So, yeah, I had Thursday through Sunday off and had a not-unreasonable list of house tasks to work my way through.
Thursday, my big thing was some CD reorganization. I’d gotten a new bookcase this spring to dump CDs into, and also acquired a whole bunch more CDs when my friends moved. So I went through those and cleaned them up and put a bunch of CDs in binders, throwing away the cases. Didn’t finish, but got it mostly done.
Thursday night, I went out to see St. Bart’s Players’ Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, directed by my friend Gary. I’d last seen this show in the late ’80’s done by Plays & Players in Philadelphia, the group I’d done No Sex Please, We’re British with. My late friend Marie had played the woman who gets murdered at the end of Act I. The only thing I remembered was the swishy character saying (referring to a script reading), “and I’ll do all the pageboys” and her character responding dryly, “I’ll bet you will”. Anyway, it’s a silly comedy with some adult humor, perfect for Gary, and I had friends in the cast. It also turned out I had friends in the audience (a lot of them), and I ended up sitting by Merrill, who’d been my “Remember” partner in A Little Night Music.
The show was a hoot. Very well-directed, very funny. The set was simple, but handily incorporated all the secret doors, etc. (there are, like, 4). The cast was clearly having a great time. I think my favorite cast member was the woman who played the German maid(s). One of her characters gets murdered in the opening no-dialogue scene, and it was so cleverly done and so funny, setting up the tone of the show right away.
One thing I love about St. Bart’s is that I’ve only really done one show there, now almost 20 years ago. and one cabaret, but am always welcomed back with open arms any time I attend one. I’d love to work with them again.
Friday was finishing the CD project, moving stuff down to the basement, and bringing stuff back up, notably the air conditioners and boxes of framed stuff (pictures, diplomas).
Saturday was to be about laundry, and then the QUO concert – attending, but also with the possibility of performing. But I’d been exposed to COVID during the week, and although I felt fine and had taken two negative tests during the week, I checked again. WELL! Totally solid second line. So… no concert for me, or anything else. I still felt fine, maybe some coughing, but I would have attributed it to allergies if I hadn’t tested positive. Urgh.
So I had to contact the QUO horns (can’t play tonight, even if you need me, sorry) and my QUO concert date (Susan) and bug out, and tell Marisa I would be skipping her RENT on Sunday (and gave her my ticket to pass on to a student of hers). And my friends I’d sat near/around during Musical Comedy Murders. *sigh* And then hunkered down. Did laundry and also went through the coat closet to pull out the stuff that should be cleaned or dry cleaned before it got cold again.
Saturday night, I decided to order dinner from Wonder. Have you heard of this? It’s not really a restaurant, it’s for takeout, but they’ve basically teamed up with fancy restaurants to be able to produce items off of their menu. Which means that you and your family can order all sorts of different cuisines from one order. I don’t really know if this is a savvy marketing idea, seemed pointless to me, but I had a coupon, so decided to try it out. Despite the weather, I ended up ordering Chinese food, which was pretty good. I also watched most of Scarface, a movie I’d never seen before. (I’m trying to build up my classic movie library, and had just gotten that Blu-Ray)
Sunday, I installed the air conditioners. This is actually very easy, they’re big cylinders that sit on the floor, and you just have to install the plastic piece in the window that holds one end of the hose. And plug the hose in. I have two – one for the bedroom, and one for the home office. I’ll probably need the office one today.
I tackled ‘the frame project’. Which was going through the various boxes and tote bags I had of framed pictures I’d pulled off the walls and shelves, and empty frames, too. And also removing the ‘wall of wedding’ pictures from the back hallway. Wedding was now over 10 years ago – and those were the only remaining pictures up from what used to be a whole gallery of stuff – a lot of C’s family and friends pictures which got taken down fairly early on. I have plans for redoing that whole hallway with a similar approach, but it will need to be repainted first.
anyway after emptying out the boxes and bags, I did some resorting and repacking – framed pictures that I may want to put up again, nice empty frames, and so on. I ‘unframed’ some of Charles’s stuff, like his Microsoft certification, since I can’t see ever wanting to put that on a wall. I’ll keep those certificates and diplomas, but I junked the frames, and some others.
Last night I finished Scarface. I’m glad I saw it, it’s a cultural touchstone, and I enjoyed watching it, although it’s completely over-the-top. I can absolutely see why young straight guys would love it. Pacino’s having a ball. Michele Pfeiffer is excellent. Oh, look, there’s the recently-deceased Harris Yulin, notable without having a lot of screen time. And a lot takes place in South Beach, where C and I spent some time on a vacation, and loved. So worthwhile to be on the shelf, although I may never watch it again.
Also interesting to see how a movie that came out when I was in college now looks very dated, not only in the technology, but in the cinematic style.
I then watched another Residence episode (it’s so great) and the first episode of the new season of The Gilded Age (oh, look, Vicki Clark!).
I don’t really have anything new to say about the Iran bombing or the NYC primaries this week, but they are not off my radar.
Back to work today. Still testing positive, argh, but I’ll go out today (masked) to pick up my weight-loss drug (20 lbs down, baby!) and get more COVID tests.
Enjoy the week! Stay safe, as best we can!
The Toast Point Page 