Sex, Death, and Secrets

He's handsome either way.

2008-10-09T15:35:00Z

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

I always wanted to run away with the circus.

2008-09-11T15:10:21Z

Your result for Reincarnation Placement Exam...

Traveling Circus

57% Intrigue, 49% Civilization, 73% Humanity, 29% Urbanization.

Your answers indicate that you might be the reckless, fun-loving sort. We can go with that. You don't need to bind yourself to any particular civilization or routine. You don't need the complications of technology, especially if it means you have to get an education to employ it. What you do need is adventure, particularly the complicated and exotic kind... plus, the fun of working and playing with fellow adventurers like yourselves. So... why not run off and join the circus?

You can run the fun house ride, play lion tamer or get shot out of a cannon. It takes all kinds!

Take Reincarnation Placement Exam at HelloQuizzy

I can has internets!

2008-08-22T20:03:55Z

Finally connected in my own place.

Full of fury and righteous anger at Comcast. But then, I didn't expect much better.

Woot!

2008-06-10T23:40:39Z

Three interviews lined up for the next two days!

Quotes meme

2008-05-23T20:11:08Z

Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience. - Victoria Holt

While there's life, there's hope. -- Cicero

The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side. -- James Baldwin

True friends are those who really know you but love you anyway. -- Edna Buchanan

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. -- Jeff Valdez

Posted without comment.

2008-05-12T20:21:15Z

First of May!

2008-05-01T14:33:53Z

Okay, everybody, you know what to do.

Happy Birthday to tatterdamelion and mtfierce!

Happy Anniversary to sirriamnis and ogremarco!

I'm not stoned. Srsly.

2008-04-14T20:02:19Z

I went to the optometrist this morning, and she dilated my pupils for examination purposes. I don't remember it lasting this long the last time I was done. And to make matters extra fun, I've got one gigantic pupil and one that is reasonably-normal sized.

On the up side, the doctor was very nice and thorough, and I have a cute new pair of glasses being made.

Free to good home

2008-04-11T23:01:07Z

Or a bad home. Makes no difference to me.

I have an Ambercon 1996 sweatshirt, size XL, that's been sitting in my closet for ages. It's black with white printing, a picture of Dworkin and the unicorn on one side, Suhuy and the Serpent on the other. The old men are playing cards. Suhuy seems to be cheating.

Anyway, if you'd like it, let me know. I'd rather it go to an Amber-lover rather than just to the thrift store.

Memo: Trader Joe's

2008-04-10T21:29:03Z

Re: Your smokin' hot staff

I would appreciate it if you would hire less attractive staff. I am trying to do my grocery shopping, and it is difficult to focus on the mundane when an entire host of gods and goddesses insist upon dancing by with produce or stretching and flexing to stock the shelves. And the cashiers? Completely unkind to make me lose all ability to use the debit machine.

Love and lots of kisses,
Me

Happy Birthday drusni!

2008-04-02T20:36:02Z

You are gorgeous and full of awesome.

Happy birthday notshakespeare!

2008-04-01T14:28:36Z

Just keep your swarm to yourself, okay?

Stuff!

2008-03-27T20:36:17Z

Last night at the Type & Gripe it was snowing. Today the sun is out. Gotta love the PNW.

Today I got my passport photo done for my nursing license, and paid for my official transcript. Tomorrow will be fingerprinting at the courthouse. Then it's just a bunch of paperwork, a couple of hefty checks sent out to the state board and the testing center, and waiting around to be provided with a testing date.

shekkara is a bad person who posts things in my journal that make the next con seem very far away.

ETA: I just got my last quarter grades online. One B, two A's, two A+'s. And thus graduation is granted!

I like my cat like I like my bees.

2008-03-26T20:40:28Z

Covered in coffee.

Ever take a gulp of something, and as it's halfway down your throat, you have to cough explosively?

Well, the cat was in my lap and got a big splash of coffee. Apparently he has not seen fit to wash himself yet, because he's now sticky in clumps.

In other news, I'm spending the day cleaning, doing laundry, and getting groceries. I need to put together an LJ accounting of my con and week in California. But I'm alive! Home! In good spirits! In my pajamas!

What I learned at day care.

2008-02-27T16:57:52Z

For my "pediatric rotation," I spent two days at a day care. This is because the local children's hospital will not allow students in, but we have to get our hands on kids in some fashion.

Day one: 18 four-year-olds

1. If you name your child "Odin" you deserve what you get.
2. Both teachers privately told me that they didn't like this age group. Well, guys, it shows.
3. That kid who goes around all day with a dark frown on his face, pinching and hitting every kid he passes? He'll be seeing a lot of school administrators in the future.

Day two: 12 one-year-olds

1. If you name your child "Dash" you deserve what you get.
2. Forcibly holding a child down while she screams is not the way to make her take a nap.
3. If you think your shirt can't possibly get any more snot/saliva/formula/yogurt on it, you're wrong.

Overall, I was surprised at how much the kids were expected to do -- even the babies took their paper plates and cups to the trash and then lined up to be cleaned up. But there was barely any sort of curriculum for the older kids. They got about two minutes worth of calendar discussion, were shown a square and the number 19, and were released to art projects. Their teachers are supposed to have early childhood education backgrounds, but didn't think to put together an art project that involves 19 squares?

The one-year-old room really set me against day care. This place is an expensive, well-organized facility used by the upper-middle class folks of Wedgwood. Even with those advantages, these kids are warehoused in a room with two adults who don't interact with them other than to say "No!" or "Come eat." And with the above mentioned questionable practices, I wouldn't want to send my kid anywhere for the day until he or she could actually *tell* me what's going on.

nakedvillainy @ 2008-02-21T07:35:00

2008-02-21T15:35:15Z

Last night I had a five-hour shift with a lady who used to be one of my regular clients, but she's been in a nursing home after surgery for the last two months. I got the house cleaned up and all her stuff unpacked, and just before I was ready to head out, I found that someone had unplugged her deep freezer. And not recently. So I spent nearly an hour hauling rotting meat and moldy vegetables out of the house, then washing down the entire thing.

On the way home, I saw the last half of the lunar eclipse. Very cool.

This morning I woke up at 4:15 with a throat so sore I couldn't go back to sleep. Thanks, mold-filled fridge! I got up to make some tea and haven't been back to bed yet.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T18:43:41Z

Valentine Postbox

leave nakedvillainy a valentine's message

get your own valentine postbox

Man, weird dreams last night.

2008-02-13T22:17:17Z

I was running around with sirriamnis, trying to track down this serial rapist/killer/vampire, having nothing more to defend ourselves than handguns. At one point, we went down into the bowels of the Seattle Opera House, which was a huge gothic structure somewhere near the Central Library.

Then my dream took a strange turn, and things happened that I can't even post here. Suffice to say that unwholesome things were being done with guacamole.

This bunny is doing the DDR of joy.

2008-02-13T02:05:26Z

Because I finally got my clinical assignment today!

I'll be doing pediatric rotation on February 25 & 26, and OB on March 3 & 4. That means I can go to ACUS with cochese and all the other fine folks!

This afternoon I booked the flight, registered for the con and signed up for games. I was delight to find that the plane fares had dropped significantly since the last time I'd checked them, and there were plenty of interesting games to sign up for, despite my late registration.

I had my last unit test of the quarter today, and tomorrow is my last two hours of class time, which is just lab class. After that, I have the four days of clinical then a big fat final exam in mid-March. Then graduation!

Over the weekend we had another excellent session of the Amber game. On Sunday morning, I rolled out of bed after barely sleeping because I was so wound up about my character. (This is what happens when you marry a GM.)

Happy Birthday carpe_noir!

2008-02-05T16:04:17Z

Have a great day!

"I only have one thumb!" is a lame battle cry.

2008-02-05T01:07:19Z

Unfortunately, that's been it for the last week and a half. I managed to slice a goodly chunk of my thumb while cutting a loaf of bread during the Amber game, and have been disabled with the lack of one opposable digit since. It's getting better, but it's still pretty sore. And ugly. But in a delightful turn of events, the Lightfeet showed up last night and gave me their bread cutting board, which has a handy thumb-sparing design.

In school news, I'm nearly done with my classes. I go Monday through Wednesday this week and next, then I'll be finished with the lecture/text/exam stuff. I'm still waiting for clinical rotation dates to be provided. As the possible dates stand, I have a 25% chance of having to be in clinical on March 13th and 14th, which would kill ACUS for me.

I woke up this morning after a very vivid dream, one that was so real that I wasn't immediately certain if it was a dream or something that had happened the night before. Then I woke up a bit more and realized, "No, tlatoani isn't in Seattle." And after I got coffee into me, I further realized that he probably doesn't wear that sort of costume to fight crime, either.

I just finished a zombie novel that got me all fired up to write my own. I'm really fond of the zombie genre, but I've never found a *good* zombie novel. Entertaining, yes. Actually good, no. Anyone have recommendations?

Happy Birthday!

2008-02-03T14:37:20Z

All the best to micheledear and towhomdoihum. Have a great day!

Happy birthday jvankirk!

2008-01-28T06:36:20Z

Hope it was a good one!

Release the bees!

2007-12-26T23:16:27Z

The icon doesn't have much to do with the post, just showing it off since cochese was kind enough to make it for me.

Xmas Eve I spent baking, wrapping presents, and doing laundry. cochese and I went to his half-brother's home for late dinner and gift exchange, which was slightly more uncomfortable than usual. The last couple of years, many more of their friends and extended family were present, which takes some of the pressure off of us. This year it was just the four of them and the two of us, and I was having a hard time finding a way to behave acceptably for them. It was especially difficult to control myself when, after remarking that we were going to see "The Golden Compass," we heard that their pastor told them not to see the movie, but they didn't know why, and maybe we could tell them what we thought of it? Neither of us brought up that we'd read the books -- I, for one, could not think of a polite way to say that the books are about the value of free will and not blindly doing exactly what your freakin' pastor told you to do!

So we went home and watched Doctor Who while drinking booze.

I started off Xmas Day with three hours at work. I was originally scheduled to be with a different client, but he passed away on Xmas Eve. The lady I was reassigned to I had worked with once before, and I liked her. It turned out that she wasn't expecting anyone to come, but once I was there she wanted me to stay. I got her dressed and helped her open her gifts, and as I was leaving a friend of hers came by unexpectedly to take her out.

Overall I've enjoyed working with the senior citizens that I'm assigned to for my job. They're mostly nice, interesting people, but I find something interesting about their generation: no matter how liberal or up with the times they seem, there's always a kernel of racism, sexism, or some social nastiness from a bygone era. Some of the things I've been told:

"Oh, your husband won't want to move just for *you* to find a job."

"Those African girls helped me out of bed. Black as midnight, you know?"

"None of those Mexicans should be allowed in the country. There shouldn't be any Spanish speaking -- this is America!"

"I hate it when they [gays/lesbians] try to shove it in my face. They want to get married, have kids....awful!" (This woman's daughter is a lesbian.)

Sometimes I ignore it and sometimes I try to discuss it rationally. On one hand, I doubt there's much of a chance that I can change their long-held beliefs, but I feel complicit when I don't say something.

So after work, I came home to collect cochese, stopped by the firehouse to deliver brownies and pumpkin bread, and headed out to the movies. "The Golden Compass" was visually gorgeous but so mangled it barely made any sense. One interesting thing I found was the explosion of golden dust that occurred when a character died, indicating the dematerialization of his daemon. I thought the death scenes were much more awful than simply seeing a gunshot and resulting bloody hole, since you were actually seeing someone's *soul* leave.

We had Chinese food for dinner, went home for an episode of Doctor Who, then swung by the Wayward Coffeehouse to say hello, and returned to the theater to see "Sweeney Todd." This was definitely the highlight of the day. It was much better than I'd imagined, and I thought some of the reviews I'd read were unfair. Sure, neither Johnny Depp nor Helena Bonham Carter are musical performers, but they did a great job with the music. I thought Alan Rickman was even better as Judge Turpin than the actor in the Broadway production that I have on DVD.

Today is a nice quiet day on the couch with a book and a pile of cats. I'm looking forward to spending the weekend in Portland with all the usual suspects.

And a very happy Solstice to you.

2007-12-21T17:09:06Z

Yesterday was interesting. I got up early for an 8am shift in West Seattle that turned out to be for *next* Thursday. The drive was gorgeous, looking over the Puget Sound and the snowy Olympics beyond it. I came home and finished "Memories of Ice," which as promised made me cry. (And as promised, carpe_noir's hide is forfeit for getting me hooked on the damned series.) For some reason, the library doesn't have the next book. They are on my shit list.

In the late afternoon, I went to work (appropriately, this time) and was told by the client that she wanted to run errands, and that she would drive. Okay, I thought...until I buckled up in her car and remembered, "Oh crap, she has Parkinson's...." Muscle and joint rigidity do not make for good driving. (Or constant tailgating, speeding, hard braking, and driving at night without headlights.) I was in a state of terror for nearly two hours. All I could do was close my eyes and try to relax, as it makes for fewer injuries when you crash if you're not tensed, and dying in a state of fear makes for a crappy reincarnation.

cochese and I are going to meet with our tattoo artist tonight -- what better celebration of Solstice than to plan for blood and pain and art?