Well, dear readers, at noon o’clock yesterday I finished book 25, a work of non-fiction. There is not one word of fiction in this book of non-fiction. I could have probably finished it in the middle of the night, but I probably would have been up until five doing it and I wanted to be fresh going to the finish line. But I only got four hours of sleep and could not fall back asleep due to extreme overload of ABS (Active Brain Syndrome), so up I got. When I could focus, I futzed and finessed the forty-four pages I’d written and as you might imagine that took a while. Then I finished the book’s penultimate chapter, which ended up being only about five pages, then I wrote the brief final chapter of only two pages and that was that. I wasn’t going to send Muse Margaret the pages, but I took a brief break, futzed and finessed those seven pages, and sent her the final batch of 165 pages. She called at six saying she’d had a really exhausting day and had just gotten home so she’d read them today. I’d rather her be fresh when she reads them. I do have one set of brief cuts to run by her to see if she thinks I should make them – it’s really only two short paragraphs and one sentence. Anyway, finishing the book is always both a thrill and bittersweet. I posted to Facebook that I’d finished this book of non-fiction followed by “Be afraid, be very afraid.” After I finished, I shaved and showered and then I was taken for a belated birthday meal at BJ’s Brewery in the Bank of Bur. I’d been there once or twice and enjoyed the food. They had lunch specials and even though we arrived about five minutes too late our server let me partake of it. I had a fried chicken breast in country gravy, with mashed potatoes and a corn medley of some sort. Before that arrived, I had a small cup of clam chowder, which was really good and nice to have on a cold, rainy day. Then came the fried chicken thing and that was really tasty. It wasn’t a huge amount of food and yet by the time I finished I thought I was going to explode. But I had a birthday dessert coming, their famous pizzookie, the classic chocolate chip with vanilla ice cream. I got the mini version, but they brought me the maxi version instead. I could only eat half of it, or they would have to roll me out of there in a wheelbarrow. The fellow who took me had one of their deep-dish pizzas and his own pizzookie. Conversation was fun and it was really nice to actually sit in a restaurant and have a leisurely meal.
After that, I came home, had a couple of fun telephonic conversations, and watched the first two episodes of the current season of True Detective, this particular season starring Jodie Foster. It’s a little HBO-ish for my taste – so many of their shows look, feel, and sound the same. A bit too arty for its own good, but I do love Jodie Foster so I’ll try to stick with it.
I talked to David Wechter and we’ll be back to work on our screenplay on Thursday, so that will be fun. And that was the day and evening, I’m kind of exhausted, and here we are. At the moment, I’m finally listening to the two-CD Deutsche Grammophon recording of Franz Schreker music. I’m just finishing up disc one and it’s so beautiful and lush – this guy is the real deal, folks. I’ve written about him many times, of his orchestral works and his glorious operas, but I’m not sure most here even bother to check him out. But you should, Blanche, you should. I discovered his music in the late 1980s on a disc I’d bought for the other composer on it. But it was the Schreker piece that I ended up loving. Wonderful orchestrations and glorious tonal music by an obvious master. Now I want to listen to all the operas again. I think I still have them in Music, so that will be easy.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, and then, baby, I am having a damn ME day. I’ll check and see if anything’s at the mail place, I’ll eat something fun, and then I’ll hope to hear from Muse Margaret. Mostly, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, hopefully a celebratory meal in honor of finishing the book, on Thursday I’ll have a Zoom meeting with David Wechter and we’ll get back on track with our screenplay, Friday I’m attending an opening night, and then I’m not sure what the weekend will bring.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, have a ME day, check and see if anything is at the mail place, eat something fun, hope to hear from Muse Margaret, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What is the absolute best fried chicken you’ve ever had? Where did you have it, what made it your favorite, and have you ever made it at home? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have finished book 25, a work on non-fiction.