post the hundred-fifty-second, 2013

forgot my nook today, so i was forced to rely on the television during the aerobic warm-up portion of my workout. for some reason which i cannot fathom, bbc-america has taken to showing "star trek next gen" in the slot formerly filled by gordon ramsay and merlin. these brilliant and expressive men have gone completely missing and to compound this tragedy, the cast of STNG is the cardboardest botoxian population possible. every episode i have seen is peopled with blank faces and empty stares. death, destruction, mechanical failure, attack, reunion, family, love - all are met with utter neutrality of countenance. clearly i am in no position to deduce if it's the actors, the directors, or the bland snacks on the craft services table that are inducing this state of torpor, but i am in a position not to watch it. well, not for long anyway. i was fascinated with the makeup job on the kid playing lieutenant worf's son, but as soon as there was a break, boom. change the channel. as it was apparently "space day" in the fitness centre, the first show i found that wasn't on break was a discovery channel programme about the real possibilities of humankind's colonising mars. it was quite fascinating, really -- all this stuff about how we'd get there and have to small with just a couple pod-style living spaces and how we'd add more bit by bit and finally end up living underground to survive conditions on mars. i was really getting into it until they said the exploration parties would take 2 year trips: six months to get there and eighteen months there and six months back. what? whaaat? it would take six whats to get there. what? six what?? what?? the thought of being six months away from home sucked all the air out of the room and i had to change the channel before i fell right on over. six months away from home?? i don't mean "away from home for six months" which is basically just a semester or two at university. that's not what i am talking about. i mean, being at such a distance away from the very planet earth that six months are required to make the one-way journey. that's what i mean. i mean: SIX MONTHS AWAY. yikes. i would rather kiss a snake. on the mouth. every day.