Lilac Potato Blossom

Some potatoes have lilac colored blossoms, I do not know why. It does not seem to be entirely dependent on which variety it is, since there are both white and lilac in one row and that row allegedly contains only one variety. My suspicion is however that my dad mixed up the tubers inadvertently and that the lilac blossoms are those from the red potatoes (I do not know the exact variety we bought this year).

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Pills, Anyone? (Admin Stuff).

Yes, that bottle is that big – 6 inches tall. Eeesh. This is half of the chemo drugs I’ll be taking during the next 5 weeks.

I’m so sorry to spring this on everyone so late, but I won’t be around at all tomorrow – I have to pack all this shit and get moved into my apartment. Snagged a nice one bedroom which is a two minute walk to the cancer center, where I’ll be doing the radiation treatments. I’ll be home on Saturday & Sunday. Today was not the start of radiation, supposedly I’ll start tomorrow. Apparently, the physicist and my doc didn’t quite figure out the proper dose and get all the programming done, so I have to get moved tomorrow and start treatment. Today, picked up the 2nd set of chemo meds (the stuff in the gigantic bottle), secured the apartment, did shopping for it, and found a truck we want to buy, so it’s going to be busy, busy, busy. I did get Hekate set up in the apt., so I’ll be able to blog from there. I’ll get back to regular blogging as soon as possible – should be all settled by tomorrow evening and back at it on Thursday.

Cry Havoc!, and Let Slip the Horses of the Apocalypse. Er, What?

Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov. Painted in 1887. Source.

Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov. Painted in 1887. Source.

This week, Jim Bakker has decided the apocalypse to have begun. Who knows what the fuck it will be next week. Evangelicals can never seem to make up their mind. They seriously want the apocalypse to actually happen, so they can see all us godless heathens and other varieties of sinners tromped on my Jehovah and Jesus, while at the same time, their unquenchable lust for power keeps them from end time talk, because their only chance at oppressing the hell out of people will happen right here, in reality land.

“Have you ever seen a time when we hate our president like the people do now?” Bakker marveled. “Literally half the nation hates the president and would probably kill him if they got a chance.”

Oh, it’s much more than half of ‘merica, Jim. I’m afraid the Tiny Tyrant has pissed off and alienated a good portion of governments and people across the planet. That seems to be the only thing he’s actually good at, which is unfortunate for us all. Back to uStates a moment. Did you know that people used to assassinate presidents? Yeah. I’d say murdering someone was a pretty solid expression of hate, Jim, and no one has so much as tried when it comes to the Tiny Tyrant, and I’m quite tempted to add a “more’s the pity”, but that wouldn’t be nice.

Bakker said that when he asked God what was going on, God told him that “you are in Revelation, Chapter 6,” which tells of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

“This is what He told me,” Bakker claimed. “He said, ‘Donald Trump is a respite in this troubled times and I sent him in grace to give you time to prepare for what’s coming on earth.’”

This is what you call a respite? Intense divisiveness, people declaring Nazism a fine thing, and people everywhere lying down under the constant crush of lies and fascism? You have one fucking weird definition of respite, Jim.

Bakker said that while “the Antichrist spirit” has been let loose on America, “God has given us a man who is not afraid to fight. We have a president people think is crazy. They call him crazy, but he’s making peace treaties, he’s doing all the things to try to solve the world’s problems and God has put him on earth—God spoke to me the other night, He said, ‘I put Donald Trump on earth to give you time, the church, to get ready.’”

Uh huh. Peace treaties, really? Jesus fuck onna stick. The wannabe dictator is not crazy, but he is a liar, a narcissist, and a bigot to the core, with a lust for greed and power.  He’s also one hell of a dim bulb, who can’t think his way out of a wet paper bag. The president of this country is not supposed to solve the world’s problem, you dipshit. The problems of this country are sufficient, and all he’s done is to make every single thing worse. He recently bragged about ripping families apart and placing tiny children in cages. Seems to me if any horseman is to show, it would be to drag this unrepentant evil shit off to somewhere else. Anywhere else.

So, we’re to get ready, are we? I thought christians were always supposed to be ready. Well, at least those who believe in the rapture nonsense, which was not a part of christian belief until relatively recent times. Just how much time do you all need to pray and holler out “Hey, Jesus, ready!”? We all know this crap isn’t going to happen, but I would love it if you all disappeared. I expect it won’t be long before you dump this theory in favour of the next conspiracy or whatever grabs your fancy.

RWW has the story.

Opening Night

The Silver Streaks in The Dusty Disco Ball by Kim Watson

Two years ago I joined a senior acting troupe called The Silver Streaks. It’s a small group connected to a local theater and we put on 2 or 3 plays a year. I did local theater when I was young, but had quite forgotten how difficult it can be. Acting looks so easy. Learn your lines and away you go, but there’s so much more to it. You need to create a character that people can connect with and then you need to sell that character to an audience. You don’t just learn your own lines, you have to learn everyone else’s too, because someone will inevitably forget something and you need to be able to cue or pick up the missing bit. Timing is critical and requires hours of practice. You need to know where your marks are on stage and how and when to get there. You need to remember to always keep one foot facing forward and to project your voice. Regular volume just won’t work. You need to know how to improvise if a prop is out of place or missing. Most of all you need to know how to connect to your audience and make them feel a part of what’s happening.

Our current play is called The Dusty Disco Ball and last night was opening night. I play an aging Disco Queen who haunts a woman’s dreams and it’s a fun play with lots of physical comedy and quick timing. Our audience was small last night and there were a few lost lines and prop failures. Our bed fell apart and I tripped on it, music cues came too early and our choreography didn’t quite come together. Oh well, that’s life as an actor. The trick is to make it look like all of it was planned and I think we managed to pull that off. The audience was with us all the way and there was lots of laughter. Tonight will likely be smoother, but if not we’ll find a way to make it work.

That photo is of all the actors. Missing is our writer/director and backstage crew of two. For now, I’m going to let you guess which one is me, but I promise I’ll give you the answer soon.

Anatomy Atlas Part 13 – Facial muscles

Looking at preserved human heads in formaldehyde was not one of the most enjoyable experiences  during my studies. One gets accustomed to pretty much anything but looking at someone’s actual face with removed skin is very disconcerting.

©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.

Drawing faces is one area where my skill is seriously lacking. I do not have problem recognizing people or remembering their faces, but I have great trouble picturing or recalling human face in my mind, and as a consequence I have trouble drawing it. Even when my drawing skills were at their best, I would not be able to draw an identikit. I also have trouble describing people verbally, there is some disconnect in my head between recognizing someone and remembering how they look like. I can be way over my head in love with a person, yet I would not be able to tel the color of her eyes unless I make conscious and targeted effort to remember it.

Regarding this the interesting experience is not the study of anatomy, but the study that I attempted afterward – study of arts. During the practical part of admission exams we were given a bust of Goethe to draw and I broke cold sweat. I would prefer to draw anything else but a human face.

I have passed, but only just. Therefore I could not enlist in my preferred program because It filled with people with much better scores, and I had to settle in my secondary choice. That was in the end one of the reasons why I abandoned these studies after one year, respectively that has made the inevitable decision a lot easier.