Greetings from Glendale, California, USA!
Photo taken on Tuesday, March 17, 2009.
On my calendar for Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day, a roommate’s birthday and, alas, a funeral service. The recently deceased was age 70 and had a wife of 30+ years, two children and three grandchildren – all indicators of a good life. I last saw him no less than ten years ago but probably closer to two decades. I did not know him well but he was a friend of my parents who could not attend any of the services. Since I’m not working, I went on my parents’ behalf.
I traveled to Glendale, a three-hour round-trip in workday traffic. Together the funeral and burial lasted another three hours. I barely ate anything for breakfast and was starving by the time services were over but I skipped the reception. It was at a restaurant and, if I went, I predicted another thirty minutes to an hour before I actually got something substantial to eat. I had a quick but fulfilling lunch at the Americana shopping center, where I took this week’s photo of the mall’s trolley.
Then I met up with a friend in Los Angeles for a St. Patrick’s Day drink at an Irish pub before driving home. I originally planned to join my roommate in celebrating his birthday that night but I was exhausted. For more than a week, I have had a cough get gradually worse. Combined that with the funeral and driving and I was beyond drained. I slept between 12 midnight Wednesday and 10 AM Thursday – 34 hours! Except for coughing fits that broke my sleep, I was awake for two hours only and managed to have a meal. Thankfully after a much needed shower on Thursday afternoon, I was back to my normal self.
The cough is nearly gone and I am relieved that the worst of it came sooner than later. On my calendar this Friday in big, bold letters was written “Battlestar Galatica – Series Finale”. If divine intervention stopped me from seeing it, I would be uttering the show’s curse word “Frak” until I watched it. Thankfully I had no relapse and no disaster - manmade or natural - interrupted the broadcast.
Few television series received the chance to give themselves a true ending. Then typically the longer the series run, the higher the finale expectations are. The final episode for “Newhart” is highly regarded and the one for “Seinfeld” is highly maligned while the end of “The Sopranos” has a distinct love/hate quality. In my humble opinion the finale of “Battlestar Galatica” was a perfect elegy.
I bade farewell twice this week – one to a person, the other for a television series. Two good things came to end. Time now for two new good things to begin.
Angelo
