Yes! It’s that time of the weekend where I try not to lose my fucking mind over all the shifts the agency has suddenly assigned to me for the rest of the month!!
ME (looking at my schedule on my phone at 6:45AM): “Jeepers, McGee! Doesn’t anybody else fucking work there??!!”
Unbelievable. I actually had to send an email to politely tell them to please trim back my hours. I had no less than 26 shifts between now and the end of May. That includes a stretch of 15 shifts in a row with no day off, and zippo time off for Memorial Day weekend. (And NO TIME to go to the shooting range…)
They, of course, have no clue about the TV pilot project or the play going to Off-Broadway. (They have no clue YET — I haven’t put in for those 3 weeks of needed time-off to go to NYC.) So they don’t know just how much of my mind I’m losing right now.
Luckily, I also got to wake-up to stuff like this today:
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This evening, I head back to that nice facility where I have the new patient. It is a short shift and the weather tonight will be just beautiful! So the drive there & back should be really nice.
But before then —
YES! I forgot to mention the other day that my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man did indeed get his teeth back! And we went out for sashimi and sake. And yesterday, we went to the Nature Preserve and he was bowled over by how GREEN everything has finally gotten.
And today — well, today, I’m not sure what we’ll do. It is just a splendid day and I want to make sure he gets to spend most of it outdoors.
Yesterday, he said to me: “You are symbolic of everything that has been good and beautiful in my life. I love spending these final days of my life with you.”
I could barely process the magnitude of that, gang. It sort of wiped me out. But what a beautiful man he is. And what an amazing life he has had.
But when I say that I’m exhausted, it’s not just the physical part of the job. It’s more the emotional part of it that gets to me.
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Okay, here’s this!
George and Nick and Carly in a store in Denver:
And tonight they will be in Portland, OR. Buy tickets here!! The next 2 shows are sold out.
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From James Tabor:
Were there Connections Between Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls Community? (25 mins):
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And I think that’s it! I gotta scoot!!
I hope you have a super Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys! See ya!
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I absolutely love Emmylou Harris. The first time I heard her sing this amazing song, I was 15 years old and driving down to Virginia with my dad. It came on the car radio and it just quietly blew me away.
I need songs like this today! Emmylou Harris, “One of These Days” from her incredible album, Elite Hotel, 1976. Enjoy, gang!
“One Of These Days”
I won’t have to chop no wood I can be bad or I can be good I can be any way that I feel One of these days
Might be a woman that’s dressed in black Be a hobo by the railroad track I’ll be gone like the wayward wind one of these days
One of these days it will soon be all over cut and dry And I won’t have this urge to go all bottled up inside One of these days I’ll look back and I’ll say I left in time Cause somewhere for me I know there’s peace of mind
I might someday walk across this land Carrying the Lord’s book in my hand Goin’ cross the country singin’ loud as I can One of these days
But I won’t have trouble on my back cuttin’ like the devil with a choppin’ axe, Got to shake it off my back, one of these days
One of these days it will soon be all over cut and dry And I won’t have this urge to go all bottled up inside One of these days I’ll look back and I’ll say I left in time Cause somewhere for me I know there’s peace of mind There’s gonna be peace of mind for me, one of these days
I wish I was able to go into all the details of what’s been happening around here lately, but ALL of it is good.
And, of course, as these things go with me — ALL of it ends up being exhausting. Because I have to constantly switch my focus from one thing to the next to the next, all day long. While also giving my undivided attention to whichever client I am with during my shifts. (FYI – people WhatsApp me or text me all day long during my shifts. I have to wait until I have absolutely nothing else needing my immediate attention before I can even read them, let alone send back a “thumb’s up”.)
When I look back on everything I manage to stay on top of in, say, 10 hours on a given day, it’s just insane.
And the agency has been asking me to pick up more shifts and since I want to make sure I have enough money for the trips to NYC and to pay the cat sitter, I just keep saying “YES”.
But it’s ALL good. (Not to mention that each shift brings reasons to remind me that it’s all over in a heartbeat, gang, so JUST DO IT!)
AND– I talked to Peitor about inserting a scene into our TV series (not the Pilot script, but in season 2), that will be an homage to Tsai Ming-liang’s film “The Hole”. Using the Grace Chang cha-cha song, “Wo Ai Qia Qia” (1957) that I play all the time while driving and, after he saw the YouTube “Wo Yao Ni” footage I sent him from “The Hole”, he was ecstatic!! (I posted both of these here recently, but they are again.)
We’ve already started revising the specific scene, and it will be off the charts, gang. (Two of our characters are Gen Z, M/F fraternal twins from Singapore.)
If, one day down the road, you are streaming our TV show in the comfort of your own home, and a particular scene pops up that uses unexpected popular music from any given era, and which seems particularly off-the-wall — you can assure yourself that the scene was initially spawned in my wee bonny brain while driving on the backroads of the Hinterlands with the music blasting!!
No, I don’t drink and drive. It just feels like I do!
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Okay!! Kitten update!
A couple of them are eating solid food now and using the litterbox!! How do they figure this stuff out, gang??
The little family just now:
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Okay.
Two more photos from the show in Denver the other night! There was just something about these photos that I really liked.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds play Portland, OR tomorrow night. You can buy tickets here!
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And I think that better be it for today, gang. As always, I gotta scoot!
Have a fantastic Friday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I don’t think this song needs an introduction. But this is the song that was playing in Denver when the photographer took the photos above.
I’m seriously hoping, gang, that nothing went wrong at the dentist and that my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man has teeth again!!
I’m planning to FINALLY take him back here for sashimi and sake today, if all went well!
We shall soon see! (And it also means a trip back to the incredible restaurant at the golf club will be right around the corner!!)
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Okay, I am officially extremely tired here but I am so excited about developments with the TV Pilot package, and I’m over the moon with what’s happening with “The Guide to Being Fabulous” and the women who are working with us, helping to get the staged reading to the Off-Broadway stage.
It is such a thrill for me, gang. Not just to be finally taking it to NYC, but the fact that this will be the version of the play that is true to Sandra’s life. The professional caliber of the people getting onboard makes me feel pretty confident that people will finally get to see the play as Sandra and I have been envisioning it for so many years.
I can’t tell you how much this means to me. After 11 years.
A rarely seen photo!! Back when Sandra and I first started working on the play!
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The kittens this morning!!!
And way in the back, there (a close-up of Wee Bonny Billy’s eye!) —
They no longer hang out in their playpen at all. And they scamper all over the room — even Wee Bonny Billy, with his 2 lame legs. I now have to look down at my feet at all times, so as not to step on anybody.
They are too cute, gang.
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I started watching this show on Netflix last night and I love it!! From 2019, in Japanese with English subtitles: “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories”. Here’s the official trailer:
I also started watching this film on Metrograph, but I am only halfway through: “Leonor Will Never Die”.
So far, I love it. The plot is incredible. As an aging woman writer, it really gives me something to think about.
It’s a dramedy. From the Philippines. This is the plot:
“Leonor Reyes was once a groundbreaking figure in the Filipino film industry during its ragtag action cinema glory days, but now she struggles with old age, mounting bills, and the untimely death of her son. While revisiting an unfinished script about a fearless protagonist trying to avenge his brother’s murder, Leonor is struck on the head by a falling television set and knocked into a coma. As she lies unconscious in the hospital, fantasy and reality begin to blur when Leonor finds herself awake inside her script, becoming the hero of her own story.”
Here’s the trailer:
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Here’s another photo of Nick Cave in Kansas City the other night!
And Nick Cave sent out a really beautiful Red Hand File yesterday morning, giving spiritual advice to a young woman whose father recently died. He said, in part:
“I suspect your father will hear your words, but I do not know. At the very least, by acknowledging the sacred and mysterious nature of things, these words will impact the general condition of the world, not to mention your own injured heart. I believe we must take our subtle spiritual intuitions seriously and view them as the quintessence that underlies the ordinary world. The rejection of the sacred is the fundamental reason for our existential discontent. “I love you” and “I am sorry” spoken into the universe are two sentiments forever worth declaring….”
Enjoy your Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I never play music when I have a client in the car, because I need to pay 125% to my driving.
But if I were going to play music today, while heading out for sashimi, it would be this!! A great song for driving on a sunny day!
I’ve posted this song here many times, but it is such a classic!! France Gall, 1964, “Laisse tomber les filles” !!! Play it loud and try really hard to stick to the speed limit. Okay! Enjoy, gang. (Remember: No dancing while the car is in motion.)
This will be a quick post today because I not only have my usual shift to get to this morning, but I have a couple of new files from Peitor to read before I leave — and then another Zoom call with Sandra the minute I get home this afternoon!
I’m extremely excited, gang. It is official!
This will be my schedule for NYC between now and October:
One week in mid-July
5 days in late August/Labor Day
One week in mid-October
The reading will be one night — possibly two nights– October 13th and/or 14th. Yay!!!!!!
It has only taken 11 years to get to this point!! (Meaning, Off-Broadway. Not counting the world premiere we had in Toronto in October 2023.)
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Two videos from James Tabor:
Go with Me into the 1st century Jerusalem Tomb of the Shroud! (16 mins):
Do Mainstream Judaism, Christianity, and Islam Reflect Abrahamic Faith? (25 mins):
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If you’re a member of Simon Parkes’ Connecting Consciousness group, there will be a live ZOOM tonight at 7PM Eastern time, with Matt Roeske, of Cultivate Elevate.
You have to be a member to watch,. You can join here, but you might not get approved for membership before tonight.
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Phil is planning to go live tonight, too. Check here later to confirm. No time announced yet.
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played to a sold out audience last night in Kansas City. Most of the posts to Instagram were videos, though (so far). But here’s a photo!
Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visting!
I love you guys. See ya!
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Another one from the new Willie Nelson album, Oh What A Beautiful World. The song was written by Rodney Crowell & Guy Clarke — “Stuff That Works”. Enjoy, gang!
“Stuff That Works”
I’ve got an old blue shirt and it suits me just fine I like the way it feels so I wear it all the time I’ve got an old guitar that won’t ever stay in tune But I like the way it sounds in a dark and empty room
I’ve got an old pair of boots that fit my feet just right I can work all day and go out and dance all night I’ve got a new used car that runs just like a top Yeah I get the feeling it ain’t ever gonna stop
Stuff that works stuff that holds up Is the kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall Stuff that’s real that stuff you feel Is the stuff you always reach for when you fall
I’ve got a pretty good friend who’s seen me at my worst He don’t care if I’m a blessing or a curse But he always shows up when the chips are down That’s the kind of friend I like to be around Stuff that works
There’s a woman I love she’s crazy and she paints like God She’s got a playground sense of justice she don’t give odds I’ve got a tattoo with her name right through my soul And I think everything she touches turns to gold Stuff that works Stuff that works
Now that I’ve actually caught up on all my sleep and feel totally 100% back to normal again, I’ve decided, quite joyfully, to grow old(er) with Nick Cave and any and all various upcoming versions of the Bad Seeds!!
Other than that, though … I’m gonna age gracefully.
If you STILL don’t follow Q — this means that we’re watching a movie and that something(s) happening this week that will seem off the charts, but that it is not real; to just chill-ax; we’re watching a movie.
And on a similar (sort of) topic…
If you didn’t see it yet, they are planning to re-open the notorious federal penitentiary, Alcatraz — but that it has already been expanded and updated, gang. It seems it is already ready to go!
Sounds like the West Coast version of Gitmo.
About 40 years ago, on a trip to San Francisco to visit my family, we took a tour of Alcatraz. Wow, was it creepy.
However, I did get a really cool souvenir ceramic ashtray! It was black & white stripes (like the old style of prison uniforms) and it had a drawing of Alcatraz on it, and it said: “Alcatraz: The Last Resort”
Oh! Well, here’s one for sale on eBay:
I loved that ashtray!! And up until late this past summer, I kept it out on the side table on my kitchen porch. Anyone who stopped by to visit over the years, and who smoked, could always feel free to hang out on the patio chairs and smoke whatever was legal.
Then, as these things go, a family with several kids moved into a rental down at the end of the block last summer. According to neighbors, the kids were “troublemakers” and were wreaking havoc all over our little village. The family eventually got evicted, but not until my ashtray disappeared in the middle of a hot summer night!
It annoyed me, but I like to think they just thought it was cool and had to have it.
God knows, when I was young, I stole more things than I can possibly remember — hence my eventually “getting arrested” and put on one month of House Arrest when I was 14, and the Officer in the Uniform behind the Big Desk told me that if I got caught stealing again, I’d be going to reform school.
Since I only had the highest quality friends back then… many of the kids I knew had already been to reform school and it sounded like an actual Hell on Earth. And that, my friends, ended my desire to steal anything whatsoever, ever again.
Okay. Anyway! I miss that ashtray, now that it’s summer and it should have it’s time-honored place on my kitchen porch, but oh well.
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Okay. Last night in Minneapolis!!
The show tonight in Kansas City is sold out, as are a couple other dates next week, but there are still tickets available for 4 other shows before the tour is over. Buy tickets here!
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All right. I have to get ready for the Zoom call with Sandra and the Musical Director, to get our play “The Guide to Being Fabulous” officially underway for its staged reading Off-Broadway this Fall!! So I gotta scoot!
I have the day off, but I don’t think I’ll have time to go to the shooting range today. We’ll see! (YES!! A thief and a gunslinger!!! And you wonder how come my marriages didn’t last??!!) (Not to mention cigarettes, bourbon, amphetamines and a seriously frisky stray eye…)
Anyway!!!! Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Check out this song!!!!! I love it. I played it on repeat, really loud, driving home from my shift at the old people’s home last night!!
Hong Kong pop singer, Grace Chang!! “Wo Ai Qia Qia”!!!! (A cha-cha song from 1957!) Enjoy, gang!!
Well, I mean, aside from the fact that I’m semi-retired and already on Social Security.
And in about 56 days, I start Medicare. And Long-Term Care insurance. And my cremation/burial insurance kicks in…
Aside from those seemingly huge red flags that I choose to ignore —
These last 48 hours have just about killed me.
Yes, I often — well, sometimes — NO, wait, I NEVER dress like this!
I know I would have fared better had I simply taken Friday and Saturday off, and just focused on having a great time with Kara at the hotel and seeing Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. And doing all that driving at a more leisurely pace.
But I just didn’t have it in my heart to put my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man through all that. He really suffers noticeably when he has an unfamiliar substitute caregiver even for one day. And so two days would have been really hard on him.
So I just decided to cram everything in to 24 hours. And it wiped me out.
When Kara and I were finally on the freeway yesterday, heading for Columbus, I decided to use the Google GPS, so that I could just chat with Kara and not make her have to pay attention to the Google map I had printed out.
That was my first mistake, of course, because as soon as we got even remotely near downtown Columbus, the traffic kicked in. And the GPS would just suddenly say what I needed to do — 2 or 3 lanes over. Which was close to impossible to maneuver because of the traffic.
Especially since Columbus drivers tend to be really aggressive and rude. So within basically spitting distance from downtown, I was forced to make 3 wrong turns, to try to somehow get back to where I needed to be.
In all that traffic.
And then when we finally got to the hotel, we had trouble seeing the valet parking, so we drove right past it. (There was scaffolding on the front of the hotel and it sort of masked the valet parking area.)
But I do have to say that the staff at that hotel were the friendliest, most helpful staff I have encountered in a really, really long time, gang. And the hotel was really beautiful. And the room was great.
Oh, and in case you’re curious — Kara even looks pretty in the dark!
Around 8am yesterday morning, the room was pitch dark except for a hint of daylight coming in through the bathroom window. I went over to gently wake Kara. She was snuggled way down in the comforter and all those puffy pillows. But when her head popped up, with her long brown hair hanging down over her bare shoulders —
ME (whispering): “Oh my god, Kara, you’re even pretty in the dark!”
ANYWAY!!
When we first got to our room, I was worn out from the crazy driving. And I needed a shower. So, while beautiful, non-exhausted, 7-years-younger Kara was down in the mezzanine, having free champagne and listening to gentle acoustic music, and Nick Cave-spotting (!!), I was up in the room, in the shower– UNABLE TO FIGURE OUT HOW THE FUCKING THING WORKED!
ME: “Jesus Christ! Don’t tell me I’m too old to figure out how to work the shower??”
This trickle of ice cold water was spraying out at me, and I was turning the knob and trying to read (without my glasses, of course) which way was hot, which way was cold, I finally gave up and pressed the button for the handheld thingie and SUDDENLY there was a massive happy spraying of hot water ALL OVER my face and perfectly coiffed HAIR.
At that point, I gave up that idea that I would look good for the remainder of the trip. And I hoped that my (usually) pleasing personality would just, you know, wildly overcompensate for the waterfall damage done to me in the shower.
However…
The food at the brasserie was really good, gang. We had an early dinner there (and also breakfast the next morning — AND the guitar and bass players for the Bad Seeds were having breakfast there, too!)
And, as I had kind of suspected — once Kara found out what I’d paid for the room, she cheerfully picked up the tab for absolutely everything else.
Honestly, we had such a great time.
But then, during the actual concert, I got REALLY old!
But, thankfully, the God of rock-&-roll (no, not Nick Cave, the actual GOD of rock-&-roll), had whispered in my ear just as we were finding our seats and he told me to switch seats with Kara. We were sitting one in front of the other, not side by side. So I said, “Kara, switch seats with me”, and she did.
And it turned out that my God-given seat was back far enough from the stage and set a little higher up than the seating on the main floor, that while Kara had to stand (along with everyone else in my entire vicinity) in order to see anything throughout the entire show, I was able to remain seated for about 2 hours (up until the encore), and not collapse from absolute exhaustion. I had the most perfect view the entire time and I got to remain seated!
And another thing that made me realize I was old — well, 2 things. One was that the young, pretty and really excited woman next to Kara exclaimed that she had been a fan of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds for four years already. And she also made a comment about the current Bad Seeds being the original musicians except for “a piano player who died a few years ago…” (Conway Savage.)
Conway, RIP
Whereas I remember the real original Bad Seeds from when they actually were the original Bad Seeds, before Conway, 40 years ago…
I didn’t say anything, because I thought her excitement was really sweet.
But the other thing — since they’re promoting the Wild God album, they didn’t play a song that I was emotionally connected to until they played “Tupelo”, and then I was just swept away, emotionally.
But I found myself sitting there, rocking to the music, with my eyes closed. I was completely transported back to my old room on East 12th Street, in NYC’s East Village. I was on my bed in the old room, listening to “Tupelo” for the fist time and being completely blown away by Nick Cave…
And in the here & now, I had to shake myself out of it because, I was sort of worried that I’d fall asleep in that little swoon, but ALSO because I told myself —
ME: “Look at what’s fucking in FRONT of you, Marilyn!! Nick Cave!! Don’t get sucked down into the PAST.”
And yet, the lure of the past is so fucking appealing!! (That equals being old, in case you’re trying to keep track of all this.)
And, I have to say, gang, during the encore, they played “Shivers” and as always, that song still blew me away. (And that song is going on 50 years…) But what a great song.
Anyway, between the exhaustion from all the wrong turns while driving in a town I’ve been to a million times, and from not knowing how a shower works, and needing to sit not stand through an entire concert, and going deaf from how loud it was even though I had ear plugs in… and loving the really old songs — it became clear to me that not only had I gotten old, but also that it would likely be the last rock concert I was going to have the energy to attend.
This morning, as I was still trying to recover from everything since Friday (plus, keep in mind, just doing the caregiving wears me out), I thought back to the first rock concert I attended, in the summer of ’73, when I was still technically 12, and I thought to myself that a 52-year run of concert-going was a pretty good haul. I have seen some amazing bands and had so much fun.
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Okay!!
Just so you are forewarned, everything is picking up speed here and I will be really crazy-busy for probably the rest of the year.
SUCH GREAT stuff is happening with the TV pilot proposal. I cannot wait until I can tell you about it, but Peitor & I are already hitting the ground running, getting episode 2 nailed down.
And work on the staged reading for “The Guide to Being Fabulous” officially begins tomorrow on a Zoom call — with our new Musical Director, Jo Lyn Burks (!!). Sandra and I are both so excited!!
But I will have to balance both those projects, along with traveling to & from NYC, and still being a caregiver (until I can afford to stop doing that). And I am determined to do all of it. I don’t want to get old, just for the sake of being old. I want to have a terrific OLD AGE!!
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Here’s a kitten photo from this morning!!
And here are 3 photos from the show on Friday night (I didn’t take these) (because I’m old and prefer not to watch a concert through my phone)!
And don’t forget, there are still 8 shows left!! You can buy tickets here!!
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Whew!! And that’s it!
Already the texts from Peitor are pouring in!
Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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Wistfully, I listened to these 3 songs early this morning.
This was the line-up from the first rock concert I attended with my older cousin in the Summer of ’73. We shared so many great times over the years — going to more concerts and playing so many records. She went off to college in the Fall of ’73, but we still remained really, really close for many years.
Brewer & Shipley, The Doobie Bothers, and the Beach Boys — and the songs that were big hits for them during that Summer of ’73. Enjoy, gang.
I turned my wall calendar to May this morning, and lo & behold (!!), tomorrow is circled and it says I’m going to see Nick Cave!!
(See every single post for the last month if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)
Anyway!!
Yes!
It’s officially May!! Yay!!
Here’s a photo of my cutie from a few minutes ago. This is the kitten whose 2 back legs didn’t develop, they are just stumps, but what a cutie! He is smaller than his litter mates, but he can still get around just fine. I’m keeping him and have decided to call him Wee Bonny Billy (or Wee Bonny Billie, if it’s a girl). (I feel certain it will notice how it’s name is spelled.)
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Okay, gang!!! We’re on a roll, regarding feedback for our pilot script!
Another European production company “loved it” and said it was “so much fun”!!!
Peitor and I still have a lot of work to do on the overall promo package. Plus, we’re gearing up to write episode 2.
And I just got assigned another new client yesterday — such a sweet man. He’s already in a facility, but it’s a facility that I really like. The staff there are really, really nice.
Here’s something interesting — when I got to his room yesterday afternoon and met him for the first time, I immediately felt like I recognized him. That I knew him, but I can’t imagine from where and his name is unfamiliar to me.
But when his wife introduced me to him, he looked at me really intensely and said, “I know you, don’t I? I recognize you.”
Since he is cognitively impaired, I didn’t want to confuse him, so I didn’t say what I was also thinking. But, interesting, right?
Anyway, I digress!
I was basically saying that I got really, really busy again.
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Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played Milwaukee last night and honestly, gang, from some of the videos, it looked like Nick was having a really great time.
From last night:
I’m not sure where they’re playing tomorrow night — I think Columbus, Ohio — but I’m pretty sure tickets are still available!! Buy them here.
And here’s this, just because I love this song and every time I see the word “Milwaukee” I start singing it!!! So now you can, too!! (I love Rod Stewart’s version.)
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Okay, what else is May First celebrated for??
Yes, this:
And about 30 years later — this! Me and Wayne:
This morning, I texted him this! (1 minute):
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And 50 years ago today!! From Ronnie Wood’s new eNewsletter:
I remember this day so well, gang!!!! I was 14 years old, and I was babysitting in the afternoon and reading a TIME magazine that had some of these very photos in it!! I absolutely loved Ronnie Wood and was so thrilled that he was joining the Rolling Stones. And I couldn’t wait to see their upcoming concert. I already had tickets to see them in Cleveland.
And just FYI, after I already had the tickets…
MY MOTHER: “You’re not going all the way to Cleveland to see the Rolling Stones!”
ME: “Yes, I am.”
Guess who won?
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And I’m thinking that’s it for today because I gotta scoot!!
Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I still love this song! Wayne & I walked back up the aisle to this song, after being declared “husband and wife”.
What a beautiful morning today! (And, no, I’m not going to say: why can’t this be Friday?? But, you know — why can’t this be Friday??)
Anyway. Enough complaining about Friday’s upcoming weather…
Today is lovely. And I’m working with 2 clients today, so it will at least be a nice day for driving around.
And assuming that my favorite 94-year-old Japanese client has his dentures again (!!), we will be having sashimi once more, at:
He’s going to be very excited. All last week, he would ask:
HE: “When are we going back for sashimi?”
ME: “As soon as you have teeth.”
So, here’s hoping all went well at the dentist yesterday.
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Well, last night, was interesting!
It was after 8pm, I was already in bed, lights out, watching a movie, when I got a text from the guy down the road who takes care of my cats when I’m away.
TEXT: I’ll be there in a few minutes!
ME (to myself): Oh shit!
MY TEXT: Please forgive my appearance!
I had been expecting him to come over around 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon, so I had long since given up on him. But I need to show him the setup with the kittens and introduce him to Little Blackie before Friday.
So out of bed I got. Over my summer nightgown, I put on my worn out but beloved flannel robe (it belonged to a man I loved who died so I refuse to part with it) and my well-worn Isotoner slippers. Then KonTiki and I stood out on my kitchen porch and waited for him.
Here’s hoping I looked really alluring in the street lights because quite a few cars and pickup trucks drove by, which is really unusual for my little village.
Anyway. He gets along great with all the cats, but, wow, did he love those kittens!
They were out of their little playpen and toddling around. Little Blackie hid under the bed, but the kittens really responded well to him. So that’s good.
Okay, I digress.
The “interesting” part was that it’s been a while since I’d even had a conversation (in person) with someone who isn’t really old and cognitively impaired in some way — least of all, in my bedroom. And who actually knows me as something besides a caregiver. (He’s known me now for about 3 years.)
He’s about 35 years old, married, with a young son who has severe autism. He’s really nice and really reliable with my cats. And he just lives right down the road.
But we were in my room — it was his first time in there. And at one point, his focus wandered from the kittens and he turned around and saw my desk — more specifically, he saw all the PHOTOS I have stuck on the wall all around my desk. And he was completely awestruck.
He said, “Whoa! This is sick!!” [If you’re as ancient as I am, that translates to: “Wow, this is so cool!”]
He looked at every single photo, and really was just kind of swept away by all of it. He just loved it and it really sort of surprised me.
A view of my desk, circa November 2024:
After he left, it struck me that it has been a really long time since anyone at all has been in my room — besides my birth mom. And that kind of made me sad. It used to be that everyone was in my room, in various cities, because it’s always been my office, as well. Colleagues, freinds, relatives, lovers — everyone was always in my room.
But it’s part of not only aging, but living in the middle of nowhere when everyone I know, who is still alive, lives someplace else.
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Okay!
Here’s this. I don’t know from which concert:
And, as always, you can buy tickets here for the upcoming shows — including Columbus!!
And now I gotta scoot because I am officially running late!!
Enjoy your Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!
Thanks for visiting!
I love you guys. See ya!
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Willie Nelson’s new CD arrived yesterday, and it’s really beautiful. All the songs are written by Rodney Crowell. Here’s another one of them. Enjoy.
But what a great couple of days off it’s been around here, gang.
More great feedback yesterday on our pilot script, this time from a European producer. (If I may quote just one line of his email: “I absolutely loved it.”)
AND — great feedback from Wayne! He liked this version better than the first draft he’d read.
Yes, Peitor asked me to give Wayne a copy of the revised script, so I did. He was really busy but when he finally got a chance to read it yesterday morning, he texted back his various thoughts and all of them were good! So, yay!
Wayne texted back last evening that someone owed him some money and when he showed the guy my target practice from the shooting range, the guy said that he’d pay up, pronto — “Thanks, Marilyn.”
I found that so funny.
Anyway!
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The weather report for Columbus on Friday — and now, also on Saturday! — continues to be absolutely lousy, gang.
Obviously, it doesn’t matter what the weather is outside while the Bad Seeds are inside onstage, but I really hate driving to (and from ) Columbus, just in general, but I also really hate driving anywhere in the rain.
Here’s hoping that just being with Kara will be enough fun to make the rain and cold temperatures unnoticeable. But I still think it sucks…
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Yesterday evening, I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, chatting with all the crazy cats who follow, quite exuberantly, every move I make in every room I’m in, when one of the little girls from next door was suddenly on my kitchen porch, tapping on my screen door!
A visitor!! I never have visitors!!
Not only a visitor, but she had a little fistful of “flowers” — mostly bedraggled dandelions, but there was a pretty iris in the bouquet, and a couple of wilting parrot-tulips.
She wanted to know if I would buy the bouquet!
ME: “How much do you want?”
SHE: “$5. I want to buy my mom a cake. But it’s a secret.”
She was so cute. She’s only about 8 years old and she was clearly very proud of her fistful of bedraggled little flowers…
And it’s been a REALLY long time since anyone brought me flowers (although I didn’t ever have to pay for them in the past, but still, beggars can’t be choosers).
And since, for some long-forgotten reason, I knew I had a stack of $5 bills stored up in my room….
So I came back and gave her TWO 5-dollar bills and she was absolutely thrilled. It was so fucking cute!!
And, yes, I put the flowers in a vase full of water, dead dandelions and all.
And, NO — I didn’t do it as a sort of pre-planned bribe to get her to persuade her mom to adopt a kitten come June….
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Okay!!
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds played Chicago last night and it looks like it was just off the charts, gang (even though, rumor has it, that Nick Cave called it Detroit…):
But he also sent out a great Red Hand File yesterday, clearly stating that he knew he was in Chicago last night!
But, seriously, it was a great Red Hand File — basically a love letter to the whole world. You can read it here.
You can buy tickets to tonight’s show in Chicago (and tickets for other shows for the rest of the tour) HERE.
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And that’s it. I gotta scoot!
Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world (Chicago, Detroit — you name it; have a terrific day!!).
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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For obvious reasons, I leave you with this gem , performed live in 1972!!
The Rolling Stones, “Dead Flowers”. From their classic album, Sticky Fingers, 1971. Enjoy, Gang!!
Yes, assuming nothing horrifyingly unexpected happens in the next couple of hours, I’m planning to go back to the shooting range today.
However–
I’ve decided to drop back to a 22mm today. Last time I was there with the 9mm, my arms and neck and shoulders were sore for 3 days.
Since I’m not planning to join the military or go hunting or kill anybody, I’m going to slow down and see if that helps my nearly-65-year-old body handle the impact of shooting 50 bullets. We shall see!
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Okay, *creepy alert* !
I found this while changing out the training pad in the kittens’ playpen yesterday!
Yes, it’s the tiny, shriveled, dead back paw that finally fell off of the little grey kitten a couple days ago!
I actually have a little blue porcelain box wherein I keep tiny body-part things that have fallen off of my kittens or cats in the past.
I know it’s creepy, but for some reason, I can’t part with them. I can’t simply just “throw them in the trash”.
I imagine that one day, after I’m dead and someone is going through all my things, they will look into the little blue porcelain box and say: “What the fuck are these??!!” And then they will perhaps be reluctant to go through anything else.
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On a fristrating note (often spelled “frustrating” but I don’t see any reason to constantly conform; life’s hard enough) — the weather for Columbus on Friday has turned bad again!!
RAIN!! Although, with milder temperatures than were initially predicted. But still it’s that rain thing that I’m so fed up with!
(See yesterday’s post if you have no clue what I’m talking about.)
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All right!!
I want to thank whoever’s buying the eBook edition of After Hours:The Best of Marilyn Jaye Lewis, published back in 2012. (It was first published by Robinson UK, but is now owned by Hachette UK.)
It is suddenly charting again in the sales ranking so I thank whoever’s buying it! (If you haven’t read it yet and would like to, here’s the Kindle edition. It is not in print.)
And, NO, that is not my tummy. My tummy has never, ever, ever looked like that.
It is really interesting though how, over the decades, people just assumed that I posed for my own book covers. Which sort of just shocked me.
That is not to say that there aren’t some random Polaroids floating around out there from my wild & bonny 30s that aren’t kind of spectacular though…
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Okey-doke!!
Another one from the Philly show!
Tonight’s show is in Chicago and it is sold out. But so far, tomorrow’s show still has some seats available. Buy tickets here!
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And here’s this–
A sort of random quote from Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life, that I found on Instagram last night. (If you have not read Life from 2011 — wow, what a great book. A mere 576 pages, and I did not want it to ever end and I could not put it down!)
This is from right after he finally got off heroin for good and was gearing up for the Stones’ 1978 tour:
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And I believe that’s it for now!
I will pop back in with an update on my bullseyes later!
Meanwhile, have a great Monday, wherever you are in the world!!
Thanks for visiting.
I love you guys. See ya!
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I leave you with this!
For some (nice) reason, there’s been a sudden uptick in people listening to this song on my YouTube music channel! Thank you very much!
This is a song from 1994, and it was included on a promotional CD I did for Joe Queenan’s comedy/murder mystery movie for cable TV, 12 Steps to Death. (I wrote the closing song for the movie — “One Step Closer”.)
Anyway. Here is “Something Like the Railroad”, from 1994. There is a one-minute guitar thingie before the song actually starts. Thank you and enjoy, gang!
Marilyn's Room 