Well it's another week, and I'm not doing so hot. Had a relapse after last
weekend, doctor called in new antibiotics which have helped. But I still
feel pretty lousy. My lungs are really tight, I've been using the inhaler
a bunch. It helps, but I have a feeling I need to find a respiratory
specialist and get my lungs really checked out. Along with an allergist,
and possibly a full body transplant specialist. So if anyone is experimenting with building cyborgs, I may be your guinea pig.
I worked from home Mon-Wed. I was told rather firmly to go home since I
sounded like a TB ward. I got stuff done, but I still feel like a slacker.
*sigh* Oh, I haven't mentioned it, but I have a new boss. Nothing bad,
just some reshuffling above my level. Going to actually meet the guy
(he works out of Atlanta, soon to be Tennessee) next week. I do kind of
like having remote managers, less of the insanity of a former employer.
Plus, me and my team mates just work well together, no real need for a
day to day watch over us kind of guy.
Due to the relapse, I've mentally canceled most of my weekend plans. Not
sure I want to leave the house, not sure I'll be able to do all the chores
that are backed up either though. I really don't know. I'm going to try
to get at least the minimum I need for survival, if I can do more, I will,
and if I can't...well *throws tentacles in the air*
Mental health is...poor. Mom's anniversary of her passing is next weekend,
and I've had lots of reminders of things in the last couple of weeks. The
pneumonia is definitely NOT helping. (Her death, for those who don't know,
was due to a bout of pneumonia). Add to that the world news lately, and
personal issues I don't want to go into on here, I'm really not a happy
fox. Seriously, I think the only reason I haven't had a full on meltdown
is I'm going numb before it happens. Hiding in books, in movies. I have a
pshrink visit in a few weeks, and I sense we'll be changing things.
In regards to the new news on Livejournal, I'm honestly not sure I give a
darn. Not that I particularly trust the Russian Federation, but there
really isn't anything on there I'm concerned about. On the other tentacle,
they're no longer using SSL. That's bad, m'kay. I even tried to force it,
nope redirect to port 80. Not sure how much I want to go to DW. I already
have a blog, and I have a sort of copy of all my posts on LJ. But since
I don't really have the tentacles to cope with a decision, I'm not going
to make one just yet.
So what am I going to do this weekend? Besides at least the bare minimum
of chores, I'm watching movies. Specifically right now 'The Void', which
I've been waiting for with major anticipation. I also picked up both
'Alien vs Predator' movies on bluray to complete my current collection. So
maybe Aliens marathon tomorrow, or something else. Or I may just read
all the books. I really am just going to try to relax, hopefully my lungs
will feel better, and I'll be in a better place come Monday. I can dream
at least.
Well yesterday I went on a Sci-Fi fest with Amythest and Nymaz. Went to see
'Ghost in the Shell' and 'Life'. So I thought I'd throw together some
reviews.
I'm not going to comment on the various controversies about 'Ghost in the
Shell'. Just going to describe what I saw. It's a very stylistic, cyber
punky movie. Shiny and grimy at the same time. Scarlett Johansson looks
really good as the Major, but her acting was very cyborgish. The various
anime versions of the Major shows her with snark and emotions. The
plot is a mix of the original GitS and Stand Alone Complex, with some
added backstory that really wasn't necessary. On the plus side, the
effects are good, and the action scenes are dynamic. And since I have
a major crush on ms Scarlett, even if her acting was kind of wooden, it was
enjoyable to watch. Glad I saw it on the big screen, and I'll probably pick
it up on dvd/bluray, but if I'm wanting a cyberpunk fix, I'll probably
turn to 'Stand Alone Complex' or the original movie (which I'm watching now).
3 out of 5 ghosts in the machine.
Then we went to see 'Life'. Now this was a fun movie. Alien life form
examined on the ISS. Alien life form runs amok, fun is had. Unlike
'Prometheus' the scientists don't make completely stupid decisions. They
make mistakes, but they're understandable ones. None of the characters are
'mad scientists', and are all pretty likable. The monster is shoggoth-y
and the CGI was very well done. There's even a Lovecraft shout out in
the beginning, which made me a very happy cultist. Lots of 'Alien' themes,
and some 'The Thing' flavors, but with it's own way of doing things. It's
also pretty bleak, as most good SciFi/Horror is, keep in mind. Will
definitely watch repeatedly once I have it in my hot little pseudopods.
I think it gets 5 out of 5 flailing pseudopods.
So that's Vulpine at the movies. Had a good time, even if I wasn't feeling
too good. Hopefully next weekend I'll get to see another Lovecraftian
flick, 'The Void'. If not, it will be on DVD soon. Ok, catch you all later.
It's April Fool's Day. Been caught at least twice, possibly I should just
avoid the internets today. Oh well.
Was kind of a rough week, still feeling puny, work has ramped up my meeting
queue, and I've been kind of flailing around trying to get stuff done. Glad
it's the weekend though. Today is movie theater day, going to see 'Ghost
in the Shell' then 'Life' this evening to celebrate Nymaz spawning day
(early, since the poor viking is stuck on call on his actually spawning
weekend). There will also be general hangout time, and dinner at a diner
we all like by the movie theater. Omelet for days, and maybe even pie.
Still coughing up shoggoths, still feeling less than good. I'm hoping
it's just my lungs clearing with a side of allergies redux. But there
may be yet another doctor visit coming up, as this is utterly miserable.
Otherwise, things are ok. Double-checked vacation approval with my boss's
boss. Wasn't 'worried' but I wanted to make sure it was cool up the chain.
I also found a reason to adjust my pre-Providence travels. Kirk Hammett,
along with being a guitarist, is a major horror collector. So a museum in
Salem is doing a exhibit of some of his stuff. And since I'm flying into
Boston, I may have to make a side trip up to Salem the day I fly in. (on
top of visiting old Ironsides and the Boston Aquarium, maybe driving
to the Atlantic shore...) Really, I need to make a separate trip to Boston
in the future, lots of things I want/need to see with adult eyes. Oh well,
that's what 2018 is for.
What's up in cultist ville? Books, including finishing the late John
Glasby's 'Dark Armageddon' trilogy. The series is about humans trying to
survive when the stars come right. It's very Brian Lumleyesque, but I've
always liked Glasby's writing. He doesn't reinvent anything, or won't take
home the gold in Cthulhu writing, but he does right solid, readable, enjoyable
tales that scratch that tentacle itch.
Also, remember 'Winter Tide?
Book freedom day is this Tuesday. It should be in your local brick+mortar
stores, as well as findable at your online bookplace of choice, plus
there's always I've got the Kindle edition preordered, and I'll be at
the local B&N on Tuesday to get my hardback edition. April has a lot
of preorders coming out, so it will be a good reading month.
Also, speaking of Lovecraft, next weekend is the release date for
The Void.
Lovecraftian film, that has people/shoggoths/mi-go all abuzz. (literally
when you mention the later). It will be showing in DFW at one of the
Alamo Drafthouses, and I'm looking to go see it on the big screen. (then
of course, pick it up on bluray afterwards).
Ok, that's enough rambling for today. Wish me luck on good movie sign,
and feeling better, and I'll ramble later.
Sunday thoughts. Still feeling less than well. Pretty low actually, with a
side of Sunday blahs and stress over upcoming stuff. I was going to work
on chores today, but I'm not wanting to push myself at all today. So I'm
going to stick to what I've been doing and chill. Reload tentacles, that kind
of stuff. I'm watching a fanedit of 'Dune' right now, that I'm really
enjoying. Beyond that, no real plans for today. Possibly picking up
the trash, that's about it.
I have a pile of stuff I've wanted/needed to get done...well, piling up.
Not 'can't live without' but things/projects I want to get working on. But
everything is out of sorts given being sick this quarter. I've also been
pretty darn antisocial the last 2 weeks, and I really want to change that.
I miss human contact, at least the humans I like. And boy am I behind on
movies. I want to see the new Kong flick, and 'Life', and next weekend
is GitS. Gotta get better to I can eye a certain cyborg. *wink*
There really isn't much else to talk about. I'm trying to keep a 'commonplace
book' of ideas that pop into my head, I'm hoping I can get more into posting
things before state of the fox updates and one liners on Facebook. We'll
see. But, for now though...I'm tired of staring at this window. Catch
you all later.
And a week passes, where I spent most of it at home being sick. Went back
to the doctor on Thursday, chest xrays look clear, so we're trying steroids
and more cough syrup, and my first inhaler, since my breathing is still
more labored than it should be. Phlegm is not my friend.
I only worked a half day on Friday, mostly to get there for a meeting.
The next week is going to be pretty busy, so I need to be back something
resembling 100%. So I'm spending the weekend pretty much at home chilling
out.
I'm a little stir crazy, I keep trying to think of something to do that doesn't
take much physical energy. Château Innsmouth is a bit of a wreck, though
I'm picking up bit by bit. Been binge watching Clive Barker movies, including
all 9 Hellraisers (yes, there are 9. No, there shouldn't be). Reading a
lot of history and Mythos stuff. Escape stuff for a Vulpine.
Not much else going on, movies and VM foo this afternoon. Trying to
not worry about what an unplanned 7 days of PTO in the last two weeks does
to my vacation plans, or what I'm going to be like come Monday. *sigh*
I am very sick of being sick. But hopefully Cthulhu will lay his healing
feelers upon me and I'll feel better soon. *crosses tentacles*
Well, I'm sick again. Real sick, as in I've been out sick 3 days this week,
with a doctor visit this morning after spending half the night spasm coughing.
Doctor punted, it's either flu or pneumonia. They could do tests and specify,
but I'm still paying on my deductible and honestly, I wanted out of there
at speed, so he gave me the option to get both tamiflu and antibiotics,
along with the codeine cough syrup. Got the scripts filled, messaged the
boss and coworkers and came home. I'm running on nearly no sleep for the
last few days, but my attempt at a nap became an anxiety spike of too many
thoughts.
Having pneumonia right now is very weird, since 2 years ago almost to the day
that Mom was being moved around post the bout of pneumonia she had before
she died. The fact that I'm sick again, or still, or gods know what this
year isn't helping. I'm more than a little depressed over the whole thing
right now.
So I've spent the day watching Clive Barker movies for "reasons" First 3
'Hellraiser' flicks to start, I was thinking of doing all nine of them.
(Yes, there are nine...that fact seems to boggle a lot of friends of mine).
Then I switched tracks to 'Lord of Illusions' which grows on me with each
viewing. Now watching a more recent Barker flick, 'Book of Blood'. Which
is a weird little ghost/haunting story. Not sure what's next. Ok, after
some false starts I decided to stick with the Barker movies, and now watching
'The Midnight Meat Train'.
So that's about it, I'm going to be staying in all weekend. Not what I
wanted to do, but oh well. Hopefully I can swing up to being healthy again
to go back to work on Monday. I'm kind of blah, lonely sick person. But
it will get better. It always does. One of these lifetimes.
Last night's router foo went smooth, rebooted around 1am, and took about 2
minutes to come back up. I stayed up later, vaguely worried that it
would bounce again. It happens, especially when the other side figures
out they missed something. But it didn't. So I stayed up for the time
change (grumbles about Daylight Savings), and finished my marathon on
Dan Brown movies. Slept less than well, bad/weird dreams. Woke up, didn't
want to. Futzed around for a bit, then went back to bed. Didn't really
sleep, which is probably good for tonight's sleep.
Made myself get moving and go to the store, Walmart on a Sunday is not
conducive to one's faith in humanity. Got what I needed, stopped by
Wendy's for a late lunch and came home. Sorted though the massive amounts
of paperwork in my filing cabinet. Well, kind of sorted. I boxed all of
Mom's stuff in a plastic tote, didn't sort, just piled. Then sorted what
was left (mine) Now...now I think I'm going go hide with a book til bedtime.
Monday morning will show up soon enough. Catch you all later.
Well I managed to sleep in today. Not as much as I'd wanted, but better
than being up at work time. Didn't run any errands before the coffee
gather, I just bummed around the house til it was time to leave. Ran
over to the coffee place and met up with the Ufies. Hung out, discussed
geek jobs, Minecraft and why you would twerk trees (don't ask). Was fun to
see friends. We hung out for about 2 hours, then parted ways to go do
adulting.
Well, not much adulting for me, I went to a Half Price Books I hadn't been
to in a long time, didn't find anything too fun. Then I went downtown
to King Tut's for some tasty Egyptian lamb, and then back home. Threw
the laundry in the wash, and fired up 'The DaVinci Code', as for some
reason I was in the mood for Tom Hanks to describe symbols. Also, since
I'm going to be up all hours I can watch it, and the two sequels will keep
me entertained til the wee hours. Hoping the router update is quick and
painless.
Not much else. Just going to be quiet here at Château Innsmouth, watch
my movies and go to bed once work is complete. *waves a tentacle* Catch
you all later.
Weekly post time. Work week was ok, if not amazing. Still really like
the job and the people I work with. Occasionally get frustrated with
working in big corporation environments, and with some of the past decisions
we have to work with. Still better than the Shoggoth Pit. And my complaints
are low.
Brainmeats have been mean. General low grade depression, with the return
of the nasty anxiety dreams from hell. I've also been pretty antisocial
and wanting to avoid humanity (when I'm not hoping Cthulhu rises from the
deep and goes for snacky time). It's not been fun. Woke up this morning
after more anxiety dreams, but for a change I wasn't down. Magic of Fridays
I guess.
Came home after work, been watching movies and updating the VM horde. Also
spent my tax return monies finally. Nothing big (didn't get much back)
just a replacement laptop bag, and some bits of Cthulhu stuff for
Château Innsmouth. Probably should have spent it on debts or on future
travel plans, but why not. Cultists need cultstuffs. I also really need
to start showing off how Château Innsmouth is turning out. *grin*
Speaking of travel, plans are coming together for both the Alaska cruise,
and the Pilgrimage to Providence. I'm kind of more exciting about Providence
at the moment, but as the Musketeers reminded me, I'll have days at sea
with a balcony looking over the water. And half joking about me sleeping
out there...*grin* I also got the paperwork setup for my passport, i just
need to make an appointment with the local post office for the photos and
to submit things. Not waiting til the last minute. Only been meaning to get
this done since I was I was a teen. Oh well, better late than never.
Weekend plans are to hang out with Ufies Saturday at a local coffee house.
Beyond that, nothing really yet. I may work on chores, or I may run
around doing stuff. Or I could just hide at home. Home is nice after
all. We'll see. Oh, I have to sleep in, since I'll be up late tomorrow
to monitor a router reboot. Should be a 15 min fix, but if I don't watch
it, it will have issues, and I'll get a wake up call. Rather stay up and
do the waking. As for why it's me, well one coworker did a late shift
already this week, and the other's been fighting off a bug. Plus, I kind
of miss being up to wee hours on a Saturday. So lets hope things go
smooth. And lets hope for a relaxing weekend.
Had plans for this afternoon, Lego Batman and dinner. But things got
canceled at the last minute, for understandable reasons. So I randomly
went to a bookstore, got a few things off my wishlists, and then did the
weekly groceries. After dealing with Walmart, especially the crazies in
the parking lot. Came home, unloaded the groceries, and I've camped out
with 80's cheese-horror.
Speaking of cheese, ordered a pizza. Going to ...
*time passes, not much though*
Well psychic pizza delivery just delivered my pizza right as I wrote the
above. Yay food. Besides movies, I'll probably finish 'Dust and Shadows'
tonight. Lets see if Sherlock Holmes can beat Jack the Ripper. No plans
of yet for tomorrow.
And I forgot this post...oh well. Laundry is in the wash, I'm watching a
Hammer flick, and I'll call this a post. Catch you all later.
