Nancy's Musings

I met the most amazing person today. My mother's visiting teacher invited me to sit in on their conversation, and she's bright. She's cheerful, pretty, intelligent, educated, socially inclined, active, and well-kept. She's single and thirty-six, and she says that her thirties are much better than her twenties were. The light around her was quite contagious. It was a blessing to hear about her perspective. She helped me see something: people who are single have a unique set of experiences. People who do not marry early have opportunities that others might not have. Each experience changes us, and gives us a pool of knowledge which benefits everyone, not only those who live it. To have a complete set of knowledge for society some of us must take the slower path. All of us must take different paths, and then the Lord can use what we know to benefit those around us. Being thirty-plus sounds like fun. It takes someone brilliant to show me that, and to be a kind of example th...

In the late seventies, explorations into the sub-, extra-, or super-natural were carried out by investigative journalists only, such as "Kolchak: Night Stalker" (a show of which I have seen every episode). Crime drama and Occult Investigations gave birth to a new set of shows involving the investigation of what are now called Fringe Sciences (probably coined by the firstborn of that union, The X-Files). "Kolchak: Night Stalker" ended when the writers ran out of monsters. When they had finished with vampires, werewolves, and South American human sacrifice, ghosts, zombies, and all the other conventional evils, the writers could not think of anything else for Kolchak to do. His investigations did not disturb any major political or occult figures (just his boss), and his determination to find and publish the truth did not meet with any significant resistance, and so foundered and sank. With a little scientific advancement, the wreckage could be raised again. "Chro...

Once upon a time a mother had two daughters. One was beautiful and hard-working while the other one was pale and fat from spending all of her time in front of a video game console and chatting on facebook. The mother favored the ugly daughter because she reminded her mother of how lucky they were to have such wonderful things. The hard-working daughter made her feel guilty and lazy, so she forced her to sit by the well and spin 35% nylon/lycra blends all day. One day as she was spinning she accidentally pricked her finger on the spindle and a drop of blood fell onto the mint-green threads, staining them. "Oh my!" she exclaimed, not a single swearword entering her pure little head. She reached over the lip of the well to rinse the spindle off quickly in cool water, but the water was very cold indeed, and the shock of it made the girl's grip loosen, so the spindle dropped slowly to the bottom of the well. She ran to her mother, ashamed but honest, and told her all that had ...

I currently suffer from situational depression. Yay! Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to solving it, yes? Great! Now, with your depression somehow find the energy and decisiveness necessary to complete the other steps to full mental health! *claps like a Disney princess* It doesn't work like that, especially when you're uninsured. *mutters curses and naughty words* Depression isn't just being sad all the time. As a matter of fact, depression doesn't even have to mean that you're even sad very often. Depression and sadness come in hundreds of different flavors designed especially for you! Take your time! Browse! Pick the color that goes best with your eyes. In my experience (although I have not personally experienced all of these), symptoms of depression include lethargy, an inability to make basic decisions, lack of motivation, muscular aches, constant or lurking sadness, disruption of sleep patterns (insomnia, sleeping in, or compulsive napping),...

I'm not sure how I feel about the possibility of creation ex nihilo , but I am convinced that miracles happen when God has something to work with, whether it's a broken heart, or a set of lost keys. The source of the manna and quail in the wilderness remains perhaps unspecified, but when the brother of Jared approached the Lord, he had stones he had taken from the mountain (still wondering what the verb "molten" means, although it's likely enough that it means the same thing as the adjective). Jesus turned water into wine, and multiplied the loaves and fishes, but someone had to donate the water and the original bread and fish. And the faith. When God wishes to send an angel, He draws from a pool of willing souls. I bring the question, then, when we need a miracle what do we bring? It's not a simple question. I suspect that the Lord (remembering the advice of 2 Samuel, that "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams"), i...

Babylon 5 was a brilliant show that ran for five years. Unlike most shows (which may get prematurely cancelled), Babylon 5 completed a story arc so well-tied together that it must have been intended substantially from its conception. Although the show has been compared (less than favorably) with Star Trek , it never had the same "a monster a week" logic. It was deeply political, philosophical, romantic, and strategic. Some characters came and went, but all wove well into the larger tapestry. The name of the show is the name of a space station established by Earth to host other species. The captain and other officers of the crew are human, but they interact significantly with ambassadors from the Mimbari, Centauri, Narn, and Vorlon races, as well as many other less impactful groups. Soon a great enemy emerges - one of the old races called the "shadows" - and they have the creepiest looking ships I've ever seen in science fiction. The show would be very differen...

I've always been disparaging of a certain type of stagnant female. It seems to me that those women who remain single over the age of thirty-five or so lose something. They seem to me demanding, opinionated, nosy, pushy, and generally intolerable. They constantly battle bitterness for what must be imagined a general rejection from the human race (and men specifically) against the need for human contact. Their generosity and flexibility abandon them, leaving them in the clutches of an unpleasant realism. They will often become passive-agressive or openly vindictive, or they will settle into a mediocrity prescribed by their own wilting self-opinions. Perhaps they were already that way. Perhaps they travel widely, or educate themselves beyond their intelligence. They take to wearing colorful glasses with thick, plastic rims. This does not seem to be the cure. I'm halfway there. I'm not long for my twenties, and already I see things I wish were too stupid to notice. My glass is ...

Just in case you are wondering, my list of Science Fiction universes goes up to twenty-five items at least. Today's object is Farscape . The hero of the adventures is a young astronaut and physicist named John Crichton who accidentally launches himself into the other end of the universe where he meets aliens. The ruling body at that end of existence are called Peacekeepers, and they are actually quite tyranical and violent. They are also humanoid (well, from our perspective, naturally). He meets some interesting people and makes some interesting shipmates as he attempts to return home. They live as semi-symbiotic parasites on a space-going leviathan named Moya. Most characters have lovely Australian accents with a few exceptions. John speaks with an American accent, as does Dargo (an alien friend). Aeryn (the love interest) sounds British. Thus far, the accents have some historical relevance to their relative positions in the show. This dynamic only holds for shipmates; most peacek...

I have been experiencing an amazing amount of deja vu recently in one particular situation in my current (and rather over-simple) life. I have also been indulging in a reasonable amount of nostalgia, but I still do not know how or when I encountered this situation before. Sometimes deja vu is quite pleasant. It embues life with a sense of continuity, or destiny. If we think someting has happened before, we might also consider that we had forseen it in some forgotten dream. But the question that haunts me isn't about when and why and where, but what I do next. What did I do then, when I was looking at myself? How did I see myself acting? If I knew, and knew the outcome, then I am certain I could make a more informed decision. Am I the kind of person who would do it the same because I already knew how it would be? Or am I the kind of person who would try something different, risk a previous for a better result? I suppose it depends on the original result, and the original action (mor...

One of the most popular science fiction shows of the last twenty years is Stargate SG1 . It sprang as a spinnoff of the movie Stargate , but ended up with a fandom all its own and ran for ten strong seasons plus two movies. The first six seasons star Richard Dean Anderson (of MacGuyver fame) as the broody and violent Colonel Jack O'Neil. As the seasons progress, though, he loosens up and becomes one of the most endearing characters. Daniel Jackson backs off from his intense role as romantic lead, and becomes more of the moral compass/spiritual leader. Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) remains a fairly static personality, but as she was not a character included in the original movie, she did not have any previous actor portrayals to fight against. She gets bits and pieces of personal life throughout the seasons. Teal'C, a lovely character introduced in the first episodes of season 1, didn't impress me. The actor had little skill or diction, which I found frustrating. ...