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Looking For Quacks In The Pavement

Category: Life

  • I’m awake now, thank you.

    I often joke about my list of five hundred fifty three reasons I’m glad I was born a boy-type person. One faces little dangers on occasion, however, in this form. For instance, you could be getting dressed in a daze after a bad night’s sleep, not really paying attention to the usual safety requirements of (for the want of a sillier turn of phrase at this hour of the day) product placement, and end up pinching oneself in an article of clothing.

    Later I’ll probably be dozing off, but right now? I’m quite awake. Ow.

  • Thanks a lot, brain.

    That’s funny, I don’t remember asking to be awake at 5:30am on a Saturday. Yet here I am, sitting at the computer trying to distract my brain from a nightmare that woke me up startled enough to cry out. Man, I hope my roommates are still soundly asleep, ’cause I’m pretty sure I sounded like a damsel in distress. I embarrass myself often enough when I’m conscious, I certainly don’t need help from my subconscious.

    Tarantula-like creatures have no business crawling around in my psyche, particularly when I’m asleep, dammit.

  • Getting Some Extra Mileage

    If the plugin I just installed works as advertised, this post will show up on my LJ as well as here on Ye Olde Journale.

    Since I’m here anyway, how about a catch-up on recent events?

    • Friday night, Lil’ and I hung out with friends and family after taking in the crack-laden broccoli at Outback Steakhouse. No, seriously: What do they cook their broccoli with to make them so addictive?
    • On Saturday I got the kids caught up almost to the end of season two on “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” I stopped short of the final episode because leaving them with that cliffhanger for an unknown number of weekends seemed a cruel thing to do to my wonderful children whom I love dearly. I was tempted, though.
    • Also on Saturday, I cooked food on the stove and in an oven for the first time in a very, very long time. It was just my “famous” pasta-and-cheese, but hey. (Kyla: The combination of cheeses worked perfectly. You rock.)
    • Last weekend was another Double XP weekend in City of Heroes/Villains. Several low-level “toons” aren’t so low, now. My top villain is actually my top villain, and she has her pet. My Kheldian is approaching a level at which she might become effective, let alone fun to play. My second blaster is rapidly becoming both powerful and a true joy to fight crime with. And, just for the heck of it, my main scrapper ran a few Rikti ship raids for bucketloads of cash and merits. What can I say? Those high-end enhancement sets don’t come cheap.
    • In other gaming news, I bought the new costume parts for the three accounts I’m responsible for. The mastermind named Carmine Santiago, formerly seen wearing a bright red hat and trenchcoat and slacks ensemble, is now sporting a dashing black tuxedo with elegant red trim.
    • Kyla and I both took Monday off. (She also had Friday off. Some people, eh?) We mostly just relaxed and goofed off, but I did make a trip out to Fred Meyer and picked up the replacement shaver I’ve been thinking about for the last few months. The old shaver broke (a bit more than it already was broken), which forced my hand somewhat. I went with a Norelco rotary system and so far the results are worth the money. Not only that, but it’s remarkably quieter than the cheap Braun was. You still can’t tell I’ve shaved by midday since my hair grows so darned fast, but at least I leave the house with a smoother face.

    I’m still plugging along with my own little renaissance, albeit with fits and starts (like the week-long lack of posting). At least the breaks aren’t due to depressive episodes any more! You have no idea how much happier I am now than I was even three months ago.

    Life may not be perfect, but it’s not too shabby either.

  • Fish, duck, and rat.

    Astrology is silly, but I’ll go ahead and waste a few minutes to ring in The Year of the Rat. Why? It turns out that in addition to being a Pisces and a little grey duck, in Chinese astrological terms I’m also a Rat.

    So, this should be my year. Cue megalomaniacal laughter.

  • I forget

    (This is post number who can count that high? in a series indicating just how feeble my memory really is.)

    I was doing such a good job today. I remembered:

    • Toothpaste and mouthwash
    • Batteries (for my Totoro alarm clock)
    • Erica’s little black bear
    • To write the first of my two monthly checks
    • A bottle of hand soap refill
    • To grab something for dinner

    What did I forget, then?

    I forgot to grab the piece of paper from Wendi which would enable to me to get my taxes done. It looks like I’ll be waiting another week on that, then…

    (Eerie aside: I put the new batteries into the clock at almost exactly the same time of day that the old batteries failed yesterday. Spooky, or something.)

  • The power of stupid people in small numbers

    I should lead off by saying that I just got home from a wonderful evening out with Kyla and Lyse during which we tuckered into the tasty, tasty chow at Black Bear and then wandered semi-aimlessly through Uwajimaya out in Beaverton Land. Monday daytime may have been a loss, but the after-dark portion made up for it.

    But then, we’re the sort of silly folks for whom a simple shopping excursion can be the high point of the week. And there’s nothing wrong with that, I say!

    Anyway. Stupid people. It’s what you came for, it’s what you get. We’ll start with an open letter.

    Dear sir: That stupid muffler you attached to your almost-pink VW sedan makes it sound like the mating warble of an adolescent Wookie. I hope that was your intent, because otherwise you wasted a fair bit of perfectly good money. The next time you want to throw cash away for no good reason, look me up. I can help!

    But wait, there’s more!

    When I walked in the front door of my home tonight, The Ratboy was flipping channels and happened to land on an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. Our winning bit of mind-numbingly stupid dialog for the day occurs as the Supposedly Hot But Mostly Just Reptilian-looking Chick is plying One Of Our Heroes with foodstuffs. She hands him a bowl and says, I kid you not, “This is the closest we could come to water.” No, no it isn’t, you have spaceflight capability, I’m 100% certain that you can create dihydrogen monoxide! Sloppy, sloppy writing!

    Okay, now I should get to bed. Tomorrow I’ll be visiting the rugrats. I hasten to point out that they are most assuredly not stupid. Just so you know.

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