Midnight Musings

All this year we've been hearing about these truly horrible-sounding new shows that will torture us with their appearance on a television near you in the not-too-distant future. The wait seems interminable when the airwaves are positively saturated with all those awful commercials. The only bright spot is the name of that one show, "Code Name: Eternity," which, the way the announcer says it, sounds more like the Labor and Delivery floor of your friendly neighborhood spy hospital than a sci-fi program. At least that one makes us laugh!

'night.

You don't do what you say you'll do
You're never where you say you'll be
You always use words that could be true
But I just can't trust what you say to me

My love for you ain't a license to lie
The way you behave, you'd think that was the case
My heart's always breaking and I always cry
You don't even blink when you lie to my face

Is the path before you crooked?
Do you stumble on your way?
It seems the thoughts you're thinking
aren't in the words you say
Do things you know will hurt me
without ever knowing why
beginning with excuses
and ending in a lie

I've just discovered that not everyone sings whenever a song pops into their head. This is very distressing to me. I feel that spontaneous singing is a very important part of one's emotional development and personal expression. Naturally, there are situations which would render such behavior totally inappropriate and the volume can be kept low if you feel self-conscious but music is universal.

So why does singing in the middle of a conversation cause a momentary lull and often a change of subject? I don't mean to suggest launching into a ballad and singing through to the end - just singing the one relevant line, possibly a second one if you're with someone who gives you an encouraging nod. There is nothing wrong with that, is there?

I'm starting to second guess myself. This is not good. I'm going to sing myself to sleep now.

'night

A friend of mine complains when I don't send him e-mail although I communicate regularly with and through his wife. There is a reason I don't often send him e-mail but he feels unloved and I feel sorry for hurting his feelings, so I sent him a quick note. The response I received did nothing more than confirm my reasons for not writing:

"Thanks for the e-mail.
Love, Steve."

Perhaps the problem lies in our personal definitions of communication. He may think that as long as he's typed something - anything - and hit the 'reply' button, he's held up his end of the bargain. I suppose I should be thankful that he doesn't consider all those "fwd:fwd:fwd:" e-mails fulfillment of the obligation.

'night

Words are fun. Sometimes I don't enjoy hearing them, though. It sets my teeth on edge to hear anyone say, "nu-kyoo-lar," instead of "nuclear," or "miss-chee-vee-us," instead of "mischievous." The verb form of the noun "co-habitation" is "co-habit," not "co-habitate".

That's fine. All is still right with the world. I love to throw words like 'kakistocracy' into a conversation with people who know oh-so-much-more than I do about politics (and I have no difficulty finding them) and cause a momentary lull, invariably followed by the question, "Government by people wearing khaki??"

Complaining about the catachreses of others can be fun in a certain frame of mind. There's a surprisingly large segment of the population that enjoys good-natured criticism of different forms of entertainment. There's a scene in an episode of Stargate SG-1, my all-time favorite show to giggle over, where a character is critiquing a movie (she doesn't mention the name but it's obvious to anyone who's seen it) she had recently seen. Another character asks, "Why do you watch these movies if you just cut them up?" That's the main reason I enjoy the program - the producers know perfectly well that much, if not most, of the fun lies in making fun. They actually built an entire episode around that premise. It completely redeemed them from subjecting me to the episodes that appear to do nothing more than waste film. We come up with creative nicknames for the characters during these shows but I do try to be careful. This show is not just dumb but lovably dumb and should be treated as such. After all, there's a fine line between raillery and invective.

So, you too can build your very own fabulously pretentious vocabulary for less than the price of a cup of coffee! Just visit this site whenever you're feeling supercilious and tell them Annie sent you.

'night

Technology is so wonderful. We don't have a radio at my office so we listen to internet radio. One of the stations is an actual radio station out of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and the time, weather, geographic and cultural discrepancies can be a source of amusement in and of themselves. 99.5 The Wolf - Texas Country Their weather is generally 30 degrees or more warmer than ours these days and their weather reports can take the unsuspecting listener by surprise.

My favorite blurb is one where a good ol' boy says, "Look autcher winda - that's Tayksis!" Sometimes I do, and it never is. I keep hoping. It would be such fun to be slaving away here in the frigid northeast and suddenly look up to find out that we're in the deep south or some other locale. I'm sure there was a science fiction show of some kind where there was a window/mirror/doorway into other dimensions or places. Or was that Alice in Wonderland? I know one thing - we're not in Kansas anymore.



create your own visited states map


'night