I’m not taking a Donut Walk™ today. I woke up with my back hurting and decided that’s my body’s way of saying, “take a day off.” I thought my arthritis was in remission but perhaps it’s just that I went a year putting hardly any stress on it. I have not been wearing my backpack as I always suspected that might be exacerbating the problem. We’re in for a stretch of bad weather, tomorrow is the last nice day, so I will go out tomorrow. Today I’m back to not getting dressed or leaving the house even though it’s a beautiful day. Instead, I put a cold pack on. I had a problem a few days ago so I put it in the freezer just in case I needed it again. I did.
Yesterday I walked the furthest I’ve done of late, 3.72 miles. I used to routinely walk 4 miles but that was every other day. I took a new path just to make things interesting and found a park I didn’t know existed. There were tennis courts, set up for volleyball, and an Astroturf soccer field. The park was filled, nice weather will do that. On my next walk I’m considering not getting a donut but walking up to Woodlawn Cemetery to explore it. I have to leave early for that, it closes at 4:30. I’d like to take my real camera but that’s heavy and my back would loudly tell me to not do that again. It’s good to listen to your body.
Somehow despite the not going out It’s 9:47 PM and I just started writing again. I’m not happy about that. I’ve spent much of the day acquiring music to play on the radio. I’ve reached the point that when I see that music I used to own is gone, I write the artist and ask for a digital replacement. If I didn’t do that my show would be even more heavily skewed towards new music than it already is. Sometimes when I get the new music it’s in forms where I can’t immediately use it. If it’s a Wav file I have to convert it to mp3 and then enter the metadata. My reward is listening to my show and not just enjoying it but being proud of it. I have 49 minutes of next week’s show programmed. I need to add six minutes, probably two songs.
I’ve been watching a spate of political historical films about justice; Spotlight, Trial of the Chicago 7, and Trumbo. There were all great. For a long time, I’ve been avoiding serious films that require my full concentration. It’s good to know I can still not just watch, but also enjoy them. Spotlight is the story of the exposure of the Catholic Church covering up pedophile priests by the Boston Globe. I love stories of the fourth estate bringing the powerful to justice. The film had a large number of actors that also appeared in the MCU; Mark “The Incredible Hulk” Ruffalo, Michael “The Vulture” Keaton, who of course also played Batman, Rachel “Doctor Christine Palmer” McAdams (Doctor Strange), Liev “Sabretooth” Schreiber (x-men is technically not MCU), John “Howard Stark” Slattery, and Stanley “Dr. Abraham Erskine” Tucci (Captain America). I was going to say that’s six of the top seven listed cast members, but I checked out Brian D’Arcy James the seventh and he played the President of the United States in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. I never saw that, so he didn’t ring a bell. It’s the entire top seven members of the cast. The film couldn’t be any more different that the MCU. That’s part of what makes the MCU work, they get good actors.
One weird thing in Trial of the Chicago 7 was the casting of Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, he was way too old for the role. He looked like someone playing his younger self in a flashback scene. Giving him a Jewfro does not make him look 30. I’ve known who Dalton Trumbo is since I was a kid, but only as the writer that was blacklisted. I didn’t know he wrote some of my favorite movies including Spartacus and Exodus. I love Trumbo’s speech at the end, he said there were no heroes and no villains in the story of the blacklist, only victims. He said that with Edward G. Robinson in the room. Edward G. named Trumbo to the House Unamerican Activities committee. Trumbo felt everyone was forced to do things they didn’t want to do. I still think that Hedda Hopper was a villain.
Tomorrow I am talking to my substitute therapist and then if the weather and our schedules allow I’m going to travel on the subway and see a friend. I have not done that since Halloween. If it happens I will sing the words of the old Negro Spiritual: “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”
Tonight’s dinner was delicious, garlic Philly cheesesteak and mac & pepper jack cheese. I love cooking but it’s nice getting three meals out of the mac & cheese. I’m posting this 12 hours after I started but I finished it.
Wise Madness 