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Busy Week But Aren't They All

Wow! Poppa Jeff slept in on Sunday. It's amazing. I'm a five o'clock in the morning riser. Today, I dozed until 5:45 am. Now I know. Some of you will say that seems like a small amount of time to be concerned about, Let me just say, that the value of time can be a matter of perspective. When you're young, you think you have all the time in the world. When you're my age, the nightly news remarks on people my age that are dying all of the time. I never want to make this blog become a substitute for a journal, but I thought this week I might give you my friends a glance at what my life is like these days.

Let me start with a benchmark event. I got my first Holiday Card for this year. A big thank you goes out for Char and Bob Van Astin.

My article for Milwaukee County Transit Services newsletter Rider Insider was published this week. If you're a bus rider, you might want to subscribe by going to the MCTS website and selecting Programs and then Rider Insider. For those of you that wish to catch a few of the pearls of wisdom that flow from my pen, can follow this link for the article.

Speaking of articles, it appears my interview and the resulting article with the founders of Gigante Theater, Mark Anderson, and Isabell Kralj will be published on the online news source Urban Milwaukee.com. This is a first step in establishing a home for the articles about the people working in the theater I had been writing for Appleton Monthly Magazine.

Moving on, I got to meet one of the area's top freelance writers. Virginia Small has been writing for multiple publications both on paper and online for years. Not only did she share with me a lot of background on the market. She proposed that we meet at the iconic Colectivo on the Lakefront. Got to love that!

Last week on Thursday night, my friend Anne Wilde and I had two new experiences. First, we went to Burger King and had the Impossible Whopper Burger. This is their plant-based Burger offering. I'd like to have another one before I pass final judgment, but I have to say it tasted good. Obviously, I'm willing to have another one. My first impression was that my sandwich might have been overcooked a bit since it seemed dry.

Next, we went to a Slam Performance of The Moth. Milwaukee is one of the sites of a program started in Manhatten that gives participants five minutes to tell a story. The story must be true. It must have happened to the storyteller. It must be presented without notes.

The slam is a contest between ten winners of past competitions. I hadn't laughed that much since my son Brad explained to his daughters their family tree while we dined at the Stinking Rose in San Francisco. That memory inspired me to present my family tree to the next audience of The Moth. That will happen this Friday night at Anodyne Coffee on Bruce Street in Milwaukee.

I took the bus to Appleton on Wednesday. While I was there, I spent a delightful evening with my son PJ, his lady Stacey and their daughter Violet. The next day, I had a prolonged brunch with Jan and John Brownson at the Apple Valley Pancake House on Wisconsin Avenue. It is this kind of occasion that my move to Milwaukee limits for me. These are all people that I love and are important to me, and while we can visit each other, it's the day to day opportunities that are not there.

After getting my boots back on the ground in The City by the Inland Sea, I attended a drop-in Sketch gathering at the Villa Terrace. We got to sketch various art objects from the museum collection. After a pleasant visit in the main room working next to a dozen or so artists, I went to the library to pick up my book on hold and then hoofed it up to the Oriental Theater to see the highly regarded Korean film Parasites. I can only say that it redefined dark comedy for me.

Such a busy week. I'm getting used to it, and it's invigorating. Oh, I almost forgot. While in Appleton, I made an appearance in the County Commissioners office. I'm officially single.

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