[Most Recent Entries] [Calendar View] [Friends View]
Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
| Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 | ||
|
smeddley |
7:18p | If you're not going to do something well, why do it at all?  ( Ranty-rambling here ) In other (less irritated) news, if anyone would like a copy of the recipes, in Publisher or PDF format, I have my personal copy (much thinner and prettier!) I made (which you can print yourself or send to Kinko's) OR a set of 3x5 recipe cards (Publisher or PDF) which you can print off on cardstock or regular paper and laminate. |
|
baranohanayome |
4:46a | I might have a new job. Wish me luck? =D |
|
robynsummers |
1:16a | Boston Dynamics BigDog This is one clip my AI professor showed during class. The robot is soooo creepy looking! It's like two people stuck in the machine, one facing forward, the other backward! Or like goats... Bottom half, of course. It is so impressive. It apparently has no visual sensors, but since Boston Dynamics made it, they're not big on secrets of manufacturing. Current Mood:  impressed |
|
robynsummers |
1:12a | Gratitudes - 1.1 Monday 1. Got an A- on my third Writing paper 2. Awesome clips during AI class 3. Chicken and corn during dinner, oooh, yay! 4. Questionable Content! 5. Getting advice on anti-histamines for my hives outbreak Current Mood:  annoyed |
| Monday, November 30th, 2009 | ||
|
smeddley |
8:44p | Woot! The exciting conclusion! Chapter Twenty Nine Knit… Purl… check on the cookies ( I remember the day I saw the news story about what happened. ) I was a diamond-tiara kind of girl in a dusty cowboy bar ( I felt completely overdressed as I walked into the pub. ) |
|
smeddley |
8:35p | I could be mean and not post the end until tomorrow... I don’t care what Daniel said, that rock was definitely out of bounds. ( One more trip back to the airport, this time clean and pressed, and in my own car. ) I love ewe, too. ( I jumped out of the shower and scrambled to get into my clothes. ) Cake, or Death? And by the way, we’re out of cake. ( Mike had the brawn and lack of queasiness you need to torture someone, but he lacked the imagination. ) They may not have come in on horses, but they were still a calvary to me. ( Daniel burst into the room, oblivious to the guns that swung in his direction. ) |
|
smeddley |
5:20p | Whooooo-hoooooo!  I will post the rest of the story when I get back from my class - but it's done! I hit my word count *and* finished the story! |
|
brimac13 |
4:40p | (I need a better angry icon) People do not teach their children boundaries these days. For example, by the time I seven or eight I knew not to go crawl up in the bushes in front my neighbor's house, peek into the window, and make scratching noises and hiss at the cat in the window. The little shits in my neighborhood, however, can't seem to grasp the concept that doing that is wrong. I'd go out there and give the little bastards a piece of my mind if I wasn't sick and in my pj's. I guess I shouldn't have expected manners from the brats considering how, a year or so ago, they thought it would be fun to randomly open the front door and let the cats outside. It was unlocked because it was daylight and my dad and I were both home. That, of course, does not happen anymore; the front door is locked and/or barred at all times now. As it should be, honestly. Maybe it's because the kids on the cul-de-sac I live in are mostly boys. (There are a few girls and I haven't had any problems with them.) I don't know. I do know that if it happens again, I'm going to scare the crap out of 'em. And if their parents say anything to me, well, I'll just tell them they should teach their kids not to peep into other people's windows. Current Mood:  annoyedCurrent Music: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation |
|
spacelogic |
2:02p | numbers A while back I was looking through a collection of brochures for different programs at my school and caught myself thinking "wow, there're a lot of women on these brochures!" Then I thought "I wonder how many there are, exactly," and counted. End result: 13 women, 17 men, and a few I couldn't positively identify. Hm. I think part of the reason I thought it looked good was that they had women on the brochures for "male" fields (CS, engineering) and men on the "female" fields' ones (nursing, I believe also culinary arts) so I was expecting good numbers too. But there's also the male default here. I noticed the women. The men were to be expected. I remember reading about a study where men and women were shown videos of conversations and asked who had dominated them, and they thought women were dominating conversations when the time taken by men and women was equal, and saw balance when the men talked more. Another case of that crops up in the apparent "crisis" in American Judaism. That most religions are and have historically been run by men isn't an issue, but as soon as one appears to be dominated by women, it's a problem. Note that the only man quoted in that article as saying that gender imbalance isn't a problem is speaking from a place where men are the majority -- that kind of imbalance is fine, people! Have I mentioned lately that I'm tired of misogyny? Current Mood:  worriedCurrent Music: Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler |
| Sunday, November 29th, 2009 | ||
|
robynsummers |
11:23p | Gratitudes - 1.5-1.10 Back home! I stupidly forgot my glasses, contacts solution and contacts case in my dorm room (had to buy new of the last two! GRRR, lost money). I've been wearing contacts about 12 hrs/day since Wednesday and getting monster headaches, so that's why I avoided my LJ/IJ and FB and other sites.</i> Well, essentially looking at my laptop. I used it briefly for listening to music or having hulu episodes playing in the background while studying. Even studying and reading were hard on my eyes. Sorry if I've missed a lot of milestones or fun times or bad times in your life during my incommunicado days! *hugs to all!* The bus was suppose to leave Midway at 4:30pm but ended up arriving at 5:15pm and leaving at 5:30pm. Then we had to detour to O'Hare to pick up overflow there so I got back to campus around an hour and a half later than expected. I shouldn't have been surprised, really. Following is my list of gratitudes since Tuesday, which is kind of a list of some things I did each day, too. ( Gratitudes! ) Eyes tired...body sore...should go to sleep... Current Mood:  exhausted |
| Monday, November 30th, 2009 | ||
|
muse_books |
4:23a | Robert Holdstock Passes Away Read the sad news that British fantasy author Robert Holdstock had died yesterday morning at the far too young age of 61 from an e-col infection. Mythago Wood website. I never met Robert but he was the close friend of a close friend and I admired his work. |
| Sunday, November 29th, 2009 | ||
|
randomsome1 |
8:20p | iLolled From twitter:
Me: @baronetess - I'm going out to subject more people to our creation. And by "more people" I might mean "bellydance superstars." ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} newageamazon: @acaseofrandom YOU ARE NOT SHOWING THAT VIDEO TO RACHEL BRICE.~~ Dear bacon-cheesy jeebus, this weekend was awesome. I kept up with the Rachel Brice seminar, then I overloaded on Mardi Love's subsequent seminar and ended up in the back of the room with a bunch of other overloaded people, muttering on about how this was not Sparta and I was lost. The show on Saturday night was ridiculous--and possibly the biggest turnout for a bellydance show I've seen in the Pittsburgh area. And Zoe Jakes brainsquished the hell out of me on Sunday with the variants of pops & locks, then with the how-to of her choreography from the night before. Also, I can still walk. I'm astounded. Apparently working out worked for me. I'm not sure I expected them all to be so personable. Mardi made faces back when I made faces at her God, I hope she comes to Pennsic. ~~ Also, Pittsburgh's Southside being what it is on the weekends, I got to watch a drunk douchebag assault a city bus. The show started with him standing in the middle of the crosswalk like some smashed, overly territorial pigeon, yelling at nothing. No words--just yelling. "AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Someone went out and tried to move him before the light could turn. He resisted, squirmed loose, and kept yelling. "AAAAAAAHHH! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The would-be savior left, a bus pulled up at a nearby lane . . . and the kid launched himself at it. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" At first he just waved his arms at it--then flattened himself to its windshield and slapped the glass. Still yelling. The light turned, but for some reason no one moved. "AAAAAAAH! AAAAAAHHH!" This is about the point where the cops pulled up. For some reason, this is also about the point where the kid got very quiet. They tried to guide him off the street, he resisted, one pointed a taser at him, he bolted--and immediately hit the concrete. Last I saw they were cuffing him. Snarky commentary was provided by me, random street musicians, and a panhandler. ("Don't tase him, bro!"--"Tase him, bro!") ~~ Also: The cheery take on fmylife.com is itmademyday.com. I won't say it because it'd be redundant. :P |
|
smeddley |
5:31p | Remind me I'm never going to do this again, okay? Sure, I could play that role, as long as they changed the name of the movie to “Gone in 600 seconds”. ( I decided on public transport to get across town to the Weston. ) I always hated jigsaw puzzles. Probably stems from when I was younger and my older brother would swap out half of the pieces with a different puzzle, leaving me completely frustrated. ( I approached the lockers, telling myself I would dig up Robin and kill her again if this wasn’t the end of this wild goose chase. ) |
|
smeddley |
11:21a | My goal today is 45K, leaving 5K for the very last day... I do not think that word means what you think it means. ( Daniel and I left Robin’s house, him dejected, me buzzing with excitement. ) And then she realized, when he was saying ‘I’ll always have your back,’ he really meant, ‘you’re on your own’. ( Robin was not going to give me anything easily. ) |
|
cedara |
4:04p | White Collar speculation Watching the old Hitchock movie on tv, I'm wondering if it's wrong that I hope they do some sort of version of "To Catch a Thief"? (I blame baking gingerbread for this idea.) Current Mood:  hopeful |
|
antigoneschase |
6:14a | For the health and sanity of Nrys/Iriock/Second Chance systems and relationships, I think we need to set some ground rules and expectations for when we all are face to face next time. Things I need for my own sanity (and this is for BOTH other systems): 1. Time to myself at least once a day, for at least 2 hours. I realize now that I really do need it. It helps my mood and it makes me HAPPY to see the people around me, instead of resentful that I didn't get any time to myself. 2. For everyone to just pick up after themselves, so we don't feel like we're spending all of our time taking care of the house. We want to have fun too. Picking up after yourself doesn't mean putting things in piles, but putting things AWAY where they are meant to go. I try to keep the house up as much as possible, but when no one is doing their part, it gets utterly ridiculous really fast. 3. Dishes done by people who are NOT ME when I cook. And in a timely manner. This means either you all can do them together, or you can take turns. I don't care HOW they get done, just get them done, and get over it. We're all adults. Let's act like it. 4. Not eating out every meal. Or even every other meal. It's unhealthy, and we gain weight every time, and it makes this body VERY ill. 5. No pets bought on a whim. Every time, we then spend the rest of the year figuring out how to take care of said pets and feeling bad that they aren't getting as much attention as our own pets. I love animals, and we get caught up in the moment. Please let's keep Iriock sane by not making this an issue anymore. 6. Not spending $300-500 per week during the time Second Chance is here. It throws our budget off for 2-4 months and causes stress and panic. I'd like to NOT have that be a problem. 7. A pre-determined plan for at least 30% of the time. And not just "I want to get out of the house" but things like "On the weekend of the ______th, I would like to go to St. Louis, because I hear there's a great art show/game/festival/etc." MY trying to plan things out for everyone doesn't work, because I just don't care enough to plan it all out. It's not my tourist vacation. I'm more than willing to go wherever people want, even to drive all over hell and back, but I REALLY don't want to plan it. Nor do I want it to be expected that I'll pay for plans. If you find a really cool plan, and it's going to cost $10-$20 bucks a person, either expect to pay for everyone to go, or to at least run it by everyone to verify we have that kind of money. We are po' folks. Let's keep it in mind. 8. I REALLY don't want to hear whinging about how little money there is for things. I stress and panic about money. Tell me your budget and either let me keep track of it (and I WILL make you stick to it) or don't tell me the budget and simply say "there's not money for that". Trust me, it will save us ALL a lot of stress. 9. I hate being told who can be out when. Let's knock that off. Multiplicity in Iriock is an organic thing. People will come and go and sometimes you won't know them, or like them, and you're just going to have to DEAL with it. That means sometimes people won't get time they want. It means sometimes in the middle of a "scheduled time", you may get kids/animals/walk-ins/frienamies/etc you aren't expecting. Roll with it. It'll make everyone happier if they feel they aren't being BANNED from being out. 10. Each relationship between the bodies is important. Nyrs doesn't disappear from Iriock's life just because Second Chance is in the house. This is really to remind US. Because we SUCK at figuring out how to balance our life. We are going to try to do a LOT better at this, by taking time to spend JUST with Nyrs sometimes when Second Chance is here. That isn't a "I don't want to spend time with SecC", it's "I want to have a marriage left when SecC goes back to the UK". Because... um, I almost didn't this last time. Or the time before. Or the time before that. And I'd like to NOT spend 6 months trying to get my relationship back to some semblance of normalcy. Okay, that's it for now. Now it's you all's turns. Post the things you need. And I assure you that this will get longer as I think of more. Discuss it in the comments, bitch, rant, growl.. whatever. Feel free to say "you're being really harsh" or "amen" or even "Fuck off, Iriock people" if you want to. I'm cool with it. I'm just wanting to open a dialog the three of us haven't had yet. |
| dsgood | 12:34a | Tuesday November 10, 2009 Veteran's Eve. (Americans don't celebrate the day before Veteran's Day, but might in the future.) ***As I woke up, I thought out the opening for _Dreams Do Kill Themselves_. ***To Savers thrift store on Lake Street, which has a 40% senior discount on Tuesdays. A sign on the door advertised a Veterans Day 50% off sale, but only for clothing. On Tuesdays, the average age of Savers customers is older than on other days. I bought a couple of magazine holders. Also a portable CD player. On to Aldi supermarket, where I bought fruit and peanut butter. On my way back, stopped in at DreamHaven Books. Back home, threw out a small wire bookshelf which had become useless. ***MadCon 2010's Guest of Honor will be Harlan Ellison. Mr. Ellison is a difficult person and has been known to find other persons difficult. He has added unprogrammed excitement to several conventions. ***LOCUS makes me feel old. They report that Pocket Books will stop publishing hardcovers and trade paperbacks, and begin publishing mass market paperbacks. I remember when mass market paperbacks were called "pocket books." (LOCUS does say that Pocket Books used to be paperback publishers before they went upscale.) Possible future: Burger King stops serving hamburgers. And some time later, news stories will say that Burger King will be going to offer hamburgers. ***Culinary experiments: Toast with peanut butter and walnut pieces. Fried eggs with walnut pieces. Both okay, but not more than okay. ***Set down an opening for _Dreams Do Kill Themselves_; not the one which had seemed so right while I was waking up |
| Saturday, November 28th, 2009 | ||
|
smeddley |
10:10p | Ten chapters to go! Home stretch! Your first instinct in usually right. Except, of course, those times when it isn’t. I know she could have put the necklace on as she was driving home, or when she was walking up to her apartment. It was completely possible. But I didn’t think she would have. Not knowing what is was. Oh, I believed she’d keep it on her, so I’d be able to find her if I needed to, but I didn’t believe she’d ever wear it again. And I didn’t blame her, considering all it represented. I’m sure the lies and mistrust would be a lot to put aside, though hopefully some day she’d forgive me. But if it hadn’t been around her neck, why had it been broken? The only reason I could think of was to make it look like even more of a hit, the tracking device left behind. ( Which would make sense if, as she believed, it was official. ) It’s a thin line between helping and hindering. Only the most talented can look like they’re doing the former while actually doing the latter. ( I was on my way back to the lab to see if they’d found anything new when Daniel interrupted me. ) |
|
spacelogic |
11:09a | how not to overcome a phobia I broke my glasses last night. In the morning, when I sheepishly reported to Mum what had happened, she told me I should find a backup pair (don't have one; it's been years and my prescription changed) and call the optometrist. Now, I am a logical person, but do not ask me to make a phone call if there is any alternative. I will panic, shut down, and become defensive. The only kind of phone calls I can handle are when someone calls me, when I call home, when I call somewhere I know a robot will answer, and when I have absolutely no choice. It's hard enough talking to strangers in person, or emailing them; not knowing who'll be at the other end of the phone is impossible. And it's not just that I need to make more calls, goddammit. I feel ill when I'm pushed. And nobody understands. *single tear* Current Mood:  aggravated |
|
cedara |
1:08p | White Collar - 106 - All in ( spoilers for the ep and for the promo for next week plus some speculation ) Is it next week yet? Current Mood:  enthralled |
| Friday, November 27th, 2009 | ||
|
spacelogic |
4:37p | meta: squicks and siblings Claudia Christian mentioned in a blog post the other day that a B5 director ("who had clearly never watched the show") had told her to play her scenes with Sheridan more "sexy and coquettish" and I had such a strong "EWNOGROSS" reaction that I had to step back and analyze why. I can handle all kinds of fic/pairings, even if I prefer to avoid them. But Sheridan/Ivanova disgusts me, and thinking about it I've come to the conclusion that it's because they're too much like siblings. It's kind of funny, I suppose. I can handle all kinds of screwed-up pairings if I understand the kink, even if I don't share it. I can deal with non-con, power imbalance including parent/child incest, aliens... lots of stuff. And I'm on IJ substantially because I used to have a good friend who wrote and read Weasleycest, and while I wasn't into it I didn't like the idea of her ability to do so being restricted. But despite this, sibling incest remains one of my biggest squicks. Maybe it's because I have siblings I'm close to, and the idea of people perverting that kind of relationship feels too close to home. But I have parents I'm close to, too, and I can handle parent/child type stuff. I suppose in the Sheridan/Ivanova case, there's the added factor that they're not related by blood or by legal definition, and I've got those siblings too and know how upsetting I'd find it if people ignored that and assumed that we were sexually involved. Ties in to the whole "a man and a woman can't be just friends ever" cultural assumption, which I hate because I used to be the girl who had all guy friends and wasn't into any of them, no, really, stop teasing me, Mum! *coughs* Tangent there. Anyway, I think there's another factor. Actors are often treated as people whose job is to convey emotions, deliver lines, and embody personalities. They are, of course. But another job they do is play relationships, and they're often not as good at that. We've all seen a big romantic storyline completely fizzle because the main romance lacked chemistry. Then, too, parent-child dynamics on screen and stage often fall flat. But the most commonly disappointing relationships I'm used to seeing are sibling ones. Screen siblings, whether bickering or affectionate, tend to fail to convince. And so I guess when I see a sibling relationship I like, I really don't like seeing it taken through the "a man and a woman can't be just friends ever" cliché. So Sheridan and Ivanova, whose sibling vibe seems so clear to me, I can't bear to think of in a sexual situation. (Claudia Christian, I may have mentioned, is brilliant at playing relationships. Yet another reason I love B5.) Current Mood:  pensive |
| Thursday, November 26th, 2009 | ||
|
smeddley |
11:25p | Tired, but wired. I love my caffeine! Chapter Sixteen There’s screwing up, and then there’s the massive cluster that is this operation. I knew I shouldn’t have sent her back to the apartment. I knew it when I did it, but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. The only other options were to take her with me to the crime scene, or to send her back to my place. Either had its own set of risks. If she went to the crime scene with me, she’d have been exposed to a lot of people who wanted her dead, and could recognize her. They’d see her with me and my cover would be blown. If I sent her back to my place, there was a chance she’d find what I had hidden there, and if she found that out, she’d be in more danger than ever. Ignorance can be bliss, and it can save your life. Better for her not to have that temptation to follow that particular path. ( Still, I did keep an eye on her tracking device, which showed her going to the apartment and staying there. ) |
|
brimac13 |
6:44p | Happy Thanksgiving! (To those of you who celebrate it, that is.) Current Mood:  stuffedCurrent Music: X-Men: Evoltuion |
|
smeddley |
6:02p | Whooo! 25K! O,o Can I do it? In Tarot the Death card merely represents transition and change. I like that interpretation. I was going to have to die. Again. And everyone was going to have to believe it. Even, for now, Jake, though I did believe I could trust him. He was just going to have to sell it to the people he worked with because even if they were on my side, they were dragging me into something I didn’t want to be a part of. Maybe some day I would learn what this was all about, I certainly hoped so. But for now, I was content to leave it a mystery and get out with my hide intact. ( I needed a few things to complete the plan... ) Tying up loose ends is a lot like pulling on a dangling thread. You never know what else is going to come loose. I made my way towards Jake’s apartment, stopping on the middle of the bridge to toss the revolver into the water. The flow of blood was slowing, but I’d still lost a lot and was starting to feel the effects. I was beginning to wonder if I’d be able to skip the trip to the hospital. But they’d take one look at blood-spattered me and call in the police, and that couldn’t happen. I’d taken a course in field medicine, granted it was years ago, but I still remembered the basics. I could get through this. ( Jake’s apartment was still dark when I got there, and I quickly picked the locks on his front door. ) |
|
smeddley |
1:38p | At least the pie's turned out decently! You’re not lost until you don’t know where you are and you don’t know how to get anywhere where you will know where you are. I was lost. I’d been walking for about two hours, and had completely lost my sense of direction. I’d never been lost before, and I wasn’t keen on repeating it ever again. I’d wandered down blind alleys, doubled back a bunch of times, and probably wandered in circles. I was still in a bad neighborhood, but didn’t care anymore. I hadn’t really seen anyone else, if there were people in the run-down industrial complexes, they were keeping to themselves. I’d also managed not to cry, though it did hurt. Jake hadn’t ever loved me. I’d been an assignment to him. For a year, we’d been in a relationship, and I’d never guessed. What does that tell you about me? I slumped down on a nearby crate and dropped my head into my hands. It was getting cold, but I didn’t care. It took all of my willpower not to sob. Maybe, when the sun started to rise, I’d be able to find my way out of this rabbit warren of tiny roads. ( My hand went to my neck and I felt for the pearl necklace that was usually there. ) |