[Originally written 16 DEC 2009]
Four months ago yesterday, my wife ("C") was discharged from our local hospital after being newly diagnosed with Wegener’s Granulomatosis. C’s rheumatologist, Dr. Maria E. Darland, told her that she would be able to "re-enter the world" in approximately six to eight months after treating her condition over that period with prednisone and cyclophosphamide. Unfortunately, after about a month and a half, C’s liver panels showed the onset of liver damage and she was taken off of cyclophosphamide in order to try to prevent any major, permanent damage; this was bad news because up to this point, her condition was responding well to the combination of the two drugs.
White ivory tower,
do clouds distort the framework
of reality?
I suffered through Nashville over the course of a couple of nights. I was blinded by my dislike of country music, so I really didn’t pay a lot of attention to the film. It really seemed like the typical story of aspiring starlets trying to get their shot at the big time along with not-so-subtle political undertones. Some day, I may try to watch it again, but for now… Meh.
Earlier this week, my wife and I finished watching All About Eve, thus allowing me to inch closer to completion of item 15 on my List.
This movie takes a look at the "drama behind the drama" of stage theatre and how a backstabbing (as well as delusional and lying) unknown can rise to the top. Not exactly a good moral, but a good and well acted story.
[Some day, I'll try to learn how to write a (more) proper movie review. Until such a time, this will have to suffice.]
… and I’m already a slacker! I’m falling way behind in several of my projects and I am currently unmotivated to pick them back up.
Some examples:
- I should be working on my eighth "regular" blog post, but instead I’m stuck at two; I am not counting List updates for these
- I should have posted at least seven photographs by now, but have yet to post a single one.
I should also be working on some of the long-term items like the 5000 Question Survey and planning the home-improvement projects. I need to start my food log and exercising, but again I am not motivated. I have yet to "unplug" for a day.
I need to put my nose to the grindstone and start focusing on my List again. I suppose that will end up waiting until after the holidays, though – at least the "outdoorsy" items anyway.
I’m not really beating up myself, but I am disappointed in how I have been unable to focus. Also, I have two updates for the list that I haven’t written yet. Oh well. I’ll get to those updates soon enough!
Today we finished The Best Years of Our Lives. This movie followed a few days in the lives of three WWII veterans who had just come back stateside and showed them dealing with the changes that both they and the people they were returning to had been through while they were at war. Many humorous and poignant moments. Well acted and scripted, I highly recommend this flick.
I’m on the downhill half of the list now! 49 to go!
Ok! I have my list of books from the list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" that I will be reading over the next 984 days. Thanks to everyone who provided input via FB and LJ!
I’ve narrowed my choices from the list down to the following 13 books. Of these books, I am currently reading Les Misérables by Victor Hugo and will soon be reading H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. Does anyone have any recommendations (using my list of choices below) for the remaining eight. I have 984 days to read them.
Dear Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles,
Today, I attempted to exercise my Constitutionally-granted right to vote in my local and state elections. Unfortunately for me, you are full of epic amounts of FAIL and IDIOCY. Surely, even you must understand that if you make available the option to update voter registrations when your customers renew or replace their motor vehicle licenses, that you should provide the necessary information to the State Board of Elections. This is not a difficult task, yet somehow you managed to fail. You not only failed to submit my information, but also my wife’s and, according to the gentleman running my local voting location, several other citizens. I suppose that this is what I get for assuming that you could do something again that you have not failed before, in my experience. I did not realize that I was dealing with a child who needs to be followed behind to ensure that you do your job!
I considered lodging a formal complaint, but I believe that there must be a sizable black hole at your disposal in which you cast voter registrations information. I have to infer that complaints end up in that very same black hole, so this mini-rant will need to suffice.
Good day.
Yours in emnity,
Bill Hedge, disgruntled citizen.
We finished watching Annie Hall last night. It wasn’t too bad, although Woody Allen’s neuroticism was a bit excessive in my opinion. Cameos from a bunch of different actors including Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, and Shelley Duvall helped add flavor to the movie. Slight spoiler: that’s an awfully quick way to waste several thousand dollars of cocaine!
This movie puts me half way through the AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition. Hooray for progress! Up next ought to be either The Best Years of Our Lives or All About Eve, though I could just opt for something that Netflix currently has available for streaming.