go alanis!

apparently the statement's beyond comprehension of most farkers, but i think alanis morrissette's bit at the Junos was rather amusing...

Hosting the 2004 Juno Awards ceremonies, Canada's version of the Grammies, Morissette disrobed on stage to reveal a skin-colored, naked body suit with nipples and pubic hair.

As part of the skit, Morissette was then told by the show's assistant-director that "actually, we can't show nipples or pubic hair on national TV," at which time the Ottawa-born singer pulled off the fake body parts.

The satirical act, says Morissette, was aimed at U.S. government institutions for over-reacting to cultural, free expression, as a result of the fallout surrounding Janet Jackson's Super Bowl faux pas, when her breast was accidentally exposed to millions of television viewers.

fuck yeah, the Puritanical bullshit that's taken over the US is more than deserving of parody!

babies babies babies...

being the old maid of the family, i've left mom without grandchildren...i suppose adam could still provide an extended branch o' the family tree, but it ain't happening with me. (it's cute to hear him or codi make some sort of comment about "well, if we have kids..." but if ya mention marriage or kids to 'em, it's just not a subject for discussion...)

however, we do manage to get our fill of babies by visiting my aunt sherry - her daughter marian's got four kids and sherry's stepchildren have provided several other grandbabies in the family...

saturday we got together for marian's daughter alanis' 3rd birthday. we went to Build A Bear to create various stuffed animals (no, i didn't get one, although i did get a pair of sunglasses for Puffy, the pig that my brother gave me for Xmas) then we went back to sherry's to do what the whole family knows how to do: eat.

anyhoo, here's a pic of me with alivia, marian's most recent addition to the family:



see the big yellow blob on my ear? i had sticker earrings put on me by alanis, and forgot they were still stuck to me....

DST

all you never really wanted to know about Daylight Saving Time...

ya know, i suppose it's cuz i'm a born and bred Hoosier, but i just don't get the whole DST thing. and every fricking year we have to have a big discussion about it at the statehouse, only to do nothing about it - hell, it's even the cover story on this month's Indianapolis Monthly. seems like we've turned into such a 24-7 society that it really doesn't matter all that much, we should just all be consistent...

Flash Mountain...

Click here to see wardrobe malfunctions at Splash Mountain. *8-)

not too talkative...

i know, i know, i haven't been too talkative lately - my mind's a blank slate these days. i'm trying my damnedest to get outta this funk, but i seem to have dug myself a pretty deep hole...

so, let's just compile a list of what's on lori's list of things to do...

baking: gotta make some desserts for Alanis's birthday - 3 years old! m&m brownies, a jello mold, and....i dunno what else...

reading: The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America by Eric Alterman and Mark J. Green - just picked it up from the library today.

watching: queued up in the DVD player is Secrets & Lies - had to get it from Brazil since it's not been released in the US. such a cool fucking movie - i'm not quite sure what the attraction is in it for me, but i just think it's brilliant. i also need to get the 3rd season of Queer As Folk watched on DVD before season 4 starts up in a couple of weeks.

and right now, sleeping...

today's fortune...

"You are what you eat" - hmmmm...

ya know, i could make all sorts of comments about that, but i think i'll refrain at this point...

weekend update...

had a surprisingly okay weekend - i wasn't sure when friday started off rather crappily. then i went to group therapy and had a breakdown and all was better for that evening...

friday night was games night @ Vic's. deb broke my heart and didn't show up, but oh well. *whimper* i'll get over it eventually. ;-)

saturday was uneventful, did some shopping and stuff. sunday mom and i went to the paul gilmartin show at crackers. he was funny as hell. definitely hafta do that again sometime...

spent today working on some projects mom's roped me into doing for a few of her friends. i suppose it's all for the best - make a little extra cash and all, but my creative juices seem to have just dried up during the unemployment thang. she likes the stuff i'm giving her, but i think it's crap. *shrug*

great promo idea...mark yer calendars for Monday May 10th!

dunno how much it'll end up costing Long John Silvers, but i think their latest promo's a hoot:

LOUISVILLE, KY, March 24, 2004 - NASA's March 23 announcement of evidence of the past presence of "a body of gently flowing saltwater" on Mars is big news for America, and giant news for seafood fans.

In January, Long John Silver's offered to give America free Giant Shrimp if NASA found conclusive evidence of an ocean on Mars. To celebrate the success of NASA's Mars Rover project, the company is going to give America free Giant Shrimp on Monday, May 10.

read the whole press release, it's rather amusing...

sunday night's plans...

Paul Gilmartin's doing his schtick at Crackers Comedy Club in Broad Ripple - this should be mega-cool!

are you as smart as a twelve year old?

take this quiz to find out!

my score = 28 out of 30

Roeper, for this one, i'll give ya Two Thumbs Up!

although Roger Ebert stomps his ass as far as movie reviewing goes, i must give props to Richard Roeper for his article regarding the FCC...

the random haiku generator...

The magnate’s mistress
eats the lottery ticket.
No, it’s not like that.

damn, whodathunk a discussion of anti-depressants could be so depressing?

this thread on fark about anti-depressants makes it very clear just how many Farkers there are out there on drugs - which i suppose should be obvious, considering most of the comments on the site, but still...didn't know so many of us were clinically depressed.

*8-(

uh oh - guess God and I disagree then...

God Hates Shrimp

the Grapple update...

so, we tried the Grapples.

thoroughly unimpressed - good fuji apples, with an odor of the fake grape flavoring used in candies and such. didn't really seem to affect the taste of the apples. way overpriced, at 4 for $2.99.

growing up dykey...

so, this discussion on fark brought back a long-forgotten memory - my crush on Moose from You Can't Do That On Television...i was probably nine or ten years old, and i thought she was the coolest, cutest thing - i wanted to kiss her. and homosexuality's supposedly a learned behavior?!!? don't think so!

come to think of it, another early crush i had was on a swimming instructor i had at the YMCA summer day camp - Froggie.

hmmm, what's it say that i found myself attracted to women with animal nicknames?!?

major brain fart...

crap. argh. damn. FUCK!!

forgot to get up this morning and get Jimmy Buffett tix - figured if Clara can't come to see 'im, i'd at least make some $$ selling em off. then i forgot to do it. argh!

saturday shopping trip...

went to the outlet mall with mom today, after finding out that Borders has opened an outlet down there - it was a bust. oh well.

went to the Big Dogs store - that was a bust as well. They must have a new design team or something, but their sense of humor/attitude has changed, and it's definitely not for the better. i suppose i sound like a prude saying that the new stuff they put out is too risque, but hell, it'd probably violate a workplace casual dress code because it's all so sexually suggestive - it's cool to have stuff like that once in a while, but it seems as though their whole line is moving in that direction. oh well, it's their loss - i was a pretty regular customer for quite a few years.

Designed by georgedorn and provided by Positronic Design.

Grab your own copy here.

spiffy...

EarthCam's MetroCam Network has webcams from around the world - how appropriate, considering all the fat people in our city, that Indianapolis features a Rhinocam and Elephantcam.

Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You?

You are every goth-kids dream!


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evil omarosa...

Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth from The Apprentice says that Ereka Vetrini had called her the "n-word." Ummm, sorry dear, but if you say that someone using the cliche "If that's not the pot calling the kettle black" is being racist, i dunno how much weight your cries of racism are gonna carry.

not that you asked, but my money's on Troy to take it all the way to becoming the Apprentice...

beep beep beep - back that truck up!

guess they're not gonna ban the gays after all...

Folding@Home

adam says i should sign up to join in on this Folding@Home thang, but i haven't read all the details yet...

Rhea County Tennessee seeks to outlaw homosexuals...

choose your bias - read the article from the advocate or fox news channel - basically, they wanna make a local law that would ban gays and lesbians from living in Rhea County.

perhaps michael moore should get the sodomobile fired up and take a trip down to tennessee - i think that'd be great, to just FLOOD them with queers and monkeys, what with the place being known for its part in the scopes monkey trial...

VNS Update...happy anniversary!

one year ago today, i was up at St. Vincent's Hospital. Neurosurgeon Ronald Young cut me open and stuck the Vagus Nerve Stimulator in me. the rest is history... *8-)

weird - transgendered fruits...

hahahaha, no i'm not referring to friends o mine. ;-)

went to the store today and found a package of Grapples (pronounced "Grape-L") - an apple that tastes like grapes. alrighty then. haven't tried it yet, gonna wait and see mom's reaction.

Going to the Courthouse

i suppose she didn't send it out to mutualfriends.org's mailing list because it's a non-political group, but Michele O'Mara's planning a demonstration next Monday - Going to the Courthouse - there's even an article about it in the Indy Star.

VNS Update...

another appointment with no change to the VNS - at my last appointment, Dr. Mohan prescribed Trileptal - after reading the patient info, i contacted him and we agreed that perhaps it wasn't the best idea for me, so instead of Trileptal, i'm taking Lamictal - started with taking one 25 mg pill a day, then upped it to two pills a day. no seizures thus far, but we'll see how it goes - still too early to tell if it's the drug working or if i'm just in a no-seizure period.

i really need to get to work on my VNS website - i've had this damned thing in me for close to a year now...

the D Word...

oh shit, what to do what to do what to do??

my brother's birthday's tomorrow, he turns the big 23. we're getting together and going to the ex-stepmonster's house to pick up our brother & sister and then going out to celebrate.

so, anyhoo, i'm online talking to adam (brother) and he mentions that he gets an instant message from our half-sister (paige) about friday night. so adam tells me paige's screenname and i send her a message:

LBthePDD: :-P yo sis, how's it goin?
PurdueSoccer91: good
PurdueSoccer91: is this lori?
LBthePDD: NO, it's your other sister. :-P
LBthePDD: yes, it's lori!
PurdueSoccer91: lol
PurdueSoccer91: well my friend megan calls me a sis
LBthePDD: ahhhhhh

and so on and so forth...

then it occurs to me - paige doesn't know what LBthePDD stands for: Lori Beth, the Pillsbury Dough DYKE.

she's 12 years old - time to tell her? (if she's not already figured it out) it's not a matter of my being closeted - i don't change my behavior around matt & paige. *shrug* just seems awkward.

the L Word...

so, i caught the first 3 (or was it 4?) episodes of The L Word when i was at michelle's house saturday night...'twas fun watching with Deb, her smart-ass comments were very similar to ones rolling around in my head...

while most of what was on the show didn't really relate to me, one thing that's had me thinking was Alice's whole thing about mapping out the lesbo scene with a 6 degrees of separation/kevin bacon sort of thing...

hell, forget the "lived with", "had a relationship with" stuff - just mapping out dykes in indy that have had sex with each other would be WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too freaky, i think. the thought of having sex with someone who's had sex with someone that had sex with someone i consider a friend - i dunno if my brain could handle it. well...i guess it would depend on the people involved - i know that i have had sex with a woman that had just broken up with a friend o mine, but that was just a one night stand sort of thang. still, as small as the queer community is in this town, i think it'd be waaaay too incestuous - prepare to be squicked by just pondering it for a few minutes...

open secrets are interesting to read...

opensecrets.org is an interesting website - you can search by ZIP code to see how much money people are donating to political causes...i suppose this is a way to find out the political leanings of various businesses or personalities around town...

for instance:

Indiana Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle made two donations of $1,000 each to the campaign of John Edwards...

The president of Noble Roman's Pizza made a $1,000 donation to the National Republican Congressional Committee...

Marla Stevens from LGBT Fairness Indiana made a $2,000 donation to Dennis Kucinich's campaign last July...

Greg Dixon (no middle initial there, so i dunno if it's the father or son) from the Indianapolis Baptist Temple gave $250 to the Libertarian National Committee...

Former Governor Bob Orr gave Dick Lugar $1,000 and Dubya $2,000...

Jim Irsay (owner of the Indianapolis Colts) has lots of cash to dole out: $1,000 to Dan Burton, $2,000 to Dick Lugar, $500 to Julia Carson, $2,000 to John Edwards, $1,000 to Evan Bayh, another $1,000 to Evan Bayh, and $2,000 to George W. Bush - interesting, the Bush contribution was on 9/5/2003, the Edwards contribution on 1/13/2004 - what'd ol' Dubya do to piss Irsay off?

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart sent $2,000 to the campaign of Kevin Triplett, a dude from Virginia running for congress...

a semblance of a life...*gasp*

oh my, i actually went out and DID SOCIAL THINGS on saturday...

went to steph's to play games - we played a couple different versions of Mystery Rummy - very cool. crossing my fingers that she actually implements her idea of another games night - the once a month lesbo games night on friday just doesn't totally fulfill my desire to hang out with spiffy people and play board games....

later in the evening, it was off to Michelle's, to watch the L Word - she invited a bunch o lesbos over to see the L Word marathon that she had on tape. i've been recording them all on my PC, but realized that the DVD players around the house won't play DVD-R's, so i need to buy a more modern DVD player before i can watch stuff that i burn onto DVD-R's. as for the show...it's interesting, i suppose. doesn't hold a candle to Queer As Folk, but it's got some good lines and that lesbian visibility thing is always good - maybe the straight people will learn a thing or two...*shrug*

hafta post more later...

Ian McKellan, quoting Thomas Jefferson on Bill Maher's show

saw a rerun tonight of the Feb 27 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher - Ian McKellan was on and discussion of gay marriage was a major topic...McKellan mentioned a quote from Thomas Jefferson that i think bears repeating (even though, as Maher pointed out, Jefferson was bangin' his slaves)...

"Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as manners and opinions change, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

now, i've heard it mentioned in several places about all the benefits that married people have because of marriage - literally THOUSANDS of benefits. perhaps it's because i've never been married myself, but i can't see that - thousands?? what are these benefits? i know that being able to add a spouse to your insurance and appoint them as the person to decide whether to end your life support are such benefits, but what else?

regardless of what these benefits are, and the fact that i don't know what they are, i do know one thing: married people don't deserve them. seems to me that the government is giving preferential treatment to people that get married, and i don't think that's right - marriage is a religious/spiritual union, and should be treated as such - it has no place in our government.

another topic frequently discussed: the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution - shouldn't that trump any sort of amendment banning gay marriage? or shouldn't it just mean that marriage shouldn't have anything to do with the Constitution, and if a married person has the right to put their spouse in charge of medical decisions, then an unmarried person should have the same right to name a person in a similar situation?

i guess the more that i think about it, the more i find myself annoyed with the whole gay marriage thing - it seems as though we're selling ourselves short in asking for the same rights as heterosexual married couples. instead of saying "hey, i'm gay and my girlfriend and i want to get married so we have the same rights as you hetero married people" shouldn't we be saying "everybody deserves the same rights and treatments by the government, regardless of their marital status"?

*shrug* it sucks that this is brought up in an election year to divide the country and try to make us forget that Dubya has totally fucked up this country in so many ways. let's discuss it when everything isn't so fucked up and people can be a bit more rational and level-headed.

the oscars...

woo hoo - Charlize Theron won for Monster. i think she definitely deserved it. i've been hearing more and more about how people are pissed off about the movie and how it's not very accurate as far as being "based on a true story", but looking at it as just a movie reveals a very intensely emotional piece of work.

for everyone else out there that thinks Charlize is hot, here's a link to pix of her nude scenes in movies - Not Safe For Work, obviously. *8-)

i liked Sean Penn's WMD comment - it's cool that he had the balls to make a political comment off the cuff like that, i think. he acted very well in Mystic River, but i must say, that movie is WAAAAY overrated - i kinda hafta wonder if it wouldn't have been as hugely received if it didn't have the "Directed by Clint Eastwood" tag on it.

lesbo games night...

played games at Out Word Bound & Vic's last night - mostly Vic's, since OWB is now on their "winter hours" schedule and closed up at 8pm. there were 10 of us there - lots of fun. played Taboo and Crack The Case...i just might hafta get Crack The Case on ebay (it's from '93 and is out of print now) - the mystery solving reminds me of the Encyclopedia Brown books i read as a kid.

back to "normal"...

crisis mode over, mom was released from the hospital yesterday and went back to work today. they think it was some sort of obstruction in her small bowel - fun fun fun. i've done hospital duty with mom many a time, but i think it was strange for the both of us this time because in the past couple of years, the bulk of trips to the hospital have been because of me - it's usually ME in the bed with mom hovering over me.

argh...

crappy weekend. no mah jongg because dale was sick and greg was working late. so mom and i got caught up on watching stuff we'd videotaped (amazingly enough, the VCR does occasionally get used) - watched the Dean Cain movie, "The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story" - yer typical TV movie, i guess...kinda weird because the story's not over and done, the dude's not even gone to trial yet.

watched a few other things, then mom started having some pain in her belly - reminded her of her previous bouts with pancreatitis, primarily because the pain was so horrible, and it came in waves. so it was off to the emergency room at 2am. wouldn't ya know it, we have to go to the ER on the night the computer system's down, so it took FOREVER to get lab results and such - luckily the morphine knocked her out and kept her relatively pain-free. blood work was normal, so then it was time for a CT scan, after mom got to drink a wonderfully disgusting liquid to help the contrast. while mom was getting scanned, i took a break and headed to the cafeteria. on the way back, i ran into dr. priscu, our endocrinologist, and let her know i was there with mom. it was a bit comforting to see her there, even though it was just pure coincidence. she knew what the docs had already said - the pain was lower in her belly than it would be for pancreatitis.

so after the docs said they'd probably let her go after watching her for another hour or so, i KNEW they'd probably end up admitting her - at 11am, i was WHIPPED. no sleep all night, instead i sat around, freaking out and watching mom sleep. so i came home, made a few phone calls, and promptly went to sleep.

so they admitted her into a regular room, thinking there's some sort of bowel obstruction type thing going on. excitement galore.

adam's returning from his european tour this evening, he'll be so thrilled to hear mom's in the hospital.

the good thing about group therapy...

...is that it makes you realize you're not as crazy as everyone else out there.

Fridays, 3pm - Stress Management Group. an interesting group of people, that's for sure.

VNS Update...

no change to the VNS - instead, doc's given me a new seizure pill to add to the list - Trileptal. 3MG of Keppra daily isn't doing it as far as seizure control goes, so we'll try 2 drugs at once. i dunno if the trileptal will be a long-term addition to the list or not, and there's a slight possibility of some problems with side effects - reading the info on the website, it says to tell the doc if you've had problems with tegretol, which i have (in the plain form - XR worked okay with me). i'll cross my fingers and hope i don't feel the anxiety and crankiness and other things i had when i was on generic tegretol. it may also fuck up things with the birth control pills - thank goodness i'm not actually using them for BIRTH CONTROL!

March 17 will be my one year anniversary with the VNS in - it's definitely not a certifiable success, but i'm still willing to give it a chance.

Music meme

Music meme:
Step 1: Open your MP3 player.
Step 2: Put all of your music on random.
Step 3: Write down the first 20 songs it plays, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 4: Profit!

alrighty...well, i did this, but only with mp3's i've got on the new computer - i haven't transferred everything over from the old machine yet, so it's probably from about 5-10% of my mp3 collection...

1. Missy Elliott - Work It (Dirty).mp3
2. The The - Kingdom of Rain.mp3
3. Dido - Here With Me.mp3
4. Sheryl Crow - If It Makes You Happy.mp3
5. Erasure - Ship Of Fools.mp3
6. Pet Shop Boys - Send Me An Angel.mp3
7. Counting Crows - Round Here.mp3
8. New Order - True Faith.mp3
9. Dixie Chicks - Strawberry Wine.mp3
10. Thompson Twins - King For A Day.mp3
11. Dixie Chicks with Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough (Live).mp3
12. Thompson Twins - Lies (Extended).mp3
13. Pet Shop Boys - Absolutely Fabulous.mp3
14. Depeche Mode - Megamix (with Erasure, OMD, the Cure, Falco).mp3
15. New Order - Regret.mp3
16. Jellyhead - Crush.mp3
17. Electronic - Get The Message.MP3
18. Monifah -Touch It (Dirty Version).mp3
19. Erasure - Blue Savannah.mp3
20. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head.mp3


alrighty, now i'm ready for Step 4...

VNS Update...

well, not quite - i'll probably be updating my VNS status Thursday, when i have my appointment with dr. mohan. had to schedule an appointment because i had a seizure in the wee hours of this morning. don't think it was as bad as usual, tho i still have a headache after several tylenol doses. dunno if he'll wanna up the dosage of keppra this time, or just give me a bigger jolt. last week i noticed some problems with my sleeping - i'd wake up after being asleep only a couple of hours, and i'd stay awake for quite a while. dunno if sleep disruptions could've brought this on or not. still having the appetite problems as well. *shrug* i'm so very thankful that i hadn't yet started the new diabetes meds dr. priscu prescribed - i'm sure my first thought would've been that they caused some interaction. finishing off the old stuff before i start the new ones.

Vote Bush Out!

in case you don't have them already, here are 99+ Reasons To VOTE BUSH OUT!

a lousy 4 points...

Pholph's Scrabble Generator My Scrabble© Score is: 4. What is your score? Get it here.

leave it to mom to give me a name consisting of only one point scrabble letters - and only four of em, to boot. alas, it's all moot anyways - proper names aren't allowed in scrabble. scrambling letters will give you ROIL, a valid scrabble word, still only 4 points, unless ya land on some triples or something...

Paraskevidekatriaphobics, please ignore this post.

learned a new word today - paraskevidekatriaphobia. it's is a fear of Friday the 13th. i'm not particularly superstitious myself - every day of the week's crappy. *8-)

perhaps today's the day to buy some lottery tickets.

tonight's episode of ER...

i must say, i cracked up when i saw the commercial for Lockhart Hummer that aired during tonight's episode of ER, titled "Impulse Control" - they made a very good point of slamming Hummer because of the damage that they can do to other cars. A guy had a heart attack and crashed into a family, killing most of 'em, and the guy was worried about his new car more than his own health situation, let alone that of the people he injured/killed.

i'm thinking Lockhart Hummer (if anyone from their organization saw this episode) will be asking for at least a partial refund on the money they spent on advertising...

good little pancreas...

today's trip to the endocrinologist was a good one - my hemoglobin a1c was 6.6 (surprising, since i haven't been very good about checking my sugars lately), my cholesterol's doing very well, everything seems fine and dandy. well, except for the weight thing - i need to lose some weight.

dr. priscu is quite a woman - i was telling her about my unemployment and how hard it is to find a job and she was telling me about coming from romania years ago and not being able to practice medicine when she got here because she didn't know english, but that there were plenty of jobs for people - if you wanted to work, finding a job was not a problem. but it's just not that way nowadays - she never imagined the US would be in the shape that it is now. she also came out very anti-war as well - it's interesting to learn some of the more personal aspects of doctors, especially when they align with my own political beliefs. *8-)

omigod, they're HUGE!!!

errr, the title refers to my PUPILS, ya pervert! *8-) the opthamologist dilated my eyes during my appointment today - wouldn't ya know it'd be the first sunny day we've had in weeks. i was sans sunglasses, and the drive home was literally painful - i squinted all the way...

doc wants me to up the vitamins and lutein since he's seeing more changes to my macula, as well as my having an increased risk of a torn or damaged retina - ugh. as many problems as mom's had with her vision, i know to take good care of my eyes.

i asked the doc about contacts - since i'm nearsighted, i don't have to have the glasses on 24/7, and i have a tendency to leave them off when i really should probably be wearing them. maybe contacts would remedy the situation, tho dr. alig says that i shouldn't wear them when i sleep. the chicks in the office said he doesn't recommend that for anyone, but he said particularly in my case, wearing em overnight would be a bad idea. regardless, my insurance mandates i go somewhere else (probably target) for contacts, so i wanna look into the costs before i make a decision there...

miscellaneous stuff and thangs...

i've noticed i haven't put much personal stuff in the ol' blog lately, so i'm gonna try to remedy that. i suppose the main reason being i'm in a funk and i just haven't been DOING anything, so there's not much to report...

the job search isn't going all that well - there just doesn't seem to be anything out there for me. believe me, i'm looking anywhere and everywhere...

yesterday i went to the license branch, to get a new plate for my car - can't afford the extra $40 for the Indiana Arts Commission plate this year, so it's back to a plain ol' Indiana plate. i was flabbergasted when i got to the license branch - no wait! i was next in line! woo hoo! so i sit down at the desk and wouldn't ya know it - THE WHOLE COMPUTER NETWORK CRASHED, statewide. i hung out for a while and eventually it came back up and i got my plate - i knew it was impossible to go to the BMV without waiting at least half an hour!!

last week was the end of my physical therapy for the tendonitis in my right hand - it's weird not having that regular appointment two or three times a week now. of course, i've managed to fill this week up with other appointments - today it's the annual eye exam, tomorrow's the therapist, thursday's the endocrinologist.

gonna talk to the eye doc about contacts - don't know much about 'em, but i know that i have a tendency not to wear my glasses but that my nearsightedness seems to be getting worse to the point that i should wear them all the time - perhaps doing the extended-wear contacts will remedy the situation. *shrug*

mom signed us up for membership at the YMCA - now we need to get into the schedule of actually GOING and getting some exercise. i was all psyched to go last night, then she cancelled because she had a headache. shoulda gone without her, but i wimped out. they just recently moved everything in to the Y when all the renovations were done after the tornado, so it's pretty spiffy now.

more later, i hafta get ready for the doc!

great photoshopping...

love this pic:

Fab Five to the Oval Office, ASAP...

you know...you'd think that, with as many people as he's got pulling his strings, at least ONE of them woulda stepped forward and suggested that Dubya actually wear a pair of pants that FIT when appearing on Meet The Press.



well, at least he had tall socks on, eh?

FUH2.com

FUH2.com's an interesting site - i must say, when i see a Hummer parked in the Target parking lot, i have to wonder...

weird fact o de day...

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average person passes intestinal gas from 14 to 23 times a day and produces about 1 to 3 pints of the stuff.

of course, farkers had lots of comments to make about that statistic...

(that's farkers with a K - not a T) *8-)

not my type, per se, but okay...

Ted: Food & Wine Connoisseur


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big sister to the rescue

spent yesterday being big sister to adam, shuttling him around town since his car died on the interstate. the doofus left his blinkers on overnight, so in addition to the gas line probably being frozen (he left the car almost empty during the big freeze here while he went off to mexico) the battery was toast as well. my jumper cables couldn't resurrect the car, so off to AAA to get him signed up - i explained that it'd cost as much as the tow and he'd have the membership for a whole year. well, they charged him an extra $25 since he needed the car towed right away. i'm not automotively inclined in the least, but i do know that when it's this freaking cold out you don't leave the gas tank almost empty and you don't leave your blinkers running for 12+ hours. so now his car's in our driveway, he's gonna get it figured out when he gets back from europe - he leaves this weekend and will be gone 3 weeks or so...

heh heh heh...

if you're looking for a gift for your valentine, check this out...

happy Groundhog Day!

Punxsutawney Phil better be forecasting a short winter - this cold weather crap is OLD.

Mystic River

mom and i went and saw Mystic River yesterday - ehhh, i don't think i quite got it. it was okay, i'd say 2.5 stars - definitely not the 4 roger ebert gave it.

guess i'm not the only one...

bro stopped by today, and he's in a funk - so i guess it's not just me. he's got a gig in mexico and he doesn't wanna go, but he knows he has to do it for business reasons. i think i cheered him up a bit byy telling him the weather's gonna be in the 70's while he's there, instead of this freezing cold snowy shit we've got goin on here.

as for my funk, i just don't have any energy - i just want to sleep all the time. i suppose all the job hunting i'm doing is the reason for the depression - i'm looking really hard for a new job and just not finding anything. it's so frustrating.

kinda weird, but what the hell...

now you can donate to your presidential candidate via amazon.com

Today's the day...

...to celebrate the 4th annual National Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!!

the golden globes...

rock on! Charlize Theron won for her role in Monster! i watched the awards specifically to see that award - hadn't watched em before...i know they're sort of the red-headed stepchild of the Oscars/Emmys, but much more laid back - a very enjoyable awards show to watch, i must say...

seeing all the awards and clips makes me want to go see a bunch o movies now....

the 2004 mitsubishi galant...

so i got a postcard in the mail on friday from mitsubishi - test drive their car, get a cd of the tunes from their commercials, and a card to mail in for a free $25 AmEx card. never one to turn down a freebie, i did it today...not too impressed with the car, but i must say, i do like the music they pick for their commercials...

woah...

just got back from a movie - mom and i went to see Monster - woah. i agree with Roger Ebert's assessment - he gave it 4 stars and said, "Jenkins, the writer-director, has made the best film of the year." Charlize Theron's portrayal of Aileen Wuornos is freakin' spellbinding - she really got into the head of this serial killer. I think Theron deserves an Oscar (a nomination at the very least) for her portrayal. i suppose i've been prejudiced against her - i haven't watched her movies, just based on her looks and what little i knew of her - being a former model and such. after seeing her in Monster, i wanna check out more of her movies though.

CBS sucks ass...

seems to me, if a group's gonna pay your exorbitant ad rates for advertising during the super bowl, it shouldn't matter what the hell's being advertised. CBS Shuns PETA, MoveOn Super Bowl Ads - they don't wanna run controversial (ie liberal) ads....hrmmm, we'll see how non-controversial those super bowl ads are on Feb. 1....

Twenty bucks...

after rebates, that's the cost of my new LASER PRINTER. now i can really crank out the resumes and cover letters!

what the hell is he thinking?!?

okay, so the economy's in the crapper, but things are supposedly getting better, thanks to all of dubya's tax cuts for rich people and all...trickle trickle trickle...good thing we've been cutting all those taxes, now we'll have more money to spend!

now dubya wants another billion for NASA and space travel (definitely a good thing, but it's on the "WANT" list rather than the "NEED" list)...even more ridiculous, dubya wants a billion and a half to promote heterosexual marriage. c'mon now, if it's so freakin' wonderful, why do we need to spent billions of dollars promoting it??!!??

it makes it very clear who dubya's looking out for - himself. he's gotta get the votes of big business (which are certain to benefit from all this freaking spending) and Christian conservatives and these are the ways to go about it. and let's not forget dubya's eagerness to make all the illegal aliens legal just in time for the elections...

ugh, what an asshole.

totally cool sidewalk art...

Sidewalk chalk drawings

music...

so, the article i read about allanah currie has sent me into a tailspin, digging up the ol' 80's music - the Thompson Twins were responsible for the best album of all time, after all - Side Kicks (as it's known here in the States) is a masterpiece...now i'm kazaaing all the kick-ass stuff from the late 80's - early 90's: The The, Erasure, New Order, Electronic, Pet Shop Boys and more...

i didn't come up with much of a Best Of 2003 list as far as music goes because i didn't hear much good stuff out there - Barenaked Ladies just sort of won by default...

not seeing the forest for the trees...

so i come across this article about Alannah Currie, from the Thompson Twins - apparently she's now leading a group called MADGE - Mothers Against Genetic Engineering - you'd think they coulda come up with a D word to stick in there, but oh well...

some of the actions they've pulled off are pretty cool, but it seems kinda weird - read the article and ya find out that while she's against genetic engineering, she's a smoker and drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee...seems like a big contradiction there...(granted, my disdain for SUV's has turned into out-and-out DISGUST after reading High and mighty : SUVs--the world's most dangerous vehicles and how they got that way, but that's a topic for another post...)

my "Tonight Show" debut...

as far as i'm concerned, there's only one reason to watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and that's Headlines. Perhaps it's because of my background as a typesetter, but i find that shit to be hysterical. well, a couple of months ago i was at kroger and found some rather amusing products for sale in the bakery. So, i "borrowed" the sign and mailed it in to Jay Leno, and he put it on the show:



obviously, someone doesn't watch Nickelodeon or they'd know it's SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS... *8-) or perhaps it was just printed up by a sick bastard that wondered if anyone would even notice...

colder than a witch's tit...

...i think that's the official forecast. currently 14° F, windchill of 1° F, high today of 26° F. brrrrrrrrrrrr!

people with cell phone cams putting them to use...

Send pics directly from your camera-phone to pics@mobog.com and they will be displayed within 1 minute
mobog.com - the comments people make are rather amusing...

the Best Of 2003, continued...

music....well, lemme say i was thoroughly unimpressed with most of what was released in 2003...most of what i bought and/or downloaded consisted of greatest hits type cd's and music from long ago...

BEST CD: Everything to Everyone, Barenaked Ladies. It took a while before I actually started liking this CD, much like Maybe You Should Drive - just seemed waaaay too serious. But it's been growing on me...

BEST WEBSITE: Friendster's been a rather amusing way to get to know people - when the damned thing's up and running...

honorable mention: TotalFark is definitely worth the fifty bucks a year it costs to see all the links submitted to Fark, and getting a jump start on Photoshop contests is spiffy too!

"Stuck on You"

adam and i went to see "Stuck on You" this evening - cute movie...roger ebert's review was right on...the cameo appearances were pretty cool, particularly frankie muniz and meryl streep

hrmm....

Take the What Should Your New Year's Resolution Be? Quiz

the Best Of 2003, continued...

more bests of 2003, a little more personally relevant to me and me alone:

BEST medical procedure: the Vagus Nerve Stimulator surgery on March 17, 2003 was pretty spiffy - the VNS isn't working as well as i'd like, but there's still chance for significant improvement...as far as neurosurgeons go, Dr. Young's great...(granted, he's the ONLY neurosurgeon i've had, but i've definitely got no complaints)

honorable mention: Hurrle Orthopedic Physical Therapy's treatments for the tendonitis and carpal tunnel in my right hand - the cortisone shot at the hand surgeon didn't seem to help much, but the moist heat wraps and ultrasound has made things a lot better - i hadn't realized just how much things hurt before and think i overlooked the pain more than i should have...


BEST prescription medication: the Vicodin prescribed after the aforementioned surgery and during other trips to the emergency room - the sensation of being drunk, without all the booze! yeah, i guess i could see how people (Matthew Perry, for instance) get hooked on taking this stuff recreationally...

Lori's List - the Best Of 2003

hell, everybody else does it, why can't i? let's recap some of the highlights of 2003...

let's start with pop culture stuff....

BEST tv show: is it too cliche to say Queer Eye For The Straight Guy - yeah, they're taking a bit of the "real" out of "reality tv" and some people complain that it promotes stereotypes of gay (and straight) men, but it's just so damned good...

honorable mention: Survivor: Pearl Islands (go Rupert!)


BEST tv channel: hafta give this one to Bravo - with Queer Eye, Boy Meets Boy (an interesting spin in the monotonous world of reality dating shows), Celebrity Poker Showdown - they've got some good original programming and reruns of West Wing and the Restaurant are cool too...

honorable mention: gotta love Court TV! and i think TNT and USA oughta give up on their rerunning episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order SVU and let's just create a freakin Law & Order Channel! hell, between all the franchises i'm sure there's more than enough episodes to fill a schedule - if not, run CSI and the Practice on the weekends. *8-)


BEST tv character: The Practice has sadly jumped the shark, but the addition of James Spader to the cast, as evil slimy lawyer Alan Shore is one of the few reasons left to continue watching.


BEST talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres - ellen made setting the VCR timer a requirement - even if i don't watch the show all the time, taping it means there's always something funny to watch...


more when i think of 'em...

MERRIAM-WEBSTER'S WORDS OF THE YEAR 2003

2003's top ten words:

what the hell does it say about us that the most looked-up word this year is DEMOCRACY?

Christmas et al...

holidays were nice, i suppose - monday i went to my physical therapy appointment and once i got there it was pretty obvious that i wasn't in my right mind. kind of embarrassing, realizing you're wearing your clothes inside out AFTER you get somewhere. so we didn't go through with the physical therapy - we called my mom and she came from work and picked me up and took me to the hospital. not sure if i had a seizure or not, but woke up with the most god awful evil bastard from hell headache. it still hasn't totally gone away. so they didn't find anything suspect at the emergency room and sent me home. i'm just tired as all hell, and my brain's just scrambled. i muddled through christmas though, had a nice enough time.

let 'em know what America REALLY thinks...

stop by the "Pro-Family" (ie Pro-Heterosexual-And-That's-It) website of the American Family Association at marriagepoll.com and tell 'em you're in favor of the legalization of marriage for gays & lesbians as well as heteros!

ya know, i think that perhaps what i really would select is option #4 on that poll, except it doesn't exist - why the hell should married people get any benefits that single people don't? the divorce rates these days show that it's not exactly "til death do us part" any more - i think everyone should have the same, EQUAL rights. i'm not married, but hey, if i wanna fill out legal paperwork that says if something should happen to me, i want this person to make any important decisions, it should be just as easy for me to do it than as if it were a husband/wife situation.

Downhillbattle.org's stickering campaign

downhillbattle.org's stickering campaign is focussed on enlightening people about what their purchase of music from major labels does to independent music...very interesting.

found that link through whatacrappypresent.com, another amusing site...

Penn & Teller: Bullshit!

woo hoo - Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is gonna be back for another season!

creepy...

...is the Indianapolis Star trying to publish it's own version of Nuvo, entitled INtake? Judging by the cover, yes. I'll hafta actually read a copy first though...

cutting back on the hand jobs, i guess...

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What Finding Nemo Character are You?

What Finding Nemo Character are You?
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best comment on Fark regarding the capture of Saddam...

props go out to Farker Purple_Jack, who said:

IT'S OFFICIAL:
Osama is now the undisputed 'World Hide and Seek Champion'.



now one thing i don't understand all the news reports trumpeting the fact that Saddam was captured without a shot being fired...errrr, well, okay, they captured him and didn't shoot anyone at that specific time, but i believe more than a few shots have been fired in this thing, and the friends and families of those killed in Iraq this year might take some offense to that thoughtless comment...

who the hell calls me at the ungodly hour of 9am?!?!?

...oh - the unemployment office. i guess that's okay then, particularly when they tell me i'm going to be getting benefits. woo hoo - guess i'll be getting my prescriptions filled this month!!! thanks santa!

sorry Rush, you can't have my extras. *8-P

yesterday was a day of doc appointments...

saw dr. wisler (internal medicine doc) in the morning - guess it's back to the hand surgeon next monday to see about this carpal tunnel crap, since it appears to be re-emerging....another cortisone shot? i dunno....also got my flu shot (finally!)

the afternoon schedule had an appt with the psychiatrist, over at gallahue on the east side...how convenient, that's right across the street from the neurologist's office at community hospital, and i needed to stop by there because i left my VNS magnet there at my appointment last week...so i head in to the hospital, and TRIP on the floor mat they have inside the door from the parking garage. not a silly little slip, noooooo - can't do it that way. i went BOOOOOOOOOM, down on my knees, down on my wrist, and actually hit my head, above my forehead. how fucking embarassing is that? next thing i know, there's a swarm of people around me - are you okay?!?!? embarrassed as hell is how i am, and i can feel the skin scraped off my knees and my wrist is killing me (it was already hurting from the carpal tunnel, but then of course i had to land on THAT HAND and make it hurt even more) i'm crying, but tell everyone i'm fine. one of the guys, who i think was a hospital employee, tells me i should go over to the emergency room and get checked out, and to fill out an incident report. naah, i'm fine, i tell him. so i go into the doc's office, get my magnet and head back to my car - walking back to the car made it very obvious that i wasn't fine, the pain in my wrist and knees was excruciating. so i head for the ER. so much for the shrink appointment across the street.

long story short, x-rays of my wrist were fine...i didn't lose nearly as much skin on my knees as i thought i had, just got some bruises and some major pain to go with em - i swear, when i fell it felt like i was running my bare knees over one of those cheap-ass green doormats with the daisy in the corner...i was surprised there was still skin there...gave me a new wrist splint and an rX for Vicodin and i was on my merry way. how fortunate that i'll be seeing the hand surgeon next week.

i tell ya, the vicodin is quite a pill - couldn't tell if i was in pain or not, and i really didn't care. felt like i was drunk off my ass...and that was from one pill. how limbaugh could gobble those things up, i haven't a clue...guess it all comes down to tolerance (ironic, Mr. Intolerance seems to have built up a tolerance for the painkillers)...

Igby Goes Down

Igby Goes Down - i got the DVD from the library and watched it last night.

igby's played by Kieran Culkin - yes, one of those Culkins (born on my 10th birthday, actually) - and was very interesting...i'll definitely keep an eye out for him in other roles...

yes, i confess - my susan sarandon obsession was what originally led me to this movie, but i was pleased to discover a purty good movie as well. jeff goldblum's character was rather interesting...hell, all the characters were interesting

if ever there was a time to judge a DVD by its cover, this is it - the blue wall igby's sitting against is the color of the movie...rich, intense, hard to take your eyes away from it...pix on the web don't do it justice...

i agree with ebert's review - 3 and a half stars.

maybe bill gates isn't all that bad...

...i mean, he IS giving 27 million bucks to combat Japanese encephalitis...

i've always wondered - how do gazillionaires decide how much $$ to give to various charities or activities? what made him say TWENTY-SEVEN MILLION instead of $28,000,000 or $26,395,291?

the weird thoughts that creep through my head sometimes....

10 years?!?!?

postcard in the mail: "Mark your calendar for October 15-17, 2004!" - ugh, 10th reunion! well, 10th reunion of when i SHOULD'VE graduated from earlham...

damn, doesn't seem like it's been that long, but then again it seems like it's been much longer...

what in the hell have i gotten myself into?!?!?

greg asked me for some help on a little project. seems he's got some recipes from "Nanny" (his grandmother, i presume?) and other people and he'd like it all typed up and made into a cookbook. he wants to get them printed up for xmas presents for family members. okay, i tell him, get me the stuff ASAP. last weekend he tells me he'll drop it off monday - guess what, i didn't get stuff till tonight, THREE WEEKS till xmas!! and it's stuff clipped from newspapers and magazines, or recipes scribbled down on scraps of paper, some of it barely legible, some of it not legible at all. there are duplicates in there too - some index cards have the exact same ingredients and directions on them. i suppose what's scarier is when they ALMOST are exactly the same - there was one for some sort of jello salad...one called for Dream Whip, the other said Miracle Whip! Eeeeeek! Quite a difference there - we're talking Cool Whip vs. Mayo!

and of course my fucking carpal tunnel has been flaring up like a bitch - time for another cortisone shot, or time to look into surgery? dunno.

not sure if i'm gonna be able to get this thing done in time for him to send em out before xmas, but it'll be good to have for the portfolio (hopefully) when it's all done

VNS update update...

followed up yesterday's appointment with dr. mohan with a visit to him at the community hospital office today. since the computer at st. vincent's didn't appear to work properly, we met today so he could make sure my VNS was working and then increase the settings. so doc gets puter #2 set up - same shit happens...the screen says that the wand connected to the computer isn't making any connection with the implant. i know the implant's working - swiping the magnet over the vns makes it very obvious. thankfully, they had another computer in the office (apparently cyberonics is swapping out computers and limiting each office to only one machine - a bad thing to do, in my opinion) and on the 3rd try, things worked just fine. 3rd time's a charm, i guess. so now we've bumped up the stimulator from 1 to 1.25 and the magnet working at 1.5. no changes to the keppra i'm taking - dr. mohan wants to increase the vns more before doing that, since i'm apparently at medium as far as vns settings go...

1.25 is definitely causing some pain - seems like it may take longer to adjust to this than previous increases - the sharp pain in my left ear every time it goes off really sucks.

VNS update...

had a follow-up with Dr. Mohan today...

an example of words you don't want to be hearing out of your doctor's mouth? "What is this contraption? I have absolutely no clue how to use it." he'd asked the nurse for the VNS machine, to check my settings and increase the pulse strength. the nurse apparently misunderstood what he'd wanted and brought another machine, something looking about 87 years old. in tape on the case it said "nerve stimulator" and so i guess she assumed it was the vagus nerve stimulator - wrong! he later found out it was something they use in spinal cord surgeries or something that he doesn't deal with. eventually they rustled up the one machine they had at the office (in order to get an appointment asap after my seizure, i agreed to meet him at the office they have at the st. vincent's professional bldg - way up on the northwest side o' town) but it turned out that the machine was malfunctioning - however, they had 5 machines waiting at their office at community hospital, where i normally go. so, bright & early tomorrow morning i go over to the eastside and get reprogrammed.

the one benefit to going to going to dr. m's office up at st. vincent's is that it makes a terrific excuse to go to dunkin' donuts - there's only one shop in indy now, far far away from where i live...i suppose i'm glad i don't have to face the irony of having the endocrinologist that oversees my diabetes having her office way up there. *8-) ummmm, chocolate creme filled....

thanksgiving was cool...

went to my aunt's house for the big family gathering on turkey day - it was great...my huge selection of family photos inspired me to create a few presents for the kids - my cousin's little kids got tshirts with their pix on them, the bigger kids got other presents - one a snow globe, one a jigsaw puzzle with her pic on it...

i didn't do the Black Friday shopping thing - just didn't have the energy (let alone the money) for it. so i slept in, had a relaxing day...i wasn't able to adhere to adbusters "Buy Nothing Day" because of my need for prescriptions and food, but i restricted the amount of crass consumerism that is so typical the day after thanksgiving.

this is the time of year that i always seem to be a bit more introspective about stuff - thinking about what i'm thankful for and such...i'm thankful that i can be unemployed and still have a roof over my head...thankful for my wonderful mother and all she's done for me...thankful for friends that have stuck by me, even when i'm not such a good friend...

Pez Lez!

i now have in my possession all three of the pez dispensers that i'd featured on my Pez Lez halloween shirt - Peppermint Patty, Wonder Woman, and Policewoman! Dyke cop was, by far, the hardest to find - had to win her in an auction on ebay. the seller has a whole site of pezzes, so i made some additional purchases - got the dyke cop a girlfriend - the nurse. mom agreed that they both looked very butch - they're a cute couple.

unemployed life...

...ain't so bad - yet. went to orientation on monday to find out all the services offered at WorkOne - apparently, the image that most people have of "the unemployment office" is a big misconception...i figured i'd go in, fill out paperwork, and wait for a check - but there's a lot more to the office...a big chunk of services is provided by Goodwill ("we do more than just sell used clothes" the orientation chick told us) - training, job search assistance, computers to do your resumes, help with resumes, all sorts of things...

i'm wondering if the trader's gonna attempt to contest my unemployment claim...guess we'll find out soon enough...

paging Amanda Hugenkiss...

seems Bart Simpson's infiltrated Heathrow airport...

names of people paged include:

Arheddis Varkenjaab - I hate this fucking job
Aywellbe Fayed - I will be fired
Arjevbin Fayed - I've just been fired
Bybeiev Rhibodie - Bye-bye everybody
Aynayda Pizaqvick - I need a piss quick
Malexa Krost - My legs are crossed
Nowaynayda Zheet - Now I need a shit
Makollig Jezvahted and Levdaroum DeBahzted - My colleague just farted and left the room, the bastard.

recordings are at www.ourpointlesslives.com/announcements

and the subsequent fark discussion has more suggestions...

an apology from the guy that coined the word "metrosexual"...

the story on yahoo tells of British writer Mark Simpson's use of the word and how it took off when a story he wrote for Salon introduced it to the US...

Here is Simpson's pithy definition from that article: 'The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis -- because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere.'