After two weeks of the DVD sitting on my TV, I finally had the chance to watch “The Departed.” I can see why it won an Oscar. I thought the story telling was impeccable.  The acting was very good. The movie has a really nice flow to it. I didn’t feel cheated or that something was lacking in the movie. The characters were believable in their setting.  If you really hate violence in movies, it may not be for you. It is certainly not for children. I have let my son (he’s 14 going on 15) see R-rated movies, but I don’t think I would let him see this one. If you like cop/mob type movies, it’s definitely worth seeing. If you haven’t seen it, please do. I personally watch all kinds of movies.

I spent part of the day yesterday removing decorations. I’m always surprised by how little time it takes to remove them compared to putting them up. I don’t have a lot to do, since my decorating this year was minimal.

I had the chance to catch up on sleep. My son also flew back yesterday, so it’s quiet here except for the rambunctious kitties. They finally came out of hiding yesterday. One early. The other much later.

For the first time in more than 10 years, I spent New Year’s Eve with someone. Sounds odd. But I’ve either had my son then or nothing and no one to spend it with. I know married couples. So they spend the evening with spouses and other married friends. I’ve mainly been single at that time of year too. Most years I don’t feel like going out either. It was a nice change this year.

I’m just not quite ready to begin the week. Yet, I feel like I should be doing something.

Since the only thing I have to write about is something I don’t, I thought I’d visit the search logs for my site again. Apparently someone in London is searching for a boobie teapot. Now, is that a teapot with boobies? I can’t imagine what one looks like. Perhaps it has two spouts. A teapot that can pour two cups at once! Do they have teapots with boobies in England? I know they really like their teapots.

Well enough of that. Time to break my tradition of not writing about certain subjects. It’s time to talk about Mr. O. He loves the nickname for those of you out there who aren’t sure. What guy wouldn’t? I’m sure everyone associates the “O” with one word. And that would be pretty accurate. In an attempt to find other “O” words, I noticed that English has very few “O” words. Here’s a few descriptive ones: overwhelm, oversexed and obeisance. Overwhelmed: that’s me. Overwhelmed by Mr. O. Now we could argue who is oversexed. However, he is one of the beneficiaries of “The Tantric Master.” Obeisance. Yes, he’s that good and that much fun.

Since English left me with few words, I went to French. The “O”: oui et oui et oui. If he visits the blog again, which isn’t often, I think he’ll enjoy that one. That reminds me of James Joyce’s “Ulysses.” Perhaps it is even hotter in French? Here’s another: obsédé. Again, I think we might argue over who that fits (him, me or both). I’m going to be egalitarian considering the results of the art of seduction quiz and say both.

I may need to get another bottle of champagne just to pay obeisance to Mr. O. I think he’s worth it, don’t you?

No takers from yesterday’s post? Hmm. Must be tantric that scared everyone off. Perhaps no one took it seriously. That’s okay. Insert evil genius laugh here. The mad scientist laugh was part of the chemistry graduate school curriculum.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been following this ex-KGB murder as if it were a Clancy novel. The way the people are related is incredible with twists and turns no novelist could possibly come up with. The plot thickens every day. It’s better than any drama on television. I wish my novel had turned out as good. This is the kind of stuff I love to read, but it seems very difficult to write believably.

I’ve been down memory lane a bit recently. A little with a friend and with Kelly and her yearbook post. All reminders of what I was like in high school and college. I’d still like to forget high school. Let me say that I was pretty stupid back then. I thought I was smart. Oh, I had plenty of intelligence, but still stupid—did stupid things and just plain didn’t get certain things. My mother doesn’t read my blog, so she will never know that I just admitted to being foolish. I watch other people who are 18 to 22 and shake my head at their folly. They don’t even realize it. I do think it would be nice to be that age though and know what I know now.

Enough reminiscing. I certainly wasn’t a “tantric master” back then. So here’s to experience!

*****

I completely forgot that today is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor until reading through a few blogs. Recently new photos were found of that day. I wrote about my experience at Pearl Harbor back in September when the memory was fresher. However, viewing those new photos brought back the same experience.

Today my thoughts are with a friend who has been dealing with how to respond to another friend over what appears to be a misunderstanding. I want to help, but I can’t. It’s one of those situations where there is nothing you can do to make it any better. The only thing I can do is let my friend know that I’m here should I be needed. There’s no advice I can give, and quite possibly no advice is needed or wanted. I know how difficult these situations can be. I usually try not to get too upset myself. Often times, the friendship is over. It happens, and you move on. I don’t know what will happen in this case. I guess I will find out how this plays out over the next week. I am hoping that everything gets worked out. I’d like to see my friend happier again and less preoccupied with this mess.

So I was crazy enough to get up at 3:30 am to get to an electronics store before they began to hand out tickets. I drove there. Took a good look at the line and parking lot and returned home. There were no parking spaces. The line? Several hundred people. All I wanted is one television. However, since the minimum they might have is 15, with a line like that my chances of getting one are slim to none. I decided that I didn’t need one today, and there will be more sales prior to Christmas. In past years, Black Friday has never been very good for the stores in spite of their sales. I am going back to bed to wake up much later. I seem to have caught another bug. It’s mild, but annoying. Later, I think I will get out the decorations and get the outside lights up.

Technorati: Black Friday

Today may be a lost writing day as well, but I hope not. I was out late last night in the East Bay. Not a place I regularly travel to, and certainly not where I would think of first to go out. I had a great time and met some great people who are friends of Mr. O.

Just who is Mr. O? Anyone who listened to one of the last of Kelly’s podcasts might know. He’s hard to describe. He’s my most recent writer’s block. So I’m not going into any detail here. Not that he reads it or would be bothered. I just don’t want to jinx it.

For now, I need water and more sleep. Maybe an afternoon nap. Right now, I’m just not that tired.

Yesterday I tried to take some good pictures with my camera. I have an advanced digital camera, which means I have plenty of control over the shot, but only have one lens. Every picture when enlarged has jaggies. I don’t understand it. I’ve tried everything I know to control it, and the only thing left as a reason is that the camera just isn’t good enough. It’s 5.1 megapixels, which should be fine. I would like to get a new camera–a real digital SLR–but I will have to save up to get one.

Should anyone try to give some advice…yes, I am using the highest resolution possible. Yes, I used a tripod (my hands aren’t that steady for up close work). I think it should be easier to get quality photos than this. I just think that in order to reduce the problems I am having that I need more megapixels.

Technorati: digital photography

To state the obvious, we are nearly at the end of October. It won’t be long before the new year is here. Funny how time passes so quickly. As a child, I remember time moved at a snail’s pace, unless it was summer.

I’m also close to it being 3 months since I restarted this blog. A lot has happened to this blog since then. Although some days, I have no idea where it is going. Maybe that is the point–it follows the same flow as my life. Which brings to mind those crazy questions as to where you will be in 5 years. See, lately I’ve had a few interviews. I’m not the best at lying by saying “oh, still at your company, perhaps in management.” I have no idea where I will be in 5 years, and it doesn’t really matter. My experience has shown that all the planning in the world doesn’t usually work out. It’s better just to go with the flow. My life always changes–sometimes very quickly. The one constant is my life is change. I used to hate it. I fought it. Now, I can’t imagine it being any different. It took years to learn to enjoy the fast-paced change.

So where am I going (with this blog or life)? I don’t know, but I will enjoy the ride.

Last night I watched a program on vampires on the Biography Channel. It covered a little history and interviewed people who claim to be vampires. I’m curious. Do people think there really are vampires? Is it possible to be one? Frankly, I’m not sure that being pale or having a reaction to the sun truly counts. I meet that criteria. Does liking the taste of blood make you one? Or, does it just mean you have an unusual taste? Anyone want to tell me the fascination with vampires?

See that was probably the most interesting thing I did all evening. It was Monday. No dates on Mondays. All of these reminds me that Halloween is coming up, and that means I have to hide my black cat. Poor baby. He has a tendency to try to run outside–although not lately. It’s funny that black cats have such a poor reputation here. In Spain, black cats are lucky. I’ve heard that in other countries black cats are considered lucky. He really is the sweetest cat too. I adopted him because no one wanted an all black cat.

I don’t typically go to Halloween parties. Not sure why. I like costume parties. I think there should be more of them–not just at Halloween. Perhaps I don’t like the ghoulishness of Halloween. I don’t know. I wasn’t allowed to go trick-or-treating growing up.

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Technorati: vampire, Halloween, black cat