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Recipe For Disaster
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 12:10 p.m.

This is another reason why I don't cook.

Reading
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 09:07 a.m.

Last night, I had a headache still (I believe that it's stress that's causing the constant headache) so I laid down for a bit to see if I could get it down to a more manageable level. I was woken up by Drew, who was just calling to chat, so I chatted with him for a few minutes before his phone reception went all crappy and we said we'd talk later. After his call, I decided to do some reading and I picked up Forever. That was around 9pm. I stopped for a pee break (both me and the dog) around 11pm and then went right back to reading. I finished around 1am. That was such a bad thing for me to do, especially since I have to get up for work at 5am. I am not doing well on just 4 hours of sleep. And because I read the book right before going to bed, I kept dreaming about aspects of it all night. And because I'm a LOTR geek, I somehow got Dominic Monaghan into the dream (I guess because he's got an Irish sounding last name - to me anyways). Basically, I dreamt about Ireland, New York, and Dominic Monaghan.
Regarding the book, I liked it. It dragged a little bit in the beginning, it skipped a whole century, and I'm not sure I liked the way it ended. Other than that, it was a pretty easy read and the history involved is fascinating. A while back, the Discovery Channel had this 3 night special called We Built This City, which talked about 3 major cities and how they came to be the metropolises (metropolii?) they are today, one of those cities being NYC. This book was sort of like watching that show. Reading about the history of NYC but through one man's eyes.

"Massagers"
Tuesday, March 30, 2004 02:08 p.m.

Hello Kitty! and Hello Kitty! again.

Useless Trivia
Monday, March 29, 2004 06:58 p.m.

The Power of Trivial Pursuit.
See, all the useless trivia knowledge rattling around in my brain is a good thing!

Movies and Movie Stars
Monday, March 29, 2004 05:41 p.m.

Peter Ustinov died yesterday. I only saw one movie he had been in, Logan's Run.
I also saw the trailer for King Arthur. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I'm a big fan of the King Arthur stories. In fact, I have The Tale of King Arthur (in Old English, even) and La Morte D'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory on my bookshelf. I'm not totally against re-tellings of the Arthurian legends. I mean, I have The Mists of Avalon on my bookshelf as well and enjoyed reading it. I'm betting that the movie will probably be a more realistic vision of life during that time, with the possible exception of Guenivere being a fighter. Although, many Celtic woman were warriors right along side the men. I'm just loathe to see how "Braveheart" it's going to be. However, any movie with Clive Owen (you might remember him as the Driver in the BMW short films), Ioan Gruffudd (he was Horatio Hornblower), and Stellan Skarsgârd (I don't know how to put the little "o" over the "a" so he gets a caret instead) in it might be worth seeing.

Libraries & Reading
Monday, March 29, 2004 04:16 p.m.

When I was a kid, I moved every 3 years (give or take a few months). Generally, we always moved during the summer so that I could finish school. Because we always moved when school was out, I didn't make friends right away because I didn't have a set place to congregate with people where they would pretty much be forced to talk with me. So, during the summer, I would spend a lot of time at the library. I would walk into the quiet rooms, find books that I wanted to read, and then sit down on a somewhat comfortable chair and read my day away. My mother was happy for this because it got me out of the house and out from in front of the tv. Plus, she knew where I was and could trust that I wasn't out somewhere doing something stupid. As I got older, going to the library was less for pleasure and more for business, i.e., school. But occasionally, I would go to the library and find a book that I wanted to read (not one that I had to read) and I would try to find a place to sit and just let my academic worries and responsibilities fade into the background as I got lost in a story.
Back in the late 90s, when I was living with Mary and had no car, I convinced Mary that we should become regular library patrons because they had tons of romance novels that we could read for free, instead of buying them (after college, I vowed I was't going to read anything substantial for while to give my brain a rest). Well, that lasted for about 2 months. Mary decided that she didn't like being forced into a reading time table. I didn't have a car at the time and I wasn't going to waste my precious bus tokens on library trips (plus, the LA bus system SUCKS rotten eggs and getting to the library was an ordeal) so that ended my library run. Fast forward to several years later when I decide that I want to read books again without having to pay for them because that is an expensive habit to have, especially if you end up not liking the book. *cough*The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and The Rules of Attraction and The Fountainhead*cough* I live very close to a library (it's a little bit beyond where I used to catch the bus for work so I could conceivably walk there if I felt like it) in North Hollywood so I decided to go there and apply for a new library card. Plus, my Internet connection at home was down at the time and I needed to be able to check email on the weekends. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn't expecting the crap that I got.
First, the parking situation was atrocious. There was one space in the parking lot but the jerk who parked on the right parked askew so there was no way anyone with any car was going to fit into the space. And my car is small. Street parking was packed as well. I drove around the block several times looking for anyplace I could park and eventually found a spot out front since someone had left during my circling.
Second, I couldn't figure out the whole catalog search on the computer system. Seriously, that thing is not user friendly. It's not easy to follow and there's way too much information on the search page. It makes it seem as if you need to fill out all the information to do a search, when in reality, you can only do one type of search at a time. Does it say that on the website? No. Then, when I asked a Librarian for help, she got all put out, like I was interrupting her busy busy schedule for something stupid. I ended up getting a few books and realized that since it's a tiny branch, there's nowhere really to sit except tables, so I just went home to read. I turned my books back in and really hadn't been there after that until this past week.
I joined an online book club and people were throwing out suggestions as to what books we should read. Some of them sounded interesting so I went online to see if my local branch had them in stock. Of course not. I then noticed that you could put a hold on a book so that when it becomes available, you can get a copy. I did that on Thursday.
On Sunday, I decided that I was going to make a trek to the library to make sure my information was updated and to see if there were any interesting books I might want to read. I schlepped on over at 12:45pm (the library opens at 1pm), only to find the parking lot completely full. Which means that I had to drive around looking for parking. I managed to find a spot in front of a school down one of the side streets and at 1:30pm, entered the library and its blessed coolness (because it was HOT outside). I spent time perusing the general book area, taking Dreamcatcher by Stephen King (saw the movie, wanted to see how different it was from the book) and The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I decided to check out the Murder Mystery section to see if there was anything interesting there (there wasn't) and then, on a whim, decided to check out the New Books section to see if anything caught my eye. And guess what? One of the books that I had placed on hold because the library said it had been checked out was sitting on the shelf. Man, that really made me mad. I mean, I had put a hold on it on Thursday and there it was on Sunday, sitting on the shelf for anyone to just take. When the librarians scan the books back into the system, shouldn't something come up that says "hey that book's on hold. don't put it on the shelf!"? So, I grabbed the book and take it and my other books to the check out counter. I then pointed out to the librarian that I found this book on the shelf but I had a hold on it so could she take the hold off since I am getting it now? She said yes and then realized that she couldn't because the book was being shipped in from another branch to this one and that I could only take it off once I got the book. I checked out my books and left.
The whole point of this story, convoluted as it is, is that I am not enjoying the whole library experience. I guess the libraries are different in other states because I hear people talking about their libraries and they have no problems. Personally, I enjoyed the library in Huntsville a lot. There was always ample parking, and tons of places to sit and read, and the whole building looked like a bit castle. I'm also wondering if my recollections of the library are colored a bit because I'm remembering military and college libraries (with the exception of the Huntsville library), which are run by a different set of people. Anyways, I'll wait to see how long it takes me to get the other books I put on hold and perhaps my library going experience will get better with time.
I've given up trying to read Master and Commander because I was plowing through it and getting so bogged down with the naval terminology that I was having to re-read passages. I also read the first 50 pages of The Human Stain and got really bored with it so I'm taking that off my reading list as well. I still have the HTML book and will someday crack it open and see if it's worth it for me to really know how much HTML I really need to know but for now, it's off the list too.
I ended up reading all of Dreamcatcher yesterday because nothing good was on tv until Alias came on and I'll probably pick up the Margaret Atwood book tonight since nothing good is on tonight either. I'm hoping The Unfinished Tales is a better Tolkien book than The Silmarillion.

Lions and Tigers
Monday, March 29, 2004 11:54 a.m.

Totally stolen from Drew's Blog:
Only in Kenya.

Songs
Monday, March 29, 2004 11:46 a.m.

I have a headache again. I was fine Saturday and Sunday. Then it came back full force today. I wonder if it's a heat induced headache. It was pretty hot yesterday.
Songs I Like:
Outrageous by Britney
Where Are We Running? by Lenny Kravitz
Yeah by Usher
Are You Gonna Be My Girl? by Jet
Red Blooded Woman by Kylie
8th World Wonder by Kimberly Locke
Songs I Hate:
Take My Breath Away by Jessica Simpson
Come Clean by Hilary Duff
Bounce by Sarah Connor
Not In Love by Enrique Iglesias

Late Night Saturday
Sunday, March 28, 2004 08:11 a.m.

Even though I was up at the crack of dawn yesterday, I still ended up staying up really late Saturday night/Sunday morning. While flipping through the stations, I came across the Style Network and they were playing "Fashiontrance." For those of you not watching that show because you have better things to do on a Saturday night, the show is basically the runway shows of various designers, set to techno/trance music (i.e, no words), and with little "pop-up video" style bubbles that talk about the clothes and the designer and what people have said about the designer, etc. It's really quite mesmerizing for several reasons. One, because I spot all kinds of grammatical mistakes in the thought bubbles. Two, sometimes the clothes are totally outrageous and I just can't believe that there are people out there who would spend the ridonkulous amounts of money to wear that shit. Three, some of the models are just UGLY and their walk is just amazingly bad. And four, the music itself is mesmerizing and sort of relaxing. Before that, also on the Style Network, I watched a show called "New York Nick." It's basically a how-to show in the vein of Martha Stewart or Katie Brown but with this Italian-American actor/model guy named Nick. It follows him around in his daily life, along with his sister and their aunt, and he gives tips on everything from cooking to buying a Murphy bed, etc. His aunt, aptly named Diz, is about the dumbest woman I have ever seen on tv. Holy cow. She reminds me a lot of my friend Kathleen. Not to say that Kathleen is stupid, but she certainly lacks some common sense. I could see Kathleen turning into what Diz is like when she gets older. Of course, I haven't seen or talked to Kathleen in over 5 years (not from lack of trying though) so she could possibly have changed.
When I lived with Mary in Sherman Oaks back in 1998, we scoured the Valley high and low to find a bookstore that would buy back books. We went several places before we finally found a place called A&M Book Sellars. The way the place works is that you get the monetary value of a book placed into an account and then you can buy other books in the store and use the money in your account towards those books. The only money you actually have to pay out of pocket is the tax. Well, it's been over 5 years since I've been there, but I went through my bookshelf last night and picked out all the books that I wanted to get rid of and bagged them up to take them to the place today. There are a lot of romance novels in there. I did a huge search through my apartment for any stray books just lying around so I can put them on my bookshelf. I found FOTR in a drawer in my kitchen, TTT in a suitcase, and ROTK on my bedside table. I put them alongside The Silmarillion and The Hobbit. Then I found all the Harry Potter books and put them in their rightful places as well. The reason for this massive book clean up? I'm joining an online book club and one of the books we might be reading is The Red Tent so I wanted to make sure I could find it. So, now I have this huge pile of books just waiting to be re-alphabatized back into the book case. The problem is that the books don't all fit. So I either need a new bookshelf or the books will just have to go into piles in front of the other books.
Last night, I also watched one of my Netflix movies: Lumiére and Company. The idea is a good one: get 40 world famous directors (and by world famous, they mean directors from all over the world who are famous in their own countries) and give them the original Lumiére motion picture camera (the first one ever invented). Have them film a 1 minute short and then interview them and then show the short. The rules were: 52 second shot, 3 takes only, and no synchronous sound (i.e., they could add sound later). However, the actual application wasn't that great. I really expected a lot from some of these directors. I mean, Liv Ullman, Lasse Halström, Spike Lee, John Boorman, Merchant/Ivory. I was seriously expecting interesting shorts from them. But no. Most of the shorts were just "let's just let the camera roll and capture anything in front of it and we'll call it 'art'!" A lot of the shorts were meta, basically a film of a camera crew filming. Boring. Spike Lee's short was a one minute shot of his kid sitting in a stroller and him trying to coax the kid to say "da-da." There was one English director who filmed an Indian girl (and by Indian I mean from India) dancing and later added a weird color treatment to the film which was pretty decent. David Lynch did this weird sci-fi story, which was amazing, considering he only had 52 seconds worth of time in which to tell a story. Plus, the structure of the documentary was all over the place. Instead of interviewing the director, showing a little of the behind the scenes type shooting and then showing the short, they would interview 3-5 directors, show the behind the scenes of them all and then show the films. Or they would focus on one director at a time. It was very choppy and disjointed and sometimes it was hard to figure out what short went with what director. Of course, the majority of the directors were French so it really didn't matter to me because I had never heard of some of them anyways. Overall, I'd say skip this documentary if you ever come across it.

What Up?
Thursday, March 25, 2004 05:06 p.m.

Still nothing to blog about these days. The most interesting thing I did yesterday was change light bulbs in my apartment. My kitchen, hallway, and my bedroom lights were all out. Unfortunately, I don't have a ladder or stepstool so I was standing on a chair, trying to unscrew the cover off the bulbs, change the bulbs, and then trying to screw the covers back on. I couldn't get the covers back on so I just left them off, which means that I have light coming from bare bulbs, but at least I have light.

Perturbed
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 04:40 p.m.

Ok. I'm very perturbed at Netflix. I put The Rundown in my queue as the next movie to mail to me when my other movie was received. Netflix received 2 of my movies and instead of sending me The Rundown, I get 2 other movies instead. And now, it's saying that there's a long wait for it. Damn them! I've already been waiting FOR.EV.ER. for Lost In Translation and Runaway Jury.

The Migratory Pattern Of All The Birds In North America
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 06:44 a.m.

10 points if you know what line that movie is from

Yesterday, I accidentally locked myself out of my apartment. As I was reaching inside my kitchen window (after I had removed the screen) to get the spare key, the window came loose and bashed me right on top of my head. I literally saw stars. Seriously didn't help my headache any. Later on that evening, I was watching a documentary called Winged Migration, which follows a series of different kinds of birds on their migration paths across the globe. That was the most relaxing movie I have ever seen. Between the sound of nature and the birds, I was so relaxed, it was amazing. My headache went away. If you're into documentaries, I'd recommend this one.

Still With the Damn Headache
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 10:30 a.m.

I still have the headache. [arnold impression]I hope I don't have a tumor.[/ai]

Everybody's Working For The Weekend
Sunday, March 21, 2004 01:33 p.m.

I have the worst headache right now. I think it's because I slept too much. I went to bed last night at 9pm, woke up at 5am to walk Sharky, and then went back to bed until 10am. I've popped some Tylenol and an Excedrine Migraine tablet so we'll see if that helps.
Friday night, I went to dinner with Susan. Nothing really exciting, just ate at the Denny's by my place and then we went to Starbucks and then sat in Susan's car and chatted. We finally parted so that Susan could get home and I got home around 10pm. Walked the dog, watched a little tv, checked my email, then went to bed.
Saturday, I woke up around 8am, walked Sharky, showered and then got on the Internet for a while and then called John and Liz and Drew to find out about going to the movies. We finalized our plans and met at John and Liz's place around 1pm, went to lunch, and then went to the movie theatre. We had planned on seeing The Passion of the Christ but once we got to the theatre, decided to see Dawn of the Dead instead. It was a pretty good movie, for a horror film. There were, of course, plot holes, but for the most part, it was an entertaining movie. Saw the trailer for Van Helsing, The Chronicles of Riddick, I, Robot, and a couple of other movies that I can't remember now. After the movie, as we were walking out of the theatre, we saw a guy dressed up as Jesus, carrying a big wooden cross and 2 guys dressed up like Roman soldiers in front of the theatre. We were then accosted by a girl asking us if we wanted to join them at a bible study that night. We said no thanks and kept walking as she shouted out, "God loves you!" We went back to John and Liz's place and played a game called Pass the Pigs, which is this very weird game where you throw 2 rubber pigs like dice on the table and you get points for how they land. The first person who gets to 100 wins. After the game, I left and headed back home. I walked Sharky, ate some dinner, watched a little tv, walked Sharky again, took a shower and went straight to bed.
And I do have to say that my headache has gone from full on throbbing migraine to sort of dull pain behind the ears headache. Perhaps I'll take Sharky for another walk just to get some fresh air and some sun.

Blogless
Friday, March 19, 2004 10:32 a.m.

I haven't been feeling very bloggy as of late. Quite honestly because I haven't really had anything to blog about and I haven't really found any funny sites to link to either.
I think I've got plans this weekend but I haven't heard back from anyone yet regarding those plans.
My job function has changed yet again. It's a very long and involved story and not worth mentioning here.
Guess what? Tomorrow is the first day of Spring. Of course, not for those of you who live where it's snowing, but it will be for those of us who live where it's warm. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 03:07 p.m.

I did forget to wear green today. Mainly because I don't have any clean clothes that are green. I only got pinched once by a co worker, whom I then stabbed with my green pen, so it's all good.

Favorite Swear Word?
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 07:57 a.m.

Apparently Channel 4 in the UK asked a bunch of celebrities about their favorite curse word. View it here.

Retail Alphabet Game
Tuesday, March 16, 2004 07:12 a.m.

How well do you recognize retail logos? Play this game and find out.

Smells Like Rotting Flesh
Monday, March 15, 2004 01:50 p.m.

Why would Mother Nature make a Flower that smelled that way?

Bzzz . . . Splat!
Monday, March 15, 2004 06:36 a.m.

Fly swatter!

Linktastic
Sunday, March 14, 2004 04:59 p.m.

Farting Dogs
Blur video
I am regular old boring Calvin!
You don't get to travel much outside your neighborhood, but you still manage to get in plenty of trouble. When you're not acting up, you like to wax philosophical.

Which Calvin are YOU?

Pictures
Sunday, March 14, 2004 11:20 a.m.

I finally got my film developed from the LoonMoot.
I also have more just random photos of things here. The newer pictures are at the bottom.

Reading
Sunday, March 14, 2004 08:45 a.m.

So, I finished reading Bret Easton Ellis' novel The Rules of Attraction. Man was that boring. Plus, the points of view kept changing from person to person and it was very hard to keep track of who was in love with who and it was all very disjointed. I really couldn't get myself to care about any of these characters.
I also read Angles and Demons by Dan Brown, who is the same guy who wrote The DaVinci Code. I really enjoyed that book. Thanks to Liz and John for lending it to me. It was less mathematical and more religious than The DaVinci Code but it really made you think about Science and Religion and the schism that exists between the two.
I'm still trying to finish The Human Stain and Master and Commander.

It's Official
Saturday, March 13, 2004 05:31 p.m.

In case anyone was unsure, I am officially a bitch. I got all snarky on an old woman at Rite Aid today.
I was standing in line, waiting to purchase my stuff and this old woman starts edging in front of me. I don't say anything. The cashier calls up the next person in line and I put my stuff on the counter. Well, the old woman gets indignant, like I cut in front of her or something. I still don't say anything. The cashier tells the woman that I was in line and had been waiting patiently and that I was next in line. So, the old woman says to me, "Well, if you were in line, why were you so far away from the counter?" I said, "If I have to explain it, then you wouldn't get it if I did explain it. And what does it matter anyways? I'm next and you're after me." The old woman then says, "Explain it to me anyways." So, I tell her, "Fine. I wasn't standing close behind the guy in front of me so that people who weren't waiting in line could pass in front of me in order to shop." The old lady says, "They could've gone around you." To which I reply, "Yes, sure, but if someone else, like say you, had come up behind me to stand in line, then we both would've been blocking the aisle. Plus? I have this concept of personal space, which you don't seem to have because you are all up in my face. You need to take about 3 steps back." Seriously, this woman was practically touching me. I don't understand why people feel the need to get all up in other people's space. It's very annoying. Anyways, the old woman backed up, the cashier rang me up and I paid and left. But man, that severely pissed me off!

TLC
Saturday, March 13, 2004 04:27 p.m.

When I cry, Sharky does this for me.

Latin Phrases
Friday, March 12, 2004 01:57 p.m.


Postatem obscuri lateris nescitis.
"You do not know the power of the Dark Side."
There are two possibilities: you are a Star Wars geek, or you are unreasoningly scary.

Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Krispy Kreme . . . Going Straight?
Friday, March 12, 2004 01:41 p.m.

Say it ain't so!

Blah Blah Blog
Friday, March 12, 2004 06:30 a.m.

I haven't been particularly chatty this week, mainly because it's been a pretty boring week, but I like to try to leave you all with something so I've been linking to some fun stuff.
All I have to say is that thank goodness it's the end of the week. I am so bored of work.

Stuff
Thursday, March 11, 2004 04:51 p.m.

Demolition Derby. Demolish cars.
Space. This one is sort of like that Crimson Room one (locked in a room and have to get out), but in this one you have to navigate your way through an asteroid to keep it from colliding with yours.
Mystery of Time and Space. Like the Crimson Room, but more rooms.

A Better Mouse Trap?
Thursday, March 11, 2004 01:40 p.m.

For anyone who ever wanted to know how many times one has clicked their mouse.

Further Proof That I Am LOTR Geeked Out
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 05:48 p.m.

One Ring To Rule Them All and One Ring To Rule Them All 2

You Are An Obsession, You're My Possession, Who Do You Want Me To Be To Make You Sleep With Me?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 05:11 p.m.

{what song is that?)

Ok. I admit that this quiz was flawed for me to take because I'm obsessed with LOTR and more specifically, Billy Boyd, so I knew how to answer the questions to get this answer.

You speak like Billy! I will now label you witty, Scottish, and the perfect Pippin.

Which LotR male cast member do you sound like?
brought to you by Quizilla

We Like The Moon
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 04:57 p.m.


You are the Moon card. Entering the Moon we enter the intuitive and psychic realms. This is the stuff dreams are made on. And like dreams the imagery we find here may inspire us or torment us. Understanding the moon requires looking within. Our own bodily rhythms are echoed in this luminary that circles the earth every month and reflects the sun in its progress. Listening to those rhythms may produce visions and lead you towards insight. The Moon is a force that has legends attached to it. It carries with it both romance and insanity. Moonlight reveals itself as an illusion and it is only those willing to work with the force of dreams that are able to withstand this reflective light. Image from: Stevee Postman.
http://www.stevee.com/

Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Language Lesson For The Day
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 04:38 p.m.

Who knew?

Bad Asses?
Wednesday, March 10, 2004 07:26 a.m.

From Dusty's blog: Posers!

Cable Providers
Tuesday, March 9, 2004 08:58 a.m.

This is exactly why I'm glad I don't have a satellite dish. Not that I'm super happy with Adelphia but it beats not having certain channels!

Money, Money, Money, Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World
Tuesday, March 9, 2004 07:03 a.m.

(know what song that is?)

As I was walking Sharky yesterday afternoon, we made a slight detour into the front yard so I could check my mail. Guess who got money back from the DMV? Yes, that's right. A whole $90 back because Gray Davis made me pay $160 to register my 1993 Honda, even though the year before, I paid $50. Bastard.

An Open Letter To The Four Seasons
Monday, March 8, 2004 04:34 p.m.

Dear 4 Seasons (Misters Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter),
I understand that you have 3 whole months of weather to regulate for the whole planet. I get that means that you all are busy. However, I would like to inquire at this time: WTF?
Seriously, it is the beginning of March. That groundhog in Pennsylvania saw his frickin' shadow in February, which is supposed to mean 6 more weeks of Winter. And then after that, we are supposed to ease into Spring. We still have 1 more week of Winter left before Spring starts. So what gives with the unseasonably Summer like weather? I mean, one day it is 65 degrees and then the next day it is almost 80 degrees. I am all for ending Winter early but could you all have given us at least a LITTLE bit of warning about the weather to come? Seriously! I was very unprepared. I was wearing my winter pj's (cute long sleeve top and fleece pants with stars and moons on them), I had my electric blanket on the bed. 2 minutes in all that and I was schfitzing to high heaven!
I am unprepared for Summer! I don't have my spring/summer clothes aired out and cleaned yet. I need to shave my legs. I need to get new anti-perspirant. I need to clean off the blades of my ceiling fan and my circular fans that have been gathering dust in the closet.
You all and Mother Nature need to get your acts together and soon.
Yours, Xinh

In Other News...
Monday, March 8, 2004 04:26 p.m.

I'm not going to be writing in my Diet Blog anymore and I'm not linking my Work Blog either. I felt that I should just have my work blog for me to vent. As for my Diet Blog, I keep forgetting to update it and then by the time I remember to do so, I've forgotten what I've eaten in the past however many days. So, buh-bye to those blogs!

I was reading the LA Times today during lunch and I happened upon an article that stated that the theatrical version of Return of the King will be released on May 25. Which, incidentally, is just 2 (TWO) days after my birthday. Now, I have the Extended Edition versions of the first 2 movies in the triliogy and I plan on getting the EE version of the last movie as well, but that doesn't come out until November/December. However, I don't have the theatrical release version of any of the movies. I'm just saying...

Ball Game
Monday, March 8, 2004 08:03 a.m.

Ball Game

Disturbing Commercial
Sunday, March 7, 2004 03:31 p.m.

So, I'm watching tv today and I happen upon a commercial for Extra Sugar Free Gum. In it, a guy is going sky diving. While in the plane, the girl next to him offers him a stick of gum, which he refuses to take. He then jumps. The stick of gum comes to life and jumps out of the plane to follow the guy who refused him, using his wrapper as a parachute. The gum is going on and on about how dare the guy refuse him, how the gum taste will last longer than the jump will, etc. All the while, the gum is speaking in a Scottish brogue. That was the most bizarre and stupid commercial I have seen, and that includes the SpongeMonkeys commercial for Quiznos. I mean, why did the gum have a Scottish accent? I don't get it.

More Random Links
Sunday, March 7, 2004 11:58 a.m.

Why we all love carrots!
Behold the power of cheese!
Awww..Thanks!

Pissed Off
Saturday, March 6, 2004 03:10 p.m.

Oh, holy cow! This is SO TRUE!!!


*looks at the current world's population* You must have a lot of frustration then.

What pisses you off?
Created by ptocheia

Grocery Shopping
Saturday, March 6, 2004 02:42 p.m.

As the supermarket strike is now over, I am free to go to Vons to shop. Weee! So, I stepped out of the apartment today around 1pm, into the sunshine and warm air, then got in my car, rolled the windows all the way down, and got windblown on my way to my favorite Vons. Only to find out that it was no longer standing. It has now become a Superior Warehouse. Which would be fine except Superior Warehouse carries a lot of stuff in bulk (like Smart & Final) and it doesn't carry alot of the low carb stuff like Ralphs. It does, however, have a rocking meat counter. There was all kinds of great looking meats and fresh seafood and the butchers there were so knowledeable. I will have to go back there to do my meat grocery shopping. So, after I left Superior empty handed, I drove back to my local Ralphs and by that point was starved so I decided to just pop in and get some stuff to tide me over for today and tomorrow. As I was walking in, this group of Girl Scouts was schilling their cookies and they had the entrance half blocked with their table. I had a hard time getting in because of all the people stopping at their table to buy cookies (*whimper*I want some Thin Mints*whimper*). I had gotten and paid for my items and was leaving when I passed some woman who was complaining to the Manager that the Girl Scouts were blocking the door and she was trying to explain how the table was set up but with no luck. I piped up and made it more clear so the Manager went out and had a look. Sure enough, the Girl Scouts were violating the agreement that they had with the store to sell the cookies so the manager booted them off the property. I don't know what's more sad: the fact that Girl Scouts flaunted the rules to schill cookies (isn't that against the GS Code or something?) or the fact that some woman (and myself to some extent) got the Girl Scouts kicked off the property.
As I was driving home, I stopped at a non-light crosswalk for a pedestrian who was on the left side of the street. Well the dickwad behind me didn't like the fact that I stopped since the pedestrian wasn't onto our side of the street yet, so he zoomed around me, almost hitting the pedestrian. And guess who was sitting in the parking lot of a 7-11 and saw the whole damn thing? 4 cops. Yes! Man, finally, a cop around when you need one. There were 2 cop cars there so one went chasing after the asshole and the other cops pulled me and the pedestrian into the 7-11 parking lot to get our statements and our names, in case we have to give further statements. Plus, I got a $10 gift certificate to Ralphs for stopping for a pedestrian. Weee!

Rather Good
Saturday, March 6, 2004 11:46 a.m.

The guy who runs the site apparently gets his stuff shown on Channel 4 in the UK. And, he did the animations I put on my blog a while back about the Mango Biscuits and those funky things that sang about the moon, who were then used in a Quiznos commercial.

kittens:
Punk Kittens
Destiny's Child Kittens
Gay Bar Kittens
Kittens singing a Vines tune
Angry Kittens
Militant Kittens

other animals:
Kittens With Hippos
Kittens With A Dragon
The Sad Tale of a Monkey That Bought The Wrong Bananas

Humans:
American Girls
Sumo Florist contains some foul language

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Friday, March 5, 2004 12:19 p.m.

I re-arranged some stuff on my blog. Just so that it's a little more symmetrical on the sides.

Giant Microbes
Friday, March 5, 2004 11:09 a.m.

Cute or not? You decide.

Shalom
Friday, March 5, 2004 10:59 a.m.

For Alyson and any others who practice Judaism, Happy Purim, which starts at sundown tomorrow.

It Never Rains In Southern California
Friday, March 5, 2004 09:54 a.m.

Taken from an email sent from one smart ass to his friend (I have changed the names to protect the innocent):

"Faramir,"
With all the talk of record cold and wind in the Northeast and the devastating snowstorm in North Carolina and Georgia this past week, we should not forget that southern Cal has its share of bad weather as well. Attached is a photo from one of "Arwen's" friends showing the recent devastation on their property from the torrential rains and heavy winds just last week.
It makes us all sit back and think how lucky we are and how fragile life is. We should count our blessings.
You may not want to show this to the children.
Best, "Aragorn"

Doggie Thought Of The Day
Thursday, March 4, 2004 12:11 p.m.

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

My New Favorite TV Show
Thursday, March 4, 2004 11:30 a.m.

I was flipping through the channels Tuesday night and happened upon this gem of a show. Brini Maxwell is so cool.

Time Management
Thursday, March 4, 2004 11:17 a.m.

You can all tell that I manage my time well at work, huh?
I got a nasty papercut on my left hand ring finger. Right on the pad. Hurts like a motherfucker!

Annoying Co-Workers
Thursday, March 4, 2004 11:14 a.m.

Heee!

Stylin'
Thursday, March 4, 2004 10:53 a.m.

Go buy this shirt for someone you love.

Banned Panty Ad
Thursday, March 4, 2004 07:50 a.m.

Yeah, this is big news because there aren't more important things going on in the world right now.

Shake It Like A Polaroid Picture
Wednesday, March 3, 2004 05:13 p.m.

The Peanuts Gang gets hip!

Disturbing Fun
Tuesday, March 2, 2004 11:28 a.m.

Bloody Penguins

Sunday Brunch
Monday, March 1, 2004 08:42 p.m.

On Sunday, I woke up early, walked Sharky, then went right back to bed. I woke up a few hours later, showered, walked Sharky again, and then went to Drew's house to give Susan J. (who was visiting from San Diego) her sunglasses back. I've had those sunglasses in my glove compartment for about 3 years now and I've seen Susan at least twice in those 3 years and never gave them to her. After I visited with Drew and Susan J. for a while, I headed on down to Orange County to Susan and Dave's and we went to El Torito for brunch. After brunch, we went back to their house. Dave had to go to work, so Susan and I played cards and Boggle and then just sat around and talked about this and that. I left their place around 8pm and got home just in time to see the end of the Oscars. I walked Sharky, showered and I think I fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow!

LoonMoot
Monday, March 1, 2004 08:38 p.m.


Before I start talking about my weekend, I feel that I need to lay down some explanations for those of you who are not huge, geeky Lord of the Rings fans and/or Billy Boyd fans. (Those of you whom I met on BB.net can skip this part).

*Billy Boyd's fans are called Loons. I don't know if this is true, but this is what I've heard: on Billy's official website, there was a live chat event and Dominic Monaghan called the fans Loons and it stuck.
*Every year since the movies have premiered, The One Ring.net has hosted an Oscar party for the fans. Because the TOR.n party sold out so fast, another party (called Into The West and hosted by a different company) sprung up for fans to attend.
*In the books, the Ents (which are Tree Shepherds) have a meeting to decide whether or not they're going to join in the war. It was called an EntMoot. So, any type of gathering is a Moot and if you've got a certain type of people gathering, it's a [insert name here] Moot.

Are we all clear? Great.
Sidenote: everyone I refer to regarding this weekend will be known by their screen name and not their real name (unless their screen name is their real name).
As this weekend was Oscar weekend, many Loons were going to be in LA, either for the TOR.n or Into The West party. Well, I live in North Hollywood, which is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Hollywood, so I thought to myself, "When am I ever going to get a chance to meet these online friends if not right now?" and decided that I had to attend something that was going on during the weekend. I sent a message to ShelaghC to find out what was going on during the weekend that she knew about (excluding the parties because I couldn't go to those). We decided to exchange cell phone numbers and talk when she got into town. Well, then my car brakes went all kooky. They were mushy and I was having to push them all the way to the floor in order to stay stopped. Which meant that I had to take my car in Friday afternoon and I might not have a car all weekend. Well, I found out Friday night that my car would be fixed and ready for me by 8am Saturday morning. So I made plans with ShelaghC to meet her and the other Loons with whom she was sharing a room after they attended a film editing symposium that morning. Yeah, I should've known better. I called the mechanic at 8am and found out that my car wouldn't be ready until 9:30am. I called at 9:30am and was told that it wouldn't be ready until 10:30am. Luckily, ShelaghC and Pint-Sized were still at the editing thing and hadn't called me. I finally got my car back at 11am, so I gave ShelaghC a call to let her know that I was good to go. I got dressed, put in my contacts, put on a little bit of makeup, looked up directions to every place online and walked Sharky. By that time, ShelaghC had called me back and I left to go to their hotel. That was around 1pm. First of all, let me just say that I have a lousy sense of direction. Then let me tell you that there was tons of traffic the minute I got off the 101 freeway at Highland. I followed the directions given to me by Yahoo but completely missed the hotel. I saw tons of other hotels but not theirs. I thought maybe it was further down so I kept going down Highland, past Hollywood Boulevard (which was closed off), past Sunset. Finally, I figured out that I must've passed it so I turned around and came back up Highland the other way, which had just as much traffic. I drove past the place with all the hotels and still didn't see it so I called ShelaghC and she gave me the general idea. I would've passed it again had it not been for the gust of wind that blew the damn palm trees covering the sign for the hotel out of the way. So I park and go up to their room, where I meet ShelaghC and Minnie. It turns out they send Pint-Sized downstairs to flag me down so we all left the room and went downstairs. When we got down there, Pint Sized told us that she had just shook hands with Sala Baker and that Lawrence Makoare and Bruce Hopkins were with him. So we go chasing off after them to see if we can catch up to them but by the time we got to the American Legion, which is where the TOR.n party was being held the next night, they were already inside and we couldn't go in. Since that was a bust, we headed back to the car and got on the road to go to the FIDM to view the movie costume exhibit.

Getting onto the 101 was a huge issue because I couldn't make a left out of the parking garage so I had to go right and there was so much traffic that I couldn't get into the left lane. So with Minnie navigating because she could read the Thomas Guide (how sad it that? A girl from Georgia navigating for the person who lives in LA), we went the roundabout sort of way and finally got to the freeway, where it took us 1 hour to go 7 fucking miles. We get downtown and we spend another 15 minutes driving around trying to get to the FIDM because the street I need to turn on is closed for no apparent reason. Finally we get on the street we need and park.
Sidenote #1: While we were on the 101, ShelaghC threw a quarter out the window in sacrifice to the parking goddess, Asphalta.
Sidenote #2: I had been driving around with mushy brakes for about a week and Saturday was the first day I had driven with the improved fixed brakes. I think I might have given the girls whiplash!
We got into the FIDM Gallery about 1/2 hour before it closed, which seemed fine to me because it wasn't a large exhibit so we only really needed 1/2 hour to look around at everything. The costumes for LOTR were AMAZING! So detailed and so pretty. The costumes for The Last Samurai were nice too, but that makes sense since they were done by the same costumer, Ngila Dickson. While I was there, I ran into a girl that used to work at MonsterTrak with me, which is beyond weird because I never run into anyone I know ever! I chatted with her for a few minutes and then the museum security kicked us out. I wish I could've gotten pictures but for some reason, they wouldn't let us take pictures. I'm not sure why. It's not as if we hadn't seen them before or had pictures of the actors and actresses wearing them. But whatever. After the viewing, we went into the gift shop to peruse the merchandise (which was WAY expensive) and then headed back onto the 101 to go back to their hotel. Back at the hotel, I decided that I would go to the LoonMoot for dinner with them so we sat around in the room while Pint-Sized checked her messages and then they both got dressed for the Hall of Fire get together going on that night. I took pictures of both Pint Sized and ShelaghC so when I get my film developed, I'll post them in my Yahoo photo album.

We got to The Cat & Fiddle a little after 6:30pm and there were already a bunch of Loons there so we all sat down and ordered drinks and chatted some. I included a picture above to show you where we were sitting. See the fireplace and the round table in front of it? They had pushed a square table and a round table together. I was sitting in the section where the round and the square part meet. I wasn't uncomfortable but I had my back to a lot of the people on my right so that was weird. I really can't remember everyone's name that I met but there was a couple from Vancouver seated on my left with whom I enjoyed chit chatting. Peanut was her screen name (and I can't recall what her real name was) and her husband (whose real name I can't recall either), whom I dubbed Mr. Peanut because I didn't know if he had a forum screen name. We all sat around and ate and talked and generally had a good time. The restaurant had a special Lord of the Rings menu and one of the things on there was a brie omelet with mushrooms. Heee! Get it? Brie, Bree. Mushrooms. Anyone? Well, the LOTR geeks get it so nyah! ShelaghC and Pint-Sized left to go to the Hall of Fire party, which was right across the street, and I took Minnie and Peanut and Mr. Peanut back to their respective hotels. Peanut and Mr. Peanut were staying at a nice hotel in a not so nice part of Hollywood and Minnie was staying with ShelaghC and Pint-Sized. After I dropped everyone off, I headed back home, which was fine except that I wasn't paying attention once I got onto the 170 North and missed my exit. Not by one exit mind you. No, I missed it by several. Because I was so tired and I wasn't paying attention. So, I got off the freeway, but couldn't find the opposite freeway entrance so I pulled out my Thomas Guide and then proceeded to get myself home. I walked Sharky, took out my contacts (man, they were bothering me the whole night!!!), and crashed! I was so damn tired.

She Blogs
Monday, March 1, 2004 08:38 p.m.

Article on CNN.com about blogging.

Go Peter! It's Yo Birthday! We Gonna Party Like It's Yo Birthday!
Monday, March 1, 2004 08:36 p.m.

WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!
Lord of the Rings swept with 11 wins at The Oscars!

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