Happy Spring! (Also, Doctor Who)
Mar. 24th, 2008 09:05 amI know it's spring because:
- I have a persistent chest cough.
- The dog broke off his line and toured the neighborhood yesterday for the first time since last fall.
- It snowed yesterday, even though it was about 40 degrees out.
- I went clothes shopping the other day and discovered that there will be no full-length pants available for female-bodied people this year, either.
- The seasonal shipment of Peeps in spring colors arrived in the mail from Mom. (Along with two cards - one was from Grandma and Grandpa and contained a sermon. The other was from Mom and Dad and contained an infidelity joke.)
- I think 50 degrees is warm.
- I see people dressed in shorts and t-shirts and people dressed in long coats with scarf and earmuff, on the same day, in the same block.
In other news, since I was ill this weekend, I finished up the second season of Doctor Who. I can probably manage to watch season 3 by the time season 4 is finished... (But I may never catch up to Torchwood.)
Things I have learned from watching Doctor Who:
- Any plan is a good plan if it is communicated enthusiastically enough.
- Evil robots are part of the collective unconscious. Similarly, zombies exist in every civilization worthy of the name.
- If something is part of the problem, it's likely to be part of the solution.
- Nothing, no matter how horrible it seems, is irreversible.
- The quality that makes the human race worthy of protection is primarily a drive to mess with things we don't understand. This is also the quality that makes the human race most in need of protection.
- As a writer, you only get to use any given deus ex machina explanation once. After that, you have to think of a new one.
- The more likely you are to say something is impossible, the more likely it is to exist somewhere.
- If you are a female traveler, you should make an attempt to dress to blend in with the locals anywhere you go. If you are a male traveler, the same outfit works for you everywhere.
- I have a persistent chest cough.
- The dog broke off his line and toured the neighborhood yesterday for the first time since last fall.
- It snowed yesterday, even though it was about 40 degrees out.
- I went clothes shopping the other day and discovered that there will be no full-length pants available for female-bodied people this year, either.
- The seasonal shipment of Peeps in spring colors arrived in the mail from Mom. (Along with two cards - one was from Grandma and Grandpa and contained a sermon. The other was from Mom and Dad and contained an infidelity joke.)
- I think 50 degrees is warm.
- I see people dressed in shorts and t-shirts and people dressed in long coats with scarf and earmuff, on the same day, in the same block.
In other news, since I was ill this weekend, I finished up the second season of Doctor Who. I can probably manage to watch season 3 by the time season 4 is finished... (But I may never catch up to Torchwood.)
Things I have learned from watching Doctor Who:
- Any plan is a good plan if it is communicated enthusiastically enough.
- Evil robots are part of the collective unconscious. Similarly, zombies exist in every civilization worthy of the name.
- If something is part of the problem, it's likely to be part of the solution.
- Nothing, no matter how horrible it seems, is irreversible.
- The quality that makes the human race worthy of protection is primarily a drive to mess with things we don't understand. This is also the quality that makes the human race most in need of protection.
- As a writer, you only get to use any given deus ex machina explanation once. After that, you have to think of a new one.
- The more likely you are to say something is impossible, the more likely it is to exist somewhere.
- If you are a female traveler, you should make an attempt to dress to blend in with the locals anywhere you go. If you are a male traveler, the same outfit works for you everywhere.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:03 pm (UTC)What is up with that? I found a couple great outfits but they had those stupid short pants. Yeah, I want my fat ankles and the pretty much constant skin problem on my lower legs out there for all the world to see.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:09 pm (UTC)Especially if your primary character is a time traveller. =B^)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:11 pm (UTC)I tried them again this year - I mean, I've lost 45-50 pounds since last year, so naturally I should look better in things, right? No. Maybe if I went with a pair that was tighter through the legs? No. I just look stumpy.
Not to mention, kids, I work. Like a Working Person, not like a Lady Who Lunches or a Stay-at Home Mom or a Trophy Wife, which is apparently who you're supposed to be if you wear women's clothes. I can't wear those to work. I'm unclear about what to do here, because in the old days, I would have just bought men's pants. Now I can't really fit in men's pants anymore. *shrug*
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 03:55 pm (UTC)Come to think of it, for most of the history of Doctor Who, the TARDIS journeys have just been space travel under another name. Though they said they wound up in medieval France or whatever, the plot would have been unchanged if they'd travelled to Medieval France Planet in the present day. IIRC it was not until the new series that they really started to portray time-travel issues, such as the different subjective timespans that Rose and her mother experience while she's gone.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 04:33 pm (UTC)I love it.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 04:38 pm (UTC)I am built with my behind just close enough to the ground that most capri pants hit me just above the socks so instead of showing off that attractive bit of calf that normal people do, I just look like my pants were thrown in a hot dryer and are now too short.
I'm sure you've gone there already, but try Old Navy?
The Pant Rant
Date: 2008-03-24 05:06 pm (UTC)Re capris, I'm 5'4", which last I heard was "average". So the pants tend to fall a little higher on me than they do on you, but somehow miraculously hit the middle of the widest part of my calf. This accomplishes the effect of making me look like I'm much shorter than I am, and like I have fat legs, which I don't. The legs are the only part of my body that aren't fat.
Not to mention, short pants. The concept is just stupid. Pants. They come down at least to the bottom of your ankles, and I like mine to cover part of my shoes if at all possible. There are things that are shorter than pants. We call them shorts. They end before the knee. In between, it's no good.
Re: The Pant Rant
Date: 2008-03-24 06:22 pm (UTC)Extra added bonus ON stores in Lee's Summit, MO, or Overland Park, Merriam, Olathe, or Shawnee, KS.
As for pants/shorts/capris - I'm thoroughly over it, the whole industry (and the way my lower body is built too). I'm 5'6" but I have to wear petite pants because my legs are so freaking short. My dress pants for work are Lane Bryant petite...and are too freaking long! For added bonus, I *do* have fat legs and the very few times I've found capris that are actually shorter than pants on me, they do hit me at the fat part of the calf and make my legs look extra-special stubby. I wear them anyway because I can't find shorts that come down beyond 3" below indecent.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 08:25 pm (UTC)So, how many Doctors have you seen? I started with the 2005 series, and I've gotten half-way through Season 2, with David Tennant. I liked Eccleston better, but I have not seen any of the older seasons apart from the aforementioned City of Death, so my experience is limited to Baker, Eccleston, and Tennant. Who's your favorite Doctor?
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 08:27 pm (UTC)Please consider the questions to be open to everyone, kthxbai.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-24 09:31 pm (UTC)The PBS station where I grew up used to play a lot of British sci-fi, like Doctor Who and Blake's 7, and generally they kept them in order (though years late). I think I've seen about half of the ones from the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and all the episodes from Doctors #4 and 5, Tom Baker and Peter Davidson. However the station stopped playing the series after Colin Baker took over, so I only ever saw one episode of his.
On occasion they played specials and mini-marathons, so I've seen a few assorted episodes from the first two Doctors, including the original pilot.
Picking a favorite would be really hard, since they're so very different in personality. At the moment I'm liking Eccleston a lot. When I saw them on TV I liked Tom Baker the best, but probably because I was a kid and he was the silliest; I expect I'd be more critical if I saw them again.
A sermon in a greeting card...
Date: 2008-03-24 09:36 pm (UTC)Unless your grands' writing is teeny.