Everything is Hell so Let's Watch "Saturday's the Place" From 1984!

Well, it sure has been a while hasn't it?

You might have guessed, given the wait between Blog posts, that your germphobe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder suffering buddy Trish hasn't been having a very fun time during the pandemic.  And, you're right.   The past few months have been surreal.  Back in the beginning, when people were taking Covid-19 more seriously, almost everyone suddenly agreed, "Always have disinfectant spray or wipes. Use them to sanitize everything in your home and clean everything that comes into your home because your home is your Safe Place. Avoid public transportation and above all Wash. Your. Hands!!!"  

And there I was, already deep in the middle of a sustained anxiety attack for everyone I care about and incidentally also myself, thinking, “Normal people DON’T do these things?"

Because if I have to fill the bird feeders or ride the subway, my entire day centers around that because for me it is a Whole Thing.  My home is my Sanctum Santorum of Sanitary, so after such activities, I must go through a thorough dermatopic purification (hot shower) before entering.  Everything is a potential danger you must prevent somehow or Bad Things Will Happen and it Will Be Your Fault.  

What I'm saying is, in the early days of the pandemic, what people were freaking out about was my "normal."  (I and a few others were very quietly hoping that maybe, just maybe, OCD people would get a bit more sympathy from all this.  Or at least that most folks would start going over your phones with a wet wipe when you charge it at night because I honestly still can’t get over the fact that most of you apparently wouldn’t normally do that?!?)

But I don't want to dwell on that right now.  For the first blog post in ages, I want to post something silly and upbeat instead.  

And so, let me share the ridiculous 1984 CBS Saturday Morning Preview show!  I talked a little bit about these programs way WAY back in the Archaen Eon of my Blog, and I'm surprised I've never revisited them since.  After all, if there are things I love to write about here, two big ones are 1) Animation and 2) Unintentionally Hilarious Vintage TV Specials. 

 

So here's the preview special for the... honestly pretty bleak lineup for CBS in 1984.  The highlights were "Dungeons and Dragons" (better than I remembered), the then-brand-new "Muppet Babies" (not as good as I remembered), and Looney Tune and Charlie Brown anthologies series.  Lowlights include about a half-dozen cartoons based on arcade games.  Mediocre-lights are the "Shirt Tales" and "Get-Along Gang".  The IDKWTF-light is a live-action show I completely forgot about, kind of a precursor to "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", made by Sid and Marty Krofft, and starring Richard Pryor.  (When I need to tell a kid what the 90's were like, I usually tell them, "Monks had a double-Platinum hit record."  From now on, when I need to tell kids what the 80's were like, I shall tell them, "Richard Pryor hosted a children's show.")  

What's really interesting about this special, the reason I want to share it, is the "plot".  Janet from "Three's Company" is a reporter who hates hates hates cartoons but must write about how they are made.  And so Henry from "Too Close For Comfort" is going to show her.  What follows is more delightfully strange than you'd expect, but hey we get to see the cast of "Muppet Babies"!

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Art of the Day!  And now, totally botanically accurate humor.

 

Very Sad News That Explains Why I Have Been In Such a Weird Head-Space Lately

My Grandmother just died.

Let me rephrase that. My ninety-four year old grandmother, mother of seven children, thirteen grandchildren, and twenty-one great-grandchildren, recently passed away after an excruciatingly long fight with Alzheimer's Disease. She had, all told, a very good life, produced a huge and loving family, and she was reasonably happy up until the very last week or so of her life. So, while this is very sad, it's not really tragic.

Even so, I am -as you may imagine- very upset about this. As artists (I figure most of my readers are painfully aware of this) we spend an awful lot of time inside our own heads. Therefore, grief is exhausting. I not only feel depressed but physically ill. The reality of it is just starting to hit me and my family, as I'm sure it has for many of my aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins, friends, and so on. Obviously, we all knew this was going to happen sooner or later, but the problem with "later" is that it always eventually becomes "now". (Let me just say that there has been a major uptick in my chocolate consumption lately.)When I launched this blog, I made a pledge that I would plan on having at least two new posts per week for the first three years. This was to keep me focused and avoid stagnation, and it was kind of my own little protest against interesting websites that go for months without updating (I am considerably more sympathetic to them now). I would allow myself a break during the holidays and hiatuses if anything major (good or bad) came up. I'm pretty sure nobody would mind if I count this as something major.

And yet, part of me wants to muscle through. I feel like that would be better for my psychology. As I said to one of my cousins, I want to get behind the wheel of some major projects. I feel like if I don't, I'll succumb to despair. I want (need really) to update my resume and portfolio, get more original pieces up for sale on ebay, and maybe get some paid commissions going. And I think I need to read through my own blog and keep a running list of things I said I was going to write more about. And, of course, Giant Carnivorous Birds to paint! Valentines / Single Person Awareness Day cards to design! Secret projects with kitties and toucans, maybe!

I apologize if this post was uncharacteristically Emo. I'll try to make the next one more fun.

EDIT: Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. I was afraid this might veer on the "too personal" side of things, but it was something I just had to write. Thank you all so much.

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Doodle of the Day! It's Award Season! Here are silly and hopefully funny things I sketched during the Golden Globes:




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And in other Mood Whiplash news, it's Feederwatch Friday!

Yeah, you might have heard that we had a little storm recently.  As I've said before, snow brings diversity. The Wren is back!

American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Cardinal 1
House Sparrow 30