Nightly Reflections – Sunday, July 31st, 2022

Well, it did it again. I had written a few paragraphs earlier today and when I returned to add to it, the entire tab was gone. There was a little message saying something about because the amount of energy the page was using, my MacBook decided to close it down. SERIOUSLY?!?! And normally, this site saves as you go, but apparently IT DIDN’T!!!! So, here I go again. It’s best I approach it as though I’m first writing cuz it doesn’t do any good to try to “remember” any of it. Ugh.

Welcome to the end of another month in 2022. Coming up…the State Fair month! The month when the heat is supposed to be the worst. I always heard it as the “dog days of summer.” Not sure it’s really any different than July or June, but I guess we’ll soon see as the month begins in a few hours. For students and educators, it’s the month when time becomes a precious commodity. Turning the page on the calendar to August always depressed me. It meant soon Sunday nights would mean 10:00 PM bedtimes. Yup. August is just another month now, but I know my colleagues who are still working are going to try to squeeze in as much summer as they can in the next four weeks.

Today was nice to be just at home. I ran out to do a couple of errands but nothing too great. I was at home for the early part of the afternoon watching the Brewers let the series win slip away. That’s ok. They can’t win every game. A day off tomorrow and then to Pittsburgh they go.

I had a plan mid week last week for today and tomorrow and Tuesday. My dear friend with whom I’ve had a relationship that goes back to 1974 is visiting her brother and his girlfriend in Madison. I once thought I could jump in the car today and drive back, stay at my sister’s, head to Madison on Monday to meet up with my friend, chat for a few hours over a late breakfast or lunch. And then return on Tuesday. Then I discovered I had my next dental implant appointment on Tuesday. So, I would have had to come back on Monday. I wouldn’t really have gotten to relax like I’ve been able to today. And I’m not driving nine hours for a 3-4 hour chat. She texted this morning, letting me off the hook if I was deciding to stay. I called her so we could at least talk about it. She was fully understanding. And we’ll try again when she’s back in Wisconsin. Oh well. It’s all about timing.

I sat outside this morning for two hours on the patio. It was nice enough where I just sorta got lost sitting there reflecting on the last few days. Then I called my friend eventually, so it helped to fill out that two hours out there. At one point, I thought I saw something from the peripheral and as I turned, a squirrel was practically behind me, and I scared him with my movement and he scared the bejesus outta me! I made a little noise when I saw him move. LOL I cut up an apple, something I hadn’t done for a while, and tossed the pieces to the tree. The squirrel that cost me five years of my life tore for the tree. When I settled down, he came off the trunk to grab a piece and grab one and then scurried up the tree. Apparently the frightful moment didn’t impact his appetite. 😛 I also spotted my albino buddy in the neighborhood again. He was being bullied by another normal-colored squirrel. Here’s proof he was in the backyard. 🙂

This week has just about everything in store for me. Monday, it’s all about my day. Tuesday, a dental implant visit and then lunch with a former boss and a dear friend. We’re eating some place I have never eaten, but it sure looks good from what I’ve seen online. Wednesday, the big drum corps international event at night in the Eastview High School stadium. Before that takes place, a married couple from another lifetime of mine are coming to town from Rochester to have dinner with me and then they’re going to attend the concert. They actually thought there was another couple who wanted to come with them but then, after they bought FOUR tickets, the couple said they weren’t coming, so now they have two tickets to unload. If you are going, let me know. It would be nice for them not to have to eat these two tickets. IN any case, they’re arriving early that afternoon so we can have an early dinner like we did when the concert was at Mayo High School. I haven’t seen them since so we’ll be doing some catch-up and of course, I’ll be sharing the screenplay with them 🙂 I drove by the stadium today to check out the scene. I’m curious to see what the press box looks like. Soon, I’ll know. Thursday finds the writers together again. Then, on Friday, it’s off to Mondovi to meet up with my siblings for the marriage of our niece on Saturday. It will be the first time the Brooks siblings will be all together since…perhaps our dad’s funeral. Ridiculous as that sounds, it’s true. So, it should be fun and my oldest brother is trying to arrange for us to have a sibling picture taken since we haven’t had that done since we were in grade school. Since we are still all around, it would be nice to have a photo of us together. Mom and Dad will be smiling from above 🙂 I’ll remind you on Friday, but for the fourth night in seven years, I will be taking Saturday night off from writing this. No way I’ll be able to work it in. I don’t even want to say I’ll try cuz I think I know better at this point. It’s ok. I’ll return on Sunday night with more stories than I know what to do with 🙂 Hehe.

And that’s the week that’s coming at me. Nothing like the one I just lived, but still a bundle of stuff that will be fun. Also new book week. And haircut week. My second oldest brother will start his State Fair gig in Milwaukee for a couple days behind his info booth, but then he’ll take the weekend off before he returns on Sunday. He loves the job and he’s excited to return. I’ve thought about something similar for ours cuz I love the atmosphere of the fair, but I really don’t think I wanna do the trip day after day to the fairgrounds. Yet, if I knew someone who was doing it, I might be talked into it, as long as I could use a stool cuz no way my back is going to tolerate a day of standing. Yikes!

Ok. Done. More chicken thighs tonight to end my supply of them. I cut up a cantelope and a watermelon today. I am including a pic of the watermelon. A Black Diamond watermelon. I have NEVER seen a watermelon as red as this watermelon was. Wow. Anxious to see what it tastes like when it’s cold. It’s a Big Brother night on CBS and then a Grantchester night on PBS and that’s about all I know.

I hope you had a great day and a great weekend. I received a note from a former student who has four little kids and they took in a lot of what Leprechaun Days had to offer this past week. In his words…”So….. I always thought Pan-O-Prog was the cat’s meow. Rosemount beat them by about 20 country miles. They had so much stuff I wanted to get to that I didn’t. Very very impressed. Kids had a blast last night too. If you know who’s in charge of that operation please pass on what I said. Parades, bands, free ice skating, tons of kids crafts, street hockey tourney, skateboarding competitions!?!? Seriously, nice work Rosemount.” That about says it to all the volunteers who made this a reality this year. I hope you took today to relax. See you next year 🙂

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Saturday, July 30th, 2022

Happy Saturday! I have much to get at tonight, so I best get right to it now.

Last night, after posting that Reflection, I finished off the Brewer game. They haven’t played the Red Sox since 2014. It’s kind of fun watching them in Boston. They beat Boston last night. Good news for Brewer fans as we get more and more excited about September. I went to bed early cuz I was tired from the night and the sun. Slept well, woke up to see most of The Tom and Jerry Hour and all of the Warner Bros. show. Nice. I went to the patio for a little reflection time of my own on the patio regarding last night and the day that was ahead of me. I also watered my plants. Stayed out there until 9:30 and then came inside to prep for my departure. Didn’t even bother with coffee or showering. I figured I’d be outside all day so no one was going to care. I also was going to be yucky before the parade even began and I was. And then, with no time in between parade and Bingo, where I’d get even yuckier, and I did. It was warm by the end of Bingo. My assistant/former student was sweating profusely.

In any case, I stopped at Kwik Trip to pick up a Gatorade for my early minutes at the parade table. When I arrived, I got a good parking space as I expect to when arriving an hour ahead of time. With my back the way it is, I dread walking too far without something to rest on for 90 seconds. In any case, I made it fine. I met my new assistant. I definitely thought about the two elderly sisters who were always with me on this day. The start of the parade seemed to be on time and the streets were LOADED with people. I was amazed at the turnout this year to see the parade. It was fun to see. It was great to see! People love a parade and who offers them? A small place like Rosemount still can. Frankly, too many politicians in the parade for my tastes but it’s an election year and I’ve seen it before in both this one and the Fourth of July parade in Apple Valley. It’s a fact of life. I really struggle announcing some of them but I’ll leave it at that. The high school was well represented with sporting teams and of course, the band. The President and Vice-President of the Rose Parade with their spouses had their individual convertibles. It was fun to see them and more fun knowing that I knew them now. We connected visually as I was reading about them to the viewers. This official announcement coming during Leprechaun Days couldn’t have been better. It just added to an already cool parade roster. Lots of candy for the kids and a few freebies for my assistant and me. We would usually get a load of stuff from the some of the units marching in the parade. This year was not much different. It was a good ninety minutes this year. And the weather was decent for sure. There was a nice breeze that kept it sane. As it was creeping up to 12:45, I was ready to flee from the announcer table site and to my car once it ended so I could race home to use the bathroom before racing back to the park to claim my parking spot and head to the beer tent. And I did.

This Bingo event is so very much different than the one I did in The Clover last weekend with Designer Purse Bingo. Neither is better. They both are a blast. This one was warmer, that’s all. But this one also smelled darn good. I was watching food walk by me as I was sitting at the table calling numbers. The pork chop on a stick is always my favorite go-to. However, today, I saw humongous corn dogs. I whined a bit about the pork chop and my former student used tip money a winner left us and bought me one. Check out the pic 🙂 We played ten games of Bingo. This group was not the normal yearly group that gathers for this event. Not good nor bad. Just an observation. I can work with any group when it comes to Bingo 🙂 I did my normal bantering. Game Five was a blackout. If you got a Bingo using 55 numbers or less, you’d win $500. A business establishment tossed in $500 if someone got it in 57 numbers. Thus, someone could have walked away with a grand today from game 5, but it didn’t happen. Actually, in that game, we didn’t even get a number under the “O” for about 20 numbers. It was uncanny. Every game still had a $99 purse unless you had to split it with another winner. We had a few games with two winners. And this was FAMILY BINGO so kids could even win the money. One time a year the state of Minnesota allows this. That’s another reason this event has a lot of people at it. The tenth game was also a blackout in 55 numbers or less for $500 and again, no one won. It was done in just a little over two hours. By the time I began the walk back to the car, it was flippin’ warm and I was so ready to return to air conditioning and sit for the rest of the night in comfy clothes.

Well, it’s almost over this summer for my announcing gigs. Whether it was the Fourth of July event, or last Sunday’s Purse Bingo, the Community Band’s Concert on Monday night, Friday night’s Rose Parade Celebration in the stadium, the parade today or this final event, Bingo for the football boosters, it’s been a helluva time. I look forward to this with such anticipation and excitement each year. This coming week, I’m in the Eastview High School press box to announce the Drum and Bugle Corps show at 7:00. Then the microphone goes back in the box until the wedding reception in September and two weeks later, my favorite…the Marching Band Festival. And I wanna say something now…

First I wanna say how cool this week has been, watching this community come together to simply HAVE FUN with one another. This community still knows how to play with one another and have fun. I think it’s part of the magic of Rosemount. I don’t think any of the other burbs quite have what we have here. And I’m proud to say I’m part of this community. The people who choose to take on the task of putting this week together for others to enjoy deserve an enormous amount of gratitude. Monday night when I sat down after setting up the next musical number, I’d look out onto the grass to see people of all ages enjoying THEIR community band as Leprechaun Days was just getting going. And I thought it was pretty cool. If you don’t think we’re fortunate to have the leaders in this community who give of their time to stage these opportunities for the citizens of Rosemount, you need to rethink your stance. We’re darn fortunate. And what better time to celebrate our community than when the weather affords us to be outside having fun. So, kudos to the leaders who provide the fun for the rest of us.

Second, and most importantly to me…there is no shortage of support this community gives to me each and every time I pick up the microphone to when I put it down. My ego is never on empty when it comes to all of you who like to feed it with your kind words. You have always been so very supportive of whatever it is I do. It’s one of the reasons I believed years ago that you’d support our efforts in publishing a book for Rosemount, to say nothing about two more. There isn’t an event I walk away from when someone doesn’t share their happiness with my role in that event. And I am humbled as well as appreciative. Don’t ever think your words float in and out because they don’t. On Friday night, I arrived to the stadium early so I sat on the edge of the bleachers, waiting for the rest of my group to arrive before heading out onto the field to take the stage. A former parent and HUGE supporter of Rosemount High School arrived and sat in her exuberant fashion, “You must be having one heck of a fun time,” or something to that effect. She went on to clarify by mentioning the Designer Purse Bingo and then the band concert, both events where you would find me. She said tonight and the parade tomorrow and bingo…”you gotta be having so much fun!” She’s right. I was. I feel it more after it’s always done but that’s my age. I don’t like telling you that, but the truth is the truth. I am grateful for the people’s willingness to keep me in their programs. They must still believe I have something to bring to the table. And I can’t be more grateful. And then there’s the support I’m receiving from so many of you regarding our screenplay project. There’s no limit to your support you give me. And I merely wanted to say here cuz I don’t know where else I’d say it..thank you. It means more than I could ever really articulate. Life for me has turned out to be more than I could have hoped for when I left high school to begin that next phase of my life. And then to have it continue into and during retirement…well, I am fortunate. I hate saying “I am blessed” cuz I think it’s a phrase that’s worn out by too many. I am fortunate and I never take it for granted and you needed to hear it, so now you have. And I’m ready to hang up here until Sunday night 🙂

I hope your Saturday could be half as fun as mine. You definitely had the weather for it. And tomorrow, though warmer, will still be filled with sunshine. Come Monday, we big July goodbye and welcome August as more heat arrives and we count the days to the State Fair 🙂 So, I shall check back in on you all Sunday night. IN the meantime, have a great Sunday. Have as much fun as possible. That’s an order, yes. 😛

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Friday, July 29th, 2022

It is 2:30 right now and I am biding my time until around 3:30 when I’ll shave and shower and get all gussied up. I was asked to be at the stadium by 5:00 so that gives me plenty of time to do what I need to do and still arrive on time. I’ve been doing things like what I’m about to do tonight for nearly forty years. There was a time when I would approach the podium or be given the microphone that my nerves were out of control within me. People often would say, “Do you get nervous cuz you never look nervous.” Ha! Guess I had them fooled. Now, over time, that simmered down a lot. When I knew I was about to walk into the lion’s den of over 2400 students and staff, to say I wasn’t nervous would be a lie. However, it wasn’t nervous like it had been when I was green in the gills. I had gotten used to doing this that or the other thing and in time, I became far more comfortable in my role and my confidence grew with each gig. Events like speaking at graduation or going into the marching band festival or OnStage emceeing…I needed one thing and when I got that, I was on my way! That one thing was laughter recognition that I was accepted by them. And, for example, with OnStage, it usually came in the form of a laugh. The same could be said for the festival. Graduation…well, I tried to start off with a story that would produce a laugh (God willing) and that would put me at far greater ease. What I’m going into tonight is another different affair. We have four special guests from Pasadena who will be there. They don’t know me from Adam. Thus, I have no rep with them like I do most of Rosemount. Standing there in front of however many people show up to enjoy the celebration will cause me to feel nerves at a level I haven’t felt them in a while. Many of the folks in the stands will be band parents and I know they’re on my side so I’d really have to suck up a storm for them to not respond favorably. Bottom line? I’m going into tonight with some anxiety. It’s ok. I welcome the challenge of this evening. I’m only, in essence, the transition man introducing the various local guests who will be speaking. However, I know I will banter a bit as I introduce the President of the Rose Parade (I will have had a few minutes to meet and get to know her prior to the ceremony and that will help) and I will be talking with the four drum majors as well. That will be the moment when the banter should produce some good-natured laughter if I do the job correctly. I love talking to the kids. They always produce the best stuff 🙂 Although, again, I have to say those four older women at Monday night’s community band concert gave me all the material I could hope for 🙂 In any case, with three hours to go, I’m nervous and fired up about the evening ahead. As for my role tonight, I hope I can play a part in helping to create a really great memory for all who are in attendance. I can ask no more and it’s usually my ultimate goal when given the microphone. And there ya go. 🙂

Happy Weekend! The temps are going to ramp up but you should be able to get out and do whatever it is you want/need to do. Tomorrow’s finale to Leprechaun Days should be perfect for everything offered by the committee. The parade is maybe the biggest this year ever. I know the boss had to turn down units because the numbers were nearly 100 units. I shall miss my two ladies who sat with me since I started that gig. One passed late winter and her sister is now with family up north, I’m told. It will not be the same for me tomorrow. I run home to breathe at the end of the parade, do whatever I might need to do but then run back to the park where the beer tent is pitched. It’s where I’ll call Bingo in the early afternoon. It will be a hot son-of-a-gun. When I leave, I’ll likely be “moist” (tee hee) and ready for air conditioning. If it goes as it has in recent years, I’ll likely have one of the parents who will bring me a pork chop on a stick. And I’ll have a pic of the Bingo players hoisting their daubers and shouting “BINGO” as they look at me and I use the pic in Saturday night’s post. And thus will end my really enjoyable week once again. Monday is August and three events will remain between August and September before I lay the microphone down to rest for a while. But then, who knows. Anything new could pop up between now and then 🙂

I ran to Cub today for a couple of items. Then I ran to Pahl’s market for what I had hoped would be a cantelope and a watermelon, but they had no watermelons left, so I moved on to Fresh Thyme to pick up that watermelon. I bought a Black Diamond Watermelon. I have no idea what I’m going to find when I cut into it, but it was the only seedless watermelon they had, so tomorrow, after I get home to stay, I’ll cut that up. Then I shall see. The cantelope was going to get cut up this afternoon, but I don’t think I’ll have time now. I decided to write most of this before heading over to the stadium. When I return, I just want to give you the final installment on top of what I did earlier. And to make sure I don’t lose what I’ve just done, I am manually saving this draft so I don’t have happen what happened last night. Grrrrrrrrrrrr…..

I guess that’s enough. Next words you read will be written AFTER the Main Event tonight 🙂 Wish me luck or well or break a leg or whatever. Wish I could video some of it and share it here, but then, heck! You should be there! Hehe.

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It is now 8:00. I am wiped and drying off from sitting in the sun for over an hour. We faced it while the folks in the bleachers had it at their backs. Once I got home, I was happy to get out of the monkey suit and towel down, turn on the living room fan and simply take a breather. It was a helluva night for Rosemount. The President of the Rose Parade was a sweet lady. She and her husband brought with them the Executive President and his wife. They are, in essence, the President Elect. They will be the leaders next year. They’re learning the ropes now. All four of them were very nice. I got there probably earlier than I needed to. Once the two women came out to the track, I gave them each our three books so they’d have a visual reminder of their visit to Rosemount forever. They were most gracious. Eventually, the rest of the gang came out. People were pouring in. Got to see a former student and talk with him for a while and that was nice. However, when 6:05 came around, we walked to the staging area. I had, as I told you, the job of being the transition man and I think they use me for a little levity along the way. Tonight I didn’t disappoint. I welcomed everybody; I got to introduce the band in my marching band delivery; I then introduced the band director who spoke and introduced the principal. When he was done, I approached the mic and gave the principal a B+ on his speech. He and I have always had a “Poke me, poke you” relationship. It’s like tag with us. Tonight, I got to say TAG last so we’ll see where this goes, but the crowd loved it. I then introduced the mayor and then the State Representative and then the superintendent, and finally I got to talk to the four drum majors. That was fun. They provided some material for giggles from the crowd. And then, I introduced the President of the Rose Parade. I won’t repeat it here what I said, but trust me when I say, I have another “It Can Only Happen To Chuck” story for my vault. Dear God. Had the crowd not reacted the way they did, I never would have realized the phrase that came out of my mouth and I would have just kept rolling along innocently. But the crowd put a stop to that with instant laughter and I turned 80 shades of beat red. Ask me personally and I’ll tell you. When the President finished, she presented the drum majors with the Rose Parade flag and then we all moved into the bleachers as they took down the staging so the band could perform about four minutes of their season’s show. It was a great performance and a nice accent to end the evening. The pictures show a bunch of moments from the night. A good crowd and a beautiful night. We gave a lot of people a new memory tonight. Mission Accomplished.

I’m starving and need to eat. Hoping you had a great night and perhaps we’ll see you at the parade in the morning or the beer tent for Bingo. I’ll talk to ya tomorrow night. Unless I melt in the course of the day!

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Thursday, July 28th, 2022

WIndy, yes, but otherwise, ABSOLUTELY PERFECT DAY! I have a friend who is in Portland, Oregon and they’re suffering through major heat out there through Sunday! I guess it’s coming this way right around then. For now, let’s enjoy this stuff!

Once again, today didn’t seem like the Thursday it should have seemed like. I kept thinking it was Friday and that’s odd since my Friday has an unusually large event that I’m a part of. No idea why it feels like Friday, but it has.

Today’s one event in my life was lunch with my three RHS peeps. Sadly, one of them had to cancel because of a situation she suddenly found herself in, so it ended up being three of us sitting on the patio of The Tavern Grill. It was the perfect day to lunch with friends outside. Behind us was a table of several people, the oldest brought her dog. The waitress brought out a bowl of water for the dog without being asked. Nice gesture. It was a good lunch with dear friends. As good as life gets, it seems to me.

This morning I received an email from the RHS Marching Band director regarding tomorrow night’s Rose Parade Celebration in the stadium and my role with it. I headed on over to Starbucks after lunch and sat down to look at the email closely and then communicated with the director a few questions I had. Once that was done, I moved into screenplay mode. Speaking of which…

Last night, we had a night Zoom. We haven’t had many of those. And I have to say I think it was one of the best Zoom sessions in 19 months. It wasn’t the intense session we so often have when Zooming for three hours. We actually Zoomed for maybe 90 minutes or so on the script and then deleted the SHARING component of the Zoom and just chatted as two friends who had and have a life outside the writing world. It really was a nice Zoom. AND I learned something last night again. As an English teacher, I am fully aware “point of view” in a piece of literature. Telling the story from the first person point of view, or the third person point of view, limited or omniscient. Well, last night, the writing partner said in connection with our goal of making the main character more visible in the first act, we need to tell the story from his perspective. His point of view. Well, let me tell you…that threw me for a loop. I had no idea how one would do that in film. But before the end of the session, I knew. And it made all the sense in the world. I’ve told you before but I tell you again…I have learned a lot in the last 19 months about writing a screenplay. Everything I know about doing so is all new knowledge. At 66, I find learning far more exciting than I did at 16. It’s been quite a ride and something tells me there’s more education coming down the road.

OK…you’re about to get the second version of this Reflection. The first version was done and resting while I did some stuff with dinner and corn. After relaxing on the patio a bit, I( came back to this so I could post it and I had no ability to publish it. When that has happened before, I go to my POSTS tab and find the DRAFT cuz it supposedly saves ongoing and then I can pull it up again and suddenly I CAN post, but this time, when I went to pull up the finished draft, it was a partial. And I about hit the roof. wordpress can really suck I have learned. I may start looking for something different cuz this is highly frustrating. And to write about the stuff I already wrote…well, the energy is no longer at the level it was when it was fresh material. I’ll do my best but then, I’m outta here. Sorry.

After lunch today, I headed to HyVee for an item and then stopped at Starbucks cuz I needed to work on a component of the screenplay based on last night’s Zoom. I also had received the email regarding tomorrow night’s RHS Marching Band’s Official Invitation Celebration in the stadium at 6:00 with many guests, including the Rose Parade President and her husband and the Executive President and his wife. I needed to do a couple things in preparation for tomorrow night. I hope the entire city of Rosemount shows up to this. It’s free and it’s an awesome honor to be invited. This should be a fun night and it will last 75 minutes max. I am basically the transition man between speakers. But I’m still fired up about my role in it.\

I stopped at the fresh produce stand on Cliff across from Doolittle’s before heading home to pick up corn. Once I got home with half a dozen ears, I went to the patio, husked it, and tossed it in the fridge for future meals; one ear goes tonight! I also de-skinned five chicken thighs. I had a great story about how the second one slipped out of my hands and dropped into the garbage disposal hole and how I flipped out, but sadly, you don’t get to hear that again cuz I don’t think I can write that again. I was clever once but now it would seem like a rerun to me. Lol In any case, the meals for the next three nights are done and since my life is hectic until Sunday morning, it’s a good thing to have in the fridge all prepped. And on Sunday, he rested…likely with pizza. 🙂

Time to toss the thighs in the oven. Sorry for the abbreviated Reflection but it is what it is. Before I lost this draft, I best get it posted. I hope you had a great day and that Friday is a solid ending to a hopefully decent week. Tomorrow night’s post will BE LATE. I wanna experience the whole celebration and then come back to tell you and show pics. I suspect there’ll be a few tomorrow night 🙂 You should consider coming. It’s free and how many more times are we going to be invited to this event? It’s going to be a beautiful summer night to sit in the stadium for just over an hour. I know I’m pumped to be a part. See ya after!

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Wednesday, July 27th, 2022

The sunny days continue with very little rain for those of us in Apple Valley, I guess. We best enjoy these 80 temps cuz the 90s are on a march for this area real soon. With August supposedly the “dog days of summer,” we can expect the warmest temps of the summer come Monday. We are now down to four days remaining in July of 2022. As August enters, so does the State Fair for both Wisconsin AND Minnesota. Back to school shopping will begin to ramp up. And I’ll be a month away from reclaiming the local movie theaters as mine once again 🙂 Onward.

Having found out yesterday that the attire in the stadium for the folks on the staging platform would be suit and tie, essentially, I figured I should return to shopping mode and pick up a new short-sleeve shirt, a tie and a new pair of dress pants. So, off to Penney’s I ran. I like that place and if they would ever close here, I’m not sure what I’d do. I’d have to run to Eden Prairie’s store. Growing up, it was all about Montgomery Wards. My mom loved that store. Penney’s was probably her second favorite. Penney’s was the store that produced the very best Christmas catalogue. 🙂

In any case, I got my new tie, shirt and pants, along with two more shirts. I was in need of a couple more summer shirts for my closet. I was on my way home until I remembered I wanted to stop at the comic book place in Burnsville. They had a graphic novel in book form that I wanted to pick up. Barnes and Noble SHOULD HAVE HAD IT, but none did in the area. It’s the second volume of the graphic novelization of a Stepehen King novel. Sleeping Beauties. So, I turned the car around and went to that store down much closer to Hy13. Picked up that book AND a hundred plastic folders for each and every comic book from my childhood. I already have a bunch in sleeves, but I found another bag of the comic books and they’ve been waiting for these plastic transparent sleeves. Covid hit and I was told they couldn’t get this product for their lives. Well, they had them now, so I picked up a hundred with my book. Once done, I was heading home.

I was heading home because I knew I would get a call indicating Culligan was going to soon be heading in my direction. My water softener needed attention. The guy called as I was in route. I told him I’d be there shortly. And I was. The guy came in, a personable guy. He went right to work and was done within 20 minutes or so, I’d say. When he was leaving, we got into talking and he gave me some news that kinda upset the apple cart for tonight. If you’ll remember, the writing group was slated to once again meet in Miesville and have dinner at King’s and then catch a Mudhens’ game. Well, this Culligan guy let me know that tonights Mudhens game was being played, but being played IN Rochester. Not Miesville. The entertainment director of our group made a boo-boo. So, as long as we had planned on the night, and we had planned on dinner, we decided to meet anyhow nearby for dinner and forego the game obviously. The camaraderie will still be appreciated. And where we’re going has a nice patio. So, that also means when we head home, I can Zoom and that is nice cuz we were looking at a ten o’clock Zoom but now it will be far closer to 8:00. Awesome. Sort of a win-win. 🙂

Between 3:00 and 4:00 this afternoon, Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver) was meeting up with his TV parents (Mom and Dad Cleaver) along with Eddie Haskell. Now it’s just The Beaver who can answer questions about the multiple years of filming that American staple back in the 60s. I wonder if we’ll be able meet those TV and movie people who made us smile when we were growing up when it’s our time to go….hmmmm. A thought.

Tomorrow is all about my Granite City peeps! Good thing we hadn’t decided to meet there. I’m told they are undergoing some construction and won’t be open til next week. But that’s ok cuz we had picked a different place with as nice if not nicer patio. We’re due for another reconnect, and I, for one, am looking forward to doing so. After that…it’ll be a waiting game before having to greet Friday and then head to the stadium by 5:00 on Friday for the 6:00 celebration in the stadium. I hope many of the Rosemount citizens come to welcome the President of the Rose Parade as well as to support the kids in the marching band who, I’m told, will do about five minutes of their new show they’ve been working on. And I get to say my signature call for them one day earlier this year. Normally, I can’t do my ROSEmount HIGH school, MAAAAAARRRRRRRRRching band until Saturday morning when they pass by me in the parade, but this year, I get to do it twice within 24 hours 🙂 That makes me smile!

Just got back from dinner with the group. A beautiful night to be on the patio at Fireside in Rosemount. We were missing two of the group but we still managed to carry on with good conversation and smiles. I like that we do that from time to time. Makes for a more cohesive group, to my way of thinking.

I hope you enjoyed yet another Humpday. Two more days in your work week. I have an unexpected trip coming soon. Not a “trip” the way you might think about it. I’ll tell you about it Saturday night. Until tomorrow night, I guess we’ll just carry on as we always do. Have a great 24 hours in the meantime!

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Tuesday, July 26th, 2022

I ask one question as we head into night. Will we REALLY get some rain tonight? I shall believe it when I see it. Onward.

Are you aware this is the last Tuesday in July? Any idea where THIS month went? Geeeez! As I said, I knew this month was going to fly by with the various commitments I had and continue to have. But that’s ok. Since we’re heading in the direction of my favorite four months of the year, I’m ok with it 😛

Well, my beloved Brewers lost last night as I wrote the final info for the Reflections. Tonight, your beloved Twins will be in Milwaukee as they will be tomorrow afternoon before their 4-game stint comes to an end for this baseball season. Sadly, I can’t see them tonight on MLB.TV because they always black out the games with the Twins, regardless of where they play. Now, tomorrow, the matinee is on MLB Network and I think we can all watch it there. And I will. I have two commitments coming tomorrow.

Today, I finally remembered to call Culligan. I have a water softener from there I’ve rented since living here. When something goes wrong, they have to take care of it at no expense to me. I’ve always been good with that. Recently, I’ve noticed a blinking light in the control box atop the softener. When I called, I told them what I was seeing and they said it was an Error Code. They told me they’d call in the morning and send someone out. Easy enough. Tomorrow night, the writing group is once again meeting for the annual visit to King’s in Miesville and then, after dinner, we’d go across the road to see a Mudhens’ game. They will take on the Rochester Royals at 8:00. I think it’s their second-to-last game of the season. This will make the third time we’ve done this as a writing group. And I’ll get my yearly grief about ordering a pizza when the place is famous for their burgers. I like to stand apart from the crowd. I lead…I don’t follow. LOL So, that’s tomorrow. It’s been a fun experience when we’ve met in Miesville and I see no reason why it won’t be fun again. Thus…tomorrow night’s post WILL BE LATE ONCE AGAIN. I’ll remind you Thursday night, but Friday night’s post will be late because of what I’ll be doing at 6:00 that night. And that’s a good lead-in to the next point I want to share.

Today, once I was ready to meet the public, I headed over to school. I needed to talk to the band director regarding Friday night. When I arrived, the kids were in the practice area in the parking lot, working a routine. The director was…where else…on top of the hill in that parking lot. Damn. I had a new challenge. I slowly attacked that friggin’ hill, maybe for the first time since realizing RHS even existed! I got to the top, and since there were no oxygen tanks, I spent a bit catching my breath before beginning to talk to him. As I approached the parking lot, he said on his megaphone, “Everybody, say ‘HI MR. BROOKS.’ ” It made me giggle. So, when I had enough oxygen to work with, I started with my questions regarding Friday night. Once again, if you’re still not aware, Friday night you will likely see a lot of activity in the football stadium at RHS. If you drive through, you should see vans from KARE 11, and WCCO and more. The President of the Rose Parade will be in attendance to officially invite the marching band in front of God and everyone to their Pasadena Rose Parade come January 1st, 2023. I am emceeing. My first question was “What is the attire?” I was disappointed to hear I need to be in a sport coat and tie at the very least. Ugh. But, ok. Then I needed to know what my role would be specifically. He said he’ll share that in an email in the next day or so. Next I told him I’d need something from him that I can use Saturday morning when the President goes by in the parade I am announcing. So, I got my questions answered, had a fun chat about stuff, gave him an update on the screenplay and then I let him go to lunch and I headed to Starbucks to do some more revision of the first act of our story.

When I got to Starbucks around one, I discovered it was middle school/high school girl day there. Man oh man, there were a lot of little girls around. I ordered my drink via my app, parked myself a spot outside, took out my laptop and then finally went inside to pick up my drink. I came back to the patio to begin my work. I got more revision work done in the First Act of our story. I am now done until we Zoom and I get feedback from the writing partner. I again had fun making adjustments to push our main character into the spotlight so people would have NO question as to who the main character was by the time Part One was ending. I hope he likes the changes, but I suspect he’ll like the ideas and we’ll rework what I reworked 🙂 Hehe.

I have deleted the paragraph that was here because it concerned the passing of Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver). And then, not too long ago, a statement was made that the news of his passing was premature. He is in hospice and close to death. I didn’t feel it was right to leave the paragraph in, but I will tell you this regardless of whether he is still in our world or if he’s gone by the time you read this. News of his pending death makes me as sad as the news did that he had died. He was someone many of us grew up with. It continues to make me sad when people from my childhood are no longer with us. I suspect I’m not the only who feels this way. I was going to delete the pics as well, but then I thought WHY? So, I leave them here. By morning, I assume the news will be that he’s gone. So odd how someone who left our world six decades ago and still many of us connect with him and the fact he’s in the final hours of his life. That makes me sad.

One final observation I wanted to mention last night, but I was kinda tired when I was finishing that Reflection. As I sat in my chair while the band performed, I would look out onto the grass where so many adults were sitting, enjoying the performance of the band. I thought to myself about how unique Rosemount continues to be. We have a week designed for community celebration. There are activities for everyone of every age at some point in the week. The evening was a beautiful one for members of the community to come together and relish the fact they have a community band who rehearses to perform for a community who appreciates such a thing. It was community at its best last night. On Saturday, the parade is another community event. Friday night, I hope the entire friggin’ city shows up to welcome the Rose Parade President. We’re lucky here. I don’t know when I realized that but at some point in my career, I knew I had landed in the right place and I was fortunate in doing so. I owed a huge thank you to my advisor from The University of Eau Claire for pointing me to the district in May of 1982. I am thrilled the community continues to make me a part of all their celebrations regardless the time of year. I look forward to the rest of the week with everyone.

That’s it. Time to shut ‘er down. Have a great Wednesday. Again, late post Wednesday night. Pictures of the Mudhens’ game forthcoming 🙂 And maybe even my pizza! Ha!

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Monday, July 25th, 2022

I think I can almost do this in my sleep now. But since I’m not sleeping, I’ll do it in my conscious state of being. Ready? You should know better by now. Ok. Here it goes. Five months from today we’ll be celebrating Christmas! And frankly, the possibility exists that in five months from today, as I celebrate it, I’ll be celebrating the existence of a Christmas screenplay and who knows? Perhaps by then, maybe even the sale of it as well! It could be an exciting final four months of the year for this retired guy who is now, I’m told by my writing partner, an active screenwriter. Has a certain ring to it, dontcha think? 🙂 As a matter of fact, I’m putting my money on that possibility that we will have sold the story by then! And now, on with TODAY!

Happy Monday! Where was I after The Beaver and Perry Mason? You could find me on the patio once again. A beautiful morning to start the day. No squirrels came to visit, so I sat out there, reading and sipping coffee, looking up regularly to check out the daily existence of others as they went about their business on the first day of the week 🙂 Or the second if you count Sunday. I had a mission ahead of me as I worked through my morning. That was to get to school as I needed favor from my friend in the main office. For tonight’s concert, I needed to prep for my script. When I announce the band’s concert, number by number, I like to use notecards. I find them easy to handle, not noisy, and just slick “cue cards” for me. However, my notes I received from the band’s director all came to me in email. So, I first went through each song’s setup, adjusted it as a good English teacher would, and then sent it to my friend. When I arrived at school, of course there’s a lot of socializing immediately because it was my home for 33 years and there’s still a part of my family there, even in the summer 🙂 I answered a lot of questions regarding the screenplay as well as was more than excited to tell them how it’s receiving favorable nods from people in the industry who my writing partner has talked to. Once having done that, I went to my friend’s station where she had my printed sheets. I went to town cutting and taping the words onto my notecards. I was there for probably an hour before finally leaving for higher ground 🙂

My next stop would be the DMV. It was once again time for renewal of tabs. I hate summer as I have a few things that fall due in summer that mounts up quickly. I walked in and WHOA! Busy as heck! I took a place and waited. I must’ve been 20 numbers behind the last being served. Finally, this one woman behind the counter began to deal ONLY with people in there for their tabs. I got out quicker than had I had to wait for #13 to come up. Here’s a funny that was presented to me when I went to the counter. Over the years, I have usually bought a new car every four years. Because I rolled my car payment into my mortgage payment when I first bought the car, I haven’t known a car payment for seven years. I like that. Should we sell this screenplay as quickly as I believe we will, only then will I get a new car…and pay cash. Something I never thought I could do! lol IN any case, the woman said it was also time for new plates. I said, “Really?” She said,, “Every seven years.” Well, that’s why. I only had one other car I kept for ten years before selling it and buying new. So, I was not used to “new plates.” So, it was just one more brief step in the DMV visit. I was outta there quickly enough once the paperwork began. That’s done for another year!

From there, I was going to go to my favorite Starbucks once again. I had some writing to do. The pro reader loves our script. He has encouraging words for it. The only thing he says we really need to repair is the fact that despite knowing by movie’s end who the main character is, we need to establish that fact earlier in the story. Lots earlier. It was not a criticism that roiled me. I agreed. I sorta had that feeling, but thought I’d wait for the objective eyes to tell us and he did, so my writing partner is working on it from his mind and I’m now working on it from mine. As much as I am really ready for this process to come to an end so we can just get it out there for the interested parties, I was totally ready to attach this issue. I’ve been thinking about it every day and night since receiving it last week. I had an idea and today, I went to town to repair our oversight. As I was working, I realized what fun I was having creating/making up/revising. I truly was having fun. It didn’t bother me at all that we had to make this right with our main character. I look forward to Zooming with my partner to see what he’s come up with as well as to share with him my approach. And then, the pro will read it again and tell us how we did. He’s on board with us, it seems, because he believes our story is one people will buy quickly and that viewers some day will enjoy. Bravo!

From there, I ran across the road and did a quick Target visit. I only needed three items and for once, I only got three items. I came home, had another late lunch, and then sat down to write most of this so when I’d come home after the concert, all I had to do was finish it off with my concert observations 🙂 I am ready to hear this band once again. Let me share with you the eight pieces they’ll be performing tonight. You can even Google them and listen to them. I’m very excited for this concert and to see the people who will come in large number with their lawn chairs to enjoy a summer night of damn good music. The musical pieces are as follows:
1. Americans We (Henry Fillmore)
2. Looney Tunes Overture (Bill Holcombe)
3. Blue Tango (Leroy Anderson)
4. The National Game (John Phillip Sousa)
5. A Childhood Hymn (David Holsinger)
6. James Bond Suite (Frank Erickson)
7. An Irish Rhapsody (Clare Grundman)
8. Fantasy On A Gaelic HymnSong (David Holsinger)
There you are. If you were there, you heard it all. If you didn’t go, that’s what you missed. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk.

Ok…it is now 9:10 and everything from here on is written now. The previous stuff was done before the concert. I’m no dummy 😛

First…what a beautiful night we had for this outdoor concert. I don’t know if there was even one mosquito in the area. A nice breeze and a great crowd. I really love being their announcer for their concerts. And I love playing with the crowd, and tonight, I got lucky! There were five older women sitting right in front. I got plenty of mileage out of exchanges with them. The crowd seemed to enjoy our banter. All my adult life around here, when I’ve been in a situation where panning the crowd for potential material, it’s exactly what I do. When I’d do the ad lib portion during OnStage, I’d peek through the curtains to see who was sitting near the end of each aisle so I knew where I could go for potential laughs. It rarely failed me. Tonight, another success. I had fun with these ladies. After the concert, I went to them to thank them for being good sports and they told me I had taught their kids in my initial years of teaching. Wow. I had no idea. So, it was a great night. That’s two events down and three to go. Next up, the stadium on Friday night when we welcome the President of the Rose Parade to Rosemount as she comes to officially invite the marching band, in front of anyone who wants to attend the event that night, to the 2023 Rose Parade. I look forward to that but I suspect I will have to be a little more under control that evening. As one of the directors put it last year, I probably shouldn’t release the Chuck that night. lol

I left the concert, picked up dinner cuz I was hungry, got home and ate, and then finished this. And now, I get to chill. I hope you had a great day and may your Tuesday treat you well. I will work more on the screenplay tomorrow at my place of creativity 🙂 Beyond that, it’s an easy day. Wednesday has a unique event and Thursday, a lunch with the Granite City Gang. So, I have a few things to look forward to. Come Sunday, life is going to be a little bland until next week Wednesday. Stay tuned. See ya tomorrow night 🙂

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Sunday, July 24th, 2022

I am beat! I’ve told you before how I often leave myself at these events when given the microphone. Today was definitely one of those days because of an unexpected role I was asked to play. No complaints here. But I’m wiped!

Happy Sunday all. What a beautiful day this was in the weather department. We may not have gotten the rain we were seemingly assured we’d get yesterday, but the air this morning was so pleasant as I grabbed some time on the patio before starting the Sunday commitment I’d made. It has certainly been one of my favorite things to do since adding that patio in 2015. Give me a cup of coffee and allow me time out there…and I am in a different place. And it’s a good place. 🙂

So, needless to say, I was fired up for today’s Designer Purse Bingo. I got all ready to meet people and I arrived around 11. The parking lots over there were full! It was crazy. I don’t think I arrived any earlier last year, but man oh man it was not easy to get a spot near The Clover. When I arrived, you could hear members of the RHS drumline outside beating their drums as people entered. It was, after all, a fundraiser for the band. When I got inside, the set-up was different from last year. Last year, I sat near the front door and the purses were all behind me on a table. This year, they were spread throughout the place on a wall and I was sitting by the patio doors. In the area where the purses rested last year you could find bottles and bottles of wine. They’d be used in between the ten Bingo games as an extra fundraiser. So, I was ushered to my spot, I met my assistant, and I started getting acclimated to the set-up this year. Different faces from last year, but what wasn’t different was the fact it was primarily women. There were more men this year, however. Brave souls. I used that little fact from time to time 😛

I got the lowdown on how things were going to shake out and at precisely 11:30, I started in with the microphone. “Ladies (and some gentlemen), start your Bingo engines!” And we were off to the races. As the games proceeded, I blend in my smart-aleck comments where needed and appropriate. In between the bingo games, everyone was wanting to buy a wine raffle ticket. The place was a flurry of activity. Seriously. Servers running back and forth in front of our table. Volunteers doing the same. I was drinking water and my assistant got us a bowl of popcorn cuz we were hungry. There was barely room for the bowl at our table with all the bingo equipment.

I was off to the races with my remarks and people were feeding me all sorts of material from which to build my inventory of witticisms. The immediate table to my left had about seven to eight females. One of them was a young girl, unable to play Bingo, but she was marking the card from time to time with the dauber. I had brought copies of our third book for a reason I won’t go into now, but it was based on something I did last year. When I discovered how the set-up was this year, I didn’t bother. And yet, when I saw this little girl, so patient and so sweet, I had an idea. In between one of the games, I called her to come to me and I’d talk to her with the microphone. I asked her name and her age (she replied ‘8’), and I asked her where she went to school. She responded Rosemount Elementary. I asked her if she’d go to the high school some day and she said she would. So, then I asked her if I could give her something. Her table began to audibly love where I was going. I pulled out a copy of our third book, The Little School That Could: Celebrating 100 Years of Graduates. i explained what it was, and said I’d like to give it to her. She couldn’t have been sweeter in her appreciation. A little while later, she came over to give me a Thank You note she had written for me, and you can see that in a pic tonight. She drew herself running in a race recently where she came in second. And then I signed the book for her and it was just a damn sweet moment. Touched my heart on several levels.

Well, I was asked if I would be willing to “auction” off remaining bottles of wine and purses when all was said and done with the ten games of bingo. I said “Sure.” HA! I had NO idea what I was agreeing to! The idea was to unload the stock for cash as this year with the kids going to Pasadena, the more money they could get the better. But, when we finished off the final game of bingo, the auction began. And since we’d not done this before, we all were flying blind. I used to think it would be so cool to be an auctioneer. Our parents took us to many an auction as we grew up. I thought what an auctioneer could do was so cool. I had a little fun with that today. I also wasn’t afraid to sound stupid. lol There were ENDLESS bottles of wine to be auctioned as well as a goodly share of Coach purses. Trying to identify bids from my position in the restaurant was challenging at best. I tried to pay attention to the newest bid. It was chaos at best, but I was also using the chaos to garner laughs. Next year, should we do this, I think we learned a little bit about how we might do it differently to make it more effective for everyone involved. But, it was fun. My lower back was killing me to stand for a long time, so I’d sit or lean whenever I could. I was amazed to see how many hung around to buy a bottle or a purse. When it ended, the parents paid for my lunch and then I sat with two female volunteers and band parents to just talk. I was wiped…no doubt about that. But, as I’ve said, I put everything I can into these kinds of events to provide people with a good time and fun memories until next year. I hope I did that today.

As I left the area, I figured I just HAD to get an iced mocha. And so I did. Got home, did a couple quick “must do” tasks and then sat down to write, but that was quickly curtailed by a need to do a crash nap. Now, it’s nearly 5:30 and I am pretty much done. I will put in all the photos I want to use and then I’m outta here! Oh, at one point, one of the four drum majors, my car wash buddy from last week, stopped by to thank the folks in attendance for supporting his band’s efforts to get to Pasadena. He did the same thing last year and it’s a nice touch.

One of the pics tonight…I had to use the bathroom at one point and I’ve been at this restaurant before. However, I don’t remember seeing that picture greet me on the wall when I walked inside. You can figure out which pic I’m referring to). When I walked in, I was struck by the image and had to laugh instantly. I thought I have to shoot a pic of this for tonight’s Reflection. And so I did 😉

OK…I hope you had a good day. I have a good 24 hours to breathe now before tomorrow night’s concert at The Well with the Rosemount Community Band. I will post AFTER the event, so look for a post somewhere between 9 and 10. I figure it will provide me with some material and certainly good pic opportunities. So, until then, I hope your Sunday was as delightful but maybe not as exhausting (lol) as mine 🙂 See you Monday night, Day 3 of Leprechaun Days Week!

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Saturday, July 23rd, 2022

Starting tonight’s Reflection today 🙂 It’s nearly eleven in the morning and it’s growing darker by the minute. I’ve been up since…9:00! I took a muscle relaxer when I went to bed last night because my neck was giving me fits. I applied CBD cream to it, but I wanted to make sure I’d knock the kink out of there by morning. I only took one as opposed to the prescribed two. I’ve told you how they kick my butt for hours later. Well, I didn’t want that plus there wasn’t much need if I was going to go to bed. I figured I’d let the one work its magic while I slept. And it seemed to work. I do not want any issues from that area tomorrow when I’m calling my Designer Purse Bingo at The Clover. I have too much fun and I don’t want that to be any different tomorrow. I should be good for at least 48 hours now. The neck issue has been pretty decent for a while now. But of course it would flare up so close to the first of many events this week. Murphy’s Law.

So, good evening. Sadly, I woke up past my cartoon hours so I provided from my own library my cartoon viewing on this Saturday morning. Then, at one point, I went to the patio cuz I knew I’d have to bring in the cushions before the rains came. I also wanted to pull the planters in from the edge as we’re supposed to get nasty winds along with hail and such. I can’t do much about the hail, but I can keep the plants from blowing all over the place. They’re looking so incredibly good right now, I don’t want to have a storm lay harm to them. I no sooner arrived to the patio when a squirrel appeared. And, as this squirrel (I have no idea if it’s the same squirrel, but I’m beginning to believe it is) is likened to do, he comes halfway between me and the protection of the big tree, and he looks at me. So, I talk to him. “Hey buddy. How are you this morning?” And as he continues to look and move a smidge closer, I ask him, “Are you hungry?” And he stays there. So, guilt consuming me, I tell him I’ll go get him some food and that he should stay put. (I have no idea what gender the squirrel is either!) I went to the garage, grabbed the pail of squirrel seed, and brought it back. Was the squirrel still there? Yup. So, when he saw me, he moved another smidge closer as I shook the pail full of seed. I slowly approached the base of the tree which finally sent him scurrying up the lower part of the trunk of the tree. And I try to assure him/her/them that I’m not going to hurt him/her/them but then I spread the food around the base. I returned to my chair and told him/her to come down and eat now. And that’s what happened. I had a happy little squirrel on my hands. But it was incredibly heavy air out there this morning and sitting there wasn’t really an option. I took the cushions, tossed them in the den and told my morning buddy to stay dry. And that was the end of my morning chat with the neighbor. Hehe.

Last night, I was up with no shortage of stress. I was watching the Brewers at home taking on the Rockies. They were tied going into the tenth inning. The Rockies scored two runs in their half to the tenth. The way the offense for the Brewers has been going, I wasn’t hopeful; however I should have known with this team. They like to taunt their fans. In the bottom of the tenth, with two outs and a runner on base, the final potential player hit a homerun and tied it up again. It went to the 13th inning before the Brewers scored the winning run. As for excitement, it was a great game. However, I am fine with a no-stress win tonight now. 🙂

Not sure if you’re a fan of Only Murders In The Building but I definitely am. It’s a HULU production. Season one was delightful. Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. They have a chemistry with one another that makes this a gem of a series. Today, I watched the second episode of the new second season. One of my favorite performers showed up, a woman I haven’t seen in anything for a long time. Yet, I saw her last night in an old Carol Burnett Show episode. Her name? Shirley MacLaine. She’s 88 years old now in reality. She definitely looks like it on this episode I saw. I just wonder if she was made up to look that worn. No matter. She’s still amazing. A total delight. One more reason to love this show.

I was kind of blown away today when I came across this little video on FB. This young man was a student of mine, right around 1990. Actually, he came in as a freshman to my Honors English Nine class and he graduated around 1990. He was a part of a class that had a ton of delightful kids in it. Not only did I get the opportunity to have him in class, but then we worked closely on my first musical I directed at RHS, Anything Goes. His character had built in humor attached to him, and this guy took it to a whole new level. Then, I introduced him to Victor Borge’s Phonetical Punctuation routine he did back in the 60s. Again, this guy studied the video and when it was his turn to walk out onto the OnStage stage to perform the piece, he brought down the house with his performance. I couldn’t have been more proud. I’ve seen him on FB throughout the years. Haven’t see him since he left RHS, which was always the part of my job I hated. The kids would be with us for four years and then…they’d disappear forever, or at least most would. So, when I came across this today, I was delighted. And I thought I’d share with you 🙂

Well, the day has progressed somewhat slowly and we never got the rain we were forecast to receive. Kinda sucks, to be honest. It says we still might get some tonight but I no longer am going to believe any forecast that speaks to rain. Everything on radar seems to move north or south and we here in the Cities area don’t seem to benefit. So we continue to hope for moisture from Mother Nature sooner than later.

I ran two errands mostly to get outside today. I ran and got milk I was going to need tomorrow anyhow. Before that, however, I made a run to Barnes and Noble. Last night, I was looking at their webpage and I saw something that caught my attention. The more I read, the more interested i was. So, as you can see in tonight’s pic, I picked up two books, softcover, that have been out there for a couple of years. It’s a series. A trilogy to be more precise. The third one comes out in September and it’s the finale. It’s fantasy and I kinda think it might be fun to read, like the Harry Potter series was.

And that taps me out. Gots no other stuff to share with you. My week of fun begins at 11:30 tomorrow morning. Two hundred Bingo players will be my audience and most of them will be women. What do you expect when it’s “Designer Purse” Bingo?! Last year we had 197 ladies and three men. I had a little fun with that. If they have a cordless mic, I may walk around and have little interviews with Bingo players. That could provoke some fun stuff too 🙂 Kinda takes me back to my OnStage days when I’d do my ad lib section with the audience. Was always fun. Monday night, the Rosemount Community Band Concert at The Well. Then a couple of interesting items non-Leprechaun Days related in the course of the week until Friday night, a night I am MOST excited about. We’ll talk more about that come Thursday. Until now, I hope you had a great Saturday. May your Sunday be super duper fun since the weather should be cooler and it will be sunny.

Alrighty then. We’re outta here. See ya Sunday night, all!

G’Night!

Nightly Reflections – Friday, July 22nd, 2022

Well, this was quite a day. And once again, it seemed to be half over before it had even gotten started. I believe my weekend will go more slowly. I know one thing for sure…the weekend will not find me showered and groomed before ten. Absolutely not! 😛

You did it again! You made it to the weekly finish line. You’re now officially on your weekend. Feel Good? I hope so. Another warm day before the temps begin to moderate a little cooler. Of course, that only happens when the front comes through tomorrow afternoon, so it looks like we’re going to get a shipment of rain for our lawns and flowers. And that’s a good thing.

My watch alarm went off at 7 this morning because I had set it for that. I did not want to sleep too late because I had a 9:00 breakfast meeting with two old classmates of mine from Beaver Dam. The alarm went off and up I got. Had time for about three-fourths of an hour with The Beaver before showering. Then I had a little time with Perry Mason before heading out of the house at 8:30. I was on my way to Juniors in Eagan to meet up with these two folks.

I arrived and all the tables that were in the shade were being used. There was one woman at one table and the other tables all had what looked like military vets at them. There seemed to be one Alpha in the group to which everyone else sort of looked to. Lots of laughs coming from the tables. Old guys having a breakfast together on Friday morning. Maybe it’s something they did every Friday morning? I think they were all planning on heading over to Rahn Road in Eagan to witness the traveling VIetnam Wall with the names of the soldiers who gave their lives to that conflict. I heard them mentioning that. But, eventually my friends showed up and then the fun times began.

The wife was a friend of mine before the husband was. She and I spent eight years of parochial school together. When we got to high school, that’s where she eventually met her future husband. When I go back to Beaver Dam now, although I’ll see my share of classmates, usually at Stooges, I never see these two. If I see either of them, it’s her, and she’s visiting her mom who lives across the street from my sister. We rarely see each other where we can carry on any kind of substantial conversation. This morning, we had three hours of simple catch-up and reconnect time. Although the ungodly hour of nine in the morning had me rattled (lol), it turned out to be a delightful reunion. Lots of laughs and such. We talked about former classmates and teachers from the years we were kids in Beaver Dam. I shared with them my story about the senior class party with a good friend of mine at the time. It’s a laugher. While we ate, she did a speed reading of the screenplay too. She had asked if she might see a sneak peek of the script ahead of time so I brought it. She didn’t have to beat me over the head for that! Hehe. I didn’t think she’d actually read it though! But she loved it, which was fun to hear as well as her comments as she was reading along while somehow maintaining her role in our conversation. Hehe. Once done at Juniors, they would eventually return to the home of their daughter and her wife in St. Paul. I told them they should check out the Farmer’s Market tomorrow morning as well as the St. Paul Saints stadium since they are so near each other. It was great to spend time together. The weather cooperated. We got to sit in the shade because shortly after they arrived, the tables of veterans cleared out. I can’t think of a nicer way to start a Friday 🙂 I rarely if ever use facial pics for my Reflections, but they were fine with me doing it, so I had to shoot a visual memory of the morning of the two of them. She then insisted she and I do a selfie together too. You DON’T get to see that! Don’t even ask. Ha!

After we said goodbye, my plan was to head home and chill for a bit before running to Barnes and Noble. I hadn’t had my fix this week yet and so I did. I’ll tell you now I failed miserably in finding anything new to buy. Sigh. However, I had a phone call before leaving the house. It was from my writing partner. He began with “I just got off the phone with ….. You’re going to love some of what I have to say and you’re going to hate some of it.” The person with whom he was talking was our pro screenplay reader. I’d been waiting for the next batch of notes but my co-writer called him to get the scoop verbally. And his assumption about me loving some of it and hating some of it…was wrong. I really didn’t hate any of it. Allow me to explain.

The essence of his call was this. Our reader for our screenplay shared several thoughts with my writing partner. Most were positive. He even had a specific compliment for me, which sorta thrilled me, if I’m being honest. But he had one main issue with our story. And upon hearing it, I had no choice but to agree. Especially with my background in literature, he was pretty much spot on. His issue was this…he knew who the main character in our story was, but we don’t make it obvious enough early enough for the viewer/reader. He said we spend too much time on other characters and the main character surfaces later, but by then, it’s too late. Not the kind of comment you want to hear after eighteen-plus months of work, right? However, he followed it up with “…you have everything you need in this story. You just need to get to the main character more quickly and establish him as such moving forward.” He’s amazed at how our idea behind this story is so simple and that no one has even thought about it until we came along. He recognizes that we have diversity, relevant themes, humor, great characters and dialogue, and the list of positives go on. But this issue of the main character, and trust me…it’s a big issue, needs to be corrected if we want the folks to like The Ornament who will ask to read it. Point taken. One hundred twenty-one pages and one issue that is truly our only weakness as a story. He said we need to figure out how to shift our main character into the spotlight sooner so the reader/viewer doesn’t wonder early on who the story is about. Then he said send him the updated version and he will comment but then go through the rest and nit-pick the small things to make it complete. He’s excited for us, it sounds like. He believes in what we’ve done as we do. So, hard to be down about that kind of an assessment. We figure it will require a reassessment of the first fourth of our story. So, both my writing partner and I will now “hibernate” for a few days, contemplating how we deal with this and then next week, we’ll Zoom, share our thoughts we pondered and brainstorm the path forward. He figures we can get this done in a couple of Zooms. Good. I’m at a point where i really want this to be a done deal, but of course, I want it to be the best it can be. I appreciate the outside input. It helps to have an objective eye who has years of experience with screenplays. When it IS done, it will only be better because we’ve asked for his reactions to our story. I’ll finish with this. I have been excited about our story for months now. I believe what we’ve created is unique and will appeal to young and old alike. I believe it has several selling points that will help it sell quicker than a normal comedy/drama screenplay. I believe we need a sweet Christmas story that will have lasting power for years, just like the classics we look forward to every December (for me, every November and December…lol). After hearing my partner’s take on their conversation today, I am more excited about this project than before and once we fix this main character issue, it will be hard to keep me from talking about it morning, noon and night! I can’t wait to share the specifics with you all.

And so ends the Friday Reflections. Baseball returns tonight! We’re slated for storms tomorrow. Sunday is all about Designer Purse Bingo! Let the fun times begin! See ya Saturday night!

G’Night!