Just heard the cast recording of Don't Stop Believin' (thank you, Pandora radio. And yes, I know I'm way behind).

If the show has more performances like this, then clearly I'm going to have to just buy it when it comes out on DVD and have it be my Happymaking Cotton Candy Program.

Am sick. Caught it from Chris, who caught it at the 4th of July party from one of his nephews. Fortunately it seems to be one of those 24-hour things, but still. *debates spritzing Kaylee with Lysol*

Which means I've spent a lot of time over at mom and dad's watching TV; namely, the TV Guide channel as we tried to figure out if there was anything good on (answer was no) and of course they were in the middle of their nonstop Michael Jackson coverage, including something about a helicopter of press people assigned to try and get footage of his kids on their way to his funeral. I wish to thank them for making my oft-used vultures metaphor even more apt. Now, where are clouds of radioactive wasps when you need them??

I should do something useful today. And I will if I can figure out something that involves little to no movement.

What in the everloving hell?

As if I needed any more incentive to not get cable back. Thanks for backing up my decision, idiots.

Hiiiiii, TV Guide channel! Just wanted to let you know that when I'm over at mom and dad's channel-flipping and come upon a little career retrospective for Heath Ledger, when I pause to watch it I do not want to have to flip away twenty seconds later because you've shown the stretcher with his body bag on it. There is no need for that. I avoided news channels for days after he died because I didn't want to see it and knew they'd be showing it endlessly. Can we maybe, say, cut that shit out?

I remember being horrified when I learned that some tabloid photographer snuck in and took pictures of River Phoenix in his coffin. I wanted to kick the hell out of him (okay, still do) but at least at the time I thought there was a difference between him and the 'respectable' news channels. But not so much, is there?

Because it all ties into a ton of other problems I have with any kind of televised news, and increasingly the print news as well. I've thought about getting cable back recently, but that answer might turn out to be no. After all, I can pick up any show I want to watch on DVD.

It's just too many things.

Olympic gold medal winner referred to as 'nude pin-up swimmer'.

The rape and murder of a child referred to as a 'sex-kidnap'.

The Hilary Sexism Watch and the Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch.

There's also the tiny little matter of the HHS proposal trying to excuse doctors/nurses/freaking everybody from doing their chosen jobs so long as their excuse is they don't want to help out those nasty sluts, but it's much more important to focus on Joe Biden's hair! Because that's the really important issue. Either that or Britney Spears is. Goodness knows we have to hear about everything she does, and the more scorn put into it the better.

Black people loot, but white people find. The man who held his own child captive for years so he could brutalize her in peace being cutely referred to as the “Dungeon sex dad”. Missing White Girl Syndrome. And of course, the endless closeups of people grieving. “How do you feeeeel?” That question never fails to make me wish the asker would get punched. Maybe then the other jackasses would take the hint.

Even if we do get cable back, any news channel is going to be on the 'not allowed' list while Kaylee's growing up. She doesn't need to be exposed to that.

“If it bleeds, it leads”? Not in my house.


((also, I promise I will post something cheerful next time. ;-)))

New TV show addiction: Dexter. We're about halfway through the first season.

There are still tons of shows on the to-buy list. Should wait before getting hooked on more, I know, but it's about a snarky serial killer. What were the chances of me not checking it out?

See, this is why I generally do not get into TV shows until they are actually on DVD. Because then I get disappointed when executives are dumbasses.

Oh well. At least I can watch The Bachelor! *eyeroll*

Chris and I are probably going to stay up until 3 or so watching M*A*S*H (we just got the fourth season on DVD). Wild and crazy, that's us. ;-) What are you going to do?

The M*A*S*H marathon will have to wait until Chris gets home, though, he has to work until 10:00. In the meantime, I'll write, or go through my music collection and make some mixed CDs. Dunno yet.

We actually have a nice amount of spare money for once-- hooray Christmas presents-- and that of course means character portraits. *plots*

I should post something deep and meaningful, but instead I'm just going to squee over the fact that when I was looking through a Valentine's Day aisle, I found raspberry Hershey's Kisses. Candycandycandy.

Happy New Year, everybody. :-)

Still alive. ;-)

Getting a lot done lately-- okay, aside from watching the first season of Scrubs, yay Christmas-- Kath and I are finishing up the last novel in the We Were Strangers trilogy, so more news on that as we get ready to publish it. :-) And I'm working on a short story to submit to Unlined. I rarely do short fiction, so hopefully it will not suck. lol

Found out today that the donut shop is closed on Monday, so I've got a three-day weekend! I plan on more typing. Or maybe watching DVDs. Depends on how deep into lazy-slug mode I get.

My brother is hooked on Dead Like Me. He brought the first season over this weekend so we could check it out. . .

*adds yet another series to the list of Things to Buy Someday When I Have Real Disposable Income Again*

Let's see how many posts I can make within an hour, hm? :-)

On a more serious note, stoney321 got a rather interesting email today. . .

"This is not your typical newsletter from Outsidepride.com, Inc. In fact, this is the first one in six years which is not business related. I apologize for cluttering your inbox with an unsolicited email; however you are free to unsubscribe just by clicking the link at the bottom.

I want to share with you my television viewing experience the other night on prime time television. I ask those of you who agree with me to go to www.cbs.com and go to the bottom of the page, click the feed back link and express your opinion. I know the vast majority of you will agree with me as all polls indicate. We are the majority, not the minority as the liberal media would lead you to believe.

My wife and I sat down to watch television the other night with our children. Cold Case was on which is normally a fairly enjoyable show to watch; however, the last half hour of the show dealt with a young man who wished he had asked his male friend to come with him (long story short). The show ended with the two men hugging and obvious intimation they had discovered their gay feelings towards each other. The very next show was Without A Trace. The whole last half hour of this show was about two lesbians who were struggling with their feelings of lesbianism. It ended with full acceptance from one father and the two lesbians making out. Yes, they were kissing right at the end of the show on public prime time television. So much for wholesome family television.

Now, I am NOT trying to bash homosexuals and I am not a bigot;however, I feel homosexuality is morally wrong and should not be "promoted" as what is the norm for society. Text books are being rewritten as I am writing this to "highlight" every homosexual who has made a contribution to society. There are teachers who have been asked to make sure students know that, "This person in history was a homosexual." History is being rewritten to promote homosexuality and prime time television is doing its best to make homosexuality a "normal" behavior. If homosexuality was the norm, civilization would have ceased to exist thousands of years ago. Procreation takes a man and a woman. There was Adam and then there was Eve, not Adam and Steve.

There are literally tens of thousand of you reading this email right now. If you are tired of the way public television is going let CBS know! It will only take about 1 minute of your time. Again, just goto www.cbs.com and click the feedback link at the bottom. It is time the majority speak up and not let the minority run this country. The majority can bring back the Christian heritage this country was founded on because it is, "In God We Trust."

Thank you for your time,

Troy Hake
President
Outsidepride.com, Inc."



First off, I just want to say-- he actually used "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve". If I roll my eyes any harder they are going to fall out of my head. I sent them an email, a polite one. Geez. I watch CSI, but I would never call it 'wholesome'.

Anyway, this was the reply stoney321 sent (see the rest of her post, including contact info for the company, here).


"Dear Troy Hake,

I received your email regarding homosexuality on television programs that run late in the Primetime scheduling block, programs that show graphic violence and gore, that show women being absued, children murdered or abused, and so forth.

It's interesting that you sent a spam email to all of your company's mailing list because of your horrified reaction to love. Two people who love each other. Yes, they happen to be the same sex. It's interesting that any time those shows have graphic heterosexual sex, I have yet to receive a spam-type email from you or your company, not that I want one, mind. Gratuitous sex is fine, as long as it's between people with the parts you approve of interlocking? That's quite hypocritical.

Even though you state that you are NOT a bigot, that you are NOT bashing homosexuals, you ARE. You are a bigot by saying it is wrong. That's... what a bigot IS, sir.

Interesting that abuse, cruelty and neglect to children, and graphic violence makes "good tv," but two people finding love and happiness - as exhibited through the innocent act of kissing - is wrong .

You have utterly convinced me that I will never use any of your products. Nor will any of my friends. I will be sure to send your email with my response to as many people as I can, so they can write in and let YOU know how we feel about how "Outsidepride" is doing. Just like you asked other bigots and hate-mongers to write in to CBS.

You should be ashamed of yourself, but I'm sure you won't be. And I'm sure you've completely forgotten that Jesus Christ himself said, "As I have loved you, love one another." There was not an addendum that it was okay to hate certain groups.

Best regards that I can muster,
Laura M____________
Texas Master Gardener"

Flipping channels yesterday, and I paused on Comedy Central for a commercial.

Me: "Did I just see Jesus, Buddha, and Shiva fighting in a cage match?"
Chris: "Yep."
Me: "Okay. Just wondering."

And speaking of random bizarre things, I think I found the comic-strip version of myself. ;-)

Girl's night in over here, since Chris is gone on an overnight camping trip. No work tomorrow a.m. I ordered a small cheese pizza, and I'm going to sit here typing and making graphics for as long as I can keep my eyes open. I'm also going to make a bowl of homemade chocolate frosting. Because I can, dammit. ;-)

I want to watch the latest installment of Nightmares and Dreamscapes at 8:00, but I know better than to check out something that might very well scare me at night when I'm alone in the house eeee.

Yes, I am a wuss with paranoia issues.

Ah, the joys of television.

Mom and dad had the TV on CNN (either yesterday or day before) and they started showing live coverage of this guy who robbed a laundromat, then led the cops on a chase, went off-road, and ended up door-deep in water in a culvert.

And they kept repeating the same things over and over and over, and kept the coverage live, to the point that even when they went to a different story, the view of the truck was up in the corner of the screen, just in case. When they went back to the full-screen, it was very obvious that the reporters were trying their hardest to fill time with chatter, because wow did they let slip some dumb-sounding stuff.

Reporter: "He can see out the front and sides but not the back, so. . ."
Chris: "Unless he looks out the back window of the truck."
Me: "Just watch, the guy has one of those little TVs in there and he's checking out this coverage."
Reporter: (as a policeman snakes through the grass to take up position in front of the truck) "Now, if you'll look to the right corner of your screen--"
Mom: "Don't chance telling the guy where the cops are, idiot!"
Reporter: *pauses* "Umm . . . anyway, here's the footage of him driving into the culvert. . ."
(Mom and I have a suspicion that the standoff expert they were talking to earlier told her to can it)
Dad: (after we channel-flipped for a while and came back to the same repeated words and live coverage at least ten minutes later) "This is not a national story. They're just keeping it live because they hope this guy'll start shooting at the cops."

And then mom switched it to the Food Network, and all was well. ;-)

How could they end Earth 2 on a cliffhanger like that and then not have it renewed for another season stupid freaking TV executives?!? *weeps*

I don't have to go back to work until next Thursday!!! Sleep! Yay! (though of course I'm going to celebrate by staying up until 3 a.m. watching Earth 2)

Anyway, and now for something completely different: my humiliated cat.

(he's not exactly young, and so he hasn't been cleaning his fur properly and it's been getting matted, and finally the vet did this)



It's so sad, and yet at the same time so giggle-worthy. I mean, there is a puff on his tail. Poor Midnight.

Going to Kansas City for the weekend. Need to remember to look up a few restaurants to try out.

Found the box set of Earth 2 on Sunday. Haven't watched it yet, but they did have preview episodes of Sliders, and a show called Cleopatra 2525. I knew I liked Sliders, so we watched the second one . . . oh man. The level of cheese cannot be adequately explained with mere words. But we were about two minutes in and Chris goes, "Isn't that Zoe?" Me-- "Ohmygod, it is!"

These honey-butter pretz/pocky things are the best ever. Ashley, I blame you for getting me addicted to this stuff.

Planning to get another chapter of my alternate-universe ghost novel done this afternoon. I really do need to name this thing.

Sunburn is getting slightly better. I actually have a little bit of a tan, amazingly enough. My shoulder freckles also multiplied by about twenty-two million. Freaking sun.

I miss LOST. I also miss Shannon. *throws things at the writers*

I have found my new religion, and it is Jon Stewart-ism.

Can this guy possibly get any more awesome? I don't think so.

:-)

Made a bit of a command decision a little over a week ago.

I stopped paying so much attention to politics. Before, I would read through a ton of news and opinion sites, and get myself worked up over something that, realistically, I knew I was never going to change. There are a few issues that I keep up to date on, and a couple of journals I still read, but it doesn't take up such a large chunk of my day.

There are some topics I'll still be writing essays on when the mood strikes, but the frenzy that's been going on with me since the last election . . . it seems to have faded away. I'm glad.

I also stopped watching the news. I keep track of things by talking to friends and family, and by looking through the Yahoo news bar and certain charity websites, but as for the constant barrage of "Tonight, we'll tell you how something previously thought to be safe will kill you! Update on that at 11:00. Right now, let's go to Minnesota, where this woman's husband and five children just died in a fire. Let's interview her. How do you feeeel?"

Yeah, that's out of our house. Gavin de Becker calls it "Nothing Educational or Worth Seeing" and talks about how immersing ourselves in tragedies we can't change and that will statistically probably never affect us can be really damaging to the nerves and make people more fearful unnecessarily. ((I'd look up a good quote from him on all that, but I'm heading over to my parents' house in about five minutes. Maybe later.)) Anyway, years after first reading his books (go pick up The Gift of Fear, now. I'll wait ;-)) I'm finally taking the advice to heart.

In short, I've got my own corner of the world to take care of, and I can't take care of it if I'm always running around fretting about the people I'm not in a position to help. I hope this doesn't come out sounding selfish or coldhearted; I honestly don't mean it to be if so. This decision is still new to me and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to explain it.

Anyway, I feel a lot better; I think this was definitely a healthy thing to do. :-)

My friend got a phone call at work about the TV show coming out, "The Book of Daniel". Which I hadn't heard much about before she started talking to me about it, but now I'm almost tempted to start watching it.

Anyway, the guy was complaining that the show was demoralizing to our Christian society. My friend told him the usual spiel, that she couldn't do anything about it, and he needed to contact NBC Viewer Relations, and she gave him the number, and he replied by telling her, "You're going to burn in hell, you know that?"

And she said, "Excuse me? You have absolutely no right to tell me what's going to happen to me after I die." She didn't yell at him, cuss at him, or figure out a way to murder him over the phone. I'm proud. :-)

Gift cards galore this Christmas; Chris and I can now eat out for a little while without spending any money. Yay. (which works out well, because soon we'll probably get tired of leftovers) :-)

Also got some books-- Chronicles of Narnia, a LOST novelization, and a Descriptionary. I also got the Calvin and Hobbes collection (heavy, heavy thing. But very cool). Chris got some TV series-- the first season of Rescue Me, the first three seasons of American Chopper, and Band of Brothers. I'd seen a couple of episodes of American Chopper, but none of Band of Brothers; like it a lot so far. Will add the book to my amazon cart.

Chris's parents also gave me a neat little purse/writing case. So Chris and I went out driving last night and I tried it out. It's a habit for us . . . he'll drive around country roads at night and I'll sit next to him scribbling notes.

The Christmas dinner we held for our families went well-- we basically went into a cooking frenzy from the time we got back from his parents' house at 1:00 until people started arriving at 5:30.

He went back to work today, which is why I'm online/writing, and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Joy. But it's been a good break. Hope the same's true for you guys. :-) Later!