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1. I got a diagnosis! It is shingles. [I'd schedule a tele-health virtual doctor's visit with my primary health care provider, and sent them pictures. They diagnosed it as shingles right off the bat. And have prescribed an antiviral that I will pick up this afternoon. I finally have a diagnosis! I really feel for my sister-in-law, she has recurring rashes that itch and hurt on her body and still can't get an accurate diagnosis. She's had them since April of 2022. And they may or may not be related to the COVID vaccine. And also, when she got shingles - which was near her eye - the stupid urgent care told her that she was a hypochrondiac and to take sudaphed.]

So, my doctor proscribed the anti-viral. I'm not getting the steroid - it raises blood sugar as a side effect, and we want to avoid that.

Anyhow stayed home from work today - to get the diagnosis, and to get the anti-viral. Also to ensure I was taking the correct precautions to avoid giving unwitting co-workers chicken pox. I can't be held accountable for last week - people mislead me.

Getting an accurate medical diagnosis is a lot harder than it should be. However, I did learn a lesson? Don't do urgent care or race to a doctor. Do a virtual visit with primary care organization. Much easier, faster, and effective. Although it did require a lot of work to take the picture - since my right hand shakes more than my left, and wouldn't stay steady for the picture.

2. Masks in NYC
( what I've learned about masks )

Masks is something we can't discuss online, along with politics, religion, abortion, and the death penalty. People have strong opinions on these five topics.

Good Omens Review

Finished watching Good Omens S2 last night. And now, I understand all the mixed reviews that I'd seen of it online.

Character-wise the story works. The plot, eh, it kind of caters too much to romantic "ships" for its own good, and as a result commits some of the same errors that fanfic often does, or is very fanficcy (no offense to the fanfic writers on my correspondence list - yours may be fine).

Gaiman is not the best plotter on the planet. He's much better at world-building, theme and quirky characters. But his plots tend to meander and don't make a lot of sense. One does not read or watch Gaiman for the plotting.

This plot made none whatsoever.

( spoilers )

With the exception of the plot, and the fact that some of the flashbacks kind of drug, it was enjoyable. I'm not sure why they felt the need for the flashbacks - unless it was to get across that over a millenium, Arizaphale was still a goody-two-shoes dingbat. (In which case? One would have been more than enough - we kind of already know that.) Albeit an amusing and seemingly innocent one. Crowly keeps saving Arizaphale from his own stupidity.

I'd say it was a fun bit of fluff. The banter is fun. And there's some fun farcical moments in there with the demons and angels. But other than that? Fell kind of flat.

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1. For fans of David Byrne and the Talking Heads...

Talking Heads Reunion on CBS This Morning

60 Minutes for David Byrn and the Talking Heads

I had a lot of Talking Heads music in the 1980s - my brother was a huge fan, and so were my friends in college.

Cool fact - Byrne was an art school drop out from RISD, which my sisinlaw left, my brother couldn't get into but taught at later with my sisinlaw, and my sisinlaw's parents met at. Sigh. RISD.

I have to admit - of the musicians thrown at me by my brother and college friends - David Byrne, Brian Eno, and Pink Floyd were by far my favorites.
Also Kate Bush - my brother introduced me to Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.
My brother had great taste in music. Still does for the most part. Most of the best music I was introduced to - was via my brother. List of some of the musicians my brother introduced me to:

Lush
Mazzy Star
David Byrn
Talking Heads
Brian Eno
Kate Bush
Pink Floyd
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
The Police
Sting
Van Helan
Led Zepplin
The Who

2. Foundation S1

So, finished watching Foundation S1 today. (Home sick on a rainy day with shingles, it's a thing. Also apologies for irritability - shingles.)

Each episode is about an hour and twenty minutes. Jane Espenson is one of the writers, and it is show-run by female writer and director, with David Goyer producing. This may explain the heavy feminist focus - and the lead characters or protagonists are women.

I don't know what Issac Asimov's books focus was - but I seriously doubt it was feminist or minority, with two black women (mother/daughter) as the lead protagonists. Doesn't chime with Asimov or the 1960s sci-fi novels of the time. I could be underestimating Asimov. You tell me.

The series gets better as it goes. Just have to get through the info dump episodes that focus on Hari Seldon. There are sizable time jumps in the series - the first one is thirty-four years between episode three and episode four, the second is 138 years from the middle of episode ten to the end of it. The through thread or narrator is Gaal Dacht who is the lead protagonist, and Salvor Hardin. The other through threads are Hari Seldon and Empire (Cleon) portrayed by Lee Pace (who is excellent in the role - he manages to get across vulnerability pathos, and cool detachment - making it hard to despise him even though he does horrific things).

The story is very cerebral - or metaphor heavy. But it does develop some interesting characters in there. I'd say it is more world building/character centric than plot-centric. And the plot is often hard to follow due to all the time jumps, and the cerebral nature of the storyline.
The difficulty with science fiction and fantasy writing - is that you either err on the side of too little or no plot, or the side of too much plot or convoluted plot. Star Wars had a simple plot structure - which is why it worked, Star Trek was fine when it stuck to simplicity, even time it got convoluted - it became a mess.

The reason is that you are juggling multiple balls when it comes to these genres. They aren't simple genres like the straight literary genre which is basically people talking about their day to day mundane existence, or mystery which is well just a whodunnit or whydunnit or both, or a twisty thriller - which again is about solving a puzzle. Those just need to develop either character or plot or both. But sci-fi and fantasy? They got do a lot more heavy lifting. You have to create a believable world, a mythos, a religion, characters, plot, and somehow make it a commentary on what is happening now - thematically speaking.

That is hard to pull off. Usually you drop one of the balls. And it is more often than not either plot or character. That's not to say the other genres don't have their flaws. Literary? Often becomes style over substance. (Yes, yes, the writing is pretty and poetic, but I have idea what they were saying. Or, this feels kind of empty?) Mystery (I don't care about the characters), Romance (I don't care about the plot).

Commercial writing more often than not sacrifices something.

So, Foundation? I think what it loses in plot, it does make up for in some interesting characters and world-building. Also the plot while convoluted is still interesting.

By the fifth episode, I was hooked.