chasm

dreamcatcher

Okay, I'm sure everyone is familiar with the round-ish, American Indian devices created with the intention of "catching" good dreams in their webs. Answer me this, why the hell do people have them hanging from their rearview mirrors?!? Are they REALLY hoping to catch a good dream behind the wheel?!? Have these people been so unimpressed by their mundane dreams while driving that they've actually hung Dreamcatchers in hopes of getting better dreams?!? WTF?!?

Note: I actually like the notion of Dreamcatchers in a bedroom or around the house. However, I think hanging one in the car is about as stupid as hanging your graduation tassle, a CD, a fake-ass crystal or ANYTHING other than a mandatory parking pass.

They're distracting to other drivers and they limit your own field of view. Grow up and knock that shit off.

migraines

As some of you might or might not know, I suffer from migraines. Skipping the details of the affliction, suffice it to say that it's one of the most painful and frustrating ailments I've experienced. There is a silver lining though and that's really the impetus for this post.

I can usually trace my headaches back to a catalyst, usually my sinuses and the drastic shifts in weather the valley tends to experience more frequently in the spring and fall seasons. As I detect the onset of a migraine, I try to take certain precautions to avoid a full-blown, paralyzing headache. However, just this morning, I awoke around 6:00am with a migraine. While having a migraine develop over the course of the day is frustrating, waking up with one is worse. It forces me to wonder, "what the hell happened to me in my sleep to cause a migraine?" I have no answers. I feel completely helpless. There's really nothing I can do while I sleep.

The silver lining, you ask? Well, whenever I wake up and the migraine has abated, I'm truly just happy to be alive without the paralyzing pain. For example, here I am at work, and I couldn't really care less. Just being able to see clearly and move freely without nausea is refreshing.

I'd really rather be doing anything than suffering from a migraine and that's made clear to me everytime I have one. Whether I recover in the beginning of a day or at the end, it's just an amazingly thankful and optimistic feeling about what lies ahead knowing that it probably won't be as bad as what I just went through.

As corny as it sounds and as painful as they are, my migraines really do make me appreciate the relatively good health I have 99% of the time.

damn, so close

I made a conscious decision to avoid any and all season premieres this fall and, up until this evening, I had only seen two. One show was According to Jim and it's a show I've watched since its inception and I'll probably watch until they cancel it. The other, NYPD Blue, I've watched on and off again since its premiere and regardless of the fact that my boy, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, is on the show, it's the show's last year and I'm gonna get my fix before it's gone. One night a week, two shows, no biggie. That shouldn't be too terribly difficult to fit in every week.

Well, tonight, as I was waiting on some other people, I decided to just chill and flip on the TV. Lo and behold, despite my best efforts, I sit down for the beginning of The Mountain and I sit through the entire show. I think I'm hooked. Trust me people, this is a very slippery slope. Heed my warnings, don't watch TV in Sept. and Oct. or risk losing hours of time every week until the spring when the seasons end!

no, this is not a photo-blog, exactly

I'm getting the whole a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words inspiration right now. While it was nice in the valley, I took a couple shots with my digital camera. The one on the left is actually buried down in a wooded area behind Penn State's LV campus in Fogelsville. I took it on a day while Jay was home and we went out with the intent of taking some awe-inspiring photos a couple weeks ago. Well, I didn't get much, I think he'll say the same. Oh well. The one on the right is at the intersection of Cedar Crest and Mauch Chunk Rd. in North Whitehall. I took it today while I drove around town looking for inspiration.

    

the RBC

This is now only the second time since I was four years old that I will not be continuing with my formal education this fall. Back when I was in high school, I couldn't have cared less about classes. They were the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to see my friends after months apart. Who didn't?

In college, those two sentiments juxtaposed almost entirely. It's not that I didn't care about people all of a sudden. I just knew that it was neccessary to distance myself from certain social activities in order to get the (quality?) education my parent's were paying for. Nonetheless, I still met some great people at Lehigh and had the pleasure of examing some great minds in casual conversation and heated debate.

It's those informal chats among peers that I miss the most about the fall. Sure, I miss classes and even some of the professors but it's the interactions between students that are so fascinating. I really didn't get to know too many people while I was there but just watching, listening, and observing other students was interesting enough to keep me occupied between classes in the RBC. (Maybe I should have picked up a sociology degree while I was there, damn.)

NEway, the included photo is of the Rauch Business Center at Lehigh and it's where I spent MOST of my time on campus. It's a nice building but nothing special. Nonetheless, I miss it. The students, select faculty, the snack machines, the piles of oft-neglected and criticized Brown and Whites, the computer lab, the collection of round tables and all the times I spent there just taking it all in.

Consider this my salute to Kurt Vonnegut's graduation speach at Lehigh's graduation this past spring (where I watched my 2nd cousin, among other past classmates, graduate with highest honors on her way to med. school) ... paraphrasing ... if that wasn't nice, I don't know what is.

no excuses

I know that being out of town is really becoming a lame excuse and last week's trip to NC will probably be my last trip for a little while but, I apologize nonetheless. I really do want to post but I've been inspired, creatively, in other directions and so the regularity of my posting has suffered. Regardless, I trudge onward and force myself to post.

I'm actually going to inculde a picture, for once, just so people see some of what prevents me from posting more regularly.

It's nothing special but seeing the blue sky REALLY makes me miss the summer and the shore already. I'm still stuck in the same seasonally corresponding routines that I have been in since my first day of kndergarten. I know, I know, if I worked a regular job for more than a couple months, that wouldn't happen but, in honesty, I LIKE the seasonal changes and my routines that coincide with them. There's always something to look forward to. I can't imagine life in a climate with only one or two seasons. Sure, I hate when it rains seemingly ALL the time in the Lehigh Valley and I bitch about all kinds of stuff relative to where I live but I really do like the seasons and so I'll pause now and be thankful for living in the grossly-unemployed-and-seriously-in-need-of-revitalization-rust-belt.

anticipation

Poll at end.

I leave tomorrow morning for Charlotte, NC where I will be picking up my car and driving home. I haven't missed my car too much because I've been out of town so often this summer but, as the date approaches, I'm looking forward to getting it back more and more.

See, I like to go fast and my car does that pretty well. That's really the reason I bought it in the first place. That's not the only reason, however, that I enjoy driving for liesure. It's just nice to be out of the house sometimes and to see what's going on in the world, even if it's a relatively small radius around my house. While it was tough not having my car all summer to enjoy the nice weather, it's really much nicer in the fall and spring anyway because it's a black car and, well, it gets DAMN hot in the summer.

Just writing about it now makes me want to hop in the car, throw on some of my favorite music and cruise around. What's your Top 5 list of "driving music"?

the world is right again

Woohoo, fast-rewind is back up, I highly recommend you check it out (see last post for why).

I hope to write more later, maybe even leave the 80's movie theme that has pevaded my last three posts, ya never know, you'll have to check back to find out :-)

MIA

Poll at the end of the post.

Okay, I've been patiently waiting for the return of one of my all-time favorite websites but it's been about a week now and still nothing. The site is fast-rewind and it's all about 80's movies. It appears to have fallen and it can't seem to get up.

As an admitted 80's movie fan, I hit this site every now and then to see what they've added. My favorite features on the site are the trivia and archaeology sections. The trivia section just gives little FYI's that most people don't know about the movie. The archaeology section gives information, and sometimes links to photos and virtual tours of actual filming locations. One day, I'm going to travel and see the sites of some of my favorite 80's films ... most are intentionally left in the same condition but some have been bulldozed. I fear that the longer I wait, the less likely it is that I'll be able to visit them while they're still recognizable.

NEway, if ANYONE has ANY news about what's up with fast-rewind, please let me know. Thanks!

Until it's back up, how about a quick poll. How about a top-five list of your favorite 80's movies. I imagine that this might be dificult for two reasons. One, you might not have seen five whole movies in the 80's (I know, I know, it's almost inconceivable). Two, you've seen so many that you're having a hard time narrowing it down to five. Either way, give it some time and effort and it'll be a worthwhile exercise. It'll also help you get back into the practice of answering polls on chasm again which will be useful as I post and poll more regularly going forward.

when characters were three dimensional

Okay, I just re-watched The Breakfast Club for the first time in years and it struck me that any movie of that nature would have to be an independent production in today's theatrical market. It's too slow. It doesn't have enough camera angles or fast-paced cinematography. It's solely about the interactions of the characters. You just don't see too many movies like that anymore, especially with teenagers as the lead characters.

(Okay, for those of you that watch tons of independent films, pardon me if there are plenty of such films. I'm speaking about major theater releases from the major motion picture studios.)

Teen movies today are almost always comedies or heavy-handed dramatic portrayals of similar themes but they don't have the innocence, simplicity, personality or the authenticity of The Breakfast Club. It's not about some big dance, the big game, a popularity contest or grades. Rather, it's about five relative strangers forced to spend the entire day together. They simply get to know each other through various conversations, actions and arguments. That's it. Nothing fancy, campy, or even too preachy.

Sure, some of TBC was heavy-handed and over the top but it also had genuine character and relationship development that was very natural and stood successfully without any underlying time constraint like the prom, big game, etc. to add suspense and drama. It's just a simple story of teenager angst and uncertainty regarding peers, parents, grades, goals, love and relationships that forges a bond between five teenages in the face of those adversities.

Yes, I'm biased. I love 80's movies. However, I'm not saying TBC was the greatest movie ever or anything, hell, I'd struggle to put it in my top 25. I just wanted to give it the recognition I think it deserves almost twenty years after its release.