I joined this club. Be afraid. And I don't even like the things that much. But . . . I was weak. It only took a minute. Sign of insanity? You make the call.
posted at 3:49 PM Central Time <link>

This speech by Courtney Love kicks butt. Big kudos to salon for printing it, too (one of the few things they've done right lately, ahem).
posted at 4:45 PM Central Time <link>

A truly fine article by Patrick Reuse about Rod Carew. Well worth reading, but I can't resist quoting this:

The Carews have had a home in Anaheim for 22 years, yet Rod said the in-season returns to Minneapolis still feel like "coming home." The Twin Cities are where he met and married Marilynn Levy, where his three daughters were born.

"I'm always anxious to get back for a few days," Carew said. "If it's a nice day, I'll walk from the hotel to the Metrodome. It seems like I meet 50 people who say, 'Hey, Rod. We miss you, Rod.' That's what Minnesota people always say when they see me. 'We miss you.' "

Yes, we do. He was my first favorite baseball player. One of the classiest guys in baseball; heck, one of the classiest guys outside of baseball.
posted at 4:43 PM Central Time <link>

AFI's list of their picks for the 100 funniest films.

And a list of the 500 nominees, with your chance to vote for your top 10. I'm still considering my own list.
posted at 1:30 PM Central Time <link>

I'm not visiting many sites these days, as I've said. What pages do I still visit regularly? I'm still reading stuff @ teevee.org, TV Barn, and lileks.com. Plus too many tv scheds so I can put together the picks. I also read Jon Carroll's columns and James Lileks' columns. I visit The Links (almost) daily.

I'm still reading alt.tv.homicide and I'm still hanging out in a lot of conferences on The Well. I've not kept up with most mailing lists, stuff is filtered away into boxes I rarely check. Though I keep up with the Windowseat TV discussion list (hey, there are so few messages it's not hard!). I read personal email, my response time varies from Within A Few Minutes to, um, a lot longer.

All things considered, I'm not as Out of The Loop as I've been in the past. But this is a huge step back from the days when I read 30 or more weblogs each day. And visited a bunch of other sites (almost) daily, too. So if you spy something someplace that you think I'd really enjoy, don't be shy about passing it on. These days, the odds are that I haven't seen it yet (unless it's at, or as been mentioned, at any of the places I've mentioned here).
posted at 2:03 PM Central Time <link>

There have been exceptions, though they're few and far between. I've been able to read books in Steve Brust's Vlad Taltos series. And books in Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series. These books can (and will) keep me up all night, keep my interest, inspire me to run to the bookstore to buy the new books as soon as they're out. Maybe they're easier to enjoy because I already know the characters, know the universes their set in. Same could be said, I suppose, for fanfic that's tied to TV shows. I don't generally get into series, but these I do.

So I had a blast reading Bujold's A Civil Campaign in one night, all night, a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I've been working my way through all the rest of the Vorkosigan series again. It's far too much fun and I'll be done with all the books all too soon. Sigh. But I'm reading and it's too cool for words. Like water after a long drought? Something like that.

If you've been depressed, you know how hard it is to move some days. To get interested in even those things you usually love. I've sorta thrown myself into these books because they have managed to keep my interest (which is saying something), they've take me into another universe and have kept my mind off of less-pleasant stuff. It means the world.
posted at 1:42 PM Central Time <link>

I have managed to keep up with the tv picks which makes me wonder if I couldn't really keep up with this if I made it a priority. But how does one prioritize a weblog? I mean-- whether or not I post here and what I post here usually depends on any recreational websurfing I'm doing. And I really haven't been looking at more than a couple of websites for months now, it seems.

I suppose I could commit to writing something more journal-like each day, lord knows I can babble at the drop of a hat. But I'm not sure any of you would want to read that.

Anyway. I can't predict when or if I'll get back to updating here. I see that there are still a fair number of people visiting here each day, which makes me feel guilty. Like I'm letting you all down. And yet-- I'm never sure I trust those numbers anyway.

If you're out there, still listening, send me a note sometime. Don't be shy. It could be about anything, of course. Right now just knowing that there are people who'd like to hear what I have to say might be an ego boost. Presuming I don't just feel guilty. Ahem.

I think this time around my depression is closely tied to my letting things slide. But then letting things (like housework, bills, etc) can also be a symptom of depression. Which came first? All I know is they sure feed on each other. I've spent inordinate amounts of time sleeping lately. Haven't been getting out as much as usual. Nor have I been seeing as many movies or watching as much tv or listening to as much music or doing as much, um, anything. Gonna try to rustle up some energy, any energy, to take some babysteps to getting back on my feet again. Encouragement and warm fuzzy thoughts appreciated. Those who don't grok depression and wanna lecture me or guilt me need not apply (I do enough of that on my own, thankyouverymuch).