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June 30th, 2009
01:36 pm - Spam Fail.
Gmail apparently thought this was funny enough not to filter:
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10:19 am - Timing
People have a way of unwittingly saying just the right thing at just the right time...
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June 26th, 2009
07:02 pm - Email from my mother, #322
[Background: last week, my parents hired an 'ethical' pest removal service to deal with a racoon living in the attic. We've had problems with squirrels and stuff in the attic for a long time but having a racoon in there warranted action. The pest service installed a one-way door in an edge of the roof that has some caging around it that makes it look like a cannon designed to fire a racoon like artillery. There is also a second, squirrel-sized one, in case there are any squirrels in there, too.]apparently the knobs for all trailer hitches are in the back of the 03 in that beat up blue rubbermaid look alike.
we are planning to leave saturday morning after your dad's hair cut
what are your plans for the weekend?
we may take both van and 08 up so I am free to roam and he can try to move boats to water with the van
Elvis has left the building, but is still haunting us.
Elvis has been seen digging for white grubs in the back yard.
Elvis is a raccoon. It would seem our raccoon.
mom
My reply, in part:You should name the squirrel Michael Jackson. (... is it too soon to make that joke?)
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June 18th, 2009
12:52 am - Knifey-spoony
The setting: assembling items in the kitchen for a barbecue dinner on the porch.
Jon: Could someone grab a knife for the mayonnaise?
Beth: a knife, a knife... [She finds the appropriate drawer, and pulls and ordinary dinner knife from it] This is a knife.
Wes: That's not a knife, that's a spoon!
Beth looks at me like I'm crazy.
Wes: Ahh, uh, I see you haven't played knifey-spoony before.
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June 9th, 2009
11:02 pm - A bad joke of a forecast.
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Banana who?"
"Knock knock."
...
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June 1st, 2009
06:55 pm - Dundas Buskerfest!
On the weekend as I was watching some talented friends' skills with glowstick poi, I realized Dundas Buskerfest would be soon. It's a good thing, too, because it's this weekend!
Dundas International Buskerfest is a lot like Waterloo's Busker festival that comes at the end of the summer. Probably even better! (Dundas often seems to attract certain awesome foreign acts a year or two before Waterloo's festival.)
I was thinking it would be cool to round up some people in Waterloo and go enjoy some of Buskerfest on Saturday afternoon/evening. (Exact timing is flexible and open to debate.) I should still have a vehicle at my disposal and can happily provide a ride there and back to those in need.
Current Music: Beethoven's Ninth. Still.
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May 15th, 2009
11:21 pm - An auspicious claim to fame
Rumours are running strong that Dollhouse's renewal will be announced on Monday. Amidst the punditry:
In fact, "Dollhouse" might very well be the lowest-rated in-season scripted drama to ever get a renewal on a major broadcast network. Almost certainly if based on where the show concluded -- a 1.0 among adults 18-49.
The article goes on to mention other low-rated but cult-favourite shows that are, contrary to traditional wisdom, being renewed or at least considered for renewal. Several of which I also watch, so I view this as a good thing, but I can help but see this as a sort of "I'm so indie" poser contest between the networks: "Oh yeah, well we're gonna renew Reaper, and it's only got a 0.9 rating among 18-49!!!"
(Note: a bunch of the people involved in Reaper have commitments for other shows next year, so it's less like that Repear will actually be renewed.)
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May 5th, 2009
01:24 am - Pushing Daisies' Not-an-ending
I just watched the last episode of Pushing Daisies. (The final 3 episodes that ABC has not yet aired were recently broadcast in Britain.) Mourning can now begin.
( Observation cut to avoid spoiling )
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April 27th, 2009
11:54 pm - A conversation with my mother
(from when I was at home a week ago)
"I saw you took the waffle iron," she said, dryly, with the evil eye.
"I know you saw," was my response. "I knew you saw when you mentioned you were making ribs tonight. The only reason you noticed is because you saw its absence when you were getting the pan for them."
"...yes." she replied, reluctantly conceding defeat.
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April 22nd, 2009
02:28 pm - Of Birds and Dreams
Circumstance -- first, returning a vehicle, then going into Toronto last night for a Flight of the Conchords concert (it was awesome!) -- has led me to spend the past couple days at my parent's house.
Monday night, over dinner, my parents mentioned that there's male cardinal hanging around here that's bizarrely fascinated with flying upto, and staring into, windows all over the house. (Maybe it's not a cardinal. Maybe it's some new species of bird: "the red-crested peeping tom")
Tuesday morning, as I was attempting to sleep in (I had only a couple hours sleep Sunday to Monday), I was introduced to it and it awoke me repeatedly with thuds against by bedroom window. It likes to perch directly on window sills, and the flap of its wings against the glass make a very distinctive sound on arrival and departure. I could see it, looking in. Eventually I got frustrated with the sound that I closed my blinds, hoping that it would somehow make my window less fascinating.
It was waking me up and leaving me in a half-asleep state often enough that I started to dream about it. By the time that I finally actually got up to start my day, I'd spent enough time dozing and dreaming about the bizarre activities of this bird that I started to question how much if any of it was real. Had I dreamed the whole thing?
Then I noticed my blinds were closed. Yes, some of it was real.
Since then I've spent a good chunk of the past two afternoons hearing frequent thuds as it approaches its favourite windows around the house. The creature is incredibly bold: I can be standing RIGHT NEXT to the other side of the glass -- my face in his -- and he'll still tolerate it for quite a few seconds. I should try to take a picture.
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April 9th, 2009
01:46 am - Analysis of Lost episode 5x12, "Dead is Dead"
Tonight's episode was extremely interesting; it more or less confirmed a lot of suspicions out there and tossed in all sorts of additional subtle details to obsess over. Standard disclaimer: Don't read any further if you haven't seen the episode. Nothing I say will make sense to you and I'll probably spoil some things.
( My thoughts )
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April 4th, 2009
02:21 am - The moral of the story
Everything is more complicated than you think.
You only see a tenth of what is true.
And there are a million little strings attached to every choice you make.
You can destroy your life every time you choose.
But maybe you won't know for twenty years.
And you may never ever trace it to its source.
And you only get one chance to play it out.
Just try and figure out your own divorce.
And they say there is no fate, but there is:
It's what you create.
And even though the world goes on for eons and eons,
You are only here for a fraction of a fraction of a second.
Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born.
But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years,
For a phone call or a letter or a look
From someone or something to make it all right.
And it never comes.
Or it seems to but it doesn't really.
And so you spend your time in vague regret
Or vaguer hope
For something good to come along.
Something to make you feel connected,
Something to make you feel whole,
Something to make you feel loved.
And the truth is I feel so angry,
And the truth is I feel so fucking sad,
And the truth is I've felt so fucking hurt for so fucking long
And for just as long I've been pretending I'm OK, just to get along,
Just for...
I don't know why.
Maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery.
Because they have their own.
Well.
Fuck everybody.
Amen.
-Minister, in Synecdoche, New York, a film by Charlie Kaufman.
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March 13th, 2009
04:05 pm
Boring tasks are easier when there's other people around doing their own boring tasks.
You're not as productive as you could be on your own, but you're more productive than you would be on your own.
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March 10th, 2009
04:27 pm - Synecdoche Serendipity
Just now, I thought, for the first time in months, "Hey, I should check to see if there's finally any news on when Synecdoche, New York will be released on DVD."
It came out today. (Which means the torrents, of course, have had it for just shy of two weeks.)
Let's see if I can convince people to vote for it for the next movie night.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) amused
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February 25th, 2009
02:29 am - Beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?
I believe that we all live in prisons of our own design; we create our own drama, typically without realizing it. We limit ourselves and our choices to what is familiar, to what is consistent with our own individual concepts of who we are. We grow blind to the options that sit unopted, to the realm of possibilities that lie on the periphery.
But real personal growth comes from leaving the reassuring comfort of the routine prison life and exploring the dangerous world outside. It took me a long time to realize that. Day by day I'm still trying to make living that a reality.
So: Suggest something crazy and out of character I should do. I want to see what else I've been missing out on in this crazy old beautiful world of ours. (If you think you don't know me well enough to have a sense of what "out of character" means, suggest something anyway!)
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February 17th, 2009
03:33 pm - Missed Connection
ATTENTION: to the girl I crossed paths with last Tuesday, who had the exact same toque as me, and wanted to know where they came from. In the infinitesimal chance you somehow read this:
I talked to my mom, and she said, "I probably got it from the Bay. It's not like I really shop anywhere else for that sort of thing."
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03:07 pm - A pressing question
Credit to Wen for spotting this.
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February 9th, 2009
04:42 pm - "Here, take this knife."
A couple weeks ago, I went to a free "how to cook" thing at the Grad House that turned out to be mostly a lecture on sanitary food handling. But it included a free meal, which was mostly why I was going (also the date and time were extremely convenient) so I was happy. An unexpected bonus was the give-away of a number of door prizes. I got one of the best ones: a nice new German-steel bread knife!
I've been so busy with FASS that I didn't even open it until a few hours ago when I was making lunch; I decided to finally dig into some of the bagels I had in the freezer. These bagels had been passed off to me by my parents, who had foolishly frozen them BEFORE slicing them, which is why I haven't eaten any until now. So having a fancy new bread knife seemed rather convenient.
I tried to be careful, I really did, but that knife is SHARP. Which is supposed to be a good thing, but when you're trying to cut a half-frozen bagel, sharp means you get no warning before slicing into your thumb.
I'm pretty sure I've never used a bread knife this sharp before.
It was so ridiculous -- slicing open my thumb on the FIRST USE of my new knife -- that once I had myself cleaned up and bandaged, I could hardly believe it when I did it AGAIN and sliced a flap of skin off the index finger on my other hand.
Yes. Yes, I am that guy. That guy who could do something this dumb, and his only reaction is to laugh over it and want to tell as many people as possible.
Things that immediately came to mind:
-"When all you have is a bread knife, everything looks like bread... including your thumb ... and your other index finger."
-"... There was this one time, when Chip got into the cutlery drawer, and ..."
-How wonderfully absurd it would be I'd done this before the play, so that I was (failing at) teaching students how to defend themselves from steak knife attacks with bandages all over my fingers.
-This is pure Fail Blog material, if only I could think of a image that could summarize the whole story.
( A silly photo )
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February 5th, 2009
04:16 pm
I'm just a little person,
One person in a sea,
Of many little people,
Who are not aware of me.
I do my little job,
And live my little life,
Eat my little meals,
Miss my little kid and wife.
And somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
I'll find a second little person,
who will look at me and say,
I know you,
You're the one I've waited for.
Let's have some fun.
Life is precious every minute,
And more precious with you in it,
So, let's have some fun.
We'll take a road trip
Way out west,
You're the one,
I like the best.
I'm glad I've found you,
Like hangin' 'round you,
You're the one,
I like the best.
Somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
Somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away.
Somewhere, maybe someday,
Maybe somewhere far away,
I'll meet a second little person,
And we'll go out and play.
Current Music: Little Person - Jon Brion - Synecdoche, NY soundtrack
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December 16th, 2008
04:39 pm - An observation
Just a random thought:
Battlestar Galactica is about running away, only to end up repeating cycles.
Lost is about going back, as a means of trying to break them.
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