No one watches TV anymore.

Through my most recent hook-up, Twitter, I have discovered a whole new universe of things. One

of them is web television. Thanks to Geek & Sundry I plunged head-first into watching some

very funny series, and now am even contributing in a small way by translating subtitles for

their new series Caper.

For someone like me, who never turns my TV on anymore, web TV is an excellent solution. It is

not so much that I do not like watching TV, I just hate commercial breaks, and dubbing, and

subtitles, and having no control over what comes on.

So being able to choose what I want to watch, when I want to watch it, pausing whenever I

need to, and not having to put up with commercials, well it is just awesome. Those TV

channels that put their content out on the Intertubes in addition to broadcasting it the

traditional way - kudos.

For those of us not in the U.S., and thus not able to use Hulu, YouTube is a great

alternative. I also discovered that Amazon has a web TV section with some exclusive web

series. One I personally enjoyed was Bosch, a new murder mystery police series. Not so much

because the concept is unique or anything, but I find the characters intriguing and would very

much like to learn more about them.

All in all I think Luke (Caper) hit the nail on the head when he said that "no one watches TV

anymore anyway. All the good stuff is on the Internet".

Thus I leave you with this list of web TV series from Wikipedia. Have fun.

#IWantMyNerdHQ

Not too long ago, during my quest to find everything on the Intertubes related to Nathan Fillion (*swoon*), I came across the YouTube channel for Nerd Machine. There were these videos from something called Nerd HQ, an event organised by Zach Levi (from the TV series Chuck) to benefit the charity Operation Smile.

When I found out what Operation Smile does, I fell in love with Zach Levi, almost as much as I was already in love with Nathan. Since I am lazy and want to avoid more typing than necessary, I am just going to put in a link to another blog where it explains more about Nerd Machine, Nerd HQ and Comic-Con: Nerd Power|Chuck This.

Operation Smile is an organisation that helps children that are born with cleft palate or other facial deformities in countries that lack the medical care that we in the Western world are privileged enough to enjoy. Surgeons and other medical staff volunteer their vacation time to go to these countries and perform surgeries. Each surgery costs about $240 (that's US currency), and takes less than an hour, but it can save a child's life and it certainly will change that life forever.

This organisation is especially dear to me because my son was born with a severe cleft palate. Thanks to the excellent care at Children's Hospital in Seattle he has never had to suffer any problems because of this. Even the surgeons over here, when we met with the team after we moved, were impressed with the level of expertise. Today, people that meet him do not even notice his scars.

So to be able to contribute to this organisation, even by making a small donation, is something that puts a smile on my face. I think about how I felt about my son, and I imagine how it must feel to a mother somewhere who has seen children die because they were born with a cleft palate. How much more intense must her happiness be when her child is saved by a simple little operation. I cannot even imagine.

That is why I fell in love with Zach, because he runs Nerd HQ as a fundraiser for Operation Smile. All the money from ticket sales etc goes directly to charity. So when he sent out a Tweet the other day about asking us fans for help, I immediately set aside some money to donate. And I think if I can do this, when I live on welfare and barely scrape by, then anyone can do it.

In the words of Captain Malcolm Reynolds: "We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty".

Let's do this.

It's a big big world...

I have recently discovered that I live on the wrong side of the planet. This is a feeling that is not entirely unfamiliar to me. Around age 15 I started feeling this inexplicable pull to move half-way around the world. Eight years later I ended up in Seattle, WA, and if it had not been for the company I found myself in I would have enjoyed the experience more.

While I was over there, I had my son and, as any parent knows, my life kind of shifted it's gravity to revolve around this new person. So when it came time to make a decision to stay or go, I chose to go because I felt it was the best thing for him.

Long story short, turned out it was not the best thing for him, or for me, but hindsight is 20-20 as they say. Now he is older, and no longer with me, and the pull is back. I feel like an alien over here. Wrong place, wrong time. Unfortunately, I can do nothing to change things.

The absolute worst part of it all is that I am pulled in two different directions. I want to be over there (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, somewhere along the coast there), but I also want to be close to my son and he is here. If I believed in a hell, this would be it.

Lately I ask myself at least once a day, why I chose to go. Would it really have been so bad to stay? I could have made it work. But again, hindsight. I honestly thought our life would be better here.

So here I am, stuck on the wrong side of the world, using the Intertubes to live vicariously through others and keep some semblance of contact with the life I wish I had. Holding on by my fingernails to some scrap of sanity by keeping an active virtual social life. Sad, isn't it?