A Valentine's Day Poem

Because -- shock! -- yes, sometimes I deign to write poetry. When the mood strikes.

And it has thusly struck!

Behold, it might not actually suck.

I think?


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The Moonrise Shine in Your Eyes

by David J. Batista

Lower your gaze,

should you need

a reprieve

from the dream,

shared,

of handheld walks

through sunripe’d fields

and sideways glances,

remembrances,

once upon that time

so long ago.

Embraces never shared;

a lingering touch

yearned for,

but never granted.

I saw it in your eyes,

that promise of ours,

when we were young

in the Spring of our lives,

drawn to the flame

of a beating heart

waiting to be heard.

Sweetheart, lift your gaze.

See the dream of me, the

man I might yet be,

in the shape of the shy boy

who saw you from afar,

for who you are,

and loved you

in the waking, sweet soft

whisper of dawn.

See sunset passions

settle like songbird wings

upon waiting boughs,

while we walk hand in hand

into the Twilight rising tall,

like a Hall

of endless discovery.

Exploring fingertips,

brushing,

touching bated lips, the

lingering scent of azure dreams

pressed in my arms

as I cradle

your sweet kiss.

Remember how we swung

from the tree, so full of glee,

the laughter of our friendship

wrapped in a cocoon

of love waiting

on butterfly wings

to burst free

like silken threads

of a past never realized?

Darling, I remember.

Linked hand in hand

in that Twilight gaze, the

moonrise shine in your eyes.

The need for you – oh,

how I needed you!

To drink in your sorrow,

and breathe into your soul,

the hope of what we were to be

when our one day should come.

See it before you, my love,

for the boy you knew,

who loved the girl you were,

is now the man who sees

the light in your eyes;

twin mirrors of the

promise our hearts made

once upon that time.

Happy July!

Ugh!

So here we are, in the thick of summer. My least favorite season. And as a new month begins, as if to really hammer the point home, we've had one of the hottest days here in New York that we've had in quite some time. It reached 100 degrees today. Arrghhh!! I'm so mad. That is just not civilized weather for this part of the world. And this was actually the 3rd day of 90-degree+ temps here, with two more still to go. It's official: we're in a heat wave!

Yay.

Still, I'm trying not to let it get me too down. Luckily our Independence Day is this Wednesday, so that's nice. The holiday will help break up the week, plus I'm taking an additional two days off after to give myself a really long weekend. That helps improve my mood greatly. Although, it will still be ass-crack hot in this city during those days, but at least I can go to a movie or something. Someplace indoors with copious amounts of AC.

Anyway, how are you all doing? Pleas let me know. I hope you're off enjoying holidays of your own, wherever you are.

I'm going to try to use this month to do more writing on my spare time. And, sure, I'll get in a little photography here and there. I'm debating whether I should splurge to upgrade to a new camera. It's going to cost me over $800, and I'm just procrastinating over pulling the trigger on such an expensive purchase. I mean, I already have a camera, right? I've been using it pretty heavily for the past 3 years, but alas I just feel I've maxed out its limitations. It's really meant for an amateur, and I feel that my skills have taken me beyond that level by now. I guess I have a few weeks with which to make a decision. Dilemma, dilemma.

Speaking of which, I took this photo of myself in my apartment just to test out a few new editing techniques. Pardon the flexing, I'm not great at posing myself and I didn't really know what to do with my hands. Also, I had just finished watching the new season of Luke Cage on Netflix, so was feeling a little "extra" with myself, LOL!

Stay tuned this week as I'm working on a long travel piece about my trip to the rainforest of Panama. It will basically be a day-by-day account of all the fun I had and adventures I went on while vacationing alone in the province of Bocas del Toro. There will be plenty of pics!

So anyway, that's going to be coming here to this space soon. But in the meantime -- I hope you're all having a great summer so far!

Awkwaaaard!

So, I went to the movies the day after New Year's. Here's what happened at the concession stand:

Cutie Cashier: "Here's your change. Enjoy the movie!"
Me: "Thanks, you too."
CC: *laughs at me*
Me: *laughs at me, too*
Me: "I mean ... heh ... You have a good day, too. I mean, er ... Happy New Year?"

*smacks forehead*

Don't you hate it when that happens? Funny thing is, I wasn't even flummoxed or anything. I didn't stammer because the cashier happened to be extremely hot. To be honest, with the mood I've been in as of late, I barely even acknowledged her hotness. I just get so accustomed to blanket responding with "Thanks, you too" to every non-personal human interaction I have out in public. It's a bad habit I need to break.

On the plus side, cashier girl did say I was cute. That kinda, sorta made my day. And this time, I did *not* say "Thanks, you too" by way of response. Although--damn it! I totally should have, right?

Well, let no one confuse me for being suave.

Anyway . . .

HAPPY 2016, people!!! I hope you have a good one!

As usual, my New Year's Eve sucked big time. I spent it at home all by my lonesome. It's always a sad time for me since it is the 30th anniversary of the single most tragic event to happen in my life, and that means the holiday will never be the same for me as it is for everyone else.

But, you know, some day this decade I would like to spend it with someone special. That's all.

In related news ... yes, my love life sucks. I've been dealt a severe blow in that department this holiday season (why do all such bad things happen then?), and it's forcing me to reevaluate my priorities. Or, more specifically, to reevaluate ME!

What have I come up with so far? Well, not much really. But I'm starting to get the feeling that I might need a change in scenery.

I'm not there yet, but I'm currently contemplating whether I should look into picking up and moving to another part of the country. I recently visited my brother in Houston, and I have to say it's left me with a lot to think about. I never thought the day would ever come that I would seriously consider Texas as a place to live, but H-Town left a good impression on me. I mean, sure, I seriously cannot deal with hot weather and humidity -- but isn't that what AC was invented for? Like I said, I'm not quite packing up the moving truck and putting in notice at work just yet. But who knows . . .

Met a long time online blogger friend while in H-Town.

Or, I could just move to Vermont like I always wanted to. That would be nice. A state more in keeping with my seasonal climate needs. I'm very comfortable in that state, being that I lived there for 4 years during college. But unlike Houston, I have absolutely no family there in VT. Or friends, for that matter.

So, I'm not sure yet where I should go. But I do know that I might have to leave New York someday soon. More and more my ties here are weakening.

But enough of that (for now).

I'll leave you all on this one happy note. My photography seems to be getting better and better with the more practice I commit to the hobby. Just recently this particular photo has been garnering a lot of praise and attention in online circles:

I shot this back in mid-October whilst practicing my nighttime photography skills (again) in the Brooklyn Heights section of the city (again). This is the Manhattan Bridge, and I took it while standing in the freezing cold (for October) and what seemed to be gale force winds. I had to struggle to keep the tripod stable long enough for the super long exposure I needed to achieve this shot.

But hey, pretty nifty, eh? I mean, if I do say so myself! What I really love about this photo--besides the awesome color palette and that super shiny, creamy looking water surface--is that you can spy the very tip of the Empire State Building peeking out of the skyline there in the background. It was lit up purple on this night, but I have no idea why. The ESD lights up with different colors depending on which noble cause or person the city is commemorating on any given night. Or perhaps the lighting person in charge likes the artist, Prince, a lot?

Who knows. But, yeah ... so apparently a lot of people love this particular photo. And that makes me feel all tingly proud inside! I'm thinking of having it blown out to hang on my wall at home. What do you think?

So, Houston ... It Looks Like I Will Be In You Soon!

No, not in the biblical way. Har, har.

I know it seems rather last minute, but in fact I've been planning to visit my younger brother for some time now. He's lived in Houston since 2003, and in all that time no one from our family has ever stopped by to visit. That changes this Christmas season!

True, it will only be myself visiting him for the holidays, but that counts for something! I haven't seen my little bro since his Vegas wedding back in 2012. The wedding was supposed to take place in Houston, but the venue got changed to Sin City rather abruptly and so the fam never did get the chance to visit his fair city.

My bro and I at his wedding.

So here's my dilemma:

Houston peeps, what the hell is there to DO in your neck of the woods? Keep in mind that I'm from New York City, so it could be that I'm rather spoiled of course. But try as I might, I just can't figure out anything to wile away my time with while I'm there. I'm going to be in the Katy/Houston area for 6 days--from mid-week on through the weekend and beyond. I won't say when exactly, but you can probably guess considering the time of year and all.

So, can you help a fella out? Any suggestions?

I have to say, I'm really liking the weather in Houston this time of year. Nothing but 60s and 70s to be seen. Occasionally a few 80s, even. Whoa! So, I guess this really is the only time of year when the city is not sitting in a thick pea soup of humid hotness, eh? NICE!!!

So, there you have it. I'll be hopping on a jet plane shortly. It looks like the flight is only 4 hours. I've been on longer day drives to upstate New York. All right!!! You know, I think this will be the shortest flight I've taken in over a decade. Even the Vegas one was longer!

And, naturally, if any of you would care to meet up during my brief stay in your city -- you know how to get in touch with me.

Or, you know, just drop a comment in the box below. That works.

More To Say On Introversion

*gulp* It's getting tight in here. Halp!!!

At the very tail end of 2014, I wrote this blog entry describing why "I am the way I am." Among other things, I took the time in said entry to go on about this idea of introversion. About how it's not the absence of social skill, nor is it the fear of interaction. But in fact, an introvert is someone who feels drained of energy when interacting with large groups of people in a social setting. Particularly if those people are not close loved ones or friends.

I've been thinking about that blog entry a lot because of a recent experience I had over the 3-day holiday weekend. While attending a BBQ/cookout being thrown by my sweetheart's parents at her childhood home this Labor Day, a bunch of us started debating the latest big-issue topics of the day. Stuff like Transgenderism, Black Lives Matter, the Kardashians ... and other very important subjects. Now, I must preface all that I'm about to say by first revealing that these people are all close to me. They're like my second family, and I've known them for going on two decades now.

The 12 Nights of Christmas-Not Flims

Now then, this is the time of year I look forward to the most! No, not so much because of the holidays, although those are nice. No, the real cause for my excitement is the fact that I usually take the last two weeks off from work, thus commencing a long stretch of doing absolutely NOTHING! Call it a harken back to the days when I was just a school kid and we used to get 3-week recesses, I suppose. My brain is just hard-wired to taking half the month of December off after having done it for most of my life. You know how it is.

For the most part I tend to use this time off to relax. In addition to shunning the office job, I also take a break from my daily workouts and refrain from the pursuit of any task or situation that will cause me stress. So in other words, I basically watch a lot of tv, play a lot of video games, eat a lot of (bad) food I don't normally allow myself to eat during the rest of the year -- and devise movie marathons. 

Oh yeah!!!

This is probably what I associate most with this time of year, watching movies. And not just movies that are out in theaters at the end of the year, although I do make it a point to catch all the Oscar-bait films currently out. I'm talking about home theater viewing, you see? One year I had a Lord of the Rings marathon that took all day and into the wee hours of morning to slog through. But it was so much fun! Another staycation, I binged on Spaghetti Westerns. See what I mean? Oh what fun!

This year, however, I had a different idea for the season's movie marathon. This year I decided to screen, every night of Christmas, a single movie which was released in theaters on or near the holidays. More accurately, these would be movies that I personally saw during the holidays in past years. I stress this part because, as with some of the movies on the list I'm about to provide below, a few titles were released back in October or November of their associated years, but which I didn't get around to catching in theaters until--yup, you guessed it!--my annual end-of-year staycation. In addition to said criteria, these are also movies that were considered really big box office draws at the time. Some of them were even the holiday centerpieces of the year, if you will. The biggest grossing movies ever! And, then, some were only modest successes, but which played big in both my memory and in my heart. Regardless, they all had a hand in capturing the holiday season for me, resonating with me in a major way, and representing some of the best carefree movie "escape" experiences of the season. And for that, I am forever beholden to them.

Status Update

Have no fear, all is fine here. I didn't even realize it's been nearly 2 months since I last blogged. Wow. Somehow I'm proud of that achievement. It means I've been busy living life! :)

And yet, despite the absence, my blog's daily tracker has exploded with new visitors in that time. Seriously! I used to get around 150 to 250 visitors per day a few months ago (twice that back when I was posting Game of Thrones reviews), but ever since the summer this site has been receiving anywhere between 900 and 1,500 unique visits per day! I guess when you've been posting since 2008, eventually you have something for everyone on your site. The majority of the visits are through Google searches, though, and around 75% of those are for various pics I post here. Especially pics about famous people or models. Go figure.

Dear Dad (A Letter To My Father)

Dear Dad,

I know you speak very little English, and can perhaps barely read it. I wouldn't normally knock someone for that, but let's be honest: you've been in this country for over 38 years -- the fact that you cannot communicate with your sons is your fault, not ours. Perhaps someone will translate this letter for you someday.

I'm writing to let you know where you went wrong. Apparently it might be some mystery to you, and perhaps you have some misconceptions surrounding the current state of our relationship. Or rather, the lack thereof. So let me set some things straight. If it's okay with you, I'll like to start from the beginning.

Living Single

This is just one of those general how-am-I-doing and current events updates rolled into one.


Love Is In The Air:

So, Valentine's Day came and went this past Friday, and the amount of F's I gave remained at an all time high of: zero. That's right, zero F's. I actually went to see the new rebooted Robocop in theaters after work. Oh, young naive me. I remember remarking to a friend earlier that day that V-Day is the perfect time to go to the movies. What with all the young couples feeling all romantic-y and googly-eyed for each other, the theater should be quite empty, right? I mean, not only is Valentine's Day when you should be out at some candle lit dinner gazing into each others' eyes, but it's a Friday to boot! I would have thought you couldn't find an empty seat at a New York City restaurant on such a night.

Bzzzz! Wrong!

State Of The Batista Union

Salute the flag!

In this year of our Lord, two-thousand and fourteen, I hereby declare these United States of Batista ... single and ready to mingle!!!

Haha, I don't know why I just said that. It's not entirely true. I'm not actually ready to start dating just yet. However, I am feeling a whole lot better now that 2013 is over and we're already a few days into 2014. I like the start of a new year. January for me is the perfect month to wind down after the usual busy hubbub that is the holiday season, otherwise known as the triple whammy of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year all occurring roughly within a few weeks' span.

And while I have high hopes for 2014, I just wanted to catch everyone up on how things went at the tail end of 2013 for me.

Happy, Happy

Yes, the title of this entry is sarcasm.

Anyway, I don't intend to be a spoil sport. A New Year's Scrooge, if you will. No. Everyone knows what a sucktacular year 2013 has been to me. To make matters worse that human muppet on ABC, Ryan Seacrest, just advised me to "grab someone I love" as the ball was dropping in Times Square, yet I was sitting on my couch all alone in my apartment just staring coldly at the screen. Remembering all the many memories of NYEs past--both the good and the bad.

But, no. Let me stop with the negativity. It's another year and a fresh beginning. Here's to wishing all the best to everyone out there.

Happy 2014, everybody.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Catching Up

Just haven't had much to write about as late. Not anything personal, at least.

Yes, that's my excuse for not updating this blog more often. Aside from being crazy busy at work, I find myself apathetic whenever I sit at the keyboard and about to pour my heart out here on this blog. It's like: meh! Why bother getting worked up in a frenzy about anything anymore? That's really how I feel sometimes.

To be honest, nothing interesting has really happened to me these past few months. The nasty whirlwind that was the first half of 2013 has for the most part settled down to a day-to-day normalcy of work, working out, and trying to get back into writing my short stories. And while I am making progress on the latter, I'm afraid the enthusiasm to blog anymore has severely waned.

That all being said -- I guess I will catch you up on recent events. Or, just my thoughts on them. Which is not much either way, let me warn you now.

Die, Summer, DIE!!!

Oh yes! We're finally here. Labor Day weekend. I never thought I'd see you.

If you don't know by now, I hate Summer. It just really annoys me. I don't have anything against sunshine and doing outdoorsy things. It's just that, to me, summer time in a big city blows. If I lived out in the countryside, fine. That would be different. But summers in New York City is when you see the worst of humanity.

Happy Father's Day, Mom.

So, today is Father's Day. Happy fun times to all the great dads out there, whoever you are.

As you all probably know by now, I did not grow up with a dad in the picture. Sure, the man was alive and living in the same city, but he wanted nothing to do with raising his sons. So my mom raised us alone until she passed away when I was 9 years old. We moved in with my mom's sister and their mom after that--so, in other words, with my maternal aunt and grandmother who shared an apartment.

Mom, Grandma, lil brother and me (right).

Grandma and auntie raised us for the next 12 years or so until I graduated college and moved out on my own. All three women shaped me into the man I am today. They were my rock, my guidance, and my heart. They protected me when the world was fearful, sang to me when my heart was sad, and taught me life's stern lessons whenever I thought I had it all figured out. They also taught me that one does not need a father to make it through life, and that women are to be respected and praised for all the hard work and sacrifice they bring.

Pumpkin picking with Auntie, baby sis, lil bro, and me (right).

So I never cared that my father was not around -- but it would have been nice if he were. He never taught me how to be a man: how to carry myself, how to fight and stand up for myself like a man should. Never taught me how to drive, or dance, or tie a tie, or shave, or even how to fix a damn flat tire! I learned all these things on my own or from the women in my life. Needless to say, I have a low opinion of men. Yet, I strive all my life to make myself the kind of man I would have been proud to call my father when I was younger.

How fucked up is that? I was, in essence, my own father. But honestly, that role was filled by three others. And if they happened to be women, who cares? They were the best damn father a boy could ask for!

Happy Father's Day mommy, auntie, and gran'ma. I'm more of a man today through your love and support than I could have ever been learning from my real dad's example.

College grad with baby sis (left), Grandma, and Auntie.

The Return

Guess who's back? Back again . . .

I've been M.I.A. over the past several days--since last Thursday, in fact. I needed some time off from everyday life here in the city. And so I headed up to Vermont with my very good friends, Cin and Aleks, and one of their friends for the MLK weekend. We all stayed in a great little B&B just outside of Ludlow in Okemo valley, which is not far from the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border.

But, boy, getting there was an adventure and a half! I dragged my luggage over to my friends' house Thursday morning. They had the car, see, but I would be the one driving us the 250 miles there and back. We picked up their friend, Marci, and then hit the road at around 4:30 pm. Unfortunately, this is the height of rush hour. And even more unfortunate, this is New York City. You get the picture. Needless to say it took an inordinate amount of time just to reach New Haven in Connecticut. About an hour longer than normal, if not more. Considering that we still had another 3 hours to go, I was worried we would arrive at our destination too tired to do anything but drop our bags and pass out. And what a waste of a day that would be, huh?

Still, on top of the horrendous traffic, we also had to contend with mother nature and hungry stomachs of course. What an annoyance! So we stopped at a service station along the road and made it into a McDonald's. Now, I haven't eaten in a Mickey Dee's in quite some time. And whenever I do, I'm never there for a whole meal. This time was different, tho. This was actually going to be my dinner for the night. So I ordered something simple but filling: two cheeseburgers and a small fries. However, when it came to the choice of drink I was drawing a blank. I was craving orange soda for some reason, and I could not remember if McD's served orange soda. The cashier looked at me like I was crazy. No orange soda, only an orange-like fruit drink. I had to reveal that, hell, I haven't asked for a soda in a fast food joint in 7 years. Give me a break, dude!

So I went with a diet coke instead.

But my poor, dear friend Cin had a worse experience. Not known for her adventurous spirit when it comes to food, I don't know why she chose this day to stir things up a bit. Having heard of the cult-like status surrounding McD's limited time sandwich--the McRib--she decided that this treasured delicacy would finally, on this very night, be hers! Oh, if only I had known. See, knowing Cin as I do, I did think this item an odd choice for her to be ordering. Despite the mania in this country for the McRib sandwich, it really isn't as good as it used to be back in the 80s when it was first introduced. I used to love it as a kid, but must say it's gone downhill ever since McDonald's decided it was a good idea to get rid of all the unhealthy saturated fats and other gunk that used to make their food delicious. Who needs a heart anyway, right?

But see, I didn't know that my friend did not know the McRib sucks. I thought she'd had one before and, like other crazy people in this country, had grown to become obsessed with the little faux-ribbed delight. Nope. Turns out she just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Bad, Cin. Bad! Only after she finished the sandwich did she complain about how awful it was. And that's when I found out the truth. Oy vey! I could have saved you the trouble, my friend.

The stuff of Cin's nightmares!

Yes, I'm still shaking my head to this day. Luckily for all of us in the car, Cin's error in judgement did not manifest itself in . . . er, let's say . . . any gastro-intestinal mishaps as we continued on our way. Phew! When we finally arrived at our destination, it was 10:00. Late, but not too late. The innkeepers Julie and Mike met us at the door and showed us to our rooms. Everyone got settled in, retired downstairs to the parlor to hang out a little, and then called it a night.

Home away from home at the Golden Stage Inn.

This tidy inn was very comfy to hang out at during our stay, and is very close to Okemo ski resort. We didn't do any skiing, however. Cin and Marci wiled away their waking hours crafting warmy socks and cool cowls and what have you, while Aleks had to contend with work-related phone calls and a business meeting or two in a big town one hour's drive away. Meanwhile I wrote a little and read a whole lot -- and stole cookies from the inn's infamous "never ending cookie jar" when I thought no one was looking (for the record: they totally were!).

Honestly, though, we were there just to relax and unwind, which was definitely welcomed on my part. And the innkeepers were just too awesome for words, too! We felt like we had free run of the house, hanging out in the parlor by the fireplace and sipping vodka-and-peppermint spiked hot cocoa as if it was our home. Not a bad way to spend a long, cold winter weekend, eh?

At some point Cin, Aleks and I left Marci behind and drove 90 minutes northeast to visit our alma mater, Middlebury College. We arrived on a late Sunday morning/early afternoon--and during January term to boot! Which meant the campus was even emptier and more quiet than normal for a Sunday.

It was weird returning to my old stomping grounds. Since graduating in 1998, I've only been back twice. Once in 2001 for a Chinese dept. reunion, and then again in 2004 to attend a wedding in a nearby town. Since then so much has changed. For one, there is a lot more development in the little village of Middlebury. More empty plots of land are now occupied by housing, or stores, and even a huge restructuring of the town center to include a traffic circle and this massive new bridge connecting the college with route 7 on the other side of town. Crazy! What used to take me 30 mins to walk to back in the 90s now takes only 12! Oh how I could have used this convenience then. *shakes fist*

In my day, we had to walk uphill in the snow . . .

And yet, for all that has changed, the campus itself has remained remarkably the same. It was very weird seeing the same official buildings, the same mail room, the same dorms we lived in looking very much like we last saw them. I had this weird feeling as we walked around campus reliving old memories; a feeling as if I had never left. This used to surprise me back when I attended college there, too, after returning from summer recess or winter break. This sense of sameness that used to drive me crazy, but now I find I miss terribly. If only I knew then what I know now. Maybe I would have savored the experience a bit more, knowing what awaited me out there in the real world.

Checking the ye olde mailbox just for kicks. Oh, how
my knees remember!

My dorm from Feb. 1995 until May 1996. 

Mead Chapel on the western end of campus.

What was even more disconcerting, however, were the few students we did run across on occasion during our trek to all our familiar haunts. Geez, were we ever so young and baby-faced? I mean, Cin could still pass for 19 years old no problem. But myself? Probably not so much. Still, I swear some of these kids looked like freshmen in high school, not college! Or maybe I am just getting older? Could be . . .

Anyway, the trip was a blast and much needed. Too bad it had to come to an end. Sorry for the long silence, but I'm back now and ready to return to this difficult task of getting my life in order. It's going to be a long year ahead, but I must remember to take little breaks like this here and there and have some fun. Or else I shall go mad. And there's nothing worse than a nutso blogger, is there?

Didn't think so.

Disappearing Act

The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Hi folks. Happy new year. Let's hope 2013 is a lot better to me than 2012 has been. Jesus Christ!

No, I haven't run away, although I haven't been on the blogs for some time. That means not only have I not been updating this site on a regular basis, but that I missed out on all of your own blogs for almost a month now. Sorry 'bout that. I've been pretty down and out of things for a little while due to a crippling personal circumstance that has arisen. It's not about my health, nor has anyone died in my family. Thankfully everything's fine on both accounts. But I don't really want to go into details right now. Maybe later. Suffice to say that I've been very sad and hurt in all this time, and haven't had much enthusiasm to start up the PC and blog about stuff.

It happens.

Cake Me!

I was in the mood for some cake over the weekend, so figured I'd try an oldie but goodie family tradition--the pineapple upside down cake! This is a dessert my grandma used to make for us kids all the time, and was my personal favorite growing up. Problem was I didn't have a big enough cake pan to do the job. I'd always heard that the traditional method of making this classic was in a cast-iron skillet. I don't own a cast-iron-skillet, but I do have a very heavy, 12-inch Cephalon skillet that I thought might do the trick. And so I set to work on what I hoped wouldn't prove a colossal disaster.

First I melted an entire stick of butter in the skillet over a low fire. Then, I mixed in one cup of packed light-brown sugar until the entire bottom of the skillet was covered in the butter/sugar mixture. Atop this I placed around 8 slices of pineapple.

Some people use cherries, halved, to place within each pineapple slice center. My grandma never did this, so I didn't either. Perhaps next time. And like grandma, I decided to use pineapple from out of the can rather than going through the labor of cutting and coring a whole pineapple myself. After all, I didn't even know if I was wasting my time or not. So I wanted to stick as close to what I remembered from childhood as I could.

Next I combined all my dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, granulated sugar, salt . . . box of instant vanilla pudding mix!) with eggs, more butter, oil and a about a cup of pineapple juice from the can the slices came out of. I dug out my trusty old mixer and set it on medium. After around 2 minutes of this, the batter felt like just the right consistency.

Or so I thought. After pouring the batter into the skillet and over the pineapple and brown sugar, the result seemed a little too stiff for my liking. But I hoped beyond hope that this was just my paranoia taking over, and decided to risk it all. I placed the entire skillet in a pre-heated oven set at 350 degrees . . . and crossed my fingers.

Good thing the skillet has a steel handle! I let it bake for an hour, checking every 10 minutes to make sure the cake was rising the way it should be. What I saw each time was promising. It just rose and rose until the top was almost cresting the skillet's rim. Whoa!

But I'm happy to report the cake came out just fine! Take a peek for yourself:

I noticed the pineapple slices migrated quite a bit from the center during the baking process. Hmmm, will have to pack them in closer together next time, methinks. But overall the coloring and consistency came out just as I had hoped. Better yet, the skillet worked out perfectly! I never would have guessed. It does make me wonder what difference a cast-iron one might have made. I dunno.

But anyway, here is the final result:

Mmmmm. Doesn't that look simply scrumptious? Is your mouth watering yet? Maybe you'll want to click on that image to get a closer look? I know I for one can't wait to eat this! :)

I think next week I will try to make a pie for the very first time. Blueberry is my favorite, but I was thinking of going traditional American and making an apple pie as my first try. I will be making everything from scratch, including the crust. *meep* Wish me luck!

To Boldly Go . . .

I'm going to pointedly ignore that today is that Hallmark-created holiday and instead tell you all what I did over the weekend.

Which is to say: nothing. Nothing much at all.

Ha! Wouldn't it be funny if that was my blog for the day. Just that?

Okay, perhaps not. Of course, I did do something. But that something involved sitting on my hind quarters and watching television for the most part. How EXCITING, huh? Hey, sometimes my weekends are like that . . . perfectly uneventful. I did get to finally crack open my complete Star Trek: The Original Series Blu-ray sets, though. I had these since Christmas and had meant to check them out back during my two-week hiatus then. But as you know, the best laid plans and all that jazz.

Anyway, I wasn't expecting much from this upgrade, as ST:TOS is not exactly my favorite of the Star Trek series. It is responsible for my whole-hearted love of all things science fictional, though, so it always commanded a healthy level of my respect. In fact, some of my earliest television watching memories are of this show from circa 1981 when I was only four years old. Most of my childhood, in fact, would be spent watching and rewatching every single syndicated episode until the show seriously began to get on my nerves. Still, when the Trek relaunch series "The Next Generation" premiered in the late 80s, I was reluctant to get into it due to the fact that, for me, the original crew was still the ONLY crew.

Of course, The Next Generation would quickly come to be one of my most favorite tv shows of all time -- so what the hell did I know back then, right?

Anyway, the original series has never looked better on Blu-ray! They went back and totally remastered the hell out of these episodes, to the point that I feel like I'm seeing them with new eyes. And they didn't just clean up the dirt and mend the scratches, no. They actually re-tooled all the outdated special effects as well!

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: BLASPHEMY! But hear me out, some of these changes are really good! I'm not a purist, though, so that could be it. I certainly did enjoy the remastered versions of the Star Wars films, for example. But in my opinion the original Star Trek series was seriously long in the tooth with these crappy effects. And now they look a lot better.

Check out the vid below which does a very quick overview of some of the many improvements. The first frame is taken from the 60s originals, while the second frame(s) of any comparison is from the newly remastered footage. You might want to use the pause button judiciously, though, to slow the speed of the comparisons down.

See what I mean? Now, yes, not all of the new effects look as snazzy as I would have preferred. In fact, some of them are too CGI-ey for my tastes. But overall I find that the textures are a vast improvement, not to mention that the obvious changes like the phaser beams and multi-directional camera views of the Enterprise make for a more dynamic immersion into the viewing experience. Especially from a modern sci-fi fan's point of view.

One of my favorite improvements occur in the classic episode, "The Corbomite Maneuver," when the U.S.S. Enterprise approaches the Fesarius ship. You can see it at the 2:27 mark in the above video clip if you pause it just in time. Or you can click on the image below to see a more detailed comparison:

The original shot is on the bottom, while the remastered block is on top. Check out those textured layers--WOW! Talk about a vast improvement, yo!

See, for all the grumblings on the net about how they shouldn't have messed with the purity of Roddenberry's vision, it's instances like this one that make the remastered version all the worthwhile to purchase for my collection. Since I'm a story-first kind of guy, as long as the core performances are kept intact I couldn't care less if the bells and whistles of the presentation are tinkered with. So much the better, I say!

Over the weekend I was able to watch the first 6 episodes of season one and find myself totally impressed. The transfer is simply GORGEOUS! It makes this fan squee uncontrollably at the thought of seeing my beloved ST:TNG get this same treatment later this year. I still haven't figured out when exactly they'll start rolling out those episodes on blu-ray, although a sampler disc of sorts was already released earlier this year. But I have no desire for a paltry taste -- I want the whole meal!

And so I will wait.

In the meantime, I have these TOS blu-rays to tide me over. And of course, Netflix streaming service for Deep Space Nine and Voyager rewatchings.

I do so love my Trek geekdom!

And so, how was your weekend? Scratch that: how's your Valentine's Day going? Oh come on, don't be like THAT! :)

That Time Of Year Again

Hi folks.

I've been gone a loooong time from the blogs, I know. Sorry about that. I usually get scarce this time of year, as I'm rarely online when I'm on staycation. How's that for irony, huh?

So this means I haven' blogged or read blogs in all this time. And I therefore apologize for my lack of comments, people. Nothing personal, okay?

Anyway, I hope you all are having a good wrap-up to the year. 2011 was not a nice year to me, and to be honest I can't wait for it to be done with already. But I hope the rest of you have had a better year. And even if yours sucked as much as mine did, let us join forces and wish really hard that we ALL have a fantastic 2012!!!

As some of you already know, the end of the year is never a good time for me. New Year's Eve is when my mother was taken from us, as I've already chronicled here and here before. So it's not a happy, merry ol' time for me or my family. We tend to be very low-key on this night, watching the ball drop on Times Square from the comfort of our living rooms, but not much else. I can only remember one time since my mother's passing that I've gone to a NYE party, and that was mostly to take my mind off depressing thoughts than anything else.

Still, don't let me spoil the fun and merry hijinks of this night. I wish you all the best . . . auld lang syne, and all that jazz. May you have a prosperous and joyous 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

In Which I Get My Man Card Revoked

My wife, Lisa, and I just watched this movie (again) tonight, apropos of the season upon us.

I know I risk my masculinity by admitting this . . . but Love, Actually is one of the best Christmas movies of all time! Definitely my favorite romantic comedy bar none. That's right, you heard me. I watch romantic comedies on occasion. Sue me. Of course, I have Lisa to thank for this, as I'd probably want to stab myself in the eye were I single and all angsty about love and what-not. But as it stands, I like a well made romantic comedy. Don't you? And Love, Actually is the most heart-whelming and funniest of them all, in my opinion.

Anyway, watching this film for the umpteenth time now I've decided to officially crack open my special Xmas playlist on the ole iPod. I only ever listen to this playlist in December, before closing it again for yet another year. But I had to listen to Mariah Carey's song "All I Want For Christmas" twice, because honestly it is just that awesome! Click on the link to see her official video of the song. Like Love, Actually is to romantic movies for me, I strongly feel that this is the best Christmas tune of the modern age. Seriously, how can you not get into the holiday spirit after listening to that? It is sublime perfection, I tell ya!

Also, that Mariah sure can sing her heart out! It's only fitting that the song was featured so prominently in the movie, then. And, with that being said, I leave you now with the perfect scene from that movie to set the mood off. This little girl does an impressive cover of the song in question:





And how cute is that little boy with his puppy-love crush? Ah, young love! Where have you gone? (ha, ha)

Merry Christmas, everyone!