{"id":16097,"date":"2021-12-02T19:28:58","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T00:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16097"},"modified":"2021-12-02T19:28:58","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T00:28:58","slug":"general-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16097","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;General&#8217; concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-embed-handler wp-block-embed-embed-handler wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Poci\u0105gi - Genera\u0142 - z Buster&#039;em Keaton&#039;em - The General - 1926 - Buster Keaton\" width=\"474\" height=\"356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NXnckB7O42M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Above, a clip<\/strong> from Buster Keaton\u2019s \u201cThe General,\u201d one of the funniest, most creative, and genuinely terrifying movies ever made. No CGI there. Keaton put himself into real peril with those stunts. That was his business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(By the way, if you\u2019re a Democrat, you\u2019re not allowed to laugh at this. He\u2019s playing a Confederate railroader, and <em>THAT\u2019S NOT FUNNY!<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, I posted the clip because I feel kind of like Keaton\u2019s character right now. Run ragged, just barely surviving. The comparison\u2019s absurd of course. I\u2019m in no real peril. But I do feel ragged as I run. Or waddle. Come to think of it, Fatty Arbuckle would make a better comparison. But I don\u2019t know his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The translation jobs keep coming. This is reason for thanksgiving. There are retired guys out there who don\u2019t know what to do with their time. I weep for their meaningless lives. Me, I wonder where I\u2019ll find the hours for all I have to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve got a cold, on top of it. I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s not Covid, because I retain my exquisite connoisseur\u2019s palate. (Unless it\u2019s the new Omigosh variant, but it seems too soon for that.) I generally get a cold every winter, and sometimes it lasts me the whole season. Last year, probably because of the Levitical sanitation measures, I got no cold at all. But I have one now. And it\u2019s making me tired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But someone on the translating team in Norway has Covid (mild, I\u2019m told, thank the Lord), so I must do my part and put my shoulder to the wheel. The shows must go on. And, I must not forget, I get paid for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But things keep popping up to steal my valuable time. Had to do the whole mortgage refinancing signature dance all over again today, for some reason I don\u2019t quite understand. Some<em> t<\/em> not crossed the last time, I guess. A prescription to pick up. Bill-paying day, with an associated cash flow problem. And I need to find a new internet service provider before the end of the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I really need a valet. Jeeves would handle all this stuff, freeing my time up for translation and witty repartee. And he\u2019d no doubt have a secret concoction whose ingredients would include honey, lemon, turmeric and Bombay gin, to make me feel better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I could have been a great financial success, I\u2019m pretty sure, if only I\u2019d been born rich.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Above, a clip from Buster Keaton\u2019s \u201cThe General,\u201d one of the funniest, most creative, and genuinely terrifying movies ever made. No CGI there. Keaton put himself into real peril with those stunts. That was his business. (By the way, if you\u2019re a Democrat, you\u2019re not allowed to laugh at this. He\u2019s playing a Confederate railroader, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=16097\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;General&#8217; concerns<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[3606,547,3186],"class_list":["post-16097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goofing","tag-buster-keaton","tag-colds","tag-translating"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16097"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16100,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16097\/revisions\/16100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}