April 2003 Archives

Technically, there's nothing to take back, because I didn't complain about what I was going to complain about. Not here, anyway. I've decided that I'm too tired and it doesn't matter anymore. It was kinda dumb anyway. No more negativity today (so, for the next 30 minutes).

Thanks to everyone for the many birthday wishes and treats (including some fabulous wishlist items!). I feel the love.

A big ol' thunderstorm is passing through. Time for me to curl up and go to sleep.

I'm not really big on savory snacks - chips and whatnot. But these Fritos Flavor Twists in Honey BBQ are crack snacks. Tim told me to watch out for them. Thrice they've entered this house and thrice the whole bag has disappeared in a day.

Yup, I sure did use "thrice" in a sentence and there weren't even any witches or ancient history references.

I have the same birthday as Isiah Thomas. How fucking cool is that?

I also have the same birthday as Karen and my friend Chad whom I don't speak too or see much but whom I always at least talk to on this day.

Mel made me a sign! :)

UPDATED FOR SPELLING: I stand corrected.

The last three nights in a row I've had late-night chats with various folks, and the last three nights in a row I've had strange dreams involving whoever I was chatting with. I don't actually remember any of the dreams. It could have been as much to do with me bing outside of my usual sleep surroundings, but to have the chat participants correspond directly to the dreams is no coincidence.

Went to court this morning for the ticket I got for "running a red light." Damn cop was there. She was a lot friendlier than she was when she pulled me over. She offered me an "impeding traffic" citation which comes with no points but still carries the $115 fine, so I said okay. I had no will to fight. The city still gets their money and I keep it off my record. The whole thing took 20 minutes.

I just watched Wit with Emma Thompson. What a spectacular movie. She has cancer, diagnosed right at the beginning and the rest of the movie takes place as she's undergoing an aggressive experimental treatment. She mostly talks directly to the camera, telling you about her take on her surroundings and circumstances, and about a few pertinent moments in her personal history.

The way these personal history moments are portrayed is pretty interesting. I don't think I've ever seen it before. The scene cuts between her memory and her present state. For example, you'll see her in the hospital talking to you, then you'll cut to the previous version of herself she's telling you about, and then you'll see her present body placed in that flashback scene, and then you'll see the flashback character in her present surroundings. And all the while the dialogue flows uninterrupted. And then it very smoothly flows into how that memory is pertinent to her current situation.

It's tough watching her get sick, and tell you all about it at the same time. I have no personal experience with cancer patients (thank goodness), so I've never really seen the nitty gritty of what it's like to go through chemo. She had no visitors, but I never felt sorry for her on that account, because I found her to be an enjoyable and endearing character (Wit is a very appropriate title). I hated the doctors and loved Audra McDonald as her nurse.

It occurred to me that even though I've known of Audra McDonald's name, I never put it with her face until just now. I've known of her a lot longer than I realized. Very kissable. Bygones. Emma Thompson also has a very nice shaped head.

There's a guy building NYC out of Legos (via Carla). It's actually pretty sweet. Roads, cars, subway, people, everything. Coincidentally his WTC got accidentally knocked over in April 2001. At least look at the pictures.

Rocamojo: coffee made from organic soybeans. "It's completely caffeine free. It has no fat, no sugar, no carbohydrates or cholesterol. It's high in protein (13 grams) and high in fiber (6 grams). It contains high levels of recommended daily allowances of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, amino acids and iron. It promotes cardiovascular health. It contains isoflavones, an excellent source of antioxidants." And it supposedly tastes good. Maybe I could work for them....

I don't do makeup at all (at all) but this Nars Body Glow stuff looks interesting. "Monoi de Tahiti oil conjures the luxury and tradition of French Polynesia in Nars Body Glow. The bud of the tiare flower is soaked in the finest coconut oil and then blended for a translucent chocolate shimmer. For exquisite and naturally fragrant, glowing skin, use daily after bath, after sun exposure, or to warm pale winter skin. " Not that I need to be any browner, even on my pastiest days. I wish I'd been to French Polynesia so I could make an informed comparison as to the luxuriousness and traditional quality of the body glow experience. I'm still not sure what this does exactly. You put it on like lotion, but it's kind of like... well I guess it's bronzer? I'm not familiar with the uses and application of bronzer.

Even though it's hideously celebrity chic, I kinda want to check out some Ugg Boots. I really just want to try them on. I don't think I'd actually buy them. When you live in southern California, do you really need big fluffy boots? Upon further perusal, they have a whole bunch of styles I might like. But I ain't tryinna pay $70 for some damn Fluff Slides. If I'm gonna buy boots from Down Under, I want these babies.

Kiln Enamel Works makes all sorts of snazzy jewelry, mobiles, wall plaques and table top art. "Enameling is the centuries old process of firing stained glass onto a metal base in a ceramics kiln." I'm not so big on the jewelry (surprise), but the home items look pretty cool. If you live in New York you can find it all over the place, but you gotta dig a little harder (or check this website) to find your nearest vendor in other parts of the country.

Now a confession. I saw all this stuff on an episode of The View. And they got it all from DailyCandy.com, "the ultimate source for the latest need-to-know information about fashion, food and fun. It's like getting an email from your clever, unpredictable and totally in-the-know best friend who always has the scoop on everything." You can browse the site, or subscribe to the newsletter which comes in a NY edition, an LA edition, an everybody else edition, and a kids edition for "hip parents as well as the young at heart."

I'm totally going to have to go out and buy (or order from Amazon) Maroon 5's CD Songs About Jane. (Who am I kidding? I've already downloaded all the songs. I'll just burn it. But I like to own the actual CDs of bands I like.) I don't even remember where I heard them, but I think it was some late night show.

I'm horrible at describing music. What to tell you? They've got sort of a groovy rock thing going on. They're just catchy. What really makes it is the lead singer's voice. On a couple songs they sound a bit Jamiroquai-ish, except I'm not real familiar with Jamiroquai nor do I think I like them very much. But that'll give you an idea. I wanted to share a track, but I had the hardest time deciding which one I like best. Check these out.

Harder To Breathe (the single that's out now)
This Love (my favorite at this particular moment)
Secret
Not Coming Home

If you are having a discussion with someone, and they very reasonably and gently ask a probing question that you don't have an answer for, there's no need to get defensive. Don't go off on a complete tangent to try to make up for it in volume. If you don't have an opinion entirely fleshed out, that's okay. It's alright to mostly have a general idea of what you think.

Using big words doesn't make your argument carry more weight. Many of us are just as smart and can do it all in two- or three-syllable words. In this type of situation, it makes you look arrogant, not confident. If I'm not mistaken this whole discussion was about arrogance vs. confidence. Funny how that worked.

Half the time, it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

This is related to the previous post (and not the part about me feeling better).

I'm feeling better today, thanks for asking. The water didn't turn out to be magic, but it did help. And I got a decent amount of sleep.

My friends that I'm dogsitting for run a business out of their house, so their employees are here. I'll just say that it's interesting being around them and listening to things they say when the bosses aren't around. Interesting to hear the employees' non-diplomatically-delivered point of view and interesting to kind of know the bosses' opinion (or at least have their perspective) on it already. I wasn't eavesdropping. They just started talking. I'm keeping my lips zipped.

My friend Malia officially earned her MS in Biology today. I was going to drink that bottle of Melonball Boone's Farm in her honor, but on account of my unexpected not-feeling-well-ness, I'll just have a glass (along with all that water I've been drinking which is not making me feel any better).

Not only can you see blogs when/where they're updated, you can see who else is watching GeoBlog! Is this new in the last day or two or did I just completely miss it before?

Again you have to have RSS tags and GeoTags to appear on the watching map. I seem to be appearing just fine there, but not on the posting map. Not sure why that is. Now that I've switched to tabbed browsing in Safari, I can easily flip back and forth between the two!

UPDATE: It worked! It took a lot longer than they say it should (3 minutes max, it was more like 10). But it worked!

I'm feeling a little feverish. I think. Not in a "slightly manic and incoherent" sort of way. Is that fevered? I mean in a "my forehead is hot" sort of way. Except that I'm not sure if it really is or not. I can never tell. I mean, maybe my hands are a little cool. And I don't feel like looking for a thermometer. It was really nice out yesterday and today and I was out without a jacket without a hint of chilliness.

Maybe I'm just dehydrated. I haven't had a drop of water in a few days. Too much coffee and alcohol (but there was juice with it...). A friend of mine told me a story once about how she woke up one morning sick as a dog and had no idea what was wrong with her and she wouldn't even get out of bed, so she called her grandma who came over and handed her a glass of water and *poof* she was perfectly fine within an hour. I'm off to go try that.

I just discovered the magic that is Kung-Tunes. It's the Mac-user's alternative to BlogAmp. Now you can know what I'm listening to! If you have the slightest inclination to do so, it's waaaay down there on the right.

UPDATE: No, I do not have the slightest desire to edit my music choices to make sure nothing uncool slips in there, what are you talking about?

The breakfast bagel that was gonna be for lunch turned out to be a roast beef sandwich instead. I was heading towards the bagel shop and passed right by the new Potbelly that everyone's been talking about so I decided to go in there instead. It was pretty good, and reasonably priced, too. $4 for a 6-inch hot sandwich. And the guy who rung me up got the Princess Bride reference on my t-shirt. I made him tell me the punchline before I let him see the back of the shirt (where the punchline is printed).

I walked into town with only my keys, phone, and wallet items in pockets or clipped onto my belt loops. I felt hella naked. No bag or backpack. No computer! For someone who doesn't earn their living working on or with computers, I sure am pathetically attached to this thing. I think if I had forgotten my phone I would have had a meltdown right there on the street.

As I was walking I saw this woman crossing the street in front of me. She had on jeans and a t-shirt, but it was how the t-shirt fit that caught my eye. She had pretty big boobs, but not really any tummy for them to sit on, so the bottom of this t-shirt was not filled out and totally flapping in the breeze. It was just funny looking, especially from the side.

When I got back I figured I'd take the doggies out to the toilet pen in the yard real quick. Except that Hank got under the fence and escaped down the street. He's smaller than he looks with all that fluff (and his poop gets stuck in that fluff, too, which is I why I won't let him sit on the futon with me when I'm watching movies, hello grody to the max). It didn't take too long to get him back, mainly because a lady across the street was in her yard gardening and he was sort of interested in that, plus he likes to stop at every single tree and sniff for other dogs' pee. I accidentally stepped all in her lilies of the valley which were just coming up while trying to grab him. The upside of all that fluff is that he's got lots to grab on to. Punk.

But the sandwich was good, yo. I might have to do that again tomorrow.

I came across mention of the whole hanky in the pocket thingy this morning. I'm familiar with the concept but not the particulars.

As I was heading into the bathroom to powder my nose (I couldn't keep a straight face while typing that), I stuffed the navy "do rag" slash "bandana" (picture me doing quote mark thingies with my fingers) that I was planning to put on in my back right pocket. As I was pulling it out to put it on, it occurred to me that if I left it there (not that I ever would) I might be signalling something I didn't mean to. As it turns out I told the toilet that I am looking to be a fuckee.

When I say "I'm about to blah blah blah" that usually means that I'll think about doing it, and if I really really want to I might get around to it later. Mel started talking about breakfast, so I thought that it would be a great idea to go get a breakfast bagel. Except that to do that, I need to wash up a bit, put shoes on, exit the house and walk for 15 whole minutes to get it. And then come all the way back!

Inertia is a bitch.

It's early as hell! And I've been up for 30 minutes already. Damn dogs. And now the contractors are here, so there's no going back to sleep for me. To the coffee pot I go.

Borrowed from a friend:

Cherry tomato: $.10
Koosh ball: $4.95
Proving to your friend you know he shaved his sack: Priceless.

Blogroll: Check.
Secret Mini-Crushes: Check.
Deficit Spending Habits: Check.

Since my morning declaration of productivity, I've accomplished about as much as you see here. I rewatched a movie, watched another movie, and took the dogs out to shit again. I toe' up another Schwan's four cheese pizza and had a can of Slim-Fast (not at the same time, one was lunch and one was first dinner). I took a shower. I talked to my sister on the phone.

The six movies I rented yesterday were supposed to last me through Tuesday, but I'll probably finish up the last two tonight. This is what happens when you don't have tv available. However, Natalie has alerted me to the World as a Blog and staring at that is akin to refreshing NetNewsWire every 2 minutes.

I'm supposed to be providing some web page assistance to a couple people and I just don't fucking feel like it. In one case the task isn't so bad, but the person does not inspire me to want to help. In the other case I want to help but the task is kinda boring. My stack of magazines has gotten so big I can't carry them all around in my backpack anymore, especially if I'm carrying the computer, too. And then there's the daily trolling for jobs.

Even though I have nothing accomplished on paper, I've been doing some thinking today. There's been lots of that the last couple days. I've been ... I can't decide if scolded is the right word. It's not really. Maybe admonished. Told like it is. Made to see the light. Had the mirror held up for me. Somewhere in there.

I really need to take some control and do something about my lack of life direction at the moment, and there are couple different ways to attack that. I need to make a big change. By undoing the life I had a year ago (jeebus, it was almost a whole year ago), I only half-completed the project. Now I have to redo the unraveled pieces - Job, Location, Social Life - in some sort of new and more decorative arrangement.

I have this dream of "going big" and getting everything I want (or at least the Job and Location parts, assuming the Social Life part would follow) in one fell swoop. In the mean time (and by this I mean just the 7 months since I moved back to Michigan), I've done some fun stuff that I may not have done had I stayed where I was. I've had some quality time with my handful of friends that still live here. But I haven't made any kind of advancement in my life at all. My social life hasn't evolved. I still have no job. And I still hate being here.

I'm disappointed in Barbershop. I thought it was gonna be hilarious. The only funny part was Ced's line: "Giving every black person $100,000 will only make Cadillac the #1 dealership in the country." Ain't that the truth. I dig Ice Cube, though. Not exactly sure why.

I just watched Blue Crush again with the commentary by Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez (yum), and Sanoe Lake.

It's not even 11:00 and already I've had breakfast, returned 2 DVDs, watched a third, and let the doggies out to shit.

I think I've got some pent-up tension. Or maybe it's just because I was woken up by the stench of dog breath.

Blue Crush. Short on content. Long on visuals. I need to get my ass to Hawaii.

I had to have heard of 8 Women from somewhere, but I can't remember where. A guy gets murdered in his bed, and the 8 women in the house - a combination of family and servants - try to figure out whodunnit. I imagine it to be like Clue even though I've never seen it. Except it's in French. With an all female cast. And random musical numbers. I couldn't watch the whole thing. There was the occasional absurdly funny moment. But it was 111 minutes long. Too damn long. I expected better of Catherine Deneuve.

Pierrette is a horrid name. And I've decided I don't particularly enjoy listening to people speaking French. It doesn't feel good in my ears. I'm a Spanish kinda gal. Hell, I liked Dr. Kovac speaking Croatian on E.R. last week better.

I can't say I recommend this movie.

I just watched Far From Heaven. I was totally uncomfortable throughout this whole movie. Part of that was because of its angsty quality. Part of it was the stunted '50s social dynamic, which was very well portrayed in both the look and the dialogue and even the way they spoke the dialogue (as far as I can tell). I knew the movie was generally about the gay husband and the black gardener. I didn't realize how strongly focused it is on Julianne Moore's character (which is fine...). I felt so oppressed and repressed. She's shot down by the husband. She's shot down by the gardener. It's all so damn sad. I liked it, though. Not sure how I feel about her Oscar nomination now.

Watching the scenes again in the special features is downright torturous. Especially the scene after the big party where they're getting hot and heavy and he has to stop and she's trying to reassure him by saying "Frank, you're all man to me. You're all man." And then he hits her. I can't stand it.

I think it would be really interesting if everyone out there posted just one audio clip of themselves reading one of their blog entries. I know there's things like audblog out there that will let you accomplish this. But this doesn't need to be any kind of regular thing.

When you get to know someone by reading them, you get a voice in your head. Sometimes hearing the actual voice can kind of mess that up for you (kinda like seeing the movie after reading the book), but I've found that in most cases it greatly enhances the experience. Attaching an accent, a cadence, a tone to the words makes your experience of them more complete.

Maybe I'd just like to know that the voices in my head are authentic.

A few recent events have inspired me to turn around and think about my hometown from a tourist's point of view. It's kind of funny to hear them say on the news that Detroit is the most dangerous city for pedestrians (those pesky large median-less streets) one week, and then say the next week that homocides are way down this year so far over last. It's even funnier to hear people (from the 'burbs mostly) express such concern about going into the city, because of their perception that it's not safe. I'm not New-York-City-hardass by any means, but it's really not much more dangerous than any other large city in the country if you exercise some caution and, get this, common sense (you know, like locking your car doors and not flashing the bling bling).

Anyway, the thing to remember about Detroit is that the sprawl is crazy (though not quite L.A.-outrageous). It's a matter of knowing where to go to do fun stuff in the metro area because it's not all concentrated in one place. Sadly, I don't hang out in the city enough to be well-versed in all that it has to offer, but I know what the big things are and 60 seconds on the internet can tell me how to find them.

Barring all that "danger" and "decay" here's what I would take people to do if they were visiting me. Keep in mind that whenever I have to entertain, I first decide where all we're gonna eat. Then I worry about what we're gonna do in between meals.

Here's some of what's caught my eye as of late (in no particular order).

Lost in Transit :: A group blog by a bunch of expatriates of varying nationalities and locations.

Something Else :: Sara sent me the nicest email saying she found me on Blogshares and I went on over to visit her and I dig it so far.

Just Smoo It :: It's a guy from Ann Arbor (who happens to be graduating this weekend) with the occasional post from his friend Rachel. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but after the crazy drunken love letter he sent to Melly, it was worth a gander. And, ya know, he's loco local.

L.T. Smash :: I've been reading this for a while, but it's worth a mention. LT is currently stationed in Iraq. There are also occasional postings from his family, though it's all anonymous. Reading about his day-to-day is pretty interesting.

Geese Aplenty :: I visited Greg on a recommendation from Ismat and he cracks my shit up. Good storyteller. The comments are always great, too.

Friday Fishwrap :: I happened upon MJ via Natalie and she's just coo' like dat (and sadly currently experiencing some technical difficulty, so save her for later) (UPDATE: Fixed!).

Easy RGB :: All your color needs! You can get color codes based on paint color (Sherwin Williams, Martha Stewart, etc). My favorite feature is that you can put in a color, and it will show you all the complementary colors.

Wearable Vegetables :: This isn't new to me, either, but I dig their gear. I stumbled across their booth at the French Market in New Orleans 2 years ago. They have t-shirts and other clothing items and accessories that make plays on words using vegetables. For example, I bought 3 t-shirts. One says Don't cry for me spirulina. One says I shot the shallot, but I did not shoot the broccoli (and everytime I wear it I get that song, with those words, stuck in my head). And one says Fennel Retentive.

Tanya said something the other day about the Christian concept of Jesus and I read it and I was totally like "yes yes YES!" (in an agreeable way, not in an "I'll have what she's having" way). It's not overly long and mindbending. To give you a taste, it starts off "When's the last time you saw a skinny, pale-ass white carpenter?"

Last night didn't quite go as planned. I wasn't supposed to stay out late. But I did (and it was fun) and I ended up crashing in Ann Arbor since I had to get up at ass crack o'clock to take the doggy daddies (things that sound dirty, but aren't) to the airport. Except that I got about a good nap's worth of sleep so by the time I arrived back home at 7:00 I was too wired to go to sleep, but still too tired to take a shower, so I just packed my bag, grabbed liquor and shoes, and came on back out to Ann Arbor and I've been downloading freeware for an hour. But now I've come crashing down. Now that this beautiful day has fully dawned, I'm going to bed.

I don't put much stock in astrology, but my horoscope according to Yahoo today was interesting.

Have you been harboring a secret desire for someone whom you believe thinks of you only as a friend, dear Taurus?

But of course! How did you know?

Don't be surprised if you learn differently today. This is a day when hidden passions may suddenly be revealed - and your friend might unexpectedly divulge a covert attraction to you!

Get out! Fer real? Naaaawwww. Can't be. I don't think so. Hardly likely. Not a chance in hell, even. No way. Nuh uh.

The only downside: sometimes it can actually be a turn-off when fantasies suddenly become reality. Observe your own reaction before moving ahead.

Observe my own reaction? After skepticism disbelief, my next reaction is DANGER! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! Been there, done that. It never turns out well.

I will be taking time today to re-prioritize my secret mini-crushes. I have begun doing this on a weekly basis, much like my blogroll.

I am sounding more and more pathetic every day.

Guess what goes on sale just in time for my birthday....

*drool*

It's on my wish list *wink wink nudge nudge* (and so is this!).

For some reason (couldn't have been the alcohol or this evening's bout with severe inadequacy issues or the recent arrival of my high school's alumni newsletter or the fact that there's only 2 years until my 10-year high school reunion), I felt a need to googlestalk my friends from high school whom I have not spoken to in about 6 years. One is a "content manager" at a "creative services firm" in Chicago and has things like SiegfriedandRoy.com and BritneySpears.com to her name. Man, she looks exactly the same. Weird. It is really strange, because I'm sure I look pretty much the same, but I sure feel like a really different person.

Anyhoo, I couldn't find anything about the other 3.5 people in the clique beyond confirmation of where 2 of them went to college. But that's okay, because I also double-checked that no one could find me if I didn't want them to. If you just put my first and last name into Google, you won't find this page, and that's all I care about. And I won't go into how I feel about these people that I was trying to find at the moment.

I do not and will not ever understand the appeal of auto racing. But I think I could have worse problems.

[self-pity]

I'm thinking this whole drinking by yourself at home thing isn't as good an idea as it seems to be early in the day. It's probably a little unhealthy. It seemed like such a good idea. But now I'm just pleasantly buzzed and a little lonely. Ordinarily I'd be engaging in pleasant conversation or booty shaking with this much alcohol in my system, but I'm sitting here watching Jay Leno. And my mom is scolding me. I swear, mom, those 4 bottles sitting on the counter were already almost empty when I opened 'em up.

I have to fucking get out of herre. The one thing I said I'd never do is move back home and now I'm about to be 25 and I'm living with my parents. How much does that suck? A lot, I tell you. Although I would like to point out that it's not like I never left the house or have no intention of doing so. I am capable of fully supporting myself and have done so in the past.

[/self-pity]

Alcohol sure is tasty, though. I should probably eat something real soon.

Does my forehead look huge in that last post or what? All that nose. Goodness.

After all that drinking last night and the suggestions for further drinks to try, I decided a stop at the liquor store was in order. I'll be sitting at home tonight doing nothing but watching tv so I might as well have something to do while I'm watching. I picked up some Smirnoff Vanilla Twist and Vernor's per watergirl's suggestion. But I knew that would only be good for two drinks and I need something else that was tasty, voluminous, and cheap. Enter Boone's Farm. After a quick call to Emily for recommendations (coincidentally she just came out of the bar when I called and seemed really excited to answer the phone) I selected Hard Raspberry Lemonade, and I was rising from a crouch on the party store floor, I noticed that fluorescent green bottle depicted here. Since when does Boone's Farm come in melonball flavor?! I had my doubts about it's tastiness, but melonballs have sentimental value so I had to get it. It'll be gone before the weekend's out, I'm sure.

A friend of mine told a beautiful story today.

Has anyone ever had figs picked right from the tree?? Freshly plucked with that milky sap still on the stem, washed with cold water and warm from the sun??

Have I ever told any of you how much I absolutely ADORED my Tita. That was my mami's mami. The year she died was like the unraveling of my life. Nothing got back on track until years later. And then one day I had a dream of her and she was laughing and we were in her garden, the way it used to be before the evil aunt that married the evil uncle took over her house and tore most of it down. And we talked to hours. And it seems to me now, looking back, the my life slowly started healing shortly after that. She loved the name Emiliano... actually, it was years ago in a dream that she told me I would have a son and name him that. Sounds funky, I know. But I'd picked up a book on the "childless by choice" lifestyle and was contemplating tying my tubes, and then I had that dream and took the book back.

When I was little... I used to go and spend the weekend with her. She would hide ripe figs from her tree in her closet for when I came. And in the early evening, we'd go to her room and watch telenovelas and eat figs. I'd eat them till my belly felt like it would pop!

All of that to say... I think I'm going to plant a fig tree in my house. Or maybe have a potted one. I want Emiliano to know the simple joys of warm figs with the juice making your hands sticky, and warm grapes plucked from the vine.

...you see the NY Times daily headlines email arrive in your inbox.
...you start thinking "maybe I should just take a power nap."
...you start thinking "hell I might as well just stay up now."
...you curse the wireless router you installed when just 12 hours ago you were singing its praises.
...you are thinking way too hard about some conversations you had earlier in the day.
...your number of secret mini-crushes has suddenly tripled, even though you haven't left the house in 36 hours.
...too late, you realize your reduction in caffeine intake really has brought your tolerance down.
...too late, you realize your reduction in alcohol intake really has brought your tolerance down.
...you notice things like the bright green color on the walls of your room matches the indicator light on the front of the tv.
...you tell yourself you'll go to bed just as soon as you Google "internet addiction."
...you are actually mad because nobody's updating their websites right now.
...you think that you should really start reading some European or Down Under sites because they're probably updating right now.
...you have almost convinced yourself that you really could cut your own hair and are, in fact, holding it out from your head to help judge the angles.
...you wonder if anyone would notice if you went streaking in your backyard right now.

I watched them drink wine on Wanda at Large and I totally wanted a drink so I'm having one and I will have another in short order.

UPDATE: 1 Pint 9 Fl. Oz. of New Glarus Brewing Co.'s Raspberry Tart down. Time for Dirty Girl Scouts.

UPDATE #2: No Dirty Girl Scouts, but vodka and Vanilla Coke did the trick. Couldn't taste that vodka at all.

Buh-Bye Carmen! If the world is truly a decent place, Josh Gracin will go next week.

Detroit is getting its own Hard Rock Cafe

Audio-Oh

Think about the name for a sec, then go read it. I'll give you a hint. The tagline is "Don't just listen to music, FEEL it!"

(from escribitionist via watergirl)

OMG, can we talk about THIS??? Minnesota beat Colorado! That just made my year. I don't give two shits about what happens in the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs. This is still not as satisfying as last year in the Western Conference final when they pulled Patty Roy because we had already scored 5 goals on him, but it's pretty darned close. And Vancouver beat St. Louis. How about that?

Anaheim-Dallas should be reasonably interesting to watch, too. The Eastern conference is boring and sucky.

Howard Kurtz has a great article in the Washington Post (via Chris) about Rick Santorum's recent comments likening gays to bigamists and polygamists and gay sex to incest and adultery.

"Rick Santorum, the Senate's third-ranked Republican who is under fire from gay-rights groups and Democrats, says he has 'no problem with homosexuality – I have a problem with homosexual acts.'"

Boy, that oughta make everyone feel better. Kind of like saying you have no problem with disabled folks, it's just those blasted wheelchairs.

And neither the White House nor the GOP has officially responded yet. Another example of how they're conveniently and consistently fucking up things at home while our attention is diverted abroad.

There's good discussion going on at Michele's. Read the comments for the meat and potatoes.

UPDATE: Many people smarter than I are talking about it. As Natalie said in the comments, Chari's got the e-mail address so we can all write this asshole and tell him how full of shit he is. Also good reads: Rossi and Karen.

I forget where I saw this, but I was reading something a few weeks ago and this bit caught my attention:

Do not look for answers to questions that change nothing.

To rephrase, "If the answer doesn't matter, then don't ask the question." At first I thought that it was a nice bit of wisdom. Sort of a method of simplifying your mental processes and maybe something I could implement more in life. Except that I got bogged down in the details and had all sorts of questions of my own, which defeats the purpose.

How do you know if the answer matters when you don't know the answer? Peace of mind can be valuable, too. I guess there is a subset of situations in which you can already tell that you really and truly don't need to know the answer.

Can you talk yourself into avoiding answering an important question by convincing yourself that you don't need to know the answer? Denial is powerful.

Is it not part of human nature to be naturally inquisitive? So what if you don't need to know the answer. It's just what we do as people to seek answers to things which we do not know, to seek knowledge and understanding we don't have. Or sometimes the process of coming to an answer is just a good mental exercise.

So much for simplification.

The router that I ordered on Saturday got shipped yesterday and arrived today and is now all set up (with muchas gracias to Tim for talking me through my difficulties). So now I'm freed from the yellow and green dungeon of a basement and am merrily computing from the much happier confines of the yellow and green sunroom and may even go into my pink and green room and close the door. I could cry.

Dean Esmay already said everything I wanted to say about this week's AI.

I'm still rooting for Kimberley Locke. She got hot.

This looks kind of interesting. Found it via Delirious Cool. The About box says: "the may day project is about collecting glimpses into people's lives through photographs. whether they be self portraits, landscapes or macros, candid or posed