Today we watched two things of interest

The first being the Leonardo DiCaprio/Tobey Maguire version of The Great Gatsby which, with the exception of some anachronistic music, was very entertaining. I thought the acting was well done, the costumes were to die for, the settings were dead on, and the spectacle of the parties superb. It had real style. But then, it was directed by Baz Luhrmann, so that isn't unexpected. And although my memory of the book isn't very clear, refreshing my memory with a plot synopsis online shows that the movie touched on all the main points, as it should have. I could have used a little more jazz and a lot less rap, but that's really my only gripe.

After the movie A retired to Masterpiece Mystery on PBS in the bedroom and YKWIA and I watched 'Salem' on WGN in the living room. I must say that series gets progressively better each week. There are four more episodes to go this season, I think. That should get us through a good portion of the summer, and then all our shows should be over for now until 'Doctor Who' starts up in August.

I am home now, but it is, however, quite late (nearly 1 am), so I am going to head on to bed. Hope you had a good weekend. Good night.

Yesterday I went to the doctor

But it wasn't a completely satisfying visit. On the one hand, the nurse practitioner and doctor were very happy with most of my lab values from the endocrinology visit a couple of weeks ago, and were glad that the changes we made then are having a positive effect on my health. On the other hand, the nurse was concerned about the swelling in my ankles and the some pain I've had in my legs (especially the right, although that could be from my knee), so the doctor sent me straight over to St Joseph East hospital's radiology department and they did a Doppler ultrasound to double-check for blood clots, which wasn't likely, but they didn't want to overlook the possibility. My knee, however, was not quite ignored, but they thought sending me to physical therapy would be the best course. Now, I know I have arthritis in my knees, but I don't think this is normal arthritis pain. Today I walked across the hospital to pick up my mail and back to the library and the pain was so intense on the way back that I was fighting back tears. I'm normally quite good with chronic pain. This isn't the same as that. I've been trying not to overdo ibuprofen, so I haven't taken any for awhile, but I took three tablets (600 mg) this afternoon and borrowed a pillow from the inpatient unit. I then put it on top of one of those library step stools (you know, the little black round ones that roll but push down into place when you step on them), and then used the combination to raise my leg under the desk. That really helped. But I also decided it would be best to see an orthopaedist to determine the cause of my pain before going to therapy. So I called Bluegrass Orthopaedics and made an appointment. Unfortunately, they can't see me till the 24th. So I'll have to deal with the pain until then.

We're not playing the game on Sunday due to Father's Day (Brenda usually goes to a movie with her husband.) We have The Great Gatsby (the Leonardo DiCaprio version) out from Netflix, so we'll probably watch that. Tomorrow I'm taking a friend to an appointment. I'd like to go to the farmers' market and also the library. The Lexington Public Library has acquired some land at Palumbo and Man O'War that used to have the Jaguar dealership, and they're planning on replacing the Eagle Creek branch in a couple of years, which means that while it will be close, I wouldn't call it within walking distance, being across two main roads and maybe a mile away. Or at least, not quite as convenient if someday I could actually work there. But hey, I'm glad they will be getting a new branch. I wonder what will go in where the library is now?

I should go work on the game notes even though we're not playing, but instead I'm going to go put up my leg and elevate it on some pillows. And yeah, I will probably fall asleep. I'm going to try to do a little reading, though. I have so many good books on my 'to read' list and have been failing miserably at doing so. Also, Windows 8.1 really, really wants to restart my computer to do some updates, which may be good, as I'm having some issues playing videos on YouTube where the videos are freezing, and I type things here and it's like the buffer needs a good emptying, because it keeps hanging up. So hopefully that will help. Good night.

This is really amazing

YKWIA showed it to me. It's a shadow dancing troupe from Hungary called 'Attraction'. This is their 'Britain's Got Talent' audition. They do an amazing job of using their bodies to tug at emotions.

Listening thanks to Amazon's new Prime Music

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'The 100'

was very good tonight, for the finale, and had a great twist at the end, which I won't disclose here. They're showing the episodes from the beginning again starting next week, so if you haven't seen it, you might want to check it out, especially if dystopian survival stories are your thing.

I broke down and called my doctor's office today about the knee issue, and getting a general checkup, and I have an appointment at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I just got in a little while ago from my friends' house and from watching the show, have put away groceries, have eaten a light snack, and I am very seriously considering going to bed. But first I must mention something YKWIA found and it so hurt his brain that he called me this afternoon and told me. It's a reality show, 'I Wanna Marry Harry', where American women are set up Bachelor-style to supposedly get coupled with Prince Harry (as in the fourth in line for the British throne, if I'm doing my math right), when in actuality he's just a guy who's not-really-that-closely-resembling Harry and the girls don't get it. As if the Queen would allow her grandson to pick a wife that way. Apparently if you start to get an idea that this whole thing is fishy, they bump you from the show. Gee. I think reality shows in general are stupid (and they shouldn't call them that, as they are far from it; unscripted might be a better term), but this one seems dumb, dumb, dumb.

YKWIA also showed me a 'M.A.S.K.' episode (you know, the animated series from the mid-80s) that was set in Australia that is, shall we say, beyond the pale of racism. The Aborigines are drawn as dim-witted savages who make ape sounds when encountering a guitar. It's like they took the worst of racial stereotypes of Africans and American Indians and put them together and set them down in Australia. They also blew horns (yes, the mighty horned marsupials) and had lots of minted gold in their temple under Ayers Rock. It was terribly 'ooga booga' and just plain horrible and the worst thing of all is that this series was released in Australia. Hello, the Aborigines do have TVs. Granted it was 30 years ago, but that's really no excuse. And don't even get me started on Bruce Sato, the inscrutable Asian that no one but Matt Trakker can understand because he speaks in riddles. Also, you really have to suspend disbelief, as YKWIA pointed out. After all, where do those masques go in terms of storage when they're not using them? In the vehicles, right? So where does the motorcycle one store its, or the sports car with a low roof? YKWIA also pointed out that Matt Trakker is quite possibly the worst father in the TV world. He leaves his son Scott with random strangers or a ineffectual robot, usually right where he's going to go into danger, only to need a rescue from the team. It's yet another one of those precocious kid with either cute robot or animal sidekick that was once so popular on TV (often having both, like the original 'Battlestar Galactica' with Boxey and his Daggit, but sometimes one or the other (Wesley Crusher on 'Star Trek: the Next Generation being an example of annoying super teen, or the Bear on 'BJ and the Bear' as the chimpanzee companion to the trucker BJ.)) It was a plague in TV land which with any luck has run its course. Dont' believe me about the racism? Check out io9's article: The time M.A.S.K. took a super racist Australian vacation". It's a little inaccurate (Scott says at one point that the Aborigines are doing a 'war dance', not a 'water dance'), and the author admits to knowing nothing about Aboriginal culture, but hey, he got that it was racist as hell. Sorry to trample over a beloved childhood show, but, goodness it's so wrong.....

Okay, enough about TV; time for bed.

Not feeling the best tonight

A walk was out of the question today as I've been having a lot of pain in my knee. This has been going on since the beginning of May, and I think it's past time to have it looked at. Unfortunately, when I got home there were storms coming in, so no pool visit, either. So I watched the news for a bit and then propped my leg up on some pillows where it felt better for a good long while.

I'm hormonal, and while I was doing fine at work, interacting with my best friend, which is sometimes difficult (think dealing with Sheldon Cooper from 'Big Bang Theory' or PL Travers from Saving Mr Banks) was nigh on impossible. So I took him to an appointment and then dropped him off at home so I could go sit in the hut alone and away from folks and wait for my menstruation to begin, which it is just now starting to, so hopefully I will feel better soon. I'm not weepy or anything like that, just a little irritable and not thinking at my best.

I found out that my colleague at our hospital in Los Angeles had her position eliminated, leaving even fewer librarians in our system. Today I also found out that the job I'd applied for at the Lexington Public Library was filled. So that was disappointing, and I'm starting to feel more stressed over job security. I mean I have none, we know the library won't be going to the new building in a couple of years, but I'm afraid they'll make cuts before then, and the job hunt, while pretty active, is not going well. I've revised my résumé, which I'll update soon online, that is more concise, leaving the full list of things for more of a vita. But there's nothing in the area that I can drive to in a reasonable commute at the moment.

Tomorrow I have to:

1. Call my family doctor and make an appointment about my knee and also to get my refills renewed.
2. Call my dentist to see about adjusting the partials, which I haven't been wearing because I can't get them in.
3. Call my student loan administrator about recertifying my income contingent repayment and discuss some issues with them.
4. Call my optometrist and order new contacts.

All that in addition to a full day tomorrow at work. Then there's the season finale of 'The 100' to watch with YKWIA, assuming I'm up to company tomorrow night.

Okay, time for bed. Good night. Hopefully tomorrow will not be quite so depressing.

I went for a walk earlier

which is, of course, healthy and I'm glad I did, but it really kicked my butt and I wound up coming home, hydrating a bit, turning the fan on, and plopping onto the bed for 'a few minutes', and then fell asleep from about for four hours, which probably defeated the purpose of going in the first place.

Getting up, I took my nightly medicine (so glad my phone reminds me now with a little sound that is like a shaking pill bottle), made a salad to bring to work tomorrow, changed purses, and then sat down and put my pills into my container for the next week and figured out what needs to be refilled Thursday. Then I suddenly remembered my phone bill was due today. Now, unlike some bills, I have until midnight to pay on time, but it was almost midnight. I signed in online and there was a problem accessing the website. It signed me in, but kept saying there was a problem and to hit the back button, but that only gave a 'loading page' error. So I tried the backup of using my handset to pay, using the application for my carrier, and that was going great until I got to the expiration date for the credit card and the drop down box sat there and laughed at me and did absolutely nothing except get larger. No drop down, no keyboard coming up to type anything up, just bigger. So I went back and tried the website again and then, no doubt since it was after midnight, everything was working again. Grrrr.... Oh well, at least it's paid, even if it looks like it's a day late rather than mere minutes. It's my fault for not doing it before I laid down, but I really didn't expect to actually fall asleep, as I didn't feel tired so much as needing to cool down and chill for a few minutes. [Postscript: If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know this last statement is ludicrous. I was obviously lying to myself, as any time I go horizontal I pretty much fall asleep. So let me retract that. Apparently when the endorphins gave out, I crashed, even though I didn't 'feel tired' prior to that. I should have given a bit of thought to that before I wrote. Sorry about that.]

Awww...

YKWIA showed me this the other day. I liked it very much.

You've probably seen this

It's made its rounds through Facebook, of course. But I find it an absolutely concise, correct, and hilarious description of the beloved film:



By the way, this was actually written by Rick Polito in 1998. For more, see this: Quirky 'Wizard of Oz' Synopis is Going to Follow Writer to the Grave.

I loved 'The Young Ones' back in the day

and this is my favourite scene:



So I was sad to hear of Rik Mayall's death today. He played Rick, who was an anarchist sociology major who wrote odes to Cliff Richard and was really over the top. (In the video, he is the one with the odd haircut and rat-tail braid.) He and the others made me laugh uproariously many times. I liked what Adrian Edmondson (Vyvyan) said about his colleague:

There were times when Rik and I were writing together when we almost died laughing. They were some of the most carefree stupid days I ever had, and I feel privileged to have shared them with him. And now he's died for real. Without me. Selfish bastard.