Songs You Sang As A Child

The Pop Answers game -- at Facebook -- today was "Songs You Sang As A Child."

That's a toughie, because there are different songs for different generations. And if you grew up in a more religious household the songs will be different. Plus, song titles take a lot of typing, so if you don't type fast and get all the relevant words in there, you're going to get it wrong. Example, I put "Row Row Row" and that wasn't an answer, but "Row Row Row Your Boat" was right. So I can see it as a game today that is harder to get a high score on.

You need games with one or two word answers, not "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"! I put "Skip To My Lou" but that wasn't an answer.

So you figure the right answers are songs, say, from when current 30-something people were kids, like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "The Wheels On The Bus," both of which were right answers. So I didn't get very many. "Amazing Grace" wasn't a correct answer.

For my grandmother, it might have been "The Band Played On" or something old fashioned like that. The songs that you learned as a child ... depend!

A Beautiful Spiritual Accessory

Watching a little daytime TV today, which I simply don't do, I was amazed at some of the ads. They're very much like those little ads in the back of magazines come to life.

Zit medicine and novelty trinkets, including a cross necklace that has a tiny tiny version of the Lord's Prayer inside. Hold it up to your eye and you'll be stunned!

The phrase "spiritual accessory" was actually used to describe it. You too can have the Lord's Prayer close to your heart, as an external thing, dangling there, and always handy in case you forget what it says. You can lift it to your eye and read the little print.

Doctor's Appointment

It suddenly occurred to me that I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. It's one of those ones where I'm not supposed to eat anything after some particular time, maybe 6 p.m., I don't know for sure. Fasting, they call it. Which means I'll be super hungry tonight. Without the fasting rule, it wouldn't bother me as much.

If everything goes OK tomorrow, I'll be off the three month visit cycle and on to a six month cycle. That means the last couple times things have been going OK. So I'm happy about that and hope to keep it going tomorrow. I haven't been especially good when it comes to food and I haven't been especially bad. I just eat like normal. Except recently I've had eggs like three or four times a week, so I don't know if that'll show up as something bad. And bacon almost every morning, microwaved.

I feel about the same weight as usual, so hopefully that won't be an issue. And I've been exercising more or less faithfully, so I'll probably do OK on that.

Still, it's a drag to go to the doctor. The blood work, a terrible feeling. Peeing in a cup, probably, not a good thing, in my opinion.

3D Glasses

I saw people around with big sheets of 3D glasses and noticed there's going to be some special 3D thing on TV on Sunday, which may be nothing more than a commercial during the Super Bowl. Plus there's something about "Chuck," which might be a TV show, that's going to be in 3D.

I was at the store a couple of days ago, then, and saw a big box of the same 3D glasses and got myself a sheet of them, in case I happen to be watching when this event takes place. We like 3D.

But it seems kind of funny that we're so into 3D when it comes to wearing glasses and looking at it, but we're not into 3D just with our normal sight. Because everything around is 3D. You don't need glasses to see it in its full dimensions!

The beginning of my interest in 3D pictures started a long time ago, the '70s sometime when I got a book on old stereocards, which also came with a viewer and a pack of cards. Then I taped a couple of cameras together and went around clicking two buttons at the same time and making my own stereo images. The big trouble was it was hard to click the button exactly simultaneously, so sometime there'd be a delay and the two images would be a little off. Like if it was of a child playing, the hands would be moving. Even a little bit makes it noticeable when you're looking at a stereo picture.

The Trial

My days as a bail/bondsmen came to a head today with the trial. We sat waiting to see how things might transpire. It was interesting to a certain extent, but we were hoping it wouldn't be too interesting.

Some of the other cases made it look like justice at this level is the minimal fine in the absence of really extenuating circumstances. And that's the way it turned out.

I was enjoying certain aspects of it, but like always, wishing that things could move along a little faster. For instance, it's not something I've done before, to sit outside the courtroom and see the look of misery on people's faces for being there. That was interesting.

I saw one case resolved with a minimal sentence, simple assault, with a hundred dollars fine and continuation of the no-contact order. The two parties were in the hallway but never spoke. The woman looked sad about the whole thing. As she walked down the hallway after it was over, I summed it up, "Another love story ends."

As to getting my bond money back, I talked to the clerk and it will come to me as a check. But I might be using it to help pay the fine.

Bail Bondsman Date With History

My bail bondsman rendezvous with destiny is tomorrow. As you may recall, I was called upon, quite out of the blue, without warning or inkling, to provide a bond for some acquaintance who was hauled in to jail.

I didn't want to. I wouldn't want it to happen again. It is cash on the line, risked, and there's the possibility that more might fly out of my bank account, depending on how the system works exactly (I don't know), and whether the person shows up for her court date. There may be other complications, like if she does something untoward in court, which I'm not expecting.

The big day is tomorrow. I offered a ride to court, to make sure it all happens as it should. But she says she already has a ride. So naturally I'm hoping that the ride she has is someone dependable. The big element to that is that the ride doesn't have anything riding on this deal and I do.

Tomorrow. We shall see!

Sorry About That

I've been regretting yesterday's outburst against George W. Bush. Yes, he wasn't my favorite person. But also he's gone. There's no real reason to be venting my spleen against him now.

It's not healthy either to just be insulting and derogatory, even if in many ways he obviously deserves it and perhaps worse. I have to think of me, though, and my psychic health.

We'll try from now on looking ahead, not looking back. Being positive, not negative. And if the subject of George W. Bush comes up, which we hope it won't, we will gracefully bow out, biting our tongue (if that's what it takes), and head for the exit.

His reign, his regime as president was full of terrible things. We have been seriously riled up by him and his inability to serve as a president with any sense or decency. But aren't we only prolonging our agony unnecessarily by dwelling on him? This is a time for breathing, for a new start, not for lamentation and bile.

It feels good, really, to look ahead, and to let the past recede. That feeling is what we want and what we will seek as we press on into the future.

That Rubbish Called George W. Bush

Isn't it great to finally be rid of our National Joke, George W. Bush? Mr. Poking His Nose in Everyone's Business, Defaming and Trampling on the Constitution At Every Turn Bush?

I feel for President Obama, having still to deal with Human Scum (congressional Republicans), but everyone needs a devil. God made the actual devil, keeps him around. So apparently Republicans are going to be hard to exclude as well.

Yesterday it was reported that Obama had to tell these Wasteoids that he won the election and that things are going to happen with or without them. It's amazing to me that they think they can breeze in, having been crushed, and expect to continue with Bush's perverted policies.

As for the brush-cutting Bush, good for little else, I haven't heard much about him since his worthless speech the night of the Inauguration. And it'll be fine with me if it stays that way. We don't like you, we don't want you, stay gone.

We'll carry on with Obama, reversing some of Bush's ideological craziness and putting the Republicans in their place. Don't let them get you down. If you have to roll over them to govern in a common sense way, let 'em have it.

A Certified Letter - Part 2

Well, I was worried about my bail bondsman status (and possible penalty) for nothing, so far. The certified letter turned out to be unrelated to that. In fact, I heard from the person in question last night and was somewhat already assured that there was nothing in the works, known at least.

But still, I was up and it occurred to me about 8 a.m. again about the certified letter. So I hustled over to the post office, then had to stand in line behind someone with several eBay packages to process (just my luck), and finally got the letter. I saw the return address and realized immediately that it was business that was quite benign and unrelated to any personal issue. Someone had sent some checks and I'm the middleman to get them where they need to go. That's all.

But this had never happened before, and it's timing was curious, making it a realistic first guess that they could have been trying to notify me about the bond.

A Certified Letter

The other day I said I was suddenly a bail bondsman for some acquaintance. That was $100, but then when I later saw the form I signed (I'm not swearing to it but I believe this part wasn't written in at the time) there was a parenthetical part after the $100 that said $300 unsecured bond.

Today, then, I got a notice that I have a certified letter waiting at the post office. I didn't think much about it, but I suppose I should have. Because later it occurred to me that this might have something to do with that person's bond.

Coincidentally, I had a normal appointment with the acquaintance today but she wasn't there. Someone else told me where she supposedly was, but now I'm wondering, could she be in jail again? Assuming the worst, that she is in jail, that means the certified letter is going to be them telling me how much I owe, hopefully no more than $300, and that I should present myself with the cash.

I'll pick up the mail in the morning and I'm hoping it won't be that. But what else could it be? I don't get certified letters.

Debit Cards

I have entered the whole world of paying for things with my debit card. It's probably been about a year actually.

I'm still a little nervous about certain things. Sometimes it seems like they're running it through like a credit card. And I haven't set up the credit card account on it, so I don't know what would happen if that were to happen. I asked a clerk at one place if she was sure it was going to go through as a debit card and she couldn't guarantee it, so I didn't do it there.

Other places I've thought it was going to be OK, then I had second thoughts afterwards, but I've never had one show up as anything but a debit, so I guess my fears were all unfounded.

It's kind of weird at certain places, that you don't have to type in your PIN. McDonald's is that way. It just runs through and says approved. So I don't know why they have it different than the grocery store, except, that's just the way it is.

Another Speech By George W. Bush

I was clicking back and forth between MSNBC and CNN most of the day. If they got too pompous or too silly on one, I'd go to the other. Then if there was a commercial, back to the other.

There came a time or two when I checked out Fox, like if both the others were at commercials. I have a policy of avoiding Fox, and feel quite a bit happier for it.

Toward evening was one of these times, two commercials, so a quick peek at Fox, and who do they have but former President George W. Bush! I thought, that figures. We're finally shut of this crook and his travesty of a presidency, and what are they playing on Fox, but the same stinking guy!

Bush was giving a speech at Midland, Texas, having arrived there from his plane ride (escape) out of Washington. And he was burning down the barn, justifying himself, all to approving calls and applause. He wasn't apologetic for his eight years of criminal behavior, in fact he put quite the positive spin on it. It seems that he liberated 50,000,000 people. (Does anyone remember the build up to the Iraq war? Was it ever his aim to liberate people? Something about WMD, if I recall.)

Anyway, he had some humorous parts. Folksy stuff that the (probably handpicked) audience ate up. Like him tomorrow making coffee for Laura, part of his new "domestic agenda."

Uggh, why is this evil man on TV again? Please go away.

Very Prickly Copy Protection

I got a CD secondhand yesterday, even though it wasn't open, that has very stringent, strict copy protection.

Even though it comes with plenty of warnings that it can't be ripped, I stuck it in the computer to see, and sure enough, it came up with numerous screen notices (Media Monkey did, that is) telling me it couldn't be done.

It's by an Indian guy named Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I never heard of him either, but a perusal of the internet shows he is well known in some circles. It's an album called "Gems From A Genius."

The CD was made in India, and, as I said, it is severely copy protected. It tells you right on the cover by the hinge. Then on the back cover, giving warnings that it might encounter problems playing on your player. And inside is a card that describes all that you can and cannot expect from this precious CD, including:

It can't be burnt onto a CD-R or hard disk. It can't be converted into MP3 files. It might not play in the following players: Some that have the capability of burning into an MP3. Some that posses CD-R/RW functions. Some car stereos with satellite "Guidance" systems. Some players with hard disk recording capability. Some portable players. Some DVD players. Some CD/LD convertible players. Some game players. Maybe not your computer. (For your computer it has some built in player that is meant to autoplay, but there's no guarantee it will work.)

Ha ha, what a ridiculous thing! They sell CDs and they're afraid you might actually want to listen to it!

Civic Compliments

Once in a while I find myself in a situation where I have to hew right down the middle of the road, such as speaking about civic duty, then being complimentary to all mainstream political persuasions.

You see this on TV, or it will come up at the Inauguration, for example, where someone has to pay tribute to political opponents. Maybe it's like we used to hear about professional wrestlers. They may be trying to kill each other in the ring, but outside they're having coffee and inquiring about the kids. We do see it in Congress, "My esteemed colleague and good friend from Alabama."

It's a tough thing to do, let's say if the subject happens to be George W. Bush. But you know Obama's going to have good things to say about Bush. You have to. It stinks but many necessary jobs stink.

So what can you say about Bush in a complimentary way without getting in too deep or being too much of a liar? I almost Googled it to find out, because I'm nearly at a loss. He loves his wife? He loves his country? He lead us through tough times? He made tough decisions?

Minimal Music, Sound

I've gotten a couple of albums in the last day or so, stuff somewhat off the beaten track. Probably the soundtrack from Slumdog Millionaire is on the beaten track, actually, but it's not on the usual beaten track I follow.

I haven't seen the movie yet, but read about it, and it sounds fairly cool. I like things that have to do with India, and checked out the samples before getting it. I have a couple M.I.A. albums already, so to have another copy of "Paper Planes" was not the point. There is an alternate version on there, which sounds good. That makes a second alternate version for me, since when I first bought the song I didn't check it out adequately and ended up with a remix.

I've listened to the soundtrack once so far ... and the tunes have a cool India vibe. More background music for me while doing other things, reading.

The other album, which I just discovered searching for other things, was "Involution" by Aurobindo. This would be classified as ambient, minimal music maybe. It's a lot of sound tones, various modulations that I believe has some sort of human creativity guiding them. They also make for something good for not occupying your mind and yet perhaps provoking some unknown thoughts in there. I'm thinking that I want things that give rise to thoughts or dreams without telling the content of those things.

I got a little bonus in checking this one out. At one of the musician's websites, DeHoen (?), he has a couple extra tracks relating to the "Involution" album. So I got those for free. They're there for free downloading anyway.

The other tracks were downloaded from Amazon. This weekend the Slumdog soundtrack is a $5 download.

The Natural Enquirer

I was watching some sharks on TV yesterday at Walmart. On high def TV, and the picture was pretty good. Sharks right in your face. And the intensity, concentration, and skill that the naturalists (swimmers) had was more boldly pronounced as well.

The whole thing of standing there reminded me of what my dad used to say about when TVs were first on sale. That people would stand by the store window watching. Well, I'm less of an enthralled viewer probably than they were back then, since we've all grown up with TV, but it does catch your attention when you see a picture so clear and up close. Engaging, yes, but I don't go to Walmart to watch TV per se.

They have lots of this stuff on TV, but I haven't got time to sit and watch TV anyway, whether I had high def or not. Plus, it's not just sharks that sometimes take an arm and a leg, but the cable TV companies as well. Every time I look at my bill it's gone up another dollar or so. Two years ago I know it was in the 85-dollar range, but the latest was over $100, and I haven't added any features or options. For me to get high def at this point, I'd have to waste a lot more time sitting by the TV to pay for it, and I know I wouldn't be any happier.

But this post is supposed to be about The Natural Enquirer, a scandal sheet for animals. Sharks, yes, they have plenty of scandal to talk about. I see one bit a kid's leg just the other day. Dogs walking by the house, not picking up their droppings. Just pooping on mother earth and letting it go.

The Look

On American Idol, as in everyday life, I'm always on the prowl (not exactly) for people with "The Look." Not that I'm going to do anything about it, going up to them and telling them I'm going to make you a star... I like to see people with "The Look," even if it's only in passing.

For me the Look is the look of something individual, eclectic, electrifying, a touch of weirdness yet with confidence and something interesting going on. As for me, though, personally, I don't have The Look whatsoever. I've never had it really -- maybe un peu in high school, but now I'm withered, with strange tufts and balding, and getting wrinkled. If I were a bluesman, I'd be in my element, except I'm not that either!

When I see the Look, which is hardly ever, it's captivating. But you don't want to look at the Look very long or reality will catch up with you. Real life has a way of taking everyone down a few pegs. Still, and they're few and far between, once in a while you see something in people that's very spiritual, a spark.

A Bail Bondsman

You have one of those nights where it seems like everything's normal. Then the phone rings and some acquaintance is in trouble, in jail, and chose YOU to help them get out.

That happened to me tonight. Yuckus!

The jail official told me they accepted cash. And they had a heck of a policy for making you wait out in the cold. Then telling you it'd be so long till they sprung the person, then shooting over that by 10 to 15 minutes.

It's an absurd system.

Now I have to hope this person makes the court date, or my money's down the drain. Lucky me.

American Idol Starts Tonight

I'll probably watch it. I'm debating watching it.

Last year it seemed to drag somewhat. Someone was talking about how media savvy the contestants were, and adept at not doing weird things to give themselves bad publicity. But we want drama, mistakes, blowups, then also the super performances.

They've got some different things going this year, including a new judge. Plus, it appears, there are a few more landmines for the contestants, which I hope will make for more drama.

I'm hoping to go out to eat, which might mean watching it later. That's part of the reason I wouldn't watch it, the waste of time it is when it's all said and done.

Blizzard Conditions

There's blizzard conditions out tonight, especially in the country. I haven't been there but I experienced it last year, and today looks like that.

We had total whiteout conditions, going like about 5 mph on the highway and sometimes zero. There were wrecks, crazy winds, drifts, the works. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

It just so happened we pulled into some little town and there was a little motel, like five or six rooms total. And we happened to get one. There wasn't even an attendant there. You call on a phone and she tells you to go into the room and in the morning leave your money on the desk. Small. But it was our salvation that night.

That was a very cold night, like way below zero. We had the dog with us and I kept taking it out so she wouldn't pee on the carpet. I assured the lady on the phone things would be OK. My tire looked like it was getting low. I was freaking out. Unnecessarily, as most freaking out is unnecessary, since the tire was going to do what it was going to do. But a mechanic said it was from the extremely cold temperatures, probably.

We made it out the next day, made it home. But I'm glad tonight that I'm already home. And not out on the road!

Birthdays

My mom's birthday is today, my daughter's is tomorrow, mine is the next day. We have that clump every time of course. It's like running the gauntlet.

I have an uncle whose birthday was yesterday. I don't see him much anymore but it used to be clumped together with mine and my mom's, before the daughter and when we were more local and younger.

My daughter's birthday is her 31st, and I know she's counting off the seconds till it. We take our birthdays seriously. I still like mine. I don't mind getting old. I don't know why anyone would. It's nothing you have any control over.

The only person I ever held it against them how old they were was John McCain. And that was all fake. Except, realistically, you want to have a president who's on top of his or her game. If all he wanted to be was senator, do it as long as you want as far as I'm concerned.

The Heroic Bear

Another of the Animal Planet stories came to me. And I didn't see any of this one, because I was sitting on a couch and the TV was aimed the other direction.

It involved a she bear who took on a he bear in a fight to protect her baby bears. How little they were, I don't know, I guess it doesn't matter. I wasn't listening closely to the lead up on the story. But it appears that the he bear was trying to get the baby bears, and the mother fought him and threw him down an embankment of some sort.

They obviously had it on video, because whoever had witnessed it was going on what a great "shot" they got, like one in a million.

Here's where it got schmaltzy, and in my opinion ... objectionable. The mother bear was described as a "perfect mother" and even "heroic" in her "willingness" to protect those babes, "willing" to kill him or be killed to make sure they were OK.

What I object to is all that. Being a "perfect mother," being a "hero," having a "will" to give up her life for their sake. It seems to me that if you run an entire channel called ANIMAL PLANET that you ought to have some sense of ANIMALS, and not be projecting our own altruistic ideals on to them. At that level, it would seem, it's all instinct and circumstances, not heroism, not trying to live up to the standard of motherhood that we have as our sentiment, or the exercise of a will, i.e., judging a certain set of circumstances and saying it will take this or that kind of "will" to get a particular end accomplished.

It was so sentimental, so schmaltzy, that it became clear that the Animal Planet channel is simply the People Planet channel that happens to feature animals to make us feel good. Instinct is what their focus should be.

Stung By Over 500 Bees

I don't usually watch the Animal Planet channel, except when it's on and the other person doesn't want to change the channel. The combination of the Crocodile Hunter and endless episodes of sick dogs and cats being rescued from squalor is enough to make me vomit.

Late this afternoon, though, I'm at the hospital, visiting someone's room, and what had to be on but the Animal Planet channel! The show was something about Animal Stories Extreme, a Marlin that jumps up and stabs a guy, a pelican dangling in midair by a fishhook, a dog in icy waters that bites his rescuer on the face, and a woman who was stung by over 500 bees while mowing her yard.

Good grief, stung by over 500 bees. They were in her mouth, in her clothes, all over her. It's enough to keep me in nightmares for the next 10 years. This is part of the reason I hate that channel.

But, I was thinking, I suppose if you can stand 350-400 stings, the last hundred has to be easy. Also, by the way, this would be the perfect premise (although very cliched) for her to be the Bee Lady with superpowers.

No More Bananas

Here's a troubling story, that there's some danger to the banana, based on what? Disease or something. I read through part of the article but had to take off.

I hope we find some way of saving the banana, if indeed it is in danger. I know it shows up in the South Beach Diet book as something you shouldn't eat, but still, they're quick, they're delicious, and we like them.

I've got one setting right here by my desk. It's a Del Monte, raised in Guatemala. I just wish they would come up with a way for them not to turn brown so fast.

I saw another weird banana story the other day, I believe in American Profile magazine. It's a supplement that comes with the newspaper. It was about a lady who collects banana stickers. Which you wouldn't think there'd be that many different varieties of. But she has around 7,500 different ones! She takes them off, soaks off the glue somehow, then collects them in books. She even said she's been known to go to a store, buy bananas, take off the stickers, and give the bananas back to the store.

This Del Monte banana has a nice sticker, a #4011 sticker with a sort of UPC code (not exactly). I don't think I'll save it.

My Dog

My dog growls in her sleep once in a while. She's dozing in the hallway and she just now did a very low volume growl. She also kicks her feet at times and makes little yips, like she's barking in her dreams but all that's coming through is this pipsqueak yip.

She's part Pomeranian, so she's not big. She just thinks she's big. Except she has a lot of fear of things outside. You wouldn't know it as aggressive as she seems.

A couple nights ago I saw something weird on the sidewalk when I took her out. It was over where we don't usually go, but I saw it over there. It looked like maybe a bunch of leaves, or a bunched up shirt, or something. It was moving because it was a windy night. But it had a way of moving like it had a will of its own. I was hoping there wasn't a crippled squirrel in there somewhere, maybe tangled up. It didn't really seem like it had that much will, but whatever it was, the swirling wind patterns, perhaps, this piece would stretch out, this other bit would rotate.

I was looking over at it with interest. The dog either noticed me looking at it or happened to notice it for herself. She stood erect in its direction and was barking, like she was bold. But then I decided we should walk over by it and figure out the mystery, what it was. The dog became more and more reticent as we got closer. Like she thought it was a living thing, too. Then when it seemed like I was going to press on all the way to it, getting closer, my dog pulled the leash the opposite direction and let out the scariest primal barking/moaning I've ever heard from her. More a bark than a moan, but full of anguish and dread. Of course I turned and we went the opposite direction.

When we went out in the morning there wasn't anything over there that was unusual. In the general vicinity I saw what looked like a cottage cheese container, and nearby also a yogurt container. But whether they were part of anything that could be moving and swirling, I guess I'll never know.

I was describing it to someone just like here and she noted the word "primal" in my description, to which I said they obviously have responses built in that are not normally used in everyday life, till an unusual threat arises.

AVI Frames

I recently got a small video camera. I've taken a few videos. I haven't come up with a good way to snap frames off it, or, better yet, to extract all frames.

I have Infranview, which has a feature built in for this very task. Except for me they all come out black. I checked around on the internet and someone recommended turning off all video acceleration, which is an easy enough thing to do. But it didn't do any good.

Once in a while, when manually snapping a picture with Capture software, I get part of a frame, just part.

The video comes with Flip-something, a piece of crap bit of software and only reads videos from the camera and not off the harddrive, seems like it to me. It has a way of snapping one picture at a time but not a hundred or a thousand.

I used to do this all the time seven or eight years ago. I had a Ulead (?) gif animator and it could do stuff like that.

Progresso Soup

I bought around 20 cans of Progresso Light Beef Pot Roast soup the other day. I've never bought that much soup in my life.

I picked up a can one night and it tasted delicious. So I thought next time I went to the store I'd get a few more cans. I started stacking them in the cart and couldn't stop. I took almost every one they had except for three or four.

Now I've got a pantry with a bunch of soup cans prominent on the shelf. We've had maybe four or five cans since, and I gave one away. I hope I don't get sick of it till it's gone.

Hinder - Extreme Behavior

I got the Hinder CD "Extreme Behavior" at Goodwill yesterday. I like the song "Lips of an Angel," and thought a dollar was a good deal for the whole CD.

I was surprised then to read the bad review of the album at All Music. One and a half stars and taking them to task for whatever, for being guys with hormones I guess.

But I was playing it as background music while doing something else and it sounded pretty good. I wasn't paying close attention though, or filtering it through extraordinary sensibilities.

Great cover! I didn't know the album was so old, 2005. Since I was just hearing "Lips of an Angel" on the radio recently. Shows what I know.

I also heard a country version of "Lips of an Angel" but can't remember who the singer was.

Shower Video

With my new video camera I can't think of too much to video. Pets are only so entertaining. Eventually I'm going to have to leave the house.

Yesterday I wondered what it'd look like to video myself taking a shower. From the waist up, of course. So I set the camera up here somewhere and tried to forget it was there, which I didn't manage.

I did everything quicker, undressing, getting in, stayed in less time, etc., so it'd be a shorter, more contained production. Somehow I managed to keep it all waist-up, even when in the shower. So I'm able to keep it on my hard drive, which I wouldn't want to do if I was overly exposed.

A couple of observations. I'm freaked out about my appearance. I thought I looked terrible. I've never observed myself from some of these angles, and it wasn't appealing. Plus, you can really see through the shower door. I didn't know that 100%.

I was pretty much humorless doing it. As stated, I was trying to forget the camera was there, which meant not a lot of mugging, grinning, talking. So I look like a task-oriented stoic, getting my clothes off very fast, getting in, getting out, all business. It'd be more entertaining to be singing in the shower or something.

Computer Down

My doctor's computer's down, so they don't know if you have an appointment today or not. If I drop dead, they won't know till the computer's up and running.

What about old Doc Hill, in the old building downtown, upstairs, with his name printed on the window? And a horse and buggy tied outside. He was keeping track of his patients all the time, at least giving them a bullet to bite on while they suffered. Didn't have a computer.

There was a prophecy told me by your average Radio Shack employee once, probably 1982 (thereabouts), that one day we'll all need a computer. At the time I was thinking of what computers were generally to be used for, as foretold in magazines of the time, which was keeping track of recipes and ... I think that was it. I doubted the guy's word.

Now I don't know if I have a doctor's appointment or not. I did have a hard copy, the card they give you at the time. But I lost it, no backup.

Older

Everyone's older today, being New Year's Day.

I got a camera after Christmas, a video camera, Flip Ultra. It's nice and easy to use. But it shows how very old I'm getting. I set it on an exercise machine and was videoing my face as I did the thing. Then I looked at part of it. Very wrinkly, I'm getting, no joke.

I need to do something about stress. Stress is destroying what appearance I ever had. I sort of feel like I'm on top of it, but that's not true. Anyway, that's a video I don't want to see very often!