Overwound yet slack
Oct. 14th, 2012 01:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfoole1) This coming Saturday will be the second Paint & Pixel Festival. I've managed to arrange programming this year, which is good, but I still feel like I did a slap-dash job, and kind of guilty about it. Peggy continues to impress with her passion and capability.
We're hosting comics workshops for kids at the store as part of the build up to the show. Colin, the education guy, has done a great job setting these up and running them. Peggy also sponsored a couple of movie nights at Popcorn Noir, the next of which is the Muppet Movie on Thursday..... which will conflict with my Deadlands game. aargh!
Oh, and there's a filk band performing in the Mythos on Monday at 7, which could conflict with dinner plans! double argh!
2) On columbus day, M and I went to NYC, met with the Ladies of Brattleboro for dinner at the Green Table, and then went to see Sleep No More, which is an extraordinary experience in immersive theater. One is given a mask & enjoined not to speak, and for up to 3 hours one wonders around inside a warehouse of four or five stories where a troop of interpretive dancers performs something inspired by Macbeth. One can explore the trappings of the set as much as one wishes, or follow performers around or hang out in the lounge. It's a choose your own adventure style of show, though only as an observer. I wound up following one stunning beautiful woman around for a while, and wound up getting whisked into a locked room for a short private performance that, while a scripted part of the show, was quite intimate and moving. Which, if you are thinking of something sexual, is completely wrong--yet it felt like everything you would fantasize about. A great experience which was well worth the cost. I plan to go back at some point.
3) My mom is still in a rehab hospital, still in real pain, but I think getting better. I hope. Dad is still slipping away a bit at a time.
4) I drove back to Andover last night, couldn't sleep, and watched the Matrix Reloaded on demand. It's better than I recalled. The talky scenes make more sense when I can process the sometimes ornate and philosophical dialog, and some of the WTF plot twists actual do make some logical sense. The biggest weakness that remains, for me, are the pointless action scenes. The first Matrix was good in part because all the fight scenes served the story, developed character, and looked cool. In Reloaded, there a couple of set pieces that just take up time. If the Wachowskis had done more with them, they'd have greatly improved the movie. (Three examples: the introductory fight with Seraph--what does tussling with Neo for two minutes tell him, or us, that we don't know?; then. the big fight scene with a crowd of Agent Smiths drags on; and the fight with the Merovingian's goons in his foyer is designed to waste Neo's time, but must it waste ours? What's the point of another display of kung fu? Are these guys really as challenging as the huge crowd of Agent Smiths?) On the whole, I stick by some of my earlier criticisms, but I have to upgrade my rating of the film.
5) Sometimes I'm fine, and sometimes the depression gets to me. I need to spend more time with friends. I clearly need that.
6) Had an interesting talk with Morlock about making changes in my life. He pointed out that I'm still struggling with some of the same questions that bugged me years ago. Maybe, he suggested, I need new questions. hmmmmmmmmmmm.
7) 2013 must be the year I learn to budget. Just because my desires have heretofore not exceeded my means, doesn't mean those means are inexhaustible. I must get the hang of identifying priorities, choosing amongst them, and then setting aside the others while resisting impulsive spending. Good grief!
We're hosting comics workshops for kids at the store as part of the build up to the show. Colin, the education guy, has done a great job setting these up and running them. Peggy also sponsored a couple of movie nights at Popcorn Noir, the next of which is the Muppet Movie on Thursday..... which will conflict with my Deadlands game. aargh!
Oh, and there's a filk band performing in the Mythos on Monday at 7, which could conflict with dinner plans! double argh!
2) On columbus day, M and I went to NYC, met with the Ladies of Brattleboro for dinner at the Green Table, and then went to see Sleep No More, which is an extraordinary experience in immersive theater. One is given a mask & enjoined not to speak, and for up to 3 hours one wonders around inside a warehouse of four or five stories where a troop of interpretive dancers performs something inspired by Macbeth. One can explore the trappings of the set as much as one wishes, or follow performers around or hang out in the lounge. It's a choose your own adventure style of show, though only as an observer. I wound up following one stunning beautiful woman around for a while, and wound up getting whisked into a locked room for a short private performance that, while a scripted part of the show, was quite intimate and moving. Which, if you are thinking of something sexual, is completely wrong--yet it felt like everything you would fantasize about. A great experience which was well worth the cost. I plan to go back at some point.
3) My mom is still in a rehab hospital, still in real pain, but I think getting better. I hope. Dad is still slipping away a bit at a time.
4) I drove back to Andover last night, couldn't sleep, and watched the Matrix Reloaded on demand. It's better than I recalled. The talky scenes make more sense when I can process the sometimes ornate and philosophical dialog, and some of the WTF plot twists actual do make some logical sense. The biggest weakness that remains, for me, are the pointless action scenes. The first Matrix was good in part because all the fight scenes served the story, developed character, and looked cool. In Reloaded, there a couple of set pieces that just take up time. If the Wachowskis had done more with them, they'd have greatly improved the movie. (Three examples: the introductory fight with Seraph--what does tussling with Neo for two minutes tell him, or us, that we don't know?; then. the big fight scene with a crowd of Agent Smiths drags on; and the fight with the Merovingian's goons in his foyer is designed to waste Neo's time, but must it waste ours? What's the point of another display of kung fu? Are these guys really as challenging as the huge crowd of Agent Smiths?) On the whole, I stick by some of my earlier criticisms, but I have to upgrade my rating of the film.
5) Sometimes I'm fine, and sometimes the depression gets to me. I need to spend more time with friends. I clearly need that.
6) Had an interesting talk with Morlock about making changes in my life. He pointed out that I'm still struggling with some of the same questions that bugged me years ago. Maybe, he suggested, I need new questions. hmmmmmmmmmmm.
7) 2013 must be the year I learn to budget. Just because my desires have heretofore not exceeded my means, doesn't mean those means are inexhaustible. I must get the hang of identifying priorities, choosing amongst them, and then setting aside the others while resisting impulsive spending. Good grief!
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Date: 2012-10-15 11:38 am (UTC)I'm so sorry she's still in pain. One should not go through back surgery and not have it solve everything, IMHO. I really hope they find a solution to this new problem. And I feel bad that I haven't gone to visit her yet in the hospital. I'm going to try my best to do that this weekend, although she may be home by then, let's hope.
I totally agree with Morlock. As someone who's observed you for several years, I think you might want to get some new questions too. I'll of course have to do some thinking about my own life and figure out if I'm thinking of new questions or not.
I also totally agree with your problems with Matrix Reloaded. Those were the issues I had with it then, and I suspect I'd have with it today. I was intrigued though by the quest for the source of the Matrix (that was Matrix Reloaded, right?) and I think that still might be interesting. It's been so many years though, I'm forgetting how that movie goes completely now.
You're right about spending more time with friends. I would also add, if there's any way for you to work less often (and not replace it with taking care of your family), I'd suggest that too. I like spending time with you, but lately, I've come to suspect that you're spending more time with me than with friends, and if this is true, I bet your work schedule is to blame, and that you're relying on the fact that you can call me on the spur of the moment as you're getting out of work and I'll probably be able available to hang out, rather than making more advanced plans with friends.
I'm trying to be more financially cognizant this year, but there's still more work to be done.