Tears before bedtime.

The original plan for my next blog entry was for me to talk about the concept of spirituality, beliefs in the afterlife, a saviour, an all supreme being and the nature of things that go bump in the night, but having given it some considerable thought and even gone as far as to mentally write it up, it dawned on me that it’d be another of my long-winded, getting on my soap box musings and so I thought better of it.  I don’t want to come across like I’m trying to lecture people, as I often fear that I may inadvertently do from time to time.  I guess that I should stop watching crap on YouTube because more often than not, I find myself screaming at the screen because of the asinine “facts” that are often presented as proof and I tend to think that I could use this very blog to vent my spleen in a thoughtful and reasoned reactionary manner.

What really tipped me over the edge was that The Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” crew, spearheaded by Zak Bagans, came from the States to the UK earlier this year and visited a supposed haunted location that is a mere stone’s throw from my house.  Now I’ve been to this location many times and it clearly isn’t haunted, doesn’t feel strange or other worldly as they claimed it did, but the investigating trio were practically biting at the bit at the monumental activity that they reportedly encountered.  Let’s be honest here, the proof that they presented with utter zeal, could on the whole be explained away very easily in deed as a natural, non supernatural event.

Watching the programme, it was the extremely sensationalist manner in which some very mundane happenings were forwarded as proof that really got to me, especially as they often claim to attempt to debunk events until they have no other explanation other than the supernatural.  Unfortunately, I feel that they just don’t try hard enough, even when the cause is blatantly obvious, but the most appalling thing that they do is to randomly connect the dots and make up crap on the spot with no actual backing of evidence to support their claims.  That is just unforgivable, if you ask me.

Having said all this, please don’t think that I’m bashing the crew, they seem like great guys and I do feel that their programme is more honest than the vast majority of similar shows out there, but I do feel that they get rather carried away in the emotional moment – I mean they set themselves up to find ghosts and then end up jumping at their own shadows.  In that regard, I’d love to tag along with them on one of their investigations, just so that I could bring an element of skeptical reasoning to the proceedings, but then I doubt that this would make for very good television.  The offer’s there though… Zak, Nick, Aaron – I know that you often want to challenge the sceptics on your show, how about it then?  I’m game if you are.  That said, why would you want me?  I’m a nobody… at least I’m aware of that.

Right then, moving on.

Another big step for Mana whilst on her journey through childhood.  She lost her first tooth just before bedtime on Sunday evening.  She’d been at a birthday party and had bitten into a sandwich (of all things) and really hurt her then wobbly tooth.  Unfortunately I was on the phone at the time to my mate, Doctor Jon, and so I didn’t get the message until I’d finished our chat – by which point it was time to pick her up anyway.  Back at home, I could see that it was time for the offending tooth to part company with her gums, but one moment she’d ask for me to take it out, then the next she’d be in floods of tears saying that she doesn’t want it to come out.

As her Daddy, I tried my best to comfort her through this huge and unsettling event.  I could see little droplets of blood forming around her tooth, and of course knowing that she’s not good with seeing her own claret, I suggested to her that I should “dry” her tooth and gums because she was beginning to generate more saliva than usual because of her upset nature.  Thing is, that is what I was actually doing, dabbing blood, not saliva as I told her, but as I did it for the third or fourth time, I felt this little “poink” (technical and medical term there) and I realised that I had her tooth in my hand.  I just turned away to make sure that this was the case and sure enough, there was her little gnasher between my fingers and she still hadn’t realised, so I didn’t mention it.  It was only when she felt the gap with her tongue that she realised… a moment of stunned silence, a laugh, then more tears.  Eventually she got over it and the very next morning, she found that she’d been given a nice shiny gold coin by the tooth fairy.  Sorted – and one very happy girl who couldn’t wait to show everyone her new “Big Girl” smile.

In other family news, the same day that Mana received her coin, Alex received a massive bump to his head while I was chatting to one of our regular commentors here, Morethanatimelord.  So, off I went to see what all the deal was and there for all to see was a lump about the size of a sprout, protruding from just above his temple, right in the hair line.  As usual, he’d done his trick of trying to run in front of people while they’re in mid stride and he ended up crashing into the door frame – you know, cause and effect at its best.  So then, bag of frozen peas applied to the lump for 20 minutes on, 10 minutes off and then 20 minutes on again, followed by some special cream and ultimately “Mount Etna” reduced itself to “Ben Nevis” and as of today, you could say that it’s a bit of a gentle hill, seeing as we’re using geographical terms today.  The big difference with him to his elder sister is that when something unfortunate happens to him, he’ll cry momentarily, then carry on as if nothing had happened, while Mana could cry and whinge for hours, even over a paper cut!

Speaking of our friend Morethanatimelord there, I had the pleasure of his company a weekend or so ago for a couple of hours as he was in the area and it was great to finally meet with him face to face after all these years.  Nice one, we’ll have to do it again some time, but hopefully by then I’ll have some finished props to show you, rather than the “wrecks” that you did see.

And finally, Doctor Who returned to our screens last Saturday.  I didn’t get to see the episode properly until yesterday and I have to say that on the whole, I was impressed.  I know that many fans have complained bitterly about the fact that we were promised the much-lauded “Every Dalek Ever” making an appearance in this anniversary season Dalek story and subsequently didn’t when it came down to it, though a couple of ”classic” versions were seen fleetingly in the shadowy background, but their apparent absence was such a devilish crime of the highest order that ultimately this act of willful neglect made the showrunner, Steven Moffat, a massive liar in their eyes – how dare he let us down in this fashion?!

Well chaps, just chill, calm down and don’t blame him – it wasn’t his fault, blame the director if you have to and the severe lack of communication between the various departments that make the show.  The classic Daleks were meant to be seen where you think they should have been, but for some reason they just weren’t – and it has absolutely nothing to do with the props not being “HD ready” as some fans have claimed.  Bullshit, the majority of them were fan builds and were perfectly “HD Ready” it’s just that through a lack of clarification that they got overlooked and not placed before the cameras where they were intended to be as per the script.

And there, my friends, I shall end it for today.  Stay happy!

About these ads

~ by PurpleBlancmange on September 5, 2012.