Lack Of Motivation

That about sums it up. I just can't seem to get off my ass to do much of anything. I think a good deal of it has to do with the new meds. I've been coming home after work every evening and sleeping for two or three hours. That's on top of a full eight hours nightly. I feel like I'm wasting so much time asleep.

As for accomplishments while I've been conscious, my car seems to be running for the time being. Sammypug is happy as a clam (What exactly makes a clam happy?) because I haven't been out but for maybe one evening in two or three weeks now. My old student loans have been consolidated and refinanced and they're coming off my credit report. (Woohoo! I think that's the last negative item on my credit history.) I'm starting to feel a bit more in sync with my job. And I've been seriously thinking about some extensive retraining. Maybe even (gulp!) going back to college part-time. The bowling season starts next week, so at least I'll be getting out one night a week. Hopefully I can stay awake for three games. My laundry is almost caught up.

My parents may be coming to visit for a few days in September. I've decided to wait on purchasing a newer car until next year and take my brother's old one instead. To get something halfway decent, I'll need to take a loan out and I really don't want to take on any more financial commitments until I'm making a bit more money or eliminate a couple of my current ones.

Nothing profound to share tonight. Oh, I caught a pretty funny movie the other night called Psycho Beach Party. It's a film adaptation of an off-Broadway show that spoofs the 50's beach movies. (Beach Blanket Bingo, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, etc.) Hadn't thought about those films for years. Rest well all.

Different For Girls

That's the title of an odd but excellent film this evening on the Sundance Channel. (I'm really enjoying their eclectic selection.) The story is about two close high school friends who meet up more than 15 years later. One of them is now a transexual. It's a very touching and powerful exploration of their personal growth. A particularly tough subject for the general populace and they handled it well. Just wanted to throw that up here while I was thinking of it. Me and the puggy must hit the hay. Rest well all.

A Curious Thing

How does a dog, sleeping two rooms away, hear you bite into bread?

EA Complaint

Electronics Arts' main server has been down since last night and not a word as to what's going on. I'm getting pretty annoyed because the tech support server is still running. They could at least throw up at status blurb. And you can't contact them on the weekends. I couldn't even find a way to send feedback other than a fax number. Says a good deal for our company's customer service department.

Bad Karma

I think I'm a magnet this week. (Either that or I seriously pissed off someone's deity. Maybe it was disagreeing with the Pope?) If you remember the casino story, the car never did start up so I had to get it towed. For a bit over $100 (including the tow), they revealed to me that the engine was flooded. I'm not convinced I buy that explanation, but we'll see how it goes over the next few days.

I drove to work this morning and felt the car pulling to the right a bit. So I took a look at the front end when I arrived and the tire was flat. Grumbling I headed into the office and attempted to boot my computer. Yes, attempted. It froze up on me immediately. Thankfully our techs were able to repair it (Losing a hard drive is a serious pain in the ass), but it took a fair amount of time as the motherboard was shot. Later in the day, after temperatures had cooled down a bit, I went out to change the tire. The spare was almost flat as well. I ran up to the gas station to fill it and the air pump was out of order. Grrrr! To top it off, Samuel J. Pug, my one and only, decided this was a perfect day to bark at anyone and anything randomly. Got home from work and found I'd left the milk sitting on the kitchen counter all day. Tomorrow has got to be better. Rest well all.

Smoking

Corey, I laughed my ass off at that. Someday I've got to do a post about smoking and all my attempts at quitting. The psychological part of the addiction is seriously screwy. You sound so much better this week. Big Hugs.

Dis an Dat

beLIEve!

Interesting post Suz, you got me really thinking about films that affected me in one way or another. (Did you mean OompaLoompas BTW?) So let's take the plunge:

Doctor Doolittle (1967) - For the kids, this is the one with Rex Harrison, not Eddie Murphy and it's the first movie I remember seeing in a theater. I'm sure there were others before that but it's also the first time I permitted to attend a movie alone. It was 1968, (the theater showed second run movies), I had just turned six and was in the first grade. It's hard to believe both the cultural mentality and the danger of meeting a sociopath were so different 30 years ago. (Okay 33, shut up.) I wanted to be a veterinarian for years.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) - I was absolutely entranced by the book and I remember being a little disappointed that the movie script didn't follow a bit more closely. I even had a model of Chitty with wings that popped out when you pulled a lever. This was also one of my introductions to musicals (along with the Wizard of Oz like everyone else with access to television and raised in the United States.) I still remember the number called Toot Sweet where they dance around a candy factory playing confectionary whistles.

You Never Can Tell (1951) - This is a wierd one. I saw this one day after school on Dialing For Dollars, again in the first grade. I'd actually forgotten about Dialing For Dollars until just now. It was an afternoon movie show where they'd roll a big drum of postcards, selecting one at random. People had a few minutes to call the television station and claim their prize. If no one called, the prize increased by 10 to 20 dollars for the next day.

But about the movie...it was a murder mystery. An eccentric milloinaire left all his money to his German Shepherd. Someone kills the dog and he goes to animal heaven. Live film, not animation. He's returned to earth in human form to investigate the murder of his master and himself. For some reason I don't remember , one of the female horses comes back in human form as well to help him.

The best I can say about this film is that I've never seen it on television again, but I still remember it. In fact, my mother thought I was nuts when I talked about it as a teenager. She thought I couldn't possibly remember a film plot that clearly from when I was six. I was finally able to find the title through IMDB by looking up plots with dog and horse. Must have been one damn good movie.

Logan's Run (1976) - This one probably falls in the TMI (too much information) category. (But did that ever stop me? Hell, no!) I loved the story and still do. But primarily, this was the film that made me realize I was undeniably gay and just perhaps I wasn't ill for feeling that way.

There's this one point in the film where Michael York is dialing up females for a date. (You could sort of stick yourself in this stasis/teleporter thingie to be selected as a potential sexual partner.) He chooses one and then decides he's not interested, and she asks him if he prefers men. She's not embarassed to ask, he's not offended even though he's straight. And I remember thinking, I guess it's not such a fucked up state of being as I thought. They put it in a movie. It was the first time it really occurred to me there might be other people that felt the way I did. And then later in the film when Michael York strips down, I nearly fainted. I've had a thing for him ever since.

There are a ton of other films I could bring up, along with television shows. But those are the first that come to mind and stay reasonably on topic of formative films. Honorable mentions go to Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Desk Set (1957), If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)and every horror/monster film from the 50's and 60's.

Thanks Suz. Quite the trip down memory lane for me tonight. How about films that have astounded you in one way or another for the next topic. First picks that come to mind for me are Blade Runner (1982) and The Women (1939). Or maybe telvision shows from your youth? Wild,Wild West and The Avengers are a couple of my favorites. Okay, enough reminiscing. Puggy needs company. Rest well all.

The New Morality

Andy's quote from the Pope, got me started thinking about the bigger picture a few days ago. While I appreciate part of the message the Pope was attempting to send, I believe the statements were far too broad. And the sentence that bothered me in particular was the following:

"A free and virtuous society, which America aspires to be, must reject practices that devalue and violate human life at any stage from conception until natural death."

That single statement poses myriad questions for me.

Who determines what is devaluing and a violation of human life? What are the specific definitions?

If a person, as the victim of a chronic and/or debilatative disease, wishes to end their pain, who's decision is it to make? Why should they be denied an avenue other than suicide?

Why is it immoral to experiment with human tissue, but moral to permit a person to remain comatose for a decade?

Will human drug trials (in which I have personally participated) be judged as devaluing to human life?

Are victims of rape required to carry to term children they didn't wish? Are such situations to be written off as the will of the Almighty? Simply fait accompli.

I'm not liking the answers. I believe the new measures that passed in the House of Representatives banning all human cloning are indicative of a trend that could have serious impact on human life. Although, I'm still having a hearty internal debate with regards to the ethics of cloning for reproductive purposes, the scientific research ban concerns me greatly.

They're still deciding the fate of stem tissue research. And it seems to me that restrictions on experimentation with human tissue of any sort are destined to be next. And then what follows, human trials of any sort? Just what constraints will satisfy our keeprs as enough protection from ourselves?
And I certainly don't doubt the government capable of bending the rules as needed for their own research. Let's just suppose they decided to investigate the possiblitlies of accelerated tissue regeneration for soldiers. Would a few pesky laws stop them?

Anyone remember the Tuskegee Study? 400 black men were denied treatment for syphillis in order to monitor the progression of the disease. (Incidentily, the matter never came to trial. The original class action suit was filed for $1.8 billion. The government settled out of court for $10 million. The defending attorney received nearly a million in legal fees. Nothing odd there, eh?) Where was their regard for the quality of human life then?

These current decisions follow closely the passing in House of the proposed ammendment of the Constitution to prevent the desecration of the American flag. This is the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Although I certainly don't approve of destroying a symbol of our nation, I feel this would be a first step in the qualification of all First Ammendment rights. And it certainly sounds as though the government is attmpting to abridge freedom of speech. What other actions might be deemed as detrimental to the fabric of American society? Speaking out against the President or other government officials? Or perhaps all peaceable assemblies, excepting those that meet government defined standards of morality?

Nope, I really don't like the way this is looking at all.

Car Troubles

My vehicle woes continue. For some reason, my car does not wish to be cooperative in its scheduling of maintenance. I would almost swear it's sulking. I went over to the local casino yesterday evening, and when I made an attempt to leave, the motor wouldn't turn over. (I'm not sure how much of this I already covered, so bear with me if it's repeated info.)

Last week, I had the battery and the coolant thermostat replaced for about $300. (Two separate incidents of course. Why would they both possible go on the same day?) Three or four weeks ago it was the head gasket to the tune of $900+. And the air conditioning compressor has died which means the entire system has to be replaced for $1000. Because it's an older vehicle, it has to be replaced with one of the newer systems by federal law. (I'll live without air conditioning.)

So this morning, my car is stuck in casino parking. The garage incidently has a low clearance, so I have to go over there to help them push it out to an area where they can actually tow it. And naturally, I parked no where near one of the ramps. So I'm thoroughly irritated. I'm going to head over there and say a prayer to the god of all things mechanical that it will start up so I can drive it the dealership, but I'm not holding my breath. Update later.