Pat's Visit

 

Pat leaves his home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for the nine hour plus trip to visit me here at Casa Tipton-Kelly tomorrow. 

This time he's not renting a car which costs upwards of $900. We're both on tight budgets these days what with the cost of living ever rising and our fixed incomes not rising. He's driving down in his tan Fiat.

Pat's last visit he rented a hybrid car. It got great gas mileage but I had a very difficult time getting in and out of his car. Interestingly I don't have a hard time getting in and out of his Fiat, which is a very small car. The hybrid car Pat rented was just too low to the ground. Absolutely killed my legs and back.

Having someone around the house will be nice even though it takes some getting used to. After living by myself for a couple of years I've sort of gotten used to living alone. Taking my multiple naps. Coming and going as I please. Pat is good company and the perfect guest. This is going to be nice.

By the way, the picture above isn't the car Pat is driving down. He's coming down in his Fiat.

Will I Watch The Oscars Tonight?

In years past I used to be a faithful viewer of the Oscar telecasts. Lately though, I can barely get through that orgasmic self congratulatory of self important actors and others in the movie industry. Maybe because I don't know who these people are.

This year I know of Timothee (accent over the first "E") Chalamet, that little self important twerp who seems to think his performance in "Marty Supreme" surpasses and opera or ballet production in history. 

I have to admit I never got the whole Timothee thing. What is that all about anyway? What am I missing? I've only seen him in one movie. That one with Armand Hammer which was an older man falling for a younger man (Timothee). That movie? Meh. It got a lot of build up but as a gay man, I didn't find this movie particularly interesting. Maybe I'm just a crusty old man. Probably.

Anyway, I'm taping the Oscars. I'll fast forward through the boring parts, where they give out all the non acting awards where whole groups get up on the stage with their affected scarves and hairdos and thank everyone from their first grade elementary school teacher to their new born children for their "great success." Hey folks, you didn't discover the polio vaccine. Dr. Jonas Salk discovered that vaccine and he didn't have to attend a self congratulatory orgy party to accept his award. 

That's it. Onward and upwards. 

Do I Need Netflix?

 

Tonight again I tried to bring up my Netflix streaming service in my bedroom. That's where I have my main TV, in my bedroom which Pat calls "The Tipton Cinema." Lately I've been having problems having a strong signal. Often I can't bring anything up and if I do, it pauses (buffers) and then tries to download the signal again. Sometimes I wish I had the old Netflix service of renting DVD discs. 

Then there is a problem of the paucity of movies and series that I'm interested in when I am able to get a strong signal. I see other series and movies that I'm interested in on other platforms like Hulu, Prime, Paramount, and Max but one has to subscribe to each one of those services. Damn if I'm going to put out about $200 a month looking for a decent movie or series.

Then when I do get a movie that I'm interested in, I invariable have to sit through the obligatory soft porn sex scenes, which quite frankly bore me. I usually close my eyes because I'm so bored and just waiting for that part of the movie to move on, and the next thing I know I'm asleep. How many times have I seen the scene where as soon as the couple gets to their home or apartment they start tearing each others clothes off and have sex on the kitchen granite countertops, grunting and groaning. Not sexy at all. BORING. 

Another problem I have is with the heavy emphasis on diversity in all the current movies and series. I am taking a chance on offending with my remarks here but here goes, King George the 3rd's wife was not black regardless of what series Shonda Rhimes creates. I'm all for minority (black) actors having as much opportunity as white actors and not being just relegated to stereotypical roles of maids, pimps, gangsters and whores but come on. Even the most liberal person has to admit that the diversity bit is overplayed in current movies and series just as the soft porn is. I get it, I get it. To me much of what is being produced today is just not realistic. And what's with all the whispering? 

Remember when you could watch a movie and you didn't need subtitles? Look at the ads for movies and series on TV. A lot of "Boom! Boom" and a woman or man whispering. I know sound has come a long way since the introduction of talkies a hundred years ago but I do yearn for a movie or series where I can understand what the actors are saying.

I'll give this a few more months and if I'm still not finding the content I want I'm opting out. Not worth it to me. 

SNOW!

 This is crazy!

I just got up from my daily afternoon nap and this is what I saw out my sun room window......SNOW!

Folks, yesterday the temperatures were in the eighties. I had to wait until late afternoon until I could do my yard work because it was too hot to work under the midday sun. Now snow today? 

Surely this is the End of Times!

Pat's Visit

 

This time next week my Canadian husband will be here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. 

I am so looking forward to his visit.

Pat will be here for thirteen days.

We have a lot planned to do, including a visit to my hometown in Pennsylvania. 

The last time Pat was here I was hurting too much to make any trips. Hopefully this time I don't encounter that problem with my legs.

We have a lot to do, including completing his Petition for Alien Relative form too file with the U.S.C.I.S. What a pain that is. I hope to complete that form after I finish typing this blog entry. I've been putting it off too long. 

I would like to visit our friend Don in Philadelphia and of course visit that wonderful city of Philadelphia which we both love. I also want to visit my cousin Barbara with whom I've grown closer too after she lost her brother with whom she was caregiving for. And of course I always like visiting my hometown of Downingtown. I probably won't be visiting my MAGA brother. I don't need that negativity in the short time I have left.

Of course the thing I'm looking forward to the most is just spending time with Pat. We're very compatible in so many way. I had a scare last night when I couldn't get in touch with him. He had left his iPhone in his bathroom and thus wasn't aware that I was trying to call him on FaceTime. By not being about to get in touch with him reminded me how much I need him in my life right now. I have acquaintances, neighbors and friends (fewer each year due to deaths) but no close friend. I can't imagine my life without Pat in it. I still miss Big and great deal and look forward to rejoining him in the Afterlife but for whatever time I have left now, I need Pat and our closeness. I just can't imagine being one of those old people who have no one close in their life as they head towards the Exit Door.

Now to complete that form USCIS Form I-130, Petition of Alien Relative.

Have a great day everyone!

Daylight Savings Time

When I arose from my slumber yesterday morning I was confused. What time is it? My clocks were not in synch. What is going on? Then it hit me, daylight savings time took effect at 2 AM early Sunday morning. Oh how I hate the change of time.

I have between forty and fifty clocks here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. I love clocks. I can never get enough clocks. I have all types of clocks, even ones that done work. At least I don't have to change the time in those clocks. 

I have two rawther large clocks that require me standing on a ladder to roll back or fast forward the time. Me on a ladder? Very unsteady. I managed to change those clocks though by being very careful. 

My digital clocks are always a challenge. No two are the same on how to change them. By the time six months roll around to change the clocks again, I've forgotten how to change those clocks. And my Bose radio clock, somehow I always end up disconnecting my three satellite radios from the main radio unit. Somehow I manage to connect them all again but it's one of those "back into" corrections. I don't know how I did it but I always manage to disconnect them. I can't have that because my Pandora radio station music selection is what gets me through the day since I'm all her alone without anybody or pets. I used to have the TV on a lot but not so much anymore since much of the TV these days are just commercials interrupted briefly by content. 

I have a few clocks and my Apple products (watch, iPhone) and Alexa that updates automatically. That's a relief.

I'm telling you, the older I get the more annoyed I get with this semi annual change of time. I remember something my Mother told me years ago when I was just a mere sapling of a young boy. She said "They only have daylight savings time so the rich people can golf an hour later." I think she was right.

Snow Is Gone!

 

The snow is finally gone!

What a winter we've been having here in southern coastal Delaware. I hope this is my last winter like this. I've had quite enough of the white stuff. 

This morning I finally went out of the house to see other forms of life. It gets lonely here, living by myself. Of course I'm in touch with Pat every day by FaceTime and my other friends Glenn and Don less often by FaceTime and Zoom. I also call on the phone (landline) my old friend and former boss Bill and one of my few surviving cousins Barbara.

Pat is planning on coming down for an in person visit on March 17th, which coincidentally is St. Patrick's Day. The same time he came down last year. He will be down for a couple weeks. I hope we can drive up to Pennsylvania for a few days to visit friends. I'll see if I'm physically up to it. I was just to exhausted last. year to make any trips. Also, my right leg was wonky. Painful climbing in and out of that low rental car Pat brought down. He's bringing his own car down this time, a Fiat. While it is also a small call, I'm more comfortable in it and don't feel like I'm practically sitting on the ground when I get in and out of his car.

I'm filling out a new USCIS (United States Immigration Service) for I-130 to get Pat's green card. I'm filling it out online this time. Of course it is confusing and for a while I considered hiring an immigration lawyer to do the work but after checking reviews and prices (poor reviews, $3,000 and up fees), I decided I will fill out the form myself with help from You Tube instructions. I filled out the forms for the K-1 VISA myself and saved a ton of money. Not easy immigrating to the United States from another country. I called the USCIS help line and after one disconnect, finally got through the maze of automated answers to get a real person. Wasn't much help, short and abrupt which didn't surprise me with the current regime that is in charge of Homeland Security. I hate that term "Homeland". Sounds so Nazi German. I think that's a Dick Cheney term. 

I'll fill out a little bit of this form every day and have it complete by the time Pat gets here. We'll go over it together before I send it in. 

Once I send it in I expect to wait at least a year before anything is done then it's probably more forms. I have a serious doubt I'll even be alive when this whole process is complete but I'm going through the motions anyway that we get a break. Both from me surviving longer the return of my prostate cancer and that since the USCIS already has a lot of information on me and Pat from his K1-VISA that somehow that will speed up the process. One thing the guy at USCIS told me that when Pat and I are married three years he's a United States citizen. Of course the catch is that he has to be living here all that time. We shall see. 

It's all so exhausting folks. I'm trying not to worry about it. As the old Doris Day song said "Whatever Will Be, Will Be." Right now I'm just glad this damn snow is gone.