Sunday, March 12, 2023 • 03/12/23
It was just Corey Macourek and me at Freelance Fandango on Monday. Stan Brown came down with Covid. We hope it’s a lighter case. When I spoke to Stan later in the week, he still suffered from symptoms. Corey and I looked over his plans for his “Ghost in the Shell” poster. He had three different comps. I told him which one was my favorite. I think he had additional input besides mine but he did go with the one I favored. Since it was just the two of us, we decided to go out early and try a taco restaurant neither of us had been to before. We agreed it was not as good as the last taco restaurant we tried. We decided we should try another place in the future.
Two new faces showed up at Epic Sketch Time on Tuesday. I’d posted on my Facebook page about the event and asked folks to send me a direct message if they wanted a link. So there were five of us in attendance, and we all had our own projects going. The hour went by so quickly. The whole week went by so quickly.
Thursday was a lot of fun as my younger brother Stan came to town. He’d just returned from a ski trip to Japan. We spent the afternoon at the LeMay car museum. It was Stan’s first time and my third visit. I was drawn to all of the cars I’ve seen in movies. I took several pictures but wished I’d taken more. I took one of Stan’s next to the model of Porsche, on which he learned how to use a stickshift. We sent the picture to our older brother Cliff. It was his porche whose gears were tortured by Stan. We also looked for other cars that had special places in our memories. We left at 5, giving us enough time to pick up Krista and head to El Gaucho. Earlier that day, I’d gone to Costco. You can pick up gift cards for restaurants there and save a few dollars. El Goucho’s food is incredible. It’s the type of play where you must have reservations in advance. It’s also as dark as a cave. We were given pen lights to read the menu. Stan and I decided to get a couple’s dinner that provided a bit of a sideshow. I think one of the reasons it’s so dark is that the table performances by the staff have extra flare- literally. The meal was fantastic, and we left stuffed. I’d been doing long walks and exercise routines so that I could enjoy all of the extra calories. Stan gave me a souvenir from Japan. I’d asked for him to bring back a Manga digest. Most Manga in Japan is published in digests containing episodes of several story titles. They are about the size of an old fashion phone book. The paper is colored pulp using black and white art. Stan gave me two of them, one a weekly and one a monthly. I’m looking forward to showing them off at the next Freelance Fandango. About 400 kanji are used for newspaper publication in Japan. The Manga is a great way to learn these kanji as they usually have the phonetic alphabet printed smaller to the side of them to help younger readers learn. I look forward to when I can read these Manga. I didn’t bring back any Manga with me from when I stayed in Japan. I’ve since been given a few items in used bookstores from the era by understanding friends. Stan also gave me some Manga when he was last in Japan during college. And my friend Joe Manfredini brought me back some when he last visited.
I had a bit of a scare on Saturday. I sent a letter to my friend Charlie who has troubleshot my Mac before. It’s what he does for a living. I’m hoping he can give me an evaluation of my Mac. It took three start-up attempts before my ancient Mac started up. It’s running now, but I’d like to know what I can do to ensure I don’t lose a bunch of stuff, like my projects from the last ten years or my financial records.
Sunday began with a rush. I woke Krista telling her that her sister Rebecca texted me to look for a woman in yellow with magenta hair. My sleepy brain was figuring out this cryptic message when I remembered that the sumo tournament had started that day. We love to people watch as you can see both the wrestlers, they are called Rikishi, and the audience. This startled Krista, fully awake. She’d set the alarm so as not to miss the morning show. However, she hit the snooze button and fell back to sleep. So it was a mad dash downstairs to catch opening day. We then enjoyed some biscuit breakfast sandwiches.
I drove up to Seattle to my older brother Cliff’s house. Some forty years ago, Tennison Reed was a foreign exchange stunt who stayed with us. He’s kept in touch with the family over the years with occasional visits from various family members to his country and trips back to the states for him. I missed all the previous encounters, so I was thrilled to see him again after all these years. I’m so glad that he prospered. I met his son, who now works at his company. Also in attendance were Cliff’s wife, Lori, their kids, Melina and David. David brought his girlfriend and their new puppy. The puppy is a golden retriever, which isn’t too much of a surprise. There has always been a golden retriever in their house. Back to the attendees. My parents, my oldest brother Randy and his wife Evi, My older brother Scott, his daughter Brianna, Kat, and her significant other Nick. Cliff prepped a big spaghetti with meatballs dinner. He made meatballs without cheese for Krista. But Krista sent me hugs for everyone. She felt a little off this morning and didn’t want to risk it being something she brought back from going to work on Friday. I wish I had taken my selfie stick. The photos I took without it were a little amateurish looking. But I did manage to capture some of the fun events. I should have only put two meatballs on my plate instead of three. I went home feeling a warm glow. I might have been all of the lovely family and friends, or it might have been the spicy meatballs.
Alley News
Krista’s work and desire not to get wet on walks have kept her from going for a walk every day. As a result, I’ve been outside longer and walking slower. On those days, I’ve been walking with my neighbor Pat Smith. The reason is Pat is learning Pokemon Go and has yet to master the skill of walking and playing simultaneously. I don’t claim to be skilled at the game, but I’ve been helping him with the basics. He is already up to level 20.
I had some dreams this week.
March 6
#IDreamt I found a sea turtle hatching bed in WA. Most of the beaches here are rocky. But climate change is messing things up. The dream was turning into a musical when the alarm went off.
March 7
#IDreamt if you had a loved one who died long ago and thought about them all the time, then there was a good chance that those memories would form a new entity. It would often become a ghost, but not always.
March 8
IDreamt I went back to school at the Japanese High School I attended. In return for my scholarship, one of my tasks was to muck out the animal stalls, which we set up in the hallways for some reason.
March 9
#IDreamt some of the old Greek legends were still sound. Daedalus was keeping a low profile. He didn’t want Mercury to know where he was. It had something to do with a disagreement they had in 1808.
March 10
#IDreamt I was staying at a French Aristocrat’s house during the time of ‘the terror.’ I tried to convince him to leave the country, but he was too engrossed in playing mind games with an acquaintance.
I watch two Marvel series, “Loki” and “Moon Knight.” Krista watched the first episode of “Loki” with me, but she couldn’t get into it. I found the series improved with each episode. And I liked “Moon Knight” as well. I haven’t read any of The Moon Knight comics, so I was going in with no expectations.
24. March 10
Gilda (1946) Rating: 7
I watched it with my wife on a DVD from Netflix. It turned out both my wife nor I had never seen this film. I’m glad we did. Some plot points and songs in this movie became staples over the years. And if you ever want to learn where the inspiration for Jessica Rabbit from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” came from, this movie is a must-see.
25. March 10
The Maus (2017) Rating: 5
I expected this to be a creature feature and got something more than I bargained for. This is a horror of PTSD manifested. War crimes are monstrous. I watched this film on Netflix.
More next week,
Mark
