Alas, Not A Sashimi & Sake Kind of Day!

I’m heading out here soon to go see my favorite 95-year-old Japanese man. But one of his sons-in-law in Florida texted me last night to alert me that a handyman will be in & around my client’s house today, making some repairs.

Which means I can’t take my client out for Japanese food today. Plus, I’ll have to make a dedicated effort to keep him distracted all day. He doesn’t like repairs done to his house, because he thinks his family is hinting at him to “die, already” so that they can sell his property and make a fortune…

I don’t 100% disagree with him, gang, but I can’t really tell him that. You know, so. Hopefully, I can find some old photos that will send his mind off to a happier time & place!! If I can get his mind back to those days when he lived in Tokyo or Hong Kong — or NYC, where he was born in 1930 — he gets into a really wonderful frame of mind, so we shall see!!

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Ross K.. Nichols sent this out to his Patreon group this morning:

“First time in Jerusalem: Assyrian inscription from the First Temple period discovered!

Exciting archaeological breakthrough in Jerusalem! For the first time ever, a 2,700-year-old Assyrian inscription from the First Temple period (8th-7th centuries BCE) has been unearthed near the Western Wall in the Davidson Archaeological Park. This tiny pottery shard, inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform, serves as direct evidence of official correspondence between the mighty Assyrian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah—possibly related to taxes or obligations during the reigns of kings like Hezekiah or Manasseh….” [full article from Israeli newspaper is here]

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Well, yesterday was an okay day, although I still have not made up my mind about which half-finished book project I want to tackle next.

I read over a few of them yesterday afternoon and felt sort of overwhelmed by each of them. I felt like the writing was really good, really tight, and I wasn’t sure if my brain was up to just diving in and trying to pick up where I left off. So that sort of made me just close down everything.

I’m guessing that the moment I finally decide which project I want to focus on, is when Sandra will call and say, “Do you have a minute?” Which generally means that the rest of the year will be booked solid for me.

Anyway! We shall see!

But I did take a really nice walk yesterday. Also got some reading done — which is so COOL now with these new glasses, gang!!

And I even sat in the family room for awhile and watched part of my favorite Halloween movie of all time!!

Yes! From 1944, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” starring Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Priscilla Lane and a few other famous folks from the old days.

What a fun movie, gang!

I didn’t watch the whole movie yet (I should say “re-watch” because I’ve seen the movie about a hundred times) because I have now discovered that when I’m sitting on the couch, trying to watch a movie in the family room, the cats find this really delightful and want to walk all over me. (I usually watch TV in the kitchen, while sitting at the kitchen table and eating dinner….)

Anyway. They were making it a little complicated so I finally gave up and decided to try again another day.

I had actually been looking for my copy of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” and found “Arsenic & Old Lace” instead. But I also want to find that Charlie Brown movie and watch it, too, before the month is over. I love that movie, too!

The 2-minute intro:

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Other than that, not much is going on. My “retirement” check arrived during the night, which means it’s time to pay bills and watch the check disappear until next month!! Yay.

But, I try not to think about it and just keep moving forward, gang.

Over 50 years ago, this very building used to be a 24-hour grocery store not far from our house, and it had a little diner in it (those windows to the left were in the diner):

Aside from babysitting for about 5 years, that was my first real job — when I was 16. I worked in that diner. I washed dishes, waited tables, and ran the cash register (the old-fashioned kind, where you actually had to do math — and do it correctly or customers would yell at you like you’d done it on purpose and make you want to cry!!). (God, I hated that job!) (Yes! I eventually walked out, in the middle of a shift!)

Anyway. My first real job. Who knew that, 49 years from back then, I would still NOT be retired!!! ACK!