Miami’s Local Feeds has begun updating my journal again! I wonder what stopped it for a week?

Frankie came by, looking to mooch from me, for the first time after I talked to him about it. . I told him that I had nothing for him, and that he must’ve forgotten what we had discussed.

I got an emergency call form the big kahuna last night, 8 year old went missing and code red’s system took a dump. I got in there, and took care of it. It turns out that she was found earlier and taken to a mall up the road.

Bro called me about some sort of DVD / VCR combo for sale at sears for $35. if that’s true, I’ll pick up two of them, and give one to Danny, so he can watch his currently player-less discs.

Skinny cow’s “strawberry shortcake” ice cream sandwiches are yummy, and really not a big drag on points (2) at all. I’ll try the Dulce de leche next week.. or maybe mint.

Gel ‘heals wounds more quickly’ Continue reading #6240 same as it ever was →

The 20th Anniversary Miami Book Fair International has been going on all week, but the street fair portion starts today and ends Sunday. I worked there with the Boynton Beach City Library many, many years ago. I think it was the 3-4th annual, if the timing is right. I met some really nice people there at the time, including Ron Wiggins, who was one of the only reasons for me to read the Palm Beach Post’s Accent section as a teenager. I’d really like to go this weekend, but I’m not up to that level of milling around for hours and hours yet. A pity, because Will Eisner is going to be there, and he’s always a fascinating speaker. Other folks that are attending that I’d like to hear from are Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, and Carl Hiaasen… Highly entertaining people who can give any writer great ideas and handy tips on the field. It’s something not to miss, if you can help it.

Danny reminded me to post about Voyager’s distance now.. Continue reading #6238 Miami book fair, voyager, found ruins →

Snapped awake out of a sound sleep at 3am, my body refuses to rest anymore right now. Is it because it’s doctor day? I don’t know, but I’m bright eyed and bushy-tailed, almost as if someone sneaked a shot of b12 into my system when I wasn’t lookin’.

Well, I’ve surfed a little, and I’ll try and get a spot more snooze-time in before the trip.

Middle earth Race quiz

Snapped awake out of a sound sleep at 3am, my body refuses to rest anymore right now. Is it because it’s doctor day? I don’t know, but I’m bright eyed and bushy-tailed, almost as if someone sneaked a shot of b12 into my system when I wasn’t lookin’.

Well, I’ve surfed a little, and I’ll try and get a spot more snooze-time in before the trip.

Middle earth Race quiz

Eep.. my time-sense warps and stretches when I’m at home for extended periods. If it wasn’t light or dark outside, I’d have trouble knowing when the days rolled by…. I’ve been medium weary all this week, sort of just going to sleep and waking up when the body was ready to do so (or when the phone rang / door got knocked on.)

Tomorrow will be the first day I’ll really have been out and about since I was in the hospital. I hope that I’m good for the long haul out there. I think it’ll be ok.

The sushi and green tea ice cream satisfied my belly quite nicely. *urp*

Paper, Leather, Clay & Stone – The Written Word Materialized.

Paging Through Medieval Lives – Illumination and Calligraphy From Selected Collections

Cartoons worth my while…Fillmore, Recess, Weekenders, Legend of Tarzan, Fairly Oddparents, Lloyd in Space, Disney’s Hercules, Pepper Ann and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (I can do a fair impersonation of Salem the cat)

Amazing to me how prominent Disney is on the list! (Buzz Lightyear isn’t bad, but not an eye grabber like the others.)Surprisingly, not much Kim Possible on the tube… it used to be on every third hour or so. No new Sponge Bobs of Note, either. Nick needs to get on the ball. Same for Cartoon Network, for that matter. (I’ll give the new Star Wars cartoon a shot, but I haven’t seen enough to get a vibe off of it.)

The Church Sign Generator! Neat!

Brother came by this morning and woke me at 7am to pick up his raincoat, on his way to his court date. (He called and asked what time would be good to stop by yesterday, and I told him that *after* court would be good, but I guess he misunderstood. Hopefully the visit to the courthouse will be brief and inexpensive…we’ll see.

There is fantastic amounts of rain coming down outside, and loads of thunder, too. Newt’s chilling next to me, just withing petting reach. Pretty Nice.. I may nap it up some again this morn. Bro mentioned that the place he’s staying at has adopted a cat… apparently he’s dealing with allergies fairly well so far.

I have to schedule my ride to tomorrow’s staple-removing appointment… How wonderful that’ll be! I’m hoping that’ll also mean I can get back to paces with ACIM, too.

So… There’s a Cowboy Bebop Movie?

A case of curiosities (some sound), unusual taxidermy and assemblage inspired by 18th and 19th century curiosity cabinets. I may’ve linked here before.

Wondering where Ray’s been.. haven’t seen much hint of him online in the last week or so. Danny’s still all flu-buggy. Must be pretty serious, because he hasn’t been to school this week.

I finally caught the ‘s memories up to date. I need to get back into doing that once every few weeks, to stay on top of it.

Recently Downloaded The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown… you’ve got to love the Internet. Especially alt.binaries.e-book.* (palm is especially handy…no pun intended.)

I haven’t seen a *single* positive review of Matrix 3 yet.(And I hear the Merovigian is totally pointless.) I am looking quite forward to Return of the King. [update, I’ve heard *very few* positive sin a sea of negatives.]

Earlier, I flipped over every TV channel known to man and many known to monkeys. Not much on.

Real mod, peapod, buff bod, hot rod, obtuse, rubber goose, green moose, guava juice, giant snake, birthday cake, large fries, chocolate shake!

Sakes. Lj was *really* out of whack this morning.

I go to edit my last entry (#6228), and get

“Edit Journal Entries

Error

Could not find selected journal entry.”

Then it blinks in and out of existence on my page or friend’s pages. Some synchronization trouble with Santa, perhaps. I wonder how connected to earlier issues it is.

I still get comments on the most trivial entries that are *years* old. See also – http://www.livejournal.com/users/jackhammer/4059.html

I’ve been pretty blessed about meeting and getting along with a wide variety of folks.

Some things that I’ve found that start folks off on the right foot with…Even if I’m a scary, hairy beast to some.

• Affinity with children and animals. Both tend to gravitate toward me, and it’s reciprocated. The kids thing can backfire if the parents are exceptionally paranoid. (Sort of a Caspar the Ghost syndrome) That can be bypassed by being introduced to the adults, first.
• Willingness to talk about pretty much any topic, or openness in general. People can sense when “shields” are up, and respond in kind.
• Promote the “Gentle Giant” stereotype. When Folks aren’t scared to death of me, they are generally put at ease because I’m soft-spoken.
• A good pre-emptive press. The hippies I know are especially good at that.. Most people I meet via those friends say “Oh, I’ve heard so much about you!” and that bypasses the whole first impression thing, usually. I have sort of a reputation for being the “Phineas J Whoopee” (Of Tennessee Tuxedo fame) of that group. (Dingo already had the Commander McBragg all wrapped up.) Instead of the 3-D BB, I’ve got the palmtop and a drawing program.

I can usually hold up my end of a conversation, and usually help the other side out too. If a person is totally dead in the water, I cut ’em a break, let them be quiet, and I move on.

Began catching up with my sleep solidly last night. Drifted off about 11pm, and woke up about 9:30am.

I got Manatee and matinee mixed up in my brain. Wondering what cute, fat canal-creatures have to do with early movie seating.

Diet 7-up is delicious, and feels great in my throat.

Wizkids Sportsclix Interesting. I wonder how ballplayers might do vs The Joker or Magneto?

I heard a great quote about work and ethics – “Do not eat your soul to fill your belly” I like that. A pity that it’s not always feasible.

It’s the hard knock life for us
It’s the hard knock life for us
Instead of treated we get tricked
Instead of kisses we get kicked
It’s the hard knock life

I haven’t shaved for a little over a week, and I already look like an escaped wild man from Borneo. I’m glad that I’m clean, anyhow… but I won’t be shaving until I can rinse whiskers off properly in the shower.

Life-size Gundam! Holy Moley!

My “friend’s page” is giving me trouble…doesn’t want to load, and nothing is mentioned on the status page. A mild peeve. Heck, even my primary page isn’t loading. I wonder what the post-“new feature/maintenance” hubbub is this time.

I could go for some nachos. Also, my Cupboard is thinning. I may have some sushi for dinner tonight.

It’s official. Gaming pioneer Microprose, bought by Hasbro and then Infogrames (which became Atari), is dead. The final office in Hunt Valley, MD, was closed today and 35 people laid off.

Another piece of gaming history is laid to rest. Civilization… Colonization. Some of my fave games in the 90s. Ones I liked so much that I *bought* during my dirtiest pirate phase. (Well, ok, Colonization was gifted to me for Christmas by Kev… Gave me something to do when I was holding down the fort on Christmas at work for a Jewish Cruise data thingum. As far as Civ goes… Nothing quite reflects the pure comedy of Mohatmas Ghandi saying “Our Threats are backed with NUCLEAR WEAPONS!” to you in negotiations.

I hope that folks are feeling better today than yesterday.

Fortean Times Paranormal Gallery

Physical Therapist Comes over at 2ish, Clean-Nurse at 3, vitals and dressing-changer some unknown time this afternoon.. expected about 1. It’s getting to be like grand central station.

I haven’t needed a pain pill for three days. Not bad. I don’t foresee requiring any more for the duration of this mend.

Faces and Figures found in nature.

Fish on Prozac? How depressing!

Antidepressant ingredient detected in Texas lake water Continue reading #6228 Stream of thought. →

It’s very sad when some people are so hateful or mean-spirited, especially toward people I care about. The urge to be cruel in an individual is an ugly, nasty thing for the most part. What’s worse, it’s infectious.

When it comes down to me, there have been a few elements that have led to hostility. In times past, finding a common enemy is the fastest way to make the wrong kind of friends. Joining with someone else to belittle a third party was a very easy trap to fall into, especially if the third party knows nothing about it. I’ve been guilty of instigating and joining into that sort of nonsense more times than I can count, really, only realizing it upon later reflection do I feel bad about it. Pam was someone that brought out my mean side (and I imagine I brought hers out, too), to the point that I really didn’t like the person I was when she was around. We were great friends, but that friendship seemed to be almost fueled on some sort of smug sense of superiority and taking shots at others. When we had run out of enemies to remover, we turned our respective gun-barrels on one another. I can honestly say that I’ve been a much better person without her around as a catalyst for those mannerisms and behaviors, and I daresay that she’s probably in a similar situation. I don’t know what’d happen if we got together and talked these days… I like to think that I’d know better than to fall into that habit again, but who knows? I don’t foresee that ever happening, anyhow. Where we were once best friends, she saw to it that that friendship was brought to an end not once, but twice. I don’t see it being worth any effort to open communications a third time.

I’ve got friendships salvaged with Ray, a longstanding one with Danny, and newer friendships both online and off with my sweetheart, the hippies, some LJers and Therians. I consider Doug Wu a friend, though I don’t get to speak with him as often as I’d like. Honestly, I don’t spend enough time with the majority of my friends.. .Danny’s about the only one I communicate with as regularly as I’d prefer. Anyhow, back to general hostilities, and why.

In recent years, I’ve been known to be amazingly hostile and nasty in return to folks that have:

• Hurt, knowingly or unknowingly, people that I care about
• Invaded my territory without permission first
• Broken trust or an oath that I was relying on.
• Touched me without my permission (either expressed or implied)
• Tried to threaten my position in business, friendship or love (regardless of whether or not that threat had any strength behind it.)

I try my best not to be that way these days, though sometimes the uglies get out… especially if I’m tired or really fed up. I’ve found that staying clear-headed in the face of most drama and trauma you usually come out far ahead than if you drop to hostility. That’s not to say that I let people walk all over me… I just try to keep a cool head, and defuse them with clear thought. That usually works far better than doing anything harsh, cruel or petty. My fuse is pretty long, but some things wear on my nerves. It should be clarified that this mostly applies to strangers… I don’t mind friendly hugs and don’t trust strangers enough to worry about them breaking an oath.

Danny has told me that he sometimes feels more mean or nasty when his chemistry is out of whack, and I can agree with that. He’s generally a happy, friendly guy, with very little interest in being hostile, but I’ve seen cracks in his armor form once or twice.

All of that said, I’m usually the exact opposite of mean…downright nice, even. I take a lot of pleasure in welcoming new people “into the fold” at work or other social groups, and getting to know them. I’m usually even nice to people I dislike, for the sake of diplomacy, if nothing else. Speaking of people I dislike, but tolerate… my insurance company: my shampoo-nurse came by, and my hair is clean, but my scalp is tingly from being scrubbed for the first time in over a week. bleah. I hope I never have to wait that long again.

Doctors find plant growing in boy’s nose Continue reading #6227 babbling about mean / hostile people →

Hmm.. my journal’s layout reverted last night to default.

I checked status.livejournal.org, and got –

The maintenance on the Santa cluster is now complete.

Users who are using the S1 style system may find that their journal style has been reset to the Default LiveJournal style. This was an unintentional bug that was introduced when developers were trying to fix another bug. You will have to re-select your preferred style now that it has been fixed.

D’oh! I just got bounced to Santa the other day because the Ribeye was being naughty!

Dadburn it! Back to the Modify Journal page. At least my calendar view and friends view wasn’t horked.

There.. that’s better.