It's What Time Of Year, Now?

Given that the stores have had Christmas crap on display since before Halloween, I'd pretty much taken to tuning out anything relating to the holiday as an annoying irrelevance, for the sake of my sanity. So now that Thanksgiving is behind us and it's very nearly December, it's coming as a bit of a shock to suddenly realize that, oh, yeah, I really do need to think about doing my Christmas shopping.

What's really funny is that years ago I used to start buying gifts in October. I think the whole Christmas Creep thing is seriously backfiring.

Mmmm, Pie.

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans! I am eating pumpkin pie for breakfast.

Random Link Dump

10 Geeky Laws That Should Exist, But Don’t: Very geeky, very true laws.

Short Film: Built a Time Machine to Kill Hitler: "You know that roommate who gets an iPhone, and brags about this 'great peice of technology' but he only ever uses it for stupid crap like cats playing piano? It’s that with a time machine."

Cell Size and Scale: A nifty interactive look at the scale of very small things.

The Average Color of the Universe : If you've ever wondered what color the universe is, it's, well, this.

Hey There Cthulhu: The Photomontage Video: Because, y'know, I think I actually like Lovecraft parodies better than I like Lovecraft.

15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee: Mmmm, coffee.

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe Special Report: H1N1 Pandemic Update: I know I've had conversations with a couple of people lately about the flu and flu vaccines, so I thought this might be of interest. It's about a 45 minute podcast in which several doctors discuss in some depth this year's flu issues and the scientific facts on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. (Note: mp3 file. Right-click to download.)

Oh, Wait, It's Past Time For This Thing.

Current clothes: A towel. I just got out of the shower. Any minute now, though, I'm going to get dressed and start doing something useful. Aaaaany minute...

Current mood: Still a bit meh and a bit out of it, but better than yesterday, anyway. Last night wasn't exactly a good night, but at least I got more sleep.

Current music: Random shuffle stuff again. I don't even remember what it served me up last, other than some novelty songs and still more Rush.

Current annoyance: Sleeping problems. Allergies. Aches and pains, especially in my feet. Being back up at a weight where I start to feel unhealthy. Yes, I'm still waiting on that robot body...

Current thing: I don't know. Trying to be a bit more social, maybe.

Current desktop picture: Stars over Easter Island. I might have to change it soon, though. That giant face is oddly creepy.

Current book: St Anthony's Fire by Mark Gatiss, another of the no-longer-very-new Doctor Who New Adventures. It's readable, but kind of boring.

Current song in head: Nothing at the moment, but for some obscure reason, I've had "She Moves On" by Paul Simon in my head off and on for over a week.

Current DVD in player: Nothing at the moment. The last DVD I watched was Monsters vs. Aliens. Which was kind of cute, and I heartily approve of the way the romance part of the plot was handled, but mostly it was pretty forgettable.

Current refreshment: Nothing. I'm kind of hungry, though. Possibly I should have had something more than one banana and half a pot of coffee for breakfast.

Current worry: I really need to get the brakes checked on my car. They've been making worrying noises from time to time.

Current thought: If I can't have my robot body, I really, really want that robot servant. It's the 21st century, damn it, and there are far fewer robots than I was promised.

It Could Bring Me Some Fries, As Well. And Fluff Up My Pillow.

I ended up not going in to work today. (I suppose I could have forced myself to be semi-functional if I had to, but they didn't really need me for anything, anyway.) I did fall asleep on the couch for a couple of hours this morning -- not very deeply asleep, mind you, and for a while afterward I felt even groggier than I did before, but I think it did me some good in the long term, because now I only feel slightly crappy. I also managed to get caught up on most of the stuff that had accumulated on my TiVo, so, hey, sick day accomplishment!

And now apparently my body has decided that what it really needs is protein, because I have a massive craving for a hamburger. Which, needless to say, I cannot obtain without leaving the house. Damn it, where is my robot servant, and why is it not fetching hamburgers for me?

Sigh. Well, I suppose some fresh air might actually do me good...

Suck.

Gaah. I am completely unable to decide whether I woke up at 2 AM and couldn't get back to sleep because I feel unwell, or whether I feel unwell because I woke up at 2 AM and couldn't get back to sleep.

Either way, I am not happy, and if large quantities of coffee do not magically make everything better, I am calling today off.

Musical Interludes

Thoughts I had while listening to randomly shuffled songs on my iPod this morning:

• I have more songs about Elvis than I have songs by Elvis. I am not entirely sure what this means.
  
  
• There are apparently a lot of songs on my iPod that I have absolutely no recollection of putting on there, and more than a few I would have been prepared to swear I'd never even heard of. This is one of the many things that makes random shuffle an entertaining experience.
  
  
• My personal religious/philosophical viewpoint can be expressed with considerable precison via the medium of Rush lyrics. I feel as if I should embarrassed about this, but I'm not.

It's Random Linky Time!

The World of Tomorrow (If The Internet Disappeared Today): Amusing Photoshopped pictures of "what life would be like in an Internet-addicted society learning to cope without it." What a terrifying thought.

Comic Strip Mashups: Cartoon comic strips mashed up with movies or comic books. I didn't get all the references, but the ones I did know are very funny.

I Want to Have Twins Just to Get Them These Awesome T-Shirts: Speaking of funny...

My Life Is Average: Average people with short comments about quirky little things that have happened during their day. Many or most of the "average people" seem to be teenage Harry Potter fans, and for all I know half of them are making stuff up, but it's entertaining.

A 'Lost' Q&A: Damon Lindelof answers (most of) your questions!: OK, he doesn't actually answer that many questions. But it's an interesting interview for Lost fans, anyway. Even if I must strongly disagree with Lindelof on one point: it's totally fair to bag on that awful "how Jack got his tattoo" episode, man.

The Adventures of Lil Cthulhu: Pure evil has never been so cute.

The Sims Horror Movie: This made me laugh out loud. It'll probably only be funny, though, if you've actually played The Sims.

Space Cadets: An SF-themed British comedy quiz show from the 1990s, featuring Greg Proops hosting from a giant Davros chair. Why did I never know this existed before now?!?! If you're familiar with Never Mind the Buzzcocks, it's basically the same thing, only with science fiction TV and movies, rather than music. It's not, I admit, as hilarious as Buzzcocks, but I know a lot more of the answers. Or such is my impression so far, anyway. I've only watched two episodes. Not that it ran a whole lot longer than that...

Post Of Sleep-Deprived Bitching #443

Waking up with sunshine in your face, cuddled up comfortably to a purring cat = good.

Waking up with sunshine in your face, cuddled up comfortably to a purring cat and realizing that you've only been asleep for a little over four hours = less good.

Waking up with sunshine in your face, cuddled up comfortably to a purring cat and realizing that you've only been asleep for a little over four hours and that those loud power-tool noises coming from next door are not going to stop any time soon = really not good.

Waking up with sunshine in your face, cuddled up comfortably to a purring cat and realizing that you've only been asleep for a little over four hours and that those loud power-tool noises coming from next door are not going to stop any time soon, and that it is thus going to be a long, long night shift tonight = Aaaaargh!

Where's the coffee? Where the hell is the coffee?!