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The Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide

https://archive.is/od1iW

Some headlines from the last **couple days**



Most of these headlines are from this aggregation site:
https://www.joemygod.com

I have an affinity for B-rated movies and have several of John Carpenter's movies on DVD at home. So I made note when I saw a reference to Carpenter's "They Live" online the other day. Made during the Reagan years, it's a movie about alien capitalists who have settled on Earth to exploit the resources. The aliens appear as human unless you wear certain glasses that allow you to see their true appearance. While wearing the glasses, you see that all the street signs are really telling you to "Obey", "Consume", "Conform", etc.
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There's an old 1920s movie palace in town that usually shows Halloween themed movies in October. Tonight, a friend and I went to see "The Exorcist". It hasn't been all that long ago since I saw it, but definitely fun to see it in a theater!


The organist played tonight, which is always cool.
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The local 1920s movie theater is playing Halloween-themed movies all month. A friend and I went tonight to see An American Werewolf in London -- 1981 -- it's been 40 years since I saw that movie, omg.

I had forgotten how violent that movie is!

It was fun going - the organist was playing tonight.



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The weekend was pretty social...had a friend over for dinner Saturday evening -- for what seems to have become a re-occurring dinner and a horror flick evening :) Nice, pleasant evening. We both disliked the movie we watched, lol!

I spent Sunday at a wine festival with another friend -- also a very pleasant time. I was wiped out when I got home, although I think the wine interfered with my sleep a bit!

One of my sisters is going through a rough time, so I'm headed down to visit with her next weekend. I visited last weekend as well.

***
Now and again, I deal Tarot cards for fun. Today, I shuffled and asked the deck 'Who am I?' -- just for play. This is the card that came off the top, and I laughed aloud when I saw it! The Hanged Man is definitely descriptive of me -- someone hanging around, waiting for some insight, not trying to force things. It's especially apropos as I am currently taking a Sabbatical from work!
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I often describe the Lord of the Rings as my Bible! I have read it many (MANY) times...even in other languages (French, Portuguese)!

I think it is because Tolkien shared my love of language. And the good vs evil thing in the books.




My music selections are probably a good description of my life.."Everybody's worried about time, but I just keep that shit off my mind"...
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It's been a long time since I have ridden a bike in the rain! I haven't been riding much this year -- it's always raining! But I've been missing it a lot!

Today, I was bound and determined to ride just a little, so while I was having breakfast, I checked Accuweather -- "No precipitation for next 120 minutes" -- great! I get dressed, get some air in the tires and a water bottle full...and as I was leaving, I check Accuweather again -- "Rain starting in 15 minutes" What, lol???

"Light" rain it said. LIGHT rain, lol...so I went out, knowing that I might get a bit wet. Well, it rained harder than "light", and I came home sopping wet...I hadn't ridden in the rain in years, so it was sort of fun! I cut the ride short and only rode about 7 miles, but it was nice to be on the bike again!


****
It's nearly Fall, so I'm getting the last of the veggies from the garden -- tomatoes and bell peppers. The kind of bell pepper that I grow turns brown ("chocolate bell pepper") -- it doesn't change the taste.




I am also prepping 'the girls' with new batteries -- these are my normal Halloween decorations.


****
There have been a few butterflies in the garden lately - this Red Spotted Purple was out a few days ago --
Red Spotted Purple on Butterfly Bush

****
Lucky for us, Hurricane Florence was pushed more south for landfall, so we only got cloudy showers from it. "She" is supposed to turn and go northwest, but it seems only more rainy showers for us. Again....we are lucky in that regard. I believe I have a roof leak, based on the unpleasant, musty smell in my bedroom at home, so I have called a roofer to come and inspect the roof.

****
Book club was enjoyable this past week...I did have an interesting situation that has stuck with me.

When we were talking about the book, there was discussion of which actors and actresses would be best to play the part if there were to be a screen play. Some of the actors and actresses were unfamiliar to me, so I would search for them and find a picture online, then I would show the group to make sure this was the right person.

During the discussion, one of the guys mentioned that he hated that I was doing that because each time I searched for a name and showed the picture, it would bring the conversation to a close...lol....that surprised me. I mean, what else would you do but look up stuff online?

It wasn't a bad comment or situation or anything -- just surprised me that 'googling' wasn't just standard operating procedure when you're having a conversation, lol! Seriously, why would you NOT search, if you don't know who that person is???

Now don't get me wrong...I do sometimes find myself in situations where someone uses a phone or laptop while I'm talking to them, and it's completely frustrating. There is a friend who visits who will get lost in his phone or laptop for minutes at a time...to the detriment of conversation -- and I really find that frustrating. Now that I think of it, maybe I'll turn off my WIFI the next time he does that since I can control my WIFI from my phone, lol...

But that was not this situation at book club - in this case I, in-my-not-so-humble-opinion, was contributing to the conversation, lol!

Speaking of which, I need to begin reading the next book -- I put less time to reading now, and reading is harder to do since I have been trained to 'skim' online...a friend and I had a related discussion the other night. I was finding words in Wikipedia which I considered old and too formal for Wikipedia -- I thought Wiki entries should be written at a 7th - 8th grade level...and some of the words I was finding in articles would NOT be appropriate for that level. He disagreed, but seriously, when was the last time you said or wrote 'virtuosic'??? It's a fine word, but I think our language is changing, and those sorts of 'odd' words slow my reading down.

That reminds me that I need to watch the movie "Idiocracy"...lol

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I wanted a very relaxing week off, but I'm afraid that's hard for me to do -- I think I inherited the trait of always doing something from my dad. So I don't think I had the relaxing week off that I had hoped, and I don't feel very well rested! But I did get to see some folks, got some yard work done, etc.

I've been catching up on American Horror Story, and I really liked this scene from the season 2 ("Asylum") --


Been listening to this song last couple days --


Woodpecker in the hedges this evening --
Woodpecker in the yard

And I'm within 50 pages of finishing that book for book club! I was not sure I was gonna finish it (reading in Portuguese being so slow for me), but now I think I will actually finish!
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Today was lazy. I got to the grocery store at 8AM this morning to pick up stuff to make a salad for the family Christmas meal. The parking lot was already 1/2 full!

And I took a sweet potato pie (an extra from the Tree Trimming) out of the freezer into the fridge to defrost.

Otherwise...it was another movie day -- Thor (2011):


I don't I realized how much work Chris Hemsworth did on his body for this film -- but when he took the shirt off...well, there he was!



And I finished up the book for next month's book club...it's an old one: Flowers for Algernon. I had read it many many years ago...and I found a PDF online so I didn't have to buy a book.

I had forgotten how sad it can be!
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The movie for the 2nd day of Christmas Weekend was War for Planet of the Apes. Since I had watched all the original POTA movies, I have felt obligated to watch the latest batch. Definitely, the special effects and costumes are MUCH BETTER now, lol!

This one was a bit boring at times -- I found myself putting it on pause, wandering around the house doing some chores, and coming back to watch. So, not a nail-biter by any means, and overall pretty forgettable...


I like the Maurice character (the orangutan to the right) --


***
I also walked around Belle Isle yesterday. My knee is screwed up right now, and I usually find that exercise will make it more sore in the short run but strengthen it after a while. Today, my knee is pretty sore! The knee is still weak, and I hope this clears up soon!

This Sycamore on Belle Isle looks to be decorated for Christmas!
Sycamore tree decked out for Christmas

Winter

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"O seguro morreu de velho, mas o desconfiado ainda está vivo." -- "The safe one died of old age, but the suspicious one is still living."