Day #14 of the 30 Day Film Meme

This is Day 14 of the 30 Day Film Challenge.

The prompt is "A Film That Gave You Depression" -- apparently that's possible. Personally, all I need to do is watch the news or a documentary, hence the reason I don't watch either.

Watch on YouTube

Feeling kind of numb at the moment. Which is nice. Debating if I want to brave the great humidity for a walk. The sky is flirting with being overcast and rain, but can't quite make up its mind.

(no subject)

The numbering has stopped. I honestly don't care any longer. I'm not in lock-down. Although I decided today to not do anything and just stay in the apartment. Outside - it keeps flirting with being overcast and raining, then gets blue and the sun is out.

At the Zoom service, the Minister was back from her sabbatical. Her sermon was basically about how lucky we all were - and that she hadn't gotten to repaint her apartment, grout her bathroom, write her book and do lots of yoga like she thought - instead she was playing full time Mom - remote learning her kids in upstate NY.

Or as mother would say: "Poor Petulia in a field of onions.." (My mother quipped that this past week when my niece complained about having to lock herself up in her room to study after hiking in the woods and swimming in a stream with her friends the day before.)

I rather like that saying. Meanwhile I find myself studying my coffee table (which was fairly cheap and is over five years old) with the faux leather slowly peeling away from the top of one of the top cushions. I need to replace it - but it's still workable, so I'm procrastinating at the moment.

I'm comfortably numb at the moment. Been binge-watching the supernatural college soap opera - The Order on Netflix. I wouldn't say it was good, so much as fun, and it holds my attention. So few things do at the moment. I tried Black Sails again - and realized twenty minutes in - that I had no idea what was said or what happened, my mind kept wandering. The brain under stress struggles with focus, it's spending most of its time coping with the stress. Or at least that's what I read in some pseudo-neurological science article on the internet. Who knows if it is true? Is anything on the internet?



What this crisis has made very clear to me is we do no live in a world where everyone is equal. The inequalities in income, location, etc are astronomical.

It's enough to make me want to run far far away.

Instead...I'll post flowers.

(no subject)

Making my way through The Order Season 1 - which is kind of a fun, supernatural drama - along the lines of Shadowhunters in the Quality Department.

At some point, I may hunt down The Originals - which is better written and acted. Along with Teen Wolf.

I am enjoying it though for what it is. It's fun. It's mindless. It has pretty and likable characters, and a few of my personal story kinks. The main character is in two secret societies and trying to juggle both, along with a revenge scam against a powerful father, and a girlfriend.

Also tried out the first 13 Chapters of Illona Andrews new book "Ryder".
They are posting the first chapters of it online - sort of as a preview of their work in progress, as you read, you watch as they change and fix things that don't work - which is kind of entertaining.

I responded to the last chapter, letting them know that I enjoy their books.
However, the lead character in Ryder is almost too powerful, beautiful, wealthy and perfect - and that they may want to fix that. I'm handwaving it at the moment, but it is a problem in the later books of urban fantasy series. It is.

There's a tendency for urban fantasy writers without quite intending to do so - to create what they call in fandom circles - "Mary Sues" and "Marty Stus" - basically weak characters that suddenly become all powerful, super smart, super beautiful, and perfect in every way.

Happens a lot with first person narratives. Old Creative Writing Prof once told me to avoid first person, because writers inadvertently write about themselves - and they either make themselves too good to be true or horrible.

It's not true of everyone, but genre writers can and often do fall into this trap.

I'm not sleeping well again. Either my body or my brain keeps me awake, no matter what I do. It's annoying, I'd finally settled myself down and was sleeping very well in August. (It's all Crazy Company's fault.)

The problem with working for Crazy Company - is everyone in NYC and NY thinks they know Crazy Company. Folks, if you knew it - you'd wonder how it is possible that Crazy Company/Agency accomplishes anything at all. Instead of complaining about its service - you'd think - this is a bloody miracle, I don't see how they managed it.

I think I had too many sweet things today. I feel it thrumming through me.
Off sugar tomorrow. Or eliminating as much as I can day by day.

Tomorrow, I venture back to the office again. Common sense tells me that it's probably as safe as wandering about my neighborhood or apartment building. Also the infection rate is low here at the moment, far lower than it was in January through March - when I was wandering about without a mask. Although, I knew something was out there - and had become religious about washing my hands and using hand sanitizer. And I'm not the most social person on the planet. Common sense, logic and pragmatism are keeping me sane. I thank the universe for that.