Thank you, all our soldiers...

I just watched a YouTube presentation brilliantly promoting us to remember, love, and support our troops. It reminded us of every possible kind of relationship we could have with a soldier. Well done, and it made me think...

I have no family in the military right now. No one in the current generation has signed up. No one in my generation signed up. My father, maternal grandfather, and uncle all served, but no one does now. And I'm not sure how I feel about that.

On the one hand, relief. My nephews and nieces aren't in military harm's way (though civilian life is dangerous enough). And I certainly can't demand from them something I didn't do (I was rebellious, short-sighted, and self-centered. The military probably would have done me good). I know a civilian contractor over there. There are a few boys from church who enlisted, but mostly I don't know many soldiers.

As a writer, I am dependant on the military to safeguard my right to free speech; I am eternally grateful for the safety and freedom secured and defended by our soldiers. So why aren't there more of them? Why has my generation and the current generation forsaken military duty? In so successfully ensuring civilization, has our military created a society of non-warriors?

What are your thoughts?

The Prestige

Somewhere along the way I've started to like Michael Caine, go figure.

Caught the Prestige finally. Excellent movie. I had to see it over the course of a couple days, so that's probably why it felt choppy. I'll have to read the novel at some point. Some of the tricks that were sabotaged where incomprehensible on the small screen (the dove cage apparatus looked cool, didn't understand how it worked, and seemed elaborate for a sad little trick).

Christian Bale is an okay actor, despite the back teeth thing. He kind of slips in and out of character a little bit. I saw his arc halfway through and find it a bit unbelievable, so no surprise with that one.

Hugh Jackman is great. His arc was a surprise (nice twist of mystic realism) and quite a bit disturbing.

I wasn't sure if Bale's character was going to use the machine to replace his you-know-what (avoiding spoilers).

David Bowie is a scene stealer (didn't even know it was him). Tesla has always been an intriguing character (anyone who has all their notes, plans, and goods stolen by the government in quasi-legal manner, and which is STILL under secrecy despite the secrecy laws saying it should have been opened up long ago HAS to be an interesting fellow. His story needs to be told, but no one knows what his story really is...)

Filmmaking-wise this was excellent. The script turned in on itself wonderfully if not a little predictably (mystic realism is a bit of a cheat because you can't predict it, but it's fun anyway).

Not a film for kids, BTW. (Though I expect certain hands-in-his-pockets-while-others-work teenagers have seen it...)

The author of the novel, Christopher Priest, is an editor and writer at DC Comics under different names, by the way. A very nice and unassuming man who rarely trumpets his accomplishments. Met him at a trade show when some of his comics were the hottest things in the industry and he shunned the spotlight. Rather amazed he was in the extras of the DVD...

I've Lost my Space Pen!

It's the coolest pen ever made. I carried it with me everywhere. It could write underwater (tested and proven), upside down, and in space (never personally tested).

I think I loaned it to someone at church and never got it back. :(

This age thing...

My back is almost healed up from the muscle spasm Sunday. I'm hoping the cold weather won't cause a set back...

I've had no sugar for a week (at least none consciously; I'm sure there's trace levels in just about everything). I didn't weigh in on Thursday, but I did on Sunday. I'm down six pounds since then. Probably from between my ears...

The bummer thing about fat is that don't lose it in the order that you got it. The fat on my arms, legs, face, wherever will probably all come off before any fat around my stomach and sides. If I can stick with this, that will give me the skinny duded with the fat belly look. Plus with my dad's genes, I'll still have a big tummy with no fat on it.

Youth is wasted on the young.

Okay, Stay With Me Here...

Consider:

Romney-the-man-of-no-integrity runs as the "only true conservative" blasting McCain for being too far to the left.

Romney complains that he's splitting the vote with Huckabee, suggesting that he and Huckster are too similar (he wishes).

Romney then drops out of the race... and supports MCCAIN! You know, the guy who's too far to the left.

What does this mean? It means the spineless loser has made a deal with McCain to be his VP.

Should McCain get the endorsement and he selects Romney as Veep, that's proof the deal was made. Meaning Romney will make a deal with the devil if it benefits him (no surprise, considering he's a follower of Joseph Smith).

Part time Flu

This is the weirdest illness I've had yet. Mornings, I'm fine, then around 10:30 my stomach starts hurting. By the time I get home from work it's awful and all I can do is climb into bed. Two days later it started later in the afternoon and it was my ribs and back that hurt REALLY BAD. Yesterday it started even later and didn't hurt as much. Each day, though, it would go away around 8 or 9. Hopefully today it's over...

Mea Culpa

Okay, I was wrong about the Super Bowl, so maybe I'll be wrong about the election.

*Still thinking Huck's the Man but willing to believe that the spinning positional dervish that is Mitt might - just might - be able to beat Hillary*

A "Drawback" about the Fair Tax

While without a doubt the Fair Tax is beneficial to all of America it occurs to me that it's bad to politicians.

One of the biggest platforms pols run on is "lowering taxes." Republicans especially trot out lowering taxes and look the big bad guys will raise your taxes. Fair Tax would remove one of the most kneejerk of polical vote gathering. *Gasp* Republicans and Democrats would have to run on the ISSUES and not shallow promises.

Sad, sad, sad

Tell Me I Didn't See What I Think I Saw...

So, I'm driving to work and glace over at the subcompact next to me. A very large lady is eating a chocolate donut with one hand and applying makeup with the other. She's the driver, by the way. As I shudder at the horror of it all, without hands she turns the corner.

She was driving with her stomach.

To laugh or to cry....