So Superwife and I took Trin out for her first Halloween tonight. And it was so different than it ever would have been if we had have stayed down south.
We took her to canvas the people in the neighborhood that she knew and that entailed driving her to and from each one, getting out of the car, going up to the door and watching her turn into some shy meek little thing that I had heretofore never met in my life. She managed to whisper out a trick or treat each time, and because hardly anyone ever visits the sticks, every stop she scored a ridiculous amount of loot.
But the best part was that we live so far out in the middle of nowhere that not once on our tour of the back roads did we come across one other single kid out for Halloween. Truth is we were watching for deer a lot more than we were watching for other kids. And we actually saw deer.
We took her to canvas the people in the neighborhood that she knew and that entailed driving her to and from each one, getting out of the car, going up to the door and watching her turn into some shy meek little thing that I had heretofore never met in my life. She managed to whisper out a trick or treat each time, and because hardly anyone ever visits the sticks, every stop she scored a ridiculous amount of loot.
But the best part was that we live so far out in the middle of nowhere that not once on our tour of the back roads did we come across one other single kid out for Halloween. Truth is we were watching for deer a lot more than we were watching for other kids. And we actually saw deer.
Ah, shift work. I'm off for a few days, so I am getting myself trained to nights again and here I am up late with no one for company but Radiohead and the folks from Attack of the Show. And that is just fine with me.
I am going to get to take Trin out for Halloween with Superwife tomorrow, and I'm very happy about that. She has at least four costumes to date, and we are letting her decide which one she wants to go out with. She's got a pumpkin, lion, ladybug and princess so far. She may end up wearing all of them before the night is over, and that is okay with me too.
In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, Superwife and I watched The Shining tonight, and it was just as good as the last time I saw it. It is so much fun knowing that Jack is crazy pretty much the whole time they're at the hotel. Like going back and watching The Sixth Sense to watch all the little clues that were there had you just looked for them the first time. The look on Jack's face when he's freaking out on Wendy for interrupting his writing always makes me laugh. 'All work and no play' indeed.
Anyway, I remembered this awesome spoof of The Shining that I had come across (and posted about on this blog) years ago and just had to share it again. Single best use of a Peter Gabriel song ever. Enjoy.
Happy Halloween.
Labels: everything else, family
Seriously. What the hell? I have been waiting For. Ever. To see the new Dragonlance movie, and the entire time that I have been awaiting its release, I was under the (clearly false) impression that it was going to be a CG movie. But as the trailer shows, it is definitely a cartoon. Apparently a cartoon of the 80s Saturday Morning variety. Think He-Man, or maybe Thundercats.
Not that that is in and of itself a bad thing, but the best fantasy series written since Tolkien's Lord of the Rings deserves better.
Oh well, I'll still be buying it when it comes out, straight to DVD.
In other news, I just now got back from a press appreciation event held tonight for DVD reviewers. I was in attendance as part of a group from a DVD company that I recently starting writing pro bono for. The event was awesome, though I ended up driving for 8 hours or so all told just to attend. They had a Halloween freakshow, lots of free food, I got to meet Natasha Eloi, and I got to go home with the Stanley Kubrick DVD library for free. I also got to be the ad hoc videographer for the night, and I think I did a pretty fair job of taping the various interviews and stuff. All told, a fun time. Now if if I can just convince the owner of the site (a friend of mine) to start paying his reviewers...
Not too much going on around here lately from my point of view. I work shift work and my schedule leaves a nice big chunk of days off in a row. Right now I am in the middle of my time off on this rotation.
I went swimming in the lake yesterday, a personal record for me as far as dates go. Usually by October 21st, the temperature is so damn cold, that you wouldn't even think of getting into the water. But I had been mowing the lawn, and it was a respectable 17 degrees outside, so I had gotten just hot enough that it occurred to me that a dip in the lake would be a good idea. It wasn't. The water was so ridiculously cold, that I actually think my heart may have stopped for a real brief period while it and the rest of my organs tried to figure out what the fuck just happened to them and how to work cooperatively again.
When I came in and Superwife asked me how cold the water was, I told her that it looked like I would have to skip the first few rounds of the longest penis competition that afternoon, at least until I warmed back up. She just smiled politely at me, letting me know that she thought it was cute that I feel as good about myself as I do.
Guess there's no point in talking smack to the woman who knows exactly how full of shit you are eh?
I went swimming in the lake yesterday, a personal record for me as far as dates go. Usually by October 21st, the temperature is so damn cold, that you wouldn't even think of getting into the water. But I had been mowing the lawn, and it was a respectable 17 degrees outside, so I had gotten just hot enough that it occurred to me that a dip in the lake would be a good idea. It wasn't. The water was so ridiculously cold, that I actually think my heart may have stopped for a real brief period while it and the rest of my organs tried to figure out what the fuck just happened to them and how to work cooperatively again.
When I came in and Superwife asked me how cold the water was, I told her that it looked like I would have to skip the first few rounds of the longest penis competition that afternoon, at least until I warmed back up. She just smiled politely at me, letting me know that she thought it was cute that I feel as good about myself as I do.
Guess there's no point in talking smack to the woman who knows exactly how full of shit you are eh?
Labels: everything else, narcissism, superwife
10 / 10I just took this week's trivia test at my all time favourite online store, jinx.com. Turns out to be all about comics this week. And it also turns out that I am in fact the geeky fanboy that people tell me I am, as evidenced by the fact that I got them all right.
Your Rank: Superman
You started it all and kicked off the Golden Age of comics! (Maybe you can tell Bryan Singer not to mess up your next movie)
You scored better than 88.5% of the 1035 people who took this quiz.
Feel free to take the test yourself, and let me know if I pwned you as hard as I did everyone else.
Labels: comics
So my Mom and her third current hopefully soon-to-be-ex husband came to visit today, and holy shit was that a day I couldn't wait to be over.
My Mom and I have a pretty strained relationship to begin with. This is due in large part because she's as crazy as a shithouse rat. No beating around the bush tonight, I guess. Don't get me wrong; I love her dearly. And she means well, I think. I know that she had my best interests at heart when I was growing up, even though I disagreed with pretty much everything that came out of her mouth. Still do. But I had a really fucking wild childhood because of her and I can only take her in measured, careful doses.
The good part is that she loves my daughter so unconditionally that it makes up for most of the baggage that she has given me to carry around with. Most of it.
Anyway she brings Bunkie (yup, that's what we call her husband) with him every time she visits and he makes an already tenuous situation so much worse. He is half crazy himself, and his motivations are nowhere near as magnanimous. He talks over everyone else, mumbles to himself, spends at least half of every visit in the bathroom (that one is a blessing), and is just plain fucking weird around my daughter. You know how some people just give off a creepy (I hate to use this next word, but it fits) vibe? Something very odd about the guy.
And today, he starts a screaming match with me about how he got lost following us and how it was my fault. Normally I am a bit conservative with confrontations. I prefer not to have them if they are avoidable. But I also try to live by the adage 'never start fights, but always finish them'. So when he started in on me, and I realized he wouldn't be put off by placating or ignoring him, I went nuts on him. I told him that he can verbally abuse my Mom like that for as long as she is willing to put up with it, but I am not the one married to him, and he better be goddamn careful with the way he talks to me. I then proceeded to use a lot of swearing and yelling back at him, and I eventually convinced him to back all the way off. I think I was actually thinking about punching the guy out I was so mad.
The worst part though? They are coming back over in the morning for breakfast before they head home.
Deep breaths, right?
My Mom and I have a pretty strained relationship to begin with. This is due in large part because she's as crazy as a shithouse rat. No beating around the bush tonight, I guess. Don't get me wrong; I love her dearly. And she means well, I think. I know that she had my best interests at heart when I was growing up, even though I disagreed with pretty much everything that came out of her mouth. Still do. But I had a really fucking wild childhood because of her and I can only take her in measured, careful doses.
The good part is that she loves my daughter so unconditionally that it makes up for most of the baggage that she has given me to carry around with. Most of it.
Anyway she brings Bunkie (yup, that's what we call her husband) with him every time she visits and he makes an already tenuous situation so much worse. He is half crazy himself, and his motivations are nowhere near as magnanimous. He talks over everyone else, mumbles to himself, spends at least half of every visit in the bathroom (that one is a blessing), and is just plain fucking weird around my daughter. You know how some people just give off a creepy (I hate to use this next word, but it fits) vibe? Something very odd about the guy.
And today, he starts a screaming match with me about how he got lost following us and how it was my fault. Normally I am a bit conservative with confrontations. I prefer not to have them if they are avoidable. But I also try to live by the adage 'never start fights, but always finish them'. So when he started in on me, and I realized he wouldn't be put off by placating or ignoring him, I went nuts on him. I told him that he can verbally abuse my Mom like that for as long as she is willing to put up with it, but I am not the one married to him, and he better be goddamn careful with the way he talks to me. I then proceeded to use a lot of swearing and yelling back at him, and I eventually convinced him to back all the way off. I think I was actually thinking about punching the guy out I was so mad.
The worst part though? They are coming back over in the morning for breakfast before they head home.
Deep breaths, right?
I can't call my favourite atheist an atheist anymore. And that's because he's asking me not to.
Sam Harris, one of my favourite authors on the subject of organized religion and the impact it has had on society has issued an open invitation to anyone who would call themselves an atheist to just stop labeling themselves, and he makes a very convincing argument why.
Basically it boils down to the idea that calling oneself an atheist sets up an argument where you have organized religion on one side and atheists on the other, and anyone who doesn't want to get involved abdicating completely. The argument, Sam feels, should be between organized religion and logical thought. And all this atheist organizing is only drawing attention to both sides instead of the the real issue that antiquated, outmoded beliefs about what happens to a person after they die have no place dictating policy in an enlightened society.
I myself am not what anyone would consider an 'organized atheist'. I have always felt that there wouldn't be a point in joining other people in declaring our non belief in god. After all, there aren't clubs for people who don't believe in Santa Claus. Okay, maybe there are. But that's beside the point. Bottom line is, I can see where letting go of labels completely might help. Instead of arguing with fundies about the place their various belief systems should have in society, we end up endlessly debating the same points of faith versus reason, and get nowhere. If we simply call out the tenets of each of the various faiths for the absolute bullshit that they are, and defend ourselves with the collective logical thought of the entire rest of the world instead of a few cranky atheists, maybe we'll finally get somewhere as a society.
In his argument, Sam also likens the social animal that is organized religion to racism, and that one day it will be like the scary, uncomfortable thing we did in the past of our collective memory that no one wants to admit to.
What a day that would be.
Here's a sample.
Here's the link to Sam's original article.
And here's his response to those who missed the point the first time around.
Sam Harris, one of my favourite authors on the subject of organized religion and the impact it has had on society has issued an open invitation to anyone who would call themselves an atheist to just stop labeling themselves, and he makes a very convincing argument why.
Basically it boils down to the idea that calling oneself an atheist sets up an argument where you have organized religion on one side and atheists on the other, and anyone who doesn't want to get involved abdicating completely. The argument, Sam feels, should be between organized religion and logical thought. And all this atheist organizing is only drawing attention to both sides instead of the the real issue that antiquated, outmoded beliefs about what happens to a person after they die have no place dictating policy in an enlightened society.
I myself am not what anyone would consider an 'organized atheist'. I have always felt that there wouldn't be a point in joining other people in declaring our non belief in god. After all, there aren't clubs for people who don't believe in Santa Claus. Okay, maybe there are. But that's beside the point. Bottom line is, I can see where letting go of labels completely might help. Instead of arguing with fundies about the place their various belief systems should have in society, we end up endlessly debating the same points of faith versus reason, and get nowhere. If we simply call out the tenets of each of the various faiths for the absolute bullshit that they are, and defend ourselves with the collective logical thought of the entire rest of the world instead of a few cranky atheists, maybe we'll finally get somewhere as a society.
In his argument, Sam also likens the social animal that is organized religion to racism, and that one day it will be like the scary, uncomfortable thing we did in the past of our collective memory that no one wants to admit to.
What a day that would be.
Here's a sample.
We will have won this war of ideas against religion when atheism is scarcely intelligible as a concept. We will simply find ourselves in a world in which people cease to praise one another for pretending to know things they do not know. This is certainly a future worth fighting for.He makes a pretty good case for his point on all fronts. So I won't call him an atheist anymore. And I'll work on not calling myself an atheist, and just believe that someday there won't be a need to any longer.
It may be the only future compatible with our long-term survival as a species. But the only path between now and then, that I can see, is for us to be rigorously honest in the present. It seems to me that intellectual honesty is now, and will always be, deeper and more durable, and more easily spread, than "atheism.
Here's the link to Sam's original article.
And here's his response to those who missed the point the first time around.
So driving home this morning from last night's 12 hour shift (which was a BITCH, btw) I did what I often do by myself in the car: I sang along to whatever was on my iPod. Weird thing to do in the car, but not that odd, right?
But here's the thing. As I was listening to an old Phil Collins/Eric Clapton song (I Wish it Would Rain Down) I caught myself singing the guitar solo. As in dooooo, doo doo doo doo dooooo. I shit you not.
So, my question is, am I certifiably crazy, can I chalk it up to being seriously overtired, or is this not as abnormal as I think it is?
Any thoughts, internets?
But here's the thing. As I was listening to an old Phil Collins/Eric Clapton song (I Wish it Would Rain Down) I caught myself singing the guitar solo. As in dooooo, doo doo doo doo dooooo. I shit you not.
So, my question is, am I certifiably crazy, can I chalk it up to being seriously overtired, or is this not as abnormal as I think it is?
Any thoughts, internets?
Labels: everything else
Dear Trinity,
This month sees the start of the first of 2 additional months that we are still going to be living with your grandparents. The date for our house to be finished was pushed back til mid November, and so we are all one big happy family for a little while longer. Although to be honest, I can't wait to see you running around in your new house. Everytime we visit, you want to visit your new room, and you know where it is, even though the inside of the house is little more than framed.
From your point of view, I don't see how you could be much happier. You get to have lots of different people in and out of the house all the time, so there's always new faces to see and new people to play with and test your boundaries on.
Your favourite song lately is 1234, by Feist. Along with the rest of the world, you discovered it on the latest iPod commercial and asked for it often enough that I both downloaded for you to rock out to in the car and everywhere else, and I added the video to my youtube favourites so you can watch it whenever you ask. Which is a lot.
This month marks the first time that you and your Mom collaboratively ganged up together to make fun of me. Apparently at 3 am when you are usually sleeping in between us (because who wants to sleep in a crib anyway?) you like to thrash and kick and be fairly belligerent about the whole thing. And apparently when that happens, in my sleep I say things like 'Oh, man' and 'I'm trying to sleep!'. And now you and your Mom harangue me every chance you get about it. It is very funny the way you try to do my voice and drag out the 'ohhhhhh, maaaaaan's. I don't think I sound like that, but its still hilarious.
You finger paint now!
What else can I say about that? You finger paint! And you actually seem to be pretty good at it. Your level of concentration alone is worth the price of admission.
This month also marks the last time I will be working days for awhile. I have been getting into the habits involved in working regular days and being off in the evenings and on weekends. We have dinner together, we do the bath, we read a book, you go to bed. It doesn't work that regularly very often, but it was a brief period of normalcy for us, and I was kind of getting used to it.
One of those things we would work into that routine was a read of your currently favourite book, one I picked up for you that retells the story of Star Wars from the perspective of R2D2. You call it the D2 book and you ask for it pretty much everytime. I love that you are into the things that I like, even when I don't push them on you.
Love,
Daddy
This month sees the start of the first of 2 additional months that we are still going to be living with your grandparents. The date for our house to be finished was pushed back til mid November, and so we are all one big happy family for a little while longer. Although to be honest, I can't wait to see you running around in your new house. Everytime we visit, you want to visit your new room, and you know where it is, even though the inside of the house is little more than framed.
From your point of view, I don't see how you could be much happier. You get to have lots of different people in and out of the house all the time, so there's always new faces to see and new people to play with and test your boundaries on.
Your favourite song lately is 1234, by Feist. Along with the rest of the world, you discovered it on the latest iPod commercial and asked for it often enough that I both downloaded for you to rock out to in the car and everywhere else, and I added the video to my youtube favourites so you can watch it whenever you ask. Which is a lot.
This month marks the first time that you and your Mom collaboratively ganged up together to make fun of me. Apparently at 3 am when you are usually sleeping in between us (because who wants to sleep in a crib anyway?) you like to thrash and kick and be fairly belligerent about the whole thing. And apparently when that happens, in my sleep I say things like 'Oh, man' and 'I'm trying to sleep!'. And now you and your Mom harangue me every chance you get about it. It is very funny the way you try to do my voice and drag out the 'ohhhhhh, maaaaaan's. I don't think I sound like that, but its still hilarious.
You finger paint now!
What else can I say about that? You finger paint! And you actually seem to be pretty good at it. Your level of concentration alone is worth the price of admission.
This month also marks the last time I will be working days for awhile. I have been getting into the habits involved in working regular days and being off in the evenings and on weekends. We have dinner together, we do the bath, we read a book, you go to bed. It doesn't work that regularly very often, but it was a brief period of normalcy for us, and I was kind of getting used to it.
One of those things we would work into that routine was a read of your currently favourite book, one I picked up for you that retells the story of Star Wars from the perspective of R2D2. You call it the D2 book and you ask for it pretty much everytime. I love that you are into the things that I like, even when I don't push them on you.
Love,
Daddy
Labels: trinity
How to Believe in God in Six Easy Steps
(by Sam Harris)
Full article here.
(by Sam Harris)
- First, you must want to believe in God.
- Next, understand that believing in God in the absence of evidence is especially noble.
- Then, realize that the human ability to believe in God in the absence of evidence might itself constitute evidence for the existence of God.
- Now consider any need for further evidence (both in yourself and in others) to be a form of temptation, spiritually unhealthy, or a corruption of the intellect.
- Refer to steps 2-4 as acts of “faith.”
- Return to 2.
Full article here.
Labels: atheism
I am in such a good place tonight. Or this morning, I guess.
For the first time in a long time, maybe since we moved in with The Out-Laws a few months ago, I feel like myself again.
I don't know if its that I have finally finished training for my new job, or that our house is coming along and might actually be ready early, or the fact that I have been staying up late at nights again, or that I caught the season premiere of Dexter earlier tonight, or the 30 minutes of yoga I just put in, or maybe even rediscovering my love affair with ridiculously long run on sentences. But man do I feel like the old me this morning.
That yoga by the way, is something I need to do far more often, as I think it is the largest contributor for my current state of well being. Just that right mix of strenuous exercise and relaxing meditation that makes me think I hit it just right.
But whatever the reason, I don't think I'm going to look too closely under the hood. Ultimately I don't care why my calm has come back, or where it went (although I have a good idea that it left about 2 seconds after I moved my bags into The Out-Laws house). I think I'll just sit here in my good place and enjoy the view.
For the first time in a long time, maybe since we moved in with The Out-Laws a few months ago, I feel like myself again.
I don't know if its that I have finally finished training for my new job, or that our house is coming along and might actually be ready early, or the fact that I have been staying up late at nights again, or that I caught the season premiere of Dexter earlier tonight, or the 30 minutes of yoga I just put in, or maybe even rediscovering my love affair with ridiculously long run on sentences. But man do I feel like the old me this morning.
That yoga by the way, is something I need to do far more often, as I think it is the largest contributor for my current state of well being. Just that right mix of strenuous exercise and relaxing meditation that makes me think I hit it just right.
But whatever the reason, I don't think I'm going to look too closely under the hood. Ultimately I don't care why my calm has come back, or where it went (although I have a good idea that it left about 2 seconds after I moved my bags into The Out-Laws house). I think I'll just sit here in my good place and enjoy the view.
Labels: everything else
