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[01 Nov 2009|03:10pm] |
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I'm not sure, maybe it's just that I haven't looked at a fun size candy bar in a while, but I think they are even less 'fun' than they used to be.
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| Something, something, trophic cascades, I don't know. |
[18 Oct 2009|07:55pm] |
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mood |
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 chipper |
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Proof that I am a big dumb furry:
I was given the choice to work on any "contemporary" topic for one of my classes. My paper is about the delisting of the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act. More specifically it is focused on hunting as a form of wildlife management in regards to wolves. Many people have said this is a great topic since I love wolves...but honestly, I don't. I mean, they're interesting animals, I like them fine, but I wouldn't say I am particularly fascinated when it comes to wolves. Or perhaps it is merely that because I know so many people who are so passionate about this particular animal, my interest in them seems quite limited.
Also on the topic of big dumb furry. I don't know if any of you have seen Penguins of Madagascar, but it is a fantastic show. I mean, it's not deep or anything (obviously), but it is extremely enjoyable and silly. And Mort is a sick hilarious pervert.
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| City mouse in the bigger city |
[11 Oct 2009|11:06am] |
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 restless |
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I've had very little time lately for anything outside of either work or school. This shouldn't really be a surprise, I suppose, since I am full time at both. This past week was the beginning of the serious schoolwork; a lab practical, an exam, and an essay. I guess after I get them back this week (hopefully) I'll have a pretty good idea of how well I'm doing.
It's a little strange being back in school; I feel like I haven't taken it this seriously in a long, long time.
Last weekend was great for my sanity-- Taz and I went down to New York and hung out with Cargo and Axiom, who were fantastic hosts to us. We had an incredible breakfast at Shopsin's, a little place located inside the Essex Market, and the market itself was also awesome. They showed us their favorite coffee joint, which had some of the best espresso I've tasted. The Frick Museum was an interesting experience, partially for the art, but largely because of the property itself. Once a privately held mansion, it was like a window into another time. There was more great food, a lot of fun hanging out, and a viewing of The Informant. Beyond all the fun experiences, it was just awesome for the personality that the city has. This was the first time I'd ever spent much time in the city of New York, and it was different from anywhere I've ever been. The people were just...I can't even think of the word. I liked it.
I'm doing so much writing between work and school lately, it has really changed the way I see the process. Honestly, if I had not started writing for work, I am not sure if I would be as successful as I have been so far this semester in finishing and being happy with writing projects for school. It has given me an understanding of how to create something under a deadline, which basically comes down to not being too worried about the final product. It's the anxiety about quality that has made it so difficult in the past for me to successfully churn out the amount of work that is generally required in school settings.
I really wish I had the day off tomorrow.
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| Chicago |
[02 Sep 2009|05:34pm] |
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mood |
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Attention Chicago readers: Right now, the plan is for Taz and I to be in the Chicago area for the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. We're still working out what exactly we're going to be doing, and so I'd like to inquire if anybody's going to be in the area on the holiday and available for doing things. So, yeah!
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| I am tired |
[03 Aug 2009|07:23pm] |
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mood |
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Taz and I went down to New Jersey this past weekend, and it was an interesting experience. We first hung out with a couple of his friends, crashing at their place overnight and grabbing breakfast with them, plus playing some mini golf. Some days it seems to me that mini golf is harder than real, actual golf, and this was just such an occasion. It was fun to hang out with a couple of Taz's friends, though.
We had plans to get together with some furry types for a meet at a local beach, but that fell through as the beach was closed. It was a lot of driving for the fact that we ended up only hanging around a mall for an hour or two, but that's OK.
To finish off the trip, we went up to NYC for a few hours with another one of Taz's friends. That was pretty awesome. We got to walk through Times Square, ride on the NY Subway, all that touristy stuff. Normally I don't like standing out as a tourist, but I was pretty OK with it on this occasion. It's actually the first time I've walked around in NYC at all. Also, driving in the city: not as difficult as most people claim.
All in all, a very quick trip (we arrived in the city at 11:00 Friday and were getting on a bus at the same time Saturday) but I had a lot of fun.
In other news, I am pretty tired. I blame this stupid eye infection.
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| You scream |
[30 Jul 2009|09:14pm] |
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mood |
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Having lived in the Northern Midwest most of my life, there are things that I assumed to be universal (or at least national) and am only now realizing are actually part of the local culture there. I would like to take an informal poll on one of these matters, and so now I'm asking: have you ever heard of Blue Moon ice cream? How about Superman ice cream?
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| World's Biggest Q & A Session |
[21 Jul 2009|04:16pm] |
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mood |
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 determined |
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"Art is like medicine-- it can heal. Yet I've always been amazed at how many people believe in medicine but don't believe in art, without questioning either." -- Damien Hirst
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| Book review |
[16 Jul 2009|08:05pm] |
For various personal reasons, I've decided to start doing book reviews here.
Poppy Z. Brite's "Liquor"
Once a leading figure in the horror fiction genre, Brite has begun a second career writing novels and stories about the restaurant industry. "Liquor" is the real starting point in this series, and the second of her non-horror books I've read. I first read "D*U*C*K*" and, although her writing style and characterization remained fantastic, I was very disappointed. I forgave that book for its mostly plot-oriented issues because it was her first post-Katrina effort (she is a New Orleans resident and was one of the first to return to the city after the evacuation). Having now read "Liquor," I can no longer forgive that offense.
"Liquor" follows the story of two New Orleans line cooks and homosexual partners with a dream of opening their own restaurant. The characters are fully-fleshed and believable, and her celebrity chef stand-in for Emeril Lagasse may even have made me hate the real life individual less. The villain character, Mike, is perhaps a bit one-sided, but it isn't for lack of Brite's trying to give him a personality. The real sin of the book is in the plot's third act. Midway, we see our villain playing around with a gun in what is perhaps a bit too much foreshadowing for its own good. The character and surrounding plot-point pretend to relieve themselves at the book's end, bringing the tension down just before the big finale. In essence, the plot falls flat because it is merely one character's cocaine-inspired hate fantasy, and the main characters remain largely unflappable and unaware right up until the grand finale, which is therefore without much tension or excitement.
It seems to me that Brite is more interested in discussing the inner workings of kitchen staff than writing an intriguing tale, which would be OK if only the restaurant material was the focus of the book. Maybe this pseudo-plot, which is full of murder and drug use, is the after affect of a career writing horror novels, and the later books in the series improve in this particular department. I may check out one more of them to find out, but if it features an end that's as disappointing as "Liquor," I may be done with her non-horror titles.
Stay tuned for the next installment, in which I review Bruce Campbell's "If Chins Could Kill."
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| How I Spent My Summer Vacation, By Benjie, Grade 3 |
[07 Jul 2009|07:18pm] |
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 jubilant |
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music |
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Ace of Cakes on the teevee |
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And so here is my con report.
Getting to Anthrocon was frustrating. Due to a number of factors, Taz and I were waiting in the airport for 8 hours. As a result, Thursday was basically a wash. We got some mediocre subs and saw Lorefox and his boy Zhayde there. Despite having stayed at the Westin the last two years, I forgot how weird the beds are; I can't feel when Taz moves or gets out of bed on them, so occasionally I would think there was a third person in the room when I'd see him walking around in the dark. This phenomenon probably also had something to do with how tired I was throughout the weekend.
Friday morning we ate at Steel City Diner where I had what was, without a doubt, the worst omelet of its generation I have ever eaten. Taz wisely ordered pancakes, which were delicious. They had some good coffee, too, but we never went back. I got a chance to see Perro, Wolphy (I had seen him the night before, but he was wearing his fancy fursuit at the time), and Pawz who were all around the convention center before dealer's den opened. Afterwards I did my staffly duties in the artist's alley, then ate lunch at Fernando's with Taz. At some point I saw Cyan and Sprout, two of my old furry friends who apparently now live very close to my old Rogers Park apartment. We had dinner with Skippy and Magnus at the hotel restaurant, then watched Kage be amusing on a stage. After that, we basically just hung around the lobby with Kit, Royce, and Vish.
Saturday I spent some time with Pawz and his crew of people for lunch, then went and hung out with him alone for awhile, which was nice. At some point I spun around the dealer's den and saw that basically nothing was worth buying. We went to Sonoma Grille for dinner, which was the best meal we had over the length of the convention. We watched the fireworks that night, it was actually kind of cute with various furs singing the Star Spangled Banner and other such Americana.
We ate at Fernando's for lunch again on Sunday, this time with Pasha and Sirrah. It was incredibly great to see them again, and it made me miss Michigan a little bit. I went to the staff dinner that night, which I am very glad I did. Taz and I stopped in at a couple room parties that night, but he didn't know anybody at them really and we didn't stick around long. We did get to see Cargo do his DJ thing, and although I've left them out until now, we actually had some of our best times at AC this year while hanging out with Cargo and Axiom. We went home very early on Monday and were zombie-esque throughout the day. I'm still exhausted, but Taz seems to have recovered. Overall, it was probably the best con I've been to in a long time.
The End.
If I didn't mention you here despite seeing you at the convention, well, don't take it all personal-like.
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[02 May 2009|07:59pm] |
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Life continues to go well. My job has changed a bit, and now much of my day is spent writing for my company's website. I just purchased an iPod (my first, the 120 gig classic, purchased direct from the Apple Store), putting me up to date with where everybody else was ten years ago. I don't make a lot of big purchases, and I'd been planning this one since January. I'm glad to finally have it. It's going to take a while to load my CD collection onto this thing, though.
Between that and today, it has been a great weekend. The boyfriend and I spent the day walking through Boston, enjoying the good weather and looking at possible future residences. The city has opened up a nice patch of grass in Copley Square in front of the library, too.
This winter was way too long. Personally, I blame Boston.
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| Auto? Mobile? |
[24 Jan 2009|09:01pm] |
A few months back, Taz and I joined Zipcar in order to get a car for Furfright, and since then I have been driving a bit more than I otherwise would, and trying out numerous different vehicles. For Furfright, I got us a Honda Civic, because I remembered previously driving what I thought was a Civic hybrid from Chicago to Philly and absolutely loving it. In driving the Civic down to FF, however, I realized that either it was a different type of vehicle that I drove to Philly, or the design of the Civic has changed over the years, because it was a cramped, unpleasant vehicle for driving all around.
In general, I have found that this is a big part of my driving experience: Vehicles that I like before I try driving them tend to be the ones I really find very unpleasant to drive, and the ones that I dislike before trying seem to be the most pleasant to drive. For driving with minor chores, we usually get the unattractive but very effective Toyota Matrix. It handles great in everything but snow, and even in horrible weather it got the job done without any heart-stopping moments. The ultimate surprise, however, was when I used a Honda Element to bring home our new mattress and box spring a few months back. I still maintain that this is an ugly, ugly vehicle. But, it drives like nothing else, just perfect for what I like. In fact, I have found that the more "truck-like" a vehicle handles, the more pleasant I find it to drive. It's funny, back when I hardly found cause to drive at all, I thought I might one day purchase a Mini Cooper. Now, I think it's more likely I'll end up driving a pick-up, should I ever bother to purchase a car.
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[22 Dec 2008|09:31pm] |
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This morning, the building manager at my work place called to tell me that I should not come in just yet, because the doors were frozen shut and he was going home until a locksmith or somesuch could be called to fix it. He also asked me to call my boss in order to inform him of this fact. My boss was pissed and told me to head on in anyway, despite that it meant standing out in the cold (I was out there about 20 minutes before somebody else came and was able to get the door open). So, umm, that sucked. The day of actual work was great, I'm coming to really like it, but I became quite annoyed listening to both my boss and the building manager complain to me about how the other does things.
End of the day sucked. Trains were immensely delayed, and it took me two hours to get home. My mother sent me some homemade cookies which arrived today, however, and that made me not so annoyed. Made a tasty new chicken broccoli dish for dinner.
...this is why I never post here anymore, I really don't have much of anything to say these days. Time to curl up in bed and watch a couple episodes of SOAP with my kitten.
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| I will be assaulting you with my penis in 5...4...3... |
[12 Nov 2008|08:20pm] |
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mood |
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Today, I thought I would regale you with a tale of love and intrigue...but I didn't have one of those, so you'll have to settle for the story of what happened during my morning commute.
The T was crowded, as it usually is by the time I get on, and I found myself standing in front of a woman who was sitting down. Nothing unusual about this. After a minute or so, however, she says something to me which I first hear as "could you step back some? I don't want your coughing in my face." The train was crowded, I had no room to step back without knocking somebody else over, and I consider this a pretty stupid request, so I simply ignored it (I hadn't done any coughing, either). After another moment this woman starts up again, but this time I hear what she actually says: "I really don't want your cock in my face. It's almost touching my bag. There's plenty of room to move back, get your cock away from me." Her bag was in her lap, which by-the-by means that my penis could not be both nearly touching her bag and also "in her face" (as it happens, it was neither). There wasn't any room for me to step back, despite what she thought, so I stepped to the side, although I didn't have too much room to do that either. At this point, however, it was quite a scene and I wasn't about to let people think I was some psuedo-molesterer caught in the act. So I told her, "You're nuts."
This led to quite the little speech from her about how she wasn't nuts, she was a woman, and that if I had a mother or sister they would feel the same way. I laughed, because it was hilarious. She called me a retard. I laughed again. At this point I was getting a few sympathetic eyerolls and looks from other people on the train, who also knew she was crazy. She shut up, then, and when she got off the train, I took her seat. And that's the story of how my day started.
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| The bullet we dodged |
[29 Aug 2008|05:52pm] |
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Politics has been the subject de jour for several jours now, and I have been thinking about the wonderful bullet that the Democratic party dodged. A lot of people I know who lean to the left side of the political spectrum threw their weight behind John Edwards...and I must say that we are very lucky that he did not become the candidate.
In other news, I am moving this weekend. I will not be around pretty much at all between now and Tuesday online, but feel free to call me if you have the number. It's just an in-town move, nothing too exciting. More when I'm on the other side of it.
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| Olympics redux |
[15 Aug 2008|08:04am] |
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mood |
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busy |
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So, I am annoyed by two things at the moment. One of them I touched on yesterday in a post, but I didn't have time to elaborate and people didn't seem to understand, so I will explain my "racism" comment. It is at best laughable that an image-obsessed nation of ugly fatties (such as myself) is crying foul because China admitted to using a lip synching cute little girl instead of the actual singer. As if Americans would have gone ga-ga over some ugly ragamuffin with a good voice. Had this happened in the US, we wouldn't have even found out about it for fifteen years. And don't even get me started on the "Chinese gymnasts look young, so they must all be underage and China must be cheating" thing. These two are hardly the only bits of crazy racist bullshit regarding the olympic coverage, but they're getting a lot more attention, and...yeah.
Next, we have the meme issue. The meme is bothersome, but the fact that so many people are taking this chance to say we're all bad people and furries are nothing but giant whores with no morals, no life, no maturity, etc., is what is really driving me up the wall. Casey/Tailsy put it much better than I can in his entry, in which he said in part, 'I don't think that this meme is a solicitation for sex, so let's clear that up, but even if it were, responsible adults can and do often have many sexual partners in a responsible way, and even if you don't, the responsible thing to do is to let people live their own lives.'
Life is good, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Now, I have to get to work.
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[26 May 2008|12:39am] |
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mood |
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 horny |
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Today, I saw the world's sexiest, most awesome doormat ever. It is quite simply this: Pepe le Pew is looking up, and making one of his typical sexy poses. The text on it says "I see Paris, I see France, I can see your...."
I will hunt this down and find it. Somehow, someway, it will be mine! It must!
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[17 May 2008|06:39am] |
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I attended a high school that specialized in the arts. There were numerous options for those wishing to study creative writing, but the majority of them were directed through a fabulous Jewish woman named Judith. In one of her classes, she commented on the American fascination with Catholics. Not only did Catholics appear in nearly half of the stories written for her classes, but it was always the non-Catholic students who wrote those stories.
I note this because it is a reflection of the state of Catholic America. I am not a Catholic in the religious sense, but I am in the cultural sense. The concept of being 'culturally Catholic' is one of many things that non-Catholic Americans have trouble understanding; I can leave the communion of the church, but I can never divorce myself from my Catholic-defined upbringing.
Another issue with being an American Catholic is what pundits have recently described as "cafeteria Catholicism," the tendency of Americans to pick and choose which parts of Catholic doctrine they believe. As the vast majority of these pundits come from protestant backgrounds, they cannot understand the American Catholic mentality. As Catholics, we acknowledge the theoretical concept of the pope as infallible. As Americans, however, we know that he is on the same level with other Cardinals (according to official Catholic doctrine) and we realize that popes have been wrong before, leading to the very real possibility that this pope is wrong. Of course we're pick and choose Catholics; we understand that even the top seat of our religion is immensely flawed in a way that most denominations can't admit.
Maybe it's because American Catholics come from particularly proud backgrounds, like the Irish or the Italians, but even those of us who have completely abandoned the church understand each other better than we do you crazy people raised in protestant Christian traditions.
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[08 May 2008|05:24am] |
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I can't sleep at the moment...so I will ask you all a question. If I still had a paid account, I would make this an LJ-poll, but this will have to do.
For those of you with a live-in boyfriend/girlfriend or spouse, how do the two of you sleep? Cuddled up to each other? Opposite sides of the bed? Different beds? Do you have one set of covers for the both of you, or two sets, one for each person? How large is your shared bed? Tell me everything, for I am curious!
In fact, I want to know how you sleep even if you do so alone. Does it have to be twenty degrees in the room? Do you curl up with something special in your arms every night? Are you so gauche that you still wear PJ's, which is so last year? Tell me! I demand to know everything!
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[25 Mar 2008|07:42am] |
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OK, time to answer that meme.
My first love? My first love was a wonderful girl who I treated far too poorly for her to be with me as long as she was. First of all, I told her she wasn't my first love, even though she was. I'm not sure whether I knew she was or not at the time, but being now acquainted with what love feels like and doesn't, I promise you she was the first I ever loved.
Beyond that, I treated her poorly in so many different ways. I always insisted, in whatever backhanded or satirical ways I could, that I was smarter than her, when in fact the opposite was true. She gave me credit for things I didn't know, and I gladly took it. Now, she is a successful college student looking at graduating in four years like a normal student-- a thousand times better than what I am. She'll probably go on to grad school. She called me on my birthday, earlier this month. I was too scared and ashamed to answer it, or even listen to the message she left.
My most recent love wanted me to speak about my most recent love. He is a dork like that. But I will.
My most recent love is a cute little blind boy. OK, he's not blind, per se, but he is very much sight impaired. He's legally blind in both eyes, a result of his albinism. I love him ridiculously, partially because of this. It's not that I love him because he's blind, or because it makes me look good or something. It's how he handles it. If I were blind, I would be insufferable. I would practically DEMAND the pity of others. Instead, he shuns that kind of pity, ignoring the albino-support groups and living a happy life where he can laugh at his condition. This past weekend, he said of me that I have a love for life. In comparison to him, however, I must admit that at best I treat life with disdain. I am so proud, so amazed by his ability to face the world in ways I refuse to. I don't love him because he's blind, I love him because he doesn't give a fuck. I wish I didn't give a fuck. I can tell, just by looking at him, my life would be better if I didn't.
As to the matter of wet dreams, I've never had any. I have always been far too interested in masturbation to have a wet dream. I did wet my bed once, but it was the night before the semester started, and I will always blame that fact for the reason why.
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[16 Mar 2008|12:05am] |
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music |
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Dangerous - Busta Rhymes |
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"Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by asking me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, etc. Repost in your own journal [only if you care to] so that we can all learn more about each other."
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