chaptal

One thing I've found out after being retired for about five months is how is changes your digestive system.

This is kind of amusing because I had a supervisor try to tell me that we would be exploring the how and not only the why about facets of my job. He left shortly after and I got the song Eat Me Six Sigma out of it.

Part of it has to do when I eat as well. I've been stress eating less, and being a bit more aware of when I eat. When it leaves has changed, too.

A few pounds have been lost, with many more to go.

It's been a year since my son has been in the ICF. Not a day goes by in which I feel grief, guilt, failure, parts of all three at once. Failure to thrive is what's happened. If there is any progress with him, it's extremely slow. One good thing is that his weight is at an all time high.

He had a dental appointment yesterday, a cleaning. An aide from the ICF provided transport and I met them there.

His dentist is a gem, absolutely wonderful with him during the whole crown process. There was a new hygienist yesterday, though, and they infantalized him. He's 23, will be 24 on Monday. I really cannot stand when medical personnel talk to him in baby talk. It's not a lone instance. So much training is still required. So much is unknown.

Gave in to the pressure and work threw a retirement party for me today. It was pleasant. I gave an off the cuff speech that people seemed to like. My wife showed up. I got some cards and gifts. Unexpected but welcomed.

Five more workdays to go.

I work with some people who are very smart and do very cool work. I will miss seeing them in the building and chatting. You say you'll keep in touch, but reality hits.

Maybe in these cases I'll be wrong.

Sent this to a higher up at the university today. A lot of artists should be getting behind this. I understand Scorcese sent a new letter asking to keep the theater where it is.

Mr. _____,

My name is Edward Plunkett. I am a long time member of the Wexner Center of the Arts and a nineteen year employee of The Ohio State University Libraries.

I've been going to events at the Wexner Center Film Theater as long as I have lived in Columbus. Thirty six years. It provides this city, its film lovers and artists, a place for education and community. It also provides cinephiles and film makers from around the world a place for connection.

As the great Martin Scorcese himself has said about the Wexner Center’s film department, “I can’t stress how essential it is that a place like the Wexner Center, which exists in the middle of the country, away from these supposed cultural centers, is here to give people an opportunity to study films and to see them in the context of the other arts.”

The University’s development plans for the area surrounding the Wexner Center for the Arts call for, to the best of my knowledge, the removal of the film theater so there is the aesthetic of a clear view and pathway from High Street east to the Thompson Library. 

Having the theater steps away from the museum, the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library, the Fine Arts Library, would be such a unique quality to lose. 

An alternative location would not have the vast resources the film theater currently possesses.  It is a vital part of the arts community and cannot be removed from the university's and city's fabric.

I humbly ask you to reconsider this development plan and to implore the board of trustees to do the same, 

Sincerely,

Put in for retirement today. It ends in June. It's scary. Life will be different. I'd rather not be working while the world, capitalism or it all comes to an end.

Maybe it will not, and all will be ok. So much the better.

When you see the 1099 and laugh.

When you see the stats on Bandcamp and wonder why you really post your music.

When you put those two lines you came up with in the car into your Google Drive, for later

At the end of the whys, I do it for me.

Yesterday I finally went into a local wine shop for the first time. It’s been open the whole time I’ve lived here. It was time to check it out.

It’s quite stuffed with good wine. A lot of imported wine and very little grocery store product. Roamed around and then asked where the German section was. The owner laughed and pointed me toward a couple of small shelves. I understand that there’s very little good German wine in Ohio and the owner bemoaned the pricing of them. Found an interesting 11 year old Bordeaux for under $20 and he told me how he had a cold when he tried it and could not find any merlot in the wine, even though the label said it was 90% merlot. After trying it, I was not sure of the blend either. The wine was find, very mature, soft tannings, decent enough fruit. The nose was off putting. Smelled under ripe with an unpleasant sharp aroma I could not place. Glad I tried it but I would not buy another one.

We talked at the register. Told him I was in the business here, long ago. He asked where I worked and he perked up when I mentioned one place. “The owner, is he still alive?”

”No, he died in 1993.

”Was it a drug overdose? I remember he had a drinking problem.”

I nodded.

My brain gets flooded with past mistakes (some over 50 years old) I did, and releases it all at random times. I feel like my brain is trying to abuse me and it’s hard for me to switch it away to something softer. Becoming more aware that it is self abuse more so than memory, if that makes any sense.

I’ll go back to the wine shop and tell him what I thought of the wine, and buy some more. Maybe ask for a recommendation.

Trying hard to maintain here. My son was in hospital last weekend. He was vomiting something resembling coffee grounds that is undigested blood so the staff took him to the ER. He has an issue with part of his bowel not moving the mail so he was admitted.

There was also a snowstorm going on and the roads were not really passable so I did not get there until Sunday morning, when it was zero degrees outside, and the roads were still lousy.

He had his own space in the ER and seemed in a cheerful enough mood, and was in no visible signs of distress.

A room was found for him later in the day. He was there until Tuesday afternoon. He had a endoscopy which revealed a hiatal hernia and an irritated esophagus.

Again, he was in a decent mood the whole time he was there. He only got out of bed on his own, which an IV hookup once, to move a cup of water on the windowsill three feet to the right. He surprised us by eating vanilla Greek yogurt with no hesitation. He shocked us when he ate most of a pureed hospital meal of pork and masked potatoes. He took an spoonful of broccoli and politely drew the line at having any more.

Trying to relay to the staff of the facility that monitoring his diet is very important. Feels like more of a battle than it should be.

We're going to see him later.

Other than that, this weird ass calendar year is coming to its conclusion. Will I retire in six months? Stay tuned.

My wife and I visited my son for the first time in the facility. They brought him out, he was very calm, no outward anxiety.

I brought him some books and he immediately wanted us to read them, twice.

We were told he's doing ok and finally seems to be adjusting to his new home, environment, routines.

He looks well enough, tired, but he does not sleep enough.

I let his mother know she should go visit him.

I feel a little relieved. The half hour was better than expected. He left through the rec room and out to his place with no trouble.

Will try and go again during the day next Monday.

We met on Live Journal. Over 20 years ago. Explosivo had a knowledge of music and a love of the Mets. At the time he was living in L.A., still trying to save the music industry from itself. He was so smart, sometimes too much. He put his life into his own record label and released three records. None of them hit.

You should know about Eugene Edwards' My Favorite Revolution though. It's a brilliant piece of power pop throughout. It should have been hit. Edwards is now Dwight Yoakam's lead guitarist.

Tremolo — Love is the Greatest Revenge had a few rockers on it. Check out You Were Born For This. Fit right in during the early 2000's.

The Vanity Project was a side project and first solo record by Stephen Page of Barenaked Ladies. Totally overlooked.

Marc Nathan was a force of nature. He was a friend of Bill W. and helped so many people. I was having a rough time and deleted my LJ. He reached out and called me, "Eddie, you ok?"

I never called him back, but did acknowledge his call.

We did finally meet, at a Mets game in Cincinnati in 2015. By then he had moved to Nashville to try and kickstart his career. I bought him dinner, to his annoyance. He got us decent seats. Left us to go to the concession stand, came back with a yard long bag of popcorn. He was an amazing heckler. We parted with him searching for the casino as we headed back home.

We would occasionally message and text each other about the Mets, or the happenings on Jeopardy (He liked Austin, I was not a fan) but as time and his health issues grew, they stopped. He was still pushing music on his Facebook page, most recently Dan Spencer. I texted him about a week ago about Jake Mangum of the Rays (former Mets minor leaguer) finally making it to the big leagues, never heard back either because I had the wrong number or he was not able to respond.

Marc died yesterday. I am grateful for his presence in my life and I'll miss him. Condolences to his friends and those who knew and loved him best.

Back in the day there were two women I was involved with romantically who both said I should read Still Life With Woodpecker.

I did. Hated it.

Really hated it.

Tom Robbins, the author of the book of seventies bullshit philosophy and mysticism I really hated, died yesterday aged 92.

Never wished him dead, but that book sucked and I can't get that time back.