Time In Hand

As computations whir, and the evening settles in, a sad mood might perhaps be attributed to being at the end of so many things. The very last episode of 'The Addams Family' is playing, the last half season of 'Mork And Mindy' is upon me, as are the last seasons of 'The Mentalist' and 'Parks And Recreation'. Yes, life isn't all about television, but so many endings coming all at once is a trifle upsetting. If 'Community' had released its presumably final season on DVD punctually it would be on the list too. So many finales! Where are the succeeding shows?

It really shouldn't be a gloomy time right now, not with two students for the summer, some cash to save, and an actually decent research plan to pursue in the spare time. Why be gloomy, then? Why? Is it the subconscious effect of the evenings becoming slowly shorter? Is variant SAD kicking in already? Is it maybe all those shows coming to an end, and not being compensated for by the upcoming archive watches of 'The Adventures of Superman' and 'The Muppet Show'? No, those are just more symptoms of being just a little too alone. Not even the words on the page, nor the correspondences kept up with friends far away, can salve the emptiness of the extra person without a place in the world. Fortunately, there are ways to combat the gloom, if you are aware of it. It's the awareness that is the hard part...

Hmmm... 'The Muppet Show'... Did you know that they never released the last two seasons of 'The Muppet Show' on DVD? Apparently the sales weren't high enough on the first three seasons to offset the heavy music licencing costs, and the chaps over at Disney just didn't bother to continue. It's so sad. If there were ever a show which deserved a full DVD release despite making losses it would be 'The Muppet Show', which is legendary. Maybe it will come out in line with 'Star Wars: Episode VII', to exploit the 'Star Wars' episode? We can hope, right? How on Earth can people not have been buying Muppets DVDs, though? What kind of world is this? Humans are such strange people.

Gloom, gloom, cast thy shadow elsewhere. 'Tis not a night for you. Maybe it's just 'long hair syndrome', curable only by the customary trip to the barber? Maybe it's an odd reaction to 'The Fifth Element'? Maybe it's too many DVDs and not enough reading? Yes, back to the books! Clear the landing ramp in the reading area, and pull the screens, for it's reading time!

O.