Anxiety

So this is turning out to be a very interesting autumn - an interesting year if we count graduating from school, and buying an apartment. These are no small changes.

I'm up for a job that I can't stop thinking about. I've had four, perhaps five interviews, soup to nuts - the first guy, the hiring guy, the owner, some guy in Germany checking my language skills. It is exactly the kid of job that I want. I should know by next week whether I've got it. I'm trying hard not to worry about it, think about it too much. But I do.

I've had other interviews. I've met people at work. My company is splitting in two and there is a great deal of uncertainty. I'm looking for opportunities all over.

I went to Disneyworld, had a family vacation. THAT was awesome. I have a niece and nephew, the perfect ages, 8 and 13 respectively. I spent time with my brother and his wife. We all went swimming and snorkeling together. It was a great holiday.

A friend of mine died, in roughly the same period. SHe was diagnosed about a month before I closed on my home. She passed away just a few weeks after holiday, in the midst of interviews.

So yeah, big year. The wheel keeps turning.

Vacation

So I have a new dilemma - where and when to vacation.

I'm already scheduled to go to Disneyworld with my brother's family. He and his wife have two amazing kids who are the perfect age (8, 12). That's Labor Day weekend. They'll be there long. I'm just there for about four days, so it hardly feels like a vacation.

I had been thinking I'd take a dive trip, and here I have several choices. My local dive shop has a trip to Cabo in mid-September, which sounds great, except it's right after Disney, leaving me to struggle for eight weeks till Thanksgiving.

An online dive club has a trip to Cozumel around Halloween, and that sounds like fun. They also have a trip to Roatan, which sounds amazing, but is a but of a stretch for my budget.

I could simply extend my time in Florida and go to the keys. That would be cheap, but I really want to get the hell out of Dodge. I'm finding that as a vacationer, I want to get as far away from home as possible.

Tron Legacy

I recently saw Tron Legacy. I had to: I am a computer geek; I saw the first movie when I was a kid, and again at some point as a young adult on cable. Some observations.

I would require sufficient disaster recovery measures before I allowed myself to be zapped into a computer. It's a good thing no one ever switched off whatever system the Grid is running on. Twenty-one years of uptime? Amazing.

No reasonable person goes to a Tron movie expecting a focus on character development. It's about the world - the cycles, ships, and political system. It's like Alice in wonderland: more of a fanciful reflection of our own world than a study in psychological realism.

Encom is apparently the Atari/Oracle of the Tron world, and Kevin Flynn is Steve Jobs . . .if he had never come back from NeXT.

Brilliant cameo (I won't spoil) in the boardroom.

Favorite catchphrases: " . . .fights for the users", "greetings, programs", "You're messing with my Zen thing, man!".

This is one of two movies featuring Jeff Bridges that are out, and which I want to see.

The ending presents some implications that were not fully present in the first film.

Programs should not be elevated to posses user rights.

There is not enough Recognizer action. I'll take a Recognizer over the light cycles any day of the week.

Best supporting actor - the guy who played CLU's lackey. He's from True Blood, I think.

I really don't get the Tron hate in some reviews - even geek reviews. It is not a bad film. Boy misses father, chases him down the rabbit hole, fights the red - well, yellow - queen, and escapes. the visuals are stunning, on par with the breakthrough (for the time) of the original. the Young Jeff Bridges effect worked for me.

Also? Michael Sheen is hilarious. OTT, but hilarious all the same.

So programs, stop hating on Tron. it's a fun romp, and updated take on a memento from childhood. For me, it reminded me of why I got into and have stayed in technology. It's cool. It's shiny and fast-paced and addictive. Also, strange men in high towers have the ability to grant or deny you access to valuable resources.

End of Line.