Gearing up

I'd like to say that I don't know what possessed me to get a Kinekt ring.

I'd be lying if I actually said that. I'm not all that opposed to lying, mind you. I just like to save my lies up for good occasions.

So, I'm not gonna lie.

I got one. It arrived yesterday. If I wasn't an ADD poster child for inability to focus before, I'm certainly... OOOH! SHINY!!!

Sorry.

What was I saying? Oh yeah. Little gear ring. It's got gears. It spins around and has a sort of industrial/steampunk look to it. And it's shiny.

SHINY!!!

Sorry.

Yeah... um... back to this. So it spins. It looks cool, too.

I'm calling mine my PRECIOUSSSSSSSS!!!!

It helps me justify my dislike of the hateful dayball overhead. And the nasty Hobbitsess better not come near my cave or I will throttles them! HISSS!!!

Gah!

Really... I'm sorry.

Suffice it to say that I like this ring a lot. I've cancelled my planned trip to the volcanos on the big island of Hawai'i.

My nine Nazg...um... servants are twitchy around smaller folk, so there's going to be an adjustment period, I think.

And it's mine. My... precioussss.....


SHINY!

Ruminations

Kind of a pompous title.
--
I'm still mentally processing that news article about someone waterboarding a 4-year-old. The kid was found with bruises too. I hope the parent who hurt her is put away forever in a small box.
--
I'm flying soon. Off to a place where the sun shines a lot.

I hate packing for a trip. I hate trying to figure out what I'll need and what I can take in a carry-on vs checked luggage.

I hate flying, actually. The actual act of going into the air is fine. It's all the b.s. involved in airports that I dislike. The TSA idiocy that passes for security makes me irritable and doesn't make me feel particularly safe. I'm also always afraid the airlines will lose my checked bag. Ugh.

Still, it's likely going to be worth it.
--
I watched the latest "Lost" episode. Kate-centric.

I'm not a fan of Kate (or Jack, or Locke). I'd be happy if those three characters had been killed off early in the show. That said, it wasn't a bad episode overall.

What boggles my mind with six seasons of this show is the portrayal of the "Others" (the so-called natives of the mysterious island). These jackasses have no people skills at all. Ignoring the fact that they capture the heroes constantly and abuse them, the Others seem genuinely surprised when the heroes don't trust them and try to get away from them.

It's like the writers are spiking the Kool-Aid a bit too much.

A reality check (such as there can be one) wouldn't hurt. I mean, the Others go and torture one character 'cause he's inconveniently come back from the dead. They then turn around and ask another character to trust them.

Really? Seriously? I can understand that they may think the heroes are idiots (that's mostly true) but there are some limits to stupidity.
--
I'm tired and I forgot to feed the shoggoth.

Oh well. That's really not too much of a concern, I guess.

Technology Slave

It's amazing how attached some people get to some of the every-day items that have become part of our lives.

I'm particularly-bad, given the ungodly amount of junk I carry every day. In this case, I'm not talking about the more esoteric crap I usually cart around. I'm talking about an item most people usually carry.

Yep. A cell phone.

This morning, I couldn't find mine. No idea where it was.

I was already disoriented 'cause my alarm clock (the same clock that updates itself from some atomic clock in Colorado) failed me, causing me to get up a half-hour early.

Sleep-deprived and a little punchy, I ripped my apartment apart for a good forty-five minutes trying to find my cell.

I barely use the thing, but I know how the Fates work. As soon as I can't find it, that's when I'll need it.

The Fates are quirky that way.

I finally found it. No idea how it got to that obscure corner of the chaos that is my apartment, but I guess I'll chalk that up to the same influences that scrambled my alarm clock.

Sparkly unicorns, probably.

Goddamn unicorns.

Midpoint

I have an end-of-the-week deadline to finish up my work for... um... work. This is, of course, provided my reviewed work gets back to me in time.

I was greeted this morning with some of it. Ugh. Edits always make me feel like I've been kicked in the crotch. Oh, they're good edits, but it never feels good.

I just hope I can make the deadline. Friday's gonna be nuts for me.

I'm also trying to finish "Dust of Dreams" so I can loan it to a friend. It's picked up a bit and then wanded off on another "I don't care" tangent.

Just to be clear, I think parts of the story are cool, but most of it is bloated excessively with a lot of unnecessary blathering. Erikson's editor dropped the ball on this book, I think.

A bad habit I've picked up: I keep forgetting to end my sentences with a period. Irritating.

I was perusing Salon this morning. Joe Conason has a really disturbing article about Cheney's support group for "enhanced interrogation". Specifically Marvin Sembler who used to run a group that tortured American teens.

This ties into an Army sergeant who allegedly waterboarded his 4-year-old daughter.

I just don't understand the mindset. At what point did our country start thinking it's okay to torture kids? Was it always like this? Did I just grow up in a rare, sane bubble where that sort of behavior was considered barbaric and wrong? When did sick fuckers like Cheney and Sembler get any kind of credibility in the world instead of being locked up? Was it really always like this?

This crap makes me sick and angry.

Avatar Translated

I do believe Alina Pete has it right.

The woman is a genius.

(Weregeek)

Tuesday's Message

Dear Planet Earth,

It is not too late. You can still KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

That is all.

- The Ministry of Undead Memes

Current Events

My wrist is much better, despite the best efforts of my class. I have most of the mobility back. Still hurts at times, but not nearly as bad as before.

That said, I'm still recovering from last Wednesday's epic abuse in class. I bruised my hip, apparently. While doing rolls last night, I found that said sore muscle still hurts. A lot. I was thinking that I probably won't test this time around. Given that I'll need to take another week or so to recover (thus missing more instruction), my plan not to test is now a reality.

---

I'm going to skip town soonish on a trip. It's been a while since I've done any kind of traveling that requires me to pack a bag.

I find my OCD is ill-suited to packing for trips where I probably won't need very much. I have a tendency to over-pack.

Given how travel works these days (airlines gouge for heavy bags), it's a battle for my nature.

---

I'm about... oh... 2/3rds through Steven Erikson's Dust of Dreams. I find this book to be a profound "meh". I'm not finding the Malazan Book of the Fallen series to be very satisfying. It had an interesting start and then went off in a psychotic frenzy of too many different directions. The cast of characters would have made Robert Jordan flip out (and Jordan was terrible at expanding his dramatis personae list).

So far I'm hard-pressed to describe exactly what's going on in Erikson's latest. Oh there's pages and pages of descriptions and dialog, but nothing really seems to be happening. Lots of dire portents and trash-talking. There's the odd battle or two with seemingly-random betrayals and convoluted scheming but the actual story is moderately-incoherent by this point.

I'll make myself finish it, mostly out of loyalty to Erikson, but his latest two novels are a far cry of the relatively-simple Gardens of the Moon. I personally think he would do better to go with shorter stories. This narrative has really gotten away from him.

---

New "Lost" tonight! YAY!

---

I woke to pouring rain and strong winds this morning. Actually, it's more accurate for me to say said rain and wind woke me this morning... much earlier than I would have preferred.

A rainstorm is my kryptonite. That kind of weather makes me want to just curl up in my warm, warm bed and sleep.

So, of course these sorts of storms always hit on mornings when I have to get up and get moving.

*sigh*