I woke up at 5:30 this morning. I’m not sure exactly why, but Saturday was stressful so I took a couple naps. Despite how groggy I am, my body must think I’ve had enough sleep. Most mornings, when I wake up so early, I go for a 4 – 6 mile walk. Today I wasn’t up for it. Without looking at the temperature, I made the decision it was too cold. I’m sure this was a conscious decision on my part because it’s actually 67 degrees out. That’s shorts weather for me.

Instead of walking, I had a latte protein shake and a hard boiled egg for breakfast. One possibility to pass the time would have been to watch TV, but as a rule I’m not a TV watcher. Movies from time to time, but not many shows. I have been watching Perry Mason on Netflix. I was excited when the show was announced because it’s based on the sometimes unethical Perry from the 1930 pulp novels. What a great homage that would be to the early writings of Erle Stanley Gardner. Later on Gardner became more conservative, which showed in later Mason novels, but never quite as much as the television depiction. It was the 1950s after all. I’ll keep watching, but so far I’m kinda bored.

Without television, I’m sitting at the desk in the bedroom just a few feet from where Maurice is sleeping. Lots of thoughts and ideas coming to mind.

Podcast

Today I’m interviewing the outstanding author Lev Raphael. This is especially exciting because one of his books, The Death of a Constant Lover, is being rereleased and I wrote the new forward for the novel. Plus, I had him on not long ago and we had such a good time I asked him to return. Fascinating man.

I usually make sure my notes and bullet points are done by Saturday afternoon (most of my interviews are recorded on Sundays) I have plenty more for us to discuss but I struggled hard to put my notes together. Yesterday was a bad day for me. In fact, Maurice is becoming concerned I’m slipping back to the condition I was in before properly medicated. We’re keeping a watchful eye on that.

Being up so early, gave me the time to finish putting my notes together for the interview and I’m raring to go in about four hours.

Uruguay

Researching life in Uruguay has become an obsession for me. This is not just because I think I’d like to live there, but it is escapism. I can search the net or YouTube for hours without having to think of anything else.

This morning I learned something new. I had been looking at apartments in their capital city of Montevideo. A beautiful apartment overlooking the beaches can be had for around U$26.000 pesos, which is just over $600 U.S. dollars. Of course, I’ve been thinking that’s an amazing deal compared to our very tiny Los Angeles apartment, with a very sad view, that costs more than twice that much.

Out of curiosity I decided to take a peak at the cost to live in Colonia del Sacramento. It’s a much smaller city located where the ferry’s come in from Buenos Aires. It’s also a UNESCO historical city. Being a small touristy site, I assumed it would be pricey. Low and behold was I wrong. A beautiful one bedroom apartment at the beach can run as little as U$11.000 pesos, or less than $300 U.S. dollars.

Uruguay sounds cheap, and land and rentals are, but it’s actually an expensive country. Most products are imported and/or come with very sizeable taxes. Cars are typically double what they cost in the United States. There are cheaper models from China, but I’m told you get what you pay for. Anyway, as part of my lazy obsessive mind I can spend hours looking at apartment listings and other aspects of Uruguayan life. Sorry, you’ll probably see me write about this place a lot. Who knows when and if we’ll ever go, but it passes the time when my mind is spinning.

Politics

I don’t even know where to begin. I think Trump has a better chance of winning the election than most people I know. It saddens me that if that happens we’ll see the end of our democracy as we know it.

I’m also not thrilled with the hypocritical Republicans ramming through their nominee for the Supreme Court after what they did to Merrick Garland five years ago. It’s criminal. She has said in the past that Roe v Wade is here to stay, but I think she’s as honest as the rest of her party. Within the next one – two years I believe we’ll see the end of the Affordable Care Act, goodbye to a woman’s right to choose, marriage equality and other gay rights to be tossed out the window, transgender rights will be non-existent, andso long to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

I generally consider myself to be an optimistic person. In the past I’d say Republicans and Democrats had the same ideals, but they had differences of opinion on how to get there. This is no longer true. The Republican party, as we knew it, is dead.

Audiobook

I had a lot to do yesterday and hoped I’d overcome my brain spinning out of control, but as I said I was wrong. I really need to finish listening to my audiobook so I can approve it so it can be sent off to ACX, which supplies them to Audible and other outlets. I didn’t even come close.

Taking this long is unfair to the narrator (we split all profits) and to the numerous people who’ve been asking for them. While I really need to get back to writing on a regular basis, this is going to have to be my priority over the next couple of days, except for…

Tomorrow is my Birthday

There’s not much to do since most of the state is shut down due to the pandemic, but I’m hoping we can find a quiet place on the beach to pitch our tent and relax. If it’s too busy, we’ll probably come home and watch old movies. I turn 57 tomorrow, which gives me a lot more to think about. All the joys and sorrows in my life are hitting me. While I’ve had plenty of sorrows, I’ve been focusing on mostly the good stuff.

It’s not just the past I have in mind. A lot is on my mind about the future. I usually have a plan, but other than kinda/maybe moving away, I have no clue as to where I’m headed. I guess I’ll find out when I get there.

Eros

Eros is my wonderful daughter who I haven’t seen in ages. She was scheduled to fly out and visit earlier this summer, but there was the fear of flying. Plus, California was on an even stricter lockdown at the time, so there honestly would be nothing to do other than go to the supermarket or sit in our tiny apartment. Even the beaches and hiking trails were closed for awhile.

Now, she’s in Berlin to get her masters degree. Yes, travel from the U.S. to Germany is very restricted, but her University was able to pull some strings and got her into their country. Not sure when I’ll get to see her, but no matter how long it will be too long. I miss her deeply.

There’s More More More

I could continue writing much more of what’s been swirling in my head since I woke up over three hours ago, but I think I’ve shared enough for now. I’m afraid most of this post sounds negative, but I really have a lot of positive aspects in my life, they’re just hard to think of when I’m exhausted at 5:30 in the morning.

Our church service starts online now in about 90 minutes. We’re Unitarian Universalists so we celebrate all faiths, plus atheists and agnostics too.Yom Kippur begins tonight so I’m sure that’s what the sermon will be.