Blah Blah Blah

Automatically flushing toilets. Ok, I can see the point. But do they have to flush THREE times while I’m sitting there?

That is all. Carry on.

Filed by Kelly at 4:36 pm under Rant
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Over on that’s my answer today, one of Indigo’s questions was “What’s your favorite comic strip?” My first thought was, “Yay! Fun question!” My subsequent thoughts were all to the tune of, “How the heck can I pick A favorite?”

I mean, there’s Doonesbury with wicked political humor. And Cathy with her “that is so like real life” humor. And Maxine is my favorite cynic. You can’t go wrong with Calvin and Hobbes, and Bloom County is just plain crazy fun. Oh, and let’s not forget Dilbert, my personal hero. And those are just the ones you can find in a newspaper.

Mike’s got a list of online comics he reads every day, and I have to wonder if it doesn’t take him all morning to read them. Personally, I just follow two online comics (though some of the above can also be found online): xkcd and Jesus and Mo. xkcd is brainiac humor (and I have to admit sometimes the math jokes are a little beyond me). Jesus and Mo is… well, I could say it’s religious humor, but that doesn’t really cover it. Some, I’m sure, would consider it irreverant. But it cracks me up.

I’ll narrow it down to two favorites then: Dilbert and Jesus and Mo. Yay! Fun!

Filed by Kelly at 8:25 am under Babble
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Or apparently not, in my case. I’ve always maintained that I didn’t feel as old as my drivers license claims I am. According to this quiz, it’s worse than I thought… I thought I was 30-something. This is a pretty darn big spread, seeing as I turn 50 in 69 days.

You Act Like You Are 28 Years Old

You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel like an adult, and you’re optimistic about life. You feel excited about what’s to come… love, work, and new experiences. You’re still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can’t wait to explore many of them.

Filed by Kelly at 8:23 pm under Quiz
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…has taken a left turn somewhere. We’ve turned into the kind of people we shouldn’t want to be when we start treating American citizens like terrorists simply because of their heritage.

Ramak Fazel had a fabulous idea. He’d do something with his childhood stamp collection… see the country and turn the stamps into art. Brilliant! I wish I had thought of that! But because his parents came to America from Iran (when Ramak was 2 months old, I might add), suspicion was heaped upon him.

I’m not going to rant a whole lot, but I do want to ask this: Would I — a middle-aged white woman — have had the same experiences with police and FBI?

I think not.

Filed by Kelly at 10:48 am under Rant
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a meme from Five on Fridays…

1. What is your favorite hot beverage? Chai. Used to be, I thought the idea of putting milk in tea was totally horrifying. In an EWWWWW kind of way. But once I tried it, I was hooked!

2. Describe your favorite hot food? It depends. Do I have to make it, or is someone going to bring it to me? If I have to make it, my favorite hot food would be Sloppy Joes (my mother’s recipe). If someone is bringing it to me, it would be Giordano’s stuff pizza with onions and green peppers.

3. What piece of clothing makes you feel warm and snuggly the moment you put it on? My down coat. Is that weird?

4. Do you warm up your car on cold days? Do you run the heat all the time or just enough to defrost the windows? Lately, I’ve been thinking I should, but mostly I don’t. In average traffic, it only takes about 10 minutes to get to work. But since I hate being cold, I keep the heat on (though I might turn the fan down a little). People who actually have blood in their veins instead of water hate driving with me.

5. What is your ideal warm-weather vacation spot? I think I’d opt for Arizona. It’s warm, it’s try and there aren’t an overabundance of people. I have family there, I have friends there. It’s good.

Filed by Kelly at 11:10 pm under Meme
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I’m finding there are some of these that are really fun! This one is called the 5-Book Meme, where you grab a sentence from each of five books and turn them into a paragraph. Here’s my paragraph:

The back of the table captain’s cream-colored evening jacket had just turned away when Stephen Hopkins leaned across the secluded corner booth and kissed his wife. All of Jambudvipa became confused and agitated, as dark as smoke, with meteor showers burning in all directions, and divine kettledrums resounding in the sky. “Who the hell do you think you are?” Sully twirled a forkful of linguine. “May you be as tormented in your death as I am in my life.”

I’m going to have to do this one regularly, because it just cracks me up. The five books I used are:

1. Step on a Crack by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (to be read)
2. Buddhist Scriptures edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (reading)
3. Firestorm by Rachael Caine (to be read)
4. Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo (reading)
5. If You Can’t Say Anything Nice, Say It In Yiddish by Lita Epstein (reading)

Filed by Kelly at 9:05 pm under Meme
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Picked this one up from Kwizgiver, who swiped it from Cat. And for the record, I also made a post on my art blog, too.

1. EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING? yes

2. LONGEST RELATIONSHIP? nine and a half years and counting

3. LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED? a cassette tape deck for my PC

4. EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE? yep

5. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT? so long ago that I don’t remember

6. THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON? food, art supplies

7. LAST FOOD YOU ATE? apple

8. FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? voice

9. ONE FAVORITE SONG? Rainbow Connection

10. WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Upstate NY

11. HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED: Amundsen HS

12. CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER: AT&T fka Cingular

13. FAVORITE MALL STORE: malls are evil

14. LONGEST JOB YOU HAD: previous one… Computer Goddess for 6 years 3 months

15. DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE? lots and lots of dice!

16. DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE? not since grade school

17. LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED: I think it was Tina’s

18. FIRST FRIEND YOU’D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY: since I’d tell hubby in person, I guess I’d call Matt first

19. LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR BEST FRIEND: way, way, WAY too long ago

20. FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT: Subway

21. BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD: “I haven’t been drinking”

23. WHERE’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS? their houses

24. CAN YOU COOK? yep, but I hate it

25. WHAT CAR DO YOU DRIVE? 2002 Honda Odyssey

26. BEST KISSER: ever? um, I think I’ll take the 5th on this one

27. LAST TIME YOU CRIED? last weekend while watching a sappy movie

28. MOST DISLIKED FOODS: brussel sprouts, liver, fish

29. THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF: sense of humor

30. THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF: probably that I feel cold at any temperature under 78

32. LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A JOB? 20 hours (at aforementioned previous job)

33. FAVORITE MOVIE? Monty Python and the Holy Grail

34. CAN YOU SING? yes

35. LAST CONCERT ATTENDED? I think it was a CPS concert before I joined

36. LAST KISS? hubby

37. LAST MOVIE RENTED: Dalai Lama: the Soul of Tibet

38.ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT: keys

39. FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: anyplace warm

43. LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER? desktop

44. FAVORITE COMEDIAN? Ellen

45. DO YOU SMOKE? no, never

46. SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT CLOTHES? with, sometimes lots

47. WHO SLEEPS WITH YOU EVERY NIGHT? hubby

48. DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS WORK? they can

49. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN PULLED OVER BY THE POLICE? my lead foot and I cannot remember

50. PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST? french toast

51. DO YOU LIKE COFFEE? ick, no

52 HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS? on somebody else’s plate

53. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY? I’m not sure; I don’t think so

54. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Bill, the phone guy at work

55. LAST PERSON ON YOUR MISSED CALL LIST? Out of Area

56. WHAT WAS THE LAST TEXT MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED? a lengthy one from my daughter

58. NUMBER OF PILLOWS? one for my head, one for my knees

59. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW? long-sleeve shirt, sweater, scarf, khaki jeans, knee socks, gym shoes, undies

60. PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC: Some of my best friends are straight…

61. WHAT KIND OF JELLY DO YOU LIKE ON YOUR PB & J?: cherry preserves

62. CAN YOU PLAY POOL? sort of

63. CAN YOU SWIM? yes

64. FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Stewart’s Sweet Black Cherry

65. DO YOU LIKE MAPS? maps are so excellent!

66. TELL ME A RANDOM FACT ABOUT YOURSELF: I’ve been supporting myself since I was 17

68. EVER ATTEND A THEME PARTY? yes… Toga! Toga!

69. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? summer

70. LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED AT SOMETHING STUPID? at work this afternoon

71. WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING? 5:45 am

72. BEST THING ABOUT WINTER? it ends!

73. LAST TIME A COP GAVE YOU A TICKET? back in October

75. NAME OF YOUR FIRST PET? Weebles

76. DO YOU THINK PIRATES ARE COOL OR OVERRATED? pirates are the chosen people of His Noodliness

77. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND? laundry, volunteering at the co-op, driving to PA

78. BIRTHDATE: April 7

79. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE: happy, healthy

85. ARE YOU ON A LAPTOP? no, I’m on a chair

87. ARE YOU SMILING? yes

89. DO YOU MISS SOMEONE RIGHT NOW? yes

90. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD YOU GO? Ireland

92. ARE YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL? lordy, not for decades

93. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH? nope

94. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NAME? Moira O’Shaughnessy

95. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHING SUIT? black

96. DOES YOUR SCHOOL START IN AUGUST? no

97. DID YOU GO ON VACATION LAST MONTH? yes

98. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A CRUISE? no, not yet

99. DO YOU HAVE A SISTER? yep

100. ARE YOU UPSTAIRS? yep

101. ARE YOU IN LOVE? yes

102. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL? several times

103. DO YOU WISH YOU COULD SEE ANYONE PARTICULAR RIGHT NOW? no

104. WHAT JEWELRY ARE YOU WEARING? sapphire stud earrings

105. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO AFTER THIS SURVEY? sleep!

Filed by Kelly at 10:34 pm under Meme
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Psych!

I don’t make resolutions any more. Why bother? It’s a set up for a let down, if you ask me. Why say I’m going to exercise every day, when I know I’m not going to go out of my way to exercise until the weather turns nice again? Why say I’m going to lose weight when that would involve more deprivation than I’m already getting being a vegan? (Ok, I do need to lose weight… but I have to convince myself I really want to do it because I can make any kind of commitment to the process.) (And the deprivation of being a vegan isn’t really all that much, except I can’t eat the kind of pizza I love — deep dish Chicago-style pizza.)

(By the way, did you ever notice that the word resolution can be seen as re-solution? That seems to imply that a resolution is the application of a solution for a second, third, nth time. Words are fun, aren’t they?)

I have noticed, however, that I’ve ignore this little corner of cyberspace of nine months. Good grief, that’s enough time to gestate a human being. Thank all the gods and goddesses and superheroes that hasn’t been what I’ve been doing. Not that it would have been possible, but still. Apparently, I haven’t had much to rant about.

What I am going to do is commit to writing a blog post every day, for at least the next two weeks. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be here. I do have other blogs, you know. And in case you don’t know, the other blogs are Aerten Art and Aerten Caisleán (where I talk about my art and books I’ve read, respectively).

Here, I’m not necessarily going to rant any more. Perhaps (most likely) I will write something in response to someone else’s blog. I read a lot of blogs, and a lot of those blogs are thought-provoking. Perhaps, as I did last April, I will create a post in response to a meme. You just never know.

So stay tuned.

Filed by Kelly at 3:03 pm under Meme
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