It Needs The Bookses, Precious

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had started a book.

As of July 30, 2009, I have officially read a book! The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was frickin AWESOME!!! By far the best book I have ever read. Course, it's the only book I've ever read, but that's beside the point. If the rest of the books I read are half that good, I'll be doing just fine.

I had been doing about a chapter a day. Once I started, there was only like one day that went by that I didn't read at least a couple pages. I got down to the last four chapters last night, and I went ravenous; I couldn't stop myself.

*SPOILER ALERT* Just in case you haven't read it, don't read any more of this post! Instead, go get a copy for yourself and do yourself the favor of reading it.

I fully expected Professor de la Paz to die at some point. I figured he wouldn't make it back from Earthside. I was caught off-guard when he did die. I wish Mannie and Wyoh could talk to Mike, though. I am sad for them both.

*sigh*

Like I said before, I really get into movies. When I watch a good movie, I deliberately place myself in it. Not like an extra character or anything; more like watching a movie from the camera lens, but in the world with the characters. I never thought I had the imagination to actually create that world in my mind from the description of words on a page, but with Mistress it played out in my head as if I had watched it on a screen.

I want more.

So, at lunch today, I will be slipping over to Border's for the Baen edition of Monster Hunter International.

And I can't wait.



tweaker

Third Leg

Mind out of the gutters, guys. I'm talking about one of these:


No, I do not have anything quite so fancy. I spent $15 on one at the local pharmacy. I figured at that price when it doesn't work I'm not out much money.

Well, now I'm pissed. Because it works.

Why a cane, do you ask? Well, be cause I have a pair of fabulously trashed knees. Actually, it's my kneecaps that are screwed up, and have been for nearly all of my life. A combination of them never getting treated until I was 28 and years of trying to compensate for the pain has left my knees and a few muscles in my legs in shambles. The last fabulous incident involved the left knee, and the event was described in detail about a year ago (it's been that long?). Like the Democrats said before the last presidential election, it's time to punish the right.

Sometimes, the pain only shows up at the end of a long day on my feet. Other times, I don't make it much past lunch before I'm having Vicodin Wishes and Demerol Dreams. There are some days where getting out of bed rates up there childbirth. Okay ladies, maybe I'm exaggerating that last one a bit. But I did have a client recently tell me that having her knees repeatedly drained after her ACL repair hurt worse than giving birth. I'm just sayin...

For a little while, I've longed for a means of taking the pain away without chemical assistance. Then, I saw a guy with a cane and thought that might work. So I tried it, and it did. Which sucks. See, the drugs were a sort of a crutch (one that I use in only the most severe circumstances). The cane is sort of a crutch, too. What I want is for my damned knees to not hurt. Anyway, so walking with the cane takes some of the weight of a full step off the knee and thus makes each step a lot less painful, making it easier for me to get through a full day. So I've accepted the cane, hopefully only for a little while...

Having said that, it seems that I've accepted a great deal of other stuff, as well. I've accepted that I only have one hand if I'm walking with the cane. Think that's easy? Go to a restaurant where you have to carry a tray of food from the register to your table. I've accepted that people will constantly be offering to help, which will begin to depress if one is not careful. I've accepted that I have one more step to consider should I need to draw a firearm (drop the cane from strong hand). I also have most reluctantly accepted the fact that I'm appear now an easier target, limping around on my cane.

(I'm not suggesting that I actually AM an easier target. I'm still only thirty. There are plenty of guys on canes out there that appear significantly less able to resist an attack than someone who's walking along unassisted. I almost feel sorry for the bastard that makes that assumption on Peter, though...)

I have a new respect for anyone who walks with a cane or worse. I've had to do crutches before, but that's always "until it heals." The cane sucks nearly completely, but for now it is a necessary evil.

I'm going to talk to my orthopedic next week if I can get an appointment. I think it's high time we started discussing other options...



tweaker

Movies That Made Us Cool*

(Alternate title: Movies That Made Us Cool #1, since I'm kinda hoping this is the first in a series of perhaps weekly posts. I need blogfodder!)

I watch a LOT of movies. Always have. When I was a kid with a VCR, I would sit and watch movies over and over again, so entertained that I didn't realize I was cultivating the mind of a master of Movie Line Trivia. Some of those movies I saw so many times that I think it may have warped shaped my young mind into the man you know today. Those movies of my youth, of many of our youths, are what made us so totally cool like we are now.

Today's movie is brought to you by one of the funniest movies I saw as a child. I say as a child, because this movie originally hit theaters in 1984. Now, being born in 1979 I would not have been old enough to see this at that time, but the ensuing popularity of the recently crowned winner of Format War I allowed me to check it out on VHS a couple years later.



Today's Movie That Made Us Cool is Ghostbusters. I was around six years old when I first saw it, and thanks in large part to my brother's twisted sense of humor, I was able to appreciate the grown-up comedy even then. Course, when I was six if someone said "SHIT!" on TV I laughed for hours. The line I still use most? Anytime someone points out an eminent catastrophic bad thing: "Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon."

I have many fond memories of Brandon and I watching that movie until we nearly wore the tape out. Hell, we probably did. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he or my parents still had the VHS copy floating around somewhere.

Funny, this one. It just came out a couple weeks ago on Blu-Ray. I never did buy it or the sequel on DVD. I bought it on Blu-Ray, though, and I've watched it with my six-year-old daughter three times already. Looks like this Movie That Made Us Cool may make her cool, too:)





tweaker

Drought

Wow. Blow the dust off this thing, would you? It's amazing it still works...

I haven't spent the time I used to here. I used to actually take notes of things or send myself emails to remember stuff that was good blogging material. Now, it seems, like so many other things, that I have added one more thing I don't make time for.

I have been experiencing one of life's many transitions. Lately, I've begun to think of life as a series of comings-of-age, where every so often a change occurs that makes you reflect on how you "used to be," or "used to do things." This, for me, is one of those times.

I've been reflecting on how I dealt with things not long ago, like the stresses of work or family life, and realizing that some of my approaches were not the most productive. So, in a lot of ways, I've been trying knew things; new ways of dealing with stuff. It's not that the old ways were necessarily ineffective. But I am always looking for a better way.

Take now, for instance. A few months back, I decided that maybe I should read a book. Any of you who know me well know that is a major occurance - nigh cause for evaluation - for me. See, I don't read books. Sure, I read blogs, the occasional comic, or what have you, but books? Not me. Not ever. Has only happened once in my life. Yes, I bullshitted my way through every book report I ever wrote (and passed with flying colors on most of them, a testament to the true value of a public education in Mississippi).

Well, in true Tweaker fashion, that thought took months to cultivate into actual action, and likely never would have if my brother hadn't brought me a little present on his recent vacation to Texas with his family. Brandon is a reader. I don't mean a bit of a reader. I mean dude reads every written word he can get his hands on. Brandon friggin READS. So naturally, when I expressed some interest in a book, his gears started grinding, and I am now thoroughly entranced in My First Real Book.

I am reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Anson Heinlein. I have enjoyed every page I've passed, and eagerly awaited the page after it.

"So go scrub."
"Yes, sir, Captain. Uh, I don't need help to scrub my back... but Ill leave the door up so we can talk. Just for company, no invitation implied."
"Suit yourself. I've seen a woman."
"What a thrill that must have been for her."

That line right there got people at the public pool staring at me as I was laughing out loud.

I have actually caught myself wishing I could be home reading it more than once. Today was a prime example, as I collectively spent about 2.5 hrs. driving.) In fact, I'm having that urge now.

So I'm going to go read. Chapter Six won't read itself, you know.



tweaker