Somehow I let the entire month of January 2016 go by without an entry here. It's not for lack of things to write about as I have a half dozen posts in various states of completion. It's more of a motivation thing I suspect as most of those posts are transition related topics and I find it hard to motivate myself to write about those things these days. I really need to start writing about other things as I said I was going to do in my prior post. I still do intend on finishing those half dozen posts that I've started as I do think they are all good topics, but for now I thought I'd knock something out that I could do relatively quickly since it's late and I have to work in the morning. So with my self-imposed requirement of keeping the topic simple I decided to basically summarize the first month of 2016 for posterity's sake.
From a local perspective the year is off to a rough start. We had the flooding from the huge rains at the end of 2015 which led to too many lost lives and lots of damage to property. Then of course there was the relocation of the Saint Louis Rams back to Los Angeles. Frankly, I had become ambivalent on the subject of them staying or going; but I was disappointed to see all of the hard work done to try and keep the team here go for naught. Look, if Enos Stanley Kroenke was dead set on moving to Los Angeles, well I may not like it, but it was his team. But to let the city of Saint Louis and the state of Missouri invest the time and money they did to try and build a new stadium when there was absolutely no intention of even considering keeping the team here - well that's wrong. Normally I might say that karma would catch up to Mr. Kroenke, but when you have the kind of money that he and his wife have - well I don't think that's a concern. I do feel sorry for those that are losing their jobs over this and for those that might have obtained jobs building a new stadium.
As far as the family goes, I love J more and more each day. She's still up for promotion. She didn't get an interview for the first position she put in for; but she put in for a second one and she did get an interview - in fact two - and is waiting to hear about it which we should this week. From a selfish perspective I'd love for her to get it as it would cut her commute from 25 miles and 40 minutes via back roads that worry me, to 10 miles and 10 minutes via a major highway and a major artery. That's an extra hour per work day that she'd have at home. Plus the schedule would be an improvement at least initially since she'd be going back to overnights. But really it doesn't matter. If she gets it then great. If she doesn't then that's fine too. She's happy where she's at and she can sit back and wait for the "right opportunity" now that she's been through the process and has an understanding of how things will work. Everyone else is pretty much as they always are. I'd like us to be more of a "family" in 2016; though I'm not sure that's going to happen. But regardless I still am happy with my "chosen family" and would pick them every day of the week over my "birth family".
From a more personal perspective the year got off on a bit of a sour note. I had been really sick for several days and was starting to get concerned as some of the symptoms I had were similar to those i had back in 2014 when I ended up in the hospital. As it was, my local Doctor couldn't work me in for nearly 3 weeks (what's up with that?), so 3+ hours in urgent care, followed by 4+ hours in the ER, which ended up in a diagnosis of severe dehydration. I shudder to think what the blood work and two bags of saline are going to cost. Speaking of that, I was incredibly disappointed in the entire St. Luke's system over this. I've written about them before in glowing terms, but the whole process from the Doctor's office to the urgent care to the ER had issues. I'll probably write about that experience later this week. I did have one moment of levity in the process. During my intake at the ER I was asked if I knew when my last "period" was. Perhaps she was being polite, but in reality I really did feel like I was blending in well that night and all joking aside it made me feel a bit better at the time. Other things are going better, the electrolysis continues. She's making great progress on the remaining facial hair, though it continues to be a painful experience. I have decided to cease the laser completely on both my face and pelvic region. The former since there's not enough dark hairs left to justify the cost/time, and the latter due to both the fact that surgery is a good ways off and truthfully I don't think it was really getting the hair that it needed to get. When/if surgery is on the horizon I may have to revisit this depending on the surgeon; but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
I think I'll wrap up with some random thoughts about this and that.
Movies
I saw Spectre finally. Of the Craig movies I'd put it on par with Skyfall. I find Casino Royale to be his best and Quantum of Solace to be the worst of the bunch. Many would disagree with me, but I wasn't as impressed with Skyfall as many were. As far as the status of things in the Bond universe, I think Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw as Moneypenny and Q respectively are pretty good. I'm disappointed in the fact that Judy Dench was killed off in Skyfall, though I suppose they had to move on. I think that Christoph Waltz was under-utilized in Spectre and do hope he returns as is reported; though apparently that hinges on Daniel Craig coming back. Speaking of Mr. Craig, I was upset when he replaced Pierce Brosnan, but he's been very good as Bond and when he does leave the series I only hope that his replacement can pull off the transition as well as he has.
I re-watched Straight Out Of Compton the other day. J, M, and I had actually caught this in the theater one evening after a trip to Columbia to see my Doctor and I felt it was quite good. I was disappointed to see it not garner more Oscar attention as I think it deserved it. I was never really into NWA when they were around, but after seeing the movie I've developed an appreciation for them as well as their solo careers.
Some other movies that entertained me over the last few months would be Minions, the Vacation remake (obviously not as good as the original, but still it had it's moments), as well as The Martian which was surprisingly good. As far as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), I enjoyed Ant Man; but the second Avengers movie - well not so much. I think that movie tried to do too much and it suffered because of it. Hopefully they'll get back on track with the next Captain America movie; though I'm a bit worried as from the trailers I've seen they are packing a lot of characters into it so it may end up being "Avengers Light" and if so I'll probably be a touch disappointed in that.
Food and Cooking
I still find that almost any recipe from Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) tends to be good. I may not like everything she makes, but for the most part all of what she makes is reasonably simple and I think she does a good job demonstrating things. She's not for everyone, but I like her. Other recipes have been hit or miss. From a food perspective, I've been trying to cook healthier and when we go out eat healthier. J and even M have really broadened my horizons when it comes to that. One place I've developed an appreciation for is HuHot Mongolian Grill. It's not exactly gourmet food, but for what it is I (and J/M) like it a lot.
Television
I don't watch a lot of new shows, I've been burned by getting hooked on shows that end up cancelled. For example I got into Burn Notice and White Collar towards the end of their runs. I still watch the reruns when they are on or via Netflix even though I've seen the entire series. I also worked my way through Leverage which was very good up until the last season. As far as current shows, I really do enjoy Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. I've always been a fan of Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson character and Hayley Atwell is great as Agent Peggy Carter. Of course I'm still a fan of Orange Is The New Black and House Of Cards and am looking forward to the new seasons of each.
Well it's now well after 2am and I need to wrap this up. I know this wasn't a very informative post - but it's good to write about things like this every so often so I can look back on my thoughts at a later date. So with that I bid you all a good night.
- M
