In the morning I think I’ll lower the head of my hospital bed until I’m lying completely flat and try to do a few STRETCHING EXERCISES with Sam’s help. My hospice C.N.A. will be here at 10:30 for my Monday bathing and hygiene session, and I’ll need a little flexibility to make it all happen.
Until then, however, Sam shuffled off to bed about half an hour ago and I’m watching one of my favorite bizarre movie classics, RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932) starring Ethel, John and Lionel Barrymore in a very loose adaptation of palace intrigue, sexual perversion and murder in Russia just before the start of World War I and the Russian Revolution. The Barrymores all have key roles here in the only film all three siblings ever made together … Ethel is the Czarina Alexandra, John is Prince Paul Chegodieff and Lionel is the “mad monk” Grigori Rasputin. Ralph Morgan plays Czar Nicholai — the last of the House of Romanov — and Tad Alexander is the “Czarevitch,” the Czar’s son Alexei.
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| John, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore with Tad Alexander as the obnoxious little “Czarevitch.” |
The best part of this movie is actually the very end, when everybody in town takes turn trying to murder over-bearing, power-hungry Rasputin … his female lovers, his male lovers, Prince Chegodieff, Prince Chegodieff’s financée (Natasha), intensely-protective palace guards and so on, using every method imaginable, such as: poisoned pastries, stabbing, gunshots, shoving him into a gigantic fireplace, slugging him unconscious with a fireplace poker, and finally dragging him outdoors in sub-zero weather to drown in a frozen puddle. Trust me, the last 20 minutes of this movie are absolutely INCREDIBLE. I’m practically a hopeless, bedridden cripple and nearly leaped to my feet screaming, “KILL THE GODDAMN BASTARD! Kill him! Kill him!”
MONDAY, 10/1/2018, 9:07 A.M. Sam just called those deadbeats at MOBILE VISION because I never received my new pair of replacement progressive trifocals! I originally ordered them on September 4. Two weeks later I called to find out where they were, and the office manager (Candace) admitted that she forgot to order them from the lab (in Austin) even though she charged my Visa card $342. As of right now, however, we’re through waiting and sick of the bullshit and excuses, and we want our money back. We also want a copy of my prescription so I can buy my eyeglasses somewhere else. I actually found an excellent company online a few minutes ago — EyeBuyDirect.com — that sells fabulous frames for $9 each and progressive multi-focal lenses for $68. Holy shit. That’s really cheap!
I forgot to mention … Mobile Vision agreed to: 1) process a full refund of $342; and 2) email my prescription to me so I can get my glasses made elsewhere. Sam is really good at this.
Thank you for reading this and to hell with the Alamo.
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