Chicago Tales #1: The Case of the Strange Stand-Up Sleeping Coma

On our first night in Chicago, my Sister woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me to get in the bed. I was apparently standing up next to the bed, but I was bent in half and my head was laying on a pillow! I don't remember doing that. Apparently, even past that moment, all I could manage was barely crawling in the bed, without covers (a Keebs no-no), to finish out the night. What happened to get me to that moment is STILL a mystery!

The night before we left, I stayed at my Sister's house to make it easier to leave (her town is closer to Memphis than mine and I wanted to leave my car at my house). So I started the night before in a strange bed anyway, and I never sleep good away from home. For that matter, since I've slept on the couch for years anyway, I'm not really used to sleeping in a bed. We stayed up late chatting and watching TV, so I probably didn't get much sleep from the get-go, but I took my meds and slept as normal when they kicked in, even if it was later than usual.

We left for the airport fairly early in the a.m., and I had a Coke Zero on the way, and another one at the airport along with some candy. I had a water on the plane, but I managed to spill it on me before I had my first drink of it, and the pretzels I keep as a memento instead of eating (I'm weird that way). Apparently, Chicago isn't big on Coke, because every single place we went only had Pepsi. I don't do Pepsi, even in emergency situations. So, by midday, still no food or drink other than the two Cokes and candy (by that time, on an average day, I would have downed multiple Coke Zeros and probably an Energy Drink or two, but no food...I don't usually eat during the day, only at night anyway).

We checked into the hotel (which had a mini bar, but no regular fridge and no soda machines by the ice machine, and the mini bar had no sodas relative to Coke) and immediately headed to the hop-on-off bus to travel around to see the city. We took the entire route, just to get our bearings, and headed back to the hotel to change for the ghost tour we had booked that night and (thankfully) I got my clothes for the next day ready while I waited for my Sister to get ready. At this point, it was around 5 pm, with no food or drink all day, but we got back on the bus and the meet-up for the ghost tour was at a restaurant, so by 7 pm, we were eating. I had two alcoholic drinks (which were fairly watered down) and more water with a HEAVY meal. but I'm not a lightweight by any means, so two drinks shouldn't have affected me.

The ghost tour lasted two hours, so by 10 pm, we were walking back to the hotel, and if I still had any alcohol in my system, after two hours walking around, I would be surprised. Honestly, of all the places we went, only one place felt truly haunted, and it freaked me out enough that I had to really focus to keep from walking away. From that moment on, I kept looking behind me because it felt like something was behind me the entire time (that feeling stayed with me even after I got home for about three days, but that's another story).

There was a Walgreens on the way, so we stopped and got Cokes, water and snacks. I bought three Coke Zeros and two waters. One Coke I had finished before we walked into the hotel. One I drank once we got into the room and took my night meds with. Now, at this point, I'm not sure if I didn't take my night meds in the right order (some I take two of, others one and I may have gotten them mixed up), or what, but they usually take about an hour and a half minimum to work. I decided to take a bath and took one of the waters with me. Take note, I have NEVER taken my meds wrong before and I have drank alcohol before (in MUCH larger quantities) with them, so again, I don't think that was the issue, but the time lapse between downing meds and bath was probably less than 10 minutes.

At this point, things got murky. I fell asleep in the tub with the water still RUNNING (thank goodness for overflow drains)! Once the water got cold, it woke me up, but I have no idea how long I was in there for. My Sister figures not very long (she was already asleep when I came out), but I don't really remember getting dressed in my jammies afterwards. I do remember also falling asleep on the toilet (which I use to get dressed on in hotel bathrooms with marble floors so I don't crack my skull...I am a klutz), but again, I can't account for the time I spent there either. Then I apparently just walked to the bed, dropped my head on a pillow, and passed out! When my Sister woke me and told me to get in the bed, I still wasn't sure what was happening, but I did manage to crawl in enough to be considered "in the bed", despite the lack of covers, and there is where I stayed for the rest of the night without moving (I usually toss and turn all night long).

I woke up the next morning before my Sister (another complete first), refreshed and ready for the day (not me at ALL) and, although the next day pretty much went the same (no sodas or food until late, alcohol with late meal, meds, tub, bed), the weird stand-up sleep coma never happened again! It was really WEIRD and, although I don't like pictures of myself being taken, I wish my Sister would have gotten a pic just so I can figure out what happened! I remember thinking "what the hell?" and crawling in the bed, but my thoughts never got passed that point or could remember how I got in that position. And I can trace my steps backwards to toilet (sleep), dressed (sleep), tub (sleep), but I can't remember the in-between parts other than waking up from each step and thinking "what the hell?" and then falling asleep again.

So, what could have caused it? The pre-late night sleepover at my Sister's? The early flight/jet-lag (for a two-hour flight?)? The lack of Coke during the day? The possible Ghost Host? Maybe a med mix-up? Or a combination of several factors?

The following day was pretty much the same, although I did eat during the day, but I still was Coke-denied thanks to the city's apparently aversion to it. That night, we ate at the Hard Rock, where I had less food and WAY more alcohol. I took my meds a LOT sooner to drinking than I did before, we stopped at Walgreens again and got more Cokes and waters and I did the same routine with my meds as before, but I didn't have the same coma episode that night as before. It was, quite possibly, the weirdest thing I've ever done on a vacation before, and that's saying something!

Yes folks, I stitched!

I'm not sure if I was just trying to take my mind off of dwelling on the incredibly terrifying load of work coming my way with building an entirely new LIS system for work or what, but I did stitch this weekend, and it's probably more than I've done in a while (although still not up to my usual standards). I pulled out Maleficent (yes, I know I probably shouldn't call her that, but that IS who she is and, when I bought her from Heaven and Earth Designs, that WAS her name before they had to change it for legal reasons, so I'm sticking to it anyway because it bugs me they changed it to Evil Queen when we ALL know who the Evil Queen is and it AIN'T Maleficent!). Last time I even touched her was row 5 finish back in February 2018:

And, had I not got distracted by TV, I could have easily finished the color on the page I was working on, especially since it was only 10 more rows (but I didn't)...I'm also having issues with playing Marvel Game Quest on my iPad too, so whenever I gain enough lives back, I'm back to game play...but anyway, here's where I got to:

Considering, this is the proudest I've been with stitching in a while! I've been watching Veronica Mars on Hulu gearing up for the new series and, since it's a show I've watched dozens of times before, it makes for good stitching! If I can continue on, there is only row 6 and part of a row with 7 and she's all done! I don't remember her going very fast though and it sure seemed like I was whipping through her this weekend...wonder when she's going to start slowing down? Oh well, as long as I am actually stitching, who cares, right?

Another road trip - half work/half fun...residual moodiness

Well, on Monday, a co-worker and I drove down to Baton Rouge to look at a computer system for work. Being that social for four hours (yep...FOUR HOURS...I was expecting maybe an hour at most) was hard enough, I was practically climbing the walls to get out of there, but we did learn a lot and I'm still reeling from all the information they bombarded us with! I REALLY hope we get lucky enough to be able to get the system I want. We left at my usual 1:30 am time period on Monday morning and, as per usual, my town was deader than a door nail:

It's not like I "want" heavy traffic at that time of the morning, but it would be nice not to be the only person on the road, or even awake! We made good time down to Baton Rouge, about 6 hours:

But I gotta say, as someone who is OBSESSED with interstate walls, Louisiana has some work to do!

At least my co-worker wasn't freaked out by my incessant picture-taking while driving like some people are! Once we FINALLY got out of that lab and got back on the road, we decided to take a side trip to MY neck of the woods to the gulf, but more on that in a minute. First, I decided to do something I'm NEVER comfortable with and drive through New Orleans. I figured, since I just spent four hours being social, I might as well be brave and fight the bad ju-ju of the city of the dead! We took I10 straight through (I won't stray off the interstate, but I will take it into town), and I FINALLY got at least ONE decent picture of St. Louis #2...I've tried to take one every single time I've driven through there to no avail (although, in my defense, I can count on one hand how many times that is). Granted, I shot on burst and only one came out, but that's OK! It's a small cemetery and the interstate is a bit high above it:

Besides, the "good" one that I would actually LOVE to visit is St. Louis #1 where Marie Laveau is buried, but that isn't accessible without a tour and isn't anywhere near the interstate, so I would actually have to drive into town...not happening! I always feel so sad driving by the Superdome, but it's a very easy picture target, so here you go:

Once we got to Bay St. Louis, I took the coast road, and I noticed the beaches all the way down were empty, which is weird considering it's July, but I just thought it was because it was so hot...apparently not! The water had a high bacterial level and there were warnings posted on every single beach entrance! Poor Gulfport, I stopped in my usual spot but, it was just so barren, I felt like it was November!

It was also the first time in a very long time (probably since Hurricane Andrew) since I noticed the smell of the Gulf...it's been very muted for years, but this time it was very pungent and the birds weren't swooping the water like they usually are. The gulls are usually all over the sand bar towards the Gulfport docks, but not a single one was around. It's a bit hard to see because the tide was up, but it's just before the swimming buoys:

I personally, didn't go in the water, even though I have the strongest immune system ever, but my co-worker, who gets sick if you look at him funny, was wading out there like it was nothing! I warned him not to, but he did it anyway. It is a stark reminder of global warming though...the increase of bacterial and algae blooms in summer seem to be getting worse every single year down there. That used to be a rare occurrence, now it's several times a year. It hadn't turned colors yet but, like I said, the smell was noticeable. I figure it will turn pink pretty soon.

I did find it odd though that, even though the beaches from Bay St. Louis down to Gulfport were closed, Biloxi was wide open and people where in the water like it was nothing (Ocean Breeze, the next town down, was also closed). You can't convince me that the ONE section of beach where Biloxi is was clear, while EVERY SINGLE bit of beach around it was infected! I ain't buying it! You could also tell that the only people actually in the water were tourists, apparently the locals knew better. I would like to think, even if I was a tourist (which I guess technically I am, although I'm down there enough I don't consider myself one), I would know that, if every section of beach all the way around me is closed on both sides and it's all the same water, it's a good bet that the several hundred feet of Biloxi beach is just as infected! DUH! It made me want to stop at a pool store just to get a PH kit to prove it to myself more than anything, but I let it go and moved on down the road! The tourists would just have to deal with the aftermath themselves.

But when we got down to Wentzel's, my absolute FAVORITE restaurant that I was just at two months ago, it was GONE, replaced by a crappy catfish place! I had even received a coupon for them just the week before we left! I have emailed them back just to see if maybe they moved or something (fingers are still crossed), but I haven't heard back yet. I was HEARTBROKEN! Plus, I had money from four other co-workers to bring them back to-go orders too! We ended up eating at another seafood restaurant, but it wasn't good. This was my meal, which was basically shrimp alfredo with fried shrimp on top, but it was so bland, I had to put hot sauce on top to even taste anything! Guess I won't be eating there again!

Granted, I have the recipe for my favorite dish from Wentzel's, Eggplant La Rosa, but it takes an act of god to make it, so I'm not sure it's something I'll be running out to get the ingredients for anytime soon. As a matter of fact, when I printed off the recipe for me and some of my co-workers, I made the joke that it would be easier (and cheaper) to drive the 14 hours down there and back, buy the four tanks of gas, and pay the $20 to buy the stupid meal, than to attempt to buy all the ingredients (assuming I could find most of them here in bumb-fudge Arkansas) and make it myself! Well, just damn.

Oh well, it was still a VERY nice drive and we had a good day overall, even with the increased social interaction, the lack of beach time, my favorite restaurant being closed...wait a minute...did we have a good time? Yeah, I'll stand by that statement, we did, despite all the bad. Give me a good long drive any day and I can overcome just about any hurtle during it. The aftermath is a different story.

Speaking of, because of the social interaction I had to deal with on Monday...Tuesday and Wednesday were rough on me at work. I ended up locked in my office both days, with such a massive headache on Wednesday, I actually got sent home early (I didn't argue). I kind of knew that would happen and warned everyone, but I also didn't expect the four hours, so it was WAY worse than I expected and I almost ended up in trouble at work because of my behavior (and I'm still not sure I'm not in trouble, I've avoided everyone today, but kept my door open...people are avoiding me today). Oh well, it's a side-effect of my disability, it's not like I can help it. I know I needed to go down there and check out that system, but I also don't do social interaction well. I did my duty, but there was a cost, and technically, I did try to control it by sequestering myself. If certain people tried to invade my space during that time (people who were warned to stay away), I personally think that's their fault, not mine, but I do see things one-sided (aka me-sided) most of the time. Besides, it's not like I don't stay in trouble anyway, how is this any different? I'm a moody person, what can I say?

OCD in full effect!

I did go back to watching Once, but I did take a break on Monday to watch last week's episode of "Agent's of SHIELD"...problem is, it was such an AMAZING episode, I have literally watched it over and over and over again all week long! It is the absolute PERFECT Fitzsimmons shipper episode and it is the episode that the fans have been waiting for since the beginning (well, at least this fan)! I know how the Fitzsimmons cannon goes, and I'm fully aware that there is some horrible disaster waiting one or two episodes from now, but for the moment, I'm still basking in the glory that was episode 06x06 Inescapable!

There are already numerous fan videos popping up on YouTube for it, almost as many as there are for the entire Fitzsimmons history...which says a lot about the episode, but this is one of my favorites because it ties some flashback scenes from older episodes into it (although I wish it had some of the funnier moments with their "alter bad selves" that were funny as hell!).

As of now, I have no plans to stop watching the episode and go back to Once, well at least until the aforementioned usual horrible event happens and everything gets ruined (again). Maybe we will get lucky and they will leave them alone for a while and let them actually be happy for a change! Here's hoping!

Back to Once and Stitching (well, sort of)

I am fully back to Once Upon A Time...after a week of watching every single horror movie left in Amazon Prime's arsenal of junk horror (and, believe me, it's a massive arsenal). I found where they have added "Wings"...one of my favorite shows from the 80's, and one of the few American sitcoms I ever watched. I tried to watch it, but I noticed that, in the middle of season 1, I was suddenly in season 2 and then back to season 1 again, only to jump back to the episodes of season 2 they had already played. I gave up and just decided that was my clue that it was just time to settle in and watch Once again. I have "Wings" on DVD anyway, so it's not like I can't watch it anytime I want, it was just kinda cool being able to stream it!

Anyhoo, by Sunday afternoon, the stitchy bug struck again and, even though I didn't do much, I guess it's better than nothing! I don't usually take my Ritalin on the weekends and it's harder for me to focus on anything when I don't take it, so I can't really sit still for too long without getting distracted by some other weird task. I left off here last time back at the end of May:

And a couple of hours later, I managed a bit more fill in (but still on the same color):

I thought about changing projects, but I was honestly just too lazy to switch out the projects on my lap stand! So sad!

On the trip front...I'm still working on my New Mexico/Arizona solo trip. I have to get it down to four days, which won't be easy when I keep adding stops, but I think I've narrowed it down enough. I can always go back and do the northern-most parts of those states and go further along later. There is nothing that says I have to do it all this trip (and yes, I am saying that as more of a reminder to myself more than anything...I'm still not getting the message just yet)! The whole purpose of this trip was just to go to Meteor Crater, but then I realized all the cool places I could hit along the way like Roswell, the Large Satellite Array, White Sands, and dozens of others. Then I figured out how close the Grand Canyon was, so I ended up adding that. But then I also realized that Hoover Dam wasn't that far away from the Grand Canyon either and things just kept getting out of control, so I just went back and started deleting stops one by one until I had a workable trip. It's still pretty scattered road-wise, but I can make it work (I hope!). Hoover Dam will just have to wait until a future trip unless I somehow make excellent time on this trip. I would at least like to cross over into the Nevada border to cross off another state on my map.

But the weekend before I was meant to leave on that trip, my Sister has to go to Chicago on business and she asked me if I wanted to go with her. Since my above trip hits a lot of Route 66, and I've been at the very end of Route 66 at Santa Monica when I went to California in 2015, I suddenly had an epiphany! I've been through Chicago before, but never actually seen the start of Route 66 sign, so I had the idea that I could drive up to meet my Sister (she is flying, of course) and then I could drive Route 66 all the way to my destinations, just extending my trip out a bit more, maybe going through Marcelline, etc on my way down. But then logic kicked in...that's a VERY long trip...too long to be away from home. It would just be easier to fly up with her to Chicago, do some bus tours while she is in meetings, then us have a couple of days of doing things, come home and a couple of days later leave on the trip I have planned. I can still see the Route 66 sign whether I drive or fly. If I did the full road trip, I do have puppies that would have to be boarded, it would be more gas and more hotels than I was expecting to pay for, whereas my Sister's trip is already paid for. One of these days I'm going to learn moderation...I'm not sure when, but someday!

Speaking of "the map", did I tell you guys I bought one of those maps that you scratch off all the states that you've visited? It's one of the reason's why I have such a hankering to travel lately. I thought I had been to way more states than I actually had, but when I got to scratching, I realized I really haven't traveled the U.S. nearly as much as I thought I had. I knew the West was lacking, but I was surprised to find that middle America (other than the South) was pretty lacking too! And some states up North that I thought I had been to, apparently I was mistaken there as well. I did scratch off all the coastal areas that I have hit, which is apparently more than the land areas, but those maps are extremely scratch sensitive and it was very easy to scratch too deep and take all the color off. I may get another one just because. I also didn't like that you couldn't scratch off just part of a state...some states I've covered every square inch, but others I've just skirted or just hit one or two towns. That may be because the states were small because I got one with Canada and Mexico on it, since I've been in both (again, just a quick drive through and it felt weird scratching off all of Ontario when I've only ever been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls plus a couple of hours drive through the countryside and Mexico was basically crossing over through a store that was half in Texas and half in Mexico...it was the very early 80's), but that was WAY before you needed passports to visit either. But when it comes to the unscratched-off states, oh well, trip goals! Although, nothing about this new trip will help other than Arizona unless I manage to somehow cross the Nevada border.

Still searching for the "perfect" stitching show (and failing), but working on pissing off the world

I decided to do a Starz free preview this week (I can do numerous movie channel previews for 7 days through Amazon Prime, and I thought I had done most, apparently not). My Sister has been going on and on about "American Gods" and how much she thought I'd love that show, so I thought I'd give it a go. And warning, this post might be offensive to some. I don't mean it to be, I'm just being my usual blatant Asper self! Religion is one of those topics that you can't have an open conversation about because, despite their teachings to the contrary, it's a very selfish and personal thing and people get violently defensive about their religion. It's a behavior I just don't understand, but here we go anyway because I feel a rant coming on!

One thing to know about me...I was Christened Catholic and raised Southern Baptist, so when I got up to a certain age (16 to be exact), and started questioning everything. My mother is the kind of person who has ALWAYS said two things that walks all over my nerves..."just because" and "look it up". But unfortunately, it created a certain response behavior in me that exists to this very day. If someone says to me "just because", I get extremely pissed and tend to start asking serious, often extremely uncomfortable questions just to annoy because that is NOT an answer and, if I get interested in something, I tend to collect (and read ad-nauseum) every book I can find on the subject. These two things often go hand-in-hand and tend to make me incredibly (or dangerously, depending on who you ask) knowledgeable about the stupidest of subjects (hence a head full of useless information).

The worst thing you can say in church is "why?", they give you what they consider a legitimate answer (but basically a non-answer) and you follow it up with a "but why?" because they really didn't answer you at all. They don't understand why you keep asking because they think they've answered you, you keep asking because they haven't answered a bloody thing, just threw bible quotes at you (or said those magic words, "because the bible said so") and you suddenly find yourself looking for answers elsewhere (a BIG no-no in most Christian churches, especially in the South). Had I not left voluntarily, they probably would have kicked me out.

Needless to say, I have a semi-working knowledge of Christianity and its Pagan origins (as well as other mono and polytheistic religions). It's all pretty fascinating, but enough to have granted me my own special room in hell (at least according to my mother) because it made me question everything (again, a BIG no-no). I see it more as recognizing the broader view of religion, because ultimately, they are all connected and are all, in the broad strokes, pretty much the same overall...basically, same story told from different points of view. One pops up, steals various important points from the one before it, modifies the information to suit the current model and adapts accordingly. Step outside the bubble and it's a LOT easier to see that, but maybe that's just another Asper trait...not everyone can step outside their own bubble. I do it quite a lot.

Nowadays, I'm not religious, but I do consider myself a very spiritual person. Study numerous religions and the color of jade sneaks in, but you can't look at the wonder of the universe and not think that there are higher powers in play. When all is said and done though, I don't think we're important enough to question those higher forces, let alone mandate what they are and our place in their master plan (as religion tries to do). If anything, that's humanity's arrogance, thinking they know what the powers that be are, let alone what they want from us and that we are "made in their image". Maybe, every blue moon, someone is enlightened to a tidbit of the information and a religion is born, but otherwise, I see religion as humanity's creation (often by those in power to control those who are not) and spirituality as something that just "is". But I digress, because now I'm offering opinions, the very definition I'm throwing out for religion.

But "American Gods"...wow! How right they got some of these origins and how really uncomfortable I got a lot of the time when they got extra creative with the details! Despite my lack of Christianity, there is still that 15 years of Christian conditioning (or brainwashing as the hippies would call it) and I squirmed a lot! It's one thing to know where Easter came from and why the Christians adopted it as a religious holiday, it's another thing to see Kristin Chenoweth in a Easter colored-filled house with candy everywhere, talking to spy bunnies, hosting a party filled with Jesus's from every nationality (because every country has their own Jesus with the appropriate skin color and language), walking past an obvious Jesuit priest with the stigmata and jelly beans flowing through this wound holes, various other gods snacking on macaroons and Easter eggs and her soaking up the "real" worship because she is Ostara, goddess of the dawn and she's piggy-backing off of the worship that Jesus gets! Granted, most of the Germanic/Nordic gods probably came after Christianity (or at least were written down afterwards), but the origins of the Sun gods and the Spring solstice go all the way back to the Neanderthals and pre homo sapiens. They migrated their homes based on the Spring equinox and gave offerings for a safe passage. She played off this too, but the whole Easter candy thing went WAY too far, even for the sake of comedy. I did finish the series, but it makes me wonder about the Christians who watch the show and how much do they actually know about the origins of their religion (if at all) because I could see a massive backlash otherwise!

"American Gods" was good, if you know nothing about religion other than the basics and think every other religion that came before (or since) are just myths. One day, Christianity will be just a myth to whatever religion replaces it, but for now, our Ilu, Zeus, Jupiter, Taranis or as many polys as you can think of hold that top spot! I wonder if, in the future, when Christianity gets replaced, we'll end up back with polytheistic gods or stay with a monotheistic? Polys actually make more sense to me in the pantheon of religion (if you're going to practice it) and, if you want to get technical about it, Christianity, as well as other monotheistic religions, are basically a polytheistic religions anyway...god (or whatever name they call it in their various versions) at the top, Jesus (or again, whoever is their top prophet), Mary (for the Catholics), the saints, the angels, satan...etc. Again, same story, different storytellers. And I also just realized that Christianity as well as Islam basically just Fifty Shaded their bible from the Avesta and the Zoroastrians anyway! But they all did a heck of a lot of damage to get their messages across and "gain" followers just, as I'm sure, the next one will also do. I love to throw the Crusaders in the face of one particular Pentecostal co-worker who is extremely anti-Muslim (although she thinks Crusaders were Catholic and therefore NOT Christian...I can't convince her that Catholics ARE Christians!). She thinks all Muslims are terrorists and Jews are evil (although I have to remind her that Jesus WAS a Jew). She will often defend the Crusades as "missionary work" and I always point out that rape, pillage, plunder, torture and massacre is ALWAYS the best way to bring someone over to your way of thinking! Suicide bombers are humane in comparison! Ah, the joys of trying to reason with the religious.

Which is why, I started watching "Black Sails" and LOVE that show! Granted, it's still not a stitching show, but at least I'm extremely entertained and not uncomfortable in the least...the raping, pillaging, plundering, torturing and massacring are all in the name of treasure, so it's OK! I can watch pirates all day and not have to think about these deep religious implications because, frankly, they make my head hurt!

I stitched a tiny bit and I have a bit of a Netflix rant (that isn't so tiny)

I think, with an extra day off this weekend, I just got too bored of watching nothing on TV and needed an outlet, so I ended up stitching a bit on Monday. My arms got really tired, really fast (and I had a lot of trouble focusing), but at least I did something. It's kind of amazing how hard it is just to pick up stitching after a long lapse...it is more physically strenuous than most people give it credit for. I worked on Faces of Faery 167, by Jasmine Becket-Griffith:

I left off here on March 11 of 2018:

I made it here after a few hours of work:

It does look like I did a lot more than I did now that I can see the two pics side-by-side, but it is a VERY small piece (it will only be 7x7 when finished), so it was hard to tell while I was working on it that I was even making any progress! But as you guys keep telling me, something is better than nothing, right?

We'll see how the week takes me and I'd like to say I'll keep going with stitching, especially since I have COMPLETELY exhausted everything on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime there is to watch as of now, so I should have the time to stitch. I need a good stitching show, aka something that can run in the background and I don't have to really watch, just sort of listen to (usually because I've watched it so many times already). But I don't want to go back to "Once Upon A Time", "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (AOS for short) or "Supernatural" because I'm trying hard to curb my OCD tendencies and those are my worst triggers and I get stuck in those loops for months on end. I cleared season 3 of "Riverdale" between Friday night and Saturday morning, spent the rest of Saturday watching two seasons of another show called "Very British Problems" (and yes, it confirmed that I am indeed British and not Southern, despite my area of birth and living), I watched horror movies on Sunday (as is my typical Friday night practice, but "Riverdale" distracted me), and I watched so much crap on Monday, I literally couldn't tell you what most of it was. I have now hit the dregs of all streaming platforms and was just grasping at the proverbial straws trying to find something good to watch and I can now confirm I have literally "seen it all", or at least all in the genres that I typically watch.

Now I need to rant a bit (or at lot, depending on my mood)...despite Netflix's constant urging, I will NEVER watch "Friends" or "Grey's Anatomy" and now, their newest recommendations, various zombie shows and Asian subtitled movies. I would sure LOVE to know how how these streaming services' algorithms work, Netflix being the worst about it. A viewer, who only watches horror (but NEVER zombie movies), action/superhero adventure-type movies, the occasional fantasy genre, and yes, a teen romance or two (or a dozen), would somehow love those particular shows or movies? Sometimes, and this REALLY gets me, they recommend "Riverdale" or Once or even AOS, which I already watch and they have record of it in my viewing history, so why not keep it in the list of "shows you've already watched" or "watch it again" list...why move it to the "recommended for you" list? I've gone back and made sure it was still in my viewing history just because I was questioning their practice on this, but yep, all views still there...so what the literal bloody hell?

Yes, I watched Once and AOS, which are both ABC shows, so that qualifies me for Grey's? Just because Disney owns ABC, doesn't mean ABC gets a free pass, even in my book. Right now, AOS is the only ABC show I currently watch because everything else kind of sucks now that Once is gone. There is no Disney or Marvel-related anything really left on ABC right now, so I don't spend much time on Hulu except for AOS. And, when it comes to Grey's, do they secretly know I own all 15 seasons of "ER" on DVD and, if so, how? It is the only American medical show I ever watched (and only because I was obsessed with Anthony Edwards back in the day and then Shane West), but I work in the medical field and I don't want to go home and watch it on TV, even though I work with a lot of people who watch every medical show on TV for some weird reason. I want escapism, not more of what I spent all day dealing with. Plus, I'm not a fan of procedural anything (unless it's British), because I also work in I.T., which is constant procedural everything. Not all medical shows are created equal, and "ER" holds a special place in my heart because I literally watched it on TV from the beginning to the end (as I did Once), besides, "ER" is on Hulu if I wanted to watch it streaming, so Netflix you're out of luck and I would never watch Grey's anyway...I am not a fan of most of those actors and I'm also not a fan of unhappy endings (which that show has a lot of).

I don't ever watch situation comedies (at least not American, and Netflix doesn't have the British ones, those are on Hulu and I have them all on DVD anyway), so why recommend "Friends"? I hate every single main actor on that show (a recurring theme with me apparently) and have rarely watched a single movie with one of them in it (if it did, it was by accident and I always delete it from my viewing history just to keep further "Friends" recommendations from popping up on other streaming sites). Matter of fact, I rarely watch a comedy film either. As close as I ever got to "Friends" was "Coupling", a British show which is often compared to "Friends" for some strange reason (which I own on DVD and, as far as I know, I've never streamed), but I see them as two completely different beasts, so what would give them the idea that "Friends" is a good fit for me? This horror-loving, America's Ass-worshipping, teen-angst driven, British comedy-watching viewer? Good question!

I watched "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" (more than once...well, probably more than high double-digits, but still) and it had a lead actress who is of Asian/American descent as well from a book series that was written by the same, but how does that constitute suddenly bombarding me with a plethora of Asian subtitled-language films? It also stars an Italian American, but I don't have any Italian recommendations (at least, not yet). Yes, I do watch the occasional French subtitled film, but that's FRENCH, not ASIAN...not that there is anything wrong with Asian or Italian films, they just aren't my cup of tea and, are they saying that all foreign films are the same? I think not. But again, the same thing happens every time I watch a French film, all foreign films suddenly get added to my recommendations list, all languages BUT French, that is. Amazon Prime has the same problem confusing French and Bollywood films. I have never watched a Bollywood film on Amazon, and yet, after watching one French film, I suddenly got bombarded with Bollywood recommendations to the point I had to clear out my history just to stop it (and no, I don't typically watch musicals either, so it couldn't have come from that). Again, nothing against Bollywood films, they just aren't for me (and yes, I've seen a few in my day). I like French films because there was a time I could speak it (sort of), I can watch one without reading the subtitles (most of the time unless their accents are heavy) and they tend to be extremely moody and dark, especially with their horror.

Speaking of which, when it comes to the big "H", I'm EXTREMELY picky about my horror...ghosts/hauntings and demons/possessions only, with vampires and werewolves only in the context of teen romance, so why recommend zombies when I've never even hovered over anything zombie-related? I'm even careful to stay away from too many apocalyptic movies for the same reason, they confuse the two quite frequently (even when one usually has nothing to do with the other). Do I suddenly have zombie recommendations because there were zombies in season 14 of "Supernatural" and I just finished it a couple of weeks ago? Or is it because Rose McIver (Tinker Bell) and David Anders (Dr. Frankenstein) from Once are in "iZombie" (which was also created by Rob Thomas of "Veronica Mars" fame, which is another one of my shows) and they are linking apples to oranges? But since I've never streamed "Veronica Mars" other than the digital copy of the movie, which I own, then how do they know that is one of my shows? Or are they just connecting dots? I don't think gore is scary...again, I work in a path lab, I see "gore" all day long and it doesn't bother me. As as a matter of fact, I tend to find gory movies quite funny because they never get it "right" and who is going to be scared of a creature that walks slow and constantly declares it wants to eat your brains? No thanks.

Then there is the alien side-effect...shows like "The X-Files" or any "Roswell" variation (both old and new) will automatically put every single alien documentary on the planet in a viewing queue for you on EVERY streaming site. I am watching FICTION here people and now you think I'm interested in documentaries? Yes, I guess one could surmise that most of those alien documentaries are "fiction" anyway, but still, I watch Mulder/Scully and Liz/Max for the romance, not the alien part of it. Yes, I do watch documentaries, but they tend to be of the historical/ghost/artistic nature, never on aliens. But alien shows are often also considered zombie horror for some very weirdo reason (although a case could be made for some episodes of "The X-Files", at least in the horror category, I will NEVER understand the zombie connection to ANYTHING alien). Me personally? I categorize it as fantasy/romance, but that's why I gravitate towards those two shows in particular. Maybe aliens should have their own category?

And, as an aside, and this is being really picky, but I do find it annoying that they keep recommending all the DC shows mixed in with everything else superhero/action. They should be able to tell that I'm obviously a Marvel girl and, like horror, not all superheroes can be categorized the same, so I do cringe when I'm looking for a Marvel movie and I have to dig through a huge list of DC shows and movies I'll never watch (even if Shane West is on Gotham now...yes, I'm aware, just disappointed he went with the "other side"). Just because they have the "because you've watched..." and it's Marvel-related, doesn't mean I'll watch anything DC. Yes, there are some DC exceptions, but those are few and VERY far between and, as best as I can remember, never on Netflix.

So, here is my letter to the recommendations department of various streaming services:

Dear Netflix and Amazon Prime (Hulu gets a pass for reason listed below),

Please stop with your stupid recommendations based on what you probably pay the most for and what YOU want me to watch and actually consider my past viewing history and what I might actually want to watch! Or, here's a thought, give us a chance to deny a recommendation as a "I would never in a million years watch something like that, try again" kind of thing, and modify your recommendations accordingly. Learn from your mistakes, correct them, and make actual recommendations that are helpful, give me choices I might actually pick from, and NOT make me spend long periods of time searching for movies by "remote typing" in the search box (and no, I don't want to have to hook a keyboard up to my TV, thank you very much).

As a general rule you can go by, I don't do American comedy or American drama without the benefit of horror, fantasy, superheroes, or teen angst or teen romance, I only do foreign films if they are French, I hate movies that make me cry and don't have a happy ending (unless it's a horror movie or certain notable exceptions which can be counted upon one hand), fiction genres shouldn't lead to documentary recommendations, not all superheroes are created equal, and last, but surely not least, I don't do zombies EVER. Most of your self-produced, over-priced shows I don't watch since your Marvel defection (although some of your teen romance movies are quite good, so keep those up), and are CERTAINLY not worth the price increases you keep inflicting upon us, so you might want to watch out when Disney+ comes out (although Hulu doesn't have to worry much since Disney owns them) because most all of your content will be leaving for both of them and you just might be in trouble! I checked, and most everything I've ever watched is either Disney or Fox, as well as most of your content I don't watch, so you better have a few new aces up your sleeve or else you're going to lose a customer that probably logs more streaming hours than any other full-time employed person on the planet and, as far as she knows, probably holds the viewing record for the most streams of "Once Upon A Time", despite owning the Blu-Rays!

Oh, and Netflix, please stop forcing your ads for these self-produced, over-priced shows on us, or at least allow us to turn them off, for that matter, allow us to turn off all the ads/trailers overall. Allow us the option of watching them like Amazon does. And Amazon, please stop forcing us to watch your ads and trailers for your self-produced, over-priced shows ahead of some other thing we've picked to watch. If we wanted to watch those trailers, we would have chosen to watch those trailers.

Thank You,
An annoyed, but still loyal (as of now), viewer of all three streaming services (but anxiously awaiting Disney+ behind your backs)