Freelance Fandango was Stan, Nori, and me. Stan brought in his collection of Gahan Wilson books for me to enjoy. I loved looking at all of them. He also returned the Bill Peet autobiography. I thanked him for that as well. Nori did not bring in his camera. But he did mention that he took it out with him this morning and took several photos of birds. The camera can be noisy. This is why he only took a few photos of a Barred Owl over the weekend. He didn’t want to disturb it too much. I told Nori that I was very intimidated by the size of his camera. I scheduled the room for the next month through to April. But another group beat us to next Monday so we will have to gather at an outside table for part of the time we are there. John Draper caught me as I was leaving. I’d forgotten that he’d called and asked me to linger to help him figure out how to create a second Instagram account. Normally I would be against him creating yet another account as he has a hard time growing his audience. But this was to be an anonymous account where he posts or reposts his postings while he is high. Normally his kids and I get these postings, and then he forgets that he’s ever made them. This will be a location for him to do those posts. Hopefully, when he is high, he will remember to log off from his public account and into this one before he posts whatever cat meme catches his interest.
I had to take a detour driving home. Our street was blocked off. Telephone poles along our street are being replaced. As I drove the detour, I smelled a stench. When Pat Smith called and asked me for a walk, we walked over to investigate the work crew. There were several trucks, including a fire truck, besides the usual equipment. One of the trucks was marked incident response. There were a lot of workmen on the scene. We asked one if there was a gas leak, and he confirmed that there had been one, but it was being dealt with quickly. Pat and I walked another block and met a young man returning to his house. His wife called and said the house had a bad smell about it. He noted it in the air, and we told him what was happening with the gas leak the next block over. He was relieved as he was concerned he would have to move his wife and baby out of the house. Pat and I continued our walk. It started to hail on us after I bought some lottery tickets at the corner convenience store. We were crossing a street corner that had a roundabout when a car nearly drove over us. The driver was impatient with the line in front of him and was driving around them in the oncoming lane and did not see us crossing the street. It was a near thing; we almost got hit. The other cars honked at the fool while we yelled and waved at him. The crew stayed working on the street all night, and it wasn’t until late the following day that they finished up and moved to their next location.
I nearly forgot to mention that Pat downloaded Pokemon Go onto his phone. Our walks have slowed as we stopped to talk to new neighbors, and I’m teaching him how to catch Pokemon. I think he’s starting to get into it. “I spent all last night tossing balls at critters and not catching any of them.” He complained. I tried to comfort him that maybe there was a glitch in the programming. I asked if he had turned it off and started it up again. He said he had and handed the phone to me. I tossed a ball at a Pokemon and caught it. “You fixed it,” I told him.
Wednesday, I spent taking my Dad to various medical offices. The first trip was to the Urologist, who sent a scope up and took a look at his bladder. Aside from being ninety-two years old, his bladder and everything is just fine. We then went to the optometrist, where they repaired a new pair of glasses. The frame and screw popped out of them when they were dropped. They fixed it for free in five minutes. We then went to the hearing aid clinic. Dad’s hearing aid can use a Bluetooth connection to connect to the television so the speakers won’t blast my mom. Dad said it worked in the morning but not in the evening. The tech turned them off and then back on again. She gave Dad a splitter for the box at home. As a reward for being his chauffeur, Dad took me to a Japanese restaurant where I ordered a couple of Bentos featuring tempura and sushi. Dad has been going to the gym. He showed me the muscles in his arms. He’s definitely getting toned. My father was a very fit man when he was young, a gymnast whose hunky muscles appealed to my father. I always saw him as a strong man. The hearing aids worked with the television just fine before we even tried to do additional troubleshooting. Mom was back from her day out when we got back. Krista had me take them six chocolate chip cookies. Only three were left when Dad and I rolled back in the door. Dad called out from his chair, “Bring me a cookie!” Which I did. I think he had fears that they might not last until dinner. It turns out he already had a splitter for the box attached to the tv. The speaker didn’t have a port for it, and not one for the cable that came with the box. After hugs and kisses, I drove home and had some leftover spaghetti for dinner with Krista.
Friday night, I went to the Grand Cinema and hung out with Mark Brill as he sold the poster he created for “Assault on Precinct 13.” I helped as folks were also buying past posters out of the binder. I had a bit of a scare halfway through the film. I couldn’t feel my left arm. I thought perhaps I might have had a stroke and would have to ask Mark to drive me to the emergency room. The Grand Cinema has very tight seats. It turns out my wedged arm merely fell asleep. After moving it around, all my sensations and dexterity returned.
This week's dreams:
Feb 29
IDreamt I was hired to do sketching at the future site of a casino in Clallam County. Fearing the worst, I took camping gear. Good thing I did, as the client was a survivalist with an odd sense of humor.
Feb 30
#IDreamt I was the lead on a soap opera during the 1950s. The cameramen thought it would be funny if they caught me secretly shot me devouring a Cornish Hen when I was supposed to be off camera.
March 1
#IDreamt I got funding to open an apartment building for down-on-their-luck creatives who were trying to get back on their feet. There were supporters and nay-sayers. And one very shabby building.
March 2
#IDreamt It was the ’90s, and I was the IT guy for a Canadian traveling circus. Most of the performers went by nicknames taken from the comic “Alpha Flight.”
March 3
#IDreamt I believed myself to be the cause of a giant whirlpool on a small lake. I managed to stop it by turning a valve on shore. Several small boats and canoes bobbed to the surface.
March 4
#IDreamt, my jailers released me onto a Mutant Reservation. I was nearly ostracized again when I told them I’d been charged as an AI freedom fighter. It turned out there was an android prison on the reservation.
This week’s movies:
23. March 3
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Rating: 6
It's been four decades since I last watched this violent exploitation film. It has a rapidly increasing body count. As a child of the seventies, nothing looks out of place in it. Kudos to the child actress portraying Kathy. I watched at the Grand Cinemas with Mark Brill, who created a Weird Elephant movie poster for the event.
More next week,
Mark
