Well, dear readers, it’s another teardown, this one right next door to the monstrosity they just built and with whom we share a backyard wall. How do I know this? Because yesterday morning at around eight I was awakened by outrageously loud and relentless pounding accompanied by the house shaking as if we were having a 6.5 earthquake. What is amazing to me is that they can get away with this that early – they can literally make that kind of noise from seven in the morning until nine at night – in a NEIGHBORHOOD. With FAMILIES. And they do not give a crap – they only give a crap about the flipping of the house when it’s built so they can make their million-dollar profit. Of course, they haven’t made that profit on the monstrosity because it sits unsold after eight weeks on the market. And it’s the same disgusting speculator who offered so much money to the house next door that they sold. And let me tell you, if the monstrosity hasn’t sold, it certainly isn’t going to sell while they’re doing loud construction two feet away. I hope the real estate market takes a long and deserved slide right into the toilet, as always happens when prices get so ridiculous that no one can afford to live anywhere. Once that happens, some of these people will get the comeuppance they deserve. But I think the laws need to be revised – they should not be able to make that kind of noise before ten and they need to stop no later than six. That’s just common sense in a neighborhood. I could call the police, who handle noise issues and they’d probably come out to hear for themselves, but you simply cannot imagine how loud and awful this was. But that’s not the real point – the real point is the rich and entitled have taken this most charming of neighborhoods and ruined it because as with all these types it’s all about them and nothing else matters. And once their kids are out of the nice school, which is why they’re doing these horrible monstrosities (all for people in TV, mostly), those people then move elsewhere, leaving behind this ugliness. End of rant.
So, I was super tired but obviously there was no going back to sleep. I think maybe I got four or five hours of sleep at the most. Once up, I groggily answered e-mails, continued my listening to music journey – this time more William Mathias, who I really like, a little Lennox Berkeley, which I’m not in love with, Randall Thompson’s first symphony, which I’d only heard once before – it’s quite good – not brilliant like the second, nor as interesting as the third, but really beautiful. I did a bit of writing, some Brain work, then sent a Fed Ex package, picked up some packages, and then came home and di more writing and listening.
Then our very own Mr. Nick Redman came by and we chatted about this and that and also that and this, and I now have the new batch of Twilight Time titles, all of which I’m looking forward to watching, especially Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Bobby Deerfield, and The Chase. Then I got ready to attend a belated birthday dinner and moseyed on over to Tony’s Bella Vista in the Bank of Bur, the same restaurant I ate at exactly one week ago. I had a small dinner salad and my spaghetti carbonara, but we also had a small pepperoni pizza for the table – I ate two small pieces of that and it was really good. So, it was this week’s splurge meal for sure. I hadn’t gotten to jog because it had drizzled and it really looked like it was going to rain (of course it didn’t). It was a fun evening, and then I came home.
Once home, I answered yet more e-mails, and then began listening to William Alwyn’s opera of Strindberg’s Miss Julie. I’m almost through act one and I must say I’m quite taken with it.
Today, I have some Brain work to do and some writing to do, then I’ll eat, jog, then Richard Sherman is coming over with some stuff for me to hear – I think we’ll probably have two more rarities CDs to do next year, so that will be fun. Then I’ll relax.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here, and then in the afternoon I’m working with Sami on The Brain and then we’ll go have a bite to eat. Sunday I’m relaxing as much as possible, then seeing a show in the evening. Then Monday begins the crazy busy busy crazy week, and we need the maximum amount of most excellent vibes and xylophones for no irritants that week. We have Kritzerland rehearsals, Brain rehearsals (I really have to go through the video clips and make extensive blocking notes since my blocking script is nowhere to be found), I have to prerecord the voiceover stuff and gather all the sound effects for the sound guy so he can get them on the computer, and it’s just an endless week of going and doing and doing and going, not necessarily in that order.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, do Brain work, eat, jog, spend time with Richard Sherman, hopefully pick up packages, then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player, and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, lots of American and British music, and about to begin going through my Japanese composers. Blu-ray, the new Twilight Time discs, plus the UK Blu-ray of The Shining – Mr. Kubrick cut his 144-minute film for its UK release – all the way down to 119 minutes – I’ve heard about this version for ages but have actually never seen it. You turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, wishing the rich and entitled and speculators were not so hell bent on decimating a once charming neighborhood.