Learned Helplessnes

If you want to know why kids these days aren't able to do anything on their own it's because when they do their parents get arrested for child endangerment. For anyone that didn't read the link the basic story is that an 8 year old was supposed to get on the bus to church with his siblings, but instead the kid went off and decide to explore around a bit and ended up in a s store a about four blocks away where a worker called the police because the child was unattended.  The father was then arrested for child endangerment because apparently he should have watched them get on the bus and didn't and the kid was in terrible danger by walking down the street and going into a shop.

I'm sorry, but that kid wasn't in danger.  Eight years old for me would have been in 2nd or 3rd grade.  I remember times where I walked from school to my friends house which was probably 6-8 blocks from the school without any supervision.  So, I don't see what the issue is here.  They didn't say he was causing trouble or that he was being reckless, he was in a store with no parent and so that warranted a call to the police.  What is that telling kids?  It's telling them that they're helpless and that they need to be with a parent at all times.  It's why we end up with kids who can't seem to do anything on their own.  Who don't know how to make arrangements to do things with their peers because their parents have to take care of everything.

But, Jason, You don't have kids, you don't understand.  The world is a dangerous place and we have to fear it at all cost.

Nope.  Sorry. False.  75% of people think that crime is much worse than it used to be, but it's actually dropped dramatically. Violent crime has been decreasing for the past 20 years and it's not because of helicopter parents.  Kidnappings have remained about the same as always which is about 100 per year in the classic "some guy snatched a kid and ran off with them".  Most kids actually are abducted by parents.  It's all just a myth in the climate of fear we've come to live in. 

It's one thing for parents to be over protective, but to be at the point where a citizen, regardless of age, can't walk around their own town within only a few blocks of their house without being charged with the crime child endangerment, we've gone too far.  I'm all for keeping people safe, but I don't want to live in a world like that where children are taught they can't be independent.  That they are in danger all the time and need to be watched. 

Further, I think that produces a society that is used to the idea of needing to be watched, always being in fear, and being ok with being "supervised" on the basis of being kept safe.  It creates kids who grow up and don't know how to be alone, who aren't taught how to navigate life.  It means they don't know how to be independent and don't know how to manage and police themselves.  This really got me riled up when I read it because it's absurd.  I personally would have lost it.  Perhaps there are more details that would make this more understandable, like the kid is disabled in some way, but as it is right now it's beyond absurd.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Another unused picture from our vacation.  This was supposed to be a snap chat with a Rachel Tice quote, but the internet wasn't working, so it ended up a photo on my phone.  Shut the fuck up, Rachel Tice.

You Win, Heat

Well, we broke down and turned on the AC.  I wanted to make it to July, but the heat plus the humidity was just too much and we had to do it.  The floor was sticky, that's how bad it was.  We can't have that kind of nonsense.  So, air is on, but I hope that the weather will break in a few days and we can turn it back off.  I mean, we're going on vacation in a few days, so hopefully it'll break before we leave.  It took a while to cool off, but by night it was definitely the right choice. 

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Saw this funny bag and took a picture of it when we were on our cruise.  I found it on my phone so figure I might as well use it.  Sea Horses are really kind of weird, but in a neat way.  They look so strange.

Saturday Matinee: X-Men Days of Future Past

It was hot and humid today and pretty much unbearably awful so we decided to go see a movie.  There's actually quite a few things I'd be willing to see, which is kind of strange.  We decided that we'd go see X-Men: Days of Future Past since it's been out for about a month and would probably be gone soon.  Plus a lot of the movies we'd go see are pretty new to theaters so we have a bit of time with them if we really want to see them.

First off I have to say the title of this movie is nonsensical.  I see what they're trying to do since there is time travel elements to the movie, but it just doesn't even make sense.  It's three nouns that don't make sense no matter how you arrange it.  Do people actually say these out loud?  What were the rejected choices? What was worse than this that the producers said, "Nah, let's go with Days of Future Past."  Really they should have called it X-Men: Sorry About That Third Movie

So, be aware from this point on it's possible there may be a few spoilers as I discuss the movie, so if you don't want to know then I suggest stopping now and coming back when you've seen it.  As movies go this wasn't all that bad actually.  The X-Men haven't always been all that great and the third movie was just a messy stupid piece of crap.  I'm still not entirely sure how Professor X is even in this movie since he was vaporized.  I thought for a while they just were pretending that it didn't happen, but then Logan was having memories of killing Jean and so clearly that still was part of canon.  But, they kept with it, so I guess we just have to ignore that.

Basically they went with the story that is similar to the cartoon they did in the 90s where you have the evil sentinel wiping mutants out and there is time travel to try and fix it.  However apparently they didn't want to make a movie with Bishop as Mr. Time Travel so found an explanation to make it Wolverine.  So, cut back to the 70s and they've got to find a way to avert the terrible future and make things right again. 

As movies go it wasn't bad, and they cleared the slate from movie three by changing the timeline and making it so Jean, Scott, Beast, and everyone still alive.  Clearly they were like "ok, we'll make First Class as the set up for Days of Future Past so we can eliminate X3 from existence and possibly make future movies.  Really, it was a full reset.  I guess it's kind of like Star Trek where they found a way to do a reset without ignoring all of the original Star Trek canon.

Anyhow, it was a decent action movie, and a pretty good X-Men movie as things go so I give it a solid matinee rating.  I wouldn't pay full price, but it was good enough to enjoy on a nice weekend when it's hot and a movie is a way to escape the heat and enjoy some fun action and adventure
.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I don't think I got to post this picture from the cruise, but it was behind me at the Art of Animation restaurant and was just the worst.  This is the concept art from Up, and it was titled something like "The Day with Elie" and it's so hop0eful and happy at the start and then things get so bad and he just falls apart.  It's so freaking sad.

Back In The 1900s

There's been some news stories and a lot of social media noise recently because we just passed the 10th anniversary since Friends went off the air.  Friends has been off the air for 10 years, but ran for 10 years so that means that the show first aired 20 years ago.  That seems out of this world.  Though at the same time when I think of 10 years ago I think of the 90s, and that's not even close to correct anymore.

It's kind of weird to think of things that I remember being 20 years ago.  Until recently 20 years ago was like elementary school, but now we're getting into 20 years ago being a teenager.  It's strange to think of things that way since I don't feel like I'm all that old, but then again I looked in the mirror the other day and felt like my gray hair had multiplied over night to a level that was kind or weird for me to look at.

I kind of miss the 90s, it seemed like things were more hopeful then than they are now.  Things weren't as great for a lot of groups, but people were starting to push back on things like gay rights in a much harder way and it was the start toward the path that we are going down now were anti-gay marriage laws are getting struck down.  So yes, a lot of it is nostalgia, much like how older generations liked the 50s even though it was terrible for pretty much anyone except white men.

However, we had the new fancy internet in the 90s, and awesome computers that now are like lame pocket calculators by comparison.  There wasn't the constant "war on terror" and the disgusting politics (or perhaps there was and we just didn't notice it because we were focused on other things, but it didn't seem quite as bad as it is now.

I guess I'll have to think about that in case some day I have kids and they ask me what the 1900s were like.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Though some have two horns, the idea is still funny. 

Digital Free

A while back a video poem about people needing to step back from technology a bit and take in what you're doing and the people you're doing it with.  This is something I've seen a lot where people will be hanging out together and just sitting around on their phones or spend a good amount texting people who aren't there.  The idea is that people need to be more present in their lives and be in the moment that you're in and not living your live through the filter of technology.  I think it can say it better than I can explain it, so I'll just embed it below.




I actually was watching a reaction video where people were discussing it and complaining that it says to shun technology and it's done through videos and technology and how hypocritical that is.  However I don't think the idea here is to shun technology, but rather to rebalanced life, and stop letting it be such a constant distraction.  To stop being so focused on taking pictures of your food and responding to tweets and texting others and just be in the moment.

I kind of noticed this when we were in Disney last month where the entire sea of people had cameras, phones, and even tablets up in the air filming the fireworks.  Instead of actually experiencing them and enjoying them there was a preoccupation with people posting the videos and viewing it through the screen rather than just being there and enjoying it.

Sure, I'm big on taking pictures, I'm also big on doing videos, but there's also a time when you just have to live and not worry about trying to make a great picture for Instagram, or some tweet that you want to get favorited.

Thinking about that I considered trying to institute more of a ban on technology on our upcoming trip.  My hope is actually that we get terrible reception and our phones will basically be useless so we are more forced into just being.  I like this about Europe and our cruise.  In both cases we had no choice, and there was no checking your phone, and getting updates on social media.  In fact the phones basically just became cameras, it was nice.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I don't know why I love the Tiki Room so much, but I do.  It's kind of silly, but something about the obsession with the exotic land of Hawaii and the south pacific from the 1950-1960s just amuses me. I took this while in Disney but never got to use it, so thought it deserved a place on the blog.

Inefficient

I'm so sick of the inefficient hoops that I'm jumping through at work because people somewhere else aren't doing things properly.  We've got more nonsense with expense reporting.  Earlier there was an issue where they didn't like the word I used in a report.  There was nothing *wrong* with the word, but they preferred that I used a different word.  So they rejected the expense report and sent it back to go through the entire process for the equivalent of one person calling it a highway and another calling it an express way (just an example).

Well then we had the utter nonsense of more duplicate commentary on items, being told to write things on the receipts so it's more clear what it matches with (even though these are matched with the expense line in the system, but they are printing it out so it can't be like that).  And all around a bunch of crap because some people want to do this on paper rather than going through the electronic system as it was intended.

Well today was a whole new level, where they are insisting on merging things into one line and then doing them into sub categories instead of taking the two separate receipts and making two lines.  All the information was provided to get the expense reimbursed.  All the required information was there, everything was exactly as needed but because this one person has a preference we have to do it all over again rather than just accepting it since it did fall into all university as well as department guidelines.

My problem is that instead of calling these people out for wasting time and energy on things that meet all requirements but that they have a personal preference, we bend to it and jump through a bunch of hoops.  Pretty much they are resisting the technology and rather than telling them to learn it and do it properly we are all expected to cater to them.  That pisses me off.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I'm pretty sure my plant is dead.  It looks like crap. Maybe i should go get a different plant to replace it.  It has these two shoots coming out of new leaves, so maybe not?  I don't know, it just looks like shit.

Shut Your Facebook

People on Facebook are really getting on my nerves lately.  People who don't have jobs counting down the days till the weekend.  WHY!?  Every day is the weekend you don't have a job.  People who don't work, pay no taxes, and are general Moochers that the right would call "takers' complaining about the taxes that they DON'T PAY!  And let's not even get started on the absurd shared posts that are obvious hoaxes.

It makes me want to yell at all of them for being stupid.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I took this while in Disney to send to a friend.  This is probably the worst thing they have in any of the parks.  I'm not entirely sure why it's still a thing at all.  Seriously, why is it a thing.  Are there people out there that actually like this?  Gross.

Three Years

In a few weeks I will reach the three year mark for this job that I wanted to spend no more than six months in.  As usually I've been applying for a variety of jobs, but I'm not getting anything back.  I even investigated into the possibility of going into Teach For America since they have a Detroit branch.  I don't think they'd be a great fit, but I'm so sick of doing this that I gave it a look.  Turns out I missed the deadline for the 2014-2015 year so that's not an option.

I've got a class in the fall, though that's not really all that helpful since I can't get all the classes I need.  Though, the major portions of the program will be done by the end of winter semester (I just won't have the graphic design portion done since they don't exactly offer it at times that work for anyone who has a job.

It's just getting really annoying.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Took a walk today just to get moving, and the campus was a ghost town.  Nice though.

Planned

Well our tri pis finally planned, which I suppose is a good thing since it's going on in about a week or so.  It was a hard trip to plan and it really was making me grumpy.  Now the only wildcard will be the weather.  I'm also excited to see a show on Broadway, which will be the first time for Keely and Jasmine.  It looks like it should be a fun trip, so stay tuned.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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What?  What in the world is going on with potato chips lately.  I don't understand these weird flavors.  Surely there is something stupid happening if people are demanding this crap.  Really?  Really?

Sleeping In

Saturdays are hard.  I know that if I get up early I can accomplish so much and my to do list will be so small.  However, I also know I get very few days a week to sleep in, and I don't have enough time during the week to sleep, so the struggle between those two choices is real.  As broken records go I will say that I really wish we had 3 day weekends.  It'd solve so many issues.  Chore day, work day, relax day.  WOO!

Picture(s) of the Day:
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This is my view this morning.  He was all "hey, how about I cuddle.  He actually was pretty good, sometimes he becomes all elbows and that's a pain in the ass, but today it was just calm laying, and little energy.

Glorious Day

Fridays are great, because weekend.  Though, I can't help but feel that I really could use more three day weekends.  I've said in the past that each week my to do list gets longer and I never seem to make it to the things I need to do.  If only weekends had three days, I think I'd finally be able to catch up.  Who invented the five day work week.  It's stupid.  I protest.  Someone owes us all an apology.  Clearly we deserve more time off than that.

Today was nice, had some people over, had some strawberry drink thing we make sometimes.  Overall kind of relaxing.  Tomorrow will probably be busy trying to get things off the to do list.  Next weekend will be the last before vacation, so gotta get a lot done before that.  I always feel like once we hit the 4th of July that's downhill on the summer.  We make it to that point, and then it starts sliding toward stupid fall.  I don't like that.

Anyhow, happy Friday.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I got up to shower this morning, and found this.  Sometimes he just decides to get in the tub, I don't know why and he always looks like he's been punished and forced in the tub.  It's super silly.

Not Bad

Today went better than expected, so that's always a good feeling.  Though I feel like I'm often on a high wire balancing over feeling like crap and making it across fine and being super motivated.  Today was a good day where I made it all the way across and did all my fancy stunts.  Tomorrow may be where I feel like I'm going to fall off the wire.  Such is life.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Some more pictures from yesterday's storm.  This was the front door, but I thought it had a bit better cloud display.  Pretty neat looking.

Everyone Remembers Where They Buried The Hatchet

Forgiveness is a great thing, but it's also an incredibly difficult thing to actually do.  To really forgive and move on from something takes a very long time, and takes a lot of personal growth and development to truly forgive someone.  It's not something that can happen over night, and it takes a lot of processing to actually get to that point.  However, you hear a lot today of people saying "they're over it" or "whatever, it's done" and act like they've reached that point when in fact they haven't really reached that point because they simply haven't had the time, or haven't really been able to come to peace with it.

Put that person in a stressful situation, a similar situation, or a conflict situation and you're going to see the ugly head of whatever rise right back up to the surface.  The truth is people can decide to make peace, and decide to move on, but when the "crime" is bad enough they never forget exactly where they buried the hatchet, and they will dig it back up and use it if it comes to it.  Some long ago thing will be brought back up in some argument in order to feel superior, or to have an "advantage".  A similar situation will occur or the other party will commit the same "sin" and then point out that they in fact are even given what happened in the past.

There are some things that are too big to actually overcome in any kind of relationship, and generally those things are when trust has been destroyed.  Trust can be rebuilt, but it will never be the same trust as before.  It will never be as strong and have as far a range.  There may be some, but it will be limited, and there will always be a layer of doubt that covers it because it is a broken trust.

Sometimes people forget that in this world there are consequences that are forever and can't be changed.  We live in a world where people want another chance or feel they have the right to just reset and start over, but in reality that is impossible.  There are no restarts for some things in this world, and the result is permanent.  Mistakes have long lasting results, and that shouldn't be forgotten.  It should also be remembered that sometimes when you face these things it's time to realize the long term consequence and make adequate changes to your life as a result instead of working off of the idea of how things were before.  They will never be like they were before, so moving in accordance with that world view is foolish.

Growing up means accepting what you've done, not making excuses, and moving forward anyway.  It's always seeing the reality of the world, and not the rose colored world of what you think people should do.  There are many things people should do, but they don't.  Operating on what people should do rather than what the actually do is foolish.  Growing up is recognizing that and accepting it, much like accepting mistakes and learning to chart new courses.  The hatchet may be buried, but deep down everyone knows exactly where to dig in order to use it again.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Storm rolling in, looks pretty cool.  I was home sick today and this is the view out of the back of my house.  Turns out to look worse than it was.  It rained pretty hard for a minute or two, but that was about it. 

Indecision

For real, this trip is killing me.  Everyone is giving feedback that's too broad, so I don't know how to narrow it down.  I'm making plans then changing them, then making new plans and changing those.  It's absurd!  About all I know is that we'll be seeing The Cripple of Inishmaan, but that's about it.

One problem is I don't know how to gauge how much time we'll need for certain activities.  Do we need as much time as we think we do?  Though what if it rains?  Or, what if it doesn't rain and we have too much time?  It's all a lot to figure out, and there's a lot of movement so what we do will determine a lot of where we'll stay, or where we stay will have a lot of say in what we do.  So, it's a lot to figure out.  I've got about two weeks left to figure it out.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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We had our first rehearsal with our combat guy today.  It was pretty freaking cool, so I thought I'd put a little picture up.

Dragging

I've been really dragging lately.  I really have no desire to do anything really.  I don't really feel all that excited to go and do things.  Work is the same as always.  I'm not overly excited to work on the theatre stuff.  I'm considering just stopping doing it all together.  It's a lot of hassle and I don't really feel it's all that rewarding.  I never wanted to do community theatre to begin with, and I don't really enjoy doing it.  There are some elements that I like, but it's with the students that I've been working with for years, or the students that are still students and learn.  Working with some of the more community level people I don't find enjoyable at all because they don't fit my style.

Really, I feel like my entire day is full of things that I don't enjoy at all, then I just go to bed and do it all over again.  I'm in this stupid daily cycle that I don't enjoy.  Things don't go the way I want, and there's really nothing I can do about it because I'm barely keeping things together as it is, so I can't exactly chuck out a bad actor without having to cancel the entire show or weaken it considerably.

We're losing more and more regulars every year, and it'll soon be to the point where I'm working entirely with people I don't know, and I'm not sure I'm at all interested in doing that. I don't know, perhaps I'd just be happier with a smaller cast show.  Earnest and Odd Couple were great, but the Shakespeare really hasn't been the same since the first year.  I'm also tired of constantly fighting battles just to exist.  The park was extra stupid this year.  We never can find rehearsal space for the fall and winter, performance space, money is an issue, and I don't feel like I have time to get everything done, but then when I delegate things, people don't do their jobs and get it done.  So the only person I can count on to get stuff done is me, and why am I doing all of this, since I don't even enjoy it but apparently I'm the only one that cares to get things done.  I'm just feeling tired.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Got this via snapchat from the night we went to get frozen yogurt.  I wasn't overly impressed by it.  There was a strange aftertaste.  But spending time with these nuts is always a good time.

Exhausted

I'm feeling completely exhausted.  Yesterday was very busy, with a ton of housework starting early in the morning, a delicious brunch followed by a grad party, and then mowing my gran's lawn and finally a costume meeting for the show.  Then today wasn't much better.  Today I had to mow my lawn, do a bunch of yard work, go grocery shopping, do laundry, go to Becky's family for dinner, and then come home in time for Game of Thrones, with cleaning stuck in there when I could manage it.

So right now I'm feeling totally drained.  I had more that I was supposed to do today, including hanging and ironing all the laundry, but it's all still sitting there.  I'm tired, and feel pretty crappy to be honest, and that's not fun.  It seems every week my list gets longer, but I'm never able to keep up.   I swear I've had a few things on the list for two months and just have never had the time to get them done.  I think I just need to pay someone to do some of this shit.  I mean, what's it worth to have a yard crew come and take care of the yard?  I mean, it would save me an hour a week.  Or a cleaning lady to sweep up all the dog hair that is all over the place. That would save me an hour a week too probably.

I need to sleep.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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I think what I need is to be here again.  Nice, quiet, relaxing, with no contact from anyone beyond the ship.  Plus look at the beauty.  But perhaps this time for a week.

A Ranty Saturday

Last night we went to Chili's.  I'm not a huge fan of Chili's because I find their food to be very bland and after eating it I"m not sure why I even bothered to eat it in the first place.  However it was late and we were passing it and hadn't had dinner so it seemed like it was something.  We also don't go there often on account of the blandness, so at the very least it would be something different than the usual.

My problem came when we got to the table and they asked us if we'd been in since they got the new tablets at the table.  We said no and the host proceeded to tell us how they work.  Apparently you can use them to pay your check, order dessert, but also you can read USA Today, or play games.  Ok, now call me crazy, but why in the fuck am I playing games if I'm out to dinner with people?  Even more so, why would I pay a dollar to play games when I'm out to dinner with people? 

Long story short, I absolutely hate this feature.  It's creating lazy waiters that I don't know why I'm bothering to tip.  If I have to push a button to get drink refills, then why do I even bother having a waiter?  Why don't they just let me go get my own drink?  If I have to navigate the computer, why do I have a waiter since they aren't going to take care of my bill.  In fact, why not just go the route of something like Noodles and Co. where I just order at a counter and they bring my my food when it's done. 

I am not a fan, and I'm not amused.  I hear that Applebee's is going to be doing this as well.  It's a bad trend and I hope I don't see it in future.  There is a sacred bond between guests at a resturant and their waiter. This is not helping anyone except for the company who is trying to replace waiters.  I'm not going to tip someone 20% for simply dropping my food off and then only showing up when I push the drink refill button.  Do not like.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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The new interactive screens at Chili's.

Friday The 13th!

I don't know why I decided to name this blog Friday The 13th, other than the fact that today is Friday the 13th.  I mean, it's not like I ended up trading bodies with someone I had a misunderstanding with in order to get some perspective of what it's like walking in their shoes or anything.  There weren't black cats everywhere, or creepy murderers.

Today was an average day, actually we had rehearsal, ended up getting some frozen yoghurt, and then that was about it.  It was a nice day for the most part, and it's been kind of cool, in fact it was almost cold today. 

This is probably the least interesting blog with the most interesting name!  I hope you all enjoyed.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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As part of rehearsal today our three weird sisters decided to watch some other productions to see what other people have done, so they know what to avoid.  One of the productions was the school production we were a part of, and that I had a part in.  This is what happened when my part came on. For anyone unclear I am under that pile.

Some Good News

So, as it turns out the struggle with cast that I was dealing with the other day has been resolved, and in our favor.  This is a huge relief, and I mean, for real, a ton.  It's always a struggle to keep this thing going.  Finding locations to perform, finding locations to rehearse, getting enough people to cast the play without having to make cuts.  It's a mess, and it seems like as soon as things are set, something gets thrown into the gears.  Anyhow, I'm glad for the good news, and I'm glad that I don't have to find another actor to fill a major role.  It's the little things.

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Some friends are in LA and text me a picture!  Haha, that's amusing, I think the date says 2007.

Trip Planning Again

Well I'm in the trip planning mode again, this time for a 4th of July weekend trip.  Does it count as a weekend trip if you tack on two extra days to make it a super long weekend trip?  I don't know, I'm calling it a short trip because it's less than a full week off work, therefore it's not a full vacation. However, it will be some time away, and a destination that we've never been before, so that is exciting.

I'm still working on all the details to figure out where we are going exactly, and when we'll be there, but the basic plan is that after work we're going to begin our journey East, and drive out to Acadia National Park in Maine.  We're not sure exactly what we're doing out there, but there is hiking and small towns, and the ocean, so it should be nice regardless.  There are also some lighthouses in Maine that might be worth a look, and we're not too far from Campobello in Canada, which I'm interested in visiting.

It's going to be a lot of driving, but then again we just got the car so it's probably worth it to give it a try and see how it does on a long trip. 

Picture(s) of the Day:
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Why is this day going so slow?

The Struggle

Why is it that everything has to be so fucking hard all the time.  Nothing can just be simple.  Nothing can be straightforward and easy.  I'm not saying that life has to be easy, but why is it that everything has to be so hard.  Everything has to be a constant struggle that is teetering on the edge every single time.  We can't just do something, and not worry, it has to be a mess.

I feel like I'm holding this theatre together with my hands, some bubble gum, and a twisty tie.  I'm all for normal struggles.  It happens.  Yeah, you've got some obstacles to overcome but it's manageable.  But it seems like lately it's one of those chase scenes where everything possible, regardless of how absurd is suddenly in the way.  In fact it's like that scene from The Rock.  It can't just be a car chase, you have to have a car chase, through narrow alleys, sharp turns, parked cars, pedestrians, road construction, a bottled water truck, downed power lines, a little old lady crossing the street with a cane, an out of control trolly, a group of people in wheel chairs, and explosions.  (seriously, go YouTube the scene, ALL THOSE THINGS HAPPEN!)

The point is that I'm tired of the constant struggles, I'm tired of always having to try and hold everything together and when I delegate things to others to help lighten my load to have it not get done, or get done in a half-ass way. Why am I even bothering?

Picture(s) of the Day:
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My plant is not doing well.  There is new growth, so I'm hoping it's just a cycle, but I'm thinking it's not long for this world.

Technology

I really don't understand what is so hard to understand that if there is a projector in our office, that works with everyone's computer except one person, the issue is that one person's computer, not the projector.  Even if it's an issue where it works for nearly everyone, but one or two people, it's the computer not the projector.  And when you throw a fit that it's not working then someone else plugs in their computer and it suddenly works, It. Is. Your. Computer.

I really can't deal with it anymore, it's so absurd. I'm getting yelled at because someone else can't figure it out and get it to work.  First it was because the cord only works with Macs (incidentally most people here have Macs), then it was that the adapter was wrong and just an off brand issue.  Now it's the AV system.  The entire system.  I'm not investigating how to replace the entire, multi-thousand dollar system because one asshole can't figure out how it works.  And because it's an asshole with a title we have to listen to it.

I really hate this place

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 183
It seems I forgot to post this picture here of the Opera House from last week when we saw Eddie.  I like this venue, though the lobby is a bit small.

Busy Bee

Today I got up and made a list of all the thing that I needed to get done but haven't had the time to.  The house was a bit of a mess so it was an extensive list.  There were many things that needed to be cleaned, and now that we are down a member of the house we had to get some things organized and start thinking about moving some stuff into different spaces that we previously didn't use.

I'm happy to say that we got a lot of what was on the list done.  It's easy to tell because the house looks much better than it did, which is great.  I'm sad to say there are still a number of things on the list that still needs to be completed.  There are a few things I can do tomorrow any time as they involve contacting someone to fix our TV or other such things, but there are also a few that have been on my list for some time that we still haven't made it to.  That's a bit annoying.

So the whole day was spent cleaning and organizing, potting new plants, and making things look a bit better.  There was of course the exception of the hour spent watching Game of Thrones, but that is to be expected.  I mean, that's a given, right?

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 182
Fatchops decided to sit on the bed and give me the stink eye.  He must think he owns the place.  Though he was very happy to be in the room and slept for quite some time next to me

Movie Day: The Fault In Our Stars

Yesterday I got to see The Fault In Our Stars.  Not only that I actually went to see it the night it came out, at night, in line, the whole opening night thing.  Alright, so to start off I'll say a little disclaimer that first of all I think John Green is great.  I've been following John and Hank since they were doing Brotherhood 2.0 back in 2007 I believe.  I've also read all of Johns books and enjoyed them quite a bit.  Of this books I certainly think that The Fault In Our Stars is probably the best one he's written.  I also followed Esther Earl who was a bit of inspiration apparently for John which you can see some of that in the details of the book.  It's not about her, but she's in there.

That being said, and out of the way, I loved the movie.  Seriously, I thought the movie was beautifully done, and an excellent adaptation from the book.  I don't often say that I felt something was done perfectly, but the choices they made were pretty much perfect this time.  As I sat there watching it there was only one time where I thought to myself "wait, was that what happened in the book?"  In the end that one part didn't even really matter it just changed the timing a little bit of when some things happen in the movie.  So not even anything of consequence, and as I thought about that it wasn't that I thought it was a problem, it was just I thought it was different.

A bit of a tangent there, but the movie was excellent.  The casting was perfect.  I remember when they first announced I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  I wasn't against it, but I wasn't necessarily for it either.  I was just really a bit unsure about it.  Well turns out it was excellent, they were just the characters, they captured it wonderfully, and in the end it was just great.  They were the characters, and it was amazing to see them come right out of the book and fit so perfectly into what was written.  It really was just great.

I will say there were a lot of sounds of people crying in the theater, in our group included.  I didn't actually really get emotional at all.  I think that first I was just so excited that the movie was made and that I was sitting and watching a movie from someone I've been following for so long, and from the community that I followed for so long, that it was just kind of and awesome experience.  To add to it how great the movie was and really I was just sitting there so giddy and enthralled that even the sadness wasn't able to get to me.  And yes, it is a sad movie, it's a sad story, and the fact that this is real life and events that happen to real people is heartbreaking.  But it's hard to be sad when something turns out so well and you're just so happy that it exists, and happy for the people who made it and how great it is for them also.

So, bias and all I'm giving this a full price opening day rating.  Because in fact I paid full price and went to see it opening night, stood in line at the theater early to get in, and had a wonderful time.  It was a good movie, it was funny at times, it was sad at times, it was real at times, it was fiction at times.  It was all around great.  It was also a wonderful reminder that life, however long, can be meaningful, can be important, and can inspire, encourage, and touch others. It was like an early Esther day, watching this movie.  So, I highly recommend it, read the book, see the movie, do the thing.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 180 & 181
Here are my Peony that bloomed a few days ago.  I don't have a ton of blooms this year, and one of my plants is not going well and didn't even grow enough to bloom.  I'm a bit worried about it.  The other only had a few shoots show up and ended up with two blooms.  The third bush seems to be doing well and had a number of blooms, though nothing as good as our neighbor who has an amazing display of flowers.

D-Day + 70

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day.  It's kind of hard to believe that much time has passed.  It's also kind of hard because as I'm getting older big milestones are now in my actual memory.  So, I remember say the 50th anniversary, and now we're at 70.  When I was little World War II soldiers were what I though of as old veterans, but now soldiers from Vietnam are the age of those I think of as WWII Vets.

It's also moving so fast that each year we're losing more and more of these people and with them their first hand accounts of what happened.  Their stories and experiences will go to the videos they made, and the books they helped write, but gone will be the opportunity to have a conversation with someone who went through all of that.  I don't have any family that I was close with that was on the European front during the war, though my grandfather was a soldier in the Pacific and was in Honolulu on December 7, 1941.  I was really too young to really take advantage of the opportunity that I had to discuss with him his experiences.  I remember only once ever talking about it.  He talked about that day, he showed me a few of his war medals, but we didn't really say too much other than that.  I don't know where he went after the war started, I don't know why he got his medals other than I know that the Purple Heart was for injured in combat.

Today as we remember the events of 70 years ago I think back to how fortunate I have been to visit that place.  I was able to walk the beaches and see what they look like for myself.  I was able to visit Pointe du Hoc to see how the land was potholed and battered from the artillery of ships, and the bombs from the planes.  I walked through the thousands of white crosses and stars of David in the US cemetery and think about those that didn't make it past that day.  It was one of my favorite experiences I had during our trip to Europe, and is something I would like to do again.

Picture(s) of the Day:
Picture 177
This is  the statue in the American cemetery in Normandy France that we got to visit on our trip to Europe in 2011.  It was generally a nice day on our visit, but just as we arrived it started pouring and rained for about 10 minutes before it stopped and then cleared right up again.  There are a few things that hit me when I entered, first when looking out it's almost overwhelming the number of crosses you see.  The second is that the place feels and smells different than the surrounding area.  It was like being back home again, which was kind of strange, especially the fact that it even smelled differently and much more like it smells back home.  If you get a chance I think it's worth it to visit, and I highly recommend it.   


Picture 178

 

A view of some of the rows of crosses and stars of David as we walked through the cemetery.

The Flowers That Bloom In The Spring (Tra-la)

Yesterday I did a blog talking about how things aren't working, and I mentioned that our rose bushes seem to be dead.  They were going strong last year and things looked good at the end of the summer.  Well this spring they are dead and seem to have no life to them at all.  I'm quite bummed out by this because I got them as a birthday present to Becky, for starters.  Second, they were absolutely beautiful, and third they smelled amazing.

Well, I was out walking the dogs and decided to inspect their deadness when I notices some strange things growing near them.  Well, that easily could have been weeds as there are all sorts of things growing around, but when I looked closer I realized they were new growth for the rose bushes!  THE BUSHES LIVE!!!  Well, two of them live.  But the good news is that we had two varieties over a total of four bushes, and the two that are living are one of each variety!  There's a shoot near one of the other bushes, but I'm not sure if it's bush or not.  So, there is hope that these guys aren't out, but just had a rough go of it this winter.  I'm very excited by this.

Picture(s) of the Day:

Picture 176
I took a walk at the end of the day and it was an absolutely beautiful day.  This is the fountain near my building with the grass and trees and all that.  The sign at the bottom is for a modern art sculpture which isn't in the photo.

Stop It!

That's what I feel like I need to say to all the things in and around my house.  Things keep breaking and it's getting annoying.  The car died, the washer is being a pain in the ass, we've got some issues with some trim outside the house, one of my Peony seems to have not done well, the roses were thought to be dead, but seem that at least two of them are trying, and now, today the TV decides to be a jerk and freak out.

So, we're sitting watching some show we recorded and suddenly a band shows up just off the middle of the screen going vertical with colored and black lines.  It's only a couple inches wide, but enough to be a complete and total pain in the ass.  What?  Why?  There is no reason that should be happening.  Just suddenly out of the blue it decides to not work.  After doing some internet sleuthing and finding repeated suggestions that we take off the back cover and confirm everything is still plugged in I decided to give it a try.  But, that did nothing. 

So, official notices to all things considering breaking. STOP IT!

Picture(s) of the Day:

Picture 175
So, here is a picture of what I'm talking about.  A lovely mess right down the center of the screen.  Not amused.

If You've Never Seen An Elephant Ski...

Tonight we got to go see Eddie Izzard.  I can't believe that the first time we ever saw Eddie was in 2000 during his Circle tour.  That was fourteen years ago!  I can't believe it's been that long!  He's really gone a long way.  We were in a theatre the first show that was very small, and there were only a few people who were waiting after the show to meet him.  Now he's to the point where he doesn't even come out after because the crowds are too big so he just does a Q&A after the shows.  I mean, that's still cool that you get to do a little interaction, but it's nothing like the time we waited after his performance of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg where we were the only people there and got to spend some time talking to him with just our group.  So, it's quite a different thing now days.

As for the show tonight, it was good.  He had a nice bit about how surely if people were sacrificing virgins, being smart people they would just start banging so they couldn't be sacrificed anymore, or the "fuck a friend, save a life" program.  He also did this wonderful thing during the encore where he had the Lord of the Rings try to figure out how many men there were in the fellowship since Frodo was half a man, and then you had an elf and dwarf who were part man, so they had all these different fractions trying to figure it out.  He also then brought back a number of jokes he did through out the night to be part of the story, which included some moles digging for ice cream, chicken Marc Antony, smart pipe smokers and Mr. Stevens from the Death Star Canteen.  Actually he had a hilarious song about Mr. Stevens and did a revisit of the Death Star Canteen by God who was into Scuba Diving and Darth Vader fighting over pasta carbonara.  I really enjoyed when the song transitioned into America The Beautiful.  There was also some tea party bashing, and a nice story of what happened after he got caught for stealing makeup.

So over all it was a wonderful show, and I laughed quite a bit. I will say that It wasn't quite as good as some of his other shows.  I feel like Circle and Sexie were very strong shows that we saw, and then when you also consider Definite Article, Unrepeatable and Dress to Kill,  you can't help but feel this was definitely not one of his top shows. He's venturing a lot more into current events and political issues which can be funny, but he's so much better as a comedian when he talks about other things like history, or the Death Star.  He makes great points and has a good message when talking about politics, but I guess it's just nice to be able to escape the daily struggles with the world with some good comedy, so it's not as fun getting the argument again.  So, overall great show, and if you have a chance certainly go see it. It's worth the price, it's a funny show, and you'll enjoy yourself.

Also, we noticed that all the merch was Cake or Death, and surely some other things would sell well.  Perhaps a shirt with an elephant skiing on it.  Maybe one of the retro looking shirts with logos of companies that says Mrs. Smith's Apples.  A Squirrel covered in makeup?  A greek soldier with a fish on his helmet looking over the horizon.  Two moles digging for ice cream.  Something with Mr. Stevens?  I'm just saying, he's more than cake or death.


Picture(s) of the Day:

Picture 174
A picture from the inside of Becky's spaceship.  It's pretty fancy, and look at that fake wood! WOO! FANCY FAKE WOOD!

Movie Review: Maleficent

There may be some spoilers in the blog, as I will talk about some things that they did with this movie, so if you don't want to be spoiled then go see the movie before reading this blog,  If you don't give a shit, then feel free to continue.  Yesterday we decided we wanted to go see a movie so we got together with some people and went to see Maleficent. I was a bit wary of this moving going in, because it just seemed to be a movie version of Sleeping Beauty with more back story.  When we were in Disney there was a nine minute preview and behind the scenes thing that we go to see and they were all talking about how they were staying true to the original but just giving it more of a story of what happened in between the cures and the end of the movie, and some story about how Maleficent got to be the way she was. 

Alright, that didn't sound so bad, so I figured perhaps it would be ok.  As an independent movie, sure it was fine.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was entertaining, and kept me involved for the 90ish minutes that it ran.  However, the problem I have is that this isn't a stand alone movie.  It's based off of an establish EVIL character.  Like, she's probably one of the most evil characters in Disney movies.  She turns into a FUCKING DRAGON!  It's a badass evil lady.  But in this movie they attempt to make her the sympathetic victim who was betrayed and so she was just getting revenge for that. They in essence made her the good guy and the king the bad guy, and I'm not sure I like that.

In fact I'm not sure I like the trend to turn things around completely and make everyone have a justification for being a bad guy.  We have to know they were betrayed, and something happened to turn them that way.  Before it was just, "this is Maleficent, she's a badass bitch, you better watch out."  Now they all need a back story.  It's fine, yes, there is a lot of gray area in the world and there is really very little that's black and white, except the Nazis.  It's verging on a "back in my day" type of rant, but can't we just let the evil characters be the evil characters.  I grew up with some kids who were just dickheads.  I'm sure they grew up to be dickheads.  Let the dickheads be dickheads.  We don't need some sad story about how some evil king stole their wings and made them bitter.  They like burning ants with magnifying glasses, and punching other kids on the playground. 

Anyhow, the movie was ok, but there are probably better things out there that you could be spending your money on.  They clearly had some parts that were designed for the 3D Imax, so that was... whatever.  I'd give this a Netflix or a Matinee at best. 

Picture(s) of the Day:

Picture 173
I took this picture when I was over mowing my gran's yard.  This is her big old hickory tree that she has in her back yard.  We used to have an awesome wing on it, and we'd rake up all the leaves to right in front of the tree and then swing and jump into the leaves.   It was a good time.  My gran also used to commentate a race my sister and I would have around the back yard.  It was a good time growing up here.

Goal Update

Alright, it's another month down, and we're entering the last month of the first half of the year.  Good news is that I've had some movement on the goals front, so that's very exciting.  Of course some of these still have no movement, so that's kind of sad, but just areas to focus on more.

Goal Number One - Get A New Job: Yeah, this is a big old bag of NOPE.  Nothing new, no prospects.  And it's almost review time, so I'm going to be in a wonderful mood regarding work!

Goal Number Two - Read At Least 12 Books: Good news here!  I've now reached the halfway point on this goal because I was finally able to finish The Odyssey.  I don't know why it was so hard to finish this, but I just didn't feel like reading.  I am up to six texts so far for the year, four of them are novels, one is a play, and one is an ancient Greek epic.  I finished The Casual Vacancy in January, in February I read Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant, and Macbeth.  I started the Odyssey in March, and finished if just last week.  So six down, six to go, and we're not even halfway through the year!  Perhaps next I'll go with something a little less heavy. 

Goal Number Three - Go Out West: This is an option for vacation this year.  Not sure where exactly but somewhere west, perhaps Yellowstone, perhaps the grand canyon, maybe up to Glacier, or the Grand Tetons?.  I don't know.  We're also talking about Maine, so who knows where we'll go.  We're looking at something for after the show, so we still have some time to figure it out.  I really want to meet this goal this year.

Goal Number Four - Be Consistently Active:  This month has been hit and miss.  I've gotten much faster with my runs with much better endurance.  But I've been having a hard time finding the time.  I need to make this a priority, and I'm also mixing this with a general health goal to cut out some of the sugar in my diet.  I think I eat too much sugar, so I'm working on limiting it.  My tracker doesn't put it in the red, but I usually hit my allowance and I want to change that. So, this goal may morph into a more health goal than just activity goal.

Goal Number Five - Digitize My Photos: I haven't checked to see if there's a fix yet to the OS problem I was having.  I need to take a look at that.  I'll put it on my to do list on my phone so I don't forget. 

Goal Number Six -  Have Seven New Experiences: Well, we've got a few more to add to this.  My first one of the year was visiting somewhere I haven't been before, which was the Toledo Zoo, which you can read about it on my blog from April 26th.  However, to that we get to add this month flying in first class, going on a cruise, visiting the Bahamas and getting a massage.  So that gets me to five of the seven new experiences so far.  I probably could add stepping on a sea urchin, but that's not fun so I'm not going to have "being attacked by the ocean" to the list.  So, I just need to have two more things to meet my goal.  I like the experiences I've had so far this year.  They're new and different some of them are things that took me out of my comfort zone, like going on a cruise, visiting the Bahamas and getting a massage.  So the goal is working as I intended it to work.  You can read any blogs related to these new experiences by looking for the blogs with the "experiences" tag on them.

Goal Number Seven - Work on Mystery Projects No movement here either.  I should really do something this month so I can report back.  I mentioned my desire to do a family history project, so that I want to get movie.  I also have a teaching/YouTube idea I need to work on, as well as a theatre related YouTube project we have on the back burner.  So, a little hint there at the mystery projects.


Picture(s) of the Day:

Picture 170
Jasmine wanted to take part in a pick up soccer game with her indoor soccer team people she plays with during the winter.  Since we're down to one car, and since we like to support her in the things she does we decided we'd take her to her game and then stay and watch it.  It was a lovely day out, but when we arrived at the park (Leslie Park, I believe it was called), we found that really no one was there yet.  Since there was some time before people would show up, and since it was such a lovely day outside we decided to explore the park a little and found that there were a number of paths that you could walk on that took you through the woods.  Therefore we decided to take a little walk through the forest.

Picture 171
As I mentioned it was a wonderful day out.  The temperature was warm but not overwhelmingly hot.  The forest was nice and shaded so it was pretty much the perfect temperature to go for a walk.  It wasn't too busy either, but we did pass a few people on the trails, which is more than we usually see when walking the trails in the park near our house.  We also got to see some birds, squirrels, and Becky even saw a chipmunk.  Nothing too fancy but a nice day to say the least.

Picture 172
Another picture of the hike through the woods.  It was nice.  I'm not sure who ended up winning the soccer game since Jasmine decided to leave before it was over since it was just for fun and I'm not sure if anyone had really scored anything anyway.  Plus it was hot out in the sun.