Well, dear readers, it is Sunday, a day of rest if ever there was one and there was one and it was Sunday. And what do you suppose I’m doing as I write these here notes? Yes, Virginia, I am listening to music, specifically Eugene Ormandy conducted two wonderful pieces by a virtually unknown American composer named John Vincent. I had the LP back in the day and I loved this music, just as I loved the music of Robert Ward and a handful of other wonderful American composers who weren’t named Aaron Copland. Before that, we had a truly scrumptious disc of Ravel, Debussy, and Chabrier, and before that Ormandy’s immensely popular version of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana – there may be better versions, but this is the one I always come back to. And before that it was the beautiful Sibelius violin concerto. I also loaded ten more CDs, which leaves twenty-eight to go. Next up, is Bach by Ormandy and Ormandy was always a wonderful Bach person. Prior to that, I napped for ninety minutes and prior to that I watched a motion picture entitled Misconduct, from 2015. It begins promisingly with a decent opening until we get the dreaded “One week ago” stuff and we instantly enter cliché land. And we remain there until the end of the film. Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino must have had nothing to do for a couple of weeks and they must have gotten a nice payday to chew any scenery in view. Pacino especially is risible, with perhaps the worst Southern accent ever. The plot becomes so convoluted so they can then do a few twists that are not really surprises, including a last-minute twisteroo copied directly from a popular 1990s film based on a novel by Scott Turow. The lead actor is someone named Josh Duhamel, who has to be one of the most boring actors I’ve ever seen. First and only time director and a fussy one at that, and I highly don’t recommend it. But I then watched a hilarious Jack Benny program with Gary Cooper as guest star. Great fun, and then I watched a complete version of Abbott and Costello’s Who’s on First routine. Prior to all that malarky, I got about four hours of sleep. At 12:45, food arrived. A steak jernt called Black Angus in Burbank – I gather it’s a chain. I’d ordered a six-ounce New York, four crispy tiny shrimp things, scalloped potatoes and broccoli. The steak was very good and of high quality and the shrimp were pretty good. The scalloped potatoes complimented the steak very well, and then the steak complimented the scalloped potatoes, which was very nice of the steak. It was reasonably priced thanks to a discount code and delivery was free. I don’t think I’d order it for the house again, but I’d certainly go there and have a meal. Then I finally buckled down, Winsocki and wrote four pages for the project with David Wechter. I probably have another two or three until I finish my sequence, at which point David takes over. And now, the toccata and fugue in D-minor by Bach is playing in its Ormandy orchestration. And here we are.
Today, I have a Diet Coke delivery happening – I wasn’t given the choice of delivery time, so it’s supposedly coming between seven and eight delivered by Walmart – big sale there and nowhere else I could find – about five bucks for a twelve-pack. I’ll go back to bed once it’s here. Once really up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I may write and try to finish my sequence, I’ll either make some pasta here or I may order in – we’ll see what I’m in the mood for. If I do the pasta, I’ll probably do a quick Gelson’s run and get some ground beef for the sauce. Then it will be a ME day and I’ll watch, listen, and relax – and I’ll finish loading the CDs.
This week will be hopefully approving the galley and covers so that they can then go to the printers for test books, I think I’ll put up the eBook version tomorrow or Tuesday, I have some meetings and meals and just trying to keep my head above water.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, take possession of Diet Coke early in the morning, then once up do whatever needs doing, write and finish my sequence, I’ll eat, and then I’ll load the rest of the CDs and watch, listen, and relax. 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, whilst I spend a lazy Sunday doing not much of anything.