Joyous Yule (Week ending 12/25)

 I hope everyone had a joyous Yule and is looking forward to a Happy New Year.

We managed to avoid the worst of the Great Winter Freeze of '22, thankfully. Juno managed to get all of her essential errands done before the worst of the cold hit and we just battened down and stayed inside through the worst of it. 

I'm actually doing quite well, comparatively. Get lots of rest and generally not trying to do too much. Still having good days and bad days.

Otherwise, well it's been a good holiday so far. Gifts given and received. A fine feast... Juno is becoming quite adept at cooking turkey these last couple of years. Used to be my task, but she's taken over. I still have to carve the bird though... because, sure, give the big honkin' knife to the guy who can barely see straight for fatigue. :) 

So, yeah, on the whole it's been a good week. 

Onward to the New Year!

 

Happy Anniversary, Juno

 Twenty four years ago today, I did something a little crazy. I got married to the wonderful, odd and beautiful Juno. One of the best decisions of my life.

 We rented a little venue - an old cottage - outside of Lafayette, Indiana. asked two friends (one of whom was ordained through one of those online non-denominational ministries) to officiate and invited friends and family to join us.

 Honestly, the whole thing is a bit of a blur. I'm told that's normal for weddings.

 I do vividly recall one of officiants lighting a cauldron of incense (you do that kind of thing at pagan weddings) and, shortly thereafter, our best man standing on a chair with the ceremonial broom (also a pagan wedding thing) trying to wave the smoke away from the screaming smoke detectors. 

 I vaguely recall my wife's best friend/stalker obliquely explaining to everyone why she ought to be marrying him instead. He's doing much better now. 

 I recall one of my best friends being mortally offending at the idea that the ceremony was for show and the actual, legal, wedding was me and Juno, the priest (whose internet ordination was legal, we checked) and her signing the paperwork afterward.

 I also recall making up my vows on the spot... and the general consternation of the assembled guests at the (apparently uncomfortably) long pause while I organized my feelings into words.

 Those vows didn't actually include words like "better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in heath" but we've certainly had all of that in the twenty four years that followed. A lot more "poorer" than "richer" and these days a lot more "sickness" than "health" ... but, I like to recall, a bit more "better" than "worse" when all is said and done.

 Twenty four years of marriage and I'm still deeply, madly in love with my wife. 

 Happy Anniversary, Juno.

 

Week Ending 12/18

 Not much to report this week. Good days and bad days. Weirdly finding the holiday spirit by watching a Marvel show (Hawkeye). Getting my butt kicked by the weather (major temperature changes always wreak me).

 That's about it really. Pretty tired today. Resting.

 Onward

Week Ending 12/11

 Well, this has been an interesting week.

 Health wise, I've been fighting off a cold... nasty cough and tired, on top my default state of nasty cough and tired. Pretty much spent the week resting, feeling a little better today but still taking it slow.

 So, what makes that interesting. Well, I let myself rest. A little while ago, I had the brains to recognize when I needed to let myself not do something for a day. Now, I have the brains to let myself not do something for the better part of a week. It's progress, in it's own weird way.

 You know, this blog is about a year old now. I was looking back over my posts from this time last year... boy was I ever in denial about how sick I was. How sick I am. It's not the most encouraging revelation... and yet, strangely, it is. 

 For a while now, I've felt lost... off balance and not where I should be. I'm feeling more centered. Somewhere, in the dark, the next piece of the puzzle went 'click.' I don't know where this path is going... but I don't feel lost anymore. 

Onward.

Onward!

Troll (2022)

 A Norwegian version of Godliza or maybe King Kong, featuring a 150 ft Norwegian troll. 

 Is this movie a bunch of standard cliches involving a plucky group of unlikely heroes - including the Scientist, the Mad Conspiracy Theorist Who Is Right, the Nerd and the Army Guy - trying to stop the giant monster as it rampages toward The City while the actual army throws increasingly less effective attacks at it, leading to the climax that asks the audience who the real monsters are? 

Yes. Yes, it is.

So, honest truth... I like the cliches.I am sick to the teeth of stories that try to "subvert the cliche" or "avoid the cliche" or whatever... not the least because usually that's just an excuse for some combination of "dark and gritty," "social/political commentary" and "lots of sex." Give me a story that embraces the cliches and does it well. 

This movie does that. I liked it. Sure, I could probably have watched it in Norwegian without the subtitles and still followed the gist of the plot, but it was fun, it was good and it did actually manage to surprise me once or twice.

So, yeah... watch it. I actually recommend watching it in Norwegian (with subtitles) because a nerd talking about Star Trek in Norwegian is even funnier.

Bullet Train (2022)

 A seemingly random assortment of criminals, thieves and killers - plus one poisonous snake and a surprisingly dangerous water bottle - board a bullet train to Kyoto and violent weirdness ensues. 

Netflix says this is a comedy. It is not a comedy. It is a Tarantino-esque mayhem of over the top violence, strange and philosophical dialogue and oddly likeable murderers brought together in a fever dream of a plot.

Did I like it? I don't know. Did I enjoy it? Oh hell yes.

Wednesday (Netflix, 2022)

 So someone had the idea "let's make a TV show about Wednesday Addams as a teenager and have her solve mysteries" and Netflix actually made that idea reality.

 Let's face it, if you're my generation and a little bit weird, Christian Ricci's deadpan delivery of "Are they made with real Girl Scouts?" was a defining moment in your life. Wednesday Addams - smart, spooky and snarky - was us. So, it isn't hard to get behind the idea of a teen Wednesday solving mysteries. Did it work? 

 For me, kinda.

 Let do a quick outline... teen Wednesday, now gifted with psychic visions, is sent Nevermore Academy... a spooky version of Hogwarts in the Vermont hills... they don't actually say it's in Vermont until halfway into the series, but one look at the hills (which were actually Romania, which spooks me slightly) and the little town and I knew immediately that it was. Here she gets involved in mystery, murder (strangely not committed by her) and mayhem (mostly committed by her).

 The mystery is OK. The setting is, for me, oddly nostalgic... but what it's really about is the characters. 

It's Wednesday's show and Jenna Ortega, the young actress playing her, does an excellent job. Still, this isn't the Wednesday of my youth. Yes, she is smart, spooky and snarky. She is also a bit broken... a overly smart teen who doesn't like or trust anyone and is determined to do everything alone because trust only leads to pain.

I think the show does a great job of showing Wednesday's pain, her own adamant refusal to deal with it and the ways in which that does and doesn't work for her.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this show. It's got places where it's fun and funny... but it's also thoughtful and has depths both hidden and obvious.

Week Ending 12/4

 Well, this has been a pretty good week. Which, objectively, seems odd to say but actually makes sense when I think it through... stay with me.

 This week has included one of my worst energy days in recent months. I massively overdid it Tuesday (I don't even remember how... though I do recall that taking a shower while I was so tired my legs shook) and Wednesday was a complete and total write off. I woke up Wednesday and immediately said "nope, not doing it." I spent almost the entire day in bed and didn't even try to get motivated.

 This week has included one of my best energy days in recent months. It turns out nearly 36 hours of bed rest result in feeling pretty darn good the next day. Who wouldda thunk? Thursday was great... I felt good. My head was clearer than it's been in ages. I managed to get some things done and feel very accomplished. I still crashed around 1:00 pm, but since I've been crashing around 10:00 am most days lately, 1:00 pm is phenomenal. 

 Taken together, those two days has made this a great week. Not just because Thursday felt terrific but because Wednesday did too in a completely opposite way. Yeah, I was totally wiped out... but I accepted it and I didn't try to force myself to feel any other way. I said "nope, not doing it" and I didn't. I let myself rest and get better and I felt good for it. 

 Now, if I could just remember that little bit of wisdom going forward, I think I'll be the better for it.

 Onward