Two and 1/2 Months later...

At least I'm making some progress. I didn't wait another six months to post like last time.

What's been happening?  OK. I'll do it in the order of when the events occurred:

 

1. I served on Jury Duty for three weeks (September 11th-14th, 18th-21st, and 26th -29th). I would like to say that it was an interesting trial, but I've already promised to be honest when I made entries here. It was a civil trial, more accurately a combination contract violation/intellectual theft/sexual harrasment case. For the first two charges, the Plaintiff charged the Defendant with violating her contract with his company, Ken Clark International (a job-hunting company) as well as stealing his client database to start up a company of her own. The Defendant filed a countersuit claiming that the Plaintiff created a hostile work environment that made it impossible for her to work there and she was mistreated because she was a woman. The jury, that consisted of me and 7 women, found in favor of the Plaintiff regarding contract violation. The Defendent did business with a client that had a history of doing business with the Plaintiff's company that extended over three years and didn't ask his permission to do business with the Defendent while she was under a three-month restrictive covenant not to compete with "KCI"). Since the client would have more than likely did business with another company (KCI advertised themselves as a Retained-Search company, meaning that they would charge the client a fee regardless of whether or not someone was hired as a result of any searches), we didn't award any damages to the Plaintiff. The remaining two charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. No hard-drive forensics were entered into evidence (only a copy of the file by a witness for the Plaintiff) and only two women who worked with the Defendent claimed that she specifically was harrassed by the Plaintiff due to her gender. If anyone asked who won the case, I said "The attorneys! They raked in HUGE billable hours for this case!"

2. I've recently lost a friend to The Grim Reaper: Starlog Magazine's Senior Correspondent Steve Swires. I'll avoid saying the smaltzy things that most people say at eulogies and say that my sometimes foil/sometimes compadre was one of the most challenging and fascinating people I've had the occassional pleasure to know.

I met him 20 years ago in Manhattan, NY. I was a volunteer staffer and guest escort for a convention organization called Spirit of Light, who sponsored a convention tour that was called "The Pertwee Tour without Pertwee!" The original Guest of Honor, Jon Pertwee, contracted hepatitis in New Zealand while eating a bad batch of snails, so he was too ill to travel to The States. His friend and Who rival, Patrick Troughton, filled in for him and the Chief Organizer, Ralph Scianno, contacted other actors for the line-up that included Paul Darrow from "Blake's 7," Star Trek's Jimmy Doohan and Caroline Munro, Stella Star from "Starcrash!" My mission, which I chose to accept, was to drive to New York and pick up Caroline and a "writer-friend" of hers, who was going to serve as her on-stage moderator and interviewer on the convention tour. It might have been the excitment of playing chauffer to one of the most beautiful ladies on this planet that prevented me from inquiring about this unusual arrangement, but when I arrived, the "friend" sat shot-gun while Caroline sat in the backseat. I tried not to be insulted by this at the time, but I was able to deduce why this happened after meeting them and driving them to The Trenton War Memorial Building: Caroline was unusually shy and Steve had a very forceful personality that could either "put some people off" or draw them into an endless number of stimulating conversations with him! Fortunately for everyone involved, I was in the latter category. Not only did I lose my fear of a return trip filled with awkward silence, it was the most pleasant drive I've experienced since I put the downpayment on the car I drove at the time. Steve and I talked like long-lost brothers sharing one pop culture reference after another ("Soupy Sales and Friends" among others) when I wasn't enjoying anecdotes of interviews he's had with actors, writers, directors and producers from Hollywood and Europe, including several that Caroline knew personally! I felt like a convention audience of one! 

When the tour moved on, I established an unusual friendship with Steve that included two-to-four-times-a-year get-togethers at various sf/fantasy/media conventions (the latest being Chiller Theatre in Secaucus, NJ), updates on his long-distance telephone interviews to the West Coast and "across the pond" as well as the latest gossip on several beatiful actresses, of casual acquantance, who confided in him when they discussed their "questionable" life-choices (I'd name names, but I don't want to risk any lawsuits). He also managed to inadvertently help me face my fears of driving from Trenton, NJ to Brooklyn, NY and back (arrived at lunchtime, returned at midnight) so that I can pick up several VHS tapes & DVDs that I've purchased with him when he made discount orders online and he had an annoying habit of borrowing numerous VHS tapes, DVDs and books from me (and his other friends) and holding on to them for years! I've never written a list for them because I trusted that he'd return them when I saw him again at the next convention that we attended. Leave it to him to prove me wrong by dying unexpectedly!

A virtual neighbor of Steve's, who contacted him 4-5 times a week to run errands for him and Irving, Steve's 98-year-old father, had the unenviable task of burying them both this month (Irving died 10 days after Steve due to various injuries and surgical complications). When he's able to regain access to the Swires' house, he'll gather all of the books, tapes & DVDs and arrange to sell the "unclaimed items" at a later Chiller Theatre Convention.

3. Starting September 18th, I officially started teaching The Basic Tax Course for...oh hell, I'll have to give them more free advertising...H&R Block! It's an 11-week 66-hour training seminar on preparing consumer tax returns that the company encounters between January and April as well as "off-season" for the lucky few preparers that take care of them. I've completed my fifth week and I can honestly say that this was more of a challenge than I would have ever expected.  Not only are the students struggling with the massive information that I'm trying to convey to them, I'm struggling to come up with ways to help them learn to "think like a tax professional" instead of a typical layman who's overwhelmed with the ever-changing Tax Laws, prompting 60-70% of the population to have their taxes prepared by people like...us. At least the more experienced instructors have complimented me by adopting some of my "radical" ideas into their teaching curiculum like a chart that I designed so that the students will know where income sources, deductions, credits and other increments are placed on a 1040 Tax Form and a Schedule A. If only I could have more time to do a thorough review of the NJ1040 and supporting forms for New Jersey.  Maybe I'll do better during the remaining 6 weeks of classes that we'll have before and after Thanksgiving week.

I'll comment on my movie-going experiences on a later posting. It's getting late and I have some serious homework to do! Oh yeah! I'm also taking a course in preparing Partnership Tax Returns! What's "spare time?"

 

Watch your step going down the stairs and drive safely. The weather report says rain and lower temperatures, so I wouldn't rule out dangerous roads.

Good night.

Six Months later...

So much for keeping up with my writing goals!

An update for those who are reading this blog:

1. In mid-February, my 2001 Hyundai Sonata died an unexpected death! It seems that the timing belt, which should have been replaced during the previous owner's waranty period, never was.  This caused the gears to grind against each other, causing the termination of the engine after putting in over 60,000 miles! I had a choice between spending over $2000 for a new engine, not counting labor and the fact that I was still making monthly payments on it, or trading the car in for a 2006 Hyundai with the dealership finishing the payments on the "old" car and me making a $200/month increase on payments for this new model along with a $2000 downpayment. I chose the second option, which caused a considerable crimp on my budget that I started to feel in July. More on that later.

2. I had my most successful year at H&R Block in terms of seasonal income. I didn't beat my record of 242 clients, but I did exceed my $7,500 gross average by nearly $1000! My $2,300 bonus was devoured by $900 for taxes, of course, but at least I was able to pay back most of the money that my mother loaned me for the unexpected car payment that I made in February as well as get caught up with the rent.

3. The ownership of Burlington Coat Factory has been officially transferred from the Milstein Family to Bain Capital, a factor (bank for businesses) that also owns companies (like Staples). The "new owners" haven't introduced themselves to BCF staff below management, but it has made its presence felt by making a few policy changes. The checks that we issue to the vendors and factors that we deal with are pre-printed with signatures, except for checks valued at over $300,000, and there will be no more authorized overtime! The latest development has come down to management this week: certain departments will be downsized, but there will be no lay-offs! There will be job offers posted that current employees will have options to take when they're available. They're also opening 20 new stores next month after closing nearly 10 a few months ago! Something tells me that some of these new stores won't only have employees transferred from other stores manning them.

4. I've completed 2 H&R Block tax school courses, Financial Life of a Taxpayer Parts I & II, and I'll be completing two more before the end of next week, SoleProprietorships & Tax-Exempt Organizations. The first two will be mandatory courses for second-year preparers because of H&RB's policy of being "Your Tax Preparation and Financial Partner," no doubt prompting the potential growth of H&R Block's Mortgage and Financial Services as well as the acquisition of a new bank that will start next year! As I've posted earlier, banks and other financial institutions are the wave of the future in terms of the US economy and I shudder to think about what's going to happen when manual labor in the form of "Made in the USA" will become a thing of the past! "Sole Proprietorships" cover the Schedule C form and all connecting forms filed by people who either contract their services, sell packaged goods out of their homes, license themselves as day-care providers, work as freelance artists and other self-employed practices. "Tax Exempt Organizations" involve working on tax returns for 501(c) 3 organizations like charities and non-profit organizations. I was going to attend two courses that would prove beneficial when our district reinstates the "Clicks & Mortars" online program next season: "Foreign Income for US Citizens" and "US Income for Foreign Citizens" since the program has been available online for people from different countries who work for American corporations as well as soldiers serving abroad and foreign-based American business-people. Since the District Manager said that he needs more instructors for the Basic Tax Course being offered in the fall, I don't know whether it will interfere with my attending these classes. I'll have to wait and see.

5. My moviegoing time has been limited due to a tighter budget and higher gasoline prices, making any non-essential trip a luxury. The few movies that I did see, "Superman Returns," "Lady in the Water," "X3" and "Clerks II," were little more than curiousity-satisfyers after seeing the steady hype each film pumped out on the "small screen" these past few months. They weren't bad films so much as formularized re-treads of better films IMHO.  The Superman film was basically Superman II without the Kryptonian Villains, "Lady..." was like "Splash" but without the warmth and gentle humour that saved that picture (ironically, the daughter of Splash's director played a mermaid in this film), "X3" had Kelsey Grammer playing the long-awaited Dr. Henry "Beast" McCoy but there was very little else to recommend a repeat viewing, and Kevin Smith attempted to fulfill a promise to his old friend Jason "Stoner Jay" Mewes, as well as please his long-standing View Askew-niverse fans, with "Clerks II" but grossed out everybody else in the process (including ABC-TV film critic Joel Siegel, who alledgedly walked out after the first 40 minutes)! Garrison Keillor's "Prarie Home Companion Movie" had its moments, but it was more due to the contributions of the prominent "guest stars" than the material that they had to work with. I occasionally listen to the radio show, so I'm familiar with the basic structure, but I don't know if I would have gotten as much out of it if I was new to the concept. Of course, I could say the same thing about 3 out of the four films that I cited earlier. It's a sad commentary that all the movie industry can currently offer are sequels and TV adaptations! That's why I won't waste my time and money watching "Pirates.....II" and The "Miami Vice" Movie! When "Ghost Rider" comes out, I might consider seeing that. Nicholas Cage will probably make a better Johnny Blaze than a Clark Kent/Superman fill-in (as was originally proposed a few years ago).

I have some homework to do, so I'll just have to cut this short until...the next time that I post. I'm trying to cut down on making promises that I can't keep, but it's a constant struggle. Let it begin here.

Yumyum is downstairs picking up breezes from under the front door, so watch your step when you leave. Things have cooled down lately since the arrival of that cold front  from Canada.

Take care.

My life so far...

Oh well.

At least I didn't wait until April to make my next entry. That can be considered progress, especially if I'm to meet my goal of being a paid published writer before the end of the year.

The year started off fairly uneventful until my supervisor at Burlington Coat Factory announced that she was retiring! This was followed by an announcement that BCF was being sold by the owner, Monroe Millstein, for slightly over $2 billion to Bain Capital, a factor (bank for businesses) that owns several companies like Staples. The official word is that they won't sell us until they decide if it would be more profitable to keep us!

Yes, it's a company that makes money by making money! It's the logical progression of business that the richest companies don't manufacture, buy then sell, or even sponsor a product! They just purchase companies that do this and if they lose their profits in the process, they unload it at a profit!

I once read one of those corporate magazines that listed The Top 100 Businesses. Is it any wonder why over 50 of them were either banks, investment firms, or insurance companies? There seems to be money in money management!

What I'd like to know is what happens when The General Public finds out about this? Will they send their children to college to be investment brokers, chartered accountants, and bank managers instead of doctors, lawyers, and educators as in the "old days?" If they run out of people who can "make, build and produce" anything, what will happen to the Global Marketplace? Will all of our consumer goods be manufactured in China, Africa and Indonesia or will they eventually hop on the economic bandwagon by setting up a Class System that will elevate the semi-literate to the Educated Level and delegate manual labor to undesirables and convicts who might not be motivated to produce quality workmanship as long as they're incarcerated?

Moving on to my Seasonal Part-Time Job, I officially started working on tax returns on January 9th and I've completed over 80 returns so far. Last year, I've worked on 156 returns but some of them were either incomplete or rejected due to the contested claims by the clients' ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends as well as upstart 18-year-olds who insist on claiming themselves! Despite World Headquarters' belief that most people who owe aren't going to come in to our offices this early in the season, I've already had four clients who owed and I had to do some "hand holding" while the waiting area was swelling with clients! One in particular was frustrating as well as heart-breaking! A 70-year-old great-grandmother, who brought in one of her great-grandchildren due to her grand-daughter being called in to work and no babysitter was available while "grandmom" was having her taxes done, discovered that "for the first time" she owed money to the IRS due to her earning Social Security while she was working. She didn't realize that most responsible companies withhold taxes for overtime at a higher rate than they do for "straight-time," so the taxes for her SS income were covered. Last year, she didn't put in overtime, so I had to try to explain for over 15 minutes that she needs to withhold her SS income while she was working due to the fact that it's partially taxable if she's a single person making over $34,000 in combined income! I printed a copy of the W-4V form and filled it out for her so that all that was required was her signature and date of mailing.  Hopefully, she'll follow my advice or I may have to go over it with her again next year!

Some people will follow the advice of their doctor, their lawyer, or their dentist without the slightest hesitation! Maybe 1 out of 10 of my clients have ever followed any suggestion that I've given them and then it was due to repeat incidents of owing the IRS and resigning themselves to try "something new." Maybe when I become an Enrolled Agent and I'm able to "hang up a shingle" and network with radio and/or TV, like Dr. Phil, people will accept me as a professional as well! I might even extend that image to other professionals by publicly stating that people should only have their taxes done by Certified Tax Professionals since the IRS is in the process of finally making that a requirement for doing taxes! I wonder how that will affect our competitors, both nationally and in the travel agencies/pawn shops trade?

My movie-going has been limited due to my six-to-seven-day work schedule, as what usually happens between January and April, so I've been compensating by making the random DVD purchase at Best Buy.  My latest acquisitions were "The Time Tunnel : Part I" and "Death Race : 2000!"  T T T I featured the first 15 episodes of the 1966 series along with "silent home movies" and the unaired version of the first episode "Rendevous With Yesterday," which started with a tight-fisted Senator threatening the government budget for "Project: Tic Toc," prompting Tony Neuman to test The Tunnel on himself and winding up on the RMS Titanic before it hit the fateful iceberg! Doug goes after him wearing an early 20th century tweed suit with a copy of the next-day's NY Times in his pocket. While they're powerless to stop the impending disaster, Tony was able to convince a young schoolteacher to go on one of the lifeboats and have a dangerous brain operation that she would have refused to pursue before Tony's passionate plea changed her mind.  Many people who have seen this series have tended to dismiss it out of hand when I read their comments on the Amazon.com site, but I have very fond memories of this series! While some of the commentaries described the characters as cold and wooden, I remember the episodes where Tony & Doug argued about how to avoid the dangerous situation that they were trapped in this week, Drs. Swain & MacGregor and Gen. Kirk arguing over the risks of trying a new procedure to bring Tony & Doug back to the present, and how numerous historical figures were portrayed as real people as opposed to the "heroic archetypes" seen on late-night movies! The Custer/Sitting Bull/Crazy Horse episode immediately comes to mind, as well as the episode "The Last Patrol" where the late Carroll O'Connor played a modern-day Brittish general and his ancestor, an infamous colonel who fought Colonel Andrew Jackson at The Battle of New Orleans in 1815! I was doubly impressed with how the man who was destined to be best remembered as Archie Bunker pulled off both portrayals with such distinction! I hated the colonel, but my heart went out to the general up to the end. Brilliant!

Hearing the audio-comentary conducted by Roger Corman and Mary "Calamity Jane" Woronov while watching "Death Race: 2000" was like watching the film with them in the room!  Talk about educational! I had no idea that Corman himself did some of the stunt driving in the film and Woronov, being the Typical New York Model/Actress, didn't know how to drive and was towed during her close-ups! The juicy gossip about Stallone and Caradine was fun to listen to as well! What gossip? You'll have to rent or buy the movie for yourself to find out! It cost me $13.95 plus tax to buy! The film is about 75 minutes long, so I had time to re-watch it  with the commentary off as well as the filmed interviews and one of the original trailers.

After nearly two hours of snow-shoveling, I've gotten a little tired, so I'll have to cut this short.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll probably have a follow-up posting next month when I've managed to get caught up on most of my bills and obtained most of my goals for The New Year that I posted last month!

Watch your step going down and drive carefully! The temperature will drop into the teens tonight so watch out for black ice!

Goodnight.

 

A New Year Has Begun!

I suppose it's literally time for me to start on a clean slate.

I've allowed myself to be put into a position of committing myself to making more postings on this blog by letting more people be made aware of it's existence.

I'm not 100% certain about this, but I tend to think that knowing that there's someone else reading what you've written is the true motivation for any publication to be created. I use to believe the high-profile authors who said that they wrote for themselves instead of for the pleasure of others or to make mucho bucks, but as I've gotten older, I've questioned that notion more than agreed with it. If it's self-satisfaction that the author is looking for, why write? When a work is published, other eyes are looking at it and appraising it by definition. If the authors in question meant that they never allowed negative reviews of their work determine what they wrote, that could only mean that they value literary honesty over pandering to as many bibliophiles as possible. Some would call it the difference between an artist and a hack, but I would describe it as the difference between a communicator and an entertainer. The sculptor Rodin once said, or at least this is an approximation of what he said, that when he looked at a block of stone, he saw a beautiful sculpture trapped inside of it and he felt obligated to remove the unimportant fragments that surrounded it. Perhaps communicators see the words on a blank screen (or page) and feel the need to type what they see while the entertainers sort out from their "box of tricks" what he(or she) can dig up to amuse his(her) "visitors." The exceptional performers can accomplish both without the audience being aware of it. If there were a goal that's worth pursuing, I couldn't think of a better one.

I've seen a film today that's based on a bestselling novel, "Memoirs of a Geisha." I'll post the usual spoiler barrier for those who haven't seen it yet:

********************************Spoiler Warning********************

It's told from the perspective of the title character as an old woman who's looking back on her formative years as an orphan who lost her family and was sold into the life of a geisha, unlike her sister who was sold into prostitution. After being manipulated into one tragic event after another by veteran geisha who saw her as a threat, she was apprenticed to the veteran geisha's hated rival, a kind and wise woman who was aware of her limited station in life and knew how to use it to her advantage instead of being a victim of powerful men as her culture has been known to do to beautiful women.The title character eventually accomplishes her goal of being a geisha and being "owned" by a kind man of high social standing that she was in love with since she met him when she was a little girl. The film's ending could either be interpreted as a happy one or an ironic one depending on your sensitivities. On the one hand, geishas exist to entertain and pamper men in ways that their wives don't but they're not purveyors of sexual pleasure like prostitutes. On the other hand, they can never marry and they can't pursue any ambition other than to entertain and serve a man of power and financial means. While most women in the Western cultures would strongly question whether the geisha's status in life is morally just, it is part of a separate culture with its own rules and standards.  To question them could invite open criticism of the culture of the critic. Except for convents, I know of no example of a society that gave women total autonomy over their lives without male intervention or manipulation through high finance, legislation or brute force. While I don't take any pleasure in the existence of this situation that women worldwide find themselves in, I also don't enjoy the idea that there are situations where an imposed image of gender victimization is considered a justifiable means of combatting it by the women who are the most afflicted because of it, especially when a blameless man is the injured party. 

My overall assessment of this film is that it was beautifully packaged and honestly told, which would make this both a work of art and a poignant source of communication.

*********************Spoiler Warning Ends**************************

Another movie that I've seen over the weekend is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Since this is a classic tale that's part of a series of tales, I won't write down any spoilers to bar against anyone's pleasure of seeing this film but I'll write down my general feelings after watching it. It seems to have a foot in two places: religious allegory and family-oriented action/adventure. Those who are aware of the former would have a banquet of foods for thought after watching it but those who aren't are probably going to be confused over the motivations of one of the major characters: Aslan, the original Lion King. I would prompt those people to read the book after seeing the film. I'd attribute the toning down of the violence, as noted by some people who know the series intimately, to this being a Disney film as opposed to a Touchtone or Miramax film, where graphic violence would be expected. I enjoyed it on both levels and I compliment the way that the CGI effects were handled in this film. It was integral to the story as opposed to being intrusive, which is a drawback that I've felt after viewing several Pixel-animated films which is why I have no plans to watch "Chicken Little."

Before I "call it a night" and see you out, let me wish you a Happy and healthy New Year and briefly share with you my New Year's resolutions:

1. To cut down, if not completely sever, my "in debt" situation before December 31, 2006.

2. To own my Silver 2001 Hyundai Sonata by July 4th, 2006 if not sooner.

3. To purchase several bookcases and file cabinets so that I can get my apartment cleaner and more organized before December 31, 2006.

4. To have a written work of my own creation (or co-creation if it's drawn or illustrated) published and get paid for it before December 31, 2006.

I could also add "to lose weight," but I don't want to make promises that I have no immediate plans to keep. Besides, my weight tends to fluctuate based on how physically active I am and on what I've eaten in any given month. I like to pick my battles and not overwhelm myself with too many goals, thus reducing the possibility of disappointment over not accomplishing any of them.

Watch your step going down the stairs. Yum Yum still likes to sleep on one of the steps when she doesn't doze on the radiator for warmth. I think that she purposely does that for attention and as a reminder to me that she feels neglected, especially when company comes or when I'm surfing the 'net.

Have a safe trip home and mind the roads. The weatherman said that there's a possibility of overnight showers and low temperatures.

Good night and Happy New Year!

Nearly One Month Later...

I've got to develop the habit of typing every week, if I'm going to sell fragments of The Great American Novel and put myself into the position of setting my own hours instead of doing the boring "working for someone else at someone else's fixed schedule" routine that I'm currently experiencing.

Speaking of which, the $3-a-week-group-snack plan has died a relieved death, but the $5-a-month-party-pool is still on. While I'm not wild about having to celebrate several people's birthday and the random holiday while I'm trying to get some work done, I'd feel guilty if the department supervisor felt the need to foot the bill just to "make us happy." This is literally the lesser of two evils, so I'll "join in" until this proves to be unworkable as well. At least I'm setting a trend by being prepared to respond to any requests for aging reports on the vendors that I haven't completely caught up with regarding payment of shipments. That's a step forward and a possible foundation for "being noticed by management." Getting a call from a former vendor contact who's now their Executive Vice President is a potential invitation for considering "moving on," although it takes at least an hour each way to get there and there's no guarantee that the pay will justify the possibility. I'll wait until he meets with the manager of the division before I plan my next move.

Tax season is on the horizon, so it's time for...tax classes! The three that I'm currently taking are "Everybody's Return," a combination tax laws refresher and tax update before the Official Tax Update Seminar, "Disposition of Business Assets," the sequel to "Disposition of Assets for Individuals" course that I took a couple of years ago when it was last offered, which goes over the tax consequences of selling a business along with the property and personal possessions of same as opposed to selling a home and individual possessions, stocks, bonds & heirlooms as was covered in the first course, and "Corporations" as in C-Corps, S-Corps, Partnerships, LLCs and LLPs, which makes it a sequel of sorts to the "Sole Proprietorships" course that I took over three years ago.  What's so frustrating about taking these courses is that there's a slight pressure on Corporate's part to take and pass the tests that are offered at their respective conclusions.  While I can understand the significance of the fact that it'll be only a matter of time before the IRS will make Certification of Tax Professionals mandatory and, of course, the more tests that you pass, the higher your status as a preparer and the more money you'll make before the end of the season. Just what I need, more external pressure to improve my lot in life. The bills, the lack of personal time, and the loneliness is doing enough of that without any further incentives, thank you very much!

The movie scene looks pretty grim along with the non-cable non-satellite TV options. Another pet project that will have to sit in the backburner is to expand my DVD library for video dry spells like this. Until then, I'll invite the possibility of being pleasantly surprised at a movie that either received too much hype or not enough. One such movie that I've seen last week was "The Skeleton Key." It's one of those films where if you haven't seen it, people would feel guilty about talking about it for fear that it'll "ruin the experience." I'll just say that it was one of those obscure plots that make perfect sense when you've "solved the mystery." There's a reason for Gena Rollins' eccentric performance, the non-sequitor conversations she has with her legal representative (can't remember the actor's name), and for the character's husband, played with equal eccentric brilliance by John Hurt, having a hoodoo-induced(?) muteness. Kate Hudson is obviously a much-better actress than her mother, "Laugh-In's" Goldie Hawn, and is making major strides in escaping the two traps that "Mom" couldn't avoid: "the stereotypical leading lady who stumbles into a strange and 'charming' romance" and "the pretty girl caught up in one outrageous situation after another and lives happily ever after with the man of her dreams." While she obviously "cut her teeth" playing those roles, I would never have thought that she could successfully pull off a "suspense heroine" part immediately afterwards, let alone help make the twist ending in this film transcend the "Night Gallery"-type gag that this could have been if the wrong actress played it, and then only for laughs. As for the twist ending itself, I'll say this with a spoiler warning attached to it:

**********************You have been warned**********************

It was a bold move on the part of the screenwriter to not only have the "haunted couple" win, but to add a racial slant to it by having Mrs.Ghost wishing that she could occupy the body of a black woman for a change, while Mr. Ghost makes the equally-controversial statement that no black woman would have stayed long enough to make herself available for a "body switch." I have a feeling that there's more than one legacy involved in that sentiment.

****************You have just left The Warning Zone*****************

I'm looking forward to seeing "A History of Violence" for different reasons than some of the ladies who drooled after looking at Viggo Mortensen in the three LOTR movies. This film was based on a comic book series that had a similar pacing and somber mood that was present in another violence-themed comic book: "Road To Perdition." Perhaps when the movie-going audience find out that there are more to comics than "guys in tights beating the crap out of each other," the medium will get a better appraisal than it has gotten in the not-too-distant past. At least I'll get to hunt down another article that says "Comics aren't kids stuff any more!" written by a well-intentioned know-nothing who hasn't read anything in four colors or black & white with word baloons other than Superman, Batman and Spiderman when his non-elective Algebra professor wasn't looking! We'll see if this lives up to the hype that it's getting from the NYC, LA and those two "Chicago" film critics on syndicated TV.

It's getting kinda late, so I'll see you out and get some shuteye before I brace myself for doing some tax homework tomorrow.

Take care and drive safely.

Goodnight.

Thought I forgot about this, hunh?

Excuse me while I wipe the cobwebs away from the ceiling and the corners.

There we are.

Well, hello.

It's been over a month and I wish that I could say that a lot of exciting things happened between 7-20 and now, but I've already made a promise that I wouldn't be posting lies on this blog.

Work has been progressing from tedious to socio-politically-economically annoying.

Just when I thought I was nearly done coming up with reasons to look for a new job, here comes another one.

Before I begin with the latest reason, I'll recap with the earlier ones:

1. Some of the people in my work area don't know anything about teamwork.

2. The lady, and I use the term loosely, who sits near me continues to prove to herself that she's the most obnoxious person in the western hemisphere by bragging about her looks(which are passable, but who needs to hear her aggrandize herself regularly?), her ability to party at the clubs on the weekend, her equally aggressive children(who she encourages to fight when they feel that they've been wronged), and her strident insistence that she can say whatever she wants regardless how irresponsible and hypocritical it is.(Even the supervisor complains about it after The Troublemaker leaves for the day and I have to resist the urge to simply say," Why don't you have her fired or transferred?" because I know that the answer has something to do with the understaffing of our department).

3. The software that we use has problems with it at least twice a month, and when it works, there are glitches in it that Tech Support can't always solve.

4. Our rest breaks and lunch periods are mandatory and rigidly-timed(like a football game) instead of flexible and subject to need. Since we get paid for our break time, I can understand the regimentation for those, but we don't get paid for lunch so who cares if we take a 20-minute lunch break or an hour-long one, depending on the need and knowing that it's time that we're not being paid for? One possible reason for this is what I call The Kindergarten Principle: If one person abuses the priviledge, everybody will.  This in spite the fact that there are people who sneak out for cigarette breaks while they're "on the clock" and all eight divisions and the peripheral departments can only clock out and in on one time clock!!!

5. The Assistant Controller is a walking powder keg who's paranoia can be attributed to the fact that The Controller hasn't allowed him to take time off to fully recover from an automobile accident that he had over a year ago! He still needs a scooter to get around on his "bad days" and even on his "good days," he can't carry anything or go up or down stairs.

6. Our company is in the process of either being bought out or merging with another retail chain and nobody knows anything other than that the owners are being retained as "consultants" and there might be policy changes that will affect everyone in the company.

7. We're near the end of our annual audit and we scored a 91! This means that we were 91% accurate in gathering information on the vendors and their merchandise.  Despite the fact that this was an evaluation of all eight divisions and the peripheral departments, which adds up to over 100 employees, THIS IS CONSIDERED A BAD THING! The target goal was 100 PERCENT!!! I don't know any time when any company, including a company that doesn't train ANY of their employees to do the job that's assigned to them, had a 100 PERCENT Efficiency Rating! The fact that this is what management and the supervisors were hoping speaks volumes about how out of touch with reality these people are! As a result of this "black mark," we are expected to do surprise audits every three months! While this isn't an altogether horrible idea to me, this could lead to accusations of Managerial Harrassment by several people in the company, including Ms."I've got a 10-cent opinion that I want to share with everybody!" If this causes her to resign, that will be the only good news that I'll look forward to receiving after this.

Now, the latest reason for possibly going on Monster.com:

8. We're establishing a $5 per month Savings Fund for snacks, group lunches, and Birthday Parties! While I would by no means want to dump the financial load on anyone to set up a party, I'm personally not interested in participating in a non-work-related activity just for the sake of avoiding being the Department Wet Blanket. I may be paranoid, but I believe that I once lost a temp job because I wasn't part of the crowd and I made no secret of the fact that there was too much goofing off and Playing Executive Meeting For The Sake Of Stuffing One's Face On The Company Tab and less of a secret that I didn't like where I was working, so when theevaluations came out, I was gone despite the backhanded compliment from the supervisor that I did the work of four people! This time, I'll offer to pay the $5 per month but refuse to participate in the Birthday Parties, the Pollyannas, and the Department Buffets.  We'll see if history repeats itself and I fail my evaluation when New Management has its interviews of the other people in the department and ask "Which employee(s) are giving you problems?"

I've gotten my...oh hell, I might as well give them free advertising...H&R Block Stock Option Information Packet.  It seems that the stockholders voted to split the stock for the last two years and this year, halving the values and doubling the quantities that they were qualified to either buy or sell. I was considering doing another cashless transaction(granting a broker permission to sell my shares at the street rate and paying me the difference from my special employee rate), but it wouldn't be as much of a difference as I had hoped. If it goes up by at least $5.00/share difference from my special rate, I may sell my option for 118 shares this year. If not, I still have between Sept. and Nov. to exercise it and the split shares from this year that I have to wait until next year to act on. It's a complicated process that not every preparer or office person qualifies for due to the mimimum salary/commision and work hours required. I've exercised it 4 times in the 10 years that I've worked for them and this might be the 5th if the market improves. We'll see.

I'm currently reading "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke and "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. If I can manage my finances, I might attend a Q&A in New York on Sept. 19th hosted by Mr. Gaiman & Ms. Clarke and a live reading an book signing of Mr. Gaiman's new book "Anansi Boys," which could be a sequel to "...Gods." If I'm able to attend both or either, I'll write a special review in this blog.

I may have to surf the net for upcoming films because I'm not looking forward to seeing the recently released "Brothers Grimm." By the previews, it sounds like yet another film about a pair of dashing adventurers that go on incredible exploits that "the general public has accepted as fiction." Like we didn't get enough of that from dead TV shows like "The Adventures of Jules Verne" and films like "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "Van Helsing!"

I guess I'll prepare some spaghetti with leftover sloppy joe and a salad with grated colby/monteret jack blended cheese sprinkled on top. Normally, I'm more creative but it's starting to get humid again and I'll just have to learn to discipline myself to cook for the week on the weekends.

I hope that you'll be able to see yourselves out and have a good week. I'll attempt to do the same, but it's not going to be easy. Good night and drive safely.

I'm Breaking a Promise for a Special Acquaintance

When I started this blog, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't stand on a soapbox when I made an entry. Self-indulgence is a character trait that I despise in others, so I would be doubly disappointed if I picked up the practice myself.

Well, since I didn't make my customary weekend entry and I wouldn't be the central subject of the entry, I decided to make this an exception.

James Doohan died.

I hope that didn't look like an 11:00 news bulletin.  Then I'd really start telling myself off for being inappropriately cute!

Since the man lived over 3000 miles away from me and I've only seen him a few times at convention appearances, I won't go for the Hypocrite of the Year Award and call him a friend. I can just barely call him an acquaintance, since I was part of the staff that hosted his one and only convention appearance in Trenton, NJ!

It was in the late spring of 1987. The other guests at that con were Patrick Troughton, Paul Darrow, and Caroline Munro.  Pat & Paul landed at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport together. From there, I drove Paul to a fancy restaurant in Princeton while the con organizer chauffered Pat. Caroline flew to New York to stay with friends a week earlier. Jimmy, however, drove in a rented station wagon from California to the Red Roof in near Trenton by himself! It was part of a series of convention stopovers that he scheduled in advanced. I don't remember if it was for financial convenience, but I felt at the time that he was either the bravest man I ever met or the craziest! In any case, Mimi, one of the organizers,  phoned the nearby Ground Round and issued instructions to have an extended table set up for the guests and staff, emphasizing that "Scotty" was going to be among them! The fact that this was practically last-minute made it abundantly clear that The Man had clout by the tractor-trailer load! This was emphasized when the assistant manager stood at Jimmy's end of the table with either an autograph book or a bound menu in his hand. Since I was sitting at the other end, I couldn't make it out clearly. But the smiles and conversation spoke volumes.

When I shook Jimmy's hand, I noticed something that didn't shock so much as mildly startled me. His right hand had a finger missing! I found out later that he lost it on the beach of Normandy during WWII! He showed this "war wound" to the audience at the con in the form of a special Vulcan salute, indicating that he could even find humor in tragedy. A rare gift that he didn't hesitate to share.

I asked him only two questions in the years that spanned between the first meeting and the last time that I saw him make a convention appearance. The first question was," With all of the appearances that you made in radio and television before Star Trek and the appearances that you made in TV and film after Star Trek, does it bother you that most people only remember you as Scotty?" I don't remember the exact words that he said in his response, but I do remember that he smiled and made it clear that the contacts that he made with the fans countered any fear of typecasting that he could face as an actor. I also told him that I saw him in Jason of Star Command where, in his own words, "I played the titular head before I had a head to tittle in!"

The last time that I saw him was between three and four years ago at Chiller Con in Secaucus, NJ. It was like looking at a different person! While it was true that he was suffering from Alzheimer's and it was over 13 years since I last saw him, but when Jimmy was in his sixties, he was more lively and humourously infectious than men 20 to 30 years younger than he was, present company included! At this point, he needed assistance to sit at the Q & A table! Fortunately, when the questions flew all over the room, glimpses of the Old Jimmy peeked out and that Jimmy Smile appeared on his face that I remember to this day. My final question to Jimmy:

"Some of us who are here have seen you in the Next Generation Episode 'Relics.'"

There were some ahhhs and applause.

"Could you tell us what that was like?"

He smiled and said,"The cast and crew treated me like a king!"

I thought what I didn't have the heart to say at the time, and now I'm sorry that I didn't say it.

"Jimmy...you ARE a king!"

Jimmy's escort and Q & A moderator made an interesting statement when someone in the audience asked him about his relationship with Shatner. He said that Jimmy's wife [Edit: wouldn't] have sex with him that evening if he said anything nasty about "Bill." Not only did it generate a silent "Way to go Jimmy!" from the darker side of my brain, but it also raised a level of curiousity about how manytimes the words "Let it go,Jimmy! Let it go!" left the young  Mrs. Doohan's lips. Quite a few, I'd imagined, because I've heard that the anger he felt after co-writing "Beam Me Up, Scotty" with Peter David had dissipated enough for them to do some on-camera conversations before The Final Stage set in.

I'll probably dig up that book next weekend and re-read the non-Trek parts, since they're more detailed, and possibly track down those Shatnerized novels that he worked on, as well as watch that Outer Limits story that he appeared in(and remember what the title was), and possibly gather enough courage to buy that badly-titled documentary "Trekkies" that he supposedly made an appearance in.

 

As long as he's in print and on celluloid, he's not completely gone I suppose.

I stopped off at Peter David's blog to see what he had to say about Jimmy.  He only made a quick "Not surprised, considering his condition, but what a hell of a guy he was!" comment since he's currently attending the San Diego Comic Convention this week. I'll copy and paste his "eulogy" when he types it in there.

My eyes are getting misty.  Whether it's due to the humidity, exhaustion, or delayed grief, I haven't the faintest idea, but I think I'll wrap things up here.

Rest in peace, Jimmy.  You were a decent guy who didn't let your celebrity go to your head and you taught me two valuable lessons:

1. When you've met the right lady, you're never too old to find true romance nor to start a family and 

2. If you're doing something that you love, you will always be remembered for it.

I can only hope that some day, I'll be lucky enough to experience both as you have, sir.

Good Night and God's Speed!