I just (almost) finished painting the treehouse down at the farm.
Impressive, I know.
I don’t know that there’s much to say about it, really. I spent three-ish days out in the sun and wind. It’s been blowing at like 30MPH for the past few days. Whoever nicknamed Chicago clearly never spent time in Southern Arizona. In short: I’m sun-burned, wind-whipped, and covered with dust.
This is my new posse:
The white one back there is on a diet because she was SO FAT that her cheeks were covering her eyballs and she couldn’t see!
Jus hangin out, bein all coy and stuff
What?
And now, on to matters of taste: A debate has come to the forefront of my life lately regarding chickens as pets. I think it’s a horrible idea. Chickens are kind of gross, actually. They smell and poop a lot and make noise. Plus, they’re weird looking. I’m all for goats (see above).
Everyone I know, or at least those people who grew up speaking American English, pretty much only says “pan-teez” when the word is standing alone. Otherwise, we say something more like “pa-neez.” That little t is kind of dirty sounding, isn’t it?
I can hear you pronouncing them in your head right now. Panties, panties. Every time it’s pan-teez, there’s a little giggle.
I recently found out that the word originally referred to mens’ undergarments. What a fun world that must have been.
So, I know that I’m a few years late here, but today, for the first time ever, I played World of Warcraft.
I was having another fun-filled morning obsessing over internet memes. And I think it was while reading TEH HOLIES BIBUL that I decided I needed to play WoW and see what it was all about because these have simply GOT TO BE my people.
Among the more obnoxious things that I LOVE: Lolcats, Rickrolling, Kittens Inspired by Kittens, David After Dentist, and the god-damned absolute genius of Kittens Inspired by David After Dentist. And all of these things are possible because of places like 4CHAN and Something Awful, which means they are possible because of the same people who play World of Warcraft.
There’s an oxymornic aspect to nerd-dom. They’ve got some very high-tech pursuits and are fueling technological innovation, but they’re also the only people who still use really low-tech online services (like 4CHAN). They’re on IRC way more than iChat and on old-school, 1980s-style bulletin board services way more than facebook.
But anyway, this is way off-topic. The point is WoW. I downloaded the trial version this morning and got it all loaded up because I love IRC and 4CHAN and LOL.
The first character I built was a dwarf rogue with a big red beard. He died, pretty quickly. I didn’t realize, at first, that you can just respawn yourself, so I went back and made a new guy. This one’s a human warrior and he and I got stuck. I don’t know how or why, but hours passed.
So, I get it, kind of. For me, anyway, part of the draw has to be that the game universe is a lot like the actual universe (vast and ever-expanding). So you can just go forever. And your character grows. I mean, it’s not exactly analagous to really human growth, but where it differs it’s actually better. You go through experiences and challenges and buy and sell things, but unlike real life where it’s generally impossible to figure out why you’ve done anything or whether you’re better or worse off for it, in the game it’s obvious and numerical. You are constantly improving and you can see it happening.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep it up. I’ve got the kind of mind that can obsess over these sorts of things, but I also have the attention span of a 4-year-old. For now, I think I’d like to get my little human up to level 10 (he’s a level 8, as of this writing) because that would be the first official “milestone” in his young life. So if I just stop posting altogether in the near future you will know I have run off to live the sad, lonely, but delighfully controllable life of the gamer.
I haven’t posted anything for a while, but I’ve resolved to try to post everyday this week.
Life has just kind of sucked, a lot, for the past week or so. I should have a lot more to say when that happens, but this was exceptionally lame, like, to the point that I couldn’t even be bothered to write about it.
So, truth be told, I don’t actually have anything to say today. I’m really just trying to stick to the resolution. It would be extra bad if I broke the promise before the week even started.
This is the first of what I intend to be a weekly feature. The idea is to provide a distillation of the various random links, pictures, videos, etc. that make it onto my Tumblr blog over the course of a week.
So, here now, without any further ado, I present the week of 2/8/2009:
On Monday, my little brother ate himself stupid. We chatted about it:
Joseph: against my better judgement, i went out with the boys last night for beer and chicken wings. so i went out, had a couple wings, a couple PBRs, and then proceeded to eat a massive french dip sandwich, a plate of fries, more beers, and some mozzarella sticks
i was SO HONGRY
and then
then me: GROSS Joseph: i know
but it was delicious
hold on
so we get home
and i go straight to my bedroom
and like
fall over
on the floor
like me: hahahaha Joseph: squirming
i was so bloated and confused
Monday also saw a couple of posts about my 16th great grandfather, Thomas More. His contributions to the world of modern thought are indisputable, and he coined the term ‘utopia.’ This is a heavy burden for me. Read some here and also here.
I found this little gem on Tuesday:
And it snowed this week (in Tucson!). You can read the forecast here and I have proof that it really happened:
I stumbled across the eyeball clock on Wednesday:
And I read a great essay about ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ on This Recording.
So, look, what I’m saying is there is no reason for anyone to see this movie ever. If you are going through a breakup and a well-meaning friend tries to make you, email me instead and I will burn you a copy of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space so you and Justin Pierce can get through this bullshit together.
Beyond that, my week in Tumblr can pretty much be summed up by reading the Skittles vodka post from Thursday.
There’s a lot of stuff to blog about today. Lincoln and Darwin are both celebrating birthdays from the grave, and intelligent people everywhere are celebrating the anniversary of the publication of ‘Origin of Species.’ And more pedestrian bloggable phenomena like Google joining the ranks of companies laying people off and the Republicans trying to derail Obama’s stimulus package, make for all sorts of newsworthy writing. But I don’t want to talk about any of that.
Last night, after having my mind blown by L O S T (again) and before watching Joaquin Phoenix being a total dick on Letterman, I was making Skittle vodka (as followers of the Tumblr already know). Tonight they are all ready, and I’m ready to start my taste test.
A couple of things before we begin: I have already been drinking for a little while (surprise!) and I normally hate sweet and/or fruity drinks. When I’m drinking liquor I pretty much only ever drink vodka soda, which is about the least flavorful drink you could imagine. So I’m thoroughly expecting to not enjoy this experience.
First up: Strawberry. Most notable right off the bat is how smooth it is. It’s not nearly as sickly sweet as I anticipated. In fact, it went down way too quickly to note much else.
Next: Grape. Though it’s very similar to the strawberry, it is remarkably different enough in flavor. I have always kind of suspected that Skittles (or most fruit-flavored candies, for that matter) were “flavored” in the same way Kool-Aid is. That is, it’s a lot more about a different color than a different taste. But these first two were definitely recognizable as their respective flavors, which, oddly enough, in no way resemble the flavors of the fruits they represent. I’ve always wondered about that. Take watermelon, for example. The flavor of watermelon candy is like a universally agreed upon thing that has absolute nothing in common with the flavor of actual watermelon (yeah, I’ve been drinking, what of it?).
And finally: Lemon-Lime. This is the only combo in the line-up, featuring equal parts yellow and green Skittles. This one is decidedly more intense. As soon as I opened it the smell of lemon-lime with almost overwhelming. So is the taste. It’s also got a kind of chemically aftertaste that definitely leaves something to be desired.
Ugh. Okay, I’m off. Going to go get proper drunk. I’ll come back tomorrow to finish this post off.
[post-script: I did not come back to finish this post off. I slept ALL DAY yesterday. I may have gone a bit too far after the Skittles thing.]
I played a lot of them when I was younger: baseball, football, hockey, wrestling, track and field, I was even on the swim team for a minute. But since, maybe, age 15 I haven’t even had a passing interest in most sports. And yet, they seem to be coming up a lot lately.
I’ve been trying to write something for Nike for a few days now, and the assignment is specifically to write something topical and relevant related to women in sports. So I started researching and putting ideas together and I’m still not convinced that this is a good idea at all. I have no idea what I’m doing, is the short version of that story.
But anyway, at one of the more frustrating points in my effort to write this piece, I turned on the TV and a basketball game was on. It happened to be the Cavaliers vs. the Lakers, a game of some importance because these are, arguably, the best teams in the NBA. Sports people, it would seem, are pretty comfortable describing both Kobe Bryant and Lebron James as geniuses, and two of the greatest players to ever play the game.
I managed to tune in right before the game started. So, thinking maybe this was some kind of sign, I decided to watch the whole thing through, to make an earnest effort to understand why so many people watch professional sports.
First, I should note that all of these guys, Kobe and Lebron in particular, are REALLY GOOD at playing basketball. So I get that part of it. I could watch them play just to appreciate how finely tuned that peculiar set of skills is for them. But I still don’t get it, and I think there are two main reasons for this.
1) I don’t get idolatry. And this one extends into all aspects of my life. Like, I don’t read biographies, as a general rule, because I just don’t care. For example: I really like reading and writing and books, and I also really liked ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’ But I’m not going to go camp out at Salinger’s house waiting for a glimpse of him. Salinger doesn’t interest me any farther than he wrote a really great novel one time. That’s totally good enough for me. I don’t care where he buys his groceries, or the kind of clothes he wears, or the car he drives, or even how he “feels” about stuff. Sports players, even less.
An interview with a really great writer could conceivably be interesting because by their nature they should have an exceedingly good grasp of the language and be reasonably intelligent. That’s how you be a really great writer. So it might be fun to learn something about their inner workings simply because they would probably say it in a clever way. An athlete is really good at playing a sport, and, along the same lines, I don’t automatically care about anything beyond that. I don’t want to hear about their lives or where they came from or what they ate for breakfast or whatever. And because they don’t need to have skills like wittiness and grasp of the language, I can’t imagine that it would be very interesting to hear about any of that stuff.
This point has been further clarified now that there’s all this scandal being made about Alex Rodriguez taking steroids. This is only an issue if you idolize him. If he’s just good at playing baseball then steroids is nothing more than a questionable move on his part. It makes him better at hitting balls really hard, maybe, but could also seriously shorten his life-span. But everyone is worried about the “message” this sends: to kids, to other players, to politicians around the world, etc. From where I stand, A-Rod is not in the business of sending messages. The same goes for Michael Phelps. Being upset that Phelps smoked pot one time has absolutely nothing to do with enjoying watching people swim really fast. It has everything to do with being let down by your idols.
2) I missed the chapter about male comraderie, team spirit, and competitiveness. I really enjoyed playing sports when I was a kid, but I never talked to my teammates much and I definitely didn’t talk to my opponents. I mean, I was and still am a very sociable person, but when the game was on, my job, as I saw, was to determine the most efficient and effective way to complete whatever task was in front of me. I didn’t need or want feedback of any kind. I knew when I was doing a good job. And when I wasn’t doing a good job, I tried to figure out what was going wrong and adapt to it. I can’t remember having a lot of emotions about it.
But I know people who used to play sports and are now sports fans who are, probably sub-consciously, reliving something that I mostly missed the first time around. It doesn’t really excite me to see anyone win or lose or inspire their team or insult their opponents.
All this is to say that there’s something illusory about being a sports fan. There’s way more to it then just being a fan of sports. And in this world of jocks v. nerds it may well be that I was just born to be a nerd.
I’ve been thinking a lot about presidential assassinations since I saw this speech:
No matter where you stand, this was undoubtedly a shining moment in the history of political oratory. It’s incredible that this guy is now the president. It’s also really scary because guys like this (that is, people who are thoughtful, intelligent and interested in change), historically, don’t do well in high profile positions.
I feel like there’s a common perception of the leftist agitators as the violent resistors. It’s always a bunch of dudes with bandanas around their faces throwing Molotov cocktails at the police. But of the four presidents assassinated in the history of America, only one (William McKinley) was a right-wing conservative killed by a leftist, and I don’t even know if I count that. Is an anarchist really left? It’s sort of unfair, I think, unless we also get to put Nazis in with the right (I don’t mean that to be inflammatory, it’s just, that’s the extreme ends of either political view).
Quick note: The only apolitical assassination was James Garfield. He was shot by a very lonely and very crazy guy because his office refused to give the man a job, basically.
Either way, the right-wing, conservative nuts are leading the left-wing, anarchist nuts 2-1. If we add otherhighprofile political assassinations to the mix, the red team is WAY ahead.
This seems pretty predictable to me. The right-wing guys are the ones who are mad all the time and they have all the guns. Rush Limbaugh screamed and shouted his way through 8 years of the most socially conservative government this country has even seen, and, to be sure, he’ll be screaming and shouting until the day he dies. The modern left, on the other hand, is intimately tied with artists and intellectuals. Spokesmen for the blue team are guys like Noam Chomsky. Sure, he’s mad about stuff, but he doesn’t scream and shout about it. He takes hours to make his point and he comes off like, well, like a whiny Jewish intellectual.
I mean, I love whiny Jewish intellectuals, and I’m happy to be on their team. But this is all really coming into focus because of the comparisons drawn between Obama and Lincoln and Kennedy. The analogies are founded, to be certain, but those are tough odds. All three were/are extraordinary speakers. They were/are a perfect mix of intelligence and approachability. And all three really believe(d) that they stood on the precipice of some fundamental shift in the political and day-to-day reality of living in America. For Lincoln and Kennedy we know now that they really did stand on that precipice, and I think there’s reason to believe Obama does too. But the former two were killed for exactly these reasons.
I mean to say: PLZ DONT KILL MAH PREZ K? THX!!!
Another quick note: I realize that JFK was shot by a communist, but does anyone really believe that a little skirmish with Cuba was the reason for Kennedy’s assassination?
I don’t remember falling asleep. Last I recall, I was chatting with Molls because lil brother told me that she is friends with the other blogging Molly in real life. I was trying to get this confirmed or denied when I apparently stumbled to the couch and passed out.
I made dinner last night for my Aunt Lynne, lil cousin Amelia, my Grandmother and her friend Sue from across the street. Part of the idea was to impress Sue with my culinary prowess so that she might employ me to cook when she is entertaining guests in a couple of weeks. I think it worked.
Menu:
Appetizers
Stuffed Mushrooms (recipe below) and Roasted Red Peppers
10-15 mushrooms (white ones, big enough to stuff)
white wine
4-6 cloves garlic
breadcrumbs
olive oil
fresh herbs (parsley, basil, oregano, whatever you like)
salt and pepper
This recipe is really easy to add stuff to, so if you’ve got veggies or whatever in the fridge to get rid of just throw them (celery, onion, tomatoes, etc.). First, pop the stems off of the mushrooms. lay the mushrooms upside down in a pyrex dish. Chop the stems up pretty small, and chop the garlic up even smaller. Sautee the garlic for a couple minutes in some olive oil and then throw the mushrooms in with it (add veggies now too if you’ve got them, but make sure you chop them pretty fine). Cook until they start to brown, probably 5-10 minutes. Add some white wine to the pan (I don’t know, half a cup?). Cook it down until it’s pretty much dry, like, 10 more minutes.
Mix up the mushrooms and garlic with breadcrumbs until you’ve got a nice mushy stuffing. If you overdo it with the breadcrumbs, add some oil to moisten it back up. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon this into the mushrooms and put a little bit of wine in the dish so they don’t dry out.
Put the whole mess into a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. Et voila!
.jpg)
