.ruminations.

I want to thank the man that sat on me in order to get into the seat on the bus next to me.  I don't normally mind the person to person contact, but I'm still stinking of Old Spice and Gold Bond Powder as I type this.  I don't think I can get the stink off.  And my leg hurts.  Were you that afraid, sir, of touching the man in the seat to your right?  Did he have a sign that says 'I have leprosy' that I just failed to notice?

I want to thank my good sense for telling me not to bother with an umbrella today.  As I stare at the ominously grey sky, I can't help but think this cannot end well.  I'll likely splash about in fetid DC street run-off and hope that I don't get a rash.  Curses. -- Okay, so the sky is clear now, but I can't really feel safe, can I?  Not with this current spate of apocalyptic weather.  Curses, again!

I want to thank the hooker that brought flats in to mainstream footwear fashion so much that I was forced to buy them because they're so damn comfy at the sacrifice of my stumpy legs.  I thought after the great stair sliding incident of February Aught Eight, my woes with this particular pair were over, but no.  Apparently, in flats, I walk in a way that is clearly some sort of quirk or deformation.  I kick the inside of my opposite ankle.  I think I've moving as though I think I'm an effing figure skater gliding on ice.  There is no other explanation.  I have a bruise on my stupid...ankle eye thingy!  Unacceptable.

And finally...

I want to thank PAN for this picture:

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It made me smile.  I also like her handwriting enough to initially feel gnawing envy...then I realized it's likely a William & Mary kid, and I can't be feeling that for no kid in Williamsburg.

It's Saturday morning and I can't be bothered to leave my bed.  I think it's because I'm afraid the allergies will attack me even more if I breathe fresh air...but I need to pick up pants.  Tailoring done.  Work on Monday.  Need pants.  I haven't worn pants for days.  *sigh*

Meme: Let others know a little more about yourself, repost this with your name followed by "ology".

Desk

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
Dewy grass.  I've always gravitated towards nature.  Never people.

Q. How many televisions you have in your house?
3

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Left.

Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Nope.  Just a failed lithotripsy, which I'm still bitter about.

Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
A damn big rock.

Q. Have you ever been knocked out?
Yes, but not unconscious.  The perps were every basketball, volleyball, kickball and soccer ball I ever encountered in elementary school.

BULLSHITOLOGY

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Probably not, because then if it were wrong, I'd be really let down.

Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Something simple.  Like Mary.  No complications in pronunciation.

Q. What color(s) do you think looks best on you?
Green, navy

Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item?
Lately?  Only some dirt.  Not worth the story.

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
With few exceptions, sure.
 
Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
No.  I like pinkies.

Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
I've been on a dry streak lately, so maybe if it continues.  I could take an awesome trip with that kind of money.  And I'd bring people along. ;)

Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000?
No amount of therapy would fix that sort of trauma.  No.

Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Sure.  I'm already growing a peptic ulcer.  Why not exacerbate it?

Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
Ah, a question of scruples and morals.  If you know me, you should know my answer to this.  For the rest, mwa ha ha.

DUMBOLOGY

Q. What is in your left pocket?
No pockets.

Q. Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
No.  I'm sorry, but no.  No, I'm not sorry, because I had to watch it.

Q. Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Both.

Q. Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Both. Standing on a regular basis, sitting when I'm too tired to think.

Q. How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Far too many to count.  If I made an educated guess, I would think around a dozen.

LASTOLOGY

Q. Last person who texted you?
Kait

Q. Last person who called you?
Wish Bear

Q. Person you hugged?
Mary

FAVORITOLOGY

Q. Number?
3, 6

Q. Season?
Fall

Q. Colour?
Navy

CURRENTOLOGY

Q. Missing someone?
Yes.  Aren't we always missing someone?

Q. Mood?
Lazy and frustrated.  Lazy because it's morning, frustrated because I can feel a stress pimple popped up overnight and I know I won't be able to get rid of it.

Q. Listening to?
Epik High Pieces, Part One.  And I can't seem to stop listening to SHINee's Replay.  So much shame.

Q. Watching?
Nothing, but the last episode of So You Think You Can Dance is tempting me from my TiVO.  And if I give in to other saved temptation?  Explorers of the Human Body.  That is one crap load of schadenfreude.  How could I deny myself?

Q. Worrying about?
Work.  And pants.  And food.

Blue dress

Q. Wearing?
Blue dress.  I slept in it.  Mmm...picture...

RANDOMOLOGY

Q. First place you went this morning?
Bathroom.  I'm too lazy to get up, but that doesn't mean I don't pee first thing in the morning.  Is that a sign of old age?

Q. What can you not wait to do?
Get on another plane.  It's been 11 months, ya'll.  Unacceptable.

Q. Do you smile often?
Yes.  It's unavoidable.  Although some might say I scowl just as often.
 
Q. Are you a friendly person?
I don't think I look like one, but some would disagree.  I don't think I am, but some would disagree.  I end up being nice far too often.  I'm not a fan.

Ugh, now hunger is gnawing at my belly.  I feel a sudden urge for...buffet.

why, you ask?

because i got my freaking passport in the mail!  i mailed out the renewal paperwork last monday!  they issued it on friday!  i got it today!  although my joy has been tempered by the fact that the passport people have caught up since summer...i'm still incredulous and happy.  i only had to go one week without a passport!  i felt triumphant!  i felt jubilant! 

do not ruin this for me!

It is time to get your prayer on!

Go find yourself a Cambodian, Thai or Laotian temple, ya'll.  It's New Year's celebration time!

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It's time for the contrite to feel like they're not punks for only going to temple once a year.  It's time to stuff yer belly full of goodies.  It's time to be social and be amused by the masses of people fighting for parking spaces.  It's time for the Virginia and Maryland police to be pissed off at the traffic.

Songkran_01

And look at that adorable kid!  It's particularly Songkran for the Thai people, and that means buckets of water and powder. 

GO eat!

Cravings are wonderful, aren't they?  They strike without notice and before you know it, you're at the grocery buying bacon and fontina.  I know I didn't make the most traditional rendering of shrimp and grits, but I was working without a recipe and a clear need for bacon and fontina and grits.  So I made creamy grits fattened up with butter, fontina and bacon.  And I tossed some shrimp in lemon butter sauce with more bacon.

It was gorgeous and filling and tasty and I wish I were in the Low Country eating this at a real restaurant, but all in all...a success.  *sigh* 

I would have a picture, but I gobbled it up before I could snap it.  No regrets.  Until I'm gasping on the treadmill later.

I don't have much to say about networking sites.  I've tried out Friendster, myspace, and facebook because some friend making me do it.  I don't know what happened to Friendster, I deleted my myspace account, but I hung around on facebook just because.  I'm kind of stupid about the site.  I know it's meant for networking and that's why people add friends at the drop of a hat and try to get in touch with all sorts from grade school, high school, etc.  I'm bad at that.  I try not to be that person that is friends with people on facebook but unwilling to call them up in real life.

But the past two months?  Results yielded!  I found three friends I would have otherwise lost in the shuffle. 

One of them was a childhood buddy; her parents and mine were close and our birthdays are one day apart.  I'd only talked to her family and heard tendrils of information from her aunt.  But now I've tracked her down to San Diego and we'll see each other when she's next in town.

The second is a friend I went to high school and college with.  I hadn't seen her since my fourth year in college -- five years ago -- and last week she hit me with a blunt object at the market.  She recognized me because we'd been ping-ponging on facebook and my picture is current!  She is the friend that introduced me to the fact that violence and friendship are not mutually exclusive.

The last friend (so far) is a college buddy.  He was the sweetest -- likely, is the sweetest -- person I've ever met.  WB, you know who I'm talking about.  He who had the misfortune (or is it fortune?) of being Howard's roommate for two years?  I kind of knew he was in town, but I found him!  And he's getting his doctorate!  He is brilliant and sweet and will make some boy happy one day.  Ah, old buddies.

So perhaps facebook isn't as useless as I thought it was.  After all, it had been doing its best to prove its silliness recently.  Having my ex best friend track me down in spite of all my efforts in the past year.  Me being a conduit to help other friends track down people that didn't want to be tracked down...

Amusing.

Off to garden now.  The weather is sunny and...less cold...and the wind has finally died down to something that is less reminiscent of gale-force storms.

I'm having a moment.  It's another one of those instances where I really pay attention to a show and am surprised by what I find.  For me, this happens a lot with shows I enjoyed as a child or as a teenager.  I'm not sure I ever really paid attention to the morality tales of each episode or the subtext.  I suppose I never thought about why shows were in the 9 o'clock slot and not the 8.

Today's show that rendered shock and awe?  Golden Girls.

Topics: teen pregnancy and Blanche's amorous prison correspondence.  The latter is responsible for the mention of fiery loins, and bodies locked in frenzies of love. 

Observations or references of interest:

. Dorothy is a funny, if bitter, old hag.  I remember liking her a good deal, but never so much as I loved Rose.

. Rose is clever!  Yes, her St. Olaf stories are gems, but they are never meant to be.  No!  Her moments to shine were when she inserted little biting comments out of nowhere.  You see the gleam in her eye that tells you that she's more alert than anyone thinks.  She reminds me of a college roommate.

. Sandinistas.  I understand they were at the peak of their power in the 70s, but there's no way I would have caught this the first time around.

. Sophia is a grand old bitch.  I never thought about how old school she is in spite of her awesome commentary.

. Blanche really was a skank.

Who would think this combination of women would be so winning?  And yet I remember loving Empty Nest and ever watching that spin-off about the three of them opening up a hotel together.  Oh, nostalgia television.  I think this is why I'm so afraid to watch the other old shows.  What will I find if I re-watch Murphy Brown?  Shoot, is that even in syndication anymore?  I love me some Candice Bergen.

look away, if you must.

OMG!  Pacey is coming back to television!  Fringe! GAAAAHHHHHH! 

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

*sigh*

I know I'm likely VERY late to this party, but that's what happens when I pay attention to entertainment news sporadically at best.  I am no longer the proper media whore I used to be in college.

I don't know if this is disaster or fate.  JJ Abrams + Pacey = Pacey the high school drop out with a high IQ that has gambling debts and investigates sci-fi cases.  JJ Abrams!  You made it so Pacey wouldn't be schtupping Cristina on Grey's Anatomy!  Or really, WGA Strike, you made it so they would never meet!  Two of my guilty pleasures colliding?  It makes me think that Shonda Rhimes also loved the Pacey.  But then again, who didn't? 

DO NOT RAISE YOUR HAND OR YOUR VOICE, Wishbear!  Heretics do not count in this vote!

Regardless of my love of Joshua Jackson (look!  I used his real name!) I can't see Shutter.  Not when I haven't seen the original Thai version.  Not when I don't watch horror movies in theaters.  I learned my lesson after Blair Witch.  Although, to be fair, that movie was crap.

And now, I will try to recompose myself so I don't even think about seeing if Dawson's Creek is still on syndication.

What does an interviewer mean when he says, "I'll catch up with you later?"

Is that positive?

Is that negative?

I've interviewed a dozen people, and I've never said that at the end of an interview.  I have no clue when they're getting back to me.  Do these people not interview regularly?  They're directors, for f's sake.

I'm going to need an ice pack for this headache.

Someone translate for me while I'm recuperating.