Cake

So last night we went to see CAKE. Yes, I've seen them at the Howlin' Wolf in New Orleans and in Centennial Park in Atlanta and now in B'flo. I rarely go to concerts and I never go to arena concerts because I think that it is too much money to listen to music that sounds better on my stereo. But CAKE only plays at smallish venues and I have never gone to a bad concert of theirs. Yes, I know all the songs and even have Mnah Mnah from the For the Kids album.

So after a freakin' hellishly long day (at school for 7:45, class from 9-5:30) I came home and quickly changed into some dry clothes added some earrings and tied on my pumas to go downtown. Dawn was in some tight jeans and a tank top with a little shirt over it - she of course looked sexy as hell. I just looked like hell. But we drank G&T all night, got all kinds of happy wasted and enjoyed ourselves. I didn't really appreciate the dude next to us asking if she was my daughter (I said no, she was my wife), but I danced and sang and drank and couldn't have been happier.

I just wished Dawn had told me that she talked to the roadies and got us backstage after the show BEFORE I called Stephen to pick us up. I'm sorta sad that I didn't get to have dinner with them as I think it could have been fun, but oh well. Next time, because I guarantee there will be a next time for CAKE.

There's nothing you can say.
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.
Pink Floyd

OK, first, let me just say that I advocate going around your house and pulling plugs so that you can get a feel for it. Practice for when the time comes. If it needs to look like an accident, learn how to take a fall. Do some tripping over wires. I also suggest that you watch Monty Python's Meaning of Life so that you'll understand that the machine that is making noise is just there to go "ping."

Now let me say that I believe in health care reform. Yep, as a person who did not have health care until she was in her 30's (except for that brief stint at Screwlane) I think it would be appropriate for one of the richest countries in the world to provide basic maintenance health care to all its citizens. I also believe that we should provide "end of life" care options.

Sara Palin (who just won't shut up - you lost bitch, get over it) expounds to anyone who will listen (and why is the media listening???) that Obama's health care reform would have non-productive citizens placed on "death row" to await dr. death, I say "Rock ON!" Look I'm sick of politicians who do not have the basic grounding in science telling me that I can or cannot end my life with dignity. If I can have my end of life decisions taken away from politicians and put into the hands of my doctors and family, then I believe this is a good thing. Why are we wasting money on keeping grandma alive when there is no quality of life left? Apotosis is there for a reason, quit trying to fool it.

Have you ever noticed that in the movies, those that live forever are usually 25-45 and beautiful? Now let's visit reality, shall we? When is the last time you saw a person over 90 who looked good? Usually they are wheelchair bound, gumming soft foods, can't talk above a whisper, but can't hear above a rock concert - what kind of life is that? We're afraid of death because we have a consciousness, but so do other animals. Elephants know when it is time to go - they leave the herd. I have had several cats that I have had to relieve their suffering - they knew it was time and they let me know as well. Our problem is that we are selfish - we don't know how to celebrate the joys individuals brought to our lives, we wallow in the loss because they are not there for US.

So, bring on the health care reform. Let doctors make decisons, not politicians.

That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet. ACT II Scene 2. Shakespeare

Xing Ping has graciously agreed that I can have the same last name!!! In Chinese, I am now Hu Hui lan. Now I have to learn how to write it correctly....

Hu:


Hui:


lan:


What does it mean? Hu are people from the north country (aka barbarians), Hui are also a people, but for a first name it can mean intelligent, wise or crafty, and lan means orchid. I think it sounds a bit like me... a bit unpredictable, hard to handle, but intelligent.

today's yumminess is courtesy of Geoff. He wanted mango salsa to feed his friends who are spending the night, so Dawn and I bought all the ingredients and Geoff and I made some good stuff.

Recipe:
2 mangos - diced
1 purple onion
1 white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
4 small hot peppers (we used peppers from the garden so we had 1 jalapeno, 2 skinny hotties, and 1 yellow hottie)
juice of 1 lime and 1/2 lemon
dried cilantro and parsley
salt and pepper

chop it up, put it all together, eat with chips. It was sooooooooo good. We are now hoping that these Buffalo kids will not like hot food so that the salsa will stay in the family. What is so wonderful is that the heat does not hit you at first - the sweet mango starts the flavor sensation, but then the onion and peppers burst in your mouth and you are left weak against the joy that is salsa.

Now I've been thinking about how I could make this better - some jicama would add some crunch. Tomato might add another sweet acid. I will just have to play around with it some more. I can tell that I am going to have to have chilis growing in China.

Cowboy Mouth

Yesterday was kinda fun.

Dawn came downstairs all dressed up. I asked her what was up? Laundry and lack of jeans. See, Stephen does all the laundry (and we love him for that), but when we get low on jeans and such, both she and I tend to go into the closet and pull out some nicer clothes. However, one of the things that happened yesterday was that Dawn began to bitch that she didn't have any jeans because they were beginning to get really hole-y. So, this degenerated into a rant about money and that she can't afford jeans etc.

Me, while I worry about money and I worry about stuff, I really believe that it will all work out somehow. Yeah, I know - fucking Pollyanna - but I've seen too many people who just chuck it all and they are fine. Somehow the universe takes care of them, why can't it take care of me?

So I went online to gap.com and applied for a gap card. I then bought jeans for both Dawn and myself. Then I woke Geoff up. We took my jcpenny card and went to the maul. I bought him 5 pairs of slacks and three white shirts for school. The cashier was so nice, she did 3 separate orders so that we could use coupons that saved us $40 which in essence bought the extra pair of pants.

Then we had maul food. We went to the Cajun Cafe that was really the Asian Cafe (there is no cajun that would eat broccoli, cabbage and carrots in a weird white sauce). Afterwards I took Geoff to the Dairy Queen for a dipped cone. Geoff had never had ice cream where they dip the ice cream in the chocolate coating. Yeah, for the same $5 I could have gotten a half gallon of ice cream and eaten it at home, but it's more fun to go out and have the experience.

I don't know that yesterday will become a happy memory for Geoff, but I can say that it reminded me of happy memories of my dad. That made me feel good.

I am not really a great fan of catholic choir boys (being as how I am female & not a priest), but sometimes their angelic voices should be heard...

I snagged this from Jinny's facebook stuff.

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Share

Instructions:
Copy this. Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. Tag other book nerds.

1 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte X
4 Harry Potter series by JK Rowling X
5 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee X
6 The Bible (the entire thing)
7 Wuthering Heights by- Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell X
9 His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Total: 4

11 Little Women by Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare X
15 Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong by Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch by George Eliot
Total: 1

21 Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House by Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams X
27 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck X
29 Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame X
Total: 3

31 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
34 Emma by Jane Austen
35 Persuasion by Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis X
37 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden X
40 Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne X
Total: 3

41 Animal Farm by George Orwell X
42 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown X
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
45 The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies by William Golding X
50 Atonement by Ian McEwan
Total: 3

51 Life of Pi by Yann Martel
52 Dune by Frank Herbert X
53 Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens X
58 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Total: 2

61 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck X
62 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History by Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road by Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding X
69 Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Total: 2

71 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
72 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett X
74 Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses by James Joyce
76 The Inferno by Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal by Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession by AS Byatt
Total:1

81 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens X
82 The Color Purple by Alice Walker X
84 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web by EB White X
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton
Total: 3

91 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery X
93 The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
94 Watership Down by Richard Adams - X
95 A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole X
96 A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas X
98 Hamlet by William Shakespeare X
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Total : 4

Grande Total 26
That's a quarter of the books the BBC listed. So really, what does this mean? Am I illiterate? Uneducated? Uncultured?

OK, now here's my list of books that should be added to this:
Tartuffe by Moliere
Candide by Voltaire
Beauty by Robin McKinley
The Once and Future King by TH White
Les fluers du mal by Baudelaire
Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins
Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Medea by Euripides
Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (currently reading)
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
The Grey King by Susan Cooper
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

wow, that's an interesting list coming from me. I didn't really realize how many female writers I had read and/or had been influenced by.

Les fluers and Tartuffe I read in the original french, so from that you might get the sense that I am not uncultured. Attraction and Rozencrantz are absurdist stories. Love and sexuality are covered by Delta, Interview, Genji and Dart. nah, i suspect that if half my students read a third as much as I do they wouldn't be so unbelievably dumb....

And I ask if we could wipe the slate clean?
But they tell me to please go fuck myself
You know you just can't win.
Pink Floyd

What kind of shit should I write about today? I temper everything. I tell no one all my plans. I do not feel that Canisius should know exactly what date I'm leaving the country. I don't feel that I have to let them know anything other than I will not be working for them after this semester.

My boss was in early this morning (which is rare and quite odd). I needed coffee because I didn't sleep much last night so we ended up talking for an hour in the coffee room. Mostly, I spoke of the junior seminar and what we did last year. I like this class because it gives me a chance to teach the kids how to use powerpoint and to *think* beyond just the immediate "let's make a slide." You really have to think about the story you are trying to tell.

I finished reading Oracle Bones and am now awaiting my paycheck so that I can buy some books. I would like to read River Town. I've noticed that I've really been avoiding thinking about what my *life* will be like in China. I'm just trying to focus on getting there. When I went to Panama, I had already been there for a couple of weeks, so I kinda knew what to expect. This time, I have no clue.

I did buy my tickets to see Cake. This will probably be the last time I see a western band play live. If western bands go to China, they usually only stop in Beijing - and while I am not against planning a holiday that would include a summer concert, I cannot think that Cake would be a big draw.

I think I want some icecream.

So I've been on LJ for quite a while now. I started this after hurricane Katrina - Don and James both wrote about their lives and struggles to return to normalcy. Me, I just wrote about my guilt and grief and anger and then my adventures in what I call LIFE.

I've started the next step. I am now on youtube vlogging. OK, I know, probably the only ones who will ever watch my videos will be my family and friends, but that's fine. Y'all will be able to keep up with my adventures and hopefully see that this China thing is really good for me.

So, here's my first vlog video:


Reading Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler I come across so many things that strike me as interesting. I know, you watched the video and listened to me ramble on about Lucy Chao. Now I'm going to ramble on about Chuang Tzu. Hessler has a quote from Chuang Tzu:
A fish-trap is for catchng fish; once you've caught the fish, you can forget about the trap. A rabbit-snare is for catching rabbits; once you've caught the rabbit, you can forget about the snare. Words are for catching ideas; once you've caught the idea, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a person who knows how to forget about words so that I can have a few words with him?

Brilliant. So now, I'm going to have to forget about the words I know and learn how to catch new ideas. Am I scared? Am I freaked out? Hell YES! I am constantly being re-assured by my Chinese friends that I will not have to worry, I will be able to communicate in engrish and be just fine. But I'm not that person! I want to communicate in chinese. Yes, I will have to teach in english, there is no other way for me right now, but that does not mean that I am not considering which texts to use - if Pianka's Evolutionary Ecology is in chinese, then that will be my foremost text for any ecology course I teach. Yeah, I know, it doesn't really explore mutualisms as thoroughly as I would like, but the math behind the models should appeal to the students in a way that it would never appeal to an american student.

My first course will be Insect Chemical Ecology. You would think that there would be a good, definitive text on the subject. Of the three texts that I have had Canisius purchase for me, none of them are the perfect text. I will be using at least 2 insect ecology texts to create a course that will cover all the topics I think are important. This has led to several people suggesting that I somehow create a text. Yeah, brilliant. Give me at least a year in China, please.

It will be forty below
Johnny Horton

I have not wowed y'all lately with my musical knowledge. The other day I was in my office, bored, so I did a youtube search for "new orleans" - not unreasonable. I have also done searches for "pocky," "fanta," and "schwartzenegger." I like these random searches - I find some really cool stuff. Anyway, it was really cool to find a bunch of Johnny Horton songs. My daddy loved his music. Here's the song:


Last Sunday night we went to a muslim wedding reception. I think I told you y'all about that. Out of the 11 children, I know 5 - Jef, Sal, Izzy, Roq and their sister Salama. All of the guys are not happy that I'm leaving. Each one of them has said at different times that they will not let me leave. This really makes me happy. I really love this family. (Did I tell y'all about Jef's baby? He's two months and so freakin' cute - he smiled at me! One more man in the family that loves this crazy red head).

So today I went to the corner store for dinner for the family. Ugh, their food is so freakin' good. So when I go in, Izzy is there. Poor Izzy, I swear he always looks like he's just gotten up. Today he's wearing an Alcatraz Mental Ward t-shirt (his wife bought it for him). Later Roq comes in looking sharp in a pink polo shirt with the collar pulled up - so stylish. I start giving Roq shit for his shirt - now that he's a college boy he has to look all stylish and happening so that he fits in with the other students. I remind Roq that I'm going to need all the addys and such so that I can write from China. That's when Izzy says that they aren't going to let me go. They will call in a bomb threat to keep me from leaving.

I fuckin' lost it!!!! I'm rolling on the floor just about. Here's a muslim dude from the Buffalo area (think Lackawanna) making jokes about bombings. I couldn't believe it! I love these guys. Roq said he would go to China with me. I wonder if I can fit him in my luggage? (What I wouldn't give to be the older woman for a weekend with Roq...)

The parallels my life runs in... Mom had me watch Children of Huang Shi which is about a man who saved a group of orphans in China during the 1937 Japanese invasion. The movie begins with the Nanjing massacres and the brutality witnessed by George Hogg - a young british reporter. This morning I began reading Oracle Bones by Peter Hessler who was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. He was researching a travel article in Nanjing in 1999 when the US/NATO forces bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia killing 3 people. The students of Nanjing began a week of riots protesting the US's lame excuse that they had the wrong maps. During this time Mr. Hessler meets a man from the Uyghur Region of China (who points out that the US only killed 3 people - with precision). While during the present time, I have been following the Uyghur ethnic riots that have been occurring - and the Chinese killing of three muslim men.

I'm not sure how this will all come together, but I can see now that I was suppose to meet and form a very strong relationship with this muslim family. I don't know how it will be important to me in China, but I'm suspecting that it will be - if for nothing else an awareness of the people.

In other stupidity, I asked the question today. Do these students expect that every patient they ever see will be white and heterosexual? Susan was talking about how badly behaved some students were when they had brunch in Colorado at a friend of her's house. The friend happened to be gay and lived with his husband - which these children had never experienced before. She didn't go into detail what these kids said afterward, but it was apparent that they were uncomfortable and not as "worldly" as they pretended to be.

That's when I kinda went off about my trip to Reno with Carl and Dan, both of whom were pretty ugly about the gay people we encountered. I think anyone "educated" should have at least one person in their life that has come out of the closet. That each time I move I find gay people and become friends with them, well, that's just the way I am. It just happens. Probably because I don't care.

I find that my one moral failing that I truly hate about myself is that I am uncomfortable around street people. Whether the people are homeless, pan-handlers, or just plain crazies, they scare me. And it's not that I won't help them - I have no problem working at shelters, but please don't come up to me on the street.

Dawn's back home, so I guess I stop for now...

So I'm hanging out in my bedroom yesterday watching a little red vs. blue on the youtube and I think, "hey, why don't I search for videos related to china?" Fucking brilliant, right? I mean, what do I expect to find? The answer really is, "I don't know" so I check it out.

The first thing I found was Dan Brown.


Believe it or not, the whole family is now hooked on Dan. At first we thought that maybe Dan was a performance major, but then he told the world that he's a political science major - which sorta interested Geoff. But then I watched the "Who Is Dan Brown" episode and found out that yes, he does have some theatrical training and it will probably serve him well in the future.

Next, Dawn and I found some documentary type shows about the Shaolin Monks. I won't link to them because well, they did not include the subtitles so I have no idea what the monks have to say about the Kung Fu craze.

Today, I found Ted Sink. The only reason this came up is because it has chinese subtitles. But it is a sweet song.



In other news: Last night we went to another muslim wedding reception. This time Dawn and Stephen attended with me. The crazy thing is, I really only know the men and yet we are in the room with all the women. We arrived a bit late and the place was packed. The wait staff was putting several tables together because there were so many women there! I found two seats with a bunch of caucasian women (and 2 black women). Turns out the whole table was filled with people from the bride's work. A bunch of stuck up, snobbish, assholes I've ever had to meet. Dawn and I tried to have a conversation with each of them, but they would have none of it. Ugh.

After dinner, Dawn stepped out for a smoke at my urging and I got some air. We then spent probably an hour in the lobby talking with the men we knew. Stephen ended up sitting with Big John at dinner. All the guys treated Stephen so very very well. He had a wonderful time. At one point I was talking with Jef and told him that I had been fired from Canisius. When he asked why I told him that they said I did not fit in with the culture here. I then realized the irony of that statement and said so. No matter how out of place I may feel, I still was invited and attended a wedding reception for a couple I did not know - and the family welcomed me with open arms.

What is it about nacho cheese chips? Why are they so addictive? The cheese is not real - it's "flavored." The chips always seem over baked and really crunchy. And yet, you can't stop until the bag is almost gone. Even Oz loves nacho chips.

So, anyway, I'm thinking about creating a vlog when I go to China. I mean, wouldn't it be cool for the whole world to experience my adventures?

You know, despite often feeling like I had a crappy childhood I think the reality is that I was pretty lucky. Forget my family - they were as fucked up as any other family and maybe a little bit more so. No, the part I feel luckiest about are the people who were around me.

If you had ever met Uncle Donald you could possibly understand my fascination with the deep, rich tones of black men. Uncle Donald was a friend of my father's. His rich, dark skin was as familiar to me as my daddy's paleness. I don't know how the two men became friends. I do remember later in life daddy said something about getting beaten up because he was friends with Uncle Donald, but I never knew when that had happened. Don and Pauline Randall owned the marina on Lake Lillinonah and Uncle Donald's mother lived up the hill in the biggest house I had ever seen. We would spend almost every summer weekend out at the lake - swimming, boating, camping, or just sitting on the dock.

When we moved to Texas, mom had found a little house with two bedrooms. Imagine sharing a bedroom with two sisters. It was heaven when Billie moved out and I only had to share with Laura. This could be why Laura and I are so close today. Anyway, this house was a block away from the University of Texas married student housing. OK, so there was this huge plot of land that had old army barracks on it. The army left the barracks and the property to the university and the university used it to house the multitudes of graduate students. Competition for housing was fierce. But who really cares about that? I didn't live in those, but I lived near by.

This meant that the kids I went to school with were from everywhere. Kia was from the middle-east, Hola was from Guiana, Earl was from Korea - and being Texas there was also hispanic and black children. We were a fucking melting pot of internationalities. And we had no idea how lucky we were. We all played at Deep Eddy together. We all rode the same bus to school. We laughed, we fought, we grew up - together.

I'm white. I'm not just pale, I'm porcelaine pasty fucking white. I use self-tanning lotion just to make me appear a normal color. And yeah, I do believe that if you are going to have a black student alliance you should be allowed to have a white student alliance (or I should be able to join the black student alliance, take your pick). I can be white without being racist, believe it or not. Being a proud southerner does not mean that I believe in slavery, separate but equal, white supremacy, or any other bullshit.

What I feel most lucky about, most proud of, is that I've been able to meet, grow up with, laugh and fall in love with a multitude of people from all over the world, every walk of life, every religion. And it is because of all of these people that I can leave this country and step into the abyss of the unknown. Thank you, my friends, thank you for making me a better person.

I'm irritated. Yeah? no shit.

OK, I'm actually irritated with youtube. A while back another LJ user got me interested in Mocean Worker. I really liked their Shake Your Boogie video. It's this great fusion funk jazz bit and it is NOWHERE ON YOUTUBE ANYMORE!!! What the fuck, people? I did go to Mocean Worker's website and found it playing there (as well as a hilarious rant against Gene Simmons), but it just sucks that it's not on youtube. I really loved playing that video to my class on Friday mornings.

Today was that glorious day we call payday. Yes, within moments of receiving confirmation that my check has been deposited, I sit down at the computer and pay all my bills. The good news this month is that my stove is finally paid off (without interest!). I am now the proud owner of two stoves and a new refrigerator. My rental next door has a 1950's refrigerator that works so I am not going to replace it any time soon. I need to fix the washer - actually, Stephen and Dawn need to find a day to have the washer fixed. I'm sure it's getting annoying for Lindsey to come over to our side and wash her clothes.

Anyway, I'm back to the broke category.

We have another potential buyer coming by tomorrow. I need to get a St. Joseph. I'm hoping that if I ask Fr. Buckeye to bless the thing before I bury it, that he will (and laugh while doing it!).

I kicked a chair this morning while eating breakfast. Not painful in and of itself, but later I noticed that I shattered my toenail. So by the time I cleaned the jagged edges up I started working on my other foot - you know, the one I had surgery on? Yeah, I tore out the nail again and made it bleed. Hey, but since the surgery the nerve endings are pretty dead so it doesn't hurt like it used to.

Ozzy and I watched Samurai Champloo today. Yeah, I know, it came out in 2004, but I just wasn't into anime at the time. So, I thought that it was a really good show and I see where the inspiration for Afro Samurai comes from. The stories are different, but the artwork and irreverence are the same. My back has been bothering me pretty badly so I went downstairs to sit/lay on the couch and watch the computer. Oz and I shared most of a box of white cheddar cheez-its. It was a bonding experience.

Tomorrow I have to go to work. Colleen is starting the graduate program in counciling. What, you ask, does that have to do with me, the biologist/entomologist/ecologist/crazy woman? Well, Colleen is learning to read scientific literature and she is having a difficult time. So I am going to spend tomorrow morning teaching her how to read and understand papers. It takes practice and patience.

why are zombies so popular right now? I mean, they kill and eat brains - ew. I'm just so not into it.

I watch Margaret Cho's Notorious C.H.O. this evening. She is so very funny. I can't imagine what hell her life must have been growing up. But I really identify with her in some ways - we both have struggled with our weight, we both count gay people as our best friends and we both like cock. Of course, she's become wildly famous and me, I'm just an obscure scientist. But I'm an obscure scientist going to China!!! ahahahaha fuckers.

I have the worst nagging headache. I had it last night - slept nearly the whole day because I couldn't stand the light. Maybe I have too many pillows on my bed? I've been sleeping sitting up.

I've been dull today. Other than completely fucking my morning up - I woke up and promptly fell into my regular routine and ate breakfast. Errr, I wasn't suppose to eat breakfast this morning, I needed to have blood drawn. Now I will have to do it today after my chiropractic appt. Then I might actually go to work.

Now that I have the starting date worked out, I need to begin to work on my classes for the fall. I want to get my syllabus created, then start working on the syllabi for China so that they will have them (and know that I am serious). I also need to figure out all the kits I need for this project so that I can get some research done. I hope that I have a big enough budget to be able to buy everything I need. I can probably get some $$$ out of Bob.

No word yet from Ian if he is going to Michigan. (Watching some good friends scream "Let me out!") Rosie's birthday is this week. I'm up tonight trying to get some stuff off my computer - I have ~65 gigs used up with anime and manga. I have got to get rid of it all. It's a pain in the ass because the dvd burner is really slow and does not like any sort of big vibration. blah blah blah. I'm down to the last 9.8% of Children of Huang Sho. I might actually finish getting this movie before I leave for China.

Both him and thee, and all the Heav'nly Host
Of spirits in our just pretenses arm'd
Fell with us from on high, from them I go
Paradise Lost Milton

Ugh. After getting almost no sleep last night, we woke this morning to vacate the house. Yes, we left the house so that 3 different potential buyers could come see my beautiful house of pain.

Dawn, Geoff and I went to the bookstore and did the almost impossible - we came, we drank coffee, we left without buying a book! Yep, I know! Well, actually, we would have bought some books - we were looking for Geoff's summer reading list - but the bookstore did not have *any* of them!!! Mom recommended Shanghai Girls, so I was prepared to buy that book as well, but because there were none of the reading list books we decided to leave (after about 3 hours).

Then we went to Ollies. Ollies is like a jumbled version of Big Lots. Lots and lots of crap at decent prices. We found a case of Progresso soup for Stephen for 99 cents a can! And then there is the beef jerky, the circus peanut candies, the blue jolly ranchers, and a load of other crap that we really don't need, but makes Dawn and Geoff happy.

When we finally got home ~2PM, the final potential buyer had not shown up. This is annoying. We had just sat down to eat dinner when the door bell rang. The realtor was pretty ugly, but Stephen wouldn't let her in the house. Rock on Stephen. Afterwards, we all headed for a nap.

Siestas should be required for all people over the age of 12. I love just curling up in my comfy bed and snoozing. I miss my chaise lounge sometimes because it was great for sleeping sitting up.

OH - I pinched this image from Chartfag's Lair of Faggotry.




We have started watching Umi Monogatari (Sea story) - which is really a version of the Little Princess with a mermaid that doesn't loose her voice and a land counter-part. Talking sea turtles, skimpy bathing suits - probably won't watch past the 3rd episode unless I'm desperate.

Umineko na Naku Koro ni (When Seagulls Cry) - first episode not only did I want to slap the little girl whose mother hauled off and slapped her, I wanted to take an ice pick to my ear drums. If the little girl gets offed fairly early in the series, it will be worth watching. If we have to keep her... well, there better be lots of blood to make up for it.

Bakemonogatari (Ghost story) - this! this is looking promising. Weight crabs stealing girls' weight. Vampires. Homeless gurus. Kids with no names. Our hero, Koyomi, is threatened with a box cutter on one side and a stapler on the other inside his mouth! Rock the fuck on.

NEEDLESS - might actually be an apt description. The verdict is still out on this one. It might be a needless waste of anime talent. Green hair, dead sisters, vengeance, super-powered priests, science gone awry.... But some of it is so chibi. Right now the story does not make sense. A bunch of humans protesting super-powered mutants end up dead, 2 kids escape (brother and sister), sister dies? saving brother, angst....

CANAAN - what's with all caps? Anyway, gun fights, mysterious girls, journalists trying to find a big story (but like most journalists, completely clueless). Actually, I really liked the first episode - there is enough mystery to wonder what the hell is going on. The artwork during the festival scenes is brilliant. Lately I've noticed that the girls are just as badass as the guys and makes for some interesting gunplay. Keep watching.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei - if you hadn't already guessed, I love love love this series. Zan is the third season (with some odd shows with Gan) about the perpetually despairing teacher and his bizarre troupe of students. Do I identify with Sensei?? oh YES! Many claim that you cannot get the full effect if you are not familiar with Japanese culture as there are many references - erm, guess what, most of the things that Sensei freaks over are universal bullshit. I think I could support his campaign to have Valentine's Day and Christmas once every four years.

Princess Lover! - Boy loses parents, meets rich grandfather, seeks vengeance, meets four lovely young ladies (one of which he is engaged to without knowing it). Could be good, silly romance-y romp. Action scenes were OK, if a bit over the top. First episode does not really explain why rich people are being targeted by thugs for extermination in Japan (I thought Japan didn't have communists?).

Spice and Wolf II - Koro is a wolf/grain goddess. Craft Lawrence is a traveling merchant who doesn't really know what he wants from life. I watched the first season (by myself) and really found the story to be sweet. The two main characters have a lot to learn about what they want for themselves and for each other - in a typical journey story.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - I've downloaded this anime, but haven't watched it yet. Quake hits, kids need to get back to where they come from.

Everything else listed - not so much. Tell me if you have a new series you think is worth my time.

Charlotte sent me this and I thought that it was wicked enough to share.

It took me a while to understand that the topiary shapes were the shapes of the ladies' bush. I'm a bit slow.

Where the flyin’-fishes play
An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer
China ’crost the Bay!
Rudyard Kipling

I think I wrote that the contract came last week. It was an OK contract. My middle name was mis-spelt, that was kinda annoying. The money wasn't great, but eh. So I have been sitting on it for the past week.

I called Yuping last weekend - she told me to ask for what I want. That is all fine and good, but with the Chinese you have to ask a certain way and she grew up knowing how to ask for things - I did not.

I wrote to lawyer Jon - he's a friend of the family that deals with Chinese contract laws. Now is the time to ask, before the contract is signed, writes he. Yeah, but Jon, I don't want to offend and I really want the job.

So for the past week I have been sleeping poorly and crafting a letter in my head as I tossed and turned. Today, I sat down at Stephen's computer (believe it or not, having a chair and a desk helps me to think) and put together a polite, courteous letter that says let's negotiate. I hope that it all works out. I don't believe that I was ugly and I think that I left the negotiations open.

Want some irony? While I was crafting said letter I did a quick job search in Science careers. Listed was a job for Fordham University. I have wanted to either study (when I was a graduate student) or work (after I received my PhD) at Fordham. I have coveted that job for many years. About the time I was finishing my PhD, there was a position open and a friend of Micky's took the job. She ended up not liking it there and went back to the west coast and it seems that the position is in desperate need of a professor for the Fall 2009. Shit shit shit. Well, I am never working for another Jesuit institution and I'm leaving the country. Sorry folks, you can keep your dream job.

The other day a student came into the office - she was so tan I expect that she has been to a tanning booth. But it made me realize how unbelievably white I am. Not just pale, but so white the sun glares off my fish-belly body. Dawn has some self-tanning lotion - I'm using that on my legs to give me a little color. Hopefully the orange will not be too ugly [g].

I think I will write another blog with my reviews of this season's anime fare. Just in case you all were wondering what kind of shit I've been watching now that we've gotten rid of the tv. Next to go? dining room table, I think.

Somehow I don't think that it is a right angle...

I was thinking about this last night - if it weren't for tits, women would never get laid.

OK, think about it for a minute. Jokes about guys fucking sheep are there for a reason. The Marquis de Sade wrote about fucking a hole in a wall. The movie American Pie is about a teen boy fucking an apple pie. Guys will screw anything and probably prefer other guys. I mean, who better to know what a guy wants but another guy, right? (I know, it could just be the yaoi talking)

So why would any guy want a girl? I mean, if you can get off just by screwing a plastic doll with a hole in it, what's the point (other than procreation) of being with a woman?

Tits.

Yes, the one thing none of those have is warm, squishy tits. Big ones, small ones, soft ones, silicon filled - it doesn't matter. So long as we have and control the tits, women will have a chance to get laid and enjoy it.

Just my observation for the day.

My wish for you all today:

After this day is all over that you will never have to be subjected to another article, newspaper report, blog, picture, streaming video, or any other form of information about Michael Jackson. The man is dead. Unlike Elvis he never gave away a cadillac, he never sang in an intimate Las Vegas venue, he never slept with a woman. Let us all bow our heads and fervently pray that we will never, ever have to listen to another media story about Michael Jackson.

Amen.