Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

It being Sunday morning, here, have some curse words

Stephen Fry on swearing. SPECIAL BONUS, Hugh Laurie in drag.

Attended a Jim Scott house concert at Tom and Peggy’s last night.  I am going to be in a minority here, but I think it’s possible to write songs about peace love light cooperation and the rain forest and still keep some edge in the lyrics. Let me recast that.  His choice of words irritated me a lot, also, too much repetition, please please please have more respect for the audience than that.  Oh, really it was an indoctrination session?  Why didn’t somebody tell me?  He has a lovely voice and a lot of Brazilian nylon string guitar style but I enjoyed the a capella song about peace the most.  There was lots of singing along and I couldn’t open my mouth or I just would have coughed through the entire concert.  Also a church member and his squeeze talked ALL the way through, and when everybody else is quiet and you’re the one sitting next to the rude people it doesn’t add to the joy. Since this person behaved rudely at the last event we both attended, I’ll let him know when he’s had his third strike. It would be polite… no sense bottling it up and when I can firmly and respectfully tell him he’s rude.

However, Al Sather’s mini mousse tarts put some life back into me.  MAN they were good.

Had a migraine by the time it ended, walked home in the rain and collapsed next to Keith on the downstairs sofa (I walked 6.4k last night, pouring rain both ways), while he groused his way through the new Assassin’s Creed II.  Bastards dicked with the UI AND the game play, so you spend a lot of time falling off things you didn’t intend to.  Also, Ezio walks as if he tucked a carrot into his ass crack and his jumps look… well I’ll let you see it, because I fell over the first time I saw it.  Someone’s going to do a mashup of all his moves to techno, and it will be funny.

I am still feeling odd. Part of it is irritation with myself over something I can’t speak of in public, but I think I’m genuinely sick, too.  I’ll see if church is still an option after I have my vitamins and some coffee.  I kinda want to boycott church until they fix the sound system, but really that’s not a sufficient reason.

Tomorrow I interview Denis, and I am so looking forward to it.

Watched these two movies over the last couple of days.  Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima.  HIGHLY recommended.

How do YOU set boundaries with loved ones?  Just asking.

When dinosaurs roamed the earth

… and I lived in Ottawa, somebody came door to door asking my parents what they thought about contemporary television.  My parents said they hated Disney stuff because parents were characterized as idiots, and preferred The Addams Family because the parents were actually parents, and there was love and affection and mutual support in the household.  Further to that theme, a little somethin’somethin’ from the intarwebs.  Happy Saturday, nautilus3 and Loki!

Still feeling fog-eyed

Last night I dreamed I was in a very weird, muddy, tunnelled location. While I was there somebody- I think Katie – brought me the news that Margot had been run over. I remember feeling – nothing.  Jeff and I tramped through some mud as we discussed how this would make Gizmo and Eddie very happy not to have to put up with her any more.

When I woke up I thought how glad I am that my nightmares are so low key, because in real life I’d be flinging myself around like a thwarted three year old.

Margot and Gizmo are not quite to the point where they are twining their tails together when they are campaigning for food, but it’s pretty close.  Gizmo puts up with all kinds of crap from Margot.  I’ll see if I can get video, because it’s really very charming.

wacky roundup

Is everybody going to have more panic attacks as atmospheric CO2 rises?

I think this guy is brilliant.

You’ve gotta be kidding.  Nope, not kidding.  I AM IN THE WRONG FRACKING BUSINESS.

In time for Christmas, a recipe for butterbeer.

It all makes sense now that I know I have a neurological problem. Actually I don’t have a neurological problem big enough to attract the attention of a doctor.  I went to the neurologist, described my symptoms and got told, “You have atypical migraines.  If you don’t want drugs I can’t do anything.  Next please.”  Then I found out I can rid of my migraines by THINKING HAPPY THOUGHTS which is the stupidest thing I ever heard of, except that it works.  Whoda thunkit?

Where one of the stickiest memes in history came from!

I am exactly the same age as Marg Helgenberger. I love her in CSI – her combination of observation and street smarts, and her ability to stay focussed while being sexually harassed by a dwarf… what an actor.

Hell of a way to find a new species of lizard.

Mathemagic

For some of my math geek buddies, here are some jokes.

Speaking of math geeks, I had a nice long call from LTGW last night.  He came perilously close to moving to California but decided to stay here and work on a business – a math related business, if you can believe it.  Then he described what he was doing and it sounds exhausting, creative and fun.  Then we traded bragging and complaining about our love lives and that’s probably enough specifics on that subject.

The parmesan herb bread turned out really really yummy, but the top of the loaf still hit the glass peephole at the top of the breadmaker, and I’m wondering just how little sugar I need to put in that recipe before it stops doing that.  It’s very irritating because that model of breadmaker does not have a removable lid, so cleaning it is a righteous pain.

Carrie and Tom are in town… I hope to see them tonight.

I played with Margot for about an hour last night.  That cat makes me laugh.  And she LOVES music.  She was attacking my laptop when I was playing something on it yesterday.

I get to interview one of the elders for church.  We’re having an “I’m not dead yet” program, where we talk to elders about their lives BEFORE they die, so we can appreciate them more fully and with less saying of things like, “Gosh, I wish I’d talked to him when he was still alive.”  I drew Denis, so I am very happy; Denis has one of the most beautiful and original speaking voices ever, and his passionate love affair with life and literature make him a good fit for me and that kind of work.

Jeff is back today.  Haunted House is now closer to being functional at Gadget House.  Yup, that’s Jeff, leaving a trail of order and repair behind him.

How not to stay in business….

So I’m reading this, and then I think, I wonder if the restaurant has been reviewed.

Wow.

My laundry is all done and put away. The kitchen floor is blindingly clean and the rugs have been cleaned and dried and put back down.  The upstairs cat litter tray has been cleaned and the contents replaced with clean fill. I will be posting Margot’s bath to youtube shortly.  I copied out the lyrics of the airforce songs for Paul, Tom and Peggy.  Next up, vacuuming and breadmaking.  The homily, which was coming along nicely when I was blowing over last night, is not so great today.  I know what I want to say, but finding a kindly and honest way of saying it when I want to dance up and down and screech is not possible at present.  Just because I’m passive aggressive doesn’t mean that I don’t want to get mediaeval….  I dealt with a bizarre internet display font issue this morning by not panicking, and sure enough, the solution was on line and easy to apply.

I am having a happily humdrum and productive day.