Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to music and pondering the already imponderable imponderables. Whilst doing so I am also writing these here notes, so they, too, will be imponderably imponderable, which is, of course, as it should be. To have ponderable notes would be unseemly. But before I go any further, may I just say that the Great Instacart Experiment worked yesterday and I received a free delivery of some items from Gelson’s, delivered to the mail place (I really should have had them come here), and then picked up by the likes of me a few hours later. I’d ordered just a few things to see if it worked and it did. They do substitute if they can’t get exactly what you ordered, but the substitutions for three items were fine and dandy as well as dandy and fine. I got mostly frozen Lean Cuisine things, as I don’t have anything like that here and they’re easy to make and best of all low in calories. I did need some dish washer pellets or whatever those things are called – pods, maybe – and they didn’t have Cascade, but the substituted brand looked fine to me. It didn’t cost any more than if I’d gone to the store myself, so that’s one way to deal with things, although I suspect by next Monday this crazy panic and hysteria shopping will have abated.
Otherwise, I got nine hours of sleep yesterday, and then just did stuff around the home environment. I did work on the computer and at the piano, I read about thirty pages of a book I’m reading about the making of the film, Chinatown, I picked up the Instacart delivery and a couple of other packages, but otherwise stayed in the house. I had a Lean Cuisine pepperoni pizza bread thing – I really kind of like them, and I’d gotten some spicy Thai pasta salad in the Gelson’s order – a small amount – and ate most of that but saved a bit for later. Of course, I listened to music. I finished the nine-CD set of Debussy orchestral works, which was pretty great, then listened to stuff I’ve been grabbing on the Tube of You, some of which I really like a lot, especially a Danish composer called Svend Erik Tarp. His symphonies are really quite excellent. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Man in the Shadow, which is actually not about a man in the shadow. This motion picture was a low-budget programmer from Universal, starring Mr. Jeff Chandler, Mr. Orson Welles, and a lot of excellent character actors, ably directed by Jack Arnold. It’s enjoyable for what it is, which is a low-budget programmer. It’s pretty by-the-numbers, but I always enjoy Mr. Chandler. Mr. Welles is pretty much wasted in this. It does look quite cheap, with most of it shot on the Universal backlot. The transfer from Kino is very nice black-and-white scope. I’ve never really known much about Jeff Chandler and was surprised to find how young he was when he passed away – forty-two, and due to medical bungling during an operation. I then watched the first twenty minutes of Bells Are Ringing, just because it’s such a cheery film. It’s so poorly directed that one can’t even imagine what the problem was, since Vincente Minnelli was so good. But oh, that Judy Holliday is a miracle of miracles and the score is simply brilliant.
After that, I made a second pizza bread Lean Cuisine (they’re only 300 calories each), had some Cheeetos and a few treats, and I should think that would all up to not much more than 1000 calories. I had two long telephonic conversations, and that was pretty much it, day and night-wise.
Today, I’ll sleep in a bit, then we have another experiment happening and I hope to have a successful report on it. I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something light, either here or take-out, but probably here, then it will be the usual being at home things. I’m thinking about doing something as long as I’m stuck here – we’ll see if that ends up being interesting. We’re also thinking about putting up Doug’s play on YouTube, as well as A Carol Christmas, so people can see them and perhaps make a donation to the theater. Applause is in danger of not happening this year because of what’s going on – it would be pushed to the 2021 season if that happens. I’d rather do it this year, but whatever ends up working is fine. I’ll keep you posted about all of that, oh, yes, I’ll keep you posted about all of that and more.
The rest of the week, what’s left of it, is obviously more of the same. I do have another experiment happening tomorrow and should have a report on that for you, too. That one’s more fun.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, sleep in a bit, see if experiment two works and report on it, eat, hopefully pick up packages, then I’ll read, watch, and listen, not necessarily in that order. Today’s topic of discussion: What, if any, are your favorite frozen dinners and foods? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that experiment one worked out well.