february 28 2018

Yeah....

I typed a small f, thinking I had my pinky on the shift button... but I left it... 

I know, I'm totally living on the edge today.


Today was an interesting day.


There was a job interview and a visit to the Norton.


I don't think I've discussed the Norton art gallery here; or maybe I have...

but the first thing I remember about it from our kindergarten trip from Pixie Private School is the two statue set at the front entrance.

And they're still there..

Here's the info about one of them..

It's sideways.

This guy is the same guy who did Prometheus in front of the Rockefeller NBC skating rink- or above it or next to it or whatever.

And they are supposed to remain after a huge expansion.



Now the tour guide didn't say it today, but they used to be reversed- so instead of Diana shooting Acteon, she was kind of shooting nothing.  And he was on the left; in agony turning into a stag even though Diana wasn't pointing at him with her bow.  It was explained to me- maybe that first day in kindergarten or maybe later- that the artistic sensibility of the two figures leaning in- drawing the eye and viewer and patron into the building- was more important than a correct narrative.  And I like that line of reasoning.  It makes sense that an art museum would care about that.  But I like the way they are set up now too.


Here's me today.

I took this one in the hallway at PBA.  I was waiting in air conditioning; before finding the perfect table in a shady breezeway later- and not much to do before the museum opens.

It documents the wrinkled shirt I dug out of the trunk- along with shorts- that I changed into, in the car, after the job interview.

But you can't see my jaunty hat.


Maybe next time.

So there's this happy man...

I'm at one of my satellite offices; the Greenacres branch, and this guy is looking at the magazine racks, walking back and forth looking for a cover that will catch his interest.

He looks so happy; which reminds me of the time I was called on video "the game man" which didn't come out the way it was intended... I digress (like Richie from Boston)....
 and this guy walks away without a choice of magazine.  He's wiping his nose with a paper towel, and his back is rather hunched and he's got his pants pulled up to his nose- almost... but why shouldn't he be happy?  Huh?  What's to stop him?

Only him, I guess.

Adjusting to My Cell Phone

So it's been a minute.

I don't check the thing all the time, but I do want it near me.



No.... I'm talking about a puppy or a baby that I have to check if it's breathing.


I'm talking about my cell phone.


One night, it told me on its screen that it was too hot.  Then it told me that again and then it told me that it was going to turn off some apps that were in use, because it was too hot.

I didn't like that so I planned to take it back to Best Buy the next morning.

But I didn't.


Maybe it read my mind, but it hasn't done anything like that since.


There is also a little "bubble" on the screen.  But I've totally gotten used to it; and no longer see it if I'm not looking for it.

And it sounds fine.

At first I thought maybe the audio was not very good and in the store I almost purchased one with a better camera; but I like the pictures it's taken, and I like that making a video was so easy to figure out.

At this point I can't imagine taking it off vibrate and being jolted by a sound, on purpose, when it rings.  But as I know, sure, we've changed technology and technology has also changed us, so we'll see how I feel about this cell phone thing as time progresses.

So far, I like texts.

But I've given my number to so few people it's perfectly easy to manage... for now.

February 26, 2018

I'm pretty much used to typing 2018.  I don't think I've more than once at first thought of a 7. 

But it doesn't feel like 2018.

2020 used to seem so far away and it still seems far away.


It's like my age.  Sure I'm 50; but only if I think about it.

When somebody says that somebody's age 50- I don't think they're my age.  They're some middle age person.

I'm not middle age.



Job interview Wednesday.

Still thinking about Paint Your Wagon- the play itself; not our production.  How loosely the writers used words that meant something different in 1857- hell, damn...

I Will Run To You - Darlene Zschech

Auditions

So I got up the nerve to audition and 1) memorized a comic monologue and 2) videoed it.

Wow.

Progress.

Samsung Galaxy J7 and Verizon

My new cell phone is in my hands and I wonder how long "cell phone" will be a phrase?  It's already just a phone, isn't it?

I don't like how the audio sounds.

Most times I listen to music on little speakers and as long as it's not too loud, it's fine with me.  If I like the song, I like it on a good sound system or a bad one.  Come to think of it; on this new device the songs sounded fine.  I went the Play Music button and it took me to Google Play Music for the first time.  I think I like Spotify the best and Pandora next but I haven't explored Pandora much and this one- about a minute and a half- so what do I know about the three?

I played Diana Ross radio and it took me to two Supremes songs and an Aretha Franklin song.  Now if anybody thinks Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin sound much alike I think they are, well- mainly wrong.  Of course there are similarities, but... come on.

What I mean about the audio problems is my messages don't sound clear- even when I recorded my name its kind of cheap-sounding, like an old cassette recorder or something.  And it wasn't that I didn't like the sound of my own voice- it was just crackly, even as it took me through the tutorial.

Should I replace my phone- I'm getting used to it, and I like it.

What will the Best Buy sales people think?


The girl who sold me it- she's 20- explained to me with patience the different options and basically it came down to a phone for $59 bucks all the way to $800 bucks and what's the difference?

Well, maybe the difference is the audio.

I guess they're like cars now- you can get lots of different kinds and it's all according to what you want.  If your goal is just to get somewhere they all seem alike.

I've decided I want a white truck- which as my uncle says- will change my image.  I met Jeff when I had a white truck- a rental- and I think he treats me differently than he would if I had had my car that day at Hypoluxo.  But how would anybody know if that's true?  I really feel that in the truck people drove better around me.  Drivers didn't swerve from lane to lane and nobody tailgated- so I still want a truck- but not a white one.

I think I might buy an old truck and go low or no insurance on it- (Neil talked about self-insurance, which is legal no insurance- I've never heard of that but it sounds like something I would benefit from) and instead of the helpful easy rental car or rental truck experience I had after being hit from behind at the stoplight in South Carolina (Columbia?) I'll save a lot of money instead.

It's a puzzle.  I know if I work directly with clients I'll make more money if I show up in a nice car and a crisp white shirt- but do I want to pay for a nice car?

A violinist in an old pickup truck has a certain appeal, but excuse me while I reinvent myself here.

It's a process.

Jack of Spades - Joyce Carol Oates

2015 The Ontario Review, Inc.

Frontispiece quote:

We stand upon the brink of a precipice.  We peer into the abyss- we grow sick and dizzy.  Our first impulse is to shrink from the danger.  Unaccountably we remain.  

Edgar Allan Poe, "The Imp of the Perverse"

p. 150

It was a small thing, I knew.  It was a chasm. 

Meekat Manor and Other Things

We're into 2018 and I guess I'm used to that- didn't want to type 2017- so the year has turned.

After the end of Paint Your Wagon, I didn't get sick; didn't get too down, and haven't yet looked for work.

I am reading Joyce Carol Oates' Jack of Spades- which is excellent- and no surprises there:  I'm impressed to read her self-reflect.  It's good.  I guess it's possible that I'll hate the ending but it's doubtful- she's the best writer- in fact she's more than one.

I just watched Meerkat Manor Season One- and I'm pretty sure I had seen all those episodes before.
In my desire to document what I've watched and read it occurred to me that I should take the cutest pictures of those adorable meerkat babies and include them in my blog- but who wants to do that when we can just google for any image we want to see?

What I noticed this time around about Meerkat Manor was the interpretations of animal behavior which of course is anthropomorphic: but this time I was aware of not just imposition of our feelings onto what they do- but various ways of interpreting what each animal does.

For instance, Youssarian is seen as an awkward socially misfitted bumbler- but maybe he's getting what he wants.  Maybe he's moving pups around in order to accomplish something- and he's getting that- whatever that is.  It reminds me of Trump.  If his goal is to be in the news every day then he's not a bumbler- he's brilliant.

Youssarian was given a backstory, complete with black-and-white film of being carried away and dropped by a bird of prey, resulting in his scar on his head.  The first time it's presented as a possibility, and the next time they just say it as if they know that's what happened.

The writers continually tell the audience that the matriarch of a meerkat group won't tolerate any other female having pups- yet it happened three times in season one.  So what they push isn't true.  Either Flower isn't a great matriarch or she let this happen on purpose- most pups were accepted (adopted?) so maybe she wanted that to be?  They also say over and over that pups die- but how many died?  Are the characters more in danger than the scripted created characters constantly put in danger to keep the audience watching?  Is it like the news that tells us all the dangers, even when they are slight?