Withdrawal

As of tonight, I have finally cancelled my cable television service.

I feel naked and nervous.  What if all the computers blow up and the radios die and SOMETHING HAPPENS and I DON’T KNOW?  (gasp!)  But the functional effect on my day to day life will be zero.  I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve watched TV over the past year, at least of my own volition.  I was keeping it around for Jack, and he doesn’t watch it when he’s here either, because we go out places and listen to music, and build things and play video games and board games.  The last time we tried, on a weekend when we were so bored we couldn’t figure out what to do with ourselves, we turned it on and watched for all of ten minutes. Then, as if by unspoken agreement, we glanced at each other and said simultaneously, “Let’s play Spore.”

I was excited about the savings, too-  until Kromcast (who, by the way, will not let you cancel any of their services via their web site, forcing you to navigate their customer service 800 number and wait on hold for 20 minutes instead) informed me that cancelling my cable TV package would result in a $17 per month increase in the cost of my high-speed Internet package, as I was receiving that at a discount for having cable!  This is an out-and-out lie, or at the very least, was never mentioned to me at any time during my acquisition of said package.  Screw them.  I’m still $43 per month ahead of the game.  And if FIOS ever finally meanders its way West of the Rivers, I’ll kick them to the curb so fast their pointy heads will spin.

Battling Entropy

(image by Electric Sheep)

—

Slowly, ever so slowly, I have been restoring all those things that were annihilated in the great wave of destruction following the Death of Magic in the Year of Ruin:

• The bedroom curtains.  (Taken by Faye;  replaced from IKEA.)
• The bedroom alarm clock.  (Taken by Faye;  replaced by sister Iris.)
• The air mattress.  (Taken by Faye;  replaced from Bed, Bath and Beyond.)
• The battery of my car.  (Switched out;  replaced from WarMart)
• The alternator of my car.  (Wore out;  replaced by mechanic.)
• The icicle lights in the kitchen window.  (Burnt out;  replaced from WarMart.)
• The bathoom showerhead.  (Disintegrated;  replaced from Home Despot, by myself.)
• The bathroom shower faucets.  (Rotted away;  replaced from Home Despot, by a plumber.)
• The video card of the computer.  (Incinerated;  Replaced from Dell with a different model.)
• The printer connected to it.  (Committed suicide;  replaced with the one originally intended for Opal’s laptop, which she never uses.)
• The health of my bamboo plant.  (Destroyed by various trips out of state;  replaced by Iris’ repotting, and by patience and water and sunlight.)
• The VCR.  (Went to sleep and never woke up;  replaced by another one that had been sitting in the closet, bought over five years ago and unused.)
• The XBox.  (Red Ring of Death;  replaced with a Wii.)
• The oven mitts.  (Fell apart;  replaced from Chef Central via a gift certificate from Opal.)
• The tea kettle.  (Rusted solid after a waterless heating destroyed the interior coating;  replaced from Chef Central likewise.)
• My Riedel Cabernet Sauvignon wine glass.  (Shattered in my hand while I was thinking evil thoughts; replaced from Chef Central also.)
• The foam weatherstripping above the air conditioner. (Ossified;  replaced from Home Despot.)
• The toaster.  (Fried;  replaced from Bed, Bath and Beyond.)

Some people get upset because they’re not getting ahead.  I’m thrilled just to be getting back to where I was!

Season 2

While there are no trees West of the Rivers to verify so, I must believe that Spring is drawing nigh, merely because odor has suddenly, shockingly returned to the world.  On Morris Street in Sinotown, in the City of Mists, the sidewalks are redolent with the scents of fish and garbage, despite neither being in evidence.  On the buses, riders embark in clouds of cherry cough drop vapor.  In the parking lots of the shopping malls on Route 33, the sweet stink of antifreeze drifts down the wind, dropping drivers to their knees to check the asphalt beneath their engines.

The reeds in the marshes, meanwhile, remain brown.

Memory

If you were a graduating high school senior, would you rather have a video yearbook, or a traditional printed one?

The question assumes, of course, that you would want any kind of yearbook at all, which may be a stretch for you to imagine at this point in your life.  I got one, to be sure:  a traditional printed one, as that was the only option available back then.  I can’t for the life of me now remember why.  I suspect Read the rest of this entry »

On This Date in 1775

…Patrick Henry proclaimed, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

Eventually, of course, he got both.

***

text of Patrick Henry’s speech

Best Quotes of the Weekend

“Dad!  Dad!  Tell them the story about the time you destroyed an entire planet! That was so awesome.”

-Jack, to me, during Taco Party Saturday

***

“Opportunity is fifty percent of dinner.”

-me, to Jack, during a discussion of predator/prey relationships

Milestones II

Congratulations also to my mother Opal, who is celebrating her 74th birthday today, and who under most circumstances is far preferable to have around than the Empress’ cat.

Omen

Cross-posting this because I damn well like it.

If it amuses you, there are more set in the same milieu HERE.

I should really do something about that Omens of Fire section, shouldn’t I?…

Milestones

Congratulations to my son Jack, who on Saturday, after much concerted effort, retrieved the Master Sword in “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” for the very first time.  Proudaya, boy.

Congratulations also to the Empress’s cat Martha (or “Mo”, as she is commonly called,) who is celebrating both her 16th birthday, and the 5th anniversary of being declared by a veterinarian as “having about a month to live”.  So there.