Musings & Thoughts for Monday, May 9, 2022, or: My Sunday Night at the Movies…It Didn’t Go So Well

Hi there, Dear Reader. It is early afternoon in Lithia, Florida, on Monday, May 9, 2022. It is a hot, muggy spring day here in the Tampa Bay area. Currently, the temperature is 82°F (28°C) under mostly cloudy skies. With the wind blowing from the east-northeast at 5 MPH (9 KM/H) and humidity at 63%, the heat index is 83°F (28°C). Today’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 90°F (32°C). Tonight, skies will be clear. The low will be 62°F (17°C).

Last night I attempted to watch Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) on my smallish (26-inch) 4K UHD television set. I recently acquired the 2K Blu-ray Special Edition from around that time for $9.99; I would have preferred to get the 4K UHD disc, but I already have a huge credit card bill because I bought a new computer last month and must pay it off in installments. I saw it once at a friend’s house when it was on HBO or offered as an In-Demand pay-per-view thing and I enjoyed it, but I had never bothered to get a home media version until I saw it advertised for sale at $9.99 (plus, of course, Florida sales tax).

I say, “I attempted to watch” Inglourious Basterds because even though I wanted to see it, I did not plan my Sunday night well. At all. Instead of getting off my office chair and away from this computer at any time after I posted yesterday’s blog entry, I spent most of my afternoon and early evening hours – in the words of my Cuban friends – comiendo mierda on Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. I knew I wanted to watch Inglourious Basterds, even had the Blu-ray in its package sitting on my desk, where I could see it.

I guess I was reluctant to log off from social media because I don’t have anyone here to talk to anymore. I’m not the most gregarious person, but I’m also not a recluse. But over the past two years – and especially the past few months – a huge gap has been growing between the Caregiver and me, and it has widened to such a point that she will serve me my dinner at my place at the kitchenette table and forget to tell me. And since online interactions are better than none, I stay at my desk for longer than I normally would.[1]

But back to Inglorious Basterds…. I should have started watching it around 7 or 8 PM, but I waited till after dinner to put the disc in the player and plop down on my convertible couch/futon to watch it. Because the Caregiver opted to order from Outback Steakhouse on perhaps the worst day to order delivery – Mother’s Day – we got our food around 8 PM, and she did not bother telling me my order was served, so I ate a cold Bloomin’ Burger and cold Aussie Fries around 9 PM. By the time I finished eating dinner it was 9:30 PM, and a fruitless search for my TV’s main remote control[2] delayed the start of Inglorious Basterds until 10:30 PM.

Well, I eventually put the Inglorious Basterds Blu-ray in the player and started watching, but I was exhausted, and the whole “missing remote” brouhaha had stressed me out, so I fell asleep 20 minutes into the movie. So now I must pencil it in, as it were, into my TBW list for the week.

Based on this new development, this is what my TBW list looks like for the week:

• Inglorious Basterds
• The Office
• Apollo 11
• Casablanca
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season One)
• The Pink Panther
• West Side Story (2021)

Well, I have no other news to share, and I should go take a shower and change into clean clothes, even though I will probably stay indoors and not go for a walk. So, until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.

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[1] It’s sad but true. The Caregiver and I were once happy in each other’s company, and she used to be mindful of my well-being. Now we rarely interact; she spends most of her free time catering to her new boyfriend’s whims and needs, leaving me to fend for myself in a house that is woefully not suitable for me to “fend for myself.”

[2] I have the remote for the 4K UHD Blu-ray player, which is made by Samsung just like the TV, so I am not totally bereft of RCs for the TV. However, the TV-only remote is the one that works best when I’m streaming. I did not find it, so I had to order a replacement from Amazon.