Well, dear readers, I have breaking bombshell news for you, so hold on to your hats and shoes because it is August. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is August, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that August will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. I mean it. Meanwhile, the final day of July was filled with surprises. I only got about three or four hours of sleep, and the first two or three hours of the day were the worst. And then, suddenly, like the snap of the fingers, the day turned around and ended up being a great day. Here’s why: I got the galley and covers to proof, everything was fine, I approved it, I signed off on it, and the book went to the printers. That’ll take a week or two for the soft cover to get to me and the hardcover takes a bit longer, but I’ll place my order before I get it. It should hit Amazon next week, hopefully by mid-week, and then hopefully they’ll consolidate the eBook and the soft and hardcover into one thing – they do that pretty quickly. Once it’s available on Amazon, I’ll purchase the hardcover – that way it’ll get to me in a couple of days, so I don’t have to wait two or three weeks to see the hardcover. Once I have it, then I’ll place my order, and that should take three weeks, so my hope is we’ll have the books at the end of August. I want to do a launch party somewhere, so I’m trying to figure that out. I may see what the deal is at Vitello’s for their upstairs room. If we do it there, we can sing some Sherman Brothers songs, too, which would be really fun. And I’ll have books there to sign and sell. I’ll need someone to do that for me and I’ll probaby have to get one of those portable card readers or some app for the iPhone. I think it’s pretty easy these days. Dear readers Jeanne knows a bookstore in Westchester, so we’ll perhaps do a signing there – but I also know a store in Woodland Hills, and we could do one there, too, which would really be fun since the owner of that store is the person who turned me onto Author House way back in 2001. I really want to work this book. If I could afford it, I’d hire a publicist for a couple of months. Anyway, that was a big load off. We also had a modern major miracle so that I could finally get a new computer. I went over to the Apple Store and spent over an hour there, asking lots of questions, and in the end I decided the best thing for me would be a 2TB Mac Mini and a 27-inch monitor and that’s what I did. The monitor is here, but no Apple Store carries the 2TB version of the Mini – you have to order it. So, we did, and it should get to me somewhere between August 7 and 11, so not too long, although I sure would have loved to get it right away. I do think there’s a store in Beverly Hills where you can get the 2TB version in store, but it’s more money there.
Of course, you think that’s the end of it, but you have to also get Apple Care, various cords, and a new keyboard and track pad, because mine are old and the new ones use USB-C for charging. After doing all that, I went to the mail place and picked up one important envelope – I hate when they’re not both there, but hopefully the other one will get there today. But the one that WAS there was the most important, so that’s good. I then came right home, ordered some Panda Express. When I got up, I had my English muffin and jam and pill one. The Panda arrived ten minutes later, and I ate that and took pill two. Then I pulled out my 5TB external hard drive and used a USB-A to USB-C adaptor cord so I could plug in to my computer. Then I began a backup of the entire computer. I knew it would be slow due to the age of my computer (ten years old) – it originally was going to take twelve hours, but that kept changing and it ultimately took eight hours – slow, but not horrible. In fact, there are ten minutes remaining and less than 20 gigs to go – my computer had 785 gigs to back up. Getting the backup ported over to the Mini Mac will go MUCH faster because we’ll use the Thunderbolt cord – probably won’t take more than an hour or so, I should think. After that, I finished the Billy Joel documentary, part deux. It’s really good and ultimately very touching. Backup just finished – next backup is twenty minutes from now, but that one won’t take but a couple of minutes because it will only backup what I’ve done in the past twenty minutes. It does that every hour, backs up the new stuff. I’ll use that drive as a backup for the Mac Mini. I thought you could store an entire backup in the Cloud, but you can’t.
After the Billy Joel documentary, I watched a motion picture entitled Little Murders, the 1971 film of Jules Feiffer’s play. I saw it when it first came out and thought it was a pretty amusing black comedy that’s still surprisingly relevant today. Yes, you’d have to change a few no longer acceptable words, but the humor is so dark and so quirky. The ending I don’t think you could get away with today. The cast is wonderful – Vincent Gardenia and Elizabeth Wilson are brilliant as the parents of Marcia Rodd and she should have become a big star after her performance, but no one saw the movie so that didn’t happen. She’s just great. Elliot Gould is Elliot Gould. But then you also get Donald Sutherland, who is hilarious, Lou Jacobi, ditto, John Randolph and Doris Roberts as Gould’s parents, and Alan Arkin as a detective – he also directed the movie, which was shot by Gordon Willis, only his fifth film and before he hit it big with The Godfather, Klute, All the President’s Men, and other great movies. It was really fun to see it after all these years. That’s about it and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up by ten at the latest, I’ll have the usual English muffin and jam, then I’ll do banking, after which I’ll stop at Staples and buy a black notebook for the script of the play I’ll be directing. Then I’ll come home, have a couple of egg sandwiches, and just not do much of anything other than watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll be seeing the play at the Group Rep. I’ll go have a meal at five-thirty down that way and then mosey on over to the theater. Sunday is a ME day. Then next week is busy and I have a work session for the play’s songs – we have to do arrangements so that Richard Allen can start orchestrating. There’ll be meetings and meals and hopefully the book will be up on Amazon sooner than later.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten at the latest, have my food and pill, do banking, hopefully pick up the other important envelope, get a black notebook, come home, eat, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – CD, a couple of potential Kritzerland releases. Blu-ray, Play It Again, Sam. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to welcome the august month of August, and it is my fervent hope and prayer that August will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.