On the Streets: Maestro plays the Met(ro)

The premise of this post is going to sound like absolute horseshit - fair warning.

I had some unexpected To Dos this week. They were not big To Dos. Certainly not complicated. But they were things I haven't had to do during the pandemic. Simultaneously stressful and welcomed.

The battery on my laptop gave up the ghost a few days ago. I mistakenly (maybe) thought it was actually an operating system upgrade malfunction. I tried 20 different things to fix it. It's really not worth it anymore. It's like going to WebMD, typing in "weird ankle pain", and then proceeding with all the recommendations of random internet users. Next thing you know you're adding raw garlic and cranberry juice in a bucket and soaking your ankle. Pro tip - stop before you Amazon Prime a scalpel. If you proceed with the scalpel, best then to go Full Monty and Tik Tok that...you might make some viral money.

I stopped before the scalpel and took my laptop to the Genius Bar at the Apple store in the U District. They were very efficient, helpful, and COVID serious. The tech person very gently implied that I had bought into a conspiracy theory by associating the battery problem with the OS upgrade. Fair enough smarty pants, but 9/10 of my computer problems have happened right after upgrades. The 1/10 other problems are related to very friendly exiled princes trying to reclaim their rightful claim if they can just get help moving some money. I hope they get back to their thrones.

I don't go to the U District often. It's a wonderful neighborhood, but I wanted out of the University Village. Pottery Barn, Madewell, Crate and Barrel, H&M...consumerism as Disneyland. I'm being unfair. Those all started as small businesses, and they provide good jobs for people. It's the inevitable form and layout that annoys me. Business park shopping.

I'm on day 2 without a computer. This is where the premise gets horsehitty. I am happy my computer is gone. It was like a pandemic intervention. I still walk to the desk to fire it up, but it's not there.

Oh, really? But here you are. Indeed. But I wanted to see if I could, in a pinch, make this site work without a computer if necessary. It's been ages since I transferred photos from my camera to my phone. I had to update some settings and pairings to make that work. And I wasn't sure how to post a photo from my phone.

That was a worthwhile exercise. I should note that in 8th grade I scored in the 98Th percentile of people who can rationalize anything. I could have scored higher, but I also did well on the test about knowing when you don't want to come in first. Bad optics.

I'm typing on a phone, which sucks for old eyes. I am not going to spellcheck this.

In my not-actually tech-deprived time, I've revisited Runciman's 1453. What's the point of underlining things if you underline everything. Lots of feels. I sometimes think I should have never left Istanbul (Constantinople). More on the book later. But damn, if you ever want to read about the wax and wane (sp?) of two incredible empires, read 1453. Runciman is a Byzantinist, but there isn't the anti-Islam, anti-Turk bullshit you find elsewhere. I really need to get some Turkish mantī or menemen soon.

I had to shoot a video snippet for a friend's birthday. It's a surprise. But I'm not worried about ruining the surprise by posting to a blog with 5 readers. Secret's safe with my obscure corner of the interwebs. That was one of the To Dos. I wanted to do it outside, so I got ready, even shaved!

That's when I noticed that the bathroom sink was draining slowly. I had one of those compressed air drain cleaners (they're awesome!), so I grabbed it. Instructions - cover the overflow hole thingmajig. Ahh whatever, it'll be fine.

Holy moly it was not fine. My bathroom and I were covered in the black sludge of months of shaving. It was a comic book scene. You guessed it, the video got delayed. It was pretty gross. If I'd filmed it I'd be Tik Tok notorious. "Holy shit, check out this jackass!"

I thought I had more to write, but I am pressing my luck. Not sure if Ghost on the phone auto-saves. I hope you're doing well. I stopped on my way home from getting food to take a photo of a Capitol Hill treasure, the Maestro. I've linked to him before, so I hope you'll forgive me from erring on the "do not switch apps right now" side of caution and not linking. Will update.