scattershot

* mind-boggling.

* Her fans can read?

* Webcomics in a dark place: Very sad and creepy.

I'm glad I have class tonight. I find myself in a semi-foul mood and kind of want to hit something.

Septmusing

September is pretty much over.

Huh.

That was a pretty quick nine months of 2009.

How can a year go by so quickly and feel as though it's full of so much crazy?

Don't answer that.

Facing the Book

After getting peer pressure from a dozen different directions, I finally bit the bullet and created a Facebook account.

I'm not entirely sure what I'll ever use it for, but it's there. I guess I can look at people's pics now.

I did a few cursory searches for people. Did a few add requests. I'm not super-certain I want a lot of people in a list.

I guess I'm just not "Web 2.0". Heh.

Work: Day Two

On my second morning of being back to work, I'm finding the adjustment a bit easier.

I shouldn't. I rode my newly-fixed-up bike in and I'm sore from an abusive class last night, but all that seems to have fallen by the wayside as I'm finding myself unusually-productive.

Tired, but productive.

Aaaah

Broken-in shoes are a wonderful thing.

hrgh...

After a solid week off, I'm back in the office.

I lost count of how many emails awaited me. Some of these hold some truly annoying questions that I have no idea how to answer.

My plant somehow survived a week of me not watering it. Either someone else took up the slack or it's much hardier than I expected.

Good lord I'm tired.

Braaaaaaiiiinnnnnssss

Forbidden Island zombies are deadly.

Just sayin'.

That I can type coherently at all is pretty impressive (and proof of good spell-check software).

Zachary's Pizza compliments Forbidden Island outings well.

I've ingested a lot of rum of late.

Arr.

Baby is Back

Yes, I got my bike back today.

It's clean and has tires that hold air! Ah, the little things. I even let them talk me into some kind of crazy kevlar-mesh tire. Why? I have a gift card I won at work for this place. It's not really my money. Okay, some is (the card wasn't enough) but I'll wind up getting reimbursed through a bicycling program for some of what I'm out-of-pocket.

I love this stuff.

Personal Holidaze: Day Five Addendum One

8) Dinner and drinks with friends. Check. Good fun there.

9) More drinks. Check.

Dinner didn't settle terribly well and that experience got worse as the evening continued...

10) BART ride home feeling nauseous and ill. Check. For a change that wasn't due to imbibing. It was clearly something I ate.

Good times.

Personal Holidaze: Day Five

1) Wake without a hangover. Check.

2) Fattening breakfast. Check. Mmm... bacon...

3) Watch "Fringe". Check. Carnivorous mole children! Super senses! Doppelgangers! Me likey much.

4) Lunch. Pending. Not too hungry from breakfast. Do I want a base for later or will french toast and bacon do?

5) (More) drinks. Pending. Does this constitute a problem? No... only if I drink three days straight would that be a problem.

Hmm... and yet tomorrow night's plans involve... huh.

6) Set tape for "Dollhouse". Check.

7) Charge phone. Check.

If my bike were done early, I could collect it and get actual exercise riding it home. Alas...

Personal Holidaze: Day Four

1) Slack. Check.

2) Drink. Check.

Personal Holidaze: Day Three

1) Attempt to complete DMV business. Not check. Line was insane.

2) Exchange SIGG water bottles at REI for store credit. Check. Bonus: got new coin purse.

It's the little things.

3) Go to class. Check... mostly. I'd planned to do two sessions, but I'm experiencing pain in my shoulder and my previously-injured leg. It was the jumping-jacks in the warm-up. Blew my leg out. Time to call the doctor, I think.

4) Line up tomorrow's outing. Check. Some friends are showing late. This should be a hoot. One friend is giving me a lift in while another (one of the late-showing ones) is promising me a ride back. I guess in a worst-case scenario BART is walkable. Kinda.

Now... need Advil. Stat.

Personal Holidaze: Day Two

1) Sleep in. Check.

2) Purchase birthday card for a friend. Check. Local drugstore looks nice.

3) Watch DVDs. Check. Stardust and "Firefly".

4) Trek inland to visit an elderly relative. Check. Happiness seems to have been the end result. Yay!

The heat wave, such as it is, isn't bad at all here. Life is good.

Personal Holidaze: Day One Addendum

6) Survive class. Check.

7) Apply a smelly patch for muscle pain. Check.

8) Have flaky friend break tomorrow's dinner date. Check.

Personal Holidaze: Day One

1) Sleep in. Check.

2) Watch some TV. Sort-of check... daytime TV sucks, so it was DVD time. The Mummy is a classic.

3) Make an appointment for my bike repair. Check. Hell, these guys will just squeeze it in whenever. Dropped my baby off with high hopes of a shiny, repaired bike in the future.

4) Break in the new shoes. Check. Kinda.

Owie.

Still... treated myself to Chipotle for my troubles. Mmm... fajita burritos.

5) Class. An intended check.

I really could get used to being this level of slacker.

Urg...

Too much good food.

Can barely move.

Can barely type.

Nummy.

It be horribly wrong!

This bit o' schwag be provided via the Dread Pirate Erik who found such on his voyages.

It be wrong.

It be very wrong.

Arr!

Them's that dies be the lucky ones

Arr!

Today be Talk Like a Pirate day. I be noticin' th' local Trader Joe store be outfitted with the proper swag fer just such an occasion. All that be lackin' be the rum.

I be cravin' some grog. Perhaps later as I be sailin' out.

Me luck be otherwise holdin' as th' BART be delayed due to fire as I be leavin' th' Barbary Coast on an errand. 'Pon arrival at Port MacArthur, I be hearin' th' cryer sayin' the route be open again straight on through to me home landin'.

Pleased I be, for I be shod in new shoes an' me feet be feelin' a mite peg-legged with the newness of it all.

Aye, it be a good day for some rum and shiverin' me timbers.

That be soundin' naughty, so maybe just the rum.

A sigh of contentment

The eternal week is done. I shall enjoy a week's holiday to observe the Feast of Slackerhood.

If you're not aware of that holiday, now is a good time to start.

It was an uneven day. I had lunch with some friends, which was a plus. I had a mildly-humiliating class afterward and have had a few illusions (or are they delusions?) dispelled. It's for the best.

I'm really not looking forward to the predicted heat wave. *sigh*

It's back

Homicidal shape shifters.

Post-accident traffic accidents.

Revelations of all sorts.

Shock ending.

Ah "Fringe"... how I missed you.

Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf (NSFW)

One of my friends at work tipped me off to this film. So YouTube provided trailers.

I therefore feel obligated to share.

No need to thank me.

Um... NSFW.

Weather Woes

I'm taking next week off from work for a variety of reasons. And, as the fates would have it, I'm doing this just in time for a heat wave.

I hate hot weather. I really, really hate it.

Every year, just about now, "summer" hits the Bay Area. For a few days we get cooked in an oven of hot and then the blissful embrace of sweet, sweet fog cools us.

Usually.

The forecast is predicting a pretty solid five or six days of really hot weather. I'm hoping there's fewer than that.

Oh well, I guess I could always just go to the beach.

Squirm

It's like they know me.

Glee!

Apparently Ray Wise (of "Reaper" fame) and Summer Glau (of "Firefly" and the craptacular "Sarah Connor Chronicles") are going to be in "Dollhouse".

As a nerd, I am dutifully happy. So very happy.

The Devil is in the Dollhouse and with a little ballerina too!

Idiocy of the Haters

The Obama-haters are really starting to get to me.

The latest headline I saw was that 1 in 12 of those surveyed in New Jersey think Obama is the Antichrist.

Let's get away from how one can lie with statistics or proper statistical groups and all that. Let's pretend this isn't any kind of judgement of New Jersey as a state (and it really isn't).

That anyone in the United States feels that way about Obama just boggles the mind.

Seriously. Let's compare our single year of Barak Obama's term as President of the United States with a few highlightes of eight years of George W. Bush, shall we?

Barack Obama is trying to get Americans covered with universal health care. Most industrialized nations have far superior health care systems to the U.S., so he's trying to do the same for us.

What his opponents are accusing him of is a rambling, incoherent hodge-podge of terms like "communist", "facsist", blah-blah-blah.

The man is trying to make sure Americans are taken care of with proper health care and people are bagging on him. Why? Oh, they don't want government involved. You know, the same government that provides social security, medicare, medicaid, military protection, laws, oversees public parks, funds highways... all that stuff.

These same people largely don't seem to have a problem with the last eight years of BushCo waging an illegal war that got over two thousand of American soldiers killed and wasted billions upon billions of our tax dollars for a non-existent threat.

These same idiots didn't make a peep over Gitmo, illegal wiretapping, bold grabs for Executive powers, and countless blatant lies surrounding our military involvement in Iraq.

Okay...

So further, Obama has been striving for bipartisanship and consensus in pretty much everything he's done in establishing policy. Despite a bold and clear Democratic majority that pretty much spells out the public's support of anything that isn't holding to the last eight years of policy.

He doesn't have to do this. All the same, he's been patiently striving for mending bridges. I personally think he should tell the Republican party to stick it where the sun doesn't shine and move on. The Republicans have been nothing but difficult and obnoxious since day one. Then again, the Democrats demonstrate time and time again that they're chaotic, unable to maintain a single coherent message, and lack even the most basic spinal column.

All the same, that hardly qualifies the President as being demonic or adhering to any Marxist teachings.

I take issue with Obama's reluctance to persecute those who authorized torture. I have huge problems with any continuation of the wiretapping/spying policies that the Executive branch have in place. I feel that the other two branches need to spank the Executive branch for overstepping in its grasp of powers.

That said, all of those issues originated in Bush's term in office. If you're looking for an Antichrist, I think you can safely find a couple from that era.

I think former President Carter hit the nail on the head. These people who are raising such a stink may well be racist and need to fucking grow up and stop acting goddamn crazy.

Mole Men Invasion Begins!

You can see the evidence here as the Mole Men have started their attack in Cerro Azul north of Panama City.

Or... this could be utter b*llsh*t and another Internet hoax.

I dunno. I mean, after beating the Mole Man to death with sticks, the kids threw the body in a pool of water after taking pictures.

'Cause that's what you do with Mole Men. Ya gotta make sure they drown after a beating.

Nobody's found the body.

Hm... naaaaah... couldn't be a hoax. Who would doubt such a plausible story?

zzzz

Weather forecast predicts very hot temperatures next week. Bleah.

Pain has settled in on my shoulder and leg.

I require sleepies.

Hen da na

* A co-worker let me have some chocolate-covered bacon.

It was tasty!

* I took part of my lunch to further stock up on chocolate supplies (though I opted not to combine this trip with a bacon supply run). About half of the supplies survived the trek back to the office.

* I'm giving serious consideration into getting an unbreakable umbrella. It's pricy, but you never know when you might get attacked by a pumpkin or a killer tomato or something.

* I'm splitting my reading time up. At home I'm working on "Sandman Slim", as noted in a prior post. At work (on breaks - duh) I'm reading "Thirteen Orphans", by Jane Lindskold. I figured it might appeal to my fascination with Chinese mythology.

It bills itself as appealing to Jim Butcher fans. I'm going to have to say that I disagree. The implication is that fans of the "Dresden Files" books would like this take on modern magic, but these are totally not the same thing at all. Lindskold's characters spend a good half of the book shambling around doing nothing significant at all, whereas Butcher's books tend to be pretty solid narrative.

It's not a bad book, but I wouldn't push it towards any Butcher fans and expect them to like it.

* I'm tired. I wonder if I can survive class tonight?

Steed. John Steed.

... needed these.

With Emma Peel busting out in her catsuit-fu, I'm pretty sure it would be fine if these were only decorative.

One can obtain the samurai-handled one from ThinkGeek, bless 'em.

I admit to a fascination with the other two handles. The barbarian sword handle would be amusing.

Having carried the samurai sword umbrella about town, I can safely say that any of these earn askance looks from many a soul. That said, the samurai handle umbrella is remarkably good. It's sturdy and a really great umbrella.

And it terrifies ninjas.

tawagoto desu

* More Star Wars abuse. That never gets old.

* An umbrella for beating up uppity foods.

* I've started reading "Sandman Slim" by Richard Kadrey. It's pretty over-the-top. It's entertaining so far. I reserve judgement for now.

* I'm getting more and more excited about the upcoming Zombieland movie.

* I really need to see 9.

Splat

Brain Dump:

- With barely half a cup of coffee in my bloodstream, I fixed a problem getting a program to run on my PC at home. Yay me!

- I'm kind of tied of the deluge of Megan Fox pics on the various geek sites I frequent. C'mon, guys. There's other women out there...

- After falling out of a hand-stand yesterday and crinking my neck a bit, I'm pleasantly-surprised to find that I feel minimal pain this morning. Yay me!

- So when the moon is just a wee, tiny sliver in the sky, that's apparently a "Hunter's Moon". How do I know that? Hippie relatives.

- One Firefox function that's seriously starting to bug me: when tabs suddenly pop out into their own separate browser window. Annoying.

- The latest Dresden Codak is so totally random that I can't stop laughing at it.

Life is good.

Fringy Glee

Yes, that's right! Thursday night will air the premiere of season 2.0 of "Fringe".

To say I'm excited doesn't quite convey the full emotion of how I feel.

Can't... wait...

Wha?

Rain? Seriously?

I don't think it's ever rained on September 13 before yesterday. I'm pretty sure I could say the same of September 12.

Yeah, okay... so it was a weird weekend. We had rain. And thunder. And lightning.

Mostly a lot of rolling thunder in the early hours of Saturday morning. Long boughts of rolling thunder. I actually wasn't sure it was thunder for a bit but frankly I was too tired to worry about it.

Erik hosted a game Saturday afternoon and we watched the clouds fade to something that might resemble sunshine before the clouds returned again later that day.

I saw droplets of something akin to rain on my drive home that night.

Sunday saw more clouds as I did the family thing. I didn't see proper rain until on my drive home. Then it was pretty much non-stop. That was good times. Nothing like driving on freshly-wet and slick roads. Mmm...

Not otherwise my most productive weekend ever. Having gotten one late gift out of the way, I'm now scrambling to get another late gift package together and in the mail. This one goes international, so that's good times. It will be super-late. *sigh*

[Nerd warning: what follows is gaming nerd-related]

The game was fun for the most part. It started with a two-hour drop into a dark chasm of evil which I mostly dozed for, but once we hit bottom and danced with the undead, it was good times.

Highlights:
- two hours (real time) of falling
- fear of swimming
- sarcophogai of evil
- more sarcophogai of evil
- don't take anything from the crystal chamber
- Oooh! Standing stones!
- Hey, my magic belt does [insert awesome thing here]

[end Nerd warning]

Not going postal

The USPS debacle went faster and easier than anticipated. While the website claimed my package was en route to the sender (despite the fact I'm supposed to have 30 days to collect said mail) a visit in person proved the USPS website to be full of guano.

Time to wrap and pass along as the intended gift.

Utterly Brilliant

Random Thoughts of People Our Age.

An interesting bit of sense

I was going to forbear from commenting on anything related to September 11. I don't find most of the drama around 9/11 to be particularly constructive. The event is still too recent in U.S. memory.

Then I read this article in Salon.

I like how Patrick Smith summed up the problems with TSA's current security plan. I've taken issue with airplane security since even before the 9/11 attacks and I can't say I think they're any saner now. TSA staff focus too much on penknives and such without giving enough focus on explosives and biological weapons or other methods of taking a plane out of the air.

I mean honestly... if you're on a plane now and someone starts waving around a box-cutter, how long do you think that person would stay upright? Really.

I don't account myself as any kind of particular badass, but even I could disarm someone of a knife if pressed. I'd be inclined to try to jump a knife-wielder rather than let a hijacker take a plane or threaten other people. And I'm pretty confident others would feel the same way.

I flew internationally a month after the 9/11 attacks. I went to Ireland, actually. Oddly enough, I felt tremendously safe flying. I figured airport security was hyper-alert and there would be no repeat of attacks.

My return trip home made me less-confident.

I remember landing in whatever international airport that is out in New Jersey (in sight of New York). I'd boarded the plane in Ireland and purchased an Irish shillelagh on a whim. I was surprised that Irish security let me take it on the plane. This was after an incredibly careful survey of my belongings for anything suspicious.

I figured I have an honest face and that they'd stop me in the U.S.

Heh.

I went through security again in the U.S. with my carry-on and my shillelagh. The TSA wonks made me doff my glasses, boots, and belt. They wanted me while a soldier stood nearby looking bored with an automatic rifle.

The TSA staff were very nice and polite in New Jersey. We joked and talked while they checked me over. I was thanked for my cooperation. I grabbed my bag, my belt, my glasses, my boots, and my shillelagh and walked through the checkpoint otherwise unmolested.

Have you ever seen a shillelagh? It's as thick as a baseball bat. In the hands of an average sized person, it's a pretty decent weapon. I'm a bit bigger than average and moderately strong.

The only point where anyone thought to question me having the shillelagh on my person was when I exited the restroom and a random passer by asked me how I got the shillelagh through security.

I could only shrug.

I got on my return flight to California without any further comment or issue.

Essentially I got on the plane with a freakin' baseball bat.

Nice job, TSA.

I couldn't carry freakin' tweasers, but a shillelagh didn't elicit any concern.

I'm not saying I posed a threat. I certainly didn't. I wouldn't have with tweasers either. The knife on my Leatherman Juice or a mini Swiss Army knife would also have posed little to no threat.

And yet TSA focuses most of their time taking away the little sharp things.

The airline security policies need to be changed. It's been eight years since the 9/11 attacks. I think enough time has passed. This needs to get fixed before someone exploits the loopholes for another tragedy.

Okay, enough of the soapbox.

U.S. Postal Stupid

I ordered a package from overseas, as I often do. In this particular case, it was sent registerd mail. I didn't get a tracking number from the seller, but I haven't had problems in the past so I wasn't worried.

That was about a month ago.

Finally I sent of mail asking what's up with the package. The vendor sent me a tracking number. I ran the number through USPS's system.

USPS claims they tried to deliver on 8/26 and left a notice.

I usually am pretty good about examining my mail. I didn't get any notices.

So I tried to do a redelivery through their system. After all, their website says they'll return the item if unclaimed after 30 days.

I got an error. The package has already been redelivered. It's 9/11 today. Did math suddenly change since August? I'm pretty sure 30 days haven't passed yet.

I'm a little irritated. Time for a chat with the postal service.

Truth

Sheldon calls it.

C'mon. You know this is true. Think about it.

so... much... pain...

I opted to do three hours worth of class last night.

I'm far more ambulatory today than I expected to be, but that isn't to say I'm going to forbear from whining.

I hurt ranging from old injuries that have apparently not healed fully or properly to muscles that ache thanks to going from relative disuse to sudden over-use.

And I spent a lot of time hitting the ground hard.

Advil, you are currently favorite among pills.

To the Nines

It's 9/9/09.

It's like 666 flipped on its head.

Apparently 999 is good luck in some cultures and folks are rushing out to get married today as a result.

Fascinating stuff, really.

I'm more interested in 9/12/2009. Saturday means I can sleep in.

World Conquest Diary Entry

So it turns out that if you use uranium isotopes to power your cyborgs, you need to shield the organic components from the radiation.

Huh. Go figure.

On another note, uplifted primates are not really suitable as lackeys or as obedient soldiers. While there's fewer bugs in the lair, the walls are covered with... evidence... of tantrums. I need more bags for the vaccuum cleaner. Damn fur everywhere...

There's some promising developments with the A.I. except that now it's figured out Netflix. The queue isn't promising: 2001: A Space Oddessy, The Terminator, Terminator 2, and the list goes on.

Looks like someone needs a time-out.

Back to the drawing board.

A few bumps in the road

At some point I believe I got some new neighbors in my 'hood. I haven't met said people. I'm basing this belief on changes in behavior.

Two things, mainly:

1) some jackass who practices his or her clarinet late at night

2) people who like to talk... loud... late at night

I have some other noisy neighbors (including one guy who has an amusing, braying laugh) but these new elements are cutting into my sleep time whereas the regular noisy ones tend to shut down earlier.

What to do? What to do?

Where did I put that voodoo kit anyway?

Aller-ugh

My allergies are smacking me like a mugger in a dark alley.

I can't figure out what's setting them off so badly today.

Allergies suck.

Well how about that?

And after Caltrans advertised that the Bay Bridge would open tomorrow... they opened the bridge today.

Go Caltrans! W00t!

Yawn

It's hard to get up for work after an especially lazy three days of doing pretty much nothing except drink beer and watch movies.

Oh, I'm sure I had other things happen in there, but they don't register on the brain this early.

And the Bay Bridge is closed through tomorrow. That's interesting.

I feel for the people who have to fold this into their commute. That's gonna suck. I'm glad it has no real impact on me.

Well now

I just finished Ryhei Kitamura's LoveDeath.

That's a pretty f*cked up movie.

Kitamura does overly-stylized violence that's so cartoony that it's high-comedy, at least to me.

Needless to say, I loved it.

Perfect for a nice, quiet, long weekend.

Back to it

Class started again. It's intro stuff right now and that pleases me. It gives me the chance to ease into things a bit. I considered doing an extra session today, but I don't want to push it too much.

I was supposed to go out for drinks, but the fates had other plans, so now it's an evening of decompression as I muse on the weirdness that is the full moon's effect on people around me.

Makes me wonder if I'm behaving odder than usual or if I'm so far down the rabbit hole that I've got nowhere weirder to go.

I'll ponder this over anime and action movies.

A Sublime Moment of Purest Awesome

Shhh!

Don't talk.

Just take a look.

Bask in the pure awesome of it.

If you don't read Questionable Content, you may well have trouble understanding it.

I weep for you.

Read QC. It cures cancer and turns water into wine.

Surreal

It's a full moon over a cloudless night/early-morning sky.

The Bay Bridge is closed so traffic is lighter-than-usual.

The moon's giving the Bay a full treatment of sparkly moonlight.

I cannot express how glad I am that it's Friday. I'm really tired.

Contemplation of Horrible Thoughts

One of my neighbors is learning to play, or is just practicing, the clarinet.

That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. Said unknown neighbor is pretty good with said instrument.

That isn't really what I take issue with. I do take some issue with the time said neighbor likes to practice.

In short, I'm of the opinion that people should consider shutting their noise-making contraptions down, or lowering the volume, around 9pm or so. Certainly nobody should be practicing a musical instrument at midnight. Ever.

When the blind rage goes down to a dull roar, I hope to find this neighbor and explain this position with the hope of coming to an understanding ("an understanding" translates to: "don't play your goddamn clarinet while other people are trying to sleep").

Pop goes the brain cells

Yep. I'm suffering from dementia or some form of brain damage.

I hit a local place for lunch that I go to every other week or so (it's not the kind of place one goes to if one is concerned about weight or health... but I digress).

The cashier recognizes me. I must have one of those faces, I guess. Anyway, she asked what happened to the person I used to go to lunch with.

I returned a blank look. No idea who she's talking about. Not at all.

She clarified with a vague description that matches a large number of friends.

I collected my food, returned to the office, ate, and pondered the mystery.

One of my friends ping'd me about what she wanted for lunch.

I related my mystery, as she and I used to do lunch on-and-off.

"It was probably me," she said.

"Wait," I said. "We never did lunch at [this place]. We ate at [another place] and [yet another place]."

"Huh," she replied. "I don't remember eating at [another place]."

So it turns out we hit all these places... over six years ago.

I can't decide if six years counts as short-term, medium-term, or long-term memory loss.

Lunacy

I honestly don't know if there's any truth to the belief that a full moon makes people crazy or if it's just coincidence.

Can't say I care.

I do notice that people behave oddly when the moon is helping the local werewolves get their howl on.

I've had the dubious pleasure of witnessing (visibly and in other cases, audibly) a number of people practicing their mating rituals. I've seen several freakouts. And the morning is still young.

Gah.

Tolkienesque

I re-read "The Fellowship of the Ring" the other week. I was about due.

It's the first time I've re-read the book since the movies came out. I have always enjoyed Tolkien's books and I truly loved Peter Jackson's movies adapting the same. That said, I found myself comparing the book against the first movie and wondering what I would have wanted to change.

I'm not sure I would have changed the movie.

The book has great stuff in it. The Barrow-Wights are freakin' awesome. Gandalf's backstory as to why all of the Nine Riders were not all over Frodo was good stuff and demonstrated Gandalf's badassery. The significance of the weapons Merry and Pippin got from the Barrow-Wight lair was helpful for later when Merry stabs the Lord of the Nazgul. Aragorn isn't sporting a regular sword. He's got the broken one with him. Oh, and Radagast the Brown. Always nice to see another of the five wizards.

The book also has stuff I was glad got cut:

- Tom Bombadil
- naked Hobbit frolicking
- Tom Bombadil
oh, and Tom Bombadil

Seriously. He bugs.

I don't have a problem with the liberties Jackson took to trim down the story. The book was largely exposition with moments where Tolkien gives backstory as though you're reading a textbook (such as the bit where Merry gets the blade that's specifically enchanted to hurt the Lord of the Nazgul).

I'm even okay with Jackson bumping out some random Elf to make Arwen more important to the story (she has no speaking lines in the books at all until the end of "the Return of the King"). It's a bit silly, but good times.

All the same, I do enjoy the books a lot.

Gapping the Bridge

So the Bay Bridge closes at 8pm tonight. They're targeting 5am Tuesday morning on Sept. 8 for it to re-open.

Part of me is utterly fascinated to see what the fallout is going to be.

Part of me dreads the fallout.

Mostly I'm glad I don't have to deal.

Craving Spicy Chicken Wings

I have GOT to go to this Hooters!

I'm still pissy about BSG, but I can get past that in this instance.

Pic found on My [Confined] Space, one of the greatest sources of the absurd on the Internet.

heh

It's a very warm evening.

As a result, everyone's got their windows open in order to let in the cool evening air.

At least one of my neighbors is also... ah... relieving her stress...

And she's very audibly enjoying herself.

Very audibly.

It's that or I'm listening to someone watch a naughty video very loud with incredibly clear sound.

And this lady and her partner have some stamina...

BOO-YAH

Who passed?

I passed.

The moon is full and life is good.

Sails without wind

I was going to whine about the heat.

Then I saw the pics of the wildfires in L.A.

All my complaints just jumped right out of my head.

Poof.

I'm:

- glad I'm not in L.A.

- feeling awful for the people affected in L.A.

- praying (such that I ever pray) that if we do have a big fire in this area, it doesn't get this bad (I say, remembering the Oakland hills fire...)

Yeesh. Not an awful lot of happy news out there, huh?

purdy

There's this moment on a clear(ish) morning when the sun hits a certain point. The sky takes on this really interesting mix of colors. The black night sky gives way to a blue-grey that gets mixed in with a reddish-orange color and that color keeps going east to a warmer yellow from the sun.

It's really beautiful.

If it were not for the morning fog that's so common to the Bay Area, I'd probably see these mornings more often, but the fog is pretty constant on most days.

The lack of morning fog today and the sparse clouds overhead now means it's probably going to be a warm day. That's fine. It's September, after all. Traditionally it's a toasty month.

I'll whine about the heat later. Now the runrise is too beautiful for those concerns.

Shambling towards a weekend

Halfway there.

This weekend will be most welcome. All three days of it.

Three days of sleeping in. I can hardly wait! GLEE!!!

The closure of the Bay Bridge ought to make things interesting.

"Interesting" in the way that thermonuclear reactions are interesting... and "desirable" in much the same way.

Hisssss....

I have to admit that it was unexpected.

I'd been home a good hour or so. It had been over two hours since riding my bike home.

It was propped up in its usual spot.

I heard the hissing sound. Next thing I knew, my front tire was going flat and that was that. Attempts to inflate it failed, as though something was blocking the valve. I couldn't find a leak.

So my bike is crippled and I don't know why. I suspect a misfire with a voodoo doll.

I guess I should be grateful?

Moments of Absurdity

Sometimes life just dishes out moments that are so bizarre and so utterly absurd that there's just no alternative than to laugh.

I've found those moments most often happen in context with work and family, though they come at pretty much any time outside of those realms.

And then the giggles hit me.

"Giggle" is probably understating it. It becomes full-bellied (almost hysterical) laughter very quickly.

And I've inherited a tendency to be overcome by said laughter to the point where I'm practically crying and unable to breathe.

I just had one of those moments after reading the conclusion to an email thread at work.

My side hurts.

My contacts are sliding from the tears.

My co-workers think I'm completely insane... though in all fairness, they already thought that. No big change there.

And it's just a little past noon.

Pure Win

I love Japan.

And yes, it's often for the wrong reasons.

I'm comfortable with that.

Best Quote in Ages

From Warren Ellis:

No, I am not going to be writing Disney comics.

Fairly fucking obviously.

That man's gift for language makes me weep for joy.

A reason why our economy is iffy

Other countries have neat stuff like this.

Us? Our stuff looks less lightsabery.

C'mon U.S. electronics companies! Make and sell cool stuff like this! Revive the economy!

We will! We will!

Rock you!

* Nothing says fun like trying to register for a class and dealing with paperwork that looks... wrong.

* True fun is a "Naruto Shippuden" episode that is non-stop asskickery.

* The goal is now to cut back a bit on the carbs in the diet. Can this be done? Sure. Will this be done? Don't be silly.

* Genius (and sums up why I have no desire to do Facebook or Twitter).

* What the hell is "TweetTalk?" Do I want to know? Probably not.

* Wow. Chrome makes shoes. Must check that out.