Category: Life

  • Scolding, and Seat Martyrs

    I had jogged up to the intersection, but not in time to hit the crosswalk button. Not to worry, I thought, since a check in all four street directions (even though one of the streets is one-way, I still look) told me that there was only one vehicle at the intersection and it didn’t have it’s turn signal on. So I crossed with the green…

    …and almost got ran over. I have to curse my slow brain, because I’d finished crossing the street before I realized that I’d just been scolded! “Geez, it doesn’t say walk!” The lady in the white, toy-sized SUV (“It’s so small, you would almost think it’s fuel-efficient!”) had rolled down her window and turned into the lane in front of me so she could give me what-for about my street-crossing decision? What the ever-loving hell? So, what, I was supposed to wait another three minutes at an empty intersection for my chance to see the white stick figure instead of the red hand on the sign? Good grief, lady. Let me restate for the record that I was crossing with the light, and after checking for possible hazards!

    See, if I was the quick and clever sort, I’d have shouted back, “Whatever, MOM!” Grrrr. No turn signal and she turns into the far lane of the three available? And I’m the irresponsible one here?

    Anyway. Speaking of utter dorkwads, how about this frequently-seen specimen among the public transit set: The Seat Martyr. You know the guy. He’s the one who insists on standing, even when there are seats available. Now, I sometimes remain standing when I’ve only got a short trip, or if the available seat isn’t particularly appealing for one reason or another. But this morning I saw a guy standing in the raised portion of a low-floor MAX train when there were two available seats next to not-unappealing women. So this schmuck’s not only being stupid, but also an unneccessary obstruction since anyone who wants to get off the train has to go around him… no mean feat when he insists on acting as if he’s the only one on the train. Even when an entire two-seat bench opened up, he remained standing.

    Gah. I don’t know about you, but the only thing I can figure is that this guy likes feeling higher-up than everyone else. Or maybe I’m just reading things into his behaviour and body language. I don’t know.

    Ah well. Now I’m safely ensconced at work, where I don’t have to deal with that sort of thing. (Yeah, right…)

  • Returning To Routine

    So I sort of blew it on my original plan to post each and every day in November. Life sort of came at me fast and furious halfway through the month, after all. There was this weeklong visit from my dear Kyla, not to mention Celebrate L-Tryptophan Day and various other activities.

    Now it’s December and I’m looking at a relatively uneventful month, minus a few bits and pieces early on. Right now I’m embracing the prospect of peace-and-quiet… not that I mind fun and excitement, but if now’s the time to be low-key then I’m ready for it.

    What are you looking forward to most, this month? I’m sort of curious…

  • Get The Gift Of Music

    My wishlist has grown smaller. Dawn saw fit to gift me with not one, not two but six music CDs yesterday!

    • Yuki Kajiura’s “Fiction” – One of my current favorite albums, hands-down. Very pretty stuff.
    • Space Brothers’ “Shine” – Yay for spiffy dance music!
    • Econoline Crush’s “The Devil You Know” and “Affliction” – I really like “Devil,” but haven’t listened through “Affliction” yet. I’ll be doing that fairly soon, I wager.
    • Genesis’ “And Then There Were Three” – It’s not one of the all-time great Genesis albums, but it’s one of the few I still only had on cassette. Dawn was even polite enough to sit patiently while I skimmed through the album… yes, yes, it’s a very 70’s kind of record.
    • Peter Gabriel’s third solo album, aka “Meltyface” – Arguably his best solo album. ‘Nuff said.

    And all I gave her in return was a bracelet… Hmm…

  • A nice, full weekend.

    Believe it or not, I did things this past weekend that didn’t involve one particular gaming obsession. (Though I’ll admit I engaged in a fair amount of that, too.) For instance, I went out shopping with Wendi and the rugrats on Saturday. Our time was cut short by an annoying false alarm at work (and other factors I won’t go into here), but we still had a fun time. The kids, they are definitely becoming interesting and wonderful people in their own right.

    After resting and recovering a bit at home, I was invited over to Lil’ & Geoffrey’s for some hanging-out time that included snarky fun with the Lyse-beast. We watched a sizeable chunk of Stargate SG1’s second season, which wasn’t all bad but it certainly did set off my snark-o-meter often enough. Still, fun was had by all.

    Yesterday I went shopping. I picked up one of the last of the holiday presents on my list, some paper and pencils, some dice for gaming (yes, I’ve been absorbed into the collective, blah blah blah) and a few grocery items. Shortly after the roomie and I got home from that extravaganza, it was time to game.

    (Geeky side note: If I tell you that my Champions superhero character is loosely modeled after Marc Remillard, would you think ill of me? My original template was based on Aiken Drum, but I didn’t think I could roleplay him very well…)

    Anyway, that’s my weekend in a nutshell. This evening I pay another visit to the rugrats, and then pick up a particular someone from the train station. Yay!

  • Note To Self: Stupidity Hurts

    When you’re busy chucking old, useless CDs from their jewel cases, avoid trying to be clever while snapping shut said jewel cases. For instance, doing so one-handed may result in pinching the flesh of your palm in the hinge.

    Freakin’ ow. You wouldn’t think you could break skin by pinching yourself with a CD case, but… well, take it from me. You can.

    I’m such a klutz…

  • Filler Entries Are Fun

    We went north, we ate food, we chatted, we slept, we ate and chatted some more, we drove home.

    Oh, I took some pictures. They’ll show up in the gallery as soon as I have a stretch of time that isn’t in-freaking-sane in which to process them.

    Today? Not a good day, by most measures of such things. Le sigh. It wasn’t all bad, but it sure as heck wasn’t all good…