Well, dear readers, we put up the Christmas decorations outside, so it feels a teeny-tiny bit more like Christmas. And in the evening’s the weather gets nice and chilly, so that helps. I have no mistletoe so I suppose no kisses this Christmas. I do a toe, though, so maybe that counts? I certainly have no frosted windowpanes or chestnuts roasting on an open or even a closed fire. I hear no sleigh bells ringing or carolers singing. What am I, Jewish all of a sudden?
Yesterday was a rather okay day. I was up early after only seven hours of sleep and at least one disturbing dream. Then the interim interim helper came by and we did our Costco run. Despite going down almost every aisle, we stopped short of going down two because I thought we had everything, but alas, we forgot paper plates, cutlery, napkins and cups. Fortunately, I bought so much of that last year that I have everything but the plates, so when I do my other shopping at Gelson’s late tomorrow night, I’ll pick them up there. I mostly got a LOT of water and Diet Cokes, some regular Coke and a few other necessities, plus my yearly bottle of champagne for New Year’s Eve.
Then we came back here and unloaded everything and she put up the Christmas décor outside. Then she went on her merry way and I made two cheeseburgers for my meal o’ the day – same as yesterday – very calorie friendly. I did some work at the piano and on the computer, picked up a couple of packages, and then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I had a marathon viewing of the remainder of Making a Murderer, the horrifying ten-part documentary currently on Netflix. I ranted about it in several long posts yesterday, so you can reference those. But basically this is such an expose of a corrupt and ridiculous justice system that you literally end up screaming at the TV. What the prosecutors and detectives do in this case is so reprehensible it just makes you want to scream, which I did a lot. Coerced confessions for a clearly challenged sixteen-year-old – not only by the cops, but by his own attorney and that attorney’s investigator – that attorney is finally dismissed by the judge. Now, whether you think the main guy is guilty or not (he’d already spent 18 years of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit and was completely exonerated for) and then a couple of years later purportedly kills a woman, leaving all kinds of easy to find clews for the police to find. So, again, whether you think he’s guilty or not is not the point – the point is that the prosecution’s case is so mishandled, so bogus, that no sane jury could convict on such a case. And yet – they did, even though the initial poll of the jurors came in with seven out of the twelve thinking the guy was innocent. What happened in that room in just twenty hours where all those seven people turned around and found him guilty is anyone’s guess. One of jurors who really thought the guy was innocent had to leave the case after just four hours of deliberation due to a family emergency. An alternate juror was brought it. The guy who left, later said that several of the jurors who found innocence in that initial poll were weak and easily swayed by the bullies in the room – and if you’ve ever seen Twelve Angry Men you know just how that goes. The documentary is harrowing, suspenseful, infuriating, a little too arty at times for its own good, and completely compelling. As always, the media is shown doing what they do – being the insensitive, all about themselves little morons that they are. The footage of them, at times, is as shocking as the prosecution’s behavior. The prosecutor who tries the case is later forced to resign from office due to a sexting scandal. Uh huh. Anyway, watch it – as one of the attorneys says at the end of it, we all think and hope the justice system works as it should, until someone that’s us or someone we know is accused of something – at that point all you can do is be afraid, be very afraid, because the justice system will do everything it can to make sure you don’t get a fair deal, as this documentary so aptly proves. It’s a must-see and gets my highest recommendation.
That was about seven hours of viewing and took up the afternoon and all of the evening. I was going to save episode ten for today, but I really wanted to see why there’d even be an episode ten, given that everything really wraps up at the end of episode nine. And nothing will really prepare you for some of the goings on in episode ten.
Today, I have a couple of meetings, I really do have to finish choosing songs, and then I’m supping and seeing a concert, which I can only pray is not too long. Hopefully I’ll pick up packages, too.
Tomorrow is all preparation for the Christmas Eve Do. I’ll clean and organize all the livelong day, get all the plates and cutlery and cups out where they belong, then I’ll go to Gelson’s around nine, do my shopping, then come back and I’ll prepare the tuna pasta salad, and also chop the mushrooms and onions and mince the garlic for the spaghetti sauce. Then on Thursday, I’m up early and begin the cooking of the sauce and then at six people begin arriving. It doesn’t look like the Darling Daughter will be making it here for Christmas – she’s down with the flu. On Christmas Day I’ll go to Cissy Wechter’s partay, and then come home and then the weekend is basically mine all mine.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a couple of meetings, sup, see a concert and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What was your favorite thing that happened this year? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as we begin the official countdown to Christmas.