Adios, 2023!

As 2023 draws to a close, I've been thinking about how the year went for me personally. Not bad, although it started on a bad note. I had Covid at the start of the year. Thankfully, my symptoms were mild because I'd been vaccinated. After that, the year was largely okay. I traveled within the country to see family and friends in Alabama, Michigan, and New York. I worked my day job. I bought a car (because I was tired of sinking money into my 11-year-old Volkswagen). I took German classes and tap dance lessons. I lived my life. As 2024 approaches, I'm going to make an effort to do more reading this year. I keep track of my reading on Goodreads and I finished 35 books this year, better than the 29 I finished last year. I'd like to improve my numbers for next year. I also want to get more exercise in and eat better. I'm not making resolutions, but I'm just going to try and work on those goals. One thing I really want to do in 2024 is travel out of the country and I'm going to try and make that happen. I took German lessons over the summer with plans to travel to Germany this year, but I don't see that happening. I can't find a trip that I can make work in terms of the time and money, so I'm considering other locations and hope to get that nailed down early next year.

I'm looking forward to 2024 and hope I don't have any major health problems in the coming year. I also feel like something might change with my day job and that may not the be the worst thing in the world. I'm trying to prepare myself mentally and financially if my day job decides to reorganize and boot me out. I've been at the same company for 17 years now, my unit has been downsized significantly since I started, and I could see them cutting me loose. If that happens, I'll just have to roll with the punches and get something else. I'm too young to retire, so I have to keep working. I also need health insurance. I do feel that I've downsized my life to a point where I can get by with less if I have to. I will say that leaving New York in 2013 was good for me. If I was still living in Brooklyn, I wouldn't be able to get by with less. Moving back to the Midwest and buying a co-op here were great decisions for me. I miss New York, but I can always go back and visit. It's not going anywhere!

So adios, 2023 and welcome 2024!

Smoke Them If You've Got Them, Darling

Over this holiday weekend, I'm planning to do three things: read, write, and watch TV. So far so good on both. (The writing could be going better, but it's happening...slowly.) The reading is going well also and I'm trying to finish two more books to add to my Goodreads list for 2023. As for the TV watching, I finished watching Maestro on Netflix this morning (after starting it last night). 

Despite all of the brouhaha over Bradley Cooper's fake nose, I found myself forgetting about that early into the film and focusing instead on the excessive smoking. I could probably count on one hand the number of scenes where someone didn't have a cigarette in their hands, between their lips, whatever. I realize people smoked heavily during the time period the film covers, but in Maestro, it became a distraction for me. Another thing that bothered me was the language of the film and the cadence of that language. The Trans-Atlantic accents drove me crazy, darling. So over the top. The movie was interesting and Matt Bomer looked lovely in it (even though his screen time was brief), but was it the best film I've seen this year? Does Bradley Cooper deserve an Oscar for his directing and/or performance? No and no. As far as acting goes, DiCaprio was better in Killers of the Flower Moon. Movie-wise, the only movie that really got me thinking after I'd seen it and riled me up was Passages and that's not winning any Academy Awards. 

I'm about an hour into the film Saltburn and that's turning out to be a disappointment also. Did we really need another retelling of Brideshead Revisited? I don't think so. Plus, Barry Keoghan is so physically off-putting to me that I'm finding it hard to focus or care what happens to his character. I don't know why this actor's face bothers me so much in this film, but it does. I'd seen him in other films and didn't have an issue, so I can't explain why he's bothering me so much in this particular movie. Sometimes things just don't make sense. 

Not Sweet Enough...Available Now!

My new book Not Sweet Enough published today. (Finally, right?) You can link to the JMS Books website via the cover in the sidebar. It's a prequel to my last book Ray's Friend (also available from JMS Books).

Here's the blurb:

Case Larson is restless. Although he has a loving boyfriend, contractor Ray Burch, he often feels neglected in their relationship because Ray is too busy with work to spend time with him. So Case decides to spend a little time with Luke Mills, a handsome guy from his gym. Case’s hookups with Luke help to calm his restlessness and feed his need for the attention he’s not getting from Ray. But Ray finds out about Case’s cheating and their relationship implodes.

Case quickly realizes he made a huge mistake in cheating on Ray and tries to repair the damage he’s done. But making things right with Ray means cutting ties with Luke, a job easier said than done. Luke refuses to go away quietly and he’s determined to make Case pay for using him. Case goes from having a stud to a stalker in his life and he has to find a way to stop the harassment, win his boyfriend back, and maintain his sanity all at the same time.

I hope you enjoy it! It took me far too long to finish it, I know!

Godzilla Minus One

Being the huge Godzilla fan that I am, I saw Godzilla Minus One earlier today and largely enjoyed it. The non-monster parts dragged a little for me and Godzilla himself could have used more screen time, but when he was on screen, he did not disappoint! Godzilla was kicking ass and he was radioactive, too! This particular Godzilla was really ugly. He had a huge body and a small head and his skin looked worse than ever, but he was radioactive. That monster was glowing! I enjoyed the thought that went into the plan to try and bring Godzilla down. No spoilers, but Freon was involved. It was nice to see an old-school Godzilla movie that took place in Japan and had subtitles for Americans like myself. 

Konnichiwa, Godzilla, and welcome back!

Post-Thanksgiving Greetings

Another Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone and now...on to Christmas! I've been enjoying having a long holiday weekend and a few days off from my day job. I hope everyone has a chance to relax a little over this holiday weekend (it it's a holiday weekend for you). 

My new book, Not Sweet Enough, will be coming out soon. (More on that later.) I'm glad to finally have this one finished up because it took me far too long to get it together and I have no one but myself to blame for that.

In other news, I'm annoyed that I don't have a Showtime/Paramount + subscription so I can't watch the Fellow Travelers series with Matt Bomer. I saw the first episode via a free preview on Tubi, but that's it. I read the book some time ago and saw a stage-play version of the book also here in Chicago and both were very good. I understand the Showtime series is not sticking to the story in the book, which largely takes place in the 1950s. I'm hoping Comcast gives me a free weekend of Showtime over the Christmas holiday so I can binge watch the series since it should be wrapped up before then. I've read that Showtime/Paramount + are showing one episode per week. I refuse to pay for one more streaming service or cable upgrade unless I drop something else. My cable bill went up $50 recently and I didn't get anything new. I have cable on one TV and no premium channels. I have a bundle with my landline and internet service also through my cable provider, but the $50 jump in price is ridiculous. I think my Prime subscription will be the next to go. They haven't been showing anything I want to see lately. Netflix either. They're both sucking at the moment.

 

Killers of the Flower Moon

I finally went to see Killers of the Flower Moon over the weekend. I read the book earlier this year and had been wanting to see the movie ever since I saw a trailer for it some months ago. The movie was great. Say what you want about Leonardo DiCaprio's personal life, but that guy can act. I read recently that he's 48 years old and that surprised me. I didn't realize he was almost 50...and dating 20-year-olds. Huh. Anyway, back to the movie. Even though Leo is playing a character who, at the start of the book, is much younger, I was able to forget about that because the acting was so good. He and Lily Gladstone work very well together in the film. DeNiro is also good but, geez, that guy is so old and small now. Maybe he's always been small, but he looked tiny in the movie. My only complaint (and it's a big one) has to do with the running time of the film. Clocking in at 3.5 hours (with no intermission) is too long. I made sure to use the restroom twice before the film even started (when I got to the theater and again during the previews) and I didn't drink anything during the movie, but in the last 45 minutes, I had to go. I managed to make it through the entire movie without having to dip out, but it was a struggle. The movie started at 10:45 am at my local theater (well, the previews ran until around 11:10) and I didn't walk out of the theater until 2:30 pm! Half of my Saturday was spent in the movie theater! Scorsese (who shows up in the movie also near the end) really should have had an intermissing about 2 hours in. People have to pee, Marty!!! I told a co-worker of mine today that waiting for this to stream would probably be a better option for those who can't hold it (or who don't mind running out and missing a little of the movie so they can tinkle). 

Before reading David Grann's book on the Osage murders, I had no idea about any of this, but I wasn't surprised by any of it either. If there's money to be taken, particularly from a group that has been exploited for years (and, frankly, is still being exploited like Native Americans), someone's going to try and take it. If oil had never been found on Osage land, none of this mess probably would have happened. Greed kills. 

Fix It!

I read a lot of articles about how people (particularly young people) can't afford to own homes because they're just too expensive. Between the high housing prices, skyrocketing interest rates, and downpayment funds, it's hard to buy a home now. As someone who didn't buy my own place until I was middle-aged, I totally understand what younger folks are going through. Home ownership used to attainable for working people and it still is in some places, but far too many people are priced out of the market. My own home isn't a house, it's a co-op. I couldn't afford a house in the area where I chose to live outside of Chicago, so I bought an older two-bedroom, one-bath co-op that was affordable for me. One of the things I love about being a homeowner is that I can get things fixed on my schedule. Yes, I have to pay, but at least if something breaks, I don't have to call a landlord or management company and wait for them to get back to me about repairs. My sister, who's a renter, went the entire past weekend with no hot water because her janky apartment management company kept putting her off about when they'd send someone over to repair her hot water tank. That's ridiculous. She finally ended up calling the gas company today and they sent someone out who fixed the problem. The apartment complex totally fell down on the job.

The last place where I lived as a renter was a condo owned by a nice old lady. She was great as a landlord until it came time for her to fix things that were broken. She wasn't so great with getting things repaired in a timely manner or at all. My sister and I (who shared the condo) couldn't use the dishwasher the entire time we lived there because it leaked and the landlord wouldn't fix it. Instead, the landlord told us not to use the dishwasher. She never disclosed before we moved in that the dishwasher didn't work right. We found out the hard way when we tried to use it and it leaked all over the floor. The landlord never explained why she woudldn't get the dishwasher fixed. Maybe she was too cheap to hire a repair man. On top of that, we had electrical problems in the unit and the power went out in our kitchen one day. There was some kind of power failure in half of the condo. Thankfully, when the fridge went out, I had recently purchased my co-op (but I hadn't moved in yet), so my sister and I were able to move our food from the condo to the fridge in my place until the problem was fixed. At least we didn't lose any groceries! But the landlord dragged her feet on getting the electrical problem fixed. I hate waiting on someone else to fix things for me. I need to be on my own timetable. My own dishwasher leaked a couple of years ago during the heart of Covid, but I was able to get a repairman out to my place and he fixed it. I didn't have to spend months or years without a dishwasher, just a week. 

Not having a dishwasher is a minor inconvenience, I know, but it's still an inconvenience when you're paying for something and you expect to be able to use it. No one wants to live in a place with broken appliances, a janky electrical system, and no hot water!

The Vacation is Over!

I took a week off to head to the beach and enjoyed it. The weather was great up until yesterday, when I headed home. I wish I could say I did a lot of writing while I was on vacation, but I didn't, unfortunately. I'm waiting to get a release date for my next book from my publisher. I believe it'll be in December. I will confirm that once I have more info.

Next Monday, I'll be back on the grind and back to my day job, but I can look at my photos from this week and remember the beach while it's dark and cold here in Chicago.

Living in the Past

I've been rediscovering a lot of music I liked in my youth when I hear a song one of of the Sirius stations that plays older music. Songs by Stone Temple Pilots, the Cure, Otis Redding have come back into rotation for me after hearing them on Sirius. An article about the group the Violent Femmes came up on my news feed recently and that prompted me to download some of their music. They weren't great singers or even good singers, but I still enjoyed their music back in the 1980s and I still enjoy it now too. It's one thing to look back nostalgically on your life and appreciate the music and memories from that time, but it's another thing to think that what worked back in the 1970s, 80s, etc. will work now. 

I say this because I feel like the recent wars and political situations that are going on now require foreign policy solutions that differ from what we (the US) did in the past, yet a lot of politicians (many who should have retired years ago) keep trying to solve new problems with old solutions. I'm tired of the excuse that "we've always done things this way" as a reason for why we're making foreign policy decisions that may have worked in the 1970s or 80s, but don't work today. It's time for new policies and procedures. Looking back on what was done during the Reagan era or the Bush years (or even back to Nixon, Kennedy, etc.) to try and solve problems in 2023 is ridiculous. The world has changed and modern problems require modern solutions. We can't resolve every conflict around the world and throwing money at these problems isn't helping either when we have problems right here at home that need to be dealt with. Continuing to use the same rhetoric that worked thirty, forty, or fifty years ago isn't helpful. Stop living in the past, folks! 

Reinvention

I watched a documentary last night on Max called Donyale Luna: Supermodel about a black model from the 1960s who had an interesting career, but that few people had ever heard of. I'd never heard of her. Donyale totally transformed herself from a black girl named Peggy from Detroit to an exotic, mixed-race woman whose origins were unknown. Donyale created an entire phony persona for herself. She was part Mexican, she was part Asian, she was from the moon, whatever. Back in the 1960s and 70s (and beyond) you could get away with that kind of thing, I guess. There was no internet. No one would peep you out for not being who you said you were, so Donyale (formerly Peggy) was able to reinvent herself without a lot of scrutiny. The documentary talked to friends and family members who knew Donyale and gushed about how great she was and how the racist modeling industry back then really crushed her. But what they didn't talk about (and what I gathered from the documentary) was that Donyale seemed to have some mental problems. She was briefly hospitalized at Bellevue in New York for a mental breakdown, but it seemed clear to me that this woman needed more mental help beyond that stay. Back in this woman's heydey, she was running with a crowd that did a lot of drugs and I'm sure a lot of her bizarre behavior was just excused or ignored due to the drug use (drug use that ultimately killed her). It's a shame she never seemed to get the mental help she clearly needed. And she ended up leaving her child motherless because she died so young.

The subject of reinvention is interesting to me. The fact that some people just become someone else is fascinating. I used to work with a woman who grew up in public housing, but transformed herself into a different person who shunned all of that and married a man who had a totally different (and more financially stable) upbringing. I think when people are younger, they're more apt to try and present a different side of themselves to others to fit in. Maybe you're ashamed of where you're from or how you grew up, so you give a different narrative to people. You create a diffferent upbringing for yourself to present to others. But doesn't it get exhausting being someone you're not? Keeping the lies straight must take a lot of mental energy. Telling the truth is much easier to recall and recite.

Random Thoughts

 As September winds to a close, I've been thinking about a number of things.

1. Drivers: Is it just me or are people driving a lot worse than they used to? I don't know if the Covid situation impacted people's driving, but I feel like I'm dodging bad drivers left and right lately. Either they're speeding down residential streets like they're on the Autobahn or they're driving too slow and not keeping up with the flow of traffic. I think a lot of folks are learning to drive too late in life for a variety of reasons. Public schools don't have free driver's ed classes anymore so people have to pay, a lot of young people simply don't want to learn how to drive or, when they do learn, they're too fearful and make terrible mistakes that cause accidents.

2. Telsas: In keeping with the driving theme, I can't figure out why anyone would spend money on a Tesla. First, they're ugly. I'm sorry, but they look like giant eggs. I'm old enough to remember the AMC Pacer (and I drove one, the wagon version, back in the day). It's an ugly car and the two-door model was egg-like, just like the Tesla. Plus, why line Elon's pockets? I'm not a fan of electric cars anyway and I'll have to be dragged kicking and screaming to get rid of my gas-powered car but, even if I did get an electric vehicle, I wouldn't get one from Musk. That Afrikaner isn't getting a dime of my money. No sir, no ma'am. 

3. The Black Crowes: I recently heard the song "Jealous Again" by the Black Crowes on one of the Sirius stations I listen to during the workweek and that got me to wondering why I don't have any of their music currently. Well, I remedied (get it?) that situation and downloaded some of their songs. Listening to the Black Crowes brings out my hillbilly roots. Yeah, they're in there and they surface from time to time when I find myself liking music like the Black Crowes and the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack. It's good music and I'm happy to claim it and praise it!

Wacky

I love a good documentary. Over the weekend, I watched the second part of the docu-series, The Vow, on the Nxvim cult. After watching the first part some time ago, I lost interest in learning more about the cult because it just seemed so ridiculous. But I got sucked back into it over the weekend. I still find the whole premise of the group largely ridiculous and don't understand why so many people (mainly women) just fell all over themselves to be close to the group's leader. The guy oftenlooked like he hadn't bathed in weeks and he didn't seem to really "do" anything over than give wacky group chats and screw a lot of women on dirty sheets. (Ugh.) The dirty sheets thing came up more than once in the series, but I digress.) Why anyone would latch on to this guy and his group is a mystery to me, yet so many did. I know I'm late to the party in watching The Vow, but I didn't have an HBO subscription until earlier this year, so I could only catch that stuff if I got a free HBO weekend via my cable provider and then I had to cram and watch as much as I could before they cut me off.

HBO (now Max, unfortunately) has shown some great documentaries and docu-series over the years. I've watched the Heaven's Gate series, the Last Call series, There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, The Lost Children series (about the Atlanta child murders from the 1980s), the Jinx, and many more that were really great. 

This has nothing to do with documentaries, but I really hope we can retire the phrase "witch hunt" soon. I'm tired of Donny T and others using this phrase to describe prosecution or charges they disagree with. Also, sometimes a witch hunt turns uncovers an actual witch!

Passages

I saw the movie Passages earlier today and left the theater shaking my head. The main character was such a man-baby and an emotional vampire to his husband and to the woman he had a relationship with. First, he left his husband to take up with a woman he met at a nightclub. (And the woman knew he was gay and married to a man because she met them both at the club and they told her what was up!) But, after leaving his husband and moving in with the woman, the man-baby decided he still wanted to be with his husband. So he moved back and forth from the pole to the hole while alienating both his husband and the woman. What a hot mess! By the end of the movie, I wanted to ring this guy's neck. At one point he's riding his bike through the streets of Paris and I kept waiting (hoping?) for a bus or a car to take him out. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie that got me so riled up but Passages did it! I highly recommend checking it out if you're into messy relationship movies (as I am since I write messy relationship stories).

I'd read a few articles about Passages before I saw the movie and the director, Ira Sachs, talked about being slapped initially with an NC-17 rating for the film, something he felt was unfair and only assigned to his film because it contained a gay sex scene. After seeing the movie, I agree with him. There was no peen shown and the sex between the two men wasn't anymore graphic than a sex scene between a man and a woman would have been. The film review board claimed the NC-17 rating wasn't because of the gay sex, but I don't believe that. Sachs wisely chose to go with an Unrated rating for his film rather than the NC-17. It's high time the movie ratings board pulled their heads out of the sand and stopped being so prudish about sex. It's 2023, not 1953. 

Labor Day Weekend Greetings

I returned today from a long weekend trip to my hometown of Detroit, Michigan. I had a great time in the D seeing family, eating at places we don't have in the Chicago area (like Tubby's), and going to the Jazz Festival at Hart Plaza. Downtown Detroit has changed so much from when I grew up in the city. It's totally different now. Every time I visit, I notice how much things have changed. Some stuff still stays the same though. I went by my childhood home and it looked good! Whoever the new owners are, they have kept the place up and I'm glad for that. 

Bebel Gilberto (and Other Stuff)

I saw Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto in concert a few weeks ago and the show was great. (See the picture below from the show.)  I saw her a few years ago and she was great then too. As a huge fan of Brazilian music, I enjoy seeing live performances and just listening to music from singers like Bebel, Djavan, Maria Rita, and Ivan Lins. I highly recommend checking these performers out if you're into that kind of music (or even if you aren't and want to try something new). The music is very soothing and I could use some de-stressing in my life right now. 

In other news, I do have a new publication coming out later this year called Not Sweet Enough. More on that later when I have a release date and more info. My writing has been slow and I really need to get back on the horse and do better about chruning stuff out sooner. My German classes have ended for the summer. Ja! I largely enjoyed the classes, but they just went on too long and my teacher was nice but her way of teaching didn't really work for me. I'll try to keep up on my own through the materials I have and videos on YouTube. I'd still really like to go travel to Germany next year and I'll try to make that happen.

To Live and Die in LA

I read director William Friedkin died today and I guess that's why I heard Wang Chung's "To Live and Die in LA" on Sirius today. Friedkin directed the movie that theme song came from and hearing the song today made me think about the movie. I saw To Live and Die in LA when I was a teenager. My father, during one of his divorced dad weekends took me, my sister, and one of my cousins to the movies. We were supposed to see Rocky 4, but it was sold out so we ended up seeing To Live and Die in LA. To this day, this is one of the best movies I've ever seen. So sleazy and so good. The homoerotic dynamic between William Petersen and Willem Dafoe's characters was so interesting. I wasn't sure if they were going to fight each other or end up in bed together, but I was down for it all. This is the kind of movie that would never get made today. Counterfeiters, strippers, experimental dance troups, dirty cops. What worked in the 1980s wouldn't work today. At least I've got the DVD!

New Car Smell

I broke down and got a new car about a week ago. My 12-year-old Volkswagen had served me well, but it was time for a change. The last straw was when the radio went out last month and it cost me around $1,000 to get it replaced. Every little thing with that car ended up costing me a lot of money. Last December, my driver's side door decided to stop working and I was forced to climb over the passenger's side seat just to get into the driver's seat. I also had to wait several weeks for the parts to come in to repair the door. That repair job cost me more than $800. It just didn't make sense to keep putting money into an old car, so I got a new one, a Nissan, my first Japanese car. (Coming from a Detroiter whose father worked for Ford, that's a huge thing!) It's hard to try and find a sedan under $30K these days, but I did. I even looked into getting another used car (since my VW was three years old when I bought it), but the used cars out there now have so many miles on them that it didn't seem worth it to spend money on something with 30K miles or more on it for around the same price as a new car. 

I like my Nissan but, God, the new car smell in it is horrible. It's like breathing straight chemicals. I know the offgassing and weird smells will dissipate after time, but I'm trying to hurry the process along by keeping a cup of baking soda in the cup holder, using an air freshener, and driving with the windows open. In my older age, I just can't take heavy smells like that. I had a new doormat that had a rubber backing that I had to remove because I couldn't stand the smell. I also hate the smell of incense and heavy perfumes. I bought some Gold Bond spray powder to use this summer and ended up throwing it out after one use because I couldn't stand the scent. 

I haven't had a new car since 1999 and I don't recall if that one had a weird smell. If it did, I'm sure I was able to handle it because I was a lot younger back then and able to put up with a lot more than I can now. 

Wham!

I watched the Wham documentary on Netflix last weekend and really enjoyed it. As someone who was a teenager when Wham came out and loved George Michael when he was in the band, I loved hearing about how he and Andrew Ridgeley met and their rise to fame. Wham's music, for me, was largely happy music that came about at a time in my life when I was young and didn't have a lot of worries. And the 80s were a different time. There was no internet, no 24-hour distractions, and kids could be kids. Not that things were all sunshine and roses, but there certainly wasn't the burden that kids today have with such an information overload from their phones, computers, TVs, etc. 

Aside from the interviews and the Wham backstory featured in the documentary, I was happy to hear some Wham songs I hadn't heard in a long time. Everyone tends to mention "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" when Wham's music is mentioned (and I love that song), but they other great songs too. "I'm Your Man" is a personal favorite of mine that came up in the documentary and I had totally forgotten about this song. It's so great. I highly reommend checking out the video you YouTube (linked below). George threw down on that song! It came about shortly before Wham broke up, but it's wonderful. After watching the Wham documentary, I also watched a documentary on George Michael on Prime last weekend. Oy vey! What a downer that one was. It's a shame that George Michael seemed to have such an unhappy life and his downfall was awful. He was only 53 when he died. So talented and, yet, so unhappy. What a shame. I should have watched the Wham documentary again that was largely upbeat and put me in a good place mentally.

Sinking

I don't know why I even bother watching the news or reading it online. Pretty much every story seems to be a tale of gloom and doom. But I want to know what's going on in the world, so I watch and read. Right now, the media seems to be consumed with the Hollywood writers' and actors' strikes. I honestly had forgotten the writers were still on strike until the actors went out and I realized the late-night shows have been off the air for months. No Colbert, Meyers, Fallon, Kimmel. Not that I watched any of these shows regularly, but I'd often watch clips from them on YouTube. I do hope an agreement is reached soon for the writers especially. They've been walking the picket lines for months now and I'm sure many of them are being squeezed hard economically. All writers certainly aren't making big money. Still, I understand the pushback from folks who aren't a part of the Hollywood community who don't give two shits about writers and actors going on strike. When you're out here grinding on your own day job just trying to keep your own head above water with your mortgage/rent, groceries, gas, utilities, etc. and prices just keep rising, it's hard to feel sympathy for someone who works in the land of make-believe. Maybe these Hollywood studios and media companies should stop paying millions of dollars to some of these movie stars and media moguls and distribute more of those funds to the people who aren't in the limelight or the face of the business. 

Back in the day, a huge star like Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford would mean instant box office success. But those days are over. Not to say Cruise can't still put asses in the theater seats, but the way people view movies has changed. Why go and sit in a theater with a bunch of strangers when you could watch the same film in the privacy of your own home with access to your own snacks and your own bathroom? The last time I went to a movie theater, I found the entire experience to be a disappoinment and the movie wasn't great either. It's time for Hollywood to face the reality that peoples' viewing habits have changed and we may never go back to the way things used to be. If the only movies that make big money in theaters now are super hero and kids' movies (and even those aren't making bank the way they used to), then maybe it's time for the industry to scale down and stop paying actors millions or dollars to star in the next awful movie. Is Hollywood a sinking ship at this point? I have no idea but, perhaps more importantly, does anyone really care?

Escape from New York

I'm back from a brief visit to New York this holiday weekend. I had not been in the Big Apple since February of 2020, BC: Before Covid. Things have certainly changed since then. I noticed a huge amount of homeless people in the Chelsea area where I stayed in Midtown. It was really sad to see so many folks sleeping on the street and panhandling for cash. You could smell the dispair. The air (that was hot and muggy during my stay) consistently smelled like a combination of urine, cigarillo smoke, subway funk, and BO. Ugh. But, New York always manages to bounce back from the edge of dispair and I have no doubt that it'll bounce back again after this too. Still, it kind of broke my heart to see the city so broken itself.

This isn't a gloom and doom post though. I did have a great time during my visit seeing friends and doing something I never did when I actually worked in New York City and lived in Brooklyn. I went to the Brooklyn Bridge.  I took the 6 train down to the bridge Sunday morning and walked to the base for some pictures. That was enough for me. And it was more crowded than I expected for a Sunday morning. I also went to the World Trade Center mall and bought a nice pair of shoes I'd seen online at Sam Edelman. I don't know when I'll get back to New York, but I'll make sure it's a little cooler the next time I visit. Going there in hot and muggy July wasn't the greatest time to visit. In my old age, I can't take the heat and humidity.

Float On (or Not)

I'm glad to have a three-day weekend (thanks Juneteenth) because this week was stressful for me. My day job took a lot out of me this week. A lot of ups and downs. I decided to try and alleviate some of the stress from the week by going to a float center. I've been wanting to try floating for a while and finally did it today. Things didn't go well! I could not relax enough to enjoy it. First, because I'm claustrophobic, I had to leave the doors open on the float pod. Fine. Then, the lights went out (or were on a motion detector) and that freaked me out, so I requested that the lights be left on. Then I couldn't find a comfortable position. Then I was too hot. Finally, after about 20 minutes or so, I gave up. I knew there was no way I was going to stay it that hot pod for an hour. Maybe some folks find that relaxing, but I'm not one of them. Well, I tried. I'll stick to getting massages if I want a relaxing spa visit. 

In other news, I'm sticking with the German classes I've been taking. It's a difficult language to learn, but I have lowered expectations for myself. I'm not trying to be fluent. I just want to be able to read some things and understand what I'm reading and speak enough to get by if I do get the chance to travel to Germany next year. The book we have to use for our class is awful. It's totally in German and has no pronunciation. I've had to supplement that with other sources like German for Dummies (that's quite helpful). 

Guten Nacht!

Happy Pride Month

Delayed greetings, but Happy Pride Month! Reading and watching the news (as I do), there are a lot of reasons to be concerned over the, shall we say, temperature around the country involving gay rights, transgender folks, etc. Just when you think things are moving forward, idiots try to force the country to move two steps back. Why can't people mind their own business and let people live their lives? I don't know. 

I was in Louisville, Kentucky last year during pride month during a road trip to Alabama and the visitor's center gave me this jaunty beer koozie shown below. Thanks, Louisville! The story I've been working on (seeminly forever) takes place in Louisville and it features two characters from my last story, Ray's Friend, that also takes place in Louisville. I found Louisville totally fascinating while I was there. I really need to get back there and check out more the of city. 

Huntsville Rocks!

I'm back from a trip to visit family in Alabama and my sister and I spent last weekend in Huntsville. What a great place! Neither of us had ever been there, but we had a great time visting the Space Center (see photo below) and the art museum. We also enjoyed tasty $8 margaritas and live music at The Camp and equally great tacos (and more margaritas) at Taco Mama. Huntsville is the kind of city in Alabama that I'd actually consider living in. It didn't seem to be filled with hard-core MAGA folks. I'm sure those folks are there, but I feel like you've got a fighting chance of largely avoiding them while you're there. 

Make it Stop!

As I've said in previous posts, I'm trying not to watch too much TV these days because all of that TV time is cutting into my time for reading and writing. I work a day job and, after that job ends, I find myself watching television. One of the annoying things about watching television (that's not on a subscription platform like Netflix) is the number of annoying commercials you have to sit through (or flip from). I swear, if I see another commercial for Shriner's Hospital (sorry kids), Lume butt crack/underboob/underarm/foot deordorant, or some chick singing about how she's got a heart like a truck, I'm going to lose it. I understand advertisers need to advertise, but do the commericals have to be so long and annoying? And any commercials advertising for "low T" products automatically triggers the mute button for me. The same goes for the Shriner's kids. (Sorry, not sorry Alex and Caleb!) Jesus, make it stop.

In addition to trying to cut my TV viewing time, I'm also taking German lessons. Why, you ask? Because I'd like to go to Germany next year, Berlin to be exact. I'm going to try and make that happen. But, in the meantime, I want to learn some basic German. I'm not trying to be fluent (because that's not happening), but I want to learn how to introduce myself, say where I'm from, and understand a little of the language. It's a hard language to learn. Any language is hard to learn when you're older, but I'm giving it a shot. I realize many Germans speak English, but I still want to try to speak and understand their native tongue in the event that I actually do get there next year. Fourteen weeks and twelve more weeks to go! 

Guten tag! 

Read a Book? Not in Florida!

I just read an article about certain school textbooks being rejected for use in Florida public schools over supposedly objectionable material (mainly dealing with racial issues). Because I don't live in Florida or have any kids in that school system, I don't have a dog in this fight but, as a writer, I'm annoyed with this push to ban books or remove material that the governor and his minions find objectionable because it doesn't jibe with their personal, conservative beliefs. Another ridiculous DeSantis fight (along with sparring with Mickey Mouse). This guy is such a flake. God help us all if he rises to an even higher political title in this country. Just when I thought Donny T was the worse of the worst, here comes Rhonda in the race to give him a run for his money. Ugh.

Well, I guess if school kids in Florida can't read about civil rights issues, racial equality, and the LGBTQ+ community in school, the Internet is always available to try and get some information on your own (if you can navigate through the garbage). 

Over and Out

Is James Corden finally done? Has he taken himself back across the pond?  I feel like he's been "leaving" his late-night gig for more than a year. I was glad to hear this week that his show is finally over and out. I don't think I ever watched one episode of Corden's show because I find him annoying and not funny at all. He can't hit the road fast enough.

Someone else who's "over and out" this week is Tucker Carlson. I didn't watch his show either, but I was surprised to hear that Fox booted him this week. My sister actually texted me about his departure before I read the news myself online. Interesting. I figured some heads would roll at Fox after that huge settlement, but I didn't think Carlson's would be one of them. When you fire a ratings giant like Carlson, there must be a damn good reason for it. Then again, Bill O'Reilly (remember him?) used to be a ratings giant also and he got the boot. Of course, he had a lawsuit against him (as Carlson does), so maybe Fox figured it was easier to cut bait in spite of the ratings. At the end of the day, Fox is still a business and, as the saying goes, one monkey doesn't stop the show! I'm sure the powers that be at Fox will elevate or find some other clown to take Tucker's place and spew their bullshit.

Keeping with the "over and out" theme, Don Lemon was also cut loose from CNN and tweeted that he was "stunned" that he'd lost his job with the network. Stunned? Really, Don? He must truly be delusional if he didn't realize his job was in jeopardy for some time. All of the chatter about his behavior on and off camera and the whole "past her prime" thing stacked the deck against him (rightly so). I'm surprised Lemon lasted as long as he did. What kills me about TV personalities like Carlson and Lemon is that if they had behaved in the same way in a normal workplace, they surely would have been out of a job a lot sooner. 

Thanks, MTA!

With all of the bad news lately, I decided to post about some good news today.

The last time I was in New York was in February of 2020 before Covid hit. I had a MetroCard (shown below) so I could ride the subway while I was there. I kept that card because it still had money on it to use the next time I was in New York. But when Covid happened, any plans to travel to New York were gone and the card expired. However, the MTA allows you to get any funds from an expired card transferred to a new card (as long as the expiration date wasn't over two years). Since my card expired 11/30/21, I was still within that two-year expiration time so I mailed my card to the MTA to request a new card and a transfer of those funds. I figured I had about a 50-50 chance of actually getting a new card but, lo and behold, a new card came in the mail today from the MTA with my $8.00 balance added. Woo hoo! I'm planning to go to New York this summer and that card will come in handy. Thanks, MTA! I doubted you, but you came through! (And, yes, I am cheap and glad I got my $8!)

Good Luck with That!

Well, Chicago will soon have a new mayor, Brandon Johnson. I wish him the best because he's got his work cut out for him! Chicago will also serve as the host city for the next Democratic National Convention. Good luck with that, Chicago! In theory, it sounds like a boon for the city. Lots of visitors, a flow of money into the city, etc. I hope when the time comes the city is ready for it. The last thing Chicago needs is to have something terrible happen to a visitor who's come to town for the convention. The publicity is bad enough for the city right now because of crimes committed again people who live in and around here! Imagine the coverage if some crime is committed against a visitor. It'll be on a non-stop loop over the national news.

Moving on...

As I'm seriously contemplating getting a new car this year, I keep reading about the national push to have people buy electronic vehicles. Yeah, later for that. I want to know I can keep my car moving by getting gas, not from having to find a charging station. As someone who occasionally takes road trips, I know I can find a gas station readily available. I can't say the same for a charging station. I understand the environmental reasons that electronic vehicles are preferred over those run with gas, but that alone would not convince me to get an EV. I'll have to try and help save the planet some other way. 

Above the Law

Donny T has been indicted? It's about time. Lock him up! While I want to believe no one is above the law, we see people every day who get off for crimes they've committed, so I don't have much hope Donny will actually do time for his crime. Still, it's nice to see headlines that say he's been indicted. Will this guy's reign of terror ever end? Jeez. 

In other political news, Donny Jr (not the real son, the adopted version: aka Ron DeSantis) got served trying to bring down the House of Mouse. Is this guy stupid enough to think he can beat Disney? Apparently. If he thinks the House of Mouse is going down without a fight, he's in for a surprise. Take him out, Mickey! 

In non-political news, I've been thinking a lot lately about getting a new car. My current car is 12 years old now. (I haven't had it for 12 years; I bought it used.) My car also has almost 100,000 miles on it and the maintenance is expensive. I had no idea when I bought a Volkswagen that it would be so expensive to maintain. This is the first foreign car I've owned and, while I like it a lot, just about every time I take it in for service, I end up paying hundreds of dollars. Maybe it's time to get a new car. I haven't had a new car since my 2000 Saturn. It's been 23 years since I had a new car. Wow. I think I'll make a decision before the summer ends. 

Tummy Troubles

I am fairly certain I had food poisoning last week. My stomach was gurgling and upset Thursday night and then I spent the wee hours of Friday morning with bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. I don't recall ever having stomach problems like this before. I don't even think I'd vomited since I lived in Brooklyn and had a bad batch of Chinese food. This was bad. I'm recovering, but I'm still fatigued and not back on a regular diet yet. I believe the culprit of my tummy troubles was a frozen Stouffer's meal of Swedish meatballs I had for dinner Thursday night. That's what I seemed to be barfing up and crapping out. 

When I got sick from a Lo Mein meal in Brooklyn, I stopped eating Chinese food for years. The same goes for when I got sick from an Arby's roast beef sandwich years ago. I was done with Arby's for years. And, to this day, I've never eaten another McChicken sandwich or Catalina salad dressing after I'd barfed up both before I was hospitalized in my early 20s and had to have my inflamed appendix removed.  I've since gone back to both Chinese food and Arby's, but still get queasy just thinking about a McChicken sandwich or a salad with Catalina dressing. I feel the same way about Stouffer's Swedish meatballs right now. Never again.

Since I've been incapacitated this weekend, I've watched a lot of TV including two documentaries that were interesting:

1. MH 370: The Plane That Disappeared: I watched this three-part series on Netflix yesterday and was left with more questions than answers. How does an entire airplane filled with more than 200 passengers just disappear? I don't know but I also don't believe that the supposed debris from the plane found isn't really from the plane. Even if it was from the Malaysian Airlines flight 370, where's the rest of it? Where are the bodies? It makes no sense. With all of the sophisticated technology around these days, I find it hard to believe that on one can find this plane and its passengers. 

2. Who Killed Robert Wone: I watched this two-part series on Peacock last night and this morning and was fascinated by the case. Attorney Robert Wone went to his college friend's house in Washington, DC to spend the night after working late and he never made it out of the house alive. He'd been stabbed, but the three occupants of the house all claimed an intruder had come into the home and killed Robert. But no one actually saw an intruder. There was hardly any blood on the scene. And all three guys who lived in the house were sexually involved with each other and into bondage. I don't know what happened here. This is another documentary I watched that left me with more questions than answers. But one thing I'm certain of is that the three guys at that house are covering something up. If one of them didn't kill Robert, they know who did kill him. I personally think one or more of them did something, maybe things got out of hand and Robert was injured or killed accidentally, and the three guys covered up the debacle with a fake intruder story. The fact that the three guys walked on this really bothers me, but the case against them wasn't strong enough. It's all so bizarre, but the documentary was really riveting to watch. I hope Robert Wone's family finally gets justice here and the truth, but I suspect that will only happen if one of the three guys breaks and tells the truth and that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon.

Too Much TV

I am making an effort (a small one) to wean myself off of watching hours of TV each night after my day job is done and it's working (sort of). I'm trying to take time each evening to do something other than watch TV like read or write. (During the week, it's mainly reading time and my weekends are left for writing.) But I'm still watching TV (just not as much as I used to watch). Two things I'm watching now are:

1. Daisy Jones & the Six on Prime. Let me say up front that Prime has turned out to be a disappointment for me on the video front. It just isn't offering a lot of stuff I want to see. This one might get the boot before this year ends, but while I have it, I've been watching the series based on the book Daisy Jones & the Six. I read the book over the holidays and I enjoyed it, but the miniseries isn't good. I don't care for the guy who's playing Billy Dunn. There's something off-putting about him for me. His looks aren't great and his singing voice isn't either. He also doesn't look the way I imagined Billy would look when I was reading the book. I'm not crazy about the actor playing Daisy Jones either. She at least looks more like I imagined the character to look and I think her voice is okay, but I'm not bowled over by her performance either. Once I saw Reese Witherspoon was behind the film rights to the book, I should have known a movie version (or miniseries) would be messed up. Thanks to Reese, a good book was turned into a cheesy, lame miniseries. And the wigs are bad. The one they stuck on Timothy Olyphant's head is a disgrace. Ugh. It's a shame that I feel the need to mute the sound when the band starts singing, but I do. Color me underwhelmed by this one.

2. Breaking Bad on Netflix. I'm late to the Breaking Bad universe, I'll admit. I never watched this show when it aired. I only got into it after I started watching Better Call Saul (that I enjoyed), so now I'm playing catchup with BB. I almost bailed on this series early on because it wasn't holding my interest, but I just finished Season 4 and I'm all in. Bryan Cranston deserves all the kudos he received for his work as Walter White. It's amazing to me to watch a supposedly mild-mannered high school science teacher turn into a stone-cold drug dealing killer. But maybe that side of him was always there and it was just suppressed. Or maybe the circumstances he was in made him change. Whatever the reason, his story makes for good TV. 

Bye, Lori

The public has spoken and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot won't be given a second term. The runoff between Paul Vallas and Brendon Johnson will determine who will be the next mayor of Chicago. Since I don't live in Chicago, I don't have a dog in that fight, but I do work in the city (whenever I'm forced to go back into the office), so I do care who's elected even though I don't get a vote. Lightfoot, in my opinion, never had a chance. She alienated too many people, she was too stubborn in sticking to people and plans that weren't working, and she seemed often to be in denial about the crime problems in the city. Police superintendent David Brown was ineffective and should have been shown the door a long time ago. (He really shouldn't have been hired in the first place, but I digress.) I hope whoever the next mayor is that he does make crime in the city a priority. The shootings, carjackings, problems on the CTA, muggings, etc. are bringing the city to its knees. I'm glad I've been able to work from home so I don't have to go into the city on pubic transit. I can't even imagine getting on the L and riding to the Loop these days. During my few trips into the city for work, I've taken Metra that costs more, but at least feels fairly safe to me. 

As someone who has been an advocate for public transit, it pains me to have to say I'm seriously afraid of taking public transit these days. I never feared riding the subway while I lived in New York or even when I was commuting to my day job in the Chicago Loop. But I fear it now. A huge part of the problem is the revolving door of criminals being let back onto the streets with an ankle monitor and a court date. If you tried to shoot someone, you need to be locked up and stay locked up. No bonding out. No ankle monitor.

People want to feel that they can venture out of their homes safely and do things like see a show, go out for dinner, or go shopping without wondering if they're going to make it back home alive. I wish the new mayor the best because he's going to have his work cut out for him.

Cashless?

In Evanston, IL, where I currently live, the city council members have been debating about whether to ban some businesses from being cashless. Some council members (mainly one council member) believe that businesses that don't accept cash discriminate against the unbanked. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, cash is legal tender and it should be accepted by all businesses, right? On the other hand, even the unbanked have access to electronic methods of payment via prepaid credit cards, etc. that can be purchased from a variety of places, including your local Walgreens. (There is a fee for these cards, but the point is that they're available for anyone to purchase and use.) You don't have to have a bank account in order to have a credit card that can be used at any business that doesn't accept cash. My father, who refuses to use a debit card and prefers to pay cash for just about everything, complained that the self-checkout registers at his local Walmart store don't accept cash. They used to, but now are for credit transactions only, so he's forced to go to a register with a live cashier in order to buy anything. My father is not unbanked, he's just old. He really should just get a debit card and call it a day, but he won't. So I guess he'll have to wait for a cashier to ring him up whenever he's at Walmart. 

Chicanery

At times, I feel like I curse too much, so I make feeble attempts to clean up my language and use words other than curse words to say what I mean. There's been a lot of nonsense going on at my day job and rather than saying a lot of bullshit, I'm going with "chicanery." (I can't really curse like I normally would at work anyway unless I want to be summoned by the HR folks.) 

Chicanery is the perfect old-timey word to describe trickery or shenanigans going on. Too many folks are lying and doing weird underhanded stuff. Chicanery has run amuck in my workplace. I even described a coworker as our own in-house George Santos because he lies so much with a straight face. And yet the guy, like Santos, keeps moving on up. He was promoted recently. Ugh.

Being a frequent reader of Datalounge, I came across a thread recently asking how people's lives have changed during the Covid pandemic and someone posted: I'm seeing my job as the joke it is and enjoying more time on my own. I feel the same way, Datalounger. 

I work because I have to, not because I necessarily want to. If I had the means, I wouldn't work at all or I'd do something I wanted on a part-time basis. But, bills have to be paid, I need food, health insurance, transportation, and shelter, so I have to work.  

Can you tell I'm feeling better? I am, physically. Mentally, I'm just trying to stay afloat and rise above the chicanery in my workplace. That's a full time job in itself!

Work in Progress

I vowed to try and stop being so much of a recluse during 2023 and get back out into the world. Well, one month into the new year, and my attempts to be out and about have been mixed at best. First, I caught Covid at the start of the year. Then I started having some other health problems that, hopefully, aren't serious. So I've been to the doctor and I'm trying to get my issues resolved or at least controlled. But, in more promising news, I am writing something new and it's coming along. I'm really working to get this thing moving and finished in the next month. I've been trying an failing to write a stalker story. It's something that's been on my mind for some time now. Finally, I feel like it's coming together. It's a work in progress, but it is progressing! 

I really wanted to take a trip this year, but I don't know if that's going to happen with health issues I'm having right now. I was out of the country after Christmas and for New Year's, but that was for work and I really didn't get to enjoy it. I had one free day to enjoy Bermuda. It's a lovely, expensive country and I'd love to go back on my own dime and my own time when I could truly see the area.

Random Thoughts

I've been reading and watching a lot over the past few weeks and here are some of my random thoughts about random things:

1. George Santos (aka Andrew Devolder, Kitara Ravache): I find the Santos story fascinating for a number of reasons, but mainly because of the pathological level of lying he does. This guy didn't just lie about what school he went to or about a previous employer, he lies about everything: playing varsity volleyball, having health injuries due to his non-existent volleyball career, dressing in drag (per him, he wasn't a drag queen, just a guy dressing in drag and having a good time), owning multiple properties, how and when his mother died, being Jewish, having grandparents who were Holocaust survivors, running an animal charity, helping a disabled vet pay for animal care, providing his campaign with $700K, and the list goes on. I can't believe this guy could keep so many lies straight. Actually, he couldn't! It must be exhausting to keep making up lies about yourself. Who does that? Someone who, clearly, doesn't like who he is. I could see a kid lying about where he came from if he's ashamed of growing up poor or something. But Santos is no kid and so many of his lies are downright ridiculous. Still, if this guy gets tossed out of Congress, I doubt it'll be for lies about his personal life. It'll be for lies about his financing. Follow the money, folks.

2. Annoying Commercials: I swear, if I see one more commercial with Kevin Hart or with the Shriners Hospital kids, I'm going to lose it. Do the Shriners fund certain channels because I sure see their commercials running all the time on channels like MeTV. Get some other funding, folks! Mix up the advertisers. And is Kevin Hart doing endorsements for whoever asks him? Chase, Draft Kings, whatever. Enough already! I have to mute the sound on the Draft Kings commercials where he's featured. Just the sound of his voice makes me reach for the remote. Also, ugh to the Dupixent commercials with the dancing kid all dolled up in bad makeup. Who thought this would be a good idea to highlight a medication for eczema? 

3. Timothy Olyphant and Conan O'Brien: I'm going to end this post on a high note by confessing my love for the duo of Olyphant and O'Brien. These two guys are hilarious together. I've been watching clips of them on YouTube from Conan's talk show and from his podcast and they're so great. I am a huge Olyphant fan. He's the kind of actor who gets better looking as he ages. He's also very charming and very funny (at least he is in all of the clips I've watched with him). I didn't even watch Justified when it was on (although I will watch the new shows when they air) and I bailed on the Santa Clarita Diet after the first episode, but I still enjoy Timothy particularly when he's teamed up with Conan. Such a delight and highly recommended.

Covid-Free!

After testing positive for Covid last week, I got a negative test result this week. (See the picture below.) I'm also feeling much better, but I still don't feel 100%. My appetite hasn't fully come back (which may be a good thing and help me shed some pounds) and my voice is still slightly off, but I feel pretty good overall. I'm looking forward to relaxing over the three-day MLK holiday weekend and doing some writing and reading. In 2023, I'm vowing to do more reading and writing, things I neglected a lot in 2022. And, even with Covid, I'm going to make an effort to stop being such a recluse this year. Life is short and we need to enjoy it while we can. That doesn't mean being irresponsible, but doing what you can do stay safe while still trying to live your life. 

Covid Finally Caught Me!

After being Covid-free since the start of this pandemic, I've finally been infected! I was out of town (and out of the country) after Christmas for work and, I believe, I was infected by a coworker with a persistent cough who (A) wasn't masked and (B) was sitting next to me, unfortunately. I can't prove Mr. Typhoid Mary infected me, but I believe he's to blame! By the time he was finally asked to mask up (and did), the damage had been done. I should have masked up and moved away from him, but I didn't. Thankfully, after a terrible Tuesday locked in my hotel room, I made it back home and I'm feeling better. I had all of my shots and boosters and I'm grateful to be here today typing this blog post rather than in a hospital on a ventilator or, God forbid, dead. People have to make their own decisions about their health care and I made the decision to get vaccinated and that decision, I believe, has helped me during this bout of Covid. I hope I don't end up with long Covid and lingering symptoms, but I'll cross that bridge if or when I get to it.