Under Across the Board

On the one hand, I have the whole week off, but on the other hand, I have plenty of stuff to do!  My contract job, a house to finish cleaning, and -- I remembered today -- a bathroom renovation to plan for.  Oi.  I guess it is time to find a contractor, so... I will need to look at at least 5 or so.  Alas.  I also realized that with all this "free" time I should probably cross off a couple of restaurants on my list to visit, so... another thing to do this week.  Now, these are not bad things, but... it's a benevolent mix of Jenga and jigsaw this week.

One thing I did do today was watch a couple of flicks.  From the NFR list (823!), I watched "Fame," which, of course, I had never seen.  I certainly recognized a number of faces, at least (need to look up who was who).  It was long and...ok?  I mean, I am not the target audience, and while it was interesting in some ways, I could have... done with a shorter film, if you will.  A few days ago I had watched "Dinner at Eight," a pre-code star-studded extravaganza that was... well, I rather like these sorts of films; interesting banter, a more modern look at stuff considered scandalous back in the day, and plenty of good acting. I also watched "The Search for General Tso," ostensibly about the development of the dish, but more a history of Chinese food (and people and culture) in America.  I love this sort of stuff, and it was quite interesting!

Slept in also.  Not good; ok, I need the rest, but I wanted to get up early, do some work, that sort of thing.  I ended up not leaving the house until after 12, hit the gym and the bank (good workout!), and gassing up the car for the week.  I guess this was good overall, but I am damn sure to get up bright and early tomorrow and getting stuff done, like it or not!

I am listening to a podcast about the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and honestly... I don't think that the decision to launch planes so late in the day -- ensuring that many of them (and their pilots) would  not come home, was a wise idea.  I am sure they counted on higher losses, but figured they could really plaster the Japanese fleet.  The fact that we didn't isn't exactly helpful, to be sure, but after having smashed the air forces in the Philippine Turkey Shoot... I would have tried again the next day and simply said that they had won, and that was that.