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| Onward and Forward | | Date Created: Dec 31, 2005, 09:03 AM |
I'd been thinking for some time that I should take some time to look back on the year, before it becomes the next one. But in thinking about all the various things that have happened over the past 12 or so months, I almost think it's best to look forward and move onward in the hopes that 2006 will at least be a little better.
I hate to call 2005 out by name and call it bad. It's not like it did it on purpose. For me, aside from a few storm related scares in Florida, 2004 was a wonderful year. I remember the exciting feeling last December, as I watched the Merry Christmas Parade, that things felt so fun and good for a change. And then it somehow felt somewhat sour.
Snowstorm after snowstorm in the North East and a winter that went on forever. The horrible storms that devoured the South. The rages of storm caused by both nature and man around the world.
We bid a final farewell to Grandma, a favorite Aunt (Flores), and pet (Nikki). Two days after making plans to finally visit our friend in England, London suffered a bomb threat. (Thankfully, our trip went on as planned and was actually one of the highlights of the year). I spent my birthday worrying as to weather a hurricane would strike where I was staying. And other family members have to deal with a personal crisis.
On the bright side, as I said, the highlight had to have been our trip to London. It was one of the few perfect weeks of the year. The other highlight, though a melancholy one, was the appearance of the long awaited finale of the Star Wars epic. I still can't believe it's all over sometimes.
It was an eventful year, to put it mildly. In fact, most of what's happened has already been captured within the pages of this blog, usually as they were going on.
Lets hope next year's events are more positive. It will feel like coming out of a dark cloud.
Let's hope it's a good one. Without any fear.
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| Hours and Times | | Date Created: Dec 08, 2005, 08:31 AM |
Yesterday I awoke with a start as the radio cut my deep sleep with the sound of a symphonic orchestra. It was hard to move, let alone wake up. But the clock read that it was twenty minutes later than it was supposed to be. Rushed out not to be late. Made it to work on time.
Seems I got the Hour right but not the Time.
This morning I awoke with a start in total silence and total darkness, save for the red numerals on my alarm clock, blaring brightly. "It's so dark out, " I thought, thinking that Winter had something to do with it. "So dark." Five more minutes turned to seven more minutes and I realized that I should be going.
I got ready, pulled myself together and noticed that it was still kind of dark outside for this time of day, after all it was....
I looked at another clock in the room. According to that one, I was twenty minutes later than I had expected to be. How'd that happen? Was I in the shower that long?
Then it dawned on me. That particular clock, which blinks helplessly from an unused VCR, hasn't been set since we went into Daylight Savings. Which meant it was really an hour earlier than it was reading... Which meant....
I was on my way out the door an entire hour earlier than I needed to be.
Sigh.
I got the Time Right, but not the Hour. |
| Lost Again | | Date Created: Dec 02, 2005, 12:39 AM |
I guess my 20 year dismissal of the TV industry is coming to an end. Now that I can see morsels of TV shows in greater quantity, I can see that a lot of quality programming has returned to the free airwaves, which is a good thing, since TV really sucks. Nothing like the heydays of the '50's, '60's, and even '70's.
I found myself finally suckered in by a new (or current show), says he who never really likes to follow fads or currents unless he discovered them first. It was hard not to notice the acclaim that was given last year to the tv show "Lost", but as I mentioned before, without time to watch it from the beginning, one could easily get lost.
I had the great fortune of catching the DVD of Season 1 on sale at an incredible bargain price (over 20 + dollars off) this weekend, and quickly did what was necessary in order to absorb as much of it as I could in the time alloted.
As of today, 5 days in, I'm up to episode 10, which isn't bad, considering I have limited free watching time. I've been using my lunchtime as LOST screening time, and I'm actually enjoying it. It took a few episodes to reel me in, but today I saw the one (for those of you out there who watch this show) in which Sayeed wanders out into the jungle and meets the French woman. What an incredibly produced episode, and fine, fine acting by Naveen Andrews. This is the kind of show I can really get into. The cast is not annoying. There (so far) isn't any inane dialog. No laugh track. And some gripping ensemble performances.
Unfortunately, this is about all the TV I can handle at the moment. Trying to decide whether to still savor the 1 episode a day way of watching it (in which case it will take another 2 weeks to finish off the set - then I have the fun of catching up on Season Two, already in progress!). Any of you "Lost" fans out there want to talk about the show? Write me.
I can't believe I'm "watching TV" again. First time in years. |
| Getting Lost with "Lost" | | Date Created: Nov 22, 2005, 10:40 AM |
I've written before about how I gave up watching regular broadcast television about two decades ago, but I don't think I fully explained it.
In 1985-86, I was working doing Sound on a student film about a town which loses television and goes crazy. It made me think about how much I had relied on TV up to that time, and how all of the shows I grew up with were coming to an ungraceful end. When the new season of comedies turned up that year, I had enough. I vowed to turn off television for a year. And I actually did.
Not that I didn't watch anything mind you. By turning it off, I meant no longer using it as background filler or noise. No longer following commercials or programs or shows or caring about much that the networks had to offer. I found other pasttimes, and used the tv mostly for the purposes of watching videos I bought or rented. In other words, I chose the programming.
Except for the news and the first new Star Trek series in 1987, I was able to completely minimize the importance of TV in my life, and subsequently missed out on a lot of pop culture references from the '90's on up. Even after I had obtained a multitude of cable channels, I still had only selective viewing habits, and with the advent of computers, I barely watched anything.
All of that changed the day I got a Tivo. By being able to specify exactly what I wanted to watch, I was finally able to get back into seeing certain things without needing to be tied around a network schedule. This became vitally important over the past decade, when my life became exceedingly hectic due to my need to be in three different localities.
Well, when Apple introduced the new video iPod, they also offered the opportunity to buy and view programs such as ABC's LOST. I've heard a lot about this show, but due to my inability to stay at my couch for more than an hour to watch anything, I haven't even been able to watch whatever I Tivo'd of it.
To make a long story short, I thought I'd give it another try when I heard they were going to essentially, start over and show what happened to an alternate set of people. I Tivo'd the show, then found a way to download it to my iPod to take with me on my commute. To my surprise, I was actually engrossed in the show. However I was completely, well... lost...
In this second season twister, the show featured almost none of the cast I've seen in promos, ads, and commercials. Huh? I have no idea what is even really going on, so now I'm lost on Lost. Let's see if it keeps my interest up this season. |
| Moon Phase | | Date Created: Nov 15, 2005, 02:15 PM |
Anyone else out there affected by the Moon the way I seem to be?
I often find that when I feel a sudden surgence of depression, when a feeling of sadness rolls from within and hits my brain like a wave upon the ocean, that I am being affected by a mood swing caused by a Full Moon.
I've proven this theory to myself several times over during the past few years. Without following a moon chart, I can usually tell when a Full Moon is iminent by the sudden feeling of melancholy that rolls over me. As a Scorpio, I tend to think this feeling is well hidden, but more often than not, people can detect it almost a mile away.
"What's wrong?," they ask, wondering about the sudden sullen expression that crosses over my face like a shadow on a sundial. And in all honesty, there is nothing really "wrong". It's just something about the positioning of the Full Moon that somehow wrecks havoc with my emotional state and makes me seem more depressed than usual.
Or at least...That's my theory... |
| Mind Games | | Date Created: Sep 14, 2005, 11:20 PM |
Don't you hate when you have so much to remember that you can barely recall a thing? Is this an early stage of Alzheimers?
My mind has been so full of stuff lately that I'm finding it increasingly difficult to remember things that once seemed so basic.
I was putting together my documents for the trip and couldn't find one of the important ones anywhere. I knew I had brought it along a few times during my previous voyages, but it was not in its usual spot and not where it was supposed to be. I practically tore things apart in my search for it, even though it wasn't a vital document, it was a good one to carry along with me, particularly in times such as these. It was nowhere. I couldn't recall where I had placed it the last time I had returned from vacation-- what was that, like 6 months ago? December something?? (Yeah, try it again Carnac. It was just last MONTH!!). I recently did a massive purge and clean out of old papers and junk and worried that it had slipped away with that garbage.
I eventually found a *copy* I had made, which was a relief. But since the original would be better (and again, it was an ancillary item, not something I absolutely needed to bring), I kept looking, and searching. Worst of all, I was looking for something that was yellow. My mind was telling me it was a folded yellow piece of paper.
Going through a shoebox filled with --- oh my -- some current bills --- I saw something of the sort that I use to transport that missing document in. Sure enough, hidden behind a few papers and my most recent flight itinerary, was the missing document. Only it was GREEN, not yellow. So much for the Memory Man. But at least I found it.
I used to have a great memory for thngs. Now I have trouble remembering where I put my keys or my glasses. Or my marbles.
I recently took a Time Management Seminar in which the instructor suggested it was possible to train your mind to remember things, like where your keys and small items are.
Here's the trick:
Get a small box and keep it somewhere near the door. When you come in and remove your watch, toss your keys, and dump your glasses, always put them in the same box as you walk in. That behavior can be learned, and then you'll always know where everything is.
OF course, you'll have to remember where you put the box to begin with. And moreover, to go and get the box. And even better, try to remember why you ever forgot any of this in the first place.
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