Well, dear readers, may I just point out that it is February? Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is February, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that February will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. And, of course, we need the completion of a major miracle so please send your most excellent vibes and xylophones. Yes, let’s have a very merry February, shall we? Otherwise, I am sitting here like so much fish thanks to the last hour of January gifting me with a bleeding head due to ramming said head into the corner of a cabinet whilst unplugging a back-up drive. I’ve done this before and really try to be careful but had a momentary lapse of careful and here I am with a washcloth on my head, holding it down tightly, trying to minimize the cut. Certainly, I’ll be wearing my hat for the next week when out in public. I should probably take an aspirin so hold the phone whilst I do so. Aspirin taken. Bleeding has stopped, I think. Otherwise, I’ve been listening to all the Schreker operas again and I really love them all. I nuke them out of iTunes after listening because I have to free up more room on the computer and I have all the operas in one handy-dandy easy-to-find place, the cabinet above the computer. So, anytime I want to hear something all I need to do is pull it down from there and play it. Right now, as I write these here notes with a washcloth on my head like a yarmulke, I’m listening to Fred Karlin’s marvelous score for the film, The Stalking Moon, a motion picture about a stalking moon. I tell you, if I was being stalked by a moon, I would get a restraining order. As it is, I’m thinking I might get a restraining order against ramming my head into the corner of a cabinet. But now I’ve switched to the marvelous trumpet player Freddie Hubbard – he made some wonderful albums with orchestra, including one great one with Claus Ogerman. Right now, I’m listening to a fantastic track of him playing Lonely Town from On the Town, with orchestra. Not sure who did this orchestration. Let’s see if I can find out. Hold the phone. Ah, the great Don Sebesky. Well, let’s find out about the rest of yesterday, shall we?
Yesterday was a perfectly okay day. I got nine-and-a-half hours of sleep, which was great. Once up and coherent, I began entering fixes for the first few pages of the book. Then I went to pick up the package that had come the day before, and yet when I went to pick up said package said package was not there, or so they said. So, I went to eBay on my iPhone and showed them the delivered thing that I’d gotten. But when we clicked on it, it said the package had been delivered to Irvine, California, which was interesting since that’s where it had been shipped FROM. It seemed to have made its way as far as Bell Gardens and then gone BACK to Irvine. But it was worth the trip because one of the important envelopes was there, the more important of the two that come every month. I came home and immediately wrote the eBay seller, who responded quickly saying I was the second person this had happened to. He’ll check with the USPS today and get back to me and the other person. Nothing surprises me about the USPS anymore, seriously.
I ordered a Chinese chicken salad for food, then went back to entering fixes. I took a break to eat the salad, which was great, and then it was back to entering fixes. I got through 100 pages, at which point Marshall Harvey arrived with his back-up drive to watch the final locked version of project one aka Tonight’s the Night. Earlier, he’d talked to the guy who was doing the smoother sound mix, but that guy admitted that he wasn’t happy with the result, so Marshall told him it was fine, that both he and I were happy with Marshall’s mix. It’s not perfect nor should it be given the conceit of the project. It works just fine the way it is and frankly I didn’t want it smoother.
We watched the show straight through, all sixty-eight minutes of it and it just played beautifully. Marshall was amazed by my Audioengine speakers and how good the music sounded. Hartley’s two effects sequences were perfect and so it’s now locked and going to Hartley, who deals with the actual streaming thing. As mentioned, this one’s only going to be on the Tube of You. I didn’t want to bother with Facebook – too many glitches there. My recommendation is if you are able to get YouTube on your big TV, watch it that way, but it will look good if watched on a computer, too.
After that, I did a quick Gelson’s run and got two small snacks, came home, ate them, and then went back to entering fixes, ultimately doing the fixes for the first 155 pages, so I should be able to finish that process today. The rest you know, including the washcloth on the head.
Today, I’m going to try and be up by ten-thirty so I can go do my banking. I’m hoping the lines won’t be too crazy. I may try the Sherman Oaks branch of the bank the check is drawn on – I’ve been lucky there in terms of no lines. Then I’d go directly to the branch of my bank near me and hope for the best. Then I’ll enter fixes, hopefully pick up some packages and the other important envelope, I have an errand to do at some point in the afternoon, I’ll eat, I’ll send the book to proofer one after I’ve finished, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is continuing to plan the March Kritzerland and getting ready for project two’s casting, which I hope will happen in the next couple of weeks.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten-thirty, do banking, enter fixes, hopefully pick up packages and an important envelope, send the book to the proofer, do an errand, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: When you were a kid, what was your favorite high-end ice cream treat, i.e. hot fudge sundae, banana split, that kind of thing – the most sinful extravagances as an adult, too. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall hope and pray that February will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. And for the completion of a major miracle and a very merry February.