Irony, my butt; my butt, say hello to irony

Gods, what a horrible weekend.

Another three-plus hours wasted trying to get the wireless keyboard talking to the computer.  It has developed an entirely new problem now, too (Bluetooth autoconnecting a half dozen times at startup).  When it works, its great, but when it doesn't it sucks all kinds of canal water.  Probably time to pick up a standard, wired, USB version but I can't right now (for reasons below).

I was going to go out for dinner with a few people last night.  My only real social contact in the last couple of months (for reasons below).  Some time to de-stress, should be worth it.  So I get there a half hour early, which is good because even with directions I didn't find the place on the first walk past; the bloody sign is 30 feet up the wall above the door in an alcove and can't be seen unless you are across the street.  Reservations were purportedly for 7:00, so I found a bench and people watched for a while, keeping an eye out for the others.  A half hour later and no sign, I figured they were already inside (they usually show up early).  I get inside, but they are nowhere to be seen and, lo and behold, they don't even take reservations.  Given my already foul mood and the fact that I can't stand crowded/unfamiliar places (for reasons below), I was out of there right fast.  A full hour wasted and nothing to show for it.  In fact, worse off than when I headed out.

Earlier, I mentioned that the building I am in now is being converted to condos.  That means I'm moving shortly.  So no unnecessary purchases (like a new keyboard) that will have to be moved.  Finding a new apartment is one of the more stressful things I have to do.  I don't like dealing with people in person, period.  When everything is going smoothly I can supress that.  Its not perfect, but it gets me through the day.  When stress gets bad, well... lets say some days its a struggle to go out the door.  At this point I'm so stressed out that I don't want to deal with people period, but the thing that got me stressed out requires me to deal with strangers.  The irony of this is biting me so hard my butts going to have scars from the toothmarks.

The situation in Lebanon has gone all kinds of bad.  A heavily armed, well organized non-state actor virtually occupying parts of the country with political impunity.  While Hezbollah does offer needed social support programs, I find it difficult to have any sympathy for them when they launch rockets at civilian targets from urban areas.  I find it especially troubling when they show off the civilian casualties from the inevitable response as how bad the Israelis are.  To borrow a phrase, when asked who is a member, they answer "Everybody.", when asked who has been killed, they answer "Innocent people."  Throw in behind the scenes interference from any number of nations, 24/7 news coverage, kidnappings... oy.  I don't mean to make light of the situation, but everybody directly involved needs to sit down and have a "time out".

The Lebanese police must have it the worse.  Political interference from above, outgunned and thoroughly infiltrated by militant organizations; how are laws supposed to be enforced under these circumstances?  I can't see any Hezbolla members being arrested for, well, anything really.  This is a prime example of why the use of force has to be solely limited to the state, out of the hands of non-state actors.

How can this be sorted out?  Israel deserves to have security.  Palestinians deserve a chance to build a home and develop economically.  It really bothers me that I can't see a solution.

After a long delay, I've finally gotten around to watching two movies that I have been looking forward to: Aeon Flux, and Ultraviolet.  Given the similarities between the two, I watched them back to back and came away with a few observations.

Aeon Flux has interested me from the first time I saw it.  Bizarre, twisted, and sexy, set in an authoritarian/distopian future.  The animation is highly stylized, poking a finger in the eye of realism and occaisonally kicking common sense in the groin.  Needless to say, I was disappointed in the movie.  It felt... I dunno... "flat".  Lifeless.  The visual homages to some segments of the animation (using a kiss to transfer a "message in a bottle", dropping the device in the surveillance room) were nice touches.  The rest desperately needed a careful blend of extremes: the overstated visual funk found in The Fifth Element, overlaid against a drab, monolithic background.  Not to knock Charlize Theron, for she did an acceptable job portraying Aeon, but that was it - acceptable.  The overall story in the movie was interesting, but was missing that final twist of the knife, the J-hook that rips out the kidney and leaves me wondering "what the hell just happened?" while reaching for the remote control.  Maybe if it wasn't for the accident while shooting the film, it would have come out better.

Ultraviolet was, apparently, a cult comic book.  Go figure.  The first I have heard of it was the movie, but thats not surprising.  Bizzare, twisted, and sexy, set in an authoritarian/distopian future.  And (almost) everything that Aeon Flux (the movie) was not.  The technology was entertaining - variable grav units, paper cell phones (!), gloves of storying (ok, not really, but its the closest reference that I can come up with).  The visuals were impressive.  Milla Jovovitch was insanely hot (must be the eye makeup).  The story - ok, lets be honest: there is no story.  Fight, fight, fight some more.  Brief interlude to show "emotional range" and establish some information.  And back to the action.  The flaming swords in the dark at the end must have been a purely "look at what we can do" on the part of the production staff.  The poor, choppy, editing of that section makes it difficult to follow.  If only for Friday evening eye candy, I can fully recommend Ultraviolet.

Calgary Stampede.  'Nuff said.

I am in an unreasonable amount of pain at the moment.  We had hail yesterday - big freakin' chunks of ice from the sky.  Larger than we usually get, but less overall.  Woke up at 3am with my head screaming at me and my brain trying its best to squeeze through my left eye socket (what I refer to as the left-side migraine).  Within the space of a couple of hours the weather had gone from full cloud cover with low base to perfectly clear, not a cloud in sight.  Managed to pass out for a couple of hours before the alarm went off but no improvement whatsoever. 

Still time enough for the pain killers to kick in before I have to go to work.  Ehhhh!  Wrong.  20 minutes after downing a couple of Tylenol I found out that while I have no problem swallowing pills, having them move in the other direction before they dissolve is... disturbing.

So now I'm sitting in front of my own computer instead of the one at work, my head throbbing away.  At least my brain has reconsidered moving out and I can move around a little without extreme discomfort.  Definitely a good use of a sick day.

Edit: its now Monday morning and my head is still throbbing.  *grumble*