Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Halloween Gods are Smiling Gimacing at Me

What a great day it is!!! No wonder Halloween is my favorite holiday.

This morning I discovered that a paper I thought was due Monday is actually due Friday. This is really good because I didn't actually turn it in on Monday. I was going to make up a really good excuse for its lateness, but now I don't have to.*

I'm wearing saddle shoes. It's fun. I dressed as a 1940's hep cat chick. I makes me want to go swing dancing though. God, I miss that.

At work for lunch we had a pot-luck thing so I actually got to escape the isolation of the front desk and mingle with the other people who work here. It makes my job slightly less draining to actually, you know, interact with people. Now that I think about it, it makes a normal day feel that much more draining and soul sucking. But there is this to make me smile about it:

Not that I would actually stab my boss. El Douche maybe. Still it's amusing.

When I went past the break room on my way back to my prison desk, I commented that there was enough food to last us quite a while if there was a zombie invasion and we all had to hole up downstairs. I love being a geek.

Speaking of Zombie invasions (and me being a geek), check this out and be afraid, be very afraid.

*I know my Dad reads this sometimes so I would like to take this footnote to hypnotize him into not remembering that bit about me not turning in a paper on time. And anyway, it all works out in the end. Dad, you are getting sleepy, very, very sleepy....

Boo!

Myspace Graphics - Happy Halloween




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Halloween: Good WitchHalloween: Good WitchHalloween: Good WitchHalloween: Good Witch

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Workin' 9 2 5

Good news!
I have a job interview on Wednesday.



Wait... don't I already have a job?



Yes. But it is not a fun job. I have sometimes come home completely exhausted because I was so bored at work. Plus... well, the other day (at work) I made a list of 26 reasons why my job sucks.



Is it really that bad?



I guess not. That is, all 26 reasons were valid, but I was sort of nit picking. The interview I'm going to is for a bookstore though. Yes, it would be retail again (I dislike my current job so much I miss retail), but a part of it would be doing Storytime which would be super cool. Plus (you may have noticed) I'm a bit of a bibliophile so working with books is going to be awesome for me.



Good for you. Wait, Wednesday is Halloween.



I know. The only sad thing about this interview is it gets in the way of dressing up too much for my favorite holiday. This:








is not exactly going to make a good, proffessional impression. Although the sword might help things a little. Hmmmm.

Oh well, I will still dress up a little because we have a costume contest at work and I cant not dress up at all. Nothing too elaborate though. And I'll change for the interview.

Anyway, wish me luck on Wednesday.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Sympathy fo rthe Devil

Here's a thought:

We could rid the world of evil if only we could cure boredom.

I'm sick enough of twiddling my thumbs at work that I have started plotting. Nothing serious yet, but give me time.


P.S. Hooray for two posts in one afternoon.

Feild Mice, Head Lice, Spiders in the Kitchen

Don't think twice 'bout whatever keeps you itchin'

This weekend is the unofficial Halloween, the bestest best holiday ever! I'm super excited to dress up and hit the parties. On Wednesday (the real Halloween) there's a petit fete at work - a pot-luck costume contest thing.

All Hallows Eve has been my favorite holiday for, like, ever. It surpassed Christmas by the time I was 7. I just love dressing up, and the free candy was always grand too. Why don't I get free candy anymore?

Anyway, in the spirit of all things spooky, I treat you all with this:




Bonus points for anyone who can name the song that the headline is from.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Existential Stripping











It is possible I've spent too much time on xkcd.com

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Moving Foward Using All my Breath

I'm rocking out to the hits of the eighties today at work. Why? Because they rock. And because on my way back from lunch I pulled up next to a car that was playing Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode and it got stuck in my head.

This week random songs have very easily lodged themselves in my brain in such a way that they stay there for hours. Earlier I read something stupid on some webpage or another about the Backstreet Boys that casually (in a sarcastic sort of way) mentioned their song "I Want it That Way." I am loathe to admit it, but I didn't totally hate the Backstreet Boys back in Jr High. Apparently somewhere deep in my subconcious the thirteen-year-old me lurks still listening to the music of decades past. I was appalled to find out that, not only did I remember the tune of that horrible ditty, but I actually know most of the words.

I'm afraid I have now lost all musical credibility. I hang my head in shame, and protest: I have good stuff on my i-pod, really! I swear I have good taste! The music I listen to is edgy, eclectic, unique and... not by pop tarts.

Isn't it sad though that so much of my memory is taken up by lyrics to horrible pop songs? That may be one of the worst side-effects of high school. It was impossible to avoid hearing a number of songs that are just dreadful. Not only was I not old enough to have more discerning taste, but I still listened to the radio and went places (like school dances) where the featured entertainment was top 40 tripe. I also have a tendency to remember lyrics really easily. Especially with pop songs with their simple verses. There is probably a dusty part of my brain that still knows every word to "Ooops I did it Again" and every single song by the Spice Girls that got radio play. It's not my fault. I blame the goat!

At least now I know better. And I only dance around and sing along to the Spice Girls when I'm sure no one is looking.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

SLC Ink

My little bro is brilliant.
Let me tell you why.
He gots himself some ink last week yo.
It's the illest tat eva:





Yes, it is real. When he first announced it, none of us believed him. But when I looked closely it had all the signs of a real life tattoo. You can't really tell from this picture (which I took with my phone so it's not great quality), but it's on his fore-arm, just below the elbow.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Lost Language

Some of the things that Manic wrote about on his little website yesterday (oh, he posted it on Tuesday, but I read it yesterday) really made me think about my own Writing and how little I've been doing lately. He doesn't really talk about writing much, but he mentions his process (third paragraph) and the way he describes it made me hunger for metaphor. I suddenly realised that I've been forgoing Writing much longer than I should.

I should explain what I mean by Writing. I don't mean the silly little anecdotes and quips that I write either here or in e-mails or for school or even in my journal. I do that kind of writing everyday and while there is something to be said for getting something down on paper (so to speak), it just doesn't count. There's too much casualness and informality to this kind of writing. What I've been neglecting is really constructed, careful, meaningful, perfectly formed Writing. The sort of composition that makes the best poetry and stories.

I used to Write every day- on top of e-mails and journals and letters and such- but due to a serious case of writer's block, I got out of the habit. Now I've recovered from the block, but I'm out of the habit of getting things out of my head, so I now have a massive population of poems and words and phrases floating around inside of me. I feel like I've lost some of my talent at translating them. Whenever I pick up a pen, everything tries to come out at once and nothing is quite as good as it was in my mind. I lose my courage and walk away.

Part of the problem is that I hold myself to a very high standard. Anyone who has ever heard me rant about "poets" knows part of the reason. Poetry, especially, is so deeply personal and there are so many "poets" out there who are so posturing and pretentious that their poetry (which is usually terrible) gets lost behind their image. I'm loathe to bring an imperfect poem into the world because I want to just be someone who writes poetry. I want my image to get lost behind my poems; that can't happen if they're just a bunch of empty bullshit. So I hide from Writing even though I know all it would take is consistency and some steady work at editing to produce some satisfactory pieces. Now there's so much backlog in my head that the idea of wading through it all is absolutely daunting.

It's high time I got over this! No excuses anymore! I'm going to Write something everyday. I'll force myself if I have to (and I'm sure I will) until I get back in the habit. I'm in dire need of a language laxative (gross). They say that real Writers simply need to write- it's part of who they are. How true it is! I feel like I've lost part of myself since I haven't been Writing. It's time to find Me again.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Book Meme

I don't often do "memes". Or, rather, I don't often call them memes. Anyway, I like this one.

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users (as of 30 September 2007). As usual, bold what you have read, italicise what you started but couldn't finish, and strike through what you couldn't stand. Add an asterisk to those you've read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights*
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice*

Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novelA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's PendulumMiddlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel

Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an Inquiry into Values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
The Hobbit*
In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers
Bastard out of Carolina

For those who like to keep track, that's 30 that I've read and 20 that are on the list. My to-read list is quite long (the one's mentioned above are just a fraction thereof). I'm a bit overwhelmed actually.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Pause!

I am in desperate need of some sentience.

I feel like I've been rushing around lately. There's been so much to do and I've been trying to do it all. I've managed pretty well, I guess. I admit that there are a few things I haven't gotten to and a few friends I haven't seen enough of. I feel almost like I have to schedule simple get togethers weeks in advance because I'm just so busy.

It doesn't help that my job is so exhaustingy boring. Most evenings I leave the office completely drained and all I want to do is stretch out on the living room rug and stare at the ceiling. Plus I'm so isolated at work, it's hard to suddenly switch over to social mode. Maybe I should start talking to myself, just so I don't completely lose the art of conversation. What I really need is a new job- one where I can actually get to know interesting people. And I am looking. I've even applied a couple places. But I digress.

Lately I've been caught up in the rush and I just need a break. So I'm going to be completely anti-social this weekend. I just want to stay still and not go anywhere. I'm going to lounge around the house and read, maybe write a little, just stay still.

Besides, I have have some homework to catch up on and I think I may be coming down with a bit of a cold. A little stillness will be good for me. Next weekend I'll get back to having a life, but this weekend I'm introverting.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

I hereby declare today a good day!

I have a slice of pie. I am happy. Yay pie.

It is pumpkin, by the way.




































P.S. Halloween is coming up. Yay halloween!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite

Last night I saw Across the Universe with my family. This movie hasn't gotten very good reviews, but I thought it was mostly good. It may have been better if 5 or 6 songs had been cut. But I'm a fan of The Beatles and, for the most part, the movie treated their music quite well. It was on par with just about any other movie centered on music and a worthwhile geek-fest for any fan of the Fab Four.

On a completely different note:
I don't pay much attention to politics. I do listen to NPR in the morning and sometimes on my way home from work, so I have a general idea of what it going on, but I rarely form an opinion. Concerning a certain Senator from Idaho, this made me chuckle:

Friday, October 05, 2007

ZOMFGLOLKTHXBI!1!1!

So... Cute FedEx Guy has a name. And a myspace page.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Down With Censorship

It is Banned Book Week!

Go out and read yourself a banned book.

"What book should that be?" you ask.

"I don't know any banned books. Why would I want to read that filth anyway?" you continue.

That's it, we're not friends anymore. I personally think that banning books should be a crime. Books are a wonderful way to safely experience extraordinary things. They provoke the imagination and stretch the mind. A book that contains controversial material is one of the best kinds of books because it does evertything I just mentioned but it also can open up dialogue about something that needs to be talked about. It is not filth! I slap you upside the head for saying so.

"Oh. I'm an idiot. I will read TEN banned books to make it up to you. But I still don't know which books have been banned." You say, with your head hung in shame.

You might want to start with the most challenged book of 2006: And Tango Makes Three a true story about gay penguins at Central Park Zoo.

Since you're going to read TEN banned books, you should check out this list of the 100 most challenged books from 1990-2000. I have personally read exactly half of the list. Seriously, I just counted. Check out #88 though. What is controversial about that book?

Happy Reading!


2007 Banned Books Week: Ahoy! Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book

Amendum: I totally lied. Due to a very silly mistake on my part I miscounted the number of books I've read on that list. It's actually only 25. I am a shmuck.
My Amazon.com Wish List

2007 Banned Books Week: Ahoy! Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book