November 2022 Monthly Entry
After last month's entry, the autumn rain finally came with a vengeance, putting to rest all that nice sunny weather we had. It rained off and on throughout the rest of October. Up to now, it has mostly been sunny. The temperatures have dropped more, going to freezing at night time. We had a dusting of snow over a week ago, but it wasn't anything of note, and it didn't affect the whole Lower Mainland. There are a lot of trees that haven't gone completely bare yet, but a lot of the bright colours of autumn are pretty much gone around town, the leaves going to dark red and brown.
This November 18-20 weekend is the Knights 42nd Anniversary. I've recently found out from the President of the Jet Chapter that none of them are attending this year outside of Eugene from Spokane. It'll be great to see him again after our bunking together back in San Jose last summer. But I don't know why no one from Seattle -outside of Eugene- is coming up as I view it as a perfect extension to their 50th Anniversary celebration. In any case, I'll try to post about the weekend before my trip to Madison/New Glarus, WI on November 24-27. I cannot wait for some good Thanksgiving cooking from Michael & Donovan again!
As I feared, the rain and cold temperatures have now caused the floors at Montecito to be covered in fine dirt tracked in every day. This has made my job more difficult and I'm working ten minutes to half an hour into my break time a night. The computer lab is all of a sudden getting used most days now, costing me extra time. I don't know what to do as I've exhausted ways to do things differently and try to buy more time, but it isn't working. A major contributor are the vacuuming of the rugs. I don't know why teachers feel this need to have them and force me to vacuum them every night as they waste my time. I'm currently having to lug my heavy and awkward vacuum cleaner downstairs to clean the music room's rug, and then carry it all back up again because my foreman hasn't replaced the second vacuum cleaner he took. On a positive note, my washrooms have been pretty good. The girls washroom hasn't had any new graffiti for about a month now, and the boys washroom hasn't had many new shenanigans like in the past. I hope it continues to stay that way.
Slowly it seems I'm getting a little more control of my diabetes. I've had to increase my Metformin from one pill to two, still taken two times a day. But it seems to be kicking in as my readings are showing within normal range more often than before. The Empagliflozin has caused me one foreskin infection since my Palm Springs trip. I couldn't clean under my foreskin much during my trip which gave the bacteria ample time to grow. I was still able to pull my foreskin back and clean underneath thoroughly while showering. It took me about a week to stop the infection from spreading and getting discomforting. Last week Monday I had a 90-minute phone consultation with a diabetes specialist who worked with me to know my daily schedule and what foods I typically eat. For the most part, she is happy that a lot of what I eat usually has protein in it and that I drink water the majority of the time. While my mom's soups are heavy in the carbs department (potatoes and macaroni/noodles), they do contain a lot of veggies and protein. I do need to get more sleep and I always agree to that, but it is hard to put it into practice except on weekends. My biggest issue right now is the Freestyle Libre monitoring system - I like it, but it is way too damn expensive! It costs $100 for 14 days of monitoring! The government doesn't help supplement it and I don't know if Pacific Blue Cross can help with the costs. I can't do this forever and will talk to my doctor next month about this.
As soon as I got back home from my Palm Springs trip on Halloween night, I put on the Rocky Horror Picture Show as I was unpacking my luggage (which included my leathers LOL!). This year I saw the alternative B&W opening.
Flying from Palm Springs to Calgary on Halloween I watched one of my favourite childhood movies on the WestJet app: Pee-wee's Big Adventure. I originally saw it on VHS in 1986 or 87 but not in the summer of 1985 when it was released in theatres. My siblings and I, especially my older brother, were big fans of comedian Paul Reubens' Pee-wee Herman in the 80s. We grew up watching his show Pee-wee's Playhouse and while I'd argue it hasn't aged well to watch as an adult these days on the one hand, his first movie has aged very well on the other. Tim Burton made his first full-length directorial debut with this film and would go on to make Beetlejuice and Batman. Danny Elfman scored the film and it is one of my favourite film soundtracks. The film starts with Pee-wee Herman owning a heavily accessorized bicycle that he treasures and that his neighbor and enemy, Francis Buxton (played by Mark Holton), covets. Dottie, an employee at a bike shop, has a crush on Pee-wee, but he does not reciprocate. Pee-wee's bike is stolen while he is shopping at a mall, but the police tell Pee-wee they cannot help him find it. Pee-wee assumes Francis took it, and confronts him, but Francis' father convinces Pee-wee that Francis was at home when the bike was stolen. He then visits a psychic who, spying a bargain basement across the street, tells Pee-wee that his bike is in the basement of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio. From there, Pee-wee begins his big adventure. What makes this film very hilarious is how dark it is when compared to Pee-wee's Playhouse. My siblings and I could see this when watching the film. It felt like a version of Pee-wee that was for older kids. Instead of the bright and cheery Pee-wee we were used to, this film made him out to be at times obsessive, threatening, and selfish. The scene when Pee-wee confronts Francis at his mansion is a great example of this film's dark comedy. Speaking of Francis, Mark Holton would go on 18 years later to portray serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Gacy. Anyways, there are so many memorable scenes and lines that I never forgot. I don't remember the last time I watched the movie in full, possibly in my late-teens and seeing it on TV on and off in my young adult years. There are some hot bearish characters in the film: Andy; played by the late-actor/wrestler John Harris, and some of the "Satan's Helpers" bikers were woofy also. I should buy this film on Blu-Ray someday.
To see James Rolfe's quick review of the film, go here or below:
Click to viewI'm near mid-way through the first BioShock game in the Collection and I want to get it done before the end of the month. I'll likely play the second game in early December. I did a couple episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and a handful of Sailor Moon episodes too.
Last Movie: Spider-Man: No Way Home (Theatrical), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (In-flight)
Last Book: The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - The Screwtape Letters
Last Game: Resident Evil - Code: Veronica X (Xbox 360 - XBLA)
Current Book: The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - Miracles
Current Games: BioShock: The Collection (Xbox One) & Mega Man V (3DS Virtual Console - GB)