Now, On To The Once Upon a Time Season Premiere!

On a happier note... I just watched the finale of Breaking Bad, since I had to work last night and didn't get the chance to see it then, and I believe I will pronounce myself satisfied. I'm already thinking that, one of these days in the hopefully not-too-distant future, I should sit down and rewatch the entire thing in one giant marathon, because I think it'd really reward that.

Mind you, "happier" hardly seems like a word to use about Breaking Bad in any context, but there is, for me, something perversely pleasant about watching stuff this dark and messed-up. During the previous episode, I found myself thinking: man, no matter what, I will never, ever be able to screw my life up as badly as these people. Not in a million years. Not if I tried. It's an oddly cheering thought.

Anyway, so long BB! It's been a hell of a ride. New Mexico is going to miss you.

Now, when does that Saul spinoff start?

I Don't Do This Often, But: A Political Rant

Dear Republicans: FUCK YOU WITH A PICKAXE. Seriously, if you care about jobs even a tenth of a percent as much as your hyper-inflated rhetoric claims, then stop endangering mine for the sake of a dick-measuring contest with the president or some delusional belief that providing poor people with access to health care is immoral and/or going to completely ruin the US economy. You know what will hurt the US economy? SHUTTING DOWN THE SOURCE OF MILLIONS OF JOBS, that's what. And you know what's immoral and indefensible? Using people's livelihoods as a political bargaining chip in a juvenile game of chicken.[*] Cut it the fuck out.

For the record, the NSF-funded organization I work for has stated that they expect to be able to keep paying us for a week or two, in the event. So I might well be able to ride through this with no problems. But I don't need the extra financial uncertainty in my life right now, and I'm sure there are a lot of potentially affected people out there who need it even less than I do.

I am getting so fed up with the crap that passes for politics in this country, I cannot tell you.

Aaargh. End of rant. Good luck, everybody.

(ETA: OK, I should correct that to "Dear some Republicans." More power to the saner voices in the party.)

[*] Yes, I am aware that this is a mixed metaphor. Shut up.

It's Random Shatner!

Someone, it seems, left a copy of this in my mailbox at work. Whoever you are, sir or ma'am, I am amused, and I thank you.

Rain, Rain, Go Away. Or, Well, Don't, 'Cause We Need It, But, Geez, Could You Spread It Out More?

If I had any doubts at all -- which I did -- about the drainage in my newly regraded yard and whether there was still any danger of water collecting around my house and leaking in, they are now fully assuaged, because, man, if I was going to have problems, I surely would have had them this week. We got over four inches of rain here on Tuesday, which is impressive when you consider that our yearly precipitation is only about ten inches, total. But my bedroom carpet is dry as a bone, and the few places in my yard where puddles of water accumulate are well away from the house. I am just so deeply, deeply glad I got that taken care of when I did, because otherwise the result would have been disastrous. Although disastrous on a very minor scale, it must be said, compared to the flooding that many people throughout the southwest (and, apparently, some people right here in town) have experienced. The effects in places like Boulder seem to have been particularly horrible.

And it's not over yet. We've had a little more rain tonight, and they're calling for still more overnight... and into tomorrow... and through Saturday. Around here, the saying "it never rains but it pours" has always been true, but this is downright ridiculous.

At Least There's Always The Currentlies!

Current clothes: A towel. This being one of those, "No, really, I'll get up and get dressed any minute now" kinds of mornings. Well, technically it's 1:30 in the afternoon, but I'm starting night shifts tomorrow, so it's morning for me.

Current mood: Generally not bad. Although there is a thin streak of irritation somewhere in the back of my mind due partly to not having gotten as much sleep last night as I really should have, and partly to the sulky voice in somewhere in my brain that keeps complaining that the weekend is simply not long enough to do all the nothing I want to do. But I'm hoping the former will diminish once the coffee finishes kicking in, and that the latter can be appeased by a few hours of lying around watching DVDs later in the day.

Current music: Nothing much. I think the last music I listened to was on the classic rock station while running errands yesterday, but they kept playing stuff I didn't like.

Current annoyance: Ants! Twice in the last couple of weeks, I discovered ants wandering around on my bathroom floor and crawling into my bathtub, probably looking for water. I'm not sure whether they're nesting in the wall or crawling up through a hidden crack in the floor, but either way, they really need to not do that. So yesterday I put down some ant poison. The good news is, they're all over that stuff! The bad news is... they're all over that stuff. Meaning my bathroom is currently host to some kind of mini Ant Jamboree. They really need to finish hauling it all off, eat it, die, and be gone.

Current thing: Trying to be mellower.

Current desktop picture: Some wallpaper I got from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal for contributing to a kickstarter they did to get a new book of comics published. But I'm not allowed to share it with you. Because you are less awesome than me.

Current book: Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes by Stephen Jay Gould, one of his essay collections from the 80s.

Current song in head: Nothing at the moment, oddly enough, but for some reason the theme song to Deep Space Nine has been popping into my head at random moments over the last couple of weeks.

Current refreshment: I had some cereal and a piece of fruit a little while ago.

Current DVD in player: Just finished the first disc of season 2 of The Hour, featuring soon-to-be-Doctor Peter Capaldi.

Current worry: I really am trying to worry less about everything. I think I'm kinda-sorta succeeding.

Current thought: As is so often the case, Calvin & Hobbes said it best.

Still Here

It's been pointed out to me that I haven't posted much here in a while. I'm not dead or anything; apparently I just haven't had much to say. I'm not at all sure how it got to be September already, but August was pretty annoying and so far this month is shaping up to be less stress-inducing, so I'll take it. For the record, we've had one brief but reasonably intense little rainstorm here in the last couple of weeks, during which my house encouragingly failed to leak, so I think I'm about ready to declare victory in this round of Me vs. Water.

Other than that... Yeah, I got nothin'.