Just about the most boring day ever
Super lazy day today. I wish I were more inspired to do stuff. 🙁
- Played some LOTRO. Did some book work with Aluatis.
- Watched a lot of stuff. Episodes of Castle, Robin Hood, 30 Rock, Lie To Me, Smallville, and the movie Pandorum. Pandorum was interesting. I have questions about what the members of the ship were experiencing for the entire movie. I feel there are some unresolved plot points.
- Called and talked with my dad.
- Researched stuff to do in Portland. The more I look into making the trip, the more excited I’m getting.
- Did not go shoot photos of Nicole for her website.
- Cooked up chicken and pasta.
My beard is starting to get on my nerves. It will be a relief to shave it off.
It’s expected to be rainy and blustery all week. I hear frequent creaking coming from the vicinity of the roof.
One wild and crazy night
Saw Rango tonight.
Movie was… ok. Some amusing moments, nothing laugh out loud. The dialogue was definately for adults. The animation was amazing! Especially the textures. I won’t be long before I won’t be able to tell if it’s animated or live. Johnny Depp seems so much more believable as a human being when he’s animated.
Before the movie, I went to Hero’s for a Happy Hour Pizza. That and two green beers cost me $9.42. I gave the waitress a twenty and planned to leave a 2 dollar tip. Well, she brought back my change and it was only $10. Where the hell was my $.58? How annoying. So I left her $1.42. Next time I go in, I will complain.
Something to do
Today consisted of
- waking up not according to some predetermined schedule, but when my body was done sleeping (spring forward, who cares?)
- watching some tv (an episode of V to be precise)
- going to Mass (the music continues to be mediocre)
- lunching at Sips Bistro with Steve and Fr. Ramon (I had the Chicken Cesar Wrap.)
- spending a couple of hours at the milonga at Azucar (Silvia and I had made plans to go. It was mostly tango, but also a smattering of many other styles. Mary in particular was very kind and asked me to dance several times. If you know me, you know I like dancing and have no problem with partner dancing, I actually prefer it, but I do need to know the steps.)
- more tv (forthcoming. Perhaps some Being Human or Ordinary Family. I should watch the dvd I have from Netflix, The Island.)
- LOTRO (Aluatis needs to continue with Volume 1.)
- posting here (which I just finished.)
With freedom and ease, combating ignorance, dust, and disease
Ok, finally getting back to thoughts on Archbishop Tutu’s speech.
After the speech, I went over to a reception in the Student Center. We had been told in a variety of ways that the Archbishop would not be present at the reception. Fine. Sadly, the reception was very dull and boring. There was some food but I did not partake. After being there 30-40 minutes, I took off.
I found out later that night that there was a ‘real’, exclusive reception for the college’s special people that the Archbishop did attend. Classism is alive and well at Modesto Junior College. On the one hand, we have the elites. They get shrimp, and a meet and greet with the Archbishop, and a full helping of the sense of superiority that goes with it. On the other hand, we have the commoners. They get fruit.
Fairness is very important to me. I realize that the idea of fairness really forms my attitudes and opinions of things. It does not seem fair that some people get invited to the First Class party and others are relegated to Steerage. As much as I might like some of the people who attended the exclusive reception, their attendance there causes me to lose respect for them.
In the days following the speech, I’ve heard many people express how great it was. Frankly, I was rather unimpressed. It reminded me A LOT of what I hear in 35-40% of the homilies on Sundays. It may be good stuff, but it’s nothing new. Note to all the gushing admirers of the speech, if you went to church once in a while, you might not be so impressed with what a clergyman has to say.
Anything else I might have wanted to say about all of this has been forgotten.
A new name, let’s play the game
This has been a longish weekend of doing nothing. In other words, perfect!
I played some LOTRO, but I spent most of my time watching TV. I still have a lot of catching up to do from when I was busy watching Oscar nominees. But the thing is, it’s been rather tough to rekindle interest in a lot of these shows. Maybe it’s time to cut some of them loose. And actually, I’ve already started doing that. A week or two ago, I set my TiVo to stop recording CSI and CSI:NY. Other programs that may soon go the way of the dodo include: Chuck, Castle, No Ordinary Family, and The Cape. And Survivor this season, well, I haven’t even started watching it. I’ve had no interest.
*Ping*
I think I’ve been having some real blood sugar issues this weekend. It might be time to start taking my health a little more seriously. 🙁
Also, I could really go for a deep-tissue massage right now.
the beetle bugs are zooming and the tulip trees are blooming
I called in sick to work today. When I woke up, my throat was very sore and the pain continued into my ear. I hoped that it would resolve itself after taking a shower, but no luck. So I called in. With the recent anxiety at work and the meeting I had to prepare for tonight, the threat of not feeling well was all that was needed for me to decide.
So, I watched tv, played some LOTRO, did some writing, made a big lunch (steak, mixed vegetables, chicken flavored rice), and tried to take it easy. Then tonight I went to my Knights of Columbus meeting. I rather dreaded going to the meeting. Not because there was going to be anything unpleasant or what have you. But because when I have a free day, I don’t want to worry about evening committments. Once it was all said and done, it was fine. But it does make me think I should say “no” more often.
Half day at work tomorrow, with the morning dominated by a campus-wide Planning and Budget meeting. Yeah. That will be fun.
Weekend’s end
Well let’s see. I watched the Animated Shorts that are in contention for an Oscar this year. Mostly, I didn’t much care for them. The two I liked best are Let’s Polute and The Gruffalo. I also finished Gasland, one of the films up for Best Documentary. This movie had one basic point, Hydraulic Fracturing is damaging the environment and contaminating ground water. The thing is, what I just told you in 3 seconds, this movie drew out into about 145 minutes. Ok, sure, you need to support the claim. Fine, make it a 15 minute movie and call it done.
I did a bit of catching up on all the TV I’ve been recording. I watched a couple episodes of Blue Bloods, as well as an episode each of: V, The Good Wife, Merlin, CSI:NY, CSI, Big Bang Theory, White Collar, Castle, The Cape, Modern Family, Being Human, and Smallville. My TiVO is down below 50% on it’s storage level again. I need to work harder to keep it low.
Played a little LOTRO, but my computer is showing it’s age. Tried to participate in the Dar Narbugud raid again on Saturday evening. I was quite laggy and not far into the raid, my computer locked up and I had to restart. I guess a new computer needs to be at the top of the list of what to buy once I have some money to spend. Plenty of people to pay back first, starting with my dad.
I used my George Foreman Grill and my rice cooker a couple times. I grilled a chicken breast and some steak. I need to get creative with rice though. Any suggestions on what I can add to regular white rice to make it more interesting??
Salsa Fest begins tomorrow. Who’s excited??
36/56
Weekend recap
Kind of a quick weekend, but too busy as usual. Friday evening I went to a local photography meetup. It was alright. It’ll be better once the group figures out what it wants to be. Watched a movie to finish out the night.
Saturday, I went to my friend, Sarah’s, book launch. Her book is called The Latte Rebellion. I bought a copy and had her sign it. I did take some photos.
Afterwards, I stopped by the supermarket and bought some of the ingredients for the cabbage salsa I’ll be making for work. Then home to watch the second movie in the Harry Potter series.
In the evening, I went to my aunt & uncle’s place for a birthday / anniversary party. I was there for a couple of hours then I went over to Dorinda & Holly’s to watch another of the Harry Potter movies. That was just about all I could fit into the day and there was nothing left to do but go to bed.
Today, I watched 2 more HP movies on DVD, saw Country Strong at the theater, and finished up the evening with Winter’s Bone (from Netflix). Somewhere in there, I made a test batch of the salsa. I’m not real happy with it. I’m glad I tested before I inflicted it upon my coworkers.
Oscar count – 25/56
Que linda esta la manana
So, I’ve been watching a lot of old television lately. I’ve watched several episodes of The Rockford Files, two entire seasons of Magnum PI, and tonight I watched four episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man and one of The Bionic Woman. I have Emergency and Simon & Simon ready to view on Netflix. These are all shows from my childhood and it’s definitely nostalgic. It’s interesting to see how things were portrayed back then.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll be 41. Birthdays to me are so very unimportant. I guarantee I won’t feel any different tomorrow than I did today. I rather dislike my birthday actually. A month ago, I requested the day off work so that I wouldn’t have to be there for everyone’s birthday wishes for me. My supervisor asked if it would be ok if I was given a card (which is what we do for everyone). I told her that I would prefer not. Well, I was given a card anyway. As I read it, I was nearly overwhelmed with loneliness. But this year isn’t as bad as last year was. Last year, a girl I was dating decided to break it off the evening before my birthday (hey, that’s today!). It was really hard on me. And the next day I had to go into work where my coworkers had decorated my work area for me. It was my 40th birthday so they tried to kick it up a notch. I did expect that they were going to do something so despite feeling like crap, I put on a brave face and attempted to cheerfully go along with it all. So the crappy part wasn’t turning 40. Big whoop. The crappy part was being dumped and especially that on my birthday, I had to act happy in order to make everyone else feel good.
So let us all agree that I do not care to celebrate my birthday. It’s nothing special. I think it’s much more significant to celebrate my conception day. Good luck figuring out when that was. 🙂
Showcase of the Mundane
I expect that you think I live quite an exciting life. You’d be wrong. Allow me to illustrate.
I am a bit more than halfway through an uneventful weekend.
Friday evening I went to Sonora for a hafla. This is a belly dancing event where several performers take turns showcasing dances they’ve been working on. I was there with my group, Burning Sky Musicians, to play between sets and allow for a kind of open dance period.
Yesterday I went to my buddy Ross’s place, the House of Robot Pets, to play some board games. A group of four of us played Tales of the Arabian Nights, a story telling game. Mike won by a wide margin. The three of us played several hands of Zombie Flux, a card game wherein the rules can change as you play. The last board game we went with was Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers. Ross won this one while I came in second place. Finally, Ross and I worked on creating some Rogue Trader characters and discussed comic books. Yes, we are all nerds.
Today, I did so little, that out of boredom, I took a 3 hour nap. I expect to be up all night. All I did was play LOTRO and watch some stuff on the DVR.
Tomorrow I plan to do laundry, and go grocery shopping.
To those of you still awake, I’m impressed.
