You see, I was paranoid before it was fashionable. You know, watch the skies for UFOs and government conspiracies and whatnot. (That reminds me - Marilynn needs to see "Conspiracy Theory" sometime...)

Well, when "The X-Files" was brought to us by Chris Carter and friends, I was creeped out that I had gone "mainstream". This was just another time, to me, that things I'd always taken for granted had been co-opted by the American culture machine. (After all, geek was chic, at least for a while.)

I think at that point I started noticing the combinations of ten and thirteen in my life. Of course, "The X-Files" was brought to us by Ten Thirteen Productions, and immediately thereafter I started noticing how much it shows up in my life.

Wake up on a weekend - it's 10:13. Sit at a meeting staring at the wall - it's 10:13. See how much money is in a given account - $1013.00. Look at the date - it's October thirteenth. How many bytes is a given file - 1013.

Of course, this is an arbitrary number combination, but it's still one that creeps me out when it comes into my awareness. Superstitions have a basis somewhere, even if it's something that creeps you out.

Speaking of things related to the date that creep me out - last night Marilynn saw the movie "The Game"; it was my second time to see it. I like it because it's a good romp through a mind-fuck that even after you watch it you keep thinking, is it really over? This could all be another thread to the plot. Good stuff.

Well, Michael Douglas' character, Nicholas Van Orton, had his birthday on October eleventh, but his brother Conrad (portrayed by Sean Penn -- the quintessential strung-out druggie character actor) thought it was October twelfth.

Marilynn looked up at me with her fake alarmed look. "Isn't today October eleventh or twelfth?"

I looked back and said, "oooh, yeah, I think so.". Creep out one. Then this morning I can't sleep and realize that it's 10/13. Creep out two.

We have to go to the store today, and there is one more movie left over from last week's movie-renting fest that we need to see: "Thelma and Louise". We got it because it was on some film critic's best of the 1990s list, and she'd never seen it, and I saw it long ago.

Also, we need to do some laundry -- Marilynn starts her new job tomorrow, and we both need clothes for work and after work, as well as my new digs that I bought for this coming Friday (I was nominated for employee of the quarter, and there's a luncheon with bigwigs involved, so I have to prep for that).

Today I hope to get some geek time in. I need to spend time working on things that matter to me, or I'll go crazy. I haven't written regularly lately, but I keep having ideas for things to write about. I don't code, but I keep having ideas for doing the content management system and tools for it, plus some other geek projects here and there. I need to get out of my shell.

restlessmind