Another long time away. I took my stuff on the vacation with the intent to write… But never got into the mindset… Always running to this or driving to that. It was a good time. Fun and nice to see everyone. But not well suited to computer time. And it’s been catchup ever since. Yesterday it came down to writing or yard work. And that backyard was just crying for attention. Sure I could have done both. There are more then enough hours in the day. But I just sort of shut down, mentally, this weekend. TV, a walk, and yard work. Anyway, back to work this week… Evening shift. So here goes… Some Monday morning writing.
Ramble of thoughts over the last several weeks…
I have to find again the sleep-in gene. A few weeks from the CPSIC return and I find myself not often able to sleep in. I’m ready for bed before midnight and, even when I push through to the wee hours, I find myself waking up before 7:00 am. I’ll usually relax with the iPad for a bit, and even be able to roll over after that and get another hour or two. But if I’m going to be back to working those overnight shifts, I need to be able to get myself back to staying up past 3:00 and being able to sleep until after 10:00, or I’m going to be a CPSIC wreck. I’m not too worried. I figure doing a few overnights will get that back in me. But I’m not there now.
Women go for shoes. I am drawn to bags. Backpacks, day packs, luggage, shoulder bags… I like them all. It’s an odd thing. Perhaps it comes with my increased airport time since moving to Ontario? I’m flying home three times a year most years and have included a Florida trip each of the last two years… While BC comes in to play every second year. So being able to organize a few weeks worth of stuff in a couple of compact, easy to carry bags has appeal. And the free feeling of being able to throw all you need into a backpack and just go is also nice. Plus working a twelve hour shift makes you feel like you need to pack for the day when going to work. Whatever the reason, I’m always sizing up bags.
I’ve been to Gros Morne Park several times now. And now I can say, with certainty, that the Tablelands are, by far, my biggest draw to that place. I think if I went there for a week and was told I can only see the Tablelands, and no other part of the park for the entire week, I’d be ok with that. It’s one of those rare places on earth that is unlike anything else. I could hike around the area all day. I could try to climb to the top of the plateau. I could just sit in the parking lot and look up at it all. Just being there brings wonder and intrigue for me. The rest of the park is great… But oh man, those Tablelands.
I think the time has come for people to stop making jokes about Donald Trump. The time is well past that actually. In reality, the jokes should have stopped the second the man announced he was running for President. That’s simply too important a job with too much ramifications on the rest of the world, for people to take to social media to make jokes about it. I think we got to a point where people have wanted to see him succeed, just so the entertainment aspect of it all could continue. But the reality is this… Either Trump is a buffoon who has no ability or business trying to become the ruler of the free world… Or he’s a con man who thinks everybody else are buffoons who will simply buy in to what he sells. In either scenario, it means he should be ignored. He should have been ignored from the very beginning. But society enjoys viewing the car crashes of this world. It’s just that the media used to shelter us from such things. News networks used to filter out the garbage and not serve it up for our consumption. Now they encourage it. Partake in it via interviews and the hosting of debates. And the public hasn’t shown enough self control to say “enough”. The US presidency has become reality TV. People want to see what could happen next. But with a position that powerful, the whole world could regret the feeding of such appetites.
I am becoming old and crotchety. Some could argue that I’ve been such for a while. But I know it myself by the simple fact that I do not “get” Snapchat. Social media, as a whole, lends itself to the silliness of this world. We can share the dumbest of things with a few taps on the screen or clicks of a button. But why anyone wants to go around giving themselves mouse noses and animated cheese eating over their faces, I haven’t the foggiest. We’re playing dress up on our phones and sharing it with everybody??? I don’t know. I know several people who use Snapchat. If they like it, more power to them, but it is one of the few things in this world that I simply do not even comprehend the possibility of why someone would want to do it.
And finally, I saw Ghostbusters. I wasn’t sure what to expect. You hear the panic and disgust in so many men who are around my age. And I read a review that panned it badly. But my sister wanted to go, and a night out to the movies with her and my niece was going to be a good thing no matter what I’d think of the film.
Overall, I thought it was pretty good. I for sure thought the original was better. But I have the value of nostalgia and youthful memories going with that one. I also, for sure, thought the new version was better than Ghostbusters II. That second of the originals was simply a bad movie. Not much fun or imagination in that one. With this new one, I thought the two leads were just alright. Likeable but not doing anything that makes you take notice. I’ve already forgotten much of what they did in the movie. But Kate McKinnon, as Holtzmann, made the movie for me. It was an original character… Funny and interesting to watch. I think if she was not in this movie, I wouldn’t have liked it all that much. But with her, I enjoyed it… And would put it up against the original movie in a pretty close battle. But still, Bill Murray as the star of the first… And the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man terrorizing the streets of New York, give it to the original by a nose.
