| Detox, day 2 |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|06:10 pm] |
This weekend is a three day detox for me. No alcohol, no high fructose corn syrup, no cheese, no red meat. I'm also trying to stay away from empty carbs, refined sugar, coffee, too much sodium, and the computer.
It's hard, people! I don't know what to do with myself! I've read a few books, got up early for the farmer's market, done the laundry, repotted some plants, put away random items...and the siren call of the computer is still loud. I'm pacing around, seriously, trying to figure out what to do with myself. Once I write and post this, I'm going into the guest room with a DVD and my needlepoint. I would weed the front garden, but it's rained most of the day, so that's right out.
Also, sugar is evil. It's not the wine I crave, though I don't know what to do with my hands in the evening without a glass. It's the sugar. I didn't realize just how much sugar is in everything, and how much you miss it when it's gone...until it's gone. I've cheated a little, but not too badly. And no high fructose corn syrup. Just fruits, a bite of homemade ice cream, some pickled beets that included sugar in with the vinegar, and some pear marmalade on rye toast.
Things I have eaten: Steamed cauliflower with lemon. Salmon. Wild rice harvested directly from Lake Superior (delicious!). Kombucha. Strawberries, blueberries, cherries. Pickled beets. Kashi cereal (I couldn't take the carb cravings yesterday morning). Detox tea (AKA poop tea). Pickled sweet red peppers. Rye toast crackers. One skim milk latte.
Today I've also taken a hot bath with epsom salts and essential oils to declog my pores, just like lots of hippie books and web sites say to do. I don't know if it worked, but I smell nice.
I'm antsy and cranky and restless and yet still tired and feel all irritable in my skin. Maybe I'll take Booford and walk to the lake - maybe the huge expanse of blue-grey will calm me down. |
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| Just some thoughts thunk (sic) while walking in the rain. |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|05:50 pm] |
It's been too long since I was passionate about something. I'm not depressed or anything, but it's been too long since I said, "Hell yeah, I want to do that!" instead of, "Well, I guess I could do that." It touches everything: work, socialization, gaming, what have you. It's not enough to say, "That's it, from now on I'm going to engage fully with stuff! Wooohooo!" because what I'd really be saying is "Well, I guess I could feign fully engaging with this, and maybe smile more or something."
Doug. |
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| A Man's got to do what a Man's got to do.* |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|04:22 pm] |
The Very Poorly Thought Out Plan:
1. Get married early this September. To whom? I'm sure once the word is out, prospective brides will be lining up around the block. Is there some sort of interview process or something?
2. Conceive a child by late September. You'd think the internet would be filled with helpful hints on how this happens, but all I can find is shocking pictures of people copulating.
3. Take paternity leave next summer so I don't have to go to Meaford. Meaford sucks.
How much could go wrong with such a straight-forward plan? How lose a grip on reality do I have?
One dreadful week left in Meaford. *sigh* It can't be over early enough, if you ask me. And then? Well, we're only a couple weeks out from GenCon1, after which I'll no doubt spend a week at "EX Avenging Arrow2. Then it's the long Fall/Winter grind toward the next trip to Australia, currently in the remote planning phase.
Although plans to see Batman are afoot, otherwise this weekend I'm kind of like a shambling automaton. Last weekend's head cold seems to have drifted into my chest finally (yea) and my energy levels are all wonky.
Doug.
Exeunt stage right, pursued by panthers.
*And in this case, it's dummy up, stop complaining, and go back to Meaford next summer.
1. w00t!
2. Not the actual name of the EX. |
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| I think I must be the last person to hear of this |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|01:57 pm] |
So, I've heard my friends chatting aimlessly about Dr. Horrible, and I figured "What the fuck is this?" I mean, I figured that if it was totally amazing that someone would have said "Dude, you have to watch Dr. Horrible." I don't blame anyone for not educating me though, for some of you might not realize what kind of a fan I am of this shit.
Let me sum up. Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog can be found at http://www.drhorrible.com . It's the gentle tale of a villain who aspires to be more than just a regular old supervillain. He wants greatness, power, and perhaps a little love. I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I do suggest that you check the site to watch it all for free.
By the way, it's a Joss Whedon production. Also by the way, it's a musical. Also Also by the way, you can download it from iTunes for $4 for the whole thing. Total awesomeness.
Edit: Make sure to check out Myspace to see the Captain Hammer free online comic. Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible are arch-nemeses, and the actors who portray them are geniuses.
http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents?issuenum=12&storynum=2 |
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[Jul. 19th, 2008|12:27 pm] |
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net
Cyanide & Happiness is sort of a guilty pleasure, more often outright offensive than funny. But this one gave me a chuckle.
Doug. |
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| I can go pass out now? |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|11:15 am] |
So my mother's best friend from high school came into town last night and we stayed up for a while talking and catching up and stuff. I didn't get to bed until 1:30 this morning.
About 5-ish this morning, my mother woke up and said there was a problem in the laundry room. I immidiately thought that our brand spanking new water heater was spewing water.
No.
The cold water line to the washing machine has a frayed hole in it and was spraying cold water everywhere. I scrambled to turn this bitch of a knob off and get the water under control. We both spent the next hour and a half mopping up water and wringing out towels and such.
I ended up taking all of these dirty wet towels to the laundromat at 6:30 this morning (along with the rest of the dirty laundry) and got all of that done. Went home to fold towels and hang up clothes.
Had to go to Comcast because my modem decided to give up the ghost. While I was out in that area I made a bee-line to McKay's and used up the rest of credit I got from selling off Karen's collection of DVD's and VHS.
Got:
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Clerks (Original)
Animal House
John Pinette: I'm Starving
Toys
Orgazmo
Came home and threw one of my new DVDs in the XBox.
It is now almost 11:30 and I need a nap. I think I will go snooze for an hour or ten.
How's your weekend going? |
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| tonight |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|10:54 am] |
Anything fun going on tonight? Anyone? We've got no plans.
EDIT: Never mind. We're beat. Too much moving. Time ot clean and lounge. |
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| gwen's Daily Tweets |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|08:03 am] |
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( Tweetery ) |
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| Writer's Block: At the Hour of Preference |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|03:08 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | meme | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | 65807 | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
Well, at one point, I agreed with Poppy Z. Bright in that 3AM was the hour that knew all my secrets and failures. And right after I went off the deep end, I thought iot was 6AM, when the sun illuminated all the things in the shadows that were hiding.
Thankfully, I'm a bit more rational these days and can say dusk is the best time of day for me anymore. Something about the interplay of light and dark makes me feel all gooshy. |
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| You must watch this - it is a moral imperative! |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|11:23 pm] |
You've got between now and midnight Sunday. Go. Watch. Enjoy! |
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| Some late bandwagon jumping |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|11:38 pm] |
I put it off for awhile (Act I has actually been open but unwatched in a tab for a couple of days) but when the guys over at Penny Arcade told me that it would be disappearing I had to go see what everyone was talking about.
Joss Whedon + NPH = The Greatest Thing Ever
Also, while he was quite unlikeable as Caleb on Buffy, I've always felt kind of bad about wanting to punch Nathan Fillion in the face.
Now I don't. |
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| it's not ironman but it is what the library has to offer. |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|11:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  crazy | ] |
 This was a good movie. Not side splitting humor but funny. But characters you like with stories you can believe. You know if you could do it all over again with what you know now. You would be a Charlie Bartlett.
I found out there is a Star Wars MMORPG. However the #%!* thing won't download and install right with vista. WTF is up with that. Karma telling me have two F'ing car payments now and don't need this game.
Wife is scapbooking tomarrow so the kids and I can play around tomarrow.
Unfortunately I see toys in my neighors yard so I may have my third child as well. I'm thinking road trip. Library for more movies, ( They have several in for us) Mc D's and then the Indian mound mall. Little one like superheros. Maybe a movie. Na, I be dead if I didn't take the misses. Maybe. Oldest don't know how to be quite about said things. Wonder what's playing?
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| Whew! Stencils! |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|10:01 pm] |
Stenciling the baby's room is among the most physically challenging crafting endeavors I've ever taken on. I'm about halfway done - I've stenciled each zodiac animal exactly once and it looks like I have used up approximately half the perimeter of the room.
At least it's not as brutal as making a comic book in 24 hours. After Hour #13 of that project, my left hand was one big cramp. This time around, I found that precision, while not nearly as painful, was very, very important. If I made even the tiniest false move, the stencil would rip or otherwise become damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, I can work under those conditions.
By stencil #7, my blade was dull and I had to replace it. By stencil #10, my blade was dull again. At that point I figured it was worth my while to learn how to unerringly carve a stencil with a dull blade, as I was out of refills.
The results, if I may say so, are pretty damn fine. Stencil #12 was the goat, and ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) shaharazad says it's one of my best.
Today's physical activity involves climbing repeatedly up and down a ladder, shifting ladder to each new spot, dashing inside and outside to apply spray adhesive, and aligning stencils while balanced precariously on ladder at odd angles. Sometimes the stencils don't stay stuck to the wall, which adds even more adventure to the mix.
Oh yeah, did I mention the stencils are invisible?
Well, they're clear acetate, and while their pleasant sheen makes them visible when on a tabletop reflecting the light at a workable angle, if they fall on the floor they become effectively invisible. One or two now have footprints on them. Ooooops.
Now they all have paint on them, so that should improve matters a bit.
Next up: a blue mouse.
(I'm using a ROY G. BIV color scheme, or, rather, a PROY G. BV color scheme, as I have pink but no indigo.)
BTW, my computer will be back up and running soon - either tomorrow or next week, depending on whether I bother to plug it in when I temporarily drag it into the kid's room. shaharazad is eager for me to stop stealing time on his computer, but I've been enjoying my relative freedom from the internets. When you only get to snatch 1/2 hour at a time, your list of daily internet activities you MUST do goes waaaay down.
ETA: Stencils are DONE! And they look great! W00t! |
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| Surprisingly Accessible |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|09:42 pm] |
There is only one teacher. What is that teacher? Life itself. And of course each one of us is a manifestation of life; we couldn't be anything else. Now life happens to be both a severe and an endlessly kind teacher. It's the only authority that you need to trust. And this teacher, this authority, is everywhere. You don't have to go to some special place to find this incomparable teacher, you don't have to have some especially quiet or ideal situation: in fact, the messier it is, the better. The average office is a great place. The average home is perfect. Such places are pretty messy most of the time--we all know from firsthand experience! That is where the authority, the teacher is.
--Charlotte Joko Beck, in Everyday Zen, from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith
Tricycle's Daily Dharma for July 18, 2008 |
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| American Gothic on hulu! |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|09:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  quixotic | ] |
I just discovered that Hulu has American Gothic... for free! I am one happy camper tonight. I seriously loved that show, and have missed it. |
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| Status |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|08:24 pm] |
I'm feeling a little more myself today, got a little walking in too and was even able to carry my cane for a while. How much of this is drugs and how much is recovery is hard to tell. The last few days have been unbearable, I've been unable to keep any food down, not even dry stuff. Today I finally managed two baked potatoes and a little pasta with a splash of oil. Pretty miserable, but beats becoming a breatharian. I feel quite weak, as you'd expect, also I weighted myself earlier and I'm down to 127lbs, which gets an official underweight stamp of disapproval. On the other hand, the low weight might be good for my back. Hmmm.
In other news, I'm struggling to get a minimalist Linux up and running from a Memory Card. By minimalist, I mean that it must do absolutely nothing more than come up and let me run programs from a shell. All necessary drivers are compiled into the kernel (which I believe I've managed) and yeah, it doesn't work. I get to a shell prompt, but none of the devices or programs I try to run exist, even though they're there (I can see them with busybox's ls command, busybox is the only thing that seems to work.) No clue what the deal is, anyone? |
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| How the heck... |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|07:11 pm] |
... did I not hear about this?
http://www.drhorrible.com/
Joss Whedon's Doctor Horrible musical sing-along blog. Awesome. Two episodesacts free, then iTunes download prices apply. DVDs to be released shortly (or shortly after the season completes, I wasn't clear on that part.)
This article suggests that all three parts will be available for free until Sunday, at which point iTunes will charge. I think I'll be getting the DVD. |
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| 66. Ice Climber |
[Jul. 18th, 2008|07:03 pm] |
Ice Climber
Nintendo Entertainment System
1985
Action Series. I only bought Ice Climber because the guys from this game show up in Smash Bros. Considering that Smash Bros. also features Kirby and Pikachu, this was perhaps not the surest indicator of a fun game. And indeed, the game is not quite fun. The premise is neat enough, you play as Eskimo (Inuit?) peeps climbing a mountain by hacking holes in the higher levels, than clambering upwards. It is a simple concept, but one with potential, nonetheless. Sadly, it doesn’t quite click. The graphics aren’t quite interesting, the threats don’t quite create tension, and the controls feel slightly off. There’s the potential for a good game in here, but they didn’t quite pull it off. Ah well. At least I can use these guys to kick the crap out of Pikachu. |
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