My Ears Are Still Ringing, But It's Totally Worth The Hearing Loss.

Just got back from the Rush concert. Which was great. As advertised, they did the entirety of Moving Pictures. Also lots of other old stuff, some newer stuff, and even some brand new stuff, in keeping with their "Time Machine Tour" theme.

And, man, possibly the only thing more awesome than Neil Peart on drums is Neil Peart on shiny steampunk drums.

Happy Fan

And, winning the Grand Prize in the current "TV-related things that make me happy" contest: this entire season of Doctor Who.

Best. Show. Ever. That is all.

We Meet At Last Again

In other TV-related "things that make me happy" news: new Futurama!

I thought the direct-to-DVD movies, Bender's Big Score excepted, were a bit disappointing, but I did enjoy last night's new episodes. I admit, I'll take my Futurama in any form I can get it, but I do think it works best in a half-hour format. Hooray for the return of Fry and friends!

Various Things

Thing that is good, but also makes me feel kind of stupid: The tax refund check turns out to be legit. Apparently I neglected to claim a big old tax credit on my form. I guess I'm so used to not qualifying for anything that I just skipped right over it. But that totally explains why I appeared to suddenly owe so damned much in taxes. I was convinced there was something wrong with my W4 and I just hadn't yet figured out what.

"Thing that befuddles me" question of the day: Why do they put "about the author" blurbs in the back of autobiographies?

Things I want: All eleven Doctors! Also, a TARDIS.

Thing that is making me happy: Netflix sent me season three of Burn Notice. I can still eat up episodes of Burn Notice like M&Ms. (Although hopefully not like Jordan almonds.)

Hopeful thing: I smell rain! Sweet, cooling rain! *gazes hopefully up at the skies*

The Noblest Romana Of Them All

Romana
Take Which Doctor Who companion are you? (girls) today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You're Romana!

Silly Doctor. It's adorable, really, how hard he tries. And he is pretty brilliant, you'll give him that. But he always seems to overlook the obvious--including the fact that he's not the only Gallifreyan onboard, thank you very much. You are always calm and collected, and more often than not wonderfully witty, in the face of adversity. The Doctor knows he can count on you, even when you infuriate him!

OK, I honestly have no idea how I got that result. But it's cheering me up some.

I Still Want To Do This Week Over.

The dentist visit was moderately horrible in a variety of ways that I have neither the energy nor the desire to reiterate in detail. But the tooth now has a sort of temporary crown. All hail King Tooth!

Open Up And Say "Aaaargh!"

So, last night I was eating some Jordan almonds. You know, the kind with the candy coating. They were exceedingly nummy, and I was crunching happily away on them, when something vaguely funny-feeling happened in my mouth, and suddenly the crunchy texture changed slightly. Upon further investigation, and much to my dismay, this turned out to be because I was now eating part of a tooth. Seriously, the corner of one of my molars is just gone. I appear to have swallowed it. Stupid goddamned almonds.

The good news is, the tooth doesn't actually hurt. So yay for a lack of exposed nerves. But, man, is it making me nervous. There's a filling in there, which I believe I can now see from the side. (It's the same color as the tooth, though, so it's hard to be sure.) It's a little disconcerting.

So, being the rational, responsible adult I am, I called my dentist first thing this morning to make a semi-emergency appointment. Unfortunately, the soonest they could get me in was 9:45 tomorrow morning. I told them to go ahead and book me, because although I am scheduled to work tomorrow morning, there are a couple of people who ought to be able to cover for me. (In fact, it's one guy's specific job this week to cover other people's shifts if necessary.)

Then, of course, I found that that both of said people have their own important commitments tomorrow morning. And, naturally, the third person who also ought to be able to take over in a pinch just left on vacation. So now everybody's trying to juggle things so I can go and get my damned tooth crowned, or whatever it's going to need to turn it into a whole tooth again. And I'm wondering whether I should try to reschedule the appointment, but, man, I just have these visions of leaving it too long and suddenly biting down on it wrong, losing another bit of tooth or even the filling, and having a genuine rush-to-the-dentist-right-now emergency. Which would do nobody any good. (And, geez, this is what it's like now when we're supposed to have enough people to cover any such emergencies. What's going to happen come July when we're going to be down a person after one of my co-workers transfers to a different position, I shudder to think.)

Man, the whole thing is a massive pain in the neck. And on top of it all, I also have a literal pain in the neck, probably from the giant-ass cat trying to sleep on top of my head this morning.

Can I just start this week over? Pretty please?

[ETA: Whoo-hoo! Dentist just called! They can get me in this afternoon, after all! I like it when my life turns out to be slightly less annoying than anticipated.]

Open Wide, Gift Horse!

Today I got a tax refund check in the mail. Which would be a pleasant and wholly unremarkable thing, except that I owed taxes this year. And paid them already. *scratches head*

A bit of googling seems to indicate that such mystery checks are usually followed up with a letter of explanation. I hope mine arrives soon. And, y'know, makes sense. For the moment, I'm sort of afraid to cash the darned thing.

Things That Befuddle Me, #1,475,926

How is it that no matter how carefully I check all the pockets, there always seem to be bits of shredded kleenex in my laundry at the end of the wash cycle? Are the tissues coming from the same place that socks disappear to?

And If You're Waiting On An E-Mail From Me, This Is Also Your Explanation.

I wish it to be known that despite yesterday's statement of low enthusiasm, I got a crapload of stuff done today. I now have clean sheets, clean underwear, lots of groceries, and a giant bag of Vir's extra-special prescription-only super diet cat food. The weeds in my yard have been hacked down. The busted ventilation motor in my bathroom has been replaced. The carpets have been vacuumed. I even cooked. (Well, all right, it was just spaghetti. With canned sauce. But I made salad!)

Go, me.

Of course, somehow it seems as if I still have exactly as much to do tomorrow. But I refuse to worry about that until tomorrow. And I hereby declare the rest of today to be Lie on the Sofa and Read Time. Finally.

Curse My Perverse Nature!

So, you may remember that earlier in the month I was complaining because I had lots of things that I wanted to do, but the extreme heat was sapping my energy to the point where I mostly ended up just lying on the couch and reading.

Well, the weather has now gone from apocalyptically hot back down to toasty-but-tolerable. And thanks in large part to my previous heat-induced lethargy, I have lots of stuff to do: errands to run, housework, yardwork, personal projects...

Only now? Now, all I want to do is to lie on the couch and read.

Sigh.

Don't Tell The Skeptics Society

Dear Scary-ass freaking movie,

It is very, very unkind of you to attempt to make me afraid of noises in the house at night. I have three cats. And I need to sleep tonight, dammit.

Not usually this easily creeped out,
Me

Current Whateverness

Current clothes: Denim shorts. T-shirt from White Sands, which I somehow seem to be wearing surprisingly often when I do this meme. Black ankle-length socks.

Current mood: Man, I don't even know. I was feeling pretty relaxed and good earlier today, then I got kind of mood-swingy... I may be coming out of it again now, though.

Current music: Rush's Moving Pictures. Concert warm-up, baby! We're actually the first stop on their tour this year, for some unfathomable reason.

Current annoyance: Did I mention it was too hot? It is too frelling hot. I have many other annoyances, as well, but I think most of them stem from that same source. It's too hot to bloody do anything.

Current thing: Nothing. Nothing is getting done. See above.

Current desktop picture: It's a fairly nice picture of some woods. I don't remember where I got it, except that it was some random blog that originally got it from deviantART, so I can't link to it.

Current book: Serendipities: Language and Lunacy by Umberto Eco. Which I got for Christmas and am only just now getting to. Stupid book backlog...

Current song in head: Well, since I've already started thinking about the next question, it appears to be the theme song to Bullshit! Brain Radio is unbelievably suggestible of late.

Current DVD in player: I just finished season 1 of The Invisible Man, and, as alluded to above, I am also watching season 7 of Penn & Teller's Bullshit!.

Current refreshment: Water. I also just had some pizza, because it is too hot to cook, and it's too hot to go out. Much better to make some other poor schmoe bring me food. Hey, I tipped him well.

Current worry: I got an e-mail a little while ago from an old friend of mine who's having some personal problems. I hope things turn out OK for her.

Current thought: Hmm, so, what can I do this evening that doesn't involve moving or thinking?

Enough About Me. Have Some Random Links.

evolutionaryLadybug: Drag the ladybug around the screen to eat as many aphids as you can, and watch the survivors as they breed and mutate. It's not much of a game, really, but it is a nice little simplified demonstration of natural selection, and I find it strangely compelling.

A Newcomer's Experience With The 'Lost' Finale: A guy who's never seen an episode of Lost watches the finale and reports on his reactions. The article itself is just okay, but I am always unreasonably entertained by this sort of thing. I'm not sure whether I'm more amused by the innocent understatements made out of ignorance -- "Ben apologizes for something," indeed! -- or by the fact that, in the end, most of his confused questions are exactly the same confused questions that people who've been watching the show for six years are likely to have. Oh, Lost. I miss you and your mind-messing already! (Oh, and spoiler warning! Just in case that wasn't obvious.)

LOST re-enacted by cats in 1 minute: Speaking of Lost-related stuff that amuses me more than it probably should... This is inexplicably hilarious. And also fairly spoilery.

Doctor Who: The Series at a Glance: The BBC's official guide to the current season of Doctor Who, featuring an index of all their online extras. The video clips generally won't play outside the UK, which is annoying, but there's plenty of other stuff there, too.

Yeah, But It's Dry Heat. The Kind Of Dry Heat That Mummifies You.

You know what today is? Today is too fucking hot, that's what today is.

My swamp cooler, which seems to be growing less efficient with each passing year, is able to bring the temperature inside my house down about 12 degrees. It is currently 104 outside.

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be 105. I have to go in to work for a few hours in the afternoon. I'm thinking I might just freaking stay there. At least the office is air conditioned.

Fucking New Mexico. Gaaah.

Um...

Remember when I said I'd try to be more interesting here? I appear to have failed completely.

So, uh, anything you guys want me to talk about?