On A Routine Expedition

It's hard to imagine a lazier weekend. I spent atleast six hours sprawled on the floor watching DVDs. Sadly I can now sing the theme song from Land of the Lost by heart:

Marshall, Will, and Holly on a routine expedition.
Met the greatest earthquake ever known.
High on the rapids it struck their tiny raft.
And plunged them down a thousand feet below.
To the Land of the Lost.

So it was a bit of a surprise when I woke up in a groggy haze on Monday and realized that my wife was returning. I got off my butt around 5am and began to spruce up the apartment. I did the dishes, changed the kitty litter, took out the trash, got my laundry out of the dryer, and even put some of my herbs into clear plastic boxes so they wouldn't be all over the bedroom floor. Nothing is more annoying than getting pieces of asparagus root between your toes. It doesn't help the herb's medicinal value either.

To make a long story short I hope the apartment wasn't overly depressing and dismal when she arrived back. It's still Dublin ... but hey look the apartment is clean. Well not really clean. More like well organized. I'm happy she's back though, even if it's not for very long. I think she starts house sitting again after the weekend. I can't blame her for hating the place. At the very least things are less topsy turvy between us. They've settled a little. I feel guilty about all the bullshit that's happened in the past two weeks. And under the guilt I feel bone-tired. Like a blow torch running on a can of Sterno. At this point I just want to retreat into my own personal world of DVDs, video games, and kids novels so it's probably for the best that my wife is leaving to house sit. Based on prior experience I will eventually emerge from this coma within about a week or two.

I think our relationship is actually a lot stronger than I realized. I feel like it has roots that it didn't have four months ago. And she's gone out of her way to let me know how much she loves me several times now. Things have really changed. A part of me still feels like the reversal was so sudden and I'm having some problems processing everything but most of that's blown over.

"You can tell me ... I used to be a man."

It's been awhile since my last blog entry. I've been thinking a lot over the last two weeks. Most of that thinking has consisted of asking myself, "How the hell did I get to here from there on THAT highway ?". If you want a chronological rundown of facts and events read the fucking newspaper. But in my blog symbol is king so if you want the whole story get ready for a parable and learn how to read between the lines.

The year was 1981 and I was eleven years old. I was spending a week in Tappan visiting my cousin David. His father was very kind to us and that year he took us to see the movie Dragonslayer. The tagline read: "In the Dark Ages, magic was a weapon. Love was a mystery. Adventure was everywhere ... And dragons were real". I've had the opportunity to watch the film many times since and I still love it. Dragonslayer came out in the same year as "Clash of the Titans" but unlike most other films of that era it managed to age gracefully. None of the characters are black and white or easy to pin down:

* The apprentice is clearly a fool and greedy for power.
* The wizard seems like an impotent charlatan until the end.
* The king is unscrupulous but in a Neville Chamberlain kind of way.
* The bitchy love interest was dressed as a man for half the show.
* The princess is eaten by baby dragons as a result of a noble deed.
* The dragon only ate one virgin per year and was a very caring mom.

So if you've watched the film what conclusions can YOU draw about fathers, their daughters and dragons ?