Let It Rain (UPDATED x 2)

Posted on February 6, 2014 by wellsdc

Georges Biard [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Philip Seymour Hoffman, as you’ve no doubt heard by now, died of an apparent drug overdose last weekend at the age of 46. He had struggled with addiction for years, been sober for decades, and only relatively recently relapsed. To say he was a talented actor seems a ridiculous understatement, but at the same time, to lament the loss of his talent seems insensitive and trite at the moment.

(The title of this post is a line from Along Came Polly, which I just watched for the first time the other day. While it is far from a great movie, it is classic Hoffman.)

The news of his death hit me pretty hard, certainly harder than any other celebrity death in recent years. Maybe it’s because we’re close to the same age, or maybe it’s because I identify with the tubby, socially awkward archetype he often portrayed. Maybe it’s because I’ve lost people to addiction and other demons, some quite recently.

Maybe I feel a profound impact from this, not because his death seems so senseless (even though it does), but because I can envision a scenario in which it would seem to make perfect sense. I have been fortunate in that my issues with addiction have not threatened me in such a critical way, but I am still a recovering addict who knows how quickly the real world can slip away.

I started collecting articles written about him, and about the issues he has brought to light, since last weekend. They represent some of the best ways to respond to such a tragedy, and a few of the worst. Continue reading →

Football and Me: A Story of Indifference

Posted on February 2, 2014 by wellsdc

By vectorbelly.com

When I was in college, a guy in my dorm wrote a column in the school newspaper’s sports page (which is, remarkably, available online) describing Texas football as a religion:

Growing up here, I have come to the conclusion that football is the official state religion of Texas.

Many Southern Baptists might disagree with me on this point, but I have yet to see a church that holds 60,000 followers or that has carpet which rivals the colorful plushness of Astro-Turf.

Football is as ingrained in our culture as the sacred word “y’all.” To a native Texan, a football stadium is a cathedral to which he must diligently make a pilgrimage on weekends.

Football is a faith with three holy days a week. The fall season means high school games on Friday nights, college games on Saturday afternoons, and professional games on Sundays.

I always thought that was a great observation, but if football really is a religion in Texas, then it is another way that I am an atheist.

Today being Super Bowl Sunday & all, it seemed like a good day to mention it. Or not. Whatever.

I’ve tried to like football. I really, really tried. I’ll watch a game and enjoy it now and then, but that’s not what I mean. Despite my descent from a long and proud line of Texas Longhorns, and despite more than 14 years of living within a few miles of Darrell K. Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium itself, I have never truly bled burnt orange. I might have watched the ‘Horns win the National Championship in 2006, but I was a fair-weather fan to my very core.

By Eric R from Scranton, PA, USA (2006 Rose Bowl Celebration) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

This was pretty f-ing epic, though.

It’s not just the Longhorns, either. I cared a bit about the Rice Owls in college, but students paid for tickets with their tuition and the student section never filled up, so why the hell not? Everyone who was there at the time remembers October 16, 1994, the moment when everyone was united, if only for one day, in passionate Rice Owls fandom.

I never much cared about the Cowboys, and I was neither happy nor sad when the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee. I cared some about my high school team (Go Mules!), but at least there I actually knew some of them.

At some point, I finally accepted that I just don’t care about football, and social conventions be damned, I can’t force myself to be more interested. YMMV. Continue reading →

The Downside of Working from Home, Texas Winter Edition

Posted on January 24, 2014 by wellsdc

First of all, this is what passes for a “snow day” in Austin, Texas:

The patio furniture is having fond memories of its native Sweden.

Do you know what the street value of this deck is???

We could lie down and make, uh, icy dirt angels.

Do I get to sit on the couch, wrapped in a Snuggie, eating bonbons until it’s deemed safe to drive to work? No, because:

I don’t have any bonbons;
I don’t own a Snuggie, although I do have some nice blankets; and
My office is in the same building as the couch where I would sit and eat bonbons, if I had any, so my daily commute never requires me to leave the area serviced by our HVAC system.

On the other hand, I still don’t have to wear pants if I don’t wanna.

The Single-Minded Quest of the Dog

Posted on January 23, 2014 by wellsdc

Nothing is going to stop her from getting that fly. The computer was a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.

(The computer is fine, by the way.)

(She never caught the fly.)

Your Life Can Still Suck Even If You Have Privilege

Posted on January 9, 2014 by wellsdc

One of the most difficult concepts for me in coming to understand my own privilege (PDF file) is the idea that you can have privilege in society and still be miserable. I don’t even have much of anything to complain about from society’s standpoint—I was born a white, mid-to-upper-middle-class, heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied, reasonably-conventionally-attractive male. (I had never even heard the word “cisgender” until about two years ago, and my iPhone autocorrect still doesn’t seem to know it.) The only areas where I might lack privilege (atheism and mental health) are not immediately apparent to people who don’t know me, and haven’t seriously impacted my life (mostly because of the areas where I am privileged).

Whatever struggles I have had in my life, I’ve always had the benefit of financial support, access to good health care, and everything else that comes with the various categories I listed above. I’m not saying this to brag, but rather to say that I’m very, very lucky, and to illustrate that the challenge for me and others like me, when it comes to privilege, is understanding and acknowledging all the ways it has helped me while doing what I can to make things better (or at least not make them worse.) This mostly involves shutting up and listening.

A blog post by Gina Crosley-Corcoran entitled “Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person…” (h/t Elizabeth) captures the seeming conflict between white privilege and actual lived experience: Continue reading →

New Year’s Boogaloo, I Mean, Resolution (UPDATED)

Posted on January 1, 2014 by wellsdc

My wife and I decided to spend New Year’s Eve watching ~~crappy~~ distinctive movies. She suggested we watch the classic 1984 film Breakin’, but we couldn’t find it on any streaming service (plus, I distrust any and all torrenting services ever since I thought I was downloading a Simpsons episode but actually got…..nope, still don’t wanna talk about it.) I was able to find Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo on Netflix Instant, but was too tired, and still recovering from a cold—I suggested we watch it on New Year’s Day instead.

Here’s the catch, of course: my assumption was that just because a movie is available for streaming today it’ll still be available tomorrow, and sometimes there’s no reason to assume that. It was removed from Netflix Instant today.

We were still able to watch it by signing up for a free Amazon Prime trial, but I think the lesson is clear here: Never hesitate should an opportunity present itself. It’s not much of a New Year’s resolution, but resolutions are stupid anyway.

UPDATE (01/01/2014): After about an hour of techno-wrangling, we were able to watch the original Breakin’ via YouTube streamed to the TV.

Photo credit: Via boxofficeprophets.com.

Take this Quiz, Y’All

Posted on December 28, 2013 by wellsdc

My accent or dialect is closest to that found in Irving, Texas, or Baton Rouge or New Orleans, Louisiana, according to a New York Times quiz.

I find this a bit odd, considering I’ve never lived in any of those cities, and Irving, as part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, is a place I specifically endeavor to avoid. The map suggests that my dialect is common to much of Texas, though, so I guess it’s okay. Continue reading →

Famous Fictional ENFP’s

Posted on December 27, 2013 by wellsdc

I don’t put much stock in the Myers-Briggs personality test—I rate them somewhere above palm readers, but below tarot cards. I do occasionally find it intriguing to see what anonymous researchers summarize about me. Someone has compiled a list of fictional characters based on their Myers-Briggs type, using a methodology they describe as “the best guesses of lots of fans” (h/t Michelle).

For those unfamiliar with the test, you can read about it Continue reading →

Music from Space

Posted on December 12, 2013 by wellsdc

Thanks to my wife buying a new Subaru with built-in satellite radio and a trial subscription, I was able to get a device for free to put in my 9 year-old clunker (by comparison) of a car. The radio arrived in the mail today.

That’s right, folks.

Shit’s about to get Sirius.

Reason No. 94,560 Why My Dog is Awesome

Posted on July 30, 2013 by wellsdc

She wants to share the toy with May, but I guess she just lacks the muscle memory to let go of it once she’s got it.

Cryptic Philosopher

We Ahve Bigger Tinhgs to Worry Abuot Than Speling

Category Archives: Personal