| A successful blood donation but I feel I've been through the baggage carousel at Newark Airport.
Now the furry side of life. I am correcting my estimate of Ebby’s abilities. Ebby was a one-eyed, black domestic long-hair cat and he was happy to live under my roof. Ebby was not overly big, I put his weight at under 9 pounds. He lived in the house next to me and I rescued him when his previous Human moved away so he got to roam the same neighborhood.
We had two alpha cats on the street, Ebby and Arthur. Arthur was the Mack truck of cats and would go the length of the neighborhood to start a fight. I've always said the two fought to a draw and when they finally declared a truce, Arthur tended to avoid Ebby. A good thing, we made three trips to the vet because of those battles. But I never knew how Arthur fared.
I was chatting with Arthur’s Human over snow shovels yesterday afternoon and she told me her side, vet bills, etc. It wasn’t a cat truce, Ebby whomped Arthur. He was a helluva cat.
http://pics.livejournal.com/laser2sail/gallery/000093e8 | comments: Leave a comment   |
| I regularly read Patterico's Pontifications, which is a blog run by Patrick Frey, who is a Deputy District Attorney in L.A. He has some frequent guest bloggers who post on his site as well, but Patterico is the best reason to read it as his experience gives him an interesting take on our legal system.
Right now, he's engaged in -- actually, throwing up his hands and abandoning -- an argument with another blogger who is apparently replacing the original text of comments that Patterico has left on his blog with completely different text. This sort of thing has gone on before on other blogs and when the previous incident was being discussed on Patterico's site, I left the following comment:
People with integrity think that editing someone’s comments in this way is always bad behavior.
People without integrity think that editing someone’s comments in this way is just fine, unless it is done to someone that they actually agree with.
And so I was both amused and flattered to find that Patterico had quoted me in the middle of his most recent post on the subject.
Damn! I'm quotable. :) | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| I grab the next Spanish book to be cataloged: a translation of John Piper's "Stand: A call for the endurance of the saints" (translated title: "How to persevere until the end").
iPod's random shuffle song of the moment: Billie Piper's "Because we want to."
Okay then. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Part 1 here: http://popfiend.livejournal.com/3327760.html
Part 2 here: http://popfiend.livejournal.com/3328112.html
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) tribalw0lf asks: You are a people person and I see how people gravitate towards you because of the good, loving energy you give out. I'm wondering if it ever gets a bit much and you want alone time?
Everyone needs alone time and I am no different, but it's not because it gets to be too much, it's more because alone time is part of the whole gathering, healing, healthy, creative, life process.
I love the energy that comes from community, but there is an energy in solitude as well. The key is being in the right place at the right time when you need each. I haven't always mastered this. :)
But there are some basic fears associated with my need to be surrounded by people. As mentioned in my other responses, I have acceptance issues and need to be liked. I worry that people don't "get" me and that can be a lonely feeling when it hits you. Being part of a community or just in the presence of people I love breaks up the sense of isolation.
One of the amazing things about Lisa is just being in the house with her or on the phone with her and knowing that she's there loving me makes me less afraid about almost everything (sometimes even she isn't powerful enough to fight off all the anxieties, but she's pretty damned close).
What's hardest for me about people gravitating toward me is that I empathize with people powerfully. dr_p_venkman once called me an "emotional conductor" and it's true. I absorb all of that from people and I hold onto it and that can be overwhelming especially when you wear your own heart on your sleeve.
I hope that answered your question. If I fell short, let me know. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| I heard from Rick Waterson today that the Arlington Park Sheraton is closing. This doesn't surprise me.
The Sheraton hosted Windycon, Capricon, and Duckon at various times (and under various names). Capricon would probably still be there if the owners hadn't decided to build the water park. This ate a big chunk of the con's function space and caused the owners to not want to host the con so that they could rent those rooms to people who wanted to stay at the hotel and go to the water park.
I predicted that those people didn't really exist -- that anyone who was motivated enough to stay in the hotel overnight would go up to the water park near Gurnee Mills where one or the other parent could spend time shopping and where there are numerous restaurants to eat at. I may have been completely correct or it may just have been the recession taking the air out of the scheme.
I suspect that someone will eventually reopen the facility, because it's more valuable as a hotel and water park than it is as vacant land. But not right now. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| Part I is here: http://popfiend.livejournal.com/3327760.html
eriksangel15 asks: What got you started with your interest in ALL things pop culture?
It was a variety of things.
I was a small, unathletic, scared and smart kid. And I had issues with acceptance with my peers. Adults admired the fact that I was brainy, but I didn't fit into their world because I was a kid and I was socially awkward around other kids because I just didn't always "fit".
But I was able to memorize and sing the kids' favorite commercials, or remember things about their favorite TV shows, comics, etc. That knowledge, at least to my childhood brain, was my path to acceptance.
And because I knew I didn't fit, I focused a lot on TV I think. TV became my friend, and those images I absorbed because they entertained me, because I was searching for a way to fit, because it never rejected me.
Also my dad was into old radio programs and I loved listening to those stories about what he used to listen to. He also loved westerns and shared that love with me, and I always wanted to be like my dad. And I absorbed that stuff as part of my hero worship of my pop. The other stuff just came to me as my tastes developed over time, but I think those 2 things set me on a path.
There was probably something before the need for acceptance that allowed my brain to absorb and process that information, but that's lost in the mist of time.
I hope that's enough of an answer. | | comments: 6 comments or Leave a comment |
| You know that meme...
Comment and I'll:
a) Tell you why I friended you.
b) Associate you with something -- a fandom, song, colour, photo, etc.
c) Tell you something I like about you.
d) Tell you a memory I have of you.
e) Ask you something I've wanted to know about you.
f) Tell you my favourite userpic from your list. g) In return, you need to post this on your own journal.
...that one?
Yeah, I'm not doing that.
Too many of you on ye olde f-list, and I'd need 24 hours uninterrupted to answer everyone who responded. :-D
But because I am a needy soul in search of validation, I of course have asked a few of you to do this for me. I'm going to put my responses to item (e) up for public consumption because I wanted to share with the class as it will help both the old folk and the new f-listers to learn a little more about me.
I'll be doing one post a question.
And we start with bkwrrm_tx who asks: If you could choose any profession, regardless of training or money, what would you do?
I'd want to be a male Oprah. I'd want to be a multimedia personality/philanthropist with a tv show, network, website, magazine and charity devoted to things I enjoy and believe in. I'd have the opportunity to converse with individuals, with movers and shakers and to share ideas and to give away stuff to people...because I feel like it. Oprah isn't just a talk show host or a talk show.
She's an idea.
If I could do it, I'd want to be that kind of idea.
So my answer is...a male, bald, short, geeky, smart, dorky, yet charming and devilishly handsome Oprah. | | comments: 16 comments or Leave a comment |
| We are dug out and our sidewalk is clear except where the snow service for our neighbor blew snow back onto the sidewalk that Peter so carefully cleared. Most of our neighbors have cleared their walks as well. The driveway was a pain but Peter got his snow blower to work and took care of the lion's share of the 2 foot snow drifts while Ariel and I finished up the job with shovels.
Final snow fall I thought was 18 inches but my local meteorologist (Who lives across the street) informed me that the total he told me was slightly off yesterday when he got home from tracking the storm. We got 22 inches and one town over they got 25.
Caroline has a blast in the snow. She and Ariel made snow angels
(Caroline and Ariel flat on their backs in the snow)
(Caroline's snow angel after she got up)
She rolled around and played in the snow for almost two hours(with a break to thaw out and then she want back out again) until I told her to come in and warm up.
(Caroline giving me a look of "Aw Mom let me play some more" and covered in snow)
Side note to my parents: You were right. Shoveling snow does take the thrill and wonder out of snow.
Peter and Caroline made yummy brownies and I made us all a very nice warm dinner. All in all a very nice day for us.
I am grateful that we had so much fun even with all the snow. | | comments: 7 comments or Leave a comment |
| I owe several people replies which would have otherwise been made yesterday, but if you've seen my snowfall posts, you know what happened there.
You might get spammed by me today.
Hope that's OK.
:D
Peace and have a great one.
- O. (aka popfiend) | | comments: 5 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Jerry invited us and samwinolj and Bonnie over for dinner tonight. He had mentioned that it would be all right if the girls came, so when all our babysitting fell through, we let him know and brought them along with us. There were moments when it made things a bit more exciting, but other than Gretchen and I -- to some extent -- eating dinner in shifts, things went really well and everyone had a good time. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| |
![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/nerdy.gif){kind=small}
geeky![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/happy.gif){kind=small}
amused![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/thoughtful.gif){kind=small}
contemplative![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/anksadb.gif){kind=small}
sad![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankawakeb.gif){kind=small}
worried![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/sore.gif){kind=small}
sore![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/charitycam/blackbox/gloomy.gif){kind=small}
blah