Love's Cruel Underbelly
There is an inherent hassle involved in falling in love with a woman who happens to live a few hours south of where I've presently chosen to reside.
Namely that, when one of us needs the other, we're only available in the short term by phone, instant message or email, three mediums that we use as often as we possibly can. On the phone with my headset plugged into my cordless so I can cook, clean, move furniture or whatever, instant messaging when I'm in my room and she's sitting at her computer and emailing everywhere in between.
But there's going to be days and times when one of us experiences frustration at the situation and a desire to see each other as soon as possible (well, call it a surge in desire because we are still very much in the let's-spend-every-waking-moment-together mode).
Last night was Paula's night to feel the absence and we ended up talking on the phone for several hours, about important stuff and about not so important stuff. Basically we tried to spend the evening together regardless of the space between us. And it will get harder and easier for me as well.

But I've also been using it as a basis for a course of action, a catalyst for motivation. Use a possible pending move as impetus to start on and charge through a bunch of projects.

The fact of our love is not in question, how we are able to love each other is. The compromise in our relationship isn't attached to either person, as is often the case, but rather on our situation and the distance keeping us apart. And we make certain that the other is well aware of the distinction in our talks. When an issue arises and its not about the fact of our love for each other but is about the situation and rapidly changing world we've launched ourselves into.

In Other, Crazy TV Premier News
The Shield premiered last night and it was AWESOME! Anyone who is into hard core cop shows should give it a look. Last night's opening scene was the gangland execution of two bad guys but another bad guy, yeah, yeah, seen it before? Well, maybe not like this though I've seen this in real life. They tied the men to posts, put a couple of car tires (though they used motorcycle tires in the show) over their heads and bodies, douse them with gasoline and set them on fire. This happened with fair regularity when I was overseas in South Africa, it was how the black witch doctors harvested a kind of magic called Muti (or something to that effect), they would dip cups into the burning bodies and extract some of the burned flesh along with the tire. It supposedly gave the witch doctor powers over their enemies. Nasty? Yep! Effective? Well, let's see, the ANC's in power now and the white power base has been pretty well melted down. Though the vast majority of the private wealth in the country is still owned and controlled by white folks, the blacks and coloureds (their classifications, not mine so don't go tossing any race cards at me).

Anyway, this was the season premier of the show and it continues to amaze me. Very powerful, very moving and always surprising. Michael Chiklis is breaking brand new ground with the show and should be recognized for his role in making this one of the most riveting shows on TV. It makes NYPD Blue look like Romper Room. My god, they smuggled a Mexican drug lord back across the border in the trunk of a car that had bullet holes in it! How? They drugged him up good with Roofies (I don't know and don't want to know how to spell it properly! and then flashed a badge or two at the border along with some cool handed dealings. It was well done and believable.

And I'm already looking forward to next week's show. And I'm not the only one, Savage Henry over at The Fabulous Mint 400 is also a fan and was looking forward to the show last night as much as I was. Great minds thinking alike on Macs! Hahahaha!

Another Show to Look Forward To
I'm also very much looking forward to the best reality-fucks-you show concept I've heard in a long time. Or maybe I should rename the genre the Let's-See-If-True-Love-Can-Survive-At-$19K-A-Year-When-The-Women-Think-They're-Getting-Together-With-A-Millionaire. Joe Millionaire promises to be brutally nasty on some of these women when they find out they've been busting their butts to win a guy who they thought was worth $50 million and he actually makes $19K. Can you say GoldDigger Lovefest? I knew you could!