Saturday, February 14, 2015

If you could have dinner with one person from history, who would it be?

This is pretty easy for me. Frank Sinatra. And if I could get away with it I'd just say the whole Rat Pack because that would be ideal. I'd love to hang with Dean and Sammy too. (They might actually be move lovely to hang out with because they're more mellow.)
Oh how I'd love to hear Frank's theories on the world and everything. I know he had theories.
He had fairly average beginnings in life and became one of the biggest stars in the world. How does that even happen? I've read books about him and watched the movies and heard the stories and everything. I'd like to see it for myself though.
Plus, I assume we'd have Italian food.
Assuming he could come back to now and know all that's happened since he died I'd want to know- Would he now consider himself a Democrat or a Republican? What would be think of the music industry now? Did he think we'd be a little further along in equality by now? Did he think we'd have flying cars by now? What's his greatest joy & biggest regret? How did he get to be....Frank? He ran the world as if it was his. Pretty sure he thought he always could. And kinda sure he DID until he was gone. Did he think he'd always get his way? Did he know when he was being a demanding man diva or was it just his natural way with no thought put in to it? Did he like being famous? What's his favorite car? Did he cook? Did he prefer acting or singing? Who was his favorite actor/movie? What would he have done differently in life?
From what I understand he was an epic mama's boy so that might explain his attitude. He was wonderful, and probably frequently terrible, and everything in between. I think the general person who knows not so much about Frank Sinatra doesn't realize some of the things he did that might just have had a huge impact on things. (Or some things that almost made the world more interesting.)
He offered to have Woody Allen's legs broken. (Due to the whole marrying his own daughter thing...)
How much did he have to do with Kennedy getting elected? Did he have true mob ties or only superficial?
Some of Frank's shows that included Sammy Davis Jr. were played on stages that had never allowed black performers, or at least not for a "mixed" audience. Frank demanded that Sammy be allowed to perform with him, which may have been the first time some audiences had seen a non-white performer live on stage. I think that had to be a tiny important step in changing views.
I long to know what he was really like as a person and not just as an icon.



Monday, February 09, 2015

February

Well we've been homeless for 9 days. It's gone quite well so far, really.
We crammed 99% of what we own in to storage. We got out of the fire-hazard of an apartment the night we were supposed to. We moved on. So far, so good. We had an option sorted out for a place to stay for a while. Not ideal, but better than sleeping in the car. But that didn't work out so we looked for more options. We didn't have much luck but a friend of a friend asked if there was anything they could do, without really knowing anything of the situation other than a vague statement on Facebook.
I explained the situation a bit and they invited us to their home with no hesitation. Can't stay with family without guilt. Can't stay with friends without inconvenience. But people who have met us twice say "hey, you're welcome here. Come on over!" What a concept!
I'd like to think I'm that kind of a friend...though that scenario has never come up for me to help someone out that much.
The fact that we have kept large amounts of our sanity in tact is because we had somewhere to go where we didn't feel intrusive, like some kind of non-native plant that all the other plants don't trust. Why is it here? What does it want? It's not from here!
It's always a little bit of a pain to not have all YOUR stuff and YOUR conveniences when and where you are accustomed to having them. Sure, first world problems. But we simplified, got everything stuffed in to the car and carried on down highway 287.
Might I mention that we also slept heavenly on their guest bed. Neither of us generally sleep awesome when we're traveling. Back issues, temperature, foreign blankets, noises, stress, pets & sneezes, etc. But here, we slept better than we had at home! Glorious slumber. We thought it might be some kind of fancy mattress that we'd want to investigate and maybe some day save up for. But it's from Walmart. It came folded up in a box. What is this madness!? I'm so glad we left our bed behind. I think it might have been part of the issue with restless nights.
Jason even got along with the dog.
All in all, a mini miracle that made this process so much easier than it would have been. Hope to be able to return the favor one day or pay it forward. Something.
Thankful for kind people who act like people ought to act.

Now things may be looking up. Let's hope January and February was the hurdle of the year and the rest will be a joyful breeze.