Yeah!

Oh, relief, happiness, and joy!! The headache is gone - granted "dopey", "sleepy", and most of the other dwarves apply to how I feel on this medication, but still - better!! No pain. Sleepy would have to be the worst side-effect, when I haven't been at work, I've been sleeping. One would think I'd start to feel rested, but naaah.

Anyway, library-land is a blast; with no school my days are busy, busy, busy! This morning I've got Book Bingo, aka my excuse to give kids free books (go me!). It's rather amusing, the kids will get really, really competitive about the game; only a few seem to notice that I will continue playing until everyone wins, of course, they want to win early so that they can get the book they want before someone else does. And then a craft project this afternoon with the 8 and up crowd. Ending it all with a family craft project this evening. It'll be a great a day.

However, sleeping and working have not really left me with any time for perusing the net for goodness and fun.

Christmas was great - I slept nearly all the way through it. We stayed home and it was just us, which is the way I like it.

However, I did find one rather interesting bit. I'm not sure about this, part of me thinks, well, ok..... and the other part is sure that this is from some joke source. I guess I'll just drag out the tried and true 'wait and see' attitude.

And, OMG!! I came across this preview in the DVD of the short film Kakurenbo (see "What I'm Watching" below), and it's just too funny to be real and yet, it's completely real - and no it's not made by the creators of South Park or the Family Guy, although I could easily believe it to be. It's a completely serious film, intended to be a touching, life-altering cinematic experience, if you will. The film: Doggy Poo. Now you might think, 'maybe the title refers to a cute doggy named "Doggy Poo", ' but you would be wrong! Because Doggy Poo is indeed a film about a little piece of poo that dreams big. And as the movie tagline says, "Sometimes Dreams Do Come True". I have to admit, I haven't seen it, so while I scoff, I am chuckling at something I haven't seen - lucky for me, Netflix has it, so I think I'm going to have to give this one a shot.

But I have been able to start reading again, so joy of joys, now I can finally bring back:

What I'm Reading:

After re-reading Beowulf (for the nth time) I got my act in gear and ILL'ed Grendel. For those of you who still have not read Beowulf, you may not know this but Grendel is a monster, a villain, who in the original epic-poem is evil incarnate, a monster of the night that shows up, eats men, and leaves to come again another night. Rinse. Repeat. Gardner's take on Grendel is fascinating, fleshing out the character as he watches the rise of Hrothgar, and ponders humanity. There is the whole existential angst bit, but I chose to ignore that now for a more shallow reading. I enjoyed the book, especially the development of Unferth - a character I had always found despicable in the original work, now flushed out with Grendel finding him just as contemptable.

Grendel is also a quick read because afterwards I was able to read Cryptonomicon, which I've been meaning to for quite a while. The author, Neal Stephenson, is the very same that wrote the classic Snow Crash (another highly recommendable read). Cryptonomicon is another entry in the cyber-punk genre (I admit, I did skip over some of the more technical details) using an interesting blend of historical fiction and techno-thriller.

And then after that I decided to pick up a book that had been recommended to me a short time ago: Barbaraians at the Table, Taming and Feeding the American Family. What a funny cookbook - both hilarious and completely practical!

And then finally, a truly weird and, well, really, really weird book that manages to be both very funny and very scary, Zanesville. Presenting a dystopic future after a huge earthquake in which America is ruled by a giant corporation, a strange character without a past who is going to search for the cure. I really enjoyed this book quite a lot, it's not a lazy book - there is a lot of thinking to do when you're reading. I can imagine this inventive and unique story reaching it's own cult status among certain types of readers.

What I'm Watching:

Well, having been doing so much reading the "watching" part of things has been relegated to primarily anime episodes and short films.

So, let's start off with an anime short film, Kakurenbo - a beautiful and completely creepy short film about a game of hide and seek in the inner parts of Tokyo - the story is straightforward and simple and the animation is fluid, dark, and enchanting. I highly recommend this short film.

Caitlyn let me borrow her DVDs of Trigun, so Allegra and I have been enjoying that series, it's nice to see them all in order.

And Hannah let me borrow her Ah! My Goddess, which I also really liked. She also let me borrow her copy of the original Mel Brooks' The Producers, I'll be watching that later.

a little of this and a little of that

It's the ChroniWhat?!?cles of Narnia.

I'm procrastinating this morning. It's just about 8:00 and I really should be going in very soon because I need to do a lot of work to prepare the craft for this morning. I need to do some hot glue-gun work - oh, it's a happy day when I can start with the smell of melted adhesive and burnt fingertips.

The bad news: my headache is back, I mean back along with everything else...bummer. I'll be calling the doctor today.

In other bad news: this. I wasn't able to go to the meeting last night - although I had planned to, I couldn't because I forgot about a commitment with Allegra's Girl Scout troop, and, well, one cannot tell a group of girls that one is cancelling their Troop's Christmas Party simply because one needs to go to a meeting. Imagine what it might look like if the government actually funded No Child Left Behind - last year Vermont would have received $27 million in K-12 education funds for these projects that they are federally mandated to adhere to. The breakdown: Vermont did not get $27 million in public school funding last year promised by Congress and the President, including $16 million for extra academic support for low-income students, $4 million for critical after-school programs, and $2 million to raise teacher quality.

Ok, enough of that for one day.

Why not spend a little time thinking about thinking, critical thinking.

And finally, a cross-platform software program that delivers uniformly regardless of technical know-how and does EXACTLY what it promises (don't let the big words scare you, this is worth peeking at).

Oh, I laughed, this writer is hilarious; might be kind of a fun writing exercise to try myself.

I read through this photo-story thinking, 'wait a minute, I know a number of people capable of this kind of funny - why didn't they do this?'. And then I remembered the D&D Short Film project that several of us chatted about. Maybe we should do the short film in photo/caption form......hmmmm, Laurel will have to bring her own copy of Mein Kampf.

And finally a fun little mouse game.

And let's just skip What I've Watched and What I've Read because quite honestly, my head hurts too damn much right now to read or watch anything. Hell, thinking is a struggle lately.

into the light

Man, what a week. My senior year in high school I was plagued with headaches, nothing like what I've experienced since last week - also none with the bizarre face swelling - at various times over the past week I've looked like I've had massive head trauma, at least judging by the eggs on my skull - but no, not at all, it was just random swelling. OOOOWWWWW!!! Anyway, a trip to the doctor's a few days ago, some helpful medicines, and today I am leaving the house. I still have the headache, but the swelling is gone and the headache is SO much better.

And what am I leaving the house to find right now?


Why, yes, as a matter of fact, that is the view from my front door. There is no school today, and I am debating whether or not to cancel D&D tonight as well. (It's been about a month off for my group); it's not supposed to end till around 4 - and it'll be dark. I'll see, if Devik closes the library, then I'll take that as my cue to cancel D&D.

Okay, it's time once again for me to pull out my little soapbox:
One Good Move
You know, the scary thing about this is that they do it in the same voice and music style as the Second Renaissance in the Animatrix. Creeeeeeepy

Ok, enough of that. I did find something rather cool - free audio books that you can legally download and listen to.

Have you heard this one: Stephen King murdered John Lennon. Oh....tears are streaming from my eyes laughing at this one...wait, what do you mean? Your're serious? *laughs harder*

Just a fun little juggling game.

I guess that's it. I've neither read nor watched anything all week. I have, however, slept....I mean slept ungodly amounts of sleep.

This just in

Life is like a box of Kittens - wait, that's not right

Yup, Happy (bunny) Holidays.

Wicked. Well, we had the kind of seats you get when those are the only seats you can get. Which isn't to say they were horrible - there were no poles in front of us, you could see the whole stage, which was facing us, the sound was fabulous - it was just that the actors were rather small. Speaking of the actors, Amanda recognized the woman playing Nessarose as the same girl that used to play "Libby" on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Oh, irony. The show was fantastic! I mean, superb, as in: "I WILL see this again!" Allegra loved it; the show was Broadway-fied, which is to say that the less appropriate bits from the book weren't really in the show. And, well, don't expect to see the book in this musical as it took some rather, erm, creative turns. Those of you that didn't make it to the show were very much missed.

Speaking of those of you that didn't make it - I wish you the best on your finals and end of semester stuffs and hope you get to enjoy some de-stressing afterwards!!

Oh yeah, before I forget - all day D&D December 23rd - from 10 - 5, the die-hards and everyone else is invited for a day-long D&D game (since there's no game that night and no school, it is my happy compromise).

Other than that, my schedule (might) start thinning out - aaaaah, downtime *sigh*. It's not that bad, I've got a friends-dinner coming up - a couple of very close friends and I, rather than get each other stuff, plan to go out and do something together. Actually, I've got a lot of people that I do that with I guess....a couple years ago, some other friends and I went out for a birthday day, and treated ourselves to a spa and a fun day strolling in Northampton, another friend and I will just go to a movie together...anyway, yeah, this weekend, girlfriends' dinner and no stuff!

Not that many of you need or are looking for distractions - at least those of you that post comments - regardless, links of fun for everyone else (and me while I'm at my desk).

Sure, this physics teacher presents some solid background, but....well, when it comes to trying out these stunts.....you first.

Must be the Star Wars quiz that set it off, but I keep running into (ah, well, stumbling anyway) interesting quizzes. Like this one: There have been some truly horrible jobs throughout history, take this quiz and find out what awful job you're most suited for. Apparently I might have a future as a "Roman Gold Miner".

Get your cute on. (Yes, this is where I picked up the absolutely adorable picture at the top). I want a Sugarglider!!!!

Oh Great Cthulhu!

I have been an extremely industrious devotee this year.

In November, I called down the wrath of Yog-Sothoth upon Santa Claus (65 points). In September, I bombed a cultist gathering (-100 points). In June, I burnt my copy of the Necronomicon (-75 points). In July, I prepared an ocean voyage to R'lyeh (200 points). In May, I stopped Santa Claus from defiling Lovecraft's grave (-20 points). In April, I exposed Jeremy to soul-rending horrors (250 points).

In short, I have been very good (320 points) and deserve to get hooked up with one of those cute Innsmouthers.

Your humble and obedient servant,
Sam

Submit your own plea to Cthulhu!

Name some friends or leave them blank and let me look them up myself:

It's a classic re-vamped for the holiday spirit.

When you can, go ahead and waste a kitty-filled afternoon with these cute comic strips: Hallmarks of Felinity.

What could possibly be more macho than lifting some weights in front of your webcam? How about breaking something and yelling for Momma in high-pitched voice. Yes, it's cruel. I laughed.

And why not end this post with a little random, monk on viking (or maybe mongols...) violence?

I know who to blame!!

Stupid snow.

Not only did we cancel D&D (good move on our part, if the cause of much grumbling on others'), a trip to Springfield to pick up the car for tomorrow just took 2 HOURS!!!

The good news out of all this: my head feels SO much better now - I can even begin thinking in complete sentences that don't start with the phrase "stop it or I'm going to hurt you".

Since I'm feeling better, I feel like spreading the joy with some links of fun-ness and no Bambi "midquel" or stupid little 6-year-old-tomboy-in-Winnie-the-Pooh will enter into this post of fun in any way. (Although, what if the midquel were Bambi taking revenge on the hunters....oooh, I feel a song and dance coming on!)

Ok, well, it might get stupid. Because you know that A-Ha video "take on me", they play it ad nauseam on VH1 (or at least they did before we decided life was vastly improved without cable), well, here is a fun Family Guy version of the video - just for giggles!

Thinking of which, I think I pulled my satire laughing at this one. (It's a joke, let's just start from that point - in fact, it makes fun of stupid "white" people...oh man, I've actually known a few people that were really like this)

I like Dennis Miller, in large part because his jokes are funny if you get the reference (not that I know anyone like that....), anyway this list of Simpsons jokes is funny in much the same way - read the list and check out just how clever they kind of are.

Can you spot the cthuhlu in pirate costume in this Pirates of the Caribbean 2 trailer??

EEEEEEK!!! (This link even got a strong reaction of repulsion from Ross - who, with Jay, went on something of a "farting contest" this afternoon - the maturity level of the downstairs plummeted today).

Meet the Dayalets. You'll need to click "next" at the bottom of the page to keep going; I don't think you want to do that.

Monopoly cards for modern games.

And finally a happy game of shooting Gonzo out of a cannon! Go, Gonzo, go!!

hop around

(Note: this post best viewed in Firefox - if you haven't switched over yet and dumped that problematic, technical resource whore known as Internet Explorer, get on the ball already!)

It's that phrase: Jump for Joy. I've seen it bantered about lately, and the thought that it's such an unusual image crossed my mind. I can't say I've ever actually "jumped" for joy. I have certainly shouted for joy, have most definitely sung for joy, and when no one was looking, danced. So, I decided to poke around and see if there was jumping going on everywhere while I wasn't looking. (Plus, I'm getting quite curious about just how far I can push my photobucket bandwidth limit)

First, there's your average jumper. I don't think it's joyful, but there certainly is a lot of it.

Then the obvious jumpers come to mind. (Ok, this guy is a bit creepy)

The suggestive anime jumping - or not, as the case may be.

Do you think Mr. T jumps?

We all know that kitties jump; sometimes with more success then others.


Silly, Elvis, that's not jumping!


I know it's called jumping, but I think that, really, it is falling.



Well, you know what they say: It's all over when the buzzard makes the broad jump.

Well, Allegra predicted correctly (which so far puts her at 1 right out of hundreds of wrongs) and school was closed today. Lucky me. My headache is still here - baaaaaad headache. I would say that I have slept most of the time between coming home at 4 on Wednesday (I skipped the holiday party I was going to because of this headache) up until this morning, when part of me is hoping that Devik closes the library so I can go back to bed. Actually, it is better - it's just constant.

The happy sadness that is Wicked comes up on Saturday. While on the one hand I'm really jazzed about going and FINALLY getting to see it (out of curiousity I was perusing through future tour dates and it appears to be nearly sold out up to next May). On the other hand, there were a few of you that also really wanted to see it, and while I'm proud that you are sticking to your educational commitments (and know the stress at this time of year), it is a bummer that you're not going. This just means that something at some other time will have to be planned (for the summer)!

What I'm reading: Oh, I haven't kept up on this, so a bit of a list.

I've re-read Beowulf. I just love that epic poem. Of course, I read Seamus Heaney's version, which, of the translations, is the best - retaining the flow and beauty of the style with the use of modern language. There's always this stupid little second when I read it that I come to the name "Eomer" and think Eomer or Rohan!!

After going through all of the Christoper Moore books I decided to follow Myles' lead and go right into Terry Pratchett. So, I just re-read Small Gods, The Bromeliad Trilogy, The Wyrd Sisters, Good Omens (couldn't help it!), Feet of Clay, The Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, and Thud. Whew! I'm going to have to ILL some of the other Discworld books.

Which might make you wonder if I've picked up anything I haven't read before? Well, yeah! I read through this adorable young YA book that I expect to see on reading lists everwhere: Sleeping Freshman Never Lie. A great book; I could easily hand this to middle schoolers and feel good about it. It's funny!! While it's the kind of book that adults like me want kids to read, it treads the line even closer to "a book that kids will want to read".

What I'm Watching: I haven't really had time to watch anything. I did watch the new Felicity movie with Allegra last night (well, what I could see through squinted eyes while my head pounded...). It was pretty good. For that kind of thing anyway - that kind of thing being the American Girl corporation.

And we'll have fun fun fun

Ah, well, just saying "hi!" and posting some fun things now while I'm on break at the computer.

A brilliant toon from Mark Fiore: While you Were Sleeping.

No, no, I don't want to leave those of you with more sophomoric tastes out.

Wait...what do you mean I should switch to Mac? Why would I want to do that?

The care and feeding of introverts. Speaking of which, why not take this completely unscientific quiz and find out where you might fit.

Apparently, I'm iNtp:

• slightly expressed introvert
• distinctively expressed intuitive personality
• slightly expressed thinking personality
• slightly expressed perceiving personality

Right, I'm shocked too.

Finally, honor has been restored to the phrase "touched by his noodly appendage" combined with a religious context. No longer the realm of courtroom testimony, the Flying Spaghetti Monster has taken the land by storm converting worshippers to Pastafarianism like wildfire. Now you can live the experience of touching your noodly appendage free from fear of restraining order. Only the tedious reptetive music will stand in your way. Bonus: Touching the people turns them into pirates.

I love articles on the Straight Dope, like this one:

Dear Cecil:

With shows like Lost and Gilligan's Island, movies like Cast Away and Swiss Family Robinson, and books like Robinson Crusoe, I've been wondering: Are there documented cases of a person or persons being shipwrecked on an uncharted, deserted isle and surviving for some length of time only to be rescued later? Are there a lot of large, uninhabited islands in the South Pacific that could sustain a person indefinitely? --D.G., Dallas, TX

Cecil replies:

As usual, D., first we have to straighten out your question. The answer to the one you asked is none too surprising: Yeah, lots of folks have survived shipwrecks, and some spent time on deserted islands in the process. To cite a well-known example, U.S. Navy lieutenant John F. Kennedy and the crew of PT-109 were rescued after several days on an island following the destruction of their boat in a nighttime collision with a Japanese warship in 1943.

But that's not what you're after. What you want to know is whether you can survive the classic Robinson Crusoe scenario, to my mind depicted in purest form in the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away (2000), which features a (1) solitary (2) product of civilization who is (3) unexpectedly marooned on (4) a deserted island for (5) a year or more with (6) only such resources as you'd reasonably expect to find, i.e., naturally occurring food, water, and so on plus a modicum of junk washing up on the beach. Want the answer?

NASA faked the moon landing?!?

Cool!! Now that I know about this I can finally find out what that mulit-legged, uber-pinschered, several inches long buggy that I catch glimpses of in the bathroom is. *shiver*

Spam sucks.

Click on the link at the bottom to watch More. You'll be glad you did.

One of the universal rules of happiness is: always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual. (Pratchett)

Must be all the sarcastic answers....


I got Han Solo

Which Star Wars character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Alright, the post to answer all posts.

First: the drawing is from Read or Die, it's the character Yomiko in chibi form. I just really like it.

Second: Wicked! Oh, I hope you can come Katie!! I am glad that you have someone to take the ticket, but still - I know how much you wanted to see the show. It's interesting, a lot of people have backed out and the tickets have changed hands quite a bit. My friends Jeanie and Bill also just backed out and her sister and brother-in-law might be taking the tickets. Either way, Jay and I are SO going. I'm beginning to feel like this show must be cursed. After the fiasco of last year and the falling through of this year, some of us just may not be fated to see this show. In other news: there's a good chance I'll be going and seeing either Spamalot or Avenue Q again during the next Girl's Trip (my girlfriends and I) to NYC!!!

Third: Star Wars!!!! We went on the bus for a 2 and a half hour(ish) trip - had the same bus driver as last year, who is very sweet and accomodating - and what a great time it was! Alright, I did like the Lord of the Rings exhibit better, but I think that's because of my own personal preference for mythology, storytelling, and fantasy. This exhibit, in contrast, was all science and future; everything had a hands-on try it and learn component. There was a really cute robot show, and a fascinating piece on medical science and artificial limbs in the Darth Vader section. LOTS of stuff on robots, ships, other planets - that was really cool. There was a thing you could ride that was propelled by air; I can't remember what the actual title of it was as I called it what it looked like: the Giant Seated Leaf-Blower.

The one major tick-me-off was the "Millenium Falcon simulator", which sounded really cool and we all assumed was in the exhibit (where it was supposed to be!! Or at least where anyone who was coming to see the Star Wars exhibit would expect to find it), instead it was a separate thing that you had to buy a separate timed ticket for (oh, minor note here: when I figured that out, I immediately went and bought tickets for my group, the guys however, whom I told right away, chose to ignore my advice and boy were they burned when they thought they wouldn't be able to get in at all because there were no more timed tickets available before the Omni-Imax movie - until I pointed out that the movie only lasts 1 hour and that they would still have an hour before the bus got there, they were able to get tickets for that time. Go me!) !!!

So, $5 for a 4 1/2 minute screen thingie (actually it was a really cool thing about space) while sitting in the "cockpit" of the Falcon and then you get a little pin afterwards. Yeah, that was super annoying. I sent a letter to the museum pointing that out - overall, the exhibit was great, it was just that one thing - why it couldn't exist in the exhibit is beyond me (well, not quite, I have a sneaking suspicion that money might have been a factor). For the LoTR exhibit there were a few things in it that you had to pay to get - so had they put the Falcon in the exhibit and then charged for the buttons, then that would have been fine. It was the fact that we had to pay and arrange even to see the "special piece" - argh, it was just annoying and poor planning, in my opinion - and not to mention, then I had to answer to the group that went with me why it was off-limits and my answer of "the exhibit planners might be idiots" did not make members of the group happy or feel better about missing it. The trip went well, and other than one young gentleman who refused to stick near his group OR the second choice of buddying up with someone while in the general exhibit, everyone was agreeable and a fun time was had.

Anyway, a few photos of fun from Boston:

Sam and the Wookies

Caitlyn fears the Jawa (or maybe she's meowing at it...it is difficult to tell)

Jay rides the giant seated leaf blower

Hannah tries an experiment in balance

What's a photobucket-bandwidth-limit among friends?
Weary travellers that stood in front of something and looked happy about it while I took their picture.

And the Omni-Imax movie was very cool. It's always fun for me to watch the reactions of people who have never seen the Omni-Imax before. As Sam said to me when King Kong jumped off the building and the camera followed the descent: "I'm having a heart attack". It was a documentary called "Special Effects" and covered, of course, Star Wars, Independence Day, and some other big effects movies including "Jumanji" - it was rather cool to see main street Keene right up there on the Imax.

But now I've got to get out of the house and off to work, so perhaps I'll post some fun stuff later.