Generally, I try to live very frugally, but in the last week, I've had a few extravagances and indulgences. I'm not just talking about finding myself miles from home, taking a gamble on several expensive gluten-free baked goods from Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and the Diggety Donuts truck that I've been wanting to catch for a year now. (Not kidding, my first donut since August or before, and it was a little gluten-free glob of heaven. My friend had one too, and I think she agreed they were so worth it.) Some of my shopping was, if not necessary, a worthwhile strategical move. There are housecleaning challenges that come with having long-term sick pets, and drawbacks to homes designed poorly for storage and utility spaces. This place barely has functioning closets, and not nearly enough of them, so a utility room with space for a cat box was obviously too much to ask for. It was a trade off I made to get the parkland. Last week I decided it was time to order furniture to remedy that failing, and yesterday the new cat box bench arrived. So far, no takers, but eventually they'll get used to the idea of having their own powder room downstairs. I think I should bug them like they do to me in mine. I'll stop short of trying to sit in their laps while they are in there, though.
Monday I decided to call and see whether I could upgrade my technology a little bit. My satellite tv service has apps I could use to watch on mobile devices, and has for some time, but I haven't been able to take advantage of the services I'm paying for, because I don't have a wired Internet connection in my living room. I had to spend several weeks burning through everything I had saved on my DVR so I could send it back when instructed to, before I would make the call for the new unit with built in wifi. As of right now, I have either watched or deleted all but two episodes of Believe and tonight's Daily Show, so I can swap the receivers. And now I am feeling a huge sense of shame that this is an accomplishment. All I can think is that this is such a first world problem, I need to go do something worthwhile in the world to compensate for my shallowness.
In my first world orgy of cinema, I watched a movie I haven't seen in at least twenty years, that I recorded over a year ago. It was a very early Mel Brooks movie, The Twelve Chairs. I remember loving it the one time I saw it in my youth/young adulthood, but I didn't remember why (other than an incredibly young and attractive Frank Langella). I studied Russian language and culture in high school and college, and this brought back so many memories of all the tiny details I loved. Just hearing people called by their patronyms, or even hearing the word "kopec" spoken made me smile. The cinematography was beautifully vintage, and I wish I had not deleted it before I checked to see where it was filmed. The lyrics and cadence to the title song were instantly recognizable as Mel Brooks' style, and there was a recurring musical motif throughout that was nearly identical to the violin music so pivotal to Young Frankenstein. I need to do a little Googling to see what that melody is. I recorded it off of Turner Classics, apparently, and before it started, the host said that Mel considers this one of his favorite movies he ever made. Having finally seen it again, I can understand why. I might go so far as to add this one to my permanent collection.
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