I have a big post incubating in me about NRE (new relationship energy) vs. LTE (long-term energy) and the nature of love, but I'm not quite ready to put keys to screen and write about it. Instead, allow me to offer a short update and also embrace my inner geek-girl for a bit.
I've been feeling under the weather for the past week, probably a result of inactivity combined with exposure to allergens over the holidays. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were spent in homes with pets, and last Friday (January 2) Tara and I packed up her drumkit and drove to Hartford, CT for a long-planned rehearsal of her band. At the home of their keyboardist/bassist Kevin (along with their cat and dog), we set things up in the basement that belonged to his adult stepson, which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years. But it was very exciting listening to them play, since it's probably been almost two years since their last gig, and I am hopeful that the endeavor ultimately will be rewarding for all of them.
It's been almost a month now since I stopped working, which qualifies as a long break for me. Although I did have that nine-month layoff that I call my "cocoon period" between the time I quit my job in Houston and started working in New York. But during that time I had a lot of other things going on, including relocating to New Jersey. But I'm certainly not missing work, especially since I'm sick right now. But to put things in perspective, I've been working constantly since 1991 without a break longer than a week, other than my cocoon period and now. This is only the second time in my life I've involuntarily left a job. On the progress front, I have an interview with a recruiter about a position with an engineering firm on Friday in SoHo, so hopefully that will be productive.
My family recently finished the entire Star Wars cycle, Episodes I through VI, and it's the first time I've seen the classic trilogy since seeing the prequels. Obviously, I'm of an age where I was brought up on Episodes IV-VI, so I know them intimately, yet by watching them right after the prequel trilogy, I found so much more nuance and significance to both trilogies and the canon in general. I think we all agree that if someone had never seen a Star Wars movie, the best thing to do would be to start with Episode IV: A New Hope and proceed in order of release date, but then re-watch the original trilogy again to catch all the references. This makes sense for lots of reasons - the duel at the end of Episode III is a natural climax, and the bad acting in the prequels becomes less grating if you're already invested in the story are two good reasons.
This week Tara and I also finished our Star Trek movie marathon, nine films from Star Trek: The Motion Picture to Star Trek: Nemesis (we skipped Star Trek: The Final Frontier since it's so awful neither of us felt like gagging on it). The trilogy of movies 2 through 4 obviously stands alone as the highlight of the bunch, but we also both felt a renewed appreciation for Star Trek: Insurrection, one that has never been high on my list. I still have to say Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is my single favorite movie because of my loyalty to the original crew, but Star Trek: First Contact is a close second.
Last night I finished the Firefly series, one that I started last year with Bug and put on the shelf for the entire year. I watched the whole series (one season only) in the last two weeks, and loved it. After I watch the movie Serenity, I'll probably head back to the Whedon universe and finally finish the Angel series that I started last year - I only completed Season One, so four left to go.
