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May 15, 2020:

CONSISTENCY

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, there is something to be said for consistency.  Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, there is something to be said for consistency, especially in restaurants.  Consistency is good.  Inconsistency is bad.  I don’t like the latter but do like the former.  The former is good.  The latter is bad.  I’ll give you the recent example of Islands – the first time I got delivery from there it was perfect.  The second time it was far less than perfect.  One day the Jersey Mike’s Philly cheesesteak is great, the next day it’s not.  And so it goes.  And yesterday was yet another inconsistent meal from an inconsistent restaurant called California Chicken Café, my third meal there in three weeks.  The first meal, their classic wrap, was fine, as was the side of chicken pasta salad.  The second meal, 1/4 chicken white with a side of chicken pasta salad was great.  And that’s what I decided to have yesterday, but 1/2 white with a side of chicken pasta salad.  Well, it arrived in a timely fashion, but the chicken was slightly undercooked, which I hate, and it was in so much juice that I could have gone swimming in it.  It didn’t taste any better than it looked, but I managed to get through one breast.  I tossed the other one.  The chicken pasta salad also wasn’t as good as usual.  In other words, no consistency.  I’ll tell you what’s consistent: Stanley’s is consistent.  The Cheesecake Factory is consistent.  Genghis Cohen is consistent.  Dino’s Pizza is consistent.  I like things consistently consistent and I’m very consistent in being consistently consistent.  I’m known for it.  These here notes are consistent in their strangeness.  And it is right about now, consistency-wise, that I move on to the second paragraph.

Yesterday was a day in which I only got four hours of sleep, so I was kind of heavy-lidded all day and also stuffed up thanks to our ever-changing whether – today was really hot again.  Once up, I answered e-mails, was surprised there were not tracks to approve or comment on, so I ultimately went back to bed but didn’t sleep a whit or even two whits or even a Whit Bissell.  Once up again, I did some work on the computer and then I went to the mail place and picked up an envelope and no packages.  Then it was to the bank.  I was dismayed to find a sign on the door saying the branch was temporarily closed.  This is very tiresome and it’s going to make life difficult when the first of the new month rolls around.  If I have to go deal with tellers, I don’t know at the branch near me it will not go well AND there are always lines out the door because it’s a tiny little branch.  I will ever understand why they would close a branch in a well-populated place like Studio City.  I may call them tomorrow and see what temporary means, but I think it may mean months.  Infuriating and I’ve quite had it with this stuff.  Banks are essential and they need to be open, it’s that easy.  So, I used the ATM, something I cannot do on the first of the month as it involves cashing a check and depositing that cash into the business account.

Then I came home, ordered the food, and did housecleaning with a Swifter and a broom and some bathroom cleansers.  So, that was a good thing.  The food arrived and that you know was not consistent.  The Swifter was consistent, however.  After eating the inconsistently inconsistent food, I had to deal with a young lady ensemble member who simply was not responding to e-mails.  The first, she said, had gone into spam.  When I got that response three days ago, I sent her everything she needed.  Not a peep.  I sent three subsequent e-mails to the ensemble group about our Zoom rehearsal – she was the only one who didn’t respond.  Robert Yacko had found her, and she always seemed to answer him, and she said she hadn’t gotten any subsequent e-mails.  Well, I’m quite sure if that were true, she should have simply looked in her spam folder.  So, Robert forwarded everything to her, and he even gave her my number so she could just text me.  Nothing. So, I let her go and found someone else.  Of course, several hours later I got an e-mail from the girl saying she’d just seen that last e-mail I sent, while not acknowledging at all the others.  She said she’d still love to do it, but I responded and told her it was too late.

Then I finally got a track to listen to – it had quite a few things that needed adjusting so that conversation happened, and we also went through another chart so he could move on to that one.  I got the fixed track back but it still has one tiny problem to fix.  The other track arrived but also needs adjusting, so I actually got no usable tracks yesterday, which isn’t good.  The two should be waiting for me when I arise, and if I can approve them then there are three left that have to get done today.  Two of them are pretty easy and the third isn’t hard, it just doesn’t have a chart, so he has to create a lead sheet or at least a chord chart to play from.

I then watched a very long motion picture of almost 160 minutes duration, an Otto Preminger film called In Harm’s Way, starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon, Carroll O’Connor, George Kennedy, Henry Fonda, Patrick O’Neal, Brandon de Wilde, Jill Haworth, Paula Prentiss, Dana Andrews – well, everyone, really.  I will admit to having this DVD for a very long time and I was never able to get past the first ten minutes – this time I made it all the way through.  I’m not a huge war movies fan, but the cast was great and it’s pretty good as these things go.  And long.  Really long.  Very well directed by Mr. Preminger, decent script by his usual writer, Wendell Mayes, a very good score by Jerry Goldsmith, great black-and-white scope photography by Loyal Griggs, so definitely worth watching.  It does meander a bit, which you can’t say about Anatomy of a Murder or Advise and Consent.  That took up most of the evening.

I also scheduled the Zoom meetings. I’d never done that before, but I guess I did it right because I was able to notify everyone, give them the link and password.  After all that, I finally relaxed and listened to music.

Today, I’ll be up by eleven at the latest and hopefully earlier (I intend to be in bed no later than two), I’ll get ready for our Zoom meetings and then we’ll have them, back-to-back, wrapping up the second one around two-thirty.  Then I can eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, and hopefully I’ll have approved the two tracks that needed small fixes, and then hopefully we can get the other three done.  Then I’ll watch, listen, and relax.

Tomorrow and Sunday will be more of the same, and then next week it’s all Kritzerland show stuff and finessing the commentary.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully be up by eleven, hopefully approve yesterday’s two tracks and get started on the final three, have two Zoom rehearsals, eat, and then watch, listen, and 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, not sure.  Blu-ray, maybe It Started in Naples.  Your turn.  Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that wherever I eat it will consist of consistency.

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