Well, dear readers, continuing on the John Williams journey, which is a journey I enjoy taking once a year, now playing is his great score to the John Frankenheimer-directed thriller, Black Sunday. The movie itself is terrific, and I really must locate the Blu-ray and watch it again. This is my favorite period for Williams scores, from around 1968 to perhaps the early 90s. After that, it gets a bit spotty for me, although there are still great scores every now and then. But he and the Jerry Goldsmith of that era just cannot be beat. One great score after another. But to get to the gist because we must always get to the gist – I got about six hours of sleep, got up, got dressed, and then at around eight-forty, the assembly person showed up to assemble and assemble he did. It only took about twenty minutes and then he left, and I moved the former barstools and put the new ones in place – a tiny bit wobbly but not the fault of the chairs but the floor, which is simply uneven, but who isn’t, really? I’m finding the new barstool more comfortable, especially the seat. I do wish the back were a bit higher, but these will work just fine. Then I had a really long conversation with the hubby of the gal whose book I’ve been fixing up – and then the gal herself. I talked her through some of the stuff I’ve cleaned up and she was not only fine with all of it, she asked me to cut repetition and take out anything that didn’t feel right in terms of how she’s presenting herself. That was very good news and I’m happy to do it – there’s not all that much, but it will be better with a few cuts. Doing that kind of proofing is VERY slow going, but I’m doing it for her and that’s that. After that, I went to the mail place and picked up the second item that Heritage had never returned to me. I’m glad to have both book and the Morocco painting back at long last. I’d resigned myself that I’d never see either again even though them keeping them was not exactly legal. But here’s the Reader’s Digest version of what happened: About a decade ago, I put some stuff in one of their auctions. The book and Morocco painting never did get listed in that particular auction, but I had quite a few other things in it, including some very rare items. All of it sold, with only one item not bringing the kind of money it should have. Overall, I was very pleased.
A few weeks later, I got the check for my stuff, and it was very nice and certainly helpful. I put it in the bank, and over the next few months, spent it. All good. Then, about nine or ten MONTHS later, maybe even eleven months, I get an e-mail from them saying they’d accidentally sent me more money than they should have, about fifteen grand more. Say what? They said they’d appreciate it if I’d return the overage they paid immediately. I couldn’t believe it. I got my point person on the phone and voiced my displeasure and told him that the money was long gone, nor did I think them screwing up was MY problem, especially when it was almost a year later. Frankly, I didn’t even check the check they sent against the total they sold of my stuff, but I did guess that between what they took from my part of the sale and the buyer’s premium, it must have covered whatever their mistake was, so I knew they weren’t really out any money. Then they made the mistake of trying to bully me and get tough with me. I suggested we all walk into a court of law and tell the story to a judge and jury and see who walked out victorious. That stopped them and I never heard from them again. However, I had won several items on one of their weekly auctions, paid for them, and they spitefully never sent the won items, and then they blocked me from bidding.
After I got the book back, I registered again, using a different e-mail address and bank card. It went through and that lasted all of three days before they blocked again and said I had to contact “collections.” Now that I have the Morocco painting back, I think I will call collections and try to get them to see reality. First of all, it’s really over whether they like it or not – there’s this little thing called the statute of limitations. If they see the light and stop being stupid, I might even put some stuff up for auction, but in order for that to happen I’d need a signed paper saying the other thing is no longer an issue and that they will not attempt to keep any money for the new stuff. We shall see.
I stopped at Gelson’s and got some bagels, cream cheese, lox, and tuna for food, then came right home. I was starving, so I made two tuna sandwiches, and they were excellent. Then I proofed about twenty pages – very slow going trying to not only catch everything but to clean it up, as well. I don’t think when I was fixing the formatting that I did any typos or clean-up until about page thirty, so that will be helpful to have stuff already done. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and dozed off for an hour. Once up, I watched a TV movie thing called The House on Garibaldi Street. The first few minutes seemed familiar, but nothing after that did. Turns out, I’d started watching it two years ago, fell asleep, and never finished it. It’s about the discovery that Adolph Eichmann was living in Brazil under a fake name, his capture, and his return to stand trial, where he was found guilty and was executed. The TV movie does generate quite a bit of suspense in the last twenty minutes, which is amazing since we already know they’ll get out of Brazil. It stars Topol, Janet Suzman, Martin Balsam and other fine actors. I enjoyed it and it does move right along. Since it doesn’t cover the trial at all, I’d guess that there may be more than one movie that does, so I’ll seek that out, as I’d like to see how the trial played out.
I had a bagel, lox, and cream cheese for my evening snack, took the third pill and here we are. Here’s a photograph of the new barstool.
And the Morocco painting, done by the wonderful Igor Edelman – I commissioned him to recreate the movie poster, since an original poster for Morocco would probably fetch over a 100K. He did a great job. Sorry for the glare.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll damn well have a ME day, I may proof just a bit, but mostly I’ll probably have lox and bagels for food, and maybe some sweet treat as a sweet treat, and then watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I’ll do more proofing but also get everything ready in terms of shipping out the book. Tuesday, she of the Evil Eye comes, Wednesday, books should arrive, Thursday, books will ship unless the helper picks them up on Wednesday afternoon, and Friday I see the neurologist, if you get my gist.
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, proof a bit, have lox and bagels for food, maybe a sweet treat, 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, happy to have had the gist of the notes.