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Based on online lookups, the # 1 word for the year 2005 is "integrity." I wonder how few of those lookups came from the White House. Anyhoo... that is the theme for today.
The Importance of Hair Care
She tested the integrity of the golden braid, and climbed out the window. Why wait for some knight in shining armor to come? She didn't even like horses. Landing on the ground, she shook her short blond curls. Feeling free in more ways than one, she set off for town.
Jodi: Well, Mr. Moon, I've done it. I've broken my my PC. All I did was try to start in safe mode. It is now well, and truly, fucked.
Mr. Moon: I'd like to be well, and truly, fucked, it sounds nice.
Jodi: Me too, but in computers?... not so sexy.
In the category of "Songs I had no idea were on my iPod," I give you this gem. I don't know why it's on my iPod. I am a little ashamed of myself.
Would you like to know the 50 most loathsome people in America? Don't be smug, you are one of them. Not sure we can claim God. Although, I guess he's in America as much as he is everywhere else. Anyone missing? Off the top of my head, I could say Dr. James Dobson. Or Fred Phelps. Look him up, I won't even deign to link to him, he's that repugnant.
via Blog of a Bookslut.
Withdrawal; be it from caffeine, cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate, seratonin reuptake inhibitors or even from another person, is a bitch. That is our theme this week. My fiction to be added shortly.
I don't know if you are noticing a theme here. A shopping, spending money theme. It's usually a symptom of someone who is bored, or in a rut. Which I am. However, it's not my fault that I keep stumbling across things that need to be mine. Remind me to tell you about the Sanyo Xacti C6 I am going to need very very badly, when it's released in the US, later. [it comes in red!]
So, I bought the shoes, but they were not that expensive. Pretty cheap, actually. And I was showing Mr. Moon the Manga Death statue I was going to want in my new home, when I move.... sometime this year. No sense in getting it now, when most things are packed away. [I also like the porcelain Death statue, in case, when the time comes, anyone is looking for a house warming gift for me.] And then, I came across something .... so beautiful... I am still weeping. The Vertigo Tarot deck.
As you may, or may not, know, I collect tarot decks. I just get the ones that appeal to me, usually for the art or tone of the deck. This would be a personal jewel in the crown of a merely adequate collection. I don't do it for money. I take the cards out of the box, spread them around, look at them and enjoy them. I'm not one of those girls who can leave an action figure in it's shrink wrapped condition my whole life, you know? This deck is, apparently, hard to find. I can find it on ebay, and if I want the first edition, which comes in the coolest box with hard cover book and why would I not want the first edition, I can have it now. for $225. Holy Major Arcana! That's a level of tarot collecting I have not entered yet. I haven't delved into the rare and hard to find. I just collect what I find organically. Usually in a store somewhere. [With the exception of the Edward Gorey Tarot, which are ridiculously rare and probably even more ridiculously expensive. So, even tho I occasionally look for them, as a lark, I probably would not be able to afford them.] But how cool would that be? Answer: so cool.
I have to apologize for the quality of blog posts lately. They've been, in my mind, unusually dull. I'm not fishing for compliments. I'm just stating I haven't been very inspired. And nothing much has happened to me lately, to reflect upon. I wrote something last night, about the 12th anniversary of my father's death. Which was Monday, but it was depressing. And not really all that good. Depressing is fine, if it's a good post. But it wasn't. And it made me all weepy. So I didn't post it. Things should pick up, in February. I have plans in February. If nothing else, some of these plans might make for good blog fodder. In the mean time, we'll have to just keep shopping, ok?
Look, even I can get sick of the rain. When I went out at lunch today, it was clear and the sun was out and I was happy to see it. So we failed to break our record. We made it only 29 days. However, it appears that more rain fell in those 29 days than fell during the 1953 - 33 day record. Not a whole lot more. But, believe me, 29 days was enough.
Frankly, the weather has disappointed me this winter. Back in November, we had some cold days, weather in the 30's, threats of possible snow days. Evildeb knitted a beautiful, soft scarf for me, and I wore it every day. But in December, temperatures rose, and the rains came. It was damn near tropical on Christmas Eve. What happened to my winter? Where is my cold weather? I miss it. Wet and 50's is no weather for a scarf. As it is, we are going to move into February and I am going to go straight into wishing for spring. I don't know how places with no real seasons do it. It's so dull.
I hate it when I talk about weather on my blog. I really do. I'm going to go to my room now, and think about what I've done.
Let's get this straight, Evildeb does not trust you. You are up to something, and she knows it. You are going to mess with her, or with someone she cares about. She is keeping her Eye on you.
Evildeb: How long have you and William been communicating?
Evildeb: With each other, I mean.
Jodi: Since about May, I guess. Why?
Evildeb: June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January... that's a long time.
Jodi: yeah...
Evildeb: As such, I am willing to give him the Benefit of the Doubt now.
Jodi: I see.. so suddenly. What brought this on?
Evildeb: I've been mulling. Plus, Paco* no longer has The Benefit of the Doubt.
Jodi: I know. Is this why you are able to give it to Wil?
Evildeb: Maybe.
Jodi: Wow, it's his lucky day.
Evildeb: Yes. It is.
*Evildeb does not like electricity. She's been shocked several times in life. [by base guitars, camper doors, and other conduits] Recently, Paco violated her trust by playing a practical joke on her... with a shocking pen. Click the little button on top, you get a little shock. If only it had been something less sparky. Deb has been forced to remove The Benefit of the Doubt from Paco. From now one, she'll not readily accept anything he hands to her. Also, she is no longer talking to him. And by that I mean, she informs him regularly that she is not talking to him, until he asks her a question. [She is unable to not respond.] Also, she kicked him.
I don't think I could explain the twisted path I take to find the Then and Now songs, all I know is it's more difficult when I try to find them. It's best just to stumble over them. Happily, while tripping on this week's, I found next week's as well. And it's a 3-fer.
More than one person has expressed shock at my lack of familiarity with Leonard Cohen. With the exception of "First We Take Manhattan" and "I'm Your Man" I'm not well schooled in his music. I'm waiting for someone to be my Leonard Cohen sensei, I guess. But, this song caught my eye, namely because, well, Suzanne is my middle name.
First of all, you should know, many many people have covered this song. But when I came across this particular one, it was a no brainer. This man is one of my favorite musicians. Of all time. Ever. And this cover is amazing. But I would expect nothing less from Peter.
It's rained here 25 consecutive days. In a row. That's what consecutive means. 8 or 9 more days, and we beat our record. Now, I am of the opinion, if you are going to do something, go all the way. Let's beat that record! But not everyone agrees with me. They are getting a little tired of it. However, I doubt seriously the Seahawks will make it to the Super Bowl, so, we are going to need something else to be proud of, anyway. Whooo-hooo, 34 days of rain in a row! We can do it! Come on!
So this week's theme is rain.
Running Between Raindrops
"Who's idea was this again?"
"Yours, it's your New Years Resolution. Healthier lifestyle."
"I was probably drunk when I said that. It's raining."
"Yes, it's cold, too."
"We could go back to bed, instead."
"Now, that happens to be one of my New Year's resolutions!"
If I ever get married, I want to be my own flower girl. She has the most fun.
Thanks for asking questions, everyone! Now I can answer them, and therefore put off coming up with original content one more day. Whew. Evildeb also took time out to answer all your questions as well.
Thomas asks:
I have a question. If a car leaves New York at 5:30am and goes towards Washington D.C. at 55mph, and at the same time another car leaves D.C. and heads to New York going 65mph, which car will be closer to New York when they meet?
The blue one.
Delmer asks:
Does reading crime novels make you feel, um, less smart? (Maybe that's not the expression I want. But it's close.)
I know what you are asking. A few years ago, I wouldn't have been reading crime novels. I only read "good books," and "literature," along with computer books and non-fiction. Wouldn't be caught dead with a mass market paperback. And I had sapped the joy right out of reading. Then I picked up a trashy vampire hunter novel in an airport, and I remembered what I liked about books. I like stories, and I like to be entertained. I find value in reading every genre - romance, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, comics and graphic novels, general fiction - I like it all. Sometimes a book makes me think, and that's great. But sometimes, all it does is make me laugh, and that's invaluable too.
This weekend a friend of mine offered to lend me her Sue Grafton book when she's done with it. The "S" one. I told her I really needed to start with "A" just to keep things tidy.
I suggest you start with "A." You don't have to, in fact, "S" is a pretty stand alone story. But I just feel, rather strongly, that when dealing with a series, it's best to start at the beginning, watch the character develop along the way. Perhaps less so with Grafton than with others, but why not read the books the way god intended? In order.
Drink Jack writes:
I have started the Grafton books as well. Started with the "A" just to be completely anal (pun intended).
Good boy, Jack.
Any authors that have the feel of historical fiction with spies (similar to Da Vinci Code)?
You know, I'm not up on the spy stuff, so much as the crime stuff. But, you might try "The Eight" by Katherine Neville. Something I read a while back and remember enjoying.
River asks:
i have a huge crush on the guy who plays eric on wonder falls. let's talk about that and how he has conveniently disappeared from tv and movies. what am i supposed to do now?
River, I know you have other crushes that you can concentrate on. I'm afraid that all you have left of Eric, are the dvd memories. IMDB says that he's from Vancouver BC, you could come up here and stalk him, if you like.
"Yawn" asks:
I MISS YOU!
yeah, i miss her... wanna fight about it?
Nope! Missing me is perfectly acceptable.
Kirsten asks:
Um... what's wonder falls?
Wonder Falls is a snarky little tv show that didn't make it past 13 episodes because it was too good and too funny for mainstream America. Who suck. I will work on getting you addicted to it after you are done with Buffy. And Angel.
Evildeb asks:
Are you partisan about bread?
Yes I am.
Kids, I've got to get out of the house more, or I will never have anything new to blog about. My intentions for this weekend were to clean house and organize some stuff. However, I cleverly disguised this as watching "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and disc one of "Wonder Falls." And reading crime novels. Not good blogging material.
Soo... does anyone have anything they want to talk about? Any questions they want to ask?
Last night, I worked like hell to get asleep. It was an epic battle. Only to have it last but a mere hour and 15 minutes. A little after two, I woke up and realized I had no cat food. And I could not get over the fact I had no cat food. That I would have to go to the store, get some, come back and feed Pru, before I went to work. I realized that I would never get back to sleep in this state. So I got up and went to the store.
When I came home, I fed Pru, even tho it wasn't really breakfast time. But we were singing the cat food song. it goes like this:
Does it come in a bag?
Is it something crunchy?
Do they call it 'cat food?'
Then it is for ME!
If you want to hear me sing the cat food song, you have to come to my house and give me $50. Ok, I'll do it for $20, but you still have to come to my house.
The point of all this is, today's theme is "3 am." My fiction to arrive shortly.
Three A.M.
She looked outside the window at the night. It wasn't snowing outside, but it was storming in her head. Like a snow globe, their conversation had shaken her emotions, and she knew she wouldn't sleep until they all settled, gently, into their new terrain. Everything was different now.
It is over. I repeat, it is over. It is now time to take down your Christmas lights, or at that very least, turn them off. Look, I appreciate their twinkly beauty as much as the next girl. I do. But Christmas lights after New Years Day? That's just gauche. You don't have to take them down, lord knows I've kept a Christmas tree up until April a time or two myself. Leave them up all year, save yourself some time, I don't care. Except for you, guy with the Christmas choo-choo train in your front yard, that thing needs to go away now.
If you must decorate your home, take a tip from local merchandisers, get ready for Valentine's day. V-day lights? Why not? It's never too early to decorate. It is, however, occasionally too late.
Well kids, turns out a dead squirrel only buys you about a half an hour of high speed internet access. Just enough to tease you. While, there are plenty of squirrels running around the pacific northwest, I think I am going to have to find another way to make it work. It's just... icky. When the connectivity disappeared, I just had to walk away. I'd had enough. I went and watched something called Television. I don't know what the fuss is all about, it's ok, I suppose. I think it has potential.
Here I go, I'm gonna call me some tech support....
Killing a squirrel worked. It was gross, but now my cable modem works! Which means the return of the jodicam, shortly. First I have to wash off the blood.
I have angered the high speed internet gods, somehow. I'm not sure how to rectify the situation. Perhaps a small animal sacrifice is needed. I received my new cable modem last night, hooked everything up according to instruction, and it's not working. It appears it is not connecting with their network. Blinky green light instead of solid green light. Now I have to have a cable guy come out and look at it. And you know how much I hate calling tech support. Then today, I get emails from Verizon, thanking me for signing up for DSL service. A service they swear they didn't take away from me in the first place. It should be working next week, they say. But... that's a month after it went down! Since I am going to cancel it, they really needn't bother. But, on the offhand chance the cable modem is not working by the then, I guess I'll let them do what they want.
Which small animal would you sacrifice to the high speed internet gods? A squirrel?
That's really it, nothing else exciting to say. Except, maybe my computer luck is turning around. Evildeb was pestering me, sticking her new shoes in my face. While they were on her feet. And five minutes later she dropped her mac on said shoes and feet and broke it. The mac, not the shoes or feet. Karma.
Oh the debate rages on. This is better than the time I brought up the warm smell of colitas. I've tried to stay out of it as much as possible, and let ya'll work it out for yourselves. The correct answer is, of course, Yoda. We had an equally exciting debate around here as well. And here is how it started, the way all good philosophical debates start, with an online quiz.
Yoda
A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.
"Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life greets it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere."
My result. Paco, he sits next to me said, "Cool! Awesome! I love this. This is cooler than Yoda!" What did he get? Picard. I begged to differ. And there you go. Dr. Stevil said "you are so NOT yoda!" but he's just jealous because he's some stupid hobbit.
I've had a headache for about six days now, and I'm well and truly sick of it. It must be all my vast power and knowledge.
So, I'm back at work now. After over a week off. I'm not enjoying it yet. But, that is neither here nor there, as I have a very important philosophical question to ask all of you.
Who is cooler? Jean Luc Picard or Yoda? Any votes from Paco do not count.
