I'm off on a retreat with a bunch of friends. We try to have one weekend get together each year. We do exciting things like sit around and talk, hike a bit, and do arts and crafts. Like coloring. It's so much fun. And even more so now that the core group no longer all live in the same area. Some of these women I only see once a year any more.

This time it is very close to where I live, but I'm away from my computer and thus, will continue with the NaBloPoMo project on Monday. (Such a cheater. Yes, I know.)

Is it stupid to try to get a flight to the New York area just because I have a chance to go see a Broadway show for free?

Seriously, I'm sure I'd spend more on the flight than the tickets would cost were I paying. OTOH, I've never been to NY. I want to. Someday. Should I take this excuse? Of course, this would just be a short trip. And there is a chance I could get lodging in NJ. Am I crazy for wanting to try?

Topic for today: The WGA strike

Why my opinion on this should count: I have read at least 3 blogs by TV writers. Also I watch a lot of TV. Especially now. I watch mostly scripted TV dramas. I hate the vast majority of "reality" TV. I refuse to watch TV news. So basically, without the WGA my TV viewing goes down to The Amazing Race. People, I am unemployed here - I *need* TV to fill my days. (Kidding! Sort of.) Plus, I once appeared on a game show and when it re-aired I got a second "thanks for playing, loser, here is your parting gift" - so that's basically a residual, yes?

Point the first: Calling full length episodes watched on the internet "promotional" to avoid paying residuals to writers (and Actors? Crew members?) while getting ad revenue from the same is a slimy, slimy move. Selling episodes for iPods and saying that revenue doesn't count for residual-calculating purposes? Slimier.

Point the second: One of the writers' blogs I read, and a YouTube video I have watched use the "but we *need* the money, we might lose our houses" argument. Or "almost half of us are unemployed at any given time." Which... huh? These things are assuredly very, very important to the writers themselves. But I do not see what they have to do with how residuals should be paid.

The strongest way to spin this point would be to say something like "when I took this job residuals were about $x per year and they have gone down a lot so my salary has, effectively, been reduced." The "but we *need* the money" thing? To me? Sounds like the whining of people who didn't plan their financial future very well. Just like the people who took on home loans that were ridiculous imagining that it would all work out (by magic I guess) in the end.

As a currently unemployed person, I do understand what it is to have no active income. But I am not in danger of losing my house because I saved up. I have an emergency fund. I did not buy a house that I could not afford. I factored the cost of COBRA into my "how much money would I need to support myself for a year if I had no income" calculations. If I had chosen to work in a field where prolonged unemployment was virtually guaranteed, I would have had an even larger emergency fund. Were I a writer, for financial planning purposes, I would treat residuals the same way I treat stock options. Not real actual money until it is in my hot little hands. Not even something I consider a part of my compensation. Am I all judgy on this point? Yes. Deal. If you choose to work in a field that has intermittent work, then you plan for the intermittent income financially.


Conclusion: I agree with the writers. I may disagree with how the argument is being framed. But I agree with the basic premise - if residuals are part of the industry-wide compensation practices, and they are, then they should apply every time money is made off of the works in question. Period. This is just as true for someone who has never been unemployed as for someone who has only worked 1 out of the past 5 years. This is true for someone who has $100, 000 sitting in a savings account and true for a writer who lives month to month.

This does not bode well. It's day 6 and already I'm casting about for blog topics. So today the topic is... my health. Yeah, scintillating, I know.

I'm on something like week 4 or 5 of my annual winter cold. The thing is, it is cold and flu season and everyone gets sick. Yes, I know. But I get sick and stay that way for months. As in 3 or 4 or even 5. At some point I will get annoyed and go to the doctor and she will tell me that I have a cold.

It isn't a bad cold. If I had a job I'd still be going to it every day. And hey - at least this year I don't have to deal with the well-meaning advice to just stay home for a few days and get totally well and cut this thing short. Because I do stay home and sleep in and all that and I'm. still. sick.

I'd like to ignore the whole thing. I really would. But it seems to come up in every conversation I have. And then I feel obliged to somehow expand on the topic. And I hate myself for that because - what, am I 80 now?

I'd like even more for it to go away. I do vitamins. I do fluids. I do soup. I do over the counter medicines. I'll try pretty much any whacked out cure anyone advises. Anyone?

First, an organizational point for NaBloPoMo. I will not be posting on Sundays. Why? I do not generally use the computer at all on Sundays. It is my mini-version of a day of rest. No computers, no shopping, no cleaning. Anyway, I forgot to mention this before yesterday, so I'm saying it now. Oh, and also, I'll be out of town next Saturday and not near a computer so I'll miss that day too but I'll be writing something on paper and transferring it the following Monday. I'm probably breaking all sorts of rules for NaBloPoMo.

One of the things I do in my spare time is lead the youth group at my church. Every year we babysit while a local elementary school holds its annual auction. (We get paid, so it's a fundraiser for us too.) Last Saturday was the big babysitting gig. It went so-much-better than it ever has before. Normally we open at 6:30 and by 7:30 I'm glancing at my watch wondering how much longer until I can go home. This year I first glanced at my watch at 9:30. It felt controlled rather than like barely controlled chaos.

Part of the reason is, I'm sure, that we had only 50 kids show up. We've had up to 70 in the past. Another part is that the children who did come seemed much calmer. It is my theory that there are one or two kids who, if they come, can incite chaos among their peers. Not bad kids, just exitable. And those kids did not come this year. (I don't know which specific children, well, I have a clue about one, but I'm talking about the type in general.)

Spain 2005 - the odds and ends edition

* I do not think that people in Madrid bake. I say this because I did go to several grocery stores and only in one did I see flour. I already mentioned that I could not find chocolate chips at all even after several days of searching. I suppose you just buy baked goods if you live there. I also never saw vanilla, or pesto, or hummus in the stores there. Not that the last 2 have anything in particular to do with baking.

* The milk is not refrigerated before you open it. It comes in boxes like boxed soup does here. It didn't taste all that different. But it did surprise me at first.

* Someone who was more outgoing would probably have met people in a month and made friends and gone out. I did not. It was a very isolating experience in a way. I talked to my host mom. And the host son. And wait staff and museum attendants and the like. Which is pathetic but the best I could manage combining my natural introversion and reticence to use my so-so Spanish.

* On the other hand I did get to see a lot of Madrid and feel like I didn't stick to just the touristy areas. I actually experienced daily life there which was one of my goals.

* I do wish I had been able to travel around the country more. I also wish I had made it to some of the famous nightlife areas or at least one measly discoteca. Also a Flamenco show.

* I regret all those times I rushed to be back in the condo for English lessons that never happened. On one hand I feel like I didn't uphold my end of the "teach us English and we'll put you up for a month" bargain. On the other hand, I tried. I really tried. And if you aren't going to be there at all one day (never mind the times you are technically there but refuse to interact with me) tell me because I really could have found something else to do. Something more fun than sitting by myself in an otherwise empty condo.

Week 4 of my Spain trip. In 2005.

Day 22 - My trip diary notes that Diana apparently did not return at all during the previous night. It also mentions the possibility that she could have gone away for the weekend. I spent the day puttering around the condo. I headed in to Madrid in the evening with the intention of catching a Flamenco show. Though the place recommended by the guide book was in a busy-ish area of town, I could not find the actual address. Plus the street that it was supposedly on wasn't so much a street as a mostly-deserted alley. At night. In a foreign country. So I admit I only walked up and down where the address should have been about twice. Having given up, I walked around Madrid, hit a Starbucks to hear a few words of English, and finally caught one of the last busses back to Las Rozas.

Day 23 - Started the inevitable shopping for gifts for the people back home. I also discovered that writing post cards while dining alone made me feel less conspicuous. This was a Monday, so after wandering Madrid a little, I headed back to the condo in time for the English lessons or whatever small amount of work in that area that Borja would allow. However, neither Borja nor Diana were there so I did a bit of shopping and made dinner. I also started musing about whether I should contact anyone about Diana's continuing absence.

Day 24 - Finally got to El Prado. Really enjoyed the bulk of my day there. There's something about seeing the real actual paintings and artwork you read about (in high school most likely) that is just cool. An art student was copying "Las Meninas" when I went past and another was trying to copy something by Hieronymous Boch ('El Bosco' in Spain) and while I've never really had artistic talent, I sort of envied them.

Lunch was the vegetarian restaurant and my notes say that the food was really good even though I had no idea what, exactly, I was eating. Post-lunch I took a quick side-trip to the Principe Pio mall but didn't have much time because I had to hurry back to the condo for English lessons at 5:30. Which never materialized. Again.

Day 25 - The alarm went off before 8 a.m. Ugh. But I did manage to take the bus into Madrid, the Metro to another bus station (Estacion Sur) and catch the 10 a.m. bus to Toledo.

I did some wandering down streets just because they looked interesting. I did actually pay the entrance fee to see the Catedral. While paying to enter a church still seems wrong to me, it was impressive. Lots of nooks and crannies instead of one large unified apse. It was beautiful inside and very, very ornate. Parts were set up almost like a museum with paintings and old vestments on display.

At one time there were 12 mosques in Toledo. Only one is still standing. It was very very small, but worth the admission all the same because it is more than 1000 years old. It had the typical Moorish arches and was well preseved considering the age. Several of the gates into the old part of Toledo also have a clear Moorish influence.

Bussed back to Madrid then Las Rozas. No Diana, no Borja, no English lessons. Convinced myself that if Diana's disappearance was really a problem, someone would have been by the condo to look for her. Like her husband. Did laundry and ate dinner and enjoyed the fireworks from the festival from the balcony of the condo.

Day 26 - The plan was to sleep in and try to finish off my souvenir shopping. Sleeping in didn't happen. As to the shopping, I think I will quote directly from my trip journal:

Calle de Hortaleza. Supposedly good for traditional Spanish
goods. Actually good for clothes, art supplies, eateries, tattoo parlors
and sex shops. Also prostitutes if I'm not mistaken.

Calle de Fuencarrel. Supposedly good for quirky and
kitch. As advertised if a teen mall, skateboarder vibe is what you
consider quirky.

So, no, I didn't buy anything. I did walk a lot. I was also watching my cash because in Diana's absence I was trying to figure out how I, and my humongous suitcases, were going to get to the airport the day after my all-metro monthly pass expired. During morning rush hour.

Day 27 - Woke up early again even without the benefit of an alarm. I did manage to get the last of my shopping done including a hostess gift for Diana. I got back to the condo and lo and behold - Diana was back. Yay!

I am *sure* that she explained to me that she was going to go on vacation. She thought that I understood the whole thing. And, in general, I did understand much more than I could communicate. But I misunderstood what she said (I thought she was talking about a vacation she had taken to the coast in the past) so to me, she left one day saying only "I'm going now" and didn't show up again for a week.

The English lessons that I kept rushing back to the condo for could have happened. She told her husband to bring Borja by, but he never did. I only wish I had known ahead of time. I definitely would have stayed out later on several occasions. I would even have managed a couple of days in Cordoba.