Recommendation Wednesday

I haven’t done one of these in a while, so I thought it was imperative for today. After all the time I spend filling out online applications, I like to rest with books and TV. So here are a few of the things I’ve found that are really outstanding.

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Quantico

When you go into the Metro Center stop, there are posters all over the place with the characters wondering who the mole might be on this show about a brand new class of future FBI agents. I decided to check it out. No self-respecting FBI agent would probably watch it, because it’s ridiculous. And so much fun. Seriously. It starts off with a bang, literally. Two people meet on a plane and lie to each other about where they’re going, have sex in the back of a car, and then find out they’re both in the same class at the academy. So, right away there’s a possible love interest. It’s kind of like Grey’s Anatomy meets DC. It’s action-packed- car chases and the like. I’ve never wanted to work in intelligence more, but I don’t think I have the grades or the smarts to be able to keep track of that many lies at once… but they do. Also, one of the actors from Cougar Town is in it, and that is a plus in my book.

Dr. Ken

Ken Jeong went to medical school before he became a comedian, and as a doctor’s kid, I laughed so hard I fell off the couch at the first scene. He’s with his therapist, whom we later learn is his wife. But the line that got me was that he’s complaining that all his patients are horrible. It is the sitcom you never knew you needed to watch, but if you’re a doctor or in a doctor’s family, you will laugh all the way through it. For instance, he calls one patient a WebMDbag. You might have seen that commercial, but the whole scene is FANTASTIC.

The Soulkeepers Series by G. P. Ching

This is a set of liberal Christian novels that battles good and evil by making Lucifer, Fate, Time, Death, and God into real characters. I got sucked in by my friend Meg, who I don’t think realized that it would absorb me like crack. The first book is free on Amazon. Be prepared. The rest of the books are cheap, and they are quick reads. I devoured them like a six-pack of Diet Coke (a necessity for sopranos everywhere). The Soulkeepers all have different powers that they use to defeat Watchers, their term for Lucifer’s minions, and the series starts in a town about the size of Naples, the small East Texas town where I grew up. The main character is a Watcher who doesn’t really want to be a Watcher anymore, so she lives on earth and becomes a Helper to the Soulkeepers, clearly in violation of her terms, because as a fallen Watcher, she is supposed to be neutral in the fight between good and evil. I am fairly sure that this is a young adult novel, and I would recommend it for Senior High youth groups everywhere. The reason I call it liberal theology is that there are two gay Soulkeepers, and it’s not a thing. In fact, God is supportive. You’ve got to love that. Really. People from a small town dealing with the supernatural grabbed my attention right away, and there are so many twists and turns that I didn’t even try to speculate what would happen. I just let myself be carried by the ride. In particular, I think that Rev. Dan and Rev. Karakay would be as gripped as I was. Read it, y’all. Like, yesterday. Like I said, it’s crack, because the first one’s free. I will also say that I particularly identified with the main character, because I have a friend who is very much a Watcher on earth, trying to figure out what’s right and wrong depending on where she stands. That friend might be me… or it might not. Maybe it’s you. It’s interesting how much the FBI class and the fight between good and evil have in common. If you like Quantico, you’ll probably like this series.

Having a Large Backup Drive

Backup drives are cheap, and mine is 3TB. I got it for my birthday, and I don’t know how I lived without it before. I put EVERYTHING on it, because then I don’t have to worry if my computer crashes. I can just reformat it and go along about my business. Ubuntu is a bit unstable, and sometimes I can’t find the answers on my own, so I just wipe the hard drive to get rid of the errors. I should be trying to troubleshoot all this shit, but girl, I ain’t got time fo’ dat. You can do it one of two ways. The first is that you can set automatic backups of your home directory, or you can set your directories to the drive itself. I have chosen the latter option, so that nothing is stored on my hard drive in the first place. It houses all my music, videos, documents, EVERYTHING. I have hundreds and hundreds of files on it, and I still have 2.6 GB left. It will keep me for a while. I cannot stress it enough. Back up, back up, back up. If your computer does not have a USB 3.0 port, buy a new computer, unless your computer is so expensive that you’d rather just add the card. I choose to buy cheap computers so that if something goes wrong, they’re not impossible to replace. For instance, I have dual core laptop that was less than $300 bucks at Best Buy. It’s not fast enough to run many games, but is fast enough to support VirtualBox. That way, I can install Windows XP, just for nostalgia. I even have the Plus! pack. 🙂

Getting a Therapist

My friends are the greatest thing in the world to me. I couldn’t have made this time of transition without them, particularly Stephanie and Kathy, who get me out of the house and take me to do things so that I am not alone all the time, which I am wont to do. They know my shit, and they want to be around me, anyway. But there are things from my past in which I need an objective ear, someone who doesn’t have a horse in the race. She doesn’t know Dana, she doesn’t know Argo, she doesn’t know anyone in my life. She thinks it’s sweet the way I talk about both of them, and it’s nice knowing from an objective perspective that I am not necessarily the douchebag I play on national television (my nickname for this web site). There are just times when you can’t be sorry enough, and getting on with your life is excruciating…. and necessary. This is the first time I’ve really stuck with therapy since I was in the eighth grade, when the Diane issue surfaced and I needed someone to talk to, but wouldn’t actually say anything. Most of my therapy sessions were like the one in Good Will Hunting, where I watched the clock until the session ended. At that time, protecting Diane was more important than protecting myself. In the immortal words of the great philosopher Cher, if I could turn back time….

Cheerwine

Cheerwine has been around a long time, but now that I live on the East Coast, it is much easier to find (it’s made in N. Carolina, I believe). It’s a cherry cola, but way more emphasis on the cherry than the cola. It is MAGNIFICENT! If you live somewhere they don’t have it, order some off the internet. In Houston, they sell it in bottles and sometimes 12-packs at Spec’s. Go see Dana at West U. She’ll point you in the right direction. If you are into soda as much as I am, this is one you won’t want to miss. In fact, it is so popular that some delta bravo went to 7-Eleven and cleaned them out. Bought every bottle, including all the diet, and that person was not me. They have not replenished their stock, and I am spitting nails. Why didn’t I think of it first?

Caffeine Pills

Tread carefully with these, because I am sure that they are easy to abuse. One of my friends told me that she started using them instead of Ritalin, and she had to stop immediately. However, I take one a day, early in the morning, with a Diet Dr Pepper (not my favorite, but on sale). That makes it about 250 mg altogether, and as I have mentioned before, I take it between the time that my alarm goes off and the first snooze nine minutes later. That way, by the time I am ready to get into the shower, the caffeine has kicked in, and I am not tempted to go back to bed. I also don’t have to go downstairs, steep the tea, make the coffee, etc. before I take a hot, hot shower. I love doing that, too, but not in addition to what I’ve already taken. To me, it is easier to take a pill upstairs (where the shower is located), then to try and force myself to go downstairs and back up. Is it lazy? Not so much. The pill kicks in quicker than the coffee or tea, and I feel like I am ready for the day much faster than I would be otherwise. The only thing is that Larry (remember Larry?) looks at me funny when I make it to Starbucks and only want decaf.

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So that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Feel free to add more recommendations in the comments. You can also ask me to review things if you have suggestions. I am fond of weird food and drinks. Just not too much beer or other alcohols. I’ve had my fill. The only thing that’s really tasted good to me lately is a Manhattan made with rye. Otherwise, I’m good.