I thought it was really good. I enjoyed it. Bonus points for all the homages to The Shining in the thing--they really did an honest job.
Villains were understandable yet evil. That's a neat trick; very hard to pull off. Characterization was well done, all the performances were good--the little girl's was great--and it had a good, satisfying ending.
* * *
So, last night, instead of taking Xanax, I had a couple hits off the albuterol inhaler that my wife never uses. And guess what happened?
And it turns out that I have several of the symptoms of adult-onset asthma:
Coughing, especially at night, during exercise, or when laughing"Difficulty breathing" is the only one I don't have. Which is to say, I don't have any trouble getting air into my lungs, but I have occasional trouble feeling like I'm getting enough air into my lungs.
Difficulty breathing
Chest tightness
Shortness of breath
Wheezing
I don't know. When I take a breath, there's a little sensation which tells me "okay, that's enough air, prepare for exhale!" But of late, sometimes I have to take a very deep breath to get there.
Still: today, for example, I walked up four flights of stairs carrying my computer bag, which weighs nearly forty pounds with all the tools and cables and stuff in it, and was only as winded as I'd expect to be, considering how out of shape I am. Which is to say, I didn't have to stop and catch my breath. When I go to cut the grass, with the pusher, I don't have any trouble doing it. I don't run out of wind or anything, and I can do the entire front yard and both sides without stopping.
All of this hearkens back to when I was in junior high school. I remember laying on the bed in my dad's room, watching the Saturday morning cartoons, and it felt like I had to yawn, but I couldn't quite; and I kept having to take deep breaths. I didn't feel like I couldn't breathe, but it was a peculiar feeling.
Anxiety? Asthma? Until last night I figured all of this was anxiety. But maybe not. I do know that my brother, sometime before Mom died, was diagnosed as having exercise-induced asthma. So, "it runs in the family", I guess. And it turns out that it can be "activated" by a viral infection, such as the bronchitis I had earlier this year.
So--going to have to arrange to see the doctor, I think, and present him with my findings. The prognosis is not a bad one, but it's pretty annoying.
* * *
Heard on the news that there's some kind of scandal involving Commonwealth Edison and Mike Madigan that the feds are working on. I am SO hoping the feds get something on that crook.
...not that his replacement would be any better. I don't know who it would be, and he'd still have the same power as Madigan does. But at least it wouldn't be him.
* * *
I recall, earlier this year, that I had resolved not to play WoW at all during the summer months. I have not quite done that, but I have eschewed it to a considerable extent, even so. I'm down to one or two hours per week, usually on the weekends.
None of it planned, really--just me saying, "Eh, I can play WoW when it's cold outside." Too many other things catching my attention.
But right now....