di·sas·ter \di-ˈzas-tər, -ˈsas-\

Cat-strophe

Mon, 05 May 2008 17:05:29 GMT

Uff Da had a really bad morning. She didn't bother coming to get me when my alarm rang this morning. I had to shuffle around the apartment looking for her. She ate most of her breakfast and then came to greet me as I slurped coffee at my desk. She jumped up and sat on the desk staring at me (which is really annoying when trying to work on homework ...), but I didn't think anything of it. But I did notice that she wasn't drinking from her mug. (Yes, the cat drinks from a mug. Several of them, actually. She hates bowls. She has a mug of water on my desk. How annoying!) I made a connection the fact that she urinated on the carpet yesterday. She's normally a very tidy cat and is embarrassed to excrete anywhere but in her litter box (thank the gods for that!) ... and then heard a great deal of noise coming from the hallway. I ran to see the cat squatting and straining. I thought maybe she was having urinary issues - a kidney stone (do cats get those?) or something. J got up and we ran around the apartment trying to figure out what to do for her. It's currently about 110 degrees in here and she's sleeping on an afghan. J cleaned and scrubbed her litter box. Turns out (hopefully) that she was just suffering from a major constipation. She seems to be OK now, just really tired. Once she gets up to get a drink of water and demand food, I'll know she's fine. In the mean time, fingers crossed and looking for a good veterinarian. Oh the joys of having a 21-year-old cat ...

I rarely leave my cave, except to forage for berries and nuts

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:48:35 GMT

My Personality


Neuroticism	99
Extraversion	1
Openness to Experience	52
Agreeableness	1
Conscientiousness	4

You often resist any cravings or urges that you have, but sometimes you give in, however you tend to lack energy and have difficult initiating activities. You tend to feel overwhelmed by, and therefore actively avoid, large crowds. You often need privacy and time for yourself. You tend not to express your emotions openly and are sometimes not even aware of your own feelings. You do not like to claim that you are better than other people, and generally shy from talking yourself up, however you generally see others as selfish, devious, and sometimes potentially dangerous. You find contracts, rules, and regulations overly confining and are sometimes seen as unreliable or even irresponsible by others.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report

Screw homework, I'm going RECORD SHOPPING

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:41:15 GMT

It's just too bad that Denver doesn't have a record shop I really care about. Record Exchange is cool. Kind of like Root Cellar. But without the clerk permanently parked on the sidewalk with a cigarette.

I've spent the entire morning blowing off homework to watch YouTube videos of old post-punk acts.

At this rate, I'm going to fail out of school and go back to working in a shithole pseudo-indie (the owner thinks he's got a corporate giant of a chain) record store. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. I've come to the point where I truly hate my major and wish I could change. I have too much time invested in it, though. Unfortunately, I also have to pass a required course with at least a C, and I am very definitely not going to make that in the next three weeks. I'm screwed! Back to shopping. I hope I can turn up something groovy (pun not totally intended ... ) today. Maybe Orange Juice or Department S? Is Vic There? would be awesome!

Dance of the Cupcakes

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:35:52 GMT

Dessert never looked so good!

Theremin

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:25:01 GMT

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:41:12 GMT

Is it just me or does the term 'ginormous' sound gynecological?

Lyuba

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:28:53 GMT

A 37,000 year-old baby mammoth named ‘Lyuba’ was found perfectly preserved in the Yamalo-Nenets region in the Urals.

I take walking bipedally for granted

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:16:24 GMT

[edit]
I watched this film, The Family That Walks on All Fours, last night. Not good. Basically, it was a debate on human evolution. Not a good one at that. They mentioned Australopithecus, but not which species. And they briefly mentioned the A. afarensis footprints at Laetoli, but not who made them or anything about the pre-Homo species. Just that they are ape-like ancestors. The film kept saying that this family is a genetic throwback to the pre-Homos, but they're really not. The family has a genetic defect, probably because the parental generation ARE COUSINS.

I'm so disappointed. I was so looking forward to watching this.

[Original post: April 08, 2008, 20:00]

I don't think that any of our hominin ancestors would have walked palm-down like this family ... I can't imagine what a toll this form of locomotion must be taking on them physically.

My, my, my ... it's been a long time

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:13:35 GMT

... and yet I don't have anything interesting to say.

I got caught up in my own self-pity for quite some time. (Well, since sometime in mid-October, really.) And I haven't felt like communicating with anyone. I still don't, but I'm trying. (Well, not really. I'm not much of a people person. I never have been. But I do love self-delusion, so I'll just say that I'm trying.)

Back in school for the spring semester. I have no idea why I thought it would be ok to take 16 credits and work 30 hours/week. Does that seem stupid? I can't keep up. At least some of the classes are easy. But Logic will kill me. I am going to fail and change my major. Not sure what I'll change it to, but ... we'll see. I'm leaning toward Anthropology. darkgreenroses, isn't that your major? Is it good, bad, or just indifferent? Or am I thinking of someone else entirely? I've been wrong once or twice in my life.

It's spring break right now and I'm trying to get caught up on homework. I have to write a short paper about Harry Frankfurt's On Bullshit, but I just can't do it. The essay was boring. With such a great topic, you would think he'd have some clever insight and some fun pop culture references. Watching wheatgrass grow is more interesting. (I bought a little box of wheatgrass for the cat. She has little interest in it.) Instead, I've been watching South Park. All the episodes are available on-line (http://www.southparkstudios.com/) and since I finally joined the 20-th century and got Broadband [yes, mock me. I was still using dial-up until YESTERDAY] for my birthday, I haven't slept. I've just watched South Park. More fun than writing a crappy paper that won't save my grade. It also means I can do stupid blog-quizzes faster:

What Post-Industrial Music Genre Are You?

Power Electronics/Harsh Noise:You hate music and the world in general. You 'enjoy' the most ear-piercing and stomach wrenching mechanical sounds ever recorded.You may be involved in extremist politics, either left or right wing, and have a tendency to hide your face in photos. This type often has an almost schizophrenic-lie obsession with quickly flashing animated gifs or choppy video.
Take this quiz!

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Yeah. That's just totally wrong. While the bit about hating the world in general is fairly accurate, I don't care for Power Electronics. I'm more of an EBM sort of girl. Industrial rock. Neofolk. Nothing too militaristic, though. And I adore Chris Connelly.

I like the cut of that man's gibberish. (from The Tick)

If anyone wants me for anything, I'll be at my desk, glued to YouTube.

Fell off the face of the Earth ...

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 15:11:06 GMT

and I'm not sure if I'll be back again.

But I will leave you with this thought - Chris Randall was, is, and always will be the sexiest man in Rock'n'Roll:

and a cover of Tom Waits:

Old is the New New

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:27:26 GMT

We had thunder-snow this morning. It's been cold, windy, and snowy all day.

I cut off my hair yesterday. I couldn't deal with the ponytail anymore. It's nice not to have the ponytail headache today. Dyed it black again, too. There was just too much gray - my vanity got the better of me.

We've spent the weekend searching for apartments. Found one that is acceptable. Still looking for one that's good. Think we can make it to move on Hallowe'en? It'd take a miracle. Haven't even started packing yet. On the bright side, at least half of our stuff is still packed from having moved here a year ago.

On a sad note, Paul Raven died yesterday. I think I'll drag out the KJ records for a retrospective.

I've got a 4-alarm hangover.

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:45:19 GMT

It's either from all that whiskey, or your laser beam. Or both.

Yes, I just watched Star Trek: First Contact. Wow. It was awful. But I'm sick. So I just sat through it. Made a big pan of Mac&Cheese and chocochip cookies. That was good. But I had to go to the store first. Man, not having a car blows. Especially when all you want to do is curl up in bed and die. I'm pretty sure my head has inflated from the sinus pressure. Yeesh. I haven't been well one day since I moved to this godforsaken cow-town. On the bright side, as I was biking to the store, I saw a flyer - The Hold Steady will be here in November! Yay! I'm excited to see them. I never got a chance to see Lifter Puller and I feel cheated. Hey, I heard a rumour that Dillinger Four are releasing a new album sometime this year. I'm so outta the loop. I feel old. I cut my hair -bangs- and they're gray. Crap. The bangs look awful, by the way. I'm thinking of shaving my head again just so that I don't have to deal with the shame of the bangs. But it's going to be cold soon. Perhaps it would be a bad idea to shave my head ...

I don't know. I'm going to bed. To curl up under a rock and die. What a long week.
G'night.

Don't tell a soul

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 20:48:57 GMT

And she's kind of like a poet
Who finds it hard to speak
Poems come so slowly
Like the colors down a sheet

[EDIT]: L'Étoile du Nord.
I really want to go home. I don't belong here. I mean no offence to anyone who loves Denver, but it's like a generic version of Minneapolis. Close, but not quite.

I miss seeing shows in a stinky converted bus depot. It hasn't functioned as a bus depot in probably 40 years, but man, you can still smell the Greyhound.

L'art du silence

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:13:01 GMT

Marcel Marceau has passed away at age 84.

I heard a rumor that there is an album of one of his performances. Apparently it is 20 minutes of silence followed by 2 minutes of applause. The B-side is the same. I always hoped that someone would drop it off when I was working in the record store, but alas, I don't have the luck ...

je pense, donc je suis

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:09:30 GMT

Brain Tattoos
Image from Neurophilosophy:

Gesundheit!

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:31:34 GMT

Lifted from der5pezialist, because it's just too funny.

You have to say what Cornflakes mean to you in 10 words.

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:34:26 GMT

I'm bored. My boredom is making me feel an overwhelming guilt. I know there are things I should be doing right now. Things I'd like to be doing right now. But I can't bring myself to do any of them. I have so many unfinished projects staring me in the face. Paintings to complete (someday, Jessie, you will have a finished product to take out and burn in the yard ...), papers I'd like to write ... my book. My book which is a distant dream. I'll never write it. Who am I kidding? Instead, I've just wasted several hours watching No Reservations and giggling over the fact that Bourdain is at least a foot taller than everyone around him. Then I begin to feel annoyed that I'm taller than most people around me. I hate that. Everyone at work asks me to "grab that box from the top shelf" for them. Get a freakin' step-ladder people! I'm seriously considering going back to bed as an option for the day. Too bad I've already consumed a pot-and-a-half of coffee and several powder-sugar-covered almond cookies. I'm overly-caffeinated and sugar-spastic. And I'm bored.

To the centre of the city in the night, waiting for you.

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:27:29 GMT

So I had this big plan to post a picture a day. Maybe as a way to try to make friends with my not-so-new surroundings. (I've been here a year now.) I was going to do that starting on 1 September and stick with it as long as possible - my goal was to do it everyday for the next year. But that has been struck down today by self-loathing and a massive headache. That, and my overwhelming desire to sit on the couch eating taco-seasoned popcorn and watching 24 Hour Party People. Why do people like the Happy Mondays? Can someone please explain it to me?

*sigh*

I hate it here.

What would you say to a cup?

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:13:39 GMT

Cuppa French Vanilla while I'm waiting for the brownies. No, they're not homemade. I'm lazy. It's a mix. Yes, yes, that makes me a terrible person. But I needed chocolate. And I have a headache. Did I mention that I'm lazy? What I really wanted, though, was to make Rice Krispie treats. But the store doesn't have any veg-marshmallows. Bummer. So this week, I'll just make my own marshmallows. Except I need to buy a candy thermometer. I suppose that's useful for other things, right? I need to buy a new VCR, too. This one just muttered something anti-semitic then killed itself.

My life is an elephantine pile

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 03:33:39 GMT

A Photo a day -
This pile of crap that appears to be barely balanced is the "office" of my apartment. It's dark. It's dusty. And it smells kind of weird. I can't tell where it's coming from, but I suspect that there may be the fossilized remains of a slice of pizza hiding somewhere under a pile of papers.

Now I guess I'll have to tell 'em / That I got no cerebellum ...

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:59:31 GMT

When routine bites hard ...

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 14:34:43 GMT

CONTROL : LA BANDE-ANNONCE

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SQUIRREL!

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:58:52 GMT

At least he's got good taste in choco. I wonder what he does with the toy?

Chocoholic squirrel steals treats from shop
Thu Aug 2, 10:44 AM ET

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish squirrel with a sweet tooth heads to a Finnish grocery shop at least twice a day to steal "Kinder Surprise" chocolate-shelled eggs.

"I named it the Kinder-squirrel, after the treats. It always goes after them, other sweets do not seem to interest it as much," the manager of the store in Jyvaskyla, central Finland, told Reuters.

The confectionary, which is intended for children, has a toy inside.

"It removes the foil carefully, eats the chocolate and leaves the store with the toy," Irene Lindroos said.

Unfortunately, the bushy-tailed thief does not clean up after itself, but leaves the wrappers behind, she added.

Squirrels have a well deserved reputation for being clever and adaptable animals. Many a home owner has seen the small rodents raiding their supposedly "squirrel-proof" bird feeders.

This little guy was caught trying to break into my apartment earlier this summer. I bet he was after my Kinder Surprise chocos! Thieving little bastard.

Legless? I haven't had a drink for days!

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:58:02 GMT

Armless, one-legged driver sentenced to prison
Florida man to serve 5 years on felony drug, driving charges

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - A man with no arms and one leg who wouldn't stop driving despite a long list of traffic violations was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on felony driving and drug charges.

Michael Francis Wiley, 40, also was sentenced to 15 years of drug offender probation. He pleaded no contest in June to the charges.

"I'd just like to say I know what I did was wrong," Wiley said in court Friday. "I am truly sorry, your honor. I am."

Wiley taught himself to drive after losing both arms and a leg in an electrical accident when he was 13. He has already spent more than three years in prison for habitually driving without a license, kicking a state trooper and other charges.

He once had a valid license, but it has been suspended several times since 1985, according to his attorney. He starts the car with his toes, shifts with his knee and steers with the stump of his left arm. He turns on the lights with his teeth.

In his most recent brush with the law last May, Wiley sped off in a Ford Explorer when police approached him at a convenience store, officials said. Officers pursued but called off the chase after eight minutes because they did not want to put others in danger, police said.

Defense attorney John Hooker pleaded for leniency and the minimum sentence of 2 1/2 years. He cited his client's need for treatment for his many physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, panic attacks, depression and a pain disorder related to his amputations.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Wiley said he's done driving.

"I'm beat. The white flag is up," he said. "You can only bang your head against the wall so long before it hurts."

Another Mental Illness to Add to the List

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 04:40:31 GMT

Do you have Asperger's?

Normal is around 15 - 18. The average math contest winner would score around 24. "Scores over 32 are generally taken to indicate Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism, with more than 34 an "extreme" score."

I scored a 34. Does this really surprise anyone? I actually think it explains a great deal of my little ticks. Or maybe it's just comforting to have something to blame for my lack of social skills ...

doktor_fun also scored a 34. Perhaps it was fate that we found each other?

[EDIT]:
I took the quiz again this morning and scored 34 again. I do believe that this is the first time I've taken some internet quiz and received the same score twice. Could it be that there really is some merit to this test? It would certainly explain a great deal of my personality flaws.

I also took the related EQ-SQ test.

Here are your EQ SQ results:

EQ	: 10
SQ	: 74
Brain Type	: Extreme Systemizing

What does your score mean?

Click Here to learn more.

Take the EQ SQ tests

Apparently I don't empathize to well (duh), but I'm pretty damn good at systemizing. (Which you'd never know just by glancing in the window of my apartment ... But everything is in a specific place and a specific order.)

[EDIT]: 6 August 2007, 19:44
I scored 34 again. That must be my number. I keep waiting for the score to change, because with these self-reporting questionnaires, I manage to score based on my mood. But this is the third time I've scored a 34. I'm actually thinking of a real assessment, just to see if the stress of doing this for real would change my score. Ok, that's going a bit far. But it is strange that I've scored the same 3 times ...