Photos from Today

 Today was my nephew's birthday. He said he wanted to come over and spend the day with me. I asked him what he wanted to eat, and told him I'd make it for him. He said he wanted menudo. Since there were going to be many of us, I pulled out the medium sized pot. ;P

 I swear I felt like a witch stirring this big-ass pot.

 Lulu started fussing at the front door, so I assumed there was something in the yard that was bothering her. I looked out; there were a dozen buzzards clustered around the Arizona ash. I was only able to catch a few since I used the camera phone.

Once I looked more carefully, I saw a dead squirrel in the road. That was obviously what they were after. And I can tell you, they did not like me standing close to them.

Happy Halloween!

I am up to attending any parties if anyone is having one!

A Plate of Yum

The weather has finally turned cool here in Mandragoraville, and I was inspired to do a bit of baking.

Behold! A plate of pumpkin muffins.

Mmmmmmm!

What the Fcuk is Wrong with Dancing with the Stars?

On tonight's elimination show, my favorite contestant, Audrina Patridge, was voted off the show.

What?

And the dancing gorilla that is Bristol Palin is still competing? Come on. I cannot believe that people are voting for that Alaskan train wreck while people like Audrina and Jennifer Grey, both ladies that are dancing very well, were in the bottom two. No.

The Bumble dancing with Yukon Cornelius at an Alaskan sock hop

It is sort of like Wheel of Fortune. I have noticed that the wheel, while spinning, has different ways of stopping. There are times it slowly rolls to a stop, even bouncing back from a stopper because it loses momentum. Then there are times it comes to a jarring stop, looking very much like a brake has been applied. For that reason, I cannot believe that the producers don't influence where the wheel stops to help create closer games/more excitement.

In like fashion, I now think the producers of Dancing are doing something similar with the voting. There is no way Palin, who moves with the grace of the Bumble from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer fame, is outperforming Audrina.

Ah well. It is an entertainment program after all, not a election for Emperor of the World, so it really makes no difference. I was just taken with Audrina and am sad to see her go.

Rocky Horror

I don't generally watch the television program Glee for more reasons than I care to list and you care to listen to. However, I did make plans to watch it this evening when I learned that they would be doing a version of Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I happen to love Rocky Horror Picture Show.

In fact, I eve remember the first time I watched RHPS: I was a freshman in high school. My family owned 2 riding horses back then and we made friends with a family who stabled their horses at the same ranch we did. Their oldest son and I got along very well and he would invite me to the movies every Friday evening. One of those evenings, we went to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror. I had never heard of it, so was not prepared for what it was.

We walked in to a theater that had almost no seats left, it was so full. And there were people in costumes, for goodness sakes. Costumes! My first thought was that these people were freaks. As the movie began and people began to stand up and reenact scenes on the screen there in the aisles, I realized I was absolutely correct. Rolls of toilet paper flew through the air, water pistols were fired into the air during a rain storm, and the entire audience was supplying dialogue that was far more entertaining than what was on the screen.

There was a transvestite Frankenfurter in fishnet hose, Brad running around in his tighty whities, and a very sexy monster in tiny gold shorts.

In short, the 13 year old me thought the whole experience was AMAZING!

So, when I heard that Glee was doing Rocky Horror, I just had to peek in.

And I have to say, the show did a great job of putting a contemporary spin on the characters and the numbers. The blonde guy who they had as the monster in the tiny gold shorts was handsome, but there is no way he passes as a high schooler. Well actually, none of the main characters remotely look like they belong in high school, but I think that was a good thing. I would have felt like a perv checking out blondie in gold otherwise. Lol! And speaking of, I got the feeling that the blonde guy in the gold shorts was put on the show as eye candy because he kept showing off his very fit body in the majority of his scenes. Though I could be wrong.

John Stamos sans big hair and leather jacket

But the surprise for me was the cameo by John Stamos. The last I saw of him was in his days in the goofy show Full House. I recall him wearing tight pants, a leather jacket, and having big hair. And I really disliked him. I thought he was annoying, not good looking, and a terrible actor.

But tonight, I thought he did a great job as some red-haired teacher's boyfriend. He performed Eddie's (Meatloaf's) Hot Patootie number and sounded great. AND..he has gotten very handsome as he has gotten older. In a word, WOW!

Dinner With the Doc

I would like to say that, in the interest of healthy eating, I ate a nice salad for dinner. But, that just isn't true. This salad, though quite nice, was accompanied by a huge slice (or two) of lasagna. And a Coke float.

I suppose it's a good thing I have an odd intestinal disorder that keeps me from absorbing all of the calories/nutrition from everything I eat, otherwise I'd weigh 200 pounds.

spinach salad with tomatoes and croutons.

The dressing was made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, onion,

Dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper

I Have a Confession...

I am totally in love with Audrina Patridge.

Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking. "But Doctor, I thought you were a card carrying gay dude?"No, dear reader, I have not switched teams. Well, not that I've ever actually played on either team, if you know what I mean.

Still, I've been watching Dancing with the Stars, more to make fun of the "stars" that can't dance than anything else, and since episode 1, I have been in love with Audrina. She has to be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is sweet, she is funny, and she is a great dancer. I don't think she gets the praise she deserves, though. The judges seem especially hard on Audrina while they handle Bristol Palin with kid gloves, even though she the grace of a dancing hippo. I swear, it's like watching Disney's Fantasia without the fun music in the background. I really don't understand why they do that.

In today's show, for example, Bristol fell apart in the dance, forgetting steps and just standing there while her partner danced around her. Yet, when she got to the judges' table, they all praised her "courage" and "growth". What? Even Len, who hates theatrics of any sort, "loved" the gorilla suit she wore. Sorry, Len, it is clear you all are afraid to speak out and criticize Bristol even though she is stinking up the place with her sad sad dancing. To be honest, though, I wouldn't want to be killed with a moose rifle either.

Anyway, here are some photos of the lovely Audrina.

Dinner with the Doc

This was a bit more of a job than I had anticipated. I placed a brisket on a barbeque grill and smoked it for 4 hours. The meat was moist and delicious, but it was more toothsome than I like. So, it then went into the oven with extra seasoning, etc. for another 6 hours at 220 degrees. However, the darn thing is still too tough. So, it is back in the oven even as I write this. It has provided meat for two meals, though, and everyone said it was delicious. I'm just not happy with it.

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In other news, I just looked back at my last few posts and realized that I've been stinking the place up! No real writing, no emotion, just pictures. Pretty pictures, in my opinion, but nothing of substance. I think it's because I haven't been in the best of moods, lately, and do not want to air that here on the blog. We all journey into blogland to relax and have fun, I suspect, and I don't want to cast a pall in my corner of the realm. I need to find a way to dispel the Aura of Negativity that has been cast on my kingdom, though.

Photographer Captures Lightning Strike

photos taken and copyrighted by Jay Fine

A Little Humor

That's gonna leave a mark.

This is why I don't forward emails.

Umm..no comment.

A Conundrum

A baby girl is mysteriously dropped off at an orphanage in Cleveland in 1945. "Jane" grows up lonely and dejected, not knowing who her parents are, until one day in 1963, she is strangely attracted to a drifter. She falls in love with him, but just when things are looking up for Jane, a series of disasters strikes. First, she becomes pregnant by the drifter, who then disappears. Second, during the complicated delivery, the doctors discover that Jane has both sets of sex organs and, to save her life, they convert "her" into a "him". Finally, a mysterious stranger kidnaps the baby from the delivery room.

Reeling from these disasters, rejected by society, and scorned by fate, he becomes a drunkard and a drifter. Not only has "Jane" lost her parents and her lover, but he has lost his only child as well.Years later, in 1970, he stumbles into a lonely bar called Pop's Place, and spills out his pathetic story to an elderly bartender. The sympathetic bartender offers the drifter the chance to get revenge on the stranger who left her pregnant and abandoned on the condition that he join the Time Traveler Corps. Both of them enter a time machine and the bartender drops the drifter off in 1963. The drifter is strangely attracted to a young orphan girl who becomes pregnant.

The bartender then goes forward 9 months, kidnaps the baby girl from the hospital, and drops the baby off in an orphanage back in 1945. Then the bartender drops off the thoroughly confused drifter in 1985 to enlist in the Time Traveler Corps. The drifter eventually gets his life together and becomes a highly respected and elderly member of the Time Traveler Corps. He then has his most difficult mission. He disguises himself as a bartender and plans a date with destiny: meeting a certain drifter at Pop's Place in 1970.

Daymare

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned, but I have a host of sleeping issues brought on, I suspect, by worry and stress. I have extreme difficulty falling asleep. I wake up a dozen times over the night. My lack of sleep means I am tired during the day, but I don't dare nap. Any sleeping during the day leads to terrible dreams that leave my heart pounding and me gasping for air as I wake up.

Unfortunately, as I was reading this afternoon and trying to finish my book (which is taking me an unusually long time to finish), I fell asleep.

Now, I would have expected the usual terrible dreams, which I will not detail here on the blog, but they didn't come. Instead, it was a weird mishmash of images and story that were my most recently in my head. I find that specifics of the dream are becoming foggy, but I thought I'd relate what I remember anyway.

*************

I was outside a building that remarkably resembled a Spanish-styled museum that I've visited several times in real life. I was standing in the courtyard and looking around at the many archways that framed the doorways leading inside. There was a large tree in the center of the yard and concrete pathways laid around the perimeter. I was dressed in an odd ensemble of a black suit, an opera cloak, and a walking stick. 

The next thing I remember, I am walking through a narrow corridor. To either side of me are small rooms that appear to be shops. Some are selling prepared foods, others are selling books, and the one that catches my eye is a music shop. Strewn around the corridor are strings of colorful paper cutouts that flapped in the air conditioned air.

I walk into the music shop and begin to browse at the various instruments that are on display. In another corner of the store, I spy a small of group of people gathered around looking at someone playing a harpsichord, though it could have been a small piano.

Suddenly, there is a commotion in the hallway and people begin yelling and running past the shop. Dangerous and destructive djinn are rampaging through the building, killing people at random. One of them enters the music shop and looks around, spotting the group of people in the corner. It begins to move towards them and I realize that almost everyone in the group are teenagers. I take something out of my pocket and fire it at the djinn, causing it to dematerialize.

An older man dressed in pants, a white shirt, and a vest runs up to me and tells me I need to protect one of the teens and get him out of the building. He reaches behind him and yanks a smiling teen towards me. I recognize him as (and nobody laugh!!) that kid singer, Justin Bieber. (I know, I know, what the Hell? I blame the article I had just read about Bieber having a new line of fingernail polish
coming out soon.)

There is another scene shift and I find myself crawling through small tunnels that riddle the walls in the building I am in. Following along behind me is someone that I am supposed to be protecting, but it is now someone I don't recognize. The tunnels open up into the courtyard with the large tree. There are other people sheltering there, though I don't see how an open courtyard offers any protection whatsoever.

At this point, the dream breaks down, but I do remember being attacked by unpleasant looking djinn, using some sort of power/ability to defend myself and the guy who is still with me.

*************

I woke up rather confused and rattled, though not because the last images were horrific and terrible, as they usually are, but because my coming awake was very sudden. It was like being splashed with cold water.

Edit: 

I just read through my description of the dream and realize I did a really poor job of capturing it; I think I waited too long to write it up. I seriously considered deleting the whole thing, but meh...

Funniest Beer Commercial EVER!

Chris Brown In the News

I saw this article today and thought I'd share.

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Chris Brown bears no grudge against Usher after plans for a joint tour fell apart over the summer and still hopes to "work something out" for the future.

Record producer Bryan Michael Cox, who created hits for both stars, made a premature announcement in August when he took to the internet and claimed the pair was teaming up for a new trek.

The Kiss Kiss hitmaker fueled the rumors by asking fans' opinions about a possible double tour on his Twitter blog, only for Usher's management to shoot down the reports, insisting, "There are no plans for Usher and Brown to tour together."

Brown has now told of his disappointment about the cancellation in an interview with New York's Hot 97 radio station, but he is adamant there was no fall out between the singers.

He tells DJ Angie Martinez, "We kinda had different views on the tour - no beef. We both have two different promoters, so whoever would get the tour would have to work it out and I think they didn't see eye-to-eye.

"I think we rushed into it. We were in love with the idea more than the actual (business part of it). We couldn't get ready for it. Hopefully in the future, we might work something out."

However, Brown was quick to add that he didn't consider Usher a "friend" - because he quickly learned who he could depend on in the aftermath of his assault on ex-girlfriend Rihanna in February 2009.

He says, "I'm cordial and that's with everybody. I don't have friends in this industry. I have my circle and I have my people who've been with me through the bad times and the good times. Everybody else is just wallpaper."

********************

It appears that Chris Brown learned a life lesson during the fallout of the circus surrounding the Rhianna incident. The people that you can count as a friend are few and far between. Most of the people who surround us are merely acquaintances, not friends. Should a problem arise in your life, the majority of them will scatter like roaches in the light. And like roaches, they take what they can from you while the getting is good, and bail once it isn't. The few who stick with you are to be treasured forever.

Old Films

I don't generally watch a lot of television. I think it's because I can't sit in one place for more than a little while before I get antsy; call it adult ADHD.

Today, however, I watched a couple of old(er) films that I clearly remember watching at the theater when I was just a kid. The first was Max Dugan Returns with Jason Robards, Marsha Mason, and a very young Matthew Broderick. Written by Neil Simon, it has humor, sarcastic lines, and a great story. And it sticks in my mind because of a very sexy Matthew Broderick in the typical 80's tight pants. The movie came out in 1983 which puts me at 15 years old, and I am sure you don't need me to say that the handsome teen Matthew totally made the film for me. Ha!

Later in the evening, I watched the original Clash of the Titans with Harry Hamlin and Burgess Meredith. And though I love Burgess, especially as The Penguin and as the landlord in the hilarious Foul Play, it was seriously sexy Harry Hamlin that I recall being mesmerized by when I saw it at the theater. Clash of the Titans came out in 1981 which puts me at 13, so a nearly nude pretty man like Harry was sure to overload my senses.

Below are some captures of Harry Hamlin from Clash of the Titans that I found online. Sadly, I couldn't find any captures of Matthew Broderick from Max Dugan returns, though I suppose it's for the best. Putting up photos of teens and calling them sexy is a sure way to get a nasty label, and in my tenuous position, I don't need that.

October First

Today is October 1st and I was overcome with e sense of Fall. In this wacky household, that means it is time to decorate for the season. Yay!

We broke out some Halloween stuff and placed it tastefully around the house.

This is a corner in the kitchen. The door to the right leads to the pantry.

The silly little witch is sitting on top of a gas radiator in the hallway. It used to be our sole source of heat in the winter, but now doesn't work. I had to crop off her feet because the grill was rather dusty and I didn't want everyone to see what a terrible housekeeper I am. Lol!

This is a table in the living room. The lamp is always there with different decorations around it.