While there are a lot of pretty average days, pretty standard, some are noteworthy. Per the song, “Good times, bad times, you know I had my share.”
Wed, Nov 1: We had a dearth of trick-or-treaters the night before. Remarkably, I ate no candy.
I received a call from the younger of my two sisters. Then, my daughter rang me up, asking my opinion about something, which admittedly pleases me no end.
I have this project to work on, which I need to complete for monetary reasons. But it required a larger block of time than I had left, so I called a good friend from church instead.
Then, I took the bus downtown to the all-day reading of William Kennedy’s Albany-based novel Ironweed. It is the 40th anniversary of the book, which was made into a 1987 film starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. True confession: I’ve never read the book, although I tried about 35 years ago. Nor have I seen the film, made in Albany.
Regardless
Yet I signed up to read one of the five-minute segments and promoted the event at a book review. I have long thought that it takes a while to become an Albanian, maybe 30 years. Perhaps I was trying to read it too soon. Also, I signed up for a 3:55 slot, so I showed up to the Albany Distilling Co. Bar and Bottle Shop, maker of Ironweed whiskey, at 75 Livingston Ave. at 3:15.
The event was running late, so I got to hear over an hour of the book before I read, including a couple of people I know. Each reader was to sign their segment of the reading text. Two people, one an organizer, told me, that I read particularly well, which was nice to hear.
Then, at 7 pm, the event moved from the pub around the corner to the Capital Rep theater, where the last of the celebrity readers completed the book, the last of whom was the 95-year-old William Kennedy. It was an extraordinary Albany event.
I took the bus home and watched Game 5 of the World Series. While both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers were only two years from 100-loss seasons, I was rooting for the Rangers, who won, because they’ve never won the Series, going back to when they were the second Washington Senators; the first Senators had moved to Minnesota.
BTW, I watched it recorded on the DVR. Baseball and football are way better, and faster when one can fast-forward through instant replay, manager/coach challenges, and commercials.
This was a glorious day.
Lost day
Thurs, Nov 2: I had an allergist appointment, but I couldn’t find my wallet. I’d looked in all of the usual places. My wife took me to the doctor’s office in Corporate (frickin’) Woods. I learned my doctor is retiring, which made me sad because it takes a while to break in a medical professional.
With no bus returning downtown for a few hours, I took an Uber home. I called CDTA to see if my bus had retrieved my wallet; no. Then, I called two of my credit card companies to put a freeze on my account.
Earlier, my website provider, DreamHost had their site go down, but it was back online. Yet my site was still not available. I wanted to contact their support, but I was not able to. I COULD have requested a callback, but that would have cost $9.95. This ticked me off.
Instead, I went to CDTA and got a new bus pass. On the way home, I stopped for a sandwich. I got a notification from my Jetpack software that my site was up after six hours offline.
After trying to catch up with my email, eating dinner, and taking out the garbage, I went to church for the dress rehearsal of Lux Aeterna. This was the first time the two participating choirs and the orchestra, some 90 people, had practiced together. From my previous experience, this can be rough musically, and this was no exception, though it got better as the evening progressed.
This was a pretty sucky day and emotionally exhausting, though the woman at CDTA was quite nice.
Finally
Fri, Nov 3: I canceled my debit card and then did various chores. After the University Chamber Singers performed the first half of the First Friday program, it was time for the Lux Aeterna, which was an intense experience. It seemed to go well, from the audience’s reaction. And it was a pretty full house.
After my wife and I went home, I decided to scour the bedroom floor one more time. No wallet on the carpet, but I found it in a cylindrical item in which I had never put my wallet before.
Crisis over.
This was a day of relief.
PS: There were several photos of folks at the Were You Seen segment of the Times Union for the October 21 Albany Public Library Centennial Celebration, presented by The Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library. It went live two days later.
But just to show that some people read the print version of the paper, a few of the pictures, including one of Dr. Leonard Slade and me, appeared in the November 5 paper. Several people saw it before I did,