My friend got me hooked on Supernatural.
This would normally not be a bad thing, except that I'm also trying to watch Torchwood.
However, I just finished episode 12 of season 1. Yes, I know, I have a lot to catch up on. The point being, I predicted the plot of this one well before half of the show was over.
(Warning: I'm going to start ranting about plot, and if you've never seen Supernatural and you plan to, you might want to stop now and go somewhere else until you get past ep. 12. Unless you don't care about silly spoilers. In which case, be my guest. Because I'm going to pretty much tell the story here. Although I guess this show is now a good seven years old, so while I'm late to the party, I guess that means that a spoiler warning is technically pointless.)
So. Summary of plot.
Dean gets all electrocutey, gets heart damage as a result. Sam is desperate to save him, and drags him off to this blind faith healer (who himself had been miraculously healed of cancer, after which he can apparently heal others) in Nebraska. Dean gets healed, but some other kid dies of a heart attack for no reason - at exactly the same moment. They figure this out, and figure out who's to blame, stop the culprit, blah blah blah, happy-ish ending.
I say "ish" because the nice cute blonde chick with brain cancer and six months to live never gets healed. Sadface for Dean, who has a crush. Well -- he kind of has a crush on every cute blonde they find in terrible danger, just saying.
Now here's where I start ranting.
Halfway through, they start suspecting that the healer guy isn't all he's cracked up to be. They think he's got a tame Reaper that he uses to mess with life & death. Well, that requires a binding spell. So they go snooping in his house and find...
A spell book. With a binding spell in it. Yay. But...
Dudes. Think a minute.
The blind guy is reading a book, now?
And yet they still think it's him.
Use your brains; it's his wife, numbnuts! The one who went totally desperate when she saw her husband dying? Seriously. As obvious as a pie in the face. But I digress.
So then Dean stops one of the meetings. The healer guy's wife says, and I quote, "The Lord will deal with him as He sees fit..."
Like, really? Sam, Dean - you guys don't see what she's saying? That phrase there means that you're the next victim, Dean, and that she's the one playing God with a Reaper on a leash.
Winchester must be another word for blonde, I swear, because these guys seem to be a special kind of clueless in this episode. They made it past at least 11 other monsters (including a Norse Vanr) and they can't freaking figure this out. Although I suppose they could be PMSing. Yeah, that's gotta be why they're so far off their game.
Anyways. Entertaining episode, and not as freaky as Bugs, or as heart-stopping as The Hook Man, or as disturbing as the scene from Home with the plumber in the kitchen (seriously, by the way, was I the only one who could see that coming a mile away? Poltergeist + plumber + "backed up" garburator == very bad things) ... but predictable-as-hell plot.
Rant over :)
Oh yes, and I almost forgot. The dodgeball tournament I was supposed to be in this weekend? We had to drop out. Not enough players. Just as well, I don't think we were quite prepared.
And my pinky finger that I jammed on a ball during dodgeball practice two weeks ago? Pretty sure I must have fractured it, because it shouldn't still be this painful/swollen, although the swelling did go down some, but it's not down fully. Maybe I should go to a clinic... *shrug*
Toodles, love you all!
26.7.13
18.7.13
Like a *bleep*ing BOSS.
I like being independent.
I like the fact that I went out and bought lightbulbs for my house.
It seems like a silly thing to like, but I friggen bought my own friggen lightbulbs. And that makes me feel like an autonomous grownup. Or something.
I also bought a stick of 2gb of RAM for my computer, and stole the 2gb stick from my old one, so I'm running with 4gb, like a boss. And I did it myself. Picked up the right kind without anyone's help - though I expect I confused the poor Best Buy guy... he meant well for offering to help, but I wasn't making sense even to myself... Haha. Anyways. All is running like a blooming dream.
And I will carry on being inde-freaking-pendent, like a BOSS.
By the way, another chapter in the Saga du Pinky: the swelling is finally going down a little. Still a wee bit sore, but nothing fearsome. So that's a relief.
That's it. Toodles!
I like the fact that I went out and bought lightbulbs for my house.
It seems like a silly thing to like, but I friggen bought my own friggen lightbulbs. And that makes me feel like an autonomous grownup. Or something.
I also bought a stick of 2gb of RAM for my computer, and stole the 2gb stick from my old one, so I'm running with 4gb, like a boss. And I did it myself. Picked up the right kind without anyone's help - though I expect I confused the poor Best Buy guy... he meant well for offering to help, but I wasn't making sense even to myself... Haha. Anyways. All is running like a blooming dream.
And I will carry on being inde-freaking-pendent, like a BOSS.
By the way, another chapter in the Saga du Pinky: the swelling is finally going down a little. Still a wee bit sore, but nothing fearsome. So that's a relief.
That's it. Toodles!
16.7.13
In which I'm clumsy.
I learned a new word today: pantagruelian. It means enormous, and adequately describes the way my pinky finger looks today, as a result of last night.
Last night I went to dodgeball practice (Don't laugh at me. I joined up for a tournament at the end of the month that's for charity. After that it's done. And by the way we could use more players, particularly female ones.......Anyways). We were practicing by standing one person against a wall and a) practicing aim by throwing at the person, and b) practicing dodging by being the one against the wall. It was my turn against the wall, and someone said, "Hey! Try to catch this one!" So I tried. And smushed my pinky finger really badly.
It's all swollen now, and purple. Sadface. I don't think it's broken, cos I could move it yesterday - it's too fat and swollen to move much now - but it still flipping hurts.
I had the best/worst moment at work today. I went to sit on a chair to do some stuff. Didn't realise it wasn't under my butt. Sat down, astonished myself thoroughly, and landed on the floor. I laughed at myself properly after that. Ended up with a wee bruise on my backside, and a slightly larger bruise on my pride, but nothing serious.
Other than that, been a pretty slow couple of days. I may colour my hair when I get home - it's starting to bug me a bit more now. Yay roots.
So yeah. Toodles...
Last night I went to dodgeball practice (Don't laugh at me. I joined up for a tournament at the end of the month that's for charity. After that it's done. And by the way we could use more players, particularly female ones....
It's all swollen now, and purple. Sadface. I don't think it's broken, cos I could move it yesterday - it's too fat and swollen to move much now - but it still flipping hurts.
I had the best/worst moment at work today. I went to sit on a chair to do some stuff. Didn't realise it wasn't under my butt. Sat down, astonished myself thoroughly, and landed on the floor. I laughed at myself properly after that. Ended up with a wee bruise on my backside, and a slightly larger bruise on my pride, but nothing serious.
Other than that, been a pretty slow couple of days. I may colour my hair when I get home - it's starting to bug me a bit more now. Yay roots.
So yeah. Toodles...
15.7.13
Goldenears, cleaning, floppy drives, and Monday.
I've had a busy busy weekend.
On Saturday both my Pathfinder games were cancelled, so the first thing I did was googlechat at my dad to request a hike-day. Originally the plan was to do Elk Mountain, cos that's our go-to day hike (especially since the mountain bikers took over Sumas' Centennial Trail, and that one subdivision went up right at the old trailhead... I'm not bitter; why do you ask?), but when I got to my parents' house, Dad suggested suddenly that we try Goldenears, and see how far we could go in one day. So we did that. Started hiking at 10.30 - a little later than I would have liked - and got about 30-45 min past Alder Flats, maybe a bit more, but then various feet started to hurt. I was in my Vibrams, which on any other trail would have been fine, but Goldenears trail is especially rocky, and by the end it felt somewhere between Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid (whose every step felt like walking on knives) and playing guitar with no callouses for six hours straight. Let me tell you how glorious it felt, at the end, to walk on the plain dirt sections; it was like walking on freaking velvet, it was so amazing. Course, I'm also my mother's daughter: coming downhill was hell on my knees. And there was so very much downhill. We finally got back to the trailhead at 4.30. Once in the car, I promptly fell asleep and drooled on my own shoulder. Classy, right? It was a good day though.
Yesterday I acquired a copy of the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Soundtrack. It has every piece of music from those movies ever. The Elves' chant in the Fellowship when they're leaving for the ships, Aragorn's snippet of Tinuviel's song, all Merry and Pippin's drinking songs, even Gollum's Rock and Pool song - and all the ones you thought you knew (from the "proper" soundtrack) are so much longer and more complicated than you thought they were. So yesterday afternoon I played that while I cleaned my room. I did so much laundry, and I organised stuff. I even rearranged my room - a plan that occurred to me around 8.30pm, which reminds me - why on earth do I get the urge to do major cleanup/rearrangement late in the evening? I did have a momentary concern that it would cause me confusion in the morning, but that didn't last long. And it does look better; much better. Now I'm thinking I might do that for all the other rooms in my house. Someone stop me before I do something foolish....
Today at work I took apart computers and removed floppy drives from them so we can surplus the computers and use the floppy drives later. Yes, we still need those. Yes, they're technically obsolete. No, I'm not going to argue. Tomorrow I'm going to take all those said computers and wipe them. Then I'll put them on my list of things to be surplussed. Can I hear Three Cheers for Doing The Same Old Thing At Work As You Did Before? hip hip....
Anyways, it's almost going-home-time - thus ends another Monday.
Also, I'm looking forward to a metal show on Friday - First Reign and Dialect 9. It'll be awesome.
Toodles all.
On Saturday both my Pathfinder games were cancelled, so the first thing I did was googlechat at my dad to request a hike-day. Originally the plan was to do Elk Mountain, cos that's our go-to day hike (especially since the mountain bikers took over Sumas' Centennial Trail, and that one subdivision went up right at the old trailhead... I'm not bitter; why do you ask?), but when I got to my parents' house, Dad suggested suddenly that we try Goldenears, and see how far we could go in one day. So we did that. Started hiking at 10.30 - a little later than I would have liked - and got about 30-45 min past Alder Flats, maybe a bit more, but then various feet started to hurt. I was in my Vibrams, which on any other trail would have been fine, but Goldenears trail is especially rocky, and by the end it felt somewhere between Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid (whose every step felt like walking on knives) and playing guitar with no callouses for six hours straight. Let me tell you how glorious it felt, at the end, to walk on the plain dirt sections; it was like walking on freaking velvet, it was so amazing. Course, I'm also my mother's daughter: coming downhill was hell on my knees. And there was so very much downhill. We finally got back to the trailhead at 4.30. Once in the car, I promptly fell asleep and drooled on my own shoulder. Classy, right? It was a good day though.
Yesterday I acquired a copy of the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Soundtrack. It has every piece of music from those movies ever. The Elves' chant in the Fellowship when they're leaving for the ships, Aragorn's snippet of Tinuviel's song, all Merry and Pippin's drinking songs, even Gollum's Rock and Pool song - and all the ones you thought you knew (from the "proper" soundtrack) are so much longer and more complicated than you thought they were. So yesterday afternoon I played that while I cleaned my room. I did so much laundry, and I organised stuff. I even rearranged my room - a plan that occurred to me around 8.30pm, which reminds me - why on earth do I get the urge to do major cleanup/rearrangement late in the evening? I did have a momentary concern that it would cause me confusion in the morning, but that didn't last long. And it does look better; much better. Now I'm thinking I might do that for all the other rooms in my house. Someone stop me before I do something foolish....
Today at work I took apart computers and removed floppy drives from them so we can surplus the computers and use the floppy drives later. Yes, we still need those. Yes, they're technically obsolete. No, I'm not going to argue. Tomorrow I'm going to take all those said computers and wipe them. Then I'll put them on my list of things to be surplussed. Can I hear Three Cheers for Doing The Same Old Thing At Work As You Did Before? hip hip....
Anyways, it's almost going-home-time - thus ends another Monday.
Also, I'm looking forward to a metal show on Friday - First Reign and Dialect 9. It'll be awesome.
Toodles all.
12.7.13
Anglophone rage, an adventure in coordination, FINALLY NO MORE HAGGIS, laptops, gaming, and Friday.
To this day I don't understand why Canada has to be bilingual. We English speakers make up most of the population of this country. Francophones are just the vocal minority.
Course, I'm probably just a wee bit pissed because I'm thoroughly mono-linguistic (although I admit I have designs on being fluent in Sindarin, not that that's particularly widely spoken) and I just had to make a warranty call to somewhere in Quebec. It irritates me when I'm clearly speaking accent-free English and I can hear the lady I'm talking to speaking in French to her co-worker without shame. Dude. I'm right here. I can hear you - and I can't understand you. It's incredibly rude, in my opinion.
Last night I hung out with some friends. We had tacos on the porch and played darts and pool, and the six-pack of Lonetree cider I brought disappeared very quickly, most of it not down my throat. I failed epically at darts, but actually did surprisingly well at pool - it was girls vs guys, and we would have won except I accidentally potted the white while trying to get the eight-ball out. At the end of the night, I grabbed three cans and a bottle, two things in each hand, to carry upstairs. At that moment, a pool cue fell, so I caught it. Picture this: left hand, a can held by my thumb and index, and a bottle between my index and middle fingers; and right hand, from thumb to ring finger, similarly holding two cans and a pool cue. So far so good. So I went to put the pool cue back in the stand, and just as I managed to get it to clip into the bit at the top, one of the cans fell out of my right hand and bounced smack off the top of my head. Moral of the story: put down the bottle and cans before you try to do anything involving hand-eye-coordination. Although, it was pretty funny timing.
Also, because you care so much, this is the end of the Saga of the Haggis: I ate the last of it for lunch today.
I just have to laugh at all the people who get all grossed out by the fact that I'm eating haggis. It's really not as gross as you'd think, I swear!
I have a laptop at work today that I'm supposed to image with a specific image - and it refuses to take it. Dammit Toshiba why?! I've tried at least five different ways of getting it to image, and it just refuses. At the moment I've got it on my lap instead of the desk behind me, so I can keep a closer eye on it, and hopefully see what it is that's breaking so badly. Aaaaand nope. It still broke. WHY.
On the subject of laptops, I installed Steam on mine this morning before work, and started it downloading Portal. Hell yeah. It was about 40% when I left. I have yet to upgrade the RAM in it, but that will happen before I start playing. And on the subject of gaming, I'm definitely going to go out and get an HDMI adaptor for the monitor I bought so that I can use my OUYA with it. Who needs a TV?
Happy Friday, everyone.
Toodles.
Course, I'm probably just a wee bit pissed because I'm thoroughly mono-linguistic (although I admit I have designs on being fluent in Sindarin, not that that's particularly widely spoken) and I just had to make a warranty call to somewhere in Quebec. It irritates me when I'm clearly speaking accent-free English and I can hear the lady I'm talking to speaking in French to her co-worker without shame. Dude. I'm right here. I can hear you - and I can't understand you. It's incredibly rude, in my opinion.
Last night I hung out with some friends. We had tacos on the porch and played darts and pool, and the six-pack of Lonetree cider I brought disappeared very quickly, most of it not down my throat. I failed epically at darts, but actually did surprisingly well at pool - it was girls vs guys, and we would have won except I accidentally potted the white while trying to get the eight-ball out. At the end of the night, I grabbed three cans and a bottle, two things in each hand, to carry upstairs. At that moment, a pool cue fell, so I caught it. Picture this: left hand, a can held by my thumb and index, and a bottle between my index and middle fingers; and right hand, from thumb to ring finger, similarly holding two cans and a pool cue. So far so good. So I went to put the pool cue back in the stand, and just as I managed to get it to clip into the bit at the top, one of the cans fell out of my right hand and bounced smack off the top of my head. Moral of the story: put down the bottle and cans before you try to do anything involving hand-eye-coordination. Although, it was pretty funny timing.
Also, because you care so much, this is the end of the Saga of the Haggis: I ate the last of it for lunch today.
I just have to laugh at all the people who get all grossed out by the fact that I'm eating haggis. It's really not as gross as you'd think, I swear!
I have a laptop at work today that I'm supposed to image with a specific image - and it refuses to take it. Dammit Toshiba why?! I've tried at least five different ways of getting it to image, and it just refuses. At the moment I've got it on my lap instead of the desk behind me, so I can keep a closer eye on it, and hopefully see what it is that's breaking so badly. Aaaaand nope. It still broke. WHY.
On the subject of laptops, I installed Steam on mine this morning before work, and started it downloading Portal. Hell yeah. It was about 40% when I left. I have yet to upgrade the RAM in it, but that will happen before I start playing. And on the subject of gaming, I'm definitely going to go out and get an HDMI adaptor for the monitor I bought so that I can use my OUYA with it. Who needs a TV?
Happy Friday, everyone.
Toodles.
11.7.13
Is it really only Thursday?
So for the new laptop I went with Ubuntu 13.04, because I'm used to Ubuntu, overly pretty or otherwise. I had some fun trying to get it installed though. My mother has my 4gb flash drive in her possession because I'm playing her Doctor Who dealer, and I only have a 1gb one otherwise, and the iso once applied to a flash drive takes 2gb, and I didn't have any writable CDs or DVDs that were compatible with the CD drive in the old laptop. This made my life difficult until I found a 2gb microSD card. So I currently have a card as big as my thumbnail loaded up with Ubuntu, fully bootable. Which seems really bizarre to me, because it's so damn tiny. (I should totally try to boot my phone from it. Then again, maybe not.)
Anyhow, spent some time setting that up, and then got it into my bedroom and hooked it up to the secondary monitor that I bought, and watched Torchwood on the monitor while still having facebook open on the main laptop screen. Damn, new shiny stuff is awesome. Heh. I did find out that the new lappy only has 2gb of RAM, so assuming they're the same type, I'll definitely be boosting that out of the old one.
And yes, I had haggis for dinner last night. Cooked it up with 3 sweet potatoes, sliced up, and half an onion, all in the oven together with some rosemary on top. Hit the spot, it did. And had leftovers for lunch today, and probably enough left for lunch tomorrow too. At $8 for one haggis, that works out to 2-something a meal (not counting the sweet potatoes), which is a pretty good deal. Cheaper than eating out, anyway. And tasty. Nom nom nom. I think I weirded out my boss by appreciating haggis. Oh well, more for me.
Didn't get much cleaning done, because of the computer taking pretty long to set up - nor did I get my hair recoloured. But that's okay. I can get some cleaning done today after work, maybe - and definitely Friday after work too. Thankfully, the hair thing (as I said yesterday) isn't imperative - so that could wait til Monday, or even longer, if I wanted. We'll see how it goes.
At work my boss and I set up a computer with two monitors, which is fairly standard, but we also had to put a second keyboard and mouse on it. Hilarity ensued: I'd go to right-click on the desktop for settings, and he'd click away so my menu disappeared immediately; or he'd go to log in, but I'd already hit Ctr-Alt-Del and so he'd do it again and thus exit from the login screen. At one point he was moving his mouse left/right, and I was moving my mouse up/down, so it went in a really wonky circle. What is it they say about small things and small minds?
The radio at work played Werewolves of London this afternoon. I can't take that song seriously. I crack up every time I hear it. I want to know how in hell he sang that song with a straight face. Also, I'm getting bloody tired of Skagit Valley Casino radio ads. That and whichever credit union has the stupid jingle about being "in your corner".
Can't wait for Friday, it's been a long busy week so far. Can't wait for next Friday, either - metal show to see! Woohoo!
Anyways, signing off for now.
Toodles.
Edit: formatting ...
Anyhow, spent some time setting that up, and then got it into my bedroom and hooked it up to the secondary monitor that I bought, and watched Torchwood on the monitor while still having facebook open on the main laptop screen. Damn, new shiny stuff is awesome. Heh. I did find out that the new lappy only has 2gb of RAM, so assuming they're the same type, I'll definitely be boosting that out of the old one.
And yes, I had haggis for dinner last night. Cooked it up with 3 sweet potatoes, sliced up, and half an onion, all in the oven together with some rosemary on top. Hit the spot, it did. And had leftovers for lunch today, and probably enough left for lunch tomorrow too. At $8 for one haggis, that works out to 2-something a meal (not counting the sweet potatoes), which is a pretty good deal. Cheaper than eating out, anyway. And tasty. Nom nom nom. I think I weirded out my boss by appreciating haggis. Oh well, more for me.
Didn't get much cleaning done, because of the computer taking pretty long to set up - nor did I get my hair recoloured. But that's okay. I can get some cleaning done today after work, maybe - and definitely Friday after work too. Thankfully, the hair thing (as I said yesterday) isn't imperative - so that could wait til Monday, or even longer, if I wanted. We'll see how it goes.
At work my boss and I set up a computer with two monitors, which is fairly standard, but we also had to put a second keyboard and mouse on it. Hilarity ensued: I'd go to right-click on the desktop for settings, and he'd click away so my menu disappeared immediately; or he'd go to log in, but I'd already hit Ctr-Alt-Del and so he'd do it again and thus exit from the login screen. At one point he was moving his mouse left/right, and I was moving my mouse up/down, so it went in a really wonky circle. What is it they say about small things and small minds?
The radio at work played Werewolves of London this afternoon. I can't take that song seriously. I crack up every time I hear it. I want to know how in hell he sang that song with a straight face. Also, I'm getting bloody tired of Skagit Valley Casino radio ads. That and whichever credit union has the stupid jingle about being "in your corner".
Can't wait for Friday, it's been a long busy week so far. Can't wait for next Friday, either - metal show to see! Woohoo!
Anyways, signing off for now.
Toodles.
Edit: formatting ...
10.7.13
tl;dr: skunking, mondayism, talk geeky to me, haggis, and reddit.
Well. Stuff happened.
Sunday I had a picnic in the park with all my dear family. It was picnicky - and much too warm. I skunked my uncle and my dad at cribbage - almost didn't cos my dad was one point away from getting across the line, but then I pegged out. Made me feel good, cos I've never skunked anyone before, and they've been playing much longer than I have - but I got a whole string of double-runs one after another, and most of them had fifteens too, so that's why. Plus my uncle had a series of really terrible hands. Sorry, Uncle.
Monday was mondayish; I actually fell asleep on my desk partway through the day and I'm really glad no-one noticed. It was only for a few minutes anyways. But then after work I got to hang out with my good friend Jessi and another friend, Jazzy - I made paleo apple fritters (I keep getting asked for the recipe. One of these days I'll publish it here, all formatted and with pretty pictures to go with it) and Jazzy made Earl Grey Tea and Lavender cookies. OH MY GOSH those were amazing. Then we sat on the floor and did crafty stuff for a while. I got some chain-mail done, as well as part of my "uniform" for the dodgeball team I'm in...
And I laughed at us because for a full half hour none of us said anything to anyone else. Introverts, much?
Yesterday I got to hang out with a friend whom I didn't really know very well beforehand - she's been more my sister's friend up til now - and it was nice to get to know her a bit better.
Yesterday I also got a new laptop and a monitor, YAY! And just in time, too - my old lappy was becoming more and more decrepit. For the last few weeks, if it ever tried to do anything, it had to access the harddrive fifty bajillion times first, during, AND after. I thought maybe it was using the swap space too much - which says bad RAM to me - but dad thinks maybe it's just retries because it has bad sectors on the harddrive as it is, so maybe the harddrive is finally giving up the ghost. I'm hoping for the latter; as long as the RAM is still good, I'm happy, cos my old one has 3 gigs (a stick of 1, and a stick of 2), so if the new one also comes with 3 (cos I haven't checked yet - I'll do that tonight probably), I'll swap out the 1 for the old one's 2, making 4 in the new one. Mmmm hardware. And the RAM should be compatible - they're both Lenovos, one's the T61 and the other's the T61p - so I see no reason why it shouldn't work. *Crosses fingers*
Which brings me to the question of what OS I should put on it. I was considering Linux Mint for a while, cos Ubuntu's pissing me off, just a little; but I may just bite the bullet and give it Ubuntu 13.04 Raring. I stuck with 11.04 (Natty) for quite a long time, and now they've "stopped supporting it", of course - but on the other hand, 12 and up are Steam-compatible. I mean... I'm not interested in starting gaming... at all... no... um. All I know for sure is that I refuse to have Windows anywhere near it.
Anyways, my plan for today is to go to the butcher's and buy a haggis (because I want haggis for no apparent reason, and I know it's not paleo, but I refuse to make an excuse for this; haggis is its own excuse, in my opinion) and have that for dinner while cleaning my house and possibly putting some OS or other (meaning probably Ubuntu Raring) on my new laptop... and I may even make this Goth-Upkeep Day and recolour my hair. Maybe. I could probably last a couple weeks more if I wanted to, so it's not imperative that I recolour it this week, I just feel like it's almost that time again.
Final thoughts: you know you're on Reddit too much when you find that people ask the same questions and make the same comments over and over - and you know you've been on Reddit too long when people start nostalgically referencing stuff that you saw when it was first posted. Yeah.
So. Back to work.
Toodles, all.
Sunday I had a picnic in the park with all my dear family. It was picnicky - and much too warm. I skunked my uncle and my dad at cribbage - almost didn't cos my dad was one point away from getting across the line, but then I pegged out. Made me feel good, cos I've never skunked anyone before, and they've been playing much longer than I have - but I got a whole string of double-runs one after another, and most of them had fifteens too, so that's why. Plus my uncle had a series of really terrible hands. Sorry, Uncle.
Monday was mondayish; I actually fell asleep on my desk partway through the day and I'm really glad no-one noticed. It was only for a few minutes anyways. But then after work I got to hang out with my good friend Jessi and another friend, Jazzy - I made paleo apple fritters (I keep getting asked for the recipe. One of these days I'll publish it here, all formatted and with pretty pictures to go with it) and Jazzy made Earl Grey Tea and Lavender cookies. OH MY GOSH those were amazing. Then we sat on the floor and did crafty stuff for a while. I got some chain-mail done, as well as part of my "uniform" for the dodgeball team I'm in...
And I laughed at us because for a full half hour none of us said anything to anyone else. Introverts, much?
Yesterday I got to hang out with a friend whom I didn't really know very well beforehand - she's been more my sister's friend up til now - and it was nice to get to know her a bit better.
Yesterday I also got a new laptop and a monitor, YAY! And just in time, too - my old lappy was becoming more and more decrepit. For the last few weeks, if it ever tried to do anything, it had to access the harddrive fifty bajillion times first, during, AND after. I thought maybe it was using the swap space too much - which says bad RAM to me - but dad thinks maybe it's just retries because it has bad sectors on the harddrive as it is, so maybe the harddrive is finally giving up the ghost. I'm hoping for the latter; as long as the RAM is still good, I'm happy, cos my old one has 3 gigs (a stick of 1, and a stick of 2), so if the new one also comes with 3 (cos I haven't checked yet - I'll do that tonight probably), I'll swap out the 1 for the old one's 2, making 4 in the new one. Mmmm hardware. And the RAM should be compatible - they're both Lenovos, one's the T61 and the other's the T61p - so I see no reason why it shouldn't work. *Crosses fingers*
Which brings me to the question of what OS I should put on it. I was considering Linux Mint for a while, cos Ubuntu's pissing me off, just a little; but I may just bite the bullet and give it Ubuntu 13.04 Raring. I stuck with 11.04 (Natty) for quite a long time, and now they've "stopped supporting it", of course - but on the other hand, 12 and up are Steam-compatible. I mean... I'm not interested in starting gaming... at all... no... um. All I know for sure is that I refuse to have Windows anywhere near it.
Anyways, my plan for today is to go to the butcher's and buy a haggis (because I want haggis for no apparent reason, and I know it's not paleo, but I refuse to make an excuse for this; haggis is its own excuse, in my opinion) and have that for dinner while cleaning my house and possibly putting some OS or other (meaning probably Ubuntu Raring) on my new laptop... and I may even make this Goth-Upkeep Day and recolour my hair. Maybe. I could probably last a couple weeks more if I wanted to, so it's not imperative that I recolour it this week, I just feel like it's almost that time again.
Final thoughts: you know you're on Reddit too much when you find that people ask the same questions and make the same comments over and over - and you know you've been on Reddit too long when people start nostalgically referencing stuff that you saw when it was first posted. Yeah.
So. Back to work.
Toodles, all.
3.7.13
Well that wasn't so bad.
After the terror inspired by my co-worker, that really wasn't so bad. She just asked about how I liked it, what I've learned so far, etc., etc. So the terror really wasn't warranted.
Oh, and yesterday I somehow won a custom sundress from a giveaway on facebook - I never win stuff, so that was a surprise. I get to inspect some sketches today. Hoooo boy.
Today I also discovered that The Devil's Panties is back... that was my favourite webcomic for a long time and then she stopped - but she's back! However, I hadn't checked her site in a while, so there's a couple of years of stuff to catch up on, like her marriage, for example... And no, it has nothing to do with Satan, nor porn. She's a geeky chick with LARPing tendencies who wears big black boots; I need to be friends with her, I think, but fat chance of that cos she lives in the States and probably has dozens of fans besides me anyways.
I'm thinking of getting another piercing or two. Possibly somewhere on my ear(s). My one friend says I'd look good with an industrial. I was thinking either a secondary pair of lobes or maybe something up in the top of my ear, in the cartilage. Alternatively, I might get my nose done, or (less likely) a couple of dermal anchors somewhere. Thoughts, people?
So that's it.
Toodles.
Oh, and yesterday I somehow won a custom sundress from a giveaway on facebook - I never win stuff, so that was a surprise. I get to inspect some sketches today. Hoooo boy.
Today I also discovered that The Devil's Panties is back... that was my favourite webcomic for a long time and then she stopped - but she's back! However, I hadn't checked her site in a while, so there's a couple of years of stuff to catch up on, like her marriage, for example... And no, it has nothing to do with Satan, nor porn. She's a geeky chick with LARPing tendencies who wears big black boots; I need to be friends with her, I think, but fat chance of that cos she lives in the States and probably has dozens of fans besides me anyways.
I'm thinking of getting another piercing or two. Possibly somewhere on my ear(s). My one friend says I'd look good with an industrial. I was thinking either a secondary pair of lobes or maybe something up in the top of my ear, in the cartilage. Alternatively, I might get my nose done, or (less likely) a couple of dermal anchors somewhere. Thoughts, people?
So that's it.
Toodles.
Oh help.
Today is the Co-op Site Visit.
That means that someone from UFV's Career Centre comes out to the place I'm working, to discuss me with my supervisors, and then talk to me after. It's like an interview; only it's an interview that affects my grade at university.
My co-worker very kindly gave me a piece of advice - anything they say about me, not to take personally, because it will probably be constructive criticism. As in, they might say less-than-pleasant things.
You know that knot that happens in the pit of your stomach, the terror-fueled adrenaline rush that makes you feel like you want to vomit? Yeah. I have that right now. Not pleasant.
Even worse, I have to come back and sit through the rest of my eight-hour day afterwards. I wish this was over and I could just go home.
Oh the stress.
Toodles.
That means that someone from UFV's Career Centre comes out to the place I'm working, to discuss me with my supervisors, and then talk to me after. It's like an interview; only it's an interview that affects my grade at university.
My co-worker very kindly gave me a piece of advice - anything they say about me, not to take personally, because it will probably be constructive criticism. As in, they might say less-than-pleasant things.
You know that knot that happens in the pit of your stomach, the terror-fueled adrenaline rush that makes you feel like you want to vomit? Yeah. I have that right now. Not pleasant.
Even worse, I have to come back and sit through the rest of my eight-hour day afterwards. I wish this was over and I could just go home.
Oh the stress.
Toodles.
28.6.13
Best Friday Ever.
I'm all alone in the office today, so my boss left me a list of stuff that I should try to get done.
I swear, I'm more productive when I have a list of things to do than when he's making it up as he goes along; I haven't been on Reddit once this morning, but so far I've wiped eleven computers, and of those I took half a dozen and put floppy drives in them; later today I'll put a new image on them, if I can. I also have two computers that I swapped out and a profile to restore, as well as some (technically optional) Active Directory stuff to do, of which I've already got a large chunk done, because I did it while waiting for the computers to wipe.
Damned if I haven't done more today already than I've done all week - though it's hard to get anything done when one has to sit and supervise contractors - so that explains some of it.
So that's been exciting.
I think I like working alone. I get to listen to the radio station I want (which today happens to be Praise 106.5... Yeah - it was the most tolerable option that was not Classic Rock).
Time to go see if there's coffee somewhere. Cos I (really don't) need caffeine right now...
Also, after work: more lifting. Awww yeahhh.
Speaking of which, got a bunch of random tips from an older guy at the gym on Wednesday, most of which (though, granted, given with all the best intentions) I believe to be broscience and will be taken with a heaping hill of salt. Didn't go running yesterday, but I think it's for the best; my legs complained so much after the run on Tuesday that I figure it's better to let them rest a little.
Coffee time.
Toodles!
Post Script: I have discovered that I have the reflexes of a ninja. I just accidentally knocked my lunch off my desk, and caught it before I'd even realised it had fallen. Nothing even spilled. I am officially awesome.
Best Friday ever.
I swear, I'm more productive when I have a list of things to do than when he's making it up as he goes along; I haven't been on Reddit once this morning, but so far I've wiped eleven computers, and of those I took half a dozen and put floppy drives in them; later today I'll put a new image on them, if I can. I also have two computers that I swapped out and a profile to restore, as well as some (technically optional) Active Directory stuff to do, of which I've already got a large chunk done, because I did it while waiting for the computers to wipe.
Damned if I haven't done more today already than I've done all week - though it's hard to get anything done when one has to sit and supervise contractors - so that explains some of it.
So that's been exciting.
I think I like working alone. I get to listen to the radio station I want (which today happens to be Praise 106.5... Yeah - it was the most tolerable option that was not Classic Rock).
Time to go see if there's coffee somewhere. Cos I (really don't) need caffeine right now...
Also, after work: more lifting. Awww yeahhh.
Speaking of which, got a bunch of random tips from an older guy at the gym on Wednesday, most of which (though, granted, given with all the best intentions) I believe to be broscience and will be taken with a heaping hill of salt. Didn't go running yesterday, but I think it's for the best; my legs complained so much after the run on Tuesday that I figure it's better to let them rest a little.
Coffee time.
Toodles!
Post Script: I have discovered that I have the reflexes of a ninja. I just accidentally knocked my lunch off my desk, and caught it before I'd even realised it had fallen. Nothing even spilled. I am officially awesome.
Best Friday ever.
26.6.13
In which I'm bored.
And thus goes the third day in a row of sitting in a boardroom watching contractors set up video-conferencing.
I started Sense and Sensibility yesterday while sitting here, finished it about ten minutes ago - and all the reading I did was in here over the course of, what? 8-9 hours total? Also, one of the guys is a drummer, so we had a conversation about music just now.
Still sore today from my workout on Monday - more sore, in fact, than I was yesterday, but then again it probably didn't help that I decided that a run would be a good idea for days I wasn't at the gym... Which reminds me, I'm due to be back at the gym tonight yet. Ow. Will probably have to deload a little for my squats so I don't die completely... I will probably also go a little later than I did on Monday; too many people taking up space in my weightroom. I had to go kill about ten minutes on the treadmill before I could use the squat rack.
And that reminds me. Why do gymbros never put away their weights when they're done with them??? It's basic kindergarten stuff, to clean up after yourself. But I can never find anything because they never put it away. It's ridiculous and very frustrating.
Anyhow, I knew I'd finish S&S (and I'd finished P&P on Sunday - oh yes! I acquired copies of Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Sense and Sensibility on Saturday by trading in my Terry Goodkind books at a used bookstore for credit! Library is being improved!), so I cleverly brought The Fellowship Of The Ring with me for my next piece of literary immersion, so I'm off to do that.
Toodles all.
I started Sense and Sensibility yesterday while sitting here, finished it about ten minutes ago - and all the reading I did was in here over the course of, what? 8-9 hours total? Also, one of the guys is a drummer, so we had a conversation about music just now.
Still sore today from my workout on Monday - more sore, in fact, than I was yesterday, but then again it probably didn't help that I decided that a run would be a good idea for days I wasn't at the gym... Which reminds me, I'm due to be back at the gym tonight yet. Ow. Will probably have to deload a little for my squats so I don't die completely... I will probably also go a little later than I did on Monday; too many people taking up space in my weightroom. I had to go kill about ten minutes on the treadmill before I could use the squat rack.
And that reminds me. Why do gymbros never put away their weights when they're done with them??? It's basic kindergarten stuff, to clean up after yourself. But I can never find anything because they never put it away. It's ridiculous and very frustrating.
Anyhow, I knew I'd finish S&S (and I'd finished P&P on Sunday - oh yes! I acquired copies of Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, and Sense and Sensibility on Saturday by trading in my Terry Goodkind books at a used bookstore for credit! Library is being improved!), so I cleverly brought The Fellowship Of The Ring with me for my next piece of literary immersion, so I'm off to do that.
Toodles all.
24.6.13
In which I obsess about lifting and more lifting. Also the end of the Dying Adventure.
So I would consider today to be reasonably successful, for a Monday.
I overslept by 15 minutes (yay alarm not going off) but luckily, I had already made my lunch, so that was nice. Work was work, as it always is; installed two secondary monitors, watched some contractors putting video-conferencing equipment up in a boardroom, slept at my desk... but the best part was after work: I kicked myself into gear and went to the gym! Yay!
Numbers for the day are:
-- Squat -- 125lb
-- Bench -- 75lb
-- Dead -- 135lb
... which means I'm almost back to my highest weights; April 8th I made 130 on my squats and 140 on deadlifts. Took a two month break and went back June 8th; went today for the first time since then. Not so shabby for taking so much time off.
Plus, some guy was all impressed that I was using the bench at all; as he said (and as I well know), "most women don't benchpress." We swapped off between sets and I felt kind of pathetic cos my weights were peanuts for him - he used it as a warm-up and then threw 45lb plates on either end for his second set! Ah well, maybe one day I'll lift a pair of 45lb plates for my bench...
I plan to go running after work tomorrow and Thursday, and then back to the gym Wednesday and Friday. This will be the week of early bedtimes for Lizzi. But I'm hoping to keep this up for a while, we'll see how it goes. I may eventually decide not to run so much as that - to be honest, I kind of hate running. My darling papa is determined to share with all his children the wonderfulness of running - the man runs 10kms on a near-daily basis, and runs from Abbotsford to Langley every year! I ran with him once, because he asked me to, but I really don't like it. Vice versa, I love weightlifting, and I keep telling him he should try it - I ran with him, so he should come lifting with me. It's only fair, right?
But for now I'm including running because my friend has convinced me to join in a dodgeball tournament for charity in Richmond in July, so I'm going to need to run. Bah. My no likey.
On a completely different note, an update on the Dying Adventure: the black dye didn't do what I wanted it to do - not quite, anyhow. I may have to order better black online. RIT DYE, Y U SUCK SO BAD?
The green linen came out a dark khaki/army green, and the mauve silk came out an interesting purple-grey. Neither of which is terribly bad, but wasn't what I wanted. Although, I expected the silk wouldn't behave itself anyhow, because of being a different type of fibre, so that wasn't too disappointing.
The blue, on the other hand, I am quite happy with still, and it will make a fantastic dress.
So that's it.
Toodles!
I overslept by 15 minutes (yay alarm not going off) but luckily, I had already made my lunch, so that was nice. Work was work, as it always is; installed two secondary monitors, watched some contractors putting video-conferencing equipment up in a boardroom, slept at my desk... but the best part was after work: I kicked myself into gear and went to the gym! Yay!
Numbers for the day are:
-- Squat -- 125lb
-- Bench -- 75lb
-- Dead -- 135lb
... which means I'm almost back to my highest weights; April 8th I made 130 on my squats and 140 on deadlifts. Took a two month break and went back June 8th; went today for the first time since then. Not so shabby for taking so much time off.
Plus, some guy was all impressed that I was using the bench at all; as he said (and as I well know), "most women don't benchpress." We swapped off between sets and I felt kind of pathetic cos my weights were peanuts for him - he used it as a warm-up and then threw 45lb plates on either end for his second set! Ah well, maybe one day I'll lift a pair of 45lb plates for my bench...
I plan to go running after work tomorrow and Thursday, and then back to the gym Wednesday and Friday. This will be the week of early bedtimes for Lizzi. But I'm hoping to keep this up for a while, we'll see how it goes. I may eventually decide not to run so much as that - to be honest, I kind of hate running. My darling papa is determined to share with all his children the wonderfulness of running - the man runs 10kms on a near-daily basis, and runs from Abbotsford to Langley every year! I ran with him once, because he asked me to, but I really don't like it. Vice versa, I love weightlifting, and I keep telling him he should try it - I ran with him, so he should come lifting with me. It's only fair, right?
But for now I'm including running because my friend has convinced me to join in a dodgeball tournament for charity in Richmond in July, so I'm going to need to run. Bah. My no likey.
On a completely different note, an update on the Dying Adventure: the black dye didn't do what I wanted it to do - not quite, anyhow. I may have to order better black online. RIT DYE, Y U SUCK SO BAD?
The green linen came out a dark khaki/army green, and the mauve silk came out an interesting purple-grey. Neither of which is terribly bad, but wasn't what I wanted. Although, I expected the silk wouldn't behave itself anyhow, because of being a different type of fibre, so that wasn't too disappointing.
The blue, on the other hand, I am quite happy with still, and it will make a fantastic dress.
So that's it.
Toodles!
23.6.13
Adventures in Dying
No, that's not dying as in death.
That's dying as in colouring fabric with dye.
Last week I decided that some linen needed to be blue to make a new medieval short-sleeved overgown to go with my current green one - or to be worn separately if it's warm out. However, no blue linen existed in my house, though I had a fair quantity of white. It was decided (by me) that dye was cheaper than more fabric, as well as more efficient since I already had enough fabric, just not the right colour.
So I bought the blue, and while I was at it, I bought some black dye too. Not predictable at all, right? (laughs at self)
I also went to VV Boutique and picked up a 2-3 gallon pot for use exclusively for such things - I didn't want to ruin my good pots!
Friday night I did the blue. Somehow the Dye Gods were with me and it came out pretty much exactly the colour I wanted, which is rather unexpected for a first time dying. Though I did get a couple blotchy spots, which is unfortunate but can be worked around.
This afternoon I did the black stuff. I still had a fair length of the lime-green linen left over from the afore-mentioned green medieval dress, and I had at least a good 4-5 metres of a mauve silk that (if I recall correctly) was a lucky acquisition from a thrift store, both of which seemed like they'd be better in black. They're currently hanging to dry so I can see exactly what colours they came out before I run them properly through the wash; I'm still afraid that the lime-green will come out dark brown and the silk will be a dark purple - there's not much risk of it, but I'm still terrified that it'll be one of those unexpected results.
Honestly, though, dying fabric is a daunting undertaking for a perfectionist. Depending on the fibre type and the method used and the length of time in the dyebath and the concentration of the dyebath and the size and permeability of the length of fabric - well, let's just say the results are not always exactly what you want them to be. This is stressful for me as a perfectionist, because I want to know that it will come out this way if I do these things, and there just really is no way to do that.
So that's adventures in dying. Now to wait for the two black (I hope) pieces to dry.
Toodles all.
That's dying as in colouring fabric with dye.
Last week I decided that some linen needed to be blue to make a new medieval short-sleeved overgown to go with my current green one - or to be worn separately if it's warm out. However, no blue linen existed in my house, though I had a fair quantity of white. It was decided (by me) that dye was cheaper than more fabric, as well as more efficient since I already had enough fabric, just not the right colour.
So I bought the blue, and while I was at it, I bought some black dye too. Not predictable at all, right? (laughs at self)
I also went to VV Boutique and picked up a 2-3 gallon pot for use exclusively for such things - I didn't want to ruin my good pots!
Friday night I did the blue. Somehow the Dye Gods were with me and it came out pretty much exactly the colour I wanted, which is rather unexpected for a first time dying. Though I did get a couple blotchy spots, which is unfortunate but can be worked around.
This afternoon I did the black stuff. I still had a fair length of the lime-green linen left over from the afore-mentioned green medieval dress, and I had at least a good 4-5 metres of a mauve silk that (if I recall correctly) was a lucky acquisition from a thrift store, both of which seemed like they'd be better in black. They're currently hanging to dry so I can see exactly what colours they came out before I run them properly through the wash; I'm still afraid that the lime-green will come out dark brown and the silk will be a dark purple - there's not much risk of it, but I'm still terrified that it'll be one of those unexpected results.
Honestly, though, dying fabric is a daunting undertaking for a perfectionist. Depending on the fibre type and the method used and the length of time in the dyebath and the concentration of the dyebath and the size and permeability of the length of fabric - well, let's just say the results are not always exactly what you want them to be. This is stressful for me as a perfectionist, because I want to know that it will come out this way if I do these things, and there just really is no way to do that.
So that's adventures in dying. Now to wait for the two black (I hope) pieces to dry.
Toodles all.
17.6.13
Another Monday post. Sorry.
Well, here is Monday.
I keep falling asleep over my desk. Not good. Probably didn't get enough sleep over the weekend.
However, I feel rather accomplished: Friday night after work I cleaned my entire kitchen and bathroom, and then Saturday morning I cleaned my living room. Bedroom's next, if I'm still awake when I get home. I may need a nap first. But either way, it's nice to walk through a clean house. Here's hoping I can keep it that way.
Saturday I went hiking with a new friend. We sat in the sunshine for several hours, and I got thoroughly burnt on my arms and shoulders; I'm red as a lobster. It's been uncomfortable to sleep on, I tell you. The hike was glorious, though, and the view was amazing, and I went up in my awesome Vibram FiveFinger toe shoes, which was fun. First time I've hiked in them. I did slide a little bit down a hill at one point, and got a wee scrape on my hand, but otherwise they were good.
People have been drilling holes in the walls of my office at work - apparently cable needs to be put in place, so we have contractors coming in and getting concrete and drywall dust all over. At least they know to put plastic over top first; and they also vacuum up after themselves, which is nice I have to say, though the concrete drilling is very very noisy.
Side comment: I have also started re-reading Pride and Prejudice for my own edification and amusement - the improvement of the mind by extensive reading, you know.
And now I'm counting down the last half-hour before I get to go home and have a proper nap: thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-muffin, twenty-orange, monkey, shoe, umbrella, fork, here we go 'round the mulberry bush...
Toodles all, I'm going to sleep now...
I keep falling asleep over my desk. Not good. Probably didn't get enough sleep over the weekend.
However, I feel rather accomplished: Friday night after work I cleaned my entire kitchen and bathroom, and then Saturday morning I cleaned my living room. Bedroom's next, if I'm still awake when I get home. I may need a nap first. But either way, it's nice to walk through a clean house. Here's hoping I can keep it that way.
Saturday I went hiking with a new friend. We sat in the sunshine for several hours, and I got thoroughly burnt on my arms and shoulders; I'm red as a lobster. It's been uncomfortable to sleep on, I tell you. The hike was glorious, though, and the view was amazing, and I went up in my awesome Vibram FiveFinger toe shoes, which was fun. First time I've hiked in them. I did slide a little bit down a hill at one point, and got a wee scrape on my hand, but otherwise they were good.
People have been drilling holes in the walls of my office at work - apparently cable needs to be put in place, so we have contractors coming in and getting concrete and drywall dust all over. At least they know to put plastic over top first; and they also vacuum up after themselves, which is nice I have to say, though the concrete drilling is very very noisy.
Side comment: I have also started re-reading Pride and Prejudice for my own edification and amusement - the improvement of the mind by extensive reading, you know.
And now I'm counting down the last half-hour before I get to go home and have a proper nap: thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-muffin, twenty-orange, monkey, shoe, umbrella, fork, here we go 'round the mulberry bush...
Toodles all, I'm going to sleep now...
14.6.13
In which I do stuff, I receive stuff, and I break stuff. Well, Dad broke it first.
Well this should be interesting. I'm running the show at work at my secondary site this afternoon after setting up a projector for a slideshow. Then next week I'm doing the same at the primary site on Monday and Wednesday both. Oy vey. I don't know if I'm up to being the boss all by myself yet. But gotta do what gotta do, neh?
Oh, and my co-workers know me rather well already.
I got to work this morning and there was a book on my desk, which I got told was for me. It's a True Blood cookbook. Apparently I appear to be one of those people who appreciates vampires. Hah. My one co-worker gets books like that from HBO for being a good customer. I dunno. All I know is that I'm taking this thing home with great pleasure.
Ironically, I don't even watch the show. I've seen bits of episodes, and read bits of the books it's based on, but I haven't really gotten into it the same way I got into Doctor Who for example.
I just love that my co-workers know me that well. I even tone my clothing down for work on purpose - but I guess once a goth, always a goth...
Something else that happened the other day: I used to have a cute little blue-plastic-cased typewriter. It wasn't working properly, so on Wednesday I opened it up and fixed it. But then I found another problem with it, and while I was poring over it, my dad turned up at my house; he was waiting for someone and my house was close so he dropped in. I showed him the problem, and he said, oh, here, let me look. And accidentally broke it altogether. Whoops. So yesterday I pulled it to bits with a screwdriver, because I was in a mood and needed something to destroy, and since it was already broken, it didn't matter so much. So that worked out, and now I have typewriter keys and letter hammers and all those good things. Plus I felt better after.
So that's it. Toodles.
Oh, and my co-workers know me rather well already.
I got to work this morning and there was a book on my desk, which I got told was for me. It's a True Blood cookbook. Apparently I appear to be one of those people who appreciates vampires. Hah. My one co-worker gets books like that from HBO for being a good customer. I dunno. All I know is that I'm taking this thing home with great pleasure.
Ironically, I don't even watch the show. I've seen bits of episodes, and read bits of the books it's based on, but I haven't really gotten into it the same way I got into Doctor Who for example.
I just love that my co-workers know me that well. I even tone my clothing down for work on purpose - but I guess once a goth, always a goth...
Something else that happened the other day: I used to have a cute little blue-plastic-cased typewriter. It wasn't working properly, so on Wednesday I opened it up and fixed it. But then I found another problem with it, and while I was poring over it, my dad turned up at my house; he was waiting for someone and my house was close so he dropped in. I showed him the problem, and he said, oh, here, let me look. And accidentally broke it altogether. Whoops. So yesterday I pulled it to bits with a screwdriver, because I was in a mood and needed something to destroy, and since it was already broken, it didn't matter so much. So that worked out, and now I have typewriter keys and letter hammers and all those good things. Plus I felt better after.
So that's it. Toodles.
12.6.13
Computers are frustrating, and I have stuff in my house.
Once again, I took a two day break from The Blog. My excuse is that life has been slow and work has been busy, both of which conspire to give me little material and little time, respectively, for blogging.
I do have two computers that I was supposed to reimage that have not been cooperating. I even wiped them both completely before reimaging, and still nothing worked. So they're currently sitting in the Corner of Shame with labels slapped on them that reads remorselessly in Large Black Letters DIESE MITARBEITEN NICHT* because they pissed me off. However, I think I might have something else up my sleeve to try on them, I'm attempting it right now, but it'll be about half an hour before I know whether it works or not.
*(and if my grammar is dreadful, I'm not surprised; Ich spreche nur ein klitzeklein bisschen Deutsch, and most of it from Google Translate. Please don't hate me.)
In other news, my beloved mother painted a beautiful pair of side tables and a matching coffee table for me, so I had to rearrange my living room for them - the side tables were to go on either side of my couch, but I had fabric and miscellany tucked around it that I had to move first, so my living room is in a bit of a state of disarray. It's mostly things that I couldn't find a place for when I first moved in, so now I'm going through them, and I already have half a box of trash as a result, which feels rather good. The coffee table is still in my mother's hands, I believe it needed a touch-up, but that's fine considering the state of my living room. There's no way it would fit at present. The unfortunate thing is that I'll need coasters now, because of the finish. I'll probably end up making some geeky ones (especially now that I have my sewing machine back....!).
Anyways, I must go and tend to the recalcitrant computer soon, it's almost at the stage where it would break if it's going to...
Toodles!
I do have two computers that I was supposed to reimage that have not been cooperating. I even wiped them both completely before reimaging, and still nothing worked. So they're currently sitting in the Corner of Shame with labels slapped on them that reads remorselessly in Large Black Letters DIESE MITARBEITEN NICHT* because they pissed me off. However, I think I might have something else up my sleeve to try on them, I'm attempting it right now, but it'll be about half an hour before I know whether it works or not.
*(and if my grammar is dreadful, I'm not surprised; Ich spreche nur ein klitzeklein bisschen Deutsch, and most of it from Google Translate. Please don't hate me.)
In other news, my beloved mother painted a beautiful pair of side tables and a matching coffee table for me, so I had to rearrange my living room for them - the side tables were to go on either side of my couch, but I had fabric and miscellany tucked around it that I had to move first, so my living room is in a bit of a state of disarray. It's mostly things that I couldn't find a place for when I first moved in, so now I'm going through them, and I already have half a box of trash as a result, which feels rather good. The coffee table is still in my mother's hands, I believe it needed a touch-up, but that's fine considering the state of my living room. There's no way it would fit at present. The unfortunate thing is that I'll need coasters now, because of the finish. I'll probably end up making some geeky ones (especially now that I have my sewing machine back....!).
Anyways, I must go and tend to the recalcitrant computer soon, it's almost at the stage where it would break if it's going to...
Toodles!
10.6.13
Stuff that surprisingly worked out well, and some factoids I found out.
Well, good morning.
It's Monday.
I had a somewhat interesting weekend.
After the events of Thursday (in which the wrong size inner tube was purchased and Math was used to explain why this is a Very Bad Thing), I did get back to Canadian Tire on Friday to exchange it for the right size. Saturday morning I put it on the bike (and adjusted the back brake callipers while I was at it, because those were all messed up) and rode off to the gym for the first time in a couple months.
Where, despite a couple-month break, I got within 10lbs of my highest weights on squats and deadlifts, and didn't go down in weight at all on bench press. So that felt good - well, up until Sunday morning, at which point the soreness started.... Still sore now, by the way, two days later. Whoops.
Anyways, I came out of the gym to find:
The same damn tire was flat again.
At this point I decided I would bite the bullet and attempt a patch. I'm terrified of patching inner tubes, because there's rubber cement involved and all kinds of weird things. But I wasn't going to buy a whole new inner tube a second time in two days. Not happening. So I stopped in at Canadian Tire again, while walking my bike home from the gym with rubber legs (so much fun). Got home and patched it. I know, it's a little anticlimactic. I also went over my tire to see if there was anything poking into the inner tube - and there was a tiny piece of wire stuck in the tire such that it wasn't visible from the outside (believe me, I checked), so I pulled that out with some pliers. It hasn't given me any trouble so far, and I got to ride to work this morning, finally!
Saturday was also my best friend's birthday, so I picked up a birthday present and went home to have a cup of tea before my ride showed up - and then realised 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave that I hadn't got a card for her. So I made a five minute card, but in the process of searching for materials for it, found something in a box that made my life so much easier.
And here I just need to introduce a rabbit trail that I promise makes sense: I own a Bernina 708 sewing machine. I call it a tank. It looks a little something like this:
And in the process of moving to my new little basement suite, I had lost the presser foot, which made me sad. On Saturday after the gym, Canadian Tire was not the only place I went; there was a quilting store on the way as well, and I stopped to inquire about the possibility of ordering a new foot. Well. Apparently presser feet for old machines like mine run about $50-$60 because it's a special order. So, at home, while looking for materials for a card, I found my presser foot - I had packed it in a smaller box of miscellany and had just never opened it since the move.
I almost did a happy dance.
So I'll be sewing stuff this summer. YAY.
In other news, why (or perhaps how) do Germans have a word for everything? I found out this weekend that they have a word for that feeling you get when you watch a movie/tv show, and you end up cringing on the characters' behalf. This is a feeling that my dad and I share; when anything particularly cringeworthy is on tv or whatever (particularly Mr. Bean and similar humour), we frequently find ourselves having to leave the room/fastforward/hide under blankets/plug our ears... anything to stop the cringe. But as I was saying, there is actually a German term for this. Fremdscham. In its constituent parts it basically means Other Shame; feeling shame on another's behalf, in other words.
German also has a word for the pain that some women feel when they ovulate: Mittelschmerz: Middle Pain. Seriously, they have a word for everything.
Anyways, happy Monday, everyone.
Toodles.
It's Monday.
I had a somewhat interesting weekend.
After the events of Thursday (in which the wrong size inner tube was purchased and Math was used to explain why this is a Very Bad Thing), I did get back to Canadian Tire on Friday to exchange it for the right size. Saturday morning I put it on the bike (and adjusted the back brake callipers while I was at it, because those were all messed up) and rode off to the gym for the first time in a couple months.
Where, despite a couple-month break, I got within 10lbs of my highest weights on squats and deadlifts, and didn't go down in weight at all on bench press. So that felt good - well, up until Sunday morning, at which point the soreness started.... Still sore now, by the way, two days later. Whoops.
Anyways, I came out of the gym to find:
The same damn tire was flat again.
At this point I decided I would bite the bullet and attempt a patch. I'm terrified of patching inner tubes, because there's rubber cement involved and all kinds of weird things. But I wasn't going to buy a whole new inner tube a second time in two days. Not happening. So I stopped in at Canadian Tire again, while walking my bike home from the gym with rubber legs (so much fun). Got home and patched it. I know, it's a little anticlimactic. I also went over my tire to see if there was anything poking into the inner tube - and there was a tiny piece of wire stuck in the tire such that it wasn't visible from the outside (believe me, I checked), so I pulled that out with some pliers. It hasn't given me any trouble so far, and I got to ride to work this morning, finally!
Saturday was also my best friend's birthday, so I picked up a birthday present and went home to have a cup of tea before my ride showed up - and then realised 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave that I hadn't got a card for her. So I made a five minute card, but in the process of searching for materials for it, found something in a box that made my life so much easier.
And here I just need to introduce a rabbit trail that I promise makes sense: I own a Bernina 708 sewing machine. I call it a tank. It looks a little something like this:
And in the process of moving to my new little basement suite, I had lost the presser foot, which made me sad. On Saturday after the gym, Canadian Tire was not the only place I went; there was a quilting store on the way as well, and I stopped to inquire about the possibility of ordering a new foot. Well. Apparently presser feet for old machines like mine run about $50-$60 because it's a special order. So, at home, while looking for materials for a card, I found my presser foot - I had packed it in a smaller box of miscellany and had just never opened it since the move.
I almost did a happy dance.
So I'll be sewing stuff this summer. YAY.
In other news, why (or perhaps how) do Germans have a word for everything? I found out this weekend that they have a word for that feeling you get when you watch a movie/tv show, and you end up cringing on the characters' behalf. This is a feeling that my dad and I share; when anything particularly cringeworthy is on tv or whatever (particularly Mr. Bean and similar humour), we frequently find ourselves having to leave the room/fastforward/hide under blankets/plug our ears... anything to stop the cringe. But as I was saying, there is actually a German term for this. Fremdscham. In its constituent parts it basically means Other Shame; feeling shame on another's behalf, in other words.
German also has a word for the pain that some women feel when they ovulate: Mittelschmerz: Middle Pain. Seriously, they have a word for everything.
Anyways, happy Monday, everyone.
Toodles.
7.6.13
It's been a while?
And by a while, I mean two days. Two whole days without a blog from me. Oh dear, however did you survive? (says the girl who didn't blog for an entire eight-month stretch; yes, I'm laughing at myself.)
My excuse is, the last two days were legitimately busy at work. I was running around dealing with printers and monitors and PS2-type keyboards that may or may not have had a sticky key that was causing the computer to reboot constantly and it doesn't matter anyway because I just stuck a USB keyboard on the desk, plugged it in, and it magically worked. Who knows. I wiped a handful of computers, imaged a handful of computers, and would have ghosted a new colour photocopier but the firmware was newer than the one it was replacing, so I had to put settings in by hand.
I won't judge you if you only understand some of that. I won't even judge you if you don't understand any of that. I am just so nice and non-judgey.
Wednesday I got paid, at last, and I even got to keep some of it for myself. It was nice to finally buy groceries without limiting myself to $20 for a week's worth. Those who know of my paleolithic eating habits will know how bothered I was at having to eat KD and Mr Noodles simply because they're cheap. I bought a bag of breakfasty stuff to try, because why not, and laughed at it - it's ground flaxseed, nothing else, labelled PowerFlax in big red letters, and touted as being sponsors of the BC Lions. Damned Manly Breakfast, I call it, and texture-wise it's like cream of wheat and egg whites had a baby; but it's not bad. For groceries, I still eventually have to pick up some beef and bacon.
I am also tempted, for meat, to go rabbit hunting with my dad, he with his WristRocket and me with Gwenny.
Whoa. Hold up. I haven't mentioned Gwenny on my blog, have I? She got shared on Instagram and Facebook, but she happened during the eight-month Dark Night Of The Blog. The story is, I was researching stuff for fun and profit, and I happened to be researching bows. Like, the kind you shoot. And I researched, and researched, as I do, and I said to myself after the fourth hour, "I can do this."
So I did. I bought a long-enough piece of hickory to even lop off a 12" piece and glue it on the middle for a handle riser; I shaped, sanded, and tillered it, all in my living room; and I bought a couple small spools of B50 Dacron and made a white/black bowstring. All in all, took around 2-3 days. She pulls around 35lbs, which is not bad for a first bow, and I regularly take it into the backyard and kill a particular stump sitting there. I may yet back her with linen or silk cos that will keep her from exploding if she breaks, but for now I'm content.
Anyways, I might take her out and shoot rabbits one Saturday morning. For Science. Yep.
Last night was fun too, but in a less fun way than groceries. My bike's back tire has been flat for the last week and a half or so, but Poor Me has had no money to get a new inner tube, so I've just been hoofing it everywhere. So last night I hoofed it to Canadian Tire to get said new tube, and didn't think beforehand about checking the size I needed. Bought a size too big. But of course, because tires and whatnot are all measured in diameter, not circumference, one inch's size difference in the diameter means it's actually 3.1415926 inches longer around. The end result being, the inner tube was too long to fit inside the tire. So I now have to exchange it for the correct size. I was mad though; it buggered up my plans for the evening, which were, namely, to buy myself a beer and go hang out at my parents' house because bicycle.
And this morning I had an odd dream: I had black corkscrew-curly hair that I had to brush flat before it would behave itself, and the tenants upstairs were digging holes in the walls of, and otherwise dismantling, my bathroom - they said there was a fly behind the wall and they had to get it out because it was bothering them. Then I had my youngest sister over and we went for a walk and passed some people I knew, but they didn't recognise me, and I blame the sunglasses I was wearing. Anyways.
So that brings me, with a terrible and fully unrelated segue, to my final thoughts of the day: I was interested, when I was looking at my blog stats (because I don't know about you, but I am intrigued by the blog visits/views/viewer statistics), to see that my feministic rant from last week is actually among the top five viewed posts on my blog, out of every post I've ever written here. The other four are my comments on pretty boys, on things I smelled one day, on the TV shows I like (though Doctor Who ought to now be at the top of that list), and (oh, the memories) on being a fitting room attendant. I don't know why I find that fascinating, but I do. Partly because people prefer to read particular things over other things, perhaps. At any rate, I'm glad you people appreciated my rant as much as you seem to have. I know one friend said I was her hero as a result of that post, which I am really not sure I deserve, but I'm definitely rather flattered by.
That's it. Toodles!
My excuse is, the last two days were legitimately busy at work. I was running around dealing with printers and monitors and PS2-type keyboards that may or may not have had a sticky key that was causing the computer to reboot constantly and it doesn't matter anyway because I just stuck a USB keyboard on the desk, plugged it in, and it magically worked. Who knows. I wiped a handful of computers, imaged a handful of computers, and would have ghosted a new colour photocopier but the firmware was newer than the one it was replacing, so I had to put settings in by hand.
I won't judge you if you only understand some of that. I won't even judge you if you don't understand any of that. I am just so nice and non-judgey.
Wednesday I got paid, at last, and I even got to keep some of it for myself. It was nice to finally buy groceries without limiting myself to $20 for a week's worth. Those who know of my paleolithic eating habits will know how bothered I was at having to eat KD and Mr Noodles simply because they're cheap. I bought a bag of breakfasty stuff to try, because why not, and laughed at it - it's ground flaxseed, nothing else, labelled PowerFlax in big red letters, and touted as being sponsors of the BC Lions. Damned Manly Breakfast, I call it, and texture-wise it's like cream of wheat and egg whites had a baby; but it's not bad. For groceries, I still eventually have to pick up some beef and bacon.
I am also tempted, for meat, to go rabbit hunting with my dad, he with his WristRocket and me with Gwenny.
Whoa. Hold up. I haven't mentioned Gwenny on my blog, have I? She got shared on Instagram and Facebook, but she happened during the eight-month Dark Night Of The Blog. The story is, I was researching stuff for fun and profit, and I happened to be researching bows. Like, the kind you shoot. And I researched, and researched, as I do, and I said to myself after the fourth hour, "I can do this."
So I did. I bought a long-enough piece of hickory to even lop off a 12" piece and glue it on the middle for a handle riser; I shaped, sanded, and tillered it, all in my living room; and I bought a couple small spools of B50 Dacron and made a white/black bowstring. All in all, took around 2-3 days. She pulls around 35lbs, which is not bad for a first bow, and I regularly take it into the backyard and kill a particular stump sitting there. I may yet back her with linen or silk cos that will keep her from exploding if she breaks, but for now I'm content.
Anyways, I might take her out and shoot rabbits one Saturday morning. For Science. Yep.
Last night was fun too, but in a less fun way than groceries. My bike's back tire has been flat for the last week and a half or so, but Poor Me has had no money to get a new inner tube, so I've just been hoofing it everywhere. So last night I hoofed it to Canadian Tire to get said new tube, and didn't think beforehand about checking the size I needed. Bought a size too big. But of course, because tires and whatnot are all measured in diameter, not circumference, one inch's size difference in the diameter means it's actually 3.1415926 inches longer around. The end result being, the inner tube was too long to fit inside the tire. So I now have to exchange it for the correct size. I was mad though; it buggered up my plans for the evening, which were, namely, to buy myself a beer and go hang out at my parents' house because bicycle.
And this morning I had an odd dream: I had black corkscrew-curly hair that I had to brush flat before it would behave itself, and the tenants upstairs were digging holes in the walls of, and otherwise dismantling, my bathroom - they said there was a fly behind the wall and they had to get it out because it was bothering them. Then I had my youngest sister over and we went for a walk and passed some people I knew, but they didn't recognise me, and I blame the sunglasses I was wearing. Anyways.
So that brings me, with a terrible and fully unrelated segue, to my final thoughts of the day: I was interested, when I was looking at my blog stats (because I don't know about you, but I am intrigued by the blog visits/views/viewer statistics), to see that my feministic rant from last week is actually among the top five viewed posts on my blog, out of every post I've ever written here. The other four are my comments on pretty boys, on things I smelled one day, on the TV shows I like (though Doctor Who ought to now be at the top of that list), and (oh, the memories) on being a fitting room attendant. I don't know why I find that fascinating, but I do. Partly because people prefer to read particular things over other things, perhaps. At any rate, I'm glad you people appreciated my rant as much as you seem to have. I know one friend said I was her hero as a result of that post, which I am really not sure I deserve, but I'm definitely rather flattered by.
That's it. Toodles!
3.6.13
Thoughts on the OUYA.
This weekend I catsat for a friend. This friend was generous enough to let me bring my OUYA over and use her tv to try it out - because she does have a nice big tv. As a result, I got several hours to mess around and figure out how it worked and all, and these are my initial thoughts.
_________________
Pairing the controller: fairly easy, though not particularly intuitive, because the button you use isn't obviously a button. It usually reconnects without problem at successive bootups.
Attaching to wifi: not too bad. But the UI for switching from the keyboard to wifi popup is less intuitive than pairing the controller was. Also, it got confused after I logged in as myself, and decided it was no longer attached to the wifi, and wouldn't scan properly. Fortunately, it's Android. All I had to do was turn wifi off and back on again in the settings, and voila. Wifi restored.
The UI in general takes some getting used to, and there's a funny little touchpad in the controller itself, between the left analog stick and the four buttons which, when you put your finger on it, shows up as a mouse on the screen. The GUI is not the greatest - not a fan of the colour scheme, mostly - but the labels and menus are not too hard to understand, though some of the game categories aren't clearly indicative of what they mean. I do wish there was an option in the games menu for "Newest games".
Indeed, most of any beef I have with the OUYA is with the games themselves. Not even with the quality (which, I have to admit, isn't the most amazing ever, but it's definitely tolerable) but with the button mapping and the fact that it's near impossible to properly exit a handful of them.
The button mapping is the biggest problem - in most cases they make sense, but one or two games use the buttons completely differently than any other game, or even the OUYA menu itself. In an OUYA context, usually the A button means "go back". In a few of the games I tried, it does no such thing. If you want to go back you have to press some other button. It's frustrating, but that's just one example.
As far as exiting games, sometimes the only thing you can do is press the center button (the same semi-hidden one I mentioned, for pairing controllers) - similarly to the Home button on an Android phone. As far as I'm aware, that is just like minimising the game, and it's still in the background. I could be wrong. But if that is the case, that's really impractical and simply takes up memory.
I did have a fun time messing around with Final Fantasy III - first time I've played FF of any kind. Yes, I was a sheltered child. But now I have joined the ranks of gamers everywhere. Or something like that, I think.
I also found a puzzle game vaguely reminiscent of Portal, called Polarity; I'm quite looking forward to playing that one through, it looks promising.
Overall game quality was not quite up to playstation/xbox standards, particularly in the graphics department, but I don't find that particularly offputting. I rather found it endearing more than anything. Although some of the games available were in a highly unfinished state, which I found frustrating. The other frustrating thing is the low number of currently available games, but I'm sure more will come.
In summary, I feel like the OUYA is for adult gamers what the Wii is for kids; a fun toy. I don't mean that in a condescending way, what I mean is that it doesn't look like it'll have big shiny expensive games, but it doesn't need those either. It has its share of darker games already, but it still feels much more light-hearted and relaxed. If that even makes sense. It doesn't have any delusions of grandeur - it's got a swingset and hopscotch to play with, and it's happy there.
Also, as someone who hasn't really played video games til now, it was fairly easy to get the hang of, which says they did something right.
And I enjoyed it, too.
So that's my initial impression. I can't wait til I have a proper screen to attach it to, so I can play through Polarity properly.
Toodles!
_________________
Pairing the controller: fairly easy, though not particularly intuitive, because the button you use isn't obviously a button. It usually reconnects without problem at successive bootups.
Attaching to wifi: not too bad. But the UI for switching from the keyboard to wifi popup is less intuitive than pairing the controller was. Also, it got confused after I logged in as myself, and decided it was no longer attached to the wifi, and wouldn't scan properly. Fortunately, it's Android. All I had to do was turn wifi off and back on again in the settings, and voila. Wifi restored.
The UI in general takes some getting used to, and there's a funny little touchpad in the controller itself, between the left analog stick and the four buttons which, when you put your finger on it, shows up as a mouse on the screen. The GUI is not the greatest - not a fan of the colour scheme, mostly - but the labels and menus are not too hard to understand, though some of the game categories aren't clearly indicative of what they mean. I do wish there was an option in the games menu for "Newest games".
Indeed, most of any beef I have with the OUYA is with the games themselves. Not even with the quality (which, I have to admit, isn't the most amazing ever, but it's definitely tolerable) but with the button mapping and the fact that it's near impossible to properly exit a handful of them.
The button mapping is the biggest problem - in most cases they make sense, but one or two games use the buttons completely differently than any other game, or even the OUYA menu itself. In an OUYA context, usually the A button means "go back". In a few of the games I tried, it does no such thing. If you want to go back you have to press some other button. It's frustrating, but that's just one example.
As far as exiting games, sometimes the only thing you can do is press the center button (the same semi-hidden one I mentioned, for pairing controllers) - similarly to the Home button on an Android phone. As far as I'm aware, that is just like minimising the game, and it's still in the background. I could be wrong. But if that is the case, that's really impractical and simply takes up memory.
I did have a fun time messing around with Final Fantasy III - first time I've played FF of any kind. Yes, I was a sheltered child. But now I have joined the ranks of gamers everywhere. Or something like that, I think.
I also found a puzzle game vaguely reminiscent of Portal, called Polarity; I'm quite looking forward to playing that one through, it looks promising.
Overall game quality was not quite up to playstation/xbox standards, particularly in the graphics department, but I don't find that particularly offputting. I rather found it endearing more than anything. Although some of the games available were in a highly unfinished state, which I found frustrating. The other frustrating thing is the low number of currently available games, but I'm sure more will come.
In summary, I feel like the OUYA is for adult gamers what the Wii is for kids; a fun toy. I don't mean that in a condescending way, what I mean is that it doesn't look like it'll have big shiny expensive games, but it doesn't need those either. It has its share of darker games already, but it still feels much more light-hearted and relaxed. If that even makes sense. It doesn't have any delusions of grandeur - it's got a swingset and hopscotch to play with, and it's happy there.
Also, as someone who hasn't really played video games til now, it was fairly easy to get the hang of, which says they did something right.
And I enjoyed it, too.
So that's my initial impression. I can't wait til I have a proper screen to attach it to, so I can play through Polarity properly.
Toodles!
31.5.13
In which Lizzi goes on a feminist rant. [long ranty post warning]
I had an exchange with someone this morning after I heard him complaining about the lady who had made him pasta for lunch. Please bear in mind, this is an adult male, forty-plus if he's a day.
"She's a real Italian," he said, "got a moustache and hairy armpits and hairy legs... disgusting."
At which point, I piped up and said that I have hairy armpits and hairy legs - so what? And then I explained that it's cold out still (oh, BC how I love thee), I'm covered up, so why am I going to care about something no-one can see when it takes an extra ten minutes in the shower and I could be doing useful things in those ten minutes like making a lunch or whatnot?
His response was that I disgusted him. That it's gross. That sure, I can do what I want to, but it's revolting.
I chose not to answer aloud. This is my answer.
I don't shave my legs or my armpits when I don't have to, but I don't know a single man who shaves his legs if he's going to be wearing shorts, or going swimming. There is no earthly reason why I am therefore more disgusting than my imaginary example man. I shower regularly, I wear clean clothes. I am not gross.
So why am I disgusting if I choose, for practicality, to abstain from an optional step in the hygiene procedure? And why is a man who chooses not to shave his face (oh, another optional step!) not equally disgusting?
Is it perhaps, then, that I am disgusting to you because you feel that I should conform to your ideals of what a woman should be like? Well, let me go back to an earlier post to remind you that no-one should come from a cookie-cutter. Just as we're different sizes, we're different people. My sister wants to be a homemaker, and doesn't want a career. I am not my sister. I'm actively pursuing a career. Neither opinion is wrong, even though they're nearly polar opposites, and I have to say, I don't always understand my sister's opinion, but I can allow for a difference. In the same way, just because you have a certain idea of what womanhood and femininity should be, doesn't mean you get to invalidate my understanding of what womanhood and femininity are for me.
Actually, if you think about it, men should have less opportunity to criticise these things, because they are not women. Let's put it in very ridiculous terms, overstating the concept for clarity.
Take, for example, an orange and a fish.
The orange could say to the fish, "You are not swimming properly. Don't they teach you these things in school?"*
Or the fish could say to the orange, "You're not juicy enough. Try harder."
Neither of these things make sense, because the orange is not the fish, and therefore cannot determine between proper swimming and useless flapping about in the water; but neither is the fish the orange, and therefore cannot see what difficulty it would be to change its very nature and makeup.
I use the analogy both ways, because women equally ought not to tell a man what manhood and masculinity are made up of, but the issue under scrutiny right now is chiefly men specifying womanhood and femininity. Because to be honest with you, I see the latter much more than the former.
And one of the things that really tweaks me the wrong way is the act of womanhood being defined on my behalf. I am a woman and therefore I have womanhood; I am a female and therefore I am feminine. My understanding of that cannot be thrown out as being outlying data. Doing so would negate the fact that I have a gender, whether or not my femininity is different from your perception of what it ought to be. And this holds true for every other woman you will ever meet, even if we all approach womanhood from our own angles and viewpoints, it's still womanhood because we are women. So even though my sister and I are very different in what we want from life, I cannot say she's more or less feminine than I, or that she's more or less of a woman than I.
Anyway. Wasn't intending to make this a full-on rant, but it sort of turned into one. My apologies. And semi-congratulations, if you read the whole thing. I won't judge if you didn't, though. Also, I didn't realise I was this emphatic of a feminist. Heh.
Oh, and for the non-redditors, yesterday's post title beginning with TL;DR - it's shorthand for Too Long; Didn't Read. You're welcome.
Toodles.
*pun very much fully intended.
"She's a real Italian," he said, "got a moustache and hairy armpits and hairy legs... disgusting."
At which point, I piped up and said that I have hairy armpits and hairy legs - so what? And then I explained that it's cold out still (oh, BC how I love thee), I'm covered up, so why am I going to care about something no-one can see when it takes an extra ten minutes in the shower and I could be doing useful things in those ten minutes like making a lunch or whatnot?
His response was that I disgusted him. That it's gross. That sure, I can do what I want to, but it's revolting.
I chose not to answer aloud. This is my answer.
I don't shave my legs or my armpits when I don't have to, but I don't know a single man who shaves his legs if he's going to be wearing shorts, or going swimming. There is no earthly reason why I am therefore more disgusting than my imaginary example man. I shower regularly, I wear clean clothes. I am not gross.
So why am I disgusting if I choose, for practicality, to abstain from an optional step in the hygiene procedure? And why is a man who chooses not to shave his face (oh, another optional step!) not equally disgusting?
Is it perhaps, then, that I am disgusting to you because you feel that I should conform to your ideals of what a woman should be like? Well, let me go back to an earlier post to remind you that no-one should come from a cookie-cutter. Just as we're different sizes, we're different people. My sister wants to be a homemaker, and doesn't want a career. I am not my sister. I'm actively pursuing a career. Neither opinion is wrong, even though they're nearly polar opposites, and I have to say, I don't always understand my sister's opinion, but I can allow for a difference. In the same way, just because you have a certain idea of what womanhood and femininity should be, doesn't mean you get to invalidate my understanding of what womanhood and femininity are for me.
Actually, if you think about it, men should have less opportunity to criticise these things, because they are not women. Let's put it in very ridiculous terms, overstating the concept for clarity.
Take, for example, an orange and a fish.
The orange could say to the fish, "You are not swimming properly. Don't they teach you these things in school?"*
Or the fish could say to the orange, "You're not juicy enough. Try harder."
Neither of these things make sense, because the orange is not the fish, and therefore cannot determine between proper swimming and useless flapping about in the water; but neither is the fish the orange, and therefore cannot see what difficulty it would be to change its very nature and makeup.
I use the analogy both ways, because women equally ought not to tell a man what manhood and masculinity are made up of, but the issue under scrutiny right now is chiefly men specifying womanhood and femininity. Because to be honest with you, I see the latter much more than the former.
And one of the things that really tweaks me the wrong way is the act of womanhood being defined on my behalf. I am a woman and therefore I have womanhood; I am a female and therefore I am feminine. My understanding of that cannot be thrown out as being outlying data. Doing so would negate the fact that I have a gender, whether or not my femininity is different from your perception of what it ought to be. And this holds true for every other woman you will ever meet, even if we all approach womanhood from our own angles and viewpoints, it's still womanhood because we are women. So even though my sister and I are very different in what we want from life, I cannot say she's more or less feminine than I, or that she's more or less of a woman than I.
Anyway. Wasn't intending to make this a full-on rant, but it sort of turned into one. My apologies. And semi-congratulations, if you read the whole thing. I won't judge if you didn't, though. Also, I didn't realise I was this emphatic of a feminist. Heh.
Oh, and for the non-redditors, yesterday's post title beginning with TL;DR - it's shorthand for Too Long; Didn't Read. You're welcome.
Toodles.
*pun very much fully intended.
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