Awwww…. I LOVE this photo!

One of the most tender moments of this trip has been waching my wonderful husband interact with my grandpa.

Grandpa has been hard at work trying to track down some Widmer beer here in KC. (Widmer is the company that Aaron works for in Portland) So far, Grandpa has not has success in his venture.

Like any good beer man, however, Aaron was prepared to meet the needs of all his beer-hungry KC friends and family by loading the car with different varities of Widmer. Upon hearing Grandpa’s frustration with not being able to find Widmer in KC, Aaron promptly went to the car and returned with three different Widmer varities for Grandpa to try.

He and Aaron split a Drop Top, which delighted Grandpa! Cheers, Grandpa!

Widmer, you’ve got a new life-long fan in Grandpa!

So Aaron and I were supposed to leave for Texas on the 21st, have an easy time of driving there with the two dogs and make it easily before Christmas. Well, work got in the way and suddenly Aaron was working until the 23rd. He was ready to cancel Christmas. But I offered to drive all night while he slept if he drove all day the next day and now we’re heading to Texas tonight! With a stop for some proper rest (and present opening) in some Motel 6 on Christmas Eve, we should make it to the in-laws in time for Christmas!

I feel like we’ll be starring in our own “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” movie, JTT style.

Though we’ve made this road trip several times together over the years, this one is going to be a little different.

* We’re bringing BOTH the dogs this time. Usually we only take Jackson who is a wonderful little traveler. Not sure how Peezu’s gonna fair, but we’ll soon find out.

* It’s the first time we’re taking a car other than Aaron’s Camry. Aaron’s car is a stick-shift. I don’t drive stick. I’ve tried and I just end up having major anxiety attacks. This has made for many a fight on our road trips. I keep promising every year to get over the fear that I’m going to cause his car to explode and help drive, but then I always freak out and end up a sobbing mess on the side of the road. Poor Aaron.

Well this year my dad offered us his Civic Hybrid and it’s an automatic! Which means we both get to pitch in. I’m happy about this.

* This is the first year (for me) that we are actually going to go to his folk’s house ON Christmas. Which means, this is the first year that I will be away from my family on Christmas. No opening presents in their living room in front of a fire. No stockings that my mother needlepointed. No Nat King Cole Christmas music blaring on speakers all over the house. No Boston Terrier dog drowning in ribbons. No trading gifts with my sister. No coffee and hot chocolate on a tray in Christmas mugs while we open presents. For the first time ever. Weird.

Luckily my family has all decided to head to San Francisco to watch the USC bowl game this year, so I won’t feel like they’re doing all that without me. AND I love my in-laws so much that I know I’m going to be just as happy and comfy and Christmas-y.

* And this is the first year we’re leaving in the cover of darkness, which worries me. But I’m sure we’ll be fine.

Well, on that note, I should really finish getting everything ready to go.

Happy Holidays my lovely readers… all 5 of you.

Merry Christmas, love the Finleys

Above: Brett Favre - (Note: Favre is actually pronounced 'narcissistic asshole')

December 22, 2009

[Minneapolis, MN] - After a causally bizarre weekend of football which included the first loss of the season for the New Orleans, the Minnesota Vikings might have begun making a play for the top seed in the National Football Conference.  This potentiality was all but completely negated only 24 hours later when the Vikings dropped a close game to woeful Carolina Panthers.  Moreover, a win for Minnesota would have created even more breathing room between the Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, who also lost on Sunday to the enigmatic 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers.  

When asked about his offenses sloppy performance on Sunday, Vikings quarterback, Mississippi folk hero, and the worldwide visage of Wrangler Denim, Brett Favre said the following: “I dunno.  I just love to play football.”  He went on to say, “maybe we should have slung the ball around a bit more.  I mean, darnit, I just love to sling the ball around.  Like those adds I do on TV for those Dad-jeans, I’m just slinging the ball around with whoever I can find to sling it too.  Man, let me tell you, if there’s a guy out there I don’t care where he’s hiding or how fast he’s running, I’ll find him and I’ll find a way to sling it out to ‘im.  I guess that’s why they call me the gunslinger.”

When an Associated Press reporter pointed out that Aaron Rogers, his Green Bay counterpart, and successor at the helm of his former team had himself “slung the ball around” to the tune nearly 400 yards for “like the bazillionth week in a row,” only to see his team lose in the final seconds by the statistically meaningless margin of a solitary point, Favre initially demurred to comment.  

But seconds later, with his cheeks gaining a rosy luster and his upper lip quivering Favre blurted “Rogers!  He’s…he ain’t no gunslinger.  ME!  That’s ME! I’m the damn gunslinger!  I, Brett Favre, am the gunslinger, so that’s what you call me.  I don’t care how many bajillions of yards that wuss throws for.  His team is stupid and his stupid beard is too!”

Favre then proceeded to crack open a cold brewsky right at the podium and shotgunned it before tossing it just left of the “United Way Cares” patch on the lectern beside where he sat.    What came next was perhaps one of the most remarkable exchanges in the history of live press conferences.

“Ahh hell,  can anyone give me the number to Rodgers’ cell?”  Favre asked the pool of correspondents.  He then explained that he used to have it himself but that when he tries to call Rodgers that he gets “one of those weird disconnect-y messages with the funny, machine ladies voice” leading him to the conclusion that Rogers must have “changed his number or some shit like that, you know.”  After a scrum of some ten minutes punctuated by much rustling of notebook pages and the clicking of fingers upon digital receivers, Rodgers’ number was eventually provided to Favre by the self-described ‘Vikes beat writer’ for the Land o’1000 Lakes Evening Gazette.

“Since clearly, the discussion of my fitness to sling the ball cannot be determined on the field of play, and also, because of the ongoing intrigue between myself and certain persons in the Green Bay Packer organization, I am here to tell you — (Favre paused to polish off a second ‘Silver Bullet’)  – that the only way, in my mind, for reasonable men to resolve these issues is for Aaron Rodgers and I to fight in the round.  And in case you were wondering, yes, I will I propose a 7 foot-tall titanium cage to encircle the octagon.  And in a best-case scenario, the winner will be determined by way of manslaughter.  That is all.”

And then by way of conclusion, “Happy holidays.”

Reached for comment Aaron Rodgers said only: “I’m just focusing on the Seattle Seahawks this week.”

[[This is a fake news-wire story; cleary a satire of actual Reuters Reportage.  No one at Reuters even knows that this fake story exists.]

alphainventions

In the Toronto Star, I recently read an article by Bob Aaron titled, “Suddenly, couple’s chimney is ‘illegal’”. that shows just how much you can trust your local government to protect your home interests.

Appears that this couple lived in a bungalow (Toronto)  and, as is the norm now, a monster home was built beside them.  The City of Toronto allowed some minor zoning variances and a building permit was issued.

Problem is that due to the size of the new home, the chimney on the bungalow is considered too low and a hazard to the monster house.  So, under the authority of the Technical Standards & Safety Authority, they were told to raise the chimney at their expense or have their gas turned off.

Now, common sense would tell you that before a building permit was issued, you think the city would ensure that the building did not cause any problems for the surrounding properties.  Kind of like allowing a garbage dump being allowed to be developed in the middle of Glen Abbey.

But, it is the kind of thing one comes to expect.  In my case, a Town of Oakville inspector allowed Mattamy to operate an illegally wired furnace and thus allow the sale of the house. 

One wonders just who these municipal inspectors are paid to protect.

http://condron.us/index.php?i=6
condron.us

alphainventions

href=”http://blogitti.blogiche.com/”>Blogitti

All episodes complete! 42 agonizing days until the Lost Season 6 premier, and like you I am completely lost.

Now that was one hell of a finale. Lost fans what did you do on your summer vacation? “Um we argued back and forth if the timeline of the show was reset when Juliet blew up the nuke”. I have a very strong opinion on what happened (surprised?) but I’m hoping to hear all your theories since you can now comment without fear of spoiling me. But first the recap:

We see Jacob & an unknown “friend” (being called nemesis in some circles) enjoying a typical 1800s day by the fully erect statue by the beach. There is a boat on the horizon (presumable the Black Rock) and Nemesis asks Jacob why he brought the boat to the island when people always end up fighting and killing each other. Jacob says until the final end everything is progress. Nemesis remarks that  he will someday find a loophole and kill Jacob. Next we see flashbacks of almost every significant Lostie and how Jacob interacted with all of them at some point. Jacob payed for the lunchbox kid-Kate stole, lent Sawyer the pen he used to write the letter to Sawyer, prevented Sayid from being hit by the car that killed Nadia, brought Locke back to life after his father pushed him out that window, congratulated Jin & Sun at their wedding, picked up Hurley outside the police station and convinced him to get on AA Flight 316 and left him a guitar case, and finally visited Boobie-Fett in the hospital and asked her to do him a favor. Interestingly enough, Jacob was not in the flashback where Juliet found out her parents were getting a divorce. Back on the present day island Locke tells Richard to take all The Others to see Jacob and tells Other Ben he has to kill Jacob. Other Ben agrees because Dead SlingShot (Alex) told him to do everything Locke said and because he feels slighted that Jacob never met him in all his years as leader of the Others. We find out Jacob lives at the bottom of the four-toed statue (what lies in the shadow of the statue…the one that can save us…apparently Jacob) and Other Ben and Locke going in for a quality time visit. While Locke and Other Ben are in the statue it it is revealed that Boobie-Fett and her pals were carrying around  real-Locke’s body the whole time, making everyone wonder who is in the statue with Other Ben! Cut to inside the statue, Jacob congratulates fake-Locke on finding a loop hole thus revealing him to be Nemesis. Nemesis’ plan works and Other Ben kills Jacob and for just for giggles, Nemesis kicks Jacob’s body into the fire.

Back in 1977, Kate, SawFleur & Juliet break out of the sub and go back to stop Jack (they also run into Rose, White Bernard & Vincent who have been living happily ever after for the last 3 years). Juliet changes her mind several times but eventually decides the right thing to do is to help Jack reset the future by blowing up the atom bomb down the chamber of the unbuilt hatch. Sayid who was likely given a fatal gun wound from an earlier gun fight, sets the atom bomb to detonate on impact. Ghostbuster then wisely asks the question: “How do you know blowing up the nuke isn’t the incident??” No one has an answer for him and they decide to blow up the nuke anyway. There is a big gun fight but the Losties win and Jack throws the nuke down the hatch hole but nothing happens. Meanwhile the drill hits the pocket of energy and everything metal begins to be pulled towards the pocket of energy. Juliet gets tangled in a chain and in a heartbreaking moment Sawyer loses her hand and she is pulled down to the bottom of the hatch hole. Juliet wakes up badly injuried at the bottom of the hatch hole and sees the nuke is still intact. Using a rock next to her, she slams the nuke 8 times and it explodes and we get LOST WHITE-screened. End of season. AHHHHH!

I am sure time is reset. It has to be. There is no way the writers would tease us with the possibility of a reset and then not give it to us. Based on the name of the first episode in season 6 plus the fact that everyone and Aaron’s mom is on the season 6 promo cover (welcome back Boone, Sticks, Mr. Eko), I believe 815 is landing in LAX. The question is how do the events of the island converge with the new present? The past 5 seasons can’t all be for nothing, that would be horrible! The writers would have a revolution on their hands! We’d take to the streets, shoot fire arrows at the writers and send the black smoke monster at ABC! It’s possible the nuke was “the incident” all along and somehow that flashes forward all the Losties into the present where life is happy for everyone, but I just don’t see it. Obviously everything would change if 815 lands safely in LAX starting with the passengers not knowing each other. Here are a few other not so obvious changes in history:

• Jacob is alive. If 815 never crashes, Nemesis’ plan can never use Locke. I bet that’ll piss off Nemesis
• What will Desmond do with himself on the island? If the hatch is never built, how does Desmond occupy himself? Does he become an Other or is he killed by The Others? He also won’t meet Faraday in Oxford and who knows what the consequences for that are.
• Ethan is never born. Sawyer saves his mother in the future. Also who knows all the consequences that will occur from the Losties not traveling back in time!
• Other Ben might die from his back tumor. On one hand Jack won’t be on the island to save him (neither will Ethan), but on the other hand if the hatch doesn’t blow up then the electrocal systems on the island will be intact meaning Other Ben can leave the island on the sub Locke will never blow up to see a real doctor
• Desmond will never tell Penny to call him on christmas eve.
• The freighter may never find the island. I think the 815 crash gave Widmore a good guess on the island’ location and without the crash, he might not have been able to find it.

And there are the obvious consequences. The bad: Sawyer is still a conman, Rose, Locke & Faraday will continue to have their physical ailments, Prego (Claire) gives up her baby, Charlie remains an addict, Jin is still a bad person and Michael is alive. But there is some good: all the passengers will survive, Sayid will be reunited with Nadia and Indiana will live because they probably never find the island. Like Sawyer, I was voting for Jack NOT to blow the nuke. Tear.

Now my theory can totally be shot to hell because in someways it doesn’t make sense. IF the Losties never crash on the island then the nuke is probably never contained and it’s certainly never blown up near the hatch which means time can’t be reset!!! Ahh paradox!!! This is and endless loop and can’t be explained and is the best evidence that time will not reset. I wonder how the writers will respond. It’s also worth mentioning that just because the hatch doesn’t rip flight 815 in-half doesn’t mean the plane won’t have electrical problems and crash land on the island just like AA 316. In fact this is the most likely scenario.

With all the other topics going on, I’ve avoided Jacob & Nemesis. I doubt I am alone in thinking that Nemesis IS the black smoke and it can take on the appearance of any dead person on the island. Since it hates humans, black smoke seems to enjoy killing them after judging them (it judged Mr. Eko the same way it judged Other Ben). I also think Jacob & Nemesis are aliens who somehow got punished and are placed on the island which is serving as a prison. Nemesis blames Jacob for the imprisonment and that’s why he wants to kill him. Makes sense to me…

Finally, I need to talk about Juliet & Sawyer. I loved them as a couple and was heartbroken when she let go of Sawyer’s hand. You really felt Sawyer’s pain in that scene. Even before that scene I was pissed at Juliet for giving up on Sawyer just because he looked at Kate. Let it go!! Kate ain’t all that and you’re almost as hott and you’re way more together. Juliet, you disappointed me…

Next up on Finally Lost…I’ll recap season 5 and formally list my Season 6 predictions. I know many of you have been reluctant to comment on the blog for fear of dropping spoilers (thank you for this, and amazingly enough nothing was spoiled!) but I’d like to hear your thoughts and theories on the upcoming series. What’s going to happen??

Welcome viewers, to the first part of the Sims 3 Big Brother finale! For this part we will be talking to some very special people…

Please welcome the seven evicted housemates!

STACEY-ANNE: Thankyou for coming today, I would like to speak to each of you to get your feelings about the finale…

STACEY-ANNE: Let’s start with Brittanee, Welcome Brittanee… Thanks for wearing… something.

BRITTANEE: That’s alright Stacey-Anne.

STACEY-ANNE: Now Brittanee, it’s no secret that you and your sister did not get along inside the house… do you think you could forgive and forget? Deep down, would you be happy if she won?

BRITTANEE: Stacey is not going to win, she has only got this far out of dumb luck. I hate Stacey and if she wins it will be then of the world… She is a ******* ***** **** ****** *******!

STACEY-ANNE: Ok Brittanee that’s enough… Ummm… Let’s move on to Freddy.

STACEY-ANNE: Freddy, according to the favourite/least favourite polls you were one of the least cared about characters, receiving only 16 votes in total either way. How does that make you feel that you didn’t make much of an impression?

FREDDY: Ummm well, analytically speaking I don’t 100% mind that much of the viewing population –

STACEY-ANNE: Yes OK Freddy, I think I am seeing why nobody cared about you.

STACEY-ANNE: Ricardo, how is your fashion career going?

RICARDO: Omigod Stacey-Anne, I am like the fashion express! Choo choo! I am like totally putting on a show in Champs Les Sims very soon and it is going to be like totally fab! I love France, there are so many hot guys there!

STACEY-ANNE: Moving straight on to Meesha, you weren’t on the show long but you did make the choice to tell Stacey about Aaron’s affairs, this is probably what led you to be evicted, do you regret doing this now?

MEESHA: I don’t regret anything, I am very happy and proud with my behavior in the house and have enjoyed my time in there very much.

SAMMY J: Uhh… Stace… You skipped me…

STACEY-ANNE: Ah yes, if it isn’t the b****** Sammy J… I haven’t talked to you since you broke up with me to run off with some sl**. How are you Sammy? Any life-threatening diseases? Perhaps you are bankrupt?

SAMMY J: Uhhh… no…

STACEY-ANNE: Well then we don’t need to hear from you then do we?

SAMMY J: Uh–

STACEY-ANNE: Moving on to Aaron…

STACEY-ANNE: Aaron, you went from being the most popular contestant at the beginning to being eliminated quite convincingly in fifth round. How does this drop make you feel?

AARON: It’s upsetting to think that people didn’t like me in the house, but I certainly had fun! Except towards the end… that wasn’t so fun.

STACEY-ANNE: Let’s move on to May… Now May, you got very close to being in the finale today… How does it make you feel that you only just missed out?

MAY: It’s pretty annoying Stacey-Anne, I wish I could have made it just one more week, but that’s the game, and I understand that.

Well, that was very informative. Thankyou contestants for dropping by. Tomorrow we will be revealing the person who received the least amount of votes and has therefore placed third, and then on Monday the winner of Sims 3 Big Brother will be revealed! Don’t miss it!

Completed: 5-8 LaFleur, 5-9 Namaste, 5-10 He’s Our You, 5-11 Whatever Happened, Happened. 6 episodes left to go, & 45 days till the Lost Season 6 premier. As you know, I don’t know anything that is to come and like the survivors I am completely lost.

WOW. My mind is still buzzing from these 4 episodes. I was trying to only watch 2 at a time but how the hell was I supposed to stop when this changes EVERYTHING. Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!! Recap: Sawyer, Juliet, Ghostbuster (Miles), Mr. Wizard (Daniel) & Jin are left in the 70s after Locke fixes the ice wheel. They kill a couple Others that were about to execute a Dharma lady (Ethan’s Mom!) and Sawyer goes all Bill Clinton and keeps the Dharma/Others truce alive by telling Peter Pan (Richard) that he is from the future and not a part of Dharma. The 5 then decide to live among the Dharma initiative until Locke brings the O6 back. The O6 of course don’t come back for 3 years and by that time Sawyer is known as LaFleur, the trusted head of security and live-in boyfriend of Juliet, who is playing a mechanic. A fully english speaking Jin finds the O3 (Jack, Kate & Hurley) and LaFleur comes up with a plan to have them work among the initiative. The plan gets more complicated when Sayid appears near a station where Radzinski (remember Dez & Army guy talked about him??) is designing the Swan. SawFleur takes him prisoner and offers him a way to live among the initiative as an Other defector but Sayid declines and is given LSD-truth-serum which makes him tells the initiative he is from the future and has been on the island before. We also get a good old fashion flashback and find out that after killing enough people, Other Ben terminated Sayid as hitman extraordinaire only to re-recruit him to spring Hurley free. After Sayid left the O6 arguing at the dock, he was seduced at captured by some hott bounty hunter (Boobie-Fett) who was hired by the family of the guy he killed on the golf course and uses AA Flight 316 to get him to said justice-seeking family. Now while in Dharma Jail, Sayid was getting frequent food visits from boy-Ben, who kept asking Sayid to take him to The Others. Sayid, now convince he was put back on the island to kill Other Ben as a boy,  uses this affection to break out of prison, shoot boy-Ben and escape. Even though they know who he will become, Kate, SawFleur & Juliet all try to convince Jack to save boy-Ben but Jack refuses. Juliet then covers for Kate & SawFleur as they bring him to the only people on the island that can help boy-Ben…The Others. On the way there we find out Kate & Cassidy (Sawyer’s baby’s mama) become close friends and Cassidy knows everything about the island. We also see Kate tell Prego’s (Claire) Mom the truth about everything and Kate leaves Aaron with her to go back to the island to find Prego. Once SawFleur & Kate find Peter Pan, he agrees to help boy-Ben but warns them that he will lose his innocence and will now always be an Other. Finally, back at the crash site, Sun goes off with Other Ben to find a boat to get back to the main island to find Jin. After Swoop (Frank) finds them, Sun knocks out Other Ben and the two paddle to the main island. Other Ben however, wakes up in a hospital bed with a headache and a very much alive John Locke standing over him. Locke welcomes him “to the living” and we are LOST-black screened.

As I said before this changes everything. Before I comment on things I have to comment about whether or not the future can be changed. If Miles & Mr. Wizard are correct and what happened, happened, then Other Ben could never have killed Sawyer, Kate or Jack while they were imprisoned by The Others. Time wouldn’t let him. If you CAN change the future then he was no doubt going out of his way to make sure they didn’t die (assuming he at least remembered Sawyer, Juliet & Miles). For the sake of this entry I’ll assume you can’t change the future. This must mean the island wanted the O6 back so badly because it HAD to happen for the events that already took place to again take place (damn time travel is hard to write about). It’s a serious mind fuck to think that Richard (and to some extent Other Ben) knew all about the Losties before Oceanic Flight 815 even crashed on the island. It also starts to explain the connections between the Losties. They were predestined to meet and be on that flight together because it had already happened before it happened. It’s amazing to think that these people had no idea how much they were steeped in the Dharma history when they first found the hatch and the other stations. They no doubt even caused the incident! (Full disclosure, I noticed the last episode is called The Incident). It’s going to take a complete series re-watch to really digest all the implications of this.

I need to compare the Dharma Losties’ 3 years with the off-island Losties’ 3 years. The Dharma Losties had a much better time of it and are much more likable than their off-island counterparts. SawFleur is the man! I didn’t think I could like Sawyer more than already I did but watching him finally become the leader he was always supposed to be was very cool. As I previously posted, I was already liking Juliet more and more, (I even dropped the Ice Princess nickname) and I love them as a couple. Kate on the other hand is damaged goods and keeps too many secrets; there’s no reason for SawFleur to worry about her. Even Miles is pretty cool now. As with any scene that involves Hurley, the time discussion scene was hilarious. A note on when they questioned why Other Ben recognize didn’t recognize Sayid when he tortured him in the hatch. At first I thought they were pretty stupid not to assume Other Ben was simply pretending not to recognize him, but we learn from Pan that boy-Ben won’t remember anything about getting shot. And then there’s Jack. I hate Jack. Hate. I loved when SawFleur gave him the business on how Jack never thought as a leader and how SawFleur is a man of thought. It’s an interesting inditement on doctors but I would imagine a conman would have to be much more of a strategic thinker than a surgeon. SawFleur however, could not stop Jack from making his usual enormous mistake. By not operating on boy-Ben, Jack created Other Ben. It’s Jack’s fault that boy-Ben was healed by The Others and he lost his innocence (whatever the hell that means). And lastly, I love how Juliet tore into Jack by telling him what I’ve been saying all along…they didn’t need saving! You only went back because you got conned by Other Ben & Locke.

Next up on Finally Lost…maybe Locke will slap around Other Ben. I’d also like to know why Sun was the only of the O6 to not white flash back in time.

p.s. While Ben lied about being born on the island, ironically Ethan had lived on the island his whole life. If mothers could once bear children on the island, then what changed? Maybe the gas? And why didn’t Other Ben give this data point to Juliet since she was trying to solve this problem??

p.s. 2 Did Rose & White Bernard die? Are we just supposed to assume everyone on 815 died? That’s kinda sad and I wished they would have gotten a screen death to confirm

Blogging: The new(to me) internet craze sweeping the… web. Being new to me, leaves me asking various questions. What is Blogging? Why is it called “blogging” or a “blog”? Who started this idea? Was his name Wilhem Bloggenstein? Where did he get the idea?

Historical questions aside, now here comes the real pressure, what do I BLOG ABOUT?! So much Damn pressure (Thanks Tom) but I think, I feel it, I’m ready to try… so here goes my first blog which will no doubt leave me addicted to the idea and with numerous unintelligent ramblings. LETS BLOG ON!

The Topic of my first Blog… well lets just say I spent quite a bit a of time determining what to Blog about. Sports would be my obvious first choice, perhaps later include my knowledge and love for musicals or theatre… who can say but the minute the topic hit me, I knew it, just like Janet Jackson knew her boob was popping out at the hand of JT. The day after Tom (Aka Crystal Tom Cara Bonham Carter V) created our Wolf Den blog, which I’m convinced no one is or will be reading for a while, I immediately got prepared for my first blog entry. Possibly over prepared. I woke up the next day, got showered, headed out early towards Heritage High School for rehearsal of my show, and I decided to grab Bojangles (Amazing biscuit and fried chicken fast food restaurant with cajun flavor) on my way to the theater for food. It was here that the pressure began to build. the place was packed… it was 1:00pm on a Sunday afternoon in one of the most religious cities in America… church was over and people needed their arteries filled with fried chicken! Inside, I saw a large group of Liberty students gathering slowly two by two to a long table they kept extending, several families with very well behaved kids, a cute couple and their grand kids in front of me in line and your usual assortment of followers you expect to be in a fast food chicken and biscuits restaurant. Here I experienced unaware kids blocking the entire beverage bar (until grandma noticed), the anxiety that someone is going to sit where you put your food or even take it while you are getting your drink (damn grand kids again), weeding out by the Liberty Students (They travel in herds and apparently have some kind of signal or call that attracts many miles away to meet on their location and the anxiety of someone cleaning your table without you being finished with your meal (not a big deal in a buffet). By this time, I was going nuts because all I could think about is………………. Can I Blog About This Later?!

From that moment on, I was ruined! My FAVORITE fast food joint turned into a blogger’s typing block that really was a a cluster F*** of possible ideas… and until now, I have approached everything in that manner. Who knows what will be posted in my future but I will lasso my ideas and bring them to the screen one at a time.

Ok now a mini update: Show went AMAZING!, Thank you cast, crew and supporting friends; Saw Avatar yesterday and it’s crazy beautiful; friends moving back WOO HOO; SNOW! over 16 inches now and still coming down; found my web cam; USA gets a great World Cup Draw; Wolf den looks gorgeous with Tim’s decorations; filming soon; Sims 3 was purchased; catch up on Friday Night Lights (best show on TV) and How I Met Your Mother; and now time to watch The Hangover.

Peace Be Da Journey.

-Patches-

Completed: 5-6 316, 5-7 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. Just 10 episodes left, & 46 days till the Lost Season 6 premier. As you know, I don’t know anything that is to come and like the survivors I am completely lost.

I’m getting ready to hit the panic button because I’m only 10 episodes away from joining you in Lost realtime and I don’t have nearly enough answers. I fear for the season 5 cliff hanger. First the recap: Jack, Other Ben, Desmond & Sun go to the secret Dharma station in the church with Mother Time (Eloise Hawking) and she explains to them how there are pockets of strange EM all over the world. Apparently people have been searching for magic island for a long time until someone figured out how to predict where the island would be next (the island is always moving which is one of the reasons the Losties were never found). Mother Time has calculated that they are now in a 70 hour window and Indian flight 316 is going to be flying through the area where the island will be. If the O6 can recreate as many of the 815 conditions as possible then the island might decide to bring them back. This apparently includes Jack putting Daddy Jack’s shoes on Locke’s dead feet. This news makes Desmond peace out but Other Ben, Jack and Sun decide to take the flight, along with Kate who decided at the last minute to ditch her adopted son, Aaron, for this adventure (plus banging Jack for good measure). When we get on the plane, Sayid (arrested) & Hurley are magically on board and Swoop (Frank) is coincidentally (not!) the pilot. After Jack reads Locke’s suicide note the plane begins to shake but the O6 are white flashed off the plane. Hurley, Jack & Kate are together at Sawyer & Kate’s love pool where they run into Jin. Then we get Locke’s story. Locke wakes up in Tunisia, the island’s exit point and home to where Other Ben jacked those locals up with his stick. The injured Locke is cared for by Mr. Widmore and is told there is a war coming and he has to get the O6 back on the island. Lt. Daniels (Matt) is assigned as his driver and one by one Locke fails to recruit the O6 for a encore viewing of magic island. While visiting Locke’s old gf’s grave (Helen) Lt. Daniels is shot and Locke via a car accident checks into Jack’s hospital. Locke tries to pull out all the stops on Jack and tells him that Daddy Jack is walking around on the island and says, “Hi”.  Once that fails Locke decides to kill himself but is rescued by Other Ben. And when I say rescued I really me he gets Mother Time’s name out of Locke and then strangles him and makes it look like a suicide!! Cut to Locke alive and well on the island (presumably on Other Island) and explains to some newbies that he’s been on the island before and was killed. Locke is then taken to Other Ben and we are LOST black-screened.

Other Ben might be the best liar in fiction. How cold was it that he saved Locke’s life only to kill him once he got his info. Other Ben also got to pick up the Jin story which he will eventually use to Ben-Whammy Sun to go back to the island. I’m also starting to think that he killed Nadia so Sayid could go back. While these episodes didn’t answer any questions, they did exposed how much Other Ben lies. Here are some:

• Once you turn the wheel you can never go back to the island.  FALSE!
• He told Sun he didn’t know why Jin wanted her to think she was dead. FALSER!!
• He told Jack he didn’t know Locke committed suicide and didn’t know he left Jack a suicide note. FALSEST!!!

Why is Other Ben lying so much? May be while growing up on the island manipulation-pursuit was the only game they had and old habits die hard. Why is Other Ben so obsessed with getting the O6 back on the island? If Locke fixed the wheel then the Losties on the island won’t be time jumping and they should be safe. Something that really doesn’t make sense is why did Other Ben have to move the island to hide it from Widmore if the island already moves on its own? I’m really afraid that the writers don’t have a plan and have painted themselves into corners and just made mistakes. Before I started watching this series I was told no one is safe and anyone can die but they just brought back 2 main characters and haven’t showed the ability to kill any of the mains. Can you tell I’m feeling frustrated

With all this Other Ben lying business I almost buried the lead! Penny’s in trouble huh ? Other Ben has the best lines…”Oh, I made a promise to an old friend of mine–just a loose end that needs tying”. Ahhh Desmond! He’s going to follow you to your boat to try to kill Penny! Cut to Other Ben on a pay phone (they still have those?) talking to Jack with lots of blood on his face. I’m not going to speculate, I’m not speculate…

Finally I feel like I’ve been asking too many questions lately and haven’t done enough predictions:

• I think Jack was white flashed to the island the first time around which is why he woke up in the jungle and not in the plane wreck
• Ghostbuster (Miles) is the son of our favorite orientation movie star/scientist. Shortly after we learn this for sure he will die
• Penny dies and Desmond desperately tries to return to the island to kill Other Ben. That was hard to write…

Next on Finally Lost…I get to watch this LaFleur episode everyone keeps raving about. Hopefully it’ll make me not as frustrated with the writers!!

p.s. Kate just ditch Aaron like it was nothing?? And Jack doesn’t care about his own half-nephew?? That’s a little cold…

"I used to hate text messages..."

I used to never send text messages.  I hated them.  That was mainly because my previous phones made it difficult.  After I got the iPhone, texting has become as useful as email for me.  One of my favorite things about it is I can send Whitney a quick message to say “I love you” or “I’m thinking of you right now”.  It’s always true when I do that by the way.

Sometimes though, I like to share other thoughts before they escape me.  These are thoughts that if I knew I could remember them, I would write them down later.  But my brain doesn’t remember things in the moment like that.  This is why I seldom go anywhere without a pen in my pocket and some slip of paper or journal to jot them down in (thank the publisher for the invention of the Moleskine!)

Here’s a text I sent Whitney once.  Granted, it was a long one, but I had to say it.  I was running an errand one morning and saw an elderly couple putting up a yard sale sign.  Here’s what I wrote to Whitney.  I think she was at a bridal shower, or else prepping for a wedding she was in for a friend of hers.  It was on July 31st of 2009, and I wrote:

This morning I saw an ancient couple putting up a yard sale sign in Garner.  The woman moved slow.  The man had a cane.  The sign was small on posterboard with the penmanship of her hand as I am sure his was unsteady.  She could not hammer the post into the ground.  Dropping his cane, he helped her.  I imagine they are selling things because they need money.  Likely things precious to them collected over their 50 years of life together.  I write this to say that when it comes time for us to sell our earthly possessions, and we are old, I will gladly drop my cane and help you hammer our sign post into the ground.  I love you.

And it’s completely true.  I look forward to that day.

Completed: 5-4 The Little Prince, 5-5 This Place is Death. 12 episodes left, 47 days to go. As you know, I don’t know anything that is to come and like the survivors I am completely lost.

Jin is alive!! I feel like John Malkovich from Rounders…Check Check Check. While I rejoice over Jin’s survival I definitely question this show’s ability to kill main characters. Now let’s see if Locke pulls a Houdini. Before I sound too ungrateful for the resurrection of Jin let me recap: Locke decides that the only way to stop the white time flashes is to go back to the Orchid. On the way there the Losties discover a dragon boat with a water bottle from an Indian Airline. The Losties steal the boat to shortcut to the Orchid but are followed and shot at presumably by the unknown Indian Airline Survivors until a white flash saves them. Flash to 1989 where the French crew lands on the island and finds Jin clinging to a piece of the blown up freighter. Jin attempts to take the group to the radio tower but they are attacked by the black smoke which kills 2 of their crew and somehow infects everyone else but Frenchy because Jin stopped her from going down in the temple. Jin white flashes forward in time and sees Frenchy kill her husband before he white flashes again and runs into the Losties. The white flashes are increasing by the minute and all the Losties are in danger of death by nosebleed. Indiana (Charlotte) gets so sick she has to stay behind, however, before she dies she reveals to Mr. Wizard (Daniel) that she grew up on the island and has been trying to find it ever since she left. She also tells him that a man told her that she must leave the island and should never return again or else she would die. That man was Mr. Wizard (dun dun dun). Back at the Orchid, Jin tells Locke to tell Sun he is dead and gives him his wedding ring as proof. Locke goes down to the ice wheel and meets Daddy Jack who berates him for letting Other Ben turn the wheel but then tells him how to stabilize the wheel which will presumable stop the white flashes and get Locke off the island.

And speaking of off the island, cut to Sayid killing another assassin who happens to have Kate’s address in his pocket. Jack goes off to help Kate who is stalking the lawyer demanding she take a blood test to prove she is Aaron’s mom. They follow her to Prego’s (Claire) mom’s room but that ends up being a too good to believe coincidence. We then see the lawyer meet up with Other Ben telling him how he’s going to get Hurley off and eventually all of the O6 (minus jailbird Hurley) meet up when it is revealed that Sun was following Other Ben with Aaron in tow. Sun is about to kill Other Ben when he tells her Jin is alive and everyone must go back to the island. This makes Sayid, Kate & Aaron bail but Other Ben convinces Sun and Jack to follow him somewhere for more Jin details. Cut to the church of the shady time lady and Desmond shows up because shady time lady is really Mr. Wizard’s mom and the women who told Dezmond who told him he can’t change time (dun dun dun 2). We are then cliff-hung when shady time lady says, “Well 4 ain’t a bad start.”

I like how the show has stopped using single character-centric flashbacks and flash forwards to progress the story. The technique of using the white flash to show what happened to the French team was a very cool no-flashback way of filling us in on events we have been wondering about since season 1. We got a partial answer as to why the whole French team, except Frenchy (Danielle), was infected by the mysterious illness but none of the Losties nor the Others were. I don’t know if the temple or the black smoke is the cause of the sickness but if it turns out to be the black smoke I might have to reinvestigate Mr. Eko sanity because of the time the black smoke completely enveloped him and let him go. Hopefully we’ll also learn why that happened and why later the black smoke decided to do take-backs and kill him instead.

We also got answers as to why the Losties were white flashing all over the place. It’s very unlike Other Ben to do a shoddy job but he really messed up by leaving the ice wheel off its axis. Someone clearly needs to re-watch the moving the island Dharma orientation video. I also love how Daddy Jack tells Locke to say hi to his son but doesn’t tell Locke who his son is. Hopefully Locke will figure it out and some of these connections will FINALLY be known. On that note has Kate figured out that Sawyer’s baby’s mama is her old pal yet? I hope so. Now on the topic of white flashes, Mr. Wizard says the white flash should affect people who have had the most island exposure first, which reveals that Indiana and the Ghostbuster (Miles) have been on the island before. Indiana tells us a little about her past and I’m still wondering if she’s that girl who once befriended Other Ben. Either way I imagine her mom or dad will turn out to be someone we know. You also gotta believe that the Ghostbuster got his talent while hanging out on everyone’s favorite dead-people-walking-around island

Now onto the subject of Jin and time travel. Jin, I missed you and welcome back! I would love to re-watch the earlier episodes to see if Frenchy and Jin have any scenes together. Continuing with Jin, it was very noble of him to try and convince Sun, via Locke, to not come back to the island. Unfortunately for Jin, he doesn’t realize that 3 years have passed for Sun and she’s no longer pregnant. If Sun does go back to the island, is she going to have to leave Ji Yeon? That’s pretty harsh considering Other Ben says they are going back for good. And just how will the O6 get back to the island? And do Desmond and Swoop (Frank) have to go back too? Is the new Indian Plane wreckage collateral damage from the O6’s return? I any case I think we saw our Losties white flash into the future. Now that the ice wheel is fixed I wonder if the Losties will flash-catchup to the rest of the world or if they will get have to live out those 3 years and we’ll just get 3 years worth of flashback story. Another option is that no time will pass for the Losties and they’ll just have to deal with the fact that 3 years have passed for the O6 (this is what I think will happen).

Finally, how many times can Other Ben lie in a series?? He told Locke that the dire consequence for the person who turns the ice wheel can’t go back to the island but clearly he and Locke’s dead body have every intention on going back. I also can’t believe that Desmond is just going to leave Penny and Charlie. Dez, don’t let Penny near Other Ben! Arg…

Next on Finally Lost…let’s find out what shady time lady is all about…

p.s. I know I haven’t talked about her much but the Ice Princess (Juliet) has really grown on me and redeemed herself. It’s a shame that both men she is attracted to love Kate.