ready for elvis to organize my days

One of the things that my stepdad said about retirement has stayed with me.

"I don't get weekends anymore. Every day is Saturday," Frank said.

He was absolutely correct, of course, as he was about many things.

I miss our conversations.

It would have been good to ask him how he kept organized, how he kept each day separate from the others.

As well as keeping a manual journal and and ether blogs, I had my days of the week sorted on the rightmost kitchen cabinet.

 

These were my seven spacers last year, with the traditional weekends denoted by the use of color.

Any special events would be taped to the appropriate day of the week to help keep me in the right groove.

For 2022, change was needed!

I still had a gracious plenty of Elvis in his white jumpsuit, microphone in hand, ready to break into song or dance at a moment's notice, in the tiny book given to me by the bfe.

Those would certainly class up the kitchen, as well as keeping The King of Rock'n'Roll close at hand as my new secretary - RAWR!

I've even used colored pencils to inscribe the day of the week along that outstretched leg, but the colors are fairly faint.

Still, I can see them and, truly, I'm the only one that needs to do so - perfect!

Monday already has a reminder of my upcoming night of bingo and Thursday has a slip to make sure that doctor's appointment doesn't slide past me.

You'll notice I do not have television shows written on any of these spacers.

Perhaps, eventually, I may make that addition, perhaps not.

One of the things I've learned during this pandemic is this: the type of 'mercials that interrupt television shows varies greatly between shows which are "on demand" and those watched during regular program times.

What am I talkin' 'bout, Willis?

This: during regularly scheduled air times of a show, medicare/medicaid commercials will be interspersed with ads by multiple lawyers, sometimes with the very same 'mercials at each commercial break.

That's every seven minutes or so, four to five minutes of telephone numbers being endlessly reiterated for the services being proffered. 

However, if I watch THE SAME TV SHOW "on demand", how many lawyers vie for my attention and how often is the insurance ad run?

Well, that would be ZERO lawyers hawking their ambulance chasing skills and that would be ZERO companies trying to sell me some kind of insurance.

Seriously.

Instead, the 'mercials are national spots from pharmaceutical representatives, as well as ads for consumer products, like laundry detergent or toothpaste.

Sure, those are still irksome...

and still appear every seven minutes or so...

but there are ZERO numbers hammered into my ears.

Seriously.

That doesn't mean I don't still tune in to "Quantum Leap", or "The Price Is Right", or "Family Feud" from time to time.

Here's the difference, though: sometimes I don't stay.

I'll mute the 'mercial and lose track of time and miss the show.

Or sometimes, especially after a break with seven lawyer ads, I'll just switch over to 828 and listen to some 80's tunes instead.

Here's my end message: try watching the programs "on demand" instead of 'live'.

The program is the same, either way, but the advertising is kinder and gentler.

Seriously.