Mary

Just watched Josh's old "gay pride" edition of "First Contact." The VHS rainbows were impressive and distracting, but kind of funny. Old school.

But I am left with a question: how long has Star Trek been about commies, and given the commies, how did it ever become popular back when it did? Have I asked this question before? Anyway, I am still baffled.

I guess this may explain why nobody at Northrop Grumman had heard of the Borg, and therefore didn't know what I was talking about when I said we should make our counter measure system learn and adapt like the Borg and was all like, "You will be assimilated."

In other news, I like the idea of a future without money. Which I guess is good, considering I am about to be unemployed.

That was only because you hadn't seen "The Clone Wars".

It gives bad a whole new meaning.

I did enjoy the drag queen hutt though. Almost made that 10 minutes of the movie worth while.

I think this confirms my suspicion that the original three movies were only good by accident.

A representative from TDS (our phone/internet provider) just called. She wanted to tell me about a great new deal they are offering for bundled phone, internet, and dish TV.

Her: "Now first of all, and you still a TDS customer for phone and internet."
Me: "Yes."
Her: "And then for TV you probably have cable or something right?"
Me: "I don't have a TV."
Her: (pause... this obviously does not compute) "You don't have a TV at all?"
Me: (starting to get cheerful) "I don't have a TV at all."
Her: (longer pause this time, the script is clearly failing her) "Well... thank you for being a TDS customer and have a nice night... ?"
Me: (very cheerful by now) "Have a nice night."

Okay, so I suppose I could plug cable or dish TV into the projector, but I don't want to. Even if it was free, it would take a new episode of Doctor Who to get me to plug it in. I think that's why I love best about the projector... not the big screen or the fact that it doesn't take up any space... but just the right to honestly say, "I don't have a TV." I love being such a weirdo, I really really do.

Josh got us some old Doctor Who off Netflix.  And this doctor, not only a far cry from our current hottie, is also played by the same actor who played Puddleglum the Marshwiggle in the BBC's "Silver Chair."  I'm not sure I can think of a fictional character who is more completely opposite than The Doctor... at least The Doctor I know.  Puddleglum is always grumpy, always sees the worst in everything and everyone, hates traveling, hates adventure, is always sure things will turn out for the worst, and so forth.  It's hard to see anything of The Doctor when I am seeing even the slightest hint of Puddleglum.  We'll see how it goes...

I just rendered 2 lbs of tofu for later use. Pressed it, cubed it, and froze it. According to "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" it is good that way. Apparently, since the water expands when it freezes, it forces itself out of the tofu and you get, like, super-pressed tofu. We shall see. Also, it seems actually pretty good plain and raw. I have not had plain and raw tofu since my mom was on her tofu kick sometime well before I was in high school. I remember not liking it plain and raw at the time, but the little bits that broke off today and I ate were pretty good. Maybe my tastes have changed. Or maybe the difference could be buying the expensive ($2/lb) organic tofu. And for a final thought on tofu of the day, I have always known that you are supposed to press* tofu before cooking it to get the water out. I assumed I learned this from my mom, but when I was on the phone with her over the weekend and asked her if she had ever tried freezing tofu to get super-pressed tofu, she claimed to have never heard of pressing tofu. So perhaps I learned the pressing thing from William (the vegetarian man next door who was like another father to me). I should call him at some point and see what he thinks of freezing tofu.

* Press as in with a paper towel, like you might do with bacon--though I have sworn off paper towels and used a linen towel instead.

I thought California Dreamin' was my favorite song when I lived in LA and it was 50 out and raining. Then I thought it was my favorite song when I lived in Chicago and it was 20 out and snowing.

I was wrong.

This morning it was -6 out as I walked across the parking lot to the training building. A person could die in weather like this--and I don't even think it would take very long.

I'd be safe and warm if I was in LA.

You can tell a story based in the Star Wars universe where the outcome is known, and still make it compelling.

Lucas just didn't.

Zahn, on the other hand, just did.

Tonight I found out that I have been living under a rock.

Why, exactly, did no one tell me this before?

Timothy Zahn has written, not one, not two, but three new Star Wars books since I last came up for air.

Where have I been??

Living under a rock evidently.

Most of the time, when I go back and watch something awesome from my childhood, I discover that it isn't really as awesome as I remember. Bristlelip, however, is an exception to this rule. It's still totally awesome.

http://www.davenportfilms.com/pages/fbg_bristlepage.html

Hopefully I will be similarly re-pleased with other stories from the series. Yay for the Mount Prospect Library!

Josh and I just finished watching one of the most awful movies I have seen in a long long time. It was more nausiating than Rocky Horror was boring. And somehow, even with not a drop of blood on screen and a very low body count, it still felt like one of the most violent movies I have ever seen... or at least one of the most violent movies I have ever managed to sit through. Ugh.