The Tao of D. Adams

'This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays..." - Arthur Dent, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hooray, it's Monday!

Mondays are always tough, but coming back to work after a long holiday weekend is even harder. Especially when your holiday weekend consisted of running hither and yon to visit people, running long overdue errands, doing long overdue housework, getting your proverbial ass shot off at paintball for the first time ever, driving 8 hours to pick up your kid from her other parent, dropping in on another group's rapier practice and getting stabbed more than is reasonably justified, etc. All in all, a fun, frustrating, frenzied, fantastic, f**ked up four days. And the next couple of weekends, while shorter, are looking to be just as brutal. I'm developing a love/hate relationship with weekends. I mean, its great to be off work and all, but when your weekend activities require more effort than your job does... well, at least it keeps life from getting boring, right? 'Cause boredom is so much worse than aching joints, bruises, sore muscles and bone-deep exhaustion. Sure it is.

On a different note, I'd like to say thank you to all those people who hosted us, visited us, shot us, stabbed us, were stabbed by us and otherwise made our holiday weekend memorable in a variety of ways. You guys (and girls) rock!

Happy Turkey Massacre Day

Hope everyone had good food, good company, and plenty of time to sleep it all off. While I may not agree with the common grade school concept of happy, cartoonish Native Americans and Pilgrims breaking bread together and everyone living happily ever after, I do agree with the concept of expressing gratitude. So, to the Great Earth Mother and Father Sky I give my deepest thanks for the bounty They offer. To those persons who have offered support and friendship to us over the years, I offer my sincere respect and well-wishes. You are truly appreciated. May you have plenty of reasons to be grateful not only on Thanksgiving Day, but all year 'round.

Good TV, Bad TV

I don't generally watch a lot of tv anymore. The reasons are many, but it all boils down to two things: lack of time and lack of quality shows. Reality tv has reduced most channels to clearinghouses of retarded drek that cater exclusively to the lowest common denominator of society (Hello, Billy Joe Lowbrow) . As a result, we tend to go out and buy (on DVD or iTunes) the shining gems that are actually worth watching. Recently, it's been Babylon 5. We're just about done with the first season and it amazes me how intricate and well-constructed the storyline is. They cleverly plant the seeds in Season One for things that will shake the foundations of the Universe in Season Five. Now that's good tv! Some other small screen diamonds are Firefly and the Dresden Files. Both shows were excellent and yet were doomed to cancellation after only one season. Apparently, they weren't dumbed down enough for the unwashed masses. A couple of series that I haven't really managed to get into yet are the new Battlestar Galactica and Heroes. I wanted to like the new BG, but memories of the original series got in the way. As for Heroes, it's more a time issue. I might snag the first season on iTunes and watch it that way. It sounds intriguing.

through the grey

This morning I woke up to a day of unrealized light. My first look outside revealed iron clouds hovering low over barren trees that wept for the loss of the sun. A world shrouded in melancholy that waited patiently for me to leave the secure confines of my home so that it could absorb me into its unmitigated bleakness. It is a place I know well, though, and I don't fear it. The bitter tears falling from the trees make a subtle symphony to my ears. The iron clouds reveal patterns of great beauty to those who take the time to look. A grey dawn, but not one devoid of promise. After all, our lives can't be all sunshine and bright colors. It's mornings like this that make the sun more welcome, the blooming flowers more vivid. Not only that, but it gives us a chance to dwell on feelings too fragile to survive the harsh glare of the sun and perhaps too frightening to call up in the full darkness of night. Wrapped up in the dim cocoon of sheltering half-light, however, we are free to cross over into realms that must otherwise remain hidden. Of course, given a choice I'd rather crawl back into bed and sleep for a few more hours.

Smile... you're screwed!

I'm home from work today. The reason? My youngest tripped on a rug at school Monday and chipped a tooth. A permanent tooth, not a baby tooth, of course. So, today is her first visit to a dentist for something serious. We just got back, actually. She did remarkably well, for her age. I'm very proud of her for that. Not so happy that it had to be done in the first place. I've informed her that this should be a lesson to her to not be so careless in the future. Maybe it will sink in, maybe it won't. But, that isn't the part that really bites my butt. What makes me feel like I've dropped the soap in a bad prison movie is the conversation that I had with the school this morning. Keep in mind that I haven't actually talked to the main man in charge of "risk management" for the school system (he was at a conference until Monday), so maybe I'm ranting needlessly here, but according to his assistant (or whoever she was), the school doesn't have any liability for such things unless they were "negligent" in some way. So basically, what they are telling me so far is that I am required by law to put my child in their care for 8 hours a day and they take no responsibility for her safety and welfare. Hmmmm.... what's wrong with this picture? While she's in *my* care, I'm certainly held responsible for any little thing that might cause her harm. I mean, Gods forbid that I let her so much as get a suspicious bruise. But the government, who insist that I turn her over to them as surrogate "parents", refuses to be held to the same standard. Her tooth was chipped while in their care, regardless of how or why it happened. But can we expect any accountability on their part? Most likely not. And these are the people that are supposed to be such fine examples of honor and responsibility to my child? Now don't get me wrong. Teaching her such things is something that falls more on me than anyone else. I accept that. But in taking on the role of mentors, if even partially, the system should freely accept the burden that such a role implies. But they don't. Instead, they employ blood-sucking laywers to weasel them out of having to have anything remotely resembling honor. The sad thing is that our society not only encourages, but admires and emulates such behavior. We consider it a worthwhile skill to be able to successfully push blame onto others. How sad.

We call it home

Behold, the insignificance of Man! Our whole world is but a tiny blue marble floating through the infinite darkness of space.

http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=071113-earth-rise-02.jpg&cap=Earth-rise%3A+In+the+image%2C+made+from+a+moving+image+taken+onboard+the+Kaguya+spacecraft%2C+a+region+of+the+moon%27s+surface+near+its+north+pole+is+shown.+The+Arabian+Peninsula+and+Indian+Ocean+can+be+observed+on+the+Earth.+Credit%3A+JAXA%2FNHK

(sorry for the massive link)