Well, I finally got around to going back to get my hair cut and the color redone (it only took me 4 1/2 months, that's actually pretty good for me, last time it was like five years). I knew I wanted some red in it and I knew I wanted it shorter for the summer. I haven't had it cut above shoulder level since I was in elementary school (first grade?) and got sort of a pixie cut, which was actually one of my favorite haircuts of all time.
I've made it all sorts of different colors before, usually on my own (except for my purple cellophane phase, a pro had to do that). I showed my stylist a picture of a girl who (to me at least) looked like she had really dark auburn hair, and he went and mixed the color and then let it set, but I could see in the mirror it was looking really red. Which wouldn't be a problem, but I wanted a dark red because the bottom half of my head is still pretty much black. So he rinsed it off, and I ran to the bathroom before returning to the station, and saw in the mirror it was REALLY red, my natural color had just soaked it up (gulp).
When I sat back down, I told him I was afraid it was a little too punky (which is not necessarily a bad thing) but the dark bottoms and lighter roots made my fine hair look too thin. He cut it some, dried it, we went and walked around with a mirror outside, and yep, it was too bright and too light.
So he trots out more color, semi-perm this time, a dark brown with a bit of red, and I sit under the dryer while it penetrates and second try, much darker. Then I let him go to town on trimming, my hair grows fast so by August I know it will be back where I started again, and he trimmed it almost into a long shag. I wasn't allowed to look while he styled it, he sprayed a styling aid on it to straighten it first and then he went to work with the straightening iron (I actually happen to own one myself, yea me!) and when he finished it was super straight and shiny.
I was naughty and made him trim it back from my face some, even though it looked really pretty all feathered, I wish I could have taken a photo before he trimmed it back but I knew it would have bugged me. It's so hot here in the summer I really wanted to get as much hair away from my face as possible.
Then I spent more money shopping in their candy store full of hair products, got the spray he used, and another bottle of my favorite MOP conditioner (really good for fine hair), and a heavy duty weekly-type conditioner just because I think I need one. I've been using their MOP products since my last haircut in January and he said my hair looked like it was in really good condition today, last time the stylist told me it was very dry, so apparently organic really is better than my normal Pantene stuff ;-) I have a basket full of hair care products under my sink, probably because I'm never happy with it. I really like the last two cuts I've gotten from Pope Hair, though, which is amazing because I've spent up to $75 for a cut at some of the trendy salons here in town (with pictures of the local new people up on the wall even, ooh...) and been disappointed (especially after I washed all the gunk they put in it out). If you can't get a decent cut for that much money it's kind of depressing. I'm not big on styling products, I don't like hairspray and gel (and I wash my hair at night), all I want in life is a decent cut to tame my poor fine, frizzy hair. I am trying to make myself use something to keep the frizz down on a regular basis because I live in windy humid town.
So here are the new pics, for some reason Sparky can't take a picture of me that doesn't look like a police lineup shot, which is partly my fault for having no makeup on, but I really do like the all red pic of me and Phoebe (he had his thumb over the flash).
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Unconscious Mutterings for this week
OK, this is exactly how I have felt lately:
Turn your sound on, it's long but very cute (warning - language)
And when you're done with that mindless fun, take the He-Cat or She-Cat? quiz
Can't go to sleep tonight without mentioning the passing of an icon of my generation and all around good guy, Tony Randall died Monday May 17th at age 84. We watched the Larry King tribute tonight and then David Letterman gave him a very heartfelt mention and showed some clips, since he was a regular for years on the show. I grew up watching every episode of The Odd Couple religiously, and he was one of those people I would have loved to met in person, because he seemed like a genuinely nice and intelligent guy. Amazing that he could find love and father two children in his 70's, but at least he got to spend his last decade living out his dreams of family.
I'd always thought he would be one of those people who would live to 100, and be right on top of things the whole way, but to quote Felix "When you assume, you make an ass out of U and Me".
And as a final irony, in September, during a speech to the National Funeral Directors Association, Randall joked about how he envisioned his own ceremony: President Bush and Vice President Cheney would show up to pay their respects, but they’d be turned away because his family knows he didn’t like them. Man, if Tony Randall doesn't like you, you've got to be pretty evil...
TV Land will be airing a best of the Odd Couple marathon Thursday May 20th, and Larry King is going to be running a past interview with Randall and Jack Klugman this Sunday night. And the lights are dimmed on Broadway in memory of his contributions to the theater community.
And more word association, the Wednesday Mind Hump for this week...
Unconscious Mutterings for this week
I almost forgot about this, the emails are going around about there being a US boycott on buying gas today. Even though it may be an urban legend, still not a bad idea to pass it on just to get people talking. They way they manipulate oil prices is almost as bad as prescription medicine, they know we've got to have it so they can pretty much put whatever price tag they want on it. There's a lively discussion of the story at Suicide Girls. It still amazes me how fast Google spiders everything these days...
It's nice to know Colin Powell still has some integrity, why do I keep wondering if the big guys are threatening his family so he won't tell the truth? He often seems to have that desperate look like he really wants to say something... come to think of it a lot of Republicans have that look lately. People have to start breaking soon in the White House, surely not everyone in the current administration wants to go to hell with a guilty conscience...
Speaking of integrity, the pundits have been speculating on a big What If lately that might just save America from the hole it's fallen into (especially morally). What if John Kerry and John McCain teamed up as a bi-partisan ticket? As a person I love John McCain (and he still has a soul despite the best efforts of the Bush camp), it would be a government with a conscience, what an amazing concept. And I'm currently about as anti-Republican as you can get, so if I would vote for a Dem/Rep ticket, what about all the dissatisfied Republicans out there? I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it will take to make the American people who still support Bush snap out of it. Our military leadership is dismissing the Geneva Convention as "quaint", now we're having these witch trials to throw the scapegoats in front of the angry villagers so they'll look at them instead of Rummy. We've become the Stepford Country, it's really creepy...
I'm sure they want to divert the press away from the gay marriage stories also, "gee, they don't look that dangerous, maybe gay people are OK after all". That's got to be eating Dubya up inside, holy shit, someone actually gat a new right instead of having one taken away from them. Neat article on the Will & Grace Effect from Newsweek online, I like to think the Queer Eye guys have had a big impact on humanizing gays also, especially gay men, you know they really are not out to have sex with all you straight guys, you're not really that irresistable, trust me ;-)
OK, I actually got it up finally... if you've got some extra time, look at the index to the right to check out my 300 Things About Me list (sorry, I got carried away). I actually wrote this about a month ago in a moment of rambling inspiration, and have now gone back through it and hopefully caught all the spelling & grammatical errors. It's sort of in chronological order, though I do stray from time to time, I hope it makes some sort of sense... More About Me stuff and links & pics to go along with the list to come.
More comments :-) Thanks to CP for the link on sleep paralysis, I will check it out. I have suffered from this before, also overly lucid and waking dreams, which is always sort of alarming. I've jumped out of bed and ran across the room thinking there was something dripping from the ceiling, and it's always fun to wake up and think you see someone or something (often a large spider) right in front of you (shudder).
I have three comments! And such nice ones, I feel so special :-) Now I feel obliged to put up my "About Me" info, I've done a 100 things list, which ended up being 300, I'm not that interesting really, I'm just overly verbose. One of my few real talents growing up was when the teacher would say "OK, everyone write a page on so and so" and I'd end up writing three pages. And being able to proofread pages and have spelling & grammatical errors jump off the page at me.
It has been raining all day, which I've enjoyed since I didn't have to leave the house. I love listening to the rain, though with all the lightning I'm amazed our power hasn't blinked even once. And now that we have insulated windows it's sometimes a little too quiet in the house...
One of the joys of having a weblog is having a place to get some of the extra thoughts out of my brain, especially before bedtime (which is where I should be now), when even an Ambien can't make my brain shut completely off. The only time I seem to get sleepy lately is when I shouldn't, but since I've been doing the Atkins thing and have upped my daily Prozac to 40mg I haven't been dozing off after dinner as much.
But even as a child I remember laying in bed for hours wondering why I wasn't asleep, why my brain wouldn't stop racing. My dad likes to tell stories about how in the summer, when there would be the time change and I'd have to go to bed when it was still light out, how I would moan and complain. And when I do get to sleep I'm almost always plagued by overly vivid dreams (that I usually remember the next day).
Sparky, on the other hand, seems to have inherited his mother's ability to fall asleep in less than two minutes (narcolepsy, perhaps?). It's kind of spooky sometimes, we'll be talking and suddenly he's snoring away. And he doesn't usually remember any of his dreams (though he talks in his sleep, which is kind of alarming).
Given the choice, though, I'd choose to remember my dreams. But it would be nice to be able to fall asleep without pharmaceutical assistance...
I've been kind of in a funk today, then I clicked on an email a friend sent and my iTunes automatically popped open to play the snippet that was attached. And, because of poor alphabetization, some of my Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs popped up to the top. I've only seen the video to Maps, which is mesmerizing, so out of boredom I listened to some of their other songs that were, um, in my files. Now I've got to get the album. They remind me of a lot of the early girl punk - New Wave groups, just totally doing their own thing. The lead is kind of Siouxsie-esque.
Then I scrolled down a bit and the tracks from my two Altered Images albums that I painstakingly transferred from vinyl to CD, and were in correct alphabetical order, appeared, so I listened to them for an hour or so and felt like I was 19 again. Altered Images were another very weird UK New Wave group that most people haven't heard of, you sort of had to frequent clubs and alternative record stores in the early 80's to know who they are. Amazon has the two albums I bought new way back, Happy Birthday and Pinky Blue, just recently released on CD for like $21 each, yikes, imports... ooh, extra tracks! They also have a good little best of CD (with song samples online) for $11.
It may sound silly now, when there are so many easily available choices when it comes to music, but New Wave and punk rock music changed my life in college. Growing up in the 70's with some of the scariest pop music ever, not to mention non-stop disco would numb most people's ears to just about anything playing on the radio. Nothing against classic rock, I still love it, but after hearing the same songs for almost a decade a breath of fresh air was nothing short of exhilirating.
Daydreaming on Paper writing prompt
Wow, that's heavy. I'd like to vote Dubya out of office... I'd like to have written at least three books. I'd like to be financially independent from everyone for once in my life. I'd like to be fit, healthy and able to see again properly. I'd like to keep all of my own teeth.
I don't really know... I'd just like to have lived a happy, low stress, uncomplicated life... and I want my husband to have had the same. And cat :-) The only real material possession I can think of I'd want is another muscle car, maybe another Corvette. I really like to drive.
Wednesday Mind Hump for this week, I have a total lack of imagination tonight, maybe this will help...
01. You are a character from a children fairy tale or nursery rhyme. Who are you and why? Matilda, Who Told Such Dreadful Lies, and was Burned to Death, because I'm weird and I like that story (can you tell I don't have kids?)
Within an hour the Gallant Band
Were pouring in on every hand,
From Putney, Hackney Downs and Bow.
With Courage high and Hearts a-glow,
They galloped, roaring through the Town,
‘Matilda’s House is Burning Down!’
Inspired by British Cheers and Loud
Proceeding from the Frenzied Crowd,
They ran their ladders through a score
Of windows on the Ball Room Floor;
And took Peculiar Pains to Souse
The Pictures up and down the House,
Until Matilda’s Aunt succeeded
In showing them they were not needed;
And even then she had to pay
To get the men to go away!
It happened that a few Weeks later
Her Aunt was off to the Theatre
To see that Interesting Play
The Second Mrs Tanqueray.
She had refused to take her Niece
To hear this Entertaining Piece:
A Deprivation Just and Wise
To Punish her for Telling Lies.
That Night a Fire did break out -
You should have heard Matilda Shout!
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street -
(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraging her to obtain
Their confidence) - but all in vain!
For every time She shouted ‘Fire!’
They only answered ‘Little Liar!’
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were Burned.
02. You are a magic potion. What is your main ingredient(s) and what are you used for? For some unknown reason cinnamon keeps popping into my brain. I like cinnamon on toast with sugar and butter, but it is a tremendously potent spice, walking into most craft and import shops the smell of cinnamon that hits you in the face at the front door makes my eyes water. And a little mandrake root, which must be harvested at midnight by the deaf because the sound it makes when it's pulled from the ground will drive anyone within hearing insane. Glitter, because it's so pretty and can never be completely removed once it's thrown. And some rosemary, lavender and cloves to smell pretty. When thrown I would neutralize the irrational anger in the world and raise people levels of common sense. And perhaps add a few IQ points to those in need.
03. Tell us your favorite joke. It can be naughty but clean up the language, puhleeze. I don't really a favorite, I'm an awful joke teller. I do like the official funniest joke in the world of 2002, though...
He gasps: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says: "Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: "OK, now what?"
04. Imagine you're in the Old West. What town character would you be and what would your colorful nickname be? Example: School Marm - Old Widow Maples... Dead Eye Tish, because I'd always have a pistol and I'd be such an expert shot that no one would mess with me ;-)
05. You are a mythological diety/god. What are you the god of? What offering(s) would worshippers lay at your feet? If one displeased you how would you smite them? I'd like to be Diana/Artemis (there's a bit of a feminist theme to these answers), because she's brave, beautiful and a wild creature. Hmmmm... I'd like offerings of the finest foods, lots of dark chocolate and cured meats. If someone pissed me off I would make them feel guilt for every wrong they've ever done, feel the pain of anyone/thing they've ever hurt. (Wow, I'm mean! Must be the PMS...)
Why is my current mood displayed as "pained" you might ask? Well, Sunday when I was over visiting my mom the right side of my lower back kept giving me those little weird twinges that hint that something's about to go terribly wrong and last night it did. Out of nowhere the entire right side of my body from the waist down just sort of gave out. I could barely sit up in a chair, I couldn't walk at all, and even laying down to sleep hurt. I don't know if it has to do with my MS, the fact that I'm double jointed and my hip does go out from time to time (but usually doesn't hurt like this), or a number of stupid things I've done lately. Carrying laundry on my hip, reaching up in the closet to get a box down. And, oh yes, jumping up and down at the grocery store Saturday trying to knock things off the top shelf so I could actually purchase them. (I'm 5'1") I don't know who the tall, sadistic bastard is that designed my grocery store, but he made the three foot deep shelves over 6' high, and he always puts the last couple of bottles of Evian at the very back of the shelf. If I ever meet him I'm going to kick him in the shins...
So I'm suffering like hell now. Could be totally unrelated to my high jumping attempts, but that couldn't have helped. I need to buy one of those little reacher thingies to take grocery shopping. Or just a long stick. And to add insult to injury, I had to go in for my mammogram today and it rained the entire day, actually even flooded. I was a few miles away, on a road that parallels a huge bayou and the rain started sheeting. So when I got to the clinic I got drenched and stepped in about four inches of water in my good shoes. And then got to sit around with a hospital gown that wouldn't stay closed in wet jeans. Oh, and then got my boobs put in a cold metal clamp while I tried to keep standing in one place with throbbing back for way too long while the technician reset the machine because the power had gone out just before I arrived. The only good thing that happened was because the power had blinked the clinic's computers were offline so they're going to have to bill us for the test. We just got the bills in the mail for the labwork from our physicals in today, for a change his exam was more expensive, being an over 40 white male they seem to be taking his health and extra weight more seriously than they do mine.
Speaking of, Sparky's back went out this weekend and I gave him a couple of Soma and now he's fine. I hope I'm fine in two days. My Fiorinal is doing nothing for the pain and the Soma just made me kind of woozy but I may take one anyway before bed. The kitty came down with an upper respiratory infection last week (sneezing, sluggish cat!) and we've been squirting antibiotics in her mouth twice a day. She doesn't like it, but she's smart enough to get over it in a few minutes. And I've been hand feeding her turkey baby food afterwards which helps the proverbial medicine go down. She wasn't eating properly for about a week after her physical, but until she started sneezing we weren't quite sure what to make of her lethargy since she'd also received two shots at the same time. But she seems to have her appetite back now, and is murring and running though the house again.
After over a year I've finally turned Comments on and I'm testing to see if it actually will show up at the bottom of the entry...
I'm doing this on a probationary basis at first, if all goes well, I will keep it open. No advertising or nasty stuff allowed, I am open to constructive differences in opinion but any garbage will be promptly removed and the IP's blocked.
Unconscious Mutterings for this week
OK, I've seen the new fashion trend for teens, on SNL tonight Avril Lavigne wore a bright red swimsuit under black jeans so low you could see the top of her legs. At least it's not a slutty look since she had something on underneath that wouldn't ride-up. Not a real flattering look for her, since she's so tiny, made her legs look way too short but it looked good with a guitar held in front of her for TV.
So look for teens to be sporting one piece swimsuits, maybe it will even increase sales and anything that covers up their navels and butt cracks is fine by me. You heard it here first... Avril is a great role model for girls who aren't slutty, I'm looking forward to her new album, the two songs she did tonight were very promising :-)
Well, apparently I'm not alone in my dislike of Van Helsing. Thanks to Luis for letting me know about Guttervomit's review of the film, who suggests that the filmmaker must be autistic or have mental disorder, that's hilarious. Besides giving me a headache and eyestrain, watching the movie made me jumpy and nervous and a little dizzy. Sort of like the strobe light room in a haunted house...
Honestly, even for a video game type movie, I think the target audience for this film has to be 8 year old hyperactive little boys with ADD. Just watching the characters move around the screen is enough to bring on an epileptic seizure, not to mention the constant shape-shifting and things flying across the top of the screen in every shot. What was that Japanese cartoon that sent sent groups of children to the hospital because of the subliminal strobing effect it had??
Well the port has made my teeth numb and my headache a bit better, which was my goal. I haven't had any alcohol since I re-started the Atkins diet, I feel much happier now :-) I think I may sneak off to bed and read some more on my vampire novel, which is nice and quiet and has no explosions [aahhh]. I want to get her newest Southern vampire installment, but it's in hardback only right now, which really sucks, not so much for just the price, but because I have the first three in paperback.
I found a new vampire/witch novel the other day which looks really great (and has Charlaine Harris's endorsement on the fabulous cover), Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, which I can't wait to start on. I love browsing at Borders, they don't have the best prices but they have a really eclectic selection of featured books and music.
For more groovy anti-war/Dubya images check out The Peace Pretzel's graphics link page. Print some and put them on your car!
Just found one of the political protest sites I had bookmarked has been bullied into shutting down, gee I wonder who would be offended by a little free speech, hmmm???
A famous local psychic once told me I had been a female French freedom fighter in WWII and was killed by the Nazis to silence me when they invaded France, makes sense to me. I have a fascination with WWII Europe but no real historical interests again until I reappeared in the early 60's here in the US. Supposedely I was a guardian angel in the interim. I really wish I were doing more now, but this is my little corner of the internet and I do hope people at least stop by. Janeane Garofolo, who I really respect, said the other day that at this point a vote for Bush is a character flaw and I think she nailed it right on the head. She said the people that are standing behind Bush are doing it out of spite, which is not as farfetched as it may sound. I've always thought it was stupid stubbornness also that people are still saying they support Bush after he has willfully unleased Armageddon on the world, I mean, really, what the hell do they see in him that's decent and good anymore? As a bumper sticker I sold (I think I have a few left still) says "Lobotomies for Republicans, It's the Law!".
I found a funny UK site the other day with some great commentary on Bush and Tony Blair (I still feel sorry for him being dragged under by us, the "US" actually, he seemed like such a decent guy). And our country never ceases to embarass ourselves, now we're playing fraternity initiation games with Iraqi prisoners. Of course I say this from the state where one of the largest universities accidentally killed some of it's students by building a huge bonfire which collapsed on themselves in order to commemorate a bloody football game, and they want to continue building them. I'm sure the soldiers are going stir crazy over there, but do they have to shoot photos and videos of their crimes? What are we, 13 years old shooting paint balls out of car windows at people?
To the rest of the world, please understand we have to make jokes about the horrible things that have been happening these past few years to keep from going insane. Most Americans truly can't believe the hell we've fallen into (and so quickly and efficiently too!), our rights being stripped away one layer at a time, while our government plays God with us and the rest of the world (it's for our own good, you understand). We have our own Taliban now, it's called the Republican party. So much for separation of church and state, which, not being a fundamentalist Christian, and still being of child bearing age, makes me especially uncomfortable. If I could stand the cold weather, and thought we wouldn't conquer their asses too, Canada would look very appealing right now.
I gave money earlier this week to Howard Dean's revamped site, Democracy for America.com, and just saw that we reached out goal of $250,000, yea!! There is some hope after all for our poor fucked up country. I keep telling Sparky that the entire country really can't all be blind Bush following idiots, but he watches news TV all day and believes all of their insane polls and pundits. I have to believe there are some intelligent people in the US (which ain't easy being isolated in Texas -- we won't be a battleground state this November) or I don't think I could go on. I'm so glad we don't have kids, I see way too many little brain-washed future Republicans, we need a generation of really motivated anit-establishment cyber hippies. I know they're out there somewhere...
Speaking of bullies (or cowards) Disney has refused to distribute Michael Moore's new documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11", gee, I wonder why? I have to admit that Disney doesn't come to mind when I think of revolutionary anti-establishment exposes, but you never know. But, I think this is like the Al Franken/Bill O'Reilly lawsuit, it will only help him and add weight to his film. I can't wait to see it, personally. I just hope people pay attention to the message, this administration is so ballsy it just tries to blow off any claims against it, even with lots of proof. I'd like to think we're seeing the beginning of the great foundation crumbling going on right now, but I don't want to get my hopes up waiting for the impending implosion.
Spoilers aplenty, don't read if you haven't seen the film...
Well, we went to see Van Helsing tonight. Yikes... I knew it would be loud, it was. I knew it would be full of CGI effects, it had so many the film seemed to be animated. I have to confess to not seeing The Mummy except for the bits I've seen on cable TV, so I sort of cringed when my husband told me it was by the same person. I tried really hard to like it, but about 20 minutes in Sparky looked over in the dark and said "You don't like it, do you?". I knew he'd been really looking forward to it, and he liked The Mummy, but the nicest thing I could say was "It's just so dumb!". This was during the Jekyll/Hyde sequence, which just was SO not right.
I watched the entire film without my glasses, and still ended up getting a major headache. If you like comic books on film, where things are constantly exploding and catching on fire for no apparent reason, you'll love this film. Everyone looked great, the costumes were nice, the effects were pretty good (a little jerky), Kate Beckinsale was a good heroine (in a corset, leather pants and high heels in 1889). I liked her a lot better in Underworld, she was deadly serious, angsty and really tough. She wasn't a sissy in this film, but the Young Frankenstein comments just didn't really fit right, especially with her character taking everything seriously, and horrible things happening to her family. Sparky had said to "check your brain at the door and just enjoy it", but I didn't have enough Lorazepam with me, unfortunately and they don't serve mixed drinks at the theater.
Sparky tells me that this is Universal's attempt to recharge their classic monsters, but since they had the three major ones in this film I'm a little confused what the sequels will involve. The vampire offspring plot was too bizarre and over the top even for a comic book, maybe it would fit in an early EC mag, I dunno. Igor looked like he had a rubber mask on, Dracula's brides were interesting, but only when they were in human form, IMHO. And what the fuck were those little Star Wars looking creatures that worked for Dracula??? And then [SPOILER] they go and kill off the only character I like in the film. I felt like I was on a really long, loud amusement park ride... oh wait - they have already made an amusement park ride already at Universal Studios. I couldn't help MST3K'ing the thing, luckily we were sitting in the last row and no one else could hear us.
There doesn't seem to be a Kate Beckinsale action figure, bummer... I'm going to go pour myself a glass of Port, the codeine is not doing anything for my head.
OK, I know I'm a day late, I got distracted last night...
Like everyone else, I sat on my butt for two hours watching Friends and the clip show beforehand. I feel bad because I'd sort of been neglecting Friends the last couple of years, but I've been trying to watch it more often this season. I'm glad they tied everything up nicely, we need more happy endings these days and it pleased me irrationally to see Ross and Rachel finally get together for good. And the twin babies for Monica and Chandler were a nice touch.
On another note, the Friday Five girl (woman really) threw in the towel, which is disappointing but I can't blame her at all. I've thought of doing a weekly meme but I'm in over my head between multiple websites, weblog and two eBay stores. She's also running the Globe of Blogs (which is an enormous undertaking) and lots of other things it sounds like. So I really need to pick some new memes now, if for no other reason than to make sure I put something online at least once or twice a week.
I need to find another Meme, Friday Five has been down for an I'm sure much needed rest and I need inspiration... And to do something other than just list things on eBay, my brain is starting to hurt.
Went by Unconscious Mutterings earlier, got this word association meme to do:
Of course, there's always the Meme List. I really should pick a Wednesday one, hmmm...
The page layout at Wednesday Mind Hump scares me but I like their questions:
Daydreaming on Paper gave me this prompt:
Only I could pick up a piece of paper from my printer and slash myself across the face with it [sigh]. I've always been very talented at strange self-injuries. So now I have a cut on my upper lip that hopefully will not swell up and look nasty. On the good side, I didn't hit myself in the eye...
Sparky wanted spaghetti for dinner. I'm allergic to tomatoes and really dislike spaghetti as a pasta so I decided to make him happy and I would have a "low carb" day. I was thinking of just drinking several Atkins shakes all day, but I ended up drinking two and making myself two sandwiches with my tropical chicken salad, which I'm starting to get a little tired of now. Too much celery. Now my stomach is rebelling and gurgling and I've had to take a Prilosec. We're supposed to go out with friends and have Mexican food tomorrow night, coincidentally on Cinco de Mayo (ya think we'll have to stand in line???), so I figure between the two they'll average out. I just have to watch the chips and tortillas.
I've managed to lose about 7 pounds so far doing the low carb thing (again) and cut my snacking down to next to nothing. I've been living on a diet of salads, liquid yoghurt, chicken salad, Slimfast low carb bars and Atkins canned shakes. Stay tuned to see if I develop an eating disorder in my quest to lose weight and get my cholesterol below 300...
Stumbled across a neat low carb information site today, the whole world has gone low carb now, it's funny. I've been doing it on and off for about 6 years, lost 10 pounds the first time I did it and got my cholesterol below 200 for the first time in my adult life. They're coming out with a low carb Coke, cool! I wish they'd make more things with Splenda, it's the only artificial sweetener I can tolerate.
I almost forgot, depending on where you live it's Beltane - May Day.
The last of the Celtic spring fertility festivals, after Imbolc and Ostara (known in the Christian calendar as St Bridgetís Feast Day and Easter), Beltane marked the arrival of summer. In May, trees leaf out in vibrant green and flowers open their buds to the sun. For ancient agrarian peoples, bellies empty after the long winter, May brought hope for abundant harvests to come. Still, a bountiful harvest was not assured, for tender young crops are susceptible to frost and blight. Believing that the Wheel of the Year would not turn without human intervention, the ancient Celts performed a myriad of rituals to ensure the return of the Sun so necessary to the fertility of the Earth.
ìBeltaneî is thought to mean ìbright fireî or ìfire of Belî, Bel being a Celtic sun god known as the ìBright and Shining Oneî. Purification fires were an essential part of ancient Beltane celebrations, magically bringing the light and warmth of the sun down to earth and ensuring good fortune, healthy livestock and abundant harvests...
For the rest of the legend check out Gaelsong's nice writeup on Beltane, from whence the above came. I need to learn how people make those little boxes for quoted type on their weblogs...
What else, oh yes, the finale of Mad Mad House was last night. Two hours of sitting on the couch, I really was in suspense and kind of wanted both girls to win. I really thought Nichole would win, but they picked Jamie, who finally won her first trial. I thought it was terribly unfair that Eric got to add an extra rock to Nichole in the hanging trial, though, like he wouldn't pick her. And she stayed up for like another hour, to her credit. I was glad Eric didn't win, though, all he did was badmouth Nichole the whole time he was there, which was hardly sporting, and she never said a bad word about anyone, even though she was constantly chattering away.
I don't watch reality shows, but I will watch Season Two when it comes around. This season was so awe-inspiring, lots of healthy eating, love and self care, meditation and inner self-seeking, next season looks like it's going to be Mean Mean World. The Alts tenatively scheduled are: a necromancer, a martial arts expert, a dominatrix, a kemet and a warlock. Now I knew about the necromancer because that's what they asked me about and I gave them a referral. The dominatrix should be fun, and someone seriously into Eastern studies/martial arts disciplines could be very interesting (anyone see Kill Bill 2?). Read that a kemet is something to do with Egyptian cat worship (?), but a warlock? Who calls themselves that? A male witch is a witch. Perhaps they mean someone into Ceremonial Magick, or someone really into the black arts. Or maybe a Satanist? Can they do that on TV in this conservative decade? Now, I know a Satanist doesn't actually worship Satan (really, they worship themselves), just as witches don't worship Satan (we don't believe he even exists), but the general public doesn't.
Who knows... But if the Christian contestants were uncomfortable with Fiona's white magic rituals, what are they going to do with a necromancer and a warlock? I know people that compete on reality shows have no shame and usually are kind of low on the moral scale, but hopefully they can find another group of ultra-conservative folks for season two. They need to come back to Texas, you can't swing a stick here without hitting a bunch of conservative church-types.
But I'm still a little disappointed that Jamie won. Yes, she said she'd give up her job as a stripper, who wouldn't for $100,000? She and Noel were the neediest of the money, but Nichole did seem to work the hardest, especially with everyone else against her. I liked Bonnie the best, but she came into the game with a curious open mind and a big heart, so of course she was eliminated early. Out of all the guests on the show she was the only one I could really relate to.
Oh, FYI, The Vampire Don.com is up and running, very nicely done, looks like a lot of the goth/vampire sites out there. I still can't believe he could even hold a bowling ball with those nails...