Sweater weather, betches. I love it. Except now I’m not exactly sure how they’re going to do outdoor dining when it’s cold, and I don’t want to do indoor dining yet.
I feel like there’s a lot to talk about, but none of it seems important. OK, if I choose to talk about the State of the World, the passing of RGB, and that sort of thing, that’s all important. I don’t know if I have anything to add to the general discussion. Now that I have a paycheck again, I set aside a sum for donations and distributed it to various political recipients. Of course, now that seems to be the signal for these campaigns to say, ‘oh, you just gave us money, let us text you and phone you and email you for more money’. No, sweeties, I gave you your money and I’d rather jump off a bridge than phone-bank or talk to anyone trying to phone-bank me.
Since my life is now swinging back to somewhat normal (employed, not in a heinous job, no family members actively dying as far as I know), other issues that have been pushed down the list are rising up. Like, my increasing sphericality. I’ve always struggled with weight, but I’ve gained a lot in the last few years. I thought some of that acceleration would be tempered by using the CPAP machine (and maybe it was) and I am in fact regularly exercising. But clearly, it’s in my best interests to do more and I may start WW again, probably in the winter (after holiday eating season, and I have other projects to do before then).
In general, it’s clear that I need to learn to love my body enough to want to take care of it. Not that I hate my body, but I have been indifferent to it. I decided a long time ago not to play on the field of even attempting to be fashionable or handsome or whatever, seemed like a waste of time for someone like me. But I can spend more time addressing the issues that are cropping up in middle age, and should.
I’m also overdue to start seeing a therapist, and I’m going to do that soon. I’m hoping that with a professional friend steering me to better mental habits, that will then translate into better physical habits too.
Oh, this is nice. The American Prize 2019-2020: Opera Conducting. I’d been looking for this announcement for quite some time and it turned out I missed it – Facebook decided it wasn’t worth showing to me, I guess. But the AP posted this week that all the winners were up, and I was like, ‘wut?’. So, anyway… this has been strange throughout. First of all, I applied for last year’s contest and somehow got carried over into this years. Second, they lumped me in the professional category, and I’m really not. Third, the other finalists all conducted big serious operas, and I conducted “Patience”, a goofy little operetta. So I was delighted to place at all. (I got third place in 2015, as well, for “Pirates”.) So a nice thing anyway. Who knows when I’ll get to conduct a show again, sigh.
Media consumption, quickly:
- Movies:
- Irresistible, the Jon Stewart-directed movie about big political operatives running campaigns in a small town. I liked it just fine, but I went back and read some reviews of people I trust, and they loathed it. Oh well.
- Stage Mother: Jacki Weaver stars as the mother of an estranged drag queen son who ends up taking over his drag club when he dies. It was almost exactly halfway between wonderful and awful. Worth a watch.
- Legal Action : Texas thriller. Eh.
- The Grand Seduction: a small dying village in St. John’s, Newfoundland puts together a scheme to lure and charm a doctor so they can get a company to build a factory there. Kind of a “Local Hero” kind of thing. Starts Brendan Gleeson, who I could watch all day, and Taylor Kitsch, who’s fun. Made me fantasize about living in a small harbor town, I’d love it.
- TV
- We finished “Shetland” and have moved to the southern end of the British Isles for “Broadchurch”. It’s somehow more suffused with dread than “Shetland”, although they also have awesome scenery. There are far too many camera tricks and music score tricks telling you how to feel, which pisses me off. But, jeez, it stars David Tennant and Olivia Colman and they’re both fan-fucking-tastic. In Season 2 now. I think we have some other British detectivey things queued up after that.
- Still working through “Life in Pieces”. It’s making me guffaw more and more, I must say. For some reason, though, I am convinced that Greg and Matt should have each other’s names. Greg should be the somewhat scruffy Thomas Sadoski and Matt should be the boyish Colin Hanks. Weird, right?
- Books
- Still working on Motherless Brooklyn (enjoying it a lot), Uncommon Types (ditto), Real Men Knit (eh) and a reread of Artemis Fowl.
- I read (or reread) a Ross Thomas book, Voodoo, Inc., which was a riot. I remember going on a Ross Thomas kick when I lived in Baltimore, checking out stacks of his stuff from the library.
- Currently reading the Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2B, which is all novellas, including one by EM Forster!
- M/M stuff: someone posted a tweet with pictures of John Boyega and Dev Patel in period clothing and suggested “a period romance where they’re boyfriends”. Well, KJ Charles’s book “Unfit to Print” features a black/Indian couple, so I shared that with her, saying “Have you cast this book yet?” and I’ve never gotten so many likes and retweets. Apparently I hit a nerve in the KJC community. It would be good casting.
I’ve read A Friend in the Dark by CS Poe and Gregory Ashe, This Rough Magic by Josh Lanyon, and Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding. “Rattlesnake” is particularly sweet. Currently reading the highly-recommended Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, which is about frenemies Alex (the American president’s son) and Henry (one of the British royal princes) falling for each other. It’s hilarious.
What else? I continue to like my new job a lot and am actually doing real and interesting work now. My studying for the certification exam is going better than it had been – I’m going to take one of the full practice exams (as opposed to a drill on a specific subject) this afternoon and see how I do. Current plan is to take the real exam in about three weeks.
I’ve started practicing piano again. The pinched nerve thing is mostly gone. I missed the practicing.
Yep, that’s it for now. Nice to have a lazy Sunday, I must say.
The Toast Point Page 