July 10-11

[chochiyo_sama]

Saturday, July 10

The basement appears to be completely cleaned.  The cleaners left four dehumidifiers in the basement to dry it all out.  They were smart and professional enough to run long extension cords to plug ins upstairs so that no single fuse would be overburdened and tripped off.  It’s a little noisy, but not too bad. It’s miraculous to me that a mess as absolutely horrific as that mess was is already dealt with.  It occupied my attention for most of the week, but, other than the incident with the maggots, I think I handled it pretty well.

I asked Kevin, the head guy at Service Master, to email me the pictures they took of the mess.  They are already sending them to the insurance agency, so all they have to do is CC me.  I want to have them for my records.  He said he would.

Today, I caught up with my DW entries, discovered I was banned from Facebook for 30 days for a ridiculous reason, spent nearly an hour writing up a protest to the ban (which can be read in my previous entry), and warmed up a piece of the steak I had made the other day—I turned it into a steak sandwich. 

Lily’s son Roger was supposed to be here by supper time tonight.  She had asked him to call her when he left so she would know when to get supper going so it was ready when he arrived.  He never called and never called.  She figured his foul wife was keeping him busy with 8 million little tasks that he HAD to do before he could go.  That woman is truly a bitch.  She is the one who pretended to have a seizure at my uncle’s funeral to prevent Roger from going to the cemetery to see his father’s coffin put into the ground.  She pitches such vitriolic temper tantrums that everyone is terrified of her.  All it would take is for ONE person to stand up to her nonsense and not let her get away with it, but she has been allowed to rave like a lunatic all her life. 

Anyhow, Lily finally got a call from Roger at about 7 pm, long after she expected him to arrive, telling her that he was on his way to his own home and that it would take him about an hour to clean up, pack his bag, and load his stuff and the cat into the car before he headed to Minnesota.  He lives about five hours away in Wisconsin.  She called me, devastated, as she had hoped to have him help her with a lot of paperwork and stuff that she doesn’t understand.  She will get nothing done with him tonight as he will be exhausted when he arrives.

He will mow her lawn tomorrow which will take at least two hours.  Then she wants him to go through some of his dad’s stuff and take what he wants so she can get rid of the rest.  Mostly, it is tools and woodworking equipment.  On Monday, he has to meet with her financial advisor and her, and then he is going back to Wisconsin.  His wife does not allow him to spend one second more than is absolutely necessary with his mother.  Even then, she bitches about every second he is gone and does everything in her power to delay and derail his trips.

I hate her.

 

Sunday, July 11

The Zoom meeting with DeAnn was not as productive as usual as I was consumed with my shit storm disaster all week and had to tell her all the details.  Just as we were getting started, Kevin from Service Master called and said that he would be here in half an hour to collect the dehumidifiers.  I thought he had said he would collect them on Monday, but I didn’t care when he got them as long as the basement was clean and dry. 

Kevin from Service Master was very pleasant, polite, and empathetic, and he appreciated all the compliments I gave him on the service and kindness of the workers.  There was one thing about him that was a little disturbing though—his appearance.  He was NOT ugly, but he had very large, slightly protruding eyes which were extremely dark. He was tall and thin to the point of gauntness, his cheeks were hollow, and his ears were an odd shape—long, slightly twisted, and pointed at the top ends.  I felt guilty for thinking it as he was so very nice, but he reminded me of an old movie vampire character.  If he had been wearing long black robes instead of jeans and a plaid button up shirt with “Kevin” embroidered on the pocket, I might have sharpened the handle of one of my wooden spoons and staked him.  Ha.  Seriously, though.  He had a definite “Nosferatu” vibe going on.

And *I* INVITED HIM IN when he knocked!!  YIKES!  (Just kidding.  I don’t believe in vampires.  Not the literal blood sucking ones, anyhow.  I know there is such a thing as emotional vampires as I have had a few of them in my life.)

I watched a few movies—one was Far from the Madding Crowd. I found the plot confusing and the characters irritating.  The scenery and costumes and architecture were delightful, though.  It was set in Victorian times—possibly in Scotland.  The accents sounded Scottish anyhow.  Another was called Crooked Arrows.  It was about a young half native American man who had been a star lacrosse player in high school.  His father convinced him to come back to the reservation to coach the high school lacrosse team and reconnect them to their tribe’s heritage.  It was a little lame in that I wounder just how many actual native Americans they consulted on the story line and traditions.  They did have, as far as I could tell, all actual native American actors playing native Americans.  It was a satisfying little tale in which the former star player learned to value his heritage, restored the honor of his tribe, and earned the respect of his team.  It could have been great, but they didn’t go that far.  The native American lacrosse players were beautiful.  The last was Shazam!  This one was also rather lame, but in a more deliberate manner—as if the whole thing was done tongue-in-cheek.  The thing that I got the biggest kick out of while watching this movie was that Billy Bates (who became Shazam) had been born while his parents lived in Zumbrota, Minnesota, which was very near to West Concord where I had lived for at least two decades.  I have seen this movie more than once in the past and never noticed this bit of information before.  Now I am wondering whether that bit was true canon, originating in the Shazam comic books, or if it was put in for the movie only—and WHY, of all the towns and cities in the nation, they would pick a tiny, insignificant little hamlet in southern Minnesota? 

It is a mystery to savor.

 

 

Comments

[warriorsavant]

Clean = Good.
(OCD? Who, me?)

[chochiyo_sama]

Oh, if you could have seen the horrific condition of my basement before the cleaners got to it, you would be astonished. It was if the basement toilet was Mt. St. Helen's and the lava that spewed from said mount was a thick soup composed of human shit and decomposing toilet paper.

Truly, truly horrifying.

What ever they paid those young men, it was NOT ENOUGH.

[warriorsavant]

Visions of simply burning down the house and running away in horror

[chochiyo_sama]

That is exactly the way I felt--sprinkle gasoline liberally throughout the house; grab cat and handful of necessities; throw lit match in through the door; leave without looking back.

[the_godiva]

Excellent. And yes, I think you handled it very well.

What a bitch. My sister in law isn't quite that bad but she made sure my brother lived on the other side of the country so he couldn't visit us very often. And of course, my parents had to fly to Florida to see their own grandkids. (She also yelled at them when they chastised Anthony for spitting on my Dad.) I've never been to visit and don't plan to. In fact, I did not go over during the two hours that their daughter carved out of her busy vacation to visit my parents. Can't do much sucking up in two hours when the Grandparents are already pissed at you. My Dad especially. So if it was to get in the will it was a wasted two hours. My Dad was resentful, my Mother was glad she wasn't staying with them, but I think also resented the short visit. I made sure to make a dig the night before about all of the money they spent to put her through college and how generous of her to find two hours out of her busy vacation to drop in. I have a feeling my Mom didn't give her those amethysts after all. At least I'm hoping. But I am still doing searches of eBay, Poshmark and Etsy just in case she did and the little brat puts them up for sale. Unappreciative ingrate that she is. She's getting nothing from me. Make no mistake, I will be very sensitive to last minute sucking up by my niece and nephews after my parents are gone and I get older.

Kevin probably has a thyroid condition like Peter Lorre. It's what makes the eyes bulge out. And you're thinking of the original black and white Nosferatu. But he was out in the daylight so no worries.

Canon or not, some writer stuck that in either because he was from there or the area or had been there at some point. If I recall the movie posters, Shazam is blowing a bubble gum bubble so I'd say tongue in cheek.

I agree about Far from the Madding Crowd. I remember watching it once because it was supposed to be such a classic and thinking meh. I remember it got such raves when it came out, but I just don't see it. I think it was because Julie Christie was in it. I think she was overrated despite the Oscar, Golden Globe and Baftas. She just happened to be cast in Doctor Zhivago and Fahrenheit 451, etc. I think any actress in those films would have done just as well and been praised and rewarded just as much. I think a lot of her "talent" at the time was in her looks and casting luck. She got one good part and after that it was easier for her to get more. I doubt she would have had the career and awards she got if she had been short, brunette and not as pretty or slim. She looked like a model and could act a little. So of course she was Lara in Zhivago because she looked the part.

[chochiyo_sama]

Yes--Julie Christie's acting prowess mainly consisted of looking calf-eyed, innocent and sad. I knew immediately that her soldier beau was a womanizing, money grubbing ne'er do well, but she HAD to HAVE HIM. Rejecting a hardworking, sincere but poor young shepherd AND a wealthy, sincere, older gentleman for THAT?? She was an idiot and needed to be slapped into some semblance of intelligent thought.

I also wondered what real Victorians would have thought of her burying her soldier husband in the same grave as his servant girl mistress and their illegitamite baby then making it into a lavish flower garden. I get the distinct feeling that it would have gone over like a lead balloon.

And we never do find out what happened to the wealthy suitor. We get a glimpse of him languishing in a dark cell--but did they hang him? Send him to prison for the rest of his life? Export him to Australia? We never know.

You can tell that the men who wrote the book and the screen play had absolutely NO CLUE about what actually attracts and motivates women. It doesn't show men in a very nice light either.

I would rate Far from the Madding Crowd D for Disappointing.