet. Next time maybe I'll get some larvae. But ladybirds are so much prettier!

I may consider a ladybird house to help them over winter.

Phoned mum last night. She said she could not text/reply to messages over the past three days because she has been very tired, but I could hear the sore throat in her voice and asked her about it. She will not take a covid test, will not get vaccinated, and has no idea how she can possibly have a cold because she follows all the advice she finds on Youtube about how to avoid such things, and she never shares space with people if she can help it. Nonetheless, I hope I have convinced her into monitoring the situation carefully, not just telling herself she is better. This is the first time I have ever used the phrase 'you are of an age' to her. She was able to hear that without any emotional difficulty because she used to nurse people 'of an age,' and however she may discredit covid, remembers well the power of pneumonia. She asks me if I remember her ever having a cold when we were at home and the truth is I don't. She says her throat feels hot, and it feels like there is something in it when she swallows or speaks.

The easiest way I can monitor this is to speak to her every day. This is difficult for two reasons; eventually she cannot hear me, on account of the 'hooligan' who does strange things to her phone. Also, she insists on having no electricity in her home so relies on batteries, which magically run out of power very quickly. Getting these recharged entails her going to the shop. I am very worried about her facing difficulty and not being able to phone for help. It uses up less power if we text but then I can't gauge her voice. In any case - I have only realised this just now - my mother will never enter a hospital willingly.

Maybe it's just a cold. I must speak to my brother about all this.

[Edited to add a reminder of the glorious sunset last night. No photos, cos cameras almost never catch the feeling.]

Biggie and Julio Take Over The Bed



The house is clean. The freezer has ice cream.

I got confirmation back from everyone with NO more phone calls!! The closing is confirmed. The money will be whisked off to my investment account on Friday. The monthly payment of my Timber Ridge bill will start in June. What a wonderful thing that is.

There are bits left but mostly they mean money to me. Seattle City light is the weirdest. I've been a customer in good standing with them for more than 30 years. I've never had a bill more than $100. My current bill is paid in full - all $20 of it. There are 5 days outstanding so... maybe $5. And yet, I had to pay them $250 at closing. WTF??? They will, as explained to me, send it all back to me after they take out their $5.

Clothes are washed. Dishes are washed. House is clean.

And tomorrow they come to install my new shades.

I got no complaints.

I didn't really bother trying not to be obvious when I wrote this for sanguinity:

Excerpt from the Journal of Captain Keith Windham for August 14-16, 1745 (1011 words) by Luzula
Fandom: The Jacobite Trilogy | The Flight of the Heron Series - D. K. Broster
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ewen Cameron/Keith Windham
Characters: Keith Windham, Ewen Cameron
Additional Tags: Diary/Journal, Missing Scene

It was fun to write a bit of Keith's journal from when he first met Ewen! It was equally obvious that sanguinity was the one who wrote me this lovely "Mr Rowl" fic:

Nary a Cause for Tears (9400 words) by sanguinity
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: "Mr Rowl" - D. K. Broster
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Raoul des Sablières/Hervey Barrington, Raoul des Sablières/Juliana Forrest
Characters: Hervey Barrington, Raoul des Sablières, Lavinia Barrington, Hannah Jeremy, Juliana Forrest, John Jeremy (Mr Rowl)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Enemies to Lovers, Bittersweet, Missing Scenes, Canon Compliant, Pining, (but not only pining!)
Summary: If he dies here, that will be his final judgement of me: that I take joy in his suffering.

Were it true, I would be a happier man this night.

It is a fic with many layers: an academic framing, a journal intended for public consumption, and the same character's secret journal. I really enjoyed how these layers interplayed with each other, and of course it's great to get Barrington's POV on the canon events (and more than the canon events, too!). There are some lovely missing scenes here.

I'm trying to write a scene where two co-workers are trouble-shooting a new custom security or encryption routine. Someone else (who isn't present) wrote the code and he will have been careful to ensure it works before sending it to them. So maybe something in the implementation of it?

The scene is dual purpose, showing their interaction growing closer while also hiding something else in plain sight. The tech part of it can be whatever is plausible and easy to convey without bogging it down in details. I am so out of touch with that sort of thing I don't know what's plausible any more.

What could go wrong with uploading the new code into their office network or onto their phones which would need a bit of trouble-shooting? The kind of thing one person might overlook and another catch. Preferably with them being literally close while they do this. And again - easy to convey without bogging it down in details. Jargon is fine.

Edit: Turns out jargon is not fine. Well it would be in the sense I meant, but that's not how it was taken. Am overwhelmed by how much I can't understand well enough to follow here, let alone distill into a few phrases. I know the readers for my lakorn-novel are non-existent but I can't swamp them with details.

Edit 2: Sorry to have bothered everyone. I'm just going to trash this. It was a stupid idea in the first place. Thank you for your time.

Timber Ridge recently revamped their front door security and, as part of that, people now sign in on an ipad that snaps their photo and then sends it in email and in text to the person they are coming to see. It's very handy for things like today - meeting a notary I've never seen before. Also once you sign in, it remembers you for next time which is also quite nice.

Today's Notary was not too chit chatty and very efficient. I signed my name a million times. At one point I was handed a form to fill in where I wanted the money to go. The lines of info did not match exactly with the instructions from the finance guy. Plus, copying by hand such critical info makes me very twitchy. Once I was done, the notary chirped 'Angela will call you about all of this' circling with her finger the stuff I had just filled in. 'She's very particular about getting it right.' ARUGH. The only thing more twitchy than my copying it by hand, is delivering it over the phone with no paper trail or way to see how the information was actually received.

Hey, I've got a great idea... why not just do it by email?????

So when I got back here, I sent Angela's assistant, the one who contacted me before - they are all at the title company - an email with the detail captured from the document, Geoff sent to me. I'm glad she's particular. I just hope she gets it right!

All the signing reminded me that I need to tell Seattle city Light to cut the juice. Which I now have done.

Oh Great. I just got a reply from my detailed wire transfer info. From the Title company saying 'thanks for this, i'll call to confirm'. Oh yeah. And bite me.

BretTheRealtor says the money should be in my account by Monday.

I'm ready for lunch and today is house cleaning day!

I had a nice Tuesday morning at the Ranch walking the dogs. Last night we had a pretty big thunderstorm but it was calm this morning and the dogs were happy with the quiet and morning sun.



Khaleesi agrees. We have developed the habit of sitting on a bench for a while before going back in. Here is what it looks like from the other direction.



I've been knocking off, or trying to, the links to USAA. I've got two more but can't do them alone. Dana is involved. One requires a drive to Georgetown for the social security office visit. The other requires her to be in camera range to verify who she is to redirect a payment from a legacy account her family had.

But I think those two are the last. Then it is just waiting until the federal paychecks drop into the new account which will likely not be until July.

So far, SoFi is a better bank. It is nimble on the Internet and I'm good with that. They did come up with a dumb answer to a question I had so I sent it back to them. I had opened a ticket to have them figure out why I could not edit the name of my external transfer banks so they were clear, something fairly important to me now I'm in a fight with USAA over the same thing. They closed the ticket saying that the problem existed as I was using a VPN for access and/or a business computer. I kicked that back with relish and with a demo of using my phone in T-Mobile mode to access their bank with the same results I'd already provided from my NON work NON VPN connection.

They have a problem with their site and will figure it out eventually. Meanwhile I'm a squeeky wheel.

And HBOMax is wonderful with the French Open. I've never had so much access to a tournament. It is so nice to be able to turn on my computer or TV any time and watch the best players in the world play on the most difficult surface (for most of them). I've watched several matches end to end and it has been wonderful. But it is nice to drop in and catch a set or so without feeling like I have to watch or miss out on the whole thing. Such luxury.

I'm off to have a sandwich now.  I've had a hankering for Durkees Famous Sauce recently and, of course, they no longer carry it at HEB.  Fortunately Amazon still has it.  I grew up with Durkees and Kraft Sharp cheese on white bread watching Jon Gnagy on black and white.

I bought my first house in North Carolina in the late 70's. It's now a veterinary clinic. I sold it and moved and bought another. ETC. 2 houses, 6 condos - all serially. This last condo, I owned for more than 30 years so it's been a long while since I've dealt with real estate transfer and it's the last time ever. Everyone who deals with real estate transfers assumes everyone they talk to is stupid and wishes to be kept in the blind. The little info they offer up is offered over and over and over again. I'm so over it.

Signing at 10. And that's the end of my involvement. Even the money will be going to my Stifel account. So nothing I need to do, sign, ok, etc. I'm done. I'm through. No more.

My friend, John, always had a whole lot of money and rented apartments his entire life. He said the finances, in the long run, really came out the same as owning and the stress level was way lower. If I had it to do over again, I may well adopt his method. (Then he retired early and wanted to live on the beach in southern California where the rents were way too high so he finally bought a condo. And then died 2 months later. So... maybe not the best method after all.)

Someone, no names shall be mentioned, forgot to turn on the dish washer last night. So now I have to listen to dishwasher noises. These are regular dish washer noises not spiffikins dishwasher noises, thankfully. BUT if it were her kind of noises, I'd just put in a work order and someone would appear with a fix like magic. Joyfully, it's not my dishwasher!!

Yesterday's buffet was nice. Most of the food was good and there was plenty of it and it was all organized so no lines, no waiting. None of the other holiday buffet things are every as good as Memorial Day or as well organized. Puzzling.

The pool is still cold plus a couple of the guys are sharing a head cold. So no volleyball. Again. I have really been sleeping too late. Hopefully, we can play again Thursday.

After the signing this morning, I may well go out. I have an Amazon return and I need ice cream. They had really good looking brownies at the buffet yesterday and any self respecting brownie needs ice cream. Plus I still want to try that melon/cuke salad.

Now I need to get into the shower and double wash my signing hand.

Bathing beauties

Bill Schubert

lifeinroseland & fam braved the Holiday Catskills last weekend.

Is this not the most beautiful nuclear family you have ever seen?



My first time meeting her children in the flesh. Her little son has the most amazing vocabulary for an 18-month-old, and Princess Star is as fiery & independent as she is beautiful & intelligent—which I suspect presages difficult teenage years but a mega-successful adulthood:



It was so good to see them!!!

###

GPS decided to give me a complete tour of the Catskills on my way to Phoenicia. The Catskills were insanely beautiful on this, the unofficial first day of summer.

An abandoned barn:



The Ashokan Reservoir. They drowned 10 villages to make it when they dammed Esopus Creek in the early 19-aughts. My fantasy is that cottages, church spires, & apple orchards are floating around beneath its waters. (Probably not, though.) It supplies 40% of New York City's water:



Today, I have a shitload of errands to do in addition to the usual Remuneration & gym workout. And no desire to do any of them! But it is gorgeous out! So, you know. I'm cheerful.

Sense of change right now. Friends having their lives upturned, some dealing with divorce or illness, one facing the demise of their partner. Much happening that is sombre or painful.

For us? Not hard really though that tone plays throughout, that sense of change coming, perhaps slow, perhaps not. Looking at the cats, recognising the inevitable, which is just my code for yes but not yet. I am Miss Instant Gratification, if it isn't happening now, it isn't really happening. This gets me into a lot of trouble, but it also stops me from catastrophising - mostly.

Mostly. Ten minutes ago I heard the most devastating thud from upstairs, and ran to it, thinking R had fainted or worse. It was almost nothing, an accident befalling my bit of plaster from Egypt, bought when I was there long ago. I called him Ramose of Thebes, and made up stories about him. The window in that bedroom was open and the wind blew him right off his shelf. Ramose is damaged, but he's been that way for decades, still cheerful, now residing in the safety of the front room.



I hope he's not trying to tell me I should return to Egypt, even though I should definitely return to Egypt. But Ramose, there are so many other places to see! And it won't be the same, nothing ever is, which is why I am so much better at going than coming back.

Already ran into the first casualty of this minor holiday Monday. I went to take Monday's pills and discovered that Sunday's were still in there. I know I took them yesterday so maybe this is a volleyball casualty. Whatever. I don't think it's fatal.

Today is a Memorial Day buffet. Last year's was pretty decent. Here's hoping. It's from 1-3 so I'll go down about 1:30ish. Maybe.

Tomorrow is condo signing day.

Wednesday is shades install day.

Thursday is Robert Dugoni, an author I semi-like coming to talk.

Friday is the ABBA concert.

Big week!

My baseball led me on an interesting journey Saturday and yesterday. The Mariners were playing in Houston so they were using their VERY WORST broadcaster on the radio (he lives in Texas). My ears were bleeding after the 1st play. BUT, the MLB app lets you switch broadcast teams. I flipped over to the Houston radio broadcast and it was fabulous!! They were very good announcers and had very good info and insight about the individual Mariner players. It was delightful. Houston as a team and as an organization sucks. But they have some top notch announcers.

The Mariners and the Phillies are off today so I may have to find another team for the day.

About an hour ago, Biggie made the worst noise I've ever heard out of a cat. It sounded like he was horking up a house, complete with gables. Then about a minute later, he did it again. Then he went to sit behind my chair for about 15 minutes and then he got up, ate some, played with Julio's toy, annoyed Julio and went back to his Biggieness. So weird. There was a little mucus from the first hork but nothing from the second. And now he seems fine.

I think I'll go toss in a load of laundry.

Eugene Field’s poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod must be catnip for picture book publishers. We had a version published in the 1980s or 90s when I was growing up, and I just recently discovered that Barbara Cooney also illustrated the poem in the 1960s.

Cooney’s illustrations look like white chalk on blue-black paper - some highly textured paper, because she’s worked the texture into the illustrations, so that it’s visible in the sparkle of the moonlight on the water as Wynken, Blynken, and Nod sail their wooden shoe to catch the herring fish that are the stars in the sky.

They are three identical little boys with a soft dandelion fluff of hair, and they sail their shoe back to a tower by the water, where they unload their fish in the shade of the weeping willow. And then - and then - it’s all a dream, for “Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, and Nod is a little head.” They come together to form one baby, asleep in a cradle draped with a sort of half-tester canopy, which is held above the bed by a hook shaped like the head of a heron.

(This detail of the heron-shaped canopy holder particularly enchanted me.)

This is of course a bedtime poem, and the book would work beautifully as a bedtime book: the illustrations are so enchantingly subdued, the black backgrounds spangled with occasional white dots like stars. It would be lovely to slip into the illustrations and sail on the sea of dew.

This was a difficult week.

It rained every single day, & then my only two pals in the area were MIA for various reasons.

And I ended up experiencing SOCIAL ISOLATION (intoned with a kind of echo chamber effect), which is different from garden variety lonesomeness: Lonesomeness feels like a temporary condition that is not your fault; SOCIAL ISOLATION is a disease of the elderly brought on by their own bad habits. Socially isolated people do not proactively build social connections! They do not join clubs, volunteer, wave the Stars & Stripes at community events! They don't strike up conversations with the harried checkout clerk at the Shop-&-Drop. If they do finally manage to capture the attention of a real human person, they natter on & on about some obscure rock star from the 1970s or their bursitis or how much stuff has changed in the last 50 years.

The absolute worst habit of the elderly, though, is that they are old.

###

I suppose no one ever feels old, though when you look at them, you wonder: Why the hell not?

That person I catch a glimpse of in the mirror when I'm not mugging it up self-consciously? That's not me, that's my grandmother.

And I'm one of those old people who's in pretty good shape.

Thing is I probably have more friends than most people. Friends with whom I resonate on an intimate level and who have my back.

They just don't live here.

But, of course, I live here.

I make my most important social connections online, which is kind of an ageless milieu. My prose is sprightly; sprightly signals "young." I meet a lot of the people I bond with online, and those meetings often turn into friendships. I won't say "age" doesn't influence those friendships, but it's just one factor in a whole lot of factors: I am X years older than you, and now let's chatter about books and movies and music and the meaning of the Universe, your children and my children, shoes, ships, sealing wax, cabbages.

But here, I must make social connections the old-fashioned way, face-to-face. And whatever delusions I may have about my age-defying demeanor, I am clearly a member of the pariah tribe, the Senior Citizens.

###

The irony about SOCIAL ISOLATION is that it feels like something you oughta be ashamed of, which, of course, is even more isolating. SOCIAL ISOLATION is sticky and heavy, and that weight makes it difficult to cleave to all those wholesome routines—exercise, engagement, good nutrition—that make you feel good about yourself.



All moot points today because (finally!) it's gorgeous & sunny out. And warm! And so, I am perfectly content.

Thursday. Very very tired after 16 hours at Epic yesterday. I wanted to sleep in, but had to get up and go take care of my stupid mute situation.

Got to Ilan's house around 10 and he tried a smaller version of his mute, which looks like it'll be a better fit. We also tried each other's bass trombones, and I was annoyed because his felt much easier to play than mine. But five months ago I couldn't play bass trombone AT ALL, and would not have been able to tell which horns were a good fit even if I'd been able to try a bunch. Now I can tell, but can't do anything about it until there's an opportunity to try more horns.

Nerd stuff.

I got home around lunchtime, packed meals for Epic and practiced very minimally, then tried to rest.
I have friends out tromping around in this ungodly Florida heat right now, logging 10+ miles in the sun and then doing it again the next day or going to the gym same-day, and I wonder if there's something wrong with me that I'm exhausted after a fraction of that effort.

Around 8pm the "emergency" bass trombone mute I'd ordered showed up. It's a traditional aluminum mute, so it required modifications. While we watched TV I filed down the corks, cut away some of the felt around the base to allow the cup portion to move the way I'd like, and used a hammer and nail to slam a small hole through the bottom of the mute. All of these mods help the mute to sound better...and are also why Ilan's 3D-printed mutes are important. We shouldn't have to damage equipment to make it work properly!

Before bed someone shared this post with me, from the Harry Potter official Instagram account.
It's part of a post that you can see HERE titled, "How to Spend a Day in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Ministry of Magic."


This is important because the more Universal and "Harry Potter Official" acknowledge and promote the band's existence, the more job stability we have in the park. So far we have a small snippet in Universal's official Epic Universe trailer, and now this. Very good signs that Place Cachee Jazz might be sticking around!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday morning, I felt exhausted but gotta suck it up. Time for a day at Epic.

I left earlier than usual because our set times are an hour earlier this week, and also with it being Memorial Day weekend and Epic fully open I wasn't sure how bad traffic would be. Luckily it was normal and I got there in time to get good parking and practice bass for 30 minutes. I had to practice in a stairwell again because the warm-up room was in use. As I was playing some of the wizarding students found me and perched themselves on the stairs to listen, lined up like little birds. They tried to guess which Beauty and the Beast song I was playing, and I had fun switching pieces for that game :)

Because park attendance is capped, it was not as crazy as we'd expected out there and our sets had "normal" attendance. It was extremely hot with heat indexes close to 100°F (37.7°C), and I felt awfully drained by lunchtime. Luckily there were many sweet treats floating around in celebration of opening weekend, so a small slice of cake and some butterbeer-flavored popcorn bucked me up!

We also received a few small mementos, including this touching card that was made using a pictures of our shows and rehearsals.
(Remember that you can click each image to enlarge)


And this picture, which was taken after a set on Grand Opening night.
This is our management and I think also the production team.


Before I knew it the day was done and I was packing up as usual.

Today I realized, I've only got FOUR more work days at Epic Universe before tour begins. Crazy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday, managed to sleep until 8 and felt somewhat-recovered. But we were spending the whole day at Fringe Festival, which is outdoors. I made sure to hydrate extra before we left.

Boiling hot again, but we made the best of it. We ordered brick oven-fired pizzas from a food truck, they were delicious! Jameson ate all of his, I shared mine with two of his friends who joined us for the festivities.


We went to see four shows throughout the day. The first was Everfolk. It was a show about a failed attempt to start a fantasy-based amusement park in Utah, involving Taylor Swift!


This play was based on a real event, and now we are both interested to learn more about Evermore Park and how it almost came to be.

General sidenote: all Fringe productions are generally low-budget artistic statements when it comes to props, costuming, audio, and sound, but the artistry and vocal/acting/dance skills of the people involved ALWAYS shines through. I am always blown away at how much raw talent resides in the Orlando area, and always find myself wishing that there were more opportunity for all of us struggling to make it down here.

Before the next show we had time to kill, so went to the lawn/food truck area to grab a snack and drink. Canned alcohol was BOGO, so we got two nutrl seltzers, and Jameson got cheesy fries. I found a Vietnamese stand with a tiny old woman shaping dumplings, LEGITIMATE. I got her tofu summer rolls and they were excellent. We had a good time chatting and many of Jameson's theater and theme park friends stopped by to hug him and catch up :)

Next show was Ghost Stories by Paul Strickland. This was my favorite show purely because the timing of the light and audio effects was PERFECT. We found out later that this was because he brought his own sound/light crew, one of whom was his wife. Rarely at Fringe do you see GOOD audio/lighting; this might have been the first time I've seen it happen lol. It made his storytelling that much more immersive, and I sat perfectly still for the whole hour, entranced. Good stuff!

We only had time for a quick pee before the next show, which was outdoors. It was a stage combat version of CLUE! The "stage" was a dusty patch of earth under a big drooping tree, where we sat on benches and enjoyed watching CLUE characters pummel each other with everything from their fists, to knives and cudgels, to a garden gnome! But in the end it was POISON that "done them in," and the butler who finished the job with the candlestick (of course!).

We had a little time before our final show, so got ice cream sundaes. I asked for half the ice cream and double the toppings and got it! Lots of chewy brownies :D And yes, I took two Lactaid!

The last show was a condensed version of The Great Gatsby.


I think the music was all-original for this production. The choreo was especially impressive. The storyline got a bit lost--if you hadn't read the book or seen the movie you might be a little confused--and there were LGBTQ+ and BIPOC elements added that are definitely not in the original story. But Fringe is all about artistic expression and interpretation, and these additions were in good taste for this production imo. I wasn't too impressed by the music, but the other elements were very well done and it was a good show. Our friend Lea played an important role and did an excellent job.

We met up with Lea afterward to share a drink with her and other members of the cast. At this point my social battery was 100% drained, so I'm sorry to say that I just stood quietly and tried to survive the crush of people and loud guffawing and screeching of actors around me :p I am completely understanding of the extrovert need to be loud, central, and "on," especially after the adrenaline rush of a performance well done. But I'm not that person, and it was better for me to hang back and not be a killjoy.

Eventually Jameson was ready to leave, so we said our goodbyes. Got home around 11, asleep by midnight.
It was a fun night, we go to Fringe almost every year and enjoy it every time :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, breakfast, laundry, dusting our big bookshelf which is a tedious chore that I only do about twice a year.

After lunch Jameson went for a haircut and I practiced trombone, then relaxed for a bit. It was Sunday and a holiday weekend after all.

Dinner was Olive Garden. A nice thunderstorm rolled through.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday: Memorial Day, I doubt I'll get much done other than cleaning, practice, and cooking dinner.

Tuesday: Day off, probably running errands in addition to the usual stuff.

Wednesday and Thursday: Working at Epic.

What in my opinion is a mediocre result is, to the recipient, a wonderful gift.

Twenty years ago when I started my business I did not have the vaguest idea of what I was doing or where it would lead. It was started out of boredom and to appease my wife who wanted to move back to Texas. I HATE loooking for work so I quickly gave up and decided to start my own business. Doing so lead a lot of places most of which were not anywhere I would normally go. I was as generous as I could be with other business people. Where one of the other business people who had a similar business in Houston dreamed of driving any competitors into the ground and leaving them, as he said, mumbling his name as they walked penniless down the street I was more of a rising tide floats all boats kind of person.

There were a couple of other people in the area that I helped out even though they were competitors. We had a non poaching arrangement and I enjoyed teaching and learning with them.

One of them is still in the business and I took he and his wife bread today. He's the one helping me build my chicken hotel. His wife is a lovely neo-natal nurse with whom I seem to have long talks whenever we meet. She is vegan and so gives eggs away. She's got 13 chickens and so has LOTS of eggs. Turns out she has onions and soon to have tomatoes.

I enjoy making bread and so took her a loaf of my easiest, a no knead bread, and picked up a dozen eggs and a couple of onions.

It was really nice to stop off and chat for a while. Mike was working on his garage with a friend replacing the panneling on the outside that was starting to rot away. They loved the bread so it was a good trade.

My feet are just a mess. There is always something about them that makes walking painful. And my attitude does not help. I am perfectly fine not walking. Today's malady is the bottom of the outer toes - the pinking and the ones next to it. Particularly on my left foot but some on my right. I did not do much walking yesterday and I think I'll do less today. I will pay for it in the long run but in the short run, I'm fine with it.

I've got baseball to watch and dolls to knit. I'm happy.

This morning has, so far, been money morning. Now that my finances are soon to be stable, I dug out all the nums - stuff I have to pay for regularly - cat food and taxes and Timber Ridge, etc. and redealt the cards to better suit. I think I'm going to let my investments pay for Timber Ridge every month and use my social security and IBM pension to pay for the car insurance and Britbox and the rest.

I just used Google's AI, Gemini, to discuss this plan and it was very interesting. And affirming.

It still won't go through all my mp3 files and find the duplicates. But, whatever.

I've been sitting here too long. Biggie's driving me nuts. Time to get up and do something else.

Finally, also from my drafts, and the last in my irregular series from 2020-2024 of watching stuff, The Twilight Zone, on DVD from the library:

Jordan Peele and Simon Kinberg (IMDb says: A British film producer, director, and screenwriter known for producing the X-Men films, Fant4stic, Logan, the Deadpool films, Cinderella, and The Martian) reboot the Twilight Zone. The stories are twisty, thought provoking, and intense, reproducing the original show's vibe and big name guest stars, while also adding diversity and confronting modern social issues like racism, sexism, and colonialism. I could only comfortably watch one episode at a time, and sometimes only uncomfortably. "Replay" was particularly effective in the way it portrayed the threat that police pose for Black people in America and I found it to be very tense. Other favorites from season one: "The Comedian," "A Traveler" (written by Glen Morgan of The X-Files's Morgan & Wong), and "Not All Men." But, as with any anthology, the stories are of varying quality and sometimes I spent the whole hour trying to divine the twist or decipher the in-universe rules because the show failed to make me interested in the characters or their problems. The season one finale, "Blurryman," was especially boring despite featuring my beloved Zazie Beetz.

I ended up I watching both seasons for completism rather than pleasure, with the second season a huge let down after the first. I briefly perked up for "8" about a remote science station doing deep sea research in Antarctica, all of that deeply my jam, starring Joel McHale's face, of which I am a big fan, but the rest of him is not so great at dramatic acting, and the episode itself was so flat I couldn't even care about what the twist meant for the fate of humanity. The standout in that season was easily "Try, Try" and its (correct) reading of Groundhog Day as romantic horror, as a woman is stalked and manipulated by Topher Grace in ways she couldn't possibly anticipate or defend against.

I don't know about using AI text to video prompts. The conflict for me is that while I can see how the use of AI may steal professional opportunities from writers and artists, I am not sure if it will do the same for film because no-one is ever going to make the little film clips that I would want to make. It's not the Greg Rutowski problem... is it? Not convinced at all, uneasy. But until there's a conclusion about this in my head, I won't damn myself for play.

So I tried.

For one I did use an image, the one discussed in my earlier post. The result was this.
https://www.vidu.com/share/2789332262460476/587502

For the second I did not use an image, and this is what I got:
https://www.vidu.com/share/2789340278447518/591624

This last I like, because I never asked for the wind, and it works. Of course it's nonsense; I am very lazy with prompts. I don't get exactly what I ask for because I don't really ask for anything. But that may be what makes it interesting. I don't need to create the eagle of my dreams like this because I can do that with words and trust people to see the eagle - my own personal sense of the perfect. But the gap between what one writes and what appears is exciting, as well as sinister and ridiculous. To put in something, get something uncanny out, add to that with the next prompt until one has built a whole narrative/piece of music out of a game of consequences, that's fascinating. Or less coherent than Wonderland. Or both.

Once again, for me it seems AI's most likely creative use is really about developing old principles of surrealism. Interesting. But I think it is fair to say I'm never going to be a Fellini.

Crap, I really need an icon. This is where I'm at; haven't stopped writing long enough to make myself a damn icon. oy.

The Nature of Enough (8728 words) by Alethia
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Pitt (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jack Abbot/Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Characters: Jack Abbot (The Pitt), Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Additional Tags: Post-Season/Series 01, Idiots in Love, Secret Crush, Pining, Arguing, First Kiss, First Time, Porn, putting a dollar figure on love, Or not, abbot blows robby's mind, In several ways
Summary:

The job offer came out of nowhere. Centennial Hospital, a tier 1 trauma center in Colorado, wanted him to take over for their retiring chief attending. They'd heard the same rumors as everyone about PTMC—how it'd be taken over, transformed, the ED shut down. Didn't Jack want to get ahead of it and find himself a new gig, head of the department, master of his own fate? And the money, of course. Lots and lots of money.

Jack promptly told them to fuck off.

I'm about ready to volleyball again. I've enjoyed the break but it's time to get back at it.

I got a note from the new person. She's currently on a cruise on the lower Mississippi and will move in on the 3rd of June. She did note that she'd been on the waiting list a year. The apartment she got is big. 1,242 square feet. The big ones go fast. Everyone (but me) is afraid of not having enough room.



Myrna's (or rather Dick and Jan's) is 933 square feet.



And, in for a dime, here's mine. 526 square feet. (The powder room no longer has a toilet or sink - it is now a utility room - washer/litter/coffee maker and stuff.)



The flats of flowers are out on the patio to be planted. I'm guessing that's happening today and tomorrow. The ground should be perfectly moist for it and the sun is out. Those planter volunteers will have a wonderful time.

I did not get to the grocery store yesterday and now I'm wondering if it's worth chancing the Memorial Day crowds. I have food on hand and food in the freezer and enough bread. Yeah, I think I can slide by. Oh and I just remembered the buffet option tonight sounds like it will work. I'm good. The buffet option, when the menu is good, is fab. I can just pop downstairs anytime between 4 and 6 and pick up dinner, desert and a drink - $16 - always enough for dinner and then lunch tomorrow. Even when the food turns out to be 'meh' I love the convenience.

Elbow coffee is at 10. I think I'll go downstairs now and pick up Julie's (from New Zealand) latest Amazon order. I've been stashing them in my coat closet and it's getting a little full!

When I took Dixie's sweater to her this morning, she kept saying 'let me pay you' and I said 'no no no' I told her I'd rather have her in my debt. She did give me a whole pile of adorable buttons - buttons like for kids' stuff - little toys and animals - really cute ones. As I was leaving she was still trying to pay me.

Cut to just now - 4 pm - here comes Dixie with a big bag.

Fridays after lunch there is a knitting group who meets. I went once. It was enough. But, apparently, she took her sweater to the knitting group to unravel and got a bunch of helpers! So smart. She took a bunch for her project and brought me the rest - a bag full - already mostly unraveled!!



Perfect doll hair. I told her that I'll go to Goodwill for her anytime.

This is Teddy:



He was picked up off the road and obviously had been there for a bit. He's got parasites and probably heartworms and who knows what else. He's also not yet nutered yet. But he is sweet and SO happy to be at the Ranch.



He's obviously been in a fight likely with a racoon or something like that. Muzzle and paws scared up by small teeth.

But he's fairly young and got lots of energy so he should be OK. The next most recent dog, Babs, is doing well. She came to the Ranch in about the same condition not too long ago and is getting better every day.

And, just to end on a better thought:




The inscrutible Khaleesi says hello.

Dixie said she went to Value Village (the local reuse shop) and they only had about 3 sweaters and none were the right color. It's so not the right time of year for sweaters.

But, I had been wanting to check out the Goodwill in Redmond and ... why not now? So I just grabbed my keys and went. Stopped to get Biggie's drugs first. They had them ready this time and charged me more :( but stil l way cheaper than another surgery!

It was morning rush hour so Google took me the back way to Redmond and it was a beautiful drive. I mean really spectacularly, if-I-didn't-live-here-I'd-move-tomorrow beautiful. Lush green tree canopy over the road and nearly no traffic. The Redmond store is easy to get to with good, easy parking. It's big and bright and well organized. Probably about half the size of the Seattle store, maybe less. But lovely and well staffed. I found way too many clothes. I do not need clothes. I bought them anyway. Now I have to go to the storage area and get more hangers. I promised I would not do that. I am such a liar.

The clothes are in the wash now.

But, more importantly, I found Dixie's perfect sweater. Exactly the right color and a good size of yarn for kinky unraveling. I took it to her when I got back. She had left me some buttons in my mail room cubby and I picked those up and they are DARLING. Little toy's and shapes. And there are a bunch of them.

The woman at the title company who calls me from a different phone every time and rarely to tell me anything new, called again today from still another number to tell me exactly what she told me in her reply to my email earlier in the week. I asked her to quit calling. And to please communicate via email. And so she sent me an email saying the notary would be scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10. Then the notary sent me an email saying she's coming Tuesday at 10. Wonder when the signing will be?? I'm thinking maybe Tuesday at 10.

How glad will I be when all this shit is over? Very.

I did not get to the grocery. Maybe tomorrow. I would like some ice cream but I can get some down at the Bistro.

Now I'd better go get those hangers.

It's Murderbot Day again, though the episode actually dropped yesterday on Murderbot Eve.


Here's an interview with David Goyer where he says nice things about me:



https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/05/22/murderbot-ep-david-s-goyer-on-alexander-skarsgrd-and-staying-true-to-martha-wells-books/

“No one was interested. They were like, ‘This is just RoboCop’ and we were like, ‘No, it's not at all. It's the anti-RoboCop,'” Goyer recalled. “It's about neurodivergence. It's about humanity.”


And an interview with Paul and Chris:


https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/05/the-making-of-apple-tvs-murderbot/


Paul Weitz: The first book, All Systems Red, had a really beautiful ending. And it had a theme that personhood is irreducible. The idea that, even with this central character you think you get to know so well, you can't reduce it to ways that you think it's going to behave—and you shouldn't. The idea that other people exist and that they shouldn't be put into whatever box you want to put them into felt like something that was comforting to have in one's pocket. If you're going to spend so much time adapting something, it's really great if it's not only fun but is about something.

I'm watching a French Open qualifier and was watching for 10 or so minutes before I realized that there were no commentators.  Everything else is exactly the same but with zero babble.  It is so blissful.

This probably loses its spark in the telling but it really cracked me up.

Phillies broadcaster 1: [opposing pitcher] is really talking to himself out there.

broadcaster 2: Good communications is key, Tom.

A fair number of people here have cellphones. A small percentage of those people have been trained on the value of texting by their children and grandchildren. Turns out Dixie - the woman who came over Wednesday to find out how to do kinky hair on knitted dolls - is one of them. I got a text this morning from an unknown number that just said 'test'. I replied 'A+'. Then she sent me her question and remember to add her name. Well done, Dixie!

And in other Timber Ridge peops news... I was looking up something in the Timber Ridge app and spied that the new person moving into Gail and Roger's apartment is now listed! moving in June 3. with picture and bio and wow. She's not a frail old wallflower. She spent many years as admin in the county court system and also many years in local politics. And still works as a travel agent part time.

Martha has been whining that our floor is running out of people with enough marbles left to contribute. I sent her the link to Jackie (new girl) this morning and she's all excited. I also sent Jackie an email.

I had dinner last night with my friend, Steve (who is also a good texter). He's so nice but he's so boring. Hilariously, yesterday, he got hearing aids for the first time and he was having fun listening to everything. It was pretty funny. 'This dining room is noisy!'

Just got a note from Erica that the pool fix it guy isn't coming until Monday. Still icy. No volleyball. Sigh.

The vet left a voice mail that Biggie's drugs were in. So I'll go back again and hope this time they really mean it. Also I might stop at the grocery. I have this idea for a cuke and melon chopped salad but I don't have any cukes or melons.

Recently sholio review Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout, and as I have long vaguely followed Newport’s career, and also am a choir who loves to be preached to about the problems of productivity culture, I picked it up.

Newport lays out a seeming contradiction I’ve vaguely noticed before but never formulated: the people who find productivity culture most enraging are often, in fact, very productive people, who yearn to achieve great things. But the contradiction is purely a matter of semantics: “productivity culture” enrages such people precisely because it often leads to a kind of distracted busy-ness that makes it hard to actually dig in and accomplish something meaningful.

The problem, Newport explains, is that current productivity culture privileges steady work, and moreover steady work that is pretty close to the outward edge of a worker’s capacity, whereas innovative artistic or academic work by its nature requires more slack. There are periods where you’ll work sixty hours a week (and be happy to do so! The ideas are flowing! Work is the thing you most want to do in the world!) but also periods where you’ll outwardly be doing nothing.

He illustrates the point with stories about artists and scientists from the past: Jane Austen, Isaac Newton, Marie Curie, New Yorker feature writer John McPhee. I love reading about people creating things, whether it be a novel or the theory of gravity, so very much enjoyed these interludes.

But my main takeaway from this book is that, although I enjoyed it, it’s not really the book I need right now. My problem in this moment is not “how to step away from meaningless busy-ness toward true accomplishment” but “how do I start writing fiction again?” (Obviously I’m still banging away at book reviews and letters to penpals etc. etc.)

The problem is twofold. One, I haven’t made time to write; and two, I don’t currently have a story I feel an urgent need to tell. I have written some short stories this year (eight currently in the caddy!), and when I’m excited about a story, suddenly it becomes easy to make time to write. But I think that if I were writing more regularly, I’d have more story ideas, perhaps even more long-form story ideas, which is really where my heart lies.

(Actually, the problem is not ideas per se, but ideas I’m so invested in that I’ll keep working through the frustrations inherent in writing a novel. You can scamper through a short story on inspiration alone, but a novel always has bits where you yell “This is the worst story ever written and I am the worst writer ever born!”)

However, if you make time to write and then sit down with nothing you want to write, you may just end up staring out the window at the Canada geese. There’s a bit of a chicken and an egg problem.

But the first step to fixing any problem is to define the problem, so at least I’ve done that?

Usaa responded to the complaint I filed at CFPB just now:

Hi William,

 

 

Thank you for bringing your concern to our attention. My team at USAA Federal Savings Bank works in conjunction with the CEO’s office, and I’m researching what occurred. I’ll contact you shortly to discuss this further.

 

If you need to reach me, please feel free to call me at 210-531-USAA (8722), 800-531-8722, (TTY:711/TRS) or #8722 on a mobile device and enter extension 54205 when prompted.

 

Sincerely,

 

Carolyn

Member Advocacy

USAA Federal Savings Bank

Very interesting.  And thanks, again to Senator Warren.  And fuck the MAGAs who undercut CFPB funding.

I'm about halfway through moving my banking from USAA to SoFi.  Most of it is easy, just a lot.  Connecting PayPal and Schwab and my credit union and HEB and probably others I've not thought of is time consuming and has to be done with care for obvious reasons.  Plus things are still happening so I've got to be sure I have money where it should be when it should be there. 

I've got half a dozen various auto deposits coming into the USAA account and have to track each one down and change it.  The first was my military pension. That was actually not too bad.  I did make the change but it will not take effect until my July paycheck.  I actually have some USAA checks so I can deposit money into SoFi that way.  I did the first today.  If that works I'll just keep doing that until everything is moved over and automated.

The big glitch, turns out, is Social Security.  Thanks to Elon I can't make a direct deposit change without physically going to a SS office.  I'm not attempting to make an appointment to do that.  When I went to their page I found this note:

The Austin and Georgetown offices have shifted to an appointment focused enumeration model for both original and replacement SSN Cards. If using ESS to assist caller with scheduling, please input the Online Control Number. Walk-ins may not be accommodated. Callers should complete OSSNAP and schedule an appointment. If caller has a driver's license/ID card, iSSNRC will allow them to complete the process without visiting the FO.

Can you imagine the majority of people who need to go to the office now due to Elon's edicts and they get this message.  I actually do not know what all of that means but have called to request an appointment and am waiting for a call back. 

Well while I was writing that I got a very nice lady from Georgetown on the phone who said I could drop in and make a Direct Deposit change without an appointment.  She said the paragraph above had to do with getting or replacing a card.  So strange. 

At least it appears that it should be straightforward if annoying to go there and make the change.  But I'm resolved to leave USAA behind with or without my $500.

Condition Zebra

A Pod/Fic Collaboration! Fic by Punk. Podfic, audiobook, and cover by mific.

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing: McKay/Sheppard
Rating: Teen, for swears
Content notes: No standard notes apply.

Size: 8,650 words and 1 hour

Summary: John Sheppard, reaching new heights of not seeing it coming.

Punk's notes: In 2013, mific and I agreed that it'd be cool if I wrote a fic for her to podfic. I did, but then a lot of life happened and eleven years passed before I was able to open it up again and edit it into shape with the help of panisdead. This story is much better because of her, and I'm so grateful for the time she put in across multiple betas. I'm also grateful for mific, who did a wonderful job with the podfic, as always, and that all three of us were still around to finish this project.

Title from my dad, who served on an aircraft carrier in the US Navy during the Vietnam War and told me about how "Set Condition Zebra throughout the ship" would come over the 1MC and all personnel would be expected to report to their assigned stations as quickly as practical to prepare the ship for combat.

In memory of ESS and SK.

mific's notes: When Punk reminded me about our plan to collaborate I was excited, and even more so after reading this excellent story. It's been enormous fun to podfic, both because the story itself is like the best of canon with added John and Rodney feels, and as Punk was open to features like sound effects. I've had a ball making the podfic and the cover art, and I hope you all love the story as much as I do.

Download or stream mific's podfic on AO3, where you can also read the fic, or stay put and read it here.

( Condition Zebra )

A/N: You can reblog this on Tumblr if you're feeling it, and if you want to know why Rodney was shouting about pigs, he was quoting Robert Heinlein: "Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig."

Not only has it been raining for the past two days, it's been cold! It's not even supposed to break 50° F today. I've been forced to haul the space heater back out.

My life continues to be ver-r-r-r-ry quiet. I don't lack for friends, but few of them live here. There are days when this is a source of agita for me, but fortunately, today is not one of them.

NightCafe gets no ❤️LUV❤️ from the Kool Kids, but I like it since I prefer bringing animated illustrations to life to so-called photo realism. Fantasy R Us!!!

When I was younger I could sleep until NOON.
What happened? Argh.

Up at 7, breakfast, and started organizing the guest bedroom. It's still chaos but now the chaos is in piles: stuff I'm still using to practice, stuff to bring to Epic this week, and stuff mounded into the big suitcase for bringing on tour.

I tried the new mutes and encountered a problem: they're too big!!
I was not expecting that, and don't remember it being an issue when I tried them at Will's house. Anyway, there wasn't much I could do but feel disappointed and send pictures to Ilan and try to coordinate with him for a return visit. He's going to try printing me some smaller ones, but either way I've got to return these, and now I'm out $200 and have NO mutes :(
Disappointed and annoyed with myself for not bringing my trombone to the initial visit to check that they'd fit. It never occurred to me that they might not.

Frustrated, I decided to take myself shopping for a new black shirt to bring on tour, but after driving 40 minutes to the nearest Macy's (in a plaza with an Old Navy, Ross, and Target) I failed to find a single black button-up shirt, between all of those stores.

Even MORE frustrated now, I went to World Market and found a few nice Snack Pod options and didn't even have to pay for them because I had a gift card. I used the HP from that to try visiting a tailor to see if they could shorten the strap on my crossbody bag, but they looked at me like I was insane and said they couldn't do it. So ultimately despite the World Market goodies I still went home annoyed and feeling like I didn't accomplish diddly poo.

Back home I did more packing and planning, ordered dinner for us when it was time, and tried to schedule myself a more productive day for tomorrow. Jameson had a frustrating day at work too. Today felt like we were spinning our wheels, but some days are like that and there's nothing for it but to learn from it and then keep on keepin' on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, I managed to sleep in until 8:30 which is great because Wednesday will be a LONG day.

The usual routine, breakfast and when Jameson went to the gym I practiced. When he came back I went to the grocery for dinner ingredients, packed my meals for Epic tomorrow, and cleaned the bathrooms. Rested for a bit after that, then visited a different tailor about shortening my bag strap and he was able to do it while we chatted. My hero.

Back home I made dinner (Half-Baked Harvest sweet potato skins filled with spicy turkey, white cheddar, spinach, avocado) and chilled as much as I could.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday was the Grand Opening at Epic Universe.

If you missed the livestream, here it is:



Up at 5am, started driving at 6:45, got good parking at 7:30.
Past security is the countdown clock. Here I am in front of it back in March:


...and here it is today. One day left. Wow!


Got into makeup and warmed up with the boys. Our first set was supposed to be at 9:30, but at 8:30 management came RUSHING in saying they needed us in costume and out there NOW.

So off we went. The cart had already been placed for us so we got into position for our first number and played it as a sound check. Then a short wait, then the media showed up so we launched into the top of our set.

We’d been asked to just play the first song again, but at the end of it we looked up and saw both stage manager and cameraman making the “keep rolling” gesture, so we kept going. And going, and going, until we’d finished a set. And then we restarted and played the top again! But after that they were done with us.

Later on we found out they’d only used about 8 seconds of footage, and it was all dialogue, no playing. Here it is (please excuse Mariah screaming in the background, she caught the footage and was excited)



Entertainment is so weird :p

It was, overall, a media day. No guests, just news outlets and streamers and influencers. Therefore when we went out for sets, it was a sea of cameras. Not just phone cameras: big expensive news cameras on stabilizers, high-fidelity cameras with huge $15,000 Canon lenses, fancy mics…one guy even got a boom mic over our heads during dialogue!

During the percussion number the media SWARMED Plume. Our poor handlers had to jump in and politely but firmly force people back. We are behind the cart during that bit and can’t really help. But no one was excessively rude and the excitement was understandable. Overall I think we handled it really well. I’m especially proud of myself for not having a panic attack (very common for me when lots of eyes are on me.)

We had two large breaks. I used the first one to practice bass, and the second to type this post and listen to music for the upcoming Chicago gig I’m dreading. And read my book :)

(The stairwell where I practice sometimes, when the warm-up room is occupied. Do not repost.)

I guess there were celebrities around, including the actors who played the Weasley twins and Professor Flitwick. I heard that Danny Elfman and Gerard Butler were around, and a retired basketball player of some notoriety. I don’t keep up on pop culture so didn’t much care, but it’s nice that the park is getting a high-profile opening.

(photo courtesy disneyfoodblog)

The evening sets were nice because the sun wasn't beating down and there was a breeze, but it was still very hot and humid. We had a few logistics snafus because this was the "gala" portion of the evening, and several food stalls were set up in our performance space that had to be moved. Still, this is all standard special event chaos. We did our set, and mostly got polite applause, but at that point people were too busy eating, drinking, and taking footage to actually interact with us.

We finished up just ahead of the fireworks, which was good because our land was in the fallout zone and they wanted us either out of the building or on lockdown by 9:45. I packed up quickly and got out of there, but enjoyed watching the Stardust Racers looping gracefully around each other, all lit up.

Here is the opening ceremony from the ground:



And I wanted to share what the lighting looks like with an aerial view as well. It's truly incredible!!
This person got test footage while staying in one of the hotels.



Whew. Long day! But it was an exciting privilege to be a part of a WHOLE NEW theme park's grand opening!
I was here from (almost) the beginning. We saw the Wizarding World being built around us. We have already spent more time in our part of the park than most people will in their lifetimes. Although my own experience is, frankly, overshadowed by the work I've found with Disney, it is still an incredibly special thing to be here in this moment. I have memories here that are an absolute treasure.

Although I couldn't find much footage of our trio by the end of the day, I'm sure it'll be forthcoming in the next few days. And tomorrow is the true Opening Day, when guests have full access to the fully open park for the first time. This park will change the theme park scene in Orlando--and possibly across the country--forever.

(youtube screenshot)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday: Day off. I'm returning my trombone mutes, resting, and preparing for a VERY CHAOTIC DAY at Epic Universe on Friday.

Friday: Work at Epic. Thoughts and prayers because it'll probably be batsh*t insane.

Saturday: Orlando Fringe with Jameson and friends!!

Sunday: Day off and I suspect I'll need it.

One nice thing about the Newbery project is that I learn so much about places that I previously knew nothing about. For instance, until I read Elizabeth Miller’s Pran of Albania, I knew nothing about Albania except the sworn mountain virgins, women who swear to remain virgins and hitherto go dressed as men with a rifle slung across their back.

(Miller, searching for a reference point her readers will understand, once describes them as “nuns,” which inevitably made me think of demon-fighting nuns from anime. Nuns! With guns!)

For a while it looked like this book wasn’t going to have any sworn mountain virgins, but I should have had more faith in the 1930s Newberies to go charging right into whatever Gender is available to their plucky heroines. Of course there are sworn mountain virgins in this book! Indeed, Pran herself is a sworn mountain virgin for five whole chapters!

Then she realizes that the man she is betrothed to IS in fact the boy she has a crush on and decides that after all she wouldn’t mind getting married, because at the end of the day it’s still the 1930s and the toys have to go back in the box at the end. But before that, she uses her sworn mountain virgin status to speak at a council meeting (only men and old women and sworn mountain virgins can speak) in favor of continuing the truce that has temporarily put a halt to the law of blood feud.

The truce is in place because the mountain tribes of Albania had to band together to fight off a Slav invasion earlier in the year. During this war, Pran had an epiphany about the futility and ugliness of all war, and her later speech against the blood feud is a step on the long, long pathway toward getting rid of war entirely.

Now, to be honest, I normally groan over children’s books with the message War Is Bad, simply because I’ve read so many of them at this point. Yes, yes, war is bad, tell me something I don’t know. But it worked for me here, I think because Miller is not simply parroting received wisdom but sharing her own passionate, personal conviction, in a literary world where children’s books will argue other sides of the question.

In Miller’s Pran of Albania and Kate Seredy’s The Singing Tree, war is bad. But Herbert Best’s Garram the Hunter is an argument that war preparedness is necessary for any people who means to remain free. In Julia Davis Adams’ Vaino: A Boy of New Finland, the people of Finland win their freedom through a war that is dangerous and frightening but above all necessary, a point she makes again in Mountains Are Free, a retelling of the tale of William Tell.

You don’t know what you’re going to get, and it means that whatever you end up getting is interesting. There’s a lot to be said for cultivating the unexpected.