Exit Party - A Novel

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel, 2026. Today I just finished this fascinating science fiction novel about a near future dystopian America across two parallel universes that have somehow opened up to each other. The author is very good at bringing characters and worlds to life in creative and complex ways. 

I've read and enjoyed a couple of her earlier novels... Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility. 

Big Ditch Tonight

Becky and I went to the Big Ditch Brewpub with Dave and Donna after attending the memorial service for Bob Collignon at the Book Arts Center. We walked down the block of Washington from Mohawk to Huron. We checked out Streetlights restaurant but there was a private event there. Too bad, it's one of our favorite nearby places to eat. So we continued over Huron to the corner of Ellicott and Big Ditch Brewpup. It was 6:30 on a Friday night and crowded. There was only one table for four, a high top, but available and nice. 

We enjoyed a wonderful meal. I had their chicken quesadilla. Becky, Dave and Donna all had various sandwiches on a burger roll. I also had a couple of their in house brewed Oktoberfest beers. I enjoyed the quesadillas very much.

After we finished dinner we walked back to the car which was parked about three blocks away. We took D&D in our car to the memorial service and dinner.

Bob's Memorial Service

This evening Becky and I picked up Dave and Donna at their house and drove downtown to Bob Collignon's memorial service at the Book Arts Center. The service went from 4 pm to 8 pm and we were there from about 5:20 to 6:30. We saw and talked with a lot of people. There was also an exhibit of some of Bob's works on the walls. It was a nice place to have a service for an artists. He was also associated with the Center.

Bob's obituary...  https://www.brunnerfuneralhome.com/obituaries/robert-collignon

An interesting article about him written by Ed Cardoni...  

https://thebuffalohive.com/passages-bob-collignon-photographer-artist-teacher/

Under Oath @ BBC

A federal judge has ordered Trump to sit for a deposition he's desperately been trying to avoid in the $10 billion lawsuit he brought against the BBC. Now he has to testify under oath and his lawsuit is blowing up in his face. 

Neil Young - Kitchen Listening

Today I played the old Neil Young compilation album Decade from 1977. I loved this album and bought the 3 LP set when it came out that year. I still have those records upstairs and it's nice to spin the vinyl but this time I was playing it from the downloaded CD set. Then I followed it with the Live Rust album from 1979. I bought that double LP back at the time it was released too. 

I loved seeing Neil Young back in the day and I did get to see him perform five times between the late 1960's and the mid 1970's. The first time was in early 1968 when he was with Buffalo Springfield. I saw him in 1969 with Crazy Horse on the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Tour. I saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at the Chicago Auditorium in 1970. Then CSN&Y again in 1974 at the Vet in Philadelphia. Then solo again a year or so later in Philly.

Friday Night Dinner @ JT's

Becky and I had a wonderful dinner tonight at JT's on Elmwood Ave. This place has become one of our favorite restaurants in town. We had originally planned to go there with a couple of neighbors who had never been there before but one of them got sick so they couldn't go. We get together with them next month and try again after we get back from Philly.

So Becky and I had a great time there and we split a Pepperoni Pizza with green olives and an order of their wonderful Rigatoni Bolognese which is one of my favorite menu items. And of course I started off with their large glass of Tuscan Blend red wine and then followed that with a Peroni on tap. Becky had a nice Heineken NA.

Then we had dessert which we don't usually get but this time we split an amazingly large portion of Spumoni which was great.

The service was great as usual. We did not make reservations but got there around 5 pm on a Friday evening. It was not very crowded at the time except the bar was full and we got a table for two in the real of the room. However, by 6pm the place was jammed. Next time we will make reservations for a weekend visit and go a little later to experience the scene. We have been there quite a few times now but usually during the week.

 

Disclosure Day - A Film

I watched this Stephen Spielberg film this past week streaming on Peacock. I broke it up into three parts over three days and watched it on my laptop sitting at the kitchen table. That seems to be my usual way of watching movies these days.

I did enjoy this science fiction UFO film although it certainly wasn't Spielberg's best or even close but it was entertaining. However, I thought the ending was a little disappointing. I guess I thought something was going to happen besides the announcement that UFOs and aliens were real. I think I will watch it again sometime. Maybe I missed something.

UB Neurosurgery Visit

I had my regular follow up visit with the UB Neurosurgery department a couple of weeks after getting having my 24 brain scan. I sat there in the examination room for about 10 minutes looking at the scull on the table while waiting for someone to come in.

I met with the PA and she went over the scan with me. I'm getting older and as I approach being 75 my doctors are all getting more concerned. The PA will discuss my scans with Dr. Siddiqui and she thinks he will want to have me get an angiogram which I have not had in many years. Probably 20 or more. I had been fine with the CTAs from Roswell Park but the angiogram is much more detailed and because I'm older and there have been indications of a couple of small aneurysms they would want to check them out and keep a closer look at my brain.

So some time over the next couple of months I will meet with Dr. Siddiqui and probably in the Spring I will have an angiogram done at Great Lakes Imaging. 

Back in the late 80's and 90's I had several angiograms done and they were procedures that I needed to spend an overnight in the hospital. I asked about that and I was assured that these days that scan is an one day in house procedure. I'd get it done in the morning and I would be home two or three hours later. Of course they have to consider my MH issue so I'd probably be the first person of the day having any kind of procedure... very early in the morning.

U2 - Kitchen Listening Pt. 2

Another set of U2 albums taking me through the 80's but I need to take a break from reading Bono's memoir for awhile... too much pontificating. But this set of albums was great and I especially loved Rattle and Hum.








This set...
* The Unforgettable Fire, 1984
* The Joshua Tree, 1987
* Rattle and Hum, 1988
* Wide Awake In America, 1985

Voting By Mail

Becky and I voted by mail this week. We filled out the ballets and Becky took them over to the post office and dropped them off. We considered taking them to a ballot drop-off stations at one of the community centers but decided on using the post office.

We are not going to be home to vote on election day because of the family wedding in Philadelphia that week and we had also considered going to an early voting place. Then we decided to just get it over with and vote by mail.

Suddenly now the orange turd thinks it is ok to vote by mail. He has been railing against it for years now despite his own voting by mail. By the way, isn't it against the law for felons to vote? But now he is all for voting by mail because he thinks his magat base doesn't want to vote on election day because he is not on the ballot. Dumb as... with a B.

I'm also reminded that the first time I voted by in 1972 was by mail from a Navy ship overseas.