A Splash of Humor

Okay, just a quick post before I have to work. If you haven't heard it yet, check out this story! Hilarious!!!! It's like reading from the Onion, but it's real life.

Gamery

I am having an uproarious amount of fun in gaming right now. S's mindfuck story is really enjoyable, and our group dynamic is only getting more interesting, I think. We have a foreign (ie not European) paladin, a cleric who worships the angel of vengeance (but good), an ultra-paranoid rogue, an evil (I believe) inquisition monk (not monk in the western sense but martial artist sense), and me, the tree hugger druid, who can turn into a wolf and rip someone's throat out (a secret until last night). With this kind of dynamic, I have to wonder if we will eventually have a death of one player at the hands of another. Fun.

Books and Booze

You know what I hate? I hate drinking enough Malibu to be good and enjoying myself and then proceeding to abuse the alcohol by going to sleep. Seriously, I cannot be a drinkin' when I've been up since 6am cause that just leads to me being tired-like.

Anyway, on the upside, I finished reading my second book of the year last night. I decided to give Ian Fleming's Bond books a go. Read Moonraker (the third book, after Casino Royale and Live and Let Die...both were out from the library) a couple weeks ago. Most entertaining because it was published in 1955, which, if any of you are paying attention, was a time when we hadn't even shot a flea into space, so it is totally and completely different from the movie. Actually, it was quite good, and the shocking parts are that the story all takes place in England (of course this is an oddity, since Bond is MI-6...liken it to the CIA working American soil) and he doesn't sleep with anyone! So, last night I finished the next book, Diamonds Are Forever, and it was pretty good as well. Definitely, after reading two books, I think Sean Connery is the actor most like the literary Bond.

I'm also reading a mystery called The Silver Pigs, by Lindsey Davis. It's the first in a highly entertaining series of books set in ancient Rome and staring a private informer named Marcus Didius Falco. Actually, if you like books on tape, I highly recommend that medium as well. The narrator for these books is awesome! Anyway, I've got about 50 more pages there. I've read a few of these books, but don't remember what happened and would like to continue the series, so I'm giving them a quick reread before moving on.

That will allow me to get back to the books I interrupted by going to the library in the first place. I'm about 1/4 way into Pride and Prejudice, my most successful foray into Jane Austen yet. Also, I need to finally finish the third book in the Earthsea Trilogy (Ursula LeGuin). I'm sure I've got something else buried in the pile at my bedside that I was working on. Also, I am perpetually rereading Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time, so there's always that to fall back on.

Actually, my next planned read is The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. I previously read his Botany of Desire (one of the most awesome nonfictions I have ever read) and really look forward to this one.

Movie Reviews: Children of Men and Frailty

I thought I'd start amusing myself by reviewing movies that I like. In other words, I won't bore you with reviews of mediocre or bad films, though I might warn you off of them. The only other movie I think I would have reviewed earlier, had I thought of it, would have been Casino Royale. Anyway, I will try not to spoil these movies for you, but here goes.

As of 2/2/07, these reviews have been moved to a new site.

Quick Post

So, today's the big game. I'm at work, wearing a non-regulation (for work) Saints scrunchy. I will be at work until about halftime, so I will have to watch the game on Tivo.

Also, had a good tour yesterday. One guest said it's the best tour she's had in 20 years! Now there's a compliment!

I'm going to get on later and tell you guys about a couple of movies I've watched in the last few days. Children of Men in the theater and Frailty on DVD.

Tips for Men #1

Do not, under any circumstances, insult a woman's shoes. Don't even come within 20 feet of an insult. Women love shoes. They probably love the shoes they're wearing. They probably think they are cute, sexy, or whatever they want to be when they look at the shoes. Even comments regarding a particular type of shoes may be construed as an insult when you make the comment because you are looking at her shoes (if you are looking at another woman's shoes and you insult them, you are our hero...sick, isn't it?). She may start thinking:

1) I look ugly in these shoes!
2) He hates my taste in shoes and, therefore, hates me.
3) I wore these shoes just for him and he thinks ___ (where ___ is 1, 2, or "I'm not just going to let him get away with that...he's going to pay dearly...")

Anyway, just some friendly advice to keep you out of trouble.

Warning: Political Rant

Apparently Americans are the only ones who have rights in this country! Now the Pentagon wants to be able to convict detainees based on hearsay and coerced confessions and also wants to be able to use the death penalty as a form of punishment. I see...so dramatically increase the likelihood of false conviction and infinitely raise the stakes of said conviction. You know, I don't want to get blown up in a building as much as the next person, but it's hard for me to get past the idea that the Bill of Rights, although written to ensure the liberties of citizens, is really the listing of rights to which we believe everyone should be entitled. These types of laws keep every person at "the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them" (Declaration of Independence). I realize Jefferson was talking about a collective here and I also realize that not every person at this time was considered a part of that collective (namely slaves and women and, some might argue, non-WASP men), but if we believe in unalienable Rights, how can we justify not ensuring those rights for everyone on our soil. If we do not, we are dehumanizing non-citizens and further separating ourselves from the rest of humanity. How can we truly justify taking people from their families based on suspicion and supposition, holding them indefinitely (creating a hopelessness that is, in itself, a torture), and not even letting them have access to an advocate or even tell them why they are being held? How can we now justify the use of supposition, upon which we could never even try the most despicable citizen criminal, to put someone to death? Are we that terrified? Are we that immune to human suffering? To tread on unsafe ground, are we that xenophobic (some might say racist)? How can We the People, allow our government erode the basic human rights of any individual? I think it is truly despicable what we allow in the name of security and the way the government has pushed and pulled the boundaries of power, believing us to be too scared or apathetic to stop it.

Sad News

After 5 days of medication and 2 days of being force-fed, Tatsu died last night. I feel so guilty, like it's all my fault that this little creature under my care was not able to thrive. It wouldn't be as bad if my last reptile had not also died despite my best efforts. I just feel like there should have been something else I could do or that there was something I was not doing! At this point, I think it's safe to assume that I won't go in for another reptile any time soon.

More Tatsu News

Well, my little dragon has eaten more today. Hope that's a good sign. I had a battle to medicate him yesterday, so today I got a syringe with a needle from my vet and injected the medication into a cricket for Tatsu to eat. That worked well. Of course, it entailed me also having to break the cricket's legs so that it would definitely get eaten. Nice, huh.

Funny thing, for anyone who knows about feeder insects, Tatsu has no desire to eat waxworms. I was hoping to use them as reward food later and for administering medication today, but he just looked at that thing like it was a gross, white, creepy-looking larva. For anyone who doesn't know, waxworms are usually crazy popular with animals because of their high fat content (sort of like a dessert). Against my initial desires, I am now offering Tatsu baby mealworms as well. They have a lot of chitin in their exoskeletons and I'm worried that I could cause a digestive problem, but the vet said get him to eat anything he wants right now until his appetite returns.

Hair-pulling TV

Well, they're tough to watch, but my boys won that game tonight! Second playoff game ever! I don't look forward to Soldier Field in January, so I hope the Seahawks win tomorrow. Sigh. It's tough to be a Saints fan.

Third Post This Night

Okay, animal news.

I finally named my dragon (went with Tatsu, cause it's cute like him) and now he's not eating well! I took him to the vet last night and Dr. B couldn't find anything really wrong. So now I'm trying to administer some antibiotics and dewormer just in case but it's a bit traumatizing for both of us. I'm hoping I can inject the stuff into a waxworm. Trying to keep the ambiant temp a little warmer in here as well. So much for a low gas bill!

We had another animal die at the Park. Radar, our Fennec Fox, was geriatric and had a large mass on his liver. I didn't work with him, but it is sad, nonetheless.

I am finally finished working with the Kookaburra. According to J, our lead trainer, Zeke and I have a "working relationship." I keep him out as long as his attention span holds and he doesn't rip me apart. As long as we have an understanding, I'm fine. My first presentation with him was short but went well. Now I'm working with Akisa, a 7.5 ft Madagascar Ground Boa, and I'm way more comfortable with her, even when she's cranky. I know, I'm weird. Hopefully, I'll have a picture with her soon.

Also Gaming Stuff

Okay, so more gaming stuff for anyone who cares. S, who's in all the other games I have played/am currently playing, has started a D&D campaign. We've played twice (of course, most of the first session entailed character creation). He's created his own world sort of based on Medieval Europe, but we're using D&D play. I have a totally rockin' druid (no, rockin' and druid are NOT mutually exclusive!). It's pretty fun so far, though S looks a little squirmy when we players are total idiots and can't see the clues that are laid out in front of us (some virtually with flashing neon signs...but, we're distracted by J's rogue and his desire to fish for sharks). It must be how D feels watching me play a video game he's already played until he can't contain himself any longer and has to tell me a hint...and I do that, too, with F. Anyway, we didn't play anything for a month and I was crazy ready to get out and play anything! Thanks S!

I LOVE Music

Hi everyone. Long time no blog. Hope you all had great holidays and all that. I worked a bit and sat around a bit and now I have a cold, so that's awesome...

Anyway, I'm sitting here working on my i-Tunes library because F got me an iPod nano for my birthday. It's pretty cool, but I'm too lazy to organize my library AND my nano, so I'm trying to keep my library at around 1.8 gig, which is the capacity of my ipod and it is crazy hard. I've gone through my CDs and bought about 30 songs and, well, I am so screwed. I am never going to eliminate enough songs to get back down to the appropriate size. I am right now .6 gig over (which is, like, 90 songs or something!).

Here's my predicament. I don't want to pare down these albums to just the radio songs/my absolute favorites because I love some of the deep cuts. Plus I want to keep all the random music I've picked up over the years. So, I HAVE eliminated all the classical music and most of the instrumental pieces (mostly from soundtracks/scores), which means no Star Wars(!!!) and other great music that I use on trips (which means I will have to change it for trips...or get another ipod (hmm...okay, that's just crazy, my friend, I say to myself)). So, anyway, I know the world has more pressing problems, but, like, I can't figure out what to cut from my music.

Another interesting phenomenon I noted was that I actually was able to cut more than 50% of songs from most albums, but that there are certain ones that I ripped the entire album and then had to really work to cut any songs. Actually I only kept all songs (except I will HAVE to cut these, too...boooo) from six albums:

Garbage - Garbage
Garbage - Garbage 2.0
Nirvana - Nevermind
Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
James Bond Theme Song Soundtrack

Interesting, don't you think. Actually, I haven't listened to Nirvana in a really long time but I knew every song and I think that will be going in my car tomorrow!

So that's my latest bit of totally-unimportant-to-everyone-else news. Later.