1. I love my pens. I keep finding ridiculous excuses to use them. I just enjoy physically writing things, though. I really need to get on that correspondence.
2. I just opened up my email to find a note from one of you that reads, “You posted something on your blog. I had actually been organising your memorial service.” I could be wrong, but I think that maybe there was a point in that. A hint, perhaps.
3. People have been telling me for ages to watch Battlestar Galactica. I resisted for a long time because 1) it was not available on Hulu or for free anywhere else that I could find, and 2) while I embrace my nerdiness to the fullest extent, I’ve always been shy about embracing my inner geek, of which I’ve come to find out is far greater than I previously thought. Anyway, I finally admitted that I’m curious about the show. A coworker told me that he had the first season on DVD, and he offered to loan it to me. I agreed. Which leads me to…
4. I love Battlestar Galactica. Fine. There. I said it.
5. I’m nearly done with the third disc, and I found that I have to actively limit myself to one or two episodes a viewing, because otherwise I will want to go through episode after episode. That’s not particularly good for my sleep. That show is so good and so heart wrenching. I’ve teared up a number of times.
6. Still on the list of shows I’ve been told I’d love but have yet to watch: Doctor Who and The Office. There are probably others I’m missing. I should make a list. I have a list of books I want/need to read—or, well, I did. I lost it; I need to start making a new one. There is not enough time to read all the books I want to read. That will be my first complaint on my deathbed. Probably my last one, too.
7. Today, after work, I was walking to the bookstore, and as I was paused at an intersection waiting to cross, I witnessed a car approaching a yellow light at a speed much too fast for the city road conditions. The car seemed to hit a patch of ice as it tried to slow down, and I watched as it sped towards a bicyclist trying to cross the intersection. I was maybe 20 feet away. Not thinking, I yelled, “NO! STOP!” I’m not sure why; the events were set in motion, and there was literally nothing that could have been done at that point to stop it from happening, but it seemed like a good idea at the time, and it gives me the opportunity of saying that I tried to do something. (That was said tongue-in-cheek, of course.) The noise, that terrible, awful noise. The car hit the bicyclist, and both the bicyclist and the bicycle hit the side and then bounced off the hood. All the other cars continued to drive by. The driver remained in the car for a good minute and a half after the accident, while another driver hopped out of her SUV and I ran over to the bicyclist. He hopped right up and dizzily said, “I’m fine.” The other driver yelled, “YOU JUST HIT A CAR” as if the young man were deaf rather than injured. He refused offers to call an ambulance and kept insisting that he was fine, but his bike! He never got beyond that, which really is understandable. The other driver kept waving her hands around yelling at him informing him that he hit a car and that he bounced right off that roof. Yes, that roof. He kept saying he was fine, but his bike! The driver responsible stayed in her car. I stood by staring down every inch of skin on the bicyclist that I could see, waiting with him until the police came, and then briefly giving my statement to agree that, yes, that car did drive right into that bicyclist and, yes, he hit it right there and he along with his bicycle bounced right off that roof and it made the most God-awful thwacking metallic noise I’ve ever heard in my life. Plus, I figured maybe he’d want some company other than an onlooker who appeared to be in shock and the lady who decided to hit him with her car. And then? Then I continued to walk to the bookstore, the whole while thinking that doing such a mundane thing right after witnessing such a terrible thing seemed wrong somehow and that maybe, just maybe, running into the intersection towards the young man who got hit without myself checking to make sure the street was clear of oncoming traffic was perhaps not the brightest instinctual response I’ve had.
As usual, 7 Quick Takes are hosted by Jen over at Conversion Diary. Head on over there to read more.
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
I’d suggest the UK version of The Office first. They are both good, but it’s far better.
I watched the first disc of Galactica this week after years of being surrounded by people who adore the show (a friend once said that breakfast was “coffee, a joint, and Galactica”), and I don’t understand what all the fuss was about. It was good, don’t get me wrong, it just didn’t hook me the way I expected. Perhaps I expect too much wit from my television. I would rather watch Firefly and Doctor Who. I’ll probably give it another chance, though.
While I don’t exactly know you and can’t judge your taste, I can say that Doctor Who is one of my favorite shows of all time. If you can get past the occasional cheesiness of the bad guys, it’s got some of the most brilliant characterization I’ve seen, and I love that it eschews romance between The Doctor and his companions. It makes me laugh and makes me cry. Also, it exploits my favorite time-travel paradox – circular causality, or the bootstrap paradox – so how’s that for nerdy and geeky?
On your deathbed, you could take a line from Kit Carson. “I only regret that I do not have time for one more book.” Of course, on my deathbed I’ll be regretting the bowl of chili, but books are good, too.
Oh, bicycles and snow… Here studying at Urban Metropolis I do most of my long-range errands on bicycle. I’ve only had trouble once, and it was very quiet there, but I’ve twice seen other bought-things-laden cyclists lose control of their bikes. We also hear of more sorrowful disasters, but I’ve not yet seen any first-hand.
Do be careful, out there in the World.
The Office is really good. Matt and I have also recently started Modern Family and we are really enjoying that.
Nerdiness and inner Geek? You are too funny! (Thank you for being a witness for the bycicle accident!)
I told you that Bostonia was not safe! Thanks be to God that no one was seriously injured!
And I told you that you needed to post more often. See, now people are thinking you are deceased!
I love The Office (the older, the funnier) and Modern Family is hilarious too!
Okay, so I just watched the first two episodes of Galactica (before I had only seen the miniseries) and I am much more impressed. 33 was freaking intense. I shall have to continue this line of inquiry, but hopefully this time I can do it without getting so addicted that it interrupts all other hobbies and studies.
Btw, I don’t think a glass pen appreciation indicates 90-ness. I think it indicates a fine tactile taste. So there.