Musings

I had my fourth consecutive day of headaches today.  That usually doesn't happen.  I'm feeling good right now, though, so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day.

I haven't watched any of my Christmas movies yet.  I need to do that soon.  Only a week left.  It's not Christmas until Hans falls off the Nakatomi building.

The supply chain issues are bewildering to me.  Not the fact that they're happening--I predicted that as soon as the first lockdowns were announced--but rather the timing of them.  I thought this stuff would have manifested much sooner.

I've learned that different kinds of wood react differently to my efforts to plane them.  Pine works well.  Whitewood, not so much.  If I try planing whitewood, then I inevitably end up with gouges wherever knots appear.  The wood near the knot simply prefers to break away rather than be cut.  I suppose this is why furniture and stuff is usually made from trees like walnut and cherry.

It's been just over thirty years since the historic rock concert in Moscow just a month after the August Coup.  And that was just a few months after the Gulf War concluded.  It's kind of crazy thinking back to that time.  I'd go back in a heartbeat, though.  Technological advances notwithstanding, everything was better back then.

This will probably be my last blog post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas, everyone!  :)

Year's winding down

...and I'll be glad when it's over.  Can I get 2019 back?  Pretty please?

The good news is that I've stayed ahead of my seasonal chores to a lot better degree than usual.  Christmas shopping, leaf removal, and so on.  I'm pleased with my accomplishments in that regard.

The bad news is that I haven't written much at all.  I really need to give myself a good kick in the pants about this.

The other good news is that some of my health issues have resolved over the last few months.

The other bad news is that I've fallen out of the exercise habit yet again.

The other other good news is that I don't think global hostilities will break out until after the February Olympics, so we've got a couple of months of peace, or so I'm betting.

The other other bad news is that I fully expect a major war to break out some time next year, probably in late summer, but possibly earlier.

So there we are.

In any event, I hope you all are doing well and living satisfying lives, and I hope you have a great Christmas/Hanukkah/whatever season.  Make sure to get together with family and/or friends at some point, because that's the sort of thing that can keep you sane in a world that is doing its best to drive you batty.

And read a book at some point.  Preferably one of mine.  ;)

All presents wrapped

Got the last of my Christmas gifts wrapped.  This is crazy.  I've never finished this particular chore this early in the season.  It's not even Thanksgiving yet.

Glad to have it out of the way, though.

A tale of two adaptations

I've seen Dune, and it was good.  I thought it was a very faithful adaptation of the book.

I have not seen any of the Wheel of Time series, nor do I have any plans to watch it.  From what I've read on the internet, it takes way too many liberties with the source material including altering the basic plot of the entire series.  *smh*

One of these things will go down in history as a fine piece of art.  The other, not so much.

The lesson, as always, is to stay faithful to the book.  If a book is adapted for a movie, it's because the book is popular in a big way.  It's the height of hubris for some movie-producer guy to think that he can do better than the author at telling that author's story, especially when the book has already proven its worth in the marketplace by selling millions of copies.

This sort of thing should be the easiest slam-dunk in the history of money-making.  A popular book already has a built-in fan base.  Just give those preexisting fans what they want and rake in the cash.  It's as simple as that.  If you do right by the book fans, then they'll shout your movie's praises from the rooftops, and word of mouth (or internet) will work its magic, and you'll have a box office smash.

103 years

Lest we forget.

 

First present wrapped

I've wrapped the first Christmas gift of the season.  It's insanely early to be doing this, but with half the nation's imports currently languishing on container ships with no off-loading in sight, I felt the need to get this stuff done as quickly as possible.

I suspect many people will wait until the last minute to do their Christmas shopping.  It's an easy thing to procrastinate.  And I suspect many of those folks will be unable to purchase what they want.  Or if they can, then the delivery will be well after December 25th.

I further suspect that there will be more fights at stores than usual.

It promises to be an exciting and interesting holiday season.  :/

Braves win!

Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves, 2021 World Series Champions.

Their last World Series title came in 1995.  In each instance, the Braves won the series four games to two and pitched a shutout in the sixth game.

Way to go, fellas.  :D