One year ago today: June 8, 2018 , Internet experts, equally inept.
Five years ago today: June 8, 2013, I become the guinea pig.
Nine years ago today: June 8, 2009, more biodiesel.
Random years ago today: June 8, 2007, one-quarter Choctaw.
Another morning of logistics, saving you from reading about the attic. I drove into town on business, taking my usual route around the long way to avoid downtown Lakeland. That took me past the original place I had tried to buy, the two storey in Eagle Lake, which I thought was a suburb of Winter Haven. Well, it acts like it is. This was where I found out in Florida there is no law against announcing a deadline for bids on a foreclosed property as many times as they like. I was the only cash bidder by closing on Friday. Instead, it reappeared Monday with a new deadline of the following Friday. I watched this disgusting practice continue for two months until they got a price they wanted. So much for auctions in Florida.
While in town, I dropped in to price out a trailer hitch for Unit 31. It has to be compatible with everything I’ve got plus the potential for the vending wagon. They can have it ready in a day for a quote of $330. That’s somewhat less than a similar install back in Miami in 2012 on the old Taurus. The one with the blown head gasket. I’ll probably proceed with that quite shortly since the character selling the vending wagon isn’t budging. While near the post office, I checked the company box and see that one bank has offered Agt. R a credit card. I tore it up. But that goes to show you there is no such thing as banking privacy. I long ago put him on the system of withdrawing fixed amounts and paying cash. Anybody who has not learned this lesson by now is one slo-o-o-o-o-o-ow learner.
Having time, I priced out the bedroom A/C, a nice 6,000 Btu unit with thermostat and a remote control for the truly lazy that is the perfect size to keep getting lost. And whilst I found catalog listings for 20 amp switches with pilot lights, they are not a regular stock item. Nor was I going to shell out $30+ for the 30 Amp model. What’s more, I read the 30 Amp will give trouble if it is wired into any circuit containing dimmer switches. I have a dimmer in every room including the bathroom headache rack. Keep looking, I say, somebody has this switch.
Here’s an excellent view of the plant that grows back every years from a tuber in my back yard. The one I call the pumpkin plant. I’ve got to break down and buy a grass whip to get at that jungle back there, even if I am all for letting nature provide for its own.
Looking south from Everest.
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Here’s a view of the Mark III being fitted for solar power. The old LED “closet light” system is replaced with proper strip lighting with minimal power consumption. Except for storage, these lights can be left on permanently. As shown, the panels are not fastened yet, as I may spread them more apart to average the daily sunshine quota. On the drawing board is a ceiling mounted “command center” that can control all the electronics from a sleeping position. I’ve made up a flowchart for an Arduino to operate phone and computer charges only when there is a surplus of power, but for the effort, I may just install a manual flip-switch.
On break, I inserted a DVD “The Monkey King 2”. Incredible special effects but too much flying around. As I’ve said, these foreigners have learned from us how to make these epic films. That doesn’t mean they have learned to make great plots. This one was hard to follow, as again the subtitles seemed too short—and I can read at a good clip. The language was Cantonese, so even though I’ve had zero practice speaking that in 20 years, I found I could keep up with most of the conversations. I even learned that the words for “how” and “why” are the same, like maybe a cultural thing.
By mid-afternoon, I’m pooped tired. I was up late writing the mini-essay on the full extent of my damages last year. I mean, I was not happy with items like having to pay $130 for a ride home from the hospital and having to buy that car over a year ahead of plan. But the thing that frightens me most is that I may be forced to make a bad decision for good reasons. I’ve said this already, but how about I put the question to you in context? See if you arrive at the same after reading today’s addendum.
Crack-boom, forget a siesta today with all that racket. It’s not another Atlantic storm, which is mostly rain and wind. But there is something roiling up the atmosphere and Florida is the lightning kill capital of the world. The statistic is explained away by the higher number of golfers, but you could substitute the term “idiots” and get the same ratios. It’s cooled right down, so it’s attic time. What a howling wind. The Atlantic storms have a constant wind pressure, depending on what arm you are in, but the gulf storms swirl around and blast back and forth. So, let’s get up there and see how much we can do on a day off.
Then rings the phone. How’s that for Yoda-talk? It’s a guy named Tom who clearly knows me, but the devil I can’t place him. He’s trying the standard route of putting together “a drummer and two guitar players and we need a bass”. This is the most painstaking and dreary way to get anything happening, but I can’t turn down an opportunity. He’s talking a few weeks from now, so I suggested they put together a list of hopefuls and distribute that as early as possible before the first practice. He saw the wisdom and there you have another instance—it sounds so straightforward but it took management experience to get it to actually happen.
One thing half-choked me was when he said he could do that and the first song would be that dreadful, sleepwalking, monotone, funeral dirge, “Simple Man”. What is it with that song and guitar players? That’s one of the few songs I won’t even keep in my extensive music archives.
I took a real break and began trying to follow the “Monkey King 2” movie. It cost a fortune for those effects but the plot was the same as every other movie. The evil spirits taken on by a lonely traveling monk who happens to be a grand master of something or other. Everybody betrays everybody and the emotional scenes are embarrassing. The actors to a credible job of copying what they’ve seen from Hollywood films, but it comes across as a copy. Half the movie is engaging battles against hopeless odds that seem to have no connection to the story line.
ADDENDUM
Imagine you have a lot of eggs in one basket. Don’t leap to conclusions, for at least I have a basket where others can’t even muster that. It’s music, and it was not foolish to rely on it because it has been so good to me. I’ve never gone hungry or been really desperately broke. I’ve kept my options open, but the sum of my preferences was always to play music until they box me up. Along comes a senseless, negligent bonehead and cracks my shoulder. From behind, so I never had a chance. Every source I’ve read states that surgery in this situation has a small but known failure rate. (It seems to be 14 in 1,000.)
I’m getting to the question. My shoulder never did completely heal, but the pain is diminished to a tolerable level. That’s important, you’ll see. It is intermittent and occasionally gives a sharp pang when I make random movements. The pain, when present, is stable. But take a long-distance look at the distant days I have left. So, the question becomes,
“Do I accept today’s intensity of pain as the least it will ever be from here on, or do I risk a diminished capacity to play music by undergoing surgery?”
If you see my perspective, you’ll know that I cannot, under any theory, dare to risk the surgery. It’s the old tale from the trailer court. The question is not really an argument of how tiny the risk is, but a question of whether I am willing to take that or any risk in this situation. The answer is no. How many of those 1,000 patients were professional musicians? That changes things. Even if I continue on in pain, I must not and cannot gamble on a loss. And you are right on if you also conclude I seek to be compensated for even being put in such a position. Any loss of musical ability would devastate my entire future quality of life.
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