...and man, do I regret it! lol ;P
There's this game, it's called Pirates by Zynga... I have spent the last 5 hours -- I kid you not, 5 hours -- playing it!!! I'm a Level 8 pirate now with a crew of 4.
The beginning of my downfall was this bowling game from Playfish that one of my MySpace friends got me into. (Interestingly enough, it's a MySpace friend whom I met in SecondLife, lol. It's kind of wierd how I'm working my way backward, technologically speaking, from a 3-D game to a Flash animation game to a text adventure, lol.)
I'm a bit embarrassed by how addicting the Pirates game is. I mean, back when I was a teenager and my friends got together and played D&D, I only played a few games before I was too bored to join any more campaigns. And now I'm sitting around the computer, all alone... lol
HOWEVER...!
Facebook has a built-in Chat function!
So while I was raiding ships and plundering fellow pirates, I was also catching up with a cousin and chatting with a fellow game-nerd/Net-junky! :D
So that's a bonus! :)
I mean, if I'm simply gonna sit in front of the computer for hours, I'm 3 or so episodes behind on LOST and I have a new episode of Dollhouse that I could be watching. That's not to mention the 2 books I'm about halfway through and the one I barely cracked open, lol. Plus there's an audio skit I need to record sometime soon. (Hopefully, I'll be posting audio kits up here before too long. More on that as it develops.)
Still, I guess that's what weekends are for, right? Getting lost in some fun diversion and not necessarily accomplishing goals?
Blah.
Here's hoping you get lost in some ridiculously fun diversions!!! :D
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Dear Dr. Wellhouse,
Sometimes when I sweat "down there" it smells really...
NO WAIT! This is my blog!
Right.
Okay...
I'm having a fairly awesome week so far. I'm about halfway through this great book called Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach! It's sort of a science-minded persons journey through science's attempts to prove or disprove the Other Side. Very skeptical and very fun read!
Then, on the opposite side of the coin, I'm also reading a book written by the guy who coined the term "the Other Side of Life" (or "Other Side" for short), Dr. Hans Holzer. The guy is the original ghost hunter (I don't know if he coined that term, too, but they were calling him that back in the 1970s). His first book about his exploits came out in 1963 (according to Wikipedia, but you know how that goes...). The dude's a living legend in the field! People like Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson grew up reading Dr. Holzer's work!
The book I'm reading is Houses of Horror, which is sort of an unfair title from what I've read so far. I've only read the into and one of the stories, and it doesn't seem to be a sensationalistic look at his cases. It's just the way hauntings go.
So far, anyway. I haven't really gotten far into it because I've been wrapped up in Spook.
Also, have you heard U2's new album, No Line On The Horizon yet? VERY cool! :) I wasn't all that into All That You Can't Leave Behind (I absolutely loved a few of the songs, and really didn't feel much for the rest), but these last 2 albums have been priceless, I think! :D
The first single off this album, "Get Your Boots On", doesn't do much for me, but I love most of the rest of the album!!!
And that's kind of the highlights of what I've been up to lately. You can bet I'll check in again if anything else groovy happens! ;)
NO WAIT! This is my blog!
Right.
Okay...
I'm having a fairly awesome week so far. I'm about halfway through this great book called Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach! It's sort of a science-minded persons journey through science's attempts to prove or disprove the Other Side. Very skeptical and very fun read!
Then, on the opposite side of the coin, I'm also reading a book written by the guy who coined the term "the Other Side of Life" (or "Other Side" for short), Dr. Hans Holzer. The guy is the original ghost hunter (I don't know if he coined that term, too, but they were calling him that back in the 1970s). His first book about his exploits came out in 1963 (according to Wikipedia, but you know how that goes...). The dude's a living legend in the field! People like Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson grew up reading Dr. Holzer's work!
The book I'm reading is Houses of Horror, which is sort of an unfair title from what I've read so far. I've only read the into and one of the stories, and it doesn't seem to be a sensationalistic look at his cases. It's just the way hauntings go.
So far, anyway. I haven't really gotten far into it because I've been wrapped up in Spook.
Also, have you heard U2's new album, No Line On The Horizon yet? VERY cool! :) I wasn't all that into All That You Can't Leave Behind (I absolutely loved a few of the songs, and really didn't feel much for the rest), but these last 2 albums have been priceless, I think! :D
The first single off this album, "Get Your Boots On", doesn't do much for me, but I love most of the rest of the album!!!
And that's kind of the highlights of what I've been up to lately. You can bet I'll check in again if anything else groovy happens! ;)
Sunday, March 22, 2009
DUDE! My Girlfriend Is HOT!!!
This day has been, like, blessed since I first woke up, and then I check my email and get a message from Gnomey with a bunch of pics of her new haircut and OH MY GODDESS!!!
I SO don't deserve her, lol!
I mean, she does this... We live on different continents and because of the logistics of, you know life, we don't get to communicate as often as either of us would like... But then she'll call me or send me something or just say something that makes my head explode! :D (You know... in a good way!)
How many people do you know that can do that?
You know? How many people do you know that can just do or say something, just out of the clear blue, that just rocks your world and makes you SO glad that you're alive?
That's my Gnomey! Since I met her she has always been able to turn a cool, okay day into proof of the existence of some sort of Divine beneficence!!! And then -- and this is the part that just takes my breath away and makes me drop to my knees Wayne & Garth style and proclaim "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" -- she can (and regularly does) take a super-bad-ass day and make it so great I can't even wrap my head around it!
It's like this: The last time I saw KISS (their Farewell Tour in Austin, the original 4 in makeup and costume) there was a point where the noise became so loud I think I went deaf for a second. We were amazingly close to the stage, it was one of those points in the concert when everyone is on their feet and yelling as loudly as they can, and for a second -- maybe less than a second -- I heard only silence. The best I can guess: all the aural input just overloaded my brain's capacity to translate the data into sound, so it skipped a beat and I heard nothing for a moment.
It's never happened before, that I can remember, or after. And my hearing is fine. But for one second, literally, as far as I know, everything just went completely silent during one of the loudest concerts I've ever attended. (And I grew up in the 1980s, when bands prided themselves on being "the loudest", lol.)
This is the closest I can come to describing what Gnomey does to me over and over! I'll be enjoying a day that starts out as good as I would hope for, then gets better and better, then Gnomey will do something OFF-THE-CHARTS SWEET and I simply can't process all the different types of bliss I'm experiencing all at once, lol! It's better than an orgasm; it's joy that's simply too HUGE to be quantifiable!
How did this happen?! How did I meet someone like her?! How did she decide that I'm the one she's going to shower with love and laughter and warm-and-fuzzy feelings?!!
A friend once told me that the old saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth was ridiculous, because the only way to tell a horse's age and degree of health is by looking at their teeth. (Or something along those lines.) But with the gift that is my Gnomey-Goddess... I really don't care how or why she came to be in my life. I just enjoy and appreciate every moment she is in it!!! xoxoxo
I hope someone blows you're mind, too! :) And if they do, maybe you should make sure they know that. ;)
I SO don't deserve her, lol!
I mean, she does this... We live on different continents and because of the logistics of, you know life, we don't get to communicate as often as either of us would like... But then she'll call me or send me something or just say something that makes my head explode! :D (You know... in a good way!)
How many people do you know that can do that?
You know? How many people do you know that can just do or say something, just out of the clear blue, that just rocks your world and makes you SO glad that you're alive?
That's my Gnomey! Since I met her she has always been able to turn a cool, okay day into proof of the existence of some sort of Divine beneficence!!! And then -- and this is the part that just takes my breath away and makes me drop to my knees Wayne & Garth style and proclaim "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" -- she can (and regularly does) take a super-bad-ass day and make it so great I can't even wrap my head around it!
It's like this: The last time I saw KISS (their Farewell Tour in Austin, the original 4 in makeup and costume) there was a point where the noise became so loud I think I went deaf for a second. We were amazingly close to the stage, it was one of those points in the concert when everyone is on their feet and yelling as loudly as they can, and for a second -- maybe less than a second -- I heard only silence. The best I can guess: all the aural input just overloaded my brain's capacity to translate the data into sound, so it skipped a beat and I heard nothing for a moment.
It's never happened before, that I can remember, or after. And my hearing is fine. But for one second, literally, as far as I know, everything just went completely silent during one of the loudest concerts I've ever attended. (And I grew up in the 1980s, when bands prided themselves on being "the loudest", lol.)
This is the closest I can come to describing what Gnomey does to me over and over! I'll be enjoying a day that starts out as good as I would hope for, then gets better and better, then Gnomey will do something OFF-THE-CHARTS SWEET and I simply can't process all the different types of bliss I'm experiencing all at once, lol! It's better than an orgasm; it's joy that's simply too HUGE to be quantifiable!
How did this happen?! How did I meet someone like her?! How did she decide that I'm the one she's going to shower with love and laughter and warm-and-fuzzy feelings?!!
A friend once told me that the old saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth was ridiculous, because the only way to tell a horse's age and degree of health is by looking at their teeth. (Or something along those lines.) But with the gift that is my Gnomey-Goddess... I really don't care how or why she came to be in my life. I just enjoy and appreciate every moment she is in it!!! xoxoxo
I hope someone blows you're mind, too! :) And if they do, maybe you should make sure they know that. ;)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
More Than I Thought I Wanted To Know About 'Rasslin'
DUDE!
I just spent 4 hours researching professional wrestling on the Net!
I get into these research moods and just go after a subject, learning all I can until (a) I'm exhausted or (b) I find the answers to all my questions about the subject. And I just got off a tear about catch wrestling.
The irony is that I hate wrestling!
I'm not into sports in general, but I'm a bit of a snob about professional wrestling. It just seems mindless to me. In the '90s a coworker/friend/one-time-roommate tried to sell my on pro wrestling by explaining "It's a soap opera, dude," to which I replied -- and would still reply -- "I don't like soaps." (I am, of course, ignoring the fact that TV shows like Lost and anything created/co-created by Joss Whedon are Prime Time soaps, though I'm not ignorant to the fact, lol.) My argument is that it's poor writing, poor acting and not even minimally entertaining to sit through. (I don't do Reality TV, either. Give me J. J. Abrams- or Aaron Sorkin-quality writing and production or give me nothing at all.)
But as fate would have it, I have aired WWE Smackdown every Friday night at work for the last several years. Last year the CW -- which is my exclusive domain for the first few hours of my shift on Fridays -- THANKFULLY dropped it... But then My Network picked it up... Which is what I air immediately after the CW! :( I can't escape the 'rasslin'!
It's bad! I mean, I already know a few of the names and their characters, and a couple of the story lines! This is despite the fact that I usually come in with a podcast to listen to to distract me from the on-air crap. (If I'm just doing my work, part of my brain continues translating what's going on on-air. But if I have a podcast to listen to, that part of my brain half-way focuses on what's being said on the podcast even though I can still hear what I'm airing. It's like I'm focusing on what I'm doing, but part of my brain is focusing on the podcast, then another part of my brain is simply resgistering that the on-air content is still on-air. Otherwise, that second part of my brain would continue feeding my information about how Triple H feels about Edge this week, or whether or not Michelle McCool is currently a good guy or a bad guy, even though the first part of my brain is busy editing and adding/subtracting times.)
One of the reasons I'm noting this in an entry (other than so you can laugh at my lunacy) is because I've never actually timed a research jag before, lol. I mean, there are the sort of on-going obsessions with KISS or Kevin Smith or Alice Cooper or the paranormal (which has become a sort of full-time obsession now) or cinematic history or whatever, wherein every 6-16 months I'll get curious again and have to research for weeks until my curiosity is sated. But I also get these short-term obsessions, where one question leads to three questions, which in turn lead to five questions, and so on. I know that in the past I've lost hours questing for information on a given topic, but this is the first time I've known roughly when I began and when I ended, lol.
4 hours tonight. ;P
And you know what? If you stuck a book in my hand and asked me to read for 4 hours, I don't think I could do it, lol! But give me a question and the resources to answer both the initial question and the questions that will inevitably pop up as I learn more about the topic, and I can lose hours!
What set me off on this particular quest was one of the characters breaking Kayfabe. If you've acted before, this is like stepping out of character, or breaking the Forth Wall. (Although you might wanna hit the hyperlink above: breaking kayfabe is actually a bit more complex in the wrestling world that merely acknowledging the audience.) Wrestlers always deliver these speeches before getting sweaty with each other, but this one guy said something that seemed to actually acknowledge the difference between the "wrestling world" and real life!
That surpised me. I mean, everyone knows that pro wrestling is entertainment, not a sport. But are the wrestlers allowed to admit that? Publicly? Like, ON the actual SHOW?!!
The answer to that question lead me to Wikipedia that particular character, which lead me to the work "kayfabe". And that word offered a peek of the behind-the-scenes world and craft of wrestling that begged a handful of other questions that needed to me answered! I leanred a bit about the history of wrestling, the difference between Greco-Roman and catch wrestling. I know that my favorite character on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N' Wrestling, Junkyard Dog, was a face, and that Hulk Hogan's character in Rocky III was a heel. I also know enough Carny-speak to know not to let a sharpie peek my poke, and not to go looking for a glass hammer or an underwater lighter, and that if I see someone toting a plush, they just may be a shill.
All useful things to know!
Well... maybe "useful" is stretching the point a bit. ;P
I just spent 4 hours researching professional wrestling on the Net!
I get into these research moods and just go after a subject, learning all I can until (a) I'm exhausted or (b) I find the answers to all my questions about the subject. And I just got off a tear about catch wrestling.
The irony is that I hate wrestling!
I'm not into sports in general, but I'm a bit of a snob about professional wrestling. It just seems mindless to me. In the '90s a coworker/friend/one-time-roommate tried to sell my on pro wrestling by explaining "It's a soap opera, dude," to which I replied -- and would still reply -- "I don't like soaps." (I am, of course, ignoring the fact that TV shows like Lost and anything created/co-created by Joss Whedon are Prime Time soaps, though I'm not ignorant to the fact, lol.) My argument is that it's poor writing, poor acting and not even minimally entertaining to sit through. (I don't do Reality TV, either. Give me J. J. Abrams- or Aaron Sorkin-quality writing and production or give me nothing at all.)
But as fate would have it, I have aired WWE Smackdown every Friday night at work for the last several years. Last year the CW -- which is my exclusive domain for the first few hours of my shift on Fridays -- THANKFULLY dropped it... But then My Network picked it up... Which is what I air immediately after the CW! :( I can't escape the 'rasslin'!
It's bad! I mean, I already know a few of the names and their characters, and a couple of the story lines! This is despite the fact that I usually come in with a podcast to listen to to distract me from the on-air crap. (If I'm just doing my work, part of my brain continues translating what's going on on-air. But if I have a podcast to listen to, that part of my brain half-way focuses on what's being said on the podcast even though I can still hear what I'm airing. It's like I'm focusing on what I'm doing, but part of my brain is focusing on the podcast, then another part of my brain is simply resgistering that the on-air content is still on-air. Otherwise, that second part of my brain would continue feeding my information about how Triple H feels about Edge this week, or whether or not Michelle McCool is currently a good guy or a bad guy, even though the first part of my brain is busy editing and adding/subtracting times.)
One of the reasons I'm noting this in an entry (other than so you can laugh at my lunacy) is because I've never actually timed a research jag before, lol. I mean, there are the sort of on-going obsessions with KISS or Kevin Smith or Alice Cooper or the paranormal (which has become a sort of full-time obsession now) or cinematic history or whatever, wherein every 6-16 months I'll get curious again and have to research for weeks until my curiosity is sated. But I also get these short-term obsessions, where one question leads to three questions, which in turn lead to five questions, and so on. I know that in the past I've lost hours questing for information on a given topic, but this is the first time I've known roughly when I began and when I ended, lol.
4 hours tonight. ;P
And you know what? If you stuck a book in my hand and asked me to read for 4 hours, I don't think I could do it, lol! But give me a question and the resources to answer both the initial question and the questions that will inevitably pop up as I learn more about the topic, and I can lose hours!
What set me off on this particular quest was one of the characters breaking Kayfabe. If you've acted before, this is like stepping out of character, or breaking the Forth Wall. (Although you might wanna hit the hyperlink above: breaking kayfabe is actually a bit more complex in the wrestling world that merely acknowledging the audience.) Wrestlers always deliver these speeches before getting sweaty with each other, but this one guy said something that seemed to actually acknowledge the difference between the "wrestling world" and real life!
That surpised me. I mean, everyone knows that pro wrestling is entertainment, not a sport. But are the wrestlers allowed to admit that? Publicly? Like, ON the actual SHOW?!!
The answer to that question lead me to Wikipedia that particular character, which lead me to the work "kayfabe". And that word offered a peek of the behind-the-scenes world and craft of wrestling that begged a handful of other questions that needed to me answered! I leanred a bit about the history of wrestling, the difference between Greco-Roman and catch wrestling. I know that my favorite character on Hulk Hogan's Rock 'N' Wrestling, Junkyard Dog, was a face, and that Hulk Hogan's character in Rocky III was a heel. I also know enough Carny-speak to know not to let a sharpie peek my poke, and not to go looking for a glass hammer or an underwater lighter, and that if I see someone toting a plush, they just may be a shill.
All useful things to know!
Well... maybe "useful" is stretching the point a bit. ;P
Friday, March 13, 2009
What's Up With The Duck Lips?!!
This is just me venting, so please feel free to skip this entry, lol. ;P
Okay, so we are this daytime TV show at the station with this judge. I had never seen the show before last night, but we aired some live games and so some programming was pushed back to the middle of the night, and I ended up watching this show for the first time.
And this judge has these huge, scary, ass-fat lips!
She's got this unnaturally thin face, she's got something up with her nose, she's got clearly fake eyelashes, and she's got these lips that jut outward in this entirely unnatural way.
She's a judge! She's a purveyor and administrator of law and she's got this hideous flesh-colored duckbill! How am I supposed to take the Duck-Woman seriously?!!
I mean, I'm not fond of any sort of elective cosmetic surgery. I like natural. I like... you know... HUMAN parts.
But the duck-lips?!!
How can you kiss those?
How can you kiss if you have those?
What woman saw another woman with these unnatural, non-human protrusions on her face and thought, "Aw, man! I wish my lips looked like someone swatted me in the mouth with a baseball bat!"?
It makes no sense to me at all.
I mean, it certainly doesn't turn me on! I mean, aren't we supposedly trying to attract the opposite sex? Isn't that the biological imperative behind tarting ourselves up?
But then... Not everyone thinks like I do, obviously. Case in point: Breast "enhancements".
I have never been a fan of the beachball-boobs.
Now, I know there are millions of guys whose reply would be, "WHAT? You faggot!" And to them I would say... Well... Absolutely nothing, really. With that type you have to talk slow and explain every third word out of your mouth, and it just takes forever and is really tiring. ("'Augmentation' means 'to augment'. You know, to add to? To adjust in some manner that... oh, never mind.") So I avoid being around such people at all costs.
But I should think that even boneheads like that would be able to appreciate real breasts -- of any shape or size -- over the fake ones. I'm about to reveal myself for the pig I am, but real female parts move in a certain way! A certain very pretty way! The man-made variety don't have that natural jiggle, that natural bounce!
I mean, how can a person give that up just for the sake of bigger?
And the natural motion creates an aesthetic that cosmetic science simply can not recreate! Real parts strike a pose and create a striking image no matter how a woman moves or positions herself! Fake parts look like a 12-year-old's doodle: Round... always... just boring old round. No character, no personality!
And yet the fake just keeps coming! I mean, there's this amazingly gorgeous female TV actress who is in her 40s and she still looks super-sexy... except for her bizarre duck-lips! (I won't name the actress; this isn't that type of blog.)
OMG! And there's this one commercial for a phone-sex line, and the spokes model isn't even human anymore! She -- it -- is all writhing around, talking with this wannabe "cute/sexy" voice that is wrapped around her obvious New-Yowkeh accent, and I just about jump out of my skin every time it pops up on my TV monitors! It's grotesque! It's obviously had so much surgery done it might have been a male at some point in its life, and you would not be able to tell the difference!
And I mean no offense to trans-gender folks out there. Surgery to turn yourself into your true gender, as you perceive it, make a hell of a lot more sense to me than an insecure woman turning her lips into an extra pair of butt cheeks. I have a great deal more respect for a woman trapped in a man's body who wants to let that woman out than I do for a woman who looks in the mirror and says "My lips aren't as full as Angelina Jolie's (or who-ever's) are"!
But, I mean, I get the hipocracy in my little tirade here, too. I mean, my argument is based on the fact that we're all gorgeous in some way -- seriuosly; there is someone who looks at you and gets all weak in the thighs -- and yet hear I am doggin' on people because they've had cosmetic surgery. My fundamentalist argument is that they were beautiful when they were natural, sportin' the parts God gave them at birth, and then they fucked it up by trying to improve themselves.
But the argument breaks down immediately because I'm judging them by their looks the same way they judged themselves by their looks, and now even if they've realized what a mistake it was to alter their body, they're stuck with what they've done. I mean, for all I know, every woman who had baskeballs implanted under her skin realized it was a mistake, then realized her True beauty comes from within, and now accepts her Barbie-breasts as poor jusdgement at a weak and vulnerable time in her past, simply loves herself for who she is -- who she is -- regardless of the fact her funbags don't bounce in that sexy way anymore.
And if that were the case -- like, if I went off on this tear and a woman with a fake something-or-other explained how getting cosmetic surgery forced her to realize that her beauty comes from within, and now she loves herself like she never has before, exactly as she is here and now, and therefore the cosmetic surgery resulted in her being happier than she ever has been in her life -- I would feel like a complete wanker.
Actually...
I guess that does make me a wanker, lol.
But STILL... Duck-lips?!!
I mean, who would have to get a duckbill implanted into their mouth before they realized it might not have been a great idea after all?
And I guess part of what makes me crazy when it comes to this is the fact that I'm seeing TV ADS for LOCAL COSMETIC SURGEONS!!! It's not just something that goes on in Hollywood, in secret, anymore! Now you get these mangled old guys on TV telling you how ugly you are, and how giving them thousands of dollars can make you beautiful! "I'm 67 years old, but I used to look 69, but now I look like I was made by Mattel! And you don't have to settle for looking like a human being, you, too, can look like a PIXAR character in just one day! We use twilight anesthesia and we even have a layaway plan!"
This is wrong, isn't it?! I mean, we won't eat meat harvested from cloned animals -- sparing the natural animals the pain of a life lived in nightmare conditions and leading up to brutal slaughter -- and yet we'll let some insecure, money-grubbing old dude tell us we're not good enough as we are and that we should give him lots of money to make us look the way he thinks we should look?!!
Blah.
Sorry. I know I'm either preaching to the choir or flappin' my gums in the wind.
But this is something I don't hear discussed. And I think it should be. I mean, how many people are aware that there is a percentage (and this is a personal rant, so I haven't bothered to dig up the actual numbers -- which, in all fairness, could me so small as to render my point moot) of cosmetic surgery clients that discover their first operation didn't make them love themselves the way they thought it would, so they go back again and again, like addicts, constantly chasing a "perfection" that they -- because the true problem lies not in what they see in the mirror but the perception that perceives what is seen -- will never, ever attain? And if people knew about this, would as many of them get that first operation? Or might they, provided this knowledge, seek alternate means to feel better about themselves?
Blah.
I'm doing it again. Sorry, lol.
And I have no right to judge anyway. I mean besides the fact that none of us can walk even a millimeter in another's shoes, so to speak, it's a little too easy for me to feel confident in myself.
Have you seen my girlfriend?!! ;D She the hot chick at the top of my blog header! I mean, when a woman like that calls you "gorgeous" or "sexy" how can you NOT feel great about yourself!
So maybe that's the real problem... Maybe we just need to hear gorgeous people tell us how beautiful we are more often than we do.
If that is the solution, I know this phone sex line we can all call! It's got this writhing duck-creature with huge gazoongas and a New-Yowk accent...
;P
Now, I know there are millions of guys whose reply would be, "WHAT? You faggot!" And to them I would say... Well... Absolutely nothing, really. With that type you have to talk slow and explain every third word out of your mouth, and it just takes forever and is really tiring. ("'Augmentation' means 'to augment'. You know, to add to? To adjust in some manner that... oh, never mind.") So I avoid being around such people at all costs.
But I should think that even boneheads like that would be able to appreciate real breasts -- of any shape or size -- over the fake ones. I'm about to reveal myself for the pig I am, but real female parts move in a certain way! A certain very pretty way! The man-made variety don't have that natural jiggle, that natural bounce!
I mean, how can a person give that up just for the sake of bigger?
And the natural motion creates an aesthetic that cosmetic science simply can not recreate! Real parts strike a pose and create a striking image no matter how a woman moves or positions herself! Fake parts look like a 12-year-old's doodle: Round... always... just boring old round. No character, no personality!
And yet the fake just keeps coming! I mean, there's this amazingly gorgeous female TV actress who is in her 40s and she still looks super-sexy... except for her bizarre duck-lips! (I won't name the actress; this isn't that type of blog.)
OMG! And there's this one commercial for a phone-sex line, and the spokes model isn't even human anymore! She -- it -- is all writhing around, talking with this wannabe "cute/sexy" voice that is wrapped around her obvious New-Yowkeh accent, and I just about jump out of my skin every time it pops up on my TV monitors! It's grotesque! It's obviously had so much surgery done it might have been a male at some point in its life, and you would not be able to tell the difference!
And I mean no offense to trans-gender folks out there. Surgery to turn yourself into your true gender, as you perceive it, make a hell of a lot more sense to me than an insecure woman turning her lips into an extra pair of butt cheeks. I have a great deal more respect for a woman trapped in a man's body who wants to let that woman out than I do for a woman who looks in the mirror and says "My lips aren't as full as Angelina Jolie's (or who-ever's) are"!
But, I mean, I get the hipocracy in my little tirade here, too. I mean, my argument is based on the fact that we're all gorgeous in some way -- seriuosly; there is someone who looks at you and gets all weak in the thighs -- and yet hear I am doggin' on people because they've had cosmetic surgery. My fundamentalist argument is that they were beautiful when they were natural, sportin' the parts God gave them at birth, and then they fucked it up by trying to improve themselves.
But the argument breaks down immediately because I'm judging them by their looks the same way they judged themselves by their looks, and now even if they've realized what a mistake it was to alter their body, they're stuck with what they've done. I mean, for all I know, every woman who had baskeballs implanted under her skin realized it was a mistake, then realized her True beauty comes from within, and now accepts her Barbie-breasts as poor jusdgement at a weak and vulnerable time in her past, simply loves herself for who she is -- who she is -- regardless of the fact her funbags don't bounce in that sexy way anymore.
And if that were the case -- like, if I went off on this tear and a woman with a fake something-or-other explained how getting cosmetic surgery forced her to realize that her beauty comes from within, and now she loves herself like she never has before, exactly as she is here and now, and therefore the cosmetic surgery resulted in her being happier than she ever has been in her life -- I would feel like a complete wanker.
Actually...
I guess that does make me a wanker, lol.
But STILL... Duck-lips?!!
I mean, who would have to get a duckbill implanted into their mouth before they realized it might not have been a great idea after all?
And I guess part of what makes me crazy when it comes to this is the fact that I'm seeing TV ADS for LOCAL COSMETIC SURGEONS!!! It's not just something that goes on in Hollywood, in secret, anymore! Now you get these mangled old guys on TV telling you how ugly you are, and how giving them thousands of dollars can make you beautiful! "I'm 67 years old, but I used to look 69, but now I look like I was made by Mattel! And you don't have to settle for looking like a human being, you, too, can look like a PIXAR character in just one day! We use twilight anesthesia and we even have a layaway plan!"
This is wrong, isn't it?! I mean, we won't eat meat harvested from cloned animals -- sparing the natural animals the pain of a life lived in nightmare conditions and leading up to brutal slaughter -- and yet we'll let some insecure, money-grubbing old dude tell us we're not good enough as we are and that we should give him lots of money to make us look the way he thinks we should look?!!
Blah.
Sorry. I know I'm either preaching to the choir or flappin' my gums in the wind.
But this is something I don't hear discussed. And I think it should be. I mean, how many people are aware that there is a percentage (and this is a personal rant, so I haven't bothered to dig up the actual numbers -- which, in all fairness, could me so small as to render my point moot) of cosmetic surgery clients that discover their first operation didn't make them love themselves the way they thought it would, so they go back again and again, like addicts, constantly chasing a "perfection" that they -- because the true problem lies not in what they see in the mirror but the perception that perceives what is seen -- will never, ever attain? And if people knew about this, would as many of them get that first operation? Or might they, provided this knowledge, seek alternate means to feel better about themselves?
Blah.
I'm doing it again. Sorry, lol.
And I have no right to judge anyway. I mean besides the fact that none of us can walk even a millimeter in another's shoes, so to speak, it's a little too easy for me to feel confident in myself.
Have you seen my girlfriend?!! ;D She the hot chick at the top of my blog header! I mean, when a woman like that calls you "gorgeous" or "sexy" how can you NOT feel great about yourself!
So maybe that's the real problem... Maybe we just need to hear gorgeous people tell us how beautiful we are more often than we do.
If that is the solution, I know this phone sex line we can all call! It's got this writhing duck-creature with huge gazoongas and a New-Yowk accent...
;P
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
I Hear Dead People
I just got back from a TSPI meeting, and I'm having a beer and procrastinating before getting back to my EVP recordings.
I finished listening to a 4.5-hour recording just a little before tonight's meeting, and then I have another 4.5-hour recording, an hour-long session and a 2-hour session to go. I plan to hit the latter two tonight, then chip away at the second 4.5-hour as I can during the week.
But the good news is that I submitted my possible EVPs from Yorktown earlier this week (I tried late last week, but there were technical issues I had to overcome) and I got some really possitive feedback! :D So it appears I'm doing a good job so far!
So here's how my weekend's been:
Monday was pretty much lazy for the first part of my day. I slept a bunch, lol. Then I finally got around to transferring my last audio recording to Audacity.
I should explain...
I have 3 digital audio recorders. Two inexpensive RCA RP5120-A models and a Sony ICD-B600. The RCAs these ports so you can upload your recordings directly into your computer (then there's this file management program that can convert the VOC files to WAVs, which Audacity can read and manipulate).
The Sony doesn't.
The way I get audio from the Sony recorder into my computer is by plugging a line from the headphones jack in my recorder into the mic jack in my computer and pressing Record on my Audacity program.
Now, when I first got the recorders and was getting to know them, Brian and I would record these short demo runs to see how everything worked and everything transfered. And the line-in, real-time transfer method was fine... back then.
But the 4.5-hour session I just finished listening to was recorded on my Sony, because I'm a ree-ree.
Since the Sony can't transfer files directly to the computer, I think of it as a backup. I keep one of the RCAs with me for most of my recording.
Okay, now one of the things that Brian and I learned investigating the Yorktown is that it's incredibly useful to have an extra recorder just laying around to record the investigation in its entirety. This allows you to (1) keep track of time, such as when everyone took a break and how long the investigation ran, and (2) sometimes back events up. For instance, there was one point in the Yorktown where I had the Sony in the Labor Room by itself while Brian & I were in the Delivery Room with an RCA recorder. The Sony could hear the murmers of Brian's & my conversation, though it was too far away to make out the actual words.
The Sony picked up a very loud slamming sound that reverberated throughout the room, and the tones in Brian's and my voices didn't change. We didn't hear the slam at the time of recording! It was an EVP!!!
But then, when I went back and listened to the RCA recorder that was with us in the Delivery Room, Brian made mention of the slam. We had heard it, it wasn't an EVP. :( (By that time in the investigation, we had simply grown used to loud, unexpected slams, lol.)
So on this past Saturday's investigation I placed 2 recorders in possitions that weren't covered by IR cameras or other people's recorders. And since the Sony's just a backup recorder for me, I made sure it was one of those recorders.
But I hadn't thought it through...
Since these recorders ran for the duration of the investigation, it meant that when it was time to get the Sony session onto the computer, I had to let it play... for the entire length of the investigation, lol.
And this recorder wasn't placed in a hotspot of ANY KIND of activity, lol. (Of course.) And I wanted to listen to it as it recorded, because I wanted to make sure no problems arrose during the transfer.
Which, actually, turned out to be a good choice... I hadn't switched out the batteries since the investigation Saturday, and at 3 hours 15 minutes and 17 seconds, the Sony simply stopped. The batteries were dead.
I switched out the batteries, but do I begin the transfer all over again from the beginning?
Hell no, I decided. I backed the recorder up several seconds and ran it through to the end.
But it was fairly excruciating to sit through, because this was the end of my day, and I wasn't listening for evidence (I do this with headphones on so I can hear every nuance of every nanosecond of sound) so I was just sitting, listening to the night pass.
I hit the sack Tuesday morning with extreme enthusiasm, and I slept A LOT.
So Tuesday night I wake up super-late, but I'm actually enthusiastic about getting started on my evidence review. I had basically had several days off -- since I worked Sunday night, and Monday night was the transfer.
I gave myself generous breaks as I reviewed the Sony recording: I'd listen for half an hour, chat with Brian for a while, listen for another half an hour...
I got 1.5 hours in and Brian mentioned watching the newest Cinematic Titanic disc: Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks. It was hysterical, and we had a great time, but afterward I just didn't feel up to finishing up the Sony session, so I didn't.
Then today I woke up, and suddenly realize that my weekend is almost gone!
I finished up the remaining 3 hours of the recording, just in time to get ready for the meeting and leave.
Out of 8 pages of notes about specific areas to listen to to see if I think these sections should be submitted as possible EVPs, I came up with 1 very possible EVP and 2 sort of anomolous sounds that will probably be discarded, but that I'll submit anyway, just because I'm a very thorough cat.
Don't get me wrong, though! Worth every second of it!!! :) If I have any regrets, it would be my poor time-management skills, lol. But the experience is invaluable! It's one thing to read about the paranormal and to watch Ghost Hunters and to listen to paranormal investigators on my podcasts, but it is another thing to actually be doing something! Contributing in my tiny, humble way!
Okay, now I'm excited to get back to work! :D
I wanna send love out to my Gnomey Goddess, who's feeling under the weather lately! xoxoxo If it's any consolation, sweety, it was cold and gray all day here, and tonight as I was driving home it started rainy like crazy! So you would be as miserable here as you are there. I LOVE YOU, SWEETY!!! :D
And I hope anyone who stumbles upon this entry finds themselves warm and cozy as you read these words! :)
I finished listening to a 4.5-hour recording just a little before tonight's meeting, and then I have another 4.5-hour recording, an hour-long session and a 2-hour session to go. I plan to hit the latter two tonight, then chip away at the second 4.5-hour as I can during the week.
But the good news is that I submitted my possible EVPs from Yorktown earlier this week (I tried late last week, but there were technical issues I had to overcome) and I got some really possitive feedback! :D So it appears I'm doing a good job so far!
So here's how my weekend's been:
Monday was pretty much lazy for the first part of my day. I slept a bunch, lol. Then I finally got around to transferring my last audio recording to Audacity.
I should explain...
I have 3 digital audio recorders. Two inexpensive RCA RP5120-A models and a Sony ICD-B600. The RCAs these ports so you can upload your recordings directly into your computer (then there's this file management program that can convert the VOC files to WAVs, which Audacity can read and manipulate).
The Sony doesn't.
The way I get audio from the Sony recorder into my computer is by plugging a line from the headphones jack in my recorder into the mic jack in my computer and pressing Record on my Audacity program.
Now, when I first got the recorders and was getting to know them, Brian and I would record these short demo runs to see how everything worked and everything transfered. And the line-in, real-time transfer method was fine... back then.
But the 4.5-hour session I just finished listening to was recorded on my Sony, because I'm a ree-ree.
Since the Sony can't transfer files directly to the computer, I think of it as a backup. I keep one of the RCAs with me for most of my recording.
Okay, now one of the things that Brian and I learned investigating the Yorktown is that it's incredibly useful to have an extra recorder just laying around to record the investigation in its entirety. This allows you to (1) keep track of time, such as when everyone took a break and how long the investigation ran, and (2) sometimes back events up. For instance, there was one point in the Yorktown where I had the Sony in the Labor Room by itself while Brian & I were in the Delivery Room with an RCA recorder. The Sony could hear the murmers of Brian's & my conversation, though it was too far away to make out the actual words.
The Sony picked up a very loud slamming sound that reverberated throughout the room, and the tones in Brian's and my voices didn't change. We didn't hear the slam at the time of recording! It was an EVP!!!
But then, when I went back and listened to the RCA recorder that was with us in the Delivery Room, Brian made mention of the slam. We had heard it, it wasn't an EVP. :( (By that time in the investigation, we had simply grown used to loud, unexpected slams, lol.)
So on this past Saturday's investigation I placed 2 recorders in possitions that weren't covered by IR cameras or other people's recorders. And since the Sony's just a backup recorder for me, I made sure it was one of those recorders.
But I hadn't thought it through...
Since these recorders ran for the duration of the investigation, it meant that when it was time to get the Sony session onto the computer, I had to let it play... for the entire length of the investigation, lol.
And this recorder wasn't placed in a hotspot of ANY KIND of activity, lol. (Of course.) And I wanted to listen to it as it recorded, because I wanted to make sure no problems arrose during the transfer.
Which, actually, turned out to be a good choice... I hadn't switched out the batteries since the investigation Saturday, and at 3 hours 15 minutes and 17 seconds, the Sony simply stopped. The batteries were dead.
I switched out the batteries, but do I begin the transfer all over again from the beginning?
Hell no, I decided. I backed the recorder up several seconds and ran it through to the end.
But it was fairly excruciating to sit through, because this was the end of my day, and I wasn't listening for evidence (I do this with headphones on so I can hear every nuance of every nanosecond of sound) so I was just sitting, listening to the night pass.
I hit the sack Tuesday morning with extreme enthusiasm, and I slept A LOT.
So Tuesday night I wake up super-late, but I'm actually enthusiastic about getting started on my evidence review. I had basically had several days off -- since I worked Sunday night, and Monday night was the transfer.
I gave myself generous breaks as I reviewed the Sony recording: I'd listen for half an hour, chat with Brian for a while, listen for another half an hour...
I got 1.5 hours in and Brian mentioned watching the newest Cinematic Titanic disc: Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks. It was hysterical, and we had a great time, but afterward I just didn't feel up to finishing up the Sony session, so I didn't.
Then today I woke up, and suddenly realize that my weekend is almost gone!
I finished up the remaining 3 hours of the recording, just in time to get ready for the meeting and leave.
Out of 8 pages of notes about specific areas to listen to to see if I think these sections should be submitted as possible EVPs, I came up with 1 very possible EVP and 2 sort of anomolous sounds that will probably be discarded, but that I'll submit anyway, just because I'm a very thorough cat.
Don't get me wrong, though! Worth every second of it!!! :) If I have any regrets, it would be my poor time-management skills, lol. But the experience is invaluable! It's one thing to read about the paranormal and to watch Ghost Hunters and to listen to paranormal investigators on my podcasts, but it is another thing to actually be doing something! Contributing in my tiny, humble way!
Okay, now I'm excited to get back to work! :D
I wanna send love out to my Gnomey Goddess, who's feeling under the weather lately! xoxoxo If it's any consolation, sweety, it was cold and gray all day here, and tonight as I was driving home it started rainy like crazy! So you would be as miserable here as you are there. I LOVE YOU, SWEETY!!! :D
And I hope anyone who stumbles upon this entry finds themselves warm and cozy as you read these words! :)
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Exhausted, But Blissful...
I just rolled in from my 2nd -- yes SECOND -- investigation!!! :D
Well...
Actually, I've been back for 2.5 hours, but I've only just been able to drag my lazy behind to the computer, lol. ;P
Sorry it's taken me so long to write, but Yorktown Memorial Asylum & Hospital was quite an experience and I'm still digesting it.
I'm guessing it may be a bit longer before I can do the experience any justice.
First off, it was an AMAZING break to get to explore an old asylum on Brian's and my first investigation! I mean, if nothing else, it was flat-out FUN! :D
You remember going on family trips as a kid, driving through small towns and seeing these dilapidated ancient buildings? Usually they were tiny homes from the '50s or earlier, but they looked all creepy and cool -- in that naughty, "dangerous" way -- and you wondered what it might be like inside them?
Okay, not add that feeling to the feeling you had the first time you saw one of those classic Horror movies, like a Dracula movie (just about any one will do), just any movie with an asylum or haunted mansion or something, and then imagine you ACTUALLY GET TO SPEND THE NIGHT INSIDE THERE!!!
From sundown to sunup!
It's just a ridiculously fun experience!
Now imagine that the reason you're there, you're entire purpose for being there, is TO SEE A GHOST, lol!!! :D
I'm talkin' Halloween in February!!!
It feels "wrong", lol. It feels like something you shouldn't be getting away with. It was actually a little disconcerting at first, because I had trouble shaking the feeling that I needed to be on my guard and not get caught roaming around in there!
But then the bliss heightens when you start discussing methods and approaches with fellow investigators, searching for the best means to hopefully collect some evidence... Then, all of a sudden, those years you spent reading about ghosts and the paranormal become valuable!
That's a ridiculously heady feeling right there!
All that time I spent obsessed with learning the latest theories about what this phenomenon we call "the paranormal" actually is becomes anything but mere entertainment. Your teammates have read most of the same books that you have, have listened to most of the same interviews and podcasts that you have, but not all of them. And you haven't been exposed to all the same material they have. And so you find yourself having these serious, deep discussions about what you're trying to capture and how best to capture it!
Frickin' BRILLIANT!!! :D
And that's where tonight makes this journey I'm on REALLY freaky...
Tonight we investigated a residence, the personal home of real people who have real concerns. Being a private residence, it's all confidential, so I won't go into details. But generally speaking, I met some actual, real people who have some serious questions, and they asked TSPI to come into their home and do what we can to hopefully provide some real answers for them.
And again, all those hours I spend studying paranormal and metaphysical -- and even quantum physical -- topics, learning everything I can cram into my noggin, all come to the service of fellow human beings.
It's not merely entertainment anymore. Tonight I got to use the knowlege I pursue -- which, up until tongiht, has been useful for little more than intellectually stimulating discussions and debates in coffee houses or at work -- to hopefully make the world make a little more sense to some of my fellow humans!
I mean, I know I'm describing this in what probably sounds like grandeose terminology, but I'm being earnest here. I'm not saying my hours upon hours of Spooky Southcoast and and The Nightwatch Show and Paranormal Podcast and Ghost Hunters have saved human lives or anything. But I'm attempting to express the feeling of discovering that a not-so-guilty pleasure for you is actually useful to someone else.
It's mind-blowing!
I never realized it until tonight, but I would have never imagined my fascination with What Lies Beyond could amount to anything other than a fun way for me to spend my time. But tonight, as I set about to do my part in helping someone gain some answers, I realized that my paranormal obsession actually has some value... to someone other than me.
It's like this: Imagine discovering that by eating your favorite food -- as much of it as possible and for as often as possible -- someone can benefit. Like, my favorite food is pizza. And, say, this other person hates eating pizza, but he writes a weekly newspaper column on pizza, and that's the only job he can get. So my love of eating pizza provides him with insights and points of interest that allow him to write his weekly pizza column, without ever having to touch the stuff himself.
Okay, that's a wierd and disproportionate illustration, but do you sort of get where I'm coming from? My passtime/entertainment/obsession is actually useful to someone else.
That's a wierd realization to come to. I mean, I'm sort of programmed that the only value I can offer others is to do things that I don't want to do. You know? Your only value to the dentist is to let them cause you pain with horrible intrsuments, and then give them some of your money. If you don't do those two things, the dentist has no use for you.
But what if, say, your dentist asked you to come over to his office and play Playstation for 5 hours, and then he sincerely thanked you afterward?
Wierd, right?
Like I said, I am (clearly) still digesting all this.
But I hope to get back to you soon and share Brian's & my adventures in the Yorktown asylum. It may take a while, still, as I have some 10 or more hours of audio evidence to carefully comb through from tonight's investigation.
OH!!!
But if you want a taste of Yorktown, watch this video from that evening! I believe Brian and I were in the Delivery Room of the asylum when this happened. This took place in or near the Operating Room...
Hope you're having a GREAT weekend!!!
:D
Well...
Actually, I've been back for 2.5 hours, but I've only just been able to drag my lazy behind to the computer, lol. ;P
Sorry it's taken me so long to write, but Yorktown Memorial Asylum & Hospital was quite an experience and I'm still digesting it.
I'm guessing it may be a bit longer before I can do the experience any justice.
First off, it was an AMAZING break to get to explore an old asylum on Brian's and my first investigation! I mean, if nothing else, it was flat-out FUN! :D
You remember going on family trips as a kid, driving through small towns and seeing these dilapidated ancient buildings? Usually they were tiny homes from the '50s or earlier, but they looked all creepy and cool -- in that naughty, "dangerous" way -- and you wondered what it might be like inside them?
Okay, not add that feeling to the feeling you had the first time you saw one of those classic Horror movies, like a Dracula movie (just about any one will do), just any movie with an asylum or haunted mansion or something, and then imagine you ACTUALLY GET TO SPEND THE NIGHT INSIDE THERE!!!
From sundown to sunup!
It's just a ridiculously fun experience!
Now imagine that the reason you're there, you're entire purpose for being there, is TO SEE A GHOST, lol!!! :D
I'm talkin' Halloween in February!!!
It feels "wrong", lol. It feels like something you shouldn't be getting away with. It was actually a little disconcerting at first, because I had trouble shaking the feeling that I needed to be on my guard and not get caught roaming around in there!
But then the bliss heightens when you start discussing methods and approaches with fellow investigators, searching for the best means to hopefully collect some evidence... Then, all of a sudden, those years you spent reading about ghosts and the paranormal become valuable!
That's a ridiculously heady feeling right there!
All that time I spent obsessed with learning the latest theories about what this phenomenon we call "the paranormal" actually is becomes anything but mere entertainment. Your teammates have read most of the same books that you have, have listened to most of the same interviews and podcasts that you have, but not all of them. And you haven't been exposed to all the same material they have. And so you find yourself having these serious, deep discussions about what you're trying to capture and how best to capture it!
Frickin' BRILLIANT!!! :D
And that's where tonight makes this journey I'm on REALLY freaky...
Tonight we investigated a residence, the personal home of real people who have real concerns. Being a private residence, it's all confidential, so I won't go into details. But generally speaking, I met some actual, real people who have some serious questions, and they asked TSPI to come into their home and do what we can to hopefully provide some real answers for them.
And again, all those hours I spend studying paranormal and metaphysical -- and even quantum physical -- topics, learning everything I can cram into my noggin, all come to the service of fellow human beings.
It's not merely entertainment anymore. Tonight I got to use the knowlege I pursue -- which, up until tongiht, has been useful for little more than intellectually stimulating discussions and debates in coffee houses or at work -- to hopefully make the world make a little more sense to some of my fellow humans!
I mean, I know I'm describing this in what probably sounds like grandeose terminology, but I'm being earnest here. I'm not saying my hours upon hours of Spooky Southcoast and and The Nightwatch Show and Paranormal Podcast and Ghost Hunters have saved human lives or anything. But I'm attempting to express the feeling of discovering that a not-so-guilty pleasure for you is actually useful to someone else.
It's mind-blowing!
I never realized it until tonight, but I would have never imagined my fascination with What Lies Beyond could amount to anything other than a fun way for me to spend my time. But tonight, as I set about to do my part in helping someone gain some answers, I realized that my paranormal obsession actually has some value... to someone other than me.
It's like this: Imagine discovering that by eating your favorite food -- as much of it as possible and for as often as possible -- someone can benefit. Like, my favorite food is pizza. And, say, this other person hates eating pizza, but he writes a weekly newspaper column on pizza, and that's the only job he can get. So my love of eating pizza provides him with insights and points of interest that allow him to write his weekly pizza column, without ever having to touch the stuff himself.
Okay, that's a wierd and disproportionate illustration, but do you sort of get where I'm coming from? My passtime/entertainment/obsession is actually useful to someone else.
That's a wierd realization to come to. I mean, I'm sort of programmed that the only value I can offer others is to do things that I don't want to do. You know? Your only value to the dentist is to let them cause you pain with horrible intrsuments, and then give them some of your money. If you don't do those two things, the dentist has no use for you.
But what if, say, your dentist asked you to come over to his office and play Playstation for 5 hours, and then he sincerely thanked you afterward?
Wierd, right?
Like I said, I am (clearly) still digesting all this.
But I hope to get back to you soon and share Brian's & my adventures in the Yorktown asylum. It may take a while, still, as I have some 10 or more hours of audio evidence to carefully comb through from tonight's investigation.
OH!!!
But if you want a taste of Yorktown, watch this video from that evening! I believe Brian and I were in the Delivery Room of the asylum when this happened. This took place in or near the Operating Room...
Hope you're having a GREAT weekend!!!
:D
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