I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

Been catching up on the local news, and NBC's morning programme, the "Today" show, will be broadcasting LIVE from the newly renovated Sagamore Hotel

(WHY the Sagamore??? I have to give a great big raspberry, a two finger salute and a boo-hiss, to the new owners of the Sagamore. They spent millions on renovating the place--while at the same time, they treated local employees like dirt, laying long-time employees..some who'd been their for years, laying them off...without notice, just a few weeks before Christmas, the bastards. I know a woman who told me she had to take back her kid's Christmas presents. How rubbish is that? And they get a big national promotion...well, NBC is notoriously pro-republican, pro-big busines, so not surprising. Nice for the publicity, but bad that the scumbag owners are being treated this way, after the chav stunt they pulled. Don't ever try to tell me there's justice in this life..)

Anyway, it's a chance for my American pals, who will be home on Monday, to see the "Queen of the American Lakes" which is about 7 or 8 miles up the road from where I live. It's 27 miles long, so you won't see any part where I actually go, but where the posh people stay, the Sagamore. The Sag is strictly for the wealthy, and is north from the village of Lage George, In the Bolton Landing/Hague area.

The Today Show is estimated to pull in about five million viewers each weekday morning.

Another book I'm reading at the moment, is called "The Unvanquished," a book written during WWII by Howard Fast. It's about the start of the Revolutionary War--George Washington's near disasters at New York and New Jersey, and how we nearly lost the war before it had barely begun.

Well, some of my anscestors fought in the Revolution. One was a tory who was urged to switched sides, by having some angry neighbours shove the business end of a pitchfork into his bottom, whilst my ancestor was trying to hide from them, in a barn's hay loft.

So anyway, one of the characters, General Putnum (whom has a New York state county named after him), mentioned the death of someone he knew--one of my own actual ancestors! (On mum's side). How cool is that???

Yup, I won't say the name, cos' that's too personal on a public post. But...yeah, that's totally cool. Fast must have turned up the name while he was researching his book--or, it was one heck of a remarkable coincidence.

My mum's maiden name---which is still around somewhat, but was never all that common, turned up in another book I have, "The Prisoner of Zenda."

Apparently, someone out there seems to think I desperately need to buy some Viagra.

Erm--no.

My creative writig blog has had zero visitors in the last 20 days...yet has 15 spam comments, 12 of which are urging me to use Viagra.

Pfft.

What the hell kind of rubbish did I write, to make some mook think I need...aw, forget it. I'm going to delete that blog, and destroy my writing. It's rubbish. I can't write worth poo, when it comes to poetry and fiction, I don't care what anyone says. If I were really any good...well, no one reads my fan fics, either. There is nothing anyone can say or do, to convince me that it's worth my while to write for a living. It's just a pleasant way to pass the time--well, it used to be. My writing has gotten so bad, lately, that even that has lost its glow, and it's really just me writing out of boredom/habit, than for any other reason.

Huh, maybe it's my writing that needs some stinking Viagra.

I'm not a happy person, obviously. Sometimes I feel like I'm just waiting to die. I threw away 5 years of my life, leaning how to write. I should have just stayed on the stinking dole. I'd have a much more stable, secure existance today, if I'd kept on disability, and didn't try to "better" my life...my life got better for about 4 or 5 years, before the roof fell in, and now I'm even unhappier than when I wasn't able to work. At the very least, I should have gone to technical school, instead of college, and learned a stinking trade. Writing is only good if you are good enough, wealthy enough, attractive enough, trendy enough, and educated enough, to impress an editor and/or publisher. I am none of those things. I am a human pack mule, a blue-collar slob, an office drudge, low-wage labour. i tried to be something I'm not, and I got burned. End of discussion.

It's once again time for Comic-con, the USA's biggest sci-fi/fantasy convention. It's to be held this weekend, in San Diego.

The highlight this year, is the appearence of "The Three Who Rule" at the con--the genius RTD, his sidekick, the lovely Julie Gardiner, and the talented and versatile David Tennant--as well as a great director from Who, Eros Lynn...only one missing is the fantastic Phil Collinson, more's the pity.

***(Trivia query; What's "The Three Who Rule" a reference to, fellow Whovians?--hint: it's from the classic series, and, factors into a book by Terrence Dicks, called "Blood Harvest.")

Well, wouldn't I like to be a fly on the wall at that convention...but, they'll be there, and I'll be as far away from them, here in far northeastern New York state, as if the three of them were still in Wales filming Dr Who. I mean that, quite literally. It's a good 3000+ miles to Wales, and a good 3000+ miles to San Diego, from here. When it comes to seeing anyone from Dr Who, they might as well really be on Galifrey or Mars, or Milton Keynes.

Oh well. While Three Who (used to) Rule are farting around having fun in San Diego, unless things drastically change--which is not blinking likely-- I'll be spending my first holiday since 2004 (four days off starting today), farting around Glens Falls, doing cleaning, laundry, blogging, reading, listening to music, watching Dr Who...the usual stuff. Still probably will don a suit and hit the Million Dollar Beach on Lake George, I suppose. It's only $2 for trolley fare, think my tight budget can handle that.

So, I've a depressingly messy cooker top beckoning me (I've not been home in days, to do any cleaning--barely had the energy to eat), so I'll bid you a fond adieu. Cheers.

Your result for Your personal Learning Styles Inventory Test...

The Great Communicator

50% Visual, 38% Musical, 75% Linguistic, 50% Kinesthetic, 13% Logical, 63% Interpersonal and 56% Intrapersonal!

Take Your personal Learning Styles Inventory Test at HelloQuizzy

Your result for The Online Dating Personality Test...

Antisocial Surfer

You scored 39 % e-suaveness!

Take The Online Dating Personality Test at HelloQuizzy

One of my co-workers is bound and determined to see me dating. This is someone who once hinted that I was a lesbian, 'cos I choose not to date...ever again. I mean that, too. I really do not believe that there is a man out there for me, and I have no intentions of looking for someone who simply doesn't exist. I will never know love, and I've accepted that, 100%. I'm fine with that knowledge, I'm not even sad about it. Really, it's fine.

I honestly cannot picture anyone wanting to date me. I don't believe myself compatable with anyone. I can't be intimate, for one thing--what guy wants to date a woman like that??? And, I can be difficult to be around (the whole bi-polar thing), and...why would I wish myself on someone, like that? I am a person who just wants to be myself--problem is, "myself"--the true and natural me, doesn't sometimes fit in with the crowd, it isn't always what people expect, and I can embarrass or repell them, sometimes. No, no way. It's not worth the hassle and hurt and inevitable rejection. As lonely as it can be sometimes, I'm better off on my own. Again, that's something I'd accepted years ago.

Anyway, she e-mailed me some, to quote her, "fun stuff" about dating. Jeez, really? Who really takes this nonsense seriously? Oh, and she sent me my horoscope, as well...I can count on the fingers of one hand, how many times I've read my horoscope in the last couple of years. That was my late mum's thing, not mine.

So, here's Part 1, the "Are you dateable?" quiz. Oh, yippie-skippy.

Your result for The Are you Dateable Test...

Almost Dateable

Congratulations! You scored 70!

Take The Are you Dateable Test at HelloQuizzy

Erm--not THAT kind.

Outside, I mean, it's a bug festival, this summer. While it's not really hot, it is almost 100 percent humid, with no breeze. Thankfully, it's overcast today, so that's keeping it from climbing up towards 26 C or more.

But, the bugs are...well, bugging me. Everywhere--and I do mean, everywhere outside, you go, there's these tonnes of tiny little gnats flying around in your face, every which way you turn. Then, there's the Japanese beetles...yuck. These are really aggressive--they fly in your face, swarming around you, trying to get down your shirt collar, in your hair...and they pinch when they bite, so that's a tad uncomfortable.

I had a centipede in my kitchen last night. I am so not a bug person, and I flipped out, slightly. Plus, centipedes are venomous--like wasps and bees, and can give you a nasty sting, if they bite. And, there's the worry now, if the cats find one, and it bites them, or they try to eat it, what it would do to them.

The flies are just awful, as well as. Deer flies--which hurt like hell when they bite, houseflies, horse flies.

Not as many wasps and bees around, this year though. Not sure why. Last year there was quite a few. And I remember back in the late 80's, there was one summer when we were inundated by swarms of wild honey bees, in northeastern New York. That was a bit strange.

Must have something to do with the weather. We had an unnaturally hot (as in record breaking) early spring, followed by an unnaturally cool late spring/summer. Very strange weather, of late. Seasons really are changing. +

I just began reading "Arc of Justice."

It's the true story of a black doctor, the son of former slaves, who rose from rags and the slums of the city, to a home in a white Detroit neighbourhood in 1925. One night, his home was surrounded by white racists, and in the ensuing stuggle, someone shot one of the whites. The doctor-innocent or guilty, was arrested.

Famous American lawyer, Clarence Darrow was brought in to defend the black doctor--whose name was Sweet. The story is about how blacks sought justice from racial whites, but also paints a vivid picture (so far) of life in America back then, for people of color.

So far, I've read two chapters, and it's quite riveting.

It's also sad to realize that, while my country has grown up and matured considerably since that time--it still has such a long way to go....and perhaps, some parts of America will always be stuck in the raw sewage of deliberate ignorance and unreasoning fear.

We have a few thousand "smart" bombs, and then we have a ton of dumbasses with guns.

American men are so sexually and cultrally insecure, intellectually challenged, paranoid and emotionally immature, that they have to sleep with their second "manhood," to feel like men.

Killing should only be a last resort. I'm not talking about hunting--tho' I find guys who enjoy shooting prairie dogs, a bit pathetic, myself. But, that aside, only about 6% of the entire population of the USA, actually hunt. Yet 60% own guns. So, all this crap about gun legislation threatening hunters--it's just that, pure, smelly poo.

It's about lilly-livered paranoid little people, who need their guns, cos' they aren''t secure enough to feel like men with just one shooting iron in their pants. They gotta' have a bunch of steel willies, to help them feel "safe."

The fact that these so-called human beings, don't see guns as a killing machine, but rather as a toy, something to play with... is just plain lazy and irresponsible.

I also stumbled upon this in my web travels tonight...weird stuff!

Supposedly, the plants grow where ordinary plants would die, one plant "bleeds red" when you cut it, and the seeds are "weirdly shaped." Riiight.

Other terreriums include:

The "Christian Bible Garden."

This one contains plants "frequently mentioned in the bible."

The "Dinosaur Plant Kit." Contains a plant that supposedly becomes full grown in less than 3 hours.

There's a fairy garden, with flowers and plants to attract fairies to your home.

There's a princess garden, that, besides flowers, includes glitter glue, silver beads and dragonfly decorations.

More practically, there's the medievil herb garden, the witch's garden, desert cactus and culinary herbs.

Of course, you can also go for the chia garden, or--if you're feeling bloodthirsty, the carnivorous and fly trap gardens.

http://tealco.net/window_sill_garden_kits.html

Well, now I've heard everything.

You know how some people have waaaay too much time on their hands, and spend it, not doing anything productive, but coming up with all these off the wall theories, or, if not so off the wall, at least worrying about something that may never happen.

OK, caution is good. Common sense is a wonderful thing. But...like to many things in the world today, when is enough, enough? People today become so intense and obsessed with things, it's almost like they have no minds of their own, anymore. Some things are done to death: swearing (too much, and it becomes meaningless gibberish replacing meaningful words/communication), reality televison (in my world, when I want reality, I merely have to wake up in the morning), sex (which is perfectly OK, but, seriously, in the context of living, how many times a day do we need to hear/see it? I mean, come on!), and...end of times/great disaster theories.

The internet is so full of gibbering rubbish spewed out by illiterate bozos, it's just...unbelieveable, that we can advance any more as a species.

Time and again, I've seen people take a fragment of fact, and spin all kinds of theories out of it....like taking a single thread, and trying to say that you have a complete tapestry.

Since last year, the underwater trench off of Puerto Rico has been consistantly hit with swarms of earthquakes, ranging from slight tremmors to 4.1, often quite a few in the same day. Last year, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming experienced 500 minor quakes in one week. Recently, Oklahoma and Kentucky have been experiencing quakes. So has a region in the Texas panhandle, apparently.

Alaska has been rocked with a continual swarm of quakes for months.

California, of course has had quite a few tremmors and quakes this year. Quakes are increased slightly in Quebec and other parts of the northeast, such as northern and western New York state and Northern New England.

This could mean something---or nothing. Quakes do supposedly occur more in hot weather, and unlike here in the northeast, where we've had abnormally cool, wet weather, much of the southern and western US has experienced abnormally hot weather--even droughts in some areas.

Looking for some information on our strange weather pattern, here where I live, I stumbled upon a website that claims that all that is happening, is a sign of the "end times."

Riight. No, it just means that the climate is shifting a bit. Which it did, millions of years ago, thousands of years ago, and in the late 1700's/early 1800's. I remember reading an account of life in Vermont in the late 1700's, when the people were literally starving to death, because of a sudden change in climate--it snowed heavily in August (normally the second-hottest month of our year, in this part of the world), which caused the crops to fail.

Normal August temps for Vermont, today, can range anywhere from a low of 60 F, to a high of 95 F. We may get frosts in June or September, but to have a frost in August, would be unheardof today--to get a massive snowfall, would be pretty much unbelievable...and devistating. We had a blizzard the first week of October once, here in the northeast of NY state, back in the 80's--and people died, roofs collapsed, trees fell like ten-pins, power was out for days--weeks, in some places. An August snowfall wouldn't just hurt the crops, it would cause massive destruction.

So, now much of the country is getting warmer, it seems. Lakes and reserviors that were always full, for the first time are drying up. Desert towns and cities are worried about the water supply, forest fires are becoming more widespread than ever, there's more frequent hurricanes, and yes, earthquake activity appears to be increasing somewhat.

Does that mean the end of the world? No. Is it being exerbated by global warming? Possibly, but it's equally to be a natural change...that's something it will take centuries to unravel, probably.

One person says the Mayan calendar "predicts" that the Puerto-Rico swarm will generate a massive Tsunami that will wipe out the Eastern US Seaboard, including New York City. That's highly unlikely...tho' I suppose most anything is possible, giving the right circumstances, the right time and place--or, the wrong one.

An asteroid may hit earth and wipe out the planet. There might really be Daleks ready to invade the earth. I might get struck by lightning before the summer's out, win the New York Lotto drawing, get hit by a logging truck and write a script for Doctor who. Will any of that ever happen? Probably not. In fact, I daresay, not at all!

Will a massive 7.0 earthqake hit the Puerto Rico trench and the resulting underwater landslide cause a massive tsunami that wipes out most of the Eastern US seaboard? Meh--I'm thinking probably not.

Oh, there have been a couple of tsunamis on the east coast (I decided to look it up)--twice in recorded history. Once up in Nova Scotia, and the coast of New Jersey--both before the 20th century. It's been well over 100 years since the last tsunami hit the east coast. Two in recorded history. Think about that. Not impossible--but highly improbable. The last big earthquauke in the Puerto-Rico region was in the Virgin Islands, in the 1860's...not even in the Puerto Rico trench, from what I gather...tho' they may be connected, I don't know.

So, there's been swarms of earthquakes out there. Meh. Stuff happens. Does it "mean" anything? No, it's just mother nature doing her thang, man. There is no "end times."

Should we base our beliefs on some calendar made by some ancient people, who thought dieties controlled the weather, sacrificed their children to appease the gods, and didn't have indoor plunbing?

Erm--what do you think?

The Mayan calender is beautiful--can it predict the future?

I was just watching a video of David Tennant's Doctor. They claim that Tennant, as the Doctor, said "Sorry" at least 120 times (not counting the cuts that ended up not being shown).

A shrink would have a field day with Russell T. Davies over that, perhaps.

Here's a link to the video.

http://io9.com/5318093/were-sorry-to-see-david-tennant-go-a-video-tribute

This music video is for you, Doctor number ten.

I chose it, 'cos I love Dr Who, the way I loved John's music when I was in my early-mid teens. I probably wore out a record needle, listening to this song, like I probably wore out my DVD, watching Dr Who over and over again.

If you haven't been able to tell by some of my posts today, I've not been in the most relaxed and charitble moods, today. Still wrung out from the training--it's really overwhelming, and I'm seriously dreading going back to work on Monday, 'cos I haven't even started using the new system yet--which is extremely complicated--forget about using the phones.

But, seriously, I'm still wound a bit tight. I will never be comfy with technology, computers especially, and though I can use the stuff with practice, I still am not thrilled with anything techno. I love a low-tech lifestyle. I can, and have for long periods of time, live without a telephone, computer, television, etc. It can be stressful, at times--and yes, boring, even with radio to listen to and books to read...most especially when one is physically alone, day in and day out. But...you adjust. And, hopefully, tho' I'm stressed to the max over this, I may adjust--we'll see what we shall see. I'll either figure it out and--eventually, be good at it, or I'll bomb and go look for other employment.

When I signed on with this company, Oct. of 2006, you were supposed to get an evalutation/raise after a year--then (without notifying us, until we asked...several times) management changed it to a 2 year wait for your evalutation/raise. So, my 2-year was done by HR/my supervisor in Oct. 2008....and I STILL haven't gotten it, yet. My current supervisor (got a different one now) says she's waiting until she "has time" to sit with me. WTF??? Hello? You've had NINE MONTHS to flipping spend 30 minutes with me! Blimey! You could have had a blinking baby, in that time! So, as things stand now, I will MAYBE get my two-year eval/raise, on my THIRD year anniversary.

My last raise, 25 cents, was in Jan. of 07, by the way.

They put down all these new rules at work--no eating at desks, only drinks in cups with lids, no phones, no doing nails makeup, etc. You are not allowed anymore, to chat between calls (ignored by everyone, pretty much), doodle, read (unless it's client material), pretty much--you have to now sit there and stare at your cubicle walls, between calls. They've made that abundantly clear, and have spoken to us twice about it.

Yeah, right. After our training test, I found I had a half-hour free, so I put in a half-hour on the phones calling collections for one of the older clients--which I'm already trained to do---the kid behind me--one of the newer reps (who snorts up food like a pig with it's snout in the trough), had a packet of crisps hidden in his desk drawer, and was surreptiously opening the drawer between calls, snorting a crisp, taking a call, pulling open the drawer, snorting a crisp, etc...jeez, he reminded me of a an alcoholic hiding his booze.

Another young girl--again a newer rep-- was doing applying nail polish to her nails between calls, and when a co-worker (who used to be a supervisor) told her to put it away, that it wasn't allowed--and the girl got all snarky, and said, "How can me doing my nails be against the rules?"

This company is not going to find good workers in New York's southern Adirondacks. For every good, honest serious worker, there's 10 idiotic lazy dole-candidates.

I used up the second disposible camera tonight, so I may be posting some more pics in the next week, sometimes. Boring shots, for the most part. It was still light, by the time I got to Lake George, but it was getting dark, so I had to shoot what I could with the light that I had. I got several pics of the lake/mountain range, boats, the trolley's, a horse-drawn carriage, ducks, the fort, the "mystery spot,"---yes, I tried my echo...that's so weird.

You stand in the centre of the circle--out in the open, no buildings or anything too close by...and you can hear your own echo--no one else can hear your echo, only you...and if you move just a few footsteps away...it's gone. I've written about it before, but--it's silly, but the "spot" give me a bit of the heebie-jeebies when I stand on...yeah, gives me chills, it does. Which is totally unreasonable, but, there ya' go.

Really, I just took pics that would show you the Lakefront through my eyes. This disposible camera is rubbish, and I only had 20 minutes between trolley's--and, of course the light was going, so I just snapped what I could.

I missed the big tour boats coming in to dock, but it was really into dusk by then, so they likely would have been just a dark blob with lights, on film.

Then, there's about four or five pics of the cats (Tho' I should warn you that, for some reason, Boots and Charlie are shedding quite massively, and are not looking their best, at the mo', even with me brushing them.)

There's three pics of me, as well. Two taken at work, in some of my slightly posher clothes, and one in Lake George, dressed as "me."

If they come out, I'll likely post those three pics privately, unless someone asks me to do otherwise.

The pics may be up by this weekend, or I might not get them developed until next week. I've no idea of anything will come out OK.