The pill they gave me for right before the epi was 1mg alprazolam (xanax). one hour before the procedure. I’d never heard of it used for nervous tension before. No wonder he told me to hold off on the other meds for a day before taking it.

it went well.. strangely enough, the present to myself from the toy store next door had a spine sucker in it. there’s a fun little bit of coincidence.

Newt’s fawning all over me, so I think it’s treats for him, and then a icepack in bed for me.

Thanks for the good vibes, dear journal!

Bless ol’ Kazaa for downloads of old episodes of MST3k. some of them have a weirdly bad audio synch, though.

Thoughts of being snuggled with my sweetheart under the covers, watching the tube and making silly goof-talk to one another…or maybe just holding her as she sleeps in my arms.

I’m in a quiet, calm mood… having a last meal of cookies and tea before my enforced fast at midnight. I have to remember to set my wake-up call for tomorrow. (I’d hate to sleep through it!) I take my pill at 9:45.

I want to get a new flannel nightshirt, in case it gets cooler earlier.. though sweats and piles of covers are plenty nice.

wish me luck and mending thoughts for tomorrow, dear journal.

The brains of three members of the Baader-Meinhoff gang have gone missing after several years in a lab somewhere. Of course, it all fits into a pattern: One of the Kray twins (notorious British gangsters) had his brain removed from his body at autopsy and stored by the MRC behavioral neuroscience unit a few years ago. They wanted to study it to find out whether it had any abnormalities predisposing it to criminal behavior (ironically, they didn’t have permission from next of kin… which technically makes it a brain theft!). Eventually it was reinterred next to the rest of his body.

No eating after midnight tonight, and no meds today at all. That should be ok. I’m not planning on any acrobatics or muscle lifting. I’ll be back at work on Tuesday, and hopefully the shot will go pleasantly. It’ll be good to get back on track.

More about the leonids

Augustine is one of the biggies… a master of rhetoric, and a brilliant author. I read a lot of his stuff when I went through my “apocryphal philosophy” phase a few years back. I’m not in great agreement with much of what he’s written, but he’s a fantastic thinker and analyst. I’d like to see who the other answers returned..

Aliens was on AMC last night… It features an orange cat named Jones, a little girl named Newt, and probably the first reasonable use of human form mechs as forklifts…Not to mention it being a sequel that was totally different from the movie that spawned it, but was still good. (from lurking horror to action/terror) The first two movies are the only ones that exist to my mind… the others are just crapola.

Hmm… 20 minutes of previews before the movie? That doesn’t bother me, as long as they keep the lights at dim, rather than dark. I’d prefer to be able to navigate into my seat later.

Keith Parkinson Online a capable fantasy artist… he’s’ done good work on Book covers, Everquest, TSR stuff and Magic the gathering cards. He started out looking like Larry Elmore (who I’m not fond of) but developed a style that’s well suited for the genre, now.

Lots of wonderful rain and cool wind this weekend. A delight… makes it all the more worthwhile to stay in, read and rest, though my sleep schedule is a little out of whack now. I’m only stepping out long enough to pick up my scrip. today.

NASA scientists have just released new predictions for the 2002 Leonid meteor storm. The 2002 Leonid meteor shower peaks at 0400 UT and 1030 UT on Nov. 19th… Looks like 4am my local time is the best for me to view.

Cool words I rarely have the opportunity to use when speaking and really like.

• rhombus and its derivatives – rhomboid, rhomboidal and rhombic
• helipad
• frigate
• philtrum
• quagga (about the only thing of value I got from playing Rogue)
• oneiric

Those are just the ones that come to mind just now…many more come to mind here and there during the course of the day.

What am I? Heck, it depends on who you ask, and when. I’ve been considered all sorts of stuff from a misshapen gopher-thing to an iridescent insect man to a mass of seething twine to a yeti with buzz saws for hands to a bouquet of water lilies and toast.

Latest weirdness my news spiders have brought back – Honestly sounds like the aftermath of a ritual of some sort to me, especially considering the poor guy’s profession.

One of the best pages for fonts ever.

We have a tornado watch!

The poem in the Chevrolet Tahoe commercial is called “Nobody Knows It But Me” written by Patrick O’Leary with the voice-over by James Garner. The words of the poem are as follows:

There’s a place that I travel
When I want to roam
And nobody knows it but me.

The roads don’t go there
And the signs stay home
And nobody knows it but me.

It’s far far away
And way way afar
It’s over the moon and the sea
And whenever you’re going
that’s wherever you are
And nobody knows it but me.

That’s beautiful. More commercials should be an introduction to poetry. It reminds me a bit of a fragment of a poem (the rest of which is lost to the dust of memory) called Green Banana Moon. I don’t remember the dream portions, but instead only the refrain sticks in my noggin. Perhaps later I’ll be able to pry the rest free later.

every night we see a moon
it never looks the same
there’s one that’s full
and one that’s sliced
and one that has a name.

searching with its moonbeam
its glow will find us soon
and once it does
we’re sure to dream
beneath the green banana moon.

I’d like to take hold of my beloved and dream with her right now under the green banana moon. Happy dreams. pleasant waves of bliss and cheer.

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns toast to a horrible crisp no one would ever eat? Does anyone deliberately chomp on “chunk of carbon”?

I wonder how soon the 2nd Harry Potter movie’s going to be on p2p stuff… or if it’s on already? Did J.K. ever get around to getting the fifth book out? (Quick Amazon check) Nope. Slacker. She’s going to miss the bus. Amazon is scary, now that I have paypal / online funds transfer again. Danger! One click shopping! Run, boy! It’ll gitcha if’n yer not careful!

Q: what kind of bees gives milk?

*Sending healthier vibes to my sweetie, who’s got a case of the icky-sickies today.

Kev’s supposed to swing my paycheck by… I have a few things to take care of today, that have to wait until after that happens.

According to a TV commercial – the average American owes $8000, has 12 credit cards and pays $83 a month in interest alone.

Good grief! *12* credit cards? I really am a pod. I can see the average person having a few… maybe even five or six, if you count oddball sears or department store.

I have one card, and owe nothing but rent and utilities… “normal bills”. I don’t believe in buying something unless I have the money already earned to cover it. (unless it’s an emergency or necessity)

What is up with the credit mindset? I suspect that folks just get used to the idea of “free money” and forget that they have to pay it later. I wonder if it’s a result of folks not having an allowance as kids. That’s how I learned… babysitting the neighbor’s kids made me the cash I required for consumerism. If there was something I wanted, I saved for it or did without.

Note to self – I need to get today-

TP
Shampoo
Razors

A restocked pantry
Ginger
Tabasco
Fresh fruit – (are blueberries in season?)
Tea
Peas
Green beans
Spinach
Treats for me… Ice cream, maybe?
Oatmeal

famous deaths, the week in review. has great photos, which makes all the difference. See also the much more complete and useful archive-wise Dead People Server.

Newton looks like a newscaster, or a hangin’ judge here. I think he needs a little red tie, blazer, a few blue index cards… and a microphone. “Next caller, you’re on the air!”

Ed Rooney should never have gotten on that school bus.

Just got a call… they’ve tentatively rescheduled my epi for Tuesday, because my doctor’s office hasn’t sent the proper referrals over yet. That’s a peeve… I got my rides and such all lined up, and now I get to rework it again. I’m looking quite forward to the new insurance company as of 12/1.

Deep One sunning itself in Florida? Possibly…

This is what I want for my next toy… Lindows, the company that ships a version of GNU/Linux that runs most Windows apps, will be shipping a < $500 tablet PC (most tablet PCs to date go for $2000-$3000). The device has wireless networking built in, a nice sharp LCD, and will look mighty fine nestled on my coffee table.

Sakes… a recent picture of Michael Jackson.

annalytical showed me this thing…last night: A Photographic History of Michael Jackson’s Face … I think she’s in a competition to find stuff on the net that’s cool, and I’ve not seen yet. That’s a hard challenge, but she’s succeeded a couple of times now.

Happy Birthday, Monet!

Neat story about an artist who carves tiny sculptures out of pencil leads – without using a magnifying glass. Wow.

Gallery of old newspaper illustration art from The American Newpaper Repository, an organization that aims to preserve bound newspapers that libraries are throwing out and replacing with microfilm. The website also has some vintage articles – including this 1902 piece on tattooing.

Lord of the peeps and even more distressing – Peephenge
snack food quiz results

A male contraceptive, 100% effective, and with no bad side effects? Available 2005

Wow, that’s outstanding. Questions raised – Will STDs increase as a result of less condom use? Can men in general be relied on to take it daily? (I know I could… just make it part of the routine, along with showering and brushing.)

Dan exchanged money for services with O.J. Simpson last Saturday… a $6 viewing ticket for volleyball– Dan was ticket concession and his school’s team was playing against O.J’s Daughter’s. Of course, I asked if Danny said anything about “acquitted murderer’s discount” or the like. He didn’t… his exchange was limited to “six dollars” and that was it…we didn’t get as much mileage out of that element of conversation as I’d thought.

Here are some lovely shots of Newt and I in a plastic spoon-wrestling match. Also known as “Newt doesn’t want his teeth brushed yet this morning”… I have to get him in the right mood before giving him the brusha-brusha… he needs to be worn out and in a snuggle-bug mindset in order for me to stick my finger in his mouth. Though he looks fierce, it’s just horsing around. He’s got a lot of strength in his mitts. His paws are so big… little snowshoe-rabbit cat.

Unfortunately, I could get no good shots of him getting brushies this morning… maybe next week. I was lucky to get those two above of him trying out for a part in Sabretooth.

But Will He Fight Mecha-Streisand? – There’s a plan in place to build a monument to Bob Hope (do you youngsters even know who that is?) for his tireless efforts in entertaining U.S. troops throughout various periods of war and peace. They’ve got a nice spot picked out in San Diego, and funds are being raised to begin construction.

They’re also planning an animatronic Hope that will emit one-liners and old vaudeville routines. This is where it gets creepy. “Let history come to life as you hear motion-activated recordings of Bob Hope telling jokes, while five full-size statues representing each military branch (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard) respond with the hearty laughter of those who so appreciated Bob Hopes efforts to improve their morale.” A memorial with a laugh track. A scary place to be trapped at night, I bet.

A pentagram with Bob Hope at every point. That’s got to be some sort of evil demon-summoning thing.

Amish family killed in buggy collision – It may very well be time for the Amish to consider moving into the 20th century, or at least the late 19th. This is the second such accident in a month. I can understand dying for your principles, but this seems preventable. Or, they could just use this.

Art Nouveau – Comic Book Style – some great stuff…some not so much so, but the majority is quite good.. Interesting theme idea, Dig Batgirl and Wonder Woman, or this group… Ivy reminds me of my sweetheart there, again. Warning, some of the links there contain nudity, but pretty tasteful.

I had amazingly erotic and exciting dreams earlier. Wow. I mean WOW. I won’t share details in public, but holy moley.

Reading my email this morning, for some reason I thought I saw mark as *undead* rather than unread. I guess that’s for all the email from zombies and vampires that I get.

Hooray! Paypal is up and running! in time for Christmas. 🙂 Now, I just have to wait for direct deposit before I can earmark any funds for the holidays. (Even though I have it again, I still need to budget)

oh yeah, baby…. milk bottle of the week. more proof that every flippin’ thing is on the net.

Nifty site – Omar Zabir’s Portal. It’s a DHTML/Javascript tour de force. Pretty amazing… very well written and quite complete. (I get leery of sites that dominate your whole desktop experience though… a windows simulation that’s a little too close.)

I want waffles, or potato pancakes for breakfast/ lunch. I’m not hungry, but craving some comfort food.

wow.. some miniatures are super expensive. (for what they are) The living room sets are nearly as costly as a *real* one!

Looks like if I want my tiny versions of myself and m’dearest to go on a picnic, I’m going to have to make the basket myself. The day that it cost’s more to feed my toys than myself is the day I perfect my own skills. I’d like to make a dollhouse for my sweetie…I’m sure she’d let me play along with my superheroes and monsters and such.

The presidential halo… I can hardly believe that wasn’t posed.

Newt’s being adorable, but a slob. bringing his food into bed with me to eat by my side. AwwwwW *brushing kibble-crumbs out of the bed*

edbook‘s latest image is fantastic! I’m frequently impressed by what he shares, and this one is just really keen (plus, he’s a really nice guy, from my perspective)

Okie dokie, it’s official.. I get it done Monday at 1. Dang, that took a long time. I left around one to be seen at three, and made it back home by seven. That’s a full day.

Back was doing pretty well, until they tested, poked, prodded and pulled. I’m used and abused right now, but once I’m flat for a bit, I should be ok.. Just no rolling.

Newt’s very welcoming… it’s nice to take comfort in his snuggles.

Sacre bleu! There are so many cool French comics! Do you remember pipe-smoking superhero Mister X? Or the flamboyant motorcycling crime fighter Motoman? Or the bizarre antihero Satanik, who only robbed and killed other criminals? And who could forget reading Otomox: Master of Robots while eating camembert and sipping chardonnay before school, mes amis? Despite all this, are you prepared for the ultimate team-up of Batman and… Tintin!?! (BTW: Other Tintin parodies abound.) (via memepool)

side note…. my sweetie could wonderfully fill a Batgirl costume… or Poison ivy. Rowr…. beautiful girl with brains and a darkish sense of humor. That’s my beloved… so yummy. If I were a superhero, I’d want her on my team.

I’m tempted to try a custom paint from bed. I don’t think it’ll work…more likely, I’ll get paint on me. I think it’ll be easier to write fiction instead. I’m overdue for doing that on the laptop, anyhow. Let’s see how my mildly addled skull does.

The Wolfsonian is a museum of 20th century design in Miami Beach, and their website is a fine place to dig around. Looks like it has a ton of spiffy streamline modern and art deco objects, not to mention world’s fair nifties. I’m going to check it out in person as soon as I’ve got the time and ability to do so. I fear that I’ll go a little loopy in the shop. I really like the keychain! ) $5 a head is very reasonable.