Santo, SK & Shakespeare

Hi, Sweet Baby,

Happy Super Late Night. I hope you had a nice day and maybe a fun Friday evening. You are probably getting ready for your video shoot. I did not end up going on a hike. I was kinda tired because last night the sleep situation was not the greatest, but I will make up for it by doing two hikes next week. Gotta stay in hiking shape, after all. :)

What I did today instead was to just relax, and I tried to watch the Santo movie I just posted on FB : "Santo vs. Frankenstein". The problem was that it didn't have subtitles. I still tried to watch, thinking that I got the gist of the Shakespeare plays even though much of the fast, Old English dialogue went right past me, so maybe I could just watch the Santo movie and get the gist from the imagery, while absorbing - if not understanding - the Spanish dialogue. This approach worked for about a half hour, and then I gave up. Too many subplots that I couldn't decipher, and it was too bad because as I said on FB, it looked like one of the better Santo movies.

Now, I know you are thinking I'm a complete goofball for watching Santo in the first place, so I should explain that I got hooked on his movies as a teenager. They used to show 'em on TV on a Saturday afternoon, and on American TV he was called "Samson", but I remember watching for the first time, and here was this guy, a Mexican wrestler wearing a silver mask, and he was some kind of good guy Superhero who drove around in a Jaguar and fought monsters. In the first movie I saw, he was going after a cave full of Vampire Women. They had henchmen he had to wrestle, and that was the catch - whoever he was trying to stop, he would do so by wrestling them. The Santo movies are beyond cheesy and campy, but there is also something kinda cool about them.......I even have "Santo vs. The Vampire Women" on dvd. :)

And "Santo vs. Frankenstein" looked great, but I gave up because I couldn't understand what was going on, and I read my Stephen King book instead.

In a minor coincidence, there was a scene of wrestling in last night's Shakespeare play, "As You Like It". While watching, I found myself thinking, "Gee, I didn't know they had wrestling in the 17th century". There's that "time" thing again. The 17th century was 400 years ago, so it's gotta be ancient. Even though 400 years is only 20 generations, or "20 grandpas", as I call it. That's really not so many.

So 400 years ago is nothing, if you take away the technology.

Shakespeare might have liked Santo, too, had he been around today. Just sayin'. :)

Well, Sweet Baby, all is quiet, and we will head into the weekend with good prospects. You in particular are gonna knock your video out of the park, as always.

Sweet Dreams until morning, and I will see you then.

I Love You, Elizabeth!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

As You Like It

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I went back to Los Encinos this evening for "As You Like It", and it was once again a stellar performance by SBTS. I could watch them night after night, and they have got me hooked on the plays of Shakespeare. Grimsley was there, too. He made both nights as well.

I hope your preparations for the video are coming along well. I guess you will begin shooting on Saturday, so I hope you're getting ahold of all the props you need. I saw your post earlier in the evening, via a musician named Ola Gjeilo. I don't know if you meant it to reference that you are working on your own music (cause he pictured a home studio), or maybe you are a fan. I checked his website and noticed he has a piece entitled "Madison". You probably know that. :)

Not much else to report for today. Tomorrow I will try for a hike. Not sure where yet, but perhaps down to Cave Of Munits again, or maybe Las Virgenes Open Space, both of which I hiked last year, and they are both relatively close by, too.

Sweet Dreams, my Baby. See you in the morning.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

The Tempest

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Late Night. I was glad to see your post earlier, that you have a music video lined up. Great news! That'll be three in roughly a year, with your own video coming up. I also like the motif and color scheme of this new one : a beach or lake theme, fun-in-the sun, etc. I am gonna guess that it's not a metal band? Whatever kind of band it is, it's gonna look great with those colors, and I hope you can get all the props you requested. As usual, I look forward to seeing it.

Tonight I went to Los Encinos Park, as reported yesterday, and I saw a performance of "The Tempest" from the Shakespeare By The Sea company. This was my second Shakespeare play, both by this troupe, and I am hooked on both. These people are fantastic. The actors are all so good, and I am amazed at the dialogue and the ability to memorise all those words. When I saw "Hamlet" last Summer, I had a hard time understanding not only the use of the English language (don't know if it qualifies as Old English or not), but also the rapid fire delivery. This time around, I was better able to follow it. I loved the play itself, "The Tempest", and tomorrow night I will be back at the same park for a performance of "As You Like It".

Grimsley was there, too, but I only saw him at intermission. I was sitting up front, as always, he was in the back. I could watch outdoor Shakespeare plays all Summer. Will you come with me to the next one?  :)

This noon, my sister Vickie finally came over, also as reported yesterday, and I met her and her tutor student at Lake Balboa, where we had a nice time walking the circumference of the lake and looking at all the different birds.

It's getting hot here, and I love it. August is real Summer.

I have a Complete Works Of Shakespeare book in a box somewhere in a closet of The Tiny Apartment, and now I wanna dig it out and start reading all those words. I really do need two of me, so much I always wanna do.

Sweet Dreams, Sweet Baby. I will see you in the morning......

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

General Ad (late night love)

Good Morning, my Darling,

I am back home after dropping Pearl off at Golden Agers. Already took The Kobester on a CSUN walk, which I have taken to doing on Tuesday mornings when the cleaning lady is there (cause he barks at her). He had a blast going to the Orange Grove and Duck Pond.

I see your post, and I am glad you are picking up your camera! I don't know if you are doing it for a project, or pro work, or just for fun, but any reason at all for picking up your camera is a good one.  :)

Plus, it's just plain fun.

Also, I wanted to add, re: my blog last night, that I know that with some of my writing, the subject is generalised. Like when I say, as an Adultier Adult, to "just keep doing what you do", well, I know that is very general-sounding, non-specific advice (even though I mean it 100%).

This is due to time constraints and the nature of blog writing. I could also give you very specific information/advice/observations or what-have-you, if I were talking to you directly. When I generalise, I am never trying to just be vague or downplay the importance of a subject. It's just that, because of my work, and the hour at which I usually write, and the fact that writing takes longer than talking, I can only write so much in the given time frame. Hence, the often general nature of my observations.

However, I do try to put emphasis into those observations, and as you know, I can sometimes go on and on and on (Ad Nauseum, my long-winded nickname), so if it's specifics you ever need, just specify that, lol.

Also remember that your Mom is your direct, in person Adultier Adult, and she is in your corner 1000%.

I'll just keep doing what I do, part of which is writing, and whether it comes out sounding general or specific, I'll always do my best.  :)

That's all for now. Have an awesome day. Usual Tuesday schedule for me.

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

(around all day, back in a bit)

12:15am : Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby. I hope you had fun with your camera today, if you did indeed shoot some pictures or video. Hope you got good results, too. I was reading most of the afternoon. I got the new Stephen King book from Northridge Library, and because I know I won't be able to renew it (too many people want it), I've gotta finish it in three weeks. I discovered today, though, that it'll be no problem. It's a real page turner. It's called "Finders Keepers", and is a sequel to his book of last year, "Mr. Mercedes". Both books are crime stories rather than horror, but because it's SK, he can't help but put some scary and gruesome stuff in there. So today, just reading, and then this eve I watched one of the final "Breaking Bad" episodes. Man, this show has gotten pretty brutal as it nears the end. Ruthless and cutthroat, but given the subject matter I suppose that was inevitable.

It sure is one heck of a well written, well acted show, though. It's like a Stephen King book, you can't wait to see what's gonna happen next.

Tomorrow night and Thursday night I am gonna go see two Shakespeare plays, "The Tempest" and "As You Like It", put on by the Shakespeare By The Sea company. You may recall I saw them last Summer, too. It was my first Shakespeare play, and I was instantly hooked. They do them outdoors, in this case it will once again be at Los Encinos, an old Adobe ranch that is one of the oldest properties in the Valley, a holdover from when California was a Mexican territory. Los Encinos is now a park, and it's a nice atmosphere for these plays. Each one will start at 7pm, so I will leave straight from Pearl's at 6:30 and get there with a few minutes to spare. The plays are free, though donation suggested.

Also tomorrow, my sister Vickie wants to meet me at Lake Balboa at noon, just because we haven't seen each other since about April, and also because she wants to bring a kid she tutors. So tomorrow will be a little bit "here and there", and I will have to postpone my weekly Wednesday hike til Friday, but I'll still be around in the morning and after about 1:30 in the afternoon. And then my usual schedule after the play is over at 9pm.

I will see you in the morning, then, my Darling. Sweet Dreams.......

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Adulthood

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Late Night. All quiet on the Western Front, and I just realised I can legitimately say that, haha, as I am indeed west of you. I saw your post a little while ago. An "adultier adult", eh? I like that phrase! Now, I don't know if you meant me. I suppose you could mean your Mom or some of your other, older friends. :)

But if you did mean me, then we have something in common, because I always needed an "adultier adult" for a long time, because being an adult - whatever the heck that is, anyway - was hard for me for a while there. In my case, the "adultier adult" I looked to was usually one of my parents, though I guess I never really looked to them for guidance. As much as I loved my folks, and as much as I relied on them, they did not give me a lot of guidance as to "how to become an adult". Little to no guidance, in fact.

It wasn't their fault though. Each was an only child, and each of my parents lost both of their parents by their late teens. I think I've told you this story before. My Dad, who never knew his own father, lost his Mom at 17. But he still had his Aunt and Grandma. Mom, on the other hand, was adopted, and she lost both her adoptive parents by age 17 and was basically on her own, though she did have some relatives and friends for stability.

But it's no wonder they weren't much in the Guidance Department. They had to figure things out on their own, for the most part.

I guess what I mean, when I say I looked to them as "adultier adults" (and I did for a long time), was that I just plain hung around with them. I asked my Dad to get me a job, when I was 18, and he did, at MGM where he had worked. But I never asked them for advice, per se. I just stayed with them, and lived at home for a long time, because it just plain seemed like they knew what they were doing. :)

I sure didn't, for a long time. But my parents, despite their dysfunctions (and we all have them) did seem to know what they were doing, at least in respect to Having The "Adult" Thing Down.

I was scared to death of trying to do The Adult Thing.

Mainly because I didn't know how I could do it - me being me, and all.

Me to myself: "How the Hell am I supposed to do this"? :)

I had no idea. Literally. For many years. And my parents really couldn't tell me.

But Sweet Baby, do you know what is interesting about life (or should I say LIfe? I probably should...). Okay, do you know what is interesting about Life?

What is interesting about Life, is that Life is bigger than people. Life already knows what's going on. Life has been around a long, long time, and so Life knows the ropes.

What this "adultier adult" would tell you, is just keep doing what you are doing. I know I say that a lot, and I know it sounds simplistic, but girl - it works. And it not only works, but it's The Key to becoming Yourself.

Life, being bigger than all of us, will take you to where you were meant to go. No joke.

It's 100% real.

Now, I don't mean - and you already know this - that you just lay back, as on a raft, and let the River Of Life take you. No way.

I mean, and I repeatedly say - just do what you do. Not just in your chosen profession, but in every way.

Lock into this philosophy to the fullest.

And you will see, little by little, the way in which LIfe is taking you to your destination.

The big - no, the HUGE payoff to all of this, is that one day you will find inside yourself an enormous well of confidence that has grown and grown, as the months and years have passed, and you have trusted in yourself, and in what you do, and in Life, to take you to your Destination.

Life is an ongoing experience, yes, but it leads to a destination, and that destination is also an ongoing experience. It is never revealed to you all at once. Especially for Artists.

So just keep doing all of that, what I said above, and I give you a money-back guarantee that it will work for you as it has for me.

That, and keep hanging around with the "adultier adults", every one of whom was in your shoes (and my shoes), and every one of whom - to this day, I am guessing - would tell you that there really is no such thing as a Textbook Adult.

Only those who have followed and trusted Life, to varying degrees.

That's all I know for tonight, Sweet Baby. I will see you in the morning....

I Love You! Sweet Dreams.......

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Sunday Evening (love and music)

Good Evening, my Darling,

I am home from Pearl's. Slowly getting back into the swing of things today. We went to church this morning, sang in the choir for the first time since the end of June. A little rusty but not too bad. The after church practice was good, too. That's actually one of my favorite parts, cause when we practice we get to do a lot of singing.

I am still blown away by those two Rush concerts, and especially last night. I knew they were gonna affect me but didn't realise how much. It's in a good way, though. Hard to explain, though I've tried in my two recent blogs.

I hope your day was good. I am gonna hang out here for a little while, then go for my walk when the sun starts going down. I'm back to normal work schedule, and so I'll be here til 9:45pm, then back to Pearl's, and I'll write more at the usual time.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

12:45am : Happy Super Late Night, my Baby. It took a while to get situated this evening, but now all is quiet, KUSC playing softly on the radio. Now we will head into August, and the second half of Summer, with many good things to come. No concerts for a while, but October will bring a triple whammy : Van Halen, then Alcest, then Opeth. Wow!

I haven't heard a lot from you recently, but I hope and trust that all is well. Hope your video is coming along to your satisfaction. Now that I am back on normal schedule I will post more myself, mostly my usual musical stuff. Music has been such a huge part of my life, and even that sentence doesn't describe it's place and what it has meant to me. It's been constant, all my life. Very little time goes by, on any day, when I am not listening to some kind of music, passively or actively. Suffice to say, for now, that music - good music - never lets you down.

Never.

No matter what.

I had a friend, my old drummer, who has since moved back to the Chicago area, and he once said something that always stuck with me. He said, "They say music is the second most powerful force in the Universe".

He didn't say who "They" were, and nobody will ever know anyway. He also didn't specify what the first most powerful force in the Universe is, but I think we know.

It's love, of course.

And music - good music - is the language of love in all it's expressions.

So I would tend to agree with my drummer.

I would add one observation of my own, one that I have expressed before, and it is that, like love, no one knows exactly what music is.

In fact, music may be even more mysterious. We can identify love, at least, as an affection from the heart, based in emotion. Very often our strongest love is for a fellow human being, so we understand it innately in that sense, even if we can't really describe it in words. We know the pull of the heart.

But music?

What in the world is it?

A series of tones and sounds, played in something called scales? And these things are created, literally, out of thin air? Air that has been transformed into vibrating waves?

And not only do these vibrations make us feel good, and are pleasant to hear, but in the best music they speak to the deepest part of us, in a way we can't put into words. Just like love.

At least as mysterious, perhaps even more. Perhaps even two expressions of the same thing.

I will see you in the morning, Sweet Baby.

I Love You!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Rush Again (all is well?) (they have always been in my life)

Good Morning, Elizabeth,

I just wanted to say hi because I saw your Lantlos post a few minutes ago, so maybe everything is okay? I am hoping so. :) I just want to wish you a nice day and hope you are having a fun and happy Summer in general. That is always my wish for you, of course. :)

I am just hangin' out at the moment, staying inside. I don't think I will try to go anywhere or do any last minute hikes or anything, because I am gonna head back to Pearl's in a few hours. I will get there a little early so I can leave a little early for the Rush concert. This one will be much easier to get to. And hey, now that I think about it, your Lantlos post is partially about Marcus having ridden in the van for seven hours, so maybe you meant it - at least in part - as a reference to our ride to the Rush show at Irvine. Maybe you even meant the Dalai Lama "anger" post about that situation? The 4 hour trip to the concert? Did you mean that post in reference to me? I know it's a stretch, but I'm just guessing?

If you did, no worries at all. I was not angry in the slightest about the long drive. Now, it was no fun, certainly, and that's why I mentioned it in my FB comments, so locals like my friend Bill S. could relate. But, even though I will most likely never go to that venue again, I had a blast at the show, and the traffic jam in no way ruined it or had any effect at all, really. Once we got there and the show started, the long ride was instantly forgotten.

So, lol, all of that is just to say "all is well" in case you meant the Dalai Lama post in reference to me.  :)

Tonight's show will be much easier to get to. The Forum is just 25 miles from Pearl's. Same freeway, the 405, but it's a Saturday evening, not a work night, and so traffic should be much more moderate. The main thing tonight is that it's the last show of the tour, and there's a chance it could be the final Rush concert ever.

I will be really surprised if that's the case, but it could be, and so it's kind of poignant.

But it will be awesome all the same, so I am looking forward to it.

Anyhow, I hope all is well, and I will trust that it is. I will be here at home til about 3:30, then over to Pearl's til 6pm, and then back after the show probably about 12:30ish. And then I am back at work, normal schedule, etc.

Have a nice afternoon! I Love You and will write when I get back from the concert.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

12:15am : Happy Late Night, my Darling. I am back at Pearl's. You may have seen my post on FB just now. Wow, what a night, what a moment in time. All kinds of things are going through my head. First and foremost is, what a concert. I've seen Rush so many times, and as they aged from 25 year olds to middle-aged guys in their late 30s and 40s, and now as they are verging on senior citizenship, and I have seen them play incredible shows, tour after tour. But never have I seen them play with the intensity they had tonight. They were just on fire, and you could see it on their faces, especially on Alex's. He formed Rush when he was 15 years old, he's now 62 and it may have been his last concert. He was playing his heart out. And so were Geddy and Neil.

It was just freaking phenomenal, especially the way they played their older, progressive stuff from the 70s.

I just really don't know what to say, to have had these guys always in my life since I was 16 years old.

At the end of the show, Geddy said to the crowd, "on behalf of our entire organization, we'd like to thank you so much for the last 40 years". That's something he's never said before, thanks on behalf of the organization. Rush puts on such a big show that it takes a lot of people to pull off, from managers to road crew to lighting designers to the folks that make their films. A lot of those people have been with them all this time, too, just like the fans. In that way, Rush is an organisation, built around the three guys.

With that sentence, which he's never said at the end of a concert before, it sounded like he was saying goodbye.

But then he said, "And I sincerely hope we see you again sometime".

That's Geddy speaking. He's always been the one who loves touring the most. He's been the lucky one who has avoided the health problems of the other guys. Alex has some arthritis in his hands, and has had ulcers, and Neil has tendonitis that has caused him to have a lot of pain, at times, when playing.

If you saw them tonight, not only would you never sense these things, but you'd wonder the opposite : "Where'd these guys find the fountain of youth"?

Rush is so great now, live in concert, that they could even blow previous live incarnations of themselves off the stage.

Arthritis? What arthritis?

I know they wouldn't divulge these things to the press if they weren't true, and I am sure they are serious conditions for any musician to have, especially guys who play as hard as Rush do, in their 60s.

It's just so weird, though, as I said the other night, and it's like breaking new ground, because these guys are playing with more intensity than ever, into their 60s.

If you saw them tonight, you'd think they were hitting their peak.

So I hope, as Geddy said, that we "see them again sometime". I really hope it wasn't the last Rush concert.

But if it was, I'm glad I was there, cause it was the greatest Rush concert I've ever seen.

I know I say that every time, but this time, they knew it, too.

Well, tomorrow morn is church and choir, so I'd better sign off. Back on regular schedule for the next three weeks. I hope you had a nice day, Sweet Baby. I will see you in the morning.

Sweet Dreams.........

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)