More snow came during the night, gang. And it wasn’t predicted at all.

It does look kinda pretty, because it’s another really sunny day today. But it’s still incredibly cold.

Well, my regular Thursday client is now in rehab for a couple of weeks so, ostensibly, I have the day off today. They notified me of this yesterday, just as I was leaving my favorite 94-year-old Japanese client’s house.

(And what a great afternoon we had yesterday. I can tell you in all certainty, gang, that were he and I to meet at any point throughout all space and time, we would always get along famously. We have so much in common, it is ridiculous. Even though we are separated by 30 years, and have experiences separated by many continents, oceans, languages, cultures, wars, etc., we are utterly and completely simpatico.

(We have great BIG things in common, and teeny-tiny things in common.

(A case in point: yesterday, he really, really wanted vodka. His nurse keeps red wine stocked in his house, but he prefers vodka. Hugely prefers vodka. But his nurse will not keep vodka in the house. But yesterday, he was really going on about the vodka. So on a hunch, I went down to his basement — a room that is staggeringly incredible: Mid-Century Modern, a huge stone fireplace, a wet bar, and many, many rooms. All of it covered in dust and more cobwebs than you can possibly imagine. No one has been down there to entertain in many, many years. (His wife died 6 years ago, but she was terminally ill for several years prior to passing away.)

(I thought, well, let me at least check the wet bar downstairs and see if by some chance an ancient bottle of vodka might be lurking in there. It wasn’t. There were only dusty old bottles of liqueurs that no one drinks straight unless they’re on their very, very last legs of life and want it all to quickly end.

(Well, no vodka. However, a quick aside: I have an addiction to dishes and glassware. I have probably about 32 vintage juice glasses down in my kitchen , including a set of 8 that look exactly like this, circa 1970s:

(While looking in his incredibly dusty, cobweb-strung wet bar, I saw one lone glass. I reached in and took it out and — yes! — why wouldn’t he have just one of that exact juice glass from the 1970s just sitting there? Jesus. This happens constantly.)

Anyway. I digress!!!

So. While leaving his house yesterday, I found out that I have today off (unless the agency contacts me and has a client for me this afternoon). So I got excited! An unexpected day off!!

I went and ran all my errands since I was already in town, just in case I don’t have to go anywhere today. And then I got home, had a great dinner, and watched the French film, “Spoiled Brats” (“Pourris gâtés”) on Netflix (at Peitor’s request) and I just loved it.

And from there, I watched the first episode of “A Man on the Inside” and I really loved that, too!

And then I laid in bed and listened to Tom Waits’ Mule Variations by candlelight. (And why wouldn’t the first song on the album be “I’m Big in Japan” ????? Jesus, I’d forgotten about that!)

Anyway.

During the night, the on-call person at the agency texted me and then also left a voice message, asking if I could be out before dawn this morning, and drive 40 miles in the ice and snow again, way out into the country, to go back to that 91-year-old client I was with Sunday night…

No.

Even though he’s really nice, and his favorite singers are the Bee Gees and Roy Orbison, and even though he was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY….

No.

Just thinking about that endless drive, there & back, in perilous weather exhausted me and fucked up my entire night’s sleep.

So all that happy stuff from yesterday — long gone this morning.

But Kash Patel is on the horizon as the head of the FBI. And all kinds of promising Q-stuff is finally coming to pass in public. So I am trying to just breathe and let it all go, gang.

Meanwhile! An unexpected potential day off to work with Peitor on our pitch bible. So on I go.

**********

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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My favorite song from Mule Variations. A fucking awesome song. “Hold On.” Tom Waits, 1999.

“Hold On”

They hung a sign up in our town
“if you live it up, you won’t
live it down”
So, she left Monte Rio, son
just like a bullet leaves a gun
With charcoal eyes and Monroe hips
she went and took that California trip
Well, the moon was gold, her
hair like wind
She said don’t look back just
come on Jim

(Chorus)
Oh you got to
Hold on, Hold on
You got to hold on
Take my hand, I’m standing right here
You gotta hold on

Well, he gave her a dimestore watch
and a ring made from a spoon
Everyone is looking for someone to blame
but you share my bed, you share my name
Well, go ahead and call the cops
you don’t meet nice girls in coffee shops
She said baby, I still love you
Sometimes there’s nothin left to do

Oh you got to
Hold on, hold on
You got to hold on
Take my hand, I’m standing right here, you got to
just hold on

Well, God bless your crooked little heart
St. Louis got the best of me
I miss your broken-china voice
How I wish you were still
here with me

Well, you build it up, you wreck it down
you burn your mansion to the ground
When there’s nothing left to keep you here, when
you’re falling behind in this
big blue world

Oh you got to
Hold on, hold on
You got to hold on
Take my hand, I’m standing right here
You got to hold on

Down by the Riverside motel,
it’s 10 below and falling
by a 99 cent store she closed her eyes
and started swaying
but it’s so hard to dance that way
when it’s cold and there’s no music
well your old hometown is so far away
but, inside your head there’s a record
that’s playing, a song called

Hold on, hold on
You really got to hold on
Take my hand, I’m standing right here
and just hold on.

c – 1999 Kathleen Brennan, Tom Waits