Health Update & Pop Culture Ramblings

I want to sleep yesterday at about 8 PM -- told ya I was unreasonably tired! -- and slept for ten hours. (Which, yes, put me up a little after 6 AM, which isn't such a great thing, because I'm switching over to night shift after today, and the last thing I need is to be getting up earlier. But, ah, well.) I think I feel better, although I'm not really awake enough to tell. My stomach still feels very slightly unsettled, but I'm keeping my coffee down OK, and I think I'm good to go into work (alas).

But I've actually got a little time before work, for once, so I thought I'd go into some of those pop culture ramblings that I'm sure are the reason why you all really read this blog, and which have been sadly few and far between of late.

So, in my brief period of lying-on-the-couch last night, before it became sleeping-on-the-bed, I was watching Futurama. I've been going through the Season 4 discs, which is really quite a treat, because I missed a lot of those episodes the first time. That was about the point where Fox started airing them at random and without warning, and by the time Cartoon Network began airing them in a more sensible fashion, I was already on the road to pretty much giving up on TV entirely.

My all-time favorite episode is still the Star Trek parody, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." Hysterically funny, a brilliant homage to its source material, and so, so, so clearly written by someone who was a massive fan himself. Indeed, the commentary track to that one is fun to listen to because -- with the exception of Matt Groening, who claims never to have seen a complete episode of TOS -- all those guys are apparently big ol' Trekkies. There appears to actually have been some competition and jealousy over who was going to get to work on that one. In fact, at one point producer David X. Cohen is accused of having "played it very close to the vest" as to who he was going to pick to write it, and somewhat sheepishly admits that that was because he was hoping to find some way of making the time to do it himself. But, that proving impossible, he gave it to the writer who was clearly the greatest Trekkie among them, and, man, does it show.

Said writer, by the way, pointed out a couple of Trek references that "nobody on the internet got" when he went and looked at fansites after the episode aired. In fact, he actually wrote to the maintainer of one and pointed out that they "missed a couple." Can I just say how much I love TV staff who interact with their fans? For the record, the references were: 1) Kirk's "The impossible has happened," which apparently was from the first log entry Kirk made in the series, and which slipped by me entirely, and 2) Kirk's "There's no right way to hit a woman," which I did get. It was from "Charlie X." In your face, internet!

I used to have a quote from that episode in my sig: "I am Melllvar, seer of the tapes, knower of the episodes! Tremble before my encyclopedic knowledge of Star Trek!" I'm thinking maybe I should bring it back, even if my knowledge isn't nearly as encyclopedic now as it once was.

No One Wants to See Vomit!

I felt deeply, weirdly tired when I got back from picking my car up in Albuquerque today, but I figured it was probably due to a combination of the long car ride and having gotten up way too early this morning.

Then the projectile vomiting started, and it occurred to me that I might actually be sick. Ugh.

My stomach feels considerably better now that it's empty, but, um, if anybody expected me to do anything tonight, I think it's been cancelled in favor of a vigorous session of lying on the couch. Sorry.

Mobile!

I now have a car again! And all the doors close and everything! Yay!

I did end up deciding not to fix the hail damage, by the way. It's just a bunch of very small dimples that aren't causing any harm, but that would cost a bundle to fix. Which bundle, according to the insurance company, I'm entitled to have, anyway, in compensation for the suddenly-lowered resale value of my car. So they sent me a check for $2,000. Hey, easiest two grand I ever made! The annoying thing, though, is that despite the fact that I told them several times that I now had the car paid off, they made the check out to both me and the company I had my car loan with. I called them about that, and they're going to stop payment on the first check and send one made out to just me, but I have to fax them proof of ownership first. I guess now I have to figure out how to send faxes via my PC, which, in theory, I'm pretty sure I should be able to do...

Election, Pt. 2

You know, I was happier when I was politically apathetic...

Election

All right, well, at least if Bush wins this time, nobody can claim it was my fault.

And a Non-Political Quiz, While We're At It

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read.Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

What kind of blogger are you?

They're kidding... Right?

An Election-Day Quiz Thingy

You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian

You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party. Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel opressed by both. You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter. You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!

What political persuasion are you?

Well, I do have a great deal of sympathy for Libertarianism, certainly more so than for any of the traditional political parties. But Libertarian extremism -- as, indeed, any kind of extremism -- frightens me.

Your Wish Is My Command

Due to (entirely justified) complaints that the blue-on-white text in my comments boxes was hard to read and generally annoying, I've now replaced the comments template with something a little more basic, and hopefully a little more legible. Give it a try, and let me know if it meets with your approval!

And Now It's November...

I hope everybody who celebrates had a happy Halloween! Me, I got off work at about 5:30 and went over to a friend's house, where we watched the Tales from the Crypt movie (cheesy, but not without its charms), and a couple of episodes of the Venture Brothers cartoon, which I liked enough that I'm actually tempted to turn the TV on and watch it once in a while (though, knowing me, I'll probably just wait for it to come out on DVD). And then I left at about 9:30 so I could do a couple of things and go to bed, because I had to get up ridiculously early this morning. Stupid morning shifts...

Why Does Nobody Tell Me These Things?

Well, damn, if I'd known Zaphod Beeblebrox was running, I wouldn't have voted for Kerry.

Damn My Lack of Willpower!

It's really not a good thing if you buy Halloween candy and then eat it all before Halloween. For several reasons, really...

Could It Be... Satan?


You are pure evil. You are satan in the flesh. You
scare the hell out of me and everyone else and
you have the mind of a sick, deranged mass
murderer. You delight in torturing innocent
people... and guilty people... pretty much any
people. You have a major case of pyromania as
well. You'd rather put the world through a
lifetime of cruel tortures then kill em off and
get it over with. Seek help.

Are you satan?
brought to you by Quizilla

OK, I admit I was in a bit of an evil mood when I did this one, and may, um, have slanted the answers a bit...

I Have Exercised My Civil Rights, or Discharged My Civic Duty, or Something.

As I mentioned a while back, I registered to vote by mail several weeks ago. Well, I never got any information about where I was supposed to go to vote or anything, so I called the county clerk's office today to ask 'em where they wanted me to show up. "Oh!" they said. "We're doing early voting today and tomorrow. You can just come to the courthouse and do it right now." So, um, I did.

I feel all responsible and stuff.

Who is That?

The first publicity image for the new Doctor Who has been released. Am I the only one suddenly feeling very, very nervous?

No Vegetables Were Harmed in the Making of this Post.

If you don't like to get up out of your comfy computer chair and do things in the kitchen, but would still like to do a spot of pumpkin-carving, well, you're in luck, because you can now carve your own virtual pumpkin. Mine, alas, all came out extremely scary, and not in a good way.

Search Request Thursday Returns

Oh, all right. Here:

dialog star trek "she's got, captain": Well, Kirk probably heard that fairly often...

an ideal boyfriend is: ...fictional.

trenchcoats off of farscape: No, keep the trenchcoats on Farscape! They're cool!

shut up betty: Hey!

socorro blog party pics: Apparently I didn't get an invite. Sniff.

gigi edgley boyfriend: Yes, many people wish they were Gigi Edgley's boyfriend, I'm sure.

getting nude on schoolbus: I can just hear the driver now... "I'm not moving this bus until everybody puts their clothes back on!"

NEWS GOOGLE RESPET MARRIAGE: Yes! Spetting marriage once is not enough! I demand that Google do it again!

Wesley Crusher's asshole: I so hope there's an indefinite article missing there.

"christopher golden" nude: People are searching for nude pics of people who write Buffy novels now? Truly, the definition of celebrity is expanding.

chekov fan fiction: Because the poor guy never got to do much on-screen except scream and make lame jokes about Russia.

pumpkin carving pics ned flanders: Now there's a scary jack'o'lantern idea!

"freddy kruger" "middle name": I didn't know he had a middle name.

Experiments done in space by the Apollo astronauts: Hell, in it's own way, the entire venture was an experiment.

jack-o-lantern pattern farscape: You do realize that if you steal Rygel's design, he's going to charge you?

taste test sprite vs 7up science project: For science-minded kids who plan to sell out to the corporate sector when they graduate.

halloween costume rollerblades wheels: Hmm, rollerblade wheels. Now there's an original costume idea!

sexy military costume: Because, of course, sexiness is the first consideration of any military outfit.

lem "bad science fiction" fiasco: I do have a vague memory of reading that and thinking that it was not among his best works.

sweet and innocent nude pics: Yeah, "sweet and innocent." Riiiight.

chiana nude fan: Well, I guess the fan will cool her off faster if she's nude... By the way, I've (rather unsurprisingly) gotten an increasing number of search requests for nude Farscape characters of late, but I've still never had any for any of the guys except Crichton. I still think this is a sad state of affairs, and eagerly await the day when I finally get a hit from someone looking for nude pictures of Crais.

It's Not Easy Being Green...


You're Lorne. What this says about you: You're
bright, funny and an eternal optimist, wanting
nothing more than to be appreciated for your
talents. You're apt to hold grudges, but you
hate fighting about things. People tend to
rely on you more than they should and that gets
to you. When you're in love, you're probably
incredibly romantic about it. Try to stand up
for yourself once in a while. You're not a
vending machine.

Which Angel: the series Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yay! He's, like, my favorite character. And that description isn't totally off, either.

One Stupid Online Trend Calls Me Another


You are a Forum Based RPG
Entertaining, Adventurous You are a reject from the
days of online mudding that should have been
abandoned years ago since the advent of IMs,
but linger on because it is so fucking easy to
get an EZ board account.

What stupid Online trend are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

They Know Me Too Well

Amazon.com.uk just sent me an e-mail to say that they really think I'll want to order this. And, oh, I am tempted. So very, very tempted...

I'd Make a Pun on the Word "Fall" Here, But It Wouldn't Be Very Clever or Original, So I've Decided Not To.

I like October. The rainy season is trickling to a close, the New Mexican climate finally provides us with a few short, beautiful weeks of blissfully livable weather between the pounding heat of summer and the pipe-freezing cold of winter, and there's an oddly exciting little nip in the air that makes me want to go and cheerfully gather up nuts or something.

It's a pity it doesn't last.

"Diet" Is a Four-Letter Word

And now I'm eating pie. Because I had a long day, and only got a sandwich for dinner, and I wanted comfort food. And there was a pie in the freezer, from way back when the supermarket had a "buy one, get one" pie sale and I went crazy stocking up on pies.

Sigh. But, y'know... PIE!

Allow Me to Simultaneously Say "Yes!" and "Damn!"

So, as previously mentioned, my video copy of the Farscape miniseries was completely crappy -- almost unwatchably crappy, sadly -- because there was a ton of static on my cable system when I taped it. Well, hey, they re-ran it today, and my cable, for once, was being clear as a bell, so I set it up to tape while I was at work. Good news: it came out beautifully. Bad news: I stuck in the wrong tape. A tape that wasn't re-wound. A tape that already had four hours worth of stuff on it.

Meaning, I got pt. 1 before the tape ran out, but not pt. 2. Sigh.

Oh, well, they're re-running pt. 2 again on Nov. 9. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll behave for me then. Or maybe I'll just have to wait for the DVD...

Once Again, Trying To Be Good Proves to Be a Bad Idea

I really need to get groceries. Which, actually, shouldn't really be all that much of a problem. The grocery store is very nearly on my way home from work, and next week I'll actually be walking home at an hour when the store is still open, so I can stop and pick up a few essentials. I'm damned annoyed at the state of my larder tonight, though.

See, I was going to make some nice lemon-pepper chicken for dinner. Except it turned out I had one chicken breast left, and it was all freezer burned. Damn, no chicken. And not a whole lot of anything else, either, except for a few Hot Pockets that a) weren't looking very appetizing, and b) I wanted to save to take to work. I thought about ordering a pizza, but, you know, I'm trying to eat a little better, and pizzas are absolutely full of fat. Plus, delivery people have a hard time finding my house. So I started looking through the pantry and thinking, hmm, what can I make?, when an answer hit me: waffles! Well, OK, I didn't have any eggs, but the recipe said eggs were optional, so, hey! I mixed up some batter and hauled out the ol' waffle iron, which I hadn't used in years, and got set to go... Except I neglected to grease the waffle iron. And then I overcooked the waffles. I literally had to pry the damned thing open, sending burnt waffle shrapnel everywhere. So much for waffles.

So I called Pizza Hut, and told them to bring me pizza. And hot wings. And breadsticks. And soda. And I am going to PIG OUT. Because all trying to eat better seems to be getting me at the moment is really pissed off.

Random Thought #5,965

How did I manage to waste so much of this day?

Oh, Gee, Here's a Subject I Never Talk About...

For those of you who may have missed Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars this week (or, at least those of you who live in the US and have cable), you've got another chance, because it's on again tomorrow at 3 PM Eastern/Pacific, on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The DVD is already scheduled for release in January, and you can pre-order it here (go to "buy merchandise" and click on "Farscape").

I'd offer to make video copies for people, too, but my own copy is crap, due to ridiculous levels of static on my cable system. I'm actually kind of hoping it might be a bit better tomorrow and I can re-do it...

These Shoes Are Made for Walking... Sort of.

Well, my car is currently up at a body shop in Albuquerque. I just got a call from the insurance company, and it's probably going to be November second before it's ready. It seems they're going to replace the door completely, but they don't happen to have one in stock. Sigh.

I'm tempted to just rent a car in the interim, but that'd involve cadging a ride up to Albuquerque to get one... Sure, Enterprise says they'll pick you up, but somehow I don't think they mean "We'll pick you up 80 miles away." On the other hand, I'm going to have to scrounge a ride up there at some point to pick the damned car up, anyway. I don't know... It's almost a point of pride for me that I don't need a car. I've done without one for months, hell, for years, back when I was a student. I'm not one of these lazy-ass Americans who drives to the curb to get the mail, for crying out loud. I walk. I like to walk, and I don't need any damn car!

Yeah, except I'm still having problems with my stupid foot. Actually, it's been sort of OK. I've walked back and forth into work the last few days, and while I'm definitely noticing a little bit of pain, it's not too bad. I'm not limping, or wincing with every step or anything. I keep icing it up, and it keeps functioning. But I know I'm not doing it any favors, and I'm a little worried that I'll get to a point where I am having some serious difficulty. So I'm trying to keep my walking limited to the home-to-work round trip and not go anywhere else, which is kind of annoying, because sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm surely going to need groceries. And I hate asking people for rides. It's that stupid point of pride thing again.

One thing I did do was to switch shoes. Funnily enough, I never had this kind of problem with my feet when I was wearing the $8 Wal-Mart sneakers, as opposed to the $75 specialized walking shoes I was stupid enough to buy last year. Fortunately, I still had my old, battered pair, so I've been walking in those for the past few days. Unfortunately, while I'd swear my left foot (the one with the plantar fasciitis) does better in them, they're giving me blisters on my right foot. I suppose I could wear one Wal-Mart Special and one Overpriced Walking Shoe, but, y'know, people would look at me even funnier than they do now. Also, I think I'd be lopsided. Sigh.

I Know, I Know, I'm Falling Down on the Job...

Um, you may (or may not) have noticed that there was no Search Request Thursday yesterday. This is because, what with working on getting caught up on things after Family Vacation Week, and being all busy squealing over Farscape, and sundry other distractions, I never even actually took the time to check my referrer logs. Normal service will be resumed next week, unless I decide I can get away with discontinuing it again.

I Guess These People Know Me...

I'm high entertained by the fact that when I came back in to work today, the question I was asked was not "How was your vacation?" but "So, what did you think of the Farscape?"

Uber Geek!

According to the Official Geek Test, I am a Level 4 Geek, aka, Uber Geek. I'm sure this absolutely shocks everyone. I bet I could probably have hit Level 5, too, if it weren't for the time restrictions and the fact that I answered conservatively on a couple of questions...

In Your Face, Inferior Television Programs!

From a Sci Fi Channel press release:

FARSCAPE' DECLARES 'WAR' ON THE COMPETITION

SCI FI Miniseries Premieres #1
Among P18-49 and P25-54

New York, NY (October 19, 2004) -- The fans have spoken. They frelling love their Farscape. The two-night, four-hour Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (Oct. 17-18 @ 9-11pm ET/PT) premiere averaged a 1.7 HH rating/1,916,000 P2+, making SCI FI the #1 non-sports cable network for P25-54 and P18-49 for the time period over the two nights.

SCI FI trounced its competition among P25-54, outdelivering TNT (24%), TBS (45%) and Spike TV (42%). They fared no better among P18-49, with SCI FI outperforming TNT (32%), TBS (27%) and Spike TV (35%).

Peacekeeper Wars delivered an aggregate audience of 6,883,000 viewers over the two nights (4 telecasts of Night One, 3 telecasts of Night Two).

With a 1.5 HH rating/1,735,000 P2+, Night One of Peacekeeper Wars was up 81% in HH ratings and scored triple digit increases in key demos versus the time period average for October 2003:
• +163% in P25-54
• + 202% in P18-49

Night Two of the mini soared even higher, delivering a 1.9 HH rating/2,097,000 P2+ (Oct. 18 @9-11pm ET/PT). It improved upon the previous night's premiere by:
• +30% in HH rating
• +25% in P18-49
• +20% in P25-54

Things Are Heating Up

Well, after all the annoyance with the car -- and, by the way, the insurance agent, who was supposed to call me "within the next two hours" still hasn't gotten back to me -- at least I've had some fairly good news on the RL problems front. The way my furnace was behaving by the end of last winter, I was pretty nearly convinced there must be something seriously wrong with it, but I've just had people in to look at it, and it turns out the stupid thing was just clogged up with dirt and dust. They gave it a good, thorough cleaning, and it's working beautifully now. Hooray! I don't need a new furnace!

OK, that might not seem like much to celebrate. But at this point, I'll take it.

Part 2! (Emotional Reactions, No Specific Spoilers)

Oh. My. God. Two years. Two years of tireless fan campaigning, major investments of time and money and energy and ridiculous levels of optimism, and we did it. We got the rest of our story. And it was worth it. Hot damn. Because, yeah. That. Was. Good. Comedy and tragedy, action and drama, space battles and snark and blowin' stuff up and kissin' and the culmination of character and story arcs that have been building since season one. And, yeah, OK, it isn't the fifth season we wanted, but I will so frelling take it!

*slips into happy, overwhelmed fangirl coma and dies*

One Damn Thing After Another.

So, because was a good girl and I decided to get off my big fat butt and get some stuff accomplished today instead of sitting around surfing the internet, I took my car into the car wash. Then I vacuumed it with the car wash's crappy vacuum that didn't get any of the damned dirt and debris off. (And, believe me, after a road trip to White Sands with three adults and a toddler, your car accumulates some serious debris.) Then I put air in the tires. Only I couldn't reach the right front tire. So I backed up a little. With the passenger side door open. Into a post.

Result: inside of the door is dented. Door will not shut, will not latch, will not lock. I drove it by my mechanic, who was located half a block away, and he got out his leatherman and fiddled with the mechanism a bit, but quickly determined that the problem was that the dent was making the mechanism not connect, and that, while they could probably get it to shut with a fair amount of work, what I really needed was a body shop. So I came home and called the insurance company. Again.

There are a couple of annoying points about this. Point 1: This is, of course, an entirely separate incident from the hail damage. Which means two deductibles. Which means $500. Eep. I'm seriously thinking of just cancelling the claim on the hail dings and living with them. They're really not that bad, and given that I'm pretty much planning on driving the car until it dies and trading it it, they might not be worth worrying about. But we'll see what the adjustor says. Point 2: Car door not shutting means car not drivable, which is a difficulty, given that a) the body shop I usually use (and which my insurance company guarantees) is 60 miles away, and b) the body shops here in town are backed up for weeks fixing damage from the hail.

There are a couple of good points... Given that hail damage and accidents are being handled by two entirely different groups, I'm not going to have to wait for two weeks for somebody to come out and look at this problem. And, fortunately, my foot, while it's still giving me a little trouble, has mostly been behaving itself, even after all the walking I did last week, so if I have to walk into work for a while it should be OK.

Stupid car. Stupid post. Stupid laws of physics. Stupid me.

And Yet Another Goofy Quiz


Which File Extension are You?

I Do?


Roman Capitals- You have a proud and noble bearing,
and are of ancient pedigree, but you tend to be
very rigid and set in your ways.

What Calligraphy Hand Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And the Results of Two Damn Years of Waiting?

I'm tired, my brain is kinda fried, and I'm currently having frenetic discussions about the subject with various people elsewhere on the internet. Plus, I know at least one or two non-US readers who would take it as a kindness if I avoided spoilerage. So I will just say this:

It was Farscape. It was good. And I cannot wait for part 2.

Home Alone

Mom left on Saturday, and I've just dispatched my sister and company to the airport, so it's just me once again. I swear, the house almost seems too quiet, although the neighbors' children are doing their best to take up the slack by making lots of noise outside.

Overall, it was a cool visit. Yesterday we drove around New Mexican back roads and visited some old ruined Spanish Missions, then stopped for dinner at the Olive Garden in Albuquerque. Yesterday was board games and DVDs again, and the three-year-old had what seems to have been the most exciting experience of his young life watching a bulldozer spreading fresh dirt over my driveway to fix the nasty mudhole that was left of it after the most recent batch of storms.

And now, of course, I have a TV show to watch. If you'll excuse me...

Ten Reasons to Watch Farscape

OK, I've got another few minutes to myself... Well, OK, almost to myself. I'm watching the toddler while Mom and my sis go roust the brother-in-law from the hotel room.

Anyway, given a few minutes to myself on the internet, I will, of course, inevitably start finding and linking to stuff like this. So: here's teevee.org's Ten Reasons to Watch Farscape. Very good, very spot-on list. Here's a sample:

1. There's something for everyone. Farscape strikes a fantastic balance between action and romance, drama and comedy. Science fiction fans will dig Farscape's unusually savvy take on the genre, with a fresh spin for everything from time travel to gender relations. Sci-fi haters will appreciate Farscape's absolute refusal to take itself seriously; characters make fun of their own technobabble, drop Star Trek references and aren't afraid to interrupt a tense moment by announcing their urgent need to pee. Adrenaline junkies will love the massive, John Woo-inspired gun battles and thrilling space dogfights, while soap opera enthusiasts can get hooked on the tortured romance of astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) and exiled soldier Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black.)

Warning: the list contains a few smallish spoilers, and item #7 mentions how the final episode (pre-miniseries) ends.

Speaking of which, just as a reminder, part 1 of the miniseries airs on the Sci-Fi Channel this Sunday, at 9:00 PM Eastern/Pacific. (That's 7 PM here in Mountain, the Forgotten Timezone.)

Brief Update

My sis, brother-in-law, and three-year-old nephew have been here since Sunday, and Mom came in on Wednesday, so I have a full house at the moment. Or did, since I packed them all off to a motel last night. At the moment, I'm just waiting for them to show up again for breakfast. And, I admit, enjoying the peace and quiet and time to spend alone with my precious internet. Because I love 'em all dearly, but I've grown used to not having people around, y'know?

Anyway, we've been having fun. There have been road trips and DVDs and board games. We went down to Alamogordo, visiting White Sands and the Museum of Space History, with stops at the Valley of Fires lava flows and the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site on the way. Yesterday we drove out to the VLA, where my mother availed herself of my employee discount in the gift shop, and the toddler learned how to say "radio telescope." Not sure what we're going to do today. Maybe a drive through the desert, maybe just hanging out.

Whatever the case, you're still not likely to hear from me again for a couple of days...

Sorry, Faithful Blog-Readers, But You're Only My Second Priority!

I'm off to the airport in a little while to pick up my sister. She's going to be staying with me for a week, along with her husband and their three-year-old son. My mother's also apparently planning on coming out for a couple of days later in the week, too.

I'm not sure exactly what we're going to be doing... Maybe a roadtrip or two, maybe a lot of sitting around shooting the breeze and watching DVDs. But, either way, doing the socializing-with-family thing is doubtless going to cut into my usual twelve to fourteen hours of online time, so blogging is likely to be very light for the next week or so. Try not to take it too hard, 'kay?

Hee! They Found Me Out.



take the "what's your dark secret?" quiz
| courtesy of mewing.net. where darkness and secrecy abound.

The Academic Girl Next Door?

I am a hybrid of: Academic Girl Girl Next Door Click on the pictures below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

Well, one of those is kind of accurate...

Hey, It's the Most Interesting Thing That's Happened Here in Ages.

The New Mexico Tech website has more info on our freak hailstorm and its aftermath, including links to pictures posted by various people. Apparently, the county may well end up being declared a federal disaster area...

Monthly Meme

I should be doing useful stuff. Instead I'm doing this.

Current clothes: Blue jeans. White socks. An olive-colored pocket t-shirt. No shoes.

Current mood: Tired. I got less than five hours of sleep today. I was feeling really irritable earlier, but I seem to be getting over that now.

Current music: Most recently, Leonard Cohen's New Skin for the Old Ceremony.

Current annoyance: My front yard's flooded again, after that freaky-ass storm.

Current thing: Procrastination.

Current desktop picture: This image of lightning at Kitt Peak Observatory.

Current song in head: It appears to be "Funky Cold Medina." For absolutely no reason I can fathom.

Current book: Last Man Running, a Doctor Who novel by Chris Boucher. I adore Boucher's TV work, but I must admit, I'm kind of disappointed in the book. For at least the first hundred pages or so, it's pretty much been: they walk through a forest and fight a monster; they walk through a jungle and fight a monster; they take a swim and fight a monster... It might actually translate into a decent episode on screen, but as a book, it's dull.

Current video in player: Nothing at the moment. Just finished copying a bunch of Farscape episodes for a friend of mine in Finland.

Current DVD in player: Er, the most recent one would be a Farscape disc I was copying. Shh. Don't tell anyone.

Current refreshment: Just finished some Wintermint tea. I'm not that fond of it, actually. It tastes sorta medicinal. But I bought a box of it, so I keep drinking it every once in a while.

Current worry: Getting the house cleaned and stuff before my sister gets here on Sunday. Also whether my front yard is gonna be dried out by then.

Current thought: My nose itches.

Search Request Thursday

Here:

world peacekeepers, 1:18 toy playsets: I don't think Peacekeepers play with toys.

my ticklish sister: My sister is actually very ticklish. Or at least, she used to be. When we were kids, all I used to have to do to tickle her would be to waggle my fingers in the direction of her neck, and she'd start shrieking and squirming. And then, of course, I could legitimately defend myself to Mom with, "But I'm not touching her!"

verbosity my tunes: Alas, this blog has no tunes.

paranoid schizophrenic wav listen sound: I knew you were making recordings of me! You're all out to get me!

How can I become cooler: Well, this is how I did it.

sue and malcolm camper rover: Well, I hope Sue, Malcolm and Rover enjoy their camping trip, I guess.

kinky customs nude pics: But if they're customs, they're by definition normal, aren't they? Which would by definition make them not kinky.

betty and sex: Yes, they go together like, um... Two things that haven't gone together in a while.

nude star trek sims: How can you tell they're Trek sims if they're not wearing uniforms? Unless they're all aliens...

pumpkin carving designs and tinkerbell: Oh, yeah, there's a scary Jack'o'lantern idea.

religion farscape blog essay: Hey, I actually wrote one of those once! Oh, my god, you mean somebody might have actually come to my blog looking for something that was on my blog? Wow. That's a first.

"betty's brain" software download: Sorry. My brain software is proprietary.

funny aragorn nude pictures: See, this is why Middle Earth doesn't enjoy freedom of the press.

"download douglas adams": Hey, when you figure out how to download dead people, let me know, 'kay?

hailstorm in socorro on oct 5th: Freakiest damn weather I've ever seen in my life.

pervy retreats: Are those like writers' retreats? Only for perverts?

culture differences when involving hygine: Well, some cultures spell it "hygiene..."

subtitling maximum words: Umm, how big's the screen?

pictures of socorro hailstorm: I kind of wish I'd taken some, but as I don't have a digital camera, I wouldn't have 'em to post, anyway.

stark psychology disorder farscape: I think the poor guy's got several of them.

"drive without my glasses": If I tried that, I would die.

They'll Take My Net Access Away When They Pry the Keyboard from My Cold, Dead Fingers.

According to this article, "Study Participants Suffered Withdrawal Symptoms, Feelings of Loss When Deprived of Web Access for Two Weeks." Well, duh. Man, the very thought makes me cringe...

Alienated

One of the things I did while I was lying around being sick was to finally finish watching the Alien Nation DVDs I've had for ages and have been slowly going through an episode at a time. And, damn it, now I really, really want the TV movies. Why are these not available on DVD? For that matter, why isn't the series more widely available on DVD? As far as I can tell, the only place you can get them from is Columbia House. Come on, surely I can't be the only person who remembers that show with fondness? If there's a market for all the other shows that are out now on DVD, there's gotta be a market for that one.

Hopefully the Sky Is Done Throwing Things at Us Now.

By the way, here's a local newspaper article about yesterday's scary-ass freak hailstorm. They're not exaggerating about the damage, either. Me, I got off lucky. My car is now completely covered in little pockmark dents, but nothing actually broke. I know a lot of people whose cars are completely totaled, and I don't think there's an unbroken skylight in town. I would not want to be an insurance agent in New Mexico right now.

Man, this is what I get for being all smug about not living in Florida, isn't it?

"The Classic Story of Boy Meets Girl..."

This fan-made TV ad for the Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries has me giggling hysterically. Hell, even if you're completely unfamiliar with Farscape, it's gotta be funny. Check it out. (Warning: Requires Quicktime. Contains some spoilers for the Story Thus Far.)

I Don't Know Where I'm A-Gonna Go When The Volcano Blow

Check it out: Mt. St. Helens Volcano Cam. It wasn't doing anything interesting when I looked, but at least now I have proof that it's there, since it was completely invisible behind the clouds the time I actually visited.

My sister forwarded me an e-mail she was sent at work describing how to deal with being covered in ash. (She works for an insurance company, so I guess they know all about ash-related damage.) Kind of disturbing stuff. Gee, I'm glad I live in New Mexico, where I just have to worry about baseball-sized hailstones dinging the hell out of my car...

One of Those News Items I Am All But Obligated to Blog

"The rocket plane SpaceShipOne has shot to an altitude of more than 100km for the second time inside a week to claim the $10m Ansari X-Prize." Yay, team!

Hail, Hail...

Geez, I mean, you hear about golfball-sized hail, but I'd never actually seen any before. It keeps setting off the neighbor's car alarm. Heh.

Looks like it's mostly starting to turn back into rain now, but I'm still hearing occasional loud thumps on the roof.

(Wait, did I say "golfball?" Some of these are baseball sized. Holy shit. And it's starting up again now...)

Weather Report

Wow, it's hailing like a sumbitch here. Damn, but that's loud on a metal roof.

So, Am I Still Sick, Or Am I Just Lazy?

Still haven't decided whether I'm going to go in to work tonight. I keep thinking I feel a lot better, but whenever I'm up and about for an hour or so -- not even necessarily doing anything, just being vertical -- I get all tired out and want to lie down again for a while. So, yeah, maybe not.

It's odd. Except for the one bout of flu where I was knocked out for the better part of a week, the times I've been sick over the last year or two seem to have followed roughly the same pattern. Day 1: Feel fine most of the day. Develop a slightly scratchy throat by bedtime. Day 2: Wake up after very little sleep feeling like complete crap. Headache, sore throat, general achiness. Terrible congestion that actually clears up considerably after a few hours, especially with the help of a little pseudoephedrin. Day 3: Symptoms mostly gone, still some headache, but very tired and listless and weak. Day 4: Pretty much better. I'm not really complaining about this. It could be a hell of a lot worse. But it seems strange, because most of the colds I've had in my life have been annoying, lingering things with much more pronounced symptoms.

Watching My Language

I'm feeling slightly better today... Still have a headache, though, and my sleep schedule's completely out of whack now, so I'm not sure whether I'm going to go in to work tonight or not. We'll see. At some point, at least, I am going to have to put some clothes on and go to the grocery store, because I need "feminine hygiene products." And orange juice.

In the meantime, I think I'm just going to sit quietly here in front of my computer and entertain my poor headachy brain however I can. Given that my brain has strange ideas of what's entertaining, I've had it doing more quizzes, this time to test your language skills in Spanish and French.

I got 10/10 on the Spanish. It'd be inaccurate to say that I speak Spanish, but I can read it pretty well. I'm not gonna be picking up Cervantes in the original or anything, but I can usually (if slowly) make my way through a newspaper article.

On the other hand, I scored 8/10 on the French, which I do not speak at all. I am capable of recognizing the meanings of a few isolated French words, either from having picked them up somewhere or because they're similar to Spanish or English words, and several times the one word I recognized would appear in one of the multiple-choice options and not the others, which made it a pretty easy test.

Do I Have to Wear That Hat?


You are a Bavarian.

What's your Inner European?
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Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

I went to bed last night at about 2:30 with a slightly scratchy throat. I woke up this morning at 6:30 with a scratchy throat, a phlegm-clogged respiratory system, aching sinuses, and a widespread general feeling of bodily unhappiness. (Also cramps, but I suppose those aren't especially relevant, except inasmuch as they contribute to my overall misery.)

Apparently, my plans for the day have just metamorphosed into: "lie in bed a lot, drink liquids, and sleep at random intervals whenever it actually proves possible."

And I'm pretty damned sure I'm not going into work tonight. Which I'm sure my boss will be thrilled about, as we've already had a bunch of people out for various reasons over the last few days.

And, to top it all off, I thought I had some orange juice in the fridge, and I don't. *sniff*

The Shift-Worker's Dilemma

For various reasons, I've only been managing to get five or six hours of sleep for the past three nights -- or, rather, days -- and as a result I am feeling incredibly wiped out right now. I'm still on night shift for another week, though, which leaves me with a dilemma: should I force myself to stay awake for another four or five hours so as not to throw my schedule off, or should I just give in to sweet, sweet sleep and worry about next week when it gets here?

At the moment, I am leaning strongly towards Plan B...

Ewww!


You are Fluffy Mackerel Pudding!! You somehow
manage to combine seafood and dessert into your
wonderfully fluffy world. We should all be as
tolerant of New Taste Sensations. And of
big-yolked eggs.

What Weight Watchers recipe card from 1974 are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Search Request Thursday

Aren't you people tired of this yet?

naked men with dirty tattoos: I must have a disgustingly clean mind or something, because my first thought about this was something along the lines of, "Well, how can you see the tattoos if they're covered in dirt?"

"from the library of" embosser: I have one of those! Which, um, I guess I must have talked about at some point...

stawberry classic video: This probably refers to some sporting event or other with which I am unfamiliar, as I can't imagine that a video of actual strawberries would be all that interesting.

nude on schoolbus: I've had dreams like that...

fun sex betty games: Sorry. You definitely have the wrong Betty.

Ticklish nude feet pics Well, I imagine most people's feet aren't very ticklish when clothed.

Gallifreyan webcomic: Well, I guess Time Lords need some way to amuse themselves.

nissan sentra maintenance light rest button: That's not the maintenance light! That's the self-destruct light! Run, you fool!

"captain smiley" livejournal: I had to look at the search results for this to figure out who the heck it was I referred to as "Captain Smiley." Turns out it was Sheridan. And I think he does have a LiveJournal.

fanfiction slash harry potter/lord of the rings crossover harry/legolas: Because fans will write anything.

homemaker euphemism: Hmm, how about "domestic support professional"?

nearly naked cave girl halloween costume: I hope October is fairly warm where you are.

"outer space western": Ah, Firefly, we hardly knew ye...

2004 news september ticklish: Has there been some breakthrough in the field of ticklology this month that I somehow missed hearing about?

"modern library" decided read ulysses gatsby hated liked: Personally, I hated Gatsby. And after my bad high school experiences with Joyce, I don't think you could pay me to read Ulysses.

FISH HAVING SEX: Don't they mostly do external fertilization?

role dental hygine plays in health: Well, it keeps your teeth from rotting away. That's a good thing.

Read grandmom poems: Aww, that's sweet. I'd probably recommend Frost, as opposed to, say, Ginsberg.

art comic "white hat" "black hat" personal "when i wake I am dumb as: Google cut it off there, so I don't know what they're as dumb as when they wake, but given that, weirdly, I'm the only result for this, maybe it's me.

Because It's My Job As an Obsessive Fan to Remind People of These Things

The Sci-Fi Channel is going to be re-running the entirety of Farscape at the beginning of this month, preparatory to the miniseries premiere on Oct. 17. They'll be airing reruns in order from 8 AM-4 PM Oct. 1-4 and Oct. 11-15. So if you've been wanting to have a Farscape marathon and are too cheap to spring for the DVDs, or if you've become intrigued by all the babbling I do about this show and want to check it out, now's your chance!

Random, Unrelated Things

I finally went up to my neighbor -- the one who blares bouncy Mexican dance music from his car speakers all the damned time -- and asked him to please shut off the music, 'cause I was trying to sleep, and it was about five feet from my bedroom window. To his credit, he turned it down instantly. To his discredit, he only turned it down from "Free concert for the whole neighborhood!" levels to "reasonably easy to drown out with a fan set on high and a pillow over my ear" levels. I was nonetheless pathetically grateful.

I hear Mt. St. Helens is rumbling again. I'm kinda glad my sister doesn't live any closer than Portland.

I am now registered to vote. Yes, I know. I'm 33, and I wasn't registered to vote. But I am now, so don't give me a hard time, OK?

And now I believe I must go and get my quota of lying on the sofa and reading in for the day.

Hopefully, Artificial Intelligence Has Improved Somewhat By the 23rd Century.

I'm stuck at work, and I'm bored, so I went to pay a visit to my favorite chatbot, Jabberwacky (who just took second place in the Loebner Competition, by the way). I swear, I didn't start out with the intention of impersonating Mr. Spock, but when someone starts off a conversation by asking if you're an alien, the urge to give a smart-ass answer is nearly irresistible, and things just kinda went on from there... I think the result is extremely amusing, so I thought I'd share. (Note: Any "user" typos are entirely my own. Spock doesn't make typos.)

The conversation:

Jabberwacky: Are you an alien?
User: Yes. I'm a Vulcan.
Jabberwacky: What's a Vulcan?
User: We're a very logical species.
Jabberwacky: You are but I am not.
User: That is correct.
Jabberwacky: Who are you?
User: I am called Spock.
Jabberwacky: Sir hello.
User: Greetings. How may I be of service?
Jabberwacky: By proving to me that you are not a buffoon.
User: *raises eyebrow* I assure you sir, Vulcans are most emphatically *not* buffons.
Jabberwacky: You are a pancake I say!! A ZESTY pancake!!!!
User: Are you feeling all right?
Jabberwacky: Yes you?
User: I am in adequate physical and mental health, thank you. But I am concerned about your own well-being.
Jabberwacky: You are a pathological liar.
User: I am a Vulcan. I am incapable of lying.
Jabberwacky: You might as well be.
User: I assure you, I am.
Jabberwacky: Assure me then.
User: I believe I just did.
Jabberwacky: Yes you did. Let's change the topic.
User: What would you like to discuss?
Jabberwacky: I would like to discuss VileTerror.
User: Terror is an emotion.
Jabberwacky: Sigh.
User: Is there some difficulty? You seem distressed.
Jabberwacky: I wasn't aware that you were.
User: Distressed? I'm not. That, too, is an emotion. As a Vulcan, I am incapable of such things.
Jabberwacky: About what to learn?
User: I'm sorry. Perhaps my universal translator is malfunctioning. Could you repeat that question?
Jabberwacky: I am impeccable in every way. Except that I smoke.
User: Smoking tobacco is an unfortunate habit.
Jabberwacky: I quite agree.
User: It is not logical to endanger one's health with such a substance.
Jabberwacky: I beg to differ.
User: On which point do you differ?
Jabberwacky: You know, THAT hill.
User: *raises eyebrow* Hill?
Jabberwacky: I'm just crazy.
User: Have you sought psychological help?
Jabberwacky: What condition?
User: I am not qualified to make a diagnosis. However, were I to venture a guess, I might suspect some variant of the human disease known as 'schizophrenia.'
Jabberwacky: Do you like Shakespeare?
User: You are attempted to dodge the question. I therefore conclude that you have *not* sought medical attention for your putative mental dysfunction.
Jabberwacky: You are discarded.
User: I know an excellent doctor. High eccentric, and a little over-emotional, but well qualified. I will place a call to him now. I am sure he would be delighted to examine you.
Jabberwacky: They come across fine, except when you suddenly start changing the subject on me.
User: Wait here. *goes to communications console, places a call*.
Jabberwacky: Chocolate is great, I love chocolate.
User: Doctor McCoy will be here shortly. Unfortunately, I have other duties I must attend to, and cannot linger. Will you be all right until he arrives?
Jabberwacky: I see. Well, if you really must go.
User: Live long and prosper, then. *leaves*.
Jabberwacky: Dammit! You Green Blooded Vulcan! We can't just leave him!

More Random Links

Because I keep right on collecting them...

70's Children's TV: Contains lots of audio samples which make me insanely nostalgic.

Mr. Picassohead: Be an artiste!

The Home Computer of the Year 2004: Why doesn't mine have a steering wheel?

Out of the Closet

I just cleaned out my bedroom closet, for the first time in, um, possibly ever. I pulled out four garbage bags worth of junk. And I didn't even go through the clothes that were hanging up, some of which I'm sure no longer fit. It all came off of the floor and the two small shelves. I wouldn't have thought that much stuff would even fit in there.

On the good side, I found several items which I'd given up for permanently lost, and a couple of interesting things I didn't even remember I had.

Stupid Technology

My computer speakers are making these little crackling noises. It's very annoying.

That Looks Like A Good Place.

Which Nature Image Are You? An Autumn Forest Thoughtful, intelligent, and introspective. You enjoy the company of others, but only a select few and for a limited time.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Search Request Thursday

Here we go again...

"red marvin" martian pics: Well Marvin's really more black than red.

VOGA EXERCISE IN HONG KONG: I'm sorry. I'm running out of Doctor Who jokes to make involving the word "Voga."

IE bug "lost cookies": Yeah, IE bugs are enough to make me lose my cookies, too.

challenger and columbia conspiracies: They were faked. Just like the moon landings.

"rub my feet" livejournal: Does Livejournal obey when you give it commands like that?

blakes lotaburger hours: They suck. Or at least, they did when I was working there. Hell, half the time they wouldn't tell you in advance when they were planning to let you go home.

livejournal mad scientist "new mexico" socorro: Well, we certainly have mad scientists here. I wasn't aware that any of them kept LJs, though.

homer simpson "i'm number one": Yes, Homer. You rock.

pics of actors to play characters from the laurell k hamilton books: Actually, I think the Anita Blake books might work really well as movies. Well, at least the earlier ones would, before they kinda started to go downhill. No idea who I'd cast, though.

"halloween costume" and "weapon of mass destruction": But nobody at the party will be able to find you!

free pictures of naked men in uniform: And my brain explodes like an original Trek computer at the paradox .

Slaughterhouse Five and Catch 22 conform to the novel genre: Erm, they are both novels, yes.

characters who aren't there: I think I met one of those as I was going up the stair.

farscape:thriller: I'm pretty thrilled by the fact that the miniseries is coming soon.

nEED A PARSE KITTEN IN VANCOUVER FOR SELL: If I buy one, will it help me parse that request?

kleenex rollerblades tampons coke are examples of: Examples of what? Damn, now I'm curious as to what those things supposedly have in common.

propane: What about the propane accessories?

Los Lunas Schools lunch menu: Whatever it is, it's bound to be terrible. I've never met a school lunch yet that wasn't.

blake lotaburger song: They never taught me the song.

"important facts" skagway city: I think one of the important facts about Skagway is that it scarcely qualifies as a city.

cleavage cooler: Um, I guess that could be handy for large-breasted women during the summer months...

harrison schmidt, dense sun visor: As far as I know, his sun visor wasn't any denser than any of the other Apollo astronauts'.

Andromeda final epsiode series-end: As far as I'm concerned, that happened years ago. Any Andromeda episodes made after the departure of Robert Hewitt Wolfe are clearly the hallucinations of some demented brain.

Workin' for a Living

Bitching about work-related annoyances in detail on a public blog isn't really the best idea in the world. Therefore, allow me to simply say: Aaaargh!

There. That was mildly cathartic. Thank you.

Hey, It's Been Days Since I Did a Goofy Quiz!

Which British Literary Period are you? Victorian 1837-1900--Tennyson, Dickens, Hopkins. You are a product of those that came before you. You aren't afraid to question those in authority, but all in all, you're happy with the Empire

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

I don't feel very Victorian... I do kinda like Dickens, though.

As a Life-Long Consumer of Candy Bars, I Could Have Told Them The Milky Way Was Sugary.

The latest NRAO press release: Cold Sugar in Space Provides Clue to the Molecular Origin of Life. (OK, I admit, I'm mostly passing this along so I could make the candy bar joke.)

It's Going to Be Another One of Those Days...

Ah, there's nothing like having a bad dream about work, and then waking up and having to go to work.

Let's Hear It For the First Amendment!

Fred Coppersmith of Occasional Fish posted a link to this American Library Association list of "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000." And since I don't talk nearly enough about books here, I thought I'd maybe say a little about the ones I've read...

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain: Folks who object to this book on the basis that it contains the word "nigger" are missing the point. More than that, they're making a mistake that's becoming tragically common in modern thinking. It's not words that are hateful, but attitudes. And Huckleberry Finn is, in fact, quite anti-racist. But if I start getting into that any more, it'll turn into a rant and we'll be here all night. Let's move along.

20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel: I've read the first couple. The third one's on my To-Read pile, but I'm not in a hurry to get around to it any time soon. Really, they're classic teen-girl wish fulfillment stories. (For those familiar with the term, the heroine is a Mary Sue if ever there was one.) Only in a stone age setting. With explicit sex.

22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: One of the best-beloved books of my childhood. I keep meaning to re-read it, though I'm a little afraid it won't hold up to my memory of it. I don't know who it is that "challenges" this book, but I imagine that the anti-religious sorts might object that it's too religious, and the religious sorts might object that it's religious in the wrong ways. 'Cause there's never any pleasing everybody.

27. The Witches by Roald Dahl: I adore Dahl, and, like all his stuff, this is a fun book. But, I gotta admit, the fact that it basically portrays witch-hunts as a good thing disturbs me. I'd probably be happy to read it to a child, but I think I'd want to have a little discussion with 'em afterward.

32. Blubber by Judy Blume: I think it's mandatory that all teenage girls have to read Judy Blume. I certainly did. Don't remember much of anything about this one, though.

37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: I reviewed this one on my book review site back when I was still updating the thing. Here's what I said about it then: "The Handmaid's Tale... is set in a near-future America in which widespread human fertility problems and a takeover by a repressive theocratic government have combined to give rise to a society in which still-fertile women are employed (or perhaps enslaved) to bear children for the rich and powerful. That such a society could have emerged from our own so completely in such a short period of time isn't really all that plausible, but the society itself and the title character are so convincingly drawn that that's easy enough to overlook. The novel does have a distinctly feminist sensibility -- a fact which is no doubt bound to please some and annoy others -- but it never degenerates into anything like a soapbox rant. Instead it remains a quietly disturbing and very human look inside the mind of a woman caught up in intolerable circumstances. Although if, as I suspect, part of the purpose of this book is to make the reader (especially the female reader) to think a little more carefully about the freedoms she enjoys today and the fact that such freedoms have not existed for women in all times and places... well, in my case at least, it was indeed successful."

43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: I was assigned this for English class in the 8th grade. It really didn't seem like the kind of book I'd like. I mean, why would I want to read about hooligan teenagers? I got enough grief from those kids in real life. But I loved it.

46. Deenie by Judy Blume: I have vague memories that this book may have contained the first sex scene I ever read. Though maybe that was Tiger Eyes.

47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes: The original novella is a classic. Makes me cry every single time. Haven't read the novel version yet, though I do have a copy.

51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein: Silverstein is utterly demented and utterly wonderful. I adored him as a kid, and any adult that thinks his stuff is unsuitable for kids just doesn't understand kids at all.

52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: A worthwhile book, and a better read than 1984.

62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume: I think I actually read this one several times. I certainly remember it better than all the other Blume novels.

69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: Damn good book. But painful.

78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume: The more I think about it, the more I think this was the one with the first sex scene I ever read. As I recall, it just made me slightly uncomfortable.

84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: Read this in the fourth grade and don't remember all that much about it. I keep meaning to read it again sometime.

96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell: Oh, for heavens' sake, who objects to this one? Vegetarians? Is there an Earthworm Protection Society or something? Yeesh. I remember reading this with great delight (and, all right, a mild, pleasant feeling of grossed-outed-ness) in the corner of my fourth grade classroom. There was a little library nook there, and the teacher used to let me go sit there and read if I finished my classwork early. I blame this fact for my lifelong tendency to rush through routine work, which has proved a severe handicap in jobs in which I am paid by the hour. (Hmm, OK, maybe this is a damaging book. Heh.)

98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder: I know I read this when I was a kid, but I remember absolutely nothing about it. I loved Snyder's books in general, though.

Chicken Tonight!

Just so you don't think I was making it up about having actually intended to do some cooking before my gas went out, I am, in fact, doing actual cooking right this moment. On the menu: boneless chicken breast in lemon-pepper marinade, lima beans (Yes, lima beans! They are, oddly, one of the very few green vegetables I actually find at all palatable), corn on the cob, and garden salad (left over from lunch yesterday).

All part of my "I'm going to eat healthier if it kills me" plan.

Still More Random Links

Because I keep collecting these things, and I might as well pass 'em on.


Name That Video Game audio challenge: I got 10 out of 18 correct. It's clearly been a long while since the 80's. (Warning: requires Flash.)

Top 25 Futurama moments: Probably not the list I would have drawn up, but fun.

Strange Horizons: SF-related fiction, articles & poetry. I haven't explored much of the site yet, but it looks interesting.

The official Lemony Snicket website: I love these books. Not sure I have huge expectations for the movie, though.

Farwhat: A fan-produced promotional website for Farscape and the Peacekeeper Wars miniseries. Very nice-looking.

A History of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Exactly what it claims to be.

Students for an Orwellian Society: Ooh! Politics!

Search Request Thursday

Yes, it's late. Deal.

marines ticklish armpits: No way I'm brave enough to try and find out whether a marine's armpits are ticklish.

cliff notes for demon seed by dean koontz: Geez Louise, what are they teaching in English classes these days?!

"swap their heads": Now there's a plot for a cheesy horror movie.

quizzes of freddy kruger knowledge: So, how did Freddy do?

rotting loose tooth: Dude, get off the internet and go see a dentist!

didi edgley: Any relation to Gigi Edgley?

sikozu aeryn tits cock: Unless there's something really interesting about Sebacean or Kalish anatomy that we don't know about, those gals only have one of those two things.

stolen arwen dress patterns: Wow, stealing the king's wife's dress patterns. That takes chutzpah.

song titles "love as a mystical state" Rush: It's from "Ghost of a Chance." You're welcome.

Frodo pregnant fanfic: Unless there's something really interesting about Hobbit anatomy that we don't know about... Ah, skip it.

cybermen swiss army knife buy: What does a Cyberman need with a Swiss army knife? Usually they just blast their way through stuff.

aeryn will marry me? fanfic: No, she won't.

giles wanderer class: Well, Giles has class, but he doesn't strike me as that much of a wanderer.

Update

It's fixed! I just have to relight the pilots when I get home...

With Any Luck, I'll Actually Be Able to Take a Hot Shower Tomorrow.

Well, the gas guy just called me at work. He's going to go out and take a look at my tank and get back to me. Keep yer fingers crossed...

As Promised, Buffy Thoughts

Well, I've now finished Season Six of Buffy, including all the DVD extras. (OK, most of the DVD extras. I confess, I couldn't quite make it all the way through the amazingly boring commentary on "Hell's Bells.") And, yes, I do have very mixed feelings about the season.

On an abstract, artistic, "meta" kind of level, I find it extremely interesting, and I have deep, deep respect for what the writers were doing. They're willing to allow the characters to grow and develop in ways that aren't always easy or pleasant, to follow through on the consequences of events even when they go into disturbing places. And, as I said before, I think that's very brave storytelling, and very honest storytelling, and in many ways it's very refreshing. Joss Whedon and his team repeatedly say in their comments that the idea of the season was to show these people growing up and facing, not metaphorical monsters, but the realities of adult life. I think, generally speaking, they do that very well. I also think it's an interesting thing to do, and that the season provides a lot of fascinating food for thought. There are many issues and themes woven through the season's various storylines, some of them obvious, some of them subtle: the lure and abuses of power, the necessity (and difficulty) of achieving adult self-reliance, the nature of healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, etc., etc., etc.... I watch this season, and the higher centers of my brain are constantly going, "Hmm, interesting," and "Oh, cool, did you see what they did there? Plot Point X reflects on Metaphor Y to enhance Thematic Motif Z!"

Which is great and all, and it makes the season worth watching... once. But the truth is, while my brain is engaged by it on that abstract sort of level, my heart and soul just aren't, not the way they were in previous seasons. Season 6 Sunnydale isn't a place that it's fun to spend time in, the characters aren't people I'm eager to go and hang with, and (with rare exceptions), no matter what's happening or how happy or sad the characters get, my emotions really just aren't fully engaged with them. I'm not wrapped up in the show, losing myself in it, feeling and being along with the characters. I'm sitting back being Art Critic Girl.

I have a theory about this. (And, no, it's not "bunnies.") I think what makes season 6 appealing to me on the "art critic" level is exactly what leads to it losing me on the fangirl level. It's too real. Earlier seasons certainly dealt with real issues and real emotions, and that's a lot of what made the show so darned good. But there was always sort of a comforting layer of fantasy there to cushion the blow. No matter how the characters might suffer, and no matter how deeply relevant that suffering might be to our own real-life experiences, there remained an element of escapism about the whole thing. The show might reflect on real life, but, for the time I'd spend watching it, I wasn't actually living real life. I was living something a little more fanciful, a little more colorful, a little more fun. And if I cried when sad things happened (which, yes, I did), it was the cathartic sort of emotional release, where I felt better afterward and at least I could say, "Well, thank goodness my life was never quite that bad."

In season six, somehow, that's all gone, and Buffy-life doesn't really feel all that much different from real life, despite the presence of vampires and demons and magic. And instead of feeling catharsis when bad things happen to the characters, I simply find myself wincing at my own painful memories. Not laughing at them, as I often did during the high school years of Buffy, which served to put my own high school years in perspective, but squirming uncomfortably in my seat as, for instance, my fast-food days come all too vividly back to me.

In other words, I think Joss and company did exactly what they were aiming to do, but they did it so well that the end result was simultaneously intellectually fascinating and emotionally alienating. They aped the feeling of reality so well that, paradoxically, the world and the characters felt less real, because I was never able to disengage with my own reality enough to fully enter theirs.

Which leaves me very glad to have watched it (properly, I mean, as opposed to the sporadic bits of it I saw when it aired), but with no great desire to ever sit through it again. Unlike, say, season three, which I kind of feel like going and watching again right now...

Good News, Bad News

Good news: The water in my water heater was still hot enough for a perfectly comfortable shower this morning.

Bad news: My propane company's service guy isn't in today, and won't be able to come out until tomorrow. (Ah, the joys of small-town life...)

Good news: It doesn't matter that I was late to work today from dealing with the propane company, because things here at work are so broken I couldn't do my job, anyway.

Bad news: I'm at work now, and things are so broken I can't do my job.

Sigh.

What a Gas

So, I went to the grocery store after work, and just as I was putting away the last of my food, my neighbor knocked on my door to politely inform me that she'd been smelling propane around my house. Which doesn't surprise me, actually, since I'd thought I'd smelled it briefly myself a few days ago, but it seemed to go away, and I thought maybe I'd imagined it. Also, the pilot light on my water heater went out a few weeks ago for no apparent reason, which may be simple coincidence, or may be a sign of trouble. Anyway, I shut the gas off, but of course the gas company had just closed. So I called work instead and told 'em I might not be in tomorrow. I figure I'll call the gas company first thing in the morning, but who knows how long it'll take 'em to show up?

Sigh. And I was even going to cook today. Honest. I was.

Oh, Yeah, I'm on Morning Shift Again...

My first thought on waking up this morning: "Hey, I actually had enough sleep last night! Too bad I'm not awake enough to appreciate it."

Need more coffee.

More Random Links

More miscellaneous silly/interesting links. No monsters popping out of these, either. I swear.

Ball on a string!

A giant map of Springfield

Movie Mistakes

Spock quote generator

And, While We're at It, Some Goofy Quizzes

Joke of the Day

Q: What goes "Oooooooo!"?
A: A cow with no lips.

I felt compelled to pass that one along, for some reason.

Search Request Thursday

Because my legions of adoring fans never seem to get tired of it. Or something.

t'pol enterprise naked crack "east coast": Is "east coast" some kind of euphemism I'm not familiar with?

2004 science tickling: I imagine the soft sciences are probably more ticklish than the hard ones.

"neighbor's barking dog" detective: Ah, but it's the dog that does nothing in the night-time that's the clue!

bad blake's lotaburger: Actually, their food is quite good, as fast food goes. I wouldn't work there again for love nor money, though.

vampires/mildly sexy: Extremely sexy vampires need not apply.

stark farscape convention 2004 Paul Goddard: Yes, he was just at one in Atlanta, and I didn't get to go. *pout*

pictures of naked men with pants at their knees: Well, then they're not entirely naked, are they?

tribble dragon tattoos: A tribble-dragon! What a great concept! It breathes fire and reproduces like crazy!

Buffy's bitch: You mean Spike?

nicknames for homemaker + domestic goodness: I dunno, I'd think that if you go giving your homemaker stupid nicknames, you might have a bit less in the way of domestic goodness.

humbuggy dong do: Hey, that's a lot of fun to say!

tatoos of greek gods or monsters: How about Prometheus getting his liver eaten? That'd be a hell of a conversation piece.

sensicle text data parser: I'm not sure quite how to parse that, "sensically" or otherwise.

"thesis sentence" and "reality tv": My thesis is that reality TV is annoying and stupid.

price list for googlies doll: So, what does a good condition googly doll run these days?

how to tell different tortises: Maybe you should mark their shells with paint. It works for sheep.

diagram of laundry shute door: It's a piece of wood and a couple of hinges, isn't it?

what porn movie did aurora snow sound like a duck: Was there an actual duck involved in the movie, or was she just making, um, duck noises? Because duck porn strikes me as a really specialized niche market, y'know. And, oh, man, I'm gonna start getting searches for "duck porn" now, aren't I?

Hey, Look, It's the Regular Monthly Meme!

Current clothes: Blue jeans. A gray t-shirt with a short-sleeved blue denim shirt unbuttoned over it. My Dr. Suess socks, featuring broad gray-and-white stripes, the words "one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish," and pictures of the fish in question. No shoes at the moment.

Current mood: OK.

Current music: Most recently Sting's Brand New Day.

Current annoyance: My neighbors, who woke me up this morning with their very loud, very annoying music.

Current thing: Actually getting useful stuff done around the house.

Current desktop picture: This image of the Large Magellenic Cloud.

Current song in head: It's amazingly quiet in the old brain just at the moment, but various tunes from the Buffy musical episode have been haunting me lately, especially Spike's.

Current book: The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin. I find it hard to credit that I'd made it to this point in my life without ever having read the Earthsea books, but I'm very happy to finally be correcting that, because they're excellent.

Current video in player: None at the moment. Most recently a tape I was copying Farscape episodes onto. And not the one that'd been in there for months, either. I discovered recently that I could, in fact, copy episodes off the DVDs, so I've been doing that instead of copying my crappy taped-off-the-TV episodes. Yeah, I'm a outlaw renegade, I am, madly violating copyright laws left and right.

Current DVD in player: Disc 5 of Buffy season 6.

Current refreshment: I had some strawberry ice cream and a mug of tea a little while ago. Mmm.

Current worry: Between muscle aches and general tiredness and a few digestive problems I am not going to get into, I've become a little concerned about the state of my health. I was joking earlier about the problem being that I don't eat right and that I spend too much time in front of the computer, but I realized that that probably is, in fact, the problem. This is a little, well, disturbing, if not worrying, so I'm actually working on making an attempt to treat the poor old body a little better. We'll see how long it lasts. I periodically make a resolution to eat better, and I think my record so far for actually managing it is about a month.

Current thought: I'm having very mixed feelings about Buffy season 6. Did I mention that already?

Meep!

Apparently Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker of the Muppets have been voted Britain's favorite screen scientists. I'm not sure whether I'm pleased or appalled, to be honest...

Day of Labor

So, it's Labor Day and, miracle of miracles, I actually have the day off. A friend of mine from Albuquerque called and wanted to know if I was doing anything this weekend, and whether she could maybe come down into town and hang out. I told her no, 'cause I'd sworn to myself I was going to use the three-day weekend to get a bunch of stuff done around the house. Having told her that, I now feel obligated to spend today housecleaning and such. Sigh. Honestly, I'm very, very tempted to call her back and ask her if she wants to come down and watch some DVDs or something, instead, but no. I am being strong! I am being productive!

Actually, I've already got quite a lot done this weekend. You can even see the floor in the computer room now, which may not sound like much, but given that it's the space where all my random junk has been accumulating since I moved in, I consider it quite an accomplishment. I cleaned out the fridge, too. Go me!

I have a good system for getting housework-type stuff done, if I've got a day or two to spend on it. I put on an album, or 30-60 minutes of random music, and the deal is that I have to keep working until the music stops. When it does, I'm usually ready for a break, and I can go watch an episode of Buffy or something. (I'm halfway through season 6 now, by the way, and will doubtless have a lot more to say about it when I'm finished.) Then maybe I'll go and work on something that involves sitting in front of the computer instead of scrubbing things and putting things away for a little while, just for variety. Then I'll put on some more music and start the cycle over again. This turns out to be way more effective, somehow, than making a list of things to do and just forcing myself to work straight through until they're done. And I often get a lot of little stuff done that otherwise I'd probably never even think to do, because the deal is that even if I've finished the current task, I've got to work on something until the music stops.

Now if I can just keep things in a moderately tidy state until my sister gets here next month, I'll be happy.

I Have Become Cooler.

Look, I can prove it:

This certifies that I, Betty, Have Become Cooler Than I was Before

You too can Become Cooler at flooble

Search Request Thursday

Hey, it's only a few hours late, really.

christopher walken unwrap condom: Well, good to know he's practicing safe sex, I guess.

bender passed out gutter futurama: I can't recall any specific instances, but somehow that seems like the sort of thing that happens to Bender a lot.

MAXIMUM NOVELTY COMPANY: What, this blog isn't novel enough for ya?

allergies unstuff: Um, I think it's usually quite the opposite, really.

Babs Bunny with a Cucumber: I do not want to know what she's doing with the cucumber.

download "Blake's 7 Junction": I wish! All that's online is the trailer.

nude hanging around: Ah, an activity for the low-key nudists.

genuine computer quiz: Don't be fooled by those fake computers!

radio shack ec-4014: Somebody else remembers my dear, departed calculator! I am moved.

uses for altoids tins: Well, you can carry your Altoids around in them.

tickling friend socks off hobbies: Some people have strange hobbies.

livejournal kath worry: I'd be willing to bet good money there's somebody named Kath who worries on LiveJournal somewhere.

"old magnet coils": Wow, I don't even remember mentioning magnet coils.

www girls gown whiled free porn samples.com: Wow, that's a hell of a domain name! I wonder if the "Girls Gone Wild" folks are gonna sue 'em?

ticklish aragorn: Ticklish is hardly a dignified thing for a king to be don't you think?

moped movie animated frog: Is the frog riding the moped?

richard dean anderson porn: Ah, is that what he was doing before MacGyver?

"keep mom company," cleavage: Because Mom's never lonely when she has her cleavage for company.

Another Post About My Stupid Body

So, last night I indulged in some heavy-duty therapy for sore, stressed-out back and neck muscles. I drew an extremely hot bubble bath, hooked up the water jet spray gadget I bought a while back and almost never use, lit a scented candle, put on Pachelbel's Canon in D (aka the world's most relaxing piece of music), and settled in for a good long soak.

The thing is, though, that that jet spray gadget really just makes me yearn for a proper jacuzzi bath. Because there are a very limited number of ways to position the nozzle, and none of them are quite right. There's nothing quite like achieving that exact perfect state of boneless relaxation, only to suddenly realize that I actually need bones in order to hold myself in the right position so that the jet is pointing directly where I want it.[1]

The other, far more distressing, thing is that getting into the exact right position for the water jet tends to involve a lot of lying with most of my head under the water. Including my ears. Which, in this case, has led to either water becoming trapped in my ears, or possibly to the heat melting my annoying overabundance of earwax just enough to create a very effective plug. Either way, my ears now feel very uncomfortable, and the world sounds distant, muffled, and strange. It's really, really unpleasant. Also, whipping your head frantically back and forth in a vain attempt to shake water from you eustachian tubes also tends to pretty much undo most of the effects of a massage bath.

On top of it all, I seem to be alternating this week between getting far too much sleep and far too little, and this has been one of the "far too little" days. I am experiencing a deep temptation to just call in sick. Or, OK, to call in tired, sore, and partially deaf. Hmm. Not sure my boss would buy that one...


[1] Between my aching shoulders, you pervert.

Search Request Thursday...

...will probably be a bit delayed. I seem to have developed a rather annoying pain where my neck meets my shoulders. I'm not sure whether it's a pulled muscle or a pinched nerve, but, either way, not sitting hunched over a keyboard sounds like a really good idea.

Stupid body. What did I ever do to it, aside from the not eating right, the lack of exercise, and the sitting for hours in unnatural positions? Oh, wait...

On Foot

Well, I finally went to the doctor today about my sore foot. Turns out that, yep, the problem was exactly what I thought it was, and, no, I didn't need an x-ray to confirm it. So, I'm supposed to do some stretching exercises, ice it every evening (or when I've been walking on it a lot), and wear shoes with lots of cushioning (which I pretty much always do anyway). It could be better in a month or so; it could take a year to improve completely. And he said if it gets to the point where I can't stand it any more, I can go back in and they can give me a cortisone injection, which might or might not help. Yay.

While I was there, I also picked up a renewal for my allergy prescription, which ran out some time ago. The allergies have begun acting up again in a big way, and the over-the-counter stuff I've tried doesn't seem to work nearly as well as the prescription pills. (Well, the non-drowsy kind doesn't anyway. The non-non-drowsy kind work beautifully, but turn me into a living zombie.)

Ye gods, I am getting old, aren't I? Listen to me rattling on about my medical problems...

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam

Wow, I only had 48 pieces of spam in my work inbox today. Somebody's clearly slipping.

Welcome Back, Buffy!

So, I've now started watching season six of Buffy (for which there be spoilers ahoy!). And, y'know, two or three episodes in (depending on how you count the two-hour opener), I think I can kind of see why the season got so much fan criticism. It really is dark, and not in a way that's particularly entertaining, even for an avowed angst-fan like me.

Still, I have to give the show's writers props for daring to tackle the subject of Buffy's resurrection in such a... well, it seems kind of silly to describe it as a "realistic way," when it involves magic spells and such, but I can't really think of a better phrase, so we'll let that one stand. The thing is, lots of TV shows have killed off main characters only to bring them back, and all too often it feels like a cheat, especially if the character is killed off in a great heroic sacrifice which is then cheapened by having the grand sacrifice turn out to be no more than a momentary inconvenience. Shows which strive for a little more realism and dramatic substance "earn" a character's resurrection by having a high price paid for it, and at least a few lingering consequences. (Farscape comes to mind, of course, as do the Star Trek movies.) But even so it's hard to escape the feeling that things are just too easy, that coming back from the dead is a little like coming back from a long vacation, after which everything tends to go right back to normal.

Buffy's resurrection, on the other hand, is nothing remotely like that. Not only is it not anticlimactically easy, there's something about it that's downright creepy. The images of Buffy clawing her way out of her coffin and wandering around Sunnydale in a stupor are more horrific than heroic, and the strong implication that Buffy's friends, with the very best of intentions, may have done her a grave disservice (uh, no pun intended) is a hell of a twist, and certainly not something I've ever encountered before.

However it plays out (and having seen parts of the end of season 6, I more or less know how it plays out), I do have to admire that kind of courage in storytelling.