#X-Files – Dreaming Reality

Pinch Me! #SoCS and Jus Jo Jan

How lucky can one person be? Pinch me! This is the second weekend in a row that the #SoCS prompt has been right up my alley! Thanks Linda!

This week’s prompt is television. But what to choose? My mind is a traffic jam of excitement right now. Not that I couldn’t live without tv. When I am alone I rarely have it on, preferring music to the lull of voices that draws me from doing anything purposeful to sitting in front of the set as though I have guests that need attention.

My mother was ill most of the time in my teen years so coming home from school included chores, making sure she had what she needed and making tea for her. We spent a lot of time in quiet conversation, with me sitting on the floor by her bed. She would encourage me as no one else has ever been able to, and the feeling of her hand on my head remains the most comforting thing I know. I miss it so much.

The highlight of my afternoons was whatever was on tv and I watched until I was forced to go to sleep. Back then there was so much to choose from and always something new, especially when they added the new magical ABC network! It had all the fun stuff on it. The Movie of the Week, ABC After School Specials and so many tv shows in Prime Time. My high school years found me enjoying everything from the Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family to Chico and the Man and Welcome Back Kotter. Hellooooo Vinny Barbarino! Then there were Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. I stood in line in a Little Rock mall to get an autographed photo of Henry Winkler once.

What? Where? Why? Oh John…..

Then there was nighttime. So many to mention, but recently I watched a marathon run of Here Come the Brides. Bobby Sherman was cute but I always loved the older guys too. Jason Bolt was a hunk of a lumberjack. When Night Gallery came along I was glued to the set. We had always watched reruns of The Twilight Zone which was awesome. Just ask my friend Dan. He never misses the yearly Zone marathon sessions. He is a true fan. Most people don’t remember Kolchak, the Night Stalker series with Darren McGavin. It was a one season wonder which I loved. Now that I look back I think it must have paved the way for me to be obsessed with The X-Files and Grimm. I miss them all. 😞

Now, with the advent of Smart tv and Roku, I am back in tv bliss so I don’t mind so much spending time in front of the set in the evenings. I can revisit old friends and check out the newest films and made for video shows, like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. You have to check her out. It is the funniest show I have watched in ages. And it speaks to social progress over the years for ethnic groups and women in show business. I would hate to see us slide so far back into darkness and ignorance…

Okay, enough I know! Who would think I have time for photography, jewelry, art, excursions and cooking? Suffice it to say I don’t “veg out” very well.

Happy #Free48 everyone. I hope this storm does not cause harm to any of you. Stay warm and stay in touch. 😘

PS OMG! I forgot to mention The Carol Burnett show. Flipper. The Monkees and Gilligan’s Island. Wonderful World of Disney. We can’t even go into the reruns that I didn’t even know were reruns and not of my age which I loved as a child…and still do! Lucy, Andy, Laurel and Hardy, Saturday with the Little Rascals and the Three Stooges. If I left you out, I’m so sorry! Eddie Cantor! Okay, I hear the cue music for me to stop talking now…..

What Do You Want to Believe?

#SoCS, #X-Files, Bars, food, Free 48, life, photography, Seeing, Spirit, Uncategorized, Voice of Truth, Winter Snow

One of this season’s most profound and thought provoking episodes of the X-Files calls attention to our ever increasing intrigue, dependence and worship of robotics, electronics and human-less encounters. Watch this clip of the episode; but when you can, catch the entire episode on youtube or the Fox channel app.

While this is not a new concept or fear where artificial intelligence is concerned, this episode adds a new slant on the previous “robots get angry and run amuck” scenario by adding the all-too-human aspect of sarcastic bitter aggression.

Let me just say up front that we are good tippers. We tip the minimum expected for mediocre service and definitely more for exceptional service. Still….it is a ‘tip’. I can still remember my sense of horror as one of my son’s former girlfriends described how she chased a guy leaving the restaurant where she worked, demanding to know why he was such a jerk as to not leave her a better tip. Please don’t misunderstand. I get the emotion. This is a really sweet girl also. What I have a problem with is the new idea that it is perfectly okay to act on every emotion a person is having. We seemed to have skipped the phase of allowing oneself to have negative emotions without judgment and gone straight to venting them all and acting on them. This unleashing explains a lot of what is going on in our country, in our world.

Decorum, discernment, dedication, delicacy and diplomacy are all words of the past. Relics, like me. Like any of us non millenials. I have wonderful sons who fall into (barely) that category but are not in any way typical, as many are not. Still, in too many places, in too many situations, I am seeing the ugly truth of this label-and I hate labels. In the sixties, the idea among many of the youth was to try and connect with the ‘older’ generation, to establish a new level of mutual understanding. In the 70’s we started viewing our parents as real people, joining us in many of our fun times. In the 80’s began the decline of respect for any authoritative roles, breaking down the myth that parents and adults were above reproach and always right. Funny stuff. Ferris Bueller, Weird Science, Bill and Ted, all the John Hughs films. I loved them all for the honesty and laughs. What isn’t so funny is how adults have now become mere caricatures of their roles in families and have remained so for film and commercial purposes. They are too often portrayed as evil killers, stupid jokes or simply missing in most family situational films.

Oh there is the Family Channel where sugar runs to diabetic level, but that is not what we need either. Add to this lethal concoction the fact that most young parents want above anything else to be best buddies with their kids and…well…you have no parenting at all. Gadgets, film, games, entertainment, video, social media and friends are what are raising many of our newest generation. That leaves Mommy and Daddy free to play as well.

So, who wouldn’t be enthralled by robotic everything? For greedy non-tippers it will be great! No tip for the robotic server. No lip. No argument over the specials….no smile. no special orders. no banter. no connection. no jobs for the college student, the inexperienced fresh out of high school kid, the art or film student, the starving actor, the writer-come-ophthalmic tech who dreams of being a bartender at night. 😞

So, for Linda Hill’s prompt

Today her prompt was passive/aggressive, which put me into a more serious frame of mind which actually began last night. When you have to go to four different restaurants to get the hosts to even LOOK at you and still not offer service before you end up in a bar where you feel most comfortable, it does something to a person’s TGIF morale.

And, speaking of bars, check out my night job over at Dan’s Place. I love it! Those guys keep me on my toes and laughing all the way home with my tips. That is, until the new generation robifies us all….

Be kind to everyone you meet, for we are all fighting some kind of battle. Love and hugs to everyone on this weekend!

Spring is trying…in all kinds of places. 😊

Spicecapades/#SeX-Files Adventures

#SoCS, #X-Files, Uncategorized, Winter Snow

“C’mon, Scully, you don’t get ice like this every day. Look, that guy is having a blast.”

”I don’t know Mulder, it looks kind of dangerous to me. What if you break your hand….or your big phone?”

“Nahhhh….Scully, look at Spidey. He’s got it in spades. I just think we gotta’ grab life by the snowballs and have some fun before the big takeover.”

(“wheeee…….look at me…….)

”You see, Scully, it’s a piece of ‘ice-d’ cake. Spidey said so. In other words, Scully, loosen those FBI pantyhose and slice some ice with your partner!”

”Okay, Mulder; although for the life of me I can’t see this easing the pain of an alien takeover. Oh, and Mulder….”

”What is it, Scully?”

“If that two legged arachnid doesn’t take his hand off my ass….he’s going face down on the ice this time.”

”That’s fair , Scully.”

Thanks to Linda Hill and her SoCS prompt. Visit her blog and post to find out more about this and other cool prompts as well as meeting great bloggers like Mary Melange. If you visit Mary, be nice. She had a full moon kind of week.

Happy Saturday, folks. Check out the real #X-files every Wed at 7 CST. 😉