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April 2010

 

bullet April 30, 2010

Why have satellites still never found the locations of the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant, the Hidden Valley (of Ranch dressing fame), or the Valley of the Dolls? Is it the same reason satellites seem unable to reveal current day pirates or thousand acre poppy fields in Afghanistan?

All very curious ...

Posted at 10:26 PM
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bullet April 29, 2010

People who think they're know-it-alls based merely on their baseless assumptions should be dragged with chains behind trucks across beds of glass laced with salt.

I promote the eradication of hypocrites, gossips, slanderers, and those who have no interest in truth, honor, or supporting arguments or facts. I realize this would kill 99% of all journalists, politicians, and fishermen - as well as close to 50% of the rest of the population - but I don't see where there would actually be any real loss to the world.

Cull the herd. Save humanity.

Posted at 9:54 PM
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bullet April 28, 2010

Pound. Pound. Pound.

I hate migraines.

Pound. Pound. Pound.

Posted at 9:03 PM
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bullet April 27, 2010

It never changes - I still don't really care for coconut.

Posted at 9:38 PM
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bullet April 26, 2010

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

- William Wordsworth

Posted at 9:34 PM
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bullet April 25, 2010

Sleepy.

Posted at 11:03 PM
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bullet April 24, 2010

New Who again tonight, and while it wasn't a great story per se, it had none of the things that annoyed me about the season opener.

It's funny, really. The season opener was a better, more compelling story, but it had a number of things with it that really bothered me. This episode, contrarily, wasn't as strong but didn't have any annoying aspects. Which is the better formula? It's a toss-up.

Above all other concerns I have to admit the new season and new Doctor are growing on me. I'm still going to be aggravated probably for the rest of my life about the things from the last episode that were annoying to me because most of them were things which affect the continuity and backstory of the entire franchise, and I feel they were not true to what has come before.

None of this will stop me watching, however, and you'll surely see me glued to a seat in front of the TV next Saturday night and each Saturday night for the next dozen weekends. What can I say - I'm a devoted fanboy, a Whovian - and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Posted at 10:17 PM
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bullet April 23, 2010

I watched the Big Gay Musical today. Meh. It was entertaining but not great, amusing but predictable, and touching but not poignant. All of this sounds completely unenthusiastic - and deservedly so - but the movie is still worth seeing once (just be sure you don't have to pay anything to see it (borrow it from the library or a friend or have someone else rent it and watch with them)).

Posted at 7:34 PM
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bullet April 22, 2010

Number 9 ... Number 9 ... Number 9 ... Number 9 ...

... very cool, actually ... watch it if you can ...

Posted at 8:17 PM
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bullet April 21, 2010

Anybody want to swap jobs? Anybody? I need something less stressful for a while - beat cop, air traffic controller, ... anything. Nothing you can throw at me can be as draining as this. Just swap with me for a couple weeks. I promise I'll call the psych ward for you if as soon as come back.

Posted at 9:42 PM
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bullet April 20, 2010

Insane in the membrane - truly, that's my grandma.

Posted at 7:45 PM
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bullet April 19, 2010

Welcome to complete senility. Sanity has now left the building.

Posted at 8:46 PM
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bullet April 18, 2010

I watched the new episode of Doctor Who again today, and I'm a bit more critical than last night. Clearly last night I was jonesing for a long-overdue Doctor Who fix, and anything would have thrilled me.

A second viewing was still enjoyable but not as thrilling as last night's first time through. I don't think I've found fault with any more things than the few things that bothered me a bit last night, but I'm a bit more annoyed with those things than last night. Overall I still enjoyed the show, but the one new thing that struck me and felt truly disappointing (and even annoying) was the feeling that I'd seen this entire story before - and not just from last night's viewing. I realized that I had seen almost all of this story before - in bits and pieces from various other stories written by Stephen Moffat, the new head writer who has written some of the best stories from the last four years of the show. This realization made me feel like I'd been cheated, and while I can almost understand wanting to make the first show of the new season and the new incarnation of the Doctor something special, I still think it's a copout to rehash well-received story aspects from your previous works. Hopefully this is not a sign of what to expect of the new writing. I have been truly excited that Moffat would e head writer, but now I've felt the first disappointment in that, and I hope this doesn't happen again.

And while I still have mixed feelings about the intro music (whether it's okay or completely horrid), I still feel it's better than what I had heard on YouTube. It's still a huge let-down, though. It's much worse than any other version of the theme song - even the original version from the sixties. And don't get me started about the visuals of the intro - they're very graphically disappointing after the last intro sequence.

So it's just one show in, and the first story for any new Doctor is rarely his best or most memorable. I'll wait and see. I must say, though, I'm disappointed in ways I never would have expected. That's a shame, too, because for a devoted fan like me it's truly hard to really disappoint me.

Posted at 9:03 PM
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bullet April 17, 2010

The new season of Doctor Who just started tonight on BBC America, and I must say that I'm pleased with what I see. I have a few quibbles, but they're very minor things. Overall I like the new actors, the new characterizations, the new story for tonight's episode, and even the unexpected and very different cinematic style. Even the new version of the intro theme - which I'd nearly hated when I saw and listened to it on YouTube - is fairly decent, although I don't like it as much as any of the previous versions of the show's theme.

There's great promise for this new season, and I'm very much looking forward to Saturday nights. Doctor Who has always been able to bring a very great deal of joy into my life, even amidst otherwise depressing and trying times, an I look forward to the exciting thrill of having something to look forward to. Nothing else gives me that carefree childlike joy in life anymore except Who - nothing has for a while - so this program is extra special to me.

Posted at 10:28 PM
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bullet April 16, 2010

Best wishes and happy thoughts go out in force to my great friend Chris in Chicago on his birthday. I hope it's a good one, Chris. Live it up!

Posted at 8:59 PM
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bullet April 15, 2010

Lethargy is the new now.

Posted at 11:27 PM
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bullet April 14, 2010

It's impossible to live when there's pretty much nothing to look forward to.

Posted at 10:45 PM
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bullet April 13, 2010

It keeps raining on the days I've planned to go outside to do spring yard work. I have mixed feelings about having to put things off, but mostly I'm not too upset.

Posted at 11:11 PM
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bullet April 12, 2010

... What? You think I've got anything interesting to say? Have you been here before?

Posted at 11:04 PM
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bullet April 11, 2010

I have been so, so tired most of this least week. I don't know why I'm this way, but it's exhausting being this tired.

Posted at 6:24 PM
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bullet April 10, 2010

I need to break free from this depression and lethargy. I want to but I don't.

My mind is stirring with the desire to get moving, but my emotions and my body remain mired in quicksand. It almost even seems that, like quicksand, the more I try to struggle to free myself, the deeper and more entrapped I become. My mind is just free enough from a deep depression to keep trying to struggle but not far enough out of the depression to make enough of a difference. These are the worst times because this is so incredibly frustrating.

This is one form of hell to be sure.

Posted at 10:12 PM
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bullet April 9, 2010

Mark my words - but don't use permanent marker. You may choose to make remarks later.

Posted at 8:46 PM
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bullet April 8, 2010

I've been unbelievably tired all day and I don't know why. It's not like I did anything more exhausting than usual yesterday or today - in fact both days were fairly relaxed compared to a regular day.

Maybe I should give up ever really expecting things to be "normal" or "as usual."

Posted at 10:28 PM
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bullet April 7, 2010

My grandma really depresses me with her made-up ideas of how wonderful my life is (when in reality it's quite crappy).

Up until this past year, when she started dreaming up these wild ideas (i.e., I'm married; I have 1/2/3 jobs teaching at college(s); I wrote and am selling my own book; I have wild parties on the second floor; I'm always out partying, etc.), there wasn't a problem. I can't say I was thrilled about my life situation considering my social, work, and financial life were all as poor as could be. But I honestly didn't put much thought into it. There wasn't anything I could do to improve any of those things while I was still caring for my grandma, and the bottom line always was caring for my grandma. That act was always enough to make me feel content, even happy to some extent, that I was doing something good, something right, something worthwhile.

Now, when I'm constantly besieged by these made-up stories and my grandma telling me that "[My] life is going pretty well right now" in those words or some variation thereof - it's aggravating, upsetting, and most of all depressing to know that not only are these wonderful (but make-believe) stories not true, but my situation is as far opposite of those as can be. Now, rather than not thinking too much of those problem aspects of my life, thanks to my grandma I can do nothing but think of those problem aspects. And she not only refuses to see how these comments are hurtful and even insulting, but most of the time she even refuses to believe that she's wrong - as if I don't know what's happening in my own life!

And I don't know why I'm whining about this because it doesn't make any difference. My life's not going to get better while I'm here (or probably ever), and she's not going to stop saying these made-up things about me. In fact she'll probably make up even more insanity.

I have no idea how I'm supposed to bear all of this.

Posted at 9:27 PM
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bullet April 6, 2010

Dealing with my grandma is hard enough on a day-to-day basis. Dealing with financial issues for her - and thereby with the whole family - is almost invariably a fiasco, today being no exception.

Damn but I have a migraine ...

Posted at 7:34 PM
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bullet April 5, 2010

... annnnnd - they're gone again.

These whirlwind weekends are barely a visit, but I will say that this Easter - even with some crazy and frustrating moments - was just about the most relaxed Easter we've spent together (since I've been here caring for my grandmother, anyhow).

My sister left this morning with my nephew and niece, and I spent the rest of the day cleaning and reorganizing the house, the laundry, and the refrigerators as well as running lots of errands and calling around for lots of info to solve recently-discovered problems with my grandma's tax bill. It's been a full, long day, and I'm only now just getting finished catching up with everything (although I did break for lunch and dinner).

I'm ready for a break now. I'm even more ready for a good night's sleep - but that will have to wait just a bit longer.

Posted at 8:55 PM
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bullet April 4, 2010

Note to the cosmos - you've piled up enough shit in one place. Please move on.

I'm reaching stress overload. My grandma's situation has gone from bad to worse in 24 hours, between frightening newly arisen tax/finance woes to the sleepless/eatless babbling lunatic that now controls the body of my grandmother, to the outrageous gloom of the incoming depression that's beginning to rollover me.

I can only take so much. Please let me go.

Posted at 12:16 AM
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bullet April 3, 2010

We wantses our precious.

Posted at 12:19 AM
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bullet April 2, 2010

My sister, nephew, and niece will be here any minute, bringing pizza, luggage, and plans for this year's version of the usual whirlwind Easter weekend. They'll be gone by the very early morning on Monday, so tomorrow and Sunday are pretty much the extent of it.

It's nice to see them, but this annual event which sees them here for only slightly more time than it takes them to drive here and back still seems almost too extreme in the sense of forcing yourself to take a vacation but leaving not even a minute to relax. I haven't ever understood how that's a vacation, and knowing the schedules all three of them have on a regular basis, they very decidedly all need time to relax - much more time than they ever allow for themselves.

BUT - that's not my decision to make, so I'll enjoy seeing my nephew and niece during the brief time they're here, and appreciate that this is it until mid- to late summer when they'll visit again, but for a more sensible period of a week

So - relatives and pizza at any moment. I'll have a slice of that ...

Posted at 6:48 PM
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bullet April 1, 2010

April already? Damn, this years just running away from me.

Posted at 10:52 PM

 


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Journal, by Paul Cales, © April 2010