I have things to write about today. Is that enough or do you want the details? You guys are so demanding. Fine, I can’t say no to My Gentle Readers. Last night we had the Seder, so I had to prepare for Pesach (Passover). No, I didn’t burn the chametz. I still have plenty of chametz. I didn’t spend the day cooking as it was just for myself. What I had to do was print out the Haggadah that Lewis and Sylvia, the hosts of our zoom Seder emailed me. We usually go to their house, but this is the age of social distancing. I was very good and saved the attachment when they sent it to me. I knew exactly where it was. I opened it up and hit print. I then discovered that I had never added the printer to this computer. I don’t print very often. That’s fine, it’s in the network, I found it and added it. Then I was good and asked my roommate if I could use the printer, it’s hers, and if there was enough paper. There was. Notice, I was not once an idiot. I did things right. I hit print and got a printer error. Ugh. I went to the printer and the instructions on it said to turn the power off and then back on. I did. Well I tried to. The power wouldn’t go back on. Arrgghh! But wait, we have a second printer. It’s not Wi-Fi and it’s not set up, but it was in a box and I could set it up. I did. It turned on and added it to my computer. I tried printing. I got a printer error. This printer is not as sophisticated as the other, but I could tell the paper wasn’t feeding. I knew what to do but I checked the HP website just in case and it told me what I thought. I had to clean the rollers with a cotton swab. Great, I bought a box back when the printer we use wouldn’t feed paper. I’ve done this a million times. I went to get the swabs. They weren’t where I thought they were. I looked at the second place they might be. They weren’t there. I searched high and low and couldn’t find them. I did find my birth certificate along the way and put it in a safe place. I had forgotten I ordered a new birth certificate four years ago. I didn’t think I had one. But that didn’t help me with my problem. I finally gave up and switched to plan B. Put the Haggadah on my cell phone. That was simple as it was stored in the cloud. I worked and I could read it fine. That should have been my plan from the start. Why waste all that paper and ink. If I owned a pad that would have been my initial plan. I thought a phone would be too small, but I was wrong.
That took most of my morning. I rewarded myself by doing a breakfast experiment. I made matzoh brei of course but I prepared it a new way. There are two basic types of brei, pancake and scrambled. They have the same relationship to each other as an omelet and scrambled eggs. I’m a pancake guy and treat it like an omelet. I top it with grated cheese and ham. I still have cheese curds in the house and decided to be creative and use them. They are thick chunks, not something that can be put on top and expect to cook. So, I made it scrambled and fried them along with the eggs, milk, matzoh mix. I’m sure fried cheese curds is a thing. This is not deep fried. There’s just a coating of bacon fat, I’m such a good Jew, in the skillet. I scrambled it up, put some slices of ham on top, and ate it. It was delicious. I love inventing new dishes.
My next reward was watching the first two parts of Crisis of Infinite Earths, the CW is rebroadcasting it. That was a great 5 hours of television and well worth seeing again. It worked at every level.
When I finished that I made my phone call of the day, Allison. As a bonus she went on speaker and I talked to Joe too. Calling people during isolation is something I heavily recommend. I sometimes get anxious about making the calls, but I always feel good when I do. The anxiety is the fear that I’m intruding. Turns out most people want to talk. That won’t mean I won’t have anxiety next time I call someone. Today it’s not a problem as Katrina just told me online that she’s going to call me later.
Next came the cinematic event of the day, I watched Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary. I was supposed to see that in a theater but the day it was screen I had to be on a bus to Boston. Then I heard that you could stream it but wasn’t home when I found out and totally forgot where it was streaming and never put it on my watch list. Then yesterday I remembered. I went to Netflix, not there. Then I went to Prime, it was! Success. As you might guess, this is a film, by, for, and about nerds. I can vouch for the nerdiness of one of the producers, Max Dionne, he’s my nephew. I’d like to think I had a hand in his entry into nerdom. I certainly nurtured it wish gifts and discussions on Monty Python, the Hitchhiker’s Guide, and Discworld.
This is not a fan production; Max is a professional filmmaker, and this is the real deal. All the principles in the film participate in it but the late Alan Rickman. I loved it. I wasn’t sure I would. I do love Galaxy Quest but I only saw it recently, the last five years, and only saw it once. I have no idea why as it is right up my alley. I’m an old school Star Trek fan that’s been to many Star Trek and science fiction conventions. The film was made for me. I learned one possible reason I missed it in the theater, I learned from the documentary that it was marketed as a children’s film. It also came out at a time I didn’t go to the movies often. The documentary works for exactly the same reason Galaxy Quest works. It’s made with such love and affection for the subject matter while being fully aware of the absurdity. It doesn’t look at fans as losers but as wonderfully weird and creative people. It shows so much respect for the filmmakers, all the actors, director, producers, casting director, special effects, designers, and everyone that added a creative element to the film. This is a must see for fans of fandom and cinephiles. Now I have to watch Galaxy Quest again. Anyone know if and where it is streaming?
The Seder was great, not as good as everyone being in the room together but there was novelty. It also allowed Max, the aforementioned producer, his wife Caila, and daughter Joanie, Joni? Joannie? To join us from California. Sorry Joanie. I had the same problem with Max’s last name, Dionne, for years. I thought it was Dion. This is family, I talk to them, I don’t read about them.
We did the Seder on Zoom, my first time using it for a large group. I got to see all the people on the screen like I keep seeing pictures of. I knew to mute myself when not speaking. I did prepare. The delays wreaked havoc with the songs. 25 people cannot sing in unison because of the delay. It makes each song sound like a round. It’s hard to judge but I think Max and his family, who were the furthest away, had the longest delay. They seemed to finish the songs last. The highlight was singing Chad Gad Yaw which is chaos under the best of circumstances. We treat it as a race, seeing who can finish it first. This was pure chaos and wonderful. Seeing all the friends and family was wonderful. I’d have been hugely disappointed if we hadn’t been able to do this. The Seder is one of the rituals that mark the calendar. I hope I don’t need it but I’m working on a virtual Budgiedome. This convinced me that it will partially fill the void. During this crisis, remember. Never Surrender!
How did it get so late? OK now to make breakfast. It will not be kosher for Pesach, or even kosher. It will be delicious.
Wise Madness 