I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

THEN DON'T LISTEN TO THIS!!!

The Donut King's version of a popular Polish-American polka tune:

Well, just go in from doing the laundry. I was famished, so I walked down to the Chinese takeaway, the next street down from the laundromat, and got some pork fried rice, an eggroll and a Sierra Mist soda. Ate part of it--wasn't able to finish my breakfast this morning, so I really was hungry. Then, I decided to walk home from the laundromat, just to get some exercise--the laundromat, I discovered, is only a 15 minute walk from my place--how long have I been living here, two years? And, I've only just figured that out? Sheesh.

Well, the streets are sort of every which way, in this town--lots of short streets broken up all whacky, lots of one-way's, that sort of thing. Some streets stop, and then start again a few streets later, in another location. Weird. Even my street--which is basically the main city street...the equivilent of the British high street, even my street is odd. For instance (and I'm making up this number 'cos I'm not about to tell the planet the address of my apartment building) Anyway, I live at 643...and the next house on the street...is 649! What the heck? There's my building, there's the corner of B___ street, and house number 649...what's with that??? I mean, it's not like there ever could have been a house there, before...it's a bloomin' side street---the side street must be an older one too, 'cos all the homes are late Victorian to 1940's era, for pity's sake! So...why skip two numbers? Crazy city.

Anyway, I brought my lunch home to finish it, and I reckon Flame is very much feeling better, 'cos she was all over the takeaway bag, before I even opened it! Cripes! She loves her Chinese takeaway (well, the pork really, Flame adores Chinese pork)...she loves it almost as much as she loves hot buttered popcorn...so, while she didn't eat everything I gave her, she did a fair job of scarfing down the first few pieces, so reckon she's on the mend.

I tempted her to eat this morning, by opening a tin of tuna--which means that the tuna casserole I'd planned for my supper tomorrow, will have to be put off until Saturday, 'cos the tinned tuna from the convenient store across my my office is ridiculously expensive. But, it was worth haveing to shift my dinner menus around, just to see Flamey eat and feel a wee better, poor sweet. She's such a wee thing compared to the boys: Boots is just a big ol (neutered) tom, and Charlie basically looks (and feels) like a 15 pound bowling ball with fur. If you filled him with air, and wrote GOODYEAR on his side, he'd make a marvelous mini-Zepplin.

My hillbilly neighbours next door haven't been taking very good care of their cat--they either let it outside in the cold for hours (yes, they have fur, but they can still catch cold when the wind makes the air feel like minus 6 C, like it did last night), or they leave the little lad out there in the hallway for hours, with no access to food and water. I put a water dish out there for it...but someone threw it away or stole it, dunno' which. y

Speaking of my hillbilly's--I spoke with someone today, whose spouse works as a teacher for a local public (state) school district, in a rural town her in the Adirondack mountains. Apparently the teacher had a problem child in her class room, and called in the parents for a little parent-teacher conference. Here's what the parents had to say, about the reason for junior's bad behaviour (and the person swore this was what they actually said)--"He's got emotional problems 'cuz his mother married outside the family."

Sometimes I really do feel like I've landed in a city that's halfway between a situation comedy and an episode of Dukes of Hazard.

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and everyone's talking about Christmas, already. It'll be another quiet Christmas for me, and truthfully, yes, there are moments--only briefly--when I sometimes wonder if I'll ever spend Christmas eve with another human being again.

OK, wait. Stop. God, that came out sounding really pathetic to me. I SWEAR I didn't mean that like I'm feeling sorry for myself. So, let me explain what I REALLY meant: What I meant was...well, it's just...a question, nothing more. Like when you're a kid, and you wonder if you'll ever get married... that sort of thing. And really, Christmas really a children's holiday, anyway, right? I may act a bit childish sometimes, but I'm very much midde aged and perfectly OK with that, trust me on this.

Okay, let's get away from a subject that I'm really not at all comfortable discussing--God only knows why I brought it up in the first place--and let's move on to something else.

Tardisgurl sent me an e-mail, carrying on about who the 11th Doctor might be...really, I love DT's Doctor so much, that I'm in no rush to find out who his replacement is. Doc Ten has given me so much joy, has helped me to endure so much bad stuff, that I really am reluctant to even think about his passing on to other work...I KNOW he has to, it's in the man's nature, I think (DT, I mean) to constantly keep busy and do different stuff. Tennant's a bit hyper and sort of anal about his craft, and nothing will change him, I don't think..he is what he is, and that's fine. And, I KNOW after 25 years of being a die-hard Whovian, that the Doctor HAS to change, eventually, to keep the show fresh and new--but I so dearly love Moffatts scrips, and love Tennant's enthusiasm, passion (for Dr Who, not sex) and acting, that I was almost literally praying (which says a lot since I hate prayer and have become a semi-athiest) that Tennant would stay on just until Season five--even if only part-way, just to see what he would do under Moffatt...but, I guess life's even gonna' screw me out of that simple joy.

Anyway, change of subject again: Tardisgurl's meme of Three's.

__________________________________________________________________

Three Things That Scare Me:

Homelessness
spiders
Sarah Palin

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:

Dawn French
Graham Norton
Catherine Tate

Three Things I Love:

(things, right, not people?)
Doctor Who, Nature, Writing/reading (tied in together)

Three Things I Hate:

Poor or no manners
bigotry--race, sexual orientation, body (fat/appearence bigots), or whatever.
People who are too lazy to think for themselves...and yet speak with authority.

Three Things I Don’t Understand:

How the American people can be so outraged by terrorists' killing innocent human beings, but they are perfectly OK with, very literally, millions of Americans--like cancer patients--suffering needlessly each year--even dying, for no other reason than both they and our government won't get in line with the rest of the civilized, compassionate western world, and provide free acess to health care.
Also:
People who abuse other people or animals--physically, sexually, verbally or emotionally. And...anything technical--...I pods, I phones...it's all "I," "I," "I," these days, isn't it?

Three Things On My Desk (besides computer):

A Hammersley (spode) china mug with a fox-hunting scene that I use as a pen pot,
a small framed photo of my mum when she was around 20 years old,
an old desk lamp that's got two plastic horses on it--a Clydesdale mare and foal in harness--that came from Woolworth's in the early 80's.

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now (besides blogging):

Listening to the Proclaimers
Petting Boots
Drinking a glass of juice

Three Things I Long To Do Before I Die:

Go to the UK
Have something I've written properly published
visit a Dr Who exhibit or convention just one more time (which I've not done in 20 yrs)

Three Things I Can Do:

Write
Cook
Clean and re-finish a yucky old saddle so it looks almost new again

Three Things I Can’t Do:

Sing
Act
juggle

-Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:

I'm not going to tell anyone to listen to anything, they can make up their own minds, thanks.

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:

George W. Bush
polka music when you have a hangover
Russell Brand on your answering machine

Three Things That Irritate Me:

that snarky recording from the phone company, where the obnoxiously posh American woman's voice, rudely snips out: "The number you have reached is NOT in service. THIS is a recording." Good God! Get over yourself Telephone Lady!

Those guys that ramble about the shops, whistling tunelessly.

"Parents" (aka: zookeepers) whom allow their wee children--as young as 5 or 6 years old, to rudely answer the telephone, by demanding "WHO'S THIS!!!"

Three Things I’d Like To Learn:

How to act
How to write (non-news) TV and/or film scripts
How to drive a horse

Three Favorite Foods You Order At Restaurants:

Pizza
Steak
Grilled Reuben Sandwich (lean corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and russian dressing, between grilled bread)

Three Shows I Watched With My Family As A Kid:

Man from U.N.C.L.E
The Monkees
Batman (Adam West)

Three celebrities I'd like to meet:

(Aw, I'm so not into celebrites...I have to think about this...just hum the "Jeporady" quiz theme tune while I fart around pondering this question...)

Okay, I suppose I'd enjoy meeting:

Russell T. Davies
Catherine Tate
Hilary Clinton

(and before the fan-girls get all over my case, I like DT a whole lot, really I do, I think he's briliant--but seriously, I really don't feel any connection to him, on a personal level as an adult, sorry.)

Well, maybe not so much groovy, as...okay. The cold that came slamming back on me over my days off (typical), seems to have improved yesterday, thankfully. Certainly, the sore throat is...I cannot tell you how much I'd been dreading today, if I still had the sore throat, 'cos talking nearly five hours steady with a burning lump in one's throat, can be sheer torture--trust me: been there, done that, got the tee shirt.

Flamey is better, as well. Oh, her appetite is still a wee off, but she's drinking and was even a bit playful, this morning--tho' when I went to pet her, she began whinging and crying pathetically...then when I stopped petting her, she began batting her mouse around, so I think she's just milking the sympathy a tad. Cats, gotta' love 'em...they are sooo-much like us, when you come to think of it...only, they have fleas.

"Oh, brilliant! I think playwrite27's cat has given me some virtual reality fleas! I KNEW I shouldn't have read her blog, this morning!"

Won't be online much until late evening, today. I have go in early, work a half hour late, then truck home for lunch and buzz off again to to some chores...which if bus schedules are running true to form, will likely take at least two or three hours. (sigh), then, back home to supper...may be too blinking tired to blog tonight (yeah, like THAT will ever happen.)

It's a wee chilly outside this am...half past 7 here, 22 F...think that's around -4.7 C? But, it's due to warm up to about 14 C today, so no worries. Hey, it's the start of winter, what else is new?

A cold snowy night--just a dusting, though...roads and walks are dry already. Almost broke my backsides going into work though--blimey! The snow had just fallen, and the pavement were wet...and the temps were rapidly dropping, and so the wet turned to a thin coating of ice..and I nearly took a header in my office building's car park.

It's 23 F (-4.7 C) and clear at the moment--10.00 pm, though. Supposed to get down to 13 F, later tonight (that's around minus 11 C). No big snowstorms in the forecast though, just a dusting here and there, in between the sunny days, so that's not so bad. And 13 F, that's no big deal--MINUS 13 F, then I might grouse a bit.

I was reading where Hilary Clinton may be our new Secretary of State, replacing Rice-a-roni Condeleeza Rice--oh good, a secretary of state who prefers brains over fashion tips. I know some people like Rice, but that woman always made me wince with embarrassment, every time she opened her whingy gob.

Ah, I wish mum were alive to see this--the downfall of the republican party, and whole new slate...let's just hope the democrats don't muck it up again, like they did during the Carter administration.

Yeah, Dick Cheany is under indictment in South Texas, for an investment scandal involving a privately run federal prison there. I imagine that after Bush leaves office, a lot of really nasty stuff is going to come out of quite a few overturned rocks.

The heads of the US auto industry testified in Washington D.C. today. The big wigs at the car companies vowing to reduce their salaries to one dollar, if the govt. would approve the bail-out....which proves how very rich these guys really are, if they can so blithely do that! Either that, or they really do have their shorthairs to the wall, and really are scared and desperate.

The gents in suits stressed to congress that if the car companie fail, millions of jobs would be lost---far more than what economists predict. They predict anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 in national job losses--with an additional 10 to 15 thousand jobs in Europe--, if car maker's file for bankruptcy. The biggest prediction of job losses from a non-partial source, that I've read of is an economist some college in Massachusets, who predicted last week that 150,000 to 200,000 jobs could be lost, world-wide, if car makers go into bankruptcy.

Here's some list of just which car manufactuing plants--including subsidiary's of those makers, might seriously impacted by a bankruptcy filing of one or all of the major US car makers:

IF GENERAL MOTORS FAILS, THESE CARS WOULD BE IMPACTED:

Chevrolet (US)
Buick (US)
Pontiac (US)
Cadillac (US)
Saturn (US)
GMC (US)
Hummer (US)

Opel (Germany) (who is already asking the German govt. for assistance)
Vauxhall (UK)
Saab (Sweden) - 50%
Holden (Australia)
Suzuki (Japan) - 3.7%
Daewoo (Korea) - 50.9%
Shanghai GM (China) -

IF FORD FAILS, THESE CARS WOULD BE IMPACTED

Ford (US)
Mercury (US)
Lincoln (US)
Ford (Europe)
Aston Martin (UK) - 8.3%

Jaguar (UK)
Volvo (Sweden)
Land Rover (UK) - for history, see Rover
Ford (Australia)
Mazda (Japan) - 33.4

IF CHRYSLER FAILS, THESE CARS WOULD BE IMPACTED:

Chrysler (US)
Dodge (US)
Jeep (US

Captial Hill lawmakers aren't really buying into this tale of woe, though. They feel that the car maker's did this to themselves, and are expressing concern that car makers will continue to do business as usual, even after the bailout. Gee, if lawmakers were only more concerned about BANKS doing the same thing, after they got that 700 BILLION bailout. Banks that are continuing to rip off consumers with high interest rates and shady charge, banks that still are continuing to pay top execs million dollar bonuses--while laying off lower-ranking staff.

I am not overly fond of the way the car company's have been having everything their own way for decades--but, so have the banks. Republicans are so incredibly two-faced, phony, lying and hypocritical, it just staggers the hell out of me how ANYONE can possibly take anything that comes out of their over-bloated egotisical mouths, seriously any longer.

Speaking of cars, one is seeing more and more European cars here, of late. A couple of years back, the mini made its appearence, and was instantly a big hit with the rich and trendy. I rather like it, myself. Saturday, as I was leaving my building, I saw my first Smart Car in person (having only seen one once, in a Dr Who episode), parked on the street near my office car park. Some foreign cars are REALLY ugly though. This is my least favourite car of all time:

I don't care what you say, these are UGLY cars.