PHEW!

   So glad both are the same race. 

Ukraine friend---past report

 A friend of Dave's who used to keep him apprised of the happenings in her home country. She wanted Dave to travel there with her, this in fairly recent years. (If anywhere other than Ukraine, he might have accompanied her!

"The Bet" and Lenten Sacrifices

   Anton Chekov wrote about a wealthy banker and a young lawyer who engaged in conversation about which punishment was worse, death or solitary confinement. After spirited debate, in which the young lawyer maintained that a death penalty was worse because a period of confinement would come to an end and the prisoner could  then enjoy his life, the two struck a bargain. The banker would pay 2 of his multitude of millions if the lawyer would seal himself into his  locked cabin for 15 years, the only opening a window which  a watchman observed. And so the deal began. The lawyer went through various phases over the years, listening, and then not listening to music, reading and then not reading, but eventually reading and absorbing all the literature and philosophy of all the writers of all the works. 

  But time does pass, and circumstances do change. The wealthy banker has fallen on hard times, and cannot come up with the 2 million he bartered. He, in possession of the rusty old key, plans to go to the cabin and kill the lawyer.. When he enters he finds the lawyer, now only 40 years old, to be a virtual skeleton, slumped over a table and writing, but pretty much oblivious to his presence. He reads what the once-young but now riddled almost into a petrified figure, has written. The lawyer writes that he has read and absorbed almost every work ever written, and has all that knowledge compressed into his skull. He despises everyone and everything, that people have in essence bartered heaven for earth, with all that they worked so hard for destined to end with death. He no longer wants to understand. So he writes that on the eve of what would be the culmination of the 15 year bet, he would break the bargain and leave the cabin. And so he did, by breaking through the small window. 

   The 40 days of Lenten fasting is much shorter than 15 years, but a parallel can be drawn, especially if solitude prevails. Right now, I have 3 types of candy in open serving dishes in the house. I have not eaten a single piece of candy since the day before Lent. I can look at it, think about it, in all its beauty and innate flavor, and know that others are enjoying it and aspiring to acquiring more. But I know the joy is just temporal and is destined to end. So on the last day of Lent, I plan to devour all the false promise of life and then, in self-loathing and with regret for the human race, make my sad exit through the living room window. (Assuming I can still squeeze through.)

Ah, the Oscars

 That seems so last-century. But I saw 4 movies this year, so I'll opine:

West Side Story was enjoyable to  some degree, but seemed too long. Adding Rita Moreno to the cast was a nice tribute, but some of her appearances seemed redundant, and slightly patronizing. I heard her say that when she was approached for the job, she assumed it was for a cameo appearance, and she let them know that "I don't do cameos."  She probably should have.

Don't Look Up is a movie seemingly composed of  a number of Saturday Night Live skits, randomly strung together to make a politically or ecologically  oriented point. A few of the pieces (and that's what they are---pieces) are clever and /or amusing, but many are just plain simple and foolish. They were strung together by a relaxed committee. The excuse for disaster here is they label it a satire. Also too long.

Licorice Pizza makes me think of a bunch of stoners sitting around a desk trying to think of a title for the movie. Hey, since we're eating pizza, let's use that. We need another word. Not pepperoni or cheese, too common. What food would you not put on a pizza? We got it---licorice. And Licorice Pizza will make it sound somewhat deep and artsy, right? The movie started out like it was going to go somewhere, with characters and a possible plot. But it soon went astray, with a jumble of activities and happenings unrelated to each other or anyone that I could figure anyway. Case in point:  The guy and girl protagonists are in conversation with each other. Suddenly police officers appear on the scene and roughly and without explanation put him in handcuffs and take him away to a jail or court, where he is handcuffed to a bench in the hallway. No spoken words as far as we know. Suddenly one of the "cameo" actors appears in a frazzled hippie state and points to him and tells the cop with him that "No, he's not the murderer." So he is silently released from his handcuffs just as the female lead character shows up. She has been running to find him since  they dragged him away. Both characters do a whole lot of running in the movie. 

Coda is favored  to win Best Picture. I can understand why. It's not an outstanding film by any means, but in comparison to the others I've seen it's a sure bet to win. It has compelling characters and significant continuity of plot. But more importantly, in today's climate, it deals with a handicap, and a young girl pitted against societal discriminations. And Tah Dah, the Happy Ending!  Members of the audience  can indulge in a good cry. So I hear, and have observed. Overlooked in the rush to proclaim happiness for all, though, is the unexplained answer of how their major problem gets resolved. That evidently does not matter. All we need to know when the movie ends is that they all lived happily ever after.

My Repair Log

 Issue #1---My car failed to start yesterday for the third time this winter, though yesterday was Springtime. The first time was a bitter cold day. I called Roadside Assistance, and the rep checked the battery, but thought that there might have been a freeze in the gas tank. He added HEET, charged the battery, and all was well until the next time, a few months later, when Joe T. charged the battery, with no problems until yesterday. I called Roadside Assistance and the rep arrived within an hour. He charged the battery and advised that I leave the car running for 30 minutes. I told him the "history" and he recommended that I take the car to a mechanic for the check of battery, alternator and starter. 

     So without turning the car off, I drove it to the closest mechanic, where Kyle offered to help if I wanted to wait a few minutes. He brought the car inside the garage to check it. He said the battery, which is less than 2 years old, tests at 90+ percent. He said one of the terminals was loose, and that could cause failure to start. I know that the R.A. reps checked the connections; I saw them with a wrench while looking under the hood. But I want to believe that was the problem.

Issue #2---For the last few weeks, there have been television audio problems, similar to those of 2 years ago. Channel 6 audio is unintelligible, with bursts of sound and uneven levels of volume, combined with what I can only describe as loud static. And on Channel 13, the language automatically switches to Spanish and Spectrum ads are silent, mute.  On some programming, a voice narrates the action, commenting what a character is doing while the show goes on.  I waited until this week to call Spectrum, hoping the issues would correct themselves. the first rep I spoke to disabled the Spanish feature, but it returned the next day. I called again the next day and they said there was an outage, and to wait for an automated call saying the service was restored. I had no outage but they said outage means various levels of service disturbances. I waited until after I received the call and called back as instructed since my issues had not resolved. The tech arrived today. He checked every aspect possible, even carrying a ladder to check the installation at the roof, and going downstairs to check the signal. He found no issues "on their side."  So he suspected the box might be defective and so replaced it with a "new"one. As I was told before, all their replacement boxes are refurbished. So all seems well, so far. The only thing is he has been working for Spectrum for 19 years and had never encountered the issue of narration, even saying that their boxes are not programmed to do that. I wish the narrative had occurred while he was here so he could be disabused of the notion that today's customer may be hearing voices. I gave him a 5 rating anyway.

Must-See TV or Top of the Heap

 Current or recent:

 1) Stepping Into The Movies with Derek & Julianne Hough ---top-rated

2)  Something About Pam---I never followed the actual story, so don't know anything about Pam. Renee Zellweger gives  an over the top performance, and the narration and inserted scenes are disruptive and annoying, but still there is something about it...

3) Any and all of the William Mattar insurance advertisements---such an unlikely performer, but he does it all, from serious to amusing, to instructive  and even nostalgic.  I can't imagine how he could even have tried to carry it off, but he seems to think he is capable of doing it all. Therein lies the entertainment factor. And you know if you're hurt in a car, call William Mattar, at 444-4444. Forever emblazoned in our minds.

Dream State

 Because I can't sleep well, my dreams are vivid, well, sort of. In living life, you don't always recognize what may turn our to be important or not, or to remember why something happened or even if it did. So it goes--in dreams.

      I was driving my car, which seemed to be the white one from Grandma's estate. I was following a car driven by Ruth, enroute to her home, or destination anyway, which seemed to be in Rochester or some city I've been to, but never driven to by myself. Ruth was driving fast, through heavy traffic, and pretty much staying in the middle lane. Grandma's car never did have much pickup, and I lost sight of Ruth's car, also white, when Route 54  veered to the right. I made the turn, but afterward doubted myself, and drove in the other direction, before I figured that was not correct, so I went back to the intersection.  I got out of my car and entered a very large and very busy commercial building, with stores, offices, banks etc. There were people milling all  around, carrying on their daily business. I didn't recognize anyone, didn't see Ruth. I started to follow a small group of people out a side entrance, which sloped upward, but then I realized they were employees sneaking  outside on break. So I went back inside, looked around a little more, and then left by way of the wide front entrance. Standing outside on the corner, I considered my options, first of which I needed to find a phone, to call someone, anyone.

    While I was pondering my dilemma, Ruth pulled up alongside the curb. She said she was glad to see I was outside, and apparently waiting for her. I got into her car, and we drove off. but now there were 3 other women in the car; all of them were well-dressed and coiffed, with attractive makeup, and engaged in amicable conversation with each other.  While I explained how I had come to lose sight of the car I was following, they all listened to me in silence, but then turned and started talking to each other again.  Nothing new there, I thought.

Later M. came to pick me up and drive me home. On the way, we noticed a rectangular building glowing in a new coat of gray paint.  Dad did that, M. said, and  also had started on another building not far away. Each building had a 3/4 bright blue  panel next to it. That we both recognized as significant, but I couldn't tell you why.