Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt: Am I happy with my portion at the banquet of life?

You know, it really doesn’t suck.

I mean, really.  I’ve been in my current relationship for over 30 years.  I was not raised in a toxic home environment, or in poverty. I have a lot of privilege that I recognize.   I have a house.  I have a job I generally like (is it my dream job?  No, but it pays well and the people are good to work with and it’s not soul-sucking or backbreaking.) There are cats.  I can save for retirement. I have a car  I can afford small luxuries.  I can support the work of my artist friends by buying their stuff. I can buy craft supplies, and Shostakovich CDs (and in the once and future world, concert tickets) and the odd piece of jewellery.  I live in Canada, which is a pretty decent place to be.

It doesn’t suck.

The pandemic sucks, yes, but that sucks for the entire world.  I have it a lot easier than a lot of people–all the more reason to not swan about with an entitled attitude.

The things that could be better?  Mostly things I can do something about.  And mostly, in the grand scheme of things, icing on an otherwise tasty cake.

*****
This time last year, I was excitedly planning another year full of concert:  Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 1 and perhaps Lady Macbeth in Boston.  Opera Atelier doing Don Giovanni in Toronto–I was fresh off of seeing the Met’s production of Akhnaten again at the Cineplex, and deciding maybe I should go see something in person.

Well, we all know where that went.

But this isn’t that post.  I’ve got a ticket for a cool upcoming thing.  Jenny Lawson, aka the Bloggess, aka the writer of the wonderful “Knock, knock, m**herf**ker” story about Beyonce, the big metal chicken, is doing a virtual book tour.  In April, I’ll get to hear her talk about her new book and even get an autographed copy.

I’m also in the midst of the Berlin Philharmonic’s Golden 20s festival, and have a concert tomorrow featuring works by Sibelius, Prokofiev, and Weill.

No, it’s not the same.  But I won’t discount it.   In keeping with today’s Daily Stoic topic, it’s what’s currently on the menu, and you know, it’s pretty decent.

In other news, several of the regular posters (including me) have more or less taken over administration of the Shostakovich subreddit in a bloodless coup.  Already, we’re decorating the place with colourful swag and giving each other silly nicknames.  It’s fun so far.

Doug Ford was successfully talked into extending the Toronto/Peel stay-at-home orders for a couple more weeks.

I’ve started the Annual Gathering of the Tax Gack.  My T4 was posted today, so tomorrow there will be time consolidating what I have to date and starting the process.

Tonight, after a meal of Halifax donairs (from a kit), and then WandaVision (things getting serious now), we watched the 1956 move of War and Peace, with Audrey Hepburn (who was an excellent choice for Natasha) and Henry Fonda (who was badly miscast as Pierre–too old, too skinny, and way too American.)  It wasn’t a bad adaptation of such a large book otherwise–it was over three hours long and left out a lot, but what it did include was mostly true to the book. It does make me want to look up the 1966, seven-hour-long Soviet version directed by Sergei Bondarchuk (who also played Pierre).  It apparently had a more-or-less unlimited budget because, you know, you couldn’t let a Hollywood film based on a Russian classic outdo actual Russians. So his version involves rather spectacularly staged battles, and an actual, beer-drinking bear (the Hollywood adaptation doesn’t even try to do the bear.)   There is also a fairly well-received BBC miniseries that I may need to look up as well.

And Duke Derp is mostly embroidered now–except for his crown, which I’ll tackle tomorrow.  I’ve just managed to find a card of a six-ply gold thread that should break down into fine strands.  I may use some of my Japan gold couched for the outline.  I think once he’s done, I’ll be returning to Rocket Cat, but with a different approach which should hopefully work better.