Getting high behind, as it were...

It's because of shit like this I really need to get my research done and write that frippin' article.

Cutting down

Just because it's where my besties hang out, I've been trolling FB again. I cut my "friends" list by about 110, still 191, still too many, but I feel some allegiance to each of them. I've been out there way more than I wanted to be and it's getting to me again. God, the world is full of assholes.

Merrily , merrily, merrily...

We are once again facing torrential rains in the path of TS Bill. Bill. A tropical storm named Bill. *sigh* What's next year? Bobbie Sue, and then Bubba?  I guess it's better than TS 2015-B.  I for one, love the rain and it's not been that bad for us up on our hill of limestone, but folks lower down are having major issues.

I love the rain. Sunny days are nice once in awhile, and I'm sure I'd get sick of the rain if it did it all the time, but here in Texas, the rains are like a balm. Of course it's either feast or famine here: searing heat and drought for months years on end or deluges of biblical proportion.

A bit of history here--personal history, skip ahead if you desire--concerning the recent health BS. Back in January of 2014 I had a vicious virus of some kind, the sickest I've been in a long time and got severely dehydrated. That dehydration led to atrial fibrillation arrhythmia. Long-assed term for your heart beating like bat wings. Went to the ER and spent many hours on an IV while they pumped fluids and drugs into me, finally my heart "converted" and I was okay. Then comes the cancer diagnosis in June, surgery in August and six months of chemo and I was on sotalol (which is somewhat odd because I have never had high blood pressure in the least, so it's solely for control the heart rhythm). During that time, I had many very small episodes of a-fib, nothing too major. Then, in March, I went four hours again and went to the ER to make sure I wasn't having a stroke. Added another med, Xarelto, which it turns out I'm allergic to, so they changed it to Eliquis (both are blood thinners to keep clots from forming, which they will when the atrium is going bonkers). They decide to do a cardiac ablation and I stopped the sotalol. Since I haven't had too many episodes, we all thought, well, that'll most likely fix everything. But the heart has to heal from being burned, so the rhythm, I was told, might flip out occasionally. I had one several-hour episode and the nurse told be to go back on the sotalol; that fixed it. But then 1:30 AM on Friday it started again. They told me to watch it over the weekend. By Monday, nothing had changed, so they scheduled me for a cardio-version.

Basically, a cardio-version is like using those paddles you see the EMTs use on TV, except that they affix these pads with electrodes to your front and back. The pads cover roughly the same sized area as the paddles, but are thin, foam things. Then they put you out, zap your heart into stopping and restarting, and wake you up. It's now more than 24 hours later and things are still normal. I'm thoroughly cheesed off with the whole mess. I didn't have heart issues and most likely would not have had, had it not been for getting so dehydrated in the first place. Perhaps, though, it was a bomb waiting for a fuse. Who knows?

Now the sun is out and I'm sure it's like a sauna outside...good thing I'm in the AC and have no reason to gad about today. Although later I might go to Fry's and look for a case for my new Touch. Yeah, I drank the Apple Kool-Aid. Truth be told though, I'd love to have a Mac. There are logistical reasons I have Dells, which I won't go into. The Touch is really neat--the only un-neat thing being that if you aren't where there's wi-fi, you have no connectivity, but I can live with that. It's so slim and light it makes my phone seem a heavy clunker.  So far I'm liking iTunes and the interface seems a lot better than my little Sandisk Clip Sport. The main thing I love about the Clip Sport, though is it's tiny size and portability. The Touch is somewhat more difficult to carry around when you're dancing, etc. But a sport case with an arm band should remedy that.

Speaking of music, Billy Boyd's (Beecake) new album, World of Things, came out this week. It has a new mix of  "The Last Goodbye" on it. I listened to the sample on iTunes and have to say I like the original much better. The pacing of the new one seems too fast and I'm not wild about the piano addition. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

© John Lamb 2013

At some point, I need to finish my little micro-series on the Hobbit actors and get the article done, who knows, someone might pick it up. Meanwhile, chapter eight is calling my name...Namoji is going to be pivotal, I have a feeling (picture Jed Brophy as a chaotic neutral sorcerer wizard just trying to make a living).

Until later, lads, cheerio.

While my obsession gently weeps...

Obsessions*, I believe, stem from some deep, dark place of need: failures, desires, dissatisfactions, or possibly just from pure boredom. I won't go into my latest one, but suffice to say it stems from a physical ache I get in my chest when I think about not having pursued my intended career in film.

I know life is full of woulda-shoulda-couldas, and we should, in the inimitable words of Jim Wright, just "suck it up buttercup" and move on. I also fully realize that some of the good things in my life, like my precious son, would never have happened if I'd done what I was supposed to have done.

Why didn't I? Hmm, well, like so many other things, deep-seated fear of failure is strong with this one. I did actually have some valid reasons, though. My daughter was still in high school and I wasn't about to yank her roots up and go off into uncertainty (even more uncertainty than moving across country to go to UT in the first place). I got moved around so much as a kid (17 places in 17 years..yow) that I had vowed to never do that to her. I had no real set of skills other than my wits and really 30 years ago, UT's RTF department really just prepared you to be a production assistant, albeit a highly educated one.

1985-almost done with film school

For years I shoved it all in the back of the closet and didn't think about it. Myriad films have been made since then, even just counting well-known US/Brit flicks; I'd get a bit of "wow" that would have been fun to work on and I'd get a bit nostalgic, or whatever you'd call it when you really wish you'd spent your life doing something other than what you are/did. But in the wake of the three Hobbit movies I've been watching a lot of the production vlogs and perhaps I shouldn't torture myself like that, but at the same time they're fascinating as all hell to my movie-making-inclined mind. They painfully remind me of what I really wanted want to be doing, instead of being a university paper schlepper for the past 23 years. This was only supposed to be a job, someplace to be until I found something else. But lazy-ass me, I never looked. So in the end it's only my laziness and complacency to blame.

If, in some alternate version of this universe, someone were to offer me a position (costume-room sweeper? tea-making-assistant?) on a production, I'd snap it up so fast the door would come off its hinges. The caveat is I'd have to be able to take my cat with me. Other than that *POOF* I'd be outta here.  Realistic me knows nothing like that would ever happen. Fantasy me indulges.

*One only has to look at my Pinterest lately to figure out fairly quickly what that obsession is.

Moving on.

Sunday AM..more rain. I love the rain, but not the mud in the back yard. The dog brings most of it in the house with her. Ugh.

I finally got fed up with the bullshit on FB. I knew it was only a matter of time. Too many people posting political stuff that just gets me angry...and yeah, I posted some, too.  I know where my loyalties lie and that's all I need know. So, yeah, I haven't been on FB other than to check to see who's replied to something (like..no one..) in about two weeks. I don't miss it and not one single person has even noticed I'm not there. Heh.  This isn't a pity party, but just to show it's par for the course.

So, moving on from there, I might be here more. I need to write, no matter what it is. I have a project and article in the works and massive research to do for that. I also need to make my silly third post about Hobbit Trivia.

Speaking of The Hobbit, in the course of looking up stuff about each of the actors, I've been trying to watch other projects they've appeared in . If you've been paying attention, you'll know that Mr Hotness...er...Aidan Turner is starring in a new BBC production of Poldark.  First thing I saw him in other than The Hobbit and it convinced me he is actually a rather good actor indeed.

Screen Cap of Poldark starring Aidan Turner

I went on from there to watch him in Being Human. Both shows are done with the BBC's penchant for quality. The costumes in Poldark are perfection. Period fabrics, hand sewing (or at least 95% looks hand-sewn), proper fabrics for different classes, etc. The production values are superb and the Cornish scenery is just lovely. Well done, BBC, well done.

I stopped watching Being Human once Aidan was written out of the show (won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it), but the three series (seasons) are very good, heart-wrenching, and dramatic; there is a fair bit of humor, too. Russell Tovey and one of Aidan's exes, Lenora Crichlow, costar.

I've been trying to get hold of series 6 & 7 of The Clnic, well, actually I'd like to watch the whole lot of them. He was written out after series 7. I've seen a YouTube compilation of just the scenes he's in, but the show looks like it would be very good. There's a boxed set sort of available on Amazon. However, even though it's coded "0" --any region-- apparently it won't play in the US. Drat it all. He's a bit younger and plays a character who's a DJ in a club by night and a receptionist in a clinic by day. Wowsa, puts a whole new curve on being a receptionist.

The house is, as always, a huge mess, my studio is a wreck and all I feel like doing is playing Mahjong and writing. Go figure. I'm supposed to be washing dishes and making a grocery list (how utterly mundane), but "supposed to" and I have never really been friends.

The novel moves along a bit, seven chapters done and let's see, it's only taken me...7..8... years. *faceplant*

Hobbit Trivia 2

Okay, so in the last installment of Racu's Current Infatuation, we covered Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Bifur, and Bofur. This time, let's look at Bombur, Ori, Nori, and Dori.  Next time we'll get Óin and Glóin, and the pretty boyz Fili and Kili. Oh my.

(If I've used your photo and you have issues with it, please let me know and I'll take it down)


Bombur: Stephen Hunter - Another Kiwi. Born in Wellington in 1968, 5'7". Looks like almost all his work was in TV prior to being cast in The Hobbit. He enjoys making people laugh. Starring in a couple of upcoming movies.

There always has to be a fat person to poke fun at, doesn't there? Some things never change. :(

Ori: Adam Brown - born 1980 in Hungerford, Berkshire, UK, 5'7". The Hobbit is his first movie role. Co-founder of the comedy writing/performing team "Plested and Brown."   The scene in Goblin Town implies Ori is the youngest dwarf, when in fact Kili is. (In The Hobbit, Fili is described as being the youngest, but in Appendix A of LoTR, Fili's birth year is TA 2859, Kili's is TA 2864).

Nori: Jed Brophy - born 1963 Feilding, NZ. 5'9"  In several of Jackson's films including LoTR. His son, Sadwyn Brown is also in LoTR and plays Aragorn and Arwen's son, Eldarion, in her vision. Jed was a stunt performer in Lovely Bones, and appeared in "Xena: Warrior Princess, among many other gigs.

That brings us to Dori: Mark Hadlow - One of New Zealand's most prominent actors, born 1957, is also a comedian, singer, writer, producer, and director. 5'7" (seems  Jackson has a thing for that height, eh?). Voiced several parts in Meet the Feebles and was in King Kong. Also appeared in Xena.

Creepy things on the internet

Did you know in Victorian times it was a "thing" to prop up your dead relatives, especially children, and take their picture, sometimes with the rest of the living kids, before the relative was buried?  Yep.

This photo is almost certainly of a dead child. Most likely a boy...look closely at the eyes. They're painted on the closed lids.

And you thought those Victorians were all straight-laced types.




Here's another one. Note the odd eyes and the unnatural pose of the hands, plus you can just see the stand they used to prop him up on his right, in the gap between his elbow and body.




Here's one with the eyes open. Although, I don't know, she's got a right good grip on that dolly.

Hobbit Trivia

Okay, so I'll admit it, I just saw The Battle of the Five Armies this past weekend. Got tired of waiting for it on Redbox, so I handed my Wal-de-Mort card to my husband and told him, I don't care what it costs, buy me the third Hobbit movie! (We were supposed to go over Christmas while Junior Birdman was home, but it just never happened.)

**Spoilers**

Jim hits the nail on the head....again.

He would hate that dot dot dot dot thing, but I don't care. Jim Wright is one of the most intelligent and rational people I've ever been associated with. His perspective is without peer.

"The Myth of the Moral Compass"  All rights belong to Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station.

What's in My Bag Wednesday

Yes, this should have gone up two days ago, but I never got off my butt the chance to go take the pictures.  Eventually maybe I'll do this as part of my YouTube channel...maybe.

This bag is quite large, 14.5" x 5" x 12" deep (high?); it was a computer/business bag from Target and came with a padded, zippered case for a laptop, which I've used on occasion. But mainly I use the center zipper section for spirals, my planner, and folders of stuff. It has several Useful Pockets on one side and a leash for keys. It did have a leash for the computer but I cut that off. Sadly, the bottom corners are starting to wear badly :(

So this is the full complement of crap in the bag. Bag is in the background.

And this is the contents of the plastic box on the lower right:

 This the the box that goes with my planner. There are stickers, washi tape on old credit cards, tape runner, gluestick, paperclips, scissors, two rulers, Sharpie, Flair pens, and a Uniball pen.

This is the contents of the zippered bag above the planner box:

Box of drawing pencils, Prismacolor markers, water brush, Windsor & Newton travel watercolors (that I have literally had for something like 33 years), kneaded eraser in a little plastic mint case, pencil sharpener, graphite stick in a Mentos case, two blending stumps, a Fabriano sketch book, and a bit of paper towel.

Above the zippered art case is a little make-up kit. (That's a fair amount of make-up for someone who hasn't worn any in nearly a year).

There are, eh hem, panty liners, eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner pencil, shadow brush, powder brush, eyebrow brush, band-aids, a large button to clip earrings to, generic Immodium, Sudafed, famotidine, and an allergy/decongestant capsule, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and various pills in a tiny Altoids tin, nail clippers, 1st aid tape, and antibiotic ointment. 

From upper left, anti-clockwise: address on a pink slip of paper, tissues, zip baggies, prescription antibiotic eye drops, Similasan eye drops, Vaseline lip balm, package of Kleenex, two spoons and a plastic fork, little box of tissues from the hospital, the planner box and art bag, both described above, and my Erin Condren planner.

Next row: Purple flat wallet with credit cards and ID, my ID case and keys for work, my car and house keys, two little bottles of lotion from the hospital, a really cool tin that staples came in, the make-up kit described above. a spiral notebook where I am planning videos and art projects, and a tiny journal for ideas, the blue and green spiral (with hot pink duct tape) that is the repository for all things related to my novel, my Sandisk mp3 player and earbuds, and a glasses case with sunglasses.

Last one: a green pocket folder with info about a medical procedure I'm having next month, a Netflix disk that needs to be mailed (the bottom row described above) and various papers and receipts.

In case you think I'm lying...here's everything back in the bag, sans the little bit of trash (baggie, tissues, and the pink slip of paper) and the eating utensils.

That's it for What's in Your Bag Wednesday. What's in YOUR bag?

Yikes!

So, yeah, I've been thinking about do a YouTube channel, but I finally got Webcam Central reinstalled on my system (I replaced my dead hard drive last year) and did a little test vid of myself. Oh. My. God. Not only am I too fucking scary looking to do videos, I seriously do not want to leave the house now...not sure how ANYone even stands looking at me. Gross.  So I guess if I do videos, they'll all have to be the kind where you just shoot what you're doing and not your face.

Seriously guys, I don't even want to go to work tomorrow.

This needs a name. Or slacking as a career.

I can see all my new posts now: This needs a name, This needs a name #2, This needs a name #3...you get the idea.  Perhaps something will throw itself in my face as I type.

Let's face it, yours truly is a slacker. I think I wrote somewhere, sometime that I have all sorts of grandiose ideas for blog posts, short stories, how-to videos, and various projects; yet, I sit on my can and think about them, or go read, or check Facebook...again. The ennui builds up and I really have no one to blame but myself. There are so many things I could be doing, not to mention many I should be doing. So many journals started, feel-good lists started, plans for this and that, diet plans, exercise plans, garden plans, plan plans....

I know I can get things done. On occasion, I stoke up the engine, buckle down and get amazing things done. Why the giant slug act? And don't say, well, you're doing chemo.... That has nothing to do with it since I was like this before I ever even got the diagnosis. I can't even really blame the ADHD, either, this isn't about flitting from one project to another, which I've done in spades in the past (a big reason I have so much extraneous schtuff).  A chicken or egg question:  does the ennui cause the inaction or does the inaction cause the ennui?  Or...yes?

Ponder. Ponder. Ponder.

In other news, I bought a bicycle. Yeah...*laughs* you heard me, a bicycle. 40 bucks from Craigslist.  It's in pretty good condition, doesn't seem like it's been used very much, although one pedal needs replacing and the brakes need some adjusting. I added one of these to the back and bought one of these.  Yesterday I dropped the bike off at the bike shop for a tune-up, new chain ($10, it was stretched), new pedals ($7), and new brake pads ($8). All that is going to be a little over $100.  So I guess, in the long-run I didn't save much over a new big-box bike, but the advantage is I didn't have to pay it all out at once. And I love the color. :)  Eventually I will get a set of these, but in the meantime, I'm making a pannier out of an older Eagle Creek bag I have (this is the updated version of the bag, which itself has also been discontinued), using this Instructables tutorial.  My plan is to make a YouTube tutorial of my process as well. If, when I do, I'll post the link here.

I've actually been thinking about getting a bike for awhile now, but have really been inspired by a series of videos on biking in the Netherlands by this guy markenlai.  The attitude towards bike traffic is completely different there and the supporting infrastructure is just amazing.  Take a gander at the videos--they're kind of mesmerizing and addictive. Or maybe I'm just easily amused.