Continuing my explorations down the rabbit-hole of You Tube movie sites, I came across one that had an old black & white movie that was marked as being colorized. I took a peep at it, and indeed it was in color -- the color purple. The whole film had apparently been tinted purple, and the blacks and whites were now dark and light shades of purple. I don't think this is what most people mean by "colorized" !
*
September 1st is the first day of spring in Australia. As often happens, it decided to drizzle. I am feeling a little run down, so walking back from the meeting at the church hall to the bus stop seemed a long way, even if it all downhill. Stopped off for my periodicals in the mall, and had tea & scones at Beaujangles.
Expensive detour though JB Hi-Fi even with their 20% off sale. A boxed set of the DVDs of MURDER CALL, one of my favorite Australian shows from the 1990s, DVD of the new movie EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, and the Blu Ray of Goddard's BREATHLESS (with lots of bonus features for we Nouvelle Vague fans).
Agonized for five minutes over whether to write "I was the only one on the bus wearing a mask" or "I was the only one wearing a mask on the bus"; decided in the end not to mention it at all.
*
Thursday I had nothing planned aside from pottering around at home, but Keith phoned and said "Let's meet for lunch". After a couple of hours dining and op-shopping, I called in at K-Mart where things were disappointing. When I asked for a refill for my diabetes injections, the pharmacist just said "We are out of stock." When I tried my new credit card in the coffee machine, it responded "Try another card" which is all it ever says to me. Went home and made a coffee gratis - that'll show them!
*
For years people have been saying that social media is bad for you because it makes you feel inferior after comparing yourself with the wonderful time all your friends seem to be having. All I can say is you must have a different lot of friends to mine. I have a lot of Facebook friends who are having a tough time. In fact over the years I've had several people comment "You have such an interesting life", a compliment I'm at a loss to know to respond to ("Yes I do" or "No I don't"?)
*
I knew this would happen someday, now that I'm no longer wearing my glasses all the time I'm out of bed. I watched a gripping disaster movie FLOOD on You Tube last night, then when I got ready to retire I realized I didn't know where my glasses were. I looked in a few places, then decided it might be easier in the daylight. So the next day I got down on my hands and knees and crawled around the chair I'd been sitting in during the movie. After a couple of minutes, I spotted them next to the chair and muttered "Eureka!". A relief, since a replacement set would not only have been expensive but would have meant a two-week wait.
*
This comment from Ted of California on a New York Times story about AM radio gave me a wry chuckle on this day 9 years ago:
"One of the two classical-music radio stations in Los Angeles is on AM.
It used to be on FM, but the owner (an individual, not a media conglomerate) switched the FM frequency to country music. That was after the media conglomerate that had operated the one country music station in Los Angeles decided that they could better serve shareholders with yet another automated Top-40 station that could offer advertisers a more desirable demographic. Faced with declining revenues from the classical station, the individual owner figured that country music could be sufficiently profitable for him, even if it's not profitable enough to satisfy a media conglomerate's bean counters. He figured right.
Strangely, the relocated classical station is doing well enough to remain on the air, despite the very inadequate sound quality. I only recently realized how that's possible, when I went to a concert of a local semi-professional orchestra. The large hall was filled with gray-haired patrons, whose whistling hearing aids randomly added notes the composers never wrote.
That is also the audience for classical-music radio. And hearing aids, by design, have an even more limited frequency response than AM radio. So the AM signal carrying pleasantly listenable programming probably sounds just fine to its intended audience."
*
Sept 18 - I left for church the usual time this Sunday but I had so many supplies to deliver to the church kitchen that they were half way through the first hymn before I slipped into my pew. During morning tea, I went over to one of the girls from the music group and told her I appreciated her singing in that morning's service. I could have added "And you're very pretty" but I didn't think she would appreciate a guy 50 years her senior hitting on her.
On the way home from church, I stopped off at the pharmacy to see if they had any new stocks of my diabetic injections. Nope, they didn't. That makes three weeks I haven't been able to source my medication; no wonder my blood glucose level is up.
I had coffee and a croissant in the cafe and a distraught individual shambled up to my table and said "I have mental health problems and I'm very upset but nobody here will talk to me. Can I talk to you?" I shrugged and said "Sure, sit down." I listened to his problems for a while and asked him if he was seeing a doctor; he said he was and he'd been prescribed Escitalopram. I think he was a bit surprised when I nodded and said "Yeah, I take that once a day myself." He looked a bit calmer when he left.
*
Sept 20th
Tuesday was a bit tiring. I had to go out for my blood test before my doctor's appointment next week, and have an empty stomach. By the time I drove around trying to find a parking spot near the pathology lab, and waited while the technician looked up my records because she couldn't read the doctor's handwriting, and drove home again, I felt exhausted.
Some food and rest made me feel fit enough to see if there was anybody at the Croquet Club. There was but they left just after Terry and I arrived, so we had one game then departed to our respective homes.
More rest, which meant I was almost late in leaving for the quiz night. Whew.
*
Sept 27th
A few things on this Tuesday, so it was a good thing I slept a bit better. Started off the day with my first appointment for months with my psychologist. She reassured me that the stressed feelings I've been having lately are just a normal response to some nervous tension. Then on to the Croquet Club where one of the members took pity on me and stayed on to have a game with me - which I lost 7-3.
After a quick lunch, attended the funeral service for one of the grand old men of croquet, Maurice Woodmansee. To put it in a modern perspective, he was the Yoda of Tasmanian croquet. I still hear his instructions in my head when I prepare to hit the ball towards the hoop.
Quiz night tonight and the four of us were unfortunately unable to make it a hat trick. Even with some inspired guesses from June, we ended up coming third, beaten by a team of newcomers who had never played before.
Then home for a 42 minute phone call from Keith about books and autographs he was hunting on the Internet. After which I was ready to go to bed.
*
October 4th
On NPR this morning an American radio newsman sounded shocked that interest rates may go up to 7%. Back when we were in the hotel business fifty years ago we were paying up around 17%. At the risk of sounding like a a grumpy old man, may I just quote the old saying "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it."
*
Keith looked a bit gloomy when we met for lunch last week. He seemed preoccupied and distracted, though he did cheer up a bit when I brought the conversation round to one of his favorite subjects (old westerns). In retrospect, he may just have been undercaffeinated; I noticed he had two cups of coffee with his lunch and when we emerged from the Salvo store later he muttered something about it was a shame the coffee shop was closed.
*
Tuesday I was too busy for croquet. Mick and Helena said they'd meet me for lunch and we had a filling if not overly healthy meal down the road from my place. Then we separated so they could visit the tip shop and I could go out to Glenorchy to pick up some stuff and call in to get some feed at Animal Tucker Box. After that I visited my pharmacy for the first of my twice-a-week visits; no, they didn't have any of my diabetes injectables. It's now being reported as being out of stock till next year! 😕
I returned home only to have Mick & Hedlena turn up five minutes later. Helena showed me the things she had bought, then started tidying up my back room. At one point I had to wrest the groceries I'd bought this afternoon from her grasp.
Managed to send them home about 6.15, leaving me just enough time to feed the goat and high-tail it for the quiz night.
I think I will have an early night.
*
Is it old age or just lack of concentration? Whatever I'm up to, I always seem to be thinking about something else unrelated to what I'm actually doing at that moment.....
triangulation of quantitative data (factor-analyzed items) and qualitative data (semistructured questions) reveals that they are orthogonal and independent in nature.
*
Woke up early on October 11th so I made a cup of coffee and went back to bed to listen to the morning news round-up on the radio. It was a Tuesday but there was nothing happening at the Croquet Club so I went into Moonah for lunch and a haircut (now that winter has finished I do not need so much insulation). I didn't have time for a nap before I went out and this evening consumed an energy drink, a cup of coffee and a gin & tonic. No wonder I felt a little befuddled by the time I got home.
The postman delivered three issues of The New Yorker today; I must do something about catching up on my reading tomorrow.
I was a bit late getting to bed because Keith phoned and we talked about books for 68 minutes...
*
I felt tired Wednesday morning and spent the day at home. In fact after lunch I nodded off in my armchair for a bit (what I need is an app for my laptop that tells me how long it has been since I used it, so I will know how long I've been dozing). With the days drawing out, I can't get away with not feeding the animals in the evening; they are still wide awake and ready for a snack.
Had dinner and watched a series 2 episode of MY LIFE IS MURDER, planning on an early night.
*
Sounds in the Mall today:
1. Police siren
2. Running feet
3. Crash into fence
4. voice [stern] "Stay where you are."
5. voice [whining] "I didn't do nothing."
6. soft footsteps as I walk away minding my own business.
*
The only calls I get on my house phone are scammers and people wanting me to give them money. This week I got a call from a woman with a very familiar voice. "Hello this is Helen Murphy calling from the Fund Raising Centre. I hope you're well?" I replied "I'm find thanks, but weren't you Ann Fitzgerald last month?" There was a moment of silence and I took the opportunity to hang up.
No comments:
Post a Comment