What Fio Doesn't Understand

1)Fio doesn't understand why it is that sometimes she can transfer her photos from FB to her blog and sometimes she can't, like right now, which means you are missing out on is a nice picture of the lavender plants that Husband planted in the front-porch urns last week.

2)She also don't understand why she has to use FB as the intermediary, why she can't just unload pics from her phone onto her blog.

3)She also doesn't understand why the TV "guide" has stopped working and half her channels are now labeled "to be announced."

4)She also doesn't understand why her favorite shows get pre-empted for football games. Surely some better arrangement could be made.

5) She also doesn't understand why Lucifer and Big Bang Theory, the only two English-language shows that she watches, are scheduled on the same day and at the same time, forcing her to make a choice she doesn't want to make.

Personal Stuff

Fiorella is the filet mignon of the mosquito world, which means that when she sprays her arms and legs, they go after her less protected flesh, and since Fio sleeps with covers drawn up to her chin to defend herself while she's asleep, they feast on her face, which is now decorated with five new bites. Fio is not happy
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It turns out that Fio has been usimg the wrong term for her driveway guardians. Instead of rocas, they are piedras. Rocas are more boulder size, and Fio can't lift over thirty-five pounds. Mea cultpa.
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Fiorella doesn't see much future for Young Sheldon. It was cute idea with a cute cast of kids, but what is ithe show's targeted audience?  The main character is a kid, but children aren't going to warm to a weird, totally non-empathetic know-it-all. And if Sheldon develops empathy every week as quickly as he responded to his father in the pilot, he's going to be as considerate as Leonard when he reaches his twenties. Also, Fio doesn't think a precocious child can carry the show as the main character. It would have been better if Sheldon's mother had been the main character, like Leonard is in BBT. An outrageous character like Sheldon isn't interesting unless he plays off of a more stable character.
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The vet prescribed the same ointment for Sonia Dog's pussy eyes that Fio's ophthamalagist told her to put on her healing eyelids. Wonder which prescription costs less?
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The young actress who plays Linda, the sister who teases her sister and is mean to her brother's wife on Mi Marido Tiene Familia, is destined for a great career as a telenovela villainess, if she'd just enlarge that mole to the left side of her lip. A prominent facial mole is a sure mark of female villainy in Spanish-language soap operas.

Pigs, Walls, Celebrities, Landscaping, TV Killings

Well, judging by how her guinea pig post came out, Fiorella needs to learn a little more about transfering pictures from FB.Sigh, just one more electronic hitch in Fio's life. Wasn't technology supposed to make it easier for her?
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Fio, of course, is as happy about the defeat of Trump's attempt to toss Obamacare out the back door as she was about the judicial rulings on the Muslim bans. That's two down. Now let's take after the stupid border wall. The delusional border wall.
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Regarding Jennifer Anniston, the Duggars, or any present, past, or future Kardashians--Fiorella doesn't care.  She has a mild interest in Harry and Meghan, but a once-a-month update is enough. On the other hand--April the giraffe, that's news!
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Fio and Husband have planted twenty-six boxwoods, two gardenias, three nandenas, and one ligustrum in the front garden this spring. They've also been shoring up the rocks lining the driveway, and once that project is finished, they'll move on to the side yard, also known as armadillo heaven.
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Husband is watching a detective show on TV as Fio writes. So far, there have  been six corpses. This is not Fio's favorite kind of show. She knows people kill each other, but doesn't understand how they can bring themselves to do it.

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Tirade

And again Fio's going to cut loose on the Duggars and other TV actors who pretend to be Christians. The hypocritical women who talk about modesty, then wear maternity tops so tight that their belly buttons show, who talk about not "defruading" men by looking sexy, then glamorize themselves with seductive hairstyles and come-hither smiles, who see no other role for themselves and their daughters than adoring their husbands, no matter what rats they are, and being available sexually. The males who talk Jesus, but do not love His flock, who do not provide their children with good educations, who do not feed the poor or aid the stranger. Who are intolerant of others and have rewritten the Bible in their own images.

Self-delusion, deliberate deception, or the devil's work?

Up and Down

Fiorella's world goes up and down, from Friday's visit with Austin Son and his wife and the joy, the ecstasy of holding Baby in her arms again to the teeth-grinding irritation of having both her good watch and her secondary watch go out on her on Saturday evening. Not only that, but the two keys she took back to Home Depot because they hadn't opened any doors, still don't work. neither does the TV sound. To top it off, Fio can't find an important tax return page she needs.

But Fiorella will survive. She always does. But meanwhile she'll blame it all on Trump.

Fiorella's Telenovela

Fiorella is so excited! Her faithful watching of El Color de la Pasion is beginning to pay off--she's actually understanding some of what is being said. Almost enough, in fact to follow the twisted and tangled plotlines.

There's a difference between being able to read and speak a language and being able to understand a language. With a five-year background in Latin, Fio has always approached new languages analytically, concentrating on how to read them, but with Spanish, she is concentrating on understanding the spoken word, leaving formal training till later.

Fiorella would love to tell you more about her language acquisition program, but you'll have to excuse her because El Color de la Pasion is about to come on. To bring you up to date, Marcelo has finally been sprung from jail, Lucia has discovered her stepmother caused the death of her padre and Marcelo's hermano, Daniela appears to be recovering from her near-fatal accidente automovilistico, and everyone is weeping or kissing or plotting or screaming. Adios for now!

Spanish vs. English

Fio picked up a Spanish-language newspaper (periodico) the other day and is working her way through the ads. Her vocabulary has increased and she's added some prepositions and a verb or two, but hasn't gone in for the kill yet--conjugations and declensions.  In the meantime, she's still watching Spanish-language TV, which is a story in itself.  Apparently being able to cry on cue is a prerequisite for the female stars. Last night was the crowner--five women weeping in a hospital room all at once.

Fio is fascinated by the contrast between English and Spanish. For instance, Spanish uses more syllables than English in pronouncing such morphemes as -ion and to to express a possessive construction (banquetta del piano vs. piano bench).  Spanish also avoids certain consonant combinations by adding in "extra" vowels (escuela vs. school).

All in all, because they are both Indo-European languages, English comes out sounding like a shorthand of Spanish. The difference is that English took the Germanic route and Spanish took the Romance route, which all goes to show you that you can take the girl out of linguistics but can't take the linguistics out of the girl.

Spanish vs. English

Fio picked up a Spanish-language newspaper (periodico) the other day and is working her way through the ads. Her vocabulary has increased and she's added some prepositions and a verb or two, but hasn't gone for the kill yet--conjugations and declensions.  In the meantime, she's still watching Spanish-language TV, which is a story in itself.  Apparently being able to cry on cue is a prerequisite for the female stars. Last night was the crowner--five women weeping in a hospital room all at once.

Fio is fascinated by the contrast between English and Spanish. For instance, Spanish uses more syllables in such pronunciations as -ion and to to express a possessive construction than English (banquetta del piano vs. piano bench).  Spanish also avoids certain consonant combinations by adding in "extra" vowels (escuela vs. school). 

All in all, because they are both Indo-European languages, English comes out sounding like a shorthand of Spanish. The difference is that English took the Germanic route and Spanish took the Romance route, which all goes to show you that you can take the girl out of linguistics but can't take the linguistics out of the girl.

Review of Lucifer

Castle, etcetera, are cops and robbers shows with a love interest thrown in as a secondary plot. Lucifer is a romance built on a cops-and-robbers premise.

The show is sexy, edgy, and funny.  Forget the cops and robbers plots--and they've been forgettable so far--and concentrate on the relationship between the two leads, Lucifer and Chloe, a tough Hollywood cop. Lucifer is fascinated by her because she has no ulterior motive and she seem impervious to his charms, while Chloe would like him out of her life, but has discovered that he has his uses--like saving her life.

But what Fio likes best about the show is the humor.  She laughs, snickers, and giggles all the way through.

As Eclectic Does

Fio watches Big Bang Theory, Lucifer, The Little Couple, and Forensic Files.  Don't tell her she's not eclectic.

Hell or Heaven?

Regarding Lucifer, the TV show Husband and Fio have started watching, Husband thinks it will end with Lucifer returning to rule Hell with Chloe, the cop, by his side.  Fio, on the other hand, thinks Lucifer will help Chloe and her ex-husband reconcile, be redeemed, regrow his wings, and ascend to Heaven.

Which gives you a pretty good look into Fio and Husband's respective psyches..

What's Trending

Botched is one of those TV shows that, the first time you accidentally land on it, you stay there for another hour or so watching the stars, two plastic surgeons, correct everything from lumpy implants to mismatched nostrils. 

The medical procedures are interesting, and the patient interviews are juicy, especially when they involve entertainment wannabees, for whom the show has become the latest must-drop-in.  But the do-good dialogue and manly laughter pall after a while,

Let's see what's on the next channel.

OCD

Thank to TV, we now know all the jargon, and what we used to attribute to someone's personality, we now diagnose as a disorder. Thus, when Fio's friend dropped everything and moved out of state only to return four months later, Fio attributed her actions to ADD rather than impulsiveness.

But what about Fiorella, who plans every moment of her day?  Fio's friend may be impulsive, but she herself is compulsive.  Why else would anyone write a blog every day for more than seven years straight?

Cops and Killers

As a male, Husband can watch episode after episode of cops-and-killers shows, and they bounce right off of him.  As a female, Fiorella absorbs every gruesome detail of the dramas, and her GERD starts rumbling.

Ergo, Fiorella must henceforth absent herself from the den when said programs are on TV.  If you can't join'em, leave the room.

Competition

Strangely enough, although Fiorella is a very competitive person, she cannot bear to watch competitive shows on TV or participate in NaNoRiMO, which is a yearly competition in which romance writers egg each other on to write an overflow of words.  Regarding the TV shows, Fio identifies with each contestant and does not like to see anyone lose, and, regarding NaNoRiMo, Fio's competition is not with other writers.  It's with herself as she molds each sentence so it will say exactly what she wants it to. Or so she hopes.

Late Night Considerations

When you think about it, mammalian reproduction is downright weird.  It would be much simpler to be  starfish.
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That opposable thumb--it comes in handy (pun intended).
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How sad--the Duggars brought their children up to be media whores.

Duggarville

How you gonna keep them down on the farm once that they've seen Paree?  How you gonna keep them in the Duggar mind-lock once that they're out from under Jim Bob's control?

Yep, Josh Duggar's done it again, but this time it was consensual and arranged via a website that's been hacked.  But what can you expect of a young man set loose in a tempting new world that, thanks to his parents' sequestration of the family from everything real, he is not equipped to deal with?  A family whose religious views are based on sexuality?

The sad thing is that Anna will bear the blunt of the shame and guilt, for "not satisfying" her husband.  The sad thing is that  the gravy train has been retired to a side rail, and the younger Duggars will be back to Goodwill clothes in no time. The sad thing is that, with nineteen kids who grew up as TV stars, Fio would guess there's a lot more crap to come.  

That's Fit to Print

Television news bit into newspaper news, and internet news bit into television news.  What's next?

Time marches on.

Newsing Snippets

Fiorella asks again--have we become a nation of sexual voyeurs? Why must we know all the details, stroke by stroke, of other people's sexual experiences?  Why is it that the Hastert scandal, the Duggar scandal, and the Jenner thing are today's biggest "news " stories?  Why is Fifty Shades a best seller?  Why are "mainstream" movies on the edge of pornographic?
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The Duggars don't seem to understand.  There isn't anything Jim Bob and Michelle can say to regain their places in the sun/limelight, and it isn't just Josh.  Like every long-running TV show, the time has come for them to fold their tents and fade away.
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One last question--why is Bruce such a "hero" for turning himself into Caitlyn when his action is an act of pure self-indulgence?  Hmm--is Kris running the show?

Fictional Reality

No, Fio does not go to the movies, nor does she watch them on television--she doesn't have the time.  She's always working on the house or the yard or keeping up with friends or, as you know, writing, which is her full-time job.  Besides, she's more interested in reality than fiction.  But Fiorella, you say, you write fiction.  To which Fiorella replies, "My fiction is reality."