Psychic Departure Bunny Lounge

Quick review

Hot damn, time can get away from me. It's like a never-ending carnival ride here. Well, not really, I just wanted to say that.

Having a bit of a nostalgia trip right now, working on cds for my sister because she's in in need of music that is 1) not Hawaiian and 2) not Lite Rock (ugh). This has prompted me to rip about 10 gigs of music that I rarely listen to anymore. Technotronic, Soft Cell, Psych Furs, Gene Loves Jezebel, Bangles, B-52s, Adam & the Ants, KLF, En Vogue, Ziggy Marley, Bob & Doug McKenzie, Meco. I even re-discovered that I had a Pseudo Echo cd for some ungodly reason. All in all, it's been fairly hilarious.

I can't bear to actually put together a coherent post yet I don't want to forget that these things happened in the last three or four months. This will make no sense to anyone but me, so you might want to move along now. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

1. New camera, Panasonic Lumix DMC_FX01, in pink. So cute, so friendly. Sudden glut of photos.
2. Awhile back, to my surprise, I won two Quango cds from properlychilled.com (a site I highly recommend). I had my choice of a few of their artists (not Kraak en Smaak, alas), so I chose Bitter Sweet and Bliss. I love Bitter Sweet. Bliss, eh, not so much. It's that kind of electronica that I think of as New Age electronica. Still, can't complain, I did get one cd I love. For free.
3. Wish list for Christmas: Nintendo Wii, Slim Devices
4. Geosense online geography game. Crude interface yet still addictive.
5. The Lost commercials. I even called one of the numbers. The call was at once hilarious and freaky.
6. Favorite commercials: GoPhone horror children, Dunkin Donuts Pleather (song by TMBG), Nextel.
7. Bazin's in Vienna, VA. Good fish dishes, desserts too sweet, way way way too loud.
8. I've become quite the bird (and squirrel) watcher lately.
9. Grizlar article, because I find bears fascinating, no matter what Stephen Colbert says.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060510.wgrizz0510/BNStory/Science/home

Grizlar a rare bear indeed

SARA MINOGUE

Canadian Press

Iqaluit, Nunavut ó Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid imaginations have discussed the possibility for years.

But Roger Kuptana, an Inuvialuit guide from Sachs Harbour, NWT, was the first to suspect it had actually happened when he proposed that a strange-looking bear shot last month by an American sports hunter might be half polar bear, half grizzly.

Territorial officials seized the creature after noticing its white fur was scattered with brown patches and that it had the long claws and humped back of a grizzly. Now a DNA test has confirmed that it is indeed a hybrid--possibly the first documented in the wild.

"We've known it's possible, but actually most of us never thought it would happen," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton.

Polar bears and grizzlies have been successfully paired in zoos before--Mr. Stirling could not speculate why--and their offspring are fertile.

Breeding seasons for the two species overlap, though polar bear gets started slightly earlier.

Polar bear and grizzly territory also overlap in the Western Arctic around the Beaufort Sea, where the occasional grizzly is known to head onto the sea ice looking for food after emerging from hibernation.

Some grizzly bears make it over the ice all the way to Banks Island and Victoria Island, where they have been spotted and shot before. These bears will scavenge seals left over by polar bears.

"And some hunters have told me that they think sometimes the grizzly bears actually hunt seals, which I'm quite sure they could do," Mr. Stirling said.

That might explain how a grizzly got to the region, but few can explain how it managed to get along with a polar bear mate long enough to produce offspring.

Colin Adjun, a wildlife officer in Kugluktuk on the northern mainland in western Nunavut, said he's heard stories before about an oddly coloured bear cavorting with polar bears.

"It was a light chocolate colour along with a couple of polar bears," Mr. Adjun said.

And though people have talked about the possibility of a mix, "it hasn't happened in our area," he said.

Three years ago, a research team spotted a grizzly on Melville Island, an uninhabited island about 350 kilometres north of where Idaho sport hunter Jim Martell bagged his crossbreed.

While the latest find is a surprise, it is not necessarily another sign of climate change, said John England, a geologist who was with the team that spotted the earlier grizzly.

"If we want evidence for climate change, we don't have to go to an isolated occurrence of a grizzly bear somewhere," said Dr. England, who holds a northern research chair on environmental change in the Arctic.

"The satellite imagery showing sea ice reduction over the last 30 years is proof positive of very dramatic changes in the northern hemisphere."

The DNA results were good news for Mr. Martell, who had paid $50,000 for guides and a permit to hunt polar bear. Before the tests came back, the 65-year-old hunter was facing the possibility of a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail for shooting a bear for which he had no permit ó as well as the disappointment of an expensive hunting trip with no trophy.

The NWT Environment and Natural Resources Department now plans to return the bear to the hunter.

Warrior Princess Pilgrimage

I just found out that Lucy Lawless donated her Xena outfit. I'm giddy. I don't know why, Lucy herself didn't come to donate it, she just sent it. But I'm still giddy. I have to see if I can get a picture tomorrow.

Characters I love

God, I love Lords of the New Church. I'd forgotten how much. I never realized just how much Stiv Bators pranced around, though. It's no wonder he and Michael Monroe were friends. Prancers, the lot of them. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Sweetie doubts the existence of the Hot Cocoa Rapids Riders. He thinks I made them up, like my Numbly Bumblies (who live on the planet Crumbly) and my Sleepytime Gang Train. I admit, the Hot Cocoa Rapids Riders could very well have been from my imagination but this time, it wasn't. The adorable little marshmallow men with life vests are from the mind of Paul Frank. I still want something with their picture emblazoned on it. I caught a glimpse of someone on a tv show with a t-shirt of them. Alas, she was a little girl. All I need are a few decals!! Dammit.

So, without further ado, here are the Hot Cocoa Rapids Riders from the Julius and Friends site.

and the Hot Cocoa Rapids Riders getting mad at sweet little Clancy.

OK. So maybe someday you'll get to hear about the Numbly Bumblies. But not today.

Masters of Horror and Mineral Town Friends

Masters of Horror

So we finally got around to watching the first two Masters of Horror mini-films, Don Coscarelli's Incident On and Off a Mountain Road and Stuart Gordon's Dreams in The Witch-House.

I'm surprised that more folks on the Horror list aren't discussing the movies, but it could be that far fewer people have Showtime than HBO/Skinemax. At any rate, I haven't really watched too much horror in the past few years. Sure, a few Asian horror movies, Saw, etc. Most not bad but still more gory than horror. I think the last horror movie we watched was Audition and it was actually a bit anticlimactic. That was months ago, though, and it's my opinion that if one doesn't watch or read horror a lot, one loses the "enzyme" needed to digest it. I used to read/watch a lot more than I currently do. So it was with a lot of hesitation that I went into watching Incident On and Off a Mountain Road. And rightly so.

I think I started off already freaked out to realize that there's a Motion Picture Association rating for Rape, which then had me waiting for the inevitably horrific scene. And it was disturbing but not as horrific as the rest of the movie, amazingly. I don't think this was quite the movie to watch when easing back into the horror genre. For one thing, it wasn't easing. It was full-frontal assault. For another thing, I'm not that fond of gore films, and this was gory. So gory, in fact, that I could almost smell the decomposing flesh. Ugh. And the sound. Blech. Which made it a pretty good cinematic experience, actually. But still, ugh.

There were some predictable things about the movie. For instance, the freaky survivalist husband. You just knew that the skills he was teaching her were going to come in handy. And, like Coscarelli's Tall Man, Moonface, the freak that pursues the wife is freakishly tall although decidedly more inhuman. Coscarelli must have a thing for tall, menacing dudes. What I really liked about the movie was the freaky old man. He was at once annoying, frightening, and silly. Angus Scrimm was fantastic and almost scarier than Moonface. Almost. The other thing I really liked was the part after the traditional "end." It really gave the Final Girl unplumbed depth, and frighteningly so. I expected to admire/feel relief for her. I didn't. I was scared by her.

Happily, the circumstances in the movie are so far removed from my everyday life that the after effects of the movie don't bother me at all. I think. The visuals are really strong, though.

As for Dreams in The Witch-House: yawn. I know people like Lovecraft. I appreciate his work and I think the stories I have read are extremely good at creating an atmosphere of unease and that glimmering of the unseen. But I just don't think his writing can come across on film. And this one didn't work, at least not for me. I ended up laughing and thinking the people in that squalid house were fools - didn't they see it coming? Mostly laughing, because every time I saw that rat-creature, I could not stop singing Basement Jaxx's Where's Your Head At? because those human-faces-on-animals in their video were spookier than the rat-creature.

Now that I've started to build my horror enzymes back up, though, I'm looking forward to viewing the other four we have recorded.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying the second book in Jon Courtenay Grimwood's Arabesk series, Effendi. I can't decide if Grimwood is really good or just really entertaining. Whichever it is, I do find him easy to read, so I guess that's what matters. I really liked reMix, which led me to Redrobe, which I didn't really like. But I picked up Pashazade and quite liked it. That was about 5 months ago, and last week or the week before, I picked up Effendi and Felaheen. After this, I've got The Pillow-Friend by Lisa Tuttle queued* up. And now I'm torn, there's so much to keep me occupied. Do I read? Do I watch tv? Do I play Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town, which I am loving? So much to do, so little free time!

Speaking of Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town, I am so happy I picked it up. I was feeling sorry for myself because Animal Crossing is only available for Nintendo DS and I have a GBA. I heart Animal Crossing on the GameCube and would love to play it on the GBA. However, I bought Harvest Moon for the GC and found it much more stressful than AC, so I stopped playing it. Too much to do! But I was tired of Tetris and Hamtaro, so I thought I'd give Mineral Town a chance. I wonder if the GBA version will get stressful after awhile? I'll have to wait and see, but so far, it doesn't seem like I have to do as much in a day as on the GC version.

Lastly, but not least important: I received my Max Eider cds yesterday and so have my fix. He's a great man, that Max. I also picked up Peter Murphy's Unshattered, finally. It's a damn hard cd to find - and expensive. But I had a coupon for 30% off, so the cd was mine. I also finally re-visited my half.com wish list from eons back and ordered Tosca's Delhi 9, Ken Nordine's Wink, Cheb i Sabbeh's La Kahena (which I have been putting off for months but I don't know, I have always had a thing for any song with Im Nin Alu in it, ever since Ofra Haza's 1980s club mix), and Anoushka Shankar's Rise.

Things high on the want list right now:

Rotten Soul - JBC
Morningwood - Morningwood (I know, I already have it but I want the official release which is out today)
Cinder - Dirty Three
Evocations - Three
onethreeseven - Zohar
Swinging Mademoiselles: Groovy French Sounds from the 60s - Various
Midival Punditz - Midival Times

*queued. That looks so weird typed out but I know it's correct.

Test

Just upgraded MT and testing.

Beauteous.

I'm putting comments back on but may be forced to take them off again. Alas.

Mick Karn just wished me a Happy Christmas

Me and 10000 of his other best friends, that is.

I am addicted

to Gorillaz mahjong.

Bittersweet

One of my closest friends, S, is leaving his job. His last day is on Friday, but I'll be off for the holidays on Thursday, so the last day I get to see him here is tomorrow. He's moving to a better job, which is wonderful, 'cause his current boss is less than sub-par and his work situation has been horrible for years (I can't even begin to tell you how awful). But I don't know what it's like to work here without S. I met him (through L) less than a month into my internship here in 1990 and we were almost immediately friends. He'll still be working for the same institute but he'll be in a different building in a different area of the city. No longer will he or I be able to stop by each others' offices for a chat. Or venting. Or to show each other the coolest thing on eBay. I'm getting a little sad, thinking about it. On the not-so-sad hand, the area he'll be working in for the next year (before they move the office to SW DC) is in Chinatown (ha - Chinatown in DC, what a joke!), so this will force me to get up there for lunch now and then.

Still, his leaving is so bittersweet. I actively encouraged him to look elsewhere (even pretty much wrote his resume) and was so happy when he got the job, but now I'm missing him already. And he isn't even gone yet. I am proud of him, though, for finally saying that he's had it and moving on to a new situation. Who knows? With luck, he might do so well that he ends up back here in place of his current boss. And that would be sweet, sweet, sweet justice.

Top 20 search terms from the past month

I don't know about you, but I think a LOT of people wanted that Bad Robot sound!

1 scary dolls
2 goth girl
3 harley davidson
4 spinto band sears
5 butt grab
6 industrial piercing
7 loungebunny lnr
8 loungebunny
9 bad robot soundbyte
10 bunny lounge
11 crafty bastards
12 gothic butterflies
13 lisa petrucci
14 reema duran
15 ann coulter
16 bad robot and sound
17 bad robot productions sounds
18 bad robot sound byte
19 bunny
20 bunny avatar

Arrr

Avast! Hand me some grog.

It seems strange that it's so dark at 8:00 pm

I've gotten so used to it being light until at least 10:00 pm at night. Alaska was fun, of course. Aside from Anchorage, I don't think we stayed a town with a population of more than 6400 people. Or more than a few paved roads. Pictures will follow soon enough. I have to wait for copies of my dad's pictures to put up the entire album, but I'll put some up in the meantime.

Is it just me?

Actually, I know it's not just me.

When was it that Liam Neeson stopped acting and started dusting off the same old Jedi character for every single role he's been in lately?

Me: wimp

I went to the Virginia Plant Swap @ Ticonderoga Farms this morning with a trunk full of tomato and sweet pea and mini sunflower seedlings and signs and popsicle sticks and markers, all prepared and everything. Except, when I got there, the swapping area was full of SUVs and I had to park in the regular lot, which meant I couldn't show what I had to anyone and it was so rainy and muddy and I didn't see anything I could identify that I wanted and my stuff was so inferior that I felt like I couldn't even offer it as a trade and everyone seemed to know everyone else and I didn't know anyone or speak to anyone (except to ask where the bathroom was - and there wasn't) and I ended up one hour later just going back home with no trades, no purchases, and having to pee really badly all of the 40 minute drive home.

I should know better. I keep thinking that things like this will force me to be more outgoing, but it doesn't. Next time, I will bring less plants and at least make contact with some of the message board folks so that I might know someone.

I have tomatos (Black Krim, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Green Zebra), sweet pea "Captain of the Blues" and three mini sunflowers. If anyone wants any.

So after my sopping and muddy morning (in effect, taking my plants for a drive out into the country), I came home and sweetie and I went off to Coggins for lunch (I think I've found my favorite new sandwich place!) and then to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I adored. Such a silly movie, resurrected me from my earlier moodiness. I love silly. I do I do I do.

Then it was off to Tower where I surprisingly did not purchase any music but did pick up Emily sticky notes, a picture book on futuristic design and the new issue of Ready Made, and I'm going to curl up with that and a cuppa tea and be snug at home.

But I would love a slew of donuts, too. If only.

Speaking of movies, we watched the following DVDs this past week:

Woodsman
I Heart Huckabees
Station Agent
Saw

I loved Station Agent and Woodsman. Station Agent especially but both were great. I Heart Huckabees was all a mess but I thought the ending was good (and the mess was most likely the point of the whole thing) and Saw, well, I'm just not sure whether I thought it was worth its time or if it was good. Creepy little V for Vendetta puppet, though.

Questions that bother me

1. What is going in where the old Franks used to be (10930 Lee Highway)?
2. Why does the Fair Oaks Dodge dealership (10407 Lee Highway) always have a small floral memorial/wreath on its front lawn? Always replaced, for years. What's the story behind that one?
3. Whatever happened to Checkers & Pogo?
4. Where can I get an mp3 of The Exchange Song*?

* The Exchange Orangeade Song

The exchange goes round round round
and down down down
in your glass glass glass
makes your mind
think yum yum yum
It's that Orangeade called Exchange

The exchange goes round round round
and down down down
in your tum tum tum
makes your mind
think yum yum yum
It's that Orangeade called Exchange

Blackout and board games anyone?

So last night, as dinner was in the oven and veggies were awaiting microwaving, we lost all power. This happens occasionally and it's the most annoying thing because when we lose power, we are one of maybe 15 houses that do. Everyone else around us on a different part of the grid and so we are low low low priority.

It's a good thing the cod was almost done. We dumped the veggies in oven-safe dishes and removed the fish and placed the veggies in the oven to heat up and the oven cooled. Worked nicely.

But we were bored. According to Dominion Power, the underground cable had been cut and we'd be without power (and heat) for 4 hours. It was dark, sweetie's plans of watching RU men's basketball game was thrown out the window, and we resorted to asking each other questions from the Whad'ya Know game by candle & flashlight. Then we just got sleepy and both of us lazed about on the sofas, dozing until the power came back on around 10:20. I think.

While waiting for power to be restored, I tried to get sweetie to play Trivial Pursuit Lord of the Rings trilogy edition but he refused (on the basis that I'd win - thus our game languishes, unopened). And this is where I get a bit sad. See, we like good board games but don't know enough people who like to play them. I feel like such a geek when I think to myself "self, wouldn't it be great if we had a weekly or monthly game night?"

No, I don't really address myself as self.

Sadly, we only know one person for a game night - S, who taught us all about the "German" games - they're really fun! We've played two of them, one in German. Die Siedler von Catan seems to have an English version called The Settlers of Catan. The other was much more fun, at least to me. It was called India Rails. We had to build rails all over India and transport good to make money to build more rails. It was both educational (geography of India and Pakistan) and frustrating (I could not make enough money running a tourist pilgrimage line in Pakistan/Nepal to build other lines). Of course, we love Cranium, but 4 people are needed for that so we never get to play it. We also have Kuduuk, which we have yet to play. At least we managed to play Wise or Otherwise last weekend with S (who gave us the game). Wise or Otherwise is a nifty little game where you finish ancient quotes. Or try to. It's quite funny.

As we played the game, though, we bemoaned our lack of game friends and now I ask: friends, do you like to play board games?

Ironically, just this week, C asked me if I'd ever played "resource games." Confused, I asked him what these board games were, thinking of Diplomacy or something. Turns out the game he was describing was Settlers. Small world. Anyway, he's looking for people in DC who play German games. If you're a German gamer looking for game buddies, I can hook you up. Otherwise, we're still looking for VA buddies. And if you have Ubi, you rock. That is a difficult but fun game.

Wondering

What do you do if you're a practicing Catholic who also happens to be of Chinese heritage on this Ash Wednesday & Chinese New Year? Did you still eat jiaozi right after midnight or did you refrain because it's Ash Wednesday and you can't eat more than one non-meat meal* today?

Not my quandry, mind you. Just wondering.

* I always wonder just how fish doesn't count as meat...

I am the mighty Frosta

You scored as Frosta. You are the ice princess. You rule the Northern lands. You like snowflakes and ice frozen lakes. You freeze your enemies with your ice powers. Everything's cool.:) Frosta 80% Mermista 73% Shadow Weaver 60% Castaspella 60% Entrapta 60% She-ra 57% Catra 57% Scorpia 53% Glimmer 37% Which She-ra character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Art-o-matic

Last Friday, sweetie and I went to the Art-o-matic opening event. It was a wet, soaking, rainy day but we went anyway. It was a great giant mess of random art (and non-art) and commercial art and great art and poor art and everything in between. We didn't make it to the 4th or 5th floors because I tired out from all the people, the heat, the sheer amount of stuff to look at. The rooms were so randomly patterened and connected that I began to think that the building (the old Children's Museum soon to become a spa or condos or something) was an old insane asylumn. It wasn't, but it was an old Sisters of Emphatic and Stern Mercy hospital (or something like it). There were tons of bathrooms, some with the best old porcelain fixtures.

We finally ran into skarlet and Eric when we were on our way out the door. We also ran into a woman I work with and her husband. It turns out her son (whom a friend and I tried to befriend for awhile in 1996 until it became apparant he had no social skills) had pieces in the show. He was on the 4th floor, though, so we didn't see his stuff. If the paintings were anything like the ones I'd seen at his parents' house, I shudder. I really hope he's improved. I also heard that another person I work with has art in the show.

There was way too much to see. A few of my favorite pieces were by the following artists (if they made cards or flyers available):

Jennifer Morgan Brill's site is supposed to be at this address but I can't seem to find it.

Ruza Spak's paintings with sky blue backgrounds were really nice. The one with the snarling dog in the corner was my favorite, I think.

Lindsay Bishop had the cutest little shadow boxes that incorporated her jewelry. Her Sputnik piece was the best!

An installation that I liked a lot was a sort of ephemeral video capture and loop piece. Don't remember the artist.

Another installation that wasn't original (I've seen it done before) but can be fun was postsecret.com.

Finally, of what I remember, the natural wood carved into partial sculptures was quite nice. I'm not much of a female torso sculpture person but I did like that work (and the space - very calm in the midst of chaos).

More burning questions

Will someone give me $2300.00?

Whatever happened to cutiepie Dave Foley (you'll have to do a search for Dave Foley)? Whatever happened to the cutest little Kid? He just isn't aging well. He's still kind of funny on Celebrity Poker reruns but he's looking kinda middle-aged scary, like Bruce's "I'm Hip! I'm Cool! I'm 40" routine. Dave's wife is cute, though, and she has aged well.

Why do folks at cockeyed.com get to do all the fun stuff?

Who the hell is Courtney Peldon and why do people care so much? She's done nothing interesting ever. Just another socialite celebrity of no worth, I guess.

Meme

Alpha URL meme via Skatemom. I cheated a bit and screened out all the ones that popped up with my online bill pay sites or webmail, etc.

A americanhistory.si.edu
B www.baking911.com/custard101.htm
C www.cupandsaucer.com/blog
D dictionary.reference.com
E www.electoral-vote.com
F www.flickr.com/photos/bunnylounge
G gmail.google.com
H houseogroove.com/cuppa
I www.ipodlounge.com
J www.jonsullivan.com
K www.kzwp.com/lyons2/violetcake.htm
L www.livejournal.com/users/cyntergomes
M meanlouise.com/sound
N www.nationalamusements.com/movietimes.asp
O www.oddiooverplay.com/ears/hallowseve/fullhouse.html
P pdl.loungebunny.net
Q
R www.redrockcanyongrill.com
S www.silvercross.co.uk/index.htm
T topazs_herbgarden.tripod.com/cul_violet.htm
U www.usps.com
V veryvera.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=vv&Category_Code=PC
W www.wheresgeorge.com
X www.xmission.com/pub/lists/exotica/archive
Y www.yahoo.com
Z www.zogby.com

Hmm. Baking recipes, blogs and elections. Odd music, iPod and money tracking. Food and movies. Yep. Sounds like me. :) I wonder what my work browser says?

Edited 11.17.04 to add:

A www.addreviews.com/readreview.php?rev=1571
B www.basichip.com
C www.caesars.com/Paris/LasVegas
D www.dailyceleb.com
E www.earthwormherbals.com
F thatsjustnotright.com/board/index.php?act=home (f.u.b.a.r.)
G www.gameroomwarehouse.com/videogame/videogame_bally_midway.html
H www.henribendel.com
I www.ieee.org
J www.jamminjava.com
K www.kaleo.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/26/403d8ada33396
L www.labsafety.com/store/product_group.asp?dept_id=35614&parent_id=35612
M www.macskinz.com
N www.namco.com/games/namcomuseum
O www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org
P www.psysheep.com/index.php
Q query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C10FA3C590C758EDDA90994DC404482
R www.ricetoriches.com
S www.sabreairlinesolutions.com/about/history.htm
T www.tackytreasures.com/tackyhtml/places.html
U www.ubu.com/outsiders/365
V www.vacuumtube.com
W www.washingtonpost.com
X
Y www.yat-kha.com/html/help/help.php
Z www.zanadia.com

The Glove Compartment Is Inaccurately Named

I'm sick yet again. Thanks to dad, who brought me the cold when he and mom visited last week. At least we ate well, checking out Coastal Flats, Carraba's Italian Grill, and also visiting favorites Minerva, Chutzpah and Copeland's. Last Friday, sweetie and I headed up to NYC to see Death Cab for Cutie (with opening band Pretty Girls Make Graves) at Roseland Ballroom. The show was good but first, we were mistaken as parents who brought our kids to the show (yes, we were pretty old compared to the crowd), then, by the time Death Cab hit the stage, I was exhausted and really really sick so I had a hard time concentrating on the show. Luckily, we had driven in to the city and parked in the lot right next to Roseland. Unluckily, when we were leaving, there was a car stuck in the Lincoln tunnel and a horrific merge which backed up traffic for a long time. Before the show, we went to the Spring St. area and ate slices of pizza at Pomodoro, then headed over to Rice To Riches, the rice pudding place that we've wanted to try for a long time. I had the Secret Life of Pumpkin and Man-Made Marscapone puddings. Sweetie had the Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug and Butterscotch Boulevard ones. Very tasty! They were all decorated for Halloween, which was nice, and they had what I think of as a very NYC menu: the flat LCD screen. Three, in fact. These screens are so prevalent everywhere in NYC, it's kind of amazing and kind of Bladerunner-in-a-bad-way. The most interesting one I saw was some building on 6th? 7th? Ave. All panels on the first 5 or 6 floors were screens, except for the windows. Each displayed a part of a whole picture (moving picture, earth fire water scenes). If it hadn't been advertising for a bank or financial or insurance institution (can't remember, it was so boring), it might have actually been interesting.

Alas, it wasn't.

Seeing Target in Times Square was weird. I always associate Target with suburbs. Don't you? I guess this one is only open for the month of October (Breast Cancer Awareness month). Oh, here's an article with a photograph of the huge Lava Lamp and other information about the LCD/LED screens at Times Square.

The real reason we were up in that area was for sweetie's parents' 40th anniversary party on Saturday. Since I was in full-blown sick mode, I really petered out by the time the party started. Honestly, I don't know how I managed to stay 1) awake and 2) fairly polite. I felt like crap, couldn't breathe, and ran a fever. The fever, thank god, was gone by Sunday, so I spent the day mostly vegging out in the passenger seat or on the sofa, watching Mythbusters, Desperate Housewives, last week's Joan of Arcadia and videos.

Then I came in to work.

Luckily, they told me to reschedule my meetings and go home. Might stay home tomorrow, too, since tonight is Hanzel und Gretyl, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and Ministry. I'm most excited to see HuG, sadly. I haven't heard their latest, Scheissmessiah, and I hear it's even more metal-ish than their last, Uber Alles, but I like the idea of it - a mixture of Dante's Inferno and Hanel's Messiah. Uber Alles didn't move me, but I really liked Ausgeflippt and especially Transmissions from Uranus, so I hope they play some of those. Of course, I'm enjoying the little clip of Disko Fire Scheiss Messiah at Metropolis, so the new album does have promise...

Speaking of scary music, here are some links:

Ghouls With Attitude

Oddio Overplay

Monster Mashup

Land of 999 Dances

And, finally, the Ring 2 teaser/trailer. I know you want to see it.

Just some silly hooha

Edwards' tongue thing

I was happy to note this morning that I am not the only one who wonders just what the hell is up with Edwards' tongue thing when he speaks. It's very weird. The WPE printed a comment from Gene Weingarten who said: "Am I the only one who is really, really annoyed by that thing he does with his tongue?" No, no, Gene, you are not.

Also in today's WPE, a review of the new Duran Duran album. Makes me want half of it - but only half. The other half - the one that supposedly sounds like Jamiroqui or Backstreet Boys - um, JUST SAY NO.

On the subject of Kirstie Alley

I haven't read much about Fat Actress but I do plan on watching a bit of it. I don't care one bit that she's fat. In fact, I admire her for embracing it in the complicated way that all women do. There's nothing simple about it and I hope that comes across. Whether the show is a success or not, it is a good thing for more people of all sizes to be on screen. It may just help change unrealistic expectations that the general public seems to have. I love that Gilmore Girls has people who look more realistic (well, aside from the main characters). If only other shows would follow suit.

So back to Kirstie.

I am hoping that the show doesn't turn into a stereotypical "I'm fat so I must be jolly let's make fun of myself because everyone likes fat jokes" show. If it is, I take it all back. But it has some promise. Too bad it's only on Showtime.

We saw PJ last night at the 9:30 Club. She was good but as usual, I couldn't see shit for all the people. Before the show, sweetie and I ate at Matchbox. We shared the 6 miniburgers (absolute heaven!) then I had a salad while sweetie had a spicy pizza. I would go back there in a heartbeat.

Is it just me or do all the hotels in Vegas look the same?

Engrish Silliness

It's been a long week at work so I couldn't stop giggling when I did a search for asian lace dress fabric and it led me here.

My favorite descriptions have to be:

¡¡¡¡¡¡CRACEFUL DECORATIVE BORDER BEAUTIFUL ADORN
Lace is the symbol of great elegance and delicacy, so countless women have been adoring to it for a long time. Mint wine like colors resembles the most refrigerant green shadow in summer. All the big and small petals are the excellent edge tool representing a woman's femininity.
If you wanna manifest your graceful and restrained temperament in a seductive season, you'd better choose a lingerie with superior laces. Lace created by our company can help women realize their most desirous wish.
¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

and

¡¡¡¡¡¡TRENDS OF LINGERIE IN THE NEW CENTURY

Distinctive lingerie is doomed to become the mainstream of future underwear. Core competitiveness will focus on the features of fabrics, colors and styles. They are:
Classical curve
Oriental verve
Soft and graceful
Few women say no to lace because lace makes the finishing point.

Doomed! Doomed to drink mint wine, I tell ya!

Can we say "ran through translation tool?"

Oh, oh, oh. I just can't stop. Every new page brings more gems.

Rarity, love, romance, elegance, delicacy coexists with its fanciful, sexy, luxurious quality for the simple reason that you can see through it, especially to French and British ladies where they see it more as a lure.

Oh, my, is that music so annoying.

A whole slew o' stuff

I am playing catch up this morning. I've had all these things noted to blog about and some of them are just random bits. Here goes.

Tornados
Friday evening was quite exciting at the Bunny Lounge. We were under tornado warnings for a few hours and, in fact, tornados did hit in our area - the next town over, Chantilly. It also threated the Dulles area. Dulles pulled people off planes on the tarmac and the National Weather Service offices in Sterling had to evacuate because the tornado was headed their way. Tornados also headed up Rte. 28 towards the Leesburg area. Kinda scary that they were so close - they showed footage of the Chantilly tornado taken from near Jane's house in Centreville. In the foreground was the strip mall with the Jo-Ann's I like (as opposed to the other ones, which I don't like).

Our tornado warning expired around 6:30 so we went to Outback for dinner but with the weird, unpredictable weather, we decided to put off the trip to Tower until Saturday (after we saw Resident Evil: Apocalypse).

I heard there were over 30 tornados confirmed in VA on Friday night. That was just VA. By 7 pm, there were over 50 in the region. The line extended from PA through part of SC. That was pretty large.

Chowhound

I've become fond of the Chowhound DC board. Recently, we discussed our favorite desserts in the area and I think I narrowed mine down to:

Banana pudding at Arties
Tres Leche cake (at either Guapos location)
Any of the sweets at Saran
Baked pear dessert at Nizam
Ashta at Lebanese Taverna
Fruit Bavarian cake at Amphora
Chunky Chocolate Mousse at Amphora
and standbys, Milwaukee or Nielsen's Frozen Custard (the Neilsen's pineapple concrete was pure heaven!)

Of course, anything at Pastries by Randolf and Amphora are delicious and the one time I went to Macaroni Grill, they had a special dessert that was simply lovely. It was basically a lilikoi and lemon version of the tres leche cake. Yum.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

I'm sure someone has thought of this before, but I think an album named Apocalypso would be great.

Anyway. RE:A. More of the same thing only not as exciting. Pretty close to being the best video-game-like movie. Predictable but pretty to look at. Cotton candy. It's there and then it's gone. And that's about all I have to say on it. (I did like it but it's nothing special)

New music

From our recent visit to Tower. I am really enjoying them all:

Federico Aubele - Gran Hotel Buenos Aires
Various - Frequent Flyer: Rio de Janiero (ooh, I want Bombay now)
Björk - Medúlla
Faithless - No Roots
Crüxshadows - Fortress in Flames (hey, it was only 7.99 so I took a chance)

Other bits

Two weeks ago, I had to drop $1300 to fix my car. Ouch. I had to replace one entire axel and the other CV boot, a pipe to the muffler and the muffler, and I forget the other stuff. Lots. At least I shouldn't have to replace anything major before I trade the car in for a new car, though. Someday.

I think it's funny that I went to Reno/Sparks/Carson City/Tahoe last month and will now be headed to Vegas next month. I feel like a complete lounger. Ironically, I don't/won't go to gamble. Seeing family or adopted family is really the main reason for both. Haven't been to LV since I was 11 and had a raging flu at the start of a 5-week family vacation (we all got the flu but kept pressing on). We knew something was wrong when we drove from San Diego to LV with the windows wide open and it felt good. Anyway, except for a layover in the airport one year, I haven't set foot in LV since, oh, 1979, I think. It should be unrecognizable.

A coworker said I look very rive gauche today. Huh. I think she meant I look very Southampton. I think it's the striped pants and tailored sneakers. Ack. She's right! I look like I should be carrying a Kate Spade bag. Oh, the horror.

I have discovered Home Goods (one recently opened here). This is a bad bad thing. It's TJ Maxx just for home stuff. It's evil.

Mira Nair may direct Harry Potter V. I hope so!

I am allergic to some shoe leathers. I think it's the chrome tanning process. Drives me crazy but I can't tell if the shoe is going to cause me problems until I wear it for awhile. By then, it's too late to take back. Grr. I need to find a way to seal the leather to keep my body from heating up that potassium dichromate. Any ideas?

It's morning. It's random. It's time for a meeting.

Damn that Websense. Thanks to that software, we no longer have access to livejournal or bulletin boards. Ironically, I go to the company's site and get the "The page cannot be displayed" notice. A real one. Not like Jon's hilarious one. Had me fooled for a moment, after all these blocked pages.

I wish I had some Stalinist coffee. I could use that right now. I have regular coffee but I think showing up with Stalinist coffee at my meeting might be amusing.

Entire Suntory Boss coffee line

I liked the Bush in 30 seconds winners. Very funny.

I've been on an Asian horror movie kick lately. Not that I've watched any yet, I am just obsessed with wanting to watch a bunch in a row. Awhile ago, I picked up The Eye but recently, I picked up Uzumaki, A Tale of Two Sisters, Memento Mori, and I'm waiting for Ju-On 1 & 2. Yes yes, it will be some good times at our house (well, at least for me).

Anyone want to send me Federico Aubele's Gran Hotel Buenos Aires? It's on ESL, if that helps.

I want to make a local-style chantilly cake this weekend. I wish we had a Hawaiian bakery here. Hey, I've got it! Anyone want to send me a truckful of money so I can start my own bakery? Probably leaning heavily on the Portuguese side, as there are ZERO in this metropolis and those are the bakeries I grew up with. My paypal account is...just kidding.

But I'm serious. I want a bakery/cafe/arthouse/cool gift shop in my city. Doesn't anyone want to fund me? ;)

Sweet & Sassy

Mmmm. Lisa Petrucci stickers! I want the Freaky Tikis, too.

Just more random junk

Apparantly, nephew's name is now Max.

If you are in the market for a violet colored Kitchen Aid stand mixer, be advised that it is now on sale for $198 at Williams-Sonoma.com.

I am now beginning to suspect that kitty has a weak bladder and bowels. Last night, as I was preparing dinner and sweetie was outside grilling, kitty meandered into the kitchen and drank a lot of water, then made a b-line for the kitchen rug and laid down. Since he was laying down, I didn't suspect anything and kept on preparing...until I heard the unmistakable sound of A KITTY PEEING ON THE RUG! I turned around and thought this could not be, 'cause he was laying down. But as I watched, he was, indeed, laying down and PEEING. Into the bathroom he went until this morning. And the nice new kitchen rug on which he loves to loll about? Outside until I can neutralize the cat pee. It's not going back down anywhere that he can get to. He's lost his rug. Actually, he's lost all his rugs as one by one, he keeps peeing on them. All that are left are the big rugs and he doesn't seem to have an interest in peeing on them. Yet. Somewhere in that little cat brain, something is just off.

Meanwhile, new (to me, at least) music purchased:

Rachael Yamagata - Happenstance
Collide - Vortex/Xetrov
Rajna - Hidden Temple/From the Ashes
Stoa - Zal

Weird Bugs

We saw the strangest bugs yesterday, crawling on the roof of the car. They looked a bit like tiny horseshoe crabs. Turns out they're ladybug larvae. They sure look strange (and nasty, although I know they aren't).

Managed to get quite a few plants in the ground yesterday morning. Yay me.

Weekend wrap-up

Busy weekend. The weather sucked on Friday - 90 degrees with terribly high humidity. I had many errands to run but I have no AC in the car so I limited the errands to those most necessary (and close). First stop was Borders, where I got a yummy iced tea and looked over the DVDs. They didn't have either Sirens or Persuasion but I did find Duran Duran's Sing Blue Silver and Arena/Making of Arena were finally out on DVD. After all these years! I decided that I needed SBS. I also procured a cheap and cheesy horror film for $3.99. I hope it's good. I also picked up the HP3 soundtrack just for the "Double Trouble" track. It was cheap. Cheaper than the new Cowboy Junkies, which I wanted, too, but did not buy.

Then it was off to Petco to get another fish tank and some new fish* and then to Safeway for ingredients to make marshmallows and a cherry tart for a birthday party. The party (on Saturday) was for sweetie's friend's wife (it was her birthday). As a surprise, her husband had arranged for her mother and sisters to fly in from England. She knew about her mother coming but not her sisters, so she was ecstatic when she saw them (I gather).

Dennis and Susan have come to our parties and Susan had mentioned a few times that she thought we'd get along with their neighbors because of the whole Gorey/horror/kitsch etc. thing she saw going on at our house. Well, we finally met them (Kari, Chris & their 8.5 month old, Madchen) and I must say that Susan was pretty right on. I figured Kari was the one immediately, as she had Bettie Page hair. What I didn't expect was what she pointed out: we both had on black crop pants and pink tops - and not only that, but I had on mary janes and Kari said she would have been wearing mjs too if the buckle hadn't broken when they were getting ready for the party. Her daughter was also dressed in the same manner - it was very funny. I was glad I hadn't gotten my bangs cut in the last two weeks (although I'd decided that the bangs are coming back) or it would have been a bit eerie.

But while I think Kari and Chris would be great people to know, I feel like it's a weird situation. They live about 40 minutes away and have a small child - just how does one go about pursuing a friendship with another couple (or at least another person)? If we just leave it up to seeing them at the next party, it could be years. But since we just met them and don't really know if we'd get along, it seems too soon to really do anything. Ah well. I guess I'll just forget about it for now.

Oh, on the way to the party (they have a very cool house), we came across a road named Loth Lorien. I had to laugh.

Yesterday, I actually got out into the garden and ripped up all the grass that had taken over during cicada season. The grass had overtaken the roses and was full of mosquitos and daddy long legs. Ick. But it's all cleared out and mostly mulched. I also cut down the honeysuckle bush because it was supposed to be native but is, in fact, not native to this area and a weed. I'll consider another bush for that area eventually, I guess. Sweetie took the weed whacker to the area behind the fence and cut down all those nasty weeds and vines that keep creeping into my fence bed. Yay! The weed vines keep crawling up the trellises. It's very annoying. The jessamine and clematis are supposed to be doing that. Speaking of the clematis, I don't know what happened to the multi blue. It's just gone - never bloomed, I guess. The blue and white balloon flowers are doing really well, though. Very vigorous growth. The cilantro is not doing well, though, and the mallow are still weeny. Too weeny to put in the ground but maybe I'll do that next weekend anyway. Unfortunately, I exacerbated my usual bad back muscle doing all that gardening. Sigh.

* See, I had 5 fish: male and female Siamese Fighting Fish/Betta and three albino cory cats. When the bettas seemed to be having an ick problem, I promptly dosed them with the correct medication (just noticed last night that it also has salt) and a bit of salt. However, what I didn't know was cory cats cannot deal with salt at all, so they suffered and despite water changes and correct ph, hardness, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates and no ammonia, they continued to get sicker. One finally died. Knowing that the salt in the aquarium was gone and the water was safe, I purchased three more albinos and two panda cory cats and bought a 3 gal for the male betta (so I could remove the divider in the 10 gal and let the cats swim free). Well, the male betta is as happy as a clam in his new home although I think he's a bit lonely. He's used to flaring at the female (who is gravid - majorly - but they just never actually mate when I put them together. I just don't know what to do with her - what does one do when a female is full of eggs but doesn't mate?).

Anyway, the new cats looked good in the store and seemed happy in their new environment. 24 hours later, though, I found one of the pandas dead. Not only dead but decayed and falling apart as if he'd been dead a long time (it was less than 12 hours) and his entire belly area was full of blood. Uh-oh. I hadn't quarantined the fish (not having a separate tank for that). I got my money back but I felt incredibly guilty about killing the panda (they're so cute) until I did more research and realized that the pandas were sick. Really sick. The symptoms point exactly to haemorrhagic septicaemia (apparantly, cory cats are known carriers of this disease). The other panda is showing signs of the same thing although he (she?) is quite lively. I'm dosing the whole tank with the recommended medicine and that's about all I can do.

In the middle of the all this, I decided to change the water because if I had to keep the carbon out of the filter, I figured I'd better start with a fresh tank to keep ammonia levels down. I didn't realize it at the time, but changing the water stimulated the new corys into spawning. Whee. I now have eggs in the breeding net (I bought it in case the bettas had any success, not that I plan on breeding fish and/or I needed to quarantine a fish quickly) and it seems like the medicine I am using to nurse the tank is exactly the medicine to use to keep the eggs healthy. I wonder if they'll hatch? And if so, if some will survive. We shall see.

And now for some Haiku

Dead president Ron
We get one day and three hours
off from work. So sweet.

Confusion is mine
Old publications crumble
I research FORTRAN.

O Joy! O Rapture!
Sun Microsystems answers
I must send FedEx.

Give Me The Name Of A Boy

Tidbits

Update on the last post:

Bushisms has the quote. So does skarlet. And remember, Cooper rules.

Meanwhile, today is the grand opening of the new Ashley Home Store in Reno, NV. Like the HI one, my parents and sis managed the whole thing. Next up: Eastern Washington. Maybe.

And in another non-sequitur, Vertical Horizon and "funky rockers" (their words, not mine) Presidents of the United States of America are both playing at the local county fair. Ah, how fast they fade...

Mmm, government propaganda is everywhere

This little gem was printed in the comments section of my latest paystub:

Terrorism forces us to make a choice. We can be afraid or we can be ready. Choose to be ready. Visit http://www.ready.gov or call 1-800-BE-READY for a free brochure.

Meanwhile, not only are we invaded by cicadas but I nearly stepped on this guy. Barefoot. It was moseying across the carpet this morning. I'm glad I saw it in time because, thanks to the lovely and knowlegeable folks at GardenWeb, it turns out the bug is a blister beetle. I could have spent the day in much pain and not be able to walk right now.

In other news, there's a severe thunder storm coming (here, actually). We're ordering pizza.

Oh, it's HAILING! Back later!

Later:

Well, the plants survived the hail, thunderstorm and tornado warning, but it was kind of, well, yellow out there.

Meanwhile, I finally downloaded photos from my camera (no longer an easy task since the multiflash card reader died).

Cicadas

Stuff

It's nice to see it in the animal kingdom, too

Pandas @ work

Tee hee - I'm going straight to hell!

The Afterlife Test

Your score is 44.

You are going straight to Hell! You appear to have the courage and conviction to live as an individual in a world that pressures you to become a conformist. You are a seeker of knowledge and an artist of life. Your future will never be peaceful, but you will be alive.

I forgot

When we were at the Sleater-Kinney show all those weeks ago, who did we see? Matthew Lesko with his wife. How did we manage to spot him in a seething crowd of youngsters at the nearly sold out show? If you have to ask, you obviously don't know Matthew Lesko.

Also, snatched from LJ: Vending Machines of Japan.

Follower

Book Meme via sixdifferentways

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

Oh, it could have been good. But it wasn't, alas. Book: Pattern Recognition - William Gibson (it was the closest after all).

"Lifts her cup of black unsweetened coffee."

See. I should have grabbed another book. But I checked three others and they were so boring (about digital technology, if you must know).

Minutiae

I got my luggage (in cobalt). Nice and sturdy. I opted for the 29 inch bag as when I use it, I'm usually gone two weeks at a time. The 22 and 26 inch versions were cuter, though. Batgrl, you might want to check out the Samsonite site. They make some very nice rolling carryons.

Tower Records may have declared reorganization/bankrupcy, but they're still one of the best places to find fun things. I found me a Lenore keychain fob, some cute stickers for my lp carriers, a Selene figure (from Underworld) for $3, and lusted after other figures (but didn't buy). I also picked up Eisley and Stellastarr* for me and Electrelane for my sweetie. Liking all of them, especially Eisley. The lead singer in Stellastarr* reminds me so so so so so much of Dave Vanian. I can't get over that when I hear them.

Damn, too much to do. Must dash.

Downy downy down down (and some feathers)

Poor Cooper's been feeling ill lately, drooling and foamy at the mouth. Might need special food. And last night, I am sure that he probably would have loved to join us in bed. I decided last night was the night to open up the king-size down and feather comforter and put the cover on (from Ikea)...and it was so comfy, I slept 1/2 hour longer than I should have.

I wish I could make a small wee comforter for the Coopster. His old bones need some warmth and for some reason he's not fond of his basket right now. Anyone know where to get a good amount of down?

Bollocks! Vote for Voldemort!

If the California election/farce has you saying Bollocks!, perhaps you would like to express your right to vote for someone more unsavory but without a hidden agenda.

[thanks to Karon for the second link]

Appliance heaven

Last week, while waiting to see the physician's assistant, I browsed through a French design magazine. Don't ask me what a French design magazine was doing at the doctor's office, but it saved me from trying to find something to read amongst the Reader's Digests and Golf magazines (who knew there were so many golf magazines?).

I came across the sweetest looking fridge, made by a company with the unfortunate name Smeg. The fridge I fell in love with is this one. So cute!

Good thing they aren't available in the US.

Not to cause anyone else kitchen lust, but a colleague told me all about the Aga stove that she used last week when she was house sitting. It sounds soooo neat. Unfortunately, these stoves are available here. Luckily, they are too expensive to consider.

Bunnicula!

How much do I want this for my car? I wish that the fit was verified for my model, though. I don't want to buy it and have it not fit.

I am nothing if not predictable

Thanks to Jen-whose-blog-server-is-back-up, I have been trying out the Gender Genie. I used 6 of the reviews that I had written for Swizzle-Stick-whose-server-is-still-down. I only fooled the Gender Genie once, with my latest review. I write like a girl. :p

All About Me

Stolen shamelessly from my sister's site, I give you What makes a Lounge Bunny? It's only there for 30 days, so be quick! :)

BTW, it does trigger two or three pop up ads, but nothing you can't close.

AND I would recommend that you do not use your real email address.

When it rains...

Not only are we getting our long-awaited sofas, we're also having our doors and some windows replaced this week. Argh. I am tired just thinking about it.

Party time!

We had our barbeque on Saturday - turned out to be a nice success. Many people came and ate and imbibed and conversations were thick. I had made orzo with roasted vegetables, shoyu chicken, tandoori-marinated chicken (not quite tandoori, 'cause we don't have a tandoor), teri burgers, butter mochi, clam dip, and dill-garlic dip. We also had Costco key lime pie, baba ganouj, veggies, chips, fresh feta cheese dip, various Asian sweets, wasabi peas, and cookies brought by Greg and Kathy and David. Yummy!

Apparantly, some people were a bit surprised by my love of skull decor.

Sweetie and I had a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone, especially folks I hadn't seen in awhile, like Karon and Andy and Greg. Too bad Cynthia had the cold/flu and couldn't show up. Our neighbors across the street also came by and stayed for a long time. Sweetie's boss and his wife arrived later and stayed for a good while, too. Our last guests left at around 1 am. Given that most people showed up around 5:30 or 6, it was a long long night.

Once the food was put away and things were cleaned up, it was after 2 am and we crashed into bed.

I woke up around 9 am and decided to struggle out of bed and watch the Friday episode of big brother before sweetie awoke. I had finished watching that and started watching the last of the Klondike special when sweetie woke up. We both sat like loggy bumps for much of the afternoon. Neither of us ate much and I ended up falling asleep shortly after the Klondike special.

Did I mention that I was wiped out? I was. Yesterday, for the first time, I realized that I probably understood what it might mean to have CFS. I have never been so exhausted in my life, and I had had no alcohol. Well, three sips of a beer I didn't like - that was it. I did nothing but sit on the futon from 9 am to 3 pm, mostly snoozing in a sitting position. Sweetie tried to wake me a few times, but when I'm that tired, I cannot move or stay awake. I should have just slept in. I can't believe how tired I was, although I had been having terrible sinus headaches for a few days in a row and when walking to the metro and to the car on Friday, I was dog-tired. Completely burned out. Wall of exhaustion. Then I proceeded to force myself to get stuff ready for the party. I really was quite exhausted before the party, but the energy of our guests kept me up! So I guess it was only fitting that I crashed the whole next day. Sweetie crashed with me, except he was too late for morning mass so had to go @ 5 pm.

Even now, I have such a killer headache despite 3 advils and some sugar. I'm blaming it on after effects and might head home at 4pm if the meeting I have at 2 pm lets out early. I just don't know how to recouperate - walking from the car to the metro and then to the building this morning was almost more than I could handle. I just hit the energy wall again - it was only with great effort that I made it. It was so ungodly hot in our bedroom last night that I slept very badly - which must be the reason. All play and no rest make bunny a dull person. I had to turn the thermostat down to 72 degrees to get the A/C to start - at 3:20 am.

I must recoup, though, soon. On Thursday, not only do our new sofas arrive, but we start our mini-vacation, and I need to be alert and ready to go. What timing, eh? I have been looking forward to seeing Kristin and Tanya perform for months and now that it's almost here, I am so so so tired. I need enough energy to walk around the town and stay at all-day concerts.

If only this damn headache would go away!

*yawn*

After work yesterday, we stopped by to see Smita's newly purchased house. It's huge! Loads of windows and doors. Needs lots of work, but it's huge! Every room has crown molding! Did I mention it's huge? Seriously, it's going to be a really really lovely house once the floor people come to rip out the carpet and two layers of linoleum over the hardwood floors (why do people do that?) and then finish the floors. Then she will have all new doors (4!) installed and one more room to paint and she'll be set for a good while and not have to anything else immediately.

For good luck, I gave her a Hindu goddess (Laxsmi? Parvati? Saraswati? Durga?) icon for the wall, since I know she only has one Kali and one other female. I was hoping to get her a Bodhisattva or Ganesha for some male influence but couldn't find one. Smita's mother was so amazed that I found one for Smita (her words: "this is what she needs - she has too few!") and had the added bonus of being made in papier mache made from a newspaper from Smita's mother's part of India (language: Urdu? Tamil? Gujarati? Punjabi?). They were both quite happy with the gift. I didn't realize that my purchase would make them so happy.

Although we hit another huge pothole driving through DC, this one did not put out a tire, much less two like the time we were visiting Smita and got two flats.

After admiring and discussing things that could be done with the house, sweetie and I made our way to Burrito Brothers to grab some of their yummy burritos (I love their burritos) and then home. I managed to fall asleep about an hour and a half after getting home, I was so tired. I always am, though, so nothing new there.

Tumultuous 50s

Had a dream that I was wandering an exhibit on the Fabulous/ Tumultuous/ Fantastic Plastic 50s this morning, taking elevators, getting lost with all the funny aqua blue angled walls. I guess that's what made me wake up an hour later than I usually do! Yes, it was quick quick off to work, no time to make lunch or breakfast so must stop off at the Au Bon Pain and grab some coffee and a cheese danish and quick quick walk the 20 minutes to work from there with a scalding hot coffee in my hand and the muggy yet still cool morning air avoiding the ultra-heavy machinery in front of the EPA, the equipment that has torn up the newly planted hedges and broken the sidewalks and bricks that they just replaced three months ago after finally removing the heavy equipment needed for cleaning out the asbestos ceilings and retrofitting the building and painting the extra large lamps in rustoleum and then shiny black lacquer and gold leaf and installing the many security cameras disguised as lamps.

And I get to work and there's an email regarding an upcoming exhibit on Tumultuous 50s (which I saw the plans for yesterday and knew nothing about it before then) and it reminds me that yes, that's what I dreamed this morning.

And yes, I just finished my coffee.

Random Days in BunnyLand

This morning, I was settled into the Metro seat, reading Lucy Crocker 2.0 when I caught a whiff of something. Something not quite right. At 6:50 am, it smelled like there was a drunk person next to me. So I glanced to my left, at the woman who had just sat in the seat next to me. She had a ruby red nose and glassy eyes. A few more whiffs assured me that she was an alcoholic. I will never understand what it is that compels someone to drink just to get through the day. She got off on my Metro stop, too. She was dressed in a classy black dress, ironed impeccably, trainers with socks (which ruined the elegant look she had going, besides that red schnoz), and carried a handbag. She also wore the classic gov't employee standard issue ID tag and seemed to be having a tough time reading her book. I think she read maybe 6 pages, but she sure was intense about it! I feel bad for her although I know she doesn't want/need my pity.

While exiting the Metro, I ran into Pipe Guy. I call him this because he's always smoking a pipe (vanilla scented tobakky). I ask you, why? Why is he so clueless? He's never been the snappy dresser, but I was treated to a sight this morning, you bet! He wore a white cotton long sleeve button down dress shirt.

With black shorts. Not just black shorts, but mid-thigh, faded shorts. Too short for work! What was he thinking!?

And now it's time for some Phone photos:

Ooo-wee, can we have enough crap to interfere with your driving?

Lamps we wouldn't mind for our dining room - if they were all together in one base/track!

These light fixtures looked a lot like one of the early processors in our solid state collection.

Finally, my absolute favorite thing this week: I give you the BigAz Chicken sandwich! No joke. You can see the BigAz line here.

Gonna get me a kilt

Tartans of Scotland!

Housecleaning

Just a bunch of stuff that I had left over this week.

From links provided by linkmeister & JeanNINE, I read this speech that Senator Jim Jeffords gave recently. Is there a Republican response? I'm curious, although I do have to say that I agree with a lot of what Jeffords says is ridiculous (i.e. those weird tax cuts that don't help those who really need it, spending half a million dollars on a pr campaign to cover up the worsening state of public education and not on education itself, worsening environment controls). I know it's just me, but when i read the article/speech, I kept singing "Use Your Fist and Not Your Mouth" over and over in my mind...

[for the record, I'm registered as an Independent, not that it means anything (because "Independent" is really the "Everything Else" category).]

In keeping with the political theme, here are some liberal remakes of old war posters. (link via sixdifferentways)

Getting away from politics, I was excited to hear about the Alan Moore tribute (from the Horror in Film and Literature list):

ALAN MOORE: PORTRAIT OF AN EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN
edited by Gary Spencer Millidge and smoky man.
Abiogenesis Press. $14.95

The occasion for this 350-plus page tribute is the upcoming event of Alan Moore's 50th birthday, and there are other volumes coming from other publishers. I'll sure be checking those out as well, but it's safe to say we already have a truly essential companion to the work of the greatest comics writer of the past thirty years.

Millidge and "smoky man" (Italian Moore website owner) have joined forces to produce not merely a book full of well-meaning toasts to Moore interspersed with pin-ups, though there is a fair amount of that. No, like Moore's best work they provide other layers, other access points. Millidge himself creates a wonderful sequential art biography of Moore (a "biographic") that sums up the man's life and career as well as it could be in the format, and the art is incredible besides. A number of essayists discuss Moore masterworks such as FROM HELL, WATCHMEN and PROMETHEA in illuminating fashion, while some readers may just take some amusement to note Europeans still like WATCHMEN best. SWAMP THING and A SMALL KILLING also receive a good deal of discussion, and even Moore's musical adventures are treated as another essential facet of the man, which is appropriate, as he takes it just as seriously as comics, if not moreso.

There are hours and hours of material here, and much of it is worth reading a few times to learn more about Moore and his creative process, but there are two pieces that, for me, are worth the price of the book, the Stephen Bissette letter and the Dave Sim/Moore correspondence. The former is one of the saddest love letters one will ever read, a poignant affirmation by Bissette of Moore's talent and the honor it was to create with him, even if their personal relationship is now irrevocably severed. The latter is a series of letters between Moore and Sim about FROM HELL that would be important enough for fans of it if it didn't also become a discussion of the two creator's personal faiths. It's mind-expanding, heady talk from an interesting period where Sim was admittedly "pretending" to be normal, a time long past. Moore, for his part, is tremendously engaging, self-deprecating ("Dave, you do realize you're talking to a guy who worships a snake god, right?") even while he's explaining a complex philosophy with conviction.

Millidge and smoky man are to be commended for assembling a massive volume that will be meaningful for a wide variety of readers, from the casual fan to the committed Moore scholar.

And finally, sweetie just called me with this tidbit: My sister-in-law's husband's picture made the front page of the THNT site. That's Officer Borlan to you.

Icky and not so icky

I have a dead centipede squished between the Office Phone List sheet and the wall.

Yuck. I hate those things.

My jaw still hurts, although not as bad as yesterday.

I'm now reading Makai, thanks to a fun package I received yesterday from mom and sis. I confess a big weakness for the Noel fabric and pictures of my adorable niece, who starts day care tomorrow!

I have work to do.

That's all.

And now for more random stuff

My sweetie is feeling better - thanks to y'all for your concern! :)

How to tell when the bed is too small: I've managed to save myself in the nick of time in the past, but last night it actually happened. At 3:00 am, I fell off the bed completely. Not only that, but my buckwheat pillow got tangled in my hair and wanted to keep my head attached to the ground. I was so tired and sweetie was so confused, it took me a few minutes to get off the floor. I can feel the effects today. My side muscles were wrenched and I landed hard on an elbow and finger. How my head didn't hit the nightstand, I have no clue.

I want to build my own computer. I saw the neatest case the other day, in a computer store. I think it would be pretty interesting. Alas, I won't be doing it any day soon. But when I do, it will be riced up, I guarantee. Maybe with some of these things:

Molecule? Atom? Biohazard?.

I love heatsinks. They're sexy. They also make pleasant clinking sounds.

I'm not sure what this actually does, but I like the way it looks!

Meanwhile, I look at this and think: pancake bunny! poor kitties! (I love the black sheep one)

Ever wonder what a doodlebug looked like? I never knew what ant lions looked like. Pretty scary.

More silly things

Shag's coming to DC in October!

Goth Cruise! (thanks to Cyntergomes for that heads up)

Work day over, time to go home! Yeah! I am waaaaay too excited about that.

Bowie & Bears, oh my!

A black bear was found roaming in someone's backyard in Vienna yesterday afternoon. Vienna. That's pretty close.

Sweetie is at home with the stomach flu. Poor dear.

OK, now for some obligatory silliness.

I was mucking about, searching for goth ecards. Amused was my reaction to the David Bowie phone number bit and also altering words on packaging, which led me to to this site. Eventually I went back to Mucking About and followed the Bowie link, which meant I ended up wasting a LOT of time with Ziggy. What a fun design! Don't forget to try out the "paper doll" Ziggy/Bowie.

Dreams galore

I had two dreams in the past two nights. Ones that made me giggle, actually.

In the first, I had run into someone from my past, a cute lil goth boy. I think he was wearing some sort of anime shirt. He and I started chatting and then went for coffee or lunch and I was having a good time. So I told him that we'd have to get together more often. Then he got all serious and started to backpeddle and said "well, I'm not really interested in going out..." at which point his eyes happened to fall on my wedding ring and he blushed mightily. I, of course, was laughing and said "my dear, I am married, I hope you didn't get the impression that I wanted anything more than to be friends!" I woke up laughing at that point. Boys. Sheesh.

In this morning's dream, I lived in a typical suburban neighborhood and there were lots of young kids running around on bikes, with basketballs, etc. Totally typical. At least, I thought so, until across my lawn, emerging from behind my freshly washed laundry line, he came, sauntering in his gold and scarlet silk kimono, his pale face and yellow and fuscia eye makeup, his stilletto heels and fishnet stockings. The neighboors all stared from their windows, aghast yet unable to look away. And how could they, when Marilyn Manson himself strutted up my house steps with his kimono of many colors (it was like a television, constantly changing) and professed his love for me?

Did I mention I was male in this dream? lol. I woke up laughing from that one, too.

Man, I have GOT to stop listening to Manson when I'm falling asleep at work. It's insidious (or however that's spelled). Gee, I hope K-Mart has the new one on sale for less than $13.99 (Target's price). I think they carry it. Wal-Mart doesn't.

I love eggs and roses

Here are some photos I neglected to post.

Easter eggs & my first Guinivere roses. :)

Celery is Bad Luck

I sent this link to JeanNINE, but I think some others of you might not have seen it (I linked it years ago and had forgotten about it until recently). Enjoy, but watch out for that ol' devil celery!

In other news, my cozy kittie went for his ultrasound checkup today and his heart is much much better, his pulse rate is down to normal, and we're able to ease up by .2 ccs (I think?) per day of one of his medications (tapazole - for his hyperthyroidism - he still has to take the atenolol). So YAY for the kitty!!!! Even though he and his crusty kitty litter paws sat in my computer chair and my dining room chair. (ever since he lost the use of the one leg, he tends to not be able to move out of the way of his pee and he gets wet and then the litter sticks to his back paws blah blah ick, it's really gross, but he can't help it, poor dear.)

And in yet other news, I am sick. I caught Ced's cold, dammit, which he jokingly calls SARS. Not a funny joke and I can't believe I got it, but I was exhausted last weekend and we did go to his open condo party (and played Cranium and of course I was on the winning team, yay for me!) and he & I did produce a public program all day Saturday (and prepared Thursday night and Friday). So now I'm sick. Bleah. And I can't even take a sick day because a curator from another museum is coming in in the afternoon to do some research. sigh.

Stephen got an iPod. Once that cash award comes in, I'm getting mine! Yesh.

Movies watched recently
About A Boy
Rabbit Proof Fence
The Good Girl
24 Hour Party People
The White Balloon

Movies bought recently
Real Women Have Curves
Secretary

Movies waiting on the DVR
City of Lost Children
Braindead
Some Iranian school movie, I forget

Movies I may buy soon
She Killed in Ecstacy
Sixth Sense
The Ring

Those are my random thoughts for the evening. Goodnight.

We're the new Seattle

We've Been Renamed, haven't you heard?

From the WJFK weather report:

Wednesday marks 30 days since the area had a clear, sunny day. The average high temperature has been 68 degrees this month instead of the normal 75 degrees.

The hollyhocks are happy, though! They're at least 7 feet tall now. And the foxgloves are doing ok, except for the one that was pummelled. I just hope that the balloon flowers regain their composure.

So let's hear it for my sweetie, who clambored up onto the roof, who replaced the leaky kitchen faucet with a brand new one (yay!), and who tried to replace the showerhead in our bathroom (we won't mention that the shower pipe broke off in the wall and now the plumber is coming on Saturday...we couldn't get those heads to move one iota). He's a real trooper! :)

And soon, soon, soon, we'll have new energy efficient doors with screen leading to our deck (locking, even!) and four new windows. Now, if we only were able to get the two sofas, armchair and ottoman that I "ordered" in February, we might actually have something that resembles a grown up living room.

memo to myself: touch the puppet he...erm, look up info on Tweaker, 'cause this David Sylvian/Tweaker mp3 I downloaded yesterday is sure nice (yes, somehow we can access mp3s again).

Advertising at its best

I read that no computers were used. Pretty cool.

Best Salty Licorice aka filler content

In lieu of the handful of actual content entries that require some brain activity to complete, I give you another list of searches that brought the unsuspecting to my sites...

Mark Kozelek fan site
dave navarro tabulature

Jenna Fine
Jeanna Fine
jeanna fine fan sites
jeanna fine +recent news

charisma carpenter's pregnancy (2)
charisma carpenter heroin
buffy tabulature
glenn quinn death 2002 david

mutts,"shelter stories"
best salty licorice
snow bunny
bunny (8)
castle
lena katina and you yulia are they in love?-tatu
white light motorcade concert photos
Bad Veins Giving Blood
girl on John Deere tractor
nixie tubes
tubes psychic
orange county choppers

pantyhose club no nonsense
tan pantyhose
pantyhose

departure lounge (2)
70s liquor lounge
swizzle lounge songs
lounging bunny

heaven

goth baby (3)
baby clothes
cat power (2)

Boring stuff: skip this

The weekend started off on Friday with an Amphora dinner and then The Matrix: Reloaded. I have many a comment on the movie but I'm not going to go into any detail here, since I've already summed up many of my thoughts here.

Saturday, I had to get up early to get to the post office and coffee shop and be home by 10:30 am, which is when Jane was coming by to pick me up for the Internation Gem & Jewelry Show in Chantilly (we have gone each May for the past three years). I had to pick up some stringing supplies and semi-precious beads for re-stringing my mother's jewelry and Jane needed some specialized tools. I ended up (accidentally) talking her into buying an expensive piece, I don't think she'll ever forgive me! lol. I mostly bought findings and bits to use later, but I did manage to find a pair of earrings (blue topaz) with a square checkerboard cut, just what I like. I am kicking myself for not buying the pale green quartz version as well, though. Afterwards, sweetie and Jane and I went to the Centreville Old Glory and it was very very yummy. A good time was had by all!

I think I overdid it, though, on Saturday (6 hours of gem shopping) and on Sunday, I was feeling very chronic fatiguey (I am still paying for it, actually). Definitely dragging. But once I was able to rouse myself from bed (sweetie went to and came back from church and I didn't hear anything), we shopped for groceries, waited for the plumbing guys (we have buy a new kitchen faucet and two showerheads before they come back), and then I talked my sweetie into driving us to Fair Oaks Mall (the one close to us) whereupon two things of note happened:

1. We learned that Pottery Barn and PBKids are both opening at that mall this Summer, so lil birdie ought to be happy because I now only have to make one stop to shop and can check out the sales for her.

and

2. I switched from Cingular to T-Mobile and got a brandy-new toy to play with. Me likee.

Vienna Metro

The remains of Gandhi

So now I need people to keep their eyes open for flashing blue battery in a star or circle pattern and a clearish cover. I tried my old 3360 battery last night but it isn't the same size. Shucks.

Speaking of new technology, we just installed a DVR yeserday evening and I've already recorded something (the last 1/2 hour of CSI because I have this sleep problem...). Unfortunately, we can't fit our VCR back into the setup because it's too large for the storage slot allotted. sigh. It is nice to have this equipment, though.

Technology is a good thing. However, in the hands of an institution, it can be a very changable thing. Early on (years ago), we lost access to many websites (punkprincess among them). Then they took away instant messaging (not that I did that, but all my interns did). Now, they've announced that we will no longer have FTP access. OK, most blocked websites are not-work-related. I can accept that (although why punkprincess is blocked, I haven't a clue). Instant messaging was a resource hog, so I can see that. But FTP? We have a limit of 1MB on our email so we have to send hi res images to an FTP site just so anyone outside of the building can use them. If we can't provide images instantly, then forget ever getting things done in less than 6 months because we don't have money for CD-Rs and most people don't even have burners. So getting an image to the public in a timely matter will be nigh impossible. Not to mention an expense.

Oy, the idiocy.

Meanwhile, since I can only ready skarlet on my palm pilot (which means I can't respond until I get home), I will say here that I can't believe she fell victim to the roses! Bad skarlet, bad! Alas, I fell much earlier this year, picking up 5 bushes (all going well!) and with the one already in, that makes 6. I can understand the power of the pretty rose! Meanwhile, my dill and nasturtiums are not happy with the weather although the basil is ok. One of the scented geraniums is also unhappy. And the gutters over part of my flowerbed are clogged and overflowing, which has killed the last delphinium (I can't keep the suckers alive, le sigh). It also seemed to restrict the Camassia. Luckily, although it caused some damage to the foxgloves and balloon flowers, those seem to be doing ok now. All this rain, though, has flattened the salvia (which was already 4 feet high!) but been good for the artemesia and honeysuckle bushes. And roses, of course. There's so much more gardening to do but we've had so much rain I never have a chance to do anything. I can just hope most things survive the summer.

I hope I can survive le summer!

Last eps of Buffy (for good) and 24 tonight!

I like to bathe myself in bad comics

See, I listen to cds at work. Because I'm at work, I keep the volume low. Sometimes too low - I don't even consciously register that I'm playing something. That is, until I hear lyrics that make me pay closer attention. Somehow, I like to sell my body for profit became I like to bathe myself in bad comics. I don't know about you, but I think I like my version better.

Searches @ the loungebunny.net domain in the last 48 hours:

via MT search
blue teeth
zaremba
swing
1000watts your love
swing
tours

via referrals
jeanna fine
lounging bunny
nixie tubes
bunny

Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess. But Zaremba reminds me that the Fleshtones are (have already?) play Iota. Am tempted to see Peter and the gang.

Thank You, Mr. President

Thank you for holding the televised speech that allowed CSI to start half an hour late. I thank you, Mr. Agita thanks you, and our tummies thank you, because at 8:00 pm last night, we were able to dash out and have some yummy frozen custard & italian ice creamsicle, which was the flavor of the day in Chantilly.

If you hadn't taken over the airwaves, we would have never had time to get there and back before CSI. So thanks, bud.

Lo Siento, No Puedes Ganar Todas Las Veces

That is what the large soda from McD's tells me.

I am such a sucker for blue ice cream. I want to try both flavors.

I deserve it. I spent two hours waiting around at the doc's office today. I am having all sorts of tests run on my blood since brother and sister have immunodeficiency conditions. Before they could test my blood, though, they had to get it. I am notoriously bad at giving blood. My veins roll away immediately and if they are impaled, they clot fast. 5 butterfly needles, 5 holes, one hour, and a no-nonsense nurse by the name of Wanda later, my veins gave up the necessary blood. Now the wait. Meanwhile, the final needle location hurts.

I'm sleepy.

More some other time.

Little Pat o Butter

I keep forgetting to note this.

The Icelandic word for butter is

smjör

That's "smyear" with a short i sound, not a long ee sound. Cracks me up every time. I wonder what the German word for butter is? Faroese/Norwegian/Danish? Swedish? Forget Finnish, that one will be different, obviously.

I thought our use of the word smear came from Yiddish though. At least, that's what I think of when I hear the word schmir (schmeer). It's obviously not butter, which is puter in Yiddish. So perhaps it was a combination of the Scandinavian and Jewish immigrants.

Mmm. I love Icelandic butter.

Surprisingly, the German is like the English, not the other Germanic languages. Check out the similarities. Or differences.

Butter
Norwegian/Faroese/Danish: smør
Swedish: smör
Finnish: voi

And more!

Dutch: boter
Dutch-Flemish: smeer
Afrikaans: botter
Frisian: bûter
Russian: масло
Belarusian: masła
Estonian: või
Lithuanian: sviestas
Breton: amann
Manx: eeym
Scottish Gaelic: ìm
Welsh: ymenyn
Inuktitut: immuyak
Ingush: nalxa
Hawaiian: paka
Papua New Guinea Pidgin: bata
Creole: bè
Kiribatese: te bwata
Alabama: b˜ta

Grease
Scottish Gaelic: smeur
Irish: sméaraim
Old High German: smero
Welsh: saim

Lard
Anglo-Saxon: smeoru
English: smear

Marrow
Scottish Gaelic: smior
Irish: smior
Early Irish: smir
Early Irish Gaelic: smera
Welsh: mer
Inupiaq: patiq

Smear
Manx: smiùr
Welsh: cluro

Ok, enough of this. I could start down the other roads, but couldn't get a translation in Punjabi, Mongolian, Maori, Navajo, Kanienkehaka, Latvian, Tagalog, Farsi, and more.

I also came across this fun link:

Luciferous Logolepsy

Murder by Number and the Gothic Garden

What is it about muders in threes? I mean, I know they're random, but do they happen more than two people murdered at once or is it just that they're more of an anomaly? Two people murders are usually muder-suicides or people who know each other, I suppose. We've had two triple murders in three days, neither related, nor are they related to the Starbucks triple murder or the McDonald's triple murder. Three of these were of people just working at their jobs. One was outside a nightclub. Seems such a waste of life.

Update: In just one day (yesterday), three people were killed in separate incidents in SE DC. Ok, officially weird coincidence.

Which leads me to this musing: why does the media keep calling soldiers by the name troops when they talk about war casualties? I mean, I keep seeing things like "80 troops dead since war began." Isn't a troop a whole bunch of people? Surely 80 groups of soldiers (as defined by Merriam-Webster's New Ninth Collegiate Dictonary) have not died? At any rate, it's bad grammar.

I am officially allergy-sensitive already. I was hoping I could hold off until May, when my really bad allergies kick in, but it seems I'm already primed and waiting for the maples, walnuts, oaks and hickories to let loose. I've been sneezing my head off, which is one indication. My eyes are always dry and itchy and irritated, another clue. The latest indication that my teeny thimble-sized reservior of pollen-tolerance is full came today. Noriko gave me a piece of banana bread. Not just banana bread, but Betty Crocker banana bread. You know, the completely processed stuff that no longer resembles a banana and hasn't seen a fresh banana in weeks or more likely months. After eating it, my chin itched. Then right now, I ate a carrot stick. My chin itches and my tongue now hurts. It's probably swollen. No more carrot sticks for me today. :(

I am beginning to wonder if the echinacea that I started taking last month in hopes that it would boost my immune system has actually kick-started my allergic reaction. I wonder if I'm allergic to echinacea?

I'm probably having a problem with pollen, though, because I was outside all day Sunday, cleaning out the remaining flower beds and planting balloon flowers, foxgloves, roses, poppies, delphinium, peonies and lilacs. I also potted up the rest of my herbs, so now I have dill, lavender, catmint, purple basil, thai basil, sage, rosemary, leeks, and curry plant (the only inedible one) growing like the weeds they really are.

I am still looking for a good spot for my lambs ear, hellebores, and the last rose.

I'm also germinating seeds for more foxglove, nicotania, woodland nicotania, cinnamon basil, luminas (white pumpkins), canterbury bells and bunny tail grass. If more than a few grow, I shall have plants to hand out! The basil and nicotania should make good house plants. Even the foxglove would be good because it's the dwarf variety.

I also made a lovely discovery when I was emptying out pots that used to contain old, dead plants. The balloon flowers that I thought had died must have just gone dormant! I had no idea that they'd die back completely - I thought I killed them, although I had read that they were hardy evergreen perennials. I came across their roots with many many eye buds, so I separated them and planted them in their own containers. If they survive, they'll join the other balloon flowers outside. So I'll hopefully have both blue and white flowers. :)

I made a not-so-nice but strangely relieving discovery as well on Sunday. I had bought two evergreen plants (against my better judgement) from Home Depot last November. I watered them, placed them in the sunny window, repotted them, hoped for the best, but they died within a month. I was really bummed. When I took them out of their pots, it seems that they never had a chance. See, when I had repotted them, they were masses of rootball. Masses. I've never seen ones that bad. So I worked my fingers in, tried to loosen the root balls, but they were pretty thick. I did what I could short of cutting and placed them in new pots with lots of new potting soil but they never escaped their root balls. They came out of the pots looking just like they had when I had taken them out of ther original pots. None of the roots had budged. So it wasn't really my fault they died, Home Depot ruined them! At least, that's what I tell myself...

My next green thumb attempt will be planting a few "Alaska Rose" potatos. I want deadly nightshade but no one seems to have it. Potatos and tomatoes (and eggplant and peppers) are in the nightshade family, so the potato vine should look similar.

Another plant I'm looking for is Artemesia absinthum aka Wormwood. No one seems to sell it. I even checked my old favorite, Gothic Gardening, but no supplier specified.

I have never thought of myself as a garden kind of person. It's hard work, there's always something to be done, there are creatures everywhere, and not just nice little ladybugs, either. Spiders, centipedes, worms, slugs, snails, flies, bees, wasps, grubs, beetles, aphids, whitefly, etc. etc. etc. Lots of stuff dies in the humidity or winter. Your back and legs ache after an entire day of bending over (especially when you're old like me, heh). There's always too much to do. But I find that I don't mind garden work and I keep thinking of things I can do -- in time. I've designed a lovely courtyard - I just can't build it yet. I really want a low hedge maze with brick paths but you kinda need acres of land to make it look good. Alas, I am just hoping to have plants that bloom this year! Well, besides the fritillaria, that is (snake's head, imperialis, uva-vulpis, and muscovite). They and the daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinth are already waving their flowers about. I must remember to take pictures, although it's all rain all the time this week.

I think I might have something to say about the movies I watched this weekend (Brotherhood of Wolves, Sweet Home Alabama, and Secretary), but that will have to wait until a later post.

Zagat Music Survey

Interested in weighing in on Zagat's Music Guide?

meme alert

Ali put up this little meme of free association. I can play 'dat.

Smell :: Lotus Blossom
Caramel :: wafer biscuits
Parallel :: lives
Miami :: CSI
Sleep :: more is necessary
Double :: custard cone
Kiss :: bachi
History :: in the making
Vodka:: Absolut vanilla
Click:: whirr*

* sadly, I don't think any one else would get this, as it's from a long long time ago when MTV guest VJs were Simon LeBon and Nick Rhodes and they invited Andy Warhol on to the show and, well, there was some dialogue involving clicks and whirrs.

Dune? or Gardening?

Actually, since I found my Dune tape, I'm gardening today. I have some lilacs, honeysuckle (the less invasive kind), and peonies to plant. My Fritillaria Imperialis is coming up and nothing can stop it! I am amazed, because when I planted it, the bulb was soggy and moldy and I was sure I'd lost it already. I'm also glad to report that of the hundreds of bulbs I planted last fall, it looks like a good number are coming up. No blooms yet! I don't even need to worry about the deer, because almost all of them are deer and rodent resistant (don't know about bunny resistant). We did have a deer rooting around lately, though not in the bulb area. It dug up some grass for some reason and then left.

I have decided that the boxwood has got to go. It smells too much like cat pee and is too small and stunty. I might just transplant it further from the house, although I don't know if box likes being moved. I want to replace the box with the two peonies, but I don't know what to put in the shady part of the bed.

Speaking of which, I have sketched out a little courtyard for the back yard. I am quite envious of my mother's courtyard, which flourishes even with neglect. It's because she planned it well with bromeliads and other rain-loving tropicals. She has the climate for it, of course. It's lovely. Reminds me of the Vieux Carre because it's now mossy stained bricks and exudes an aura of gentle decay.

Here, the decay wouldn't happen much, and while I love those formal mazes, I can't do either kind of garden. No, I have a modest little courtyard in mind, made from stone and grass and gravel and more stone or maybe brick. I can't start on it this year, alas, but I think it's a simple enough design and shouldn't take that much work.

I hope it will be far less expensive than our window and door replacements. We had folks in for an estimate yesterday. I want prarie-style windows, true french doors on the upper deck, sliding glass on the lower deck, and when sweetie and I were looking for front door ideas, we came across the Stanley Sta-Tru door collection with a mid-century modern glass insert and I really really want that look. It would go well with prarie mullions. Alas, we also found out that putting in a new entry door (which is not an option, we really need a new door) is going to mean ripping out everything and putting in a whole new door, not just a replacement. And that means having to do something with the molding surrounding the door (it will have to come off, but something will have to go back in the spaces to cover the gaps) and the detail on the top (which I hate anyway) and possibly even the concrete. It's all too much to think about now. Sigh.

Yes, it's been a homey weekend.

Well, except for the Cat Power show last night. Entrance opened for her, and the best way I can describe him is this way:

Jandek Protoge with less noise and a penchant for singing the falsetto blues. He was laughably bad.

Chan Marshall, on the other hand, seemed like she was on drugs. Admittedly, I was exhausted and nearly fell over more than a few times when I fell asleep standing up, but the show was plain weird. It was like she invited hundreds of people come to watch her practice. She is incapable of ending a song, it seems. She comes to the ending and then continues noodling around. The only way I knew she had ended a song was when people - who actually knew her music well - started clapping. She mumbles. She takes her time between songs, talking to herself. She starts a song over again if she messes up.

And I know I've complained about it before, but if you come to a concert, please don't stand in the back and proceed to TALK ABOVE THE MUSIC THE ENTIRE TIME! Others actually paid to hear the performer, even if you didn't. It was so bad at times that the chatter drowned out Chan. She even said shut up a few times, people in the audience yelled shut up a few times, but did the people in the back pay attention? No. I just don't get it. You pay for a show and then treat the performance as background ambiance for your oh-so-fascinating conversation. Why not just stay home and leave the rest of us in peace?

I am grumpy, it's true. Poor sweetie has to put up with it.

Viral Marketing and Salty Chocolate-Covered Licorice

I was perusing an old Packaging Digest the other day (what, you don't?), wondering what was up in the fascinating and frightening world of package engineering and design, when I came across an article on the package design for a failed Pepsi Product, Smooth Moos. Yes, Moos, as in cows, as in milk. While the description of the bottles is interesting, I was particularly happy to see a list of package suppliers at the bottom. It's not often that we're reminded just how many hands make a product nowadays. I mean, I would have totally forgotten to thank the Glue Application team at the 15th Annual DuPont Awards!

I was led to these ponderings because I read in Newsweek of all places that Pepsi is trying to use blogs as a way to advertise Raging Cow, their newest flavored milk product (guaranteed to fail - don't they all?). I'm rather disgusted. I don't want advertising in my blog world unless I choose to put it there. Apparantly, I guess I agree with Tim Ireland on this matter.

By the way, I'm specifically not linking to any of the faux blog sites. You'll have to search them out on your own.

So I just sampled an Olsen Olsen candy bar. It was, um, interesting to say the least. I didn't know it existed until our last day in Iceland, when I spotted it in the minimart. Since Sigur Ros have a song called Olsen Olsen (not that I can understand what Jonsi is singing), I wondered if this was the inspiration.

I still don't know, but I can unequivocally tell you that Icelanders must love salty licorice. They have an inordinate amount of licorice flavored candies and gums and mints. I sampled what I thought would be a peppermint this morning. Turns out to be a peppery licorice mint. Rather good, I might add, and I don't like anise/licorice. Well, not usually. I like Bassett's licorice all-sorts, but those aren't particularly high on the licorice bit. Anyway, I'd say Olsen Olsen is an acquired taste, yesss. Let me give you the ingredients:

Sugar, Wheat-flour, Glucose, Cocoa butter, Cocoa liquor, Milk powders, Molasses, Syrup, Corn-flour, Coconut flour, Vegetable fat, Liquorice extract, Gelatine, Table salt, Salt (510), Acidum lacticum (E270), Lecithin (E322), Colours (E153, E104, E127, E161g), Flavours and Vanillin.

Or:

Sykur, hveiti, glúkose, kakósmjör, kakómassi, mjókurduft, síróp, maíssterkja, kókosmjöl, feiti, lakkrísrót, matarlím, matarsalt, salt, mjólkursýra (E270), lecithin (E322), litur (E153, E104, E127, E161g), brafðefni, vanillin.

So you can see for yourself just how interesting the list is.

The consistency reminds me of chocolate covered turkish delight, but this is really salty, not sweet. And there's the whole licorice flavor rather than the rosewater/orange blossom water flavor. Hmm. It seems the Dutch like salty licorice, too. And lookie, Australian teens learn about the effects of climate changes on plants while consuming salty licorice. It's true.

Oh yeah, there will be a little delay before the Iceland commentary with pictures will be up. Still working on it.

Time is of the Essence

Where did that quote come from, anyway?

Been rawther busy lately and haven't anything interesting to talk about. Or link.

Honestly, nothing much has been passing through my brain recently except wondering how my neice is doing, how hideously expensive our electric bill was this past month, and if I can get things done before Iceland.

Not to mention stressing about not speaking Icelandic. See, I know that most people speak some English in Iceland, but I'd at least like to know a few words in Icelandic (and pronounced correctly), but I'm having a difficult time with the alphabet. It's not that it doesn't make sense, it's that my Russian keeps interfering. See, Icelandic is mostly the Roman alphabet but there are a few different characters. And those characters can sometimes remind me of Cyrillic, so I find that I try to pronounce the Þ or Ð (th) characters like the ф (f) character or the ð (th) character like ъ (silent/no sound). Plus I want to make the u into 'и' (i) and the y into 'у' (u). Damn that Russian for wanting to come back.

Well, at least I found some shoes. Not just some. DSW had no less than 6 pairs of shoes that I needed (well, two pairs I needed). I ended up with 4 pairs and, having worn two of them for a few days, I am confident that walking around Reykjavik will be much more pleasant than it would have been before I bought good walking shoes. I recommend the Rocket Dog Sparki shoes. Very comfy. So are Joseph Seidler shoes.

Randomly, lately I have seen some signs that I really must drop Stacy an email. What are those signs? Well, they are 1) the Duke University Hospital ineptitude and 2) the Great White fiasco/tragedy in Warwick. And while that may make no sense to you, it makes perfect sense to me.

Waiting around

So the passport info has gone to Pittsburgh, the state taxes were filed online and the fed taxes were mailed. A check was mailed to my sister (a bit late). Hair has been bleached and dyed and must update the dyeblog. I feel like I've accomplished a lot. And that's not counting work. Phew.

How Geeky Are We?

We're watching Kasparov vs. Deep Junior on ESPN.

And I'm critiquing the board (Dreuke) and pieces (most likely House of Staunton, but I can't be sure).

I guess if I can't be a chess wiz, I can at least be a chess accoutrements wiz!

Chess wiz looks like Cheese wiz.

Thanks to batgrl, I have picked up some more recent Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks). And you know what? I am liking it. A lot. Maybe I've had a little too much of electronica for now. Or maybe it's just reminding me of my glam rock days before those crappy hair bands took over.

Brain Dead

Just spent all day at a Dreamweaver class. Not much that I didn't know, but it was a really pleasant time to spend. I liked the instructor. She's smart and likes Edward Gorey. Five of us (including the instructor) went out for lunch at a great Chinese restaurant (the class is taught in Chinatown). We had lots of leftovers, so we brought them back and put them in the fridge. Unfortunately, we all forgot our food when class was over. Snow was on our minds.

Home early. I was motivated earlier to do some jewelry work, list some stuff on eBay, but after mousing all day, my wrists are sore. Since I'm home tomorrow (waiting for an installer), I can play then.

Oh, it looks like I might be able to get the passport in time. I sent an email and got a reply from the state, saying that yesterday my birth certificates were mailed out. Tomorrow afternoon or maybe Saturday morning, I'm definitely getting my picture taken for the passport.

I have to get a haircut, too. Must find a nearby place that won't butcher my hair. Most people just don't understand heavy, thick, long hair. And if I had a dollar for every time a "hairdresser" has cut my grey hairs close to the scalp, I would have, well, $5 or so. I hate that. Don't they realize that I don't MIND my grey hair? It looks really cool when blue or purple is dyed over it. Besides, cutting grey hair short only results in stiff grey hairs sticking up straight. Stupid people.

Our class instructor told us about a spectacular place for sweets. I want to go...

Cake Love.

Trust me, you'll want to go there, too, when you see the yummy confections.

Damn, it's cold

I hope Martin Sheen doesn't freeze his butt off.

Yesterday was 13 degrees when I left home. That doesn't take into account wind chill. Last night, we got snow. The low last night was 8. It's been very windy, too. Hence, the roads were quite slick this morning. Lots of rear end skidding. There wasn't any plowing, just trucks dumping dirt on the main roads. Bleah.

Anyway, back to Martin.

The West Wing are set up across the street from my workplace to film in the Mellon Auditorium. I believe the last time film crews used the Mellon was for Jodi Foster's Contact. That was a while ago. Hollywood used to film in this area a lot because we're conveniently located by many federal buildings and national monuments/icons. I'd have to walk by the line of trailers at least once every few months. Then they started asbestos cleanup on the old FTA building and it's been closed until this past year. I think there was one other crew set up here last year, but they were gone in 24 hours. The WW folks are supposed to be here through Tuesday morning.

I hope they dress accordingly.

[and you just have to wait for the last entry, still no time to finish it]

Too much time on my hands...

I wish. Well, not to hear the Styx song. Just wish I had time to do stuff.

Won't be able to update this weekend. Just wanted to leave you with some thoughts:

Great Googley Moogley

We got back home around 11:15 last night. Well, we got to the baggage claim around then. It took them another hour before they unloaded our baggage from our plane with a lame-ass excuse that "there was a shift change and, well, basically, we forgot." But we finally crawled into bed around 2 am and spent a fitful night trying to sleep (we're still on Hawaii time). Getting up was really hard for me, but I wanted to greet kitty when sweetie brought him back home (he's gained some weight). He's still limping along and sucking down water, but he also protesteth loudly that we should stay home with him today. It was tempting, but we went to work anyway.

I'm still discombobulated, so what I can cobble together for today's entry is a bit o this and a bit o that.

First, I was just reading over some of my previous journal entries and had to share once again this gem from that Gilbran guy:

On Good and Evil

You are good when you walk to your
goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither
limping.
Even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift, see that
you do not limp before the lame, deeming
it kindness.

Please tell me that it makes you laugh. The thought is good but it's so so silly anyway.

Second, this is my favorite of the the digital pics I took on vacation. I have to get 2 rolls of regular (or, rather, APS) film developed before I can say it's my favorite from the entire vacation.

Third, well, there is no third. You are free to go about your business, now. Which is a sentiment that you won't get at any airport, so go forth and frolick!

My papaya is overripe

I hate it when that happens.

mr-agita and I are meeting up with the linkmeister today. I have a vague idea how to get there, so I hope we don't get lost! Sweetie has now driven in Hawaii almost as much as I ever have (we went around the North Shore yesterday but couldn't find the shave ice place. sigh.).

Sofia's as cute a niece as I could hope for. The funniest thing is watching her face contantly struggle with change. Yes, the mercurial moods of Sofie! From laughter to tears and back again in 2.3 seconds! I must remember to upload the pictures of her with her Parisian sunglasses.

Tonight, we shall hopefully catch the Two Towers.

In case you didn't believe me...

I am one hep bunny.

'S'riiiight.

I stood outside in the near-freezing temperature early this morning looking for the Leonid meteor shower and didn't see it. I never do. That's the curse of living close to a major source of light, aka DC.

Last night I dreamed that my (male) boss was wearing a nice shade of red lipstick and complimented me on my shade of lipstick (MAC Velvet). Later in the dream, I was stuck in traffic exiting a parking garage in the vicinity of the Pali Highway and H-1 interstection. Traffic was at a complete standstill. And finally, I dreamed that I found a big lump in my breast, which was what woke me up. (I checked, I don't, phew).

Thing is, I can't figure out how those three dream bits are related. I can see why my brain thought of the lipstick one. First, I am practically obsessed with the color I'm wearing and was noticing that Rose McGowan hasn't given up her strong red lipstick despite being on Charmed (and does she look great with that hair color or what? I like it a lot). The second, well, I don't know, but I have been thinking of the trip home. And the final? Who knows. Maybe it's Buddy Check day or something on Channel 9. Whatever. Dreams are so strange, I gave up long ago trying to interpret them.

I'm wearing velvet pants today. So I thought I'd listen to Velvet Pants by the Propellerheads. Yesterday, I received lots of nice music in the mail. First, the long-searched-for Honolulu Mountain Daffodils' Guitars of the Oceanic Overgrowth LP arrived from Texas, so now we have an original copy of Wolverine and Sinner's Club. I also received the Reindeer Room Chillout Christmas cd and The Instrumentalyst by Dr. Octagon. I'm still waiting on Sounds from the Electronic Lounge and Colloquial Icelandic from half.com. The last is not a band, it's a book.

I'm so kewl

I had no idea that keys have become the latest accessory. That is, I didn't know until we went to Home Depot the other day to make duplicates and I came home with a key covered in flames.

You can see the Jet Groovy Keys here, but they aren't as cool looking as the ones by Axxess+. Unfortunately, Axxess+ are missing the boat by not having the most up to date site.

I realize that I am a mindless consumer sometimes, subject to wanting the newest shiny, glittery thing, but come on. It's a freakin' key for chrissakes. So don't give me shit about it.

Who stole the sheet?

The other night, batgrl kept handing me the top sheet because she didn't need it anymore. The sheet went on forever! It was the blue "aloha" sheets that we've been sleeping under all week. I pulled and pulled and pulled and the bundle kept getting larger and larger in my arms. Finally, I had all of the sheet in my arms. It was about then that I realized that I'd pulled the entire top sheet off the bed and that batgrl had long flown home, but it was still dark and I was so tired that I just threw it on the floor, pulled the bedspread up over us and went back to sleep.

Sweetie said he woke up later and wondered what happened to the sheet. I told him that batgrl had handed it all to me and I'd thrown it on the floor.

He was confused about what she was doing there in the first place, but went with it.

Gotta just love dreams! :)

How'd that happen?

It looks like our caterers mistakenly put a whole box of wine in our car that doesn't belong to us.

Sad thing is, we would never drink this wine. It's Sutter Home. ugh. So I guess we'll be dropping it back at the gallery...

Cosmic Sock Week

I'm giving you this link because I love the little graphic (they had a bigger pic in the email). It's an army of blind sock puppets! Argh!

Plus, I love Cosmic Debris. And we all need a little joy in our lives right about now. Funk soul brother.

Speaking of music, Messrs. Kevin Haskins and Doug DeAngelis are the exclusive music team for Robbery Homicide Division. I'm happy to see they're still doing stuff, and it's not even for video games!

Does that make me dark?

I'm eating black grapes.

Does that make me dark?

I've got black shoes on.

Does that make me dark?

I'm eating lime jello with pineapple.

Does that make me dark?

Apparantly, I am, you know. So said Emilie, the waitress at the 29 Diner, a little greasy spoon just down Lee Hwy from us (I assume her name was Emilie because her order pad had the name written on it a few times).

Last Saturday night, sweetie, skarlet and I went to the diner for the first time. Emilie complimented me on my jewelry (skulls, bats, what have you) and practically squealed with joy over me. Maybe she did squeal. She did hop up and down and clap her hands.

Later, when we ordered, I ordered my eggs sunnyside down, not seeing anything strange about the request. Emilie again squealed and said (and I quote) "I love how dark you are!!!" She was like a little cheerleader of darkness.

Her hair was a pleasing shade of fuchsia, I might add.

I, frankly, didn't feel like I was dressed "dark" at all. But, then, I am used to myself. Anyway, it's always nice to give a youngster a reason to believe that they don't have to grow up and join the khaki slack brigade.

Happy Birthday to the Bat

I'd like to say Happy Birthday to batgrl, partner in crime and champion of inequality! ;)

Much later...

Er, that should have been destroyer of inequality, but I messed up there.

Cast out your demons

Sad thing is, I can't tell if it is real or not. But that word trail is strangely hypnotic...

Not necessarily the news

Ten things on my mind

1. I know I had this link somewhere in my archives, but seeing as how I have yet to import them from GM and LJ, I can't reference them. Still, somehow this morning, I had a moment's pause while I recalled Art Frahm: A study on the effects of celery on loose elastic. I can't get to the site from work (how I loathe the blocking), but I trust it's still there.
   
2. I knew about Jesus. I'd seen the site. But that was years ago. I visited the site again recently and noted that Jesus apparantly lives near us. I don't know if I'm frightened.
   
3. You know how it is when you find something that you reaaaaallllllyyyyy want to share with a certain someone. But you can't because that certain someone is having a birthday soon and you don't want her (sick as she is) to have a clue about what she might get? Yeah, I'm having one of those mornings. Squee! ( <--- that wasn't a clue, you homicidal maniacs )
   
4. I have been receiving a good many of the things I've been ordering for the wedding. Last week, I got the hair thread and I received my mermaid falls on Tuesday. Anime hair rocks! I don't have to strip my hair any more. Now, if I could only figure out just how to put the falls on...
   
5. I wonder if batgrl knows about the Gotham Girls? I doubt she's feeling all that well, though, so it may require too much effort to watch right now.
   
6. Need a posey ring?
   
7. Am I the only one who giggles when I read the phrase Jewelry for Shaggers?
   
8. Mark Ryden is a "relentless kitsch-meister."
   
9. A little mousie who visited my desk over the weekend. He snuggled in the kleenex box and nuzzled around the computer. Who knows where else the little beastie went. Unclean!!!
   
10. The dress bodice is done. All I need is 6 yards of a certain shade of aqua/peacock blue silk crepe or shantung. At a reasonable price. I don't really like how I look in the bodice yet, though. I'm hoping that having the rest of the dress there will make it better.

Things that make me giggle for hours

There will be more added to this list. I have to run to a meeting right now.

Lenore and Pooty Applewater (I am responsible for two of the four mentions of Pooty on Google, I'm afraid)
Mooch and his lil pink sock
The phrase "wriggly worm"
The K Mart ad with Nicola Conte, the bubble chair and the guy dancing in his Joe Boxers (although there is lots of controversy about this one being insulting)
Marion Barry quotes (via Rat Bastard's comments)
The Kogepan people
Tarepanda
Cosmic Debris
The Cookie

I love absurdity. I am quite insane, too.

Lil Pink Sock

It was the lil pink sock that made me do it.

Oh, deer

Looks like we had a deer in our yard last week. I spent quite a few minutes looking at pictures of animal scat online (one site even had human scat) to make sure. It sure wasn't a coyote.

I just don't know what the deer ate. Or if it was alone. It can jump, though. Our gates were closed.

Warning: nonsequitur

Today, I am happy. Why am I happy? I spent the day shopping for fabric for the wedding. 5 sari stores and 2 Chinese-owned stores. Much was beautiful. Gorgeous. So cheap, too - much cheaper than G Street Fabrics. Candy and I were both drooling.

I ended up choosing a silver/aqua Chinese silk brocade, just need to buy aqua silk skirt material. Candy (the woman making my dress) is very cool, too. She got done making the pattern for the bodice while I watched. She's good.

I *heart* Chinese silk brocade and saris. I'm going back to buy some chiffon saris for curtains. Soon.

I also bought two yards of red silk brocade with dragon & phoenix motif. Somehow, I'm going to use that at the reception...if we can work out an acceptable deal with the caterer, Amphora. The first quote was $3000. I said $3000 not! We do not need 5 servers for 60 people. No way. We don't even need servers, we just need people to set up, take down, and pour the wine and beer (the alcohol isn't even counted in the quote). The food was only 1/2 of the quote, mind you. All that "other" stuff is the expensive stuff.

So we're checking out other options. Might do dinner by someone else, desserts by Amphora. Who knows.

This is going to become a boring blog the closer we get to the wedding, you realize. Don't say you haven't been warned!

Beware the Jub Jub Bird and shun the frumious...Coke machine

I politely slid the dollar in for my caffiene fix this morning. Reverently, I pushed the Diet Coke with Lemon button. I received a Diet Coke and a Mello Yello. I have never in my life bought Mello Yello. I guess the Coke machine felt that it had to provide a substitute for not having Diet Coke with Lemon? Maybe I'm supposed to mix the two together to approximate...a bad taste? I'm stumped. This isn't the first time the Coke machine has substituted one drink for another. Once I got ginger ale when I pressed Coke. Once I got Diet Coke when I pressed Dasani. I think the machine is posessed.

Given that I really wanted Starbucks DoubleShot but couldn't find one at the Metro mini mart, I was feeling like I used up all my luck on the Google button this morning.

Last night, we watched Baraka. Not about Amiri Baraka, but the documentary with pretty music. I had bought the soundtrack in 1993 or 1994 because it looked interesting but back then, I didn't have cable, so last night was the first night that I've seen the movie. It was, well, as expected and quite enjoyable for a documentary movie with only an implied message. I didn't think my sweetie would be interested (because he's not a Discovery Channel nerd like I am), but he sat and watched and we tried to guess the places filmed. It was easy to guess Haleakala and Arches and Canyonlands. But was it Papua New Guinea or the Amazon? Where in Africa? Is that Kuwait? From Tibetan monks to Bangkok brothels to Tuol Sleng and the twilight of the Khmer Rouge, the images were largely non-Western (as in North American & European). In fact, except for the eerie juxtaposition of Auschwitz with the concentration camps in Cambodia and the interior of a famous mosque (I'm ignorant as to which one) with the interior of famous cathedrals and (I assume) parts of the Vatican, there is little European in the movie. Busy scenes were shot of New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, but that was about all. The rest was candy for the eye.

Watching Baraka, I was reminded of Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi. Two weeks ago, I learned that there is a third in the series, Naqoyqatsi, so it seems fitting that we just watched Baraka. Once again, I had the music to both Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi before I saw the movies. Music often leads me to new discoveries. Music is the source, don't you forget it!

Here's a site about these kinds of movies.

Meanwhile, Ali has posted pictures of plumerias I wish I could grow. My nose twitches in sorrow that I cannot smell them! :( And if anyone has a good local contact that will ship 1000 plumerias and 1000 pikake plus some ti leaf, maile leaf, etc. for leis, please let me know!

Yay! It's raining!

We really need more of it. Oooh, thunder!

I was visiting skarlet's site today (after a talk about her hair - we will be doing something about that tomorrow...), and I followed a link to asian viking girl, where I found this hilarious bit:

WHAT'S YOUR SOUTHERN SIGN?
Some Southerners are pretty skeptical of horoscopes and the people that read them. If we are to ever fully understand all the star signs and the people they represent, we need symbols that all true Southerners understand:

OKRA (Dec 22 - Jan 20)
Are tough on the outside but tender on the inside. Okras have tremendous influence. An older Okra can look back over his life and see the seeds of his influence everywhere. You can do something good each day if you try.

CHITLIN (Jan 21 - Feb 19)
Chitlins come from humble backgrounds. A Chitlin, however, will make something of himself if he is motivated and has lots of seasoning. In dealing with Chitlins, be careful they may surprise you. They can erupt like Vesuvius. Chitlins are best with Catfish and Okra.

BOLL WEEVIL (Feb 20 - March 20)
You have an overwhelming curiosity. You're unsatisfied with the surface of things, and you feel the need to bore deep into the interior of everything. Needless to say, you are very intense and driven as if you had some inner hunger. You love to stay busy and tend to work too much. Nobody in their right mind is going to marry you, so don't worry about it.

MOON PIE (March 21 - April 20)
You're the type that spends a lot of time on the front porch. A cinch to recognize the physical appearance of Moon Pies. Big and round are the key words here. You should marry anybody who you can get remotely interested in the idea. It's not going to be easy. You always have a big smile and are happy. This might be the year to think about aerobics. Maybe not.

POSSUM (April 21 - May 21)
When confronted with life's difficulties, possums have a marked tendency to withdraw and develop a don't-bother-me-about-it attitude. Sometimes you become so withdrawn, people actually think you're dead. This strategy is probably not psychologically healthy but seems to work for you. You are a rare breed. Most folks love to watch you work and play. You are a night person and mind your own business.

CRAWFISH (May 22 - June 21)
Crawfish is a water sign. If you work in an office, you're hanging around the water cooler. Crawfish prefer the beach to the mountains, the pool to the golf course, and the bathtub to the living room. You tend not to be particularly attractive physically, but you have very, very good heads.

COLLARDS (June 22 - July 23)
Collards have a genius for communication. They love to get in "the melting pot" of life and share their essence with the essence of those around them. Collards make good social workers, psychologists, and baseball managers. As far as your personal life goes, if you are Collards, stay away from Crawfish. It just won't work. Save yourself a lot of heartache.

CATFISH (July 24 - Aug 23)
Catfish are traditionalists in matters of the heart, although one's whiskers may cause problems for loved ones. You Catfish are never easy people to understand. You run fast. You work and play hard. Even though you prefer the muddy bottoms to the clear surface of life, you are liked by most. Above all else, Catfish should stay away from Moon Pies.

GRITS (Aug 24 - Sept 23)
Your highest aim is to be with others like yourself. You like to huddle together with a big crowd of other Grits. You love to travel though, so maybe you should think about joining a club. Where do you like to go? Anywhere they have cheese, gravy, bacon, butter, or eggs and a good time. If you can go somewhere where they have all these things, that serves you well. You are pure in heart.

BOILED PEANUTS (Sept 24 - Oct 23)
You have a passionate desire to help your fellow man. Unfortunately, those who know you best, your friends and loved ones, may find that your personality is much too salty, and their criticism will affect you deeply because you are really much softer than you appear. You should go right ahead and marry anybody you want to because in a certain way, yours is a charmed life. On the road of life, you can be sure that people will always pull over and stop for you.

BUTTER BEAN (Oct 24 - Nov 22)
Always invite a Butter Bean to a party because Butter Beans get along well with everybody. You, as a Butter Bean, should be proud. You've grown on the vine of life, and you feel at home no matter what the setting. You can sit next to anybody. However, you, too, shouldn't have anything to do with Moon Pies.

ARMADILLO (Nov 23 - Dec 21)
You have a tendency to develop a tough exterior, but you are actually quite gentle and kind inside. A good evening for you? Old friends, a fire, some roots, fruit, worms, and insects. You are a throwback. You're not concerned with today's fashions and trends. You're not concerned with anything about today. You're almost prehistoric in your interests and behavior patterns. You probably want to marry another Armadillo, but a Possum is another somewhat kinky mating possibility.

Red Turtles

The other day, when I was home sick with stomach ailments, I fell in and out of naps. In one of these naps, I dreamed that I was visiting someone in an apartment that had a very complicated stairway/walkway/catwalk kind of entrance. Their place was kind of Bladerunnerish, as if someone never actually lived there, things were draped in cloths, etc. The person (I can't remember if it was male or female or even if there were more than one) then showed me something that he/she/they had been carrying in their hand. It was a small turtle. Not just any turtle, mind you, but a red turtle. Red shell, red skin, red everything. It could also crawl vertically on glass. And then he/she/they told me that they bred genetically engineered animals (see the Bladerunner theme is running deep) and lifted up the turtle's, um, claws(?) to show me the undersides. They were like cat paws, compelete with soft pinkish pads. So cute! I love that part of a cat. Anyway, not only were the pads pink, but each of them had a different card suit on them: turquoise heart, green diamond, gray spade, etc. It was really cool and really freaky at the same time.

Then we left the place and exited into a parking lot at the rear of a building.

And so we go into the wilds of New Jersey...

It's the other wedding this weekend. I've still got to water the plants, feed the cat, and find some decent shoes to wear, stop at the post office to mail two "special delivery" packages to my sister (sis - pass along the little package to dad, please - it's for the new store), and make coffee. I think making coffee is going to be sacrificed, 'cause I can buy that.

After reading skarlet's post, I can't stop singing:

The sailing Elvis, Captain Elvis

and

Elvis needs boats, Elvis needs boats, Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis needs boats...

I don't know why. Seriously, though, I remember being in the car when Elvis died and my mom being very upset and all I could say is "Who's Elvis?"

BTW: just the idea of Chelvis cracks me up.

Hmm

skarlet says my site is down. But I'm not sure about that...

Pepsi Blue, how I love you

I may not be completely sane right now, as I am still suffering from a bad head cold (now past the worst sneezing but into the coughing and stuffed ears stage), but I swear I like Pepsi Blue a lot.

Two days ago, I found it at the local K-Mart and text messaged the Batgrl as I was waiting at the long long loooooong light on 50. She told me that I must write a review of it. But to be fair, I really can't do that until I can actually taste it. I lost the ability to taste some time Friday morning and it really hasn't come back yet.

I do know that my first impression of the cool blue drink was that it was lighter on the syrup than Mountain Dew Code Red or even Pepsi Twist. I was much pleased. I like berry sodas. When I order an Italian soda, it's usually blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, or raspberry. Pepsi Blue is like that.

Anyway, I am not sure that I was in my right mind when I TMed the Grl o Bat, as it was the first bad day of my cold and I was in my car with no AC and we've had Code Orange/Red days with the heat index over 100 degrees, but I think I told the bottle of Pepsi Blue that I loved it and would cherish it always.

My pledge was short-lived, as shortly after that, I went into another store and had to leave it behind to roast in the car.

I remedied this situation when I stopped at CVS and purchased more Pepsi Blue, plus the new diet Code Red (ugh) and Dr. Pepper Red Fusion.

Hi. I am a soda pop junkie.

Ah, nostalgia

A few nights ago, I went through most of my posters/prints from 1983 on. I had no idea I was still hanging on to some of those posters! I have 5 Soviet propaganda posters, a Nagel, a poster from the first time I saw U2 (1983) in Hawaii. There are many more than I could possibly display, but I don't want to give some of them away. I wish I had a map unit!

Some of these posters are:

U2 live in Hawaii, c. 1983
U2 War, c. 1986
U2 Unforgettable Fire special tour poster, c. 1985
Japan (1980 pic), c. 1987
The Alarm, c. 1985.
Band Aid, c. 1985
The Ophelias, c. 1988
Robert Smith, c. 1986
The Damned, c. 1987
Midge Ure (autographed), c. 1987
Ultravox, c. 1986
Ultravox, Lament promo
The Front, c. 1990
Sting, c. 1990
Caterwaul, c. 1989
Generation Perdue (The Lost Boys in French), c. 1987
Pretty in Pink, c. 1986
2 Eschers
Lady of Shallot
Combustible Edison, c. 1996
Placebo, c. 1999

Framed:
Charles Addams - Cooper Hewitt
Edward Gorey
Maurin Quina green devil
Nagel
oh, who cares, there's just lots.

Don't know what I'm going to do with all the Bauhaus/etc. posters: 5 Bauhaus (1 promo), 6+ Love and Rockets (at least 3 of them promos), 1 Peter (promo), 1 Daniel (promo), 1 David (promo). I think I can only bear to part with one L&R and one Bauhaus.

Somewhere, I'm still missing Munch's Madonna, David J, Jazz Butcher, Absinthe Robette, Bitter Oriental, Black Cat, and a few others. I have no idea where they went.

I also have a bunch of my own art, random things like parts from a Fantasia display, and a Rue Bourbon sign from New Orleans. Then there are the posters I don't want and won't list.

This doesn't even come close to all the Duran Duran and Star Wars posters I have at my parennts' house...

Driving distractions

Funniest license plate of the month (spotted yesterday, on the way to dinner with skarlet and eric):

UMM N0
(MD tags)

But today, I spotted another funny one, reminiscent of SNL:

000 N00
(NC tags)

Yeah, the first one is funnier.

OK, off to wrap the sweetie's birthday presents before he finishes making the risotto (that'll take awhile)!

Ode to a Moist Towelette

O moist towelette
You came into my life
Your faux lemony scent
Wafted up my nasal cavities
(past the cilia)
Bringing comfort to me
In my hour of greatest need.

This was just the first verse of the ode, as written in crayon on the brown paper table cover at Rocky Run restaurant (where they have NTN trivia!). I also wrote a long ode to Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna, but, perhaps, the best poem of the night was this one.

Osama
O Osama,
The sight of your wiry grizzled beard
Makes me hot.
It makes me want to send you a razor.
Perhaps you will slip.
I would not cry.

I'm blaming it on the tropical punch drink and the stress of trying to keep our scores above Snoop and Ez E.

I'll work on that PPG ice cream report tomorrow...

Giggly

I am running away to watch Babe: Pig in the City on (gasp!) netowrk TV in a few, but I wanted post a few links.

First, welcome to Eric (I am still laughing over the DJ brainstorm sweetie and I had on Friday), host of fishinnards.com. He's skarlet's sweetie and personal chef. Speaking of the delicious skarlet, don't forget to sponsor her and kd (or the people of your choosing) for Blogathon.

Uh, I think those might be my only links tonight. Pig in the City (followed by Sex in the City, something about that is just begging to be made into a skit) is calling.

Maybe I'll get around to writing about my sweetie's parents visiting this hot and steamy weekend, or the movie Lovely & Amazing later. Or maybe not. This might be all I can manage tonight.

Mmm, Tasty Rodent Treats

I was at the Petco the other day. I go there often, but lately I've been missing Low. I've made Low out to be one of the cool kids because she sort of resembles Jennifer Connelly (only taller and more angular), has the name Low, stands outside the store to smoke, and despite looking unapporachable, is really the most helpful person there.

Way too smart for the job, so maybe she's moved on already.

Anyway, so I was there last week, buying the usual bags of cat food and litter and noticed that, unlike me, the guy in front of me had only a few small items. One of these items was an opaque plastic ziplock bag with a cartoon picture of a mouse. It said something like "tasty treats." When he got to the register, he told the guy "2" and the guy scanned the bag.

I found it all weird. I mean, it was obvious that the bag contained two mice, but why weren't they moving? The bag never moved at all. Don't snakes like their prey to be alive? And it looked too small for the mice I've seen. I was so curious. Alas, my curiousity was forgotten when I tried to get the $5 off rebate coupon from the brain-dead cashier.

Well, dammit. I didn't mean to, but I won Ana Voog's drawing of Steve Jansen, incorrectly labeled as Mick Karn. I don't really want it but I had a momentary lapse in judgement last night, assuming I'd be outbid because Ana's so wildly popular amongst her thousands of rabid fans. It was not to be - the drawing is mine. Well, I was saying that I should start investing in actual art soon...

Don't get me wrong, I love Japan and I really think Ana Voog is interesting. I don't mind buying the art. I was just, you know, sure I wouldn't win. After all, now I have to find a place for it (and ten zillion other things for the wall).

np: Andrea Parker - Kiss My Arp

Touch the Puppet Head

Actually, that's not what I'm singing in my head today.

For some reason, today, I am singing:

All the people are so happy now, their heads are caving in
I'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin
But every little thing's a domino that falls on different dots
And crashes into everything that tries to make it stop

And nothing's smelling like a rose
But I don't care if no one's coming up for air
I know nothing's gonna change my clothes ever anymore.

Well, damn. No one told me Big Brother 3 already started.

I bought the Ultimate Edition Legend last night. Yes, I know you know how much I dislike that Cruise guy, but Mia Sara and Tim Curry (plus pretty cinematography) more than make up for that Cruise guy's presence.

Apparantly, my Smiths Anthem is Cemetary Gates. Why am I not surprised.

So I was looking for information on the band Tragic Mulatto, 'cause I have one album and one tape of theirs and neither have the song 'Freddy.' While searching for them, though, I came across The Jim Crow Museum. Interesting stuff there.

What a bummer. The Maple Street glider I wanted is already sold out. You can sort of see how a corner of it might have looked on our deck (ignore the table they're selling). It would have looked stunning, I tell ya. Stunning.

that's precisely it - cheeky, but tasteful,light-footed and very all right

Yes, they are. Check out De-Phazz. They're still on my to-get list. I have an eBay bid in for them.

PS: I see that mr-opihi.net (or a similar name) is still available...

All I got was a rock

Went to the staff picnic at Folklife this afternoon. Ate Afghan food. Yummy, but suspiciously the same as Indian.

Found no bodhisattva masks. All sold out. So is everything from Kyrgyzstan.

C bought this.

Charlotte and her family will be in the DC area tomorrow. Going to see them on the 4th. Yay!

Must remember to charge the camera batteries to take lots of photos of the cutie pies.

Must go. Have a conference call with Chris Wink in 15 minutes.

Sundry Things

I found out yesterday that my friend, Dennis, well, he's not a friend friend, but he is someone I used to talk with a lot. Anyway, I found out that Dennis and his wife, Emily, are getting a divorce, which makes me really sad, because I really liked them together. I can't feel bad for Dennis, though, because he's the reason they're getting a divorce - he's the one that doesn't want to be married, having someone expect him home for dinner, etc. It's very strange, 'cause I always thought Dennis was this really nice, sweet, guy, but he is - apparantly - an ass as well. Of course, his mother is a former nun and his father is a former priest (currently on his fourth marriage), so you can see he's had the best of all possible role models...

But that isn't where I was going.

I found out that Dennis had a terrible car accident this week when someone ran the yellow and had to be hospitalized. His car is totalled and he is now missing a chunk of flesh from his leg as well. Ick. He was supposed to come to Karen's party tomorrow night, but I am guessing that he's just not feeling that well. Plus no car. Sucks to be him right now.

I really am weirded out about his personality change, though. He's been fluctuating a lot in the past few years (since he and Em were married) and is now a complete control freak about everything he can possibly control at work. Poor guy is pretty messed up. Yes, he is seeing a professional.

Au Bon Pain is evil.

They make Creme de Fleur. Creme de Fleur is evil. A coworker went up to ABP for lunch and I made her bring me back one. I ate it. I am evil.

Before I go out and enjoy today's remaining Folklife festivities (ones, alas, that skarlet will miss, although they could come and haunt her dreams...heh), I must post two pictures taken by the batgrl. I requested them special.

This is my new desktop

If only all sidewalk grills were so tasteful

Finally, this pic I forgot to post awhile ago:

Vespa watch

Revisit

I'm supposed to be in a meeting right now. I'm skipping it.

I have so many files from my old sites that haven't seen the light of day in awhile.

For my (your?) viewing pleasure, I've dusted this one off. They're all stolen, I tell ya. One or two is/are not necessarily work-friendly.

I just love the Honeywell Girl, though. I was telling skarlet and batgrl about how I found the picture.

Speaking of things that I disucssed recently with the dynamic duo, my boss has a mind to make the tiny office directly next to mine ready for a former AU professor. While I am overjoyed that annoying-as-all-fuck Chuck was unceremoniously dumped from the office/building last Wednesday, I am not pleased with this news.

What have I done to deserve this?

Wait, isn't that a Pet Shop Boys song? Ironically, I am currently listening to the goth/industrial cover cd of PSB songs.

Never call me unprepared

Personally, I don't know why Demeter Fragrances don't package together the three scents I just ordered. I've been wanting them a long time. Ok, not as long as I've been wanting, say, new bookshelves, but awhile.

I ordered:
Funeral Home
Holy Smoke
Holy Water
and I can't wait for them to arrive!

Demeter are so missing out on my demographic: people with gothy undertones.

On a similar but unrelated topic, Six Feet Under makes me think of the movie Kissed. I believe, but am not certain, that the rabbi in Six Feet Under is the main character in Kissed. I will have to look this up.

Green Hair

I love green. It's the color of grass, the color of the ocean, the color of calm. It's soothing. I loved the deep color green of Manic Panic-Directions Alpine Green that I used to dye my hair in college. It was purty.

Tonight, my hair is green. Not green like the days of yore, but green like a blonde who goes swimming too often. Green like slime.

Crappy dye. Mood Indigo, my ass. This is the same brand that batgrl left behind because it turned her hair orange. Crappy dye.

Yesterday, my hair was the color of a tamarin. Tomorrow, I will be a fashion DON'T, but thank whatever gods that I still have Manic Panic After Midnight Blue and Fudge Blue Velvet on hand.

This isn't all my hair, no way. Just a few streaks in the front.

Luckily, I am easily distracted. The Professional was on and I love that movie. Funny how a brutal movie about dirty federal agents, a hitman, and a girl can be such a feel-good movie.

We're also having a BIG STORM. Lots of cells. Lots of rain, wind, and hail. Did I mention hail? I thought I had. Lots of thunder and lightning. It's exciting and freaky at the same time, 'cause our storms usually go by really fast. This one is taking its time. Seems to mean it.

There I go, anthropomorphizing the storm. Better than bitching about my hair, though, you have to admit.

I am still cursed when it comes to cd-rs today. I'm giving up for now. I've been up and down the Apple site and can't find a solution.

That's enough moroseness from me. You can all talk amongst yourselves.

Redneck Neighbor

I am so glad we don't have one in our neighborhood.

Or, maybe, I should say that I am so glad that we aren't the redneck neighbors.

My sweetie sent me the link. He's been chuckling over there in the corner, reading it and giving me reports. Or maybe he's just losing his mind.

The rock in the garden is priceless.

It's sad that we won't be meeting Faith! (nod to Wulfgar!) this evening at Atomic Billiards. I was looking forward to it. Now that the meeting between skarlet! and batgrl! has proved to cause good disturbances (hassle-free driving, running into three long-lost friends, etc.), adding Faith! to the mix would have made for more good luck, right?

Yesterday, I hugged a moai.

Wonderous Amazement

So there the bat and I were, walking through Restoration Hardware when I saw it. It being a book by Merritt Ierly. Not just any book, either, but a book that I actually know.

I picked up the book and squealed with delight and horror. Delight that the book was being sold in Restoration Hardware and horror that they would actually sell the book (proving that they haven't read it).

It's not well-written. It's not bad, it's just not a good historical resource and has a very rambling style.

Of course, I believe that that may be the point of the book, to be quick and shallow reading.

Anyway, the reason I squealed was that Restoration Hardware has lovely things. I must beat down my Inner Yuppie when I go into the store (or the prices do that for me). So you can understand my amusement and fear when I saw a book in which I have one of the first credits in the Acknowledgements.

Yes, my name is in that book. I was thanked for helping someone as part of my job. It's kinda cool.

Sleepy

I am so sleepy sometimes.

Did I mention my intern brought me back some Reactine? One side effect is sleepiness. I have that.

Tomorrow, the batgrl comes in for a visit.

I have a list of things to do:

dust
vacuum
clear boxes out of green room
clean out never-used shower
clean out kitty litter
get stuff in order

Accomplished tonight: 0

Sigh.

I'm wondering if I know when she's coming in. Hmm. Better find that.

Let's hear it for interns & contractors

C and I currently have a crop of very entertaining interns & a contractor: K, J, & P. They're all under 25, all bright, and all pretty hip.

J has a portfolio on the web of her photographs. I can't make the link public, but they're nice.

K (the intern turned contractor) has a webzine. It's just starting, I guess, but they're young and sarcastic. Throw some hits their way, ok?

P's just started. She shows much promise as well.

I think it's safe to say that our interns & contractor ROCK.

It may be humid as a terrarium outside,

but I'm happy!

I saw my first party animals tonight.

I am so excited. You can't see it, but I am. Ever since I visited the batgrl and saw the gators, I've been waiting for our "pets" to arrive.

I saw three on the Mall tonight and missed two (didn't realize they were there and walked by them). There aren't pictures yet, but here's one I saw while it was being done.

Most of them aren't as clever as the gators (watermelophant is a cute name and I really like coat of nails and this one is probably my favorite), and I see waaaaay too many American flags, but I am appreciative all the same. Does the batgrl feel the need to take some pictures of them? I think Saturday am we will be camera shopping, yes, yes.

There are a lot more women than men who painted these animals. I wonder why?

I'm not finished yet, I'm under construction

So batgrl thinks I know the answer to this question, from popculturejunkmail.com

"Now are you ready for a new pop-culture plea? Paul is wondering who was the woman who played "Rio" in the Duran Duran video of the same name? (You know her, she dances on the sand. You've seen her on the beach, and you've seen her on TV. And when she shines, she really...oh, forget it.) Says Paul: "This came up among friends a few days ago and as usual, when no one knew, became a question demanding an answer. You'd think this sort of pointless triviality is what the Internet is for but all I've found either asserts that Rio was a model named "Reema" (nothing else) or that she was Tula (Caroline Cossey). [Cossey is a man who became a gorgeous woman.] A choice, it seems, between the unhelpful and the unlikely." Does anyone have a better answer? You might find her if you're looking like you can."

To this, I must say that I did know once upon a time. I even think that the name Reema is correct. But I can't say for certain because my entire (sizable) D2 collection is 5000+ miles away. I guess that's coming home with me this year, right?

This, of course, has gotten me so nostalgic, I must watch Decade soon. I wish I could watch Sing Blue Silver or Arena but alas, I don't have them on VHS, only Beta. And they were only bad copies. Somewhere, I also have an early MTV D2 concert, too.

This site is good.

It's official

My hair is long enough again to put up with chopsticks.

Houses 'n' stuff

This weekend was a house weekend. We spent 2 & 1/2 hours at Home Despot on Saturday, then while sweetie went back to HD for different nails, I made the trek to K-Mart. I was gone over two hours, thanks to traffic and K-Mart's bright idea to close all but one lane (and that lane was cash only) on a Saturday afternoon. We managed to put up one towel rack. I didn't get any planting done because we decided to clean, bleach, & brighten the deck. It took us most of the day yesterday just to do the top level. And used a lot of chemicals (I feel lots of guilt over that). Hopefully we haven't just killed everything in the vicinity. The top level looks much better than it did, though. We've got to find time to do the lower level and then stain the whole thing. We're probably not going to be done until July sometime.

Well, at least I got the car oil changed.

Charles mentions that the
Coney Island Mermaid Parade is going to happen soon.

I want one. I want a Mermaid Parade here, or at least in Baltimore, where there's actually a harbor.

I took this test at Jeannine's blog.

Speaking of things online, I like the idea of the poem tag (via batgrl). I might have to participate.

We watched some things this weekend. First, the Six Feet Under season finale was a cliffhanger. We know that Peter Krause has got to be back next season, but still, leaving him during brain surgery is just too cruel.

We also caught Planet of the Apes on Cinemax. Mini review: Great makeup, decent story but ending serves one purpose only - set up sequel. Since the original spawned sequels, too, it was ok. But, honestly, that far in the future, would apes and humans still speak a language that Marky Mark would have no trouble speaking? I don't think so.

This brings me to a review of A.I. We watched this DVD at my urging in April. What a stinky movie. It started ok and the effects were good, but it should have ended in a completely different way. Can we say tacked-on-Hollywood ending? Can we say paper-thin plot? Can we say metaphors that never actually pan out or wtf? Can we say nothing new? If you do watch the movie, after the kid robot finds the Blue Fairy, do yourself a favor and stop watching. You'll be happier, trust me, than sitting through another 15-30 minutes of pure sludge.

I try to be of service.

I completely forgot

Don't you hate that?

I forgot to mention that I am just waiting with bated breath for batgrl to arrive so we can go to the Honolulu Restaurant if it still exists, or at least the Hula Inn or Luau Gardens (Sterling & Herndon, respectively). It's not that the food will be remotely Hawaiian or good, I just want to see it for myself and get another tiki glass for the collection.

I also plan to drag her to the Botanic Gardens and to photograph three or four very retro motel signs. I don't know when the mini blog-con is supposed to be, but I think you had all better figure it out, because batgrl's dance card is fast filling up...

Have you ever...

...wondered about the word crunk? I find myself wondering about it today. It's a particularly ugly sound, I think. I knew it was the name of a band, but I didn't realize how widespread its use was.

I also didn't know this was its origin. This is a better definition (but, um, reading down the list, I have to say WTF?! to "cut up." Sheesh. Kidz n their werdz 2day.).

Getting back to crunk.org, I read the list of crunk music. I think I have to conclude that, despite liking a very few of those bands, I am not fond of crunk music. In fact, I think crunk sounds suspiciously like something an Abercrombie & Fitch diphead would use.

What I can't figure out is this: Why does an 'NSYNC site use the word? Oh, nevermind. A&F. Riiiiight.

In conclusion, I am most definitely not crunk.

To celebrate in my non-crunkiness, I am listening to Bran Van 3000. Is it just me, or does the song Supermodel sound a bit like Basehead? Here's my favorite BV3 picture:

(As my friend Jane would say) Holy Jesus on a jumped up pile o' meat, if you can't keep track of your 13 12 children, don't have that many. I know, it wasn't malicious, and I've had a cousin left behind in a car while the rest of the family went and watched a movie - in a theatre, but we're talking baby here.

Yesterday, my intern (have I mentioned lately how cool she is? she's going to bring back Zyrtec/reactine and chocolates for me. mmm.) found the link to Talk to Taka. Very cute. (btw, it is her job to find all things of APA interest - she's already located A&F shirts and anti-A&F shirts for us).

So, since it was my lunch hour, I spent the time watching more atomfilms. It's been years since I've been there (there was a film about twinkies, I believe, when I was last there). I must have watched 8 in that hour (one was 17 minutes). I found another that I liked: Bloody Mary. Nothing new, but amused me nonetheless. Oh yes, and don't forget Asian Pride Porn. Very funny.

I have things to get done this weekend. You would think that I would have done some things last weekend, when I had 4 long days to do them, but I was suffering from terrible allergies (which seem to be light this week) and preparing for a little dinner party.

So anyway, this week I have to brave Fair Oaks mall. I am going to, of course, take Batgrl there next weekend (and probably Tysons, too), but I really need more Bloom Tint lipgloss. It's not as good a tint as L'Oreal's Revealing Rose Rouge Pulp (RIP), but it's a good good gloss. I can only find it here in the city or at Sephora.

I also have get the oil changed in my car.

Of course, this is all moot if the Fairfax burglar hits us. Then we'd just be talking to police and insurance all weekend.

(btw, reading the local crimes reported blotter does nothing to ease the worry.)

Would you like some blood with that?

Last night, we watched Ginger Snaps [here's a fan site].

It's Canadian, released direct to video here. We saw it on TMC or HBO or Cinemax or SHO. One of those. It seemed like it would be your run of the mill schlock horror film.

I thought it was great.

The opening sequence is pretty disturbing - but I liked it. Am I disturbed? Perhaps. Perhaps not. It was along the lines of watching a Marilyn Manson video or parts of The Cell. Creepy yet interesting.

The sisters were twisted but fiercely loyal and very much outsiders. Their clothes were well-thought out. Sort of like a cross between the Spooky Kids and Holly Hobby, if you can imagine that.

One of the actresses (Katherine Isabelle) was most recently in Insomnia. Both actresses appeared in Season 5 X-Files episodes (Canada, eh?). Mimi Rogers, perhaps, gave the funniest performance as the girls' mother.

Anyway, it was amusing and interesting. Nothing I haven't heard of before, but a nice werewolf story nonetheless.

And no silly Hollywood ending.

I want my bubble tea

I want some. Went to Lotte today. Koreans just aren't as hip as Taiwanese, I guess, and we all know West Coast is so much more hip than East. I mean, they have bubble tea everywhere in Vancouver!

I did come home, though, with some char siu bao and scallion buns and rose gum and milky ice pops and shrimp chips (not the kind that puff up and stick to your tongue, alas). Ono!

Anyway, only one place serves bubble tea and it's on Capitol Hill.

It's not open now.

The funny thing is, I have never actually had a real bubble tea. I have only had a taster of bubble tea at the Costco in Honolulu and didn't like it because it was melon flavored. Ick. But the other flavors sound so good and it seems to beckon to me...

Which reminds me, once upon a time, I found a package of instant iced tea at Shirokiya. It wasn't just instant iced tea, it was instant sweetened iced green tea with milk. It was so tasty. I never found it again.

VSD

I am enjoying the Very Secret Diaries. Yes, I am.

Day 200072:

Refused to let Arwen attend Council of Elrond, as if she does, she will certainly notice I have borrowed her tiara.

Tiara looks better on me anyway.

Freaky Fridays

I am liking that the local gothsters have a new event, Freaky Fridays. Haven't been to one yet (this is only the second), but it's a fun idea.

Forensic Breakbeats

Hey, I know him. We always camped with his family when we were kids. He always set up bug catchers and would show us the pretty-colored beetles in the morning. I also remember when he started being called by the police department to identify bugs found at a crime scene. My parents would pass along the fascinatingly gross details that he'd tell them.

I found out about his book while reading a synop of Corpse.

The whole bug thing reminds me of a story I was once told. This is true, mind you. Straight from the mouth of the (Los Angeles) policeman who saw this. This happened about the same time as the Toxic Lady.

My colleague's brother was on duty one day when he and his partner were told to report to the scene of a crime. When they got there, they found a dead woman, stiff as a board, lying facedown in a puddle of dried blood. The woman had been shot or stabbed and left to die in a covered parking lot (car was probably carjacked). So they called in the coronor and waited at the scene, disturbing nothing (obvious homicide).

When the coronor arrived, the team started to move the body. It was then that they made the grisly discovery that the woman wasn't dead although she hadn't been breathing. When she was flipped around, she started coughing up maggots from her lungs. Not only that, but maggots were found in every orifice. Ick.

I think a few of the officers threw up at that point.

An ambulance was quickly called and the woman was taken to intensive care. The last I heard, she was being kept alive on life support but as some of her brain had been filled with maggots, it's hard to believe she survived that long.

In case you hadn't guessed, I am morbidly fascinated by forensic entomology. The Discovery channel group is my friend. :)

Speaking of insects, I am having aphid problems. They're eating my poor miniature roses. I washed off the majority of them, but they keep coming back. Did you know they are almost all female and give birth to live young females practically immediately?

The aphid life cycle has three stages: egg, nymph and adult. Eggs overwinter on the host plant and a generation of females hatch in the spring. Within ten days of being born, the female aphid can give birth asexually (without mating) to a second generation of females. This process can continue throughout the summer allowing aphid populations to reach high numbers very quickly. In the fall, winged males are produced to mate with remaining females. The eggs which are produced from this union overwinter. The following spring, the cycle continues.

Anyone have Suckadelic's Star Wars Breakbeats or Sauron Speaks: Fat Beats from the Dark Tower? I would really like to get some of those songs (he sampled Rush, hee hee).

Bubble Chair

Here's a bubble chair for Charles.

Is it just me, or does this latest Peter Murphy* album sound, well, a bit more like a David Sylvian album? Seriously, it's definitely PM, but it's more world music than usual, which is why I mentioned Mr. Sylvian, who often uses Indian themes in his...oh, I can see your eyes glazing over now.

* I don't know what it is, but I always have this overwhelming urge to call Mr. Murphy "Pyotr" rather that Pee-ter. That's what comes of 4 years of Russian, I guess.

For the record

Vanilla Coke ain't all that.

Down in the Lime Tree Arbor...

You know, I meant to write about things last week. It was busy and yet not.

Our new intern started. She's very cool, very capable, nothing like the last. While I like S, she was so timid and uncertain and stubborn. She was unwilling to step out of her comfort zone (which was, sadly, extremely limited). After awhile, we just gave up and let her do what she wanted to do - which was work on her school papers. Don't get me wrong - socially, S is really nice to know. As an intern, though, she was less than stellar.

J, on the other hand, is a marvel. I'm glad we didn't get her first. Going from her to P will be easy (we worked with P last year and know she's a smart cookie as well). J's from BC (yes, Canada) and is actually interested in all things Asian-American/Asian-Canadian. Not only is she incredibly well-versed in the topic, she's a crazy fast typer. In three days, she whipped the contact list database that S had spent months on (and did not do well) into a usuable entity. Yay J! Not only that, but she is extremely confident in her abilities and a whiz at learning new things. She's going to push us to do things, not the other way around.

So, the week went by and on Thursday, I saw Dana Tai Soon Burgess' dance company. Actually, we arranged for them to perform here at our opening event. I had heard beaucoups about Moving Forward, but I had never seen them before. They were amazing. It made me both extremely pleased and sad. Pleased because it was a feast for the eyes and ears and sad because why can't I dance like that? Well, there are many reasons why. It was still a sight to see, though. This is how I know our intern is adventurous: she decided to take lessons @ the Moving Forward dance studio. She's not afraid to be pushed.

Of course, I saw her chatting with her boyfriend or someone else online while she was supposed to be working...

I skipped out of the post-performance discussion early to meet my sweetie. We had tickets to the David Sylvian show @ the 9:30 club. I have been a David fan (not rabid, but I have all of the Japan albums and many many of the offshoot ones) since I was 13 but never had the chance to see him before. This was my first time. I was armed with the Blackberry that I've gotten to borrow lately (oh, how I love it) and sent emails to the batgrl, taunting her with my technology during the show.

David was excellent. I'm never sure what kind of music to term his stuff: ballady and earth-mother-y and hindu-y yet still somewhat experimentally jazzy. Not quite as bad as lite jazz, thank god, but a far cry from his early days. Steve Jansen (his brother, also from Japan) was the drummer, which pleased me to no end. Both David and Steve in one show! The bassist wore a black kilt with the knee socks and little flaggy garter (what's that called? I used to have to wear those with my brownie and girl scout uniforms) and these techie spacey boots not unlike the kind currently shown in the Super Hero Machine. The keyboardist, though, was unnerving. The thoughts that came to my head when describing him: Phish. Paul Shaffer with dreaded braids. Annoying.

And David, ah, where was your fashion sense? He was dressed like a sepia toned picture in full 70s geek regalia: Burnt sienna leather jacket, beige big-collared button down shirt, tan 2000-version-of-70s-sporty shoes, brown (double knit?) pants, and oversized, brown-tinted gradiated sunglasses. Um, what was he thinking?

There was one overzealous fan that I think everyone remembers. See, David had a sit down show and this fan was kneeling in front of the stage, making a dog beanie baby dance. Because everyone one else was sitting back from the stage, everyone could see this weird guy. Then, at the end of the encore (there were three encores), he tossed the dog to David. Did I mention that the guy looked like a Haysi Fantayzee reject?

The next day, I was a bit tired, but we decided to check out a gallery in Arlington for the wedding reception. It wasn't a bad space. We couldn't have a sit-down dinner but we were thinking buffet anyway. There is a sound system and an electric piano and a catering kitchen, but we're not sure if we'll fit everyone in comfortably. We could set up rougly 70 chairs around the gallery, but most if not all people would have to stand every now and then.

The next day, I made the mistake of going to Big Planet Comics. See, it was Free Comic Book Day and I wanted one, dammit (in my case, 6 were free, but none that I would have bought yet I'm actually anjoying them). I discovered Lenore #9 just came out (alas, no Creepy Tiki book or the Big-Headed Cat and Another Story That’s Not as Good yet) and also picked up Optic Nerve, which I've been told I would like. I do. I like it so much, I want all of them so far! I am now on a hunt. I also picked up an Alan Moore comic version of a performance (not The Birth Caul) and Fillerbunny. I was sad to see no Skellebunnies or Charm School: Witch Girl Bunny, and I would have been happy to see the the Elektra/Wolverine miniseries was available, if it hadn't been $18 for all three volumes. Sigh.

I wish I had money for a page from Optic Nerve #6.

Since this is a day for wishes, I also wish I had the Gallery of Regrettable Food book. And Bottomless Cocktail.

I do not wish for the new Peter Murphy, last Thievery Corportation, Nicola Conte, Shopping/Shouffi Rhirou by 3 Mustaphas Three, 32 Stories: The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics (not the same as the comic), or Hell : An Illustrated History of the Netherworld. I just ordered them.

Speaking of music, I also ended up with three cds on Saturday. We went to Now and I found three used cds to buy: Shabeesation by Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects (surely you've heard of them? I mean, Wal-Mart sells the cd!), 1000: A Mass for the End of Time by Anonymous 4, and If Goth Was Pink by Space Ballerinas. Sadly, Now are moving to Old Town Alexandria on the 11th. Now I'll never go there. Sigh.

Saturday night was a lot of fun (except for the perpetual haze of smoke), seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I think he gave an outstanding concert, although it's hard to be bad when the crowd is really really into the show, too. Blixa and Nick and Jon, how perfect a night could it be? Well, add in being poked constantly by a certain batgrl on my Blackberry. OK, I was poking her right back, too. Well, that is until Nick got really underway.

On Sunday, I bought more plant supplies and watched Six Feet Under as well as documentaries on the abyssal plain / benthic animals and also PVC, the latter of which got me to thinking about the batgrrrrl.

Did I mention that the batgrl is going to visit us next month? She is. We're going to the new US Botanic Gardens, among other places.

I love me a hot fire

We didn't wake up until almost 10 this morning. It was a nice luxury. Of course, I didn't get home until a quarter to midnight last night, after the event. Well, I would have been home earlier, but C and I decided to take our intern, S, out for a drink.

See, S is conservative.

S is the uber-conservative.

She's incredibly sheltered, hates to ask for help, and, in short, high maintenence.

She's also really sweet, deferring Korean girl (not KA, but from Korea) who has been going to college in the bible belt and Wichita. Yes, Wichita, KS. So you can imagine that when she arrived here in Washington, D.C., her eyes were open perpetually wide.

I could write a book on S. OK, maybe a short story of the young Korean woman who is studying political science but really would rather teach music, who has become westernized yet fights against it, who is struggling with wanting to dedicate her life to taking care of her parents yet might not want to be so unselfish. There's lots of fodder there.

So we took her out for a drink. Made her order a sex on the beach. Tried to get her to loosen up. It wasn't going to happen. Poor kid. She's always going to be repressed.

She wasn't that great an intern, but she wasn't bad, either. She was entertaining, though.

So where was I? Oh yes, we got up late.

We spent all day looking for a wood rack for our firewood. Yes, I know it's Summer out there, but we need one. And they're cheaper in the off-season.

Of course, they're also practically non-existent.

We did find one, though, at Woodburners Two (can you guess what their specialty is?). Right before they closed. We first tried Offenbacher's, but their rack was flimsy. We did find a great Indian restaurant, though. I had my favorite, saag gosht. It was good. Then we drove out to Chantilly looking for a place called Heatwave Inc. We didn't find it, but we did stop at Milwaukee. Milwaukee Frozen Custard, that is. It was the best frozen custard I've ever had. Divine. Then we tried Patio.com (they have a patio set on their roof, and yes, the store is actually named Patio.com) but they didn't have any (although they advertised they did).

On our journey, we saw a bank called AccessBanking.com (yes, really) and also managed to find a Total Wine aka Total Beverage and purchased some cider, wine, and beer. We also passed the Sheet Metal Store (which reminds me of "sheet metal babies," but I won't go there). They have a Tin Man on their roof. I also was reminded that I simply must learn to carry my camera with me. There are so many pictures I want/need to take.

After I repotted some plants, installed the knife rack and swept the floor (oh my god, I sound so boring. Sweetie was playing online chess, so we can fight over who is more boring), we went out to dinner and then to Borders (just 5 minutes away!).

Ok, I do like small cozy bookstores, really. I love them. But I also love Borders. I love it so much, I came home with 4 new friends. Short stories by the guy who wrote The Ice Storm, Ghost World graphic novel, a modern design book, and an Indian cookbook (gotta love the bargain books!). I also noted that there is a new Dark Knight graphic novel (somehow I missed it), perused the 9-11 graphic novel, saw that Neil Gaiman had another book out, decided that I must read some Jeff Noon, especially the one that is a "trequel" to Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass, and saw a book that made me laugh.

Flatterland, a sequel to Flatland.

Actually, I saw more than a few books that made me laugh (how about A Short Account of the History of Mathematics or a 40-page long A Guide to Cyberpunk - useless). I was hoping to come across a book I want to read. I read about it, now I want to read it. Trouble is, I can't remember a thing about it. Nada.

So you see, I love books. Books are my friends. But I feel like I'm cheating on my other books because I still haven't unpacked them (no bookcases yet). I felt lost without books to read, though. I needed these books. Really.

Time to go. Sleepy.