Talking About Television

So, Amy over at Lucy's Football was talking about television, those shows from last season that did or didn't live up to expectations, and those she's looking forward to this year. It got me thinking about my own TV-watching habits.

When I was younger, I used to LOVE getting all excited for the new fall season to start. My parents used to get TV Guide (maybe they still do?) and I would scour the fall preview issue, and plan out my ideal TV-watching schedule. Pretty much every night of the week, I was planted on the couch during primetime, and the sad thing is that looking back on it I couldn't even tell you most of what I watched. For the most part, it was just filler. Hours and hours and hours, wasted.

Which is part of the reason why, these days, I don't typically get too excited about TV. I have a few current shows that I watch. How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, and Castle are the three big ones, the ones that Pat and I watch together. I also keep myself up-to-date on Glee and The Office, although I'm kind of over Glee. I'm curious how exactly they're going to include the recently graduated seniors in the coming season (I heard something about a "show within a show," which makes no sense to me, but I'm thinking that maybe they're not using the phrase to mean what I think it means), but I'll probably just watch the first episode or two and then stop.

Controvercy

Charleen's been writing blog posts like crazy lately! She's been gently prodding me to post something so that she doesn't feel like she's completely taken over our blog. I mentioned something about the Bears the other day and she responded that it sounded like good blog material. *hint, hint, nudge, nudge* I just feel like all I have been writing about lately (when I've written something) has been football. Especially with the season starting in a month, I'll probably be writing a lot more about it, so I'd like to write about something else for a change.

It's an issue that's been in the news, in ads, and on facebook a lot lately. I've been trying to avoid posting about it in any form until I had really thought about what my opinion is. The issue is gay marriage. Now, I realize it's an issue that crops up in many different forms from politics and law to the boy scouts and even to advertising. I'm going to try to focus only on the law part in the interests of not making this post 10 pages long.

Should gay marriage be legalized across the entire US? In my opinion, the answer to this question is a simple yes. Now, if you haven't decided to boycott this blog, send me hate mail, or any other ridiculous reaction to someone sharing a personal opinion, I'll explain why.

Music Monday: Beethoven's Choral Fantasy

Each Monday, I share a piece of music I really enjoy. This week, it's Beethoven's Choral Fantasy.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra (1808)

Photo A Day August

So, I've seen this floating around the web the past few months, and I always thought it seemed interesting and creative, but this is the first month I've actually decided to take the plunge. I've hesitated in the past because I doubt I can actually stick with it, but I'll never know until I try, will I?

Here's a link to the blog hosting the challenge: Photo A Day August

I'll be posting my pictures from my phone straight to Twitter. Not sure how much it will spill over to the blog, if at all, so I guess we'll just see what happens as the month unfolds. This is an experiment, after all.

Music Monday: Debussy's Suite Bergamasque

Each Monday, I share a piece of music I really enjoy. This week, I've chosen the beautiful piano movement "Clair de lune" from Debussy's Suite bergamasque.

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Suite bergamasque (1905)
"Clair de lune"

Otters!

I love otters. I think they're just about the cutest things ever. Well, the cutest things that I'll never be able to have in my own home. Although, I don't know, there's a lot of cute animals out there . . . but, whatever. Otters are very high up on the list. So, here's some otters to make your day a little brighter:

Music Monday: Rachmaninoff's Vespers

Each Monday, I share a piece of music I really enjoy. This week, I've chosen Rachmaninoff's Vespers.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
All-Night Vigil (1915)
"Slava V Vyshnikh Bogu" (Glory to God in the Highest)

Off

There are certain times when I seem to be removed from reality. I imagine most people have these moments and the triggers are probably different for everyone. When I was very young, any time I did anything outside of my normal routine. An overnight trip to my grandma's, or even just going out to eat at a restaurant, everything would sort of take on a dream-like quality, like it wasn't really happening. When I was in high school, I remember it happening if there was some big assignment that I was putting off. It would get closer and closer to the deadline, and I still wouldn't start work on it, because it didn't seem real. If it was real, I never would have let it get that far. So the fact that I did must mean it wasn't real. (And then of course I'd always manage to squeak it out at the last second, and probably get an A on it. In fact, my final semester of college I got an A on a term paper and presentation that I threw together at about 11:30 the night before it was due and was sure I was going to fail. The secret: stop worrying about all the stuff you don't know, and just focus on what you do know. You sound a lot smarter that way. Also, the "write now, edit later" mentality that I learned during NaNoWriMo helped quite a bit.)

Music Monday: Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine

Each Monday, I share a piece of music I really enjoy. This week I decided to share another something from my college days, an a cappella choir piece by the modern composer Eric Whitacre.

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
"Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine" (2001)

Some Reflections on Last Night

So, I went out last night for the second time this week. Third time in eight days. This is VERY unusual for me; I'm not exactly a social butterfly. After we got home and I was lying in bed, several thoughts were swirling through my mind, and -- crazily -- I actually remember most of them this morning. So, in list form:

~ It wouldn't be nearly this strange to me to be going out so much if we were back in the suburbs. Because I have friends there. So, it's sort of a strange realization that I have friends here too. They aren't just "people Pat works with" or "Pat's friends." And the real surprise isn't even that I went out three times in eight days, it's that I actually had a good time on each occasion. Typically we go out, and I feel so socially awkward the whole time and it's so emotionally draining that I won't venture out of the apartment again for days. To not have that happening is something I'm not quite used to.