July 5, 2006

• News and Notes

  

  
  

  Another Self Imposed Hiatus/ How I Spent My Long Holiday

  
  

  I haven't posted since last Saturday, and I probably won't post much for the remainder of this week. I will list the Internet Island entries at the top of the blogpage, as they appear. I haven't even visited the topic entries for the Internet Island yet, and haven't been visiting too many blogs for the past week. Sometimes I just get a bit burned out, and this is what is happening now. I didn't get that many comments on the past few entries, and since I'm not actively commenting, I don't really expect to get comments anyway, but I never want my blog to seem "too" stagnant. Usually after I've spent a lot of time building a website, like I just did with "Clowns", I tend to spend less time on the internet altogether. I don't like to say "I'm taking a vacation from Xanga" or "I'm on hiatus." I could very well post back to back entries, it all depends upon what I feel like doing. The entry you are reading is being composed on Wednesday morning, at work, before anyone gets here. I hope to get some time this morning to visit a few sites, specifically the Internet Island topic posts. But first, I'll write a bit about what has been going on in my life.

  
  

  I didn't really "celebrate" the holiday but I did get a nice surprise this past Friday (June 30). My employer let us have both Monday and the 4th off work, so I just completed a four day holiay. I also got two paychecks, my regular salary, and a duplicate "bonus" check. I had just borrowed $500.00 a few weeks ago to pay for my auto insurance, so I needed the money. I can't pay back the entire $500.00 yet, just a $100.00 increment, and I'm still having money worries, but I'm cutting way back on expenses, and trying to keep on top of my credit card debt.

  
  

  On Friday night, I drove Liz into Hollywood, and we attended the Independent Shakespeare Company's production of "As You Like It" presented outside under the stars at Barnsdall Art Park. Liz really enjoyed the play, which she had never seen. "As You Like It" is probably my favorite Shakespeare comedy, and I saw a Shakespeare in the Park production back when I was in college. I love to watch movies, but it is always worth noting that 'the play's the thing' and when you mix the Bard's words with excellent acting, and this troupe was excellent for sure, there is no movie that matches the experience of seeing a well produced play. The production was quite sparse, with very few props. The troupe is presenting both "As You Like It" and "Hamlet" in repertory, so we'll probably go out to see "Hamlet" in a few weeks.

  
  

  Saturday I purchased a couple of DVD box sets of episodes of the old "Adventures of Superman" show from back when I was a kid. I used some of my bonus money. Each box set was $34.00 and has five discs. The first season, from 1951-53, is in black and white. I skipped the second season and bought the third and fourth, which feature color episodes, from 1955-56. I loved these shows as a child, and the acting and presentation is still quite good. There are some scratches on the old footage, but for older television series, the quality is pretty good. The color shows really stand out. I'm gearing up for the new "Superman Returns" movie, which came out last week.

  
  

  On Sunday, Liz came over and we went to lunch at El Torito and then watched "The Devil Wears Prada" which came out this past weekend. Although I probably would have rather seen "Superman Returns", Liz was interested in "Devil" when we first saw the previews, and it was pretty funny. I'd give it a 7 or 10 on the Mikeometer. I do believe Meryl Streep is actually getting better as she gets older.

  
  

  Monday and Tuesday I watched Tivo'd movies and rented DVD's, with the fan going strong in my media room, in an attempt to beat the heat. It got pretty hot in the Southland over the long weekend. I recorded four of the Anthony Mann westerns from the 50s with Jimmy Stewart off of Turner Classic Movies, and I rented the first three discs of HBO's second season of "Deadwood". I'm on a "western" kick it would seem. I partied a bit with my roommate Joel last night, but didn't stay up late enough to see any fireworks. I was in bed by 8pm.

  
  

  So I went out on a couple of days, and stayed home on the others, but all in all I had a nice long weekend. It's been quite hectic at work, and our production manager is taking the rest of the week off, so work will be busy. I still didn't get some things from last week accomplished, so my plate is full. I was talking with my immediate supervisor last week about the fact that I have so much vacation time owed me. I may just start taking days off at will, perhaps start taking three day weekends, so that I can get rid of some of this vacation time. I haven't taken a real vacation in three years. Liz and I had planned on going to Monterey on my birthday but when she broke her leg, that put a damper on a lot of our plans.

  
  

  At 8:45am this morning I have another doctor's appointment. I've been seeing the doc because of the pain I had in my neck area, which turned out to be arthritis. The doc has been giving me neck massages when I see him. I'm not on any drugs,  but I bought a "cervical pillow" on which to sleep, which has an indentation for my head and is made out of "memory foam" to keep it's shape. I've had less pain in the past two weeks, so hopefully I  can stop going to the doctor for a while after this visit, since I seem to be suffering no pain in the neck like earlier in the year.

  
  

  

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