Well, dear readers, let us now return to those thrilling days of yesteryear, with a Hi-You Silver and away. Yes, it is I or me, The Lone Ranger of the notes, the masked man who stands for all that is good, including rice pudding, the man who knew too much, the man with the golden arm, the man that got away, the man who shot Liberty Valance, the man who would be king and the man who fell to earth, but most importantly, the man who came to dinner. Yes, I came to dinner last night and it was a high old time filled with memories and tales of days gone by, a dinner of Chinese food such as fried rice, orange chicken, Peking duck, scallion pancakes, garlic string beans, and Ruta Lee at the next table. In the words of Ira Gershwin, who could ask for anything more? We convened at the Shanghai Rose in the City of Studio. They’ve moved from their original City of Studio location next to my Bank of America branch to the restaurant that used to house the Daily Grill. I’ve had food delivered from Shanghai Rose, which I didn’t love, but this was my first time being there in person. The attendees of this fine and fun evening were my cousins Dee Dee (not my real cousin but married to my real cousin) and Alan (my real cousin who is married to Dee Dee, my fake cousin), our friend Saul Saladow, with whom I went to high school and then LACC, and one other interesting guest called ME. We arrived at the o’clock of seven, at least I did. Everyone else had arrived a minute or two before me. I got no entrance applause but neither did Ruta Lee. I won’t go into too much detail other than to say there was much merriment and mirth and laughter and legs. Cousin Alan will be ninety early next year but looks great. The rest of us young’uns didn’t look too bad either except for my being forty pounds heavier than I’d like to be. To be or not to be and I would like not to be forty pounds heavier. We were there quite some time, the food was good, and then that part of the evening was over and I put gas in the motor car – eighty-five bucks to fill it up because gas prices, when they should be going DOWN in California are going UP in California and not a single politician is man or woman enough to do something about it, and let me tell you, something can absolutely be done about it. Just sanction the oil companies for needless price gouging – star there.
Yesterday was a day that felt like a Sunday, which is good because it WAS a Sunday. I got about six hours of sleep and got up at eleven-thirty because the air conditioning man was on his way. He arrived and had me turn on the air and he scoped thing out. Of course, it’s been blowing really hot air since Friday, but because the air conditioning man was there, it decided to gaslight me and blow cold air again. Isn’t that always the damn way?
Anyway, he replaced the filter, added a bit of the cold stuff, and then I told him that the thermostat has been wonky and just shutting completely down as if the batteries were dead – you know, not working at all or showing any numbers and you couldn’t even turn it on. He said that could actually be the problem, so he put in a new thermostat, a much better one and now everything is working fine.
Then I began futzing and finessing and that took a very long time – confusing dates and times and things in the wrong place, so I spent a full two hours getting all that right. Then I wrote a few new pages, shaved and showered, and then wrote another six pages. I’d also added several pages, so by the time I left for dinner I’d already done eleven pages.
When I got home, I wrote two more – they took a long time because something was telling me tht the way I was writing a sequence was not only not going to work but was wrong in terms of feel and where I need the story to go. I finally figured it out and rewrote and now it’s going to work fine. I’ll do one more page before I go to bed.
Today, I’ll be up by ten-thirty at the latest, I’ll futz and finesse, and then I’ll send around ninety new pages to Muse Margaret. Then I’ll take a break, eat, and then I’ll mush on and try to write at least eight pages, maybe more. Then I can watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week will be writing. I’m probably now around 120 pages away from finishing, although that’s really just a guess.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten-thirty at the latest, futz and finesse, send Muse Margaret pages, eat, write new pages, and then at some point, watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could see one friend from your childhood again, one who’s still alive, who would that be and why them? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, as I return you to those thrilling days of yesteryear.