1) I said this morning that "All I can say is thank God this is the last day of Mercury retrograde," and - while unfortunately I can always find something else to say, I am truly grateful this period is coming to an end. The last week seems strewn with unfortunate conversations, tech mishaps, avoidable misunderstandings, and one enormous politcal disagreement.
2) Managed to do something productive before 11 AM - in this case, publish a column - so the day is good.
3) Aside from Official Tax Day (this year it's really April 17) and the anniversaries of the Titanic sinking and Lincoln's assassination, I realize it's the one-year anniversary of living alone after the prolonged departure of the Last Roommate. Living alone is still the right choice for me, and I've made the second bedroom a productive work space for myself (see above).
3a) I do like the 19th-century practice of referring to bedrooms as "chambers" on architectural plans.
4) Last week I picked up a book about Citizen Kane, which has led me to a new appreciation of Bernard Hermann's "Salammbo's Aria," which Dorothy Comingore sings so badly when Kane forces her into an opera career. To my delighted surprise, lots of actually good singers have recorded it, particularly Kiri te Kanawa. And I love hearing this sung well! But if you're reading this, you know me well enough to know that what I really love is the deliberately overdoneness of the entire thing: the exaggerated brass, the sweeping strings, the superhigh notes that only the greatest singers could attempt, the overture that badly sets expectations. With a smile in my heart I join the aristocratic lady at 02:06 who is heard to say "Perfectly dreadful!" within earshot of Kane. She can't stand it, of course, but I love it.
