Month: May 2010

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day.

I spent mine mostly sitting in the backyard, reading stories for Kaleidotrope and enjoying what could be the last of the nice weather for a little while. It started to rain earlier this evening, and there are thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow. All weekend long, though, the weather was really beautiful, if a little hot, and I set up the umbrella and took my lunch out to the back deck. I didn’t finish doing the reading I wanted to do in the three or four hours I was out there — I took breaks, to play with the dog, help my mother with her recent iTunes purchases — but I’ve made some kind of dent in the slush pile, which is always good.

Otherwise, it was just a lazy end to a three-day weekend. My deepest thanks to the men and women who’ve given their lives (and who put their lives on the line every day, still) to give me the freedom to do that.

Something like a Sunday

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and the weather’s just been lovely, sort of perfect sit-in-the-backyard-with-the-iPad weather. Beyond that, and the ever-growing Kaleidotrope slush pile that I’m still trying to get through, I spent today watching Doctor Who Confidential and some of the special features on the Mystery Team DVD, finishing the New York Times Sunday crossword (for a change), meeting up with a friend for our weekly writing group, and reading the rest of Fifth Business by Robertson Davies. Heather, who sent me the book at my birthday, calls it “the bane of every twelfth grade student” in her native Canada (where the book is largely set), but I kind of liked it. There was a long stretch, in which nothing particularly happens, when I wasn’t so sure that was going to be the case, but I can actually see going on and reading the other two books in Davies’ trilogy. Not right now, of course — I feel like I need a good shot of science fiction to counteract my recent readings — but at some point in the future.

My more immediate future, however, involves maybe watching a little television, maybe reading a little more, and going to bed.

Saturday

Not the most eventful day around. I watched this week’s episode of Doctor Who; you certainly can’t fault Steven Moffatt for not thinking big, not with those last few moments, even if the episode itself was mostly just a FX’ed-up version of past Silurian episodes. (Well, of the tiny handful I’ve seen.) I liked it, though I’m much more curious where that ending is taking us, and I just hope that Moffatt already knows.

I also watched Mystery Team on DVD, since my autographed copy came in the mail today. (I’m a fan of Derrick Comedy and think Donald Glover’s been terrific on Community, so I want to support them.) It was pretty silly, all things considered, but also laugh-out-loud funny.

I was happy to discover that the first episode of Star Trek (the original series) wasn’t laugh-out-loud funny. I’ve never actually seen much of the show, despite having seen plenty of the spinoffs and movies, and now that it’s out on Bluray, it seemed like it was time to remedy that. It’s very obviously dated, but there’s still something to it, and I pretty much enjoyed the episode.

Beyond that? Not much. Just hung out, fiddled around with the iPad, tried cleaning up a virus on my laptop — which is now either gone or has gotten better at hiding — and just enjoying the day off.

Friday

An uneventful day, except that they closed the office and sent us home at 3 pm thanks to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. No big plans for the weekend itself, just looking forward to the time off.

Right now, I’m just watching the MaxFunDrive with Jordan Jesse Go! to support the Maximum Fun stable of podcasts. I don’t think I’m going to make it to hour eight, midnight PST — I probably won’t make it to midnight EST — but I am enjoying it. I upped my monthly donation to twenty bucks, partly for the spiffy gifts, but the content is free if you’ve never heard them before.

Random 10 5/28

Last week. This week:

  1. “My Rights Versus Yours” by the New Pornographers
    Same thing as the other time
  2. “Unsingable Name” by Mike Doughty
    I want to be your absolute ultimate
  3. “The President’s Dead” by Okkervil River
    Dear friends, is it not so horrible?
  4. “Walkin’ on the Sun” by Smash Mouth, guessed by Kim
    I know it went out but it’s back
  5. “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin, guessed by Clayton
    Steady lonely woman gonna come my way
  6. “Let it Bleed” by Edgar Winter (orig. the Rolling Stones), guessed by Clayton
    She said, My breasts, they will always be open
  7. “Stop Me” by Mark Ronson
    And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald, Buddhist reflect
  8. “Smitten” by Bree Sharp
    You can read me like a trashy book
  9. “Who Knows” by Marion Black
    I pray the lord will help me carry on
  10. “Perfect” by Alanis Morissette
    Don’t forget to win first place

Good luck!