I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

A Glens Falls man was arrested on charges stemming from a report that he had marijuana stolen from a safe in his home--he was later arrested for drink driving---with a friend riding on the hood--on his lawn tractor, in the downtown business district.

Apparently anything motorized on wheels (except for wheelchairs) is considered a "motor vehicle" when taken on a street or motorway--regardless of whethter it is a garden tractor, a motorized skateboard or a motorized drinks cooler--and is therefore subject to New York State motor vehicle laws.

The man driving the garden tractor, was heavily intoxicated and also admitted to having been smoking pot. He was issued with ten tickets, including: DWAI (driving while ability impared), third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor, which was filed because Johnson's driver's license was suspended for failure to pay child support, driving an unregistered an uninspected motor vehicle, not using headlights and not wearing seatbelts, among other violations.

The arrested man told police he was taking the tractor to The Irish Pub on South Street, where he planned to sell it to owner for $200.

The friend riding on the hood was ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt.

The alleged drink driving tractor man also was arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge Thursday night after he reported a man had stolen a safe from the garage of his home. Police determined the lock box was taken by a man he had smoked marijuana with earlier in the evening, and it was recovered with nearly 3 ounces of marijuana.

I wish I were joking...

The United Auto Worker's Union has refused to conceed to any new calls for a reduction in pay or benefits, despite the very real prospect of the collapse of the American auto industry.

Union workers--some of the highest paid workers in the USA--whom, even with concessions, STILL have some of the best benefits and pay in private industry in the country--will not even speak to the major car makers about reducing labour costs--which account for--and this is a conservative figure--around 10 percent of the cost of building a car. In some cases, that figure has been even higher.

The result of this action, is that even if these companies get the US bailout, if workers insist on getting $50 or more an hour, it still may cause some companies to nosedive into bankruptcy....leading to massive job layoffs, which means that workers will probably either have to go on the dole, or learn to live with minimum wage, working behind the counter at McDonald's or Walmart...if they can even find a job, that is.

Nice to know the UAW is looking out for it's memebers, ey?

Well, a rainy Saturday here. It was chilly and foggy yesterday morning--almost looked like like it does before a little snowfall, actually...yet the skies cleared by late afternoon, and temperatures rose and got almost warm and humid. Traditionally, in this part of the state, November is the most strange weather month of the year...might become frigid and snow one day, and be sunny, balmy and almost summer-like the next.

I'm off for work in a bit. Shopping really knocked me out yesterday--my bad foot mostly...got home and could barely get my shoe off, as the "bump" of the bad ligament/tendon on the top of my foot, was swollen to double its normal size.

Something odd I've noticed recently, is that my typing (but not my reading) is getting rather dyslexic...wonder what that's all about? Getting so I really am going to have to install a word processing programme.

So, not much to say. I have to go feed the cats and finish dressing for work. Not much going on here this weekend. Lot of people out shopping...good sales. I imagine Black Friday (the day after our Thanksgiving holiday, when all the shops open early and have massive sales to kick of the holiday shopping season) Black Friday is going to be mobbed, despite the recession. I wonder though, will more office workers blow off going in to work in order to shop for bargains, or will more workers prefer to stay away from the shops/mall/outlets, this year?

Guess we'll see.

News is, that many will get bigger tax refund checks next year...won't help us now, though...tax refunds don't start until February, at the very earliest. I didn't get mine till' late March, last year. I probably won't get much, between the fact that I get a disability check and only work half-time (20 hours)...or even less than that, when I'm especially ill.

Have a good Saturday all...and to my two friends (you know who you are)--I'll see you on Skype, later tonight!

Cheers!

Okay, the theories are stacking up:

Morrisey's character is:

A time agent/con man
A time traveling ordinary run-of-the-mill con man
A time-traveling nutjob who'd escaped from the asylum
A human time lord--based on the fob watch chain
The Master--again a human, again based on the fob watch chain
Donna Noble (A transgender regeneration? Hmmm---kinky)
The 11th Doctor
A future Doctor, number unknown
The Doctor's son/grandson/great-grandson (any bids for his second cousin by his forth aunt's niece?)

My theory: a time-traveling Doctor fan (anorak) whose role-playing has gotten a little carried away.

Okay,how many of us old Whovians haven't met someone like that at at least ONE convention?

Anyone else want to pitch in with some ideas?

Oh, and how many of you just LOVE that the "next Doctor's" screwdriver...is really a screwdriver? How brilliant is that?

I had an apple, yesterday. You know, I think an apple is a bit of a miracle. I mean, you plant a sapling--a mere twig, or even a single tiny teardrop shaped seed, and in less than ten years time, it has grown into a short gnarly tree bearing delicious fruit. If you sell the fruit, you can pay for the cost of the seed or sapling, many times over. If you give the fruit away, you are rewarded with a smile worth even more than the price the fruit may bring. If you use the fruit to make pies or a crumble, juice or cider, then you open yourself to the aclaim of your friends. Age the cider, and you have liquor or brandy or vinegar...and the apple just keeps on being useful to us, long after the season for harvesting is done, and the tree lies covered with a blanket of snow. There are over 14,000 different varieties of apple on this planet...not counting those now extinct varieties, that sprang up on family farms in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Despite that whole Garden of Eden thing, I think the apple is an amazing fruit.

I wrote this morning, how I dreamed very early this morning, that someone was physically grabbing me by my shoulders and trying to wake me...well, just now, I realized that at the time that happened, it was around the same time of day when my mum was actually brething her last--and the 14th Nov. is the day she died, 3 years ago....I'm not hugely into the paranormal, even tho' I've had a few "ghostly" experiences...still, one has to wonder.

I remember mum telling me she didn't like roses, because right after her mum died, she walked into her apartment...and the place was filled with the smell of roses. I guess that sort of freaked mum out, 'cos she ran outside and told her cousin...who went back into the basement apartment with mum...and smelled..nothing.

To her dying day, mum swore what she actually experienced was the presence of her mum.

I remember, autunn of 2006, when I had my flat in Lake George, I woke up one night from a sound sleep, 'cos I swear I heard my mum call out my name--which had happened a few times in 2005, the last yar of her life--I had chalked it up to my anxiety over her health, at the time--but the "dream" of her calling out my name was so real, that when she was alive, I'd run out of the bedroom to see what was the matter...but in the 9 months following her death, hadn't occured at all, except that one night in September..and hasn't occured since.

Was mum warning me of some impending disaster? Was she merely saying "hello, I'm still here?" or, was it just a stupid dream, brought on by too much spicy food before bedtime and not enough sleep?

Okay, a friend of mine says that a popular theory about David Morrisey's character in "The Next Doctor," is that he and his "companion" are time agents.

My theory:

Remember the PD and DT CIN epidsode last year--the "Two Doctors?" Well, in that, the 5th Doctor at first thinks he's been landed with "a fan." That's what I think Morrisey's charater is...a fan. Perhaps a time traveling fan...who is role playing and has gotten a bit carried away--I think it's RTD's nod to the more...intense, shall we say?...Whovians out there.

Morrisey's "Doctor" is an anorak!!!

Oh, I'd love it if I were right..at least that's how I would write it--merely because that idea seems rather fun and playful to me...but of course, I'm a million miles awaqy (okay, physically speaking it's more like 3,400 or so) from RTD's genius, so I guess we'll have to wait another month and x-number of days, to find out, ey?

I finally got a DVD of Nacho Libre, a film I've wanted to see, really cheap...5 dollars. So, I've had my dinner of a hot pastrami sandwich and some potato chowder, and I'll feed the cats, shower and dress for bed--then sit up watching part of the film before falling asleep, instead of my usual sitting up with my notebook or a book to read.

But first...a meme, which sent to me by a nice young lady who goes by the handle, DTforevagirl...yes, a fan girl...but a nice fan-girl...not one of those drooly manic over-sexed obsessive one's (shudder).

DTgurl's meme: (NOTE: I may have done this one before...seems vaugely familiar.

i am: a bit of a loser, sometimes

i think: it is nearly time for bed.

i know: that Dr Who is the greatest television programme on the planet

i want: to write a really brillant play or piece of Who-fic someday

i have: watched the Dr Who Christmas preview tonight

i wish: for a more secure existance

i sometimes hate: too much loud noise

i miss: my mum--today is the third anniversary of her death

i fear: homelessness

i feel: relaxed and happy

i hear: cars outside on the street, Bonnie Prince Charlie snoring, the clock ticking

i smell: my pastrami sandwich

i crave: More Dr Who!

i search: for better understanding

i wonder: If I'll ever have a better life than this, or if this is all there is and ever will be.

i regret: a whole lot of things

i love: my cats

i ache: in my right foot where the tendon/ligament's ripped

i care: about my friends, and about people who are also having a hard time

i always: wash my left arm first in the shower..dunno' why.

i am not: into sex, drugs or drinking.

i believe: that the only certain thing in life, is death

i dance: Not bloodly likely!

i sing: very badly.

i cry: from hoplessness, financial crises, or just because I'm really sad or tired.

i last cried: today, still grieveing a bit for my mum, I guess.

i don’t always: remember to take my meds

i fight: bigotry and injustice

i write: every chance I get during the day, even if it's just some stupid meme.

i win: at the horses, sometimes--but only if I can actually see them going to post--NOT that I gamble often--about once or twice a year as a rule. Mostly I just enjoy seeing them...gosh they're beautiful.

i lose: things I care about, more often than what's good for a person.

i never: party 'cos I'm never asked, and I don't drink, anyway.

i confuse: numbers a lot, can't do any sort of subtraction or division or multiplication.

i listen: to the sounds around me, no matter where I am.

i can usually be found: on my computer, blogging, ha-ha.

i am scared: of spiders, fire, lightning, being sectioned and homelessness.

i need: stability

i am happy about: Dr Who, my cats, writing, getting to talk to my friends..not necessairly in that order.

i fantasize about: I really don't have any real dreams of fantasies any longer...but sometimes I sort of wish I could pack my cats and all my belongings, and live and work in the UK somewhere--it's a totally unrealistic and stupid dream, I know...and I don't take it very seriously, but yeah, I've lain awake at night and thought about what it might be like--of course the reality would probably be a worse life than I have now, ha-ha.

if i had a dream job: it would be to write--ideally about Dr Who or horses or theater..but anything would do, provided I could make a living off it--or do some kind of voice work, like reading the news or presenting...really both these things fall more into the above category, though.

.i like to cook: old fashioned comfort food like I grew up with-- like casseroles and skillet suppers, pot roast, meat loaf..that sort of thing. I CAN cook "gourmet," I just am not inclined that way, most of the time.

i am always true to: my nature..I am who I am, and--except when I was taking theater courses and had to be someone else, ha-ha, but,--prefer to be just plain ol' me...take me or leave me.

It's funny, but I've had guys in the church give me odd looks when I put small change in the collection plate, when it comes round during the service--yet, often, that's ALL I have to give--sometimes literally, all I have, I have nothing more to give but the empty air in my pocket and maybe, some lint.

Yet, if I were to put in a ten or a twenty or a fifty, I would be well thought of, to be sure..and if I were rich, and gave a hundred or even a thousand...they'd be singing my praises.

But, I do not give for praise, or heavenly merit badges or some trendy gold star. I give because I genuinely care, because I really do want to help...because I know, I or someone I know, might be at the receiving end of asking for that help, one day. And, that someone I don't know, may be genuinely suffering, and that 10 or 25 cents, may not count for much...but it will be put to far better use than just my sympathy or compassion alone.

But, I would be lying if I didn't say that knowing that my 25 cents raises dissapproving eyebrows, while some trendy person--who gives without the sacrifice of having to make do without--is smiled upon and praised.

It's one of the reasons I've ceased to be Presbyterian...or actually, just Christion...I mean, the reasons behind my decision (which took me a long, long time to decide--it certainly wasn't an overnight thing) the decsision to turn away from Christianity, were and are, much more complicated than that...but that was one of several reasons I ceased being a church-goer.

But, who is more valued by the church and Christians? The person whom gives his or her last dollar or pound, or the person who puts a ten or twenty (or more) in the collection each week? I think we all know the true answer to that one, don't we?

This is just some rambling blather from me, about America, my job and...me:

Although we've made history by finally electing a black president, America is proving that her neo-nazi style conservatism, violent attitudes, menial throught processes and social-cultral backwardness, are still alive and...and if not well, (rather, I would say she's quite sick, our nation) certainly it is thriving.

From coast to coast--Maine (rhymes with "shame") to Idaho and Montana, the threats against Obama's life have been pouring in. The hate spewing like a drunken college student's puke, from this nation, is shameful and disgusting. These people hate Obama, MORE than they hate the 9/11 terrorists---and the REAL shame is that this hate was spurred on by Sarah Palin and others in the republican party--who should know better, but don't...the terrorists grow up in a restricted, un-democratic society, without one tenth of the advantages Americans have--and yet the American white trash is just as hateful and violent against one of their own people, as the terrorists they claim they oppose for just those same feelings!

I really do want out of the USA, I'm not joking about that. I'm not paranoid, but for over a decade, I've been seeing the beginnings of a civil war brewing--we've become so divided that we almost hate each other (liberl vs. conservative) as much as we are supposed to hate our enemies! It's really awful...and more than half the country--even those psuedo-enlightened people who CLAIM to be "liberal," don't even see it. They are like those people I talk about that I see in Walmart--who walk around the car park and stores, like they are blind, deaf and stupid...and maybe some of them are, I don't know.

_______________________________________________________________________-

And then, there's the okay for gays to marry in California and Arizona is recinded--some of the people who voted for Obama, on the grounds that it makes up for years of discrimination and hate towards blacks--apparently don't share the same sense of social justice with gays. The pull of hate and bigotry for anything/anyone you can't or wont understand, or whom makes you uncomfortable or afraid, being too hard to resist, I suppose.

I've noticed that sometimes, the very people who should most understand intollerance--because they themselves were discriminated or hurt in some way---are sometimes the worst offenders. Look at the German Jews in Israel and how they feel about the Palistinans. There's deeply religious blacks who hate gays, while some gays hate black people, some fat people hate thin trendy looking people, and some thin trendy looking people hate the obese, people on the dole dislike the rich, the rich dislike people on the dole...it's a never-ending cycle. Hate is easy...you don't have to think, to hate. Compassion and understanding however, takes effort...it takes time and thought and consideration. It means you must sometimes reach inside yourself for better understanding, stop and pause to listen to another voice reaching out to you, an experience or life that may be beyond your ken of what was and is known to you. It's hard to care, sometimes.

You think sometimes I don't want to blow off listening to hundreds of people I talk to on the phone over the course of a month, who tell me sometimes terrible stories of the life their living? But, 9 times out of 10, I don't. I try to be sympathetic, and really do (usually) listen to them, try my best, in the few minutes I have, to make the man or woman--whom is often lonely and in pain or feeling scared or frustrated or sad--I try to make them know they aren't alone, and make them feel better. Sometimes I'm rewarded with a "Thank you," or a laugh. Sometimes nothing I say makes them feel better--and sometimes they just want someone to whinge to (which is that 10th time out of 10, when I put them on hold and just pull the phone away from my ear and let them ramble on, until they pause for breath so I can get a word in edgewise, to finish the call). The one's I make laugh or feel better, they are really the only "reward" I get from this rubbish telemarketing job--even tho' my supervisor hates me doing it...hell, it's really the only human contact I have with people, most of the week!

No really, I get so desperate for human contact sometimes, that I prattle off to anyone who'll listen. Today I talked to some nice little old lady I'd never met, who had spina bifada, who got off the bus with me, and we walked up to the grocery store together. Then I was chatting to a bored till clerk who looked like she wanted me to shut up (embarrasingly awkard when I realized that) and to some nice-dressed grandmother who was standing near the bench I was sitting on...and to the cab driver, as well...who was also very nice...it was my day to meet nice people, for a lovely change.

So, sometimes, even tho' I know I'm not supposed to, I find myself chit-chatting with total strangers on the phone, like we're old friends--of course, I'm also trying to get a sale out of them, ha-ha.

I really am turning into something I'm not comfortable with, tho'...I even caught myself talking to myself (thinking aloud I mean, NOT hearing voices) while I was strolling through Walmart's big Christmas section, as I admired the beautiful (and mostly too expensive) decorations on display. Ah well, I am what I am, and that's that.