Tired? Stressed?

You'll feel better on a luxury omelette of potato, cherry tomato and chorizo.  Just microwave a potato for 5 mins while you mix eggs and milk and heat a pan.  Smash the cooked potato in the pan, distribute tomatoes and chorizo slices, let them brown a little then add the egg.

Ender's Game

I finally caught Ender's game from a Hoyt's Kiosk vending machine. (These are surprisingly good, by the way.)  It was a classic adaptation from a too-rich book - lots of moments that were important reduced to a single scene or maybe two, and a little egregious dumbing down of space battles.  Asa Butterfield was very good, but too big to produce the pathos required at certain points, especially when Bonzo was so tiny.  The Giant's Drink was used well.  A loving adaptation that struggled to stuff the book into contemporary film conventions - I would certainly look at a 'director's cut' with interest.

The Cold Equations

I read about a discussion of misogyny in sf that cited a story called "The Cold Equations" in which a lonely watch keeper in an interstellar transport found a young woman stowing away.  Since they would be unable to get to there destination with her additional mass, the cold equations demanded she be cast adrift.  The discussion focused on the fact that this seemed more like a contrivance to justify pushing a girl out an air lock than an exciting tale of science overcoming all.  I actually think science overcoming love and life is a pretty serious subject, but there is definitely misogyny afoot.

This morning I've been window shopping for technology. I seem to need a DVD drive update, and was considering a bluray player ($64), or burner ($82) rather than a straight DVD rewriter ($20).  Also useful might be a 'Ethernet over power' kit ($50-$65).  But I need to keep in mind that any money not paid on the mortgage will be paid three times or more.  The $130 will become $500, which is another half a week at work. And those items are just the beginning - there's always another project. Not that I don't love my job, but at some point these projects need to be pushed out an airlock.

Dream journal

I am on the deck of a massive trawler that has caught a monstrous sea squid. I have my little son with me.  I explain the tentacles and the fronds, differentiating them from the looping entrails that are meters in diameter now being hooked out.  Then the sea convulses and it is clear their is a lot more fight in this monster. My son has got a fright and I feel like I should have been more prepared.