Bah, I Say.

I woke up today in the middle of a really bad dream, everything on the internet is irritating me, and there's stuff I have to do before work that I really don't feel like doing.

Bah. Send chocolate.

[A bit later: OK, the internet has led me to pictures of John Barrowman with a puppy, so I can't stay too annoyed with it. Also, reminding myself that I don't want to be this person helps.]

I Done Doed It!

Well, I've just ordered me a new computer. Hello again, credit card debt.

It's Random Linky Time, It's Random Linky Time...

The Cynical Bastard Takes on Doctor Who: A lightning-fast, entertainingly acerbic look at Doctor Who. Normally, I'd complain about the stereotypical depiction of fans, but frankly I think Who fandom, generally speaking, deserves it.

Garfield Minus Garfield: Ten times trippier, funnier, and sadder than Garfield with Garfield.

Virtual Barber Shop: Put on a pair of headphones, close your eyes, and enjoy the uncanny auditory illusion of being in a three-dimensional space with invisible barbers. This is really, really cool, and a fascinating example of the neat tricks your brain can play on you. It also, interestingly, freaked me out more than anything else in recent memory.

NSS Space Settlement Art Contest: Gallery of entries for the National Space Society's recent calendar art contest on the theme of space settlement. Features some pretty nice pictures.

Sawyer's Nickname Generator: Find out what nickname Lost's resident smartass would give you on the island. Apparently I'm "Frosty." I'm... not sure how I feel about that.

Yes, Sometimes I Am Slow To Realize Incredibly Obvious Things.

Oh, hey! There's more February this year than I was thinking there was!

Today Is Ranty Letter-Writing Day!

Dear writers of all shapes, sizes, and descriptions,

I'm happy to indulge you in your stylistic quirks when they actually, y'know, make sense and work, rather than coming across as amateurish unfamiliarity with the English language. But for the love of grammar, pick a fucking tense and stay there. Any tense. Honestly, I don't care. Write the whole thing in future progressive, if you think that's somehow appropriate. But don't randomly change tenses for no reason for two or three sentences every page and a half. No, not even when your character is being introspective, unless you're actually reporting the exact thoughts she's thinking in the words she's thinking them.

I mean it. Failing to obey this simple, easy to follow rule will result in my enjoyment of your novel falling by at least 25%, and, if it goes on long enough, will instill in me a desire to hunt you down and pelt you with copies of your own books until you cry uncle.

Aaargh,
Me

(This particular version of this rant is brought to you by a certain fantasy tetralogy which, while not without its good points, is making me absolutely crazy by forcing me to endure 1,600+ pages of randomly shifting tenses.)

Man, I Hope Work Tonight Doesn't Require Actual, You Know, Alertness.

Dear sinuses,

I hate you.

That is all,

Me

Dead PC Booting

Thing that sucks: Waking up to discover that your computer has apparently died quietly while you were asleep.

Thing that rocks: Knowing people who happen to have spare computer power supplies lying around and who will happily accept a pizza and a couple of episodes of Torchwood as payback for the use of their geeky skills.

Thing that is becoming increasingly impossible to deny: I need a new computer. Like, now.

You Know You're A Bookoholic When...

...on giving people tours of your house, you find yourself saying, "This is the hardback fiction, here, and the non-fiction is in this room..."

Mooning About

Whoops, I completely forgot to put up a post mentioning the total lunar eclipse which is happening right now, at least for folks in North America. Hey, I was busy caulking! It's pretty cloudy here, alas, but my sister just called and said that, miraculously enough, it's clear where she is in Oregon, so she actually gets to see it for once.

Down and Grout

Ye fucking gods, re-caulking the bathtub is a serious contender for Most Annoying Household Task Ever. Why do the stupid home repair books always make everything look so simple and easy? Sigh.

Anyway, 'tis done now. Hopefully 'tis done to some semblance of waterproofness, but, really, who knows?

I took the opportunity, while I was at it, to remove from the rim of the bathtub a metal track that once, at some time in the distant past, presumably held a sliding door. That thing has annoyed me since the day I moved in, because it means I can't sit on the edge of the tub while I'm shaving my legs. Of course, it left behind a gooey, dirty mess that I've so far only been partially successful at cleaning up, but I'm sure I can deal with that eventually.

Am very tired now, though. Man, you know what I could really use, after covering myself in drippy caulk and having my back tighten up on me again from all that scraping? A nice, hot shower. Which I can't have for... *checks instructions on caulk* 36 hours. Sigh.

Oh, and, by the way, a tip for anyone else who might be thinking of tackling this job for the first time: the masking tape is not optional. Trust me.

The Battle May Be Over, But The War Goes On.

I am declaring victory over the ants. I haven't seen one in the bathroom for a couple of days, and before that the ones I did see mostly appeared to be in their death throes. *observes a moment of silence for the ants*

Next order of business on the homeowner's agenda is to re-caulk the bathtub. It's needed to be done for a while now, and I think that's part of the reason why the ants decided to set up shop in the first place; apparently they like the damp, and water getting into the walls from a poorly-caulked bathtub creates something along the lines of a Carpenter Ant Paradise Resort.

I went out today and bought -- I hope -- everything I should need to tackle the job. Wish me luck. I suspect I'm going to need it, given the fact that I've never even used a caulking gun before.

Random Moments Of Geekly Happiness

It's mostly been kind of an annoying day, what with the the power being out at work when I got there, but at least now I can say that I've actually used a sonic screwdriver to open a door.

Well, OK, I used the flashlight on it so I could see the buttons on the phone to call a person on the inside to come and open the door. But it totally counts!

Scientist Humor Makes Me Feel Less Humbuggy.

OK, honestly, I don't like Valentine's Day. Those of you who do enjoy it, good for you, and I hope you have a great day, but personally I prefer to sit out the sappy hearts'n'flowers fest and just enjoy being happily single in quiet.

However, I must confess, this has actually made me appreciate the holiday for once. I almost wish I did want to give someone a card, because how could anyone possibly resist romantic sentiments presented by Charles Darwin or Carl Sagan? Well, OK, I'm sure lots of people could, but I don't think they'd be people I'd want to give a Valentine's Day card to in the first place.

Gratuitous Cat Pic

I believe I've been falling behind on posting the requisite number of cat pictures as called for by standard internet protocol, so here's one I just took of Nova and a tiny corner of my To-Be-Read Pile:



What can I say? I own a digital camera, and there's just something about the combination of books and cats that I find irresistible, so things like this are inevitable once in a while.

The Flickering Television Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Now that it looks like the writers' strike may be over, the TV Guide website is compiling a tentative list of when viewers might be able to expect their favorite shows to return. (Or not, if you happen to be a fan of, say, The Bionic Woman.) It says it's being updated hourly, so I'll be sure to check back for news about House and Heroes. *keeps fingers crossed*

I'd Say "Whoo-Hoo!", But I've Seen The Last Few Episodes.

What is Your Fate on Lost?

Created by BuddyTV

Random Links: The All-TV Edition

Lost - The Synchronizing: Nicely put together video showing the plane crash from Lost from multiple POVs. Contains spoilers through season three.

Wil Wheaton vs. the Bad Astronomer: Ubergeek and TNG alumnus Wil Wheaton utterly pwns Phil Plait, aka the Bad Astronomer, in a battle of Treknobabble. It amused me.

Torchwool and Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre vs Darleks: Scottish sock puppets spoof Torchwood and Doctor Who. The former, in particular, is hysterical.

Which Torchwood Character Are You?: Speaking of funny takes on Torchwood, this also amused the heck out of me. Question 4 really just says it all. Oh, and apparently I'm Tosh.

Did I Say I Should Avoid Discussing Politics? Oh, Well. Stupid Internet Quizzes Are Pretty Harmless...

What's Your Political Philosophy? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Old School Democrat Old school Democrats emphasize economic justice and opportunity. The Democratic ideal is best summarized by the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Old School Democrat 65% Libertarian 65% New Democrat 65% Green 50% Foreign Policy Hawk 45% Pro Business Republican 35% Socially Conservative Republican 5%

The fact that I score equally on those first three choices probably says something about how idiosyncratic (or, if you prefer, how muddled) my political views actually are... But, y'know, that does sound like a nice summarized ideal to me.

Me: 2, Ants: 0? Or Am I Counting My Chickens, Er, Ants?

Hmm. Yesterday, there were ants crawling about quite actively on the bathroom floor, and there seemed to be a fair number of them going into the little plastic Ant Take-Out Restaurants of Death I put out the other day, although I couldn't really tell if they were taking any of the poisoned bait out with them or not. Since sometime last night, though, I have seen a grand total of one ant, and there has been no more dirt-piling activity around their little hole in the baseboard. I think... maybe I got them? Huh. It seems almost anti-climactic.

(Yes, yes, I know. ANTi-climactic. I'm sorry. It wasn't even really intentional. Mostly.)

[Update: No, I've seen a couple more tonight. Still no more building activity, though. Either they're dying off, or they're done renovating.]

Currently: The Neurosis and Rock'n'Roll Edition

Current clothes: Black sweat pants. A white t-shirt from a Rush concert (the 2002 Vapor Trails tour), which admittedly has seen better days. White socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: It wasn't too bad, except then I started thinking about all my current annoyances and worries in preparation for doing this meme, and I started feeling stressed again. Thanks, meme.

Current music: Most recently, Warren Zevon's Transverse City, which I've had in fairly heavy rotation lately. I bought this album a little while ago after seeing it mentioned in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, the Warren Zevon biography I got for Christmas, which I know I've mentioned here before. It was one of the Zevon albums I didn't have, and the description in the book made it sound really cool. Which it is. In fact, it's more than cool; I'd go so far as to call it wonderful. Apparently it sold like crap when it came out, though. The general consensus seems to be that it was "ahead of its time." And I can see that. The title track is possibly the only product of late 80's cyberpunk influence that feels more relevant in 2008, rather than being dated. (Note to my sis: If you're still interested in checking out some of this guy's stuff, this seems to me like a really good album to start with. I suspect it's more to your taste, musically, than some of his other work.)

Current annoyance: Higher-than-expected veterinary bills. Ants. The fact that my sleep schedule is still messed up. The fact that my back still hurts, and every time I think maybe it's getting a bit better, I have to bend down and pick something up and it starts complaining at me again. It's getting to the point where it's starting to curtail my activities, especially walking, which starts to hurt after about ten minutes. Gaah. Oh, and US politics. US politics annoys the crap out of me. I should try to keep to my general policy of not discussing politics. It usually just gets me all wound up to no good purpose.

Current thing: Randomly stressing about stupid stuff. See "current annoyance" above and "current worry" below.

Current desktop picture: This picture of Mars and the constellation Orion, as seen from Monument Valley.

Current book: Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain by Carolyn Abraham. So far, it's not remotely as interesting as it sounds like it ought to be.

Current song in head: It's something from one of the Sopranos soundtracks, but I'm not sure exactly what it is, because it's in Italian, and I'm far too lazy to look it up.

Current DVD in player: Most recently, this week's episode of Torchwood, which was OK. Before that, I was watching Jekyll, which I figured I'd mention, because, well, it's worth mentioning. Steven Moffat's writing talents plus some really excellent acting equals six episodes of damned good television.

Current refreshment: Nothing. But there must be food soon. I'm hungry.

Current worry: Lately? Everything and anything. I started out this week in a really annoying state of just being randomly stressy about all kinds of stupid things. I'm talking things that I know aren't worth worrying about: random work crap, social interactions, when I was going to have time to do the grocery shopping, you name it. I was hoping to take my days off to relax and get over that, and it has sort of helped, but now I've got more stuff that I don't know whether I actually need to worry about or not. Are ants eating my house? Might my cat have a thyroid problem after all? I don't know! I hate not even knowing whether something is worth stressing over. I start stressing over whether I should stress. Man, I need a vacation. A non-stressful vacation, where I lie on the beach for a week and don't talk to anybody.

Current thought: OK. Deep, cleansing breath. Ah, that's better. Really, my problems are not dire. My problems are so far from dire that it's an insult to people with actual dire problems to take them too seriously. And, y'know, it's a nice day, I don't have to go in to work, I've got lots of interesting stuff to watch on DVD, the cats are all dozing adorably in the sun, and I think there might be some rocky road ice cream in the freezer. There. Life is pretty good. I'm smiling now. Huzzah!