groove'n

Who ever said that hippos can't get their groove on.

Graciously nabbed from eventually clever.

Voix de chatte.

There’s a craggily old janitor who works on the floor I inhabit. He’s a nice old gent, friendly in a grandfather sort of way. Tonight while picking up the piles of papers and trash that seem to accumulate/ miraculously multiply in my area he remarked as I was ending a conversation on the phone. “You have a voix de chatte*.”

Which had the unnerving effect of rendering me speechless, mousy and timid. I am never sure how to take compliments from people. Somehow, the fact that someone has taken the time to notice something, compliment me or say something flattering with regards to one of my idiosyncrasies always makes me extremely shy. In moments like these, a hole, or nice dark corner would be a welcome place to hide.

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving. Hoping that you all had a wonderful day, filled with warmth and happiness, in the company of those that are dear.

Narchies

Ever since childhood I've called clementines, narchies. I do not know why, nor do I know what language the word is derived from, but to me a clementine has always been and will always be a narchie. Which has led to some rather intense arguments with storeowners as to whether or not they carry these little round morsels of juicy goodness: “Excuse me, but when will you be getting in the next shipment of narchies?” What?!? “Narchies, you know, juicy, yummy, small orangey things, grow on trees, mainly in morocco and spain.” I’m sorry ma’am, but we don’t carry any of those here “But, but, you had some last week” Ma’am I’m sorry, but we don’t carry those. “Are you sure? I’m positive I got the last box here” No. “But!” No! “Are you absolutely positive” Yes. Now if you don’t mind. “But. But. I want my little packages of tart sweetness. Could you just please go check” Lady…. “But” … Out. “But. But. But”

Can any one tell me what the little white spots are? You know the ones that appear on the membrane of each segment. The neurotic part of my brain wonders if that mean that they are going off, or have some exotic disease that is transferable and that I am likely to catch due to the copious amounts of narchies that I eat.

Love Actually

Well, what can I say about a romantic comedy?

It was really good. One of the best I've seen. Certainly in a long while (years).

The timing was good, the characters captivating, their situations enjoyable.
Worthy of cringing, feeling sad, and just being your general sappy self at what you know is going to happen. But you don't mind, because you want it to happen.

I'm not saying that the movie is all about butterflies and rainbows. It's about love and it's well done.

The actors all do a great job. And while you might go to see so-and-so, you won't regret the flips to other characters. They are all sympathetic. They all have their foibles, and it's good.

If you like romantic comedies, you should enjoy this. It moves well and keeps up the interest throughout.

It must be said that it is English and so a little bit more on the sexual side than the usual romantic comedy. But if you can handle a little nakedness and the like, you'll be fine.

Dentist

OK, so... yup... going to get a wisdom tooth taken out, yup yup. Monday.

It'll be ... fun! A... great way to start the month... yup.

Well, that's my plan and news, woot!

Yeah...

I'm good.

Of course, I've never had anything like that done before.

Never been on any anesthetics, or gone to the hospital. Never had stitches or my appendix removed or any other operations. No dislocated bones, or the like.

So this will be a first no matter what happens.

But it has to be done. Impacted wisdom tooth with a cavity... it's got to go, and I'm not holding on to the eviction notice any longer.

Anyways, a little leery of the situation. But sometimes the only way to see what the weather is like, is to go stand in it. And if it's raining where you are now, it probably can't hurt to take a look, even if you trip and fall going out the door and bruise your knee... It'll get better.

So that's the plan, to go see the dentist and get better.

TTT

We watched the Two Towers extended version yesterday, with one intermission.

It was good.

I'm still not happy with a few of the changes from the books. But... c'est la vie.

I did enjoy the added and extended scenes, they did a lot for the movie once again, made it much fuller. Also they provided a better sense of what is remaining true to the books (for those who have read them) and a better sense of the underlying story (for those who haven't read them).

For example, the flashback to Boromir and Faramir and the taking of Osgiliath.

Yumminess

Hugin, snuggles, blankies, fluffy pillows, candy cane lattés and The Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers, Extended version. All in all a perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Sappy

Start this off with a bang.

Is there such a thing as an ultimate expression of love?

There, chew on that one.

(I'm going to be rambling here, not overly coherent at the moment... I'm at work don't you know)

Can something express with finality the depths of love? Or can love only be truly indicated with installments?

I'm sure the romantic in me says that there is an ideal love, a true love.

However, because of the contradiction in perfection being seen as stagnant and non-changing, it would have to exist in an active state. Which in a non-perfect condition could result in the change to a less than ideal love.

Proof being, it happens.

What does this mean? Well, it's only part of what I'm asking. I'm not asking about ultimate love, I'm asking about the expression of it, the indication of it, the showing of it. From PDA (not the electronic one) to flowers, to a few words...

No single event, situation, presentation can indicate suitably ones love for another. Does that make the alternative true? Must it be indicated day by day, in the little things?

I'd like to think so. Like a rollercoaster of love if you will, with its dips and twists, scares and thrills, it's loops and ... more loops!

Love is part of life, and in return life is part of any love.
I'm not sure if washing dishes and taking out garbage are as much a sign of love as flowers...

But I do know that living with Munin, is in every way, from grumbling and trying to catch that last little bit of sleep, to rinsing dishes and folding laundry, an indication of my love for her.

signs

A mother and her children got onto the subway this morning a few stops after mine. Due to the transit dispute and problems on the line the mother was worried that they may have to get out at an earlier stop and walk of the rest of the way to school. The daughter who was holding onto the pole softly comments to herself, “ just in case” and moves back to where her mother is standing so that she may hold her mothers hand. As she grasped her mother’s hand her mom growled “get off of me.” The first of many shivers tickled down my spine and sadness infuses my heart. A few seconds before they approached their stop the daughter asked her sibling if she could have another sip of their drink. The mother instantly rounds on her daughter, her voice is angry and irate, shaking a finger directly in the child’s face, her words are harsh. The child steps back, cowers and raises her hand defensively in front of her head as if she is expecting her mother to strike her.

I felt so helpless watching as the events unfolded before me. I have no idea what to do in these situations. Do I confront the mother? Do I tell social services? Or do I sit meekly in my spot pretending that it isn’t happening?

I landed up sitting there meekly, pretending that it was just another argument. Hoping that that it was an isolated case. That it was just a bad day and that tomorrow everything would be ok. However, in my heart I recognized the signs. The upraised arms, protection from a blow that she knows is coming. The cowering, a sign to indicate that she is at their whim, that she is sorry and that they are right. The curling up on oneself, security from the harshness, from the pain, from the knowledge that she is not as loved as she should be.

University vs College

So, on the serious side, I think they both have value. But really, it comes down to the curriculum, the teacher and the student. Also what your goal is.

On the less serious side...
A number of years back there were about 8 or nine of us at a role playing game, hanging out. Someone pulled out some lollypops and offered them around. First guy to get one couldn't open it; University student. This of course was followed by another person taking one and opening it without problem; College grad. And so on.

University students/grads couldn't open them. It was rather funny I thought :D

As a note, I graduated from University, but have studied at College.

And perhaps as a safety mechanism, I can't remember if I could open the lollypop or not...

Maybe I took the safe way out and didn't take one.

Botanicals.

I love taking up close and personal pictures. Jamming the camera up close, zooming in and capturing the nitty gritty details. Yes I am a macro junkie. I also enjoy taking botanical stills. The problem is I never actually take the time to jot down the name of the flower that I am becoming intimate with, which leads to a mass of flower pictures to which I cannot tag a name. Here are some of the pictures that Hugin and I took last year while visiting the botanical gardens. *

Ironically after finally having managed to beat back the procrastinating beast with a rather large stick, we are now only a year and a half behind in the photo-uploading endeavour. Ok. So we’ve slipped a little further behind then I had intended. But, I promise that by next year we should only be a few months behind. Something about not making promises that one cannot keep comes to mind. Which reminds me. Has anyone used Gallery for their photo needs, and if so what do you think of it?

*If you recognize any of the flowers and know thier name please leave it in the comments. Thanks a bunch. M.

Retentively geeky.

Hugin claims that he never knew how organized anal retentive, I could be. I figured that based on the fact that we have been good friends for what seems like ages he would have stumbled on this quirk a long while back. But, no, he is still constantly amused at my need to organize gems, charms, potions and runes in neat little rows while playing Diablo thus prolonging the game as I shout, grumble and whinge for more time to get everything sorted just right.* This coming from the man who sat down on our kitchen floor, grocery bill in one hand, PDA in other calculating the percentage of each of our shares, including the cat.**

*Yes this little quirk transfer to other areas of our life. Books, music and DVDs lined up in specific rows. Lists. Lists of almost anything you could possibly imagine that would need to be listed, and a few list of things that really shouldn’t be listed at all.

** The cat accounts for 19%, Hugin account for 30% and I, well I account for the rest.

Under the Influence

So, the phenomena continues, people suing fast food for making them obese, suing video games for making their children violent, suing websites for making their children commit suicide.

The following shouldn't be taken as a direct critique of any events listed above. It's a parody of sorts, but not meant to lessen any tragic events seriousness. Death isn't funny, violence isn't right.

So saying:

[[ Well, I'm taking responsibility for my actions. Yes, I went to a website and learned how to be/have/get XYZ and now I've got XYZ coming out the wazoo. It's great! I didn't want to have anything to do with XYZ, but after seeing/watching/reading about XYZ, I completely changed who and what I am/stand for/think and am a better/more capable/confident/wealthy XYZ'er.

If it wasn't for that website/book/game/food, I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have had the will to succeed/continue/follow through. Because I am a weak weak person.

But that's the old me. With all of my XYZ, I am a magnet for success/supermodels and other words beginning with the letter S. XYZ has made me faster/stronger/smarter/healthier.

I'm getting offers I'd never get before, people throw money at me and give me things.

Thanks XYZ.

Where before I couldn't keep a diet, do my homework, wake up early; where I didn't have motivation and was depressed, feeling unaccepted and misunderstood. Whereas I used to be an outsider, shunned and ridiculed.

Where I used to be responsible for my own actions, now I don't even have that. Everything is cause and effect. Post hoc ergo prompter hoc. It isn't my/our/his/her/their fault. The devil/game/show/person/thing made them do it.

End.]]

What has happened to education/upbringing that would cause this? I can understand not wanting to feel responsible for being overweight, or poor, or for death and violence. But throwing the responsibility elsewhere doesn't improve things.

I'm not saying that these events are the responsibility of any one thing/person etc. There are no islands in society. We are all part of a system and are connected to many many other parts. Trying to trace a single thread of causality would be more difficult than trying to trace the wind back to a butterfly. It can't be done, because there is no pure source of influence. There are too many sources for any one to be `the cause.'

We can latch on one though, we can choose to obsess over it, and make it ours. But that really depends upon choice. Our decision to do so. Admittedly we do many things that are not terribly smart in our life. We go out in the cold with too little clothing on, we drink more than we should and pay for it later, we spend more than we planned. There is no denying influence. But was it our choice or not?

I suppose that's a tricky question. Peer pressure, etc are powerful things. But in my opinion, it comes down to what we are willing to do. To choose to fit in or not. To try and cope or give up. To succeed or opt out.

And that is determined by who we are and how we grew up. Our environment, our choices, our errors, and an unmeasureable number of other things that make us who we are. Could the presence of a teddy bear at the age of three make us more or less likely to watch violent movies now? Or could being allowed to stay up late one night at the age of five to watch a scary movie be the cause of an aversion to ice cream years later?

I don't know.

Events can be difficult enough. They can be tragic.

Was a video game responsible? Or a role-playing game? A book? A tv show or movie? Maybe. Maybe not. They may have carried the seed of the idea, but that idea must take form within us. And out own sense of right/wrong, sense and folly must take predominance. Our ability to choose, to know wisdom and to have made mistakes and learned from them is important.

We don't know everything, we must learn. Through hard lessons, tough choices and events that make us who we are. I've learned things from what I've gone through that made me more aware of who I am, and how things work. I didn't realize these things before, I didn't `know' them. They were hard things to learn, but I learned them.

Perhaps I made mistakes, but I chose them.

rough start

Morning started out a little rough. It took two engineers to open one can of coffee. After five minutes of helpless fiddling, one of them shouted out for a Swiss army knife*, cause that can opener had to be better then the one being employed. After two more minutes of fiddling a third engineer pointed out that the can opener would work if it were utilized in the manner that it was designed for. A little later on, once the coffee was brewing it took 7 engineers 3 minutes to figure out how to heat up 12 cinnamon buns in a microwave. **

*What?!? It’s not my fault. The can opener looked odd and I couldn’t figure it out.
**Why yes, we did spend four years in university. How can you tell. [wry wink]

Sleeping in

It’s a sad day when sleeping in consist of waking up at 7:30, five minutes before you usually head off to work. It’s sadder still when that extra 45 minutes of sleep leaves you feeling bright eyed and bushytailed. What ever happened to the days when sleeping in meant waking up at noon, and getting up meant dragging your sleepy sorry excuse of a functioning body out of bed at one’ish?

addendum: And of course as soon as I walked into the office the sleepiness begun to hit me in crashing titanic waves. By 9:30 I would have given almost anything for a pillow, a couch and a blankie.

declarations of weirdness

In the midst of a conversation concerning upcoming projects, technical glitches with current project and other office type stuff with my boss, he exclaimed out of the blue with great enthusiasm. “You’re weird.” Not knowing quite how to respond to that little gem of wisdom I quipped back “So are you”.

once more with feeling.

It would seem that the 'inability to leave house in one try’ is contagious. Three times. Three times to get out of flat and off to work. First try: stepping to the door remembered that the cat needed feeding and that her water needed changing. Second try: past door, key in lock. Forgot luncheon pesos. Need luncheon pesos else will be forced to gnaw on keyboard and mouse cord, which I am told are plasticy at best. Back in I go, nabbed bills, which were sitting innocently on front end table where I had left them and head back out remembering to holler down hallway at Hugin. “Catch you later alligator. Have a good day and all that other stuff. Love you.” Our usual morning banter. Third try: forgot gloves and scarf. Unlock door, find gloves and grey fuzzy scarf hidden under cat’s rump, don said garments and we are off. Yippee!

Young whipper schnapper.

The delightful, wonderful and very dear to our hearts, Ed celebrates her birthday today. She turns *CENSORED* years young today. Ed, wishing you the best of everything. Hoping that you have a superbly fabulous day, filled with all your hearts desires, yumminess, laughter, love and every tickly sensation in-between. May all your wishes be granted. Many happy returns. And with out further a do. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Big squishy hugs,
and much birthday loving
Us.

Give her some birthday loving over here.

Remembrance

Remembering those who fought, so that we may live:

In Flanders Fields
'In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below'

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

- John McCrae
lest we forget.

Babies and Matrix 3

Spoilers will be left for the Extended Entry, don't open if you don't want to know stuff.

Anyways, babies are hypnotic. Primarily I think that would mean specifically `other' people's babies. Not having had my own, I'll accept that for now and leave the consideration of any children I would have as being hypnotic for the future.

Yup, hypnotic.

OK, the Matrix Revolutions.

Fun movie. Lots of explosions and stuff. Not really much `I know kung-fu.' That was disappointing. There is some aerial stuff that makes it look like Superman is fighting himself with some kung-fu thrown in but that's about it.

So for Matrix-Fu, you have to rely on the first movie, and the second's great weapon fight scene between Neo and the Merovingian's minions. Love that sword block.

What the movie gave was more a combination of `fight or flight', `against the odds', `a good day to die' and `fight for my man/woman' kind of thing.

It did not in my opinion answer the questions it brought up.

In response to Neo's being able to sense/destroy the sentinels it only said something about him being connected to the source. How he can be `connected' to anything in the Matrix without being `connected' is not talked about. So really, they said nothing.

As well with Smith being in Bane. No explanations other than it was `inevitable.' Whatever that meant.

I'll leave it at that.

On other notes:

I'm bothered by the fact that they were not able to fire an EMP more than once. It wasn't stated before this movie that this would be the case. Certainly in the original, the Nebuchadnezzar used it's EMP more than once. So...

Some cliche moments, but that's ok.

Personally I don't like the chemistry between Neo and Trinity in the last two movies, for the most part I didn't feel it.

Well, more of it later when people might be around to read it.
More of the good stuff as opposed to these nitpicks.

Kissing strictly forbodden.

"Moscovites caught kissing in public places could be fined if city authorities pass a new law currently under consideration..." -BBC Talk about being asinine. Who in their right mind would even consider passing this through as a law? Never mind don’t answer that. But seriously, why? Whom? And what the hell are they thinking?

This however, makes me quite happy. Bring on the cocoa.

"Mawidge, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam wiffin a dweam"

Our happiest congratulations go out to Dol & M on their wedding day. May your love grow with each passing year. May your years together turn into decades. May they be filled with joy, love, laughter, health and wonderful adventure. May the always be sweet and never bitter.

All our love
H & M

Endoftheworld.

End of the world. Found in an email. Completely not PC, disturbing according to Hugin, but funny none the less. Ok. Ok. It' completely warped. But I found it funny, though maybe that's just a knee-jerk reaction on my part to something that is quite eep!

Burning the midnight oil.

Twenty four hours are just not enough to get everything done in a day. Eleven hours clocked at work and I still haven't been able to finish off what needs to be done for tomorrow. Will be burning that midnight oil tonight.

Amusing aside: Completely missed my bus stop this morning. Zoomed by it while engrossed in a book. Looked up to discover that I was 5 minutes further along. The bus driver though, was kind enough to bring me back.

Crushed

Hugin just called me "sucketude" because I can't play* with him tonight. [sniffle] Am mortally crushed.

*clarification: that would be playing on the 'puter.

white stuff hath cometh.

Snow. Falling in soft wet fluffy clumps. Turning to ice as it hits the aged sidewalk making it sleek, slippy and treacherous. It's too early for this. What happened to autumn? What happen to afternoons spent prancing in the streets watching the leaves fall, spiralling down in lazy circles or zipping by at dizzying speed caught up in the wind.

The Answer

Well, here is the answer to why Bilbo got to play the riddles in the dark game with Gollum, and ask the question `what have i got in my pocket?'.

Because at least Gollum had a chance with Bilbo...

Here's what he would have had to guess is Neil Gaiman had been playing the part:

13. What do you have in your pockets?

I'll empty them out. Hold on.

Okay. A brown Watermans ink cartridge. A bottle of brown Sheaffer ink. Two KLM complimentary chapsticks. Nail clippers (oh good. I'd been wondering where that had gone). A half-finished pack of blackcurrant throat pastilles. Three antiseptic handwipes. A Swiss Army Watch with a broken strap. Seven black sharpies, and three silver sharpies, divided more or less randomly among the six pockets. iPod headphones. Ultra violet invisible ink pen with attached ultra violet light for reading invisible writing with. Small piece of carved red cinnabar on a black leather cord. Two interesting pebbles. A black leather wallet. Plane tickets. Passport. Lamy fountain pen. Photo of me someone took at the press conference today and handed me a copy of which I put in my pocket and forgot. Fold-down hairbrush. Moleskin notebook. Glasses case. Small Blue Phone. And, inexplicably, one of my daughter Maddy's elasticated hair ties.

Thanks to an interview at: http://www.sequentialtart.com/13quest_1103.shtml

7 marathons, 7 days, 7 continents.

Somewhere on that fine line between sanity and insanity stride the men who would dare to achieve the impossible. I don’t know if it is out of great respect for their dedication or admiration for their staunch desire to attempt what most would consider to be utter madness that I am in awe of these gentlemen. In my wildest dreams I would be happy to finish one marathon, or maybe if I ever gather the gumption, one iron man. But this, this is sheer chutzpah, especially when one is quoted to say that ‘the marathon had been "good fun" ‘ -BBC

Here’s to the possibilities, and to the knowledge that nothing truly is impossible.

Night Colours

Golden leaves spread, a crown upon a wrinkled brow. The wind twirls along her path, whispering as she goes. Quite moments broken by the soft rustling of leaves. Aged scents of fall waft, tantalizing memories of childhoods spent outdoors. Cheeks ruddy. Evidence of autumn’s cold caress. Breath, wispy clouds of smoke dancing in the twilight. The night alight with the twinkling of stars beckons. Promises of adventure hidden between their paths.

Fu Manchu

Who would of thunk?!? I guess it's all comes down to the way you twirl it...