Heh… my geek is showing and I don’t care. Just wanted to check in on Star Wars Day to say hello and update you on the absolute nothing that is going on here in my world. I hope you all have a great Friday and party like a Jedi.
House Guests
He was such a trooper dealing with the pissy antics of Mabel, dealing with living in this dark cave of an apartment, and sleeping on my totally shit-assed couch. Ishtar warmed up to him quickly, although I think that was in part due to his feeding her chicken. Ishtar does warm up to people much faster than grouchy old Mabel does though. He even put up with my messed up moodiness due to “aunt flo” and the pneumonia. The pneumonia is pretty much gone, but the coughing lingers and I still sound like I’ve been a smoker since the age of 6. I don’t know if I’d call it a “sexy husky voice” though.
I was sad to see him go. But at the same time, I’ve lived alone for so long, having my space to myself is nice. Eating popcorn for dinner without someone asking me, “is that all you’re eating?” is a relief. And I have to admit, as soon as he was gone, I turned off the beacons. Yes, I am a mole person who lives in a dark cave. All that light… ugh… What is wrong with you, Jim?!?! 
Miss you!!
Sick Girl is Sick
I'm dyin' ova' here!
Ugh… Last Thursday I had a bit of a scratchy throat and a sniffly nose. I didn’t think much of it. I got home and laid on the couch with tea and NyQuil. The next day I was hacking and felt like ass. By Saturday I had a temperature and I was a mess.
Sunday was all about not moving from the couch. Luckily I had HBO for free last weekend and I got to watch a marathon of Game of Thrones all day. Just when I thought I was getting better the cough took hold and would not let go. I was forced to go to a doctor. I went to the “Take Care Clinic” in Walgreens. Their nurse practitioner, Tiffany, was incredibly nice and very sympathetic each time I hacked up a piece of lung. I had a 100 degree fever and didn’t even realize it.
Turns out I have pneumonia. So, you all better steer clear until these antibiotics kick in and start kicking bacterial pneumonia ass. I’m hoping that I can get some sleep these next couple of days because I’m tired of being exhausted and not getting to sleep for all the hacking of this stupid cough. I had pneumonia the beginning of my senior year of high school. I was out for, I think it was 2 weeks. I had been working at Wright’s Barnyard (an arcade & mini-golf place in town, now long closed and forgotten) and I was coughing like crazy, but I was all dressed and ready to go to work.
My mom said, “where do you think you’re going?”
“I have to work,” I told her.
“You’re not going anywhere.” She called them and told them that I was too sick to go anywhere. The next day was a visit to the doctor, with x-rays of my lungs and a diagnosis. This was followed by lots of soup and not being comfortable at all in bed as I hacked and coughed.
Popsicles, cough drops, and water are my best friends. I’ve been consuming all three like they’re going out of style. Lying down makes it impossible to breathe and sitting up makes it impossible to fall asleep. When I do sleep, I wake up moments later covered in sweat, my body shaking from the cough.
I hope you are all healthy and happy, enjoying great weather and being outdoors doing awesome stuff. I will be lying on my couch half asleep and half watching this marathon of How It’s Made.
Give and take
We hear a lot about the power of giving. How great it feels to give of ourselves, to serve others, to help other people. The warm fuzzies you feel inside when you’ve done a good deed or practiced a random act of kindness are really pretty amazing. It is a great feeling to reach out and help other people. It’s kind of empowering knowing you’ve made a difference for someone. But what about the other side of that scenario?
How often have you allowed other people to help you?
Think about it, how would you feel if you reached out to help someone and they said, “No thanks, I got it. I’m okay.” You can see that they clearly need help but their sense of pride is getting in the way of your good deed. Would you create a story in your head about how ungrateful that person is or would you tell others what a fool he was to not accept your help? The last time someone offered to do something for you, did you tell them no? What was your reason? How did you feel when you said no to that person?
How would it feel if you opened yourself up to receive?
I challenge you to be open to accepting the help of others. It may feel humbling at first, it may feel “wrong” in some way like you can’t accept. Practice saying thank you right now. If you don’t open your heart to the wonders of the universe, all that goodness can’t come in. For every good deed you do, be open to accepting the good deed that another person wants to do for you. Start saying, “Yes, thank you,” to the people around you. Take “no” out of your vocabulary and see what amazing things can start to unfold for you. Most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. If you are uncomfortable asking other people, start by asking God. Say a prayer to your higher power and ask. The Powers That Be can’t help you if you don’t ask. You’d be amazed at how wonderful it feels when you let go of that pride and let other people help you. Being open to receiving really brings your awareness to the good that is in this world. It shows you how much you are loved. If you want proof that you are not alone ask for help and open yourself up to receiving. You don’t have to face everything alone, there are people out there who want to help you and they want to show you how much they care.
Is it time for you to stop being strong and lean on others?
Let’s talk TV
I’ve recently come to appreciate the ABC comedy Happy Endings. The show takes place in Chicago, but clearly is not filmed here. I saw a comment on Get Glue last night that described the show as “Friends with ADHD.” After last night’s episode, I have to agree. They’re all over the place, but in a fun way. I find myself liking this show way more than I had expected I ever would. Damon Wayans Jr. is a genius, everything he does/says is funny. Elisha Cuthbert is getting better with her comedy, last season she was so stiff and just, unfunny. I would find myself questioning why I was watching the show at all whenever she was on screen. If you’re not watching, give it a try. It’s on Thursday nights after Modern Family. If you want some episode recaps or reviews I always recommend TV critic Alan Sepinwall. He’s got good taste in television and does very thorough recaps of shows. You can read his recap/review of this week’s show here.
Another show I’m intrigued with is Awake on NBC. LA cop Mike Britten (played by Jason Isaacs) is in a car accident and is torn between two realities, one in which his wife survived the crash and his son died, the other in which the opposite is true. As Britten says, “I’m awake with my wife, I close my eyes, and I’m awake with my son.” In order to keep things straight, he wears a red rubber band on his wrist when he’s with his wife and a green one when he’s with his son. He is investigating completely different cases with different partners in each reality and he’s also seeing two different therapists. Both therapists insist that they are the real one. Only one episode has aired so far, but I like it. I like the “what’s real?” type of story. They’re doing this very well, they have planted some things along the way making you think one reality is clearly a dream and then they pop in something to make you guess again. BD Wong is the therapist he is seeing in the wife reality, it’s good to see him back on TV. I’ve got some theories about what’s going on, but I’ll wait to see what they throw our way as this season unfolds. All I can do is hope I don’t get sucked in just to learn they’ve canceled the show. I’m rather skittish with getting my hopes up for this one since they delayed the premiere for so long and made the first episode widely available online before they aired it. That worries me, making me think they don’t have faith that it will get the viewers it needs to keep going.
The last show that I’ve been seeking out is Lost Girl on Syfy. It’s in its third season up in Canada. It’s a supernatural crime drama in which the lead character, Bo, is a succubus. She learns in the first episode what she is and is forced to choose a side. Naturally, there are light Fae and dark Fae, but Bo wont choose a side, she wants to stay neutral. Who wouldn’t want to stay neutral when entering a world creatures with super powers you can’t even begin to understand? Last thing you want is to find out you’ve picked the wrong side. Bo has an awesome side-kick named Kenzi who has been getting by in life as a scam-artist. The chemistry between the two main characters is a lot of fun to watch and I love how Kenzi changes her hair in practically every scene. I’m still trying to figure out what her real hair looks like, since every hairstyle she has looks like a wig. This is such a fun show and I’m really enjoying it. I’m just glad that Syfy is airing the original Canadian show, rather than a remake. It just seems like so many networks want to redo the original for the American audience. When they do that they lose something and the show just falls flat and that is always disappointing. Knowing it’s got three seasons already makes me happy. I just hope Syfy airs them all.
What shows are you watching? Have you seen any of these? What do you think? Tell me in the comments, I’d love to hear your opinion!
