I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

Meh--another long day. There's two flies in here, and they are driving me bonkers--the whole room to fly around in, and they gotta' insist on pestering me!

Well, have to go make dinner...making a beef ragout for a change--wanted something different...browned beef cubes simmered in a little beef broth, with minced garlic, chopped onions, sugar snap peas, diced zucchini squash, baby carrots, fire-roasted diced tomatoes, dash of worcestershire sauce, then served over a rice pilaf, that's got raisins added to it.

NOTE: .note the REAL horse tail. This merry-go-round dates from the turn of the 20th century.

My ginger and white cat, Bonnie Prince Charlie, is getting soooo--fat. It's getting so he can literally hardly move to wash himself--some days his bum is rather icky..he cleans it eventually, but you can see he really doesn't like having to bend over that way.

But, he's not quite as enormous as these rather rotund felines:

I'm bored. I can't think of anything interesting or even half-way intelligent to write today. My brain has gone into early hibernation...must be the sudden decent from high summer to autumn that's occurred almost overnight...not complaining about that, btw, as it's a lovely cool and crisp--but not chilly, mostly sunny Sunday, at noon-time over here.

Anyway, I'm bored, and I need an excuse to stay away from my household chores for just a little while longer--I confess, I am feeling a tad lazy, today. Oh, I'll do them...eventually.

QUIZ 1: Five things you own that some of your friends don't have:

Bear in mind that pretty much all of my friends live hundreds and/or thousands of miles away from me, and that not a one of us has ever actually met...so guessing here, really.

Name a CD you own that no one else does.

A "new age" CD by Gary Remal Malkin called, "Music of the Great Smokey Mountains,"--part of an American national park themed music series.

Name a book you own that no one else on your friends list does.

I'll choose something strictly "local": "The Great Warpath: British military sites from Albany to Crown Point."

Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that no one else does.

I have a box set of 13 Italian gladiator films from the late 1950's, to mid-60's. (don't ask)

Name three places that you have visited that no one else has.

Oh, that's easy. A recently discovered tomb near the Great Pyramids at Giza, in a little cave, that belonged to workers--probably a supervisor or whatever, that was (and probably still is) closed to the public.

Olana, a moorrocan style mansion that's now a NY state historic site, that used to belong to Frederic Church.

Washington County Park and Beach on the northern shores of Lake George, in Huelet's Landing, NY.

Name three knick knacks or collectibles that you own that you think no one else has.

An 18th century Spanish Colonial (California) hand made iron horse bit, known as a "ring bit"--but the ring is missing.

A small handmade round wooden box with lid, from the 1870's (or possibly older--but a pencil mark inside the box says 1871, I think).

A solid wood hand carved/turned Edwardian-era "treen" quill pot, (which looks more like a vase, if you ask me).

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FOUR THINGS QUIZ:

Four jobs I’ve had

telemarketing
amusement park ride operator
stablehand
file clerk

Four volunteer or unpaid positions I've held

museum tour guide/docent
library assistant
meal-on-wheels volunteer
theater crew

Four movies I can watch over and over

The Out-of-Towners (orig. version)
Galaxy Quest
Any James Bond flick
Arsenic and Old Lace

Four places I’ve lived

Menands, NY
Cazenovia, NY
Yellowstone National Park--Old Faithful--Wyoming
Lake George, NY

Four TV shows I love (current or past)

Doctor Who
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (USA version)
Remember WENN
All in the Family
Law and Order

Four places I’ve gone on holiday

Killington, Vermont
Hidden Valley dude ranch, southern Adirondack mtns. NY
Reykjavik, Iceland
Heeg, Netherlands

Four of my favourite home-cooked foods to make

Pork (or lamb) and vegetable stew
spaghetti bolognese
beef ragout (which I'm making tonight)
Cajun rice and sausage casserole
New England pot roast

Four websites sites I visit daily
Post-star
The Guardian UK edition
The New York Times
Glens Falls Weather page (Weather Underground)
Blog.co.uk

Four places I would rather be right now

In my own home
Out shopping (preferably with money, ha-ha)
Anywhere in the UK (even despite the weather)
Horseback riding or sailing or...okay, ANYTHING interesting that's outdoors.

Four dreams

Don't really have any dreams any more, but, I suppose I should answer this last one, just for the heck of it..

Doing something interesting for a career, like writing, voice work, tour guide, assistant in a saddle shop, boat crew...ANYTHING.

Owning my own little--and I do mean, little--cottage, bungalow, flat, whatever.

Being financially secure--not rich, just...stable.

Owning a horse...okay, had that dream since I was four, and though I've given it up for a lost cause, I still dream about it, sometimes.

Only the first weekend of September, and already a Halloween shop has opened, in what's flogged to the tourists as the "million dollar half-mile" (of shops) or the "factory outlets of Lake George," to us locals it's known simply as the "outlets," where we locals only shop when there's a good sale on, 'cos quite frankly, we can get similar stuff just as cheap--if not cheaper, from TJMaxx, Label Shopper, or even from Sears, JC Penney's or K-Marts.

("The outlets" contain over 70 stores, such shops as: Eddie Bauer, L'eggs, Swank, Polo Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Big Dog, Orvis, Reebok, Sox, Pfaltzgraf, American Tourister Luggage, Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Banana Republic, Nautica, Jones New York, Merelle, etc.) http://www.factoryoutletsoflakegeorge.com/

Anyway, this fancy dress shop opened in the old Basketville store (a store that used to sell..well, baskets.). It was mobbed! Blimey! Halloween isn't till October 31st, isn't that getting a bit carried away? Geez, it's not like it's this big national holiday...tho' the shops would like it if you thought of it that way.

Well, we all like messing about with fancy dress, sometimes...okay, well, I still do...not that I ever do, mind you...tho' for the last couple of years I put on semi-fancy dress for the office halloween party--last year, only 3 of us showed up that way(after everyone said they were going to dress up)...felt like a right idiot, so I won't be doing THAT again, this year!

I thought I'd show of some of the more unusual costumes I'd found online....

...this bottle of water...and, possibly, the handle of that microphone.

...just a little humour before bedtime. It's peeing rain, and somebody is firing off fireworks here in the city! Why? No idea. They are fireworks mad, 'round these parts....well, they are mostly republicans around here, and you know how republicans like blowing up things.

Has never made me "healthy, wealthy or wise." Ben Franklyn said that, and he was an idiot--I mean, who flies a kite attached to a piece of metal in a thunderstorm? Think about that....tho' he did give us a great woodstove though--"Ben Franklyn" stoves are still popular here...saw one on display in the antique shop downtown.

Anyway, I'm tired and after dinner, I'm gonna' read my friend's posts, check my e-mails and then go about thinking up something that could be constured as marginally witty about David Tennant, on my roasting DT blog, I am going to sit down to something called a "pizza casadilla," and a steamed ear of fresh corn with plenty of butter and a little salt, and then go to flippin' bed already.

Have a good night, all.

Yes, it's a play title...by a favourite playwright of mine, as it happens. But, it is also how I feel about my day, today. What a bugger Saturday turned into!

It started off so-so. I mean, I was so sound asleep, and so incredibly comfy this morning--which isn't easy, 'cause my cheap plastic covered mattress is all split and lumpy and what little stuffing there is, is starting to poke through. Still, I was quite comfy, for a change, and honestly wished it was Sunday, so I could sleep in.

But, the day went okay...did mostly surveys, which, though these 9 to 15 minute long suveys (I had a woman on Thursday, that took 47 minutes to answer the 10 minute survey, cos she wouldn't close her mouth long enough for me to ask her any questions), so it went pretty smoothly. Got the usual arseholes that start a conversation with you then either just stop talking, or hang up without any warning...morons. What would it hurt to simply say, "sorry, I have to hang up now." Why? Because Americans are so mentally lazy, they can't even do simple communications with each other--why else to you think George W. Bush prefers giving people the finger, rather than expressing himself verbally? 'Cos he's too stupid to talk intelligently, that's why.

Still, easy day's work, no pressure with surveys--except getting them...we are asked to get at least 1 survey an hour, with manual dialing (meaning we dial instead of the computer--which I prefer, 'cos, though it's slower, you don't get nearly as many hang-ups, 'cos there's a silent pause while the computer connects the person called, to the agent--and a lot of people really hate that, they get impatient (and patience isn't an American virtue) and then either slam the phone in our ears, or punch the dial tones--very mature, that. Or, they start screaming at us or cursing, thinking WE are doing it on purpose, even though WE have nothing whatsoever to do with it...and even when we apologize and explain that it's a computer problem and not something we are actually doing...people still are churlish and sarcastic.

Still...not too many creeps today--love the men who come on all smug and haughty, demanding that we not call them again, or how did we get their number. If these schumcks only knew how smug, haughty voices make me larf..."How DAR you telephone me, you... peasant. Can you not hear by the tone of my carefully modulated voice, that I'm some-body important, (sniff)." Yeah, I'm impressed sunshine...NOT.

Definitely getting a slight cold. Today I started coughing, while talking, 'cos my throat got all itchy, and even now my voice is a bit hoarse...and I'm sneezing too, a little. Dang. Well, I'm taking lots of vitamins--including Vitamin C, so hopefully that will help keep it at bay.

But, yeah, a long, long day. Left home at half past nine, got back home around 5pm, had to turn around and go back out a half-hour later, 'cos my mouse died on my computer...again. Third mouse I've gone through in two months. Sheesh.

After work I stopped by the Episcopal (Anglican) church next to our office building--they were having a street fair...indoors, on account of the storm. Got a free hot dog, free lemonade and some free popcorn. Then, since I was already down that way, I walked downtown--nothing much going on. There's a good play (or so I'm told) being put on by the Pendragon theatre company at the Wood Theater, a comedy I think,called "Inspector Hound." It's only $20--which isn't really within my budget, but at least it's still in the affordable range--I think $35 or $50 for a theatre ticket is outrageous--theater for the elite, video rental for us working stiffs. There's lots of things happening around here for a change--most of which are out of my league, 'cos of the cost, like the Lippizan Stallion Show, the Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Lake George Jazz Festival (which is free, but I can't afford the 25 dollars in cab fare to go there), Taste of the North Country(--a food festival held in the city park, where one can meander from booth to booth, and sample the specialties of local Adirondack restaurants.) And, of course, the hot air balloon festival. I will pass on the Willie Nelson concert and the Indoor BMX motocross races.

ARRRGH!!! I have a mosquito in here! And, I'm wearing shorts!

So anyway, strolled downtown, went to Burger King, 'cos I had a coupon for a free double cheeseburger with the purchase of one--two for one, can't beat that. I ate one for lunch, and stuck the other in the freezer for a day when I might be too tired to make lunch or dinner.

From downtown, I took a Saturday trolley--they only run very limited service on Saturdays now, until the end of the month), got my soft vanilla-chocolate twist ice cream cone, stared at the tourists and tons of hot rods and classic cars, hopped on the next trolley and went home. Wow! There must have been at least 15,000 to 20,000 people in the village of Lake George today! And, I was told, over 2500 classic, antique, and hot rod cars and trucks--even some vintage army vehicles were on display, despite the inclement weather.

Then, as I mentioned, I got home and found my mouse was no longer operable. My keyboard is going too--keeps not typing letters, at times--so I wasted $5 in cab fare going to Staples office supply--I say wasted, 'cos the cheapest mouse Staple sells in over $22 dollars! Some are in the $50 range! Blimey! Who HAS that kind of money to spend on a mouse? Staples obviously is a bit obtuse about the RECESSION we're in. So, I was fortunate to catch the last bus to Wal-mart, where I can buy a mouse for 10 to 15 dollars. Did my grocery shopping while I was there. Saw a great ladies hoodie, but it was overpriced at $17--for that, I can go to Label Shopper or TJMaxx, and get something even nicer for less!

Anyway, I am in so much pain from all the walking, and so tired (mostly from the pain), that I'm sitting her with my foot up wrapped in a cold towel...it's so swollen, I could hardly get my shoe off! Guess I'll have to take some Advil, before bedtime.

So, that's my story. Pretty boring, I know, but...so am I, ey?