Evil News Puppets, Plane Trips & New Year's Eve

So somehow, while I was resting my eyes just a little bit ago, the TV just magically got tuned to Fox Noise, I mean Fox News, and that show Fox News Watch was on. (It had to be magic. I would never put that channel on. Honest.) I opened my eyes and I watched it a little bit and you know what??? Those people just flat scare me. Eric Burns, Cal Thomas, Jane Hall, the rest of that cast of freak show horrors. I'm serious. They look like those puppets that the group Genesis used in that video for the song "Land of Confusion". Scary, really. Many of Fox News Channel's anchors and personalities make me think of that video. I sometimes wonder what planet those freaks are living on. Certainly not the same one I'm living on. Of course, my perception of their physical selves could be colored by how I feel about their reporting.

Anyway, I guess everyone knows that my mother-in-law passed away last evening, December 28, 2007. I suppose it is a relief for all concerned. I have peace knowing that she and Al are finally reunited. These last few years have been hard on her. She was taken from her familiar surroundings, the place where she and my father-in-law spent their last years together, to a more institutionalized setting. I know it was because she needed more care than they could give her at the assisted living place that she and Al picked out together and lived at for the last 3 years of his life, but still... she was alone in strange surroundings with her mind going and I think she spent much of the last 5 years confused, frightened, and lonely. In a way, I am glad for her that this part of her journey is over and she has moved on to the next part. I can see her and Al walking on, together, along the path...

However, her passing from this life means that Pete will be going to Las Cruces, NM for the memorial service. Thomas and I will stay home, this trip. Why does it always seem that things like this happen at the worst possible time? I guess I could phrase that differently, but... it does. Holidays just past and now the big expense of traveling. Thank Goodness we resisted the urge to break into the 'emergency' stash for Christmas gifts. But I don't really worry about the money. We will make things work somehow. What I worry about is Pete getting stuck in El Paso, like we did last Christmas, and not being able to get home for his scheduled radiation treatment. I really don't want him to miss any. The doctor said that they would 'like' him to not miss any sessions, but that if he absolutely had to, they would work something out. I'd rather not risk it, myself. I know his sister needs him there, if for nothing more than to help her deal with their reprehensible, younger, brother. He's just awful, a completely and absolutely horrid excuse for a human being. But anyway, what if he gets out there and something unforeseen happens. What if he misses a session and it messes everything up and he doesn't get rid of the cancer? Well, I guess I will have to worry about that when (and if) the time comes. He's going and there's nothing I can do to change his mind, so... what will be, will be. I should just quit worrying about it.

My sister and I were emailing back and forth about our New Year's plans. Remembering how we used to always watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve... we decided that it just isn't any fun anymore. The musical acts they get to perform are so not interesting. We must be getting old. But those little tartlets, rappers and no-talent wanna-be pop stars, just don't appeal to me. I know there are some good acts out there, but they just never seem to get them on shows like that. I'm just not interested in watching acts like the one's they have been having on the past couple of years or so. This is what the ABC website has to say about this years show:

"multi-platinum three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Fergie will return to host and perform during the New Year's party celebration in Hollywood. The Hollywood party will also feature performances by Akon, Natasha Bedingfield, Sean Kingston, OneRepublic, Plain White T's, Taylor Swift and will.i. am. In addition, "Dancing with the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba, whose new ABC show, "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann," debuts in January, will make an appearance in the first hour.
The 36th Annual Edition of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" will be broadcast on December 31 on ABC. The special event will be hosted in New York by Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest starting at 10:00 p.m. (ET & PT) and will include three and a half hours of special performances and reports on New Year's celebrations from around the globe."

I liked some of the stuff the Black-eyed Peas did, but I don't really care for Fergie as a solist, nor will.i. am, and I have barely heard of any of the others. Akon and Natasha Bedingfield are the only two I've ever heard of but I can't for the life of me remember any of their songs so they must not have made much of an impression on me. Oh yeah, and I've heard of Taylor Swift, but don't remember any of her stuff, either. Of course, I don't listen to much country and that's what she does isn't it? But you get my point, right?

Jeez, I AM becoming my mother! Ack! Somebody kick me, really hard, really quick! But seriously, at least she liked some of the acts that were popular when I was a teenager and young adult. She liked the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Annie Lennox (Eurythmics) and Eric Clapton and a some more. She didn't much care for Alice Cooper or Peter Frampton or Led Zep or Rush, but she did like a lot of it. There seems to be very little mainstream popular music that appeals to me now days. Anyway, I told my sister I remembered that one of the stations, like one of the local PBS stations or maybe it was VH1 Classics, had a 70's New Year's Eve show last year. I seem to recall that it was hosted by KC & the Sunshine Band. I watched that last year. I am going to look for something similar again this year. She said she is going to do likewise. Watching the ball drop has been a lifelong tradition for me, and I may flip over just to watch that part of the show, but I don't know... it all seems so cheap and tawdry anymore. Maybe I'll just celebrate by going outside and making sure my neighbors don't set my roof alight with their bottle rockets and night flowers and other assorted fireworks.

Enough of this novel for now. My eyes kind of hurt today. More later, I'm sure.