Hooves & Apatow

Working hard on a variety of tasks.  Lab related things, class related things, and more.  

• I ran 17.3 miles today (~28 km).  
• I actually had planned to only run 14 miles (~22 km), but..... when I left off to hoof out my miles, I did like I ALWAYS do.... I left the back door of the garage UNLOCKED.... because carrying keys is not easy nor comfortable to do while running.  My wife knows this.  
• Unfortunately, my wife took out our dog before she left (She NEVER does this normally, but did so today.  Usually, I take our dog out after I return from my run.).  She was not thinking and locked the door, took the dog back into the house, and then left for the day.  
• I finished up my 14 miles, stretched outside, and then proceeded to the backdoor to.... of course.... find it locked!  I grumbled a varied assortment of cuss words under my breath.  
• There was no way in hell for me to get into the house.  I was going to also miss a damn meeting a the U.  I immediately TEXTED my wife that she needed to come home to unlock the door she had locked on me.  I purposefully texted so I would NOT TALK with her where she would then hear the grumpiness in my voice.
• I then texted the folks I was supposed to meet with and told them that I was locked out of the house and would not make the meeting. They chuckled (in text).  I could understand why they laughed.... but I was not amused at that moment.   
• I was feeling annoyed and grumpy, but I did not want to have this develop into something it did not need to be.... so then I texted my wife that I was going to run some additional miles since I was waiting to get in the house.  I then asked her to please text me when she had unlocked the door.  
• So, I ended up running an additional 3.3 miles (17.3 total; ~28km).  By the time I got back, I had RAN the annoyance and grumpiness out of my system.... and my wife was not there, as she went back to work.  
• So, I saved us from  a grumpy encounter that need not happen.  

We went to see a play this past Saturday night.  It was called "First Date" and so we were expecting a "romantic comedy" sort of production.  Which it was..... BUT.... UNFORTUNATELY.... in the "current/trendy/"annoying" style of a popular film maker/director who IN MY OPINION, ruined comedic movies and romantic comedy movies in particular..... Judd Apatow.  

Judd Apatow has produced many, many popular films..... but the major takeaway I get from films of his that I have (unfortunately) seen is that he is a HUGE fan of "gross humor", "coarse humor", "graphic sex humor" which TO ME is tiring, not enjoyable, and in my opinion, detracts from story telling.  You may know some of his films and may have seen some.  Here are a few I have unfortunately seen:

"Forty Year Old Virgin"

"Knocked Up"  I actually DID NOT see this one, the title was too off-putting for me to even consider.

"This is 40"

"Trainwreck"

So, you get the idea..... unfortunately this "First Date" play was written in the same coarse, gross, graphic fashion as a Judd Apatow film.  Even though there were a few glimmers of fun aspects of the play, overall my wife and I were both very disappointed, as was apparently the rest of the audience, most of whom were grey-hairs like me and my wife.  There was nary a hint of giving any sort of standing ovation at the end.... a rarity with live theater in my neck of the woods.  The play was rather too coarse and off-putting. 

As you can recognize.... I do not consider Judd Apatow to be a valuable film maker.  I have learned that if I hear his name involved in a film... I should avoid it like the plague.  And, please do not suggest I am just an "old fuddy-duddy".... even though I am old...and admittedly frumpy.... that is not the issue.  I believe films can be a whole helluva lot better than what Apatow puts out.  I actually think some of the stories and plots of the above four films have merit... and COULD make valuable movies.... but I think the heavy handed coarse, graphic, and just plain nasty "humor" makes any actually interesting ideas of a story/plot dissipate.   

• PCS = strange at the moment..... I would say my score is ~7.... but it is a very gnawing, deep seven.  
  
• I had a "long form" dream that I actually remembered Saturday night into Sunday morning.  But, it was almost "science fiction-esque".  
• In my dream, I was in a rather stereotypical, brightly lit, completely white room with all white "60s era" style sci-fi type furniture.  I was seated at a long, white counter that had a conveyor belt within it.  A computer generated voice would occasionally ask me a question (sort of like HAL in "2001 A Space Odyssey" or the Drones in "Silent Running"). 
• I sat there at the counter in my current age and look.  The conveyor belt turned on, and from my left, in rolled a tray on the conveyor belt containing a pipe, a package of pipe tobacco, a lighter and a small ashtray (clear glass).  The conveyor belt stopped as the small tray was directly in front of me.  
• Sort of like a Pavlovian dog, I suppose, I could feel the saliva build in my mouth as I picked up the pipe and the pouch.  I could also feel (somehow) that my brain was being scanned by the aliens I could not see.  I (of course) filled the pipe with the beautiful brown tobacco leaf, and I used the lighter to ignite the bowl.  After about 10 minutes of contentedly smoking the pipe, a harsh bell rang, and somehow I knew to place the bowl of the pipe into the ashtray.  The conveyor belt then started again, and a glass of ice water (with many perfectly clear, exactly cube-shaped ice cubes) rolled before me.  I drank the water. Again, I could feel the scan of my brain by the aliens who I could not see. The water was refreshing.  After about 10 minutes more, the harsh bell sounded again, and I knew to place my glass of water down.  Then another tray rolled in with another pipe, pouch, lighter, ashtray.  I again in a Pavlovian way filled this pipe with leaf, and smoked again.   The pattern of pipe and water went through probably at least a dozen trials before I woke out of my dream because I needed to go to the bathroom.  
• The dream was EXTREMELY vivid.  I can still sense the textures and flavors of that whole experience.  I was not nervous about the "aliens" nor was I worried in any fashion.  I was just there, in that space.  It was pleasant.  

That is about all the time I can afford today.

PipeTobacco