The calm before the storm...

I got up at my usual early hour this morning. I don't know whether it was the excitement of the day, or the result of a really toss-and-turn kind of night on the bed. Right now, it's a bit after 2 pm locally, and I'm not feeling tired, so maybe I just imagined a so-so night. Yikes.

I decided to go for a long walk this morning, "long" in this context being a half-hour out and then back. I'm sure it's my imagination, but my wind seems better today. I've spent the better part of the day so far revising a web site gratis for the ATA Slavic Languages Division. It's not a very splashy job, but it's solid and delivers what it's intended to deliver. If nothing else, it has served as a fine "warm-up" for revising my own web site, which now must proffer a professional face to the world.

There are, of course, a million things to do at any given time around here, and I'll not bore the world by listing them all. Let's just say I should probably go take care of the items that, if left untended, will soon pose a health risk to me and the surrounding community.

All activity must, however, cease by the start of tonight's season premiere of The X Files, which for some strange reason is about the only show on the air that I care about, at least to the extent that I know it's shown on Sunday nights on the local Fox affiliate.

Cheers...

The writers still have it...

The X Files ended a few minutes ago and, for a season premiere episode, it's pretty good. Even if Mulder is kinda out of the picture, having been abducted by aliens at the end of last season.

The fellow that's been insinuated into the opening credits - Robert Patrick - did a creditable job of John Doggett, who's been put in charge of investigating Mulder's disappearance. I remember Patrick best, perhaps, for his role as the advanced T-1000 android in Terminator 2, and he's aged well.

Interesting item: a look at the Internet Movie Database shows Patrick to have apparently appeared on the show during the 1993 season, in the role of Doggett. Dip me in oil, but I don't remember him. Then again, I only really started to keep up with the show after I moved to Houston (those Albuquerque stations don't travel very far into Colorado).

Tonight's episode was classic Carter: conflict, conflict, and then - for variety - even more conflict. Not only was there no resolution to squat, but more and more complexity as you go along. Multiple opportunities for mind games all hour long. It works well, and is one of the reasons I like the show. Mark Twain once said, "the difference between truth and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." Carter's show puts Twain's observation on its ear.

Cheers...