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 On 11/21/2014 at 10:43 AM by Ranger1 See More From This User » |
Instead of sitting here typing this, I should be looking for gainful employment for the winter, but I'm having a hard time getting going on that. The places I wouldn't mind working aren't hiring and the others all fall under the category of "I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than work there". I'm going to have to suck it up here shortly, though. In the meantime, I'm doing yard work for my landlady. Not bringing in any money, but making her happy. And the yard looks nicer.
My mom just had major surgery on Tuesday. I wasn't able to be there, but my sister was and kept me updated throughout the day. It was related to what she was in the hospital for last spring. When she's healed up, it should make her life a lot better, just really different.
I go for weeks at a time being practically a hermit, and then there will be an incredibly social burst for a bit, and then things will quiet down again. I'm in the middle of one of the social bits. Friday, Jason came over after work and I made him a birthday dinner with apple crisp for dessert and gave him his present (a sword I bought him last June that he thought I bought for myself) and we watched Highlander. Saturday I went down to the monthly sea music sing. I got a ride from some friends, so I didn't have to worry about gas, tolls, and parking fees, plus I was able to imbibe, which I don't usually get to do. It was a great session, a lot of good singers and enough singers during the choruses to make the walls vibrate. There's a serious rush involved in group singing, hard to describe if you've never experienced it yourself. I came home completely rejuvenated. Sunday, we did the birthday thing again at Jason's dad's. Dinner and football and just hanging out with his dad, step-mom (I do so adore that woman!) and youngest brother Ben. Ben and I talked games, which is always fun. This Sunday, I'm going to a "gender reveal" party that my niece Becca is having. I'm going to be a great-aunt in March, around my birthday. I'm so excited! I'm supposed to dress in either pink or blue, but since I don't care whether it's a boy or girl (I just want healthy, we carry the genes for a really nasty metabolic disease and two of Becca's sisters have it, as well as a couple of cousins), I'll just wear normal clothes.
And now to what I've been watching/reading/listening to/playing:
Playing: Sleeping Dogs. Duh. I'll probably go back and finish Stick of Truth next, but I'm kind of jonesing for a PS1 era rpg, too. I dunno, we'll see what happens.
Reading: I'm bouncing back and forth between Club Dead (a Sookie Stackhouse book) and The Fellowship of the Ring. I really need better light in here for reading at night, which is when I like to read.
Watching: Watched Riddick, Veronica Mars, Highlander (for the millionth time), The Wolverine, Young Frankenstein (that movie never gets old), and Cyborg for movies. Been watching The Vampire Diaries to get the back story on the characters in The Originals. I really like The Originals, The Vampire Diaries is not all that great. I also finished watching True Blood. As for current shows - NCIS, NCIS: NO, Agents of SHIELD, The Blacklist, Supernatural, and The Originals are the current faves. On DVD, I've been watching the first season of Third Watch, the first season of Veronica Mars (again), and I'm contemplating a return to Babylon 5, I think I stopped in the middle of the third season when I got sidetracked by something newer and shinier.
Listening: A real mixed bag this week. CDs currently in play in the car over the last ten days in the car have been: Chris LeDoux - Chris LeDoux and the Saddle Boogie Band, Garth Brooks - Fresh Horses, Carlene Carter - Hindsight 20/20, Social Distortion - Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes, Ann Lister - A Flame in Avalon, Garnet Rogers - Night Drive, Rush - Hold Your Fire, Bob Stuart - Hang On John, a playlist of 80s songs my friend Jerry put together that he calls "Rock the Gatehouse" because he and his two sons were living in a rented gatehouse and these were some of the songs they liked back then, Social D - Social Distortion, Social D - White Light White Heat White Trash, Macklemore - The Heist, The Clash - The Story of the Clash, Finn & Haddie - Fathom This, Jed Marum - Ain't No Going Back, Transatlantic Sessions 3 - Volume One, Tom Hall - A Bottle Full for the Shantyman, and Geordie McIntyre & Alison McMorland - Where Ravens Reel. Also went to a house concert and saw Deb Cowan and John Roberts play, as well as taking part in the shanty session.
Well, time to get my butt in gear and go rake more leaves and try and reclaim my landlady's flower gardens from the various bushes, shrubs, and other unwanted stuff trying to take over. It would make more sense to deal with the gardens in the spring, but I need to get rid of the shrubby stuff before I can get the leaves out. Happy weekend, everyone!
ah, Cyborg. A classic Van Damme epic. They just don't make movies like that anymore.
I hope your mom is doing ok. My mom is having problems with the skin on her hands, I don't know it's crazy, but she got an injection yesterday that is supposed to fix it eventually.
I think Cyborg falls into the "so bad it's good" category. I like it, liked it when it first came out, but after watching it again last week, I have to say that it's really pretty cheesey.
Talked with my mom yesterday. She's doing great, the hospital staff are really impressed with how fast she's bouncing back. She had to have a permanent ileostomy due to the ulcerative colitis pretty much destroying a part of her small intestine.
ah, that really sucks, man. I hope she is ok. How old is she now? Does she live on her own?
My mom's going to be 64 next month. She lives with and takes care of my 90 year old grandmother.
oh really? I'm surprised she's so young. My mom is like seventy-one I think. My grandmother lived into her nineties, but then she grew pretty out of it, we think because she fell and hit her head one day. she lived in pittsburgh all alone and we lived in marylland, but she was really independent. My mom had to take away her independence eventually by putting her in a home for the last year, because she needed constant care, though she was still healthy. but her mind wasn't there. finally, one day she died while she was napping, I guess. She was a stubborn, cantakerous old lady, but when she was younger she was pretty amazing. Sad.
You gave Jason a sword and then watched Highlander. You're lucky you still have your head.
Hope your mum heals up soon.
Actually, I put on Highlander first, then gave him the sword. And you should have seen me when I picked it up back in June - wandering the streets of Portsmouth, NH with a (sheathed) sword. The desire to unsheathe it, point it to ceiling, and yell "There can be only one!" in the parking garage was strong, but I managed to keep myself under control.
Mum's already doing well, she's impressing the hospital staff with how quickly she's bouncing back after only having had surgery on Tuesday. I'll give her a call a little later and check on her again, though.
If you're looking for something new to read, a friend highly recommended The Pale King by David Foster Wallace. I haven't started it yet but the premise sounds pretty interesting/funny. I'll report back when I get it read.
Shane, I have a huge pile of unread books. My book backlog may be almost as large as my games backlog. Just on the table alone, I have two Kelley Armstrong novels and Black Robe, in a pile on the edge of one of my bookcases (yes, bookcases plural) is another Kelley Armstrong novel, the next-to-most-recent Dresden Files book, one of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Pelucidar series, and a couple of assorted steampunk novels. Then there are a couple of non-fiction choices on top of the bookcase - a book of Inuit myths and legends,a book about horseshoe crabs and other "living fossils", and Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces. And that's just what I can see from where I sit.
Haha oh jeez. Stay strong Tami!
I really hope this Master's will help me avoid fork-in-eye jobs or at least pay me decently if I decide to get one of those. Good luck on the job hunting! I can appreciate how much of a pain in the ass it is!
Hope your mom gets better!
And why not just wear purple to the gender reveal and cover all bases? lol
Playing: I'm still on Limbo and Legend of Korra. Hoping to finish both over the weekend. Both games you're playing sound like a good time to me though.
Reading: I never did finish Fellowship or move on to the others. What I notice I like about the books in what I used to consider the "boring" parts is Tolkien's humor. I get the feeling he's talking about some of his own relatives in that scene where Bilbo has the party. lol If I didn't have a thesis to refine, I'd pick it up again, but maybe I'll revisit all that once the new Hobbit film comes out.
In the meantime, I think Thanksgiving will give me a chance to finally get through The Fault in Our Stars and make me thankful I don't have cancer. Might read Divergent too, as I think you said you enjoyed that one, but wasn't digging the first few pages about the separate societies and whatnot. I think that may be more due to being a bit burnt out on dystopian novels though. I say that, but I'm excited for Hunger Games Part I. I dunno.
Watching: There is soooo much good stuff on Netflix. I'm gonna try to start on The Blacklist. Love me some James Spader. Ever watch Boston Legal? That was THE show for myself, my older brother and my dad when it was on TV for a bit. Then I'll see about finally watching Goodwill Hunting, maybe rewatching the Burton Batmans and I've been watching old Yu-Gi Oh episodes.
This morning, Legend of Korra had a clip show and the ending with Verrick was brilliant. Reminded me of the play towards the end of the original series. Something big is coming in these next five episodes for sure. I'm thinking there's a four-parter next then the finale.
Listening: Loving the 80s, punk and funk in your playlist. I'm still making sure KSAU plays stuff appropriate for our alt rock format that doesn't suck and have been listening to Bayside - "Already Gone" on repeat. I think Arctic Monkeys "R U Mine?" is my favorite song right now as far as riff composition and energy. Gonna need to learn both on guitar.
And I know what you mean about group singing (kind of). I think it's just really satisfying to harmonize with other people to give things a fuller sound and therefore fuller feel. My friend and I used to play guitar out of sync with each other all the time in that typical one-upsman masturbatory kinda way, but one day we decided to harmonize on I think "Reign in Blood" by Slayer. We even both nailed a pick squeal at the end. So much more satisfying than the annoying shit we usually did.
I need to jam with someone soon.
I was going with green, as both purple and pink put me in a bad mood.
As for group singing, apparently it does good things to your brain.
I love PS1 RPGs. There's just something about them. I wish I had played Tales of Destiny back in the day.
I have Tales of Destiny. Maybe I'll break that one out... I dunno, so many games, so little time!
Give babylon 5 a second go. The "Shadow War" seems slow but the buildup was so worth it when everything starts
I've seen the whole series, and own the first four seasons. It's one of my favorites. And I may be alone in this, but I always preferred Sinclair over Sheridan.
Hope your mom heals up well.
Between Highlander and RoboCop, I don't think I can remember which I've watched more, or how many times.
Thanks. As for the movies, I've probably seen Raiders of the Lost Ark the most of any movie. Followed closely by Highlander and The Princess Bride. The Blues Brothers is up there pretty high, too, now that I think about it.
Tami a good RPG on psn ps1 classics try Vagrant Story its a wonderful game that you would really like I think.
Rodney, I own it. And just about every other Squaresoft game made for the PS1.
Ok then let me try these two =-)
These two are very good Vanguard Bandits is a SRPG but has a very good story and you probably played Suikoden and if so Suikoden 2 is really good if you liked the first one.
By the way did you like Vagrant Story I found it confusing in parts but I did like the comic book style story.
I had to dump my book backlog at the library. It was such a burden to look at everyday and realize it was going to takes me years to finish them all. It's alright though, they're always there at some library for me to read when I can.
Having lots of unread books around me comforts me. It means I'll never be at a loss for something to read or be bookless.
I'm fine with having the libraries hold my books. Luckily I'm walking distance from my library, and I can get loans from dozens of other libraries in my area. If I was more isolated, I would hold on to them.
Cyborg...like in Jean Claude Van Damme? If so hell yeah! My brother and I used to watch a ton of his flicks. No matter what it always came down to some martial arts fight at the end where he somehow gets hurt and then fights his way through it. I'm a Bloodsport fan so that's my go to flick.
Gender naming party, that acutally sounds like fun. I'm kind of hoping your niece trolls everyone and says "we know, but we're not telling" at the end of the party. From Birthday Dinner, to live music, to family time, that is a fun filled time right there!
Yeah, the Jean Claude Van Damme movie. Bloodsport is another favorite. I kinda pretty much like them all, to be honest.
I skipped the party. Didn't have the gas money and was feeling anti-social. It's a boy, his name's going to be Gabriel.
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