Lost in Book Land

Now that my final in my Lit class is over, I'm indulging in some very silly novels. It's really fun to get swept away by a silly little plot and not worry about symbolism and theme and tone and all that Jazz. I'm almost ravenous for these silly little novels. And I'm going to enjoy being able to relax and read them for a while until I have to get back to serious reading for my summer classes.

I'm kinda feeling pensive tonight (and I just finished one book. I'll wait a while to start another), so I'm just going to keep adding to this post as things come to me.

Imagine if Jay Gatsby had been a woman. What with all the brooding, the excessive parties, the staring at the light across the river. She would have been considered obsessive and histrionic. Not that Gats is a particularly sound character... he gets away with it though (more or less) because he is a rich white male.

I kind of miss going to the opera. I had season tickets for two years in high school- I was able to get them really cheap. I enjoyed it very much. Since then I've only gone once. The last time I went to the opera I spent a lot more money than I could afford to get the tickets for my boyfriend at the time. They were a birthday present. He loved listening to opera music, but had never actually seen one. I thought it would be the perfect thing to get him, and I splurged to get decent seats. I was so excited about the gift, but his reaction was disappointing. Maybe it was my fault... isn't it supposed to be typical for guys to hate things like the opera? I really thought it was a wonderful thing to get him though. Those tickets are one entry on a long list of things I did for him with little or no thanks. The funny thing is, when we broke up he accused me of being ungrateful. He even said that he refrained from doing nice things for me because he didn't think I would appreciate them properly. ... Anyway, the opera was really good.

The conversations I have in my head always go smoother than when I try to have them with real people. Funny that.

Do you suppose Wagner is going through the after-life hitting himself in the head repeatedly every time someone plays Ride of the Valkyries because he knows at least half the people listening to it are singing along "kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit"?

It's odd; I don't have many favourites (it's better spelled the British way!). I don't have a favourite colour. I don't have a favourite fruit. No favourite band, flower, song, vegetable, number, movie, book, or animal. When I do settle on favourite, I seem to choose odd categories. I do have a favourite constellation, and a favourite composer (Corona Borealis and Beethoven, respectively). When asked what my favourites are though I respond with preferences based on phonetics. For example, I will tell you that my favourite colour is Vermillion, my favourite fruit? Kumquat. Veggie? Zucchini.

Struggles With Space-Time

Will someone please tell me how to make time stop for a few hours? There is too much I want to do today and not nearly enough time in which to do it. So, of course I am sacrificing the fun for the necessary. And I am being very unproductive and day-dreaming of the fun things while dallying through necessary things. Blah.

Quick Update

Because blogging is more fun than studying...

It's the end of the semester, and that means finals. The weekend and a good portion of today found me with my nose in a book (not always the same book) and have some more to do before I will feel really confident about the test I have tomorrow. But my brain needs a break right now.

I think I'm about due to give a State of the Universe (... that is, me) Address.

Thanks to a massive tax return and a decent cushion in my savings account, I managed to get by for an awfully long time after quitting Job-O'-Death. That money is now almost gone though, so it's a good thing that I have a new job. The job is for the county library... all of them. It's like temping, but just at libraries. Or, it's like being a substitute teacher, except I don't teach, I just work at libraries. When I've told people, they seem to feel sorry for me, like working at a library is something that no one would ever want to do. I don't care what people say though, I dig it. As you all know, I'm a book sort of gal. I love the library. So the way I see it, this job is just about as perfect for me as it gets.

Unfortunately, the training for this job goes on forever so I'm not going to get any kind of decent hours for another couple weeks. That means I wont get any kind of decent paycheck for a while. Oh well, somehow I'll manage to get by.

On the school front, classes are almost over, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I would be a lot more excited about that if I weren't taking classes through the summer too. But I will have a few weeks off, which will be very nice. Now that I mention it, I think I can register for Fall classes now... I should probably get on that.

On the romantic front.... Oh man, you don't want to know. Anyway, blogging about that kind of thing is dangerous. My love life is certainly not boring at the moment, and I'm enjoying myself. I guess that's all you really need to know.

I'm excited about the summer. I'm totally ready to go swimming, and eat peaches, and go biking, and dance outside, and go to the farmer's market, and go hiking, and drink iced tea. I'm hoping to get in a camping trip or two before it gets too hot. Speaking of hot, my apartment (which I still absolutely adore) does not have air conditioning. I'm not looking forward to inescapable hotness of the summer. But I guess it's a reasonable trade off for everything else that I am going to thoroughly enjoy.

I suppose I've wasted enough time by now. I must get back to academia. Wish me luck on finals!

Everybody Play The Game!

I don't really do the meme thing. But I stumbled upon this one (over at The Caffeinated Librarian) and thought it looked like fun. Maybe it will pull a few of my readers out of the shadows. It's interactive! It's fun! You know you want to play!

Teh Meme:

~Pick 15 of your favorite movies
~Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie (or quote them from memory because you are that awesome)
~Post them on your blog for everyone to guess
~Fill in the film title once it’s been guessed

Teh Rulez:

~No Googling or using IMDB (or other) search engines (Don’t cheat!)
~Leave your answer(s) in the comments.


Teh Quotes:

One: Benny and Joon (Shani)

They used to be fat and juicy and now they're twisted. They had their lives stolen. Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes. I can't say I am a big supporter of the raisin council.

Two: Captain Blood (Rusty)

Nuttall, me lad, there's just one other little thing. Do you think you could find me a good stout piece of timber? About so thick and so long?

Yes, I think so

Then do so and lash it to your spine - it needs stiffening. Courage! We'll join you at midnight

Three: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Rusty)

Armed? What do you mean armed? Armed with what?

Err, bad breath, colorful language, feather duster... what do you think they're gonna be armed with? Guns, you tit!

Four: Princess Bride (Hang Time)

You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you.

You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.

Five:

What do they think I am? Dumb or something? Why, I make more money than - than - than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!

Six: Twelve Monkeys (Rusty)

There's the television. It's all right there - all right there. Look, listen, kneel, pray. Commercials! We're not productive anymore. We don't make things anymore. It's all automated. What are we *for* then? We're consumers, Jim. Yeah. Okay, okay. Buy a lot of stuff, you're a good citizen. But if you don't buy a lot of stuff, if you don't, what are you then, I ask you? What? Mentally *ill*. Fact, Jim, fact - if you don't buy things - toilet paper, new cars, computerized yo-yos, electrically-operated sexual devices, stereo systems with brain-implanted headphones, screwdrivers with miniature built-in radar devices, voice-activated computers...

Seven: Swing Kids (Fyffe)

No one who likes swing can become a Nazi.

Eight: Secretary (Aaron)

One scoop of creamed potatoes. A slice of butter. Four peas. And as much ice cream as you'd like to eat.

Nine: Night of the Hunter (Dad)

Leaning... leaning... safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning... leaning... leaning on the everlasting arms.

Ten: Serenity (Fyffe)

Goin' on a year now I ain't had nothin' twixt my nethers weren't run on batteries!

Eleven: Shaun of the Dead (Rusty)

As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he was talking about.

Twelve: 5th Element (Fyffe)

Are you classified as human?

Negative, I am a meat popsicle.

Thirteen: Space Balls (Aaron)

Evil will always triumph because good is dumb.

Fourteen: Fight Club (Hang Time)

I am Jack's inflamed sense of rejection.

Fifteen: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Fyffe)

And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats and large chu...

Skip a bit, Brother.

…And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.


Some of these I will be really surprised if people can get them. Some of them seem way too obvious- but those are the ones from movies that I've seen so many times that I can recite the whole damn thing. Oh well, have fun!

P.S. If you comment anonymously because you don't want to create a google account, which is totally allowed, you should leave your name (or some sort of identifying information) at the end of your comment so I can give you credit. I guess that's not really anonymous anymore, is it. But you totally want credit, right? I encourage you to use the Name/URL option if you don't have a google/blogger ID, because that's awesome and makes it easier for me to cyber-stalk you. Just kidding.

Today's Post Is Brought To You By The Letter R

... as in Ridiculous.

Ridiculous things are happening today.

I had computer training for my job today (at the library. I will tell you all about it one of these days). It was thrilling, let me tell you. It is nice/important/necessary for us new employees to know how to use the software so we can keep things running. It's kind of nice that there is actually a training class thing for this job. Most places I've worked just stick new people at a computer and you get to learn as you go. This sink or swim method works, but usually means that it takes forever to accomplish simple tasks. So training beforehand is a good thing. Todays training involved very useful things such as "double click to open the program" and "you can close by clicking on this x in the corner" and "this is your menu tool bar, where your menus are." I'm seriously not exaggerating. It was the most basic computer stuff that anyone who has ever used a computer must know already. It seemed completely ridiculous to be going over things so simple.

As ridiculous as that was, there were a couple people there who really needed to be taught those simplest of simple computer tasks. These people were... well, they were older than me, so I guess it could be a generational thing. I don't expect everyone to be a computer wiz or anything. And I acknowledge that it's easier for me, and my peers, and kids younger than me, to grasp new technology. After all, we've pretty much grown up with computers, so we're used to them. We take it for granted that everyone has a basic understanding of how they work. These ladies really didn't. Maybe they are complete technophobes who let their kids do all their computer stuff. I don't know. It seems like computers play such a huge role in almost everything people do these days, it's ridiculous that people don't know such basic, basic things about how use them. I don't mean anything against these people, really. It's just astonishing. I'm astonished.

After I learned how to shut down the computer by going to "start" then "turn off computer" I ventured out into the parking lot to find... Fucking Snow. It was so warm and sunny yesterday! This weather is ridiculous.

On my way home, Alanis Morissette's amazingly ridiculous song "Ironic" came on the radio. I listened to the whole thing and sang along with every word. Oh man, I haven't heard that song in ages. I bought Jagged Little Pill when it first came out and listened to it non-stop. Hey, I was in Jr. High, I was young and silly. It, like, totally spoke to me. I now look back and have to point and laugh at myself. That music (especially "Ironic") is pretty terrible. Oh well, I guess I have to still love it a little, if for no other reason but nostalgia.

Goddamn Right it's a Beautiful Day

We're finally having spring weather! After weeks of yucky cold rain and snow, this weekend was finally lovely and sunny. The temperature has slowly been climbing day by day until today - it's almost 80° out.

Naturally, I had to take advantage of the loveliness so I jumped on my bike this morning to do a "serious" ride. After all, I really need to get back into shape if I'm going to ride the MS 150 in June and not die. So I set out to do a fairly easy ride from my place to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's about 27 miles all together, and the first ten miles are pretty much all uphill.

It was actually a really good ride. I am in better shape than I thought I would be. After all, I haven't done anything to keep in shape through the winter. But the hills (which are absolutely my weak point) weren't too bad. I think that all the dancing I've been doing probably helped. It's not much, but it certainly didn't hurt. Anyway, I was feeling good until I got to the top of the hills and turned south.

That's when it really hit me. The wind. A good strong 20 mph (or so) coming striaght at me. The stretch of the ride that goes south is usually a really nice bit. It's flat or gently downhill for a few miles and usually I can get going about 30 mph and maintain that just by peddling occasionally. It's a really nice run. Today, however, with the stupid wind, I was struggling to keep at 10-15 mph.

It seems kinda silly to talk about this in terms of speed, but it's the best way to illustrate what was going on. I have a cyclometer, so I can really quantify how much I was slowed down. Man, the wind really kicked my ass! Riding into a wind like that also really dries a person out. Since it's not that hot today, I would have expected to get through the whole ride with about half as much water as I ended up drinking.

Of course, the upside of a treacherous headwind is that it turns into a tailwind when you go the other way. My ride back was super easy. The wind practically blew me home.

I guess I didn't really make my ride sound all that fun. But believe me, it was. Even going into the wind, it was kinda nice. Just feels good to be back in the saddle. No, take that back, the saddle does not feel good at all. My butt hurts, I guess I have to get used to being on a bike seat for long periods of time again. Man.... But what I meant was that it felt really good to ride again. It's been a long off season, and yeah, I've gone on a few short rides this spring, but those hardly count. Plus today was really quite lovely. The sort of day that it's really a shame to be indoors.

Quicky

I fail at teh blogging this week. It's been a shittasic couple of days. I'll post about them later. In the mean time, here's a freaking awesome video for you:



And speaking of bikes. Go click on the thing on the sidebar about the MS 150. Thanks to Dave and Ali who already donated!

Meat Byproduct

It's Friday. Hooray. Let's Celebrate with Spam!





And of course, the python sketch. What spam day would be complete without it?

The Words That Are Coming Out of My Mouth

Hello my devoted readers! I have been absent for a while, and for that I apologize. Wait, no I don't. It's my blog, and I can post as often or as seldom as I choose. I haven't really been that busy or anything, just haven't been in the mood for blogging. I've been a little distracted, I guess. But I am back to it now (to riotous applause from the masses)!

Before I get into it, I would like to draw your attention to the side bar. You will notice that there is a thingy there asking for your money. I'll post about it in more detail later, but quickly now, I'm riding the MS 150 in June and could use your support. Check it out. Or ignore it for a while, I'll get into full fund-raising mode when it gets a little closer.

I've kind of been considering communication lately. I guess it's a subject that I've always been kind of interested in, especially the ways that modern technology effects the way we communicate. If you've been with me long enough, you might remember one or all, of my rants against text messaging. I'm still not thrilled with the technology, but I've kind of resigned myself to using it- just because it's either that or not really talk to several people who use it as their main way to communicate.

Lately, the epidemic seems to have gotten much worse. It seems like all the important/cataclysmic/interesting conversations I've had lately have either been via text message or in Instant Messenger. In one case (probably the most important conversation I've had with this medium), it was completely my fault that it wasn't in person, but every other instance has been on the other party.

I kind of feel cheated. There are three specific people I have in mind, and this sort of dynamic seems to play it out differently with each of them. Let's call them Larry, Moe and Curly. Larry and Curly are both text messaging fiends. Moe is more of an IM guy (and Moe reads this occasionally, and I bet he figures out who he is. Smart guy, that Moe. I wave to him right now. Hi "Moe")

I should say that all three stooges are fairly new friends of mine, so I guess I'm still in the stage of "getting to know" them. I met Moe back in November though, and now I have a fairly good idea of what kind of guy he is. But most of that is based on talking to him online. I don't really mind, it's the easiest way to talk to him. He's a busy guy and he lives, I would say, about 20 miles away. So I don't actually get to see him in person very often. So we talk on IM, and it's not so bad. He saved me from completely going postal at JobOfDeath. The thing is, hanging out with him in person, it kind of takes a while to get warmed up, or something. It's almost harder to innterract in real time because we spend most of our time talking online. It's not that bad, and it passes quickly, I guess. But it's kind of a weird nagging feeling I get when I see him. Of course, we've also done just about everything possible to make our relationship an awkward one, that certainly doesn't help. Moe is maybe not the best example of what I'm talking about really. But I couldn't just have two stooges, could I?

So, lets go on to Curly. Curly is a very new acquaintance. I met him a few weeks ago and have been "texting" (cringe... still can't stomach that word. It makes my skin crawl) back and forth. He is one of those people who spend all their time tapping out insipid little messages on their phone. Don't get me wrong, he's a decent guy, but his interpersonal relating could use some work. Hanging out with him in person, the conversation seem kind of stilted and awkward. All the pacing is off and it's not very engaging. Oh, and the other day, he actually called me! That was a disaster! I told him a while ago that I'm not a huge fan of the text messages, so I guess that's why he decided to call instead. I don't think I've ever had a more awkward phone conversation! I guess a basic principal of phone etiquette gets lost with text. Don't call if you don't have anything to say (it's super cool to sit on the phone not saying anything, oh wait, no it's not). If you send a text with nothing to say, it can easily be ignored. Real time conversations don't really work that way.

Larry is a shining example of how things can work well. He text messages just as much as Curly, but it doesn't have any kind of adverse effect on the way he actually interacts with people. He's a joy to be with in person and the text message conversations I've had with him are mostly just silliness (though there have been a few that were a little... weighty). The point is that he doesn't rely on typed technology to take care of all his communication needs.

Ok. I acknowledge that text-messaging etc is not entirely to blame for the way these guys act in person. Each of their personalities play a larger role than their chosen medium for communicating. But it's just an interesting thing to observe. They are each as good as the other when it comes to the short, written, back and forth. When it comes to real life interaction though, they are as different as... three completely different things.