I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

But wait, that's not all!

There's another one, on the opposite side of the country, in California's redwood forest:

Whhoooo---scary! Someone call in Torchwood!

Or, it could be just all in our imaginations...

YES! YES! YES! There really is a mysterous echo--eek! I did it, when I was living up the road in Lake George. When I lived there, last summer, for cheap pleasure (aka: free), I used to walk that board walk, sit in the gardens, window shop, watch the boats and tourons..erm nice tourists, and, yes, check out the "echo" spot. Yes, I truly am dull. I kept wanting to do a Father Ted, and boast about the big "tourist attraction."

Opened my junk mail box--sometimes my email mistakenly shoots proper e-mails to my junk mail--and lo and behold, got this missive from a complete stranger (at least, I hope to heaven it's no someone I know! Check this out:

I’m being harassed by a schizophrenic gay freemason. This unbelievable situation has gone on for years and to this day there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.

Or better still, does anyone know a way of detecting the transmission from the implant, once I have done that this situation is over. And so is he. If anyone can tell me a way of detecting a transmission of this kind, please do so. Otherwise this situation well never end.

(Insert Looney Tunes theme song, here

Doctor Who: Time Lords Don't Cry

CHAPTER 13: Home Sweet Home

Hands in pockets, the doctor paced a bit, then sat down on the edge of the coffee table. “Marie? What about your uncle? He doesn’t seem to be like the others, he’s seems much stronger. You said that when he’d found out you’d been hiding Chauncey from him, he’d thrown you into the well. That was this afternoon, in broad daylight. What about that?” Marie drew a deep sigh. “It’s the armor. During the daytime, when he has to come out for some reason, he wears a big suit of metal, like the knights used to wear in the olden days.”

“Waiting for what?” The Doctor thought. Out loud he said, “What, you’re going to just stand there? What’s the matter? Oh, let me guess,” he said angrily, “you prefer to beat little girls and kill helpless animals, is that it, Uncle Tobias--or whomever you are?” He narrowed his eyes. “But you’re not Uncle Tobias, are you? What species are you then, hmmm--?" The armor plated figure said nothing. The Doctor assumed a bored expression, and pretended to consult a non-existent wrist watch, sighing, " Oh, come on, spit it out, I haven’t got all night. Places to go, things to do, and all that.” The thing in the suit spoke. “We are the Droom. We will assimilate you. We will assimilate all life and make it our own.”

Going to be unpleasant weather out there, today--what we northeasterner's call, "the three H's: Hazy, Hot and Humid. A mess of thunderstorms rolled through, early this morning, now, at half-past eight, it's getting warm and muggy already. Told you'll be able to virtually cut the air with a knife, by mid-afternoon.

Got a 10 1/2 hour day today, about an hour for lunch in between--going to be a looooonnng day! And tomorrow, as well. Well, I asked for it. They were going to cut my hours, yet again, to only nights and all day Saturday. Well, still have to work all day Saturday. Damn. But, I get Friday off...first day off in 8 days, that'll be nice. And, I only have to work night shift--five hours, mid-week, so I can sleep in--sort of, Wed. and Thurs.

I hope to heaven I don't have to ring up too many people, today, in Texas and Maine. Snarky, mean Texas women, and Maine--just plain bonkers, every last flippin' one of them! I'm NOT kidding!

Well, because I have to work 5 1/2 hours without eating today, made myself a good breakfast of homemade corned beef hash (fried cubes of leftover cooked potatoes and corned beef brisket) and a couple of scrambled eggs. I'll probably grab a candy bar or something at noon break, will make something for dinner before I leave this morning, stick it in the slow cooker--thinking bread stuffing with a chicken leg quarter..nice meal to come home to, tho' I'll likely have to bolt it down, with only an hour for lunch.

Yes, another dull blog entry. Sorry.

It's been announced that David Tennant's the new poster boy for the hair gel industry.

"Alright Doctor! This Quarry isn't big enough for the both of us--draw!"

"Ohhh-no! Not at all, I'm not in the least bit gay!"

OMG! It's 3am! What am I doing up??? I have to work tomorrow--about a 10 hour split shift, at that!

I was always rubbish at math and science--well, certain aspects of science, such as chemistry. My memory is just awful, sometimes, and I had to learn the hard way, in college, that if I wanted to memorize something--texts, scripts, etc., if it involved a test or play or whatever, I would have to do my memorization literally near the last possible minute, to really ace something. That's not to say I didn't pay attention or take notes in class--I always took notes when needed. But my short-term memory is not too bad. So, I've learned to do one of two things---for test study, I'd study lightly in the beginning, then, just before the test, cram like hell--usung highlighter or just take written notes of the most important points--or if a script, in the beginning, memorize the other actor's last line/my first line, first--and then a day or two performance, do the blitz thing and really try hard to learn the stuff...which made me really hopeless as an acting student, but I got A's for effort, which was nice. I mean, it wasn't the profession for me, as it turned out, but I am glad I got talked into putting the bulk of my liberal arts focus on theater, rubbish or not, I did get a lot out of it.

But, my memory is still lousy. I have learned to put my keys in the same spot, wallet where I can see it--'tho sometimes when I come home tired, I still "lose" stuff...being in a zombie-like state when I get home.

I have Dyscalculia. I don't have all the symptoms, but enough. Especially math. I not only can't (I don't mean "can't" like it's hard--I mean CAN'T as in cannot do even simple subtraction without difficulty) just can't, do math. Period. Or chemistry. I want to. I kind of liked algebra, but...it didn't like me.

I can't do reverse real well, either. No, really. I can't do numbers backwards, and have difficulty backing up a car, even. I mean, I CAN back up a car--but, I have to really think about what I'm doing, or I tend to wind up hitting walls and curbs. I've had to learn to adjust my thinking.

Now, some people with dyscalculia, have no sense of direction. I rarely have that problem--as long as I know North, South, East and West, I'm fine. Although, for some odd reason I can't fathom, my sense of direction is ten time more accurate and finely tuned in the country, than in the city. I can get very lost in a city, if I don't keep my head...which I've also had to learn to do. Cities confuse the hell out of me, if I let them. Don't know why, but it is this way. But I'm much better, since traveling more, at learning my way around--and, often, once I've been somewhere, I seldom forget how to get there again. Not always the case, as I get older my memory is getting worse--I have to keep at it, to keep it fine-tuned, so to speak. But, usually, once I learn where something is, I seldom forget it. I think I'm more likely to get "lost" indoors than out, but have learned coping skills, and that doesn't happen as much as it used to, thankfully.

I'm slow. No, honest. I'm very slow off the mark sometimes--albeit, once I truly grasp something, as long as it's kept fresh in my memory from time to time--I've got it. When I have confindence in myself, in what I'm doing, I can do pretty much anything--but the problem is I don't have much confidence in myself any longer, sadly.

These symptoms don't all necessarily apply to me, and they are not all present, all the time. Sometimes they are, and sometimes they are only there once in a while, or, I've learned to counteract them. Some symptoms are mild, some are strong, some don't exist hardly at all, and some things I don't have any problem with--like geography..I'm not great at it, but I'm not too bad, either. I can say where most of the states are, can point out England, Scotland and Ireland (Wales, I only sort of know where it is)..on a map, and a few countries in Eurpoe--well, some. That's more than a lot of my fellow Americans--who don't have disabilities--can do.

It's hell having a learning disability. It's frustrating, and feeling stupid makes me very angry and ashamed with myself--even tho' I know it's usually not my fault. I've had my dad and a teacher call me "stupid." And often people get mad at me, because I don't "get" things right away, or maybe appear mildly retarded, because my brain's not totally registering what someone is saying. Again, I've learned to comepensate, to fake it, to try and work with it and around it--still, it's a lifelong living nightmare, that so very few people understand...and fewer still can relate to.

It's believed that I developed this from infant or young childhood, from brain damage. I was premature, had scarlet fever as an infant, and was also struck on the head at the age of five, and had the top of my head cut open. No one knows for sure which of these events--if any, triggered this.

People with dyscalculia have (taken from a website): Normal or accelerated language acquisition: verbal, reading, writing. Poetic ability. Good visual memory for the printed word. Good in the areas of science (until a level requiring higher math skills is reached), geometry (figures with logic not formulas), and creative arts.

Difficulty keeping score during games, or difficulty remembering how to keep score in games, like bowling, etc. Often looses track of whose turn it is during games, like cards and board games. Limited strategic planning ability for games, like chess. (I can only play cribbage on the computer, because I haven't a clue how to peg the scores. Have to let the computer do it for me.)

DAVID; "Hey guys, look! I had my teeth cleaned yesterday!"

Word is that Doctor Who star David Tennant has been approached to play and direct the RSC's production of Hamlet, next summer.

I think he'd be crazy to pass that up, but then, I'm not him. I am guessing he's maybe leaving after Series 4, if he's even considering this, as he certainly wouldn't be able to do both Who and Hamlet at the same time...but that's putting the cart before the horse.

I first read--or, more accurately, tried to read Hamlet in my late teens. Having never studied the bard, and being American, and a not particularly bright student (graduated high school in the bottom 75 of a class of more than 500) and totally unfamiliar with the Elisabethan lingo, I was rather unsuccessful. My only contact with anything Shakespearian in high school, was a trip to the movies to see Romeo and Juilet--without any instruction from the teacher as to what we were going to see--we just were told to get on a bus one day, and go see this movie--didn't like it, bored me to death. I was 15 at the time.

But, at 19, In the summer of '80, I decided to give Hamlet a go. No idea why, other than I'd always heard about it. As I recall I got about halfway through and gave up the ghost. I brought it with me to Yellowstone Park--a wilderness area, no tele or much radio, even---to occupy me during my summer work holiday at Old Faithful, but it was a poor choice, I guess, for me back then. I think, until my forties, the only Shakespeare story I ever managed to slog through was Richard II, back when I was in my mid-thirties. I Liked that.

At our small, local two-year college, I still didn't formally study any Shakespeare, but...In 2002, I got to play a part in a comedic 15 minute Hamlet play (have a dorky pic of me in rehersal) that we did as an in-class workshop. And that was quite fun--and, I learned a bit more about the real play, in the process, which was pretty neat. It was a fun little workshop. There weren't enough guys, so, because of my build, I got a guy's part, which was very interesting, trying to play a guy. I like doing different stuff. I wasn't any good mind, but I liked it anyway. Also for that class, we had the great treat of getting to go to the Shakespearean Theater in Lenox, Massachusetts to see MacBeth. Oh, that was fantastic! I loved every second of it! I think that was my very first live theatrical performance of a Shakespeare play. It was a genuine joy, let me tell you.

But, it wasn't until the summer of 2004, that I FINALLY got to actually study Hamlet, in depth. To make up some credits I'd lost, I enrolled in summer study at my 4 year college in Vermont. The class was world lit, and it was fantastic--we had class every day for three hours, which would have been a drag, between the hot 50 mile drive (no air cond. in my car) to and from school down the two lane roads (I think you folks in the UK refer to them as "A" roads?), having to get up early during summer holidays (was also caring for my mum) and all that heavy duty studying. But we had a great prof, who loved this stuff and taught it in such a way as to make it completely contemporary for our understanding...we did the Oedipus Cycle (funny how human nature never changes, ey?), and Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Terese Raquin, and...Hamlet! We read it, discussed it, and later, watched a film of it, and discussed it some more...it was really great--tough for me to get through, but I really enjoyed it--well, mostly I enjoyed it.

Our tests in this class were mostly to be hand-written answers, sort of mini-essays, no easy tests with this prof--we had to prove that we were paying attention and knew our stuff. I got an A- in this class, and only then, by the skin of my teeth. Like I said, I really am not overly bright, I mean that truthfully. I really have to work my arse off to "get" stuff--'tho writing has always come pretty easy, everything else comes very hard--everything. Shakespeare doesn't come easy to me--sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around it--but gosh, don't I just love how he used his words...such majesty and beauty has never been used by anyone else in history to such effect. I just wish I could have taken more classes like this. Too bad it was the only one. I am dull, I suppose. Studying Shakespeare was something I'd always wanted to do, tho' I knew it would be a tough row to hoe, for me. Still, I at least got my wish, albeit, in a very small way...but, if I could only study one of his plays, I reckon I couldn't do any better than with Hamlet, ey?

Tardis-less

Blue box
Inside small screen
Eager wide-eyed faces
Wait. A faithful friend is gone 'till
Christmas.