Well, dear readers, I really am ready for some calmer days. Some calmer days would be greatly appreciated by the likes of me. This is supposed to be my vacation, isn’t it? My holiday two weeks? Yes, it is. And yet. To bring you up to date as much as I can at this point – the old car was supposed to be picked up yesterday, but I don’t think it was. Hopefully, that will happen today so that I can get my first payment. I sent the signed title off where it was supposed to go, so that arrives on Friday and that should trigger my second payment. I am really trying hard to not have this slide into next week. I would like a calmer next week. I e-mailed the gal at the body shop and asked if she’d please stay on top of it and to let me know when it’s happened. The hopefully good news is that I test drove a car yesterday, thought it drove really well, was pleased that it’s in minty fresh condition, and everything seems to be in fine working order. NO accidents, all servicing done every step of the way, and two previous owners who obviously really took care of the car. The guy who brought it was incredibly nice and helpful, we locked down the particulars and I committed to the car and didn’t have to give him any money to hold it. The plan is that Friday I’ll get him at least half or a bit more of the money, if the first payment has come in. I don’t want to say more about the car until everything is done. Then I’ll have photographs galore for your mental delectation. I only got four and a half hours of sleep due to ABS (Active Brain Syndrome) – as you might expect, this has all been hugely stressful. I wrote a lot of e-mails in the morning, left messages for my claims gal, but to no answer. I finally went back to the original gal and asked if she could please help to get this woman to call me. That worked and I got the answers I needed. After the car stuff, Robert Yacko was kind enough to drive me to the mail place – hadn’t been there in five days and yet there was only one single Christmas card and zero packages. Amazing. They got the title thing in a two-day envelope and promised it would go out in the afternoon, so that’s good. Then he took me home.
By that time, I was really hungry, so I got a Chinese chicken salad from Stanley’s, and I must say and will say that it was really good. The only other food I had was some green and red peppers and the onion dip. That was good, too. I finished watching a French movie from France entitled The Clockmaker of St. Paul, starring Philippe Noire and Jean Rochefort, directed by Bertrand Tavernier (his first feature), based on a novel by Georges Simenon. It’s kind of a weird movie, not well paced, but wonderfully acted. I think Mr. Tavernier was finding his footing with this one, although it was a hit. I also don’t think they were especially true to the book, the biggest change being that the novel is set on the East Coast near New York and the film is set in France. A spare but nice score by Philippe Sarde.
Then I watched a streaming screener of The Six Triple Eight, written and directed by Tyler Perry and based on true events, about a Black troupe of WACS in WWII. I will admit to having never seen Mr. Perry in anything nor seen any of his films. It’s an okay film, very manipulative, and I don’t believe there’s a single shot in the movie that we haven’t seen in countless others, nor a single story beat that we haven’t seen in countless others – it’s like a greatest hits of other movies of this nature. It just keeps hitting you over the head, bludgeoning you with what you’re supposed to feel. The movie was certainly temp tracked with music from other films, and if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say a little Horner, a little Williams, and even some Morricone. Like the film itself, it just hits you over the head. And at the end what do we get? Hold on to your hats – another Dianne Warren power ballad, some silliness about a journey – just her typical thing. It wants you to applaud, to cry, but it’s just too blatant for me. You want to know how it’s done right, that kind of thing? Look no further than The Best Years of Our Lives – true emotion, unforced, no manipulation, a score that works WITH the film’s characters and emotions, but never says to the audience – BIG CYRING MOMENT AHEAD. The actors are all fine, all the white characters are complete cliches, and I cannot stand the actor who plays the general, but he’s been in tons of TV series and movies so what do I know? Susan Sarandon and Sam Waterston are kind of ludicrous as the Roosevelts, and the dialogue throughout frequently reaches risible levels. I didn’t hate it – the story is interesting, but for me, the best thing in the movie is Kerry O’Malley’s brief turn as a mom who is hugely upset at never getting any mail from her overseas son. I could have used MORE of that story, frankly. All the stuff about getting 17 million pieces of mail to the families and soldiers in only three months, that’s all interesting.
After that, the computer was definitely getting ready to crash – everything was slow and wonky so before it actually crashed, I manually shut it down and then re-started it. It took about fifteen minutes to fully get itself where it needed to be, and it’s basically been fine since.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’m hoping to have some good news about the car stuff, so send excellent vibes and xylophones, please, I have no real plans but I may have some fake plans just to irritate the real plans, I have the ingredients to make a chili, cheese, and onion omelet so I may just do that for food, then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax. The most important thing is to get that first payment. All digits crossed.
Tomorrow is more of the same and I’m hoping payment two comes along quickly. The weekend is obviously mine all mine, and then next week we head directly to the Do.
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, hope for good news, eat, then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What were your favorite books you read in 2024? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping we get good news for the car payment to get processed today so we can have some calmer days, starting here, starting now.