Any comments or questions about this site, please contact Bob Zolnerzak at

bobzolnerzak @verizon.net

 

 

 

2011 8 of 8

SUNDAY, 11/27/11: Up 8:24AM, get Times, lie back down at 9:06AM and up at 9:55AM. Desperate now that "Mad Men" is finished, I find "Firefly" and watch the first five episodes. Spider 7:45-10:25PM, NEW RECORD to 51.5033 at 800 up after 6 wins: NEW RECORD! Other TV before bed at 1:30AM.

MONDAY, 11/28/11: Pee 7:27AM and up at 8:30AM, tired, sad, and lonely. 1:45PM: Productive day: clipped both fingernails and toenails; tried the USPS website and then the phone for ordering airmail stamps for my Christmas letters; had the last HH breakfast of an enormous portion of pancakes, bacon, walnuts, and apples; phoned Mildred about the goodness of talking to the stamp orderee, and she called back to say I should phone Charles, which I did, and he GREATLY appreciated it, telling me in large detail about the kind man who helped him to his therapist's office, where the therapist phoned 911 which put Charles in the closest, wrongest hospital. Charles even said I should call him tomorrow, and when I called Mildred to report on that, she said he'd told her he was HURT that I hadn't phoned him at the hospital (whether this is only in her imagination I leave to MY imagination). I stripped the bedclothes from my sweat-stained cold episode, and changed the jeans which looked so crappy in Saturday's sunlight on my way to the gym, getting out a new flannel shirt, also. Also checked my Bank of America (BOA) credit account to find that ALL of November's charges to my FIA card has been billed to the BOA card, so maybe I won't have to phone (I can dream, can't I?) all the changes. Also deleted all my Verizon 350+ messages, getting my C: storage up to half a gig, which I hope will delay that awful "low memory on C:" warning. Played a lot of Taipei, which is taking the place of Spider, which I ended yesterday above 51.50 at 800 up. Now I SHOULD start transcribing my last-three-weeks' notecards, but I probably won't. Watched five more episodes of "Firefly," getting impatient with its transparent emotional motivations. "Dexter" is still fun. Bed 11:20PM.

TUESDAY, 11/29/11: Pee 4:52AM. Check to find no Gerry Mayhead on Google, and end up playing Minesweeper for about half an hour after clearing off two unused desktop icons. Up at 9:35AM to j/o, not even SURE that I came about 10:15AM! Talk to Marj 11:15AM-12:05PM, first talk since WEDNESDAY, 11/23! Determined to catch up with SOME things, so I watch two episodes of "Firefly" before turning off the last episode in order to get to the gym fairly early, still mentally complaining about the "maintenance" person who seems to NEVER do ANYTHING, except liesurely carry a black trash bag to some drop-off point every other day. Back just before 4PM to get told that my HH meals haven't arrived yet. Up to go through the Taschen catalog and Julius (or whatever the secondary doorman's name is) calls to say that my food's arrived, and I have dinner while watch the last "Firefly" and the start of "Fargo," which looked good to resee, since I saw it only once in 1995 (or whenever). Start on NOTEBOOK M catch-up, starting from 11/8, at 8:55PM. Get only to 11/13 by 10:25PM, when I have a bowl of soup for dinner, skimming through Classical Arts and watch a sexy dancer in Pina Bausch's 1975 "Orpheo," and interesting visuals on the "Scriabin" biographic film, staying up later than I'd hoped, getting to bed at 1:21AM.

WEDNESDAY, 11/30/11: Up at 8:58AM with a sore throat, and shit AGAIN with the looseness probably caused by eating too much ice cream. Phone Charles again, and get off at 10:13AM when he's still hoping he'll get his scheduled test, AGAIN not having anything to eat. [Call now, at 1:40PM, and there's no answer: let's hope he's being tested somewhere.] Call Spartacus, waking him just after 11AM, and he's relatively tolerant of MY not going physically to the hospital to escort Charles to another, better, place. Start back to NM at 12:13PM, but get sidetracked by checking out Times Squares on Internet, and looking at some "packages" on YouTube. With something over 38 notes scattered on my desk in front of me, I find I'm adding data to NM pages I'd printed out already, so I'd just better CLEAN my desk before printing ANY more pages, still hoping to be caught up on this last day in November. However, now at 1:43PM, I'm just TOO tempted to return to "Baron Munchhausen" and the last salad-lunch from last week's HH delivery---which I called this morning to report 1) no chocolate brownie snack in yesterday's delivery, and 2) the plastic covers are NOW pulling off in one piece, thank you. CVS calls for me to give them a number where Dr. Sai can be reached for my prescription renewals. At 1:45PM I again let Charles's phone ring eight times before hanging up. Then Robert Workoff calls with an INDEXING JOB for me in September, and I tell him about my last trip to eastern Turkey, and he confirms that the catalog is due the first of June, so my work will be in May. Call Marj to tell her about it from 1:58-2:33, have lunch to 3:20, watching Charlie Rose talk with Marc Benioff of salesforce.com, then talk to Charles about his bronchial lavage to 3:35, when someone comes in to talk with him, then talk to Mildred to 3:37 and catch TODAY up to date by 3:41, ready to return to my 38 notes. Catch up with all the Spider scores by 4:18PM, leaving only 36 notes on my desk to catch up with, not counting a stack of HSBC account, other papers, and Marj's notes. Work a bit and phone Charles 4:37-5:05PM: he had his left lung washed and had a swallowing test that he didn't do very well in: he'd thought he'd done better. But he's eating better, feels better, and thinks he may even be sent home tomorrow, Thursday. I finish with ONE set of notes by 6:30PM, being TERRIBLY confused by what seems to be a one-day-wrong listing of movies watched on Netflix. Look at restaurant receipts, Visa slips, and notes I made on the Channel 13 guide to try to work things out. Have reduced the pile of notes to be dealt with to 13, starting back on 11/9! Finally, at 7:55PM, I've gotten rid of all the notecards and feel almost good about catching up, except the sadness over the fact that the Netflix "watched" list has no correspondence to the day I ACTUALLY watched the movies. Got a "final quote" from Ken for the non-tour part of the Italy trip: $6130.96 for the two of us, "due today," which he hopes to fix tomorrow. Also, I've been playing LOTS of Taipei (and some Solitaire, too) between-times, and I'll go there NOW, but RECORDING it for the first time since 10/9/11. Play 8-10PM, then to TV, where I find that "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" has been added to my "Instant Netflix" list, so I can't resist watching that, getting to bed at 1:34AM.

THURSDAY, 12/1/11: Pee at 6:27AM and 8:57AM and at 10:15AM start to j/o and cum about 11:40AM. Start watching the "Life After People" episodes I recorded after the porn, and get captured by it, having breakfast as I skim four episodes of it. Don't do much else during the day but TV, and watch "Trek Nation" with Roddenberry's son for two hours before going to bed at 12:48AM.

FRIDAY, 12/2/11: Pee 6:45AM, after mympths for 2-3 seconds, slowly fading out. 7:40AM: I'm DETERMINED to get street maps and WALK more, MUSEUM more, SHOP more. Pee. Also decide to go to Brooklyn Botanic Gardens TODAY and the gym TOMORROW. Do Actualism 8:20-9:15AM, when CVS phones. Watch "Wild China" with breakfast and after, and leave at 12:30PM for the Gardens, which turn out to be free EVERY weekday during the winter. A wall of bright-blue flowers interspersed with red poppy-shapes captivates at start, but a stroll through the Native Countryside shows nothing but squirrel-nut digs in the paths. Down past the rock garden, reading more of the plaques on the rocks from New Jersey and upstate, to the new Herb Garden, and out to spectacular Japanese Beautyberry of bright purple and one arresting white tree. Across to the greenhouses for the third-time-in-thirteen-years-blooming Tiger Orchid, which I'll have to detour Paul to see. Good lunch of half a tuna sandwich and hard-green-bean turkey soup and sour Grown-up Soda of cranberry and lime that I fix with sugar. Back in to gaze at the Tiger Orchid, surprised to see two water lilies blooming in December, and marvel at the nearly finished pavilion that's blocked the "proper" exit of the park for so long. Home about 4PM and skim the last three of the "Wild China," not as good as the first two. Out to Sharon, time going quickly, and back for more TV and dinner. Bed 11:28PM.

SHARON B. 195 12/2/11

Last was 11/11! She calls me in directly I arrive at 6:28PM, as she'd delayed my appointment until 6:30PM. I start with my having to PULL myself away from the candy displays in CVS when I go in for my prescriptions, saying that I've GOT to lose weight and exercise more, since I'm intimidated by the statement for the Gujurat tour that it's STRENUOUS walking in ruins and climbing stairs to temples---not mentioning that Cuba seems to have replaced Gujurat as Ken's desired end-2012 trip. Then I try to summarize my three-week hiatus since my last session: the obsession with Roku series and movies, praising "Mad Men" and "Torchwood" and "Africa" and "Wild China." My agony that I SHOULD be spending more time on my website, and she asks why I feel that way, and I squeeze out memories of the past when---for instance after my LSD sessions---I'd NOT filled in my notebook with occurrences, and I REGRETTED it afterwards. And AGAIN get into the idea that this is my LEGACY, this is WHAT WILL REMAIN OF ME AFTER I DIE, and I want it to be as compelling as possible so that when (not even stopped by "if") people read it, they'll acknowledge that "I WAS someone!" That I didn't waste my life, that I was intelligent and insightful and humorous and ENVIABLE. [Adding more HERE than I did in the SESSION!] Went through the frustrations when it didn't work, yet praised myself for going to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens his afternoon, recommending the Tiger Orchid that blooms once every 4-5 years, and even going into the idea that my ENERGY is now more important in scheduling future trips than MONEY is. I don't CARE if I'm threatened with starvation when I reach 103, my sister will be 92 and will take care of me! Review my disappointment that Scottevest and Facebook and Twitter didn't result in a spate of remarks from readers about my website, but came to a wonderful realization that I could PUBLICIZE the website MORE REGULARLY by TWEETING whenever I add something to the site---and could even LIE that some of the interesting trips were JUST added, hoping to lure people by the exotic destinations I've got on the site ALREADY. The time passes very quickly, and I end with a number of outrageous things (some invented for Sharon's amusement) that I said to Mildred that STILL had her laugh and say she loved our conversations, rather than infuriating her as they would have in the past. Also describe some of my meals with Ken and Mildred and Charles, tell her about Charles's medical problems, and don't even bring her up-to-date with Bill Petersen's condition. Say I'll see her next week, and mentally note that I've GOT to type some of my recent dreams and take them to her.

SATURDAY, 12/3/11: Pee at 2:15AM and 6:52AM. Note DREAMS:12/3/11. Think of PYRAMIDS for almost an hour to 7:48AM. 7:59: No Times yet; do Actualism to 8:27, when I think I hear the Times slap. Puzzles and Times to late breakfast, then TV and to gym at 4, getting out in darkness at 5:30. Get hooked into many "Torchwood" episodes. Bed 12:30AM.

PYRAMIDS 12/3/11

LOVERS:
For years: John and Dennis.
For months: Bill Hyde, John Connolly, JJ, Edgardo, Rolf, Bob Rosinek, Paul C..
Incredible days: Nye Wilden, Al JaKenta, Louis Love, Arthur M., others.

TRIPS:
Longest, most memorable: John RTW, Australia/Antarctica, IBM RTW, 99-day bus.
"Lucky" hits: St. Kilda, Cape Wrath, Kaiteur, Yellowstone in snow.
Places: Borneo, Kilimanjaro, Angkor, Borobudur, Coba, Kashgar, Datong, Longmen, Dunhuang, Yosemite Falls, "stoned" Indian museum on Silk Road.

FOOD:
Absolute tops: Eugenie-Les-Bains, El Bulli, Masa, Alinea, Pic, Tantris, Corton
Great: Orso in Rome, Kunz in Hotel, Spanish garden desserts.

PEOPLE:
Joseph Campbell at John's meal, Julian Gerard, Bishop at St. John the Divine.

SUNDAY, 12/4/11: 7:38AM: Pee and type DREAMS:12/4/11. Back to bed, get Times at 8:05AM, and up at 9:43AM for breakfast with more "Torchwood." 11AM: "I just don't FEEL like doing it." The mantra of my recent life. SHOULD keep up with notebook. SHOULD work on website. Should NOT watch so much TV. But I don't WANT to do that. "Just DO it." It worked before, but I seldom invoke it now because I don't FEEL like it. So, what do I do? I go play Taipei at 11:03AM. No, I lied. I played Spider to 1:05PM, ending slightly higher at 51.49491 at 797 up at 2 wins. Now to the two-months' old sausage defrosted last night, to get ready for lunch before 2:30 meeting with Spartacus to get to a 4PM "Hugo" screening at MoMA, he insisting we should be that early, and I DO get a good seat at 3:14 after a small shit. Possible knee-press cruising with guy in next seat, but it may just be my fantasy. I don't think the movie is THAT great: the kid's not engrossing, the ending falls flat, and some of the 3-D effects (sword's tip, spear's end) are quite gratuitous, most of the Melies clips are wearily familiar. Home to more "Torchwood" episodes, some really quite touching. Bed 12:40AM.

MONDAY, 12/5/11: 2:20AM: Wake to pee and salve red, itchy scrotum with Clotrimazole, assuming it's some form of jock itch. 8:25AM: Pee and type DREAMS:12/5/11 and stay up to play Spider 8:40-9:35AM, BAD to 51.48403 at 792 up after 2 wins, realizing that my DREAM was essentially about playing SPIDER! 10:08AM: Finally type Sharon's session from Friday, having already wasted an hour on Spider and twenty minutes on Taipei. Now to shit and have breakfast and get into my day---after registering for the Met Lottery. Read lots of New Yorker with breakfast, then get to notebook catch-up by 12:20PM, printing two dream pages and now ready to enter notecards. Finally struggled to get the cold-preventing cover over the air conditioner, but even that bit of bending down activates my nausea from positional hypotension. Check back and find that I FIRST take Carvediol and Enalapril on 3/2/10, and my "dizzy getting pills under stove" was 11/12/10. 8/24/10 had me "dizzy looking at Alaska photos." Spartacus takes ages trying to find the name of the actress who played Melies's wife in "Hugo," but doesn't do it. Finish up-to-date at 1:45PM, getting a call from Leon about Karita Mattila at Carnegie Hall Saturday at 8PM: I'm to meet him around the corner at 7:30 with $3. In finding those few entries of "dizzy," "nausea," or "Pilates," I go through notebooks to find dates. This, NM, started 9/26/11; NL took 7 months: 2/27/11-9/25/11; NK took 6 months: 8/22/10-2/25/11; NJ took 9 months: 12/2/09-8/21/10; NI took 8 months: 4/2/09-12/1/09; NH took 10 months: 6/11/08-4/1/09; NOTEBOKG took 12.5 months: 5/24/07-6/11/08; NOTEBOKF took 14 months: 3/21/06-5/24/07. Now, unfortunately, back to Spider again! Play 1:55-4PM and then stop because I'm starving for lunch! Start watching and just don't stop watching junk TV. Bed at 11:48PM.

TUESDAY, 12/6/11: Pee at 4:35AM. Note DREAMS:12/6/11. Mympths, and then a second dream. Up at 8:05AM to shit, still tired. Spider 9:10-11:25AM: an incredible save, up to 51.48633 at 794 up after NINE wins! Mildred calls and suggests we go to Cafe Momo at 4PM, and I phone Charles to come along. TV, then out in rain, getting a table for two until Charles shows up, and then a long wait between courses where I infuriate Mildred by taking her portion of Charles's guinea hen, when I mistakenly thought she'd already HAD her portion, but when she just gritted "Keep it!," well, I just DID---I'd cheated myself on the other portions and made up for it on this, and then we all pigged out on the apple-cherry pie dessert. Home for mail. Spider again 7:30-9:30PM, too long, to 51.48929 at 796 up after SIX wins. So tired I just go to bed at 9:55PM, noting at 10:03PM the name PERIGORD, the restaurant on the East side that neither of us could remember. Also note to add restaurant WD-50 to Paul's list.

WEDNESDAY, 12/7/11: Pee at 2:58AM and note DREAMS:12/7/11. Then I lay thinking, do a long Actualism and wake at 8AM! Up to shit at 8:05, feeling just OUT of it! I guess I'm depressed! GOT to start a Did-list: 1) Breakfast and TV to 10AM, 2) Pull ear hairs to 10:15AM, 3) Bundle and take out newspapers and magazines to 10:30AM, 4) Wash dishes and clean kitchen counters to 11AM, 5) Spider 11-11:30AM, when I quit to go to the gym, 6) Gym to 1:10PM, 7) Snack-lunch to 1:27AM when I take the subway to ophthalmologist by 2PM, getting out late at 4:10PM and going to Freilich, see MEDICAL:12/7/11. Home to watch Michael Palin's "Himalaya" of six hours over two days, restart Spider 9:40-11:45PM, getting to new high at 51.49758 of 801 up after FIVE wins, and get to bed at 12:02AM.

THURSDAY, 12/8/11: Pee at 6:03AM and type DREAMS:12/8/11. Spider 6:15AM-7:10, up to 51.50291, ALMOST best score, to 804 up after 4 wins. Back to bed at 7:17AM. Do Actualism to 8:26AM, when I get up to j/o to about 10AM. Watch "Torchwood" episodes. Return to Spider 1:08AM-2:15AM, and finally just STOP at 51.49691 at 801 up after 1 loss. Actually sit down and do my Christmas letter, making a special copy for Rita that I don't mail until SATURDAY. More "Torchwood" before leaving at 5:15PM to meet Mildred at the Lexington Candy Shop for my bacon cheeseburger and Broadway milk shakes for both of us. Then I walk down to "Iolanta," seeing Charles sitting pale in a chair waiting for me to get our tickets in the fine auditorium under a church on Lexington and 76th. It starts slowly, but builds into a nice choral climax after 70 minutes. I call Sugar Goldstein "Peaches," and remind her that I had her $150 meal for this opera company---until she informs me that it was ANOTHER opera company. Bed at 12:45AM, but up to restart Spider 12:45AM-2:20AM and stop at 791 up after SEVEN losses! SHIT! BACK to bed at 2:20AM.

FRIDAY, 12/9/11: Pee at 2:33AM and up at 9:52AM. Take laundry down and get washer to work after about 15 tries with my card at 10:20AM. More junk TV, followed by Spider 3:30-5:50PM, just stopping in misery in order to get to Sharon. Spartacus called earlier to say that Bob didn't want to go out to see "She Loves Me" at the Heights Players, so I agree to join him. Some of the action good, some overdone, much of the interacting patter missing even in this tiny auditorium. I'd seen it before, I find, on March 3, 1994. We go to the Chip Shop for good fish and chips after, and I have a good bottle of cider on ice, getting out just after midnight. Bed at 2:41AM after junk TV!!!

SHARON B. 196 12/9/11

Get there two minutes late, exasperated with myself and saying so, "It's almost as if I'm DETERMINED to make things difficult for myself. I keep GETTING and DOING more, but all that does is make me want to GET and DO even MORE!" Talk of my frustration at seeming to complain about the same stuff all the time, and she keeps pressing me on WHY I feel bad about not working on the website, and finally suggests that I SCHEDULE it, if only for an hour a day, since I've made "scheduling" such a success with continually going to the gym. I think it's a great idea, though I have the nerve to say I'm sorry that I didn't think of that before. [Though, probably, actually I did.] Talk about the Mildred-easily-over-mad at the Cafe Momo guinea-hen stealing, my goof at "Iolanta," and my other Alzheimer's-like concerns. Mentioned my perfect eyes and my continuing dermatological visits. Talked about Paul's visit and all the restaurants I have lined up for him. Talk lots, but leave a few minutes early.

SATURDAY, 12/10/11: Pee at 8:40AM, get Times, and start j/o at 9:40, ending about 10:30AM. Puzzles satisfyingly difficult. Finally put Rita's Christmas letter into an envelope. Spider 2:50-3:30PM, again disgusted, to EIGHT losses! Keep walking over the laundered clothes that I threw unfolded off the bed early this morning. Waste more time on TV until 6:45PM when I subway to meet Leon at 7:30 for $3 tickets to Karita Mattila at Carnegie Hall, disappointing first half: no opera. Second half a bit more lively with her Finnish folksongs and two encores. Out thankfully early at 9:30. More TV and bed 12:33AM.

SUNDAY, 12/11/11: Pee 8:27AM and up, tired, at 9:05AM, with a DETERMINED thought to visit John Connolly. But I check Google to find where Rosemont is, and it's clear that I'll need Suzie to drive me there, and so I e-mail her to go some time in January, maybe. Start Sun-Did list: 1) Dress to 9:25AM, 2) Trip-list finalize---3) Find last update only 11/08!! at 9:40. Breakfast to 10:07, and print out TRIPALL to 11:55AM. Talk to Mildred about my money spent on trips 11:55-12:10, then have a quick lunch, and out at 1PM after phoning Mark on his cell to make sure the Games Group is ON for today. There at 2:05, very gassy and farty, for NINE of us: me, Piri, Diane, Jermaine, Barbara, Alexa, Mark, and two new women: an older who leaves early, and a younger, reminding me of Susan MacMahon, whose names I forget. Home in the dark to finish the Times. 8:58PM: Clothes finally put away, tuna casserole finishing in the oven, and WQXR on to ease trying to catch up. Put expanded TRIPLIST into the atlas, and put porn stuff away, marking dates on cum list and gym list and plant-water list. More TV with dinner. Spider 10:25PM-12:45AM, just AWFUL to 51.46652 at 786 up after 4 wins. Bed 1:10AM.

MONDAY, 12/12/11: Up at 9:35! 8:25 solid "bed-rest." Pee at 9:40, for 8:30 between pees. Start another Did-list: 1) Bacitracin sore leg-biopsy site to 10:05, 2) Set up humidifier to 10:10, 3) Pile ALL "to-do" on desk by 10:20, 4) Met lottery and e-mail to 10:23, 5) Prescription renew to 10:30, 6) Breakfast with "Dexter" to 11:48, and fix the VCR blinking-time, 7) Handle stuff on desk, make 8 piles on my coffee table, and two piles left on desk by 2PM, 8) Balance HSBC 11/18 statement at last by 2:10PM. 2:15PM: Got all the stuff, from all the apartment still behind, onto my desk and FINISHED by 2:15PM EXCEPT for catching up on my notebook AND eight piles on my coffee table. At least I know where I AM! So I can play SPIDER!!! Play 2:15-3:25 to 51.47174 to 789 up after 3 wins, poor. Then continue with Taipei to 4:05PM, winning about half. Then hungry for lunch and still have notebook to catch up with, and then foreign Christmas cards! Lunch with TV for start of bizarre Germanic "Nutcracker in 3D" with Nathan Lane and John Turturro, and then start Spider 5:50PM, at 8PM to SEVEN losses, at 9:15PM NINE losses, ending at 10:15PM at 51.44943 at 778 up after 4 wins; I'm clearly CRAZY to keep going! Watch penultimate "Terra Nova" and get to bed at 12:25AM.

TUESDAY, 12/13/11: Pee at 6:04AM and note DREAMS:12/13/11. 1:15PM: Having gotten breakfast, TV, Spider, and Taipei out of the way, I finally get to notebook-card sorting and catching-up. Then to Spider 12:05-12:55PM, agonizingly slowly up to 51.45103 at 779 up after 3 wins. Then, not wanting to do ANYTHING, go to Taipei 12:55-1:15PM, do some note organizing, and have lunch, watching "Riese," from about 3-4PM, then back to notes, kicking myself for not yet doing foreign Christmas letters. Write and write, and finally fart myself to shit at 4:57PM. Finally catch up with all these notes, except for dreams, by 5:23PM. [Forgot to record segment on my depression in Sharon's session last Friday: not CLINICAL depression, just depressed because I'm not doing what I "really want" to be doing.] Finish with DREAMS updating to 5:30PM, maybe leaving time for foreign Christmas cards! Only three to get out: Sadahiro's card, and Christmas letters to Edgardo and John Googe. Meet Dorothy Hunter on the subway and give her Charles's Christmas letter, inviting her to my slides on December 30. To balcony at 7:20PM and astounded to see Charles at the water fountain, so I don't read much of the needed program information about Des McAnuff's crazy production of "Faust," which goes to 11:15, prompting Charles to say on the subway that he'd told Bill he'd be home at 10:30, which may have made Charles say he can't come to the photos on Thursday because "Bill wants me to stay home." Had finished the tuna casserole before leaving for the opera. A little TV before getting to bed at 12:33AM, having gone outside on the balcony to see no sign of the Geminids, lost in the Manhattan lights.

WEDNESDAY, 12/14/11: Pee at 3:35AM, CLOUDY for Geminids. Biopsy oozing, so I put on more Bacitracin to prevent bandage sticking. Back to bed at 3:54AM and up, tired, at 9:05AM. Rearrange restaurants to accommodate my new wish to add Jean-Georges to the list, and now they're in "proper" order: Corton on Monday, Jean-Georges on Tuesday, WD-50 on Wednesday, and Romera on Thursday. Out to the gym and get caught up in the hassle described in MEDICAL:12/14/11. Good late lunch at Five Guys: it's always good when I go alone! Home for more TV, more hassle with Christmas cards, and bed at 1:06AM.

THURSDAY, 12/15/11: Pee at 7:15AM and type DREAMS:12/15/11. Do a thorough Actualism to try to alleviate infection and get up at 8:27AM. HH omelet for breakfast while watching "30 Rock," and both Charles and Spartacus call to say they're not coming to Steve's for the Girsky photos. Print Ken's and Steve's letters while re-doing the Christmas-card list and catching this up to date by 11:30AM, when I'll probably be late to Steve's. Get there at 12:10, and he glances at his Christmas letter, and we start the long crosstown walk on 21st Street. The Girsky exhibit is too phonied: the oceans aren't real (he painted them), and many times the proportions between the lengths of the coast and the distances between them are horribly off, and the "doctoring" of the landmasses look sometimes like paintings rather than landscapes. Out and stop at Zero Otto Nove (the area code for the chef's hometown of Salerno, Italy) for lunch, for a good Capricciosa pizza with a treat: a glass of Prosecco that makes me feel slightly dizzy for the rest of the day. Home to indulge in Spider 3:35-6:30PM, worse to 51.44792 at 778 up after 4 wins, and then CONTINUE to indulge in Taipei from 6:30-7:35PM, winning about half. Then watch a few "30 Rock" episodes and other TV, do a quick scrub of the bathroom sink and toilet followed by kitchen and bathroom floor scrubs and vacuuming. Finish the pizza and watch "Dead Sea Scrolls" in preparation for seeing them with Spartacus tomorrow. Bed at 12:12AM.

FRIDAY, 12/16/11: Pee at 3:23AM and note DREAMS:12/16/11. Change bandage on my knee which I didn't do last night, and the itch on the wrist has spread to a SECOND spot. DO I have bedbugs? Mosquitoes? No blood spots on bedding. Pee at 7:38 and up at 8:41 to check camera batteries, clip toenails, and shave. Then breakfast with "Houdini" on TV and catch up on this by 10:25AM, having ordered HH meals, even while Paul's here, and getting a call from Spartacus to change our meeting time to 11AM. Now to get Paul's towel and bedding ready. Did that, and Spartacus coughed at me from across the street as I was mailing a letter on the way to Clark Street Station. To the exhibit at 11:44AM, waiting in line for a bit, and in to the three-walled movie introduction, down to the time-line of history, with a few interesting artefacts, and then down to the scrolls themselves, particularly the Ten Commandments, shown in a video that highlights the, in some cases, WORD of the commandment, and then a short line for the actual scrap of parchment. I had a question about the METAL scroll, and, by a remarkable coincidence, a docent asked if I had any questions, I asked about what turned out to be a SINGLE thin-copper scroll about a foot high and two to three feet long, and it turned out that the docent had written a BOOK (fictional) about that very object! Only in New York! Leave, very satisfied, having paid $7.50 to Spartacus, where adults had to pay $27 and seniors $22.50, at 1PM and get home just at 1:33PM to find no message from Paul yet. Have lunch while watching "Bit of Fry and Laurie," and then, with grim determination, sit down and PRINT 17 Christmas letters, finishing them, and this, by 3:15PM, pleased to have a page to print to clear the last Christmas letter. Paul calls about 4:45PM, as I'm finishing up letters, and by 4:55PM I've finished writing and stamping 21 cards, and printed out two more for Spartacus and Mildred. Dark out and 44. Now 11PM for Paul. He comes in about 5:15PM, gives me a quick kiss, and we talk about his trip and delays and his schedule, as he looks at the pile of stuff I've put out for him, explaining how new neighbors sometimes overflow into my bath and make the bottom very dirty. We agree that 6:30 would be a good time for dinner, and I phone Jack the Horse to make a reservation for Bob for 2 at 6:30. I show him Roku and FiOS and how to play his VHS and DVD porn, and we leave in time to get to Jack at just about the right time, getting a good central table so he can see who comes in. Both order the "Sokota" (or whatever) burgers, he well, me medium, and they're really VERY good on ciabata bread that just fits. Even the fries are good with the tasty catsup, and I put more butter on my fries for overkill. Then the dessert menu is presented and I can't resist the brownie with pecans and cream and chocolate sauce, and the brownis is JUST HEAVEN! He pays the bill easily, and we're out and home and he watches porn and my magazines and I do Spider 8:34-10:45PM to 51.44525 at 77 up after 3 wins, WORSE, and then Taipei 10:45-11PM, tired enough for bed at last. He's shut the lights off as I get to bed at 11:12PM.

SATURDAY, 12/17/11: Pee at 5:12AM, taking my earplugs out to hear the fully dressed Paul wish me a good morning, and when I'm up at 7:24AM he's GONE for the day, having brought in the Times. I read the whole thing, then have pancakes from HH meals with the Book Review and Magazine, and then do both puzzles, and then try Roku but it's just not working, and I reboot the unit and have to re-install everything for maybe the THIRD or FOURTH time, deciding I have to keep track of this! But when it reboots it's fine, and I watch "Waiting for Superman," a really terribly depressing documentary about the failure of public schools to furnish an education for the underclass, unless they can get into Charter Schools, or SEED schools, where they LIVE in campus in GRADE SCHOOL, preparing them for college, or other specialties which PROVE that education can work if the TEACHERS are good enough. Then watch a dynamite "Life in a Day," by Ridley Scott and his brother, GREAT images from July 24, 2010, from dawn to sunset and beyond, opening and closing on the full moon. Then resort to Spider 5:35-7:40PM, again disappionting to 51.44078 at 775 up after 1 win, just having to STOP to leave for O'Flaherty's and Paul's conference's party. Get there about 8:15 for the food yet to be served, and start with a glass of red wine, Paul on his first of THREE glasses of Guinness Stout, and then I go to "golden lager," rather watery and cider-y, and then what I FIRST thought was INISH creme ale that turned out to be IRISH creme ale, and they finally refill the buffet table with wings, which I had five or six of, very tasty, with lots of carrots and celery and tomato slices, and some strange cheese sticks and something fishy in a kind of pastry that I can't identify. VERY crowded, and we sit next to a couple from Australia, living in Vancouver, who brought a 22-month-old CHILD with them who at the end SCREAMS and they finally leave, and we leave about 10:10, having had more than enough, and get to the A train and get to Brooklyn where I find that he COULD have seen "Faust" at the Met tonight, but he missed it, and it's on again on Tuesday and Friday, both impossible for him, but I give him the program to read for his satisfaction. He takes more porn from my drawer as he fills my biopsy site with lots of stuff, bandaging it that will probably leak overnight, but it doesn't look as bad as when I changed it about 5PM this evening after the gym. I finish this up-to-date by 11:10PM, ready for bed and MAN tomorrow at 1PM and then four nights of restaurants. Oh, this afternoon it took the reservationist THREE TIMES to communicate "Corton reservations" before I could UNDERSTAND that she was confirming our reservation for Monday, as Paul had trouble understanding some English at the conference today. Finish this up and can at last remove Mildred's Christmas letter from the printer as I print THAT page. Paul's in bed when I pee at 11:13PM. Bed at 11:18PM.

SUNDAY, 12/18/11: Up at 7:59AM: 8:41 without peeing or waking! Shit and read to 8:15, then read the Times to 9:25AM and have breakfast with Neumeier's "Little Mermaid" ballet to noon. Then THINK to start on Marj's notes, but ALL HELL occurs to 12:55PM, see COMPCHRO:12/18/11. Finish that at 1:05PM, ready to leave for MAN. Get there about 1:45PM and Paul's already there, in line for a drink (the special guy didn't show up, so the MAN's staff are bartenders, and I have three glasses of half-full-of-ice red wine), and shows me pictures on the walls that he likes. I start in on the fruit tray and GORGE on melon, canteloupe, strawberries, and sweet grapes, not to mention pretzels and corn chips and some asparagus to make my pee reek. Wraps aren't served until 3:15PM, but I'm first on line, prompting Erik to say "first on line gets to be first into ME." I laugh. Paul leaves to "go to midtown," as usual, and I leave just after 4PM, absolutely stuffed. Home to watch Neumeier's "Little Mermaid," amazingly homoerotic, and "Red Riding Hood," rather botched and confusing, but some interesting effects and a convincing European forest setting. Paul's home to re-watch "Little Mermaid," so I get to the end of SWISSALS from 8:05-11:20PM, and get to bed at 11:30PM.

MONDAY, 12/19/11: Pee at 3:10AM and 6:10AM and note DREAMS:12/19/11. Then have a large shit, and Paul's up already. Back to bed at 6:23AM and FUSS MENTALLY over computer storage, website, Met/Brooklyn Museum Mon/Tue close---and find later that the Met is closed on Monday and the Brooklyn Museum is closed on Monday AND Tuesday, Paul, time-wasting games, three cards on table (Chin for dermatologist referrals, Mallett for appointment time, and Virgin Mobile for hiatus), and the fact that TODAY seems to be a CRUX for all the time I wasted in the past. Struggle through Actualism 6:52-7:14, then have MORE agony before getting up at 7:30, seeing as it IS "technically" eight hours, though much spent on mind-spinning. Paul puts THREE band-aids on wound, which looks better, and takes the bandage off my wrist spots, which are still there but no longer itchy. Breakfast chatting with him, and he decides he'll go into town and return her just after 12 so we can go to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I get Virgin Mobile fairly easily handled, which leads me to call EasyPay Metro Card at 9:15AM, but don't get answered until 9:43AM, getting the "apology" that since they're closed on Sunday, Monday morning is very busy. Also call Netflix, getting all the NEEDED ones changed to my new Visa number. Then call Mildred to say changing numbers is like the dentist's visit: you hate it before it happens, but it's GREAT to have finished with it! Call Spartacus at 10:30AM, who of course informs me that Monday morning is the worst time to call any business. I guess I should have known. Try phoning Marj at exactly 11AM and her line is busy! Try again at 11:08AM and GET her. We spend 55 minutes going through the notes that took me 3:15 to generate. Paul comes in about 11:30 and fusses around until I get off the phone at 12:15PM. Phone Spartacus but he doesn't want to join us today at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for the tiger orchid. We subway there to find it CLOSED ON MONDAYS! Desperate, we walk down to the Prospect Park Zoo to find it open, though it costs me $6 and Paul $8, and we're in to the Discovery walk for geese, emus, red pandas, and prairie dogs; then to the cafe for a decent machine-dispensed $4.50 hot slice of pizza and $3.50 (both on my credit card) ice-cream bar. Watch them feed the sea lions at 2PM, then into the buildings for hamadryads, piranhas, snakes, frogs, lion-headed tamarins that captivate Paul, and other small primates and reptiles. Out to The Barn for llamas and four-horned Cotswald sheep, miniature horse and chickens and a big cock. Leave about 3PM to Flatbush Avenue for three Limited busses to zoom past us, and get a local to Court Street where we meet Spartacus on his way to Ikea. Paul thinks to join him, but then goes off by himself to buy instant coffee, which he drinks COLD in the morning. I indulge in Spider 4:35-5:25PM, then dress for Corton, getting there after a party of four at 6PM, where I mistake a young pudgy man for an older pudgy Drew Nierporent. Meal is fabulous, though Paul sends back his Wagyu Beef for more cooking, and we love the whole thing, particularly the way we feel perfectly content and full without being stuffed or "overfed." Out just before 8PM, a bit less than two hours, and he pays about $166 for me, what with my $115 dinner, $18 kir, and about $33 tax and tip. Back to watch the climax of "Dexter," which Paul likes, despite his previous statement of not liking it because of all the blood and murders. Finish the Spider game 9:35-9:53PM, BAD at 51.43441 at 772 up after 2 wins. Then spend an hour proofing TIBET and get to bed at 11:20PM.

TUESDAY, 12/20/11: Pee and shit at 6:02AM, record DREAMS:12/20/11, and at 6:42, feeling unconscionably happy, I come up with a Tuesday do-list: 0) Find two good "Torchwood" episodes; 1) Finish TIBET; 2) Marj on TIBET; 3) Paul looks at website; 4) Paul: can I copy iPhone to Edge?; 5) NM note: Am I Happy At Last?: a) all stacks DONE but website, b) BIND all loose travel/notebook pages and COUNT FINAL pages and words, c) task-list for website, d) DEFINITIVE C: storage elimination-possibilities, e) look into slides to DVD conversion; 6) Mildred/lunch/Lexington Candy/Wednesday? Up at 7:27AM, have breakfast while chatting with Paul about coming events, and get to NM at 8:27AM. Phone Mildred at 9AM. We chat, much about her detestation of Occupy Wall Street's anti-capitalist tendencies and Obama's proposal to heavily tax those with over $200,000/year income, and she agrees to lunch tomorrow ("The first day of Hanukkah.") at Lexington Candy: call her in the morning, and get off the phone at 9:25AM. Paul's playing "What Dreams May Come" on my recommendation. Now I'm ready to return to TIBET. Finish that just after 11AM, phone Marj, and we finish just about noon. I watch the start of the end of "Terra Nova" with a bowl of soup and leave at 1:05PM to get to the Met at 2PM to start looking at the Islam wing before Paul meets me at 2:15, and I get tired quickly looking at the carving, glass, jewelry, and ceilings and carpets of the large area. Down to the Heroic Africa at 4PM, looking at that until 4:35 when we leave to catch the bus directly and across for the subway, rather quickly, to get to the entrance to Jean-George at 5:15, too early for our 5:30 seating, and we're at the opposite corner from where we sat the first time many years ago. He says it's changed a lot, but I don't think it has. It contrasts to Corton by being almost full by 6PM, maybe because this is part of a hotel, which may explain why they accept SO many men without jackets. Paul likes the four appetizers, but the main courses of his crab and roast foie aren't as good as my lovely, large, foie gras with a burnt-sugar topping and my snapper with loads of artichoke hearts, and my sweetbreads, a la Illhaursen, are in a lump with loads of chestnuts, with stringy black truffles that were supposed to be a $15 supplement which they didn't charge us, too many to finish, but when I get through with the gland they HAVE managed to clear away much of the membrane---which Paul didn't like in HIS foie. We seemed to like the desserts, chosen from four groups, my Chocolate being hot-centered cake, a white-chocolate ice cream, strange curls of fruit, while his Autumn was best for the pomegranate sorbet. Again it was under two hours of dining. Paul paid $98 for my fixed-price meal, $18 for my kir (while his GLASS of wine was $32!), for $116 plus $29 or $143. Sprinkling rain as we left, and then HE left ME at the 1 station, not to appear until after I got to bed at 11:05PM.

WEDNESDAY, 12/21/11: Pee at 5:22AM, and note that I have a DEFINITE TMJ problem for the third night. Up at 8:31AM, TIRED. Breakfast and decide not to get together with Mildred for lunch, due to rain and my doctor's appointment. Go to the gym about 10PM and Paul's gone when I get back. Play Spider 11:52AM---getting to SIX losses---1:10PM, ending down again at 51.42644 at 768 up after 3 wins. Have a HH lunch while watching a "Wallace and Grommit," and leave for my Mallett appointment as described in MEDICAL:12/21/11. Back to find Paul still gone, look at mail, catch up with this to 5:55PM, and have a tangerine while watching more Gromit, having forgotten, for the time, about the strange lump at the side of my left knee, discovered at the gym! Get to WD-50 a few minutes before he does, and they refuse to seat me before he arrives, a pain. We order the 11-course menu, he has NO wine, and my kir royale is small, but only $15. Crispy cream cheese is a slice of plastic, but the beet-mustard is just a dynamite new taste. Lamb loin is seriously underdone, but Paul chokes it down without sending it back: it was rare even for MY taste. The dessert was good but the plantain was so dense that I left a pile of it on the plate, as I did with excess chestnuts last night. This at least breaks the record for length, going from 7-9:30PM for $140 plus $15 for my kir and $41 tax and tip for $206, bringing the three-restaurant total for me up to $515, still far less than the contemplated $125/seven-night stay bill from the Brooklyn Heights Bed and Breakfast for $875. We come back together to watch an episode of "Wallace and Gromit" and then I do Spider again from 10:25PM-12:15AM to 51.43716 to 774 up after 7 wins, OK at last. Bed 12:24AM.

THURSDAY, 12/22/11: Up at 5AM to pee and take three aspirins and type DREAMS:12/22/11. Up at 8:15AM, tired. Breakfast of HH fritatta while he yammers at me, and we leave for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden at 9:15AM, getting there about 9:30 but find the Conservatory closed at 10:07 when it should have been open at 10AM. Gift shop Black is no help at all, and the guard at the gate at 1000 Washington says it should be open. Well, it isn't. He phones and says it will be. We get there and AGAIN wait until 10:27 to get into the room to find they've cut BACK the tiger orchid: there's absolutely nothing to see. Out the back entrance after sitting for a while in the Japanese garden, and in the back door of the Brooklyn Museum to pay $1 and get the elevator to the fifth floor for "Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties," and I'm flabbergasted to find that the sexy youth in the cover painting is Paul Cadmus! Good exhibit to noon, while Paul goes down a floor to see "Hide/Seek" and comes back up to tell me he's leaving. I go down and take an hour and a half of detailed viewing, including the entire half hour of David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly," which caused trouble in Washington, I thought, because of the ants crawling on the crucifix, but it may have been the erect penis in masturbation. Tired, and home to get out the restaurant list to check prior histories: A) Corton was 1) 10/7/08 for the Beard preview before opening, 2) 10/8/08 Ken and Charles, 3) 10/14/08 Mildred, 4) 5/4/09 Ken, 5) 12/20/10 Ken and Paul, 6) ?/?/11 O'Sheas, 7) ?/?/11 Ken and Charles, and 8) 12/19/11; B) Jean Georges was 1) 5/7/97 with Paul for tasting, 2) 10/6/97 with Mildred and 3 from Mensa, 3) was 5/14/98 Mildred, and 4) 12/20/11; C) WD-50 was 1) 10/2/03 with Mildred, 2) 5/13/08 with Ken, and 3) 12/21/11. D) Romera is only 1) 12/22/11. Tell this to Mildred 2:38-2:43PM. Then watch the last of "Wallace and Gromit" while having my fantasy lunch before a big meal: oatmeal and a tangelo, not really tasting that good, from Rita. John Connolly calls to say they're in Miami and won't be back until May 1, which I put in my calendar. I finish with this to 5:25PM, having watched two more episodes of "30 Rock." Dress in same old shirt and pants and get to Romera, downstairs at Dream Hotel, at 6:07PM to find Paul waiting for me in the "library," filled mainly with foreign language books on food. We don't want a glass of champagne, and when I ask for a kir they try to substitute something else, but finally get some cassis from the hotel above them for my smallish glass of kir for which they charge me $16. The printed menu takes three courses to come to our table, and the first two courses are India-jewel creations that have so many ingredients that they blend into, in the case of the first course, a wonderful dark paste reminiscent of hoisin sauce, one of my favorites. The "wave of the sea" is fishy, but so other-accented that it's OK at base. They substitute some vegetables for my scallop, though the taste of it I have from Paul isn't half bad. The Romerian mosaics of two following courses are unique: an array of 7x7 tiny squares on the bottom of the plate onto which powdered spices and flakes and sugars have been glued, which then have to be wiped off with halved potatoes or Brussel sprouts, which then make a "mud" of tannish flavored sauce that is quite tasty, but again unidentifiable as to any actual ingredient. We're also served "Acqua Gourmands" of various liquids in a cruet with a nippled top, some of which are just silly, like "smoked water," and some are tasty, like the dessert "mandarin orange, saffron, vanilla, with or without grappa," and I guess ours was without. I felt rather full about halfway through; maybe I'd eaten my oatmeal too late in the afternoon. Some of the chocolates were very nice, and Paul proclaimed the golden souffle of the magdalena as "300% butter." Only five of the other ten tables were filled, and the service was unfailingly helpful and gracious, though somewhat stiff because of the need to explain everything even with the menu at the table. I had some of Romera's "handmade" coffee, decaf, which was OK, nothing special, while Paul had the green tea. The Moroccan smoker for the quail was the only "added element" to the stark white plating of most of the servings. I resolved, about halfway through, that it was NOT a place to which I might invite Mildred or Ken, though MAYBE the O'Sheas would be interested in it if I described it so thoroughly that they wouldn't be unpleasantly surprised. I guess, compared with Corton's $140 tasting, Romera's $243 is overpriced, which is the easiest (except for the fact that only two of the eleven courses featured any form of meat) reason for my feeling I wouldn't really care to return, though Paul was more enthusiastic about it for its sheer differentness, ranking it #2 in the week's restaurants, behind Corton but ahead of Jean George and WD-50, which he put last, whereas I put it second in place of Romera's last, mainly due to the overemphasis on fish. We divide the check, so I pay a part of his $28 glass of wine, pricier than my $16 kir, and my bill is $290.70 to which I add $45 tip, making a total of $335.70, which puts it at #12 on my priciest-restaurant list, THIRD in the US behind Masa in NYC and Alinea in Chicago. Out at 9PM, making this, at three hours, the longest-lasting of the marathon of dinners. Subway home to watch the problematic "Weekend" on TV to 11:30 and I get to bed at 11:42PM.

FRIDAY, 12/23/11: Pee at 3:29AM, after dream of a committee taking over management of a circus for next year. Again feel feverish and take three aspirins. Pee again at 6:44AM and up, still tired, at 8:11AM to find Paul watching porn as usual. I have oatmeal to sooth my stuffed stomach and then phone Mildred about possibly joining us at Shake Shack for lunch, but she can't get there until 2:15PM, after her shrink, and Paul has to leave here by car at 3:15PM to get to Newark at 4:15PM to be two-and-a-half hours before his 6:45PM departing plane for Paris, so we decide that they won't meet this time, though they chat over the phone about Mildred's loving to hear his accent. I get to HH meals to find that NEXT week's meals will arrive TODAY, which I hadn't ordered ahead, though I DID look at the message about the combined deliveries which came with Wednesday's delivery, but even then it probably would have been too late to order food for next week, so I ordered for the week after that, which will be delivered on the Friday also. Catch up with this by 10AM, wondering how to spend the rest of the day: I'm pantless because Paul opined that it would be better to leave my knee-biopsy site exposed to the air rather than chafing the bandage against my jeans. He hasn't asked to see my website, and I don't think I'll suggest it because he probably really isn't that interested in it. Let's let the last day be his to choose. We watch "Life in a Day" until 12:30PM and get out for lunch at Shake Shack, making him nervous about getting back to the apartment in time for the car. Good lunch, and a quick Promenade stroll, and I pick up my 12/2 laundry at last and get back to watch the touching "Torchwood" episode. He goes down for the car at 3:12 and when I phone at 3:20 they've picked him up. Watch "Page One: Inside the New York Times" after I get back from Sharon 6:30-7:15 after I did a terrible Spider to 6:15 to 51.42295 at 767 up after 1 win, and jerk off perfunctorily, and watch two episodes of "Doctor Who," just because I can. Bed at 1:53AM.

SHARON B. 197 12/23/11

Puzzled by another woman sitting in the waiting room when I arrive at 6:28PM, but Sharon comes out and calls me in, saying that the other woman got out of work early so she came here to wait to see Sharon until after I do. The whole session is about Paul, and when I looked on Saturday into my history to see how many times Paul's been here, I see also that Paul has been the CONSTANT subject of my sessions when he's about to arrive, here, or just left. Now I, probably for the fifth or sixth time, talk of my relief that he's gone, and the VERY mixed feelings about his having been here. We DO enjoy the meals, but I can't STAND his constant need to TALK! Sharon says the same thing about her husband: he chats constantly while he's driving, and she resists the urge to tell him to just SHUT UP! And then, of course, she says that it's impossible to change anyone from doing what they're in the habit of doing. I go back over history to say that I could tolerate his bad points when he was young and attractive and we had sex a lot. But I also mentioned in passing how self-centered he was, and she professed to not having heard that before. But I also said that he was willing to defer to me as his host, even when the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was closed on Monday and we went to the zoo, which he kept insisting was interesting---while pointing out the animals and exhibits that he DID think were interesting. I mentioned the tiger orchid being totally gone, after we went to two locations to try to get the conservatory open at 10:28AM which was supposed to be open at 10AM. I repeated that Paul was obliging in letting me have my bedroom to myself, and even the whole apartment to myself: leaving for the day and only meeting me at the restaurants for dinner, and even leaving me alone AFTER dinner to "go into town" on his own business, which he refused, for the most part, to tell me about, though I was very happy that he used up my $25 Macy's gift card. Said in exaggeration that he must have been here at least 35 times, which leads me to try to find how many times he has IN FACT been here since my first notation of him here with Rolf on 12/3/80, over thirty years ago! AND I'd fallen away from my determination that he never be here over four days in a row. The time passed remarkably quickly, and I glanced at the clock to see that it was 7:15 and I had to leave, but not before noting that Sharon changed my appointment back to Wednesdays at 4PM, which was great since I'd have had to cancel next Friday because of my eastern Turkey show anyway.

SATURDAY, 12/24/11: Pee at 5:20AM and take three aspirins and put Mupirocin on my leg. Pee at 8:31AM and get the Times. Do Actualism and get up at 9:17AM. Note to add to my website list: 1) Twitterverse, 2) ZolnerBlog, 3) Number of Paul's visits and number of days visited, 4) current Spider usage, 5) print Charles's Christmas letter that I gave to Sharon, and 6) copy WP51 to Edge. Do the last, first, from 9:22-9:27AM, try to copy Documents and Settings, 17.3 Gb, 34,853 files, 2.803 folders, created 10/17/03, but some components won't copy, which won't let me copy the entire file. So I copy My Pictures, 11.3 Gb, Olympus Master 2 as the single folder, from 9:34AM to I-don't-know-when, maybe KNOWINGLY corrupting my Edge, since my lack of storage prevents computer-protection updates to happen. Have breakfast to 10:05, do the Puns and Anagrams puzzle to 10:35, the crossword to 11:30, and finish the Times by 12:05PM. Talk to Marj 12:08-12:32PM, starting with "How many times can I believe myself when I say I'm about to enter a new, more productive phase of my life?" I suggest her life is so---uh, uniform, that she doesn't have changing phases, while I switched in the past by deciding to write plays, set up a website, and reorganize my apartment. Also realize, though I'm nearly "caught up" now, that soon the IRS will start sending tax documents, I'll have to make the LIFELIST for 2011, and I'll be getting a rare index. Then I go to the gym since it closes at 3PM, get back at 2:15, have lunch to 2:55, and start catching up with this, interrupted by A SECOND call from John Connolly at 3:20PM, and decide to bite the bullet with more Spider at 3:25PM, after e-mail. Play Spider 3:30-4:20PM to 51.42645 at 769 up after 3 wins, SLOW. Then a bit of Taipei to 4:35 when I figure I must start changing for The Four Seasons at 5:30, and when the Borough Hall train is VERY late, I take the Manhattan train at Clark Street to see the newly reconstructed 4-5 transfer lanes from the 2-3 lines, and get to The Four Seasons just at 5:30, with Mildred already seated. We both start with rather goose-liverish foie gras and SMALL kirs for $25 each! Her goose is good, my filet mignon is good, but no more, and she has a chocolate torte for dessert, while I'm unexcited by my chocolate soufflé. Out just before 7:30 to kiss lightly on the lips to reward her for being SO complimentary to my tie, my hair, and my looks in general. Home to start scanning NA through NM for Paul's visits, finishing with a substantial list by 9:45PM, but still puzzled by NO entries between 12/3/80 and 8/6/91. Guess I've got to look at DATEBOOKS. Work on that until 10:30, then play Taipei 10:30-11:55PM to pass time, and get to bed 12:13AM.

SUNDAY, 12/25/11: 7:45AM: Dream of planet being heated by hot rocks; problem solutions introduced at random on blackboards. Pee; no Times. Note to check Google for Leroy Southers, Bob Zolnerzak, and Sharon Byrnes. Up at 8:20AM to read Times to 9:05AM, water plants, remove last remnants of Paul's visit: take down the living room bed, pick up floor lint, close shower curtain, wipe his lint off the bathroom mirror. Have breakfast while reading the New Yorker article on Gobekli Tepec, which I so nearly missed and "should" have seen. Paul calls from Paris, sounding sleepy, at 9:45AM, saying approximately nothing. Catch up with this by 10:30AM. By 10:50AM I found nothing at all for Leroy Southers except there's a musician by that name; maybe more for BOB Zolnerzak than for ROBERT Zolnerzak, including Tuesday Evening Club programs; and lots of DIFFERENT Sharon Byrneses, but some in social work in Brooklyn appear to be germane. Now for my daily Spider before writing up Friday's session. Spider went from 10:50-11:50AM---interrupted by my calling Rita and Denny to thank them for their oranges and tangelos and wishing them happy holidays, and hearing about their daughter-in-law's illness that forced them to visit HER, rather than the little family coming to them, and about Rita's fall last night on a dark stairway on the way to a neighborhood Christmas-light festival---getting slowly up to 51.42804 at 770 up after 2 wins, and then after checking e-mail I moved to Taipei from 11:55AM-12:35PM, winning about half, and then onward to Solitaire from 12:35-1:30PM, until the familiar dizziness took over. Then caught up with this AGAIN at 1:45PM, maybe time for lunch before thinking of how NOW to spend my empty---though glad for it!---day. Ah, but I'm back to Spider---also talking on the phone---1:45-4:05PM, to 51.41988 at 766 up after 2 wins, GHASTLY. Start watching TV with lunch, eventually watching "A Christmas Story" as recommended by Rita, and she calls after I watch a bit of it and tape the rest to be able to speed through commercials, giving me the opportunity to ask: how did they film the "tongue frozen to pole" sequence? And she'd seen an interview with the director and actor: they used a PLASTIC pole with a hole that provided SUCTION to keep the tongue in place WITHOUT pain to the actor! I'm back to "Doctor Who" for a couple of episodes before RETURNING to Spider 10:30-11:50PM to 51.42317 at 768 up after 2 wins, SLOW. Continue to Taipei 11:50PM-12:30AM before ANOTHER couple of episodes of "Doctor Who" and bed at 1:43AM!

MONDAY, 12/26/11: 7:25AM dream: Spartacus buys tiny boxes for bugs killed with intense heat (obviously based on bedbug fears): "Less than 1/box." Also try baking VERY THIN breads with runny batters. Pee. Up at 8:29AM, only 6:46 in bed. Breakfast to 9:20, content to read magazine articles, by coincidence finding the New Yorker's Gesualdo article centered on sites in Naples, which I'll be visiting in a few months! Call Mildred and she's OK with the idea of the Turkey pictures on the big screen for a large audience, rather than the images being more distinct on the TV screen appropriate only for a smaller audience. Leave word with Charles about going to the Met Museum tomorrow. About 8:47AM I tackle my C:\ storage problem. Chart the Elite flashdrive: 30 GB of which 13.7 GB free, containing 2 folders: 1) 10 of 1.79GB for days 05-24 and 2) BOB of MY PICTURES of 13.2 GB, including Olympus Master 2 for 2008, 2009, and 2010. Then look at C:\. DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS 17.4 GB, too big for Elite. MY PICTURES 11.3 GB which I copy to Elite 8:47-9:57AM. So now Edge has MY PICTURES and Elite has MY PICTURES TWICE, and I can REMOVE them from C:\, and ERASE MY PICTURES from BOB on Elite 9:58-10:05AM, leaving 15.6 GB free on Elite. Then erase MY PICTURES from C:\ at 10:11AM, leaving 11.5 GB free, solving THAT problem! At 10:12AM start SUPPORT, installing, initializing, and updating McAfee Virtual Technician, session ID 36839371 at 10:45AM, but I can't get rid of "computer in danger." Back to Spider 10:45-11:30AM, to 51.42666 at 770 up after 3 wins SLOW. No luck with "computer alert" at 11:55AM. Decide to start scanning datebooks from 1980 to note Paul's visits, but then add Mom's visits, slide shows, colds, Sadahiro's visits, and goodies like Rita and Denny and Paul here from 10/6-12/94, Games Group #1 on 1/24/88, Dr. Chin 6/8/88 [find that MEDICAL starts only in 1990, so I couldn't check if this was the FIRST time I saw Dr. Chin], and Dr. Odinsky 8/21/92. Watch scattered TV through the day: Ebert, "30 Rock," "Doctor Who." Lunch 3:05-3:35PM. Ken calls, having returned from his trip west to visit family. Half through datebooks by 5:40PM, backside sore from sitting in one position so long. For relaxation I return to Spider 5:45-7:15PM to 51.43174 at 773 up after 4 wins, SLOW. Continue, as becoming depressingly usual, to Taipei 7:15-8:15PM, and then Solitaire 8:15-10PM! More TV and bed at 12:27AM.

TUESDAY, 12/27/11: Pee at 5:10AM and up at 6:15, mind a-whirl: 1) website, how many pages? 2) slides, how many? 3) Spider, how long for average game? 4) Paul, number of visits, number of days, 5) start webwork timechart: 12/27/11 6:15AM-, well, 7:50AM, right now as I type! At 6:30AM I checked e-mail and was pleased to see that Verizon Security is now OK! Start on NM at 6:45AM. Pause at 7:05AM to take pictures of the near-dawn sky color to east and west, fill the humidifier, and check that sunrise is at 7:20AM today. Back out at 7:15AM with coat on to watch sunrise. Pigeons wheel in formation, alternating among the ledges on 75 Henry, a hidden spot behind Fortune House, and a particular square of ground on the northwest side of the Cadman Plaza Memorial. Pity the sun's not out to catch the contrast of white and dark as they flap and float in unison. I stay out to 7:27AM, 39, streets noisy with trucks and dogs out for their morning runs. Had been hoping to get to the end of a page so that I could print out one last page before turning off the printer. Maybe do an informal WHERE AM I NOW? to accomplish that at 7:52AM: Satisfied that I'll have as many as ten people for the eastern Turkey show on 12/30; will put up the big screen and move in the coffee table as I'd done so often in the past and then AVOIDED doing for smaller groups more recently. Pleased that that coffee table is now down to essentially ONE pile for the website! Yesterday I'd added more website tasks to my list, and this morning I did HEAVY thinking about my slides: MASTER-LABEL them in groups for eventual conversion into DVD stacks: A-Z for major GROUPS: A: NYC, B: NY state, C: USA, D: France, E:Italy, F: China, G: Male art, H: Male porn, I: Russia, J: Japan, K: Five Stand, L: South Africa, M: Antarctica, N: Spain, O: England, P: South Pacific, Q: Germany, R: North Africa, S: Spain and Portugal, T: Tunisia, U: Other Europe, V: Other Asia, W: Other Africa, X: South America, Y: Islands, Z: Other---and I could use even MORE categories, or combine these better---but this is a FIRST try! And I got my page printed! CHARLES calls at 7:55AM! We decide on the Met Museum visit on Thursday before dining at Mark Forgione. Talk to 8:30, and he's probably coming on Friday, too. Then call Mildred and we talk until 9:05, and then I finish by calling HIP to find that Chin STILL hasn't signed off on my referral to Freilich, but he's not in until 11:30AM and the guy says he WILL call me back because I complain of how hard it is for me to get to THEM! I finish this to 9:40AM, starved for breakfast! Have oatmeal while reading magazines, then get back to DATEBOOKS 1995-2003 from 10:15AM-1:15PM, TIRED from sitting and gathering data. Play Spider 1:30-2PM to 51.43343 at 774 up after 2 wins, SLOW. Then continue with unrecorded Taipei, talk to Marj and Mildred, have lunch to 3:50, after wiping PEE off the floor around the toilet! Bull through the last of the DATEBOOKS 2004-2010 to 5:45PM, realizing that I NOW have to transcribe 2011 and complete my lists of 1) slide shows, 2) colds, 3) "pivotal events," 4) and various people staying here. Check Fresh Direct, which seems VERY expensive to me, contrasting with Charles's comment that it's cheaper than supermarkets; check mail to 6:50PM and at 7PM come up with the final list of Paul's totals: THIRTY visits for a total of 199 days, meaningful to some for some reason. Then do an INCREDIBLE Spider session from 7:45-10:15PM, getting to 51.46019 at 789 up after 17 wins, where the MOST EVER is 18 wins, and I'm exactly HALFWAY to the best score, having increased by 15 "ups" and need 15 to tie previous best of 804 up. Then have soup for dinner while watching "30 Rock" and "Doctor Who" and get to bed at 1:35AM.

WEDNESDAY, 12/28/11: Pee 8:31AM, do a transcendent Actualism in which I "chart" program on Friday: 1) gorillas, 2) Nemrut, and 3) Turkey. Will see how a FLEXIBLE show will affect all the attendees. Up at 9:37AM to type after a good shit, spraying the bathroom prior to Friday night's gathering, and call Freilich at 9:53AM to get told "Call at 11AM, when the Pierrepont office is open." 10:05AM: So my next tasks are 1) Spider usage, 2) bind pages, 3) task-list for website, and 4) look into slides to DVDs before getting to 5) 2011 LIFELIST, 6) IRS start, and 7) January index. So my today-list is: 1) catch-up NM, 2) breakfast, 3) Freilich referral-check, 4) gym, 5) Freilich?, and 6) Sharon. Finish catching up on NM at 10:15AM, ready for breakfast. But first I have to distribute pills. On one of the few days I choose to listen to WQXR, they're having a "one-day fund-raising" today, so I turn it off after I sort out the pills and have breakfast to 11:05AM. Then phone Freilich and SCREAM at Angela that I will NOT call Chin or HIP again, there are administrative problems that I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH: it's THEIR job, not MINE to handle their paperwork! She said that she'll "do me a favor" (after saying "What an unpleasant person!" to someone beside her while the phone is down), but will NOT call me back. So I'll just go in at 2:15 and see what happens. Now, at 11:15AM, I'll list my findings from my DATEBOOK survey. Order HH meals to 11:40AM. Type DTBKSLDS (DATEBOOK slide shows), DTBKMEDS (DATEBOOK colds and other medical details), and DTBKNOTD (DATEBOOK notes and details) to 12:10PM. Then go to the gym to 1:55PM, and put clothes out to dry as I leave for Freilich, signing in at 2:15 for MEDICAL:12/28/11 HORROR! Out at 3PM, talk to Marj 3:07-3:48, to Mildred 3:48-3:50, who maddeningly concludes, "YOU and Charles go to eat in the restaurant; I'll just stay home," when she can't get the restaurant to increase her table-size to three. There's a chance of a cancellation tomorrow before I leave to meet Charles at 3PM. Then get to Sharon, finding the office empty at 4PM and I look in her door just as she comes out to call me in. I fill her ears about this afternoon. Home to have a tasty tilapia dinner for a late lunch with pills, followed by two oranges, and watch "Doctor Who" until I get tired of it and tune into episode 63 of "MI-5," which Spartacus said I would love, and decide to turn it off at 7:53 to return to WORK. Scan DTBKMEDS to 8:45 (I'm sure I could have just RETYPED it quicker!) and then type DTBKPAUL to 9:15, having GREAT trouble reading my list, and finally ending at 30 items for 192 hours---I don't know how I mistook it for 199 earlier. Oh, and Alexandra called while I was watching TV to ask whether Friday was on, and I marveled that I was about to call her to ask if she could come at 6:30PM for the gorillas, and she said she'd be glad to, and asked if she could bring anything, and of course I said she could. Then type the Freilich session and prepare to write up the session with Sharon now at 9:50PM. Finish that at 10:02PM, shoulders aching from typing, ready to play more Spider, undoubtedly KILLING off the marvelous advance of the LAST session! QUITE THE OPPOSITE: play 10PM-12:45AM to 51.47972 at 800 up after THIRTEEN wins! Again fantastic! Have no great appetite, so I take my night pill (after FORGETTING that I took dinner pills with late lunch, taking out MORE dinner pills, then wondering why BREAKFAST pills hasn't been taken out, and had to remind myself that it was TODAY that I distributed pills, so took NONE out of the box today yet) and get to bed without having dinner at ALL. But when I weigh myself, it's still up to 205, disappointingly high. Bed at 1:11AM.

SHARON B. 198 12/28/11

Sign in with a new guy at the dot of 4PM by my watch, and go to peek in Sharon's door when she comes out to get me. I immediately start in on the ASSHOLE I felt myself to be (and talked to Marj about earlier, which I didn't mention to Sharon) when I shouted "NO," to Freilich's wanting to remove my hard-earned scab. She agreed with Marj that SHE would have had the impulse to refuse his doing it, and got into the multiple reasons why I felt BAD about doing it: it was of course complicated by my shouting match with his helpers about getting referrals, and even by my guilt over my infection when I didn't change the bandage for the first few days. I would NEVER have the nerve to tell him that it had never happened to me before. Sharon asked me to go back o memories with my mother to see how SHE corrected me when I was wrong, but I could only say that it seemed more like she clucked and shook her head, saying that I was so smart I should KNOW such things, as a way of backward praise, rather than of condemnation. I remained very emotional throughout the session, which is hard to capture in retrospect. I mentioned the irony of earlier that day thinking the wish of the old to be young again FORGETS that youth is plagued with uncertainty, wanting people to like them, and knowing that they're ugly because of their pimples. But I remarked that, looking back over pictures of me as a youth, I was rather CUTE, though I alway thought of myself as rather plain and thus had no worries about losing any looks as I got older. She actually asked if I could bring in a photo of myself as a younger person. [Where ARE my two younger-photo scans?] And here, as a mature person, I was embarrassed because I reflexively shouted NO when he wanted to cause me pain, which he DID by removing the scab, and I told Sharon that I could feel the pain in that location NOW. [And later in the evening, when I looked at it to see why it was sore, it seemed that the skin around it was purple with SOME kind of problem of infection of pain or problem!] She took some notes, and I was glad when it was over, laughing that I thought I'd have nothing to talk about after my recent session on Friday. She said she'd have to phone me with a replacement time for my next Wednesday's 4PM, which I can't do because of the show at 1:15 that afternoon.

THURSDAY, 12/29/11: Pee at 5:57AM and at 7:57AM, and lie lazily and get up at 8:38AM, content. Check e-mail to 8:55, responding to Dorothy (about 1/4 show) and Fred (about "here Friday night"), and have breakfast to 9:20AM, finishing another magazine. Leave word with Charles about today, and phone Mildred 9:25-9:45, getting her to agree to the restaurant tonight, and Charles gets my call-waiting service to say, logically, that Mildred and I should have the restaurant meal tonight, and he'll simply join me at the museum at 3PM. GREAT! I then breathlessly try Spider for ANOTHER (though increasingly lesser) feat of getting to 51.48679 at 804 up, TIED for top up-score, after 5 wins. Bring NM up to date by 11:13AM, ready to finish off DTBKNOTD with items that I MISSED yesterday. Do that to 11:30AM, and then continue productively to update the Christmas card list, finding that I'd sent 30 and got 27, throwing away last year's kept cards and filing this year's kept cards to 11:45AM. Proceed to calculate my Spider usage: add up all the hours spent in 2011 so far to 713:40, which is JUST SHORT of two hours/day. Then see that I'd played 24264 games by 4/5/11, and 27039 games to today, making 2775 games between the two periods, taking 486:35 hours, making it VERY ROUGHLY six games/hour. Extend the calculations tomorrow to note that roughly 24000 games would have taken 4000 hours, or 500 8-hour days, 100 40-hour weeks, and TWO FULL WORK-YEARS, as, for instance, compared with 6+ years of travel. Then I have to "play out" the Spider screen I displayed to get the number of games, playing from 1:15-1:50PM with even MORE wins, but realize I don't have time for lunch before meeting Charles at 3PM at the Met Museum, so I phone him and delay our meeting to 3:30. Call Mildred, in case she wanted to join us, which she doesn't. Have lunch and leave for the museum at 2:20, getting there early at 3:15, and Charles doesn't arrive until 3:38, which slightly pisses me. Go up to buy the Membership Calendar for Winter 2012, through February, and then we're off to the Stieglitz Collection 3:55-4:50, rather academic, though the Zeyes drawings are fun, and I leave him to see the exhibit of contemporary photographs that ends 1/2/12 from 4:52-5:05, somewhat fun, and wait for him to pass through the downstairs coat-check from 5:15-5:30. When he doesn't show up, I get a quick bus across Central Park and subway down to Mark Forgione to meet Mildred at 6:35, cursing this place as I do all places that refuse to show me to a table before the "complete party" arrives. The food is actually very good (though the NOISE is really off-putting), and we'll never go there again. Home to the TV Guide sudoku and back to finish my Spider from this afternoon from 10:25-11:45PM, OUTSTANDING to 51.50103, very close to my highest of 51.5033 on 11/27, at 812 up after 9 wins! Brush teeth, reminding myself that Dr. DiMatteo will be looking at my teeth on Saturday, and doctor leg wound and get to bed at 12:17AM, finding it hard to get to sleep.

FRIDAY, 12/30/11: Pee at 6:50AM and type DREAMS:12/30/11, very disturbing, so worrying that I continue with notes that I add to DREAMS later. Pee again at 7:07AM, write notes, and get back to bed at 7:10AM, adding another note to 7:12AM. Up at 8:57 after Actualism. At 9:05AM note extensions of the Spider calculations described yesterday, and count slide shows so far: 16 on "earlier" list, 57 DTBKSLDS, 17 Cadman shows, 32 shows here, and 22 so far at 55 Pierrepont, for a grand total of 144 tonight! Finish breakfast at 9:40AM and tempt fate by going back to Spider, limping through from 9:45-10:45AM to 51.49879 at 811 up after 2 wins: OOPS! E-mail Fred about 1/7 party, and he even responds immediately. Finish with this at 11:30AM, ready to clear desk of Met Museum stuff and Spider records and start on binding website pages. Talked to Mildred, who told me to find Mark Forgione under Marc Forgione! And, with her usual stupidity, said "Maybe you don't want me to come because you're having a crowd tonight?" I holler at her and she laughs. Shut screen off, then find not to add to NM and turn screen on---and get COMPCHRO:12/20/11 blinking cursor. Reboot and add note to 11:55AM. Try to find previous sheets on number of pages, but going through the WHOLE STACK of pages produces nothing. Talk to Spartacus and I'm light-headed for lunch about 1:30PM. Have that while watching "Doctor Who," during which time my HH meals come in, just after I'd emptied the bottom compartment of the previous week's food. Go down and get nothing in the mail and the box, put it away, and go back to Spider 2:45-3:30PM, ending at 51.50227 at 813 up after 3 wins, so tantalizingly close to the previous high that I continue, through Mark's call (I'd written down the wrong cell-phone number: 300 instead of 200 in the middle), to BEST, AT LAST, at 4:50PM of 51.50552 at 815 up after 3 wins. TRIUMPH FOR THE NEW YEAR! Fill in these last notes to print out another page and start, at 4:55PM, to prepare for the show starting at 6:30PM tonight of gorillas and eastern Turkey for all of TEN people! Well, nine, since Mark's not coming. Alexa enters just after 6:30 as I'm getting the last of the silverware out onto the serving table. She loves the gorillas, and Piri comes in with stuff to eat, then the others by 7:15 when I start the eastern Turkey show, with Carolyn last just as it's starting, and Mildred when it's well under way. Ken suggests we order pizza at 7:45, and I'm appalled to find Fascati's CLOSED! Get out lots of order-in menus and Ken takes over to make me a list to order from Great Wall, which comes in less than half an hour with TONS of food for $52, and I give him $57 for delivering. It's a mess on the floor and on dishes, but I get the show going again and finish just after 10PM, marveling that everyone (except Mildred) stayed alert and interested. All leave except Fred, who talks about his "little family" of James and Maria and the kid, that he loves when he's not exasperated by him. We compare notes on waning sexual interest, activity, and orgasmic production, and again he seems very friendly and close, even possibly thinking of sharing a trip together. He might invite Greg to his Beardies party because I'd like to see him. He leaves just after 11PM and I just leave all the mess before4 going to bed at 11:49PM.

SATURDAY, 12/31/11: Pee at 7:05AM, then do Actualism and get up at 7:49AM, getting the Times. Breakfast to 8:40, do the puzzle to 9:25, the acrostic to 10:10, tend my teeth for Goldberger, and get out at 11:30, thinking to get there early, but really arrive at the dot of 11:45. She takes me at 11:50 and I'm out at noon, results recorded in MEDICAL:12/31/11. Then again feel the atypical slight dizziness and lightness in the head from not having eaten, so I have an early lunch while watching three episodes of "Doctor Who" to 3:25PM, awkward in the chair left out of position by the show last night, waiting for a possible show to people from the Games Group tomorrow late afternoon. Note that I want to make a list of DIGITAL shows available on my laptop: A) Bhutan, Kathmandu, St. John the Divine, Brit-Wales, Labrador, TV, unedited 2425 shots! B) Brit-Wales complete, C) Dubai, D) Egypt, E) Five Stans, F) Franfood, G) St. Petes, H) Turkeast. Call Piri and she's too busy to think of coming up after lunch on Sunday. Just plain TIRED, but I finish the Times to 4:25, play Taipei 4:25-5:45, not winning many, then Solitaire 5:45-6:30, so tired that I just LIE DOWN until 7:40, not really napping, but get up not feeling SO tired. Transcribe LIFELIST 2011 7:52-8:52 to 3/15/11, have dinner with another two episodes of "Doctor Who," then finish cleaning up a bit, doing dishes to WQXR's top classical numbers of the year: #3 Mahler's 2nd with Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic with Jennie Tourel, #2 Beethoven's 5th with Pavo Yurve, and #1 Beethoven's 9th with Rattle and the Birmingham. Back to LIFELIST 2011 10:30-11:51PM to 7/26/11, dressing in the 49 mildness to just miss the start of the midnight fireworks---distant, even SOUTH of the Statue of Liberty for some obscure reason---which go to 12:10AM, almost overshadowed by the incredible orange-red wedge of moon sinking to the horizon at 12:07AM. Mash papers into the "restaurants-done" shelf, which has to be sorted out. Bed at 12:35AM, Sunday, 2012!