The Contents of a Tesseract

I was recently reminded of my childhood.
Cleaning up our house for a reunion type of visit, I found my Hitchhiker’s Guide books and my Bloom County books from the 80’s. I was about 11 when I found the incredibly funny writing of Douglas Adams. Around that same time, I discovered Berke Breathed’s hilarious cartoons. I think those two men shaped my sense of humor.

I read all five books of the trilogy (yes, I know that sounds odd, but you have to know Douglas Adams) in the space of a week. They were like christmas candy: sweet and sentimental. I wanted more. Of course, Douglas Adams died about 5 years ago. There will be no more. So I read them again.

I bought the Disney version of his first book last week, and I would like to just say something publicly about my distress at finding what lay within. The film contained within the DVD of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is NOT the film I saw in the theatre. Someone, probably on orders from someone with mouse ears, has put it through a giant cuisinart and removed at least 6 very funny parts of the movie. It was perfect the way it was!! Why did you do that? When I bought the DVD, I wanted the product I saw in the theatre! My friends and I watched it this weekend, and we all were doing double takes. “wasn’t there a shot of his third arm in that one?” “weren’t they messing with something unpleasant in the vogon bathroom?” “what did they do to Zaphod’s dance in front of the vogon soldiers??” and on and on. It was depressing, I tell you. Even some of Marvin’s interesting moments were cut. I don’t want to discourage anyone from buying the DVD. It is still very good, and I enjoyed it the second time. I am just disgusted that they would change the end product and not expect us to notice. Allright. enough ranting.

At least they can’t change Bill the Cat and Opus.

I did it. After 2 years of not having a bicycle, which is a weird story in itself, I finally found the time to visit some thrift stores and find a very nice, but extremely cheap bicycle. Oh, and a helmet.

My old bicycle was a teal mountain bike, complete with generator headlight and a basket in the back. I used it throughout college and graduate school, and it was still in good shape when I married. Somehow, when we moved to this new house of ours, the bicycle did not follow us. I’m saying “Somehow” because I remember a discussion about leaving my husband’s bicycle in the trash - his idea! not mine!, and I am thinking that perhaps the two bicycles couldn’t bear to be parted, and mine just ended up with his in the trash.. Not sure.

Anyway, after we moved, I looked and looked, and my husband saw me looking, and he said he had no idea what happened to it. I kept looking every few weeks, as thought it might really be there and I just wasn’t looking in the right place.

Then, I happened to discover the magic that is a thrift store. Have you ever been to a thrift store? Admittedly, most of it is junk. Old shoes, dirty old slightly broken toys, knicknacks that no one wants, clothes 20 years out of style.. but! in amongst the flotsam is the rare gem, especially if you want something specific. The prices are more than reasonable, too. Plus, you are helping a charity organization out. The ones I visited were run by a Methodist church aiding the Katrina victims, the Humane Society, and the Airforce Veterans.

I bought my new red 10 speed bicycle with mountain bike tires for 10 dollars. The helmet cost 2. Now, that’s a bargain.

As soon as we got it home, I inflated the tires and Roo and I took off. He was so excited to have someone to ride with! His little bike cost 40 bucks at wal mart. I think from now on we’ll look at the thrift stores for bikes. Roo had been having difficulty with peddaling and hills. He would stop, get off, and walk the bike until it was on even ground again. Once he saw me zoom down the drive and turn around, waiting for him, it was as if a new world had opened for him. I suppose some times it takes seeing someone else do it to figure things out.

I had forgotten how much fun it was to ride. Even though I hadn’t adjusted the seat and it was slightly hard to peddle, it was a great feeling to get out and go. My husband is talking about getting some rollerblades for himself, but I think I’ll stick to the bike.

Looks like we lost another pop culture icon today. He helped me remember biology, he made me laugh, and admitedly, he played a mean bongo drums.

So, Bob Denver, this one’s for you:

When life gets you down,
and there’s no cash for town,
Don’t let your face get lon-go
Play some jazz on your bongo!

Who needs your own isle
when you’ve got so much style!
Would you pick beat-nick?
or sad little ship wreck?

Bob Denver, you played both
with pizazz and flair
but Maynard G Krebs
was beyond compare.

We’ll miss you, mate.

(not my best, but not bad for being depressed.)

I don’t really feel like posting anything, but I thought I would go ahead and make the attempt. My mom’s back to being a manipulative insensitive egotistical person. Its a mixture of mental illness and not being able to handle stress very well. At least it didn’t happen in front of the kids. It’s been this way for so long, I’m mostly numb now, unless it happens in front of the kids.

Eh.. see? told you it wouldn’t be too uplifting. But it is part of my life, so I wrote about it.

If you want some inspiration, go volunteer. There are a lot of people that need help right now. At my daughter’s girl scout meeting today, we met at a local church that was acting as a shelter for the evacuees from New Orleans and Mississippi. They have nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a future at the moment, but they are looking for work, wanting to get back on their feet again. The thing that really made me cry was all of the little kids displaced. Some of these families left with the clothes on their backs. They need so much: water, food, diapers, t shirts, toothbrushes. We wanted to help, and were told to bring Wal Mart gift cards to the shelter, because that way they could get the right sizes, etc. The trials of those people made me realized that I could have it so much worse.

I have a family that does love me, and friends that can sympathize with me about the one part of my life that isn’t so great.