Well, dear readers, here’s what I learned at eleven o’clock at night last night: Always tie your shoelaces. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, last night at eleven o’clock I learned the hard way to always tie your shoelaces. I went to put the motor car in the garage. Check. I always do this at that time of night – I put the shoes on but don’t tie the shoelaces since it takes all of thirty seconds to complete the task of putting the motor car in the garage. Check. I put it into the garage, got out of the car, locked it, and walked out the door to the patio, and locked the door behind me. I turned to walk to the house and realized that one of the shoelaces had caught in the door bottom and down I went – hard, with a thud because I’m elderly and not at my lowest weight. I felt like a beached whale and I’m quite certain I looked like a beached whale. My shoelace did clear itself from the door, thankfully, or it really could have been worse than it was. I’ve only gone down a handful of times in the last thirty years – the previous two times happened because of a wet, slippery surface, and the time before that because of a crack in the street I didn’t see. And I’ve learned to just get over it as quickly as possible. I’d banged my knee and my arm hit the ground (and I’ve already been having some really annoying issues with a pinched nerve near my right shoulder), and my ankle felt painful, but other than yelling a few choice expletives, I got up fairly quickly and got into the house. No scratches, just a little soreness, thankfully, but from now one, baby, the shoelaces will be tied.
Prior to falling down, I’d had an okay day of doing this and that as well as a little of that and this. I got up at nine-thirty after about six-and-a-half hours of sleep, announced our new release on all social media, then went back to bed and slept until noon. Once back up, I answered e-mails, printed out orders, had a few telephonic conversations, and then made a sandwich for lunch – just a few slices of small pepperonis on a roll with some mustard. That, of course, wasn’t nearly enough, so I made two small tortillas with low-cal cheese inside, with a little hot sauce. Those were good, and then I was full. Then the helper came by, and after that I went and picked up a package, came back home, did some more work on the computer, heard from Grant Geissman that we can start on the book design either Friday or Saturday, so that’s good news. After that, I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a Blu and Ray of a motion picture entitled 23 Paces to Baker Street, starring Mr. Van Johnson and Miss Vera Miles, with a wonderful supporting turn from Cecil Parker. It’s a real talking motion picture, but I’ve always been fond of it. The film has one major stumbling block – Van Johnson’s character is very negative and dour for most of the film, so you don’t really like him, and that’s a problem with your hero. It’s not really hard to figure out the mystery because as in all mysteries there are a set of characters we meet and it’s going to be one of them – in this film that is only two or three people, and if you just pay attention to the scene in which Mr. Johnson overhears to people talking, well, it’s all there. The transfer is okay – a bit brown for my taste. I have a UK DVD, which doesn’t look very good but does, at least, have accurate reds – the reds in this transfer are more rust. Anyone who’s seen a bus in the UK knows it’s RED. But it’s sharp and fine and the stereo sound is very good for Leigh Harline’s excellent score.
After that, I stayed on the couch and listened to a couple of Sibelius symphonies on SACD. One was the Ole Schmidt fifth symphony, which I’d already heard on CD – the performance, while not my favorite reading, was fine, but the sound wasn’t all that. But the SACD is a HUGE improvement and makes the performance more compelling. As some may remember, when I first began my exploration of these symphonies, I got the set that everyone and their mother thinks is the be all and end all cycle, conducted by Colin Davis with the Boston Symphony. I found it merely okay, didn’t like the muffled sound, and didn’t love his interpretations. The SACD of two of the symphonies was a big improvement for the sound but didn’t make me like the performances any better. All that said, the more I listen to this Leif Segerstam set the more impressed I am by it. It’s certainly in my top five of these cycles. While I love my speakers that I use at the computer, I’m going to start listening to a few of my favorite Sibelius CDs on the better den speakers, just for fun.
I then got the event page done for the March Kritzerland show, which I’m hoping and suspecting will sell out quickly. I listened to more music, fell down, and then took a hot shower.
Today, I have a noon o’clock lunch meeting with an actor friend – we’re going to chat about perhaps doing an audio book for Thrill Ride, but not quite in the conventional way. He does a lot of audio books so he knows that whole routine. But my idea for this is to let him do all the male voices but NOT the female voices. I’m thinking about bringing in two actresses to do those. I know that’s unconventional, but for this book that’s what I think would work best. He has his own studio in his home and says he can get it done in two four-hour sessions. From there, it’s easy to get it onto Amazon and other sites. What do you think? After the lunch, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll make a show order, I must start learning the second song Guy Haines is supposed to sing, just in case he’s a no-show. Other than that, I’ll watch a motion picture and relax.
Tomorrow I’m hoping we start on the book design, but won’t probably know that until tomorrow. Other than that, I’m supping with the Jones people. Saturday, we’ll do book stuff if we haven’t done that on Friday – it’s a bit more complicated on Saturday, because the gal who commissioned me to write the song is coming to hear it and that’s at one, right in the middle of the day. And I have the belated birthday dinner with Sami and mom and that will probably be around six-thirty. Doing the book stuff will most likely take three or four hours, depending on how much he’s already done before I arrive. My goal is to have it to the publisher a week from tomorrow. Sunday I judge the finals of the singing contest, and then next week is quite busy with any number of things.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a lunch meeting, hopefully pick up packages, make a show order, perhaps start writing a commentary, learn a song, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite mystery movies set in Merry Olde England? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy nothing serious happened from the episode of the untied shoelaces.