At long last a bill arrives from the NYAC for $288, I presume for the lunches and drinks I had there, mainly last year. That is slightly steeper than I would have guessed, given that I have had only about five lunches there (with one or two double vodka martinis, however) in the past 15 months. Could be there are late charges. I shall phone and find out today.
At 11 am today I was scheduled for a phone call with someone called Harrison Tanico on a Zoom call, something about how to find a job. It all sounds fishy. I canceled.
And while looking for that I see a message from Jen, asking me if I can do Amenities Coordinator next Tuesday for that midweek 5k in PP. Okay, I say, I’m so flattered to be second choice for Amenities Coordinator. Purely a political decision on my part, saying yes. I was all set and happy to start jury duty that day, but I didn’t want to sulk just yet. Still…shit, man. I didn’t get any shift after applying for three in the last two postings (for Lousy T-Shirt race and Firecracker setup). But if I say yes to this, maybe I’ll be a Team Player and get some better oppies in the near future.
Tomorrow I go down to W 36th St to get fingerprinted. Some third-party government vendor for Anchor. I believe this is part of the holdup on that job.
Sling I have canceled, or paused again, after today. Another three months. Really a terrible deal. All I ever got from it was Fox News, and Lordy knows it’s not worth $50 for that. Tuned in OAN last night for the first time in weeks. Seeing what they’re saying about the LA riots. OAN is still running the same awful house-add filler with pictures of Mark Twain and Oliver Wendell Holmes and various niggers.
Idea for comic strip: A John Kent-style 2-panel deal called “Our President,” with a very bland and upbeat treatment of Trump.
Rounding up stuff on Orwell for my forthcoming compilation or two. “The Day They Shot Orwell” is real red meat. I should scribble a version on Substack first. I have about a dozen draft pieces there right now.
Was idly wondering last night when it was that I saw Suez, the movie. I was thinking of Suez because I discovered I had Churchill’s The River War on my Audiobooks, never listened to it. I would have guessed 2021, maybe, for watching the film with Tyrone Power and Annabella. No, it was almost exactly 5 years ago, June 2020. That little lull in lockdown when they were still banging the pans at 7 pm and my Census work had not yet begun. I found this while cleaning out some Gmail from the margotdarby acct.
I got to the last 20 minutes of the last Sopranos episode (its best in some ways) and decided to hold off. I think the worry was partly that I’d begin the cycle all over again, like I haven’t enough to do.
To Target yesterday for EBT food. Tuna, black beans, ground beef, frozen french fries. Heavy whipping cream ($3.99) to make butter. Just had a hamburger for breakfast, like Lou Costello.
Last night in a state of real bored idleness, I managed to locate the stories about Prof. La Blanche and the lost balloon that came down in Central Park back in 1894. Wayward aerialists and balloons were a mainstay of the daily press in the 1890s.
