Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Brokenhearted (2012)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is about a girl who is eager and anxious for her new lover to call. Do you owe anyone a call? An email? A text? I owe my Cousin Rose a letter. And John wants to know when we can get together, so I have to check my calendar and get back to him. 

2) The lyrics are peppered with the informal English exclamation, "cheerio!" What pops into your head when you close your eyes and think of England? 

3) This week's artist, Karmin, is a husband/wife duo who met at college, and that meeting changed the course of their lives and careers. Think of someone who has had a huge impact on your life. Did you know, as soon as you met, that this was going to be a life-changing relationship? Since I mentioned John in question #1, let's use him as an example. I remember the first time I met him -- when I began my first job as an advertising writer, I moved into the cubicle next to his. I recall being glad that he was so into Motown, because I am, too, and was relieved we'd have something to talk about beyond work. I had no idea those conversations about pop culture would continue for the rest of my life.

4) Though she sings about consuming tequila, the female side of Karmin, Amy, is a big proponent of healthy eating. She recommends organic foods that are free of pesticides, hormones, food coloring and added sugar. Think about your most recent meal. Was it a good example of "healthy eating?" Actually, I think it was. Grilled salmon fillet and green salad. OK, I probably doused the fillet in too much BBQ sauce and the salad in too much honey dijon. But for me, this was a very healthy meal.

5) Husband Nick has his own Twitter account (@NickKarmin), but he doesn't use it often. His last tweet was back in August. What's the last thing you posted to social media? (No, your blog doesn't count.) I thanked Tom for a video of Bobby Darin singing, "If I Were A Carpenter" on my Facebook feed. When he was getting married (four years ago now), he said he wanted this recording to be their first dance and was heartened that at least I was familiar with it. I really enjoyed Bobby Darin, though he seems to be forgotten now.

6) Karmin performed "Brokenhearted" live on Dancing with the Stars. DWTS is  very big business for ABC-TV. So many people vote for their favorite couples each week that their phone and text systems often overload. Have you ever voted for a contestant on American Idol, DWTS, The Voice, etc.? John and I voted passionately for Nancy Grace when she was on Dancing with the Stars. Watching her dance was one of our shared guilty pleasures. I vaguely recall voting one season on Idol, too.

7)  In 2012, the year"Brokenhearted" was popular, the average cost for a gallon of gas was $3.91. In 2016, it had dropped to $2.40. When it's time to fill up your tank, do you shop around for the lowest price/gal.? Are you brand loyal and always return to the same station, regardless of price? Or do you just buy gas from the nearest station when you're running low? No car.


8) In 2012, the Space Shuttle Endeavor was retired and placed on permanent display at the California Science Center, a Los Angeles museum dedicated to encouraging excitement and enthusiasm about air and space travel. Let's say you had a long weekend to spend in Los Angeles. Would you go out of your way to see The Endeavor? What else would you like to do during your time in the City of Angels? I think I'll pass on the Endeavor. My oldest friend lives out there, so naturally I'd call her. We'd go to a late lunch at Casa del Mar. She loves watching the sunset over Santa Monica pier.

9) While we're thinking about aviation ... Statistics show that it's still a predominantly male field, and less than 10% of commercial pilots are women. Would you be nervous flying with a woman pilot? Oh, I just plain hate flying. Knowing the gender of the pilot doesn't change that because mine is an irrational fear.

"Responding to treatment"

I went to the doctor yesterday and got good news. While not cured, my seborrehic dermatitis is "responding to treatment" and "under control." I go back again in 8 weeks so the dermatologist can monitor my progress.

I'm so relieved. I've been obsessed with my itchy scalp and my thinning hair. It's nice to know I can move on.

Spare me neophytes

All last summer I heard Bernie Sanders supporters rail against TPP. This trade deal was a deal breaker. If Hillary didn't come out against President Obama and side with Bernie on TPP, well then guess what! They wouldn't support her! Forget a woman's right to choose or who has the authority to nominate the next Supreme Court Justice(s). TPP! That's what this election was about! And if you weren't against TPP, you were a puppet of the oligarchy.

Hillary is in private life and Donald Trump is in the Oval and has withdrawn the United States from TPP. Happy now?

All last summer, I heard that Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe Biden had been co-opted by The Establishment. That they weren't progressive enough, not by the longest shot. They were supporting the disease-ridden future felon, Hillary. I was even treated to the ugly spectacle of President Obama being booed by Bernie Brats at the Democratic Convention (aka "The Coronation"). Biden, Barack and Michelle watched their candidate lose and Donald Trump is in the Oval Office. Happy now?

Now they're turning on Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown. Their sin? Voting for Ben Carson as HUD Secretary. Of course they voted for him, you wretched nitwits! Presidents get to choose their own Cabinets and their nominees go through because that's the only way the system can work. How long should the Department of Housing and Urban Development go without a secretary? Without civil servants overseeing vital inner city services like lead paint abatement and Indian/Eskimo affairs? Someone has to do it or innocent people will suffer. Senators Warren and Brown understand this because they are adults. All they're getting for their responsible behavior is social media agita. (Besides, isn't this what y'all wanted? Thank God that disease-ridden future felon, Hillary, hasn't chosen her Cabinet!)

Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren are two of the few players on the Democratic bench. Let's eat them alive now, weaken them like we weakened HRC, let's make Trump a two-term President. Let's ignore a woman's right to choose, LGBT rights, and all the other things that Brown and Warren (and Clinton) agree with you on. Let's cherry pick and find things like TPP and the HUD Secretary to destroy the party over.

Let's continue to make Vladimir Putin happy.

 PS I'm gonna need a ton of antacids over the next four/eight years.

There goes my touchstone

Back in the 1980s, when everyone was riveted by a rebroadcast of ABC's Roots, I wasn't. I was in my party girl phase and wasn't home much. One of my coworkers, a woman of color, was surprised I wasn't taping it with my VCR so I could have it in my library. I simply wasn't interested.

"That's because you don't know what it's like to turn on the TV and see someone like Kunta Kinte who represents your heritage and life experience!"

"Sure I do. I've got Mary Tyler Moore."

I was being flippant to end a conversation I'd grown weary of, but I was also uttering a fundamental truth: Mary Tyler Moore, in her three signature roles, was the ultimate 20th century WASP woman. 

Laura Petrie. The Dick Van Dyke Show. 1961-1966. Always pretty, never a (bouffant) hair out of place. A trained dancer, she gave up her career when she married Rob. A stern but loving mother, hers was the parental voice Richie Petrie responded to. She cut coupons and carpooled and volunteered at the New Rochelle PTA. She was a loyal friend to her next door neighbor, Millie. She was the perfect hostess and the perfect ornament when Rob brought her to work functions. She wore slacks on occasion, but she also wore little white gloves with her dressier ensembles -- just like Jackie (whose look CBS consciously emulated). She was clearly the woman our mothers wanted us to grow up to be.*

She and Rob also seemed genuinely in love. To my little girl eyes, the Petries and the Riccardos were the only two couples I saw on TV that I believed when they kissed. No one expected her life to be like Lucy's but Laura ... Wouldn't it be great to have a husband like Rob and a nice ranch house in the burbs? We'd get a sitter and take the train and go see a dinner and a show in the city. Sigh.

Gender roles aside, when you watch this show today, it really doesn't seem that dated. The writing is that sharp, the performances are that good. MTM was just 25 when the show premiered. What a precocious talent she was!

Mary Richards. The Mary Tyler Moore Show. 1970-1977. How perfect was she? Post-Watergate, she worked in journalism. Of course, it was an off-camera job at a local station, so it was something we could all imagine ourselves doing. She had the smoothest long hair, the nicest clothes and the niftiest little apartment -- to this day, I chastise myself for sloppiness because of how Mary made her bed and folded it back into a sofa every morning.

I've followed Mary's blueprint. My office life consumes an inordinate amount of my time, but I'm OK with that. My friends are my family. And yes, I'm still unmarried. If only I could turn the world on with my smile ...

Everything is fine. There's nothing to see here.

Beth Jarrett. Ordinary People. 1980. Oh. My. God. If Laura and Mary were the idealized WASP women, Beth was the dark reality. The tagline for this movie is "Everything is in its proper place. Except the past." And that's why Beth's outwardly perfect life is her hell. Her oldest son is dead, her younger son tried to commit suicide, but she can't let herself feel any of it. Instead she makes lists and plays golf and lunches.

I love everything about Ordinary People, but especially Beth because she rings so true. It isn't that her (remaining) son is struggling that upsets her, it's that everyone but her knows he's quit the varsity swim team. What will they think? She hates that her son and husband are in therapy, but rather than confront that anger, she asks what one gives a therapist for Christmas.

I fight being Beth, but I feel like she's programmed into me. For example, I don't cry. My throat closes up sometimes, but I can't cry. It's not allowed. The very act of crying is as frightening to me as whatever triggers it. I think I can count on my fingers the people who have seen me cry. I know this isn't healthy. But it's "ordinary" for us WASP girls.

I suspect that, like me, the real Mary had a great deal of Beth in her. Somewhere in my den is her autobiography, After All, and I recall there was a lot more pain in her life than you might suspect.

Two divorces. Rehab. Diabetes. A miscarriage, and being told she could have no more children. Her sister died of a drug overdose and her only son died from a bullet within two years of one another.

But there were Emmy Awards and an Oscar nomination. Elvis once told her he had a crush on her! With her performances, and her production company MTM, she changed pop culture.

The lady herself died Wednesday at age 80. RIP, Mary. Enjoy the  serenity that escaped you in life. And thank you.

*Though my own mother never could stand MTM because of her voice.

"There's my sunshine!"

Self portrait

I haven't been happy at work so far this year. I like and respect my client, and I don't feel I've been able to do my best for them because of the infrastructure at the agency. Our current account team is a pair of twentysomethings -- one very green, the second very ambitious -- and their boss has given them way more power than they can handle because he's busy on other things. It's made me sad.

My coworker, Kevin, has been giving me pep talks. "Keep it in perspective," he says. Just because I'm not doing as well as I think I can/should doesn't mean the client doesn't appreciate the work product. And the account team? "They'll cycle through," he said. Meaning they will get the jobs they really want, more glamorous assignments in cooler media, and I'll be able to thrive again.

With this as my mindset, today's conference call made a great deal to me. My longest-term client contact came on the line and I said, "Happy new year! We haven't talked in more than a month."

"There's my sunshine!" she said. "Where have you been? Where have they been keeping you?" She said she was going to search online for a photo of me so she could look at it while we talked.

The account exec sitting beside me was all wide eyed. "She likes you, Gal!"

She does, but it's not personal. My client and I are very different women. She's lived in the same small town all her life, has worked her way up through this same monolithic company over a quarter century, has two adult children who work at the same company, and spends a lot of her free time at Von Maur at the mall. But we're near the same age, which makes her more comfortable with me than with the millennials she usually deals with.

And I've taken the time to figure out what's important to her: It's her budgets. Some of her decisions illustrate the old adage, "Penney wise and pound foolish."

But you know what? She's the client. In advertising we like to think we are smart and cutting edge, but in reality, we're in a service industry. In the final analysis, I'm really no difference than a waitress standing at her table, my pen poised on a pad of Guest Checks. So today, as in every call, I managed to slip in, "You know I'm looking for ways to save you money."

She feels serviced, and in return, I feel appreciated. It works.

I wish every day could feel this good.

Are you disappointed in me, too?

From abc7chicago.com

More than 200,000* assembled in Grant Park for Saturday's Women's March Chicago. I was not one of them. I believe(d) that it's premature to protest Donald Trump on the first full day of his Presidency, before he had a chance to enact anything, and that such a display would further divide the country. You know, like when Mitch McConnell vowed to make Barack Obama a one-term President before #44 even put his hand on the Bible.

But I know women who went. Two here in Chicago, one in Michigan, two in DC and one in New York. (The woman in New York brought her year-old son, decked out in a onesie that says: "I'm a bad hombre, raised by a nasty woman.") I saw pictures of my church congregation participating.

And still I'm good with not going. I support these women and what they were marching for, but I insist on not being as bad as the Conservatives who vowed to block Barack Obama, no matter what, and gave us gridlock.

It seems, though, that I have disappointed people. Kathy and Nancy, particularly, were shocked (!) that I was not among the marchers.

It was a personal decision, one I'd arrived at after careful consideration. I still think it was right. For me.

The Trump Presidency has already exhausted me, and it hasn't been a week yet.

*Actually, I've heard 250,000. But I know how pissy the current administration is about crowd size, so I low-balled it.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Icebreaker Questions 
 

1. Are you loud, outgoing or shy? When I'm in public, I'm loud/outgoing. The thing of it is, I'd prefer to be locked in my own little room or with a close friend.

2. What’s coming up where you’ll see an old friend? Nothing planned with old friends over the next couple weeks. Maybe I should call John. Haven't seen him yet this year.

3. Are you easy to get along with? Not really. But I think I'm worth the work. I'm a good friend.

4. Have you ever given up on someone, but then gone back to them? Yes. But I usually find I should have trusted my initial instinct.

5. Who was the last person that you had a deep conversation with? My nephew, yesterday. He's a sensitive, thoughtful kid.

6. Are you okay with being in a big crowd? Sure. 

7. Do you believe in luck and/or miracles? Intellectually, no. Emotionally, yes.

8. What good thing happened during the summer? (It’s good to think about summer when you are freezing your butt off in January.) Perhaps you've heard that THE CHICAGO CUBS WON THE WORLD SERIES. It was glorious! BTW, 5 million people attended the rally and parade. (The population of Chicago is 2.7 million.) This Cub team meant to much to so many.

9. Do you think there is life on other planets? Intellectually, yes. Emotionally, no. But I don't think about it much.

10. Who was your first crush on? My mother reported that at about the :43 second mark, this little Gal said, "He's so pretty it hurts to look." 52 years later, I still love Sir Paul.

11. What are your bad habits? I'm a lazy slob.

Color me Oscar

 

12. What’s your favorite part of your daily routine? Feeding my cats. They're so cute.

13. Other than your significant other, who are you most comfortable with? Probably the aforementioned John. We each accept one another as we are.

14. Has an ex ever told you that they regret breaking up? Yes. I didn't believe him. I think he regretted being engaged to my successor.

15. Why should your celebrity crush drop everything to be with you? Because I've been steadfast for 52 years.

16. What would be the hardest to give up and why? Books. TV. Music. TV. You can find music and conversations about books on TV.

17. Do you believe in second chances? For myself, yes!

18. What would like to do next in your life? I'd like to feel serene.

19. What’s the meanest thing that anyone has ever said to you? Oh, God. Let's not dwell on that.

20. What’s the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to you? A coworker once told me I was one of the most unselfish people she'd ever met. I wish that was true.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: A Summer Place (1960)
 
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song highlights the soundtrack from the movie A Summer Place, which is about two teenage lovers named Molly and Johnny. Did you ever have a youthful summer romance? If so, what was his/her name? A lifeguard named Mike. I was desperately in love with him, all bronzed with the zinc oxide on his nose. It was completely one sided. He just saw me as one of the half dozen girls who sat at the foot of his tall, white wooden chair and gazed adoringly at him. He's nearing retirement age now. It makes me smile to imagine him as he must be today.

2) The "summer place" of the song/movie is a resort along the Maine coast. What "summer place" are you day dreaming about this winter morning? The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. I miss my guys!

3) In the movie, Johnny was played by Troy Donahue, who is remembered as nice looking but not terribly talented. Can you think of one of today's actors who you could describe as "nice looking but not terribly talented?" Channing Tatum popped into my head, but I can only recall seeing him in one movie. So maybe I'm not being fair to him. Let me switch that to Brad Pitt. He's always struck me as, at best, "fine." Usually he doesn't reach that bar.

4) Molly is played by Sandra Dee, a perky blonde who was one of 1960's bankable movie stars. Two other blondes -- Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds -- joined Sandra Dee in the Top 10. The only brunette to sell a lot of movie tickets that year was Elizabeth Taylor. Do you believe men find blondes more attractive than brunettes or redheads? I think they like blondes in theory. Meaning if you asked a man what his dream girl looked like, he'd start with "blonde." But since Elizabeth Taylor ca. 1960 was as beautiful as it gets, I think she'd be forgiven for her dark tresses.

This is an unretouched paparazzi shot, taken with a long lens. She actually looked like this.

5) "A Summer Place" was by far the best-selling record of 1960. Also in 1960, two brothers in Ypsilanti, Michigan, opened a pizza place called Dominck's. That was the beginning of a chain now known as Domino's. What's the last food you had delivered to your front door? It was pizza. But not Domino's. I prefer the independent establishment around the corner. Their pizza is very good, and since they support our local little league baseball team, I support them.

6) In 1965, one of the brothers sold his share of the business to his brother for cash so he could buy a VW Beetle. Tell us about a time you had buyer's remorse. My futon was an expensive mistake. It was so pretty but wore so poorly.

7) In 1960, novelist Ernest Hemingway returned to the United States from Spain and settled in Ketchum, Idaho. Tell us about the last book you read. Was it a novel or non-fiction? I'm currently reading Royal Sisters, about the early years of King George VI's daughters. I'm learning about the Queen as a young girl, which is cool. But Princess Margaret is a more compelling figure than I realized. Her husband, Anthony Armstrong Jones, was just laid to rest this week, so her tempestuous adult years have been in the news, too.

8) In December, 1960, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was baptized in the Georgetown University Chapel. His godparents were Charles and Martha Bartlett, the couple who originally introduced young John's famous parents. Do you have godparents? My godfather was my mom's baby brother, the beloved uncle I've mentioned often in this blog. He was a big influence on my life and I think of him every day. My godmother is my dad's baby sister, my aunt in Florida. For reasons too complicated to go into -- and besides, I'm not sure I completely understand them -- she became remote from my mom, my sisters and me after my dad died in 1991. But over the past five years she has worked hard to rebuild a relationship with me, and I treasure that. 

  
9) Random question: You're at dinner with a married couple who begins to fight. Would you intercede and try to make peace? Or would you just sit back stay out of it? I would initially try to stay out of it, but if the battle went on, I'm sure I'd say something. "Staying out of it" is not a talent I have.

OneWord: FOCUS where I need to

FOCUS

verb

to concentrate: to focus one's thoughts

I want to end 2017 by being able to point to concrete achievements. To do that, I must focus. 

 

So far this month I've done pretty damn well on the financial front. I've brown-bagged it and stuck to my budget. Yea me!

 

Where I've fallen short is on my housework/discipline issues. I found a bug in the bathroom this morning -- EW! ICK! -- and while it was not one of the building's dread bed bugs that bedeviled me last summer, it was a reminder that I am a piglet and must get off the dime and do something.

 

And that's simply what I must do -- something. Every day. At least 15 minutes. Starting with the baseboard behind the toilet where I saw that dead bug this morning. There's only one person who can improve the way I live and that's me. And all I have to do to accomplish it is FOCUS.

ONEWORD: FOCUS on what counts

FOCUS

verb

to concentrate: to focus one's thoughts

My goal in 2017 is to be able to point to concrete achievements, accomplished because I continued to FOCUS. Today I maintained my focus on my budget, and my goal to reduce my credit card debt.

I was underbudget this weekend, and toyed with buying myself a pizza to celebrate.

But then I remembered, just because I hadn't yet used my weekend money doesn't mean I'm required to use it. So I had a hot dog and salad (all from my refrigerator) instead.

I'm on my way to reaching my fiscal goal. It feels good.

It doesn't get much better than this

Chicago #44 meets Chicago #44 at the last public White House event of Barack Obama's presidency.

LOVE!

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing: The Very Forceful Questions

1. Do you have/have you had any pets? Patience with critters is the best thing I inherited from my mother. When I lived at home, we had two parakeets, a turtle named Bobbie Jo, and always cats. As an adult, I've continued sharing my home with cats. Right now, I have Reynaldo and Connie.

2. Do you play video games? If so, do you have a favorite video game series? No.

3. Any unpopular opinions on anything? Yes. I know some of my more progressive friends are disappointed that I'm not participating in the Women's March on Saturday. It's not that I don't support their policy positions. It's that I refuse to protest Trump until he actually does something as President. Remember how ridiculous RWNJs were over Obama? They declared him a one-term President before he even took the oath of office. I insist on behaving better than the conservatives did eight years ago.

4. Do you have a favorite gem? If yes, has anyone ever bought you jewelry with that gem? I don't have a favorite gem. But I do have a pair of earrings my cousin Rose gave me -- pale blue parallelograms -- that I am terribly fond of, even though they probably have no monetary value.

5. Favorite story genres? I assume this means in books. Mostly I read mysteries and biographies. In movies, I prefer anything that's not fantasy or sci-fi.

6. What was once a secret that you can now share? (The original question was "What kind of fruit do you hate" which is type of question that I think "who cares?" so I just change them.) The only two answers that come to mind are a little too heavy for a Sunday morning. Let's just say I was ashamed and kept things secret that weren't my fault, and I'm not ashamed anymore.

7. Do you like reading? Yes!

8. What time is it for you now, what are you usually doing at this time of the day? 8:30. On weekdays, I'm putting on my makeup and slipping into my work clothes. Right now, on Sunday, I should be in the shower.

9. What character on TV or in film is most similar to you? You can go with looks or personality. Or you can make a quip and go to the next question. Suzanne Vale, Postcards from the Edge. I so relate to the mother-daughter scenes. Like Suzanne and Doris, my mother and I loved each other but we had a terrible time understanding one another.

via GIPHY

BTW, with the current orgy of grief over Carrie Fisher's and Debbie Reynold's passing, I want it known that I mentioned Ms. Fisher and her work at least 15 times on this humble blog before she died. Welcome to the bandwagon, y'all! Carrie was here all along, where were you?

10. What's something weird you wanna do? It cannot be weirder than Mr. Watermelonhead. I'd like to pack a bag and go to Union Station. There I'll check the board and get on the next Amtrak out. I'd like to spend the night in a town I've never visited before, maybe even never heard of before. And I will do it without wearing a watermelon on my head.

11. Have you ever accomplished a New Years Resolution? No. But I'm hopeful about this year's. I want to report less credit card debt on December 31 than I had on January 1.

12. Is there any music artist you look up to? I'd love to be able to tell Streisand what she meant to me growing up. She didn't look like anyone else, she was ballsier than anyone else, and she was more successful than everyone else. She was a force at a time when women tended to be fluffy or silly.

13. Are you allergic to anything? If yes, what? I'm allergic to bee stings and morphine. ("Bee stings and morphine" are not words often seen in the same sentence.)

14. When was the last time you took a swim? Who else was with you? I last swam on Christmas Day. I was by myself in this little pool at the Orchid Key Inn in Key West. I splashed and swam as I listened to carols and looked up at the palm trees. Then, at 1:00, I joined my friends to celebrate the holiday.

15. Would you rather have the ability to sleep for as long as you want, or have the ability to never have to sleep? I wish I could feel refreshed without sleeping.

 

 

The World Has Lost Its Manners

I know I'm overreacting, but this is how I feel about a Saturday that went like this:

 •  I'm in the crosswalk when "Don't Walk" begins to flash. A couple is eager to glide into a right turn but damn, there's my human body in their way. So they actually have to slow down. And the woman rolls down her window -- it was 28º -- to yell at me, "Don't walk when it says 'Don't Walk!'" Really? The light's still green but I'm supposed to turn around and run back to the curb? And that's worth shouting at a complete stranger?

•  The front desk woman at the hospital scolded me. Had my annual mammogram yesterday. Naturally I was nervous. Who isn't at least a little uncomfortable when preparing for a cancer screen. I arrived early so I could fill out the paperwork. The woman at the desk looked at me like I was in-fucking-sane. "When I made the appointment, I was told to come in early," I explained. Her response was a clipboard of forms, telling me the top one was mine to keep. She was getting her purse when I approached the desk and asked if her she didn't need me to witness me signing it where is said "witnessed by."

"I'll sign it later," she said, heading for the door. "When you're done, just leave your forms face down on the desk."

She was mad that I was early because she wanted to go to lunch!

I was completely alone in the clinic. So there was no to ask when I got to question about my mammogram. I just wrote "See doctor's order attached" and went behind her desk to get a paperclip.

Just then she returned with a Subway bag and a bad attitude. "What are you doing there? That's against the law. There's personal patient information back here!"

"I wanted a paperclip or stapler. You weren't here."

"Going back there is against the law."

I didn't mention that she wasn't all that concerned about my privacy when she told me just leave my forms "face down on the desk." I did say that I kept getting snapped at "for trying to do what you tell me to do."

I've been getting my exams done there for years and they do a good job, so I don't want to change providers because of this. However, I am toying with sending a letter to the facility. Sure she was rude, but more than that, I'm sure the lawbreaker was the hospital worker who left a patient alone in the office with all that personal patient information.

Ah, but at least I had movie group. My movie Meet-Up is always a communal good time, right? And last night it was, until the end. I was wearing my CUBS fleece because the theater is always a little chilly. After the discussion, when we were all filing out, a woman I really didn't know complimented my shirt.

"I'm gonna keep wearing Cub gear as long as I can to keep the party going," I said.

"You enjoy it," she said, continuing the conversation, even though her husband seemed in a hurry to leave. "You keep having fun. You deserve it after 108 years."

"Especially because you'll have to wait another 108 years," her husband sneered.

"Or eight months," I snapped. His wife shrugged, embarrassed.

Really, Mr. Man? You're impatient so you have to rip on my guys and ruin my happy MeetUp buzz?

Oh yeah, and someone was snarky about the Saturday 9 questions.  Sorry I'm not a writer of the caliber you require for your Saturday morning questions, lady. Get over yourself.

The Sound of No Music

Last night, my Movie Meet Up enjoyed a screening of 1931's Miracle Woman. I not only enjoyed it as a film, taken on its own merits, I appreciated it for its place in the canon of filmdom. It was an early talkie, early Frank Capra and early Barbara Stanwyck.

The story, about a shady radio evangelist redeemed by love, wasn't hard to relate to in today's world. Stanwyck's performance was good -- and I always appreciate watching her work in our Meet Up because our moderator, Will, is such a fan and his enthusiasm is infectious. And most interesting of all, for me, was the fact that the movie had no score.

I was told this wasn't really a creative decision on the part of Capra. His later films all had background music. Miracle Woman had no score because in 1931, it simply wasn't easy to do.

In retrospect, it was a good decision. 85 years later, without corny music swelling up, the movie seems less dated and more watchable.

It was also cool to see Joanna again for the first time in 2017. We really have to get together again. But I know the next two weeks are going to busy for me at work, and she said she'll be traveling for business, so I guess that will have to wait.