I think I should probably prepare to write a blog post revealing my opinions about what’s going on in the world right now, the efficacy of protests, my fears about my own life, my family’s safety and rippling outward through my community, my state, my country and, you know, all of us everywhere. I don’t think this is that post.
I will say that on a purely selfish level, I resent that the behavior of powerful awful people is just getting in the way of how I’ve optimized my life. For instance, I am deeply reliant on the Amazon ecosystem (the company, not the river, heh). I read hundreds of books on Kindle, I’m a Prime member, I watch Prime video all the time, and I order all sorts of stuff from the store, particularly nowadays drugstore items because I very much resent having to summon a drugstore employee to unlock the cabinet so I can take a bar of soap or whatever. It would be pretty easy to order print books from independent bookstores, but print books are only a fraction of what I get from them. I will have to investigate ways to supplant or replace those services with non-evil suppliers.
Similarly, I’m a big MSNBC fan, and their shakeup last weekend, getting rid of my beloved Joy Reid and many others I watch regularly – all people of color or Muslims, seems like – should indicate that I should protest by not watching them any more. But my evening routine involves an hour of news while I knit, and I don’t know if any other TV news is going to fill the bill. I guess I could audition some other shows.
Anyway, I resent having to pay attention to and somehow push against these large faceless corporations and evil billionaires when I’ve got my own shit to worry about. I have to keep reminding myself of the principle of ‘put on your own oxygen mask first’ – make sure you’re OK, then work outward. You only have so much energy.
That being said, a lot of ‘make sure you’re OK’ is going pretty good. I still need to take better care of myself physically – mostly by exercising – but thank goodness it’s getting warmer so at least I’m inspired to get outside and powerwalk. I’ve been cooking more: this past week or so, I made hot and sour soup (second time ever), cheese straws for a party (first time, and they were a success), and another round of chili. I’ve ordered or gotten some new bookcases and storage bins to keep organizing my house, and have been also getting caught up on the filing.
OK, so the filing. C’s passing meant I suddenly had all his files to deal with, and not only his own banking and bills, but stuff about the apartment and the furniture and the appliances. This all got sorta kinda proto-organized as I needed it, into a four-drawer standard filing cabinet, but I also had paperwork 2Bfiled that was stacking up for the last couple of years. Winter is a great time to deal with this. So, first, I did deal with the 2bfiled, and now I’m reorganizing the filing cabinet. I mapped out what I wanted the new organization to look like. And now my process is: grab the next file folder to go through, clean it up*, then file it in the front in its new category. So the top drawer front is ‘new system’, then there’s a marked point where that ends and it’s ‘old system/unreviewed’. So I just then grab the next one behind that mark, process it, and move it forward into the new system. I’m so effing proud of myself, this works great.
*’clean it up’ involves often picking out stuff to scan so I have an electronic picture of it, or to scan and then shred (don’t keep the originals), or just to shred.
But a few days ago, I picked up a folder that was about C’s old Amex card. This was one of the two cards he had a balance on when he passed, and I spent months assuring Amex that YES, I would be paying that bill, but NO, I wasn’t going to pay it until I got the executor paperwork and could get the money from his checking account. (and I assure you that’s what finally came to pass). I’d been ignoring the monthly missives from them, but I had been filing them. And I realized now, as I reviewed them, that as the months had gone on, they’d been offering me smaller and smaller amounts to pay to resolve the balance. I just hadn’t noticed. By the time I paid it off, I could have saved about $500, but I’d just paid the balance in full (which is fine, that’s what he owed). But I’d told myself at the time that a lot of details would drop through the cracks, and that was OK.
So, Tuesday, I went to see the new Broadway musical of Death Becomes Her. I hadn’t been a big fan of the movie, which I’d only seen once, but the show was reportedly very bitchy and very fun and stars two amazing performers, Megan Hilty (who came to fame as a Glinda, but has done much since, especially “Smash”), and Jennifer Simard (who was such a hoot as the nun in “Disaster”). I got a TKTS ticket, quite good and off I went. I wanted two things, really – to laugh my ass off and to see whether it was actually a valuable theater piece. (someone I respect had hated the music, for instance)
I did laugh my ass off. Simard’s understudy was on, but she was fine, and Hilty and Christopher Sieber and the others were great. It is totally bitchy. And they do a great job recreating some stunts that are hard to do live, like the fall down the staircase, and the hole through Helen’s torso. (There’s one trick involving a headless body that I’m not quite sure how they did.) I thought the music was fun! I don’t think I’m in any rush to own the cast album, but the music got the job done and wasn’t stupid. A friend of mine said she didn’t like it because “…the premise … you’re not worth much unless you’re young and beautiful.” Well, OK, but I don’t think that’s the show’s point of view, just the characters’s, and they’re clearly presented as awful people.
I think it’s a better show than some of the ones that have been popping up in community theater over the last few years, like “Addams Family”. So… worth the trip!
Oscars are tonight. My upstairs neighbors, as per tradition, are joining me, although I’m hosting because they’re literally moving next week (sob!). This wasn’t a year for me to try to see everything, but in addition to some side category contenders like Wallace and Gromit and The Only Girl in the Orchestra, I’ve seen Wicked, Conclave, about half of Emilia Perez and (as of last night) Anora.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Anora, but the more I heard about it, the more intrigued I got, particularly when I realized it was done by the same guy who directed Tangerine and the incredible The Florida Project. I was not disappointed. It’s tremendously entertaining, has some core to it and character growth, and the performances are each amazing. I guess I’d seen Mikey Madison before, but I didn’t remember her – but the accolades are real, people. All the subsidiary characters are great, but I particularly liked Garnik, the hapless Armenian ‘muscle’. I hadn’t quite identified this in my own mind, but the NY Times pointed out that it’s very much a three-act structure, and each of the three acts are practically their movie, and yet the movie flows from one to the other with great ease.
So I think I’d be happy if any of those three, Wicked, Conclave or Anora, won Best Picture. I can’t really opine on the acting categories, except that I love Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, but the Academy might wait to give them their prizes next year after Part 2.
All right, busier Sunday than usual. Let’s get to it.
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