Hello Fellow Travelers!
Prior to the brain surgery required to remove the large tumor from my brain (that never gets old for me!) I was following a pretty depressing descent into mediocrity. Now I actually bring home some bacon. Now I have laser-vision and a huge sense of purpose. The '"new" me never gets more than irritated. Now I realize that I was mostly wrong about everything. The other night we watched "Lemony Snickets" with Jim Carrey, Jude Law and some English children. It was a charming film with the children facing a dilemna I face every day; Nobody listens to me. It would be comical if there weren't farther reaching implications. People try to talk around me, over me, direct their eyes (and ears) to anyplace else that isn't in a wheelchair. "Ironsides" might be a cool name, but that's all that's scary about that dude. A dude in a wheelchair just does not inspire fear and/or dread. But I digress: The kids in "Lemony Snickets" have several adventures, they aren't there to have "fun" and they don't expect any. Maybe it's a British thing. Feel free to weigh in here, British relatives (and you know who you are) I like British stories. When they are in peril there is no screwing around, THEY ARE IN DANGER! LIVES ARE LOST! British citizens get into all kinds of trouble with no way to escape but with their wits and fortitude. And if you're a kid, nobody listens to you! And the bad guys know it! And they use this against you! I liken this journey I'm on to a British Kid's Adventure, not "fun" necessarily but a huge undertaking with twists and turns and learning a lot of "life lessons" along the way. I feel like I'm all alone out here with nothing but my words to protect me. I hear "You have a lot of courage." a lot. I appreciate that but I'm not sure that's not wide of the mark, what I am is brave and there is a big -difference. I can get through the next workout, the next MRI, even the next operation. That's my understanding of bravery - short term. That and tactics. I have tactics for days. What I lack is a strategy. A specific design for me to get out of this mess as quickly as possible. I woke up in 2011 with my world turned on it's head, and with absolutely no clue how to right it. I'm not stumbling around in the dark (because that would imply I could stumble, and I would love to stumble anywhere! Stumbling would be great! Schedule Stumbling would be heaven!) but I'm definitely reaching around in the pitch blackness for any strategy that works. I'm starting from the start with what I have (not much) and what I know (even less). Hey, nobody ever said adventures were "fun".
PS - Another program that has an authentic feel to it from a foodie perspective is "Knife Fight" on the Esquire Channel. The guy who hosts it is Ilan Hall, the winner of "Top Chef2" and he has an amazing restaurant in LA. All the young blades hear about each other and after his restaurant closes for the night, two Angelino chefs go head to head and battle it out "Chef vs. Chef" with a rowdy audience cheering them on. A lifetime ago I use to observe Randall Sellend do exhibition cooking to a packed house at "The Kitchen" and this show is a lot like that except with secret ingredients and celebrities. Food and fashion shift faster than tremors after an earthquake in Southern Cali so it's great to see chefs duking it out "old school".
Prior to the brain surgery required to remove the large tumor from my brain (that never gets old for me!) I was following a pretty depressing descent into mediocrity. Now I actually bring home some bacon. Now I have laser-vision and a huge sense of purpose. The '"new" me never gets more than irritated. Now I realize that I was mostly wrong about everything. The other night we watched "Lemony Snickets" with Jim Carrey, Jude Law and some English children. It was a charming film with the children facing a dilemna I face every day; Nobody listens to me. It would be comical if there weren't farther reaching implications. People try to talk around me, over me, direct their eyes (and ears) to anyplace else that isn't in a wheelchair. "Ironsides" might be a cool name, but that's all that's scary about that dude. A dude in a wheelchair just does not inspire fear and/or dread. But I digress: The kids in "Lemony Snickets" have several adventures, they aren't there to have "fun" and they don't expect any. Maybe it's a British thing. Feel free to weigh in here, British relatives (and you know who you are) I like British stories. When they are in peril there is no screwing around, THEY ARE IN DANGER! LIVES ARE LOST! British citizens get into all kinds of trouble with no way to escape but with their wits and fortitude. And if you're a kid, nobody listens to you! And the bad guys know it! And they use this against you! I liken this journey I'm on to a British Kid's Adventure, not "fun" necessarily but a huge undertaking with twists and turns and learning a lot of "life lessons" along the way. I feel like I'm all alone out here with nothing but my words to protect me. I hear "You have a lot of courage." a lot. I appreciate that but I'm not sure that's not wide of the mark, what I am is brave and there is a big -difference. I can get through the next workout, the next MRI, even the next operation. That's my understanding of bravery - short term. That and tactics. I have tactics for days. What I lack is a strategy. A specific design for me to get out of this mess as quickly as possible. I woke up in 2011 with my world turned on it's head, and with absolutely no clue how to right it. I'm not stumbling around in the dark (because that would imply I could stumble, and I would love to stumble anywhere! Stumbling would be great! Schedule Stumbling would be heaven!) but I'm definitely reaching around in the pitch blackness for any strategy that works. I'm starting from the start with what I have (not much) and what I know (even less). Hey, nobody ever said adventures were "fun".
PS : Another reason regular TV holds no charm for me: "Sons of Anarchy" - a program that Patient Spouse and I watched together because it's on Netflix so he can skip over all the boring stuff. In spite of my desire to share in the wonders of "High Def" with my beloved, I never really liked "SOA" and it took me a little while to figure out why. The cast is OK, Peg Bundy, The Beast (from Beauty and the Beast), and a lot of other people you've never heard of. It really bugged me that I couldn't stand this program. Middle-aged bikers living and loving in a small town in Northern Cali. I think their "fictional" town is Galt or someplace else near Stockton. Is it bad storytelling? Bad acting? Nope. Too local? Possibly. If I wanted to watch white trash drama, I could go to Oroville. "Sons of Anarchy" - Marysville, to quote the blonde trampy girl from "Officer and a Gentleman", "I don't want some Okie-from-Wiskokie, I can get that right here!" I grew up with a trailer park too close to my town for my comfort level. I had never seen a mobile home before I was 10. What's interesting about "white trash" drama? Nothing I don't find it colorful or interesting, just local! And who are all these media yahoos who feel the modern need to compare every current bad guy to Hitler? There was only one (Thank Goodness!) Adolf Hitler! He was in a "class" all by himself. Students of World History know this. Syrian thug Assad is not Hitler. The old North Korean dictator was not Hitler and the young North Korean Dictator is not Hitler either. Loathe him and hate him, only Hitler was Hitler. But I digress!
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