Well, dear readers, it’s the day of the big tenth anniversary show, and we are rehearsed and ready and excited as all get out and I think we all know how excited all get out is. I’m not going into any details in these here notes, however – I’ll do that in tomorrow’s post show notes. But we are ready, willing, and able and we do hope you’ll be with us at 5:00 PDT/8:00 EDT, whenever o’clock if you’re overseas, and who isn’t? I’m especially hoping you’ll watch it live because that’s going to be the most fun way to watch this particular show. Some seem rather oddly obstinate to do so, but please make an exception for this one. We have worked so hard for the past four weeks and I rarely ask for favors here, but I’m asking now. And so there up close and personal, here are the links for Facebook and YouTube Live. If you still haven’t “liked” the Facebook page, do so, because then you get an alert, and if you like YouTube better, then subscribe to that page and you’ll get an alert from there.
YouTube Live: https://www.youtube.com/haineshisway
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/KritzerlandUpstairsatVitellos
Otherwise, I am merely sitting here like so much fish, listening to the calming music of one Claude Debussy – this is all stuff I found on YouTube, where other composers orchestrated his piano and smaller pieces. What a composer he was. A shame he never wrote any symphonies, but what he did write was and is cherce. Some of it is so lush and ravishing it’s rather like eating two hot fudge sundaes with whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry. I gotta tell you. I am rather tired, for reasons you’ll understand when we get to the next paragraph, which I feel will be soon but not quite yet because I feel there is more to be said in this paragraph. I could, of course, forego that and just tell you the tale of The Randy Vicar and the Crab Claw. It’s a bit fishy but quite racy. I did finish listening to all of the Ormandy original jackets CDs, some of which I’d never gotten around to playing. What a collection and what sound. Most of the albums in this set have recently been remastered in Japan in SACD. Interestingly, though, not the one I’d want most, the Rachmaninoff second symphony. I might give one of the SACDs a try, just to see what they’ve done with the sound. Well, I think that’s enough first paragraph palaver, don’t you? And look, not only is paragraph two coming up in but a moment, but so is page two of these here notes, as I write them in Word using words that take up pages.
Yesterday, I got almost five hours of sleep – had difficulty falling asleep, which is what usually happens when I have to get up early. I was up thirty minutes before the alarm was scheduled to go off. Once up, I answered e-mails and did a few things on the computer, and then about forty-five minutes later, she of the Evil Eye arrived and I got in the motor car and moseyed on over to Jerry’s Deli.
I sat at one of their outdoor tables. There was only one other diner there and he was about fifty feet away from me, so that was fine. I had matzoh brei and some fruit, for about 300 calories. I actually killed a lot of time there because this weekend there’s a virtual book fair and I was looking at all the dealers’ stuff – they don’t list more than ten of fifteen things, so you move along pretty quickly, but there was no end in sight when I stopped at about 154 dealers.
After that, I picked up no anything at the mail place, then went to Gelson’s and got a chicken Caesar salad for the late afternoon. It was already on sale and I got some extra dressing. I recently signed up for their rewards program and when I gave them my phone number to put in, I ended up saving five bucks, so it was only nine bucks total, pretty good. Then I came home and thankfully she of the Evil Eye had already left.
I had more e-mails to respond to, I did a few things that needed doing, but mostly I relaxed and listened to music. We had our final checks on the show stuff and then I ate the chicken Caesar salad at around four – it was very good and ran about 700 calories, bringing me right to 1000 calories. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train on Blu and Ray. What a great film, what dialogue, what performances, what direction. There are so many great scenes and moments that you forgive the cheesy cardboard photographs of people in the stands at the tennis game. I’m sure that passed muster when the film came out with release prints fuzzing out some of that detail – on Blu-ray it’s painfully obvious. But the finale with the merry-go-round? Fantastic. And of course, the film ends with a reprise of the film’s first line: “Aren’t you Guy Haines?” How many times have I personally had to answer that same question?
After that, I decided to take a walk. I walked for 2.2 miles and rather briskly, so that was nice and probably knocked off a few calories. Once back home, I just listened to music and played on the computer, perusing YouTube for this and that as well as that and this, and then it was time to write these here notes.
Today, I’ll be up by noon at the latest, but hopefully closer to eleven. I’ll do nothing but relax, I’ll shave and shower, and then we’ll do our tenth anniversary show. Afterwards, I’ll eat something fun, probably a Chinese chicken salad from Stanley’s, as Grubhub sent an e-mail saying Stanley’s was having ten dollars off, so even with their fee and delivery charge, it came to less than if I went there to buy it AND it included the tip. So, I have it in my Grubhub bag. Then I’m sure I’ll relax.
This coming week is a recuperating week for me. I have things that need doing, but this was our fifth online show in a row, and these are much more complicated to do than the live shows are, so after five of ‘em I need a few days to myself. And boy do we need some little miracles right about now.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by noon or hopefully earlier, I’ll do nothing but relax, I’ll shave and shower, and then we’ll do our tenth anniversary show, after which I’ll eat a Chinese chicken salad. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, excited that this is the day of the show.