american horror story

Something about this TV series kept me watching even though I set my DVR to record it and for some reason it stopped recording.  I searched for it on ON DEMAND to watch the last three episodes.  Problem is you can't pause or fast forward or go back with ON DEMAND and I tried to pause and I must have messed something up cause I couldn't get the rest of it to play.  So then I had to look for it on line and was able watch.  But it was really difficult to watch on a small screen cause it was sooo dark.

All in all I was really quite happy with the way they ended the first season.  My husband caught bits and pieces of this show and thought it was totally weird.  I thought it was weird too but no weirder than it was supposed to be I think.  And all the dead Harmons around the Christmas Tree was remarkably festive and......appropriate.  And the family with the actors from Third Watch were really funny. Actually there was something darkly funny about much of the show. Thumbs up and  I forgive you for what you've done to Glee and the mistakes you made on that Glee Project thingy.

merry christmas

My 69 year old husband and I planned to spend Christmas Eve with his family and stay overnight and spend at least part of Christmas Day with them as well.  But after dinner he was feeling tired and a little dizzy and almost fell when he bent over to pet the dog.  I had been up since 5:30 and put in a full day of work and I was tired too.  So we decided we needed to go home.  I always feel a little out of place with his family, especially when his ex-wife is there.  They have always been really nice to me, but they are all outgoing and noisy and I am usually quiet and contemplative especially at this time of year.

So we didn't have anything planned for meals on Christmas Day and hubby was still feeling not so good.  And I wound up at Walgreen's after visiting three different convenience stores looking to buy something my husband would eat.  Me-the person who believes Christmas has become too comercial goes out shopping on Christmas Day.  I have worked in the restaurant business and in retail most of my life where the only holiday I could count on not working was Christmas. And there were a couple of Christmases that I worked in a restaurant that was open on Christmas.  But what was cool about shopping on Christmas day was that there weren't very many other people out there and traffic was not nerely as bad as it had been in the days before or has been since.  Cool.

melanie amaro

Melanie won the X Factor competition and I am happy for her.She has a very good voice, she deserves it , she will work hard etc. etc.  But as I was watching the show I thought Josh was more polished and comfortable as a performer.  Also I wonder if because of his age, this might have been his last chance.  Will opportunities come to him at age 30 just from appearing on this show?  I hope so cause I think his choice of music will be more interesting than Melanie's.  He doesn't look like a star however and she does. Crazy me, I voted for both of them.

terra nova finale

Sorry Stephen Speilberg but I was disappointed.  And I don't even know why.  Maybe because there was a question as to whether the series would return they felt like they needed to end with a bang (lol) and a hook to make us the veiwers wamt more.  I can understand that.  Maybe I need to re-watch the finale, cause I know from what I read online that some folks liked the final episode way better than everything that happened before.

I ususally like shows that are character driven, and I don't mind taking my time getting to know the characters.  I stuck with Lost through thick and thin for six years because those characters became important to me.

So it seems like the Terra Nova people came to the end of the season and still didn't know if they would be back so they threw in an explosion, and the badlands which we have heard nothing about before and an 18th century ship????  Now that doesn't remind you of LOST?  Oh well at least at the end they are looking up at the sky instead of down some hole in the ground.


Don't get me wrong I will probably watch (or DVR) this show if it comes back.  I am a sucker for this kind of show and I kind of like the characters and maybe the story will go off in an interesting direction.  Who knows it could be another LOST, but I don't think so.

meryl streep and i are the same age

I really can't think of much to say about that,  but for some reason it makes me kind of sad.  I realize every day that I am closer to the end of my life than the beginning and I kind of wish that I could see that I have accomplished something more than taking up space and consuming goods and services.  I'm pretty sure that Meryl Streep doesn't think about that, though I suppose there are others my age that do.

And then again I provide service to people.  And while I will never be Meryl Streep I do have time to be a better me.  And I can choose to use my time in such a way as to accomplish that much.

suss

So on Survivor it was Sophie who won the title sole survivor and the million bucks.  I was a little bit disappointed-I really don't know what Coach was thinking.  Personally I find the most remarkable thing about Sophie was that she knew the meaning of and used the word suss.  I kinda thought I knew what it meant but I had to look it up for sure.  Her final words to the jury sounded memorized and she spoke really fast but she turned to be the least of three evils for a jury who didn't want any of them to win.  It was probably a good thing for her that the jury didn't hear her at the challenge when she yelled at Albert to come pick up her tiles.  That was just strange.  And a little bratty as Ozzy would say.

Coach could have won if he had just been a little more honest a little sooner--or if he had stayed true to Brandon and that other guy uhhh Rick, or if he had listened to Albert and gotten rid of Sophie or even if he had kept Cochran to the end.  I think he was sincere when he said at the end of tribal counsel that there were just so many cross roads and he just kept making wrong decisions.

Really looking forward to the new Survivor season in February.  I think the One World twist should freshen up the show as long as they cast some interesting survivors.  Just wish they would go back to a final two instead of a final three.

FIRE HYDRANT!!!

I have always loved game shows-from Password to The Match Game to Let's Make a Deal from long ago and far away to more recently, Deal or No Deal and Millionaire.  Even Minute To Win It was fun for a little while. But I couldn't get into You Deserve It until the third episode where the guy was trying to win money for his Mom so she wouldn't lose her house.  He was a nice guy, kind of lucky, but he didn't know all the answers.  He made you want to root for him.  I knew Justin Timberlake before he did, and Kermit the Frog, and I found myself screaming FIRE HYDRANT at the television three clues before he knew the answer.  He won a lot of money for his Mom and I was happy.  And I was happy I know a lot of the answers too cause I didn't know any from the first two episodes.

more about people who make stuff, sell stuff, and buy stuff

My husband bought me an mp3 player for my birthday and I have music on my computer.  We bought the player.  We bought the computer.  We buy the service used to download the music and paid 99 cents or $1.29 plus tax or something like that for each song, but is it ok to transfer the music to the mp3 player?  I know I sound like an idiot, but I'm old and technologically challenged.  I know people share music and rip and burn discs or whatever the proper word is.  I also know that when I used to buy records(back in the vinyl age) I could play them on any record player I owned.  Or I could take them to a friends house and play them there.  Didn't need to copy them, they were portable.  I suppose there were pirates back then too but I never knew about them.  But now days it's so much easier to steal someone's creative work.  No one buys records or even cd's anymore.  Soon no one will buy books anymore.  We will have to download them onto something.  I love reading books.  And I am hoping that that process of purchasing electronic books will be easy and not too expensive, cause this old dog isn't getting any younger and I'm not sure how may new tricks I can learn.

thoughts on competition reality shows

I'm not sure I would allow my child to compete on The X Factor or America's Got Talent especially if she is female and actually has some talent.  Everybody knows that as far as the younger voters go, they are more likely to vote male than female.  Nicole was wrong not to vote.  Marcus should have gone home just as Drew went home the week before.  Once again The X Factor disappoints.

I am pretty happy with the results of The Amazing Race.  I kinda wish "the boys" would have made it to the end but they screwed up-pure and simple.  And Cindy and Ernie are kinda cute.

Survivor ends this week also-and I can't guess what Coach is up to.  Why would he not want to take Cochran to the end?  Does he seriously believe the jury will choose him if he is sitting next to Ozzy or even Albert?  Looking forward to this.He's not exactly Boston Rob but he has played a good game.

another birthday

So my most recent birthday was, I guess, a milestone of sorts.  My mother retired at 62 and if my memory is correct, I believe my father worked another year or so after he turned 62.  My husband began receiving social security benefits at age 62, but continued to work part time.  He wound up making too much money and had his benefits reduced for awhile but we came out ahead in the long run.  I just turned 62 this week and I am not able to do either of those things.

When I was young amd idealistic I believed that materialism was not a good thing.  A lot of stuff wasn't really necessary.  A roof over your head, reliable transportation and a healthy portion of freedom was important and could be achieved without working the kind of job that paid big money.  I truly was unwilling to give up more than 40 hour of my week to earning my living.  By the time I was graduated from college I knew I couldn't do the job I had learned to do. But I was sure I could do something.  And I did.  I did several things over the years,  enjoyed my feedom, paid the bills and kept a roof over my head, but didn't make a lot of money.  And what I did earn  I spent.  Just call me grasshopper.  And then when I married--I married another grasshopper.


So I can not retire on what my social security benefits would be at this time--particularly since I would have to pay for my own health insurance.  If I were to work part time I would need to work at least 24 hours per week or my company would drop  my health insurance.  The ecomomy is bad and nobody wants to give their employees benefits anymore--too expensive--and lots of unemployed people to choose from.  I understand all of that and accept it.  But I'm old and tired and deep in my soul believe that I will probably need to work at some kind of job until I die.

But that's ok.  My work is just work.  I doesn't define me or make me feel more or less important.  it takes only 40 hours out of a week-sometimes less-and it's purpose is just to pay the bills.