'Tis Music All About the Land

Sorry about the delay in posting, folks. Still recovering a bit from my ear infection, although that has been greatly decreased and just also a wee bit swamped at work, too. Work is really getting the better of me, honestly, and a vacation is going to have to come soon or I risk severe burn-out later. I've also been working on a few projects here around the house as well, prepping for summer and all...a few art projects here, a few household repair things there, the odd plant purchase or two...those kinds of mundane things I figure few want to read about.

---

That said, I'll make a quick post to the 'entertainment updates' of this blog:

This upcoming Friday, May 30th, it's a win-win for the locals around here looking in two different varieties of music. Choose your poison: catchy, albeit slightly offbeat and poignant piano-driven charmers or a more rock-infused Celtic band with a slightly PG-13(+) song list.

The more known act (so far), the simply wonderful Ben Folds (and former resident of the area), is breezing through for a one-night-only stand over at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. He got a rather nice mention in the local papers, but admittedly as a long-time fan who has not followed his personal life as much as his professional one, I found myself a bit dismayed that he's already on marriage number four and is now again residing in Nashville. I had clearly been under the impression that marriage number three, fatherhood, and a long-distance move to Adelaide (this is Australia) had done the witty pianomeister good...very good even. Sadly, very sadly even, not to be. Dear Ben's not that much older than me...and I can't help but wonder what dismissive songs about marriage, breakup, and divorce are just waiting to be penned from his creative inkwell. A biting, sarcastic, but very thoughtful inkwell. I have no doubt the constant challenges he has faced personally continues to make him the great, and at times very brutally honest, artist that he is professionally. For the uninitiated, that fact alone makes seeing Ben a 'must do' item. Seeing him in the intimate Koka Booth setting is an added plus.

If there is one thing, however, I have learned from all of my Ben following it is this: never presume to know his next move or his current sentiment, for both will surprise you. His hit list is nothing short of unconventional material...songs about going with a girlfriend to her abortion, to angry declarations of war against ex-lovers still holding his possessions, to solemn promises of eternal father loyalty to his newborn children. It's never been about the music so much...which is quite fabulously good in its own right...but more about the message that music is carrying. And Ben, God love him, lives to tinker with that message as much as he can. Two of my all-time fave songs from Ben are "Battle of Who Could Care Less", and "Jesusland" (do a search on YouTube for the videos, as embedding of such is not available for these songs; the links above go to LyricsMania for the song lyrics).

Tickets are $35 for the general seats at Koka and the show is scheduled to begin at 8pm. Considering this is Cary and the Koka Booth with its sometimes poorly organized parking detail, I'd be there by no later than 6:30pm, though.

The second option for the evening is my new good friends, My Three Kilts, down from Goldsboro way. In some sort of six degrees of local bands who play The Pogues covers, I found about these lads one night while attending a Hercules Mulligan show. My beloved Hercs, (who have reconstituted their lineup since the winter and now are composed of Chris King, Dave Cauthorn and new fiddler Lisa Wolff), were on the same schedule with them somewhere and the WR and I stayed around to give them a listen (and drink the beer), I think off Dave Cauthorn's strong recommendation. Impressed we were with that first go around, we caught them again at the recent Tir Na Nog's raucous St. Patty's Day celebrations. Since then, they've become my second favourite local Celtic-based band (sorry, guys, but I believe in the being-true-to-your-school thing and the Hercs still come first, nothing personal). I'm still searching, though, for the proper adjective description for them: they are a bit more 'plugged in' than the Hercs, and they are more rock-infused versus the strong bluegrass background of Dave with HM. And although the dear WR may disagree with me on this, I still contend that MTK bassist Scott reminds me of Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick...in a very good way.

Both HM and MTK do some of the same songs (but that's a rule de naturale with most Irish bar bands, frankly), but hearing the differences in approach can be very interesting. Just like the Hercs, MTK has an excellent rapport with the audience and their enthusiasm is contagious. Good guys, this Scott, Rob and Shane. For those who can make the trip down to the metropolis of Goldsboro (and you know you want to), they are playing at The Flying Shamrock also on Friday, but their show starts at 9pm. (For those that can't make it to Goldsboro, they play again at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh on June 27th at 7pm. Likewise, my long-beloved Hercs play again there on June 13th, also starting at 7pm.)

(Editor note, May 31: Highly recommend The Flying Shamrock in Goldsboro. Good food, excellent staff, more 'fresh-tasting' beer even, enthusiastic crowd. Well worth the trip and gas expense.)

Slowly, ever so slowly, a Raleigh-based Celtic 'scene' emerges...LOL.

And, finally, next week on June 2 and 3, for those of you who have far more money/less hangups about the ticket price than me, The Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, SC, officially opens with great anticipated fanfare. Ideally, when I first heard about it, it sounded like a helluva outing: 2 fabulous bands breaking in the joint, and then the ticket price also included theme park admission, parking, some 'opening weekend' souvenirs, that kind of thing. Considering I've not had a vacation yet this year (other than an odd single day or two) and haven't been to the beach in awhile, it sounded like a really good deal for a bit...until I saw the price tag, excluding my gas, food and hotel expense. For one ticket, friends, which you cannot break down to see just one band on one night, nor just see the bands and skip the park is...drum roll, please...$284+. Again, that's not counting travel, food, or lodging expense.

Now I do love The Eagles...a tremendously influential and wonderful band, of whom I am the owner of several of their albums. And long-time friends will admit I've been a lover of The Moody Blues since my teens...20 years after they started hitting the scene, if you're keeping score...so much to the point that one of their signature lyrics doubled as my quote in my senior yearbook. I'm really not doubting the value of the bands themselves...but, as a longtime fan of both, I also have a good 'working idea' of what each is worth in the current market. I recently shilled out $85 to go see Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band in Greensboro and that was, essentially, a general admission (bleed) seat...and unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that even the mighty Bruce & Co did not sell out the Coliseum (especially in the upper tiers). Something a little less than Bruce...The Boss is always my barometer in these things...for each of these bands would have given me pause to consider. I've seen The Moody Blues several times, albeit being one of the younger audience members generally, and have adored The Eagles for more years than I care to recall (their "Hotel California" is still the unofficial air-guitar, air-drums, and air-bass song of my former reservations employer). In short, this is not/should not be a hard sell and has a mass audience potential.

However, when you throw in the mandatory theme park cost...not so much me (being afraid of heights and all as I am, that sort of greatly reduces the truly 'fun' ones for the adults)...and then the other 'opening weekend' razzmatazz: I can take it or leave it. And frankly, 'being first' anyplace for anything really screams against my basic nature. Then when you throw in a minimum $60 for a round-trip tank of gas from here and a night's lodging in Myrtle...it freakishly soon teeters on a month's rent allotment. So 'left it' is where the idea has come and died, unfortunately. Clearly, I'm not the only one having some buyer's anxiety out there: as I write this, about only a week out from the shows, lots of tickets are still available. Word to Hard Rock Park: don't give people ticket shock before you even develop your customer base. In case you've missed it, there's a recession going on and you just might want to take that into consideration when pricing your entertainment.

A great idea for an opening, albeit very poorly executed given the current (and very anxious) economic climate I fear. If someone does go to the opening gala, I'd be interested in hearing from you about the crowd and an overall review. In the meantime, though, I'll just have to content myself with playing my air drums while I drive...listening to the "Greatest Hits" CD.

Spectra Gadget for the News Junkies

Call it a residual effect of being out for work two days this last pay period with the ear infection, but I did some 'more than usual' amount of surfing out on the Web. I came across a lot of useless stuff to be certain (some of which was readable, some even enjoyable in its time-wasting way), but some of what I found was some damn cool stuff. At least to me, anyway.

So, as time allows and also as a way to keep myself more devoted to actually posting all of the little things I jot down somewhere and then forget to include here, I'll now be throwing in these 'gadget and misc item finds' from now on. I hope you enjoy and, more importantly, I hope you can use.

---

Our first nomination of a gadget is for my fellow news junkies, who perhaps want something more than a scroll of updated info on the bottom of your favourite news provider. This one comes from the fine folks over at MSNBC, who (like their parent company, NBC Universal/GE) have suddenly taken to providing more 'net and blog friendly' material to their viewers with a profound gusto. First, it was changing their policy to now allowing viewers and bloggers alike to imbed videos from their sites and/or programs, complete with code...something I was able to take full advantage of when posting recently with my "Saturday Night Live" and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" video uplinks.

Now, there is Spectra: a visual newsreader (still in beta) that allows you to choose your 'channels' of interest first, and then from those channels, headlines from those channels are then presented to you (a la a colourful mobile-like circular hover) for your glance.


Spectra, ©2008, MSNBC

Should you want to just read the headline and not the story that supports it, fine...go on to the next story and your next 'headline' filters on down for viewing. Otherwise you can choose to click on the intriguing headline for a full reading there and then or save it for the News Collector. Should you choose the latter of the News Collector, you'll just get the stories you saved to investigate and read further and/or later as time allows. Business, sports, international, gossip, personal finance, health, etc...a pretty vast area of subject areas are available as channels to choose from. Sweet little gadget to me...then again I also like to visually stimulated a lot, too.

Memorial Concert for Eve Carson, May 18

A memorial concert for the recently slain UNC Student Body President, Eve Carson, will be held tomorrow night over in Raleigh at a local favourite concert hall, The Lincoln Theatre. Minimum (ticket) donation is $10.



The "Hark The Sound" (name taken from UNC's oldest alma mater fight song) Concert Benefiting The Eve Carson Memorial Fund will start at 4pm on Sunday, May 18, 2008. Performers include The Jealousy Game, Aloretta, Jonas Sees in Color, Hey Euphony, Joe Grizzley, and Left on Cates. Doors open at 3:30pm, with plenty of municipal parking available across the street and also in the nearby Moore Park parking deck.

The supremely gifted and hard-working Ms. Carson would have graduated with honors last week from UNC-Chapel Hill. The investigation into her death (which is still under wraps to some degree, with even local press being denied access to see the search warrants issued by police) has been linked to the earlier murder of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato. Additionally, the two men charged with her killing (one of which is a 17-year-old) were on probation and should have been in jail for violations of such at the time of her March 5 murder. Further details about the judicial breakdown can be found here...at least one suspect now states that he had not been contacted by his probation officer for more than a year, even though he was on probation for gun and break-in charges. WRAL (the local CBS affiliate in Raleigh) also has prepared a quick synopsis of the events following the tragic deaths of both students.

Ms. Carson's loss still resonates within this small, but essentially University-dominated, city. It has shaken our security, but not our resolve to see the (many) errors within the NC Justice System corrected so another set of family and friends...another community...does not have to endure this horror again. What's been revealed so far about the breakdown and handling of these suspects and their previous crimes and/or probations, though, is very very troubling. And beyond disturbing. And crying out for a desperate need for reform in our system.

Rest in peace, Eve, rest in peace. Prayers to your family and friends continue.

God Bless Our Freedom of Speech...and Especially Keith's

Love him or hate him, but Keith Olbermann from MSNBC's "Countdown" last night just took President Bush to the woodshed for some of our Dear President's latest comments. And this "Special Comment" was nothing short of u-g-l-y. Can't say I've ever seen Mr. Olbermann come as close to yelling at the camera as he did last night.

Even if you think Olbermann's a bit of a left-wing nut (which I don't), even if you think he's a showboat (which he occasionally is, but that generally occurs when he's talking sports...which should be forgiven as he was a sports anchor and reporter for a few decades or so), even if you think he speaks too high-falutin' for this country (which is a crime against the populace how again?), you have to give the man his props: he's on a nationally-televised news program with millions of viewers and he's a proud American, albeit one who is angry as hell...and he's not afraid to say it or hide it anymore. And like all proud Americans (should), he understands and uses his right to free speech as often as he can.

Just when I think we're all being lulled to a slow asphyxiation of the brain and spirit, Mr. Olbermann strikes back with one of these gems...

One word, Mr. Olbermann: Bravo!


Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment" from May 14, 2008. ©MSNBC, 2008.

If you'd like to read the transcript to this "Special Comment", The Huffington Post has it here, below the video embed.

By All Means, Please, Let the Machinations Begin...

As the winding, roller coaster Presidential campaign swerves headlong again this week, we are now entering a "Twilight Zone" kind of quasi-drama that even my most ardent of political science professors would have found perverse. The once-mighty Hillary Clinton camp is infected and watched like a contagion with a death wish...a wish that wants at all costs, mind you, to right a wrong done against it...and, as a result, there exists a new groundswell of those critics already finding ways to dissect the same candidate and her campaign. The Hillary politic, if you will, has not been even declared officially dead, yet the vultures not only have arrived, but are already picking away at some of the more tender parts on the failing frame. One week on, and I'm already sick of hearing and watching about it.

Politics has always been a ruthless and bloody sport, for certain. However, even though I did not vote for Senator Clinton and strongly disapprove of some of her campaign tactics, I've never been a proponent of being a 'standover man (woman)' of fresh roadkill. Perhaps I'm far too naive for this political world, or perhaps I've greatly underestimated the absolute hate some people harbour toward Senator Clinton (and her husband, too). Either way, beating someone's reputation down as some sort of sport is beyond nauseating to me. I know, I know...the old adage about words never cutting as brutally as a blade...but, really now, is drawing blood the only sign of a 'victor' these days? Perhaps I at least should learn to shield my eyes, if I cannot be shielded by someone else's sense of decency. Lost should not mean the same thing as beaten, even today.

Some writers, like the wonderful John Heilemann in "New York" magazine, do a nice work-up of the 'whys' of the Clinton campaign implosion and even offers up some answers to the numerous 'what ifs' that now dog the it's-all-over-now-Baby-Blue analysis. And...shock...he doesn't resort to an attack on either candidate in his final summation. I'm all for decency and equal treatment in this campaign, but Lord I just wish there was more of it to be found. Mr. Heilemann's article seems to be the exception, unfortunately, and not the rule. I especially have noticed this contrast in popular analysis since last week's primaries.

Clearly, it is open season now and the media smells blood. Even "Saturday Night Live", which just recently got rolled over the coals for a not-so-subtle apparent endorsement of Senator Clinton, did an about-face this weekend and turned in this stinging parody of why Hill's still in (which would have been far funnier, frankly, if so much of it were not so true). Ouch.

"Saturday Night Live" from May 10, 2008. "Message from Hillary Clinton" ®NBC Universal/GE 2008.

Friends, this is ugly stage. And unfortunately for those of us who want practically anyone other than Senator John McCain as the next leader of this land, I fear it will become uglier. After all, we've developed quite the appetite for this kind of 'succeed or you will be crushed' kind of spectacle from our politicians, from our sports heroes, from our celebrities, even from our competitors at work. Turning on Senator Clinton now...despite her numerous and high-profile flaws and successes...says so much more about us as a questionable society than any of her hateful attacks will be remembered for. (Editor's note, May 24: Well, maybe not...after these mind-boggling comments made by Senator Clinton about the late Robert F. Kennedy yesterday. Honestly, these are the type of comments that makes some of Hillary's 'non-believers' question her mental and emotional competence.)

There is an almost breathless and galloping desire, and perhaps an intentionally painful one, to take aim and (hopefully) slay all in the Clinton camp and its campaign She-Beast once and for all...or at least for this Presidential bid. Like an angry and rabid animal tainted with a poison it cannot expel, the media coverage of this candidacy's last gasps is one of sadness, awe, and prolonged anxiety. Something akin to the conjoined Siamese twins taken around tent shows at the beginning of the last century, heralded 'as being human but also not'... simultaneously. When will it end?, they ask. How will she go?, others counter. And, perhaps the question most likely to remain unspoken...how much damage has her campaign done or...(with a raised eyebrow worthy of the best second-rate off-Broadway hack)...how much does it still have left to do?? No withdrawal will be quick enough, no criticism strong enough, no departure graceful enough for our 'press'. At a moment when the media could attempt to stand above the fray and focus on the campaign and issues to come, instead they salivate at the potential threat (hope?) of a Democratic political knife attack. Again, I have no particular love for Senator Clinton, but this media mess harks back a little too close to the contests of the Roman Games for my liking. The more we make it into a cage match, the less it ends up being democracy. Or even anything close.

Media perversity aside, the pressing issue now is not if or when Senator Obama will become the Democratic nominee for President, but rather how (and how badly) the Clinton campaign goes down with the ship...and if she takes Obama and the Party down with her. If she does hang on for dear life, though, blame not Hillary for all of this drama...we Democratic voters, the primary state and national officials, the press, and those affiliated within the Party up and down the line, have created, allowed, and cheered on this all-out pandering circus. Delegate loopholes, legal challenges, racial and sexual and financial baiting, 'bitter' rurals, 'hard-working whites', ad nauseum...you name it, it will be exploited because it's the American way to challenge and bend the rules as we see fit, and especially so during an election year. 'Winner takes all' and all that bullshit. The fact that we look like materialistic, egotistical, trigger-happy, and holier-than-thou buffoons to the rest of the world be damned. This behaviour is what we will be remembered for, no matter who eventually occupies The White House.

And it is also precisely this same behaviour for which we should be, and will be, ashamed.

Approach at Your Own Risk

Sorry, folks, but I feel like crap. And I have for a few days.

In typical 'me' fashion, I don't just get slightly run down, don't get just slightly under the weather. Oh, no...I go for records. Records of ear-splitting pain, mind-numbing headaches, ever-ending chills and fever. Records for being a total bitch to those who have disregarded my 'bark' and come a'callin' anyway to interrupt my solitude and attempts to recover.

I've not been able to hear out of my right ear since early Thursday morning and even though I've been on three separate drugs and ear drops since Thursday afternoon, I can't really say I've seen a great improvement so far. I hurt too much to do anything really...the ear just throbs...and I'm held up in a house that has too much to do in it: planting and weeding in the garden, re-staining the coffee table, doing some tile work on the kitchen table, painting the bathroom walls, getting caught up on some work-related reading. Hell, watching TV seems like too much work right now for the ears. If I don't get any better by tomorrow, I'm seeing someone else as a follow-up (as current doc says only other option is go to the E.R. and have the ear looked at that there, which, of course, my insurance will not cover). The bad news is I think it's trying to be 'social' and now include the left ear, too, in its party. Joy.

Unfortunately, though, I chose the absolute worst weekend to drop out, for my phone and email have been in use pretty constantly despite my pause. And, yesterday, I reached my limit and one poor soul called and got me at my worst when I barked back at them. I'm sorry, it was not deserved. I just simply do not do sick well.

Yes, I missed a Going Away Party at work for two employees...I know, and I am sorry. Yes, I sold my ticket to the Rowdy Fryends show in Greensboro for Friday night...but I'm sure the recipient had a good time. Yes, I missed yesterday's Haw River Festival down in Bynum...and I'm sorry I couldn't enjoy the wonderful weather for it, either. I'm sure I'm missing something today or tomorrow, too, but it can't be helped right now. Please forgive, good people.

Friends and loved ones: I don't miss these things because I'm tired or 'like one more than the other' necessarily (in fact, I tend to go even when I'm overtired, frankly), but instead I missed these things because my body is strongly...very strongly...advising me to take some time off and get well. I appreciate I was missed, I really do; but I also appreciate some peace and quiet when I'm trying to get well. Believe it or not, I am not trying to be a bitch here, I just need some space...and when I do, the limited social filters I do have are some of the first things that get turned off. Not intentional, just automatic.

Needless to say, I am not the Fairy Godmother of Goodness and Light now.

VOTE!!!...For the Sake of the Future Course

I have updates to post later this evening, but I'm already late this morning getting away from the humble abode.

---

IT'S TIME TO VOTE, PEOPLE!!!
I DON'T CARE WHO YOU VOTE FOR, BUT VOTE!!!

It's that day again, people, when we elect someone else to make our future decisions. Choose soberly, choose informed, and choose wisely. But go to the polls and choose.

I spent sometime reading up on the local candidates and finally made a decision on whom I like in a couple of races. Don't know how tight the County Commissioners race here will be, but I do suspect the Democratic Primary for Governor could be close...that campaign has been testy and nasty and just damn mean as of late.

Considering where I've moved to, my actual voting opportunities are greatly reduced as we don't have a lot of positions up for grabs in this primary. However, if I still lived over in Durham that would be much different, as they finally get around to voting for a permanent replacement to fill the District Attorney seat once held by the infamous Mike Nifong. God bless Durham County...they so need to get that stage behind them somehow and start making some PR progress once more.

Even though I'm registered now as Unaffiliated/Independent (can't remember how they call it here), I am thrilled that so many people are finally taking elections and the whole voting process seriously. The numbers of new voters being registered (especially among the Democratic ranks) these days are quite inspiring. I'm sure that almost all of that comes on the heels of the Democratic Presidential campaign between Senators Obama and Clinton. I'm hopeful...as I am prone to be in times like these, especially as Senator McCain's declaration to stay in Iraq frightens the hell out of me for this country's future...that no matter who eventually gets the nomination in that race, that all of the loser's new voters do not turn away their support for the eventual chosen candidate. And certainly not from voting altogether. We'll see.

Obviously, if Senator Obama loses tonight here (as he's already in a close race in Indiana that's a virtual tie), his campaign is in trouble and his 'new ideas' momentum shifted for something far more 'old school' Clintonesque. Senator Obama's views play very well here, in a state with a lot of urban professionals that have come from other areas of the country to follow good jobs. Well-educated, articulate, and forward-thinking African-American black men are very common in the universities, industries, and suburbs here, but he also inspires and 'shows a way' to minorities still seeking the American Dream. He has three major Achilles' heels...inexperience on the world stage and in national politics, the apparent inability to get the votes of some white groups (such as Catholics and middle-aged and older women), and the fact that some in this state (and is this country) will not vote for a black man, period. But, should be win tonight, he'll draw blood from at least one of these demons. Senator Obama draws on the 'idealist vibe' that marked the civil rights movement (which had many milestones within this state) and the hopeful enthusiasm about the good of government not seen since President Kennedy in the 1960s. Untested hope versus experienced combat, if you will. Win or lose, though, Senator Obama will continue on...although the rest of the campaign will become bloody as the infamous non-counted delegate issue from Michigan and Florida will come front and center.

And if Senator Clinton loses tonight here (as she is predicted to do by about 15 points or so, per The Drudge Report this morning, but polls are infamously wrong here), her campaign is in trouble and the young voters (especially young women, whom she has not won over here), African-Americans, and educated professionals will lead the charge. We are a very divided state when it comes to Senator Clinton...and, yes, how she courted/bashed Senator Obama about 'the black vote' in her campaign will be a major issue in her loss and/or defeat tonight. Prior to this campaign, Senator Clinton could have easily counted on the black vote, and with help of her husband, could have counted on the vote from white women. At least in this part of the state, some cities are practically all liberal-leaning, too. Unfortunately, that has changed, and further disappointing to Democratic voters here is the fact that it's Hillary running and not the former President. No matter what the outcome of all this, some enterprising Bob Woodward-type will write a fascinating book about how Senator Clinton overplayed her hand...even though she held a full house. Dissecting her campaign's decisions will, in itself, become a cottage industry. Win or lose, though, Senator Clinton will continue on...although the rest of the campaign will become bloody as the infamous non-counted delegate issue from Michigan and Florida will come front and center.

If Senator Obama wins, this mess continues as Senator Clinton will keep fighting.

If Senator Clinton wins, this mess continues as Senator Obama will keep fighting.

This primary here and in Indiana settles nothing...both sides have now become so damn entrenched against the other...but how the candidates react to the voters' decisions will help forge the future path of the Democratic party, and of the country we call home itself. Especially as we see what mess the current President has left behind for us to reverse and solve.

Hope is more powerful...any day...than fighting. And I am simply done with all the fighting. These are trying times for us all, and continued and further division amongst us will get us nowhere. I know what we've done and what we are doing at present...let us try doing something new and see what happens.

Call me a romantic idealist, but I'm voting for Senator Obama.

TGIF...and how I've needed it

FINALLY!

The weeks that were are finally over, and I'm home for the weekend in a desperate search of some R&R. True, I still have a PowerPoint to break out and make on Sunday for work, but at least now I can see some light at the end of the tunnel (and I can also determine it's not an oncoming train)!!

Tonight is simply about vegging out somewhere at the house being lazy, although I may also do some budget workup for this upcoming week. (I am making significant progress on paying off any remaining debts and I will only have my monthly expenses and my college loans at the end of this year. A bit behind schedule, I admit, from previous promises...this is what happens when one starts also handling some expenses from parents...but still ahead a bit of being debt-free in about three years. All the hard work and penny pinching is starting to pay off...literally.)

Hell, with any luck tonight, I may even get around to watching my beloved "Rome" episodes from Season 2. Some days, I swear, I absolutely love my Netflix subscription, especially now as gas to and from the movies...let alone the shows themselves...would be out of my budget otherwise. Movies are my solace sometimes when I just can't deal with people anymore in the day. Or deal with them any more this week, as it is with my case right now.

("Rome", by the way, is an absolute must-see for any historical movie/TV buffs out there...I only wish it had more than two seasons in its catalog. The acting, directing, cinematography, set and costume design...absolutely top-notch quality and dedication to their respective crafts. And I've become new fans of Kevin McKidd...an excellent Scottish actor who you may know from the cult classic "Trainspotting" of all films, the super talented Irish-born thespian Ray Stevenson, and the supremely gifted and beautiful Polly Walker because of this wonderful series. Thank God they're rumoured to making a movie from the show, but for us "Rome" fans, that premiere simply cannot come soon enough.)

Tomorrow...and don't laugh when you read this next part...is all about watercolour painting 'for stress reduction' in the morning and creating my new garden area in the afternoon. I'm curious to see how the watercolours will go, as that is one area of painting where I've always felt the most impatient...and also had the least success as a result. It may be stress enhancing rather than stress reducing, but I'll go in there with a positive mind still the same. By the time I get through with the garden (a new project that I'm going at with gusto now that the farm here can actually lend some space to my dreams) tomorrow night, I should practically be in a Zen-like state of inner peace and calm.

And then on Sunday, it's back to that damn PowerPoint.

But not until then. Not until then, dammit.

A day or two of peace is all I ask, folks, that's really all I wish for now.