Bearshorty's musings

Happy Birthday, Misha!

Papa bought the tastiest bagels this morning – very crispy.

I finished Stephen Fry’s autobiography. I really enjoyed it. Mostly because of his humor and because he actually tells of less than good stuff that he did as a teenager – he did spend a little time in jail over stealing a credit card. And I do enjoy reading about people’s childhoods. I’m actually looking forward to the next bit – ages 20 to 40 – that he is writing now. I need to get that when it will get published. Now, I think, I will get back to the biography of Catherine the Great or at least the next section of the book before I break with some fiction.

We went to Brooklyn for half a day. First, Papa and I went to visit my grandparents where I helped set up their emergency cell phone. Then we joined Mama on Brighton and walked around a bit on the boardwalk. It was such a sunny day with lovely blue skies. Mama was in a snit, though, so the walk was not as enjoyable as it could have been. We did have a nice lunch. I had a very delicious chicken with vegetables and tomato juice.

In the afternoon, I finally started a new cross stitch project called “An Interesting Book,” which is a small cross stitch of a bear sitting on a toilet with blue underpants around his ankles and wearing pink slippers and reading a book. Hee. Hee. I bought it in June at a book market in Minsk. It really amuses me. I’m not ready for a big project yet, I’ve been doing smaller ones for a year and a half now.

I also went rollerblading for 45 minutes today, which makes me feel good. I need to make more effort to work out even if I don’t get to the beach to rollerblade. I do have an exercise machine in my room, maybe I should use it. I did break out my little free weights and did some stuff while watching “Real Time with Bill Maher.” I didn’t even realize that the show premiered on Friday. Usually I watch it a week later with weekend breakfast but I caught it today. I think because the media gives so much coverage to the tea party, it seems like the country gone insane. But I do hold hope that most people are actually sane and the minority is just loud.

Laura just came over because she needed her nursing paper proofed. It is much easier to edit someone who at least has intelligent points to make. She was looking at my cross-stitches and thinking of trying something like it. And getting the Kid into that too. That would be cool.

I need to get some grading done tonight. I think I will start with a paper that I know will fail. I usually pick up speed and desire to grade the more grading I do. Like a snowball.

I went rollerblading again today. It is nice to actually exercise. I’m very much dependent on other people driving me to the beach area to go rollerblading. I wish I had the means to just go by myself.

Highlander “Take Back the Night” “Testimony”
What I really appreciate as I watch “Highlander” is the consistency in the continuity. Nothing is forgotten or ignored by the writers and the characterization is consistent. And so are Duncan’s flashbacks in his long life. It is nice to see that the writers actually keep track of these things, which is not often common in episodic television. Mac saying goodbuy to Richie and seeing Richie through his mistakes is nice to see too. You just see how much he cares for him. It is just a great father/son relationship. And I’m glad it is Richie who fought Kristov. The look on Mac’s face when the Quickening started and he thought Richie died was very effective. And the look on Mac’s face when he saw that Richie was alive was so relieved and happy. He just wanted to hug him. And I’m glad that it was Richie this time who got to fight. I’m really liking Adrian Paul in this role – he is great at showing the character’s emotions and he has great comedic timing too. Still don’t care too much for Anne, but at least it is a bit better now that she knows. She just feels like such a rebound to me – he is trying hard to be in love again, but it doesn’t quite work.

Highlander “Blackmail.” The lawyer was very skivvy in this episode, and the show got him appropriately killed for being an idiot who thought way too much of himself. Duncan and Joe on the stake out was pretty funny. Why don’t the watchers use cameras?

Today I fell on my butt rollerblading in the parking lot. I don’t know how it happened – I didn’t really trip, I overbalanced somehow. I usually fall forward, on rare occasions I fall. But this time I knew I was falling backwards. It is a good thing I learned how to fall properly in my karate class in college, so I mainly just sat on my butt. A few people in the parking lot did ask if I was OK, which was nice of them. I just felt a bit silly to fall on a flat surface apropos of nothing.

Happy Birthday, Bear! Bear is now also 30! I gave him his presents in a box when he drove me home on Sunday and I’m glad he got to open them on his actual birthday.

I went rollerblading in the morning. The ocean is just beautiful and there weren’t too many people. It is very peaceful. It is much harder to skate into the wind. I wish I could just go to the beach every morning and rollerblade – that is definitely one exercise I don’t get tired of.

I finally ordered Minsk pictures from York Photos. They made uploading photos interface much easier. I do like having actual physical photographs.

I also finally watched “Toy Story 2” and then again, I watched it with commentary. I saw it a long time ago and sort of forgot the plot but the movie was as good as I remember. It was very much a boys movie since only boy toys go to the rescue adventure. And as I watched the commentary I also learned the Joan Cussack, who did the voice of Jessie the Cowgirl, actively encouraged them to make the character stronger, like when she saves Woody at the end. I really liked listening to commentary - they give great insights to things in the background and how the creation process works. I think I want to see “Toy Story 3” in the movie theater.

A few links:

Cracked article about gun myths

England vs US in legos

In the morning, Bear and I watched “Alien Resurrection” with breakfast to finish off our alien marathon. I was looking forward to this movie since Joss Whedon wrote it (although he wasn’t as happy with the end result). And I was not disappointed. I actually liked this movie and its plot. I thought all four “Alien” movies pretty much had the same plot so they all go well together. I enjoyed the action in this one and some silliness, since I don’t take movies like this seriously and mock them with all my snarkiness. It was entertaining.

In the afternoon, after lunch, we went to Best Buy and Michaels. I needed new headphones, again, so I got purple ones this time. The headphones are really too disposable. Then Bear helped me pick out frames and mats for my cross-stitch projects. That took quite some time to match it all properly. There was a sale on the frames and, to my surprise, it all cost twice as less as I thought it would. Yay.

Then we went rollerblading. I’m getting tired much more easily at this; I definitely need some practice.

After dinner and before Bear went home we watched Planet Earth “Ocean Deep.” That was the last one. The DVD was sitting in my room for weeks and I really wanted to send it back to Netflix and since Bear loves sharks it was easier to watch it with him. The shark footage was pretty cool as were some really weird ocean fish.

“Brothers and Sisters” had their yearly two hour movie episode and Kevin was just wonderful. Lots of melodrama and really weird secrets but that it the way I like my show. I’m glad it keeps Sally Fields working.

I tried watching Doctor Who S5E2 on YouTube, but I only could watch two out of five parts. I think I might have to wait for BBC America to show the episode in a few weeks. What is telling is that I don’t really care and don’t mind waiting. The problem is not Eleven; I do like him. The problem is the new companion, Amy Pond. I’m still not convinced of her as a character. Mostly she acts by opening her eyes really wide. And it is weird to go from an adult awesome companion to a young girl again who has romance issues or whatever. I hope I’ll get used to her, but so far she is not showing why she is that special. I guess I’m just biased since I adored Donna. I’m fine with the new Doctor but Donna was special. I’m sure I’ll get used to the new companion eventually.