xtcian

You're not kidding about the SAD. Indiana's dealing with DST for the first time, and it's dark before we leave work now. Bizarre. I feel like I live in the movie Dark City.

Oh, I agree 100 percent about the SAD. Yesterday I drove to work in the dark and drove home in the dark and in between I sat in an office in the middle of a building, so I didn't see sunlight all day! Sorry about your head and your jaw/tooth. Good luck -- hope the surgery and recovery aren't too bad. Oh, and good luck with the strike and negotiations.

Glad you asked! Remember when my beagle had ACL surgery last winter? He had surgery, was in a cast for 6 weeks, I had to carry him everywhere, help him do his business, etc. Well, he recuperated from that situation, but now he has invertebral disk disease (slipped disk), and he is crated for 6 weeks and I have to carry him everywhere again. He is 11.5 years old. He is my baby, and I will do anything to help him out, but it is a reminder that his years are numbered. The vet is talking about possible spine surgery, etc., and I am hoping that he can rehabilitate enough so that we can avoid anything invasive. I know that you are a dog person, and you'll understand.

Remember two summers ago when I sideswiped a parked car in my neighborhood on my way to work? I was in (another)car accident in July while driving my daughter home from the library. We weren't hurt, but my car was nearly totaled. Not totaled enough so that I could buy my dream Prius, but damaged enough that it was "fixed" and I am driving my bomb around, wishing I had a different car. I paid a lot of $$ out of pocket, and was hoping to get some of that back via subrogation, but no luck so far. Damn the Insurance Companies!

Remember last fall when a crown came loose while I was eating Halloween candy? And I needed a tooth extraction, bone grafting, dental implant, new crown? Well, LFMD never seems to learn a lesson, because I was eating some Halloween candy last night, while driving by the same library (scene of car accident), and I heard a huge "CRACK" in my mouth. I did not see any visible dental damage, but I threw all of my candy away in a fit of frustration. Sorry about your teeth. I feel your pain.

As always, Daughter and Husband are fine. Which is always a blessing. No matter the year, I seem to be the one in my family with "issues". Anyway, have a good day. Good luck with the oral surgery.

Sorry to hear about all your health travails.

Daylight Savings Time is bogus, and it makes people depressed. I remember when Nixon abolished it for one oil crisis or another, and it meant mornings were a little dim, but evenings didn't feel so dire. Having a little light at the end of the workday isn't a bad thing.

Oh, and a surprisingly high proportion of Amercians are vitamin D deficient, something you can avoid by moderate exposure to the sun on a daily basis. Sunblock can make you sick!

Sorry to hear about your dental issues, that can really really make things difficult.

As for SAD, I lived 1 year in Coeur d'Alene Idaho, about 100 miles south of the Canadian border where we would get maybe 5 hours of sunlight and my coworkers threatened to bring in grow lamps and shine them on me to improve my mood. And I admit I was a grumpy SOB that winter.

Pretty much the same as you, alas.

I am fighting my instinct to eat way too much food. I have lost a lot of weight this year and about 3 weeks ago I just got this itch to start eating..My DNA is prpearing for the famine of winter. I must fight it..Suggestions anyone?

Ian, it sucks getting old.

We are firmly supporting the writers!!!

I'd prescribe squash-ginger-orange soup, venison stew, roasts dripping juices onto beds of parsnips all washed down with Belgian dubbel ales. And a good throw for the sofa underwhich napping can be planned. I am Canadian. We embrace our seasonally affectedness not as a disorder but an opportunity. Remember: a man has his weight and also his winter weight.

I'm a tad stressed out, but mostly in a good way. Doing some freelance work for a film festival, and opening night is tomorrow! It's crunch time. Fortunately I work with a pretty amazing team of people and we laugh a lot...amazing what that does for stressful situations.

Then back to LA around Thanksgiving for a less fun form of stress -- jobhunting. Woo hoo!

Sending positive vibes in the general direction of the picket lines...

I presume the writers' leverage (aside from the public opinion which appears to be their favor) won't kick in until the studios run out of scripts to film. Listening to the radio this morning, many of the major TV shows (reality excluded) had enough filmed shows and/or completed scripts to last through the end of December.

Is that how long the writers will have to wait in order to make the big suits nervous enough to bargain fairly? I know the late night and sketch comedy shows are already directly affected (Leno, Letterman, Daily Show, SNL) but are there other hiden dangers for the networks which will make them nervous long BEFORE the shows they have in the bank are exhausted?

I ask because it seems to me that the strike will go on for at least 6+ weeks before the networks are going to start to worry. And, speaking from my male-dominated sports loving self, we've got the end of the NFL, start of college hoops, NBA and NHL games on the tube every night of the week, so I won't even be affected by the strike as a consumer.

Any insights behind the scenes to give us all a more complete picture of how the striking writers feel they'll be able to get leverage before December?

Other than spelling "hidden" incorrectly, no major complaints from me.

I did want to give a shout out to Dean (aka DFB's&T's and my roommate our junior year at Carolina), however, as he has been living with a heavy heart. Regardless of what you think about his sometimes inflammatory comments on this blog, his mother was in a terrible car accident while on vacation while in France several weeks ago. Already weakened after successfully battling back cancer many years ago, she had to be put into a medically-induced coma to treat her injuries.

To make a long story short, her recovery has been painstakingly slow and it's also been complicated by differing medical approaches in France versus the more aggressive treatment she might have gotten here in the States. And, for Dean, who is scheduled to take his shift sitting by her side in a couple of weeks and through Thanksgiving, it's been especially frustrating being so far away and so helpless to assist his mother.

Please keep his family in your thoughts.

I heard the last writers' strike lasted 5 months. Not good.
I may have a lousy cold, but I also have a steady job and health insurance. Things could be a lot worse.

I hate DST, too. Who has the balls to manipulate time? Can we not leave anything be?

By contrast, I love Dexter which is filmed in sunny Miami. Apart from the gore, Miami is looking really good.
Ah, to have a house near the water, a boat, and lots of comida Cubano.

I'm starting to get interested the 2008 Prez race. I will be relieved if a Democrat wins, and not solely out of pity for the residents of Coastopia. I've got Bush fatique. Obviously it was not always easy defending a president who should not speak publicly at any time, for any reason. At this point, I am happy to let a Democrat have at the job.

anything tooth related sucks so badly. you just have to deal with the operation and wait out the pain, not much you can do to help the situation.

what can i say...i am on a relative upswing.

i do have the *SAD* but i find it is mitigated somewhat if i make myself busy to distraction. i am developing a feature filmwith my team, a musical comedy/farce, and cooking up funding schemes for our fledgeling production company. we got an honorable mention award at the berkeley film fest for our first short and that is giving us some motivation, and we are figuring out where to submit our second short. plus the new feature film we are working on is a total party so we are having fun with that.

i'm going on a fun+work trip to nyc on friday so i am going to have a rare weekend away without kid duty.

i have discovered this mexican hot chocolate http://www.mcstevenswholesale.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=124
which makes a great mocha, and i am thinking of making the real thing this winter instead of eggnog.

i ordered my thanksgiving dinner in advance already.

i had a great birthday last week and got XM radio for my car plus a new ipod.

i got a new old car which i am in love with, best car ever.

my kids got fantastic reports at their schools and my youngest son's japanese is going like gangbusters.

my husband has 2 new records coming out.

there are plenty of sucky things but the good things so outweigh the bad ones that i don't even care about them. that's how it is with me today.

i'm sure the strike makes you feel so bored and unproductive that all you can focus on is the shitty stuff, plus the tooth situation is a nasty priority that has your attention. but once you get back to busy mode you will feel more upbeat.

I'm doing great, thanks! Just married, new house, busy, busy, busy... what's not to like?

And although I'm a bit susceptible to SAD, I'm enjoying the fall time change. I hated it when I lived a night-centered lifestyle, but now that I have to get up and go to work, it's nice to actually be awake in the morning when I leave the house. Since it gets dark earlier, I actually feel sleepy by bedtime. Extra sleep = good.

One word about your dental issues -- OUCH!!! Feel better.

I am getting ready for what was supposed to be a girl's beach weekend, but has now morphed into 6 moms and 8 kids under the age of 5. And the moms in charge of shopping bought 3 bottles of wine. 3 bottles . . . for 3 nights in a beach house with 8 toddlers and 6 moms. Why couldn't our husbands step up and take these kids off of our hands??? They could spend 2 days and nights camping out in a parking lot for Dook basket-ball tickets, but spend 3 days alone with their children??? No. There's all of their MBA homework and other such bull crap. Sorry, I've been chewing on my bitter pill all morning. On a positive note, it's very cool to be living back in Tar Heel country with our B-ball team looking so good.

I dont know enough facts to have an educated opinion on the strike, although I generally think that if you can make writing your profession, you're pretty lucky.

Not lucky as in LOTTO lucky, but lucky as in being-able-to-actually-make-a-living-off-it lucky, or having-been-able-to-wait-out-the-rejection-until-you-got-your-foot-in-the-door lucky.

I assume that many who are talented may never get the opportunity to fulfill their dream as professional writers. What a privilege to be able to do what you love for a living!

In any case, I support a union for writers since without one, it REALLY is Big Bad Corporation vs. Little Guy.

As for we here in FL, it's all dandy. The kids are 2 and 4 now. They are incredibly fun. Had my 20th HS reunion two weeks ago and ran into some familiar old faces. Boy has that place changed (for the better). Been back at all? Did I ever tell you that my best gal pal of all time was a transfer to my public HS from NA? Perhaps you knew her.

i was actually feeling pretty crappy myself until i read about your dental surgery. and so i'm not going to complain.

my daughter is a striking writer and she feels like you do...that its just sad. she was really excited about her current writing projects and now she spends four hours a day chanting "hey hey ho ho - management can't write the show" and other ditties. but at least her teeth are in good shape.

You asked, and so I'll tell you that my mortgage and the treatments needed by my Alzheimer's mother and my special needs daughter, together, will exhaust my total annual income for as long as all three expenses exist. To be financially responsible, I would have to choose to forego optional extras like food, utilities and gasoline. According to the Republicans, I'm an irresponsible spendthrift for not taking my dependents to the top of Mt. Hood to die.

Back to your issues, here's Joss Whedon on the strike: http://whedonesque.com/comments/14639#195462

And support for the strike from the top Democrats running for President: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i460780394f79c8811902b2a7a793f070?imw=Y

cheer up ian. we're preseason #1 and should be on the new SI cover any day. i'm sure they'll have UCLA out west but i'll send you the real one.

plus, you're probably going to get vicodin.

Ouch...take care of yourself!

S.A.D....hmmm yes so very familiar with it... my Verilux happy light is in full use until at least the end of February...

I have chapped hands and would very much like to lose five pounds. I'm sorry to hear about your needing dental surgery. I've had lots of painful dental procedures, both with and without nitrous oxide, and, in my opinion, the ones with nitrous were way, way better. I think it's worth a convo with the dentist/periodontist.

I don't mean to be a stickler (actually, I probably do), but after two posts in a row with the same error, I have to speak up. The term is "Daylight Saving Time." Look it up. Save that second "s" for some French word or something.

Any parent will tell you that DST is evil, the only point of debate is whether it's more difficult to get the kids to "spring forward" or "fall back." Personally, I wish the Feddle Gummint would just scrap it altogether or else "spring forward" and leave it be. I also wish I had Kramer's devil-may-care attitude (see "Seinfeld" episode 149, "The Susie") about the time change.

You seem to have a big problem with the EST/DST switch. So, while you're on strike and riding out your streak of bad luck, I highly recommend that you read "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time" by Michael Downing.

Feel better.

Also, screwing with the clock makes sh1t like this happen.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2011296/

Should I tell an on-strike writer that you can't make this stuff up?

Ian: I'm being blackballed for questionable content. Weird, I don't think I'm mentioning anything bad. I'm not even cussing! Anyway, feel better.

SAD: Not feeling it yet.
DST: My kids are not getting enough sleep, because they've shifted to the current 8 pm bedtime, but are getting up closer to 6, which is about an hour early. Bummer.
SLS: You'll need 12 bottles of wine and one large bottle of Tylenol. (Or Ian's special hangover medicine - see last week.)

Santiago: Awesome story.

Now I am going to push the post button and hope for the best...

Okay, so that stuff went through, but not my story about Henry's trip to the ER for stitches. Which word is making me questionable??

what is questionable? fuck?