The Typhoid Mary of Television

What's the worst thing that can happen to a show you like? I'm beginning to think it's having me watch it. I am death to a tv show - pretty much everything I've liked either hovers in the edge of existinction (Veronica Mars anyone?) or gets cancelled after a couple of shows (Let's see, Firefly, Miracles, and [even though it wasn't that good] Threshold). Is my taste really that bizzarre? I used to think I was great at discovering future cult classics - I mean, I watched X-Files from day one, Xena from day one, Buffy from day one ... you get the picture. Now I just think my taste is weird.

What's even worse is when I pick up a show that's been on for awhile - you guessed, DOA. I'm talking Farscape and now Alias. Yeah, maybe Alias had seen better days, but it kind of reduces me to one show that I tape. Yes, one (the previously mentioned Veronica Mars). So beware. If you really like a show, don't tell me ... at least until it's already cancelled and available on DVD (yay DVDs).

I'm A Loser, Baby ...

Wow, blast from the past musically, but fairly reflective of how I feel. Tired and ready to give up on pretty much everything. Very burned out on the job front - tired of dealing with morons who don't give a damn about anything but their own bonus, tired of being blamed for everything except the bombing in Baghdad, tired of fighting everyone to get the simplest of projects done, just tired. I wish there was some acceptable solution here. Yeah, yeah, I know, find something else. Except there is nothing else in my area of expertise in my area. Moving elsewhere would have too much of a financial penalty, and so I sit. And because I'm so miserable, I get too tired to do much of anything else. Thank heavens the holidays are coming. At least I can forget about everything for a couple of days.

Moving Outside My Comfort Zone

which, by the way, I think is shrinking more rapidly than a wool sweater in boiling water. Anyway, today is one of those frustrating days where I've been spending a lot of time accomplishing exactly nothing. Everything I need to do depends on someone else who has a boatload less urgency than I do about the situation - which is fine, except I'm the one who has to explain why it takes 5 times longer than it should to complete whatever task has been assigned. No wonder I'm eating everything that isn't tied down. Not exactly the Alfred E. Neuman type - I live to fret ... or fret to live... or something like that. That's why I so totally need to win the lottery - it's not greed, it's a health issue. Honest. Think the insurance companies would buy it? Me neither. *sigh*

Other than work, I've had a whopping one good day so far this week. Exercised last night, cleaned a bit, read a bit ... all that good stuff (OK, I ate to much, but ...). Kids got great report cards - I get to go hear the rest of the story tomorrow (parent-teacher meetings). Just hoping the younger one has decided to hide her inner Haskell a bit better.

Speaking of Muzzles ...

Pat Robertson once again demonstrating the loving nature that the public has come to associated with "Christianity." Some background: the Dover schoolboard in York was taken over by a bunch of fundamentalist (who put the mental in fundamenta) who decided that what the district really needed was a court case (obviously there was too much money floating around the district, right?) so they put in a mandatory statement about how evolution was a theory and had "gaps" and "intelligent design" offered an alternative ... blah, blah, blah. Oh, and did I mention that the folks who push this home-school their kids ... and that the person who put the books in the school supporting intelligent design as a "anonymous donation" was the father of the driving force behind the whole thing. Anyway, the voters of Dover had the shits of it and kicked out all 8 of the board members responsible for this nonsense. Bear in mind, this has nothing to do with creationism vs. evolution or the value of either argument, just what is appropriate to teach in schools. (My belief is in a creator who used evolution as the method of His creation, but I don't depend on the schools to perpetrate that.)

Anyway, Robertson said (and I quote) "If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you rejected him from your city." He continued, "And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for his help because he might not be there." OK, several problems with this nasty, vindictive little man. Did it ever occur to him that a God powerful enough to create the world might be able to control a schoolboard election? How does he know that it wasn't God's will that these people get kicked off the schoolboard? I just love his certainty that he and he alone knows God's will. Well, bully for you. That's something that even Abraham Lincoln never claimed. Lincoln said something to the effect that it doesn't matter if God is on our side but rather are we on God's side. I just wish these holier-than-thous would think about that one once in awhile.

Accentuate the Positive ...

Eliminate the negative? I fear that would lead to eliminating myself of late. The question that always comes up for me is who is in control of how I feel about things? I know no one can control circumstances, but can I control how I react? I have to believe that I can. So why choose to reactive negatively? It all has to do with control - who is in control, who can be in control, who should be in control. I've been letting circumstances frustrate me and control my reactions. This lack of control cascades throughout life when I let it. I'm frustrated so I eat more. I'm frustrated so I mouth off more (who, me? really? whoddathunkit?).

It might sound dorky, but I've been turning to the book of Proverbs lately. One loud and clear message that keeps being repeated over and over and over and over... keep your darn mouth shut. Yeah, yeah, there are multiple aspects of this idea, but the basic remains the same. Shut it. I think I'm too much of a big mouth. I tend to forget to sensor myself and oops, out it comes. So, anybody got a muzzle I can borrow?

Can You Really Enjoy Something You Don't Think Is That Good?

Went to see "The Boyfriend" last night with a friend. It's an old, old musical that's well past it's expiration date. The plot is trite and painfully shallow. Basically, it's about a bunch of rich 17 year olds who think that a girl needs a boyfriend to be complete by the time they are 17. Yeah, it's really that bad. Of course, two of the shallow rich kids pretend to be poor and hook up and live happily every after. The only thing missing was the line "It's 10:30, kiss her already." Oh, and did I mention the comic relief was a lecherous old man (bordering on pedophile)? And that the "17-year-olds" were all played by women on the downside of thirty? No?

At any rate, as is my habit, I went into critique mode with my friend on the way out of the theater. She just kind of shrugged and said it had music and dancing so she enjoyed it. She's used to my criticism and doesn't mind that I rip apart the show we see (in fact, I think she kind of finds it funny - at least I hope so). But the comment kind of implied that I didn't enjoy it. Not the case. It annoyed me, but the female lead had a good voice, and some of the male dancers weren't half bad. Did I think it was a good musical? No (you can only get away with that thin of a story if the music is Gershwin quality - it wasn't). Did I enjoy it? Sure. I don't really have to think something is good to enjoy it. Does that make me strange?