Friday, September 29, 2006

7:49 PM - Spain is shaped like a giant pizza, after all...

twisted vegetarianism

I have been vegetarian for over 10 years now. While I am normally very non-judgmental about what other people eat, occasionally I use it as an excuse to be snarky, even in illogical ways. For example, I just saw this headline: Millions of Anchovies Die on Spanish Beach. My mind's first reaction? "That's what they get for being food."

Monday, September 25, 2006

3:07 PM - Wow, that post pooped out unexpectedly.

following the thread

When Kitty Pryde (who later joined the X-Men) was first discovering her mutant powers, she experienced severe headaches and pain that was probably at least somewhat related to falling through the floor into the downstairs living room. Judging by the headaches I have been having over the past several days, I am also developing mutant powers of my own. Since the online quiz sites always tell me I am going to be Jean Grey or Deanna Troi or a unicorn, we can assume that I will soon be able to read the thoughts of others, wear clothes that show off my chest, and mope around with a definitive case of ennui.

Actually, I am thinking about super powers because I've grown interested in Heroes, a TV series that debuts tonight on NBC. It keeps getting compared to Lost, but the twist is that people all over the world are developing super powers that don't yet fit into their normal lives. It's a scary process. There's a funny and poignant review over here. If I had a television, I'd probably make room to watch this one and Project Runway.

I don't have a TV, and in fact, I don't like TV. Passive entertainment and advertising. Bleh. But since I watch movies on my computer, and everyone needs time to relax, I guess I wouldn't mind having a television interest now and again. The trouble is that NBC, who's airing the show, originally did some pre-broadcasts of the first episode on the internet: First on iTunes and later through the Yahoo Fall TV preview. I even read that they were going to make all of the episodes easily available on the internet. Yay! The show is supposed to have a substantial online component, too: blogs and comics and whatnot. The only problem, aside from me watching a scary TV show alone in the dark in Vermont (which is terrifying all on its own in the daylight), the only problem is that none of the online stuff seems to be materializing. The NBC site is a minefield of dead and changing links. The Yahoo preview went down, iTunes is closed off, the fan sites are vanishing into the ether and... well... I don't know that their web site is going to magically repair itself 3 hours from now. Maybe they have another secret hero: Internet Repair Girl.

In any case, I'm suffering a bit of righteous indignation at having this show dangled in front of my internet and then taken away. Eventually I would like to see all entertainment just readily available on the internet. Maybe that's why people get Netflix. Okay, having realized that, I will shut up now. And take more Advil.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

11:48 AM - mumble mumble

I'm a little tired of being runner-up.

That is all.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

7:32 PM - this one time, I wrote a poem about snakes

international talk like a pirate day

As you may know, today was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and may also know, I have a bit of an interest in pirates. Therefore, I think it's time to mention one of my piratey pet peeves: the difference between "Arrr!" and "Arrrgh!" In my world, pirates say, "Arrrr!" while people in severe pain might cry out, "Arrrrgh!" Please take note.

Also, since we are talking about pirates, Nemo finally drew my prize portrait from the Puzzle Pirates/Pirates of the Caribbean spoof contest. We are still waiting on the results from the new commercial contest, but in the meantime, lookie!


In other news, the Thai military seems to have declared martial law and staged a coup over their prime minister. *prods Colin Powell*

Michelle's wedding in San Diego! Just landing at the airport reminded me that the sun is brighter in California than on the East Coast. I got to spend some quality time with Michelle and her family (unusual for a wedding!) and I had an excellent walk to a beach where I stared at the ocean and deliberately allowed myself to get sunburn. The wedding itself was quite joyous, and everyone seemed to come together as a family: the groom's mother cooked a special rehearsal meal with her "5 sisters", Michelle's younger brother who I hadn't seen since he was thigh high, and all sorts of various friends, family, and well-wishers. We even had a Mummer's dance with silly hats, kazoos, umbrellas and more. It was a quick two days. Congratulations, Michelle!

San Jose! I flew Southwest into San Jose, and as the pilot announced that we were descending to our landing I got a huge irrational smile on my face. I had just one day in San Jose, and I crammed quite a bit in there: I bought 19 yards of fabric and 3 gross of rhinestones with AJ and Judy. Later we had dinner with Matt and Kaiann and met their new doggie Charlie, who is super cute and learning to be very well-behaved. I had a quiet moment while everyone was talking over salad and I realized, "I have a good life out here." That moment basically sealed the decision for me-- I want to move back to California. I spent the night in San Jose and the next morning, Kaiann drove me northward...

San Francisco and the East Bay: I spent the last few days of my trip staying with Lauren in San Francisco. Highlights include lots of good food, spending an afternoon with Fenny just talking and talking and hiding out from the cold, and an evening at Minako (which is my favorite place to eat in the city!). I also enjoyed learning that the Lake Merritt BART station is actually separated from Lake Merritt itself by a bunch of freeway ramps, which is not something to learn when you are late to meet someone.

Planes: No snakes, although I was a bit confounded that they showed a disaster movie (Poseidon) on one of my flights. On the way home I read Guns, Germs, and Steel (thanks for the suggestion, Brian!) and extrapolated even more reasons to move to a population center.

As a side note: I felt financially embarrassed a couple of times during this trip. No one in Vermont has any money, and there hasn't been a single month here where I have earned more than my expenses. That's a big part of why I am looking for SF-based contract work and an eventual job. I apologize to anyone if I acted weird around money stuff. I'll make it up to you when I am gainfully employed again.

I guess that leaves only a couple of loose ends: a) there's a performance here in Vermont on October 28 that I would like to be in, if I can pull a farewell/look-what-I've-learned piece together, and b) I really need a job in the Bay Area before I can move. Most of my skills are scripting or web design skills, but I'm getting a lot of practice with databases now, too. I'm doing some work with SQL now, but people hear "SQL" and think I'm some fancypants SQL developer, which is a bit of an exaggeration. Anyway, I'll keep reading the SQL books and start the applications process. If any of you hear about a wonderful job opportunity, send it my way. And finally-- if anyone can think of a good domain name for a HTML/design portfolio or business website for me..... I'd be grateful. I wrangled with it for a couple of hours tonight, but pretty much everything I came up with was taken or taken and stupid. Someone has even parked eatapie.com to vex me.

Monday, September 18, 2006

7:00 AM - tapping my foot for the Rapture

the ill logic of religion and violence

I was reading this CNN article about a Catholic nun who was shot and killed in Somalia. A quote:



Because shooting people in response to an implication that you are violent will dissuade people from believing that you are violent.

I'm hoping to post about my San Diego/San Francisco visit soon, but I need a block of time and some focus!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

8:08 PM - a shout out to DJ Bobo

finished!

Okay, this is my entry for the next Puzzle Pirates video contest. I'm a little disappointed that YouTube's compression process obliterated all of my finely-crafted shadows. Stupid made-up technology that I made up! Edit: I think I made the shadows darker. We will see how well that actually worked.



Next stop! San Diego! (Well, first the laundromat, then San Diego.)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

9:14 AM - a post brought to you by the letter 7 and the number Q

omghiccups!

I'm having my lunch right now and I have been suddenly hit by a swath of hiccups! Lunch is Zesty Lemon hummus, which means that I have actually been hit by a swath of Zesty Lemon hiccups! How lovely.

Had a fun weekend; the choreography showcase was this past Saturday and Marina performed a piece that I developed with her: a punk rock trapeze piece to the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover of Kermit the Frog's Rainbow Connection. She was awesome. She busted out with boots, plaid pants, and rockin' suspenders... and coming out from backstage she slammed the door open and.... well, I need to get video. Marina was away for three weeks before the show, and when she came back she was teaching an aerial workshop from 9-5 every day. I didn't want to push her because she had so many commitments, but she brought all of her energy and enthusiasm to our rehearsals. I watched as she would, exhausted, climb up on the trapeze and run the entire piece, come down, set her props, and run through the piece again through sheer willpower without even taking a break in between for water. I have a lot of respect and admiration for her, and she deserves every individual clap of the loud applause. (And the two Boos, which is apparently the punk rawk way of showing appreciation, or at least that was the spirit in which the Boos were made!)

In other news, I am flying on gossamer wings (and United Airlines) to visit San Diego and San Francisco starting this Friday. Attending a wedding in San Diego, spending a well-deserved day with friend in San Jose, then I'll be in SF from the 10th through the 14th. I'll be carrying my cell phone, so get in touch! I'll e-mail my flight information out to the relevant parties this afternoon.

I was talking with Bronwyn about the benefits and difficulties of living in Brattleboro. She mentioned that it's important to follow your instincts, and I was a bit surprised to reply that I can't feel my own instincts here. I don't feel like myself. I'm really looking forward to seeing good friends, having familiar foods, taking a hot bath or two, and having some peaceful reflective time in a place which (I hope!) still feels like home.

Finally, I've gotten a bit more info about the performance I'll be doing in the end of October. It looks like it might be a Halloween show, so I might just have to be a ghost. I'm going to try to whip out a preliminary costume sketch in preparation for fabric shopping with AJ on Sunday. Hooray!!!