Moisture Stains Never Forget

I'm reading a hardback book that is over 100 years old.

It was once owned by Verna Stecher, who wrote her name inside on the front flyleaf with the date 1906. So, a shout out to Verna up in Heaven! I'm taking good care of your book! It's an enjoyable one. I'm wondering if you liked it. "The Soul of Lilith," by Marie Corelli.

It looks, though, like Verna must've had an accident with a cup of coffee or a puddle of something else. Because there's some moisture stains around most of the pages, the edges of the cover. There's also some of the loss of pliability that comes from the pages having been touched by moisture, some stiffening.

In 1906 I might've tossed the book, since it would've been wet and messy. But of course in 100+ years it has plenty of time to dry, unless it gets moldy and persists in its misery. This one doesn't have any mold -- dead or alive. And the smell is just the smell of an old book. I was hoping it'd smell like 100 year old coffee.

In 2009 I'm looking at the moisture stains and I don't really mind them. It gives it character. I'm thinking of a woman 100 years ago spilling coffee on her book, I'm reading the same book, Verna is dead and in Heaven, and it's all very charming.

Afghanistan

I'm torn about what to support or oppose when it comes to the Afghanistan war.

One, I don't want Al Qaeda and the Taliban to win anything. If we're out of there, which we eventually have to be anyway, it'll give them an open field for whatever they want to do. The Taliban will definitely be back in full force, oppressing the people. But I don't know what's going on now. Maybe they already are.

Two, once we're gone, we're gone. It'll be too late to get anything accomplished for good. It's just too bad it seems like we haven't accomplished much. Maybe we have. What do I know? It seems like if we're there from 2001 to 2009 we ought to have accomplished a lot. That's longer than World War II.

It's hard for me to believe that we can't win if we set our mind to it, whatever "winning" actually means. Yes, it's a tough country, they say. But what about the other side? They're not Superman, are they? If we can't beat a few (however many) rebels in one little country, how in the world would we ever be able to handle the Nazis again?

President Obama's going to have a plan, which sounds like more troops. It's not a popular thing for those on the left. But it's a popular thing for those on the right. That right there, the fact that the Republicans are for it, might automatically mean it's the wrong thing to do. So that's a point against it. Leaving me in a quandary.

I guess at this point I'm going to trust that the president has weighed the options and is making the best decision based on the information he has. He has it, not me. He's in charge, not me. So, go for whatever he feels is best. That's where I'm going to end up.

Get a definite plan, a definite goal, do what we can to accomplish it, then get out. Just don't get us in so deep that we can never get out.

My Dalliance With Sports

I famously said to someone the other day -- in reply to the question "What's your favorite sport?" -- that I hate all sports.

Hate might be too strong a word. I can't get into it that much might be better. It has its good side.

Sports might be more interesting if there weren't so many games. Like if we had 10 games the entire year, then it'd be something that wasn't constant. When something's on all the time, what do you really care?

But that's not the solution. Because they'd be sneaking more games on than 10 and next thing you'd know we'd be back to what we have now.

But I don't begrudge people their sports. Just leave me out of it. I don't want to get swept up in the whole thing.

I was at the exercise place today and they had on a soccer game from England. What an extremely dull game soccer is. It's hard to believe the people over there like it so much that they kill each other over it. I cannot get interested in that crummy game.

Now, about my dalliance with sports. I watched part of a game last night, football. And I watched part of one today. It was great. I even went and took about an hour nap and came back and they were still going at it. I never saw the end.

The game today was Clemson vs. South Carolina. It's amazing how much knowledge the announcers have about everything to do with it, including games they had 10 years ago, trivia about them. I'm thinking, Wow, these guys make big bucks and their whole life is nothing but sports. What a waste.

Adam's Album Ratings

Adam Lambert got 4 out of 5 stars at All Music. And 3 out of 5 at Rolling Stone.

All Music thinks he has the best immediately post-Idol of any, being one who knows the whole music scene and what's cool, etc.

Rolling Stone thinks the album is over thought.

It's definitely not a loose album. It's calculated and exact. But the songs are fine, catchy, intense.

20 On 20 XM

I haven't been listening to my XM radio very much. It's just been setting there unused. Because it's been in a place that I'm not spending much time in. Since it has an antenna that has to be strung outside, it's not the most convenient thing to be moving around.

But today I decided to move it to a different room, where I've been sitting and reading a lot. I did the whole antenna thing and got it so it could focus on a signal.

So I have it on "20 on 20," usually my favorite channel, although since I haven't been listening, I've got to get used to a lot of new stuff. Some of it I've heard in the air around town, but most not.

I heard Adam Lambert on there. I was wondering if they had him. They played the song "For Your Entertainment."

Maybe now I can get some good out of my subscription.

Turkey Day Tomorrow

I see the annual turkey got pardoned at the White House.

I haven't heard word of the Republicans protesting this yet, but I did see several jokes about it. If they don't protest, it'll be the first thing President Obama's done right, according to their skewed way of looking at things.

The turkey in our fridge didn't get pardoned. I don't know how long ago it was killed, but it's been in the fridge since Sunday or Monday. So it didn't get its pardon application in early enough.

I'm looking forward to having it. But as to the leftovers, I don't like turkey leftovers. Too dry.

Exercise Is Beckoning Me

Unfortunately but true. I haven't been for a while. And I'm getting my gut back.

So very soon, true to my word, I need to hit the gym. I hate to go out on a cold night. Much like the summer when I hate to go out on a hot night.

I Bought A New Computer Last Night

But it was one that I ordered so it won't be here for quite a while. They have to build it.

I think I've seen glimpses of that process on TV. It seems like they used to show it on Dell commercials. The computers are coming down an assembly line and people are hooking things on them, whatever.

This isn't a Dell, but I'm sure that would've been a good enough brand.

I'm looking forward to it for numerous reasons. My current computers are as slow as can be, more or less. I won't be waiting around like I do now. Plus it's a laptop, which I've never had, so I can be various places with it and not just sitting at this desk ... or my other desk.

Two Christmas Trees

We already have two Christmas trees up and decorated.

Two!

One is the old tree, now retired to a secondary room but decorated just as beautifully as it usually is.

The other is a new tree, which has now taken the place of the old tree (which was so faithful but now is relegated to a secondary room).

It's weird to have decorated Christmas trees before it's even been Thanksgiving. But that's the way it goes around here. These are not 100% my decisions.

A Foggy Morning

It was a foggy morning this morning. I love walking outside and seeing fog. But I hate driving in fog.

When you step outside, though, and see fog, it's like in the old movies. Everything is semi-obscured and more mysterious looking. You can't see buses coming until they're right on you.

When people walk by in the fog they look like they're emerging out of nowhere, then they walk by and back into the oblivion.

I really could take a long walk on a foggy morning, if that's what I did. But as it is I'm so busy that I can't just go for a walk. I'm very much on a schedule.

By the time the day wore on and the fog was gone, I forgot about it, until another guy reminded me how foggy it was. Oh yeah! I forgot.

Getting Plenty Of Sleep

I've tilted the balance back the way it should be as to getting sleep.

For a while I was getting 6 or 6½ hours approximately and not feeling the greatest. It's generally OK if I can get a nap midday but that hasn't always been possible.

So for the last couple nights I've made it 8 to 8½ hours and that's a lot better. Of course it gives me less time to actually live, but sleeping is also sort of like living. Who knows what good dreams really do for you? I think they do me good.

I love waking up through the night, glancing at the clock, then dosing right back off. Last night I woke up at 10 something, 12 something, and one other one I'll mention in a sec, 4 something, then at 5:30 when I got up. The other one to mention was around 1:46. And it seems like I woke up twice. So maybe I saw 1:46, then fell asleep, then woke up at 1:46 again. I don't know. I might be imagining it, but I remember wondering if the clock was working right.

Bought Cat Food And Dog Food

It's expensive having pets. I'm always reminded of this when it's time to go buy their new food.

We have various grocery stores and they have various prices. The cat food seems like it took a spike in prices a year ago or so, whenever it was that everything went up. But it's cheapest at one particular place with the initials W--M----. One of the other stores, it's around 25 cents more for a 4 can pack. And one of the other stores, I don't know what it is there, but I know it's more.

The dog food price went up whenever that was a year or so ago. It was around $5.00 a box. Now it's in the $7.50 range and hasn't gone up or come down. It stays right at the same level, knock on wood.

Then there's the cat litter, which I needed to get tonight. That adds to the cost of keeping pets. It's all a fortune. But we love them (sort of) and wish them many more years of sucking us dry as far as our money goes. Yes, we love them.

Cuckoos On A Choo Choo

Last night I saw the Three Stooges film, "Cuckoos On A Choo Choo," I believe for the first time. I don't remember ever seeing it before. And it seems like one I'd remember.

It was such an odd film, I immediately looked it up in The Three Stooges Scrapbook to see how many stars they gave it. And they didn't give it any! I don't know how many other films don't any stars in the book.

In the description it said it's considered the worst of the Three Stooges comedies. And I believe someone wrote that at Wikipedia as well. I saw a quote on Wiki from a guy on the comedy of the Stooges, that when they're cast as independent characters, not a team, they lose their whole comedy dynamic. That's definitely true. But in this particular episode, even though it started out that way, it seemed like they were acting a team about half the time.

I would guess it's considered bad because the story is just odd, there's certain inexplicable things about it, etc.

I was actually liking it in a weird way, because it was so absurd. The little music that plays when someone takes a drink out of the liquor bottle, the big canary, the relationship of the Stooges to the two female cast members, etc. It's just freaky.

The book also said the business of Larry on the train was supposed to be a parody of "A Streetcar Named Desire," with him doing some kind of Brando thing. I regret to say I've never seen that movie so I don't know about it. And that the canary was supposed to be a take-off of "Harvey." I don't know about that either, even though I've seen "Harvey." Shemp was drunk when he saw the canary. It seems like James Stewart was not drunk, but I could be mistaken. It didn't seem like much of a take-off.

It was strange. But I actually liked it, again because it was so absurd and not so plot driven. It was just weird. I was thinking, this would be a good one to watch over and over, to get yourself in a very strange mood. It might be good if you were getting ready to do some creative brainstorming.

Also in the book it said that Larry used to have a film of this one and he would show other people at the home he lived in, some kind of convalescent place. And that he fell asleep. The book meanly suggested that others would fall asleep too because the film is so bad. I don't think it's a snoozer. It's odd but also oddly compelling.

A Late Nap

I took a nap just before it's almost time for bed. I was starting to feel overly tired, so I lay down on the bed and had that confused bit of sleep.

Somehow my thoughts were sort of at the surface and sort of not. I never really got comfortable. Then woke up not quite rested but definitely needing to get up. I have things that need to be done before going to bed in earnest.

It was a busy day so there was no way to get a nap earlier. And that's what I felt like I really needed yesterday but didn't get.

The science of napping. It's not that great to have a late nap.

More Three Stooges In 3D

I read a paragraph in The Three Stooges Scrapbook about their two shorts in 3D, that Columbia didn't think they were that great.

But critics were less than enthusiastic about these new Stooges offerings, as was Columbia, and it abandoned the idea of producing additional 3-D shorts. [p. 83]

I must go back in time and change their minds. And if I can't succeed at that I will simply register a vain protest in the present moment. There's nothing wrong with the 3D shorts. I think it's quite cool to see the actual Three Stooges in 3D, since I never had seen them that way before. It's very cool, in my opinion, to see that extra depth, even if the Stooges were just standing around.

Now, do I think there needed to be quite as many gags of thrusting things at the audience? Like they were trying to accentuate the 3D thrills? Not really, but it's understandable, with the novelty of it. And it's not a complaint I have because even that I thought was OK.

Columbia doesn't appear to have appreciated the Three Stooges. But times have changed, all the principals are dead, and I'm willing to move on if they are!

A Big Meal

I did the "big meal" thing at a nice restaurant tonight.

Nice big steak, all that. Then I had to go out on a cold evening afterward. And thanks to the whole thing about digestion and blood -- it's always colder after a meal than before. So I got cold.

This has happened before where I've started shaking, shivering like crazy, which about wracks me out. Fortunately it wasn't that cold tonight, just uncomfortably cold.

In the winter, that's when it's the worst. It's not worth it to go out to eat in the winter. Because afterward I'm too cold to even go home. I hate that feeling of getting into a cold car and having to creak all the way home shivering.

I'll probably sleep well tonight. But I definitely need to hit the exercise place.

Bette Davis Has Bette Davis Eyes

I got a VHS movie yesterday starring Bette Davis, "Jezebel," from 1938.

It looks good. It says she won an Academy Award for her memorable performance, and that it is a true classic of the cinema.

One of these days I'll get around to watching it.

I got three other VHS tapes. I was avoiding buying these because of DVDs, but since they're so cheap now, $1.00 each, it's obviously a good value and cheap entertainment. Three of the movies weren't even opened yet. Those were "Alexander the Great," starring Richard Burton; "Notorious," one of the great Hitchcock movies I've never seen, and "The Charge of the Light Brigade," starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, which I've never seen either.

I've never seen any of these four movies. So I'm glad to have them.

The Cat Ruined My Bagels

The other day I bought a bag of bagels and accidentally forgot to put in the fridge.

I got up in the morning and there they were on the counter. But I didn't notice anything else at that time.

Yesterday, then, I got up and went to have a bagel and I noticed the bag as all chewed up, and when I took a bagel out it had been inflicted upon with teeth marks and was gnarly.

That darn cat!

Anyway, I cut off the worst bit and had the rest. But now I still have the rest of the whole bag and they don't look that great.

The Three Stooges In 3D

I watched one of the two Three Stooges films that were shot in 3D. I didn't even know there were any shot in 3D till yesterday, so how's that for a surprise?

I had time this morning to watch one of them, which is called "Spooks," if I'm not mistaken.

It was great. The 3D is really good in places. Maybe my eyes aren't good, I don't know. In places it was hard for me to focus. But the arrangement of things and the gags, coming at the audience with a syringe, throwing pies, etc., all was very good.

Great job.

The New Three Stooges Is Here!

Today's the day, Nov. 10, for the new volume of the Three Stooges collected short films.

I rushed out and got it. Actually I went at a leisurely pace, but I got there on the first day. I haven't opened it yet but it says it comes with 3D glasses. I didn't know the Stooges filmed a couple of their shorts in 3D, but obviously they did.

I guess I don't know much about 3D. I didn't think there was any such thing as 3D with black and white movies. Showing what I know!

I don't think I'll get to them tonight.

Under The Yum Yum Tree

I'm watching an old lascivious movie, "Under The Yum Yum Tree," starring Jack Lemmon. I got a VHS of it at a thrift store a week or two ago.

It started out very cute, if somewhat (somewhat??) dated. As I progress it's still cute but Jack is being a bit over the top with poking his nose into the people's business.

There's a couple who want to live together "without sleeping together," to find out if they're compatible for marriage. Jack is the landlord of an apartment complex that typically only rents to women, because he's a lech and has a thing going with as many of them as possible.

He's surprised that this young lady has her boyfriend living with her with this arrangement. And he wants to do what he can, I guess, to get the guy out of the way.

It's like going back in a time capsule. It's so dated it's hilarious. Plus, it's kind of funny in its own way. I like seeing Paul Lynde, who was present for the first 20 minutes or so.

Dennis Kucinich Sucks

What else can you say? We came this far on health care reform and this clown voted no. He really sucks.

As he spoke, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) walked by, handing reporters a statement explaining why he'd been the only liberal to oppose the bill.

Would you have changed your vote if yours was the deciding tally?

"No," said Kucinich.

Fort Hood

It's sad that this guy went on a rampage. Too bad they couldn't spot him before he did it. It sounds like there might've been some clues.

It's weird that he himself was a psychiatrist. But anyone can have mental problems, and he obviously had them aplenty.

I'm hoping that the right wing crazies don't generalize this into a religious war, as though all folks of his religion (Muslim) are somehow responsible. That's ridiculous and I hope we're smarter than that.

It's extremely unfortunate, the whole stinking thing.

That Extra Hour Of Sleep

I've been getting up faithfully at 5:30 every morning. So much so that it has become a habit.

Just then we turned the clocks back and now I'm waking up at 4:30, like the last few days in a row. A couple of days I got up, then found I was dead tired as the day wore on.

Today was the same thing. I woke up around 4:30 and thought I could get up, but it was going to be another long day, so I forced myself to fall back to sleep. And I think that extra hour, getting up at the new 5:30, was very valuable.

Last night was all run down. Taking the garbage out. Feeling like someone on the verge of falling over, etc. Naturally I got right to sleep at night.

Tonight I still have a few things to do. Then I'll go to bed. And hope I wake up at 5:30 instead of 4:30. The biggest blessing about waking up is that I'm generally successful at falling back to sleep.

NY 23

I'm glad the Democrat won in the NY 23 Congressional race. Ha ha for Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck and the other crazies.

It was unfortunate that Republicans won a couple of governor races. But from the sound of it, the Dem in one of the races (Virginia) was trying to run as a conservative, leaving our Democratic principles behind. So it'd be hard to get excited about him.

NJ, I don't know much about. Corzine has been around for a long time. The people there must just not have liked him anymore.

I myself voted yesterday. I came THAT close to not voting, since there wasn't much on the ballot. City Council, Mayor, etc. And I didn't really know much about the candidates. But I read in the paper what comments they made in an interview from the last few days and based my decision on that.

Incredibly, one candidate "did not wish to comment" on the issues, according to the article. I was thinking he was kind of flaky anyway. But I can't imagine that kind of tact at the last minute of a campaign would get him many votes! That's where we the basically uninformed are getting our information, and if you "do not wish to comment," well, we're not voting for you, stupid.

Ha ha.

Growing Old Together

I was watching one of my cats going down the stairs the other day, not quite as spry as she used to be. It looked like she was taking very deliberate, almost painful steps. There wasn't anything to indicate pain, but going so slowly it made it look like that to me.

The other cat, a couple years ago or 1½ years ago, was having a hard time climbing. I saw him trying to jump up on something (on their cat box) and he wasn't making it, or making it with difficulty.

But in a gradual recovery, he doesn't seem to have any trouble doing it now. So I don't know. Maybe he had a temporary problem back then.

Both the cats will be 15 in the middle of 2010.

The dog is officially 10 years old and a few months. But she doesn't appear to be slowing down any. But it's all just a matter of time.

Then there's me, us people. We're way older than them, but it's OK to be as old as we are and be human beings. We age Fahrenheit and they're Celsius, so we have lots of extra leeway.

It's interesting to age together. Any other pet, something happens to them. Hit by a car. Strangled somehow. Dies of worms. These three animals look like they're not going to pass on till old age tells them to.

Getting Up Early

I've been getting up early lately, giving me time to spend some alone time with myself and my thoughts.

I wasn't especially in a big mood for it today and tried to work on that, my mood. It's hard to overcome a mood, but a little willpower and sticktoittiveness, I stayed there the whole time I allotted for it.

I was reading several different things, trying to use the time for good spiritual profit. By and large it's a success.

Getting up early, though, means I'm tired now, and it's not late yet.

Happy November

We've got Halloween behind us. Next stop Thanksgiving!

Which is November's biggest thing. November's upon us.

Where I am it's off to a great start. It was so nice I went for an extra long walk with the dog at the park. Not exactly spring. But not as cold as it's been.

Keep up the good work, November!