Covid Testing 12/24/2020

 I got the insides of nostrils tampered with on Monday. A good thing resulting from this procedure was opening the drainage to my throat and doing away with my dry throat.

Now let me state some downsides to the testing. First, it has fed the hypochondria I see as rampant amongst our drug-dealing, gang-banging contingent; mask wearing became ever so more common after we got the virus in the building. Now we have grown men dithering like old women over every ache, groan, and cough. So much for the ferocity of men claiming dead bodies and other acts of violence for the resumes. Secondly, while the hypochondriacs await with bated breath for their test results, the chief gangbanger in my room - all of 38 years of age but morbidly obese - got it in his head the results will be in today. It is noon  without hearing anything. I refused to say they (our keepers) might have the results without telling us in that same time. Meanwhile, he wallows in his bed, wearing his mask, and hoping for a compassionate release. Let him have his hopes.

Prison only improves those who would have improved improved themselves regardless of incarceration. All I needed was to have been stopped in my self-destructive ways. For the most part prison only infantilizes prisoners.

I did manage to read Cary Grant: A Brilliant Dis guise (Simon & Schuster, 2020) by Scott Eyman. Anybody interested in Cary Grant, Hollywood, or just an interesting psychological profile should hunt down this biography. There is good writing and what I like in a biography: the character is put in their historical context. Grant was in the midst of much socially and professionally. Now I want to know more about Clifford Odets.

It also got me thinking how there never has been a successful remake of a Cary Grant movie. The Preacher's Wife  was not for all that I admire Denzel Washington. Washington seems more akin to Frederic March - he thinks, he is reserved, not happy-go-lucky like Grant. 

I have been tired this week and have done no more writing. Back to Hamlet.

Oh, here's an idea for remaking a Cary Grant move - Sylvia Scarlett. Cast Kristen Stewart. Go the whole gender bender way. Shove the Grant character off-center. Do what couldn't be done with the original.

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