Tag Archives: Sandra Caldwell The Guide To Being Fabulous

Already A Great Day!

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And it’s just getting started — and even though I have to do boring stuff today, I’m still just really happy.

I’ve decided to go to the shooting range on Thursday, when I don’t have anything else planned, because today I have to go get that work done on my Honda, which could take 15 minutes or 3 hours…. and I don’t want to be late for that.

And then I have to go to a mandatory semi-annual event that the Agency is having this evening. And I want to be DON’T want to be late for that…

Me — no, wait — someone else at an entirely different boring meeting…

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Okay!

Not only did Sandra and I get some great work done on the script yesterday afternoon — but we also got my plane ticket!!

So it is official! I’ll be in NYC from July 6th through July 10th, to work primarily with Sandra, the Music Director and the dramaturge. I can’t wait!!

However.

The moment I got off the phone with Sandra, Valerie in Brooklyn texted me to tell me that Sly Stone had passed away.

It’s just not something you ever think of happening, right?

What an icon from my wee bonny girlhood!!

This is how I remember him best —

— in 1974, when he got married at Madison Square Garden, in NYC, in front of thousands of fans.

It sort of typifies those wild days in the 70s.

He had way too many songs that I loved to be able to pick a favorite, but certainly, this one is way up there! “Everyday People”, 1970. What a classic! (I used to play this song over and over and over…)

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So I have some shuffling around to do on the script — nothing too major. No actual re-writes.

And then the rest of my brain is focused on my novel, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder.

I can’t tell you what a feeling this is, gang. When I read over what I wrote 26 years ago, I am usually just astounded by the images I was putting on paper back then. And I have to say that, even though this is fiction, it is — as usual — based on stuff that either happened to me, or someone in my birth family, or to girls I knew in the 70s and 80s.

Life was so fucking harsh. I just can’t believe it sometimes. The book is so raw. But I am just so glad I put it down on paper while I still remembered it all.

Of course, reading over it, it all comes back to me. But I don’t think I would have ever remembered most of this stuff if I hadn’t put it down all those years ago.

I’m going to be posting some more excerpts to my Substack page, starting today, but I won’t post too many more, since the idea is that I want people to actually buy the book…

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All righty!!!

What starts today??? [HINT: In Switzerland!!]

Yes, that’s correct. Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe, with Colin Greenwood on bass. It is sold out but a few tickets for other shows are still available HERE.

And I guess this will be my final photo from my desktop stash. After tonight, I’ll post new photos from the tour!!

His T-shirt says “My best friends are Smith & Wessons”.

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Okay. I’m going to get on to other things here before I have to go visit the delightful guys at the Honda dealership.

Have a terrific Tuesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Our Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

This one is sort of a two-for-one. A Sly Stone song and — yes! — sung by the incredible Ike & Tina Turner!! Boy, did I love them!!

I first saw photos of Tina, specifically, backstage with Keith & Mick at Madison Square Garden when Ike & Tina were the opening act for the Stones. And then I immediately went out and bought the double-album: The Ike & Tina Turner Revue LIVE at Carnegie Hall, 1971, and, honestly, it just blew my mind. I was about 12 going on 13.

Below, they are live at Carnegie Hall, singing a HUGE hit by Sly & the Family Stone, “I Wanna Take You Higher”. I just can’t state enough how incredible all this music was to me back then. Okay, enjoy, gang.

Oh, Happy Day!

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Well, yesterday was almost nonstop cleaning around here but I did it!!

And guess what??

Yes!! That’s correct — THIS will be arriving tomorrow:

After 5 years of nonstop cat hair and cat litter, my vacuum cleaner essentially died yesterday. But I was on the final room, so I was at least grateful for that.

And the specific brand and model I really like (above) was actually on sale yesterday, so the blessings are mounting up!

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AND!!!

I wish I could quote her verbatim on the blog, but it would not be professional to do that (just yet) —

However.

Yesterday afternoon, I got an email from the publisher at the small press who’d shown an interest in perhaps publishing my unpublished novel from 1998, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, and she had finished reading the sample chapters I sent her and she loved it.

And assuming the rest of the novel keeps up with the first part of the novel, she is interested in publishing it.

I can’t tell you how happy this makes me, gang.

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And guess who’s having a birthday today??

Yes, that’s right !! Johnny Smoke is something like 62 today!!

And here is one of my all-time favorite photos of him — from yesteryear:

Happy Birthday, Johnny Depp!!!

Someone once told me that the jacket he’s wearing in the photo above had once belonged to Jack Kerouac.

I have no clue if that’s true or not. However. That said–

THIS was a great movie!! I loved it!! (from 1999)

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Here’s some more good news!!!

Loyal readers of this lofty blog will no doubt recall that I was hoping to be re-assigned to a client I’d had back in the fall — a woman who had been a chaplain before she retired and had several Theology Degrees from Yale Divinity School, and she and I had such wonderful philosophical conversations!!

She is back from Florida and since I have a huge hole in my schedule right now (awaiting 2 clients to come out of rehab), I got assigned to her for one shift next week. I was just thrilled to see that on my schedule.

I hope it will lead to more shifts with her as the summer unfolds. I missed her so much and thought of her often.

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All righty!!

It’s almost time, gang!

Tomorrow, Nick Cave’s solo tour of Europe, with Colin Greenwood on bass, begins in Switzerland!! There are not many shows that have tickets left, but you could get lucky!! Check here.

And here’s this!!

From my desktop stash:

And now I want to go water my flowers and then get ready to work with Sandra this afternoon!

Enjoy your Monday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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Our Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

Otis Redding!!

While I knew this specific song because it was a huge hit on AM radio, but I was only 8 years old at the time. I didn’t really learn about Otis Redding’s work until Keith.

Otis Redding, “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay”, 1968. Such a great song. Enjoy, gang.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”

Sittin’ in the morning sun
I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again, yeah

I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco Bay
‘Cause I’ve had nothing to live for
And look like nothing’s gonna come my way

So, I’m just gon’ sit on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time

Looks like nothing’s gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same, listen

Sittin’ here resting my bones
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone, listen
Two thousand miles I roam
Just to make this dock my home, now

I’m just gon’ sit at the dock of a bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
Sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time

c- 1968 – Otis Redding, Stephen Lee Cropper

Wow, What A Terrific Sunday!!

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Even though it’s raining — and will rain most of the day — I have already had a morning full of absolute bliss.

I managed to get all the nematodes out yesterday when I got home from my shift — on all the flowers and flower beds and all the ground that runs along all 4 sides of the house, and especially under all the windows. So I’m not expecting any fleas this season!! Yay!

It’s not hard work at all, it’s just sort of laborious if you don’t have a garden hose and need to use a sprinkling can and have to keep going back inside to the kitchen… But it’s done!!!

So that got done, and all the flowers and plants are out on the porches — so that got done.

And I made that appointment at Honda to get that other stuff done on my car — I’m going on Tuesday, after I spend about an hour at the shooting range! Yay!

So everything is done, scheduled, arranged — and today starts my first of 3 days off in a row.

Hence, waking up in a really great mood this morning! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Today, I’ll be reading over some revisions of our play, “The Guide to being Fabulous” and then tomorrow, I’ll be working on them with Sandra over the phone, but most of today I will FINALLY get to clean my house!!!!

Yay!!!

I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally get this stuff done. It’s really only a little dusting and then a bunch of vacuuming, but I never feel really comfortable when my house isn’t completely clean. It’s mostly because I have a thousand and 5 cats and I never want my home to seem like I have a thousand and 5 cats…

But, to be fair, they do help out in whatever way they can:

In no way is this an accurate depiction of how they help out…

So — my blissful morning.

When I got out of bed at 5AM, it was raining. But it was a light rain. No wind whatsoever. No thunder or anything like that, which would trigger my PTSD. Just summer rain.

And when I stepped out onto my kitchen porch to feed KonTiki, it just felt so peaceful out there, that once all the other cats inside were fed, and breakfast dishes were washed and put away, I took my cup of coffee out onto the porch and sat with KonTiki and just watched it rain as the sun sort of “came up”.

It’s interesting how KonTiki really loves to stay on the kitchen porch now that all the flowers and plants are out there. She got up onto the chair next to mine and we both just sat there together like old times — and it felt like I was finally going to have a good summer again.

After 2 summers in a row that were sort of “from hell”, with last summer being particularly close to hell.

And just FYI — while not related, this is a really great movie!! Johnny Depp:

But we are moving on over here!! And not only that, I will be going to NYC twice this summer! To work on pre-production of an Off-Broadway show!!

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It has been a really, really, really long journey.

In fact, this is the third house I’ve lived in since Sandra and I began working on this play together. And during the first few years, I thought I was moving back to New York — to Rhinebeck , where Sandra lives– and resuming a relationship with a guy I’m still crazy about:

He’s the chef there at the back of the photo, and this is his restaurant on the lower level of his home in Rhinebeck:

If you are ever in Rhinebeck, NY, you MUST visit his restaurant– The Tasting Room:

It is small so you must have a reservation. But Chef Daniel is an incredible chef!! {Read about him here.}

Anyway. It seems we are destined to be eternally “friends” (40 years and counting, although those first few years were memorably wild…)

But, long story short, I did not end up moving to Rhinebeck!!

Okay!!

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Happy Heavenly Birthday to my best friend on Earth!!

Paul would have been 66 today. He’s been gone 26 years now.

Here is a selection of photos I took of him a long time ago, mostly in my apartment on E.12th Street, although the photo with the huge flowered sofabed is in the Camelot Building on W. 45th Street, when I was married to Chong Foun Kee.

You’ll note that even back then, there was no shortage of photos of Keith on my bedroom wall… (and Bowie, John Lennon, Jim Carroll, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Franz Kafka, etc., etc.).

My bedroom, E.12th Street 1983
My bedroom, E.12th Street 1983
Same bedroom, but more like 1984 or 1985
Kitchen on E.12th Street, Thanksgiving 1987
Late 1981, W.45th Street apartment in the Camelot Building

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Well, I’ve managed to get 2 loads of laundry done while I typed this! And now I’m going to actually start cleaning!!

So here’s this and then I’m off!

From the desktop stash!!

And there are now 3 days until Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player) begins!! (There are 3 venues with tickets still available, but everything else for the rest of the tour is sold out.)

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And now I’m gonna scoot!!

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

Finally!!

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Okay, gang!

I finally got all the flowers, potting soil, etc., and today I’m going to be able to get all the flower boxes filled and out on the porches.

Sadly, due to Trump’s tariffs on petunias and impatiens, the price of flowers was really high this season. So I couldn’t buy as many as I usually do.

I am of course JUST KIDDING.

But I couldn’t buy as many as I usually do, only because I usually buy flowers over the Memorial Day holiday, when they are always on sale.

But this holiday season, as perhaps you recall, the Agency had me working like a crazy person. Plus, it was cold and rainy.

Anyway, better late than never and at least I have enough to put a few flowers on each porch. And the weather today is still beautiful, so I’m excited.

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On an interesting note–

I have a husband & wife client(s) that I usually see at least twice a week.

Over the past 2 days, for very different reasons, each of them has wound up in the hospital and both are heading to rehab for the rest of the month.

Yes. That means at least 7 shifts, gone. And right before I’m taking a week off to go to NYC.

But you know what??? I mean, I’m sorry that they are both having to go through rehab (again — 2nd time for each in the past 6 months), but I am so excited to finally have some unexpected free time to get the house clean and ready for summer, plant the flowers, work on the novel and the play. AND get back over to the shooting range. It’s been a month since I’ve been able to get back over there.

I am a little bit in shock to suddenly have all this time, but I am really, really happy. Everything will finally get done around here. And I can start keeping up with my neighbors!!

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Here something that’s disturbing…

It seems that THIS place–

— has switched who they buy their fortune cookies from!! They are now just the regular kind of fortunes you can get in any Asian restaurant across the country.

Gone are the uncanny fortunes at the end of a meal!! No irony whatsoever.

Gone are the reasons to save the little fortunes, take photos of them and post them to the blog!!

It’s a good thing that the staff their is really friendly and that the food there is great, otherwise there would be no point in going there anymore…

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Okay!!!

I really don’t have much else I can post about right now. There is some major stuff happening, but it’ll be awhile before I can blog about it.

Meanwhile, I want to get started on the flowers.

So here’s this!! From my personal desktop stash!!

And 6 more days before Switzerland!!! (Buy tickets here, if there are any left in the tour!!)

And now I gotta scoot!

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

****************

Our Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

Although Keith has had nothing too flattering to say about the times he worked with Chuck Berry in later years, Chuck Berry was still a huge influence on Keith’s sound when he was young.

And even though it doesn’t sound like Chuck Berry was a very nice person, I loved a lot of those early songs he wrote — especially this one!! — and I know them all by heart. And it was Keith Richards that first introduced me to his music.

Chuck Berry, “Maybelline”, 1955. Enjoy, gang.

“Maybellene”

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started doin’ the things you used to do

As I was motorvatin’ over the hill
I saw Maybellene in a Coupe de Ville
A Cadillac a-rollin’ on the open road
Nothin’ will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin’ about ninety-five
She’s bumper to bumper, rollin’ side by side

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

The Cadillac pulled up to a hundred and four
The Ford got hot and wouldn’t do no more
It then got cloudy and started to rain
I tooted my horn for the passin’ lane
The rainwater blowin’ all under my hood
I know that I was doin’ my motor good

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

[Solo guitar]

Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

The motor cooled down, the heat went down
And that’s when I heard that highway sound
The Cadillac a-sittin’ like a ton of lead
A hundred and ten half a mile ahead
The Cadillac lookin’ like it’s sittin’ still
And I caught Mabellene at the top of the hill

Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can’t you be true?
You done started back doin’ the things you used to do

c – 1955 – Chuck Berry

Holy Moly — Back Again!

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Sorry I couldn’t post yesterday, gang, but life got seriously intense.

I will go into it another day, but meanwhile — life is back on track and I am in another incredibly happy mood!

The weather is glorious, for one thing — finally feels like summer!

And I cannot WAIT until I can tell you the details of all that is going on with pre-production for the staged reading of “The Guide to Being Fabulous” in NYC. As soon as I can, I will. But I am so excited!

And, meanwhile, I have a ton of stuff to take care of around the house before I leave for a week in NYC in early July — leaving a very good-natured cat sitter in charge of many kittens and thousands of cats.

But yesterday, my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man and I ran a couple of quick errands –including stopping off and buying most of my flowers to put out on my porches!!

I’m almost there, gang. My little happy paradise in the Hinterlands.

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Today, he and I are going out for sashimi and sake! (Or sushi and sake, if hell freezes over again…)

And here’s this!! We uncovered it the other day while looking through really old photos — his dad, doing a pilgrimage climb up Mt. Fuji in the early 1930s:

We also found a 71-year-old handwritten letter in MINT condition, which my client’s mother had written to him from Tokyo while he was in Divinity School in Kansas in 1954!!!

Entirely in Japanese. A very fragile letter, on that old-fashioned “Air Mail” stationary. Incredible! It was in such good condition.

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And here’s this!!!

Wendy and Kara and I had dinner here, in Granville, on Monday evening:

I got this on the internet– I don’t know the person in the photo

And I wore one of my new sundresses and it was a HUGE hit, gang. It really was:

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And here’s this!

Taken yesterday — Bobbie Jo, Bettie Jo, and Billie Jo.

Billie Jo, the grey one, is the one who is missing her 2 back feet. She’s still really tiny but she does great getting around — except that she can’t climb.

And here’s this!! (But don’t tell Little Blackie!!)–

I’ve finally chosen a local vet — only 15 minutes away, instead of 45. This is where Little Blackie will get spayed as soon as it’s safe for her to get it done (yes, you know you’re in the hills when you see a vet’s office that looks like this):

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And here’s THIS!!! Yay!!

It is finally available to view for free in the USA (click the LINK to watch it on YouTube):

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds LIVE – Accor Arena, Paris – ARTE Concert (2 hrs 31 mins):

And only 7 more days before Nick Cave’s Solo Tour of Europe (with bass player) gets underway in Switzerland!!

Most shows on the tour are sold out but buy remaining tickets here!

And here’s this!!

Another fave “yesteryear” photo of Nick Cave from my desktop stash!!!

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And other than that — every spare moment I can find, I am going over my unpublished novel from 1998, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, in preparation for its possible home with a small press in Pennsylvania.

And just FYI:

Fall 2001: The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, Top 10 Winner (4th Place) New Century Writer Awards
 
The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, Finalist, novel-in-progress, William Faulkner Writing Competition, New Orleans

October 1998: Honorable Mention in the 5th Annual Writer’s Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition: Curse of Our Profound Disorder, Chapter One

Okay!!

I gotta get ready to head to town.

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

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Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!! 

(And FYI — Little Richard blew my wee bonny little mind!! I loved him!! And here’s a cool story — when I finally found my birth father, he told me a story about being 15 and how he and his older brother Earl, jumped a freight train in Greenfield, Ohio, and went to a small club by the railroad tracks in Cincinnati to see Little Richard. They had to sneak into the club because they were underage. And then they hopped a freight train back home, in the wee small hours, and never got caught. My dad said that Little Richard was incredible. The club was packed. And Little Richard was totally flying, totally fucked up, and at one point he even threw up on his piano keys but kept right on playing!!)

Okay!!

Little Richard, “Good Golly Miss Molly”, 1958. Enjoy, gang!!

“Good Golly Miss Molly”

Good Golly Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

From the early early mornin’ till the early early night
You can see Miss Molly rockin’ at the house of blue lights.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Well, now momma, poppa told me: “Son, you better watch your step.”
If I about Miss Molly, have to watch my dad myself.

Good golly, Miss Molly, so like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Good Golly Miss Molly, so like to ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like to ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

I am going to the corner, gonna buy a diamond ring.
Would you pardon me a clip if it’s a ting a-ling a-ling
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like a ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like a ball.
Good golly, Miss Molly, sure like a ball.
When you’re rockin’ and a rollin’ can’t hear your momma call.

c – 1958 – John Marascalco, R. Blackwell

Good Morning, Good Morning!!

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Yes, I am up! I’m outta bed!!

And — NO!! — it wasn’t anywhere near 4AM.

It’s seems like 5AM is the best I can really do right now. So why fight it??

Okay, gang. Things just get better and better. Even though I had to wait 3 HOURS (!!) at the Honda dealership after my shift yesterday, so basically my entire day was a washout…

I did get a very quick update yesterday from the small press that has agreed to read my unpublished novel from 26 years ago, The Curse of Our Profound Disorder, with an eye toward perhaps publishing it — and she said that just after having read the opening sentence of the novel, she was VERY interested. [Her caps, not mine.]

Yay!

This still doesn’t mean a “book deal” — she’ll have to read the whole thing. But it made me feel fantastic, gang. (When her email came through, I was up to my eyeballs, trying to find out why the nurse hadn’t come to see my client last FRIDAY to see if she had a UTI. And we needed someone to come out and see her ASAP. The last time she had a UTI, she was in rehab for over a month.) Anyway. Many phone calls. Trying to be polite. Not wanting to bite anyone’s head off because I know everyone, including the quite comely but rapidly aging moi, is so fucking busy right now…

Anyway. The mobile urgent care was on its way as I was clocking out.

So that email just made me feel so happy, gang.

And then, while sitting for an eternity in the Honda waiting room… the Agency texted me and said that the wife of my client who’s in the facility with deep cognitive impairment issues, can no longer afford us so he is no longer on my schedule, at all.

Even though it’s a difficult situation for his family, and I really like him, that news suddenly and quite wonderfully freed up FIVE HOURS of my schedule, indefinitely!!! Yay!!

Because I of course received many many WhatsApp texts from Peitor yesterday, needing me to look over many many edits on Episode 2. (And I did finally get to sit down at my desk last night, after dinner. And the edits were GREAT.)

And I’ve decided to start illegally acquiring Adderall in order to get all of this stuff — revise a novel, revise a play for Off-Broadway, write a television series — DONE! Yay!

[I am, of course, totally kidding. Who the fuck has time to be addicted to Adderall right now??]

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Okay!!

Here’s this!!

Yesterday, I discovered a playlist of ALL my favorite songs from 2024!! So I thought, hmmm, and I hit the play button and drove off to town.

Wow, so bittersweet. So amazing. Most of the songs were the songs I’d listen to while driving back & forth to see my dad last year, during the final year of his life.

When THIS song came on, my heart hit the moon!! I immediately remembered how much I not only LOVE the sound of Johnny Depp’s voice, but this song, specifically, means so much to me. I loved Jim Carroll so much. He was such a big part of NYC for me in the 1980s.

The Hollywood Vampires’ version of “People Who Died”. (Song written by Jim Carroll, who, as fate would have it, died.)

I don’t really know what Johnny Depp is up to. The last I saw on Instagram was this (not smoking, but at least drinking…so, yay!):

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And here’s this!!

Just coz I’m not sure how he thinks we’re supposed to wait 14 more days before he goes on tour again for 912 months… (most shows are sold out already, but buy tickets here!!) Another personal fave photo from my desktop stash!!

And speaking of Nick Cave…

He sent out a quick Red Hand File yesterday, wherein he revealed that he and I have only ONE movie in common on the “favorites” list. He chose Living In Oblivion as the “movie that makes him laugh”.

[I love this movie, gang. I have seen it I don’t know how many times!!}

Anyway. You can read Nick’s favorite films in various categories HERE.

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From James Tabor — A Young Christian Believer Asks Dr Tabor Four Questions about Paul (47 mins):

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And that’s it! I gotta scoot and drive 30 miles to see my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man!! We’ll be going out for either sashimi and sake, or sushi and sake today. We’ll see what he decides.

Have a wonder-filled Wednesday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

Okay!

Our new Daily Feature continues!

Gifts Keith Richards gave me when I was a wee bonny girl!!

Wherein I regale you with “songs Keith loved, that he would talk about in an interview in some magazine, and then I’d go out and try to find the record and then buy it with my babysitting money, and then I’d listen to it alone in my intense little room, playing it on the portable record player that my dad bought me, and the song would change my life. “

Today’s selection!!

Hank Williams, “Honky Tonk Blues”, 1952. Enjoy, gang!!

“Honky Tonk Blues”

Well I left my home down on the rural route
I told my Pa I’m going steppin out and get the
Honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

Well I went to a dance and I wore out my shoes
Woke up this mornin wishin I could lose
Them jumpin honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

Well I stopped into every place in town
This city life has really got me down
I got the honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got em,
got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

I’m gonna tuck my worries underneath my arm
And scat right back to my Pappy’s farm
And leave these honky tonk blues,
Yeah the honky tonk blues
Well Lord I got ’em,
I got the ho-on-ky tonk blues.

c – 1952 – Henry B. Glover, Shep Sheppard, Bill Doggett, Billy (usa) Butler, Clifford Scott

Happy Memorial Day!

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If you live State-side, I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day in whatever way you celebrate!

Around here, people get in their campers and head out to the hills, lakes, peaceful places.

It’s not very warm today, but it’s really sunny. So that helps.

Beautiful Ohio!

If you’re a long-time reader of this lofty blog, you no doubt recall that most of the men in my family — going back to the Revolutionary War, served in the military and usually served in one war or another.

If I wasn’t working today (a double, no less), I would at least make a trip to the local cemetery. But it’s not happening today.

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Yes!

Yesterday was my “day off”! And I got a ton of writing done. Mostly on the play, for Sandra to go over. Then some work on the TV series. Obviously, there is still a ton of work yet to do, but I was able to fall asleep last night knowing that I had gotten a lot accomplished.

Today, I won’t be writing. Today, I’m focusing on just being present. And compassionate. And emotionally flexible. The client I have later today is the one who is in the facility and rapidly declining from extreme cognitive impairment. It can get extremely challenging. (He can get combative, physical, abusive. And you never know when he will suddenly get triggered and slip into that.)

The agency told me the other day that I could remove that client from my schedule if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. He’s the one that, when I first met him, I had the profound impression that I recognized him, that I knew him from somewhere, even though I didn’t. And then HE responded, upon meeting me, that he recognized me, too. Even though he is beyond being able to recognize people from his own family.

I feel that there is a higher connection there, though, you know? That we must recognize each other for some higher reason. This deterioration has got to be so frustrating, scary, confusing for him on some deep level. I don’t want to just abandon him. I don’t want to just walk away. I want to at least be present for him on this final path of his journey.

We’ll see how it goes.

*****************

Also, yesterday–

Perhaps you recall that, several weeks ago, the little girls from next door wanted to sell me a bunch of drooping dandelions and dead flowers because they needed $5 to buy their mom a cake…

Well, they now come around sort of “weekly”. And other kids have joined the little group. They can’t be more than 7 or 8 years old. It’s hard to say. But they come to my kitchen door around dinner time on Sundays, and they have their usual bouquet of weeds….

But now I don’t take the bouquet, I just ask them how much money they need and what they need it for.

They usually ask for $2 (even if it’s all in quarters!!). And they need it for candy, or nail polish, etc. etc.

I happily give it to them and quietly hope that they aren’t buying drugs or anything (although the pot can’t call the kettle black on that score — but I was a little older than 7 or 8 when that started going on in my life!!) (I was 12.).

At this point, I’m sure their parents have no clue that they’re getting money from me all the time now. (And I have no clue, now, who some of their parents even are.) And since I never had children of my own, I feel like this is God’s way of letting me experience giving kids their weekly allowance money!! It’s too funny.

I am curious, though, where it’s going to lead, or end… And I’m guessing I’m getting a reputation in the village for not only being a crazy cat lady, but also for being someone who’ll just give you money — all you have to do is ask!

(I can’t help it, though. I absolutely love kids.)

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Okay, here’s this!

I love this photo!! The Rolling Stones!! They did “mod” like nobody’s business!

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And here’s one of the culprits in action!!

Bettie Jo shredding the chenille bedspread just now!! (This goes on ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT!)

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And here’s this!!!

Two more great random photos of Nick Cave from Instagram. (It’s hard to just sit here and wait for the next tour to start (June 10th — Buy tickets here!!), so I guess I’ll just keep posting anyway.)

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And that’s it! I gotta scoot!!

Enjoy your Monday/Memorial Day, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

********

Wow!

Look what’s queued up on my playlist for driving to town!!

I loved this album when it first came out!! And when I put this record on my record player for the first time (a weekday morning, I was 17 and in high school), and when THIS SONG came on for the first time, everything in my entire being soared to the stratosphere!!

I immediately called the attendance office at the school, pretended to be my mother (who was at work) and called myself in sick for the day. I had to listen to this song repeatedly!! Everything else in the world stopped.

“Miracle Man,” by Elvis Costello. From My Aim Is True, 1977. Enjoy, gang!

“Miracle Man”

You never asked me what I wanted. You only asked me why.
I never thought that so much trouble was restin’ on my reply,
I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who’d come.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it’s the way that you walk.

[Chorus]:
Why do you have to say that there’s always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don’t you think that I know that walking on the water
won’t make me a miracle man?

Baby’s gotta have the things she wants.
You know she’s gotta have the things she loves.
She’s got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I’m doing everything just tryin’ to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.

[Chorus]

I hear they’re givin’ you a bad reputation
just because you’ve never been denied.
You try to say you’ve done it all before.
Baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.
I just don’t know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I’m the one who’s here tonight,
and I don’t wanna do it all in vain.

[Chorus]

c – 1977- Elvis Costello

Getting TOO glamorous around here, gang!

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Honestly, some day soon — I hope — I will be able to post to the blog all the details of everything that is just getting off-the-charts amazing around here! The news from Peitor yesterday about our TV project blew my mind!

And I’m really having to start to face the fact that I might not have a free moment of downtime for the next three years…

But in the meantime, all I can say is that I need WAY MORE than one day off a week… sadly, that’s all I’m getting this week, anyway.

So, I do have today off but today is all about typing my wee bonny fingers off.

Still, I don’t have to leave the house. Don’t have to drive to town. And it’s a beautiful holiday weekend around here, so I’ll take all the little perks I can get today.

And even though tomorrow is a national holiday, and even though I usually have Mondays off–

ME (thinking): No need to specifically request to have the holiday off, because Monday is my day off anyway.

AGENCY: “She didn’t specifically request to have the holiday off, like EVERYBODY ELSE did, so let’s just dump everybody else’s shifts on to her!”

Alas, too late…

*****************

So, yes, the week ahead of me is going to be intense. But I am trying to find ways to just keep on moving forward.

Work, write. Work, write. Work, write. Repeat.

*************

Okay.

From James Tabor — and even though I am a member of his special research group, I was not on the zoom call yesterday because:

A. I had to work

B. I had to work

C. I had to work

D. All of the above

[The correct answer is, of course, B. I had to work.}

Is the Jesus Story Modeled after a Typical Hellenistic Divine Man Matrix (46 mins):

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And as you can see, I really have nothing serious to post about today!! And I probably should get focused on the revisions of the play that Sandra has been waiting on for, I don’t know, something like 5 days.

Then, of course, back to Episode 2 of the TV series project.

And if I am at all coherent this evening (I’m hoping I will be!!), I’m planning to re-watch this for the first time in about 40 years!! I just bought it on Amazon Prime.

I first saw this film in high school, when I was about 16 (less than a year after I was released from the mental hospital, which was probably the most precarious year of my existence). I was taking a class in filmmaking and we were studying the French New Wave. This film blew me away, gang, and sort of changed my life forever. After this, I saw every film Truffaut made. I have seen this film numerous times, but it’s been a long time since I last saw it.

The 400 Blows (1959)

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And on that note, I better scoot!! The evening will be here before we know it!!

Enjoy your Sunday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

************

I leave you with this!!

If you recall, not too long ago, I played this song for my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man. He had never heard it before and he loved it. Now, he asks me to play it at least once every time we are together.

Yesterday was no different. I played it for him on my phone, while we sat out on his back deck, surrounded by hundreds of green trees, flowers, many birds, some squirrels & chipmunks, a deer, and a big beautiful blue sky.

Louis Armstrong, “What A Wonderful World”. Enjoy, gang.

“I wonder how that great new schedule is working out for her??”

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Yessirree, gang!!

That great new schedule I have around here — the one that’s going to give me an extra hour at my desk on those mornings (like, TODAY, for instance) when I have to drive to town and go see a client but I have WAY TOO MUCH script-writing to get to around here….

YES!! So far it’s looking a whole lot like the old schedule.

Hmmm….

I am trying really hard to get out of bed and get started around here at something that resembles being within the realm of 4AM…

However.

I’m getting there. I’m at least lying there at about 4:07AM, eyes open, telling myself, “Marilyn, you gotta get outta bed. Now. People the world over need to see some PAGES.”

But the peculiar thing about my bed, which perhaps I have never mentioned here on the blog before, is that it is REALLY REALLY comfortable. It’s super soft and cozy, with bunches of fluffy pillows, and the all-cotton Portuguese sheets are, like, a 3,924-thread count…

My, no, SOMEONE’S actual bed…

This morning, though, I was really tired because I’d had some incredibly cute kittens racing around all over me last night — at several different times during the night.

But eventually I got out of bed. At my usual 5:09AM.

But what are you gonna do? Right? You just keep trying…

And the texts from Sandra and Peitor keep arriving.

At least when Sandra texts me, it’s just a text. When Peitor texts me, it’s on WhatsApp and the moment I’ve read it he can see that I’ve read it…

Meaning that a response is needed. In a reasonable time-frame. The old excuses don’t work anymore–

Sorry!! Too drunk to reply right now!!

Anyway!!

I confess. This morning is not really gonna happen. And after I see my favorite 94-year-old Japanese client today, I am meeting my girlfriend for LUNCH!! Yay!! An actual social obligation!! At Tequilaville!! One of my few remaining favorite restaurants. So the phone call I might be having with Sandra today regarding the play, at about 5PM, may or may not be super productive. But we shall see!

*************

Okay!

I saw this on Instagram yesterday. And I realized that if I could somehow maneuver myself into James Fox’s position at Keith’s dining room table there, I could probably get a whole lot of really great work done on my own memoir (which heavily features my adoration of Keith in my wee bonny girlhood)!!

Isn’t this a great photo??? Keith at work on his memoir, LIFE, from about 15 years ago.

**********

Here’s this from earlier this morning!

Kittens doing what they don’t do a whole lot of anymore!! (Sleep…)

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And here are these!!

More vintage Nick Cave. (The woman in France who posted these photos said that she will “never stop loving Nick Cave”. I’m guessing that I concur.)

And speaking of Nick Cave…

I think it was yesterday, but I am seriously losing track of the days here, but he posted a new Red Hand File, wherein he thanked everyone imaginable for such an incredible Wild God tour of North America. He said in part:

“I think of them all – The Bad Seeds, so deft, so expressive, so anarchic, so bloody awesome, and all I feel at this restless hour is a profound gratitude….”

You can read it in full here.

**************

Yesterday, I took my favorite 94-year-old Japanese man out to Peony Bistro for lunch, but you know what???

He wanted sushi!!

I guess hell froze over or something because he always, always, always wants sashimi. With sake. He still wanted sake, but he insisted, yesterday, that he wanted sushi.

And we did not have our usual waitress. We had a young Malaysian woman who tries really, really hard, but who nonetheless did not bring us exactly what we’d ordered. And I didn’t want her to feel bad so I didn’t say anything, but she brought us one order of the sushi lunch special — to split.

So. We did not get a lot of food, but at least we went out to lunch and we had a great time.

Oh! And, oddly enough, our fortune cookies had no irony whatsoever. None. Zippo. So I guess maybe hell really did freeze over yesterday. So I guess be on the lookout for random devils and demons is big puffy fur coats…

After lunch, though, when we were back at my client’s house, I showed him the trailer on YouTube for that show I’m currently watching on Netflix, “Samurai Gourmet.” I posted the trailer here the other day — it’s entirely in Japanese. Although the show itself has English subtitles.

Anyway, my client of course speaks fluent Japanese and he was actually chuckling quite a lot while watching the trailer!! It was really fun. It was clear, he really wanted to watch the show but he doesn’t have Netflix.

(Here it is again, in case you speak Japanese and missed it the first time. What a cool show! From 2017.) (2 minutes):

**********

Meanwhile…

James Tabor has a new (re-issued) book out that I just started reading, it is really good!! How Abraham’s faith in God underlies Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

And, yes, I’m still studying Chinese and French every day, too… so I am really just sort of off the charts around here.

But on that happy note, I better scoot, gang!

I need to sort of pull my head together here and then drive to town. It is actually quite lovely here today, so it should be a really nice drive.

Enjoy your Saturday, wherever you are in the world!!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

*********

I know I’ve posted this here before, but, wow, gang! Every time this song comes on my playlist, every single cell in my entire being RELAXES. At last.

Andrea Bocelli, “Besame Mucho”.

Enjoy, gang!

Welcome to my new world!

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Jeepers, gang.

I knew this was coming — ALL projects would need 100% of my attention at the same time…

And here it is.

Not only that, but naturally, the agency increased my hours, too.

So I came up with a new schedule around here and it should work! Because, wow, gang– the new pages Peitor sent me yesterday for Episode 2 of our TV series project were really great! So, I’m excited!!

We have an outline for the episode already, but then he fills in dialogue and sends it to me. Then I put it all into the script and tweak it a little and send it back to him. Obviously the sooner I can get my end of it done, the sooner the entire episode will get written and sent off. Because we still have the whole pitch deck thing to finish and send off.

But then, also yesterday — another “wow”, gang! Sandra sent me the first 13 pages of the play, revised. It’s stuff we’d already written but she switched big sections of it around and wow, wow, wow!! It just flew off the page. It was just fantastic. For some reason, it just works so much better!!

So I have to reformat that, tweak it a bit, put it into the new script and send it back to Sandra. And then wait for the next chunk of pages from her.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Even then, once we are in the rehearsal studio in NYC, the dramaturge and the music director will also need to make tweaks and changes. But the primary script has to be ready ASAP because they need to see it before we’re all in the rehearsal studio.

“ASAP” is now my new name.

And of course I also have my novel from 1998 that I am re-working the ending of… which requires an intense amount of focus.

So my new schedule: Even though I am usually awake by 4AM, I now need to be out of bed as close to 4AM as I can manage, and not lay around until 5AM before I really get up.

Then I have to clean litter boxes, feed cats, feed myself, pack a lunch if it’s Thursday — which is now a TWELVE HOUR shift day for me!!! Good God… Take my shower. Then sit down at my desk and work until the absolute minute I have to head out the door and drive to town.

Then, as soon as I come back from my shift, if it isn’t Thursday, I am back at my desk until 6PM. Then have dinner. Then go back to my desk until about 8:30PM. Then give myself time to watch something cool on my phone before attempting to fall asleep with a bunch of incredibly cute 6-week-old kittens frolicking all over me…

I am currently watching this on Netflix. Another Japanese show, 12 episodes, in English Subtitles. From 2017:

Samurai Gourmet. It is exceedingly enjoyable if a little insane:

***************

Okay!

More good news.

This product works!! For the last year and a half, I’ve had the ear ringing thing that everyone seems to have nowadays, which is allegedly caused by overexposure to 5G Wi-Fi.

I take 30 mgs of Vinpocetine every day specifically for the ear ringing. I also take 1200 mgs of Alpha Lipoic Acid — for various other reasons, but it also helps decrease the ear ringing. But sometimes, the ringing is still just incredibly maddening, gang. Just off the charts. So I bought this — it’s homeopathic:

As with all homeopathic remedies, you have to wait a bit for it to really start working.

I used the drops 2-3 times a day for 2 days, and then this morning, the start of day 3, I awoke (yes, at 4AM with kittens all over me), and I realized my ears were just barely ringing!! It was incredible, the difference! I will keep you posted as the days go on.

I bought it at my local drug store, but you can get it all over the place.

***************

Okay!!!

From Warren Ellis’s Instagram page yesterday, Nick Cave and Warren at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, at the end of the Wild God tour:

Warren looks sort of A LOT more awake here than Nick does…

And this is unrelated, really, but back when Peitor Angell still lived in LA, he lived basically next door to the Sunset Marquis. Here is a photo I took of him at Christmas 2018, in the hotel:

Peitor Angell, Christmas 2018, Sunset Marquis

On that particular trip, he and I had such a fantastic time. That was when we officially created Abstract Absurdity Productions (now based in Nice, France)!!

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Here’s this, just because I love it!!! Vintage Nick Cave, 1992:

And from Nick Cave Official yesterday — All the Grinderman stuff is being released on vinyl on July 18th! You can pre-order them here.

And read all about it HERE.

The first Grinderman album was my favorite!!!

************

And I think that’s it because I need to read over some pages from Peitor before I head out the door (for TWELVE HOURS!!!).

Enjoy your Thursday wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting!

I love you guys. See ya!

************

Okay! I leave you with this!!

Just one of many great songs off the first Grinderman record!

“Go Tell the Women”. Grinderman. 2007. Enjoy, gang.

"Go Tell The Women"

We done our thing
We have evolved
We’re up on our hind legs
The problem solved
We are artists
We are mathematicians
Some of us hold extremely high positions

But we are tired
We’re hardly breathing
And we’re free
Go tell the women that we’re leaving

We’re sick and tired
Of all this self-serving grieving
All we wanted was a little consensual rape in the afternoon
And maybe a bit more in the evening
We are scientists
We do genetics
We leave religion
To the psychos and fanatics

But we are tired
We got nothing to believe in
We are lost
Go tell the women that we’re leaving

We done our thing
We’re hip to the sound
Of six billion people
Going down
We are magicians
We are deceiving
We are free and we’re lost
Go tell the women that we’re leaving

Hey hey
Hey hey
Come on back now to the fray
Hey hey
Hey hey
Come on back now to the fray
Hey hey
Hey hey

c -2007 Nicholas Edward Cave / Warren Ellis / Martin Casey / Jim Sclavunos