Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Yesterday was Awesome IRONMAN. Totally awesome!!!

Today Forbidden Kingdom. Also very awesome, and lots of fun. It's nice to spend money on movies that are actually worth it!!!

Once again I cannot remember what it was I was going to post, and I have no time to think about it since sillymagpie wants to take this meme:

Link: The Which Shakespeare Play Are You? Test written by macbee on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test View My Profile(macbee)

So I hand over my computer.

Ah, a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Accomplishments of the weekend:
Living room cleaned and vacuumed
Shopping done
Roast made, with potatoes and onions
Assisted in the making of rhubarb pie
New Doctor Who watched
Reactivated my Epinions account (I only have a few reviews posted there, but I'm arizonacowgirl)
Washing machine hoses changed
Laundry done
Dog washed and brushed
At least 100 words written and posted to nanomowhinging

I am going to begin a serious, six-to-eight-week diet to see if I can drop this last 20-or-so pounds. It does mean I should avoid the baking for a little while. I'm pretty confident about being able to maintain, so I'm not going to go mad if I don't make it, but I'm going to TRY.

( Some Sunday afternoon memes )

And

( A wonderful article that made me sniffle )

And that's about the extent of my weekend.

Good grief, ( I'm ordinary and boring )

How, how, HOW does one stop a cat from constantly waking one up all morning (starting around 3:30-ish)??????? I try to ignore him and his antics simply increase until the urge to kill is rising... rising... and yet, he's so cute! Curse his cuteness. Now, of course, having done his work, he's off sleeping.

Therefore, I am not at the gym.

I completely forgot to go get Star Wars stamps. Some geek I am. They better still have them when I stop at the post office (this branch is ALWAYS out of the good ones when I go).

I have a sinus headache. The sort that hurts more when you're in bed but you can't get up kind, and makes your stomach queasy for no real reason so the thought of "breakfast" is icky. But I did get up, I took medicine, and I laid back down for a while. Medicine did nothing. Head still hurt. I managed to get a little more sleep and it was still there when I woke up and it's still here now, even sitting up.

Blah.

So I putter around on LJ and meme:




I thought this one was pretty cool.

I hope I feel better; I want to go over to the Asian festival at Heritage Square, and there's other things I want to do today, although I have a week's worth of my silly soap to catch up on (I didn't have time to watch it this week much), and right now they're showing an episode of Planet Earth - it's one I've seen, but it's probably my favorite thus far: the high mountains, snow leopards, eagles... these are a few of my favorite things. I definitely have to buy the DVDs of these.

nutmeg3 pointed out that The Lost Room will be shown again in its entirety on SF this week - for those who miss the re-broadcast, it's out on DVD as well, and is less than $20 at Amazon. For well-written television, I highly recommend it.

I saw a meme that made me feel a brief stab of guilt, in that it asked whether I buy more books at a real store or at Amazon. Lately... Amazon. I know, I know, it's a soulless corporation and it's starting to be vilified almost as much as Wal-Mart, but I've been shopping there since they were the little guy, it's quick, it's convenient, they ALWAYS have the books I'm looking for, and really, my only alternatives anymore seem to be just as corporate choices - Borders and Barnes & Noble. There is exactly one small store-front bookstore around here, and they specialize in antique, first-edition, and rare books. At least I never shop at Wal-Mart.

We bought more shoes yesterday. Seriously. It has become my biggest vice. We need a special closet just for shoes.

Having listened to John Mellencamp's newest album (released January 23, so it's out already), I have determined that I want to mate with this music and have its babies. For the first time in many years, I feel good about being an American again. Thank you, Mr. Mellencamp! It's as timely as Young's Living With War from last year, but a lot more timeless - and he pinpoints a number of things spot-on, such as with the song Jim Crow, where he attempts to remind everyone that changing the WORD doesn't change the attitude behind it (sung with Joan Baez, too).

Of course, instead of writing the review, I'm playing around with LJ. Figures.

I worked out this morning. My subconscious is trying to talk me out of doing so again tomorrow. Not sure way. Must beat down subconscious.

My W-2s have not arrived yet. Ergh. I can't make an appointment with either tax man until I have those in hand (the company I went to last year and the man who actually handled my account went their separate ways this last year - I'm now trapped between which to stick with. On the one hand, UFS is still close by; on the other hand, Frank knew my financial situation and I wouldn't have to explain again to a new person... but he moved his office to outer Mongolia (otherwise known as north Scottsdale... although now that I look at the map again, he's really not that far from where tiirz and edge_dancer moved to)).

I made The Glorious Pound Cake for work tomorrow - the recipe makes two full Bundt cakes, though, so there's one for home.

And now...


Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

Oh, and very important:
Tomorrow is GROUNDHOG DAY!!!

Obviously, since it's been nearly a week since last I posted. I was playing with the Mary Sue Litmus Test, and ended up so with some of my characters:

Cody Cameron: 43 (Mary-Sue. Your character needs some work in order to be believable. But despair not; you should still be able to salvage her with a little effort. Don't give up.)

Matthias (Matt) O'Connor: 23 (Borderline-Sue. Your character is cutting it close, and you may want to work on the details a bit, but you're well on your way to having a lovely original character. Good work.)

Della Kelly: 46 (Mary-Sue. Your character needs some work in order to be believable. But despair not; you should still be able to salvage her with a little effort. Don't give up.)

Sean Patrick O'Connor: 99 (Irredeemable-Sue. You're going to have to start over, my friend. I know you want to keep writing, but no. Just no.)

WAH!

Well, I'm not sure about some of the questions. Cody is one of the first really in-depth female characters I've ever had who's really come to life as she has, and her vivid eyes do have a valid reason to exist in my universe, where odd or especially vividly colored eyes are a mark that you belong to a magickal family. I can't explain Sean Patrick, but vampires are SUPPOSED to look young for their age - it goes with the territory. And I find it strange that Matt scored so low when the girls scored so high - he's got several cliche-points against him... (at least, that's what I sometimes fear).

But it's kinda fun.

I had to pay homeowner's insurance this week for the first time, I got all my reviews done and in (awesome new disc from the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash; a monumentally excellent first CD from the lovely - I do mean LOVELY - Sunny Sweeney; and a really pedestrian effort from Wayner Warner, who has gone TOTALLY mainstream), we did a little shopping, I worked a couple hours this morning to finish off a pretty good week at work, and that's about it for my wonderful, exciting life.

I did manage to get to the gym more than once in the last two weeks, and with strict calorie-counting (except for today and a little yesterday), I've lost three pounds!

( The Morning Meme )

This morning rahirah is off for doctorly things, and I have started cleaning house some - the kitchen is a disaster due to a few days of cooking blitz and little tidying up after myself. I have to remember to note to myself that when the recipe calls for "a pound of rice" that it's important to use only a cup or so, especially for two people. I did it the first time I made the dish (a cheeseless saffron risotto which is quite nice), so I don't know what I was thinking. So we had risotto with fish on Wednesday, and I'll saute up some shrimp to go with it maybe tonight or tomorrow. I also made chili and Irish soda bread for our "diversity lunch" on Friday - good chili, if mild (due to many of the ladies at my office being SERIOUS lightweights when it comes to spicy food); I saved the bread despite forgetting to cut in the butter before adding the liquid. Oops. It was a good lunch. Lots of interesting German food, an Indian rice dish, Irish stew (which went really well with my bread), Menudo (which I still didn't get up the courage to try, even though I promised myself I would), some soul food, and just generally good stuff.

Cairo wants attention and he's being very demanding. It's hard to type.

My arm is doing a little better; it was killing me Thursday night and I had a hard time sleeping. Last night I broke down and bought some Tylenol (can't have Ibuprofen while on the other meds) and Valerian on sillymagpie's advice. Slept better last night. Still sore, though, but much better.

I got all three of my reviews done - the fourth disc never did show up, so it's been moved. I have at least three reviews due every week in October. Not sure how I managed that. At least one of them is the Twentieth Anniversary re-issue of Dwight's Guitars, Cadillacs, so that won't be tough - but it's an awesome reissue; not just the same stuff with a few bonus tracks - it has ALL the 1981 session tracks that were issued in the box set (so for those who couldn't afford said box set), plus an extra disc which is Live @ the Roxy, 1986 - NEVER before issued! So, awesome. (For Dwight fans, the release date is the 17th.)

One commentary on the current Capital Hill scandal: Are all politicians fifth graders, or what? "Well, THEY did it first!" (see the Jon Stewart commentary) Geez.

( Oh, and just 'cause. )

I have contracted...

Asian Wombat Flu

...A rare disease transmitted to humans by petting a wombat.

Find out what you've contracted!

I contracted it from janetmiles.

We just got back from a lovely Easter lunch at Red Lobster, which is surprisingly uncrowded on an Easter Sunday (wondering if perhaps most people don't think of fish on Easter). I highly recommend the lobster-stuffed tilapia in creamy lagastine sauce. Yum!

Cairo has taken it into his head to lick me awake whenever he wants to be petted in the middle of the night. This is mostly endearing, except of course in the middle of the night I WANT TO SLEEP. He's such a spoiled brat.

Finally watched My Neighbor Totoro last night, since I picked it up at CostCo yesterday. Very sweet movie. I liked it.

I am down to 180,892 words, 624 pages. Now the REALLY hard work starts!

EDITED POST:

( My Music Layout )

Ah, it was the style I was using. I'm not sure this is the one I'll stick with, but at least it allows the meme to show!

I apologize to everyone who got their pages screwed up by this danged thing. I don't know why it wouldn't work for me. I can't figure out how to edit styles properly. I wish they had a "this is what it will look like if you do THAT" preview page inset in the customize styles part...

Is the lj cut actually working??? It doesn't seem to be...

Yes! I got it.

Finally.

Where is the outrage?!?

Quotage:

During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he [President Bush] made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times. . . .

The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein. . . .

{{Long, drawn-out sigh}} And I wonder sometimes why I let days' worth of the Times stack up before reading them. Of course, I've been sick, so I have an excuse.

I'm more or less back to normal, although apparently I've given it to rahirah. Sorry! I still have a cough and I feel run down, so I didn't get up and go to the gym today. Still, according to the bathroom scale I'm down to 160, which is a loss of five pounds in the last two weeks, so I'm content with that. I fit into my size-10 suit I bought last year in anticipation of losing that weight before I hit the plateau. People I barely know told me I looked good today. {beam}

This afternoon I heard a raven, but didn't see it. I hope that counts for good fortune as my previous raven sightings have.

I REALLY need to update my website (not that anyone actually goes there). I have to figure out how to use the software I had on the old hard drive before the reload.



Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

It's fun:

You Were a Praying Mantis

You have the still power of a legendary warrior. You are able to manipulate time - or at least, the perception of it.

<td align="center"> wildrider --
[noun]:

An immortal

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com</td>

No matter where you live in the country, I hope that 31 degrees (F) is cold. That's what the time/temp thing on the way to work said this morning. I was very, very cold. Brrrr.

( Read depressing rant only if you dare )

We discovered our deep freeze was no longer working on Saturday; I'd remembered that rahirah had discovered a few days before that the new meat we'd put in there wasn't frozen, just cold, and we attributed it to the lid not being securely closed, so I checked. Nothing. Water ran out of every crack as I opened the lid and everything was completely thawed, although, fortunately, still cold. We managed to find room for everything inside and cooked up what was left. Unfortunately, there was already a pot roast in the crock pot, so we couldn't really cook any of the meat, but the Marie Callender's pie was saved, as well as a pot pie which was covered and put away for a future meal. Cheap frozen pizzas don't cook up nearly so well when they've been thawed.

Quote from a NY Times editorial:

Mr. Bush and his team don't understand that they merely hold the current majority in a system designed to bring periodic changes in the governing party and to protect the rights and values of the minority party. The idea that the winners should trash the system to make sure the democratic process ended with them was discredited back around the time of the Bolsheviks.

Humpf. This country sucks, depressed.

Well, let's throw in a meme just for kicks (although I can't really speak for its accuracy):

You Have a Choleric Temperament

You are a person of great enthusiasm - easily excited by many things. Unsatisfied by the ordinary, you are reaching for an epic, extraordinary life. You want the best. The best life. The best love. The best reputation. You posses a sharp and keen intellect. Your mind is your primary weapon. Strong willed, nothing can keep you down. Your energy can break down any wall. You're an instantly passionate person - and this passion gives you an intoxicating power over others. At your worst, you are a narcissist. Full of yourself and even proud of your faults. Stubborn and opinionated, you know what you think is right. End of discussion. A bit of a misanthrope, you often see others as weak, ignorant, and inferior.

I'd do the Harry Potter one, but Sirius isn't an option, and somehow I ended up with Harry. Jailbait, and I didn't even choose bright emerald eyes (although those obviously appeal to me -- see: Raif Kincaid).

Hmmm, leftover pot roast. At least I can cook.

I love weeks that end on Wednesday.

For those who enjoy reading editorials, I recommend today's NY Times (almost all of them), especially this one (scary), and this one (also a little scary), and this one (cool and amusing). That last one has this paragraph:

The problem of familiarity and perspective is one barrier that keeps some people from grasping the truth of evolution. The more you confront the diversity of life forms in existence - all the ways of getting a living on this planet - the easier it is to grasp the malleability of life itself under the pressure of natural selection. Then something like Dakosaurus comes along, reminding us that the record of all the life forms on this planet is far from complete, and far stranger than we could ever have guessed. We would be at an utter loss to make sense of this diversity, of all the ways life presents itself, without the theory of evolution to explain it.

Hee.

And in case I don't get back on here tomorrow, Happy Birthday, tiirz!

Not to mention Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

And because they're nifty:

I expect I didn't score very high because I'm not at all a science geek:



The science questions left me either staring blankly or guessing wildly. Sadly, my nerdiness lies in English. Show me a list of things with commas out of place or ask how to use a hyphen properly and I'll all over it!

( Politics )

( Religion )

I hate it when I find empty CD cases and have no clue where the CD is. This goes along with having the CD, but being unable to find the case (I like that conundrum better, somehow). In the former case, it's Billy Joel's Turnstiles, which is probably his second-best ever, and I really need to find it.

Two reviews coming up. As Dale Watson sings, "Rock-n-roll back in the 70's are country hits today." So it is, what I'm reviewing is Poco, Bareback at Big Sky. Poco is good, but it's 70's rock, not country. Although admittedly they're WAY more country than Kenny Chesney. The other one is a working Montana cowboy who cuts records. Good songs, but he sings like, well, a working cowboy (although many working cowboys I've heard can really sing, like Chris LeDoux and Andy Hersey, so it's not a good analogy...).

Anyway...

Listening to Johnny Cash. Why does Lori Piestewa, an Indian woman who died driving a truck, get a mountain named after her, while no one remembers Ira Hayes, an Indian man who actually helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima? (Just something that's been bothering me for some while...)

( Not for any male readers )

( Politics )

I kinda knew this one:


Hobbit


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

I almost ended up a Dwarf but I changed "mountains" to "pastoral setting" and got more the answer I expected. Much as I've always aspired to be elvin or Numenorean, I think I've known most of my life that I'm a hobbit at heart. :)

Last night I went to make some screencaps from a DVD. PowerDVD errored out, and I had to shut down the computer to re-set everything. Computer would not come back up. I fiddled with it a little and got a "please re-boot with former configuration" sort of deal. I did so. It came back. PowerDVD errored out again, and I got a message that it was likely due to any new software recently installed. So I un-installed both my iPod and all the stuff that came with it, and while I was doing so, I pulled off the DVD program that Disney installed on my computer when I put "The Emperor's New Groove" in my computer's DVD drive. Then I re-booted, and my computer refused to return.

rahirah fiddled with it. We tried everything, and it would not get past the "we're sorry" page, and finally we gave up and went to bed. This morning we went down to Fry's and got a new harddrive, which rahirah is installing now, with Windows 2000 instead of XP, to see how much of my old settings can be recovered from the old drive (which should be fine, of course, although I'll have to re-install all my software).

SIGH.

So I'm sitting out on the laptop. I tried to log into my country music boards, but it's one of those where they assigned a password instead of me choosing one, so that password is safe in my Eudora boxes with all my other weird assigned passwords, and I can't remember which one it is. I can, however, log onto LJ, so here I be. The friends page is all wonky again, though, so I'm guessing that one of LJ's servers is down again.

I cut my finger slicing a bagel this morning. The porch cat doesn't want just food anymore, he wants companionship while he eats, so I sat out on the porch with him while opening the mail. The new hard drive is larger than my old one (120 gig), and I only got one so, um, small because it was the cheapest one there. I am taking this opportunity to listen to a number of CDs that have been stacking up around here I haven't had the chance to listen to, though. Newcomer Todd Fritsch is pretty good--mainstream country with a traditional feel, like AJ or Strait. Nashville ordinary rather than Texas outlaw, but still good music.

ETA:

The No-Hassle Day Planner for the Clinically Insane by MilesToGo13
Username
This morning, you should...	set your bed on fire, to exorcise the evil demon spirits that made you dream about doing bad things, like setting your bed on fire.
Then, after lunch...	leap on random pedestrians and demand that your need for piggy back rides be sated, lest you kill again.
Dinner will consist of...	however many pigeons you managed to stun with your tazer.
Afterwards, you set off into the evening to...	have a drink at your local coffee shop, where you take great joy in unplugging people's laptops at random and giggling at their misery.
At the height of your madness, you will call	edge_dancer
And the two of you will proceed to...	do dozens of shots of that thick blue liquid usually used to clean combs, then spend the rest of the night alternating between vomiting and talking about how much you love each other.
Quiz created with MemeGen!

Things I have learned in the last day or two:

I have to keep the front door open at night or the cats will DEMAND to be let in all night long so they can look out the open window.

291,614 words is too long for a novel. I was so busy worrying that it wasn't long enough to be a novel I apparently made it too long for a publisher to be seriously interested. Time to get ruthless with the cutting. {Actually able to laugh at self over this brief setback.}

See rahirah's journal for information about the Schnepf Farms outing.

I cannot BELIEVE I left off two very important top picks for re-issues/compilations of 2005, those being Turn Back The Years - The Essential Hank Williams and The Legend of Johnny Cash. The latter is a tremendous collection, where they were SOMEHOW able to condense the entirety of Cash's overwhelming 5-decade career into one 21-song disc. I do not envy the position of the person who had to chose those 21 songs. Lots of omissions, of course, but I think they managed to really capture the best of the best for it, and it's a great collection for anyone just starting a Cash collection, since it has songs spanning his career from first single (Cry! Cry! Cry!) to last (Hurt). I actually need to buy the Hank 3-disc set, because the label sent out promotional discs that were handmade burns (with felt-tip writing on them to tell which was which) and Disc Two is corrupted from track 11 onward (fortunately, I do know all the songs).

I'm not precisely sure when I became a Johnny Cash fanatic, but I think it happened sometime in the two years before his death. I mean, I had grown up with him, knew all his hits, but it was just after the release of "Solitary Man" that I went Cash Nuts. Heck, I owe him my entire book.

Tomorrow I shall be a vampire during the day (I found a pair of kinky boot beasts that look like something Drusilla would have worn), and change into an intrepid zombie hunter at night for handing out the candy. We have Shaun of the Dead, Shallow Grave, and Poltergeist for our Halloween watching pleasure.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

You Are 63% American

Most times you are proud to be an American. Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home. You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

Back to the cutting room.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.5
Mind:	6.3
Body:	6.1
Spirit:	8.4
Friends/Family:	5
Love:	7.3
Finance:	5.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

I think my "friends/family" entry suffers as most of my immediate family is dead, and about 97% of my close friends live out-of-state...

I have many things to contemplate today, many of them left over from yesterday, but I'll lead out with a great quote I just stole borrowed from liberalrage, from Monday night's Colbert Report, which I may have to start watching:

Anybody who knows me knows that I am no fan of dictionaries or reference books. They're elitist for constantly telling us what is or isn't true, what did or didn't happen... I don't trust books. They're all fact and no heart. And that's exactly what's pulling our country apart today. Because face it, folks, we are a divided nation... We are divided by those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart.

[...] Did you know that you have more nerve endings in your stomach than in your head? Look it up. Now, somebody's gonna say `I did look that up and its wrong'. Well, Mister, that's because you looked it up in a book. Next time, try looking it up in your gut. I did. And my gut tells me that's how our nervous system works.

Now I know some of you may not trust your gut...yet. But with my help you will. The "truthiness" is, anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news... at you.

Now that's from a trustigious reporter.

( Hurricanes )

( Safety and potentially non-PC stuff )

( Regrets )

And now for the obligatory meme:

You fit in with: Spiritualism Your ideals are mostly spiritual, but in an individualistic way. While spirituality is very important in your life, organized religion itself may not be for you. It is best for you to seek these things on your own terms. 80% spiritual. 40% reason-oriented.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

And I must meme again...

Teacher You scored 65% Do Gooder, 60% Drive, and 67% Intellect!

You are a smarty-pants and eager to share your knowledge with others, while still open to absorbing everything in your environment. That is why you are a teacher (and at the same time, a perpetual student). You have above average intelligence and the drive to be effective in your life and the lives of others. You are also a good person who cares about others, but yourself as well, generally not letting people take advantage of you. A teacher is a great thing to be and we need more humans like you in the world. All human being categories are: Lazy SOB, Rebel w/out a Cause, Evil Mastermind, Henchman, Criminal, Dictator, Frat Boy, Socialite, Philosopher, Stunt Double, Upstanding Citizen, Teacher, Cheerleader, Sister Mary DoGood, Benefactor, Loyal Sidekick, Candy Striper, Goody Two-Shoes.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 36% on Do Gooder You scored higher than 42% on Drive You scored higher than 31% on Intellect

Link: The What Type of Human Are You? Test written by weeredIII on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

G'night.