so i have to remember to type everything lowercase, because i was using that affectation when i was maintaining this blog (which i created so i could learn wordpress, then promptly went on to use tumblr for my primary blogging needs), and i’ll be damned if i remember anything at all about wordpress, except that the dashboard i am writing this on still looks needlessly complicated to me, which may well be why i stopped updating this blog?

it could also be because life has thrown me a couple of big curveballs since january 1st, 2009 — not the least of which was losing my job back around may 1st, 2010. i briefly started a blog i called “unenjoyment diary” on tumblr back then to document my unemployment and search for more work, but that got really depressing and i stopped that after a while. i’m still looking for work, anything involving broadcasting, writing, editing or producing, so the two or three of you who neglected to delete this blog from your rss feeds sometime in the past two-three years? give me a holler if you know of any work out there you think i might be suited for.

in other news, let’s see, this has been one unbelievable year of health problems at my house. my daughter had the last of her wisdom teeth out, then broke her foot, and now seems to have become lactose intolerant. my wife had fairly routine surgery a couple of months ago, only to contract what we think is lyme disease. she spent nearly three days in the hospital dealing with that, only to suffer the onset of bell’s palsy just days after her release, and we still don’t know what the final outcome of all that will be. oddly, i am a middle-aged, unemployed diabetic with occasional lower-back pain and yet i am the second-healthiest person in the house at the moment, outpaced only by my healthy-as-a-horse 15-year-old son, who for the record is playing grand theft auto: san andreas on the tv behind me as i type these words.

it’s independence day here in los estados unidos, a nation that generally hold actual independent thought and action in the very highest contempt and drapes its complicity and cowardice in the flag, then hates you if you don’t bow down and worship that same flag all the while embracing the good ol’ american values of conformity, obedience, and of course staunch public heterosexuality.

yeah, happy independence day, everybody. i’m back.

despite my certainty that the united states will be profoundly changed within the next 365 days, and that a lot of people will learn a lot of hard lessons, i still would like to think it’s at least possible to be optimistic. here’s to hoping that things turn around, that people learn to roll with the punches, and that we all try to be a little kinder to each other, and less tolerant of unkindness in the year ahead.

but, pneumonia. and other continuing bullshit that had seemed resolved, but ha ha, not yet, buddy.

thankful? i wish i could feel that way. 2008 has been one of the worst years of my life. and i have pneumonia. i’m not thankful, i’m fucking pissed off.

lots of crappy stuff going on right now that i can’t really talk about, but if you would like to send some positive vibes my way, i’d appreciate it.

and even though new york will go for obama on election day, and even though i have lost all faith in the political system, and even though it almost doesn’t matter who wins now that the dominance of the united states on the world stage is rapidly winding down — i think i’ll still go out and vote for obama next tuesday. mccain and palin have been flipping the bird to me and people who think even remotely like me for long enough that i think i owe it to myself to give them a fuck you right back.

and if mccain somehow manages to win anyway, well, everybody bent over and took it in december of 2000, and again in november of 2004. have you had enough yet, or will you actually do something about it if they steal the election again?

a friend from work brought a can of catfood, and that got them a little braver about venturing forth, but we only ever got as close as nearly grabbing one of them, a little mostly-black one, before he leaped back into the cover of the bushes.

later that day, my wife brought more food to the scene after i told her where to find them, and she reported that the mother cat was there as well, and wary of her presence.

friday, home from work dealing with plumbers and electricians and hazmat teams (oh my), we took a break to grab lunch and my wife wanted to check on the cats again. we brought a can of food and our cat carrier that we use for our cat, chloe. putting an open can of food in the back of the carrier lured three of the kittens out of hiding while the mother cat was off by the nearby red lobster’s dumpster (ah-ha, i thought to myself, no wonder this is where they are).

we managed to get two of the kittens into the carrier (the third one bolted) as they wolfed down the can of cat food, and we drove them immediately to the nearby pet hospital as instructed by the spca. man, there were a lot of barking dogs at that hospital. i forgot how much i dislike the sound of dumb dogs barking loudly for no real reason.

my wife is concerned about the ultimate fate of the kittens we rescued, but i have to believe that with fall here and 40 degree nights a reality, they have to be better off than they would be facing an upstate new york fall and winter out there exposed to the elements, red lobster dumpster neearby or no.

tomorrow we’ll likely see if we can get the remaining kittens and their mother into the carrier and to the relative safety and security of the animal hospital. we’re told if they’re healthy (which the kittens appear to be, the mother not so much, and she in fact may very well be feral), they will be placed for adoption with a shelter in lake george.

the mother is calico, three of the kittens are various shades of orange and white, and the other one is black with some orange. they are all quite cute and look healthy to my untrained eye. i hope we did the right thing bringing in the ones we did, and i hope the others make it through tonight all right. it’s 41f degrees right now, and the forecast is calling for mid-30s. no weather to be outside all night, but bound to be much colder and more unpleasant than even that within a matter of a few weeks.

i bought the new star trek: alternate realities dvd set; 30 bucks, but almost every episode on it is a gem. i’d like to get the time travel and captain’s log sets as well, but this is the must-have one for me.

the episodes on it that i really dig:

“mirror, mirror” (spock with a beard)
“the enemy within” (twice the kirk)
“yesterday’s enterprise” (the return of tasha yar)
“the inner light” (picard’s tragic alternate life)
“the visitor” (one of the few good ds9 episodes)
“twilight” (one of the best enterprise episodes)

30 bucks for the set at wal-mart. tried fye first but they never even got them in. their loss.