Well, dear readers, I am having a leisurely weekend. Luckie is settling in, although we really shall have to train her not to come lick my face at seven in the morning. That is most unseemly. It seems like everyone was on vacation yesterday, so spare and sparse were our postings, although, that said, the content of the posts was, as usual, most excellent. If you missed anything do use the Unseemly Archive Button and catch up.
Tonight at six p.m. Pacific Mean Time is our Unseemly Live Chat and that you won’t want to miss. If we have your AIM name you’ll get your invite right at six. If we don’t have you AIM name be sure to e-mail it to me in plenty of time. Oh, what fun we shall have and, of course, you never know just who might drop by.
I had the last of my birthday dinners last night (until next year), and it was a good one. Good tasting and Eileen and Chet Atkins-friendly. Also, all past-due sparkling prizes were shipped yesterday and so were the orders for books and DVDs which came in last week. Now, if you are considering buying a book or DVD and you’d like it in time for Christmas (or, if it’s a present if you’d like the recipient to have it in time for Christmas) don’t wait too too long because you know how the mails are around Christmas time.
Well, I promised myself I would keep these here notes short today because yesterday’s were too too long. So, let’s all click on the Unseemly Button below so I can have these here notes be a short story rather than a novelette.
Yes, Virginia, these here notes are going to be a short story today rather than the Gone With The Wind of yesterday. These will be the John Cheever or John Collier notes – short and sweet, pithy and sardonic and filled with the malaise of modern life.
I, myself, am filled with the malaise of modern life which is better than being filled with the mayonnaise of modern life or the mustard of modern life or even the pickle relish of modern life. I am filled with the malaise of modern life just like the people in a John Cheever short story, such as The Swimmer, my personal favorite, along with The Five Forty-Eight. My favorite John Collier short story is, of course, the marvelous Evening Primrose, which just happens to have been turned into an original musical for television by Mr. Stephen Sondheim and Mr. James Goldman. It, too, in one way or another, is about the malaise of modern life. I only read short stories that are about the malaise of modern life because I empathize with short stories about the malaise of modern life. There now, have I beat that particular phrase into the ground with a sledgehammer or have I beat that particular phrase into the ground with a sledgehammer?
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must prepare for our live chat, I must ponder the malaise of modern life. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, anything goes – oh, a Cole Porter reference. Talk about anything you like but talk, darn ya, talk. Talk about the mayonnaise of modern life if you like, or create your own short story subject and talk about that. I shall be checking in often to see how we’re doing and I shall hopefully see all of you this evening for our Unseemly Live Chat.