Today is the one year anniversary of this blog. So far the trip has been an enjoyable one. Once again, I shout out to Godfrey, who makes this journal possible.
Some observations:
I have met a number of way-cool people as a result of my blatherings here. I'm pleased that I have made your acquaintance. It's a relief to know that there are some like-minded folks out there. If I ever have to pull up stakes, it's comforting to know that there are other places in the world where I have a shot at being accepted.
I've tried to tread that thin line between being honest and trying to share something of myself without committing the sin of TMI. It's tricky. For example, upon review, I think I write about my dad too much. I'll try not to do that this year, since he's dead and no-one but me really cares.
The exercise of writing a little something on an almost-daily basis, even if it's mindless bitching about The Office, seems to have been helpful. Lately I've entertained the notion that I might be up to the task of writing a real sure-enough novel. I got an idea for a storyline and everything! Of course, whether or not I start writing it is a different matter.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again - on-line journaling is cheaper than therapy.
Thank you for reading.
PAST: Do you remember that time, some time ago, when that thing happened? You know, that one time?
How could I forget? It was fabulous! It actually happened three times! I wish it would happen again!
PRESENT: Does it annoy you when people around you are absent-minded, or are you the absent-minded one?
I write important stuff down in my Pocket Pal (aka PDA). I'm used to working with absent-minded engineers. There may be one or two absent-minded people in my life, but that's okay.
FUTURE: If I forget to get the PPF up on Thursday night again, will you please remember to smack me upside the head? Please?
Ah, GreyDuck, I had no idea you liked it a little rough!
I've been corresponding with an eBayer who was interested in buying one of my auctions right away. So while we were going back and forth about the price - someone put a bid on the auction! I was afraid of this, I couldn't find an option to end the auction anywhere, I kept looking while the negotiations have been going on.
So what do I do? Piss off the person I've been talking to, or the person who just placed a bid? I happen to have another helping of the same amount of the fabric that's up for bids, but in two pieces. Maybe the person who went ahead and bid will take that? Poo.
Seen on the sign at the Village Inn -
"The Best Way to Forgive Is To Forge"
Last night when I fell asleep I immediately entered REM state. I had several intense "dreamlets", culminating in one featuring me falling out of a tall office building. I was simultaneously falling and watching myself fall.
My brain is weird.
Here is a recipe for calamari with spicy anchovy mayonnaise. The unusual thing is not the anchovy mayo, but the fact that the calamari is coated with graham cracker crumbs. The chef says that "the sugar in graham cracker crumbs caramelizes so quickly that it gives the outside a light golden crisp before the calamari has a chance to overcook." I'm just adventurous enough to want to try that, yet not quite brave enough to make calamari on my own.
According to this site, both my first and last name are quite common. Hrumph. I'm so used to being weird that this normalcy is disturbing. At least my two middle names are more out of the ordinary.
With the regime change, some prime office real estate became available. So some folks were able to get new digs. One person moved into a conference room, another moved into the first person's old office, and a third moved into an office left vacant after "Black Thursday" (the time I barely escaped a layoff in March). I wouldn't want a window office anyway, they are either too hot or too cold. But I so would love a door!
What better way to start your day than by stepping in cat barf? At least it wasn't on the carpet.
I wouldn't enjoy being a cat, even a spoiled one. Too much vomiting.
Consider this: Pessimists are disappointed less frequently.
I'll not likely get to Europe in this current lifetime, but I have been to over 30 states, with visits to dazzling places such as:*
Idaho Falls
Freehold, NJ
Schenectady, NY
Colorado Springs - one of my favorite cities to visit
Burlington, CO
Lost Wages, NV
Sacramento, CA
Whatever city the University of New Hampshire is in
Columbia, SC
Some town in Iowa where I got food poisoning from a Hardees - the hotel I stayed in there had icky old carpeting
Richmond, VA
A couple of places in North Carolina
Birmingham, AL
Nogales, AZ
Kokomo, IN (strangely, the town was not in the FL Keys - once again, pop music lies)
Las Angeles (had dinner in Hollywood and got to see the famous Hollywood sign on the side of that hill there - you know the one)
Nawlins
Nashville, TN - I saw this way-cool exhibition on Napoleon while I was there, I wish I'd bought the catalog!
Westcliffe, CO
Piqua, OH
San Francisco, CA (I walked on the Golden Gate Bridge)
A very tiny town outside of Amarillo, Texas, the name of which escapes me
Tiajuana, Mexico (declared by Krusty the Clown as "The happiest place on Earth!")
Omaha, NE (Actually, they have a very cool zoo there, complete with an indoor model rainforest)
Elizabethtown, KY (the state, not the jelly, get your mind out of the gutter!)
St. Louis, MO - I kind of like it there; since the brewery's there, Busch beer on tap tastes pretty good in that town
*Note: Level of dazzle varies by city.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try to eat pudding out of the cup without a spoon.
In talking with Italian costuming guru Jen Thompson about the above painting, I'm reminded of one of my all-time favorite SNL skits. I loved it before I loved Italian Ren costumes! And now I'm going to inflict it on you-
Announcer: And now, Public Access Cable Television Channel D presents.. "E. Buzz Miller's Art Classics".
E. Buzz Miller: Good evening, welcome to Public Access Cable Channel D, this is "Art Classics". I'm your host, E. Buzz Miller. And my lovely guest to my left here is Miss Christie Christina, and she's opening at the Coach & Pull Bar tomorrow night. But enough talk, let's get right to tonight's art classics.
[E. Buzz holds up painting of naked woman lying on a bed ]
E. Buzz Miller: Now, the first one here is called Venus of Urbino, and it was painted in 1538 by a guy in Venice. And, this is for real, his name is spelled T-I-T-I-A-N. Titian! Honest to God!
Christie Christina: [giggles profusely]
E. Buzz Miller: He's a very famous respected artist, and this is a bona fide art treasure. And I don't think anybody could disagree that this is a really nice painting of a broad on a couch! How about you, Christie? You're an artist.
Christie Christina: Well.. I'm an artist and an entertainer! [ giggles profusely ]
E. Buzz Miller: Yeah, right! [laughs]
Christie Christina:[giggles profusely] But I think she's very heavy.
E. Buzz Miller: Well, of course.. but, back then, that's the way they liked them. You know.
Christie Christina:Oh.[giggles profusely]
[E. Buzz holds up a painting of a gathering in the woods]
E. Buzz Miller: Okay, here's another one, painted by the same guy - Titian. He painted these broads in 1555, so.. it's a classic! As you can see, he was a master of lights, colors and shapes. And, uh, we blew up this picture here with a little more detail. [holds up superimposed painting of the sole naked woman in the original painting] What do I see there, Christie? I see something there. Do you see something there?
Christie Christina:Yes, I do! [giggles profusely]
E. Buzz Miller:[points to the woman's perky nipple]Right.. there! You see? He didn't leave a thing off, did he!
In a recent discussion I participated on over at The Elizabethan Lady's LJ, I encountered someone who maintained that 9.9 out of 10 SCA peers were suck-ups who kissed ass to get their awards. All I felt I could say in response was "Ouch!" It seemed pointless to argue with her; she'd made up her mind, what could I say to dissuade her? It's true, some people in the SCA, peers or not, are practiced bootlickers who constantly curry favor with the Powers That Be. I know that I didn't do that to earn my accolade, no one did that on my behalf, and my friends who are peers didn't engage in that sort of thing either. Nor did I pretend to be somebody I'm not to gain approval.
One lesson I've learned in the past few years is that there is no way that everyone will like me. It's pointless to attempt a 100% approval rating. In the real world, people judge me by my appearance, what I'm wearing, how I talk, my sex, my race. I can't be all good things to all the people I encounter. Inside the confines of the SCA, people judge me based on the type of costumes I wear, who I associate with, and, when they see my Laurel's medallion, they are going to make assumptions about me based on what they think of the order. They also might judge me based on what they may have heard about me. For a while, it bothered me a little that other people (or, to be more accurate, one person) out there talk(s) trash about my friends and I to anyone who might listen, as a recent Google of "House Sinister" Trimaris found. But if people are foolish enough to accept one person's opinion without bothering to get the other side of the story, that reflects poorly on them, not me. It also makes the trash-talker look petty after a while. So, life lesson, be yourself, some people will like you, others will not, most won't have an opinion either way. As Dr. Phil once said, "If we only knew how seldom people thought of us, their opinion wouldn't worry us" - well, he said something like that.
Oh, and if you believe that "Oops I meant that to be a private message" excuse, I've got some prime Everglades real estate I think you'd be interested in purchasing.
On my way out of the allergy doctor's office this morning, I encountered the Zyrtec rep. My first thought was that I should mug him for his copious supply of samples. I had to quit taking Zyrtec since my insurance now charges $40 a month for the stuff. And now I have a co-pay for every shot. Rat bastards. In summation, my allergy habit is too expensive, time to cut some corners. Anywho, I also thought about asking him for some free stuff - "I love your product, it's the best, it's the only thing that really works - can I have some?" - but that's not my style, and he also looked like he wouldn't appreciate that sort of thing.
There are two types of people in my office - the whistlers and those driven mad by the whistling. I have never before encountered a workplace with so many whistlers. And it's not like they're virtuosos (virtuosi?), they repeat the same phrase of music over and over and over.
New penis grown on boy's arm! No, seriously, it's not from the Weekly World News, it's from the legitimate-looking website Ananova. There's a picture of the new wiener, actually it looks more like a sweet potato. This penis growth breakthrough (hey, didn't I get an e-mail about that earlier today?) happened in Russia. I thought their economy was lousy, how can they have the time and money to invest in figuring out how to make a new schlong for a kid stupid enough to pee on an electric fence? And don't you agree that if he's dumb enough to do that, it's kind of a sign that he doesn't deserve a second chance?
PAST: What truly bad-for-you snacky treat were you addicted to as a child?
I was really into Cap'n Crunch cereal. And Coke. Oh, and French onion chip dip. (Has the name of that been changed to Freedom onion dip?)
PRESENT: As adults we're supposed to be responsible, watch our diet carefully, blah blah blah. It would be boring if we did that all the time, wouldn't it? Go on, share with us your guilty-pleasure snack food.
There's so many! Whatchamacallit candy bars. Ice cream with no redeeming qualities - that is, not sugar-free, not low-fat...just fatty and sugary, the way nature intended it to be. Lisa's world-renown cookies.
FUTURE: I haven't pushed your creative boundaries lately, so how about you describe a brand new snacky-treat that you'll become famous for throughout the land?
It's got hazelnut cream with little bits of hazelnuts encased in dark chocolate.
ADDENDUM: This meme has been brought to you by the letter G, as in GreyDuck.
Ebay scam e mail
"Need your password please reply"
Go soak your fat head
It started with an attempt at a new outlook on life. Last week I decided that I shouldn't expect much, that way I won't be disappointed. It's a fine line, because you can't do it if self-pity or envy is in the mix. It's an acceptance issue. I guess it might be a Zen thing, I haven't studied Eastern thought very much.
Then I visited evilbible.com. (I think that's the website.) The author is pretty angry, but she has taken some time to study the Bible and find the various contradictions in the book. I used to tend to believe in reincarnation, but that's just a coping strategy, because the thought that there's just nothing waiting for us all at the end of the line is scary. It just made me think, think about all the wars that have been fought over religion, the horrible things people do to each other in the name of their god. And the book that gives them the instructions to do these things contradicts itself.
For the past day or so I've been dealing with a growing realization that modern life is pretty much pointless and without meaning. At least, mine is. I make pretty pictures and write bullet points. To help sell black boxes. That's it. That's all there is to my so-called career. No one is made a better person because of what I do for a living. The company might make some sales as a result of my work, it might not. Shouldn't I be out there saving the whales?
Let's look at how I spend much of my spare time, in a pseudo-historical play group. Ultimately no one gets any tangible good from my research or my costumes. Costuming is actually a pretty selfish hobby. So I found out what English people feed their hunting dogs in the 1500s, big deal. It's all such a waste of resources. So there's no better pay-off as a result of how I spend my spare time.
And it's not like I can go join some hippie commune, if they even have those anymore. I have to have health insurance. And they won't sell it to me as an individual off the street, even if I did have the money to do that, due to a pre-existing condition, insurance companies have to be forced by my employer to cover me. I literally am a wage slave. There's hardly any way I could ever be self-employed for the insurance reason alone. I've just had this realization that even if I didn't want any stuff, like a house, or nice vacations, I still would have to work. No matter what. And it's not like I want to stay home and eat bon-bons and watch Dr. Phil, I don't have a problem working. It's just so...absurd. Stupid. Again, pointless.
I wonder, would having a child somehow justify my waste of resources? There's other people out ther perpetuating the human race, so there's no pressing need to reproduce just to give life meaning or whatever. And that pre-existing condition would make pregnancy risky, to say the least. My genes are a real Russian roulette of bad things waiting to manifest, so I would feel bad passing that stuff on to another generation anyway.
All that's going to be around to attest to my life when I die is my stuff. Someone will have to go through all of my stuff and get rid of it. At the end of my life I just have to make sure there's enough money to bury me (cremation squicks me out).
I've been on this slow campaign of self improvement. Trying to keep my weight down. Trying to be a better housekeeper. Trying to take care of my various health issues. Trying to save for the future. Trying to manage my money better. Why? What's the point? Isn't it selfish for me to want even more? It seems kind of shallow to want a vacation or a house. You know, my brother doesn't have a lot of money, and that always worries Mum. But what is he ultimately missing? He has a place to live, he has food, clothes, so he doesn't have lots of things. He seems pretty content.
And the weird thing is, I'm not depressed. It's just a realization. Can't really change the situation. I can't really think of a way to make a difference to my fellow humans. It's even kind of selfish in a way to want to do that, you know, justify one's existance.
So, ultimately, what's the point? I have no idea. But I do want you to know that I'm just trying to get this either out of my system or into a form my brain can digest. I don't want you feeling sorry or whatever for me, either.
The management of "I'll Say She Is" would like to apologize to everyone on the Internet for the last entry. It was disgusting and bad and thouroughly disobedient and we know it was very un-funny, but the writer didn't really mean it and she does come from a broken home and has a very stressful work setting. Anyway, she's usually kind of funny most of the time. So please don't remove your links to this blog because the management is going through an unhappy phase at the moment, what with being stuck in a day-long dull meeting and the whole stress of knowing that there's a George W. Bush action figure out there. (The Bill Clinton figure is also somewhat disturbing.)
"Shut your phone hole!"
"Meanwhile we're stuck dealing with Captain Crunchy, who's wearing a big belt buckle."
A Hispanic guy saying "Pardon my French".
ADDENDUM: Check out this recipe for Captain Crunchy Chicken with Dr. Pepper Cornbread. The chicken is rolled in Peanut Butter Captain Crunch crumbs. This must be either strangely tasty, or absolutely gross.
I bet that if I went to bed right now, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep.
Mum is on a weight loss quest - 6 pounds lost in 6 weeks. Go Mum! She says she's having a craving for Chicken Cacciatore. Anyone have a recipe that is kinda-sorta not bad for you? Yeah, I know I could Goggle one, I just wanted some group participation.
Wow. In a club where people try to leave the modern world behind, technology is often at the forefront. For example, right now the Pennsic War, the biggest event in the SCA, is happening. 10,000 or so people gathered in rural Pennsylvania. Yet, while on a campground, folks can upload digital pictures to the Internet via this site. There's some good pictures here, as well as the obligitory embarrassing pictures of women in chain mail bikinis and men with their faces painted to look like Darth Maul. *sigh* At lunch I will have to see if Jen (of Very Big Blog fame) has posted any pics.
With the big blackout up in the Northeast yesterday, I can't wait [/sacasm] to see how busy we are at work today. See, the black boxes my company sells are involved with power plants and such; in fact, I think they are supposed to keep this sort of thing from happening at a certain level. I predict the following:
*Son of Mr. B will have all sorts of ideas on how we can capitalize on this, which will mean I'll be very busy
*All the engineers will be talking about this in agonizing detail
*At least one of said engineers will attempt to explain to me, in very technical terms, why the blackout happened
This could be good for business, if politicians decide that maybe they ought to upgrade the power system's equipment from the 1950s, maybe they will buy our black boxes. This could be the thing that saves us from the Enron debacle debacle.
"Letting my emotions out was the best thing I've ever done. Sure, I'm not funny anymore, but there's more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations." - Sienfeld
I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog. Except the name I'm considering, "Serenity NOW!", is used by a couple of other journals. So you guys tell me what you think.
A rat.
A rat, the size of a canned ham.
A rat, the size of a Dodge Ram pickup truck, ran out from under our crappy storage shed while I was closing the door.A rat, the size of a double decker bus, ran out from under our crappy storage shed while I was closing the door - and made contact with my leg.
A rat, the size of a 747, ran out from under our crappy storage shed while I was closing the door, and made contact with my leg, causing me to scream like a woman.
All joy has fled. I am severely traumatized and doubt that I will ever be able to make contact with the outside world ever again. Please send groceries, DVDs, books and fabrics to my house on a regular basis.
I. Can. Still. Feel. Where. It. Touched. Me. I. Have. rubbed. My. Leg. With. Rubbing. Alcohol. For. Fifteen. Minutes.
I think I may have been contaminated with the bubonic plague. Or perhaps the Black Death. But definitely one of the two.
Possibly as a result of contracting The Black Plague TM, I feel feverish.
ADDENDUM: As of Monday afternoon, I have a scratchy throat. I'm noting all my symptoms so medical authorities will know what happened.
"We are all of us born in moral stupidity, taking the world as an udder to feed our supreme selves ..."
George Eliot [pseud. of Mary Ann Evans] (1819–1880), British novelist - Middlemarch
"Writing about life in small rural towns, George Eliot was primarily concerned with the responsibility that people assume for their lives and with the moral choices they must inevitably make. Although highly serious, her novels are marked by compassion and a subtle humor."
I admit, the FUTURE part of GreyDuck's most recent PPF had me stumped for a couple of days.
PAST: Were you the class clown, the practical joker, the witty one or did all of your humor come out in your writing? Or perhaps none of the above? What was your form of comedic expression as a child?
I wasn't the class clown in the sense that I did funny things in front of the entire class. I employed sarcasm, word play, and humorous drawings; I also did what I thought at the time was a good Jimmy Carter impersonation.
PRESENT: This one's easy. Which do you find the funnier comedy troupe, the Three Stooges or the Marx Brothers?
Actually, that's not easy at all! As you can tell from the name of this blog, I adore the Marx Brothers. However, the Three Stooges do have a certain charm that I will admit to enjoying.
FUTURE: Pick your clever, snarky epitaph.
"By the time you're reading this, I will already know the meaning of life and/or be reincarnated."Just so no-one gets the wrong idea, the only reason I just took the link to Jen Thompson's Live Journal off this page is that she's made it a "Friends-Only" journal. I didn't take her off because I don't like her anymore! I'll probably add a couple of links to my favorite costumers' sites this weekend.
I am good at taking multiple-choice tests. For example, even though I failed Algebra on a number of occasions in high school, I knew enough about how the SAT worked to get a decent math score. Apparently this skill allows me to fool "The Man" into thinking that I, one of the least logical people on the planet, have, get this, "a well-working blend of logic and judgment and organization". I can hear Godfrey howling with laughter at this. Other amusing phrases are in italics. Take the quiz yourself here. I hijacked this from Jen's Very Big Blog. (Welcome back from Pennsic!)
Your Brain Usage Profile
Auditory : 53%
Visual : 46%
Left : 58%
Right : 41%
Ginevra, you are mildly left-hemisphere dominant while showing a slight preference for auditory processing. This overall combination seems to indicate a well-working blend of logic and judgment and organization, with sufficient intuition, perception and creativity to balance that dominance.
You will at times experience conflict between how you feel and what you think which will generally be resolved in favor of what you think. [BUZZ! Incorrect, but thank you for playing! You'll recieve a case of Rice-a-Roni, the San Fransisco treat, and Turtle Wax.~Ginevra] You will find yourself interested in the practical applications of whatever material you have learned or whatever situation you face and will retain the ability to refine whatever knowledge you possess or aspects of whatever position you are in.
By and large, you will orient yourself toward intellectual activities and structure. Though not rigid, you will schedule yourself, plan, and focus on routine and continuity of operations, rather than on changes and disruptions [Punctuation please! /former proofreader]
When changes or disruptions occur, you are likely to consider first how to ensure that such disruptions do [??? English major no like this fragment! ~G] The same balance is reflected in your sensory preference. You will tend to be reflective and measured in your interaction style. For the most part, you will be considered objective without being cold and goal-oriented while retaining the capacity to listen to others.
Preferentially you learn by listening and maintaining significant internal dialogues with yourself. [Now THIS is true, I have inner monologues and dialogues all the time. ~G] Nevertheless, you have sufficient visualization capabilities to benefit from using graphs, charts, doodles, or even body movement [Okay, you got me there, be sure to ask Lunchbox and Lisa about the "Dance of Dispair and Disillusionment" I performed in the middle of the Home Depot last Saturday when explaining the rat encounter. ~G] to enhance your comprehension and memory.
To the extent that you are even implicitly aware of your hemispheric dominance and sensory style, you will feel most comfortable in those arenas which emphasize verbal skills and logic. Teaching, law, and science are those that stand out among the professions, along with technical sales and management.
Wow, I haven't had a laugh that good in some time!
I poked my finger with my needle AND I don't have enough rDNA origin insulin lispro injection juice to cover lunch.
I dreamed that I was in this combination dance studio / antique shop that was infested with ants and rats, because Uncle Chuckie had put out some Havarti with dill cheese to attract the critters so they would also be tempted into eating poison. Meanwhile, children driven by ambitious parents auditioned for dancing gigs in commercials. Robert Downey Jr. was trying to assasinate the govenor, who wasn't JEB!, he was Tommy Lee Jones. A festive parade of hospitality industry workers interrupted the plot. A museum dedicated to a cigar magnate featured the magnate entombed in a wall in the museum; his head was sticking out of the wall. I turned to tell the heir of the magnate that the head was freaking me out; Mum said, "no, don't tell him that!" and I saw that the heir had no eyes. And then I went furniture shopping with my nieces and nephews at one of those "furniture just for kids" shops, and was incensed to see that kids were offered amazing antique pieces of furniture.
I was a weird little girl who was prone to shyness, especially around adults. Sometimes I was a tomboy, I liked to ride my bike and hang out in the tree house in the vacant lot next door. Then I would go off to Sabrina and Camille's house and play Barbies. Or I would ride my bike up to the Lawson's to buy comic books and Creamsicles. I liked wandering around in the woods in the neighborhood, we lived out on the far reaches of suburbia. And every winter I went ice skating on the pond in our backyard.
Someone please explain why there's not a cool "historic dance, drama, music, literature and costume" group like this where I live. Oh yeah - 'cause I live in Lamesville, USA.
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME
self-righteous/intolerant people
the possibility of nuclear war caused by sentient computers (well, any nuclear war, for that matter)
death (sometimes)
THREE THINGS I DON’T UNDERSTAND
Spanish
Carrot Top being employed in the enterainment industry
Organized religion
THREE THINGS I’D LIKE TO LEARN
acceptance of things the way they are
how to get wealthy without having to sue someone
Italian
THREE THINGS I AM WEARING RIGHT NOW
eyeglasses
toe rings
leopard print robe
THREE THINGS ON MY DESK
paper (lots)
talking spongebob figure
giant inflatable bee
THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE
See a Browns game in person, preferrably in Cleveland
have someone buy one of my paintings (and not because they feel sorry for me)
be a published writer
THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY
Weird
zany
stream-of-conciousness
THREE BAD THINGS ABOUT MY PERSONALITY
impatient
prone to depression
stubborn
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE
English
Scottish
German
THREE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
height
eye color
left-handedness
THREE THINGS I DON’T LIKE ABOUT MY BODY
TMJ
pancreas
weight
THREE THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU
I have eyelashes sprouting from the inner corners of my eyes
I was in a sorority
I listen to New Order
THREE THINGS I SAY THE MOST
D'oh!
TIE: I want that - or - Ex-cellent (a la Mr. Burns)
I have to clean my house
THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO
Italy
England (sorry, Lunchbox)
Egypt
THREE NAMES THAT YOU GO BY
Karen
Ginevra
Karenski
THREE AOL SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE OR HAD
kkegypt (that's the only one)
As of last week, we reach the halfway point in GreyDuck's saga:
PAST: Everybody loves signs and portents and mystery. (It's also axiomatic that "everybody generalizes." Or is that oxymoronic? Anyway. Let's move along, then.) A fair number of us like to define other people based on what sign they were born under. So hey baby, what's your sign?
I'm a Libra, with loads of Scorpio in my chart, and my moon is in Aquarius (hee hee).
PRESENT: What do you think about this Mars thing, eh? Is it cool or what?
I think it's way cool, but I haven't seen it yet. Florida is horrible for stargazing.
FUTURE: You're on the committee to officially put some new mythical creatures into the Zodiac. (Those old ones were getting boring, wouldn't you say?) Give us a taste of what Zodiac II will include. C'mon, cut loose.
Unicorn - you like Celine Dion and posters of kitties that say "hang in there, it's almost Friday!". The Basilisk - people avoid you. The Dog with Bees in His Mouth and When He Barks He Shoots Bees At You - that's gonna be my new sign.
Man, what is up with the time-space continuum? Or are all the clocks slow?
Recently received this eBay feedback - "You were right - this fabric is SO COOL!!!! Great to do business with you!"
Stage One of Operation: Buy My Stuff is complete, I have sufficiently thinned out my costuming fabric stash thanks to the wonder that is eBay. Next week is Stage Two, where I will finally sell my red Elizabethan outfit, a somewhat creepy repro wallhanging from the Unicorn Hunt tapestries, an inflatable mummy (what do I need with two inflatable mummies?) as well as some jewelry that is left over from my previous life. (And yes, Sid, I know I need to sell that sculpture thing - I need to weigh it and figure out shipping, which may be a bit $$$.) And speaking of feedback - do most people on eBay not leave feedback? Why am I spending precious seconds of my time when I don't get the same mad props in return?
Oh please, oh please don't let the engineers see the Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics page. If they do, I'll very likely be remaking the corporate web site in a similar vein.
Cat sneezes have a cute sound to them. What's not cute is if they sneeze on you. I wonder - can cats be allergic to humans?
Play along with GreyDuck's meme:
PAST: Most of us moved around a bit as children, but most people I've talked to about it remember one particular place as being "home." What was home to you, growing up?
The old homestead in suburban Northeast Ohio. We lived there till I was 12. I know it wasn't perfect, but through my tired mind's eye, it seems somewhat idyllic.
PRESENT: What is it about your present home that drew you to it, and what makes it a great place to live?
The rent was affordable, it was convenient to where we work, and near our friends. The A/C is archaic and runs up the utility bill. Down side: The light fixtures depress me, the pantry and kitchen are woefully inadequete for my needs, and the space is not conducive to entertaining. I also don't get to paint and decorate to my liking.
FUTURE: You've won the lottery! Hooray! Now, get out there and build your dream house. And, of course, tell us all about it.
Oh, I don't know - built-in bookshelves, a hot tub, plenty of space, big kitchen, that sort of stuff.
I thought I had a cool idea - I'll go and get a Master's degree in English! Because that's exactly what the world needs, another Liberal Arts person. But apparently you have to have things like good grades and recommendations from professors to get into grad school. Oh well.
