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shadowkat1. Sigh, it's shark week - or shark attack - a pseudonym for painful gushy period from hell - which apparently are symptoms of the transition into menopause.
I informed mother over the phone this morning after she rattled on about our cousin and his background in engineering and various high level degrees. Apparently AT&T paid his way through Northwestern for a Masters, and he was working with AT&T right out of undergrad for software engineering. Lucky sod. Pays to be a software engineer - not so much to be an artist or creative.
Mother: You are bored by all of this? (I'd been silent and not laughing or responding all that much.)
Me: Uhm, no. I slept poorly last night and don't feel that well at the moment. I had a gushing period. It wasn't that bad - and I made it in time to the bathroom. But I did have to hand wash my pjs this morning, and change the sheets on my bed, and a spot on the mattress pad. Also it made me feel a bit naseaus and dizzy - possibly due to loss of blood or...something else. Don't know.
Mother: Your body felt off and out of wack is all.
Me: Most likely.
Mother: Did it scare you? Did you think something was wrong?
ME: Well kind of, until I remembered it had happened before. That I'd read about others having this happen on my correspondence list (one woman nicknamed it "the shark attack", because you know it hurts too - with cramping), and I read about it happening in the latter stages of perimenopause or the transition into menopause in the Menopause Manifesto. In that the author describes being in a plane and all of a sudden finding herself sitting in a puddle of her own blood and having to clean up the mess in the airplane's bathroom. (Which is a lot worse.)
Mother: Or it could have happened at work or on the subway.
Me: Exactly. I've had it happen before - far worse in the night. Last night, I was able to wake myself up and get to the bathroom each time.
Gave up and took a naproxen this morning - which I only take if desperate, since they play havoc with my hypertension meds.
I write all this to help others who may or may not be going through the same thing. We need to share these types of things folks - so we feel less alone and less afraid when they happen to us. There's nothing to be embarrassed or shy about - it's a natural process of female aging. Mother taught me that I shouldn't be embarrassed about my body or ashamed of it.
So many are - the world, run mainly by dingbats, wants me to be. I shall resist.
2. Decided to try the new Apple TV series Foundation today. This is the television series that they adapted from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi novel series of the same name. A couple of tid-bits about Asimov's novels - 1) they were written in 1942-1981. To say they are dated is a gross understatement.
The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories in 1942–50, and subsequently in three collections in 1951–53, for thirty years the series was a trilogy: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov began adding new volumes in 1981, with two sequels: Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, and two prequels: Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. The additions made reference to events in Asimov's Robot and Empire series, indicating that they were also set in the same fictional universe.
Also, I learned the other day that the head of the NXIVUM cult, Keith Reiner, created his cult's philosophy from Asimov's mathematical philosophy in Foundation.
And, there's a reason that Asimov never quite worked for me as a writer - he kind of falls into that category of speculative "hard" science fiction where the theme or the intellectual theories means more than character or story. Asimov works better when he is collaborating with someone else.
At any rate, I've read Asimov, I just don't remember most of what I've read - which probably tells you a lot right there. I remember Ray Bradbury stories that I read in the 1980s and 90s, but I don't remember Asimov at all. I even remember Heinlein, and Huxley, but Asimov not so much. I think he was too mathematical for me - and math and me are not friends. I find math kind of boring - it's not how my brain operates.
Anyhow, I kind of went to sleep during the first episode. I realized this when I woke up and saw this massive collapse of the star gate bridge. I thought okay - what did I miss, that looks interesting. Lets rewind. Stop it. And take a nap.
I took a nap. Came back and watched from the point in which I dozed off.
While it has some good points - mainly due to casting, it may be a touch too intellectual for its own good?
Game of Thrones, its not. Everyone is trying to get the next Game of Thrones - that's why we have an overabundance of riches in regards to sci-fantasy adaptations to the screen at the moment. You can blame Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Twilight and Game of Thrones for this phenomenon.
While Game of Thrones was intellectual - it was also filled with action, and for the most part, was primarily character driven. GRR Martin was more of a character-centric writer than a speculative writer. Martin was mostly interested in his characters emotional arcs and unlike Asimov wrote a lot for television and the screen. Asimov doesn't really care that much about characters, the characters are kind of symbols or archetypes for whatever intellectual theories he's devised. He's mainly an intellectual writer not an emotional one, which is problematic for a television series. This is why it's almost impossible to adapt his stuff to the screen - I mean what you end up with is a bunch of people giving long monologues to each other or discussing philosophical mathematical theories to death. That can be interesting in a book - also, you can re-read it, but it's not exactly fun to watch on screen.
My mind kept drifting during a lot of it. The other difficulty is due to all of the intellectualism - it was kind of hard to care about the world or the characters. I didn't really care what happened to this world, or the people within it. And I should have. In short - it didn't engage my emotions, just the intellect - and not enough for me to focus my attention on it. In short, I was kind of bored.
That said, it does have a few good points here and there, and I'll watch another episode - to see if it improves. Lee Pace does a very good job bringing Brother Day to life, and is a devilish villain. Also, the protagonist or lead - a young girl, later woman, Saladain (??) who is supposed to save the galaxy - is interesting. I liked her a great deal - even if I'm a tad bored of the "chosen girl" trope in male dominated sci-fantasy. But she is the one bright spot in the series. And I'm admittedly curious about the mysterious bolt or ghost object on Terminus that only she can approach and unlock. Both of these items are overdone tropes by now and kind of predictable - because overdone. (They probably weren't overdone in the 1950s and 60s. Or even the 1980s. But they are now.)
I'll let you know if it gets better. Right now, it has great special effects, and some decent performances, but is rather dull in places and I had troubles staying focused on it and awake. Also I think its dated.
Texted bro - who also saw it, and had the same reaction. We'd both been looking forward to it, and it was kind of blah. We're hoping it gets better as it goes. We're in agreement (and generally speaking this is rare), that there is too much exposition and world-building and not enough story/character development.
**
3. Also saw The Wonder Years - which isn't so much a reboot, but another take on the story, except from an African-American perspective? It takes place in 1968, and features and African-American family in Chicago, from the perspective of their twelve year old son. The voice over narrative is Don Cheadle. Fred Savage is an executive producer. It's good, but not funny, and strongly focuses on racial differences. It features an old black cast in the leads, with a few exceptions. I found it informative. Depicts how the 1960s is not as nice as many people like to remember it.
4. And having completed the audio biography of Robert Altman, I'm currently listening to "The Cooking Gene - A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South" read by the author, Michael W. Twitty. I had attempted to read it a while back - but I couldn't focus on it - so going the audio route instead. So far it's fascinating. African-Americans look at DNA Ancestry differently than White Americans and Europeans do, in that it is a way to reclaim their heritage and familial history which was to a certain degree lost to them due to slavery. Because of slavery - their names were changed, and families were split apart. This provides them with a way of being reunited.
***
5. Cooler today, so I opened the window a crack. And I fear I've not been a good friend to Wales of late. I got a series of text messages today - where she informs me that she had a birthday (I'd forgotten it), and wondering if I'm alive and if we're still friends. I keep falling into these odd depressive states where I don't care about much of anything, and can't quite focus. Then fall out of them again. That and I suck at following text notifications. My phone rarely shows them - and so I don't tend to know if someone texted me or not - until about a couple of days later. While emails from work inundate me constantly. My family is more understanding - Wales, isn't. Although she should be considering she does the same thing. (Wales is a bit of high maintenance. )
Anyhow, I freaked out. And rapidly texted back "Happy Birthday" and that I was really sorry that I forgot, and would love to hang out sometime and not been feeling well. Etc.
Either she let's it go, or doesn't. Up to her. I've no control over other people or how they choose to react to things - I barely have control over me. I'm just doing whatever I can to keep my head above water folks.
**
6. Mother is having issues with her nurse today. The nurse doesn't think she needs any care. Barely checks on her. Refused to really help or assist her. And told her she could get ready for bed by herself. Also when mother tried to engage her in conversation, she was having none of it. Honestly some folks just aren't cut out for nursing or care giving. I know I'm not - but I'm not a nurse, and I'd do better than that.
I got angry on my mother's behalf again. Then mother, being mother, rapidly defended the woman and said she probably was having a bad day or something.
We both do this - we defend the people we are complaining about to each other. It's amusing really.
**
I can't even read about politics any longer, without getting scared. Seriously, the news is scary.
There's not a lot of hope in it.
***
Random photo of the day...
I informed mother over the phone this morning after she rattled on about our cousin and his background in engineering and various high level degrees. Apparently AT&T paid his way through Northwestern for a Masters, and he was working with AT&T right out of undergrad for software engineering. Lucky sod. Pays to be a software engineer - not so much to be an artist or creative.
Mother: You are bored by all of this? (I'd been silent and not laughing or responding all that much.)
Me: Uhm, no. I slept poorly last night and don't feel that well at the moment. I had a gushing period. It wasn't that bad - and I made it in time to the bathroom. But I did have to hand wash my pjs this morning, and change the sheets on my bed, and a spot on the mattress pad. Also it made me feel a bit naseaus and dizzy - possibly due to loss of blood or...something else. Don't know.
Mother: Your body felt off and out of wack is all.
Me: Most likely.
Mother: Did it scare you? Did you think something was wrong?
ME: Well kind of, until I remembered it had happened before. That I'd read about others having this happen on my correspondence list (one woman nicknamed it "the shark attack", because you know it hurts too - with cramping), and I read about it happening in the latter stages of perimenopause or the transition into menopause in the Menopause Manifesto. In that the author describes being in a plane and all of a sudden finding herself sitting in a puddle of her own blood and having to clean up the mess in the airplane's bathroom. (Which is a lot worse.)
Mother: Or it could have happened at work or on the subway.
Me: Exactly. I've had it happen before - far worse in the night. Last night, I was able to wake myself up and get to the bathroom each time.
Gave up and took a naproxen this morning - which I only take if desperate, since they play havoc with my hypertension meds.
I write all this to help others who may or may not be going through the same thing. We need to share these types of things folks - so we feel less alone and less afraid when they happen to us. There's nothing to be embarrassed or shy about - it's a natural process of female aging. Mother taught me that I shouldn't be embarrassed about my body or ashamed of it.
So many are - the world, run mainly by dingbats, wants me to be. I shall resist.
2. Decided to try the new Apple TV series Foundation today. This is the television series that they adapted from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi novel series of the same name. A couple of tid-bits about Asimov's novels - 1) they were written in 1942-1981. To say they are dated is a gross understatement.
The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories in 1942–50, and subsequently in three collections in 1951–53, for thirty years the series was a trilogy: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov began adding new volumes in 1981, with two sequels: Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth, and two prequels: Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. The additions made reference to events in Asimov's Robot and Empire series, indicating that they were also set in the same fictional universe.
Also, I learned the other day that the head of the NXIVUM cult, Keith Reiner, created his cult's philosophy from Asimov's mathematical philosophy in Foundation.
And, there's a reason that Asimov never quite worked for me as a writer - he kind of falls into that category of speculative "hard" science fiction where the theme or the intellectual theories means more than character or story. Asimov works better when he is collaborating with someone else.
At any rate, I've read Asimov, I just don't remember most of what I've read - which probably tells you a lot right there. I remember Ray Bradbury stories that I read in the 1980s and 90s, but I don't remember Asimov at all. I even remember Heinlein, and Huxley, but Asimov not so much. I think he was too mathematical for me - and math and me are not friends. I find math kind of boring - it's not how my brain operates.
Anyhow, I kind of went to sleep during the first episode. I realized this when I woke up and saw this massive collapse of the star gate bridge. I thought okay - what did I miss, that looks interesting. Lets rewind. Stop it. And take a nap.
I took a nap. Came back and watched from the point in which I dozed off.
While it has some good points - mainly due to casting, it may be a touch too intellectual for its own good?
Game of Thrones, its not. Everyone is trying to get the next Game of Thrones - that's why we have an overabundance of riches in regards to sci-fantasy adaptations to the screen at the moment. You can blame Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Twilight and Game of Thrones for this phenomenon.
While Game of Thrones was intellectual - it was also filled with action, and for the most part, was primarily character driven. GRR Martin was more of a character-centric writer than a speculative writer. Martin was mostly interested in his characters emotional arcs and unlike Asimov wrote a lot for television and the screen. Asimov doesn't really care that much about characters, the characters are kind of symbols or archetypes for whatever intellectual theories he's devised. He's mainly an intellectual writer not an emotional one, which is problematic for a television series. This is why it's almost impossible to adapt his stuff to the screen - I mean what you end up with is a bunch of people giving long monologues to each other or discussing philosophical mathematical theories to death. That can be interesting in a book - also, you can re-read it, but it's not exactly fun to watch on screen.
My mind kept drifting during a lot of it. The other difficulty is due to all of the intellectualism - it was kind of hard to care about the world or the characters. I didn't really care what happened to this world, or the people within it. And I should have. In short - it didn't engage my emotions, just the intellect - and not enough for me to focus my attention on it. In short, I was kind of bored.
That said, it does have a few good points here and there, and I'll watch another episode - to see if it improves. Lee Pace does a very good job bringing Brother Day to life, and is a devilish villain. Also, the protagonist or lead - a young girl, later woman, Saladain (??) who is supposed to save the galaxy - is interesting. I liked her a great deal - even if I'm a tad bored of the "chosen girl" trope in male dominated sci-fantasy. But she is the one bright spot in the series. And I'm admittedly curious about the mysterious bolt or ghost object on Terminus that only she can approach and unlock. Both of these items are overdone tropes by now and kind of predictable - because overdone. (They probably weren't overdone in the 1950s and 60s. Or even the 1980s. But they are now.)
I'll let you know if it gets better. Right now, it has great special effects, and some decent performances, but is rather dull in places and I had troubles staying focused on it and awake. Also I think its dated.
Texted bro - who also saw it, and had the same reaction. We'd both been looking forward to it, and it was kind of blah. We're hoping it gets better as it goes. We're in agreement (and generally speaking this is rare), that there is too much exposition and world-building and not enough story/character development.
**
3. Also saw The Wonder Years - which isn't so much a reboot, but another take on the story, except from an African-American perspective? It takes place in 1968, and features and African-American family in Chicago, from the perspective of their twelve year old son. The voice over narrative is Don Cheadle. Fred Savage is an executive producer. It's good, but not funny, and strongly focuses on racial differences. It features an old black cast in the leads, with a few exceptions. I found it informative. Depicts how the 1960s is not as nice as many people like to remember it.
4. And having completed the audio biography of Robert Altman, I'm currently listening to "The Cooking Gene - A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South" read by the author, Michael W. Twitty. I had attempted to read it a while back - but I couldn't focus on it - so going the audio route instead. So far it's fascinating. African-Americans look at DNA Ancestry differently than White Americans and Europeans do, in that it is a way to reclaim their heritage and familial history which was to a certain degree lost to them due to slavery. Because of slavery - their names were changed, and families were split apart. This provides them with a way of being reunited.
***
5. Cooler today, so I opened the window a crack. And I fear I've not been a good friend to Wales of late. I got a series of text messages today - where she informs me that she had a birthday (I'd forgotten it), and wondering if I'm alive and if we're still friends. I keep falling into these odd depressive states where I don't care about much of anything, and can't quite focus. Then fall out of them again. That and I suck at following text notifications. My phone rarely shows them - and so I don't tend to know if someone texted me or not - until about a couple of days later. While emails from work inundate me constantly. My family is more understanding - Wales, isn't. Although she should be considering she does the same thing. (Wales is a bit of high maintenance. )
Anyhow, I freaked out. And rapidly texted back "Happy Birthday" and that I was really sorry that I forgot, and would love to hang out sometime and not been feeling well. Etc.
Either she let's it go, or doesn't. Up to her. I've no control over other people or how they choose to react to things - I barely have control over me. I'm just doing whatever I can to keep my head above water folks.
**
6. Mother is having issues with her nurse today. The nurse doesn't think she needs any care. Barely checks on her. Refused to really help or assist her. And told her she could get ready for bed by herself. Also when mother tried to engage her in conversation, she was having none of it. Honestly some folks just aren't cut out for nursing or care giving. I know I'm not - but I'm not a nurse, and I'd do better than that.
I got angry on my mother's behalf again. Then mother, being mother, rapidly defended the woman and said she probably was having a bad day or something.
We both do this - we defend the people we are complaining about to each other. It's amusing really.
**
I can't even read about politics any longer, without getting scared. Seriously, the news is scary.
There's not a lot of hope in it.
***
Random photo of the day...
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 01:02 am (UTC)Gross, though I kinda feel like we can't blame Asimov for thsi one.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 01:33 am (UTC)Also I think Asimov died long before that - and if he'd been alive? Would have been horrified.
Rainer's not the first sociopath to use sci-fi or arts to justify hurting others. I'm not sure we can blame the artists for these evil people, they'd find something else.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 02:27 am (UTC)Your account of Foundation fits the books, with dull patches, weak on character, etc., heh, unfortunately too faithful an adaptation! Interesting to hear how it goes if you can stay awake for it. The non-Foundation Asimov I now recall is largely various three-laws-of-robotics stuff.
Yeah, Wales will react however, out of your control, what happens, happens. You have plenty else to deal with. You tried.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 02:40 am (UTC)Yeah, Asimov is really into the hard science and the world-building. I did read one book of his that he co-wrote with someone else...I think it was "Nightfall" with Robert Silverberg which was really good, it was about a planet that was about to be consumed with darkness for a period of time, and how they were attempting to prepare for it. Very character centric, but he wrote it with someone else.
Asimov was a professor of biochemistry and wrote a lot of scientific articles and essays, along with short stories and novels. So he tended to go hard on the science bit, and soft on the characters and plot. It makes sense, most academic writers tend to do that, they are more interested in their research or conveying information to the reader or ideas, then telling a story. It's how they think.
Silverberg was a better story teller.
Also, Asimov was a man of his time - a lot of his stuff, you really have to take in context. He was however far-sighted in regards to AI and robotics.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 06:41 am (UTC)Agreed, although I'm sure there are exceptions here and there.
I remember back in my teens and early 20's, I subscribed to both Analog and Fantasy & Science Fiction magazines. Analog seemed to prefer the more hard science stories, and F&SF covered a much wider range of styles, as the magazine's title might suggest. Interestingly, Asimov wrote a regular science column in F&SF for many, many years. He certainly made a good teacher, generally relating the science to the real world in clear and understandable terms.
And speaking of him being prescient re robots and AI, he was also a serious campaigner for a subject that is, sadly, still seriously deflected to this day, which is overpopulation. In one of those F&SF articles, I recall him getting directly into the inarguable mathematics of unchecked human reproduction, and eventually concluding with the words...
"So there are ultimately only two choices for us to make as a civilization-- either fewer births, or more deaths."
*******
Silverberg is one of my all-time favorites as a writer. If someone asked me to sum up my faves to just three writers, it would be him, Harlan Ellison, and Ursula LeGuin.
If I'd expand the list to four, I'd include Philip Jose Farmer. Speaking of a series that I think could be fabulous on screen (best done as a TV series a la GoT) would be his Riverworld novels. If you've never read them, I'd definitely recc them highly.
Here's the wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverworld
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 12:34 pm (UTC)"So there are ultimately only two choices for us to make as a civilization-- either fewer births, or more deaths."
Well, China tried - but ended up with a huge problem. Parents only wanted sons. So now, they have a lot of 20 something men, not a lot of women. And their population is slanted to older.
Then the pandemic hit. So...apparently the Earth kills us off or we kill each other off.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 05:07 am (UTC)Hope you're feeling better. I can never contribute to menopause stories -- I never even had any hot flashes, just occasional warmish moments. :/
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 12:25 pm (UTC)Thanks. Yeah, menopause is different for everyone. I didn't have any hot flashes this weekend, they've been minimal - it's the other stuff.
Yep, I barely remember him as well - except for that book he wrote with Silverberg, which I read around 1998 or 1999.
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 02:03 pm (UTC)I used to get both Analog and F & SF mags, but decided the writing was usually better in F & SF and/or I just enjoyed the stories more.
I remember the peri-menopause blood gushing. Not fun, and occasionally embarrassing. It does go away, though... eventually...
no subject
Date: 2021-09-27 11:00 pm (UTC)I am thinking Foundation deserves another chance - I tend to give science fiction more chances than other things - at least a couple of episodes. Mainly because I prefer Sci-Fantasy shows to other shows, and want more of them.
I think I read a little of Analog and F &SF mags - but mainly in book stores. I was known for grabbing it in a book store and reading it, but not always buying. Sci-fi has some of the better short fiction out there.
Good news on mother - she's being released on Thursday, so doesn't have to deal with this nurse again. Also she can stumble about by herself now - walker in tow.