Random Access

The short list: Just another average Tuesday – Work, gym, home.

On to today’s diatribe: Fairy Tales and Their Real World Analogues

fairy tale noun.

1. A fanciful tale of legendary deeds and creatures, usually intended for children.
2. A fictitious, highly fanciful story or explanation.

Dr. Karl Oppel stated, in The Parent’s Book: Practical Guidance for the Education at Home: The fairy tales, that is fantastic tales of miraculous, supernatural things and events, aim at arresting the imagination by stimulating the imagination in a very vivid way; sorcerers and fairies, spirits and ghosts, fabulous animals and inanimate things endowed with miraculous powers appear as actors in them, bound by no rule or prescription, which makes them really very fit to capture the attention of listeners and readers.

I encountered a situation that reminds me of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. In the story, a child points out the fact, obvious to all save the Emperor, that he isn’t wearing any clothes. After this revelation, everyone at the gathering started to acknowledge this fact.

Oppel: “…fairy tales feed the love for the miraculous and further the belief in the supernatural. One is often surprised to see how some people accept the most unreasonable, let them tell the most nonsensical and even believe it, yes how even civilized people demonstrate a credulity, that would be totally incomprehensible, if one did not know, how the susceptible children’s mind had been prepared for this by all kinds of miracle tales.”

Alexander Pope is quoted for saying” “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Whose responsibility is it to tell the Emperor: “I can see your bum?” The royal advisors? Courtiers? A child in the gathered masses? Others knew that “something” was amiss. No one spoke of what it was. It wasn’t always something tangible; it could be as elusive as trying to catch smoke with a net. But I caught it, or at least a part of it, and I gave it a voice – a quiet voice, but a voice nonetheless. And the fine clothing began to unravel.

Do I consider it a “good” or “bad” thing? I don’t think that either label applies, in this case; I would simply say that it “was.” Would I do it again? Yes, although possibly in a different manner – an earlier “fitting,” if you will. Something did come out of the tangled skein: It opened, or maybe simply reopened, some avenues of dialogue. That makes it worthwhile.

Peace.

I slept in, but I awakened to the news of another airliner crash in New York. Coincidence or design? I don’t know. What do I know? I know that there are more families who have lost loved ones. I know that at least four families lost their homes. I know that, once again, I watch the news and wonder “Why?”

Jess and I tooled around for a while this afternoon and eventually met Scott @ 3:45 to see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan… FINALLY! I remember seeing it when it first came out in ’82; just before I went to camp. I have seen it more times than I can remember – including sitting in my friend William’s house quoting dialogue with him. But, there’s just… something… about watching it on the big screen. And, with William still in North Carolina, Scott was a worthy dialogue counterpart.

After the movie, Jess and I headed to the inlaws’ for MNF – Ravens vs. the Titans. It was Baltimore’s first Monday night game. That’s not entirely true: It was the Ravens’ first Monday night game, the Colts – before moving to Indianapolis – had been on MNF. Baltimore won… BARELY!!! But, it still goes in the “Win” column.

To top off the night, my all-time favorite ep of the Sisko Show was on: “Trials and Tribble-ations” was on! Unfortunately, I did not know this beforehand, so I didn’t have a blank tape handy. And I missed recording the first minute or two of it. BAH!!! But, I got most of it, so it wasn’t a total wash.

Other highlights of the night: I got to talk to my grandmother, mother, William (had to rub in the whole Wrath of Khan thing), and Tyanna (her bf is from NY and I wanted to make sure that his family and friends were all right). They were all doing well.

Peace.

I slept until 3:00 pm today.

Yeah, I know… I can’t believe it either. Well, maybe I can. I guess that I have to since I did it. There are a few reasons that I was not only able to sleep that late but did so:

• I got somewhere between 3 and 4-1/2 hours of sleep every night for the past… oh… almost week, I guess.
• I didn’t get to bed until somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 am this (Sunday) morning.

Those aren’t excuses, that would imply that I felt that I had something to excuse, they are merely the factors that lead to me doing a modern version of Rip Van Winkle. And it was a GOOD one, too! It even felt good; everything except the headache that I woke up with. That’s why there is Aleve®. Of course, on the down side of this: I missed the early games. *shrug* There has to be some give-and-take.

Went to the inlaws’ and hung out. We ate dinner and watched The Mummy Returns. I had seen it before, but it was still enjoyable in an “encore presentation.” We had started to watch the Raiders-Seahawks game, but there wasn’t much happening. Seahawks won 34-27, by the way. Added bonus: Sandi made oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, once again proving that Jess has the second coolest ‘rents in the world.

Tomorrow’s agenda is uncertain with the noted exception that I must watch Monday Night Football. Gotta cheer on the hometown team, y’know. And there are still cookies to be eaten! Maybe a trip to the Aero Museum and/or finally getting to see ST II can be shoehorned in there somewhere…

Peace.

Not a bad day, overall; it did have a couple of low-ebb moments. But we shall not shall not speak of such things here.

Jess, Sandi, Jim, Gary and Colleen and Eri (one of their sons’ gf) and I went to the local Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner. Jess, Sandi and I had been there before, but the others were JCS newbies. The food was good and our waitress, Nathalie, set a fine example of good and courteous customer service. At certain times, the wait-staff will all break into dance – tonight, they danced to a country song by Garth Brooks, “Men In Black,” and “Wild Wild West” (the Will Smith one). They also did something that I have never seen outside the borders of Utah: The Chicken Dance. It’s performed to an upbeat, polka-sounding song and I have seen it performed a few times before tonight… but it’s just one of those things that makes you go “Hmmm.” The funniest thing about it: Colleen, Jess and Sandi got up and did it too! I wished that I had taken my camera into the restaurant – it was definitely a “Do you remember doing this?” moment. Those always make the best blackmail pictures. (insert maniacal laughter here)

I did NOT get to see Wrath of Khan tonight, after all. BAH!!! It seems that the only time that it was showing today was at 11:10 am; we were going to the 9:30 showing, as listed on the theatre’s webpage. We saw Monsters, Inc. instead. And it was well worth it! It’s cute enough for kids, but there are more than enough things in the movie to entertain adults, too. I highly recommend seeing it! This is definitely going on the “To Be Purchased” list. And as for Wrath of Khan, they will still be showing it Monday; I think I know how I’m spending a couple of hours Monday morning… I [heart] three-day weekends.

On the other side of sleep: FOOTBALL! Both the Dolphins and the Panthers play tomorrow; Monday Night, the Ravens take on Tennessee in rematch of last season’s Super Bowl.

And with that, I shall prepare to walk the wildways and spaces between that lead to the Dreaming.

Peace.

Friday. What a nice word. I like the way that it rolls off of the tongue. Say it with me: “Friday.” Didn’t that feel good just to say it? I think that I will send a fruit basket to whomever came up with it. And when it comes on the leading edge of a three-day weekend… it’s just THAT much better!

Today at work:

• No Dee. BAH!
• Relatively uneventful, which is always a “good” thing.
• Sat next to and talked with Amanda, a DCO who transferred from the now-closed Twin Falls REC. She says that not too many people at work have made an effort to meet her or just say “hi…” and she’s been here for at least 4 – 6 months! I told her that I went through more or less the same thing when I came out here. Oh, well. Their loss; she’s a pretty cool person.

After work, we stopped at Borders; Angie met us there and then came here and watched Shrek with Jess.

SPECIAL NOTE: Thanks to m3lody for my new icon. Actually, she did it as a full-sized picture, which you can see here. She did this from a picture that she took when Jess and I were at her place the other night. Did I mention that she’s verra talented? She is.

Added bonus: Mom logged on before I went to bed, so I got to talk (“type”) to her for a bit. I [heart] my Mom. She is definitely the coolest mother in the world. Bar none.

Sleep time.

Peace.

Thursday came and went fairly painlessly. Even work was relatively effortless… as long as you don’t count the last twenty or so minutes. Tonight’s workout was good. All in all, it was the kind of day that makes you wonder “Why can’t they ALL be this easy?” Oh, well. We would probably tire of the lack of variety after a while.

Tomorrow, sweet tomorrow, is Friday. More importantly: Tomorrow night starts a three-day weekend: Veterans’ Day is Sunday. Remember your friends and family who served, or are serving, in the Armed Forces.

It’s early and I have to get up later. And as Gorillaz said “Tomorrow Comes Today.” So, I’d better hit the rack.

Peace.

I can tell that I must have been a little tired when I posted last night: I completely spaced-off adding the Quotes of the Day from last night at Melody’s:

• Scott (talking about Jeremy’s digicam smartcard):“Holy shit! 1 GIG?!? Mel, he just out-penised your camera!”
• Jeremy (talking about a guy in Melody and Beth’s pottery class who makes large works of pottery): “You guys have small-penis pottery.”
• Darren (m3l’s bf):Ew! Don’t bite at that!
  Melody:“Why not?”
  Darren:“Because kitty (Bonkers) bites that… and kitty licks her butt!”
  Melody:“Oh, yeah!”

Wednesday came. Wednesday went.

Jess and I went to Melody’s (hereafter referred to as “m3l”) for a dinner get-together after work. Scott, Beth and Jeremy, Melanie and Jason were there when we got there. Oh yeah, and Bonkers, m3l’s occasionally neurotic cat. It was a nice way to spend the evening.

The coolest thing about going to m3l’s was to FINALLY get to see the book PSYCHICS, FRAUD & POSSIBLE ESPIONAGE that she has been talking about. It seems that m3l’s parents have an… um… “eccentric” neighbor, named Tammy, on their block; Tammy wrote the aforementioned “book.” m3l has started chronicling some of unusual things that Tammy has done on www.crazytammy.com As my high school physics teacher, Dr. Rosenblatt, would say: “It’s just so bizarre!” And the book… Oh. My! There are some excerpts from it on the “Book Bits” section of the site; Jess and I decided that we MUST get a copy of this book for ourselves. You have GOT to see it. I had thought that people like this were the stuff of urban legends and episodes of the X-Files®. Wow. But just in case she’s right…

Peace.

What to say about today…?

• It was Tuesday.
• Dragged ourselves out of bed and to the gym before work!
• Worked – nothing special there today.
• Came home.

After all of last night’s comments about what to tape and how, I left home this morning secure in the knowledge that all was well. I should have realized at that point that Murphy’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”) was drafted for days like today:

1. Dee didn’t set his VCR to get the NYPD Blue premiere. I caught the second half of it when we got home; I liked what I saw.
2. Instead of taping our local WB affiliate, for tonight’s episode of Smallville, I recorded programming on the UPN station. This means that I got Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but since I’m not a regular watcher of the series, it’s pretty meaningless to me. It was the singing episode. Whoopee.
3. I haven’t dared to check the other VCR to see whether or not I actually got 24; but since Jess programmed that one, I’m sure that it worked.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, halfway mark of the work week. After that, everything else is, hopefully, an easy coast to the weekend. That will be a good thing. Another good thing would be if I can make sure that I set up everything properly for Enterprise…

Peace.

Workday One: Complete.
Workdays Two through Four: Pending.

• Pretty quiet at work today – no major braincramps or clusterfucks. This comes under the heading of a “good thing.” After all, the day had one strike against it, on general principle, given the fact that it was a Monday – manic or otherwise.
• Went to the gym after work.
• Came home, sat in front of my two favorite CRTs: the monitor and the TV.
• Went out for coffee with a couple of IRCers.
• Came home… and here I am.

All in all, not a bad day. Or as Mr. Lennon put it, “Nothing to get hung about…”

Tuesday’s entertainment quandary:

• Three (3) shows to tape: 24, Smallville, and NYPD Blue.
• Two (2) VRCs.
• Here’s the rub: They all start at the same time!!! I don’t know WHO thought that it would be funny to put these shows on the same day, at the same time, but for whomever it was/they were, a stern talking to and other harsh things should loom ominously in their futures.

Solution to said quandary: Ask a friend to tape one and record the others myself. Yes, friends and neighbors, “Necessity truly is the mother of invention.” Or in this case,”…is the mother of creative entertainment management.”

Quotes of the Day:

• Once again, Dee provided a gleaming nugget of joy with: “There’s nothing wrong with the World Wrestling Federation, if that’s your thing. However, for those of us with all our teeth…” *shrug*
• And from the movie Snatch: “You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.” – Bullet Tooth Tony

I found this article on USA Today‘s “Offbeat News” column. Just a little more insight into life here behind the Zion Curtain:

Beer Label Raises Eyebrows
The Wasatch Beers company has dipped into Mormon culture to promote some of its products in Utah. In a state where 70% of the population does not drink alcohol the company decided that it needed a gimmick, but its latest efforts have met with condemnation. The furor surrounds the promotion of a new beer called Polygamy Porter. “Our agenda is to have fun and increase sales of our beer,” Wasatch founder Greg Schirf told BBC World Business Report. Previous Wasatch ad campaigns have included slogans such as “Utah’s other religion – Wasatch Beers” and “Baptise your taste buds.”

And on that note, I’m off to conduct an inner-eyelid study.

Peace.

And the rest of the day:

• Went to the inlaws for dinner, football and belated birthday cake – trying to coordinate our collective schedules can be… difficult.
• Sandi and Jim got me Shrek. And, in case I haven’t mentioned it in a while:Jess has the second-coolest parents in the world.
• Came home and watched yesterday’s ep of X-Men: Evolution and last Tuesday’s Smallville.
• Made major strides in cleaning my Playspace!
• Not much else.

Tomorrow begins another 40 hours of indentured servitude. And it’s a Monday. Yay. Of course, that also means that there’s Monday Night Football. So, it can’t be all bad.

Peace.

Ravens beat the Steelers, just barely and it was mostly due to Pitt’s FG kicker missing four attempts. But it still goes in the “WIN” column, so I’m a happy camper.
Dolphins ravaged the Panthers.

Peace.

Got up after far too little sleep to take Jess to work. Went to the gym to make up for the two days that I missed this past week. Came home and vegged… which turned into “took a nap.” Woke up, ate, showered and felt human again. And then I dozed off again for a bit. Joy. I should sleep very well tonight.

Picked up Jess and we headed to Dee and Kim’s. We stopped for dinner at the Golden Corral in Clearfield. It was “Just How Bad Can Hair Look Day.” I can’t think of any time, in recent history, that I have seen that large a gathering of mullets, skullets, and other casualties of coiffure. I wished that I had my camera handy, there were some award winners in there.

After dinner, on to Dee and Kim’s! We went to hang out and watch a couple of boxing matches: Panchito Bojado vs. Mauro Lucero and Kostya Tszyu (a “Russtralian,” as Jess dubbed him – born in Russia, living now in Australia) vs. Zab Judah. They were both short matches. VERY short matches. Old-school Mike Tyson short. Bojado scored a KO two minutes into the first round; Tszyu won by a TKO at the end of the second round. After that, we watched – and MST3Ked – random fare on television.

Tomorrow: FOOTBALL! All three teams are playing! Carolina is playing Miami, which means that I will get a 2-out-of-3 day at best. Baltimore is playing Pittsburgh – who steamrolled Tennessee last week, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

It’s time to visit The Dreaming once again.

Peace.

Any day that starts of with “Fri,” by default, can not be a bad day. When it also starts with frozen mocha goodness that is like the cherry on a hot fudge sundae. And when you only work a half-day on that same day… those, my friends, are the extra helping of chocolate sprinkles on top.

We saw “The One” with Angie. It was like the mutant child of Highlander (The first one. The GOOD one.) and The Matrix. It wasn’t bad; I don’t see heavy Oscar contender, but it was a decent way to spend an afternoon. I also realized that there are a few other movies that I want to see soon:

• Monsters Inc.
• Domestic Disturbance
• Bandits
• From Hell
• The Last Castle
• Iron Monkey (What can I say, I grew up watching martial arts movies Black Belt Theater on Saturday afternoons back home. Call it a “guilty pleasure.”)
• …and I am sure that there are probably a few others.

I’ll see them all in due time. I didn’t put Harry Potter on there because I want to see it on one hand, but since I haven’t read any of the books or gotten caught up in the hype and hysteria, I don’t have to see it opening weekend (or soon after).
Bonus: One of my all-time favorite movies Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is playing at a nearby theatre. That is a must see (again). ::: geek mode :::

Good night, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea.

Peace.

Thursday – 32 hours down, 8 to go… and please let them go quickly!

Fairly standard – and uneventful – day: Work. Gym. Home.
I was tired all day.
I’m a little achy from working out.
Whose Line and Tuesday’s Smallville will have to be enjoyed sometime this weekend… as will catching up my lack of sleep.

Peace.