tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9695331998530584482023-10-11T11:14:55.023-04:00Tragic Chain ReactionTonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-65610072510846343352019-03-04T14:00:00.000-05:002019-03-04T14:00:15.833-05:00I Stand With JeremyI may be sorry about this later but I just have to speak out. <br />
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I never really paid much attention to YouTube unless I wanted to look up a music video, you know? But then recently I started watching some channels regularly. It all started with Doctor Who, I wanted to see what other people thought about the last series. But that's another story. In any case, one thing lead to another and somehow I ended up subscribed to a channel called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMvVQIAfsGwzrfPLxiaIG8g" target="_blank">Geeks+Gamers</a>. I've never really been a gamer (although it sounds like something I'd dig) but I've pretty much always been a geek. <br />
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The guy that runs the show over there is named Jeremy (<a href="https://twitter.com/DDayCobra" target="_blank">@DDayCobra</a>). I don't know him, I've never met him and probably never will. But over the past few days I've watched something just insane happening, right in front of me. Jeremy has made the incredibly, incomprehensibly, stupid error of expressing his opinion on the internet. I know, right?? How dare he! And worse, his opinions, although quite passionate, don't necessarily adhere to mainstream beliefs. Therefore he must be put to death.<br />
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Or at least that seems to be what's happening. I've been witness to so many people just randomly attacking him over a difference of opinion. Newsflash, he's allowed to say what he thinks. I know nowadays that sounds like heresy, but at least for now, we still have freedom of speech in this country. We are free to believe what we want and talk about it.<br />
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All this nonsense is happening over a movie. A movie...did that sink in? People are so unhappy that he doesn't like a movie they feel the need to get in his face and be jerks about it. So you may ask why aren't those people free to say what they think? They absolutely are, but not if they make it a personal attack. I had a teacher who used to say that your freedom to swing your fist, ends when you hit someone in the face.<br />
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If people want to support something, they are free to get their own YouTube channel and do it. But expressing an opinion and supporting what you believe in, don't call for personal attacks on others. Do I agree with everything Jeremy says? Of course not, that would be insane. But somehow that's what people seem to think should happen. We don't all have to agree, people. We can, however, get along, we can discuss and debate issues, without being ignorant buffoons.<br />
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Jeremy doesn't need me or anyone else to defend him, he's well able to do that and has been doing it wonderfully. In fact many of the people who first attacked him ran and hid when he responded in kind. Tweets were deleted, accounts were made private, people were blocked. Those people seem to be so surprised that they didn't get away with being idiots. If you start a fight you should be ready to get hurt, cause some people hit back. And rightly so. <br />
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I'm not trying to start a fight here, but I'm ready to hit back if needed. All I really wanted to say was that I stand with Jeremy.<br />
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<br />Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-85628588131671264652014-06-06T22:32:00.000-04:002014-06-06T22:32:05.023-04:00The UK Trip...Fish Pedicures are a Real Thing<b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you missed them...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripdoctor-who.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripshakespeare-and-birthdays.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-trip-5friends-and-meds.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-uk-trip-6-yoadrian.html" target="_blank">Part 6</a> and <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-uk-trip-edinburgh-castle-or-bust.html" target="_blank">Part 7</a>.</span></i></b><br />
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By lunch time on Thursday, after our lovely drive down the coast, we reached Durham and met up with another one of my invisible friends, <a href="https://twitter.com/WatcherMark" target="_blank">@WatcherMark</a>.<br />
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We look adorable, don't we?<br />
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We had something to eat and then wandered around Durham, which is old. I mean, old.<br />
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Old.<br />
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This is underneath an extremely old bridge. Like really, really old. Like 1000 years old. So crazy.<br />
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Here's another castle we glimpsed from afar. We seriously had no luck with castles in the UK.<br />
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Bad news, guys...this is the coffin of St. Nicholas. So, um, Santa is dead.<br />
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And then this happened.<br />
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I am sooooo ticklish. Extremely, extremely ticklish. It was such a very weird feeling. I can't even really describe it. Sort of like little tiny fish nibbling on your toes. Yes, exactly like that.<br />
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This little walkway somehow looks wider in the picture than it was. It was very narrow. Two people could not walk next to each other unless they were both Twiggy. And maybe not even then.<br />
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And that was our whirlwind trip to Durham, cause we had plans to be in York by dinner time. So we bid Mark* a fond farewell and hit the road once again.<br />
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<i>*Be sure to check out <a href="http://roguedemonhunters.libsyn.com/" target="_blank">Rogue Demon Hunters</a> for an upcoming podcast of Buffy ep Earshot where Mark and I guest host together</i><br />
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<b><i>Next up....York is also very old., maybe even older than Durham</i></b></div>
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<br />Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-89628304958957992652014-05-29T21:11:00.001-04:002014-05-29T21:11:19.100-04:00The UK Trip: Edinburgh Castle Or Bust<b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you missed them...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripdoctor-who.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripshakespeare-and-birthdays.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-trip-5friends-and-meds.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a> and <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-uk-trip-6-yoadrian.html" target="_blank">Part 6</a>.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this is the 7th installment, it's taken me over 4 months, and I'm still only talking about Wednesday the 15th. I have seven more days to recount. Hopefully, I'll live long enough to finish.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We left lovely, peaceful Lanercost and headed up to Edinburgh. We had wavered about whether to go to Glasgow or Edinburgh or somehow both places, but in the time we had it was better to just choose one. During the planning phase, I had found an interesting place to stay in Glasgow and there was a music festival or something going on, but the castle was in Edinburgh. As it turned out at this point we felt we'd made the right decision, cause we really hadn't seen one castle up close yet. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I was really feeling sick that day, plus it was getting colder and damper as we headed North. By the time we got there it was getting on to late afternoon and we had to drive through the city to get to our B&B; the roads were kinda scary and the traffic was backed up and slow going. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We finally got there and it wasn't so great. I mean, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything special either. I admit that the entire experience was somewhat colored by the fact that I was feeling ill. But we got checked in and then ran out, got a taxi and traveled across town to the castle. It was late, but the castle was still open for a couple of hours so we figured we'd have time.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">The taxi could only take us to a point off to the side and somewhere down the Royal Mile from the castle. So we started walking...uphill. I could barely breathe and I was not too happy. We got all the way up there and were just approaching the entrance when they pulled the rope over and told us that the castle was closed for the day. WHAT?? Ugh! So just one more castle we didn't get to see. Even worse, they weren't even nice about it. I guess they see lots of people a day, but they could at least have seemed to care about the fact that we had traveled all that way and had to leave in the morning without getting to see the castle. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We walked back down to the main road and found a place to eat. It wasn't too nice, but I was about done. Jeff finally got to try haggis, though, so that was a plus. I wasn't in the mood for anything that interesting. Honestly, all I wanted was a nice cuppa. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We grabbed a taxi back to the room and even though it was only about 8 pm, I went right to bed. Jeff went back out to try find something, anything, to do, but it started raining so he just came back and went to bed himself. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">As you can probably tell, Edinburgh was not our favorite place. But it gets better, cause in the morning we left. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We traveled South down the east coast of Scotland and it was a beautiful day. The views alone made up for how bad the day before had been.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><i>Next up....Durham</i></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-53261614368335893262014-05-27T19:36:00.001-04:002014-05-27T19:37:34.266-04:00The UK Trip 6: Yo...Adrian<b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you missed them...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripdoctor-who.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripshakespeare-and-birthdays.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a> and <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-trip-5friends-and-meds.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a>.</span></i></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">The next morning, we drove off from Manchester heading North. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was as close as we got to Liverpool...even though my 64 year old sister kept insisting that we should go there to see the Beatles (or as she kept insisting on calling them, The Bee'Ulls. as though she had some weird Brit accent that no one ever sounded like, ever). I'm not sure she believed me when I kept trying to explain that only two of them were still alive and I thought that they both lived in New York City most of the time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So as we drove along, we stopped to see a few things. Like this ruined castle:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">It was so cool and the best part, though neither one of us ended up taking a picture of it, was the fact that this was right on the side of the road and across the street was....a McDonalds. Surreal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Our destination was the Lanercost B&B in Brampton, Cumbria near Hadrian's Wall. The building was actually made with bricks from a ruined priory that was made with bricks from Hadrian's Wall. It's the circle of life, people.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Of course, by the time we got there, it was just starting to get dark, but we had to leave early-ish to get to Edinburgh so we were determined to go see the remains of the Wall. We drove around these little twisty lanes, with hedges on one side and stone walls on the other, in the waning light, with giant lorries coming towards us. It was....interesting, to say the least. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">The views were amazing, though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Our pics of the wall turned out pretty good, even though it was kind of dark out. You can't even tell. My cell phone clearly has a better camera than I deserve. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Then we went back to our lovely room...which I took absolutely no pictures of because I'm stupid....but I did take pictures of our meal. I'm sure it would surprise no one to find that at least half of the pictures in my phone (maybe three quarters) are of food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Oxtail pudding.....sooooo good!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">When we got home and were showing our pictures, my sister kept saying, Adrian, who's Adrian? To which my husband replied, "Rocky's girlfriend" and our friend Sam asked my sister, "Are you sure you graduated from high school?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><b><i>Next up....Edinburgh</i></b></span></div>
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<b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></b>Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-12243808506216014872014-05-26T10:04:00.003-04:002014-05-26T10:17:54.223-04:00Memorial Day....It's Not Just About PicnicsEvery year on Memorial Day, I plant flowers at my Dad's grave.<br />
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Remember a Veteran today.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-145885582140820022014-04-12T16:03:00.001-04:002014-04-12T16:03:46.305-04:00I've Missed You, TooSo sorry I haven't been around....I didn't mean for my British vacation story to end where it did. I have lots more to stay, but sadly life has gotten in the way. Big time. I think things should calm down a bit after Easter, so I'll do my best to get back here with the next installment. <br />
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In the meantime, here's a repeat of a post from a couple of years ago, with an Easter favorite that we make every year:<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal;">Easter isn't Easter without Pastia</span></h2>
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Pastia is a dish we make every Easter. I always thought my grandma made it up, but just this year I found another pastia recipe that was similar (although it was more of a dessert, sort of a pasta custard).<br /><br />This is a side dish, but we make huge pans of it because everyone wants to take some home after dinner.<br /><br />It's also a big mess to make, because you mix it with your hands. I have to get everything all set up beforehand, because your hands and arms get all covered in goo and you can't touch anything else.<br /><br />Even though this is full of raw eggs, I still taste it as I go along, but you really don't have to if you aren't comfortable with eating the raw egg. But really, it's got so much cheese and butter, you don't even notice the egg.<br /><br />We slice it and eat it hot or cold. It's awesome right out of the oven, all warm and cheesy. But it's just as good later, right out of the fridge.<br /><br />So here goes.....<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Pastia </span></b></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(we pronounce this Ba-STEE-ya)</span></b></div>
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">6 lbs pasta (I generally use some combination of Rigatoni, Penne, Fettucine, </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucatini" style="background-image: none; color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Bucatini</a> </span>or <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perciatelli&action=edit&redlink=1" style="background-image: none; color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" title="Perciatelli (page does not exist)">Perciatelli</a> or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><a class="new" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maccheroncelli&action=edit&redlink=1" style="background-image: none; color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" title="Maccheroncelli (page does not exist)">Maccheroncelli</a></span>, and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghettoni" style="background-image: none; color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" title="Spaghettoni">Spaghettoni</a></span>)</span><br />9 sticks butter<br />3 dozen eggs<br />24 oz of grated parmesan cheese<br />8 oz of grated romano cheese<br />Salt and pepper<br /><br />Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente pasta. Be sure to salt the water well. You can also put a small amount of oil into the water to keep the pasta from sticking.<br /><br />Once the pasta is cooked, place all of it into a large pan or bowl on a table where you can reach down into the pan/bowl. (I actually use two pans because I don't have one big enough for the whole thing. I just put some of each pasta into each bowl.) Add 1 1/2 sticks of butter to each pound of pasta and mix through with a large utensil. Pasta will be very hot!<br /><br />Allow the pasta to cook slightly and then add eggs a few at a time (about 6 eggs per pound of pasta). Just break them into the pasta bowl and mix with your hands. Add cheese (a little at a time) and continue mixing.<br /><br />You are looking for a certain consistency, not too dry (which means too much cheese) or too wet (too many eggs). Add salt and pepper as you go. It should seem like it's a little over seasoned for it to have enough taste once it's done.<br /><br />Place the thoroughly mixed pasta into large lasagna pans (butter them first). This recipe makes two lasagna pans full.<br /><br />Sprinkle more grated parmesan and some grated black pepper on top.<br /><br />Bake 375 for about an hour to 75 mins, til solid through and golden brown on top.</div>
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Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-805573782202382992014-02-17T21:45:00.000-05:002014-05-27T19:38:50.630-04:00The UK Trip 5...Friends and Meds<b style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you missed them...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripdoctor-who.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a> and <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripshakespeare-and-birthdays.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a>.</span></i></b><br />
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I developed a wheeze in Cardiff. Not sure if it was allergies or the plane ride or just that the air disagreed with me. I hadn't taken Airborne or echinacea or anything else like I usually would do before a trip. I had just been sick for almost a month, so I didn't see how I could get sicker. I was wrong, there was even more sick. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wheeze turned into a cough. By the time we got to Manchester, it wasn't terrible, but it was building up. My lungs were starting to feel like they were filling up with mucous. Ugh! The cough went on for....well, what day is it today? CAUSE I'M STILL COUGHING!! Alright, not like I was in the UK, but still.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday night, after dinner, we had to find some drugs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But more about that later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I realized that we really were taking this trip, one of the first things I did was hop on to one of the Buffy-related message boards where I've been talking to some invisible UK friends for years. And years. And maybe even more years than that. I was really hoping to be able to meet up with some of them and - YAY! - it happened. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ditto invited us to her home for tea and DeeDee was able to come up to Manchester to be there as well. I'm not sure they even realized how exciting it was for me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best part of a trip to a foreign country is really being able to interact with normal people in their own setting. And now I've made it sound like a visit to the zoo. But you know what I mean. I got to see my friends, for the first time, and I got to be in their home. In their home! I mean, who does that, invites a complete stranger and her crazy husband over? My invisible internet friends are the very best ever. Clearly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a wonderful visit. Tilly is a hoot and she kept Jeff busy, so that was good, too. We stayed so long, they were probably cursing us cause they wanted to have dinner and put Tilly to bed, but the British are so polite, you couldn't even tell. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love you guys!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we did try to stop on the way back from Ditto's to get some drugs cause the wheeze was becoming an issue. Our hotel was right next to this giant shopping center so it seemed like it would be no problem. We drove in to the Trafford Centre and thought we would go in for dinner and to find meds. But the place was ginormous. We couldn't find the door. All we could find were dozens of roundabouts taking us to vast, full parking lots from which we could glimpse the tops of the buildings in the distance. But no doors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jeff was all for just parking and finding our way in. At that point I just wasn't feeling it. No way I was going to hike three miles from the parking spot to the building to have to then wander around it aimlessly looking for a way in, not even knowing if where we ended up would put us anywhere near food and/or drugs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we went back to the hotel, ate there...the food was just so/so and I only had a - quite expensive - burger, so we may just have gone across the street to the Burger King or whatever...and then had to ask how to find a store where we could get medicine. They kept pointing us to the shopping mall. Um....NO!! Finally, a nice lady sent us just down the street (through maybe only six roundabouts) to the Asda. Basically, this is a Walmart. I mean, it actually says Walmart on it, but for some reason they call it an Asda. I have no idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was able to purchase medicine, but not before having to explain all my symptoms to a pharmacist or clerk or something behind a counter, because they don't sell cold meds or cough syrup in the actual store. You have to get it from behind the counter. So strange.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also bought a bunch of random cakes and goodies, cause it was my birthday, after all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"><b><i>Coming up next....<a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-uk-trip-6-yoadrian.html" target="_blank">Hadrian's Wall</a></i></b></span></div>
Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-25144900644917713652014-02-09T17:39:00.000-05:002014-02-10T09:10:27.081-05:00The UK Trip...Shakespeare and Birthdays<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>In case you missed them...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a> and <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripdoctor-who.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a>.</i></b></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">One thing I realized right away about actual England and my ideas about England is that I am a romantic. Who knew?</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">For instance, in Bath I expected ladies with parasols and long sweeping Regency dresses (a la Jane Austen novels) to be walking down the streets on the way to the lending library or to take tea at the pavilion or even for Prinny, the Regent himself, to be holding court in the assembly rooms. In Stratford, I was looking for gentlemen in Elizabethan dress with side swords who would bow and lay their cloaks over water puddles for me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">It wasn't like that. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We didn't even see one kilt in Scotland. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Instead, there were Burger Kings and McDonalds and KFCs on the corners and lots of random nationalities wandering in large, chaotic groups, talking in foreign languages a mile a minute and bowling over anything in their path. Seriously. Of course, this is more London, but there were tourist groups pretty much everywhere. The nerve. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">So we drove through the dark and the rain in traffic on the way to Stratford. Now Jeff knows how I feel when I have to drive at night</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We woke up in Stratford on January 13, my 50th birthday, and took a lovely walk along the Avon to see Shakespeare's grave in Holy Trinity Church. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Then we strolled back through town, passing Hall's Croft (where his daughter Susannah and her husband Dr. John Hall lived), New Place (where Shakespeare and his family lived, which is basically just a garden on the corner now) and John Nash house (which is where his granddaughter and her husband lived). We didn't go in any of them for several reasons. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Mostly it was because of time. We needed to be in Manchester by tea time. Also, we didn't want to spend more money than was absolutely necessary and so we choose what we wanted most to do and that was to see the town and to visit the grave. The walk along the river was beautiful.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Oh...and a bird pooped in my hair. That's like a good luck thing somewhere, right? Right??</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">But we did see the gardens and then drove past the birthplace - twice, cause we missed it - and Anne Hathaway's cottage, where we got a glimpse of the thatched roof among the scaffolding while rolling past. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">No matter what we heard about British food, everything we had was good. Of course, I had fish and chips several times, plus a lovely steak and onion pie. Jeff was more adventurous; he had bangers and mash one night and even had haggis in Scotland. He was really enjoying the sausages, especially in Stratford, where they had fresh local sausages from a butcher just across the street.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Breakfasts were a little strange. I mean baked beans and tomatoes sounds more like a picnic to me, plus I personally don't eat either one of those things. But I did fall in love with porridge and brown bread. I've tried to re-create porridge several times since we've been back, but I can't quite get it right. </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I'm open to any and all suggestions.</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><i>My birthday continues with more invisible friends next.</i></b></span></span></div>
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Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-40512993633431707942014-02-05T20:56:00.004-05:002014-02-10T09:08:56.924-05:00The UK Trip...Doctor Who?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>In case you missed them...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> and <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a>.</i></b></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I keep trying to tell this story in a linear manner, but it's getting harder and harder to not wander off topic down quaint little alleyways of nothingness. I'm super good at that. </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Once in Cardiff, we drove around lost a while and accidentally found our way to the Doctor Who Experience. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Oh, and it t</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">urns out that at some point, possibly when we missed the correct turn off into Cardiff off the M4, we got a speeding ticket. So far we were only charged the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">£</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">35 administrative fee from the car rental place. Not excited about finding how much the actual ticket ends up being. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">I got the full swag at Doctor Who (stuff like a t-shirt, postcards, stickers - one is a sonic screwdriver! - and a certificate of completion), and we had a fun time, wandering around the museum area, taking lots of pictures and videos. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Yeah, so that took a while. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We had wanted to get to Stratford-Upon-Avon before dark, if possible. Of course, it didn't happen, but because we wanted to pretend it might, we had to leave pretty much right after the Doctor Who Experience and so we didn't have time to really get to see Cardiff or tour the Castle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">We probably wouldn't have been able to find a way in anyway. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">As it turned out, it got dark well before we got to Stratford and not only was it dark, it was raining. Plus, there was a lot of traffic coming towards us on these little windy roads. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">I tried to make it fun by singing along (loudly) with the radio, but Jeff didn't appreciate that at all. At all. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;"><b><i><a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripshakespeare-and-birthdays.html" target="_blank">Shakespeare's bones</a> coming up next...</i></b></span></span></div>
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Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-75362473787785755022014-01-30T16:02:00.000-05:002014-02-10T09:08:10.960-05:00The UK Trip...from Dover to Wales<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">So if I'd known how boring this would be in the re-telling, I wouldn't have started. But now I have notes. Therefore, everyone suffers. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>In case you missed it...here's <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-amazing-hilarious-and.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>.</i></b><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">On </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Saturday morning, after
a look at the cliffs and a couple of wrong turns, we made our way to
Stonehenge. Amazing. It was kinda crazy, cause I had my eyes down, following the maps, getting ready for our next turn..wide right, keep left...when Jeff yells out, "It's right there!" And seriously, it was. Right in front of us, on a slight rise of land to the right of the motorway, there was Stonehenge. Out in the open where anyone could steal it. Or something. (Quick side note, when I was telling my 65 year old sister the places we visited, I mentioned Stonehenge, and she said, "I have no idea what that is, I've never heard of it." Huh.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Apparently, they recently changed the visitor rules at Stonehenge. Starting in February, you have to actually purchase tickets ahead of time and schedule your visit. In any case, they've moved the visitor center farther away and blocked off the area around the stones, so you can no longer go right
up to them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I would have liked to do that, obviously, but the ground around the stones is fragile and they want to protect it. Of course, the thing has been there for thousands of years and it's still standing so maybe they're over-reacting. Just a little. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We walked slowly all the way
around, taking pictures of the rocks and the sheep that graze in the pasture on
the other side of the fencing. They run
in a group, really interesting. Some
students...maybe...early 20's...decided to climb over the fence, it's low
enough to step over really, but the outer layer is electrified, and mess with
the sheep. One of them stepped in a
present the sheep left, which was perfect. I mean, wishing they would get </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">electrocuted for harrasing the sheep</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> would be wrong. So very, very wrong. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Then we drove on to
Wales. We did pretty well, although we went a different way than intended. At
least we got there. We did get to travel
through Bath, which I had originally wanted to do, but it wasn't the most
direct route. Bath was lovely, all hills
and valleys with long narrow streets of houses stacked on each other.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Finally made it to Wales. We did get turned around
a couple of times on the even narrower and now dark streets of Tonna, Neath,
while attempting to find Jo and Owen's house. But we found it.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">They were awesome. They have a Wall of Fame. Seriously.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We went to dinner with them at The Rock and Fountain, and I had a lovely steak and onion pie. I'd had fish and chips the night before, so that felt like a good choice. Actually, I had one or the other most nights on our trip, cause most of the other food seemed either too American or too weird. You know? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They very graciously allowed us to spend the night. I love my invisible internet friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My phone had died by the time we got there, so the only pic I have of us is this one with me and Jo that Jeff took. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">Not sure how we missed out on taking a group shot, but I blame it on jet lag</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.399999618530273px; text-align: start;"><b><i>Coming soon...<a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-uk-tripdoctor-who.html" target="_blank">Doctor Who?</a></i></b></span></div>
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Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-83536172372351149242014-01-24T19:34:00.001-05:002014-02-10T09:07:03.744-05:00The Spectacular, Amazing, Hilarious and Terrifying 50th Birthday Bash UK Trip Adventure<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Since so many people have been asking for this...OK, fine, only one person (but you know who you are <a href="https://twitter.com/DrNeevil" target="_blank">@DrNeevil</a>)...and since during the entire time I was there, I was only occasionally</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> able to get
off a tweet or a text - although not a UK text - but then nothing for ever and
ever, and getting open a browser window was almost impossible, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've decided to make an attempt to share some blog posts about my birthday UK trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It was quite an adventure. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We got in Friday morning, January 10, after a very rough flight. Well, the flight was fine, but I was so cramped in
the middle seat, with no leg room, my seat wouldn't go back to rest, my tray
table just balanced on my stomach and wouldn't go all the way down and my
headset was all wonky. Ugh!! I was so miserable and interestingly Jeff said he didn't even know, so I must have been hiding it too well. That's not natural.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But eventually, we arrived and after wandering aimlessly through miles and miles of Heathrow searching for customs, our luggage and the Enterprise counter, we got our car and started out.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Vauxhall Corsa</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">First stop, Canterbury
on the way to Dover. Except that we took a wrong turn out of the airport and ended up
traveling miles in the wrong direction before we could figure out how to turn
around. Oh, and the term "wide right" now has an entirely new meaning for us. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">In Canterbury, I just wanted to
see the cathedral. I didn't want to go in or anything, I just wanted to see it. We could see the top, but no matter how we turned towards
it, we just kept going around in circles on very narrow streets. At one point
we ended up in a little dead end mews, that Jeff described as a possible crime scene area, and had to turn the car around, very
carefully.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">We never really got close to the cathedral.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/6defab64-e511-4bad-ad5d-db29d0f7a57b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/6defab64-e511-4bad-ad5d-db29d0f7a57b.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Canterbury Cathedral</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Once in Dover, things got a little better. Our hotel was
right in front of the cliffs, with The English Channel, the harbor and boats right outside our window.</span><br />
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<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/IMG_20140111_085606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/IMG_20140111_085606.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">We had been awake at this point for about 20 hours, so we were tired, bedraggled and hungry. There was a vague plan to see Dover Castle, but it wasn't open on weekends in winter and there was no way we'd have time to get there on Friday. Basically, we took showers, had a quick dinner and went to bed. We were both snoring by 7 pm.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">On Saturday, after we re-packed our bags so we could just use a small overnight bag each night and keep the bigger bags in the car, we prepared to do some quick sight seeing and then leave Dover.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Jeff went out to get the car while I waited in the lobby. It took a while. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Turns out he forgot what the car looked like and he couldn't find it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The day was cold and windy but Jeff wanted to
climb up the hill and look down, which he did.
I stayed off the cliff edge myself. If I could have, I'd have stayed in the car, but I made the mistake of getting out and Jeff had the keys, so I had to just stand around near the parking lot and shiver. </span><br />
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<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/IMG_20140111_091216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/IMG_20140111_091216.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Then we also circled Dover Castle from a distance, much like Canterbury Cathedral, but it wasn't open anyway. Tried to take pictures, but the car moved too
fast and I needed to keep my eyes on the map. I was working with an Atlas, two sets of written notes (a list of all the places we were going with addresses, etc. and a list I made of all the route numbers we needed to follow), and using my phone as a GPS. </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/IMG_20140111_092325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/The%2050th%20Birthday%20UK%20Trip/IMG_20140111_092325.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dover Castle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As we were driving, Jeff would suddenly say, "Quick, take a picture of that!" and I would fumble with all the paperwork and my phone, switching over to the camera, roll down the window and snap away. Of course, by that time I would have missed whatever picture there was to take. Add to that, pretty much every time that happened, we would miss a turn or something because I had the phone on camera and not GPS. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Like every time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We never learned. </span><br />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><b>Stay tuned for the next stage....<a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-uk-tripfrom-dover-to-wales.html" target="_blank">Stonehenge and Wales</a>.</b></i></span></div>
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Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-66881362717490856692013-10-19T20:30:00.000-04:002013-10-19T20:30:29.614-04:00Facebook/Twitter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rwkJLpmaOz8/UmMfrZR0OrI/AAAAAAAAGyk/bKmT4PdofRE/s1600/twitter-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rwkJLpmaOz8/UmMfrZR0OrI/AAAAAAAAGyk/bKmT4PdofRE/s320/twitter-facebook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Listen, I don't hate Facebook. I just happen to like Twitter more. I mean, like way, way, way more.<br />
<br />
There are a variety of reasons why. For one thing, and this is a biggy, Facebook is more about pictures and Twitter is more about talking. I much prefer to talk than to have my picture taken.<br />
<br />
Plus, Twitter is immediate and Facebook is more long term. I'm always in a hurry. I want things now. Hence, I prefer to have the immediate gratification of talking with people and having real-time interaction, rather than posting pictures (or rants) and waiting for a response. Especially cause then I have to go back and check for a responses. As anyone who has ever posted a comment on this blog knows, I'm terrible about remembering to go back and check for comments. Terrible.<br />
<br />
But I noticed something.<br />
<br />
My Twitter friends - my mostly online not in actual real life friends - have, as a majority, basically the same political opinions. And when I say political, I mean as in relating specifically to governmental political issues, not social political issues. I think that makes sense. However, my Facebook friends (a combination of real life friends, old friends from days gone by, and online imaginary friends), seem to hold almost the exact opposite political opinions.<br />
<br />
Weird.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-12450917742825893472013-10-13T17:01:00.000-04:002013-10-13T17:01:09.958-04:00Life and Stuff<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /></a><a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160813.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Wow.<br />
<br />
Remember me?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160823.jpg" width="320" /></a>I used to blog here on a semi-regular basis about silly random stuff. Like TV shows and life.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />
<a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20131013_160652.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Then I was busy being sick for a while and then summer came and I accidentally went outside and got a life. I didn't mean to.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20130821_204000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20130821_204000.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>All lit up at night</b></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We've also been working on our back yard. It's looking amazing now, I think. We put in the stamped concrete patio, built up the ground all around it, enclosed that with stones, put in bushes (two fire bushes, two forsythia, two rose of sharon, three blueberries and a lilac), iron fencing with pretty white lights, and then put in a sliding glass door and steps out our back bedroom, which we painted a lovely golden color.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20130821_204046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/IMG_20130821_204046.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's so beautiful in there, I'm ready to move my office over and move the bedroom into the other room. Like immediately, as in right this very minute.<br />
<br />
Only I'm too lazy to do it myself.<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-60401498473756097202013-05-30T09:58:00.000-04:002013-05-30T09:58:11.335-04:00Blog Avoidance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wXRZgJdEEKw/UadaumQ76PI/AAAAAAAAGg0/q9HZ-YOu-vU/s1600/See+No+Evil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wXRZgJdEEKw/UadaumQ76PI/AAAAAAAAGg0/q9HZ-YOu-vU/s200/See+No+Evil.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I've been avoiding this blog.<br />
<br />
Ever since I got sick back in mid-March, I just haven't felt good, then my feet started swelling...that was 4 weeks ago yesterday and they are still pretty bad...and then I cracked a tooth. I need to go back to have it removed entirely at some point.<br />
<br />
Before I was even feeling better from being sick that time, I was sick again to the point where it sounded like pneumonia. I'm still wheezing a bit.<br />
<br />
All of that made me pretty miserable and depressed and I just didn't feel like you'd want me to share.<br />
<br />
Although I am sharing now, so whatever.<br />
<br />
I've had many things I wanted to talk about, some good, some bad, some terrible. Many of them I don't even remember anymore. <br />
<br />
Perhaps some day.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-22396512779076421732013-03-11T10:18:00.001-04:002013-03-11T10:18:32.877-04:00And That's Why I Killed Him<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-64zrP-R9FN0/UT3nRDTKzaI/AAAAAAAAGXE/SY7TCk_jPAc/s1600/hitchkersguide-adams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-64zrP-R9FN0/UT3nRDTKzaI/AAAAAAAAGXE/SY7TCk_jPAc/s320/hitchkersguide-adams.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
So this really happened.<br />
<br />
ME: Today is Douglas Adams' 61st birthday and...<br />
<br />
HIM: Oh no! Did we send him a card?<br />
<br />
ME: No, cause he's dead. But anyway...<br />
<br />
HIM: I didn't even know he was sick.<br />
<br />
ME: It's Douglas Adams' 61st birthday and Google has a doodle.<br />
<br />
HIM: Who is Doug Adams?<br />
<br />
ME: Seriously? You know, Douglas Adams??!!<br />
<br />
HIM: Grizzly Adams?<br />
<br />
ME: No.<br />
<br />
HIM: The Addams Family?<br />
<br />
ME: *sigh* No. Just think about it a minute. Douglas Adams....Towel Day....get it?<br />
<br />
HIM: No. Who is Doug Adams?<br />
<br />
ME: Douglas Adams...Hitchhiker's Guide the Galaxy. Towel Day. Now you get it right?<br />
<br />
HIM: No.<br />
<br />
ME: Well, when you're cool, you always know where your towel is. Douglas Adams is a big deal.<br />
<br />
HIM: Yeah, for geeky people like you.<br />
<br />
ME: But didn't you read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?<br />
<br />
HIM: I tried once, but it sucked.<br />
<br />
ME: And that's why I killed him, Officer.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-25798788581910921632013-03-04T22:11:00.001-05:002013-03-04T22:11:33.672-05:00And Now I'm A Cateter<div dir="ltr">
Well. I did it. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I catered a party for 60 people. </div>
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At first, I was all like of course I can do that. No problem. But then I started to panic, cause I've never had to cook for so many before.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What if there wasn't enough? Running out of food would be the worst. Or wait. What if I didn't season it all properly?? You know, just cause you can make something for dinner and it tastes good, how do you know you can stretch that out to feed 60???</div>
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<br /></div>
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But in the end it all worked out and I think the food was pretty good. I got a lot of compliments. But honestly I was so exhausted by Saturday that I could barely taste what I was eating.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/Food/IMG_20110808_182353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/BuffyGroupie/Food/IMG_20110808_182353.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>This is NOT a picture of the chicken cacciatore <br />I made for Saturday, but <i>it is</i> a picture of a <br />cacciatore sauce I made a while ago. </b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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I wish I had thought to take pictures, but it was only chicken cacciatore and stuffed shells so there wasn't much to see. Except maybe for all the containers. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
There were six 9x12 pans of each, plus two of penne in sauce. Plus the crock pot of sauce. And I also made some shells with soy cheese and one pan of cacciatore without mushrooms. You know, for people with food issues. </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
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I have food issues. Mostly just that I eat too much of it.</div>
Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-58487157987026237002013-02-23T16:36:00.002-05:002013-02-23T16:36:40.076-05:00Remaking Star Wars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We've been watching, or I guess I should say re-watching, all the Star Wars films in order. It all started when we inexplicably sat one Saturday and watched all four Die Hard films, back to back. I don't remember why or what the reasoning was, but we did it. So then we started to think about what other series we could stand to watch that way. </div>
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With all the Star Wars talk, it seemed like a good place to start. But since we didn't have another day to do it in, we've just been watching about one a week. It's been harder than I thought. Mostly cause we had to start with Episode I, which is, unarguably (so don't even try to argue with me), the worst of the six movies. So since we started there, it was almost difficult to make ourselves watch the second one. But we did it. Fortunately, we eventually got to Episode IV and it got better. Mostly because we've also been watching the corresponding Family Guy ep (we only have Episode VI and It's a Trap left to watch). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Anyway, I've been thinking about the new Star Wars films. I'm still slightly bummed that it's JJ Abrams and not Joss Whedon at the helm, but really mostly cause I'm still sore about Lost (and will be forever more). But the good news is that I heard Mark Hamill is in talks to return as Luke Skywalker and he basically said he didn't want to do it unless everyone else came back, too. That would be awesome. One assumes that they will be older versions of themselves, with their children or whatever in main roles. But honestly I'd like it just as well if it was just Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in the leads. I don't subscribe to the theory that you have inordinately pretty twenty-somethings in the lead roles to sell tickets. </div>
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In any case, all this talk made me think about who could play their children or maybe even them in flashbacks and I remembered a picture I put together once of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones matched up to <a href="https://twitter.com/ErnestoRiley" target="_blank"><b>Matt Davis</b></a> ("The Vampire Diaries," "Cult") and I went out and found another one of Han Solo and Matt. </div>
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I think he's a pretty good match. I mean, they're even dressed alike! (Which seriously makes me wonder if Matt actually realizes he looks like Harrison Ford and has been trying to make it even more obvious, but...no, that's probably not what's happening. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.)</div>
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What do you think? </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tw1B3yvdhvk/USkkksotzkI/AAAAAAAAGWc/Z91Xza_OTrs/s1600/Han+Matt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Tw1B3yvdhvk/USkkksotzkI/AAAAAAAAGWc/Z91Xza_OTrs/s400/Han+Matt.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mfx69gWIRRo/USkiC6VkdlI/AAAAAAAAGWU/KpaeJszDBDo/s1600/indyjonesMattdavis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mfx69gWIRRo/USkiC6VkdlI/AAAAAAAAGWU/KpaeJszDBDo/s400/indyjonesMattdavis.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-27728969318380764512013-02-22T23:30:00.000-05:002013-02-23T16:42:52.247-05:00Buffy Innocence Podcast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8kHRd2pcPIo/USk3eORtSKI/AAAAAAAAGWw/V_XHmheQd2Q/s1600/Buffycast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8kHRd2pcPIo/USk3eORtSKI/AAAAAAAAGWw/V_XHmheQd2Q/s320/Buffycast.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
So here it is, the link to the start of my podcasting career: <b><a href="http://roguedemonhunters.libsyn.com/rogue-demon-hunter-28-innocence" target="_blank">Rogue Demon Hunters, #28 Innocence</a></b>. Which is also quite possibly a link to the end of my podcasting career.<br />
<br />
Please go listen...it's only an hour long. And I promise if you hate it, you will get that hour back. Next Fall.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-7934783025121441602013-02-21T13:30:00.000-05:002013-02-21T18:27:51.598-05:00Still Being Human<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-maX9ulRoeIg/USZAqzJA_kI/AAAAAAAAGWA/0Az_-71x7nQ/s1600/Being+Human+S5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-maX9ulRoeIg/USZAqzJA_kI/AAAAAAAAGWA/0Az_-71x7nQ/s1600/Being+Human+S5.jpg" /></a></div>
So while I was recording that podcast with Nicole and Selina...I told you about my <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2013/02/so-i-just-had-most-fun-ever.html" target="_blank">new career as a podcast star</a>, right??...we got to talking about another one of my little obsessions, <b>Being Human</b>. Not the US SyFy version, cause that's rubbish, but the original UK version, which is the best thing ever.<br />
<br />
As a matter of fact, I hated the SyFy version so much, I wrote an <a href="http://tragicchainreaction.blogspot.com/2011/04/being-sorta-human.html" target="_blank">entire post about it,</a> a long one, with pictures, explaining exactly why it was so absolutely terrible, cause I felt the need to tell everyone I'd ever met that they should not watch that one, but see the UK version instead.<br />
<br />
I'm highly recommending that you do what you have to do to see this show. The UK version. Not the US version. Got it?<br />
<br />
I'm going to seriously consider (once I've actually heard myself speaking on said podcast and determine whether or not I sound scary or acceptable) finding a Being Human podcast I can crash. Cause I have way more than a lot to say about it. Especially now that it's ending after this series.<br />
<br />
I still want to cry a little when I think about that. I know people say, wouldn't you rather it went out on top, when it still has the best ratings on it's network and it's good, rather than have it hang around long after it should be off the air. And to that I say, NO.<br />
<br />
Well, OK, maybe there is something in that argument, but couldn't we at least have waited until it wasn't getting even more awesome than it has been?<br />
<br />
The first season was really, really good. The second season was mostly good. The third season was in a very dark place and at the time seemed not as good, but when you watch them all together, you can see the way it all fits together and kind of spirals down, but in a good way, like it was supposed to happen like that. Then the third season ended with a huge bang and people were in shock, didn't want to watch any more, and cried themselves to sleep every night for months. (Not that I would know anything about that.)<br />
<br />
That wasn't over, cause then the fourth season started and it was terrible. I mean that in the best way possible. Talk about Joss Whedon ripping your heart out and stomping on it, Toby Whithouse is cornering that market now. He literally tried to kill us all with the start of series four. I know people stopped watching, I know they did. But then an amazing thing happened. Turns out old Toby wasn't just ripping things apart for fun, he had an actual plan. And it worked. The fourth series went on to be really awesome.<br />
<br />
Now we are up the series five and it's good, almost better than I had hoped for. But it's all over. Over.<br />
<br />
Toby really is trying to kill us.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-10722124211648151222013-02-19T06:00:00.000-05:002013-02-19T06:00:07.549-05:00TV Lazy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4UK9BQyYXco/USAQKnySTLI/AAAAAAAAGVs/RHYu6v041nc/s1600/cartoon-tv-set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4UK9BQyYXco/USAQKnySTLI/AAAAAAAAGVs/RHYu6v041nc/s200/cartoon-tv-set.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I think I figured out my problem.<br />
<br />
I'm lazy.<br />
<br />
Not in a I-don't-ever-do-anything way, cause somehow I'm always busy. But more in a I-wish-I-didn't-have-to-do-anything-ever, way. And also in a that's-too-much-trouble-and-I-just-don't-care-enough-to-be-bothered way.<br />
<br />
As a result, I watch way too much TV. <br />
<br />
TV is like my plan. It's seriously how I decide what I'm going to do and when I'm going to do it. I even have an Excel spreadsheet so I can keep track of everything. I may have mentioned that before.<br />
<br />
So we had just upgraded to this awesome whole house DVR thing with Time Warner, so I could watch and re-watch all my shows from everywhere. <br />
<br />
It helped, cause it allowed me to watch stuff while cooking in the kitchen, something I couldn't do before. I'd be so frustrated, cause I wanted to finish watching whatever that was on the DVR upstairs cause I had more shows coming on that night and it all started to pile up and since there were more new shows every night, I constantly felt behind the eight ball. Like watching TV was my job. Honestly, I gave it even more value than my job.<br />
<br />
And then we moved.<br />
<br />
We moved to a place where they have their own cable network. Seriously. As a result of that, they don't even have DVRs. If you want something like that you have to buy it. So I bought one. But it's like an old VCR in that you can only record one thing at a time and you have to be watching that channel to record on it. Which basically negates the point of recording a show at all. Cause, you know, I need to record the shows on the other channels. The channels I'm not watching right now.<br />
<br />
We've been living like this for more than a year now and I learned something. I don't have to watch that much TV. I really had to make some choices, I had to eliminate shows. It was hard, but less hard than I thought it would be.<br />
<br />
All of which brings me to the point here, and that is why I stopped watching American Idol this year. I just can't fit it in.<br />
<br />
And also Steven Tyler is gone.<br />
<br />
Oh, and also, they've ripped my heart out just one too many times.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-88747734583588750232013-02-16T17:04:00.001-05:002013-02-16T17:55:21.442-05:00I'm a Podcaster...Who Knew?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rt0Px3YcdgA/UR_8vH4UcFI/AAAAAAAAGVY/-fDwvCIAkP8/s1600/rdhpic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Rt0Px3YcdgA/UR_8vH4UcFI/AAAAAAAAGVY/-fDwvCIAkP8/s200/rdhpic.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
So I just had the most fun ever.<br />
<br />
Seriously.<br />
<br />
Through a weird series of circumstances, I was able to guest host (co-host?) on a podcast. I tried to tell my family about it, but they were all like, um, sure, whatever, have fun casting pods. *sigh* I don't even know them.<br />
<br />
Anyway, it all started on Twitter. Which, when you think about it, is where most things seem to happen these days. I don't remember exactly, but it was when Laura and I were starting our re-watch of Buffy (well, my annual re-watch, her first watch), and either I happened to notice that <a href="http://roguedemonhunters.libsyn.com/" target="_blank">Rogue Demon Hunters</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/RDHPodcast" target="_blank">@RDHPodcast</a>) had just done their review of the same ep we were watching or she noticed me talking about it or something.<br />
<br />
We spoke. It was just a thing, but it happened. So then I started listening to the podcast. I liked it. Big surprise.<br />
<br />
I mean, it's people talking about episodes of Buffy. In what universe wouldn't I like that?<br />
<br />
So then a few weeks ago, another one of my invisible internet friends and I were chatting on Twitter. Jo (<a href="https://twitter.com/Pussinabox" target="_blank">@Pussinabox</a>) and I were lamenting those people who call themselves Whedon fans and yet aren't really "in the know," if you will. If you really want to be a Whedonite, people, you have to know a little bit more than just the names of the shows he's written. In this particular instance, it was someone who was, unbelievably, unfamiliar with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Espenson" target="_blank">Jane Espenson</a>.<br />
<br />
See? Unbelievable.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Nicole (playing the part of RDHPodcast) happened to overhear us chatting, as we went on to comment that maybe the most scary part was how much about Whedon stuff we did know. She then proceeded to invite us both to guest on their podcast and lots of other people jumped in expressing a wish to host and it got a little crazy for a bit.<br />
<br />
I was mostly wondering how all of us would fit in one pod.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, Jo couldn't make it, but I could, so the show went on without her. This time. <br />
<br />
I plan to tell her what a blast I had so that she can come join me the next time. And I really hope there will be a next time. Mostly cause I have lots and lots and lots to say about Buffy, but I can rarely find an interested audience.<br />
<div>
<span class="screen-name"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="screen-name">We reviewed what is probably one of the most pivotal episodes in the entire Buffy the Slayer series, Innocence (S02E14). This is the ep that changes everything. And I mean that.</span></div>
<div>
<span class="screen-name"><br /></span></div>
<div>
It will probably be up in a couple of weeks, so you should totally, definitely and absolutely look out for it and listen to me ramble on and on and on. I'll bet I sound awesome! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But either way, remember, it was my first time, so be gentle with me.</div>
Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-41912735170922401632013-02-13T09:16:00.000-05:002013-02-13T09:16:26.633-05:00Wasting Time and Taking Names<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2zhsIkpAAd4/URufz0n5NfI/AAAAAAAAGVE/3KUBL-vrpHk/s1600/writing+on+paper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2zhsIkpAAd4/URufz0n5NfI/AAAAAAAAGVE/3KUBL-vrpHk/s1600/writing+on+paper.jpg" /></a></div>
Sometimes it feels like I should apologize, or at least feel guilty, for not posting more often. But since I just keep this blog for myself and since most of what I share here is pointless anyway, you should be be thanking me for not wasting your time.<br />
<br />
Seriously, I read a lot of blogs where people just feel like they have to blog every day or whatever, and then just post lots of nothingness, which I read, expecting that it will mean something at some point. But it never does and then my time has been wasted. I hate wasting time. So I'm really doing you a favor by only posting my own bits of nothingness once or twice a month.<br />
<br />
Of course, if I had chosen to watch American Idol this year, I'd be driving (all ten of) you insane with my twice weekly absurd recaps that you almost have to be watching the show at the same time to understand.<br />
<br />
So, you're welcome.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-36276991281903281262013-01-07T09:07:00.003-05:002013-01-07T09:07:40.231-05:00Spoilers and Star Trek<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GT8dPnnAGic/UOrVzCAROMI/AAAAAAAAGTo/YwQASVjw6t8/s1600/star-trek-into-darkness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GT8dPnnAGic/UOrVzCAROMI/AAAAAAAAGTo/YwQASVjw6t8/s320/star-trek-into-darkness.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I was <a href="http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/01/06/jj-abrams-secrecy/" target="_blank">reading an article about why JJ Abrams is so secretive</a>. And I get it, I really do. He wants people to have the whole experience and not be spoiled ahead of time. He personally probably doesn't like to be spoiled; lots of people don't like it.<br />
<br />
But that's not really natural. Hear me out. Anyone who's ever had, or even been around a two-year old, knows that little kids love to re-watch the same thing. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and, for instance, over again. In no way does knowing that happens next ruin the experience for them. It's just as much fun to watch Woody and Buzz fly down the street towards the moving van if they are seeing it for the first time or for the 100th time. That week. The Oompa Loopa song never gets old. They will sing along with it every time. The Wicked Witch of the West is still scary; when she threatens "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog, too" they still think she may be victorious.<br />
<br />
As kids, the experience isn't ruined for us, even when we know what's happening. So it feels to me like Mr. Abrams is throwing his own issues on to everyone else. Cause, seriously, what difference could it make for everyone to know what part Benedict Cumberbatch plays in Star Trek Into Darkness? Of course, maybe I'm involved in a little transference here myself, cause I haven't yet forgiven <i>anyone </i>for Lost. I'm not sure I ever will.<br />
<br />
But I've got no problem with spoilers. (And every time I hear that word, River Song is saying it in my head, "Spoilers, sweetie.") They don't ruin anything for me. I kinda hate surprises, actually. (As my husband will be too happy to tell you, when he threw me a surprise birthday party once. We'd only been married a couple of years and he really didn't know me too well yet. It was a bad, bad idea. Poor guy. I think I made him cry.)<br />
<br />
Anyway, as everyone in the world knows, Buffy The Vampire Slayer is my favorite show, of all time. I still watch every single episode (all 144 eps from 7 seasons, plus the original pilot) every year. It does not ruin the experience, even though I know exactly what is going to happen and I can basically quote all of the dialogue.<br />
<br />
Even back in the day, when the eps were new, there was this thing called the Wild Feed run by a guy who's name - due to any existing statutes that may not have run out yet - that I can't remember, who somehow managed to get a hold of the episode feed before the show aired. He'd watch each ep, re-cap them down to every detail, including commercial breaks (even though there were no commercials in the feed he saw - expect once there was one for Windex, which was totally weird and unexplained) and I'd read that silly thing every week. Even if it went up just hours before the show aired. Seriously. I couldn't help myself. I had to know what happened. Then I would watch the show and, in some ways, knowing what was going to happen made the experience better for me.<br />
<br />
I guess I just like being prepared.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-88018494360901650862012-12-17T21:44:00.000-05:002012-12-17T21:44:02.722-05:00Blessing in the ThornI keep thinking I ought to say something about the terrible tragedy in Newtown last week, but I just don't have words.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Blessing
in the Thorn</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><i><a href="http://www.phillipscraiganddean.com/" target="_blank">Phillips,Craig & Dean</a></i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I read
about a man of God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Who
gloried in his weakness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And I
wish that I could be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">More
like Him and less like me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Am I to
blame for what I'm not<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Or is
pain the way God teaches me to grow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I need
to know<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the thorn become a blessing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the pain become a friend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the weakness make me stronger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does my faith make me whole again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I want
to feel His arms around me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
middle of my raging storm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So that
I can see the blessing in the thorn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I've
heard it said the strength of Christ<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Is
perfect in my weakness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And the
more that I go through<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
more I prove the promise true<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">His
love will go to any length<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
reaches even now to where I am<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But
tell me once again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the thorn become a blessing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the pain become a friend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the weakness make me stronger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does my faith make me whole again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I want
to feel His arms around me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
middle of my raging storm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So that
I can see the blessing in the thorn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lord, I
have to ask You<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">On the
cross You suffered through<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Was
there a time You ever doubted<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What
You already knew<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the thorn become a blessing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the pain become a friend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does the weakness make me stronger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
does my faith make me whole again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I want
to feel His arms around me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
middle of my raging storm<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So that
I can see the blessing in the thorn<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-969533199853058448.post-59256523458146278632012-12-09T14:53:00.000-05:002012-12-09T14:53:14.464-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sN2Ka7b3vSc/UMTrbfr5AUI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/UtQUb-Pqse0/s1600/kristy-swanson-buffy-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sN2Ka7b3vSc/UMTrbfr5AUI/AAAAAAAAGTQ/UtQUb-Pqse0/s320/kristy-swanson-buffy-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I admit it. I'm shallow.<br />
<br />
No, seriously.<br />
<br />
So yesterday my husband flips on the TV and says to me, "Quick, what movie is this?"<br />
<br />
I see Donald Sutherland and Kristy Swanson, so, of course, I know it's Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Apparently, he's never seen the movie and somehow thinks I won't immediately recognize it. I'm not really a fan of the movie, but it's still Buffy and I'm usually forced to watch if I see it on. It's a personal issue.<br />
<br />
Of course, he said "this is crap" and he started switching channels. He stopped on some movie, I have no idea what it was, but it had a pretty solid cast; I recognized Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes and Meryl Streep. The first scene we saw was an old woman, lying in bed and a slightly younger old woman, dressed in an evening gown, is talking to her and saying she's the night nurse. That scene went on way too long. Then the next scene was two younger girls (maybe 20's) sitting on a bed and talking about one of the girls' wedding, which was coming up.<br />
<br />
These two scenes went on for about 20 minutes. Of just women talking. Twenty minutes! What is that about?? I was ready to change the channel back to Buffy after about two minutes of that. I'm not a fan of people just talking in movies. There wasn't even any interesting mood music or anything. And he ended up watching the movie until the end.<br />
<br />
I had to leave the room.<br />
<br />
I'd much rather watch a bad vampire movie - several times - than a "good" boring movie at all. Any day of the week. I need some action if you're going to keep my interest.<br />
<br />
So, fine, I'm shallow.<br />
<br />
I just don't know when my husband turned into a woman.Tonihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10069969263924315673noreply@blogger.com1