Whine and Cheese

• Over the weekend, I helped my mom move to her new room at the nursing home. She had a single as long as she did rehab. When her rehab stint ended, she had to move into a room with a roommate. Change is not easy for anyone, so I went down to try to ease the transition, which was surprisingly easy. Mom was in good spirits and very clear-headed for a change. I found out last night through my sister that Mom had fallen in her new room, tumbling out of her wheelchair when she stood up to water her plant. As good as she's doing according to the physical therapist, the reality of it is that she cannot live on her own anymore. Luckily, nothing was broken this time.



• I'm not feeling the post-issue malaise that usually comes with posting my comic book. I've been so busy on weekends and at work that I've not noticed. Tonight, with softball canceled due to rain, I found myself oddly out-of-sorts with nothing that I HAD to do.



• My newest TV binge watching has been "Schitt's Creek". I've heard of this show for a couple of years, but I finally managed to buckle down and watch it. OMG! How have I missed this?? I've always been a fan of Eugene Levy (who is a wonderfully furry daddy bear) and Catherine O'Hara. Levy's son Daniel also stars and writes the series, and he's very handsome and furry himself. The comedy is both silly and biting. The story of a very rich family who loses it all and has to move to a rural community is prime with possibilities. Seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix streaming, season 3 is on DVD right now.



• I'm teaching class next week. We usually have 5 or 6 instructors for 30 students, but several of the instructors are unavailable, so we're down to three instructors and one newbee, so I'll be teaching half of the class this round. I'll tell the students to set their universal translators to "hillbilly" (*writing down this joke for class*)

• The cartoon for my coworker is done. I'll email it him tomorrow. And by "done," I mean it is finished and not available for changes.



• I finished up "Jessica Jones" this week. It's a great series. I look forward to another season of it (if they make one). I think the next hero series is supposed to be about Luke Cage (aka Power Man), but I'm sure Jessica Jones will make appearances in it. I've been going through Netflix and found an Australian series called "The Principal" that is pretty good. It stars a swoonworthy bearded hottie named Alex Dimitriades as the lead.
  
  



• I need to mix up my workouts. I "like" Men's Health on Facebook and I've seen some interesting cardio workouts to try. One of them involves kettlebell swings, something I can do when it's raining or snowing and can't run outdoors. And it certainly doesn't hurt that the guy demonstrating the workouts is BJ Gaddour, their fitness director, and another bearded hottie.
  
  



• Yesterday, I was standing in line at Starbucks, which was full of holiday shoppers wanting caffeine. I stood in line for ten minutes when this blonde 20-something witch came up and started chatting up her friend in front of me. Then she just stood there. I was staring daggers at the back of her head until she finally turned around, saw me, and said "hi." I smiled and immediately told her where the back of the line was, which was behind me and the ten other people she cut in front of. She giggled and said that she was only in line to talk to her friend. Sure, I thought. She then whispered to her friend how rude I was. Ironic, isn't it? She left the line, but her friend ordered something for her as the little bitch left drinking an iced coffee.



• Hopefully, my Christmas shopping is done. I went last night to (ugh) Wal-Mart. Since I am shopping for folks far away, it made sense to get the stuff where they could exchange them. And worse, I ended up buying things I need/wanted, spending more on me than on everyone else. Yeah, I bought the kettlebell. Sigh...



• Last night, I did a sketch of the kettlebell, just a doodle while watching TV. I uploaded it to my Flickr account and two folks marked it as a favorite. I checked one of the folks who picked it and saw nothing but nudes and sexual pics among his favorites. It just struck me as funny that among all of these x-rated favorites is this one pencil sketch of a kettlebell.



• Monday is looming. Luckily, I'm working the week and then will be off for the holidays.

• "The Walking Dead" seems to be taking a different tact this round, with each episode having a different story with various characters, but not all. Prior seasons seem to be very linear, where this season has multi-arcs going on.
  
  
• "American Horror Story: Freak Show" is not as scary as previous seasons. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, as it seems to drag, but then has these really interesting story moments. I like the characters and the back stories they have, but there doesn't seem to be a consistent villain in the show right now. The musical bits are odd too. I liked the ones by Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson, but when Lobster Boy did a Nirvana song, I think they jumped the shark.
  
  
• "Sleepy Hollow" is as good as always. Last night's episode was interrupted by the Ferguson, MO grand jury decision. I'm not making any comments on that one as I don't know all the facts. If only others would do that.
  
  
• I've been enjoying odds and ends too, like "Bob's Burgers" and "Black Dynamite."
  
  
• I still need to catch up on "The Flash."

Last night was fun. I went to watch a friend and coworker play in her volleyball league. We have a friend in town for a conference and she and I were drinking beer and eating bar food while watching the volleyball games. It made for a good night, but it made for a late evening too.

I got home later than I wanted, missing the first 10 minutes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” I thought it was a good episode, but I’ll not wreck it for those who have it recorded.

As has been the formula for the last few years, this episode involved doing some dancing, lip synching, and acting for RuPaul’s latest music video, this one for “Sissy That Walk.”

On the dancing part, Bianca and Courtney were burning it up. Both of them very much in sync and to the beat, but I know Adore and Darienne Lake were a bit off. Bianca stumbled a bit when having to strut and dance on a treadmill. If I had to do that in heels, I’d probably break my neck. The others faired a bit better.

On the acting, I actually thought they all did a really good job. Adore was surprisingly good, though I know she’s played the drunk Anna Nicole before and she was definitely channeling her. Darienne does screaming drama well. Bianca was giving off a cool Joan Crawford kind of vibe with her performance. Courtney was okay, but she looked a mess and not in a good way.

All four queens had to lip sync for their lives, which was the first time we got to see Bianca and Courtney involved there. Both do it very well. Bianca doesn’t do a lot of high energy moves, but she gives good face and her lips definitely match the words. Adore’s face is all over the place. Courtney was entertaining, but I have to admit that Darienne gives good lip sync. It’s a bit hard to do any of the acrobatics some queens do when the stage is full like this. It’s also hard to concentrate on any one performer with so much going on.

In the end, Darienne was sent packing, which wasn’t really a surprise, but I have to admit that she showed some real talent in this episode I thought. As cute as Adore is, I almost wish that Darienne had stayed and Adore left. Adore has a bit of seasoning to do and her immaturity just seems very apparent to me, while the others show a lot of professionalism that she lacks.

So, final three – Bianca Del Rio, Courtney Act, and Adore Delano. I had two of the three in my predictions. I hope Bianca brings it home.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

• I had a doctor's appointment today. It was to discuss with my doctor whether or not I could stop taking the warfarin pills. It's been a year since my less-than-fun hospitalization due to blood clots. All tests, even the genetic ones, suggest that there was no inherited cause for them. The pulmonologist stated that the likely cause was my trans-Atlantic flight the previous month. My regular physician said that he wanted me to stay on the pills for a year at least. So, given all this data, my doctor said I could stop taking the warfarin. Since I'm going to be traveling a bit in March, we agreed that I would stay on them through the end of March just as a precaution. I'm happy to give these pills up.
  
  
• As I'm driving home, I came up to an intersection at a red light where a guy in a burnt orange Camero was hoping to be allowed into the lane from a parking lot. So I motioned him in. I followed him up to the entrance ramp to the interstate. We were coming up to a split to the interstate or another exit and I held back because I wasn't sure he was coming over into my lane again or not. He veered into the exit lane. As I passed, the driver stuck his middle finger up at me. I guess good deeds don't always illicit the response you would expect.
  
  
• While eating a late lunch, I watched Being Human, the North American version (it's filmed in Canada). I DVR'd last night's new episode. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's about a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire who share a home in Boston. It has both comedy, horror, and drama. The acting is good, the cast is attractive (but not in that teeny-bopper sort of way), and the writing definitely throws some serious curves. This episode has the ghost of the house (Sally) going back in time to the moment where she is killed by her abusive boyfriend. She possesses her past self and prevents her death, leading to a new timeline where she lives and then finds her vampire and werewolf friends to make their lives better, with some disastrous results. I do love the show, but I found out online that it's been canceled and the series finale will air in April. While there are FB pages to rescue the show, the stars have already appeared in videos saying their cheery, heart-felt good-byes to the show, so I suspect there is no saving it. Sad.