Jamie Wakefield

A long time ago I wrote a column about “Beautiful Things.” If I remember correctly, the premier item was “The Last Defender of Camelot” audio book by Roger Zelazny and read by “Odo” from “Deep Space Nine.” Or maybe you remember him better as the snide Butler on “Benson.” Regardless of how you remember him, Rene Auberjonois had the best reading voice I have ever heard and holds that title to this day. Nothing else compares. It could be compared to sitting on your grandfather’s lap, in the middle of an ancient medieval inn, a fire roaring, a pig on the spit, the crowd breathlessly listening to an old man with a beard weave a tale of magic that would stay with those people for the rest of their lives. But, as I said, nothing else compares and he was even better than that. I listened to that tape a dozen or more times over the years and never tired of it. It was a thing of beauty. Wendy was sick last week and started to feel better Friday morning. That same Friday morning I came home from ...

First, go here. http://www.pvponline.com/2008/01/31/help-me-help-you/ When reading said comic I turned to my beautiful Wendy and said "wasn't 'Wrath of Khan' great?" "What? Is that a Star Trek movie? Don't those suck?" I sighed deeply. "It's over" I told her. She begged, I relented, I'll stay until tomorrow when we watch it and she tells me its one of the greatest films ever made. If not...

Rickb – I agree that Obama is more electable. If he is the democratic candidate, he has a better shot at winning the White House than Hillary does. I just don’t think he can do anything once he gets there. I think he will try to do bi-partisan politics and get kicked in the head for it. I don’t think Hillary will go that route. She knows the republicans don’t want to work with democrats. She knows the ins and outs of Washington much better than Obama. Mizu – “Clinton is a name I equate with a lot of prosperity. But Obama represents youth and vigor.” Obama talks a great fight and if this was a perfect world in a perfect time, I would vote for Obama in the primaries. I’m not about “I hope he does well” right now. I’m about doing what is needed to make America great again. I’m not going to pin my “hopes” on someone young and idealistic; I’m going to choose the candidate who I think will do what needs to be done. Chris – Same. I like Obama a lot. If he gets the nod, he’ll have my full supp...

Politics is a large percentage of what Wendy and I ruminate on these days. We’ve signed up for the Democrats Abroad global primary so we can vote and have our voice be heard on February fifth. Yes, we actually get delegates. We watched the January 21st debate the other day. We’re still looking for a place to watch the latest debate. Like many dems, we started out uninterested in who won the nomination, knowing that we’ll support whoever gets it. In the past few weeks, we’ve both come to support Clinton. (Me a little more so than Wendy, who still might be swayed to Obama’s side.) She looked good in the debate while Obama didn’t seem to have the fabled charisma that I had heard so much about. I thought Edwards did great as well. A vast improvement over his performance of 2004. My arguments for Hilary are many. Unity - Unlike Obama, she’s made no mention of unity. No mention of how important it is to move forward and beyond these last 7 years of America being run rough shod over by the cu...

"Do you know enough Spanish that you could write 1 paragraph in it next time you blog? Then translate it for us who don't know it. Just a thought, that way we can see the progress you're making. " Sure. Rather than pretend I know words I don't, I'll keep words I don't know in English. I could go to Google translate and look up the word but what would that show? That I know how to use the web? Es Lunes ! No hay nuevos estudiantes in la clase hoy . C ual es loco porque yo veo ocho personas testing en la manana. La clase en la manana estaba muy facil . Mucho review. Todos los personas tenian un bueno fin de semana pero dos o tres personas han trabajado demasiado . Mi novia y yo teniemos un traquilo fin de semana . Un poco tinto y mucho veo le tele y leyendo libres . En la noche de Domingo teniemos cena en el restaurante " Kourgi ." Wendy tenia pollo y para mi, buey, muy poco hecho . It's Monday! ...

Spanish class goes in waves. It ebbs and flows depending on the teacher, the students and how smart my feeble brain feels like being that day. At the school I am at now, we have the same teacher in the morning but in the afternoon, we have a different teacher every two to three days to get us used to different accents and speeds of speech. On a good day, I will be in a class of interesting, like-level students and my brain will randomly decide to remember everything I’ve learned about Spanish. The afternoon teacher will arrive with games and discussion that I find interesting, and I will have to rein myself in from speaking too much and dominating the conversation. I will leave with a smile on my face and will have had a great day. On a bad day, I will be in a class with listless, boring students or perhaps students that have been studying Spanish for a decade and are only here for the next few weeks for a review. And when I say “for a review” translate that as “to make me feel as dum...

Remember when you were a kid and you get to stay home when you were sick? How many days of school did you miss? I remember one. When you were sick, you were better the next day. Not so with today's new SUPER VIRUSES! YAY! I can't remember the last time I was sick for one day (other than a hangover.) No one I know gets sick for one day. It's clear that soon we will be living in a post apocalyptic Hell akin to Stephen King's "The Stand" or Richard Matheson's "I am Legend." Yes, the flu keeps getting stronger and now lasts weeks instead of a day. I'm on day 6 right now and can't wait for this damn thing to be over. I'm sick of waking up in a pile of snot. I'm sick of feeling like someone has stuffed forty pounds of cotton candy between my ears. I'm sick of coughing. Thankfully, I have yet to shoot liquid out of both ends as illustrated by my classy Spanish teacher. Thank God for that. Time for another Hot Toddy.