I like this painting… It really speaks to me…

Normally, at this time, I would be jumping onto my Switch and playing Animal Crossing New Horizons to go about my daily routine (mind you, the only routine I seem to be able to stick with is in the game). But, I’ve decided to wait on that… I’m taking some time for me, to do things I’d like to do but never get the chance because they’re things I need to concentrate. It never fails, whether I’m drawing or writing, things where I get in that zen mode and time has no meaning and I’m oblivious to things around me, I get interrupted by some phone call or another. I swear to Christ, do these people have a fucking radar for this shit?! “Ooh, Jackie is watching her favorite show/is really into her creative work/is peeing and doesn’t have her phone on her. I better give her a call!” No lie, this is my life every mother fucking day. It’s annoying as hell. You’d think I’d just turn my ringer off and be done with it, right? Nope… If I’m on my laptop (which is a MacBook), it rings on here, too…

So I’m taking time, before the fresh hell begins today, to write to you, my dear readers. And to listen to my playlist of early 1970s, French contemporary jazz.

I give to you the Montparnasse 2000 Library collection…

When I had my other car, it had a CD player and, I swear, the mix of these songs that I burned to a disc was permanently part of my CD player for about 2 years. I never took it out. I’m not sure why, but something about these tunes just mellows me and makes me feel good. I’m sure some of that has to do with the fact that a good handful of them were used as background music in my favorite anime, Kagaku Ninja Tai Gatchaman. That’s how it started… until I really began to listen to the tunes.

See, that’s how this library of tunes started, to be used as background music for TV and game shows and the like. But, on their own, they’re amazing tunes, especially the early 70s ones. I suppose that’s why they went all the way up to, I believe, 1980 before they stopped making them.

I asked all over before finding that some of these tunes were the ones used in Gatchaman that weren’t part of the original soundtrack. So off to YouTube I went to find these elusive songs and found over 100 volumes! Wow! I found so much incredible music! My recommendations are artists such as Janko Nilovic, Daniel J. White, Jerry Mengo and J.P. Decerf to start with. Seriously, just search Montparnasse 2000 music library. You’ll find them. I don’t really recommend anything going up past volume 60, really. It gets a bit to much like disco. I mean, I love disco, but I felt that’s when these tunes lost their uniqueness and became more commercial.

Alright, I’ll stop with the music lesson for today…

The reason I’m just chilling out and listening to my Montparnasse tunes and writing you fine folks is because I just need time with my thoughts…

My friend Morticia is enough to drive me to drink. A lot… I have no idea why, but she calls me constantly! I dread when she has a day off because I know we’re going to have this 2 hour marathon phone session. She calls me on her way to work, on every break, on her way home, a million times after she’s home… I know I’m not her only friend… Why me?!? And she doesn’t listen! If I have a doctor appointment or, like today, my mom comes over, I remind her and she still calls! “Oh, that’s right, your mom comes up on Fridays…” How can you fucking forget that?! They better do another CAT scan on her brain because I swear to god she has a brain tumor or something. Or maybe she just flat out has the IQ of a glass of Kool-Aid…

And, of course, every conversation is the same, whining and/or crying about how she doesn’t feel well, she feels like she’s going to vomit, her hands hurt (she has rheumatoid arthritis, so I’m sure they do), how sick she’s been with her Crohn’s disease… But, god forbid you tell her to go to the doctor or hospital or, in the case of her Crohn’s, to eat what she’s supposed to, and you get the response, “Fuck that…” usually followed by, “All I need are some Xanax or Percs.” Listen, when you begin referring to Percocets as “Percs”, you have a drug addiction issue… And, if she’s not bitching about her health issues, telling me, “You don’t understand, I have ____” (yes, I don’t understand invisible illness, idiot), she’s bitching about Gomez.

I’m sure you guys know, I have enough of my own issues to worry about. Hell, I don’t even tell you about a lot of them because I’d rather keep them private for… Well, I have good reasons. Anyway… the point is that I don’t need her calling me a half dozen times or more a day for the same shit all the time. I don’t need to constantly hear her relationship, health or money woes. I have enough shit on my plate. And if you’re not going to do anything to change your life, shut the fuck up!!! She’s off until Tuesday and I just know I should be expecting the billion bitching phone calls…

Because of this, I’ve done exactly what you would expect of “Jackie Blue”…

I’ve been escaping into my own little world in one form or another…

My latest escape is that I’ve decided to binge watch the anime Inuyasha on Hulu. It’s such a wonderful story. And, as is usual with me, I seem more drawn to the villains than the heroes. Or the heroes that are a bit dickish…

For example, my favorite character in that anime has got to be Lord Sesshomaru, Inuyasha’s older half brother. He’s cold, calculating and devoid of emotion. Later in the series, we find he isn’t exactly devoid of emotion. He saves a little girl and then takes care of her in an odd sort of father/daughter fashion. I say odd because he pretty much lets her do as she wishes. Not good parenting, there, Sesshomaru… I always seem drawn to the bad boys of anime. Maybe because their characters are more complex. I once did this meme type thing, your top 10 favorite anime characters. The majority of the ones I chose were either villains or really complex characters. And, I’m sure you know, Sesshomaru made the list. There was no way that he wouldn’t…

Also.. look at him!!! Yeah, I know, I’m old… Maybe too old to find anime characters attractive. But, then again, the people who create them (old people like me, by the way) intentionally make them attractive. So is it weird? Not really… Most of us like to see beauty. Drawn characters are no different and… I’m getting distracted by the way his hair is flowing like that… It’s so fluid and lovely… Leave it to the Japanese to make things so mesmerizing…

And I just heard I got a text message…

It’s getting to the point where I’m afraid to even look at my damned phone anymore…

I’m also getting texts and calls from the realtor and the woman who’s going to do the closing on the trailer I’ve decided not to buy… I’m not really sure what I want to say or how to tell her, especially after all the work we’ve done to get this… It’s a dilly of a pickle. Maybe I’ll just watch Sesshomaru’s hair for a while and zone out. It’s pretty mesmerizing to me and relaxing… I need it.