Well, dear readers, I am still congested and feel quite yuckilicious. I suppose it (whatever it is) will just have to run its course. In the meantime, it is my plan (nalp, spelled backwards) to write these here notes in a hurry so that I can get them posted, take my NyQuil and Alavert and hopefully I will get a really good night’s sleep. If the telephonic device doesn’t ring I can actually sleep in tomorrow. Now that I think about it, I’ll just leave the phone in the kitchen, that way I won’t hear it quite so loudly.
Yesterday was a blah day, which is better than a blah, blah, blah (that is three blahs) day. I got up feeling rather blah, then I had to leave for three hours, doing various errands and whatnot and having some bacon and eggs and a short stack at Du-Par’s. I haven’t been to Du-Par’s in almost a year and in that time they have basically ruined the best pancakes ever made. Or maybe the chef was having a bad pancake day, but the awfulness of what I was served came as quite a shock. They were twice as thick as they normally are (not a good thing), and even though I specifically stated I wanted the chef to pour the melted butter on them, that did not happen – the waitress simply did it herself after I told her they hadn’t done what I asked. She took the plate back to the kitchen where I could plainly see her pouring it. It’s not that pouring the melted butter is so hard, but the default way pancakes used to come was with the butter on them, poured directly as the pancakes came off the griddle. I put syrup on them and took a bite and they were totally gross. The syrup was too thick and had no sweetness whatsoever – I’ve never quite tasted any maple syrup like that and it’s nothing like what they used to serve, which was not thick and had just the right sweetness without being cloying. I kind of nibbled around the edges and ate maybe 2/3s of one pancake, if that. The eggs were fine, the rye toast sucked, the hash browns were inedible (two bites was enough for me) and the bacon was VERY salty. So, I’m afraid that’s the end of Du-Par’s for me, although out of long-time loyalty I may go back on a weekday morning and see if I just got a bum batch – of course, that won’t change the lousy syrup they’re now using. Blechhh. Then I went to the mail place and picked up two packages and an important envelope. Then I did some banking and then I finally came home.
I immediately sat on my couch like so much fish and watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Tesis (Thesis), a Spanish film from Spain by Alejandro Amenabar, the talented director of Open Your Eyes (remade horribly as Vanilla Sky). This was his first film and I’d read good things about it. It’s very much in the Hitchcock/De Palma mode visually, and the story is interesting – a girl is doing her thesis on overt violence in cinema and TV. While researching, she uncovers a snuff film involving a student who disappeared. And on it goes. The first third of the film is quite good, the second third not quite as good, and the final third bogs down in way too many wannabe twists – if they lopped off ten minutes and simplified the ending it would be much more effective. But it’s a very well done film and the actors were all excellent. The director also wrote the score, which was very good. I gather there has never been a decent DVD release of this 1996 film, but this new one is decent enough.
After that, I ate some cashew nuts and licorice, listened to the first half of an upcoming master (another Kritzerland Holy Grail bites the dust), did some work on the computer, and blew my nose endlessly whilst clearing the phlegm out of my throat. These are not a few of my favorite things.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, otherwise I shall have to list ad nauseum a few more not a few of my favorite things.
Today, I shall hopefully sleep in, then get up and take it easy. I think someone will be coming over to bring me some food at some point, so that will be nice. Otherwise, I’ll just watch motion pictures all the livelong day and evening.
Tomorrow, I have a lot of stuff to do – I have to work with the helper a little, I have to pack for my trip, do errands and whatnot and all sorts of other things, but I’m hoping to be through by three so I can just relax. I’ll write the notes very early, post them, and get to bed, as I leave at five the next morning.
Then we’ll put up the Linda and Gregory show on Wednesday, and I come back early Thursday morning and dive right back into a lot of work, which includes shipping about twenty-five boxes of CDs on Friday morning.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep late, and do very little other than relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland and hopefully arise feeling much better.