Is This To Be Endured? It Shall Not Be!

It is with no small amount of trepidation that I take keyboard in hand to pound out this post... o, what I would write if only I could set aside the limits of appropriateness and unpack my heart unedited and unrestrained. But I shall trust that the parts of me that still retain a shred of self control shall prevail, and I shall instead resort to my usual tack of vacuous nonsense. It's just life, that's all. It's easy to tell others to keep things in an eternal perspective, but it's another thing entirely to try to tell oneself such things, while caught in life's teeth, listening to your own bones crunch and your insides scream.

Dang. How emo is that? Sheesh.

I guess I could just use a friend. Volunteers? The only qualification is a willingness to have a metric ton of my unsolvable problems/dilemmas tactlessly dumped in one giant, boiling, haphazard mess upon your head, and remain standing afterwards, telling me what I already know to be true but need to hear anyway...

Yeah, didn't think so, lol.

Ah, well, the "Turning 40 Wagon" trundles onward. This too shall pass...

You know what they say! When life gives you lemons...

... make lemon 'nades.

So, I went with my friend Carey to the Indian Casino on Saturday night, as I threatened, to help him celebrate his 41st birthday. He's an old man. 41. Dang, that's ancient. Anyway, it was fun to see Carey enjoying himself, playing inscrutable slot machines for an hour or two. I dumped a cool $20 into a machine at one point, just to fit in. Haven't been in a casino in forever -- whatever happened to good old fashioned "three bar/lucky 7" slot machines? All the slots they had at the casino the other night had about a dozen different buttons to push, and you could set any number of different types of bets, varying the amount depending on whim, from a penny up to several bucks, all on the same machine! It was crazy. Gone are the penny slots, the nickel slots, the quarter slots, etc. It's all one machine now. And there are up to 30 different ways to win, depending on the type of bet you place. It's impossible to figure out - I just placed a random bet, and assumed the machine would let me know if I won anything or not. It was like an arcade game on crack.

So, yeah, not really my scene. But as I said, I wasn't there for me, but for my good pal, Carey, the old man. And he had fun, so that's what counts. The buffet we ate was yummy.

I know I've posted a similar video to this one before, but these guys that fly these "wingsuits" never cease to blow my mind.



I wish I had the wherewithal (both internally and financially) to attempt such a thing. Talk about living life on the edge. Leave absolutely every single "everyday" worry and concern behind, and live as "right now" as humanly possible... gliding down a mountainside, sometimes only feet off the ground or over the treetops.

WOW. A hundred times, wow.

Dangit, I want to live.

So, my good pal Rebecca is moving out to New York City this summer, to pursue her dream of becoming an editor. Talk about radical change, I'm super happy for her. And no, it's not just because if she becomes an editor, I can hire her to help me with my books. That too, of course...

Mostly, I'm happy that she's busting loose and jumping out there with both feet. Can't wait to see how it plays out for her. How cool is that? No small amount of envy on my part, of course. Ah, well, just more stuff to overcome...

What a pleasant surprise! I have my window open, and it just started raining. I love that sound. Let it rain, Lord, let it rain.

Wifey was watching the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice tonight (the one with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy), and I snuck in and watched the ending. Now, I'm definitely someone that loves actions movies, and things that go boom (like a good, healthy, red-blooded American male), but I kid you not, that version of Pride and Prejudice is solidly on my Top 10 favorite movies of all-time. Yeah, I'm getting sappy and maudlin in my old age, I know. I can't help it. It gets me every time. So many terrific characters and performances. That scene with Elizabeth and Lady Catherine, squaring off in the garden there at Longbourne toward the end... love it.

Dangit, I have to go find it on YouTube, be right back...



I could only find it in 360p, sorry.

You gotta love Mr. Bennett. I feel a certain kinship with him, that shall remain unelaborated-upon for the time being... *ahem*... anyway, Jennifer Ehle was originally cast as Catelyn Stark in the HBO series A Game of Thrones, but was recast. She would have been great, methinks.

I better post these clips while I can... new copyright laws may get passed which would make it a violation to post clips in a blog like this. Sorry, it's not worth risking massive fines and jail time to entertain you... forgive me? I still love you, fear not...

Anyway, I'm gonna skedaddle off to bed, regroup, and hit the ground running tomorrow. Let's see what this week brings, eh? Hopefully, I'll be able to look at life a bit differently...

Well, maybe not that differently... but close...

Dave the Unsettled