(no subject)

[listersgirl]

My cable disappeared for good at some point last night. I only discovered it when I went to watch Entourage at 10, and discovered that CityTV was all static, unlike Global and CBC, which I had been watching earlier. And it took me a few minutes to remember that I'd actually asked for this, since that was in July.

So, with the cable line still in, I have perfectly clear TVO, Global, OMNI, CBC, and Sun. Everything else is a whiteout. Not what I was expecting. I kind of thought it'd be fuzzy CBC, Global, CTV and City. Maybe with the cable out?

The round-up of what is still watchable from all the TV I've gotten myself sucked into:

Doctor Who, CBC, yes
Prison Break, Global, yes
Heroes, Global, yes
Entourage, City, no (but not a big loss because it's on DVD already)

Rick Mercer, CBC, yes
Intelligence, CBC, yes (and let me just take a moment to say how much I'm loving this -- I read a review that said it was for people who love The Wire and MI-5, which, HI. It's set in Vancouver, about a guy who runs an enormous drug operation and the police department who is trying to stop him. But he becomes sort of an informant for them instead, because the director is highly ambitious and is using him to get herself into a position of power in CSIS. It's all very dark and low-key and about the power of knowledge.)

America's Next Top Model, City, no (SADNESS)
Lost, CTV, no (which would be EVIL, except that I've been watching it with sarcasma and sanity_clause every week anyway, so I'm good as long as they keep letting me in the house)

Ugly Betty, City, no (it's fun, but I'll live)
CSI, CTV, no (wow - I've been watching this since the beginning. No more Warrick and Greg!)

The Hour, CBC, yes

And the most evil of all: Studio 60, CTV, NO. My Sorkin! Gone forever!

I'll definitely have to see what happens when I unplug the cable.


1. I am getting SO MUCH e-mail that's for other people with my name. It's getting a little ridiculous. Receipts, course handbooks, party invitations. And they're not even all for the *same* person with my name.

2. On Thanksgiving Sunday I got a bad sunburn from being outside for most of the day in sandals and a tank-top (so warm!). Later that week it snowed. OH TORONTO.

3. Heroes really has the best show ending moments of anything ever. Other shows should pay attention.

4. I am finding the internet stressful and depressing. Not LJ, but other blogs that I read and other news feeds that I follow. This is because everyone seems to either a) hate the organization I work for, b) think the organization I work for sucks mightily, c) think the organization I work for is completely irrelevant, or d) predict that the organization I work for is going to disappear completely. I am full of angst! And there's nothing I can do about it, because I am not in a position to decide policy of any type. So I am trying to avoid reading things.

5. My mom's operation went just fine. She had Frankenstein stitches around her eyes for a week (just a little too early for Hallowe'en), and now she can open her eyes all the way. She's very excited.

Those of you who live far away from your parents - do you find that you get information in an oddly out-of-proportion way? In the weekly phone calls with the parents, I get lots of detail about what plays and operas they've seen, who came into the store, who said hi, what's being made for dinner, but major things often get left out or brought up really casually. And I don't think it's deliberate - in fact, I think I do the same thing. I guess we all just forget that we haven't mentioned things before. It's odd.

Comments

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you don't get City! How bizarre. Maybe if you got some bunny-ears? I mean, they're broadcasting from a building we can practically SEE. Sheesh.

Come watch Studio 60 with us! Pleeeease?

Re parents: My parents just got back from a three-week cruise -- their first and possibly only cruise ever -- that took them all around the bottom of North America, from LA to Miami, passing through the Panama Canal. They called when they got home and I now know the menus from every single day and hardly anything about the things they saw and did on the way (and I know they didn't just sit around and eat, easy as that would be to do on a cruise). In terms of Important Life Stuff, I do think they keep it from me intentionally, because they don't want to talk about stressful things or cause me stress. I think this because I do the same thing to them. "Everything's great! What are you having for dinner?"

[listersgirl]

Maybe this is a skill you learn as a parent - how to make everything About the Menu. Of course, my parents also have the tendency to go away, and not tell me until they get back.

And I'm not going to turn down an invitation for Sorkiny goodness at your house. We could always watch before/after Lost -- or, you know, whenever. :)

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we've watched the last few on Monday night or so (s_c usually has a project of DOOOOOM eating his brain on Sunday nights) but we might be able to hold off till Wednesday. Or whatever, we'll work something out. Sorkiny goodness = hurray.

Speaking of which, could we borrow your Sports Night DVD at some time? We keep having these "evolution of the Sorkin" discussions and I feel that some review is in order.

[listersgirl]

Absolutely on the DVDs.

[sanity-clause.livejournal.com]

You know what I'd suggest about the cable? I think you should go to Active Surplus one day during your lunch break, and buy an antenna from there. ;) With a decent antenna, you should be able to pick up all of the broadcast channels. That may be what's happening now (using the cable as an antenna), though I guess it's possible that a few cable channels have squeaked through the frequency block that they've put in place.

This is supposedly the best type of indoor antenna out there: . Only at Active Surplus, they cost less than $60.

[listersgirl]

Gosh, I know SOMEBODY who's day I'd probably make if I asked him to find one for me. :D Of course, then I'd have to listen to him talk about it for the next 27 thousand years...

I'm going to check what happens without the cable line in when I get home, and then I'll probably go for the antenna.

[sanity-clause.livejournal.com]

Well, that SOMEBODY could be me! I'll only talk about it for 17 thousand years, I promise.

Seriously, lunch, tomorrow? :) Get you set up in time for ANTM?

[listersgirl]

I could probably even manage by myself. It can't be *that* scary, right? ;)

Let me check what's up tonight when I get home.

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone who has made one solo trip to Active Surplus, it can indeed be that scary.

Take the offer of company while it's good, for reals.

[sanity-clause.livejournal.com]

Of course you can! It's just hard to have lunch with me, without, er, me.

But yes, experiments tonight, electronics tomorrow. That's almost the best kind of 24-hour plan.

[listersgirl]

Hee! True. Lunch without you is just...lnch.

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

While she's at Active Surplus, she could see if the Active Surplus gorilla is really gone!

[listersgirl]

*That* would be the end of an era, for sure.

[canirl.livejournal.com]

I'm noticing lately that my mother is a) repeating herself a lot and b)yes, just like yours, focussing on trivial stuff. I know wayyyy tooo much about her household redecoration project and what the neighbor's children are doing. And these are neighbors I've only ever met at my dad's funeral! But I'm equally guilty of the big-things-in-a-casual-way, so I can't really complain. I just forget what I've told people/assume that everyone is psychic.

[listersgirl]

She's probably still not used to not having someone around to randomly talk at all day long, so you get all the trivialities. :D

[xiz111.livejournal.com]

I suspect the talking about the menu/weather/etc is a bit
of an instinctive reflex that parents have to protect
their kids from bad news .. a hard habit to break, evidently.

Like .. blah, blah, weather, blah, blah, make roast beef for dinner, blah, blah .. oh, by the way the house was broken into and all our valuables were stolen .. blah, blah, supposed to rain tomorrow ...

At which point you're probably going .. 'Whaaa??? .. back up, there!'


As for the uncertainties of your employer .. well, I found this, that
might give you a chuckle, if nothing else ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKCVOyx2pms&eurl=

[listersgirl]

That, and I think my parents are still trying to pretend that I live there, after 7 years, so conversations tend to be like the conversations you have with someone you see every day.

(And that! That is one of my favourite bits.)

[hardcormier.livejournal.com]

I am finding the internet stressful and depressing

Don't let the bastards get you down! I quite like your organization and think that, all things considered, it does many things well. Plus, I can't see it going away any time soon.

[listersgirl]

I don't see it disappearing either, at least not completely, but maybe being chopped down, piece by piece.

Can you tell the mood around here is not that hopeful lately?

[emiline.livejournal.com]

Would you like my set of bunny ears? I got CTV really well with them when I was across the street from you. And City and CBC and I'm sure other stuff, but those are pretty much the only channels I watched. They're just sitting in a closet right now, and I doubt I'll use them ever again, so they're yours if you want them.

And I totally find out about the important family things in really random ways. Like, everyone else in my family knew about my cousin's upcoming divorce, but I found out when my sister started joking about how she's been married longer than he has. But I can definitely tell you all about my mother's B&B guests, no problem! I think with my family, it might be forgetting that they haven't told me, since they've already told my brother and sister.

[listersgirl]

Thank you for the offer! Let me poke around with the system tonight.

That's totally how I found out about my mom's surgery - she was positive that she'd told me what was happening, when all I knew about was the reference in the middle of her talking about her book club.

[globetrotter1.livejournal.com]

I like your employer, although I tend to listen and watch its French counterpart more often. I do, however, watch Rick. Haven't gotten around to watching George again because it's late (whose idea was that to air it at 11 pm? Oh, I just realized I can watch in online the day after. Sweet.). I have been watching Rumours just to see if they are doing a good job with it (my favourite show on SRC). Must check out Intelligence now.

MI-5: season 4 is out on DVD in January.

Riiiiiiick

[listersgirl]

How is Rumours?

Season 4! Yay! I'm very curious to see what happens, after all the changes in season 3.

Re: Riiiiiiick

[globetrotter1.livejournal.com]

It's not bad! It's pretty much exactly the same as the French sitcom (the French sitcom took a few weeks to find its legs, so I'm finding it is the same with the English one). Their website cracks me up: http://www.cbc.ca/rumours/

Re: Riiiiiiick

[globetrotter1.livejournal.com]

It's Rick's birthday today!

[goblinshark.livejournal.com]

My mother does that. She called yesterday to tell me all about cleaning the house, and getting her stiches out. Then at the end she jsut dropped in that she and Dad are driving down to Tennessee next week, for an unspecified amount of time.

[sh1mm3r.livejournal.com]

My Mom's favorite phonecall trick (always at the beginning):

"Remember Mr. So and So? He died."

[listersgirl]

Oh dear!

[cloud-hands.livejournal.com]

My mother's particular favorite is to tell me all about whatever upcoming trip is next in excruciating detail. I will here all about the details of how she got a good deal on the car rental, whether each hotel includes breakfast or not and the minute details of everyone she may or may not visit on the way, whether I've ever heard of them or not. Then, six months later (because she is a planner) after she gets back from her trip she will call up and yell at me for not calling my Dad while she was gone. Only problem is she forgot to tell me when she was actually going. She will then give my a blow by blow account of exactly what she ate for every meal.

[listersgirl]

Hee! Oh, parents.

[iseult-variante.livejournal.com]

Wow... I would feel all naked without CTV. CBC, CTV and Global, otherwise I feel strange. Also - I miss City, like, a lot, because they would show me CW shows. In fricking Quebec I have to wait until it airs two hours later (or even later after baseball) on Fox. RRR.

(How awesome was Heroes last night? SO AWESOME! Yes, I know I've said this to you already, but it BEARS REPEATING!)

Also - my parents have deliberately kept something from me once, but that was highly stressful info in the middle of exams in undergrad. So only for about a week. Otherwise, I think it's just benign forgetting, and thinking that I've already been told. We talk on the phone very often, so sometimes there's, "Hi! ... I don't really have anything new. Um. *trivial things* *reference to unknown important thing* What? We hadn't talked about that already?"

Although I still joke about the time I went home, and everyone was out, and they'd CHANGED THE GARAGE CODE without telling me, so I had to sit outside. ;)

[listersgirl]

Yes, my parents changed the locks on the front door while I was living in Montreal, forgot to tell me, and I *still* don't have a key. A few years ago my flight home for Christmas was ridiculously delayed because of lightning storms - I was supposed to get in at 10 pm and I ended up getting in at 4 am - and my parents said, well, we're going to bed, get a cab in from the airport. Which was fine until I got there and they'd locked the doors and I didn't have a key!

[bureinato.livejournal.com]

Yay! I got the tea you sent about a week ago. And I had a friend over that day so we drank the sour cherry green tea and it was fabulous.

[listersgirl]

Oh, good! Fabulous.