This arid mindscape

This is an utter blasphemy. I have only entered something into this place once in the whole of February.

Something is lacking within me. The drive to express myself that I used to possess so fervently and the subsequent falling into the cesspool of swamp-like ennui. Perhaps, ever since when I started to use an one-liner updating plus conversing tool called Twitter of which was the depository place for most of my thoughts and emotions, I could no longer find the energy into a full length discourse. =\ Not too good.

I will attempt to revert back again.

So, how are things treating me recently?

Taking into consideration that I am rather incapacitated by a thing called clinical attachment for the past 3 weeks, I think you can deduce the level of my current temperament fairly easily. It is very emotionally and spiritually taxing to commit that amount of time and energy into a thing that one hasn't had original intentions to venture into. As the timeline drags further into this unexpected direction, the more intense and acute did I felt the sense of alienation and inhumanity gnawing at the depths of my insides. Can't say I am depressed. I am just ... tired, of not getting what I yearn for. I long to feel wholesomely inspired, like how I did when I was studying GP or Economics back at JC. Is a place to study Humanities and Social Sciences so difficult? The more I delve, the more I feel inhumane. The only time I can feel somewhat adequate in my clinical attachment is when I introspect on the basis of human suffering and pain when I looked upon patients, that suspending quality of introspective reverie. That few minutes. So incredibly precious.

Deriving from my sparse moments of precious reveries, I thought of way *albeit an rough idea at the current stage* to analyse or account for the essence of existence. And, I am not even sure if it's something remotely new. Anyway!

We do all have good and bad times, if I were to use those 2 very vague and discriminating terms, which most people would dictate their outlook on life by a very narrow and misguided view of the number of good(s) and bad(s) they have experienced. Quick to judge, so to speak. In my "idea", I think the number of good(s) and bad(s) meant completely nothing. Abitrary. Devoid of any value. I hope you can deduce that the abitrary factor will lead you to the fact that I subscribe to no dieism. =) So, in life, the "good" and "bad" will come and slot themselves in here and there, until there is equal amount of "good" and "bad". When that happens, everything gets cancelled out, the cessation of life occurs.

Many would say this is too deeply nihilistic. I agree and acknowledge.

I don't know, some part of me says this is a very abstract doctrine that cannot be measured out, some part of me says "So, Ling, since life is nothing with no such thing called "good" and "bad", so how are we supposed to live, and what are we living for?"

Deeply depressing. And, disturbing.

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Let's have a cage fight

SO. I am actually working on a fabulous and thought-provoking post that will come out on Monday and which you absolutely must weigh in on because I'm sure it's something we've all thought about. (Quite the teaser, huh?)

But first. We had a bit of a computer scare recently where GH's computer freaked the heck out and tried to pull some of that classic Dell/Microsoft Hate where it threatens to erase your entire life and then slap you across the face and then call you fat and THEN pee in your cereal. And please keep in mind that GH is the boy who kept every single scrap of homework he's ever completed, every bill or statement or credit card offer that has ever been mailed to him, every broken bit of every toy or trinket he's ever owned, you get the idea. Now imagine what his computer must have been like. He has 2 or 3 external hard drives and I'm pretty sure that 70% of what's on there must be crap. Crap that he will defend with his very last breath.

During the time of trial where he scrambled around frantically trying to find a way to get his computer back up and running WITHOUT deleting all his files, he was stuck using my laptop. Which made him even more suicidal than he already was. He started making noise about how I need a new computer, and I said that one day I will buy myself a nice Mac.

Which is when he freaked completely out and went off on this rant about how will never own a Mac in life ever and how he hates them with a blind white-hot hate. This was a surprise to me, because I know a lot of people who really love their Mac computers. And GH does things like video editing on his, which seems like kind of a Mac thing to me. But he says that their customer support is horrific and he had a terrible experience and he will never, never, never, etc. own one. This while his own, dead PC is busy drawing nasty pictures of his mother, and while my Satan-filled one is taking 8 minutes to start up Firefox because it is busy looking at porn and sending bomb threats to elementary schools.

So. Let's have it. Mac or PC, people? Name-calling and chair-throwing is just fine as long as it's not directed at me.

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Getting through the work day

I think we all have those moments at work (or school, or wherever) where we feel that our brain is possibly going to start leaking out of our ears. My moments come when I deal with certain members of the public and I find myself saying things like "Seriously, I have 4 buttons on my screen and NONE of them will do the [completely unrealistic and unreasonable] thing you want me to do. And no, you can not touch my computer."

I am slowly learning ways to save brain matter, though. Here are a few tips and tricks I now keep at the ready in my arsenal.

For problems like the one above, I bring out this one: "I'm sorry, I did try." As in, sure, I actually pushed all four buttons and it looks like they really WON'T do the thing that you want. This may or may not be true, but then it stops people from parroting the words of, "But have you tried?" "Could you just try, though?" "How about if I take a look at your computer and try it?" See how it's better to just skip all that right in the beginning? I promise you it is.

When someone seems like a crazed schizophrenic who is about to ask me to look up the addresses and phone numbers of, say, all the chamber of commerce offices in mainland China, a good thing to do is to start asking a lot of questions to narrow down what it is he actually wants. Or, you know, even just one or two. He will get freaked out and retreat rather than be interrogated, and will then cast me furtive looks for the rest of the day because I am probably one of the many people tapping his phone. Who knew the Reference Interview could be such a handy tool?

When phoning the police to report that the drunken men refuse to leave the building, I must use the right vocabulary--words like "belligerent," "refusal," "disturbance," and "afraid it might get physical" are good if I want them to come in the next 30 minutes. One that will get them there pronto is "I think he may have a gun." (Note: may lose effectiveness if used too often.)

When someone says they want a "book on tape," I now clarify immediately by asking if they want it on tape or cd. Because 9 times out of 10 they actually mean cd and will look at me in a befuddled or even accusatory way if you bring forth an actual book recorded on a tape. Same when people ask me for a video. They actually want a DVD.

If I'm explaining how to do something for the first time (logging on to the computer, using the printer, performing a catalog search, etc.), I actually show them how to do it right there in the beginning. If I don't, there's a good chance I'll just have to do it later, and this will be after they've become frustrated by the whole business. I'm doing both of us a favor.

When someone silently holds out their wadded up bits of paper to me (the implication being that I should throw it away for them because I am the Trash Slave), I like to have fun with it. I ask what it is they're trying to hand me. "Is it a secret note? Because secret notes are fun. Oh, it's trash? I see, and are you asking me to throw it away for you?" Even if this doesn't help people remember to use their manners (or their words), it's still fun to NOT play along.

When someone walks up to you and offers up the preamble, "Now, are you aware of the fact that . . . ," I just go straight to my Happy Place. I may be there for awhile.

So. I realize that all of our jobs/schools/families/ways we spend our lives are different, but I would love to hear your tips as well. I'm pretty sure a lot of them will be universal, and I could always use some more!

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Vacation recap

Since I know everyone is just so, SO interested in hearing about my vacation that you've probably stopped eating, I will go ahead and oblige. (But seriously, it does feel a bit like holding people hostage and making them watch your vacation slides. Will try to make mine more interesting.)

Highlights

In-N-Out Burger twice. And yes, I am the typical Utah Mormon Who Loves In-N-Out. Deal with it. GH does not believe that their burgers are any better than any other freshly made burgers out there. I have to remind myself that this comes from the person who has spent years and years killing his taste buds with things like Frosted Flakes, so like he even knows.

Cirque de Soleil's LOVE show. This was so, so cool. I'm not one who usually notices things about sound quality unless it's wretchedly bad, but when the first song started I seriously looked around to see where the Beatles were, it sounded JUST THAT REAL. And then there was the general jaw-dropping spectacle that was the show itself. Good, good times.

All these people were walking around with their video cameras on. Does anyone ever WATCH those videos later?

Jean-Philippe pastries at the Bellagio. Mmmmmmm.

Cravings buffet at the Mirage, with crab legs and shrimp cocktail and shrimp dumplings and prime rib and a gelato bar, oh my.

Found a sacrament meeting to attend Sunday morning (+3 points, attends church on vacation, -2 points for only attending sacrament meeting). Heard a story about a man who was doing yard work and was about to start his truck and haul a heavy trailer away when he was prompted to find his son, whom they called Bubba. He got out of the truck and found him asleep in the shade under the trailer. I leaned over to GH and whispered, "He oughta spank that kid for going to sleep under trailers. And then he ought to smack himself for calling a child Bubba."

The return of my wickedawesome quads from all the walking.


Lowlights:

Treasure Island's rebranding scheme (new name: TI, new motto: "We can be trashy too!") led to the replacement of their old Pirates show with a new outdoor spectacular called The Sirens of TI. In this version, a ship of strippers called Sirens sing a bunch of R&B while luring a shipful of pirates onto their boat. Aaaaaand that's about all there is to it. Plus grinding. There were all these families with little kids watching and getting an eyeful of boobs and heinies. I was sad that I'd wasted 20 minutes of my life watching something so completely stupid and slutty and lame, and GH was mad because the new show wasn't piratey enough. Apparently if the women had been wearing pirate wench costumes and if more piratey things had happened then he would have been on board. (You do really need to click on the link though and watch the trailer. It may even make the show look better than it actually is. Which is saying something.)

The roller-coaster at New York, New York rattled a few of my back teeth loose.

Signed up at MGM to be a in a focus group for a tv show screening in the hopes of getting nice swag in exchange for the priceless jewel that is my opinion. Spent the next 45 minutes watching an episode of Adrenaline Rush Hour (which now makes me think worse of the Discovery Channel, thank you very much). It's one of those shows featuring Idiots Who Get Hurt that usually plays on some station like Fox at 11pm, where you might watch for a couple of minutes because there's absolutely nothing else on, and then you'd flip the channel. Or go surf Internet porn. Or do pretty much anything else. I got to see a guy get mauled by 4 tigers at once though, so that was something!

Went to church Sunday morning looking like a complete scrub with snarly hair and a toothpaste stain down the front of my black shirt. Sigh. Let's hope I never see any of those people ever again, or that if I do I will have better hair. Because that's what's important.

I do believe that this trip has managed to stave off some of the homocidal winter tendencies for a little while, which makes it an unqualified success in my book.

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Nothing but the best for us

For our accommodations during the Vegas trip, I picked a little motel within walking distance of the Strip. It had really good traveler reviews on TripAdvisor so I figured we wouldn't get killed too badly there. I would have liked a more extensive breakfast. GH would have preferred not to have heard these things in the night:

a baby being smothered
a hooker with her client
a man screaming loudly
cars being stolen (he fully expected us to no longer have a car in the morning, but yay, we still did!)

I slept soundly during all of this. After our second night, I asked him what I missed.

"Oh, nothing much, just a casino burning down." Apparently there were a lot of sirens in the night. He expected to look out the window that morning and see a scene out of Terminator where the whole city has been razed by Skynet with the dark red sky and the smoke and the big sniper machines picking off the scrambling survivors. Also there was a guy yelling crazily around 5am, probably about to shoot someone. And I appeared to be having a nightmare and yelled in my sleep.

(Note: I think that maybe when GH wakes up in the night he assumes the worst. Maybe.)

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It's genetic

I don't know if it was the living in the tundras that started this, but in my family there seems to be some sort of biological trigger that kicks in around January-February. This trigger basically says, "If you don't get out of here and go get warm, you will climb on top of a building somewhere with an assault rifle. Believe me. I will make it happen."

So, to avoid jail time, we go get warm if at all possible. (If not, we chain ourselves to the walls in the manner of werewolves and ride this thing out.) Coolmom and Cooldad are on their way to Florida, Jenny & Co are heading to (shhhh!) Disneyland, and I am going to Las Vegas. This leaves Spitfire and Coolboy freezing in UT. I'd watch out for them if I were you.


I leave in exactly 90 minutes and I can't wait.


The real purpose of the trip (other than to curb my homocidal tendencies and get my hands and feet warm for the first time in 4 months) is to see Cirque de Soleil's LOVE show at the Mirage.

Other highlights set to include:

Car trip with car trip food (peanut m&ms, Pringles, trail mix, and any other dang thing I want) and hilarious audiobooks. Right now I have She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel, Jon Stewart's America, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. Will likely also be listening to a lot of podcasts to do with J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon. Because not only is my husband a Gentleman, he is also a Geek.

Burgers from either In-N-Out or Fatburger (sorry, Word of Wisdom, this is one of those times)

Some sort of fabulous buffet, I haven't decided which one yet. Am trying to find elastic pants (or one of my sister's maternity tops) for that part of the evening. Because I won't stop til I get enough (also, again, apologies to the Word of Wisdom).

Wonderful free things like fountains and gardens and volcanoes and baby snow leopards.

H&M, baby!

Sunny weather in the upper 60s, I honor you.

Grandmas handing me porn. It's been awhile and I've missed it.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Because I always love a good courtroom drama

A little while ago fellow blogger April gave me this post idea when she suggested, "You could finally reply to your annoyed commenter and answer that life-changing question:

If you were accused of being a Mormon, would there be enough evidence to convict?

This question was posed by an anonymous commenter who didn't care for my attitude (I was being snarky about something that happened at church, I think) and suggested that I do a bit of soul-searching. Her question put my back up partially because I really don't enjoy the dramatic platitudes. Because I'm not 14 anymore. Also I think it's funny when someone attacks me and makes all kinds of assumptions about me in an effort to show me how wrong it is when I attack and make assumptions about others. Kind of like somebody who decides to teach me about the dangers of road rage by hitting me with her car. But she does bring up an interesting question, one that I would like to discuss here.

So. Let's say I do the self-evaluation and decide how the evidence for me (or is it against me? I don't even know) would stack up in terms of Mormonness in the (highly likely) event of such an accusation.

Membership
Baptized member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: +10

Identify self as active member of LDS faith when asked about religious affiliation: +5

Now, that right there? For some people that would actually be enough. But I'm guessing the prosecution will looking for a bit more when they ask this question. So let's take it further.

Church activity
Attend church every Sunday: +5

Attend all three hours: +3

Fulfill Church assignment as Gospel Doctrine teacher: +2

Am making real effort to stay focused on the Savior during the sacrament: +2

Get inordinately irritated immediately afterward about my ward's practice of only scheduling 2 speakers during sacrament meeting, which means that each person talks for approximately 11 hours: -3

Spend too much time noticing who is texting and/or playing games on their cell phones during church meetings: -3

Sometimes mentally critique and even rewrite other people's talks and lessons. ("Let's see, if we removed the 15 minutes of the chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant description that is currently making me sick to my stomach and replaced it with a discussion of how his family came together and was strengthened during this difficult time, then we'd really be on to something, I think."): -2

Word of Wisdom Observance
Abstain from coffee, tea, illegal drugs, and tobacco products. +5

Extra points for not drinking caffeinated soda. +2

Loss of extra points because I eat so much chocolate. -2

Eat meat sparingly, except when cheeseburger cravings hit. NEENER. +3

Have fresh strawberries in my fridge right now, so kind of failing at the "every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof" part. -3

Will eat food cooked in alcohol: -2

Will not eat food cooked in cocaine: +3

Temple worship
Carry current temple recommend: +5

Attend the temple at least monthly: +2

Have been known to doze and/or hallucinate during a session ("Wait, he said what about the flying puppies?????"): -1

Miscellaneous
Attended BYU: +5

Graduated from BYU unmarried: -2

Did not serve a mission: -5 (or +5, if you're talking to one of those misogynists with attitude about sister missionaries)

Am not a registered Republican: -20 (oh wait . . . that's not actually one of the baptismal covenants . . . )

Do not watch R-rated movies: +3

Do read R-rated books: -3

Married a Mormon: +5

Am not yet pregnant by his righteous seed: -3

Utah Mormonry
Live in Utah while being a Mormon: +5

Am a Mormon blogger: +4

Enjoy living in Utah, for the most part: +3

Love the musical Wicked: +3

Have had teeth bleached: +2

Have done it more than once: +1

Have not done it lately: -2

Do not refer to areas outside of Utah as "the mission field": -2

Do not resent having my tax dollars go toward education in a state with the highest rate of school-aged children per capita: -10

Stand by the Church's stated position of "not [objecting] to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights." -4

Think Chris Buttars, who helped kill all the bills addressing these rights in their tracks, just before he went on to say awful things about gays and lesbians, should be mauled by wild dogs, for lo, he is a Butt-arse: -2

Care about the environment and the fact that you can't actually breathe around here: -3

Have no plans to create unique baby names by combining elements from mine and GH's names (or any other people's names, for that matter): -3

General Mormon Niceness
Am generally a very nice person: +4

Except for when I'm not:-3

I don't know what the grand total here is or how my conviction is faring. And yes. Sometimes I am not nice. Sometimes I do not give people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes I care more about being funny than I do about being kind. I am working on that. But it doesn't make me a bad person or a godless hypocrite. It just makes me human.

So the question of "would there be enough evidence to convict?" (thank you, whichever EFY speaker came up with that, by the way) kind of depends on what kind of Mormon you consider to be a convict-able one. That might just mean, "Someone who sees the world in exactly the same way you do and does not ever think or do or say anything you disagree with." Which . . . good luck finding those.

Can anyone think of any rubric items I'm forgetting?

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Recent highlights and lowlights

Highlight: Celebrated Lincoln's birth by achieving a fiscal victory. (It is what he would have wanted. Also I avoided being racist that day, which I think he would have also found pleasing.)Lugged self out of bed and drove to Provo for the Shade Clothing sale. Spent $35 on a pile of tops that were regularly priced at $140. Didn't have to elbow anyone in their shiny, shiny white teeth but was fully prepared to.

Highlight: Much love, enthusiasm, and sandwich hugs from darling Savvy & Ethan on Monday. The sandwich hug alone could probably restart the heart of a dead person. Or Ann Coulter.

Highlight: Savvy loves the darling pink stripey legwarmers I'm knitting for her 5th birthday. This is good, because the last thing I made her was a purple poncho that looked like it had Cheeto crumbs sprinkled on it. I doubt it's seen the light of day since.

Lowlights: Suspected the legwarmers might be knitting up too big--like, way too big. Tried them out on her over the weekend and the only way they will ever fit is if she suddenly develops gout. She tried to convince me that they were great while staggering around the room stiff-legged in order to keep them from falling off. Had to pull the whole thing apart and start over.

Highlight: Ran into Mormon Child Bride (with bonus guest Spouseman) at my library yesterday. It was our first IRL meeting, and there was much squealing and giggling and making of plans to get together to eat foods and braid each other's hair. Yay!

Lowlight: Dealing with the drunken man who wanted to get on the public phone every 10 minutes to bawl drunkenly (read: loudly) about how his mom was the most awesome woman who ever lived and he doesn't understand why we're treating him this way. (We were telling him he had to leave because we were closed.)

Lowlight: Dealing with the part where pretty much all children everywhere have somehow ingested crack-water over the weekend and now are all pinging off the walls. (Note: I did not say peeing off the walls. Yet. We'll see what today brings.)

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TSMITW

This is the part where I make everyone gag over the embarrassment of riches that was my weekend. If you choose to proceed, keep in mind what my dental hygienist tells me to ward off the dreaded symptoms: Keep your eyes open, breathe deeply through your nose, and raise your right leg by three inches. (I have had better luck with the dental hygienists in the past couple of years--nothing like that one femmebot who tried to drown me and ruin my new skirt.)

The last four days have been lovely. Got home from work Friday night to discover that GH had cleaned the entire death trap apartment (counters included). Which, really, how can that even be topped? Because clean counters + mopped floors = BEST EVER.

The rest of the weekend was lazy and carefree and I even got to do a puzzle! I dearly love me a puzzle, because I am supahcool in that way. GH is not a puzzle fan, so he was excited to find something with the Beatles on it instead of "some lame nature scene." (Yeah. Sometimes I do have to drag my graveyard-shifting, non-nature-loving husband outside at random times during the weekends just so that he can experience sunlight, which I think he probably feels is overrated. There is sunlight on TV, after all.)


We had the thing done in about 24 hours. I think GH thought it would take a bit longer than that. He did not yet know that I go through my puzzles like I go through my books, desserts, and men: in one sitting.

Also there were Godiva chocolates and Porn for Women coupons and every good thing. I got him a small speakers set for his iPod so that he can even listen to it while in the shower and therefore have a complete and happy life not marred by silence. And I made him a marvelous dinner: cream of pumpkin soup, roasted broccoli, and blackberry cobbler with ice cream. The main course was a pepperoni & olive pizza from Pizza Hut, which I'm pretty sure is what GH would request if he were on death row and ordering his last meal. The part where he will sacrifice pizza room in his stomach for things like broccoli and soup and nutrients, however, makes me fall in love with him all over again.

Only then it got even better. (And hey, if you're still with me at this point you might as well keep reading because this part is awesome.) It was our 6-month wedding anniversary yesterday and when I got up I found 1 dozen red roses on the kitchen table. AND, it turns out that he got them on sale during the post-Valentine's Day clearance. The idea of such savings turns me on like nothing else.

Thank you for allowing me to nauseate you. I will return to our regularly-scheduled snarkiness tomorrow, if I'm done crooning and sighing by then.

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Plagued

I could no longer sift through the morass within my depths and write something sustainable.

This is a crisis.

I need inspiration and I shall not be engulfed by a malaise of expressive ennui.

It really scares me that my heart could no longer feel and my mind could no longer provide the stimulus to write. It is a threatening plague, a cancerous malady. Inhumanity. Or rather, the opposite, considering how majority of humanity lacks a certain introspective quality, haha. Meh.

The above leads me inevitably to wonder how working adults' minds function. So bland, without flavour, without style, no flair, plagued with ennui.

I read bad English at my current location of hospital internship whose name I shall not bear to put out for it will put a bad light on the hospital. Bad, I mean, really atrocious. Do they even check the red line that appears beneath the word on the Word Processor? It disturbs me with tremendous quantity that those adults are getting paid that much with such a terrible level of linguistic command. Nevermind little gritty grammatical errors, but glaring spelling mistakes that even a Primary 3 kid could discern? I could only be amazed and disgusted at the same moment.

For example "holiday season that are sorts after". Oh. My. Fucking. God.

Enough said.

I cannot imagine my 20 to 40 years of probable length of working life to be surrounded by such incoherent people. That is pure degrading. My guess is that I would have performed hara kiri on myself by the end of the first month, if I am lucky.

Must think of ways to dodge such an arid land of unceasing dullness and salvage the scant amount of sanity that is left in me.

On other news, some pictures of my new 5 megapixel-equipped handphone camera! Which I am very pleased with as I can go trigger happy with a decent enough quality.
There are some optimism and joy left in such a depressing and disgusting modern human life after all, eh?

I foresee myself reading alot of Nietzsche when I am flung into the uninspiring working world if I am going to commit to this field of career. For, I acutely require the lofty and mighty quality of the Nietzschean spirit to surround myself with if I want to avoid the hara kiri.

And, I am not even starting on my discourse on my love-life...

Sigh.

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Def Jam: Vendetta - PS2 | NTSC

Idioma: Inglês
Mídia: DVD

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Speed Kings - PS2 | PAL

Idioma: Multi5
Mídia: CD

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I want pepper-spray as a baby shower gift now

Attended my sister's hard-core cooking group last night at the lovely Jeri's house (she of the redesigning my blog fame). Got to gasp in awe at the food storage bunker that came with the house, with its multitude of shelving. "Old people lived here before us," she said by way of explanation.

The theme was aphrodesiac foods, and we've decided that men had to have made the list of supposed aphrodesiacs, because only a man could imagine that looking at phallic-shaped foods would be a big turn-on for women. (You know, cuz we're all about those.) I could, however, absolutely imagine a guy seeing a cake shaped like boobs and having that work for them. Maybe I'm wrong. But I digress. The food was amazing, even if it did not result in us having one of those Victoria Secret pillow-fights that the commercials think we have.

Because most of the group consisted of women with small children, the conversation at one point turned to Insane Things Those Small Children Have Done. Have now resolved never to have little boys, because it turns out that they do things like shake out entire cartons of orange juice on the living room floor, and ruin people's vintage furniture, and dump out gallons of chocolate milk on living room carpets, and pee under couches, which, how is that even possible. Or maybe I should go ahead and have boys, but remove everything of beauty or value from my home first. And get disposable couches. Maybe the inflatable kind. And install carpet made of paper towels.

And then the conversation turned to People Who Walk up to One in Public and Criticize One's Parenting. Now, I'm sure there are lots of mommies who feel that I fall into that category. I don't, though. When I draw a parent's attention to something going on with their child it is either because a) Mom is busy using the public library computer and has seemingly forgotten that she owns a child and so said child is placing his body or life in danger, or b) the child is ruining my life, or the lives of others. Those are the only times. Also most of those times occur in the library where I'm just doing my dang job, people.

But Jeri talked about how she finally resorted to putting her likes-to-dart-into-traffic daughter into a kiddie harness so that she could keep her alive. And people would walk up and say things to her all the time about what a bad parent she is for doing such a thing. Some guy walked up and was all, "Do you really think it's appropriate to leash your daughter like some kind of animal?" And bless her, she replied, "No, what I think would be really appropriate is if I let her run into traffic and get killed." She should have kicked him in the face while she was at it, but she was trying to wrangle two kids at the time, including the kamikaze one. We thought another good idea would have been to say, "Do you really think it's appropriate to walk up to a complete stranger and offer unsolicited parenting advice about children you don't know at all?" (And then kick him in the face.) Or maybe, "Actually, this harness is just a screening device to see who the complete suckwads are. Congratulations!"

I came home and told GH that if he ever gets a call that I've been arrested, it'll be because I was out with our children and somebody talked smack to me. And then I stabbed them.

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Coraline - PS2 | NTSC

Idioma: Inglês

Mídia: DVD

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ou
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The Space Sheriff Spirits - PS2 | NTSC

Idioma: Japonês
Mídia: DVD

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Parte 7

Senha para descompactar: www.chilewarez.org

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Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra - PS2 | NTSC

Idioma: Japonês
Mídia: DVD

DVD 1:
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
Parte 5
Parte 6
Parte 7
Parte 8
Parte 9
Parte 10
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18
Parte 19
Parte 20
Parte 21
Parte 22
Parte 23
Parte 24
Parte 25
Parte 26
Parte 27
Parte 28
Parte 29
Parte 30
Parte 31

DVD 2:
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
Parte 5
Parte 6
Parte 7
Parte 8
Parte 9
Parte 10
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18
Parte 19
Parte 20
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18
Parte 19
Parte 30
Parte 31
Parte 32
Parte 33
Parte 34
Parte 35
Parte 36
Parte 37

OBS: UNDUB (quando tem falas em japonês e legenda em inglês)

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Love means keeping your mouth shut sometimes

Today I was looking through Valentine's Day ideas over at Martha Stewart and getting all excited about the possibilities. ("Why yes, I COULD make GH a special breakfast with a heart-shaped UFO, I could!") And then the second thought: "Huh. Except I could have been doing that any time, though, not just on Valentine's Day. Why haven't I been doing that? When was the last time I did something like that?"

And then take GH. He has always been the most thoughtful of men. Even when we weren't dating, he would do things like leave Toblerone chocolates on the hood of my car and cut out articles about Ioan Gruffudd from his Entertainment Weekly for me (I KNOW, RIGHT???). But lately there hasn't been a whole lot of those sorts of surprises.

I thought about it and have come to the conclusion that the thoughtfulness muscles are still getting used by both of us, they're just getting used in some different ways now. It's a little bit more about what we're NOT doing.

Like on the mornings when GH remembers not to wake me up in startling ways that are likely to get him killed (say, by turning lights on or dropping clothes on my face).

And the mornings when I remember not to get within 3 feet of his face without popping a breath mint first.

Or when GH does not complain about the deathly, deathly touch of my ice-cold hands and feet, particularly when he's trying to sleep.

Also all the times I refrain from commenting on his apparent inability to place a fresh roll of toilet paper on the dispenser. (Ask me about the time I found a soggy brand-new roll of toilet paper in the bottom of our shower because it had been left on the side of the tub. Not that I'll be able to discuss it on account of I'm One Who Refrains from Commenting.)

GH, in turn, doesn't say anything when I forget that I started a load of laundry three days ago and have done nothing to it since and all of our clothes are now rotting and producing mutated mold creatures that will rise up and kill us while we sleep.

I have stopped mentioning the peanut-butter-and-jelly-smeared knife he leaves on the kitchen counter after his post-work-before-bed snack. I now just pick it up and set it in the sink.

Nor does he comment much on my habit of spreading my knitting gear all over the couch so that it's impossible and often dangerous to sit down. (He did, however, have words the time he found scissors in his side of the bed.)

Note: Is anyone getting a (very correct) sense of the kind of death trap we live in? I promise we straighten up before company comes over--sometimes with the speed, guilt, and frantic nature of criminals trying to hide hard drugs and kiddie porn.

So it's kind of no wonder that the little thoughtful spontaneous gestures have taken a bit of a back seat--we're already working on quite a lot, and it turns out that it takes a bit of energy to not do or say something that just doesn't need to be said or done. (GH is much better at this than I am, by the way.) But I still really love me a thoughtful spontaneous gesture, so I'm going to see if we can't start working those back into the routine.

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Let's try this again

Don't get me wrong, I'm still in the depths of despair over the whole "it's still winter" thing. And what's even sadder is that it's not like I can just pack it in and spend the rest of the day cuddled up next to a heat-generating GH under my fluffy fluffy down comforter. Because I can't. Today is the day where I work 4 hours in the morning, get 4 hours off to go do awesome things like grocery shopping, and then go work 4 more hours. Jealous?

I did want to report on a weekend highlight, though.

You may remember that we gave the Precii the Christmas gift of a date. There are technically 4 Precii now, adding in GH's little niece and nephew (5 and baby). And I have to tell you, I'm really liking the date idea as a gift. Instead of just opening something Christmas morning in a sugar-fueled haze and then forgetting about it, they get to think about what they want to do and then get excited for it. GH's nephew kept telling everyone that we were taking him to the movies to see Madagascar 2, and Savvy put a lot of effort into planning her outfit and selecting refreshments for the Dinosaur Museum.

GH's nephew's (must choose a name for him) mom warned us that if there are scary bits during movies he covers his eyes with his hands. (I can sympathise with this ailment, actually. I went to see Coraline in 3-D, got scared, and clapped my hands over my eyes. Forgot that I was wearing sturdy plastic 3-D sunglasses. Slammed said sunglasses into bridge of nose, so was then scared and hurting.) What we didn't know, though, about the little guy is that not only does he clap his hands over his eyes while alarmed but he also yells really loud. Lucky for us we were at the dollar theater.

The Dinosaur Museum was great fun on Saturday and on the way back to our place we asked them if they'd liked the museum. Savvy's answer: "Yes, but I like playing the Wii at GH's house even more." So . . . I guess that's 20 bucks we could have saved ourselves. Around this time Savvy and Ethan discovered how to lower and raise the windows in my car. On I-15. I raised them back up, they put them back down, while I was trying to figure out how to get them up and then lock the controls, while driving. Finally, this happened:

Me: "Guys, I will pull over right now and we will go home."

Silence.

I finished adjusting the windows, then locked the controls.

GH: "Geez, mom . . . "

Yeah. That was a fun little glimpse into the next 20 years of life.

Also? It just started snowing again. Please excuse me while I curl up into fetal position somewhere.

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Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse - PS2 | NTSC

Idioma: Japonês
Mídia: DVD

DVD 1:
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
Parte 5
Parte 6
Parte 7
Parte 8
Parte 9
Parte 10
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18
Parte 19
Parte 20
Parte 21
Parte 22
Parte 23
Parte 24
Parte 25
Parte 26
Parte 27
Parte 28
Parte 29
Parte 30
Parte 31
Parte 32
Parte 33
Parte 34
Parte 35
Parte 36
Parte 37

DVD 2:
Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
Parte 5
Parte 6
Parte 7
Parte 8
Parte 9
Parte 10
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18
Parte 19
Parte 20
Parte 21
Parte 22
Parte 23
Parte 24
Parte 25
Parte 26
Parte 27
Parte 28
Parte 29
Parte 30
Parte 31
Parte 32
Parte 33
Parte 34
Parte 35
Parte 36
Parte 37

OBS: UNDUB (quando tem falas em japonês e legenda em inglês)

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Conflict: Vietnam - PS2 | NTSC/PAL

Idioma: Multi5
Mídia: DVD

Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
Parte 5
Parte 6
Parte 7
Parte 8
Parte 9
Parte 10
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18

Senha para descompactar: www.chilewarez.org

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Devil Summoner Kuzunoha Raidou Tai Abaddon - PS2 | NTSC

Idioma: Japonês
Mídia: DVD

Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4
Parte 5
Parte 6
Parte 7
Parte 8
Parte 9
Parte 10
Parte 11
Parte 12
Parte 13
Parte 14
Parte 15
Parte 16
Parte 17
Parte 18
Parte 19
Parte 20
Parte 21
Parte 22
Parte 23
Parte 24
Parte 25
Parte 26

Senha para descompactar: www.chilewarez.org

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Rainy days and Mondays always get me down

Except yesterday's rainy Monday was rather nice. Because rain = not butt-freezing cold, and also gives me hope for spring. Snowy, blowy Tuesdays, on the other hand, are more like the harbinger of doom.

Ugh. I wish to go hibernate now.

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The Mormon Wedding Post

I said it was coming! As one who has attended many, many weddings, I would like to offer some advice on how to make your wedding a classy affair that will be remembered fondly, reverently even, by all whose lives it touched. (Note: if you feel that I may be disparaging something you did at your wedding, I'm not. I'm thinking of somebody else's wedding, and you don't even know that person.)

Here we go.

First of all, you must have a reception. Do not even consider doing otherwise. Some may try to tell you that they didn't have one and that it cut out a lot of stress and money and planning and everyone enjoyed the day a lot better and maybe they were able to throw a very nice dinner or luncheon for their family and closest friends instead of serving Sprite and mixed nuts to a blur of 500 people, blah blah blah. Don't listen to them. They are the same kind of people who don't show off their rings in their engagement photos. Clearly they cannot be trusted. Plus, everyone knows you only get presents if you throw a reception.

Anxious about your wedding budget? Remember the key equation here: Family + friends + friends of friends = free labor. You CAN have it all and make your $5K budget produce the $20K look that your richie friends have. All it will take is a bit of elbow grease from other people who are not you. And hey, if you need pictures of your mom you can always send the photographer(s) out to the kitchen or loading dock. Snag guests to help clean up afterward into the wee hours. They won't mind, you did just feed them cake.

Another tip: Call up people you know who work in the wedding biz (like florists, caterers, photographers, graphic designers) and give them the opportunity to perform their services for you for FREE. This way, you are giving them the chance to perform service, which is a service on your part. Don't cheapen it (and deny them blessings) by mentioning money. If they do agree to be blessed, make sure you let them know afterward if they don't meet your expectations. You're just trying to help them be better.

Engagement photos: Show that ring, ladies. If you'll be paying it off for the next 6 years then everyone had dang well better get a look! Also? Piggybacks. I think an engagement photo looks nothing without one party straddling the other. And really, isn't that what an engagement is all about?

If you do not put your registry information in the announcement itself, you will not get any presents. Also you know it's correct etiquette because that's where the people at Wal-Mart told you it goes.

Best wedding slideshow video song choice ever: Wonderland by John Mayer. Cannot go wrong. Also, put as many sleeveless photos of yourself in there as you possibly can, so those tops have one last shot at glory before you give them to your little sister.

Bridesmaids: you must have them. No one is going to take on the huge responsibility of watching the sign-in table unless they get to be a bridesmaid. Also be sure to pick outfits that they will never, ever wear again, because you want your friends to remember YOUR DAY ONLY when they see them hanging in the closet. Or when they take them to their therapists' office.

And speaking of, you know how the one tragedy about getting married in the temple is that you're not supposed to wear the sleeveless/strapless wedding dress you've been slavering over in bridal magazines ever since you were 9 years old? Yeah well, the next best thing = mandated strapless dresses for your LDS bridesmaids! They will thank you because secretly they are tired of sleeves also. And remember, you can't show your shoulders but you can show your boobs! Wedding day cleavage is awesome, and the tuck-and-pin is your friend here, ladies. Just blank out whatever they tell you in the temple and you'll be good.

If you are going to do something unique and different (shoes, dress, accessories, decorations), make sure it's the unique thing that everyone else is doing that year. It's safest that way, and you still get points for individuality.

To keep your breath fresh for all the hugging and greetings, have gum in your mouth all day long, including during the ceremony. Hey, you're just being considerate.

After the temple ceremony, hold a ring ceremony. The secret good thing about this is that you can say it's for the family members who didn't get to go inside the temple, but really it's your chance to hold the barefoot-on-the-beach-at-sunset-with-tiki-torches-lining-the aisle wedding you've always really wanted. (Aaaaaand Win-WIN.)

So that you can get the honeymoon started ASAP (like if there was no time in the car on the way over), book your reception for early in the evening--say 5 or 6pm. Don't serve dinner, though, because dinner is pricey. People who show up at 5pm expecting something substantial are just Out to Bleed You Dry and probably shouldn't have been invited in the first place. Also be sure the caterers won't charge you for additional slices in case those piggies go back for more.

The receiving line is pretty much the best thing ever, and the way you know you are popular and loved is if the line stretches outside the building for hours. Best of all is if some guests never even make it inside. To facilitate this, cram your side of the line with absolutely everyone you can think of--parents, brothers, sisters, family pets, you name it. Everyone loves a good line. They'll get to meet loads of people and have great conversations with all of them!

If your beloved brother or sister is on a mission or at a home for unwed mothers or is maybe just going through a gawky phase, cardboard cutouts with their faces superimposed are awesome stand-ins. The life-sized George W. Bush cutouts work well not only because he is already in a suit but also because his image will bring a special spirit. You can even put the cutouts in the receiving line when you need to spell some whiner who passes out after 3 hours. Or just keep them there from the get-go.

You must have a garter toss. Must, must, must. Extra points if the groom goes for it with his teeth. Always classy, never @$$y. ALSO you must demand that all the single women get up to fight over your bouquet. Make sure to maybe point at a few of the women who especially could use it, like the over-30s or recently divorced, because that will make them feel special.

Have a chocolate fountain. Not only will the children in the crowd use the chocolate for artistic purposes, mostly for improving their own clothing and the clothing of those around them, but it's almost mesmerizing to watch the cascading streaks of oil they use to keep the chocolate smooth. Shiny . . .

Best timesaver ever: Leave generic thank-you notes for people to pick up on the way out. With thank-yous out of the way, that's hours you can dedicate to canoodling and watching your wedding video again some more.

What have I forgotten?

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Random is maybe better than nothing

The creative juices are dry and the lunch break is short, so here are some random Friday library reflections.

1. Teenagers can be so nice when you get them on their own. Then the next day when they have rejoined the pack they are unrecognizable little beasts. It is sad.

2. I did not consciously choose to spend my days dealing with unstable people. And yet this is what I spend so much time doing. I need to get some sort of sign I can just smack down on my desk that reads, "This conversation is over, as I have just now realized that you are insane." Because really, if nothing you say or do is going to make a dent, why waste the breath?

3. Little toddler boys in wooly bear jackets are precious, especially I lean over my desk to whisper, "Hey, I really like your jacket," and they look up at me solemnly and whisper back, "You have a great time!" Why thank you, I believe I will.

4. I should maybe stop making "crossing my eyes and shooting myself in the temple" gestures while on the phone, as other patrons may start to notice and wonder if that's what I'm doing while I'm on the phone with them, too. (Answer: If you are being insane whilst on the phone, then yes. Yes I am.)

5. Some people can be so lovely, and because they are so lovely I want to do all kinds of lovely extra things for them, like spend extra time finding things they might like or making little exceptions for them or maybe pressing dried flowers into the pages of their holds.

6. Some people can be real A-holes. I do not wish to do anything for these people other than make them go away. (Just a few recent A-hole moves include tossing your library card on the desk rather than handing it to the librarian like you think you are James Flipping Bond tossing his Aston keys at the valet, making exasperated noises at the librarians who are trying to help you, and tapping your fingers on the desk. None of these things make me wish to provide you with quality information services. But I will, because I am still awesome. Watch your back, though.)

7. Despite the crazies and the jerkies, I do really have a great job. I work with great people in a lovely building. For the most part I am helping people meet important needs, and that in turn makes me feel good.

Pssssst: Monday will be the much-touted Mormon Wedding Reception post. See you then, and have a great weekend!

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Zombie Zone - PS2 | PAL

Tamanho: 360MB
Idioma: Inglês

Mídia: DVD

Parte 1
Parte 2
Parte 3
Parte 4


[+] Clique aqui para obter mais informações do jogo
[+] Compare preços e veja quanto economizou

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