Franklin Park Conservatory

For the first time in years, I actually went to the conservatory for something other than the Asian Festival, meaning this was the first time I've been *inside* since I took my friend's senior portraits way back in my first year of college. Naturally, I had to bring the camera. Please pardon while I kill your bandwidth with a dozen or so photos.


Right now they have a lot of Chihuly glass on display (see http://www.chihuly.com/ for more of his work). All hand-blown. This is the ceiling of a small section of the Himalayan Mountain exhibit.




I am determined this is where they put the kids that misbehave. Talk about a time-out chair. Beat that, Supernanny!


They were setting up to do a wedding in the palm room. These are some of the lanterns.


Some glass on the Zen Terrace.




I swear this looks like a scene out of Willy Wonka.


Not quite what you usually think of when you hear the term "glass-bottom boat".


The picture didn't turn out quite as pretty as the actual view. I have a strange fondness for ivy.


They had some of the most bizarre orchids I've ever seen.


I also have a fondness for carnivorous plants.




Probably my favorite shot of the whole trip. One of these days I want to have a koi pond.


More of the glass.


One of the few good shots I got of the butterflies.





If anyone is interested in buying prints, let me know and I can direct you to where you can buy them. Only those NOT featuring the Chihuly glass are for sale, as without having permission or finding a blanket permission statement on the artist's website, I don't want to cause trouble. I know as an artist myself I wouldn't want people making money off my work without my permission, so there's a respect issue there.

Blind Betta

To start off, normally my betta fish won't eat till after I walk away. Unlike most bettas I've known, he doesn't seem to "smell" or even feel the vibrations of food hitting the water, he only ever found his food by sight, so I have to walk far enough off so he can see the shadow of the pellets against the light on top of the water. Well, tonight after I fed him, I went back to see if he'd eaten yet so I could turn off the light.

The food pellets were still floating at the top.

Which seemed odd.

Well, I looked... and there were more food pellets nestled at the bottom.

Naturally, I wanted to check on the betta to make sure he was okay. Scooped him up in the cup he came from at the store (I kept it because it works quite nicely for scooping water out for changes - and for scooping up betta when I need to check on him). Held him up to the light for a proper look. His eyes were clouded over.

My betta is blind.

I mean, I guess it's not *too* surprising since he's nearing the end of his life anyway, I'm sure... I've had him for at least the last 2 years, no idea how old he was at the pet shop when I got him, and bettas aren't the most long-lived of fish... 5 years max, average 3 years and most pet store bettas are 6 months to a year old since they don't sell as well before the finnage is fully developed (ironically, after sexual maturity has come and gone).

But I need help... I've never had a fish go blind on me before. How do I get a blind betta, who only ever finds his food by sight, to eat?

Unfortunately he does not fall into the category of "smart bettas" (because they are normally one of the smarter species of fish). He is, quite frankly, the second dumbest betta I've ever owned. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to convince him to find food another way or not...

**EDIT**

Just got a tip from someone that it might be an eye cloud disease that Melafix should be able to clear up. Hope so, because I'd hate to just watch the poor thing starve to death.

Guard of the garden

Went out to get the mail this morning, and decided to drop by the garden (read: weed pile with some lavendar in it - I've given up on weeding) to see how it was doing. My lavendar's blooming again, so I ran inside to grab something to put the flowers in (it seems to bloom again every time I pluck it so I think I can get a pretty good harvest this year, more than enough to last me through winter).

Went back outside with the basket I've been drying the last batch of flowers in, and bent down to start collecting the blossoms. One of the leaves in the garden moved, so naturally I looked to see what had caused it. At first I saw nothing. Then I noticed this little guy:


This was the best picture I got of him - he kept moving, chasing after a bumblebee that kept getting at the flowers (interestingly, he left the honeybee alone).

But I consider a mantis in the garden to be a very positive thing. They take out the unpleasant bugs, and they are considered by many people to be good luck.

It's just a little one... has some speckles on the tip of the abdomen, so I think it's rather young. But young or old, I am very happy that the mantis has chosen my sad excuse for a garden to live in.

The rest of the visit

My oto catfish is still alive... it surprised me today when I went to feed the Betta. Good thing I didn't dump the whole bowl and wipe away the rest of the algae. I thought he was dead months ago, wondered why the heck I never found the body to get it out of there. It baffles me how a fish can hide in one gallon of water. *shakes head*

On top of that, I bought my cat a catnip plant. My grandparents' cat from next door tried to follow me in the house when he smelled it. My cat started whining until I took it back out of the house (set it up high enough that the other cat will leave it alone - he's old and too lazy to try for it apparently). She just stood under the table I'd put it on and bawled. Yeeeeeah. I need to find someplace better to put it where it will neither get swallowed whole, nor get me yowled at all day.

Anyway, moving on, time for the rest of the update from the visit.

Thursday evening was spent watching movies. Friday, we headed out to check out a discount store we'd heard about, to see if it was worth shopping at. Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment. Prices weren't great, and most of the stuff there was cheesy. Though there was a luggage set I was tempted by (pirate skulls... yes, I have a bit of a pirate obsession - ever since I was a kid). Hey, at least I'd be able to find my luggage at the airport. But it was a bit more than I wanted to pay at the moment, and I'm not planning any traveling anytime in the immediate future, so I'll just hunt for it later.

After the slight letdown we headed someplace else we'd heard about and wanted to try. This was MUCH less of a disappointment, and in fact we fully intend to go back. He'd found out about a place called Creole Kitchen, and was singing the praises of Po Boys for a while. So we went there. Shrimp po boys for each of us. It's seafood... in a sandwich. What's not to love? Either way, the food was VERY good (though the place has no dining room so we had to hunt for a place with air conditioning to sit - and the AC wasn't running very well in the one place we found - unfortunately heat seems to make me lose my appetite... I so wanted to finish my sandwich but my stomach said no). We both wondered where they get their shrimp. They were HUGE, and fell apart like good fish. In fact, we thought they'd mixed up our order and given us fish at first, except for the taste. They also make potato chips right there - I'm a fan. Definitely have to go back there. On a day when it's cooler.

We hung around in town for a bit due to some car issues - he needed to let the engine cool down to make sure the temp gage didn't flip out again, so we wandered in the 95-degree weather. Needless to say when we got back I was on the verge of collapse. He deals with the heat better than I do. Thanks to the car scare there was no more shopping, just in case. So there was a lot of couch time and movies until he had to leave Saturday evening.

Of course, at some point I was going through some old stuff and commenting on the scads of "kiddie jewelry" I never wear anymore that I have to get rid of. James made some comment on replacing it or something of the like.

"You know, we're going to have to find you someplace to put all the jewelry."
"Well, I have the box here, once I get rid of the old stuff there will be room for the stuff you've bought me."
"Nono, hon... it won't be big enough. I plan on buying you MORE."
"........."

Yeah I'm really not used to that. lol I suppose I'm going to have to get used to it, though. Because no amount of convincing seems to make him think he should stop spoiling me. I've tried. It's an argument I never win.

But it was nice to have him for a few days. It really was. Hopefully positive things will happen soon so we can do this sort of thing more often.

Day off

Well, I took a vacation day today, met James in Polaris before his monthly .NET meeting. (I think? That's right isn't it? I think that's what he's programming in now. Like I know the difference.)

Anyway, met him at the mall, dressed up a bit since I don't have an excuse to do that often. Apparently long, form-fitting dresses suit me. There were a lot of heads turning.

In any case, I got my birthday gift a little early (okay, over a month early):

Agate, and they make a lovely bell-like ringing sound when they strike against each other. Naturally, I spent half the time we were wandering around the mall playing with them. lol There were also several moments where I just sort of fell into girlish giggles. I can't help it. As I put it to James:

"They're pretty. They're shiny. And they're MINE."

Of course, I had to grab him after and point out that so is he, after which point I got poked at for leaving him as an afterthought. lol

Not that this is his first gift of this nature. He has a good sense for finding things that will look good on me. A few years ago was this:

Which has its own story, but I won't go into it here. It involves my mother and scaring the daylights out of me and something that has become a favorite story for James to tease me with. lol Maybe some other time I'll tell it.

But pushy foreign guy was at the mall again. Apparently James had passed by him earlier before I got there (he beat me there, my timing was off, forgot to account for Polaris traffic). So when we passed him again, his face brightened up:

"HEY! YOU'RE BACK!"

We kept walking.

"...or not..."

At which point we both doubled over in fits of laughter. I dunno, maybe you had to be there... this guy just amuses us every time we're at the mall. He's so pushy... and so HAPPY about it... and somehow he's not annoying, just amusing. I don't know why. I really don't.

We mostly just meandered aimlessly.

But he's off at the meeting now, due back and then tomorrow we're running off for more shopping. It feels kind of nice to know we're going to be getting out for a bit. We spend a lot of time away from each other, and a lot of those "relationshippy" things just don't get to happen very often right now. Hopefully soon enough we'll get things worked around to where schedules mesh more often and he's living closer. That should make things easier.

But for now, I'll settle for being patient. He deserves that much, I think. But I'm biased. ;)

Sleepover

Well, storm season is upon us, which means we're back to that time of year where I have to watch the skies, and the weather reports, and vacate the house at the first sign of a tornado warning.

As a general rule, I pack up the cat and head down the road to my parents' house, because they have a basement, as well as a room I can shut their cats away from. My grandparents have a basement too, but no doors to prevent Simba from wandering.

So last night, since the weather was supposed to get nasty around midnight, I hauled the cat down the road, and into my parents' guest room (which used to be my bedroom). It wasn't the first time we've been there, so Simba knew what to expect.

But something was wrong.

One of my family members was unloading a full bed, so my parents got rid of the twin in favor of a bigger one, for more sleeping space.

Simba spent the first hour crying and looking for the old bed.

But that wasn't what kept me awake all night. See, the new bed was raised up so they could put drawers underneath. Also, my cat is fat.

So about 20 times in the middle of the night, as she hopped down for food or to use the litterbox, there was a resounding "thud" that apparently could be heard through the entire house.

And if that didn't wake me up, when she came back onto the bed, rather than picking a spot where I wasn't, she had to make a flying leap and jump right on me to come back up and sleep.

So now we're back home, I'm wide awake, and what's the cat doing?

Sleeping, of course.

Why Karyl doesn't garden

This is my garden:



Stop laughing.

I said stop laughing.

At least I can still tell where my lavendar is:



Though I find it interesting... I have one random onion growing there from the previous renter at this place. I've never seen it bloom before:



(If you're looking at the image filename, yes, I know that's not what "dongle" is, but for some reason when I think of that word, I think of like, the antennae with the round tips and stuff like that, hence, the onion dongle. Shush, it's just my mental imagery. :P)

Anyway, every other time today I had gone outside, it had been out the back door.

Finally went out to the front porch a few minutes ago, and found that apparently we got a serious amount of rain today. In the container where I keep my peppermint, not only was all the soil waterlogged, but there was a good 2 inches of water sitting on top.

This is what it looked like *after* I poured the excess out:


As you can see, there's still quite a bit of water, but some of the soil was starting to pur out with it, so I didn't dare go any further.

The mint seems happy about it though. Lots of random new growth since I last looked at it. Wish I could say the same of the spearmint. There's some sort of fungus keeps attacking every spearmint plant I try to care for. Doesn't touch the peppermint though. I dunno how to stop it. I've heard mix soap and water into a spray bottle. Does that actually work?

The saga of the fire alarms.

Well, I figured I'd explain the slight comment rant I had in James' blog. See, when I first moved in, the original fire alarms were a bit gummed up and useless since everyone who's lived in this place for the past 10 years or more before me were smokers (it really is amazing how much mess that leaves behind... many thanks to my family who spent like a week cleaning the place before I even got here - before you say the landlord should have done it, the landlord is my uncle). So, first thing when I moved in, we had to get new alarms. And, since there were no CO alarms and I have gas appliances, this would have been important even if not for the existing fire alarms being worn out and whatnot.

The ones we got, I thought were great being a combination unit of CO and fire alarms. Two types of beeps rather than the annoying talking ones, which I preferred - I can still tell the difference in the middle of the night, on NyQuil and groggy. I'll get to that later.

Anyway, first month or so goes by fine. Then I start getting false alarms like mad. For one unit it was always the fire beep. For the other, the CO beep. The fire one was easy enough to figure out - sniff around, if nothing smells like it's burning, we're good, shut it up, go back to bed. For the other one, it was a bit more of a pain. Open the windows, make sure the furnace isn't on (thankfully on an ignitor, not a pilot light, so when it's off, it's off), open the oven to look down and check the pilot flame (since unfortunately it IS on a pilot light), check the burners to make sure everything's as it should be, shut the alarm up, shut the windows, go back to bed. Or, once when the alarm wouldn't shut off, pack up the cat, head down to parents' house, come back in the morning tired as hell.

After a few times of the CO alarm giving me false shrieks (because at that decibel level you can't really call it a beep), my dad came by, taught me how to check a 9volt battery on my tongue, and voila, I was now armed with the ability to shorten my checking time.

By now the alarm that always screamed fire when the battery died had gone kaput and given me the alert it was time to replace the entire unit (only maybe a year to a year and 1/2 after I bought the thing, and the first time I had EVER heard it actually chirp). So whenever the CO alarm went off, the first thing I checked was the battery. This cut down on my manic running around time, which is a plus since no matter when you change the battery, apparently there is some unspoken rule that says it must go off at 2am.

But about 2 months ago, it decided the battery was going to start draining every 2 weeks. I don't know if this was an issue with the alarm, the batteries, or both, but... I've lost a lot of sleep over the past several weeks, between alarms and allergies and whatnot.

Two nights ago, after I was already dead tired from allergy-related things waking me up, the alarm goes off again. Get up, check the oven, check the battery. Battery is dead. Go to put in another. Battery is dead right out of the box. Put in another. Go back to bed.

Alarm starts chirping.

And won't shut up.

Mind you this is now the only alarm in the house.

I decide it's not working right anyway, rip out the battery, and decide I'd rather sleep and risk dying of CO poisoning than get suck awake the rest of the night.

Of course, since I'm typing this, I obviously did not die. I now have new alarms (not the combination units anymore since apparently they only make the talking varieties now), of a DIFFERENT brand, with a 10-year guarantee.

And I will probably wake up tomorrow (assuming I ever fall asleep tonight) wondering why I wrote such a boring post.

Please keep in mind it's nearly 2am, I can't sleep, I'm very tired.... and forgive me. lol

Bromeliad

From what I have read, silver vase bromeliads are supposed to die off/never bloom or sprout again once they have sprouted pups.

Apparently mine is not aware of this.

I went to water it today, and there is a second pup plant coming off of it. After mom's success with leaving hers attached, I have decided to leave this one with the mother, rather than cutting it away. I'm running out of pots, after all.

Apparently bromeliads are not on the list of plants I have a strange talent for killing.

So far, I have killed ivy, one spearmint plant (which I think was sickly before I got it because my new one is going NUTS), corsican mint, an african violet (which was fine until I started watering it here - apparently does not like softened water), and probably several others I'm forgetting.

However, I currently have a peace lily, what now amounts to 5 bromeliads (two different species, and it's 5 if you count all the pups), a spider plant, some lucky bamboo, aloe, spearmint, peppermint, and a recently-added start of oat grass for the cat.

Oh! And the lavendar. Can't forget that. It's started spiking up, should bloom any day now.

I have no idea what's going to happen when I move - right now the plants are all in my front room, which gets a TON of light, and they love it there. it's the one room I'll miss when I leave.

Anyway, just moved the mint to a bigger planter. I'm going to have to repot a few things when I leave, that or buy my grandmother some new pots and planters. lol I've used so many of hers now...

Why are there suddenly two of me?

Because I have two gmail accounts, one I usually stay logged in at the desktop, one I stay logged into on the laptop. I use the laptop more, so I decided to add my other gmail account to the blog authors. lol

I wouldn't have had to add myself at all, except that since blogger and gmail are tied, I have to be signed into both with the same account at the same time, makes for a pain when trying to check my actual email and update the blog.

The other email account is just a random storage account. But it's where my original profile and all that is.

So now it looks like there are two of me on the sidebar. I can't seem to get rid of that to only show one, since I added the second profile to my editing permissions. If anybody knows how to fix that, let me know. I'd rather it just show my profile blurb like it used to.

Nice things

Well, I can't say that I never get nice things.

James came to visit this weekend, and brought this for me:





Suitable for burning both incense sticks and resins. I haven't put any sand it in yet, though.



Also, as a side note, it appears Panther has now been adopted. So glad the pup finally got a home.

Panther still needs a home!

I posted about this guy a while ago: http://fruitloup.blogspot.com/2009/03/panther.html

He's still at the shelter, and none of us know why! This is a great dog, absolutely sweet, a perfect gentleman - there is no reason he should not have a home yet.

I'd take him myself but I may be moving later this year so it's not a good time in my life to get a new dog.

I don't know whether people think he's "too big" (but big dogs are often more mellow, and you don't have much risk of this guy turning into a biter by any stretch of the imagination), or if they think he's too old (his muzzle may be graying but he's still got plenty of years left), or if they see he's missing a toe and freak out... which would just be silly.

But he really is an amazing dog, so if you live in the central Ohio area, or heck, are willing to travel there to see this guy, the Humane Society of Delaware County is having a special adoption event this weekend and they will be featuring him, along with bringing in dogs from several area shelters for the Adopt-A-Thon. The shelter will be open ALL NIGHT LONG for this event, so please consider stopping by, though I myself probably won't be able to make it.

For more information go to http://hsdcohio.org/

Nice Day

Yesterday it was sunny, breezy, and over 80 degrees. No rain in sight, and I wanted to be outside.

By 10am I was out weeding the garden (by garden I mean that patch of dirt where my lavendar plants grow - I am a known plant killer, so there's not much I can keep and have it survive). Pulled all the thistles out, then took my grandfather's dog for a walk.

I even got my car washed. It still looks a bit beaten up, but it's not exactly in mint condition anyway. The standard rust around the bottom of the doors and whatnot that you inevitably get with a van that's over 10 years old, in a state that puts copious amounts of salt on the road in winter. This one's been fairly well cared for, though. And I'm fond of the old thing.

Spent the whole day going back and forth between inside and out - left the AC off and kept the windows open until evening when it finally got too hot and I needed to cool it down for sleep.

Well, another visit with James has come and gone.

I have a new shiny. lol Silly little thing: some pyrite he found in the driveway. But I find that sort of thing cool. I used to hunt for cool rocks in my grandparents' drieway as a kid. lol Still probably have some of the collection somewhere.

I'm not exactly hard to please in that sense. lol

Never quite seems like we have enough time with each other, but hopefully soon enough that will change. We're working on dragging him up to Columbus still. lol

Until then, the visits seem too short and too far between - we're both busy all the time and the schedules don't often mesh. Though it's better now that he's been able to make it up monthly. At least now when he has to go, I pretty much know when I'll be seeing him again. That helps.

And we've toughed it out so far, so we should be alright until he finds something that will let him move up this way.

After all, he's worth the wait.

Dandelions

For the first time this year, I saw dandelion-filled yards on my way home.

I will admit, I quealed like a little girl when I saw them.

See, I've always been a fan of dandelions. While most people go out to wage war on them as soon as they appear in a yard, I actually find them pretty. Yeah, so they're a weed. But I've never understood the obsession with a perfect expanse of boring green yard. Those little spots of yellow brighten up the place. They are my first real sign that warmer weather is here, that summer's on its way soon.

Besides which, you can use them as a salad green. Now come on, how can you really hate free food?

Well this is new...

Uh... I think my cat might want attention.

She just crawled under the coffee table where I keep her brushes, and dug with her paw until they all fell out onto the floor, then popped out and stared at me.

"Why goofing off boosts productivity"

Interesting read. And, well, something I've known all along. I do much better when I can multitask with something non-work-related. I can't do that at my current job, and it causes a lot of burnout.

I've known a lot of people who do the same.

Many thanks to the friend who showed me this article. Been wondering how long it would take for somebody to publish research about this.

Kangaroos

You know, it sort of boggles my mind... of all the animals at our local zoo that they don't let you inside the pen with... outside of the aviaries the only ones they do let you in with are the kangaroos.

Kangaroos can get pretty nasty. I'm really rather amazed no misbehaving kids have been kicked by one yet. I mean, it's one thing to get a light kick. But we're talking about animals that fight off their main predator, the dingo, by disemboweling it with their hind claws.

So naturally they let a bunch of screaming kids run around in there with them.

I really am amazed this has not ended in disaster yet. Though I have noticed for the most part the parents with screamy kids don't go in there...

Quote

Thought I'd share one of the better quotes I've found recently, posted, of all places, on one of those lol sites.

"If perfection was the standard for determining the right to live, none of us would be here."

To put it into context: http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/cute-puppy-pictures-new-legs.jpg

Somebody said of this picture that they wouldn't call that "love". Since the person never responded to the questions of why, it was naturally assumed that this person thought the dog should be put down rather than live without its legs.

Full text of the comment:

"If an animal isn’t suffering and has a decent quality of life, there’s no reason to euthanize just become some people are bothered by the animal’s imperfect appearance. I’ve known a lot of animals with injuries or birth defects that make them look odd or even a bit scary, and there’s always someone who comments that the animals should’ve been euthanized even though the animals function perfectly well and obviously are happy. If perfection was the standard for determining the right to live, none of us would be here."

On that note, something I've heard over and over from articles written by veterinary professionals is that people always assume it's going to be so horrible for their pet when it's lost a limb. But what they don't realize is that animals don't have these silly social hangups about these things. They don't think "oh no, my leg's gone, what do I do now?" They don't have to worry that people are going to think of them differently. They may struggle at first, but it doesn't take them long to adapt and function almost normally. It doesn't seem to cause them the same sort of distress it does to humans. They just compensate for it and move on. So if something happens to your pet that causes a need for amputation, try not to fret. One less leg (or sometimes two) isn't as big a drawback as you might think.

On that note, some of the sweetest cats at the humane society have been missing a limb. They seem to get stuck there longer, though... which is a shame. Why should your pet have to be "perfect"?

Panther

Here's the petfinder listing (contact for HSDC included): http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11556644

Panther is a brindle greyhound (full-sized, not the Italian greyhounds which are smaller). He comes about up to my waist, and is about 5 years old, but don't let the graying muzzle and large size put you off. 5 years of age is past that difficult "hyperactive" stage for most dogs, but it's still young enough to have plenty of good years in him. And he's not one to throw his weight around. Panther is very gentle.

As soon as I got this guy on a leash I fell in love. I have NO idea why he's been stuck there that long, all I can figure is they're either concerned about getting a large dog, or they see the grey nose and think he's too old. Which is a real shame. I started to walk with him, and unlike many of the other dogs who come in untrained and in serious need of basic training, Panther was very clearly leash-trained once before. He walked right with me, and if he got a little ahead (long legs will do that) and couldn't see me anymore, he'd stop and turn his head to make sure I was still following, and wait for me to get back beside him before walking again.

According to his profile he is good with kids, cats, and other dogs. He is low to mid energy - he'll go for a jog with you but afterward is perfectly content to curl up and sleep a while. Being a greyhound he would probably best as an indoor dog given Ohio's general climate - his fur isn't superthin but still not thick enough for him to be spending long hours out in winter. Besides which he very much strikes me as a dog who needs to spend a fair amount of time with his owner. Not all his time, but probably the sort to always want to know where you are. I've found I'm usually not wrong about these things, even when it comes to dogs I've only just met.

Though I'm not sure if Panther has separation anxiety, keep in mind that most, if not all, shelter dogs have a touch of it, at least when they are first brought home. Some have it worse than others, but definitely talk to the shelter about what you can do to alleviate it while the dog is adjusting to its new home.

I would take Panther myself if I could right now, but it's just not a good time for me to bring a dog into my life. So please, if you or anyone you know might like this dog, consider dropping by HSDC to check him out, and help him get a permanent home.

For those who have issues with kill shelters, I suppose I'll mention in case I haven't before or you're just passing by this blog without seenig my other entries, HSDC does not euthanize for space. You can find out more about them, and the animals up for adoption, at http://hsdcohio.org/

Spring at last

First nice day I've had where it was warm, not raining, and I had a day off. So I went out for a while.

Headed out to Westerville first, nothing fancy... just an excuse to get out. Finaly used the gift card to Coldstone Creamery mom got me for my last birthday. I'll tell you, you don't want to assume the sizes are as puny as they look and go for the big one. The containers are very deceptive. There's... a lot of ice cream in there... like, a lot a lot. The biggest size is probably enough for two people. I got halfway through it, probably shouldn't have kept eating, but I had other places to go and wasn't about to waste it - by the halfway point I thought for sure I had to be almost through it, but shoved my spoon down in and there was still plenty more.

Good ice cream, too. They've got this chocolate cake batter flavor... wonderful stuff.

Stopped at home depot to pick up some zip ties - needed one to attach my flag properly to the flagpole since that season has come again.

No, no country flags. I fly a jolly roger off my porch. Pirate flag to you landlubber types. :P A Jack Rackham for those who know the difference. Favorite of all the standard designs.

Headed off to the humane society afterward. Lots of calico cats there right now... a few puppies, quite a few nice dogs. I have a favorite there already, one I'd have taken home myself if not for life being too hectic for me to have a dog right now (moneywise, stresswise, and the fact that, if all goes well, I'll be moving in a couple months and it'll already be stress enough to introduce the two cats to each other without throwing a dog into the mix). More on the dog in the next post - he deserves his own.

Settling Down

Not sure what it is that has posessed me to do this, and hopefully James won't mind, but for whatever reason I feel the need to repost one of his writings from a few years back. Something I think that is worth reposting:

I’m at that age where a lot of the people that I know have either gotten married or are getting married. I look at some of the couples, and see how some of them will work, how some will fall apart (either amicably or explosively), and how some will feel obligated to stay with each other for the rest of their lives because they said “I do” for the wrong reasons. The funny thing is that people are starting to look at me and ask when I am going to do the same.

Are you seeing anyone? Is it serious (which always sounds like they’re discussing a disease that you are afflicted by. He has what? Is it serious?)? When are you going to settle down?

I take offense at this. The very notion of “settling down” annoys me.

Let’s think about this on a word by word basis.

First off, I don’t want to settle for anything relationship-wise. I want to be in a serious relationship because I feel passionately about the person. Saying I have settled is downright insulting both to myself and the person, if any, I choose to marry. It implies that I’ve chosen to spend my life with that person because I can’t do any better or that I can’t get what I want.

Settling is what you tell yourself that you’re doing when what you have isn’t really what you want; when what you have doesn’t make you happy but is somewhat tolerable.

I refuse to do that. I would rather spend my life alone or simply having short relationships rather than settling on something I don’t want for the rest of my life. I was very close to marrying someone I loved very much several years ago, and I can guarantee you that I wasn’t settling for anything.

The person I marry will be someone that I want to see when I first wake up in the morning and the last thing I see when I go to sleep. This isn’t to say that I want to spend every waking moment with that person, because I don’t. I enjoy my time alone, and I would hope that she would too.

I want to be with someone who stand with me and whom I can stand with. I don’t want to be with someone who uses me as a crutch in order to prop themselves up for whatever reason.

I want to be with someone who has opinions and a mind of her own; someone I find attractive not only physically but intellectually and in other manners that aren’t as easy to quantify.

If I ever meet anyone that makes me feel that passionately again, then we’ll talk about my getting married. Until then, I’m going to enjoy life for the sake of life; not for what other people think I should do.

Let’s face it: I’m 25. It’s been a long and interesting trip so far, but I have, in theory at any rate, many years ahead of me on the path that I walk. To spend them with someone that I don’t truly love is just wrong in my opinion, and it amazes and insults me that my family seems to think that I should find my identity in someone else.

Now, for the second part – down.

As if settling for something that you don’t want isn’t bad enough, settling down is worse. It says that you are not only willing to spend your life with someone you don’t really want to, but that you are willing to spend your life with someone so far below what you want that it’s not even funny.

That, to me, is one of the worst things I can think of doing not only to myself but to the other person as well. It’s insulting to think that I would be happy “settling down” or that the other person would be happy either considering that the way I felt would affect our relationship.

Let’s face it. Nobody else can make you happy. You have to be happy with yourself or you’ll never be happy at all. To look to a relationship for validation or happiness is just insulting to everyone involved.

Learn to love yourself first for both your accomplishments and your faults. Look at yourself realistically but also with a humble pride (for lack of a better word at the moment), knowing both what you see as positive and negative about yourself. Accept yourself for who you are. If there is something you don’t like about yourself, think about why it bothers you. If the reason it bothers you is good, then work on changing whatever it is that bothers you about yourself.

It’s not easy, but things which are worthwhile rarely are.

Once you get to that point, you probably won’t want to “settle down” either.

When I first read it, it was definitely a glimpse into the type of man I was starting to fall for... the man I now love more deeply than I knew possible. Even then, in what I suppose is typical girlish fashion, I was both intimidated by what I thought I had to live up to, and warmed by the prospect that if someday he ever did ask, that would mean I am all those things.

The world has changed so much in those 3 1/2 years or so... and in true fashion to how so much of my life has worked, much of the changes have come all at once, in little floods where suddenly everything's turned on its side and the view is completely different than before.

It's strange, reading it again now...

I'm not so intimidated anymore.

Then again, I think I've gotten a bit better at enjoying things for what they are, instead of obsessing over what they could be. Fussing over what wasn't happened yet. Not that I never think about the what-ifs, think of what could be, but everyone does that to a certain degree.

Visit

James was in town yesterday for programmery type stuff (yes, that is a technical term, thankyouverymuch lol), so I met him near Polaris and we spent some time out together for a bit. It was kind of nice to get *out* with him again for a change... usually lately we don't tend to have much time so it's spent hiding away in the house, watching movies and whatnot.

We opted for just wandering around the mall - he'd just spent a lot of drive time so didn't want to run around in the car again, and we only had a couple hours until he had to be at the MS building (which turned out to be right next to the mall so had we planned better we could have had a bit more time... oh well). We pulled into the parking lot, and sitting there was a limo.

Oh, but not just any limo.

This thing was, honest to god, Barbie pink with purple flowers all over it.

Turned out it belonged to one of the stores now attached to the mall... some sort of party spa thing for little girls (that age where they're still all obsessed with dressing like princesses and getting ponies for Christmas and the like). Which... kind of explained the pink but still, wow. lol

And I thought the pickup-truck limo I once saw was scary.

Later on we had a chance to spend the evening in - dinner wasn't fancy, just some of my leftovers (which, impressively, he survived - I'm no great shakes in the cooking department), kicked back and watched a movie...

He stayed until the next afternoon. Then after he left I ran over to my folks' house for movie night. One Hour Photo - not bad, though not as "omgthiswillscareyoutodeath" as people made it out to be. Then again, I'm interested in psychology, so "psychological thrillers" don't really get to me all that much, I guess. Criminal Minds I have to be careful about watching at certain times of the day, but I agree with my mom that it's more likely the combination of the psychological stuff and all the graphic gore and the like. Plus certain filming styles get to me more than others, I've noticed. The last I watched Criminal Minds, it was rather dark and grayed-out a lot of the time. It's interesting what color and light do to your psyche. One Hour Photo, on the other hand, was very pale and washed-out. Except for the photos. Intentional, I'm sure - the effect worked for the movie, but psychologically speaking, for someone like me that made it easier to watch without feeling the usual semi-panic of suspense.

Things I learned from the Karate Kid movies

1. An 80s high school is a very dangerous place. There are big gangs of karate-fighting bullies all over the place, and the school officials will just watch and not stop them from beating you up.

2. 80s high schools regularly employ paramilitary groups just to hunt down students and get them in trouble. Because, you know, a regular hall monitor is just a sissy.

3. There are no police in the 80s. Everything is street justice. Somebody tries to kill you? No cops, have to learn karate to stop them.

4. All elderly Japanese men sound like they have been chain smoking for like 90 years.

5. In Japan, people speak broken English to each other instead of Japanese, even when the flighty American kid isn't around to need to understand them.

6. If you choke some kid in public, everyone will just stare and not do anything about it. Because, you know, choking kids is perfectly legal in the 80s.

7. Underage drinking is okay as long as it's sake, not beer.

8. 80s high schools conveniently have bird cages on the roof in case you find some injured hawk you want to hide or something.

9. Mr Miyagi is the only karate teacher in the known universe who isn't an arrogant jerk.

10. Maintenance guys at seedy apartment buildings can afford really awesome housing. Also, apparently once they start teaching Karate for free they don't have to show up at work anymore.

11. Being a karate instructor is exactly like being a mob boss. You get your own posse who pushes everybody around so you can pretty much own whole towns.

12. Japanese thugs kick harder than American ones.

13. Rich guys have nothing better to do than get revenge on complete strangers.

14. Shop doors in California obviously do not lock. Otherwise how would Daniel be dumb enough to leave it wide open for the bad guys to get in multiple times?

15. No seriously, there were no cops at all in the 80s. Nor were there insurance companies, so if your stuff gets stolen, you're screwed.

16. I stand corrected. There are cops, but they laugh at you when a crime is committed instead of doing their jobs.

17. Nobody can hear your evil laughter if you do it behind a wall.

And of course, the most important of all:

Don't mess with the old guy. He can kick your butt.

Yay for dads

Over the years, my dad has been my car mechanic, my hvac tech, my general handyman, my carpet installer, my bad-weather chauffer, my "bad guy" when I had to give the cat pills, my GPS system when I got lost (5 times) on the way to and from Chillicothe to visit James, my personal shopper for the occasional car part (I've busted two mirrors in the last year - one because a rock flung at it out of a snowblower, the other because I had to choose between hitting some idiot edging over the yellow line into my lane and hitting a trash can - I chose the trash can)...
Today he was my locksmith. I no longer have to beat the bejeezus out of my door to get it to shut properly. Apparently the freeze and thaw finally took its toll and something shifted all wonky. But it's all fixed now, thanks to my dad, who is talented at all things handyman-related and mechanical. And electrical, for that matter - he wired the basement when they finished it off into office and guest room space.

That's admittedly something that's been nice about having the family right around the corner. I want to ove further away eventually, but right now, when I've needed their help, they've been there to help me out quite a bit. Dad especially, because I'm pretty much at a loss when it comes to fixing things. Yeah, okay, I can check my oil, refill my wiper fluid, tighten screws back, hang a picture on the wall, that sort of thing... oh and apparently some guys at Home Depot were impressed (or flirting with me, could go either way) for actually changing my own air filters for the furnace. But had I tried to fix that door myself it'd probably somehow manage to be off the hinges and laying on the porch by now...

Yeah. Many thanks to my dad. Fixer of all things.

Though thinking about it, my house would probably be about as secure with no locks... I have a good security system. It's called "nosy grandfather with a shotgun". lol We call it the "grandpa alarm". You're on my porch? He doesn't know you? Invited or not, you can bet he's gonna ask you what you're doing there. Reasons I had to make sure to introduce him to James. I could just imagine the reports of him having to chase off some guy who was hanging around my house if I hadn't.

Oh, the shotgun? Yeah pretty much every house around here has one. Coyotes and raccoons and all that. Yes, there's the occasional threat of rabies too. Doesn't come up often, but you need something around just in case. I think I've seen one rabid animal in my entire life. Freakiest thing I've ever seen... dad aimed a shot next to it to try and scare it off, dang thing didn't flinch. That was pretty much the final tipoff that there was something seriously wrong with it... first being that it was out in the middle of the day and WAY too close to the house.

And before you start in with all the hillbilly jokes, both sets of grandparents are originally from Appalachia. :P

Wow.... ramble..... I need to go find dinner.

Waitaminnet

Okay, some weatherman owes me an explanation.

It was supposed to be 40 today.

Why is the forecast now only set at 33, and the current temp at 20?

I was so hoping to make it outdoors today... maybe put in some volunteer hours at the humane society in the nice weather, which I haven't had energy to do in a while.

Looks like I'll be a shut-in for another day.

Weather.com says it's going to be almost 50 tomorrow. *glares threateningly* They'd better not be lying.

I am SO ready for spring.

Too cold....

Yes, I realize I haven't been posting.

Between snowstorms and dealing with work, and the fact that winter generally doesn't agree with me (yes, like so many others, I am prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder - reasons I'd rather not move any futher north than I already am, much as I like Canada) - well, I'm feeling burnt out. And not much is going on anyway, so nothing to report. Even my Twitter feed has been dead for a while.

So yes, I'm still here. I am just seriously contemplating dressing up as a bear and going someplace to hibernate for the winter.

However I am open to any offers that will allow me to afford to move to the Bahamas. Any takers?

Relief finally in sight

It is above freezing at last after a string of below-zero days.

Yes, I went outside. And about keeled over when I saw actual GRASS. Mind you, there's still a few places that haven't melted down and have a foot of snow on them, but holy crap there's actually grass in my yard....

Also, does anybody know of a way, besides spraying soapy water on the leaves, to stop moldy stuff from growing on your plants? Apparently I accidentally introduced a mold into the house (I think it came in on my mint plant... damn me for buying it at a grocery store instead of finding a good greenhouse) and I'm having trouble with some of my plants getting a little fuzzy. :(

Ugh

It's too cold to be allowed. Would you believe, when I woke up this morning and checked the thermometer outside, it was sitting at TWENTY BELOW ZERO???

Would somebody be so kind as to offer me a winning lottery ticket or some other such thing that will allow me to buy a tiny remote island in the caribbean somewhere? Or at least enough money that I can hibernate all winter, every winter....

I don't want to deal with Ohio winters anymore. Too cold.

Change of address

Right, so as James just pointed out, I forgot to change my listed address on here. The old earthlink one no longer works. New one is now at the top of the screen.

For those who use my OU address, it's still fine - it forwards to the gmail.

So I come home tongight and my cat is yowling. This is fairly normal. I feed her, she stops for a bit. I get out of the shower, she yowls some more. Also normal, except her yowl is a bit hoarser, making her sound like her mother. I pet her for a minute. Then she follows me into the living room, more yowling, and insisting on being petted. Being a bit more demanding than is usual for my cat.

A little while later she goes tearing back and forth through the house. Now, I had been doing something so had pulled the stepstool out of my "guest room" which is more aptly the "junk room" right now since it has all the stuff in it I need to weed through and clean up. The cat follows me in, and finally I found the source of all her yowling and insistence for extra attention.

See, I had removed an old mirror off the wall (cheap thing, it was here when I moved in and I never bothered to take it down) because it was in the way of a new shelf I was putting up. And sat it in the junk room.

The cat walked up to it, staring and sniffing, then got nose to nose with her reflection and took off running again.

I had to turn the mirror around to get her to stop. *headdesk*

Yes, apparently Simba thought I had gotten a new cat to replace her, and was getting upset.

Visit

Well, Christmas is over. My DSL is all activated. James and I tried to figure out how to transfer my old emails to the new address... no luck. I'll have to do it the hard way - copy and paste archive. Earthlink's mailbox is apparently a pain to export from. We tried like 5 different methods and all failed.

Somewhat tired, but fairly content I'd say. I think James and I both needed the time together - life's been a bit weird lately and just having the chance to spend a couple days with him was nice. And I will admit, I rather like the feeling of coming home from work knowing he'll be there.

Spent this morning at my parents' place, fairly uneventful. But we now have some photos of the two of us, courtesy of my mother. We never actually had any before... and really no good recent ones of us separate either, so I'll have somethng to carry around now. I haven't actually seen the photos yet - mom's going to burn a CD.

He was going to wait and leave tomorrow, but given that the weather is supposed to get potentially nasty again by then, and there'll be more traffic from people heading home, he went ahead and left late this afternoon. I would have liked to have another night, but he has things to do, and keeping him in one piece is kind of on my priority list. Better for him to leave when we know the weather's clear than leave it to chance.

My cat is pouting now that he's left. Okay, so I am a bit too, but I think the cat is even more than I am. lol Hopefully we'll have more chances for quality time soon. Too many "have-to's" lately. But I do find that funny... the cat is sulking now. Yet much of the time he was here, she was snubbing him because he took her spot on the couch. And, of course, how dare anyone come into this house and take my attention away from the one thing worth paying attention to in the household. She is the Royal Fuzzball, and she demands your continuous worship. I mean, how dare he not pet her every second of his visit!

Anyway, the gifting and whatnot went nicely this year. Dad seemed to like the game I got him quite well - Sega Bass Fishing for Wii. The controls take a bit of getting used to, but it's pretty fun. Gave mom a gift card for lack of knowing what else to give her. Tea for my sister. James and I had agreed not to spend on each other this year (though I did get stocking stuffers because mom doesn't like having someone sit around with nothing to open - those were just a bunch of little things though). They gave him a set of photo frames, since I had told mom ahead of time that we wanted some photos taken. I have a new sweater, a nice new desk chair (hooray for having one that isn't like, ten years old and beat up - this one's nice and leather). Also got the full series of MASH - collector's edition - movie included. Which I will have to watch because I've never seen the movie. And, from my aunt and uncle, a nice oversized microplush throw.

And still the cat sulks.

Rain, rain, go away...

At least for one more day... Don't want icy roads today. :\

You know you're animal lovers when...

...you and your boyfriend both buy presents for each other's cat for the holidays.

And I've been taunting him all week with the fact that I got him the dorkiest stocking stuffers ever. And he knows he can't ask what they are because I won't tell him until he opens them. *snickers*

Why yes, I believe there is a little evil in me now and then.

Meanwhile, the dsl modem is on its way in the mail. Finally, finally I will have real internet. I'll tell you, going from a ridiculously fast connection in college, only to move back to your home "town" (because it's more field than town) and be stuck with no option but dialup, is just a big kick in the pants. Especially when you're an artist and used to browsing very image-heavy sites, along with uploading the occasional large-format file of your own work.

Having that take seconds rather than minutes or hours (yes, sometimes hours) will be a wonderful change. Hey, updating my programs won't take nearly as long! Especially when that new version of GIMP comes out with more bug fixes (and occasionally more bugs). I usually have to wait about 8 hours for that thing to download. And my dialup times out after 12 hours. Oh yeah. It's awesome.

No, as a matter of fact, I don't have Photoshop yet. One of these days I need to hunt down a used copy of PS7 (because I'm fond of the older program, since I learned on it and know all the controls), but for now I don't do enough digital art to really muck with it. Though that is changing now that I have a tablet... because GIMP rather likes to crash when I try to use my tablet. I don't know why it hates me so.

Anyway, enough rambling for one night. I think I'll go collapse on the couch with a nice cup of tea and relax for the evening.

Merry Christmas to me!

Well, not only is James planning to come up for the holidays (all forces of nature and travel and whatnot willing), but I came home to a message in my answering machine tonight from the phone company. The DSL switch went live today. It only allows a limited number of connections for now since the techs have just been sort of installing on their own time, so it's not your standard fullblown yay let's connect the whole neighborhood kind of thing yet, but since dad and I have been pestering them about it for months, we have the first two slots provided we sign up soon enough. So dad's calling them tomorrow to get the details for me.

This will mean I can actually get my second computer and work from home this winter. This will also mean my internet will not suck anymore. Which is a very, very good thing. I'm so sick of dialup. It'll be nice to actually click on a website and have it, you know, load again. I miss that. lol

back among the living... sort of

Well, I had to format the hard drive and start over. *sighs* For those who know about my OCD, you know this is stressing me out more than a bit (granted there are other things stressing me out lately, but if you know anything about OCD you'll know that only makes the symptoms worse). Because it takes a while to reinstall everything as a general rule anyway. On dialup it's like pulling teeth. So it's gonna be a while before things feel quite back to normal on my computer.

But Firefox has been updated with some shiny new add-ons that, while a bit annoying, will be much less annoying in the long run than having nasty little keyloggers install themselves on my computer, run even in safe mode, and disable everything that can kill them.

*grumbleshred*

So, I'm logging on from a library computer just to give a heads-up to folks that I won't be online for an unknown period of time. Apparently a realy nasty keylogger known as ISpyNow has installed itself on my machine, I assume somehow loaded itself through a script in an ad somewhere (once I fix this there will be some new plugins installed of Firefox to kill any and all scripts *grumbles*). But basically, it lets my computer be remotely viewed and controlled. Kicker - apparently, from what James has looked up, the thing is sold commercially. Anyway, it has disabled my spyware scanners and effectively blocked me from downloading new ones by blocking the websites of all the scanners I know of. It has caused my task manager to stop functioning properly (I can no longer view the "running processes" tab), my virus scanner can't access its update database, and I can't even find the files I'm supposed to be finding to delete.

So unless my last trick works (my uncle said something about running my hard drive as a slave drivfe to a non-infected computer to let it boot and run the scanners - I'm gonna see if he'll help me with that), I will have to back up all my files and completely format my hard drive, just start over. :\ Which means until I get everything sorted and saved and rebooted, I cannot be online because I don't want some jerk to read everything I'm doing on my machine.

So, I don't know how long it'll be before I can actually start posting again. I just don't have an extra machine to use as a backup until I get this all sorted. *sighs* Anyway, wish me luck....

Have to wonder what they were thinking...

Apparently a Wal-Mart worker got trampled to death by shoppers on Black Friday this year. Nobody stopped or bothered to move around the guy when he fell. Apparently none of them bothered to help him either.

That rather disgusts me.

I am, however, happy to know they are treating it as a homicide case. There's no excuse for that. That guy, knowing where he worked, had no choice but to be there that day (sick or not). Couldn't have avoided the crowds by staying home (though people really shouldn't have to avoid being trampled just by going out shopping... if they want to be trampled they can go to Pamplona for the runnig of the bulls). And people were too greedy and busy to get their bargain shopping done, they didn't even stop to avoid hurting or killing somebody.

I am so disappointed in my fellow man.... No, it's beyond disappointed. I'm outraged. That people turn into that big of MORONS for a day of shopping... and it really is all greed, folks. That's not what this season is supposed to be about.

I hope those idiots are damn proud of themselves. I really do.

*shakes her head*

Correction

Okay, well, I told my family about the chocolate covered diamonds thing today. A correction has been made by my sister.

She's heard the ad too. It's chocolate COLORED diamonds. That makes MUCH more sense.

But is far less funny.

Oh well.

Chocolate-covered wha?

I think I may just have heard the worst gift idea of the holiday season.

Was listening to the radio on the way home, and an ad for some jeweler came on. Naturally, I tuned it out. Until I heard:

"Or check out our new cocoa diamonds!"

Now, even this didn't seem too attention-worthy, since I figured it was the name of some random color of diamond they were offering. But it went on:

"That's right! Chocolate-covered diamonds! What better gift to give your loved ones this holiday season?"

Uh... the heimlich maneuver? Trip to the dentist?

Can we say "lawsuit waiting to happen"? Yes, yes I think we can.

Well, since it was recently pointed out on a forum that Olberman's speech is similar to a speech made several years ago by John Lewis, I figured I'd post that one up here as well:

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my friend and colleague for yielding me the time.

Let me say to the gentleman that when I was growing up in the south during the 1940s and the 1950s, the great majority of the people in that region believed that black people should not be able to enter places of public accommodation, and they felt that black people should not be able to register to vote, and many people felt that was right but that was wrong. I think as politicians, as elected officials, we should not only follow but we must lead, lead our districts, not put our fingers into the wind to see which way the air is blowing but be leaders.

Mr. Chairman, this is a mean bill. It is cruel. This bill seeks to divide our nation, turn Americans against Americans, sew the seeds of fear, hatred and intolerance. Let us remember the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths self-evident that all people are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This bill is a slap in the face of the Declaration of Independence. It denies gay men and women the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Marriage is a basic human right. You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to say when people talked about interracial marriage and I quote, ``Races do not fall in love and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married.''

Why do you not want your fellow men and women, your fellow Americans to be happy? Why do you attack them? Why do you want to destroy the love they hold in their hearts? Why do you want to crush their hopes, their dreams, their longings, their aspirations?

We are talking about human beings, people like you, people who want to get married, buy a house, and spend their lives with the one they love. They have done no wrong.

I will not turn my back on another American. I will not oppress my fellow human being. I have fought too hard and too long against discrimination based on race and color not to stand up against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Mr. Chairman, I have known racism. I have known bigotry. This bill stinks of the same fear, hatred and intolerance. It should not be called the Defense of Marriage Act. It should be called the defense of mean-spirited bigots act.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, to have the courage to do what is right. This bill appeals to our worst fears and emotions. It encourages hatred of our fellow Americans for political advantage. Every word, every purpose, every message is wrong. It is not the right thing to do, to divide Americans.

We are moving toward the 21st century. Let us come together and create one nation, one people, one family, one house, the American house, the American family, the American nation.

Timing

So, now that it's started snowing... now that we're getting frosty ground regularly and soon it will all be frozen over... now that it's probably a horrid time to plant....

I got my 11 free trees from the Arbor Day Foundation.

Thanks, guys. *headdesk*

Hopefully we'll find a way to keep them alive over the winter. Was planning to give them to my parents since they wanted more trees in their yard. That would suck if they all just up and died.

Blooming Tea

I have always been amazed at arts like this... always wondered how the maker can possibly know that the end result will be so beautiful. Much like with fireworks... things that are not often noted as arts.

Yes, I took the bloom from my teapot and put it in a vase. And there it will stay until it loses cohesion and stops being beautiful. It's just a simple little thing... but worth preserving for as long as possible, for the work of art it really is.

Something strange has happened....

For the first time since college, I've gotten hungry for ramen.

Except now I doctor it up so it's actually worth eating (granted I did like the Shin Ramyun spicy ramen they used to sell at the Asian grocery... oh how I miss that...).

Also, I finally found a tea shop near me that's well worth going to. I rather wondered how they stayed in business being so hard to find. Spoke to the lady inside - they've been there for about 6 years, and make most of their money through wholesale. They import several of their items directly from China....

I behaved myself. I only bought 3 things.

..... okay 4. But the sakura tea looked interesting and I couldn't resist.

Public Service Announcement

The following transcript is something I feel is well worth posting:

[Keith Olbermann]
Finally tonight as promised, a Special Comment on the passage, last week, of Proposition Eight in California, which rescinded the right of same-sex couples to marry, and tilted the balance on this issue, from coast to coast.

Some parameters, as preface. This isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics, and this isn't really just about Prop-8. And I don't have a personal investment in this: I'm not gay, I had to strain to think of one member of even my very extended family who is, I have no personal stories of close friends or colleagues fighting the prejudice that still pervades their lives.

And yet to me this vote is horrible. Horrible. Because this isn't about yelling, and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart, and if that sounds corny, so be it.

If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want—a chance to be a little less alone in the world.

Only now you are saying to them—no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights—even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?

I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage. If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal in 1967. 1967.

The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.

You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are gay.

And uncountable in our history are the number of men and women, forced by society into marrying the opposite sex, in sham marriages, or marriages of convenience, or just marriages of not knowing, centuries of men and women who have lived their lives in shame and unhappiness, and who have, through a lie to themselves or others, broken countless other lives, of spouses and children, all because we said a man couldn't marry another man, or a woman couldn't marry another woman. The sanctity of marriage.

How many marriages like that have there been and how on earth do they increase the "sanctity" of marriage rather than render the term, meaningless?

What is this, to you? Nobody is asking you to embrace their expression of love. But don't you, as human beings, have to embrace... that love? The world is barren enough.

It is stacked against love, and against hope, and against those very few and precious emotions that enable us to go forward. Your marriage only stands a 50-50 chance of lasting, no matter how much you feel and how hard you work.

And here are people overjoyed at the prospect of just that chance, and that work, just for the hope of having that feeling. With so much hate in the world, with so much meaningless division, and people pitted against people for no good reason, this is what your religion tells you to do? With your experience of life and this world and all its sadnesses, this is what your conscience tells you to do?

With your knowledge that life, with endless vigor, seems to tilt the playing field on which we all live, in favor of unhappiness and hate... this is what your heart tells you to do? You want to sanctify marriage? You want to honor your God and the universal love you believe he represents? Then Spread happiness—this tiny, symbolic, semantical grain of happiness—share it with all those who seek it. Quote me anything from your religious leader or book of choice telling you to stand against this. And then tell me how you can believe both that statement and another statement, another one which reads only "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate.

You don't have to help it, you don't have it applaud it, you don't have to fight for it. Just don't put it out. Just don't extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don't know and you don't understand and maybe you don't even want to know. It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow person just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too.

This is the second time in ten days I find myself concluding by turning to, of all things, the closing plea for mercy by Clarence Darrow in a murder trial.

But what he said, fits what is really at the heart of this: "I was reading last night of the aspiration of the old Persian poet, Omar-Khayyam," he told the judge. "It appealed to me as the highest that I can envision. I wish it was in my heart, and I wish it was in the hearts of all: So I be written in the Book of Love; I do not care about that Book above. Erase my name, or write it as you will, So I be written in the Book of Love."

Maybe, in that way, Prop 8 passing was a good thing.

No - hear me out!

See, Proposition 8 is just one more in a long line of state laws being passed that are terribly unconstitutional. My own state passed a law banning gay marriage a few years ago, which irked me to no end. But never once has it actually gotten national attention.

Until it happened in California. California, which has a large gay population. Which has Hollywood. Which has all these things we expect to be so progressive.

And yet this bill passed.

It was a wakeup call, and, terrible as the passing of this law is, it got everyone's attention.

Sometimes bad things need to happen to slap people in the face and make them say "enough is enough". It is a shame, but it's true.

Hopefully this will be that slap in the face this country needs. Hopefully we will rise up and tear down these laws that try to tell us it is wrong to love somebody.

I'll tell you something. Love may be hard, it may make us a little crazy sometimes, but real, true love is never wrong. How can it be? How can it possibly be? This, the purest and most unpoisoned of all emotions? I'm not talking about all the substitutes out there that are often mistaken for love, but love itself, true and genuine. How can that ever be wrong?

If there ever comes a day in this world when I feel in my heart that real, true love is wrong, then this will be a world I no longer want to live in.

The hardships... those are the true test. The test that makes some people grow stronger and others cower away in weakness. The test that causes some bonds to forge and others to split.

So maybe that's why such things are necessary in every life. Only then are you truly laid bare to yourself, and forced to face you at last.

The question is, who do you find when you look that deep inside?

I feel so loved

So, I came home early yesterday with a fever of 102.6 (yes, it is down somewhat today but not gone - yes, I will be going back to rest some more here soon).

I call my parents to let them know since that's rather high and I wanted somebody to be aware (well, somebody closer - James had been informed I was going home sick so called to check in on me already). They said to keep an eye on it, but not to worry because I always got high fevers growing up, and often hit fevers of 104 as a child. At which point I mentioned that that's a little scary since they say that a prolonged fever of 103 or higher can cause brain damage.

So how do my parents respond? With words of concern making sure I get my fever down ASAP? Telling me to lie down and drink lots of fluids and stay cool? Oh no. Dad immediately responds with:

"Oh, so *that's* what's wrong with you."

Gee thanks, Dad. I love you too. lol

Holy crap...

I just found gas for $1.89 .... filled up my near-empty tank for under $30. I nearly died of shock.

Has anybody else noticed the irony that our election day is held just a few days after a holiday we celebrate by dressing up and pretending to be someone we're not?

Good night. I love you. I'll see you in the morning.

It's strange, what you think of in the dead of night when your brain is tired and just doesn't want to think anymore. When you think you're utterly sapped out and just need to drift off, but there's that one last thing floating in your mind.

This entry is a long time in coming. It's quite often over the past few years that I've pondered this very thing in the middle of the night, but never once did I post it.

Until now.

There are all too many things we take for granted in life. Doesn't matter how old we are. But it seems in childhood is when it happens the most. All too soon we want to grow up. Then when we do, we realize what we've lost. Or, at least, that's how it goes for those of us whose childhoods were, well, the way a childhood should be. But one thing I find myself missing is small, simple... just the utterance of three short phrases:

"Good night.
I love you.
I'll see you in the morning."

Every night for nearly 18 years (excluding, I suppose, when I was a baby since I wouldn't have understanded the words then), this was the last thing I heard before going to sleep. It's one of those little things you never realize you care about so much until you miss it.

"Good night" I'm sure we all keep hearing now and then. It's fairly common. That one we'll say to pretty much anyone as an evening "goodbye".

"I love you"... now there's something we hear less often. Even rarer if the person saying it well and truly means it. I suppose there must be those in the world who go their entire lives without hearing it. And for that, those of us who have heard it, I guess, ought to be grateful. Especially those of us who have heard it said and truly meant by someone outside our own family.

"I'll see you in the morning." Strange, isn't it, how that phrase is heard even less often than the other two. After we no longer get tucked in by our parents, it seems to go away entirely. There's plenty of "I'll see you tomorrow", but no "I'll see you in the morning."

Somehow, combined, the three phrases seem somehow more powerful. That strange comforting effect, perhaps just because it reminds us of a simpler time when we had fewer worries, when we were more sure of our place in the world.

Lately, at last, I have two of these phrases becoming more common in my life. "Good night" and "I love you." The latter, it seems, we went so long without saying, for whatever reason. But either way, it's nice to hear it again, and nice to hear it combined with a "good night".

Hearing all three together, I suppose, may never happen again. It's sort of limited, somehow, to tucking someone in. You have to say goodnight, leave them, and then expect to see them as soon as they wake up. I mean, I know some couples have taken to sleeping in separate bedrooms, but I rather find the practice somewhat silly myself. So your therapist told you the bedroom should only be for sleep and nothing else. Do people not like cuddling with their significant other in their sleep? Seems odd to me.

But it's strange, how much I miss that little triad sometimes.

But two out of three ain't bad.

New career?

So... I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't just forget all else and take my creative pursuits in an odd direction to make money (with this economy it's tempting - the jobs I want either aren't hiring, or it's about impossible to get anything entry level with pay that I can afford - sad when you have to worry if you'll LOSE money by working at a place, just thanks to the gas prices).

I mean, I'm doing well where I am, but it's no secret to them that it's not where I want to be (which I suppose makes it that much more impressive to them that I'm doing this well... but just because I don't want to be there doesn't mean I won't do a good job while I AM there, and from what I'm told that makes me different from a lot of people, go figure). I find that funny actually... I apparently don't interview well because in spite of working on my confidence and social skills, when I'm new in a place (which includes interviews - can't be newer than that, right?) I'm still pretty awkward. But those who actually see through that to keep me tend to find out what an asset I am. My "worst" seems to be better than a lot of people's "average", and maybe even better than their "best" though I have no idea how many others are slacking off to be sure if they're even trying.

Of course I have to pause and make a tangent off my tangent to give a public thank you to Brian (dang, sorry, forgot your last name) of Tattletale Alarm. He's one of the most perceptive people I've ever met, and in an hour was able to tell me all about myself, down to the style of work I probably preferred. I don't believe he made a single mistake. At the time, though, I thought he had made one. At the end of the interview, he told me I'm a businesswoman. I disagreed, but he insisted I just didn't see it yet.

I think I'm starting to see it now.

Strangest interview I've ever had... was more like sitting down and chatting with friends by the end of it. Even if I was nervous as ever. Definitely the first interview I had where a dog was determined to get me hired. Ah well. Shame there wasn't a fit, but I guess that just means my life is leading me elsewhere. Or maybe that it just wasn't time yet. Who knows? Life's funny like that.

Anyway, back to the career change.

I tend to write instrumental music now and then for fun, that turns out well. But usually if I try to add lyrics to something, it ruins everything. I can write poetry, I can write music, but heaven forbid I try to put them together.

Unless they're utterly stupid, parody-ish songs (think stuff along the lines of "driving a truck with my high heels on", the vast majority of Denis Leary's songs - utterly ridiculous, most goodnatured jabs that might get my butt kicked by those with a less forgiving sense of humor). First was the infamous Pennsylvania Song that my parents got to listen to as we were getting lost in Pittsburgh. Invented on the spot based on the conversation, and things that actually happened.

Then there was the Canada Song which is not complete. Not necessarily a parody, but the lyrics are so corny it sounds much better if I pretend it was meant to be a goofy sort of song.

Today it was a love song involving a truck stop. Because on the way home from vacation there's a truck stop/gas station called "Love's", and dad made some comment that "love's truck stop" just made it sound wrong. I decided it sounded more like a bad country song.

I already have the first verse and need more.

Between the dumb songs and the book I'm trying to write, I'll have some material that may make some publishers think I'm out of my gourd here before long. lol No idea how long the book will take, but I WILL be finishing this one, and it's definitely getting pitched to someone.

On a final unrelated note, after a week of being away, my cat is VERY happy I'm home. Her babysitter for the week said she was an absolute pain within a few days of my leaving (thankfully didn't take long to give up her hunger strike), and I had a few stray messes to clean up. *shakes her head* My cat has separation anxiety... and gets jealous of any other animal in the house so I can't get her a buddy to play with. Can't afford kennel fees - no use though since she's not too big on strangers. She likes most of my family, but she's a bit warier than she used to be since whatever happened to her eye way back when, before she was an indoor kitty. So I don't have many options. She ignored the used shirt I left out for her to snuggle with.

Granted this time was worse than others, probably because of the power outages the same week I left. It disrupted our routine beforehand, then I disappeared for a week. She's now sittign here beside me, at least one eye open at all times to make sure I'm still here. Hopefully she won't go bananas when I leave for groceries tomorrow.... cats are easier than dogs to leave behind, I guess, but oy. Sad part is, if the drive weren't so long, I might have been able to take her with me. She actually adapts very well to new locations, as long as she knows where to find her food bowl, her litter box, and the bed. lol But she doesn't like the car.

Oh well...

Wild foods

Was going to go out with my parents today, but decided today was too nice to let myself be stuck in stores. Stuck around at their place for a little bit afterward, their dog tagging along, and took a short walk along the creek there.

This was when I realized that, in addition to the fact that I spent more time outside when I was a kid and living with them, I have also been missing something from my diet since I moved out of there.

Wild foods.

Notice I didn't say natural foods. No, I'm not talking organic. I'm talking about honest to god, walk out into your backyard or the nearest forest where countless animals are bound to have peed on it kind of wild food. Best stuff in the world, I'm telling you.

See, it's not that the yard I share with my grandparents isn't nice, just for some reason between here and just 1/4 mile down the road the ecosystem is different. For one, up here I'd be more at risk of farm contaminants even if I did find something, since the fields right by me are crop fields. My parents live next to a cow pasture but that land is pretty much chemical-free. Yes, the creek also runs by my backyard too, but it doesn't have those low-slope banks, and just doesn't seem to have the same kind of soil. Here we have a few inedible weeds (okay, nettles are edible/make good teas after they dry, but are YOU going to pick them for me?). But there is a little spot right by my parents' creek that they never mow, that has wild onions, violets, and all sorts of things that are probably also edible if I cared to look them up.

And when I was a kid and spending so much time in the interesting diversity of my parents' yard, I would grab whatever plants were nearby and just munch on them, not even stopping to think of what kind they were. Various weeds I'd eat the shoots. Much to my mother's dismay I was fond of her daylily shoots too - didn't know at the time that daylily shoots and petals are, in fact, a perfectly edible food source. I just knew the little white bits tasted good.

So I wonder what nutrients are missing from my diet now that I don't just sit around outside and eat plants at random. Who knows what good I may have gotten from those? I certainly seemed healthy back then.

Of course, it was probably as much the sunlight as anything else.

Anyway, tonight I am planning to toss some chicken in the wok and stir fry it with some mushrooms, wild onions, and violets. Unfortunately the mushrooms are not wild - I forgot to ask my folks before they left if I could snatch some of the morels my other grandparents brought up from West Virginia. I'm not sure how many they have left anyway.

I suppose I'll give them a call and see if they want to do that for dinner and share with me.

Corner Gas

I have to spread the addiction.

If you have access to cable (unlike me, who has to leech off my parents' DVDs), there's a Canadian show that's recently started airing in the US that, if you have ever lived in a small town, you can easily get addicted to:

http://www.cornergas.com/

Seriously. I can't get enough of this show. There's only 4 seasons on DVD right now... I just keep watching them over and over and over... it really is one of those shows you can watch over and over again without getting tired of it.

Seriously, go watch it. Then share the addiction with a friend once you're hooked.

Public Service Announcement

No matter what you see on TV, no matter what the pet store tells you:

GOLDFISH CAN NOT LIVE IN BOWLS!!!!

Thank you. That is all.