Random Bits from Facebook
March 2:
"Witcher" thoughts:
Dementia is off in Idaho for a few days, so I bingeing the first season of "The Witcher" to see if it is any better once I have an investment in the characters and a map of the timeline in my head, and it definitely IS. This doesn't excuse the show-runner's incredibly stupid decision to tell a story that was already complicated and had too many characters as multiple parallel threads with no exposition to differentiate between them.
As an example: The first episode of the show featured two different story lines with no apparent cross connection. There were two pairs of half-clues which, if connected, would tell the REALLY careful watcher that the two threads were separated by something like 50 years.
That is, there were two minor points in each of the threads that, if connected with the single matching point in the other thread, would tell you how the two threads were related. If you missed half of a pair, you were out of luck.
I have come to like the characters, and have become interested in the story, mostly on the strength of the second season, and that made the rewatch of the first season worthwhile. But WOW was the basic storytelling awful in the first season.
March 5:
The Law of Surprise:
I have now watched all 16 extant episodes of "The Witcher" in four days. I am glad I did so. There is a great deal of good material here, in spite of the deranged anti-structure of the first season narrative.
The most original bit in the series was the "Law of Surprise", which goes like this: "You owe me something, and I will let fate decide my payment: I claim something you already own, but are ignorant of." This essentially allows Destiny, or Fate (which are regarded as real things, even though the world is essentially atheistic) to make the choice. In the series, we are told of this being invoked twice, and in both cases the payment is a child.
There is some serious insanity at play here. Apparently this practice is common knowledge, and respected by nearly everyone. Really? "Let's invite Fate to MESS with us," is a common practice? I kind of love the idea, but at the same time, it is SO crazy...
(Dementia points out that this is pretty much the way I live my entire life; she has accused me of "worshiping Serendipity" on more than one occasion. And she's probably right.)
March 6:
40 years ago today, I worked a midnight shift, then met my friend Don for breakfast. He talked me into following him to Sabbath School, which happened to be taught by a pretty redhead whom I subsequently almost married. Afterwards, I went home and got some sleep. That evening, my family threw me an early birthday party, and my brother Pete gave me a Warner Brothers Tasmanian Devil with the note, : "This is for your car."
The critter was christened, "Grishnakh", and he dutifully took up residence in my '71 Chevelle (the first car I ever owned). Over the years, he has migrated from there to the '74 Mustang, the '76 Celica, the '82 Civic, the '88 Civic, the '86 S10, the '93 Wrangler, the 2000 Caravan, and now the '08 Sienna. Along the way he has acquired a reputation as a stoner (due to spending a significant percentage of his life face down on the floor of his home), a hat, a shirt, a name tag, a pipe, and a couple of room mates. He only comes into the house when his home is in the shop, and on special occasions.
Like his 40th birthday.
Here's to you, Grish. Open roads, fair winds, and calm seas.
March 6:
Once again, wakes are usually pretty good parties if you can deal with the fact that the Guest of Honor is, you know, dead.
(Nancy Carlson Merritt, January 07, 1927 - February 28, 2022)
March 7:
Life in my household:
Dementia: Well, tomorrow is your birthday, so that's basically a Sunday, but with more mail, and Wednesday will be a Thursday, and Thursday will be a Wednesday, and then Friday things will finally be back to normal.
Hyena: That was an amazingly sanity-optional sentence.
(Hyena freely admits that he knew exactly what she was talking about, but it was still very strange to hear it all said out loud...)
March 8:
It happens that I was born in the waning hours of International Women's Day. I have never known quite what to make of that. In any case, in honor of that, I offer a short quiz about women who were so impressive they were kind of scary.
1) This living American woman was the undisputed world champion of her male-dominated sport for three different years. :: Shirley Muldowney, NHRA Top Fuel Champion
2) This English Dowager Queen transported a literal king's ransom across Europe, guarding it with her prestige, when it was determined that the job could not be done by force of arms. :: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen to England's King Henry II, and mother of kings Richard I and John
3) This rags-to-riches Empress famously said, "Imperial Purple makes the best shroud." :: Theodora, Empress to Justinian I of Byzantium
4) Libby won it first, but Susan won it four times, and became an Alaska state hero. Name the race. :: Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and the women are Libby Riddles and Susan Butcher
Answers will be provided, eventually. (I will edit this post with answers sometime tomorrow.)(Answers have been added to the questions, above.)
March 9:
Boxcar Birthday:
Every year, I try to come up with some moderately clever way to state the number. My favorites include "one card short of a deck" (51) and "sixth tetrahedral" (56). Last year was "50, base 13." This year I had nothing, until my brother Pete reminded me of the gambler's description of rolling double sixes on the dice: Boxcars. So there is that.
As has been my habit for quite a while, I went through all of the birthday wishes on Facebook and "liked" them, and also took a moment for each to think about the poster, and the source, duration, and nature of our relationship. These all cover VERY broad ranges, but there is one common element: I am very grateful for all of you. Thank you for your birthday wishes, and for being my friends.
March 12:
One With the Universe:
No thank you.
Really.
There are many people, some of my best friends among them, for whom an eventual dissolution into a warm, loving cosmic whole sounds wonderful. I am not one of them. I think that this sounds like Hell.
I am myself, and I will fight for that to the best of my ability, as long as there is a "me" to fight for.
This statement has been triggered by an article on the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, which identified "dissolution of ego" as a key point in the use of such drugs for depression. Which is to say, I am not in the least interested: I am pretty much guaranteed to have a very, very bad trip. (Hell, I have pretty bad "loss of self" bummers from ALCOHOL, which is why I almost never have more than one drink in a day.) Such is life.
"Witcher" thoughts:
Dementia is off in Idaho for a few days, so I bingeing the first season of "The Witcher" to see if it is any better once I have an investment in the characters and a map of the timeline in my head, and it definitely IS. This doesn't excuse the show-runner's incredibly stupid decision to tell a story that was already complicated and had too many characters as multiple parallel threads with no exposition to differentiate between them.
As an example: The first episode of the show featured two different story lines with no apparent cross connection. There were two pairs of half-clues which, if connected, would tell the REALLY careful watcher that the two threads were separated by something like 50 years.
That is, there were two minor points in each of the threads that, if connected with the single matching point in the other thread, would tell you how the two threads were related. If you missed half of a pair, you were out of luck.
I have come to like the characters, and have become interested in the story, mostly on the strength of the second season, and that made the rewatch of the first season worthwhile. But WOW was the basic storytelling awful in the first season.
March 5:
The Law of Surprise:
I have now watched all 16 extant episodes of "The Witcher" in four days. I am glad I did so. There is a great deal of good material here, in spite of the deranged anti-structure of the first season narrative.
The most original bit in the series was the "Law of Surprise", which goes like this: "You owe me something, and I will let fate decide my payment: I claim something you already own, but are ignorant of." This essentially allows Destiny, or Fate (which are regarded as real things, even though the world is essentially atheistic) to make the choice. In the series, we are told of this being invoked twice, and in both cases the payment is a child.
There is some serious insanity at play here. Apparently this practice is common knowledge, and respected by nearly everyone. Really? "Let's invite Fate to MESS with us," is a common practice? I kind of love the idea, but at the same time, it is SO crazy...
(Dementia points out that this is pretty much the way I live my entire life; she has accused me of "worshiping Serendipity" on more than one occasion. And she's probably right.)
March 6:
40 years ago today, I worked a midnight shift, then met my friend Don for breakfast. He talked me into following him to Sabbath School, which happened to be taught by a pretty redhead whom I subsequently almost married. Afterwards, I went home and got some sleep. That evening, my family threw me an early birthday party, and my brother Pete gave me a Warner Brothers Tasmanian Devil with the note, : "This is for your car."
The critter was christened, "Grishnakh", and he dutifully took up residence in my '71 Chevelle (the first car I ever owned). Over the years, he has migrated from there to the '74 Mustang, the '76 Celica, the '82 Civic, the '88 Civic, the '86 S10, the '93 Wrangler, the 2000 Caravan, and now the '08 Sienna. Along the way he has acquired a reputation as a stoner (due to spending a significant percentage of his life face down on the floor of his home), a hat, a shirt, a name tag, a pipe, and a couple of room mates. He only comes into the house when his home is in the shop, and on special occasions.
Like his 40th birthday.
Here's to you, Grish. Open roads, fair winds, and calm seas.
March 6:
Once again, wakes are usually pretty good parties if you can deal with the fact that the Guest of Honor is, you know, dead.
(Nancy Carlson Merritt, January 07, 1927 - February 28, 2022)
March 7:
Life in my household:
Dementia: Well, tomorrow is your birthday, so that's basically a Sunday, but with more mail, and Wednesday will be a Thursday, and Thursday will be a Wednesday, and then Friday things will finally be back to normal.
Hyena: That was an amazingly sanity-optional sentence.
(Hyena freely admits that he knew exactly what she was talking about, but it was still very strange to hear it all said out loud...)
March 8:
It happens that I was born in the waning hours of International Women's Day. I have never known quite what to make of that. In any case, in honor of that, I offer a short quiz about women who were so impressive they were kind of scary.
1) This living American woman was the undisputed world champion of her male-dominated sport for three different years. :: Shirley Muldowney, NHRA Top Fuel Champion
2) This English Dowager Queen transported a literal king's ransom across Europe, guarding it with her prestige, when it was determined that the job could not be done by force of arms. :: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen to England's King Henry II, and mother of kings Richard I and John
3) This rags-to-riches Empress famously said, "Imperial Purple makes the best shroud." :: Theodora, Empress to Justinian I of Byzantium
4) Libby won it first, but Susan won it four times, and became an Alaska state hero. Name the race. :: Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and the women are Libby Riddles and Susan Butcher
Answers will be provided, eventually. (I will edit this post with answers sometime tomorrow.)(Answers have been added to the questions, above.)
March 9:
Boxcar Birthday:
Every year, I try to come up with some moderately clever way to state the number. My favorites include "one card short of a deck" (51) and "sixth tetrahedral" (56). Last year was "50, base 13." This year I had nothing, until my brother Pete reminded me of the gambler's description of rolling double sixes on the dice: Boxcars. So there is that.
As has been my habit for quite a while, I went through all of the birthday wishes on Facebook and "liked" them, and also took a moment for each to think about the poster, and the source, duration, and nature of our relationship. These all cover VERY broad ranges, but there is one common element: I am very grateful for all of you. Thank you for your birthday wishes, and for being my friends.
March 12:
One With the Universe:
No thank you.
Really.
There are many people, some of my best friends among them, for whom an eventual dissolution into a warm, loving cosmic whole sounds wonderful. I am not one of them. I think that this sounds like Hell.
I am myself, and I will fight for that to the best of my ability, as long as there is a "me" to fight for.
This statement has been triggered by an article on the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs, which identified "dissolution of ego" as a key point in the use of such drugs for depression. Which is to say, I am not in the least interested: I am pretty much guaranteed to have a very, very bad trip. (Hell, I have pretty bad "loss of self" bummers from ALCOHOL, which is why I almost never have more than one drink in a day.) Such is life.