renegadeRICEcracker

muse -- absolution (2004)

i just got muse's new cd. it's fantastic! aside from loving the sound, i very much appreciate that they put a little more effort into their songs than writing 4-5 lines and repeating them over and over. i get really irritated when a band starts off alright with a clever 4-5 lines, but then seems to think that they're done, and that people will continue to be enthralled through the next eight times they repeat them. i also get irritated when a line is repeated over and over when texture could have been created with slight variations. this, of course, is not a blanket criticism -- sometimes meaning grows through repetition. just not always. and it's better when you have good music backing up the vocals.

anyway. good cd.

my dad sent this to me.

pumpkinwad

pumpkin carving was fun. we ended up with something like 13 pumpkins, all in cool and different styles. i will post pictures when i get them from cb.

the only two left at my place were mine and mimi's. hers was a star and moon, and mine was meatwad (with the little dancing arms). this was saturday. i came home last night after two days away to find that the pumpkins looked like someone had strung up the white cottony halloween spiderwebs in them. the lid on mine was wilting inward because the walls were so soft. meatwad's tooth was all moldy. he was soft -- so that you couldn't pick him up without him caving in on you. it was gross.

i had to throw them away. (i wasn't going to, but one of last year's summer associates and her husband had come by to hang out, and they were adamant that the pumpkins would get rank and attract weird bugs, so they helped me with the disposal.) so much for halloween decorations.

99 cents

on saturday i went to the 99 cent store to get pumpkin carving kits for my pumpkin carving thing because i had been unable to find non-fancy carving kits anywhere else. the 99 cent store is one of my favorite places -- i used to go to the one on pico on the westside all the time, or the one in culver city. this time i went to one somewhere south of me, much further east in the city.

it was almost a surreal experience. walking in, i pushed through a stench of urine and trash. inside, all around me people were hacking or limping by on crutches. the food on the shelves were all name brand gimmicks from a while back that never caught on. the cashier had a glass eye. i left feeling disturbed and guilty over the fact that i can do my grocery shopping at ralph's or pavilions. made me sad. 99 cent store -- fun excursion in my head no longer.

manhunt!

i'm watching manhunt: the search for america's most gorgeous male model. i have to say, this may be one of my new favorite shows. i liked the guy who introduced himself very earnestly by saying, "i am going to break the stereotype of male models by showing america that you can both be very decent- and good-looking and also very smart... in the head."

the christian virgin looks like tommy from 3rd rock from the sun.

and i like that they're staying at the try-too-hard-ultra-modern standard downtown. we have after-work happy hours where they are currently picking up chicks. those girls are going to be pissed when this is aired and they see how the guys are saying, well, they're not that hot but they were there, right? haha, and the gay guy seems really upset that other guys snuck a girl into the room "after hours."

yay new trash tv show to watch!

LA drivers panic when it rains.

it's that time of the year again, when it rains for a whole week in los angeles (actually, more like 3 days, but people are all gloomy and talking about how they are being impacted by SAD and all that anyway). i don't mind it so much, because i like to see the sheets of rain hit the windows, and from my office the freeway is prettier at night with the headlights reflecting off the pavement. so really the only thing i don't like about the rain is that LA drivers seem completely unable to deal with this earth-shattering change in weather and street conditions. this morning, i got stuck behind at least three separate big white vans that were trundling along wilshire at well under 15 mph, with no one in front of them. i mean, i understand that last night it was raining pretty hard, so some people are uncertain about visibility and all that, but this morning it was a pretty steady light rain that really was even too light for the windshield wipers on their slowest speed. aiya.

i think my new sign for not sleeping past my alarm and getting to work early was the early morning nightmare i had sometime around 9am today. mm. bad.

anyway. for you gloomy los angelenos, here is something to help combat SAD. cheers.

it's always something.

so, yesterday i was in a weird fog all day because i couldn't really hear in my left ear, and my contacts were totally blurry so i couldn't see. i was relieved to be able to hear when i woke up, and i changed my contacts so i could see. so, instead, this morning i get a huge bloody nose. maybe these are signs i'm supposed to be paying attention to...?

AAACCCCHHHH!!!

MY LEFT EAR HAS BEEN CLOGGED ALL DAY!!! I CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!!

anyway. some nice clips for people who are still undecided.

zestfully clean.

this morning i opened the last bar of the jumbo economy pack of soap that i bought at costco at the beginning of 3L year. that is all.

it's all for the oysters.

i am getting really sick of interviewing. especially the lunches. they are long, they shoot your day as far as billable hours go, and they always have the threat of being stilted and awkward. the only thing that makes it okay is that i have been on a huge oyster/clam on the half-shell kick, and this is best done on someone else's dime. and preferably paired with crab, lobster or steak.

woo-hoo!

i am informed that it is "International Very Good Looking Damn Smart Woman's Day."

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, a martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, worn out and screaming

WOO HOOOOOOO!! what a ride!"

the cottage cheese goal

so, we were talking about cottage cheese the other day (there really is not much gossip in the office lately), and i was saying how i've never liked cottage cheese but that it is one of those foods that i feel like sometimes (i've already been made fun of for this sentiment by a number of you). i just liked the idea of it. you know, like how in oliver twist the porridge sounds good -- even though porridge can actually be quite bland and tasteless, sometimes the idea of it is good. but anyway, ideas notwithstanding, every time i ate it, i didn't like it.

anyway. off and on over the last, oh, eight years, i would get some cottage cheese when the idea of it got in my head, but i was never really able to eat more than a spoonful or two because i didn't actually like it. through persistence, i got to where i could tolerate it, and then to where i thought it was okay sometimes. well. today i made great strides. my co-worker had had some yesterday for lunch, which made me feel like it. so i got a container (with pineapple). and i ate the whole thing. it was good. i liked it.

great strides. i am very proud of myself. i think i may turn to the idea of cottage cheese and salsa next -- this will take some real work, though, because i think this will probably actually taste really nasty. but some people eat it like that, and i have always kind of liked the idea of it. i'll see. i don't know if i have that kind of dedication.

filling time.

i'm finishing up watching the presidential debates on tv tonight, and i just have to say that it's a little painful watching president bush ramble on and on to fill his allotted time.

ooooh, poor -- tivo cut off the last 3 minutes. ouch.

fucking spammers

don't get me wrong. i totally enjoy the pithy witticisms provided by free online poker and texas hold'em much more than the "very interesting site! thank you!" from the various porn sites (flattered though i may be). but, uh... how do i get rid of them?

ideally i'd be able to pull up a list of comments and click the ones i want to delete. as it is it appears that i have to open each one individually, say i want to delete it, and then confirm this. i have over 5000 spam comments stretching back to the first of my blog entries. is there any quicker way to delete them?

or keep them from hitting my site to begin with? to block them? ugh. fuckers.

on another note -- WOW i'm sore. my right hand (shut up) hurts from the vibration of the bat (shut up), both around my thumb and somewhere on my ring finger. my arm is somewhat but bearably sore, and my torso seems somewhat sore as well. kind of like when you've been drinking all night and you wake up sore (notice that i have no workout soreness stories to draw from).

anyway. fuckers.

batting, mexican karaoke and road rage.

today karen took me to the batting cages. i had never been before and i have to say that hitting things until your arms are sore is great fun. woo-hoo!

after that we went to a mexican restaurant that turned, halfway through our meal, into a dimly lit and loud mexican karaoke club. it was awesome. there was a couple there that brought their own cds (and some other fancy equipment in metal cases) and took up most of the time alternating between each other. they were both good but the woman had the mic way too close to her mouth, rendering both conversation and comfort impossible.

i apparently am unable to let go of the last vestiges of my road rage. i am perfectly easy-going when i am cut off and no longer get into races with people (i haven't for quite some time, if this worries you). but goddamn -- if someone decides that i am not going fast enough and decides to tail and highbeam me (especially given that i am not a slow driver) hell no am i going to give them the positive reinforcement of speeding up or getting out of their way. and if someone doesn't understand this and pulls up even closer on my ass flashing their high beams, then fuck you i will slow down and crawl down wilshire at 20 mph until they stop. hah. fuckers.

the gay blade

chick tracts! why? because it's so easy!!

learn about the blasphemous homosexuals with "the gay blade."

i have ordered a free catalogue. thanks to she who brought this to me.

oh my god.

this makes me feel sick.

the mist

how many of you read stephen king? remember that story, "the mist"? it was in skeleton crew. about the opaque wall of mist that came from across the lake and then all these townspeople ended up barricaded in a big grocery store because there were things out there?

fog was bad this morning driving in, but i still did a double-take when i walked into my office and my windows were an opaque white. if you get close to the window you can look down and see the ground and close buildings, but from the door, nothing. it's pretty cool, actually. so long as no giant pink slugs attach themselves to my window and work their way in to kill me.

lawyers do it in front of a jury of their peers

lawyers do it in front of a jury of their peers.

also a fan of the girlfight shirt.

my girlfriend can totally beat up your girlfriend.