| Bats, muses, facebook, bad advertising, disillusionment with the masses |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|10:38 pm] |
Facebook has eaten my potential livejournal postings. The time I used to waste over here has been sucked by the less-literate but more dense with acquaintances Facebook. Who knew I would become so shallow? There, there, I still love you, livejournal. Have an entry.
So, I'm writing a play about muses, and of course this means that they are Just Not Happening for Me. I got zero inspiration on this one and it reads like it. Ugh.
An acquaintance of mine has been arrested for something involving child pornography, which freaks me out a little because he seemed very straight-laced and normal. I'm worried about his own kid, and about the many kids which are part of the social circle he hung out with. But, I'm also skeptical of the accuracy of the report. I don't know how awful any of the details are, as I just read the online article, but this guy never set off any kind of red flags, or even a feeling of discomfort in me.
I shouldn't have read the public response to the article. I don't know what tempts me to do so because it always makes me angry at the sheer stupidity of the responses as well as the cowardice and willingness to anonymously condemn someone. People seem so happy to hurl epithets at Susan Boyle for having the audacity to look less than beautiful or be upset in public. People seem compelled to parade their hatred and intolerance. These were no exception, condemning him as worthless and wishing that he be sodomized and tortured in prison.
It just makes me sad.
So, today, I was awakened after 45 minutes of sleep, by my neighbor, who asked if my roommate was here. "No," I replied blearily. "He's in New Hampshire."
Neighbor looked stricken. "He's the only fiscally responsible person I know. I was going to ask him if I could borrow 700 dollars until next Monday."
"Wow," says I, and clearly lacking the better judgement of someone who might have had some sleep, I offer what cash I had on hand, without getting anything like an IOU.
I go upstairs to see if I might get that last few minutes of sleep before my alarm rings, but the cats will have none of it.
There is some sort of cause for feline excitement in the basement. I think that perhaps a terribly sorry rodent had stumbled erroneously into our cellar, and when I arrive, I find I am partly correct, as a large brownish black bat swoops past. Oh, joy.
Fearing potential rabies for my darling kitties, I herd/gather/corrall/tackle the beasts, who are insane with the joyous ecstasy of having prey which is like both a mouse and a bird at the same time! "Nooo!" they wail. "Let us play with the Bestest Toy Evar!"
After saving said furry morons, who are now all in the same tiny bathroom, trying every possible claw/paw/battering ram/pathetic mewling strategy at getting the door open, I attempt to capture the bat, who clearly has other plans. We dance around the basement for a while, his grumpy little face looking ever grumpier as this is not the optimal morning for him, either. I'm scared of him; I'm not so sure he's scared of me...but he eventually winds up flying sort of smack into the large tupperware lid I am using as a war shield. And I fling him into the bottom of the tupperware, and put the lid on.
Then I go out back, gingerly open the tupperware and get the heck out of dodge. This is my same strategy for catching spiders, bees, and any other non-feline creature that somehow finds its way inside.
Then I feed cats, rush off to school without shower or food, and find out that I may have to take as many as three outside-of-the-major classes because I never got them at Evergreen. Math, physical science, and biology. I can kind of understand biology, but really, do I seriously need math, astronomy and/or geology class for a Speech and Language Pathology degree? Oh, come on! Really?! WTF?
No parking can be found at school, but thankfully, I beat the teacher in to class at the stroke of the hour, anyway.
She assigns a two-page paper as homework, which I will have to write on zero sleep tomorrow morning, I'm afraid, because I have rehearsal Tuesday night, haven't slept in two days now and must finish a play.
Ok, so then, because I haven't eaten, I go to the grocery store. I have reached the part of sleep/food deprivation where everything is sublimely funny, and I see a package of dried snack food that I swear reads Snape Bites. I look again, and it actually says Snapea Bites--the P is supposed to double, I guess, but it strikes me as weirdly humourous.
But then I happen by a package of food I don't often see in the shelves-- a German noodle thing called a speatzle-- these are fresh-made ones-- and there are pierogies and dumplings too. All of them are manufactured by the same company. Probably some Amish thing, I figure, and I look at the label.
The name of the company is Sophie's Choice.
Oh. My. God.
Who thought this would be a good idea?! I laugh out loud in the store, which I'm sure causes several people around me to think I am high, or insane. Possibly I am.
But really? SOPHIE'S CHOICE? Oh, Sophie, how can you choose between the potato or the cheese pierogie? THEY ARE BOTH YOUR CHILDREN! AND ONE MUST DIE!!!
And sadly, this was the best thing to happen to me all day. |
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| Frisbee Hack |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|12:02 pm] |
(Someone has requested that I post the, uh, "rules" here as a separate posting instead of as a reply, so, forgive the repetition.)
Unofficial Rules to Frisbee Hack
This must be played in a large area, such as a field. It is not recommended that it be played indoors. Unless, of course, you are insane.
It goes like this: a whole bunch of your crazy friends grab their swords (or in this one case, board with a nail in it!) and you (The Thrower) lob cheapo frisbees at them while they try to demolish them in-flight.
Throwers can stand either in the middle of a large circle of Hackers, or in a horseshoe sort of arrangement, depending upon terrain. Usually frisbees are thrown one at a time, to Hackers going around the circle, but there are variations, of course. They try to hack the frisbees into pieces. Some people are very good at throwing (like Ed, for example) and some people are wretched (like me). It is far more challenging to hit a frisbee from a wretched Thrower. But also, the game can take several hours if this is the case.
My favorite way to play is florentine--small dagger in left hand, larger sword in right. I used to do this with katana/wakizashi, but now do so with cutlass and dagger. Everyone has their own kind of style.
The object is to destroy the frisbees without injuring anyone, and have fun.
That's essentially it, with rule variations such as "style points" (you get extra points for "style", such as adding colorful war whoops to your swing, acrobatics, acting like a ninja, mimicking a particular person's sword usage, etc.), "duos" (you and a partner go after the same frisbee--very dangerous), and "sudden death" (if you miss touching the frisbee with your blade, you are out). There's also "viral thrower", where, if you miss, you have to become the next thrower, and surrender your sword to the previous thrower. Variations are made up all the time, sometimes on the spot-- one time at Pennsic, we had several throwers, and a huge pile of frisbees, and the throwers just randomly threw them at people instead of going around in a circle. So, you never knew when you were gonna get one, two, three, or (gasp) four frisbees thrown at you all at once.
Typically, the game is played until all frisbees are destroyed.
Also, typically, nobody really keeps track of points, unless you're playing sudden death and are about to run out of frisbees.
It is most keen. |
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| The past few weeks |
[Jun. 24th, 2008|10:25 pm] |
P and I saw The Cure at the Wolstein Center. We had freaking amazingly close seats-- second row up on the sides and close enough to see individual beads of sweat on Robert Smith's face. Yow. Slight sound distortion, but then I was the freak wearing earplugs. (Yeah, yeah, go ahead; make fun of me, but I can still hear those damn mosquito ringtones that old people aren't supposed to be able to hear. I will laugh at you when you get your hearing aid.)
Steve's Bag End Bash was awesome. We played Frisbee Hack until the Gods decreed that it was too much fun for mere mortals and sent The Rains down upon us with Extreme Vengeance. Trent won, with an improvised weapon of a board with a nail in it, which was hilarious. Alik came in second with only a poking dagger, which speaks of his great skill, as well as proximity to the Thrower.
Petsmart frisbees should be used as tank armor.
I'm painting houses again, and cross about the initial feel of this one place, which wants a whole job estimate, which I am loathe to give, considering it is a whole house which needs doing, and I've no idea how long it will take. I usually just work hourly. So: grr.
I have a staged reading gig to direct coming up in August, which is small, but I am highly excited about. I'm waiting to hear back from an actress in a pivotal role before casting the rest. I'm really hoping she can do it. |
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| ARGH! |
[Apr. 28th, 2008|08:43 pm] |
I am in HELL!!
I hate grading this many papers. Hate, I tell you!! I hate, with the strength of hate previously reserved for beets, getting stung by bees, and Maxwell Lord shooting Beetle.
I would elaborate on the hate, but just writing HATE!! makes me feel like Despero or something.
And I gotta get back there and finish grading.
The end of the semester cannot come fast enough.
Today's angst brought to you by the letters B and H and by the number 7. |
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| PETA |
[Mar. 22nd, 2008|08:14 pm] |
Eye opening. The graphic novel pages of "Your Mommy Kills Animals" is particularly horrifying, although not as much as the statistics are.
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| Strike Pity in the Hearts of Mere Mortal Men! |
[Mar. 21st, 2008|01:36 pm] |
For those of my friends who are superheroes, I would strongly recommend NOT joining up, as I believe the security measures these folks have in place are not entirely reliable. (Although their section regarding postal precautions is precious.)
However, their website is keen, and you can mock some of their uniforms, names, ideologies, etc. And, of course, feel the strong tide of mingled pity and inspiration their actions might create.
http://www.worldsuperheroregistry.com/world_superhero_registry_maine.htm
Note how many of them seem SCAdian...
Kinda makes ya go "hmmmm". |
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| Watchmen costumes |
[Mar. 7th, 2008|03:38 pm] |
Love Nite Owl, although I liked his original one better, mostly because the owl-cowl looked cool.
I like that they kept his crescent-moon belt buckle.
I want a better look at his ship. Or, I want his ship.
Enh on Silk Spectre. Didn't like her much to begin with. Her new costume just looks tarted-up.
Rorschach looks cool--mostly untampered with.
Comedian looks great.
And, whaddya know. Ozymandius' costume has nipples, too. Why do they do that? It's just weird. And he looks like the wrong color scheme, unless the lighting in the shot is funky, or something.
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/03/05/first-look-complete-watchmen-costumes-officially-revealed/ |
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