guiltyred

butterfly!

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:53:03 GMT

K-chan, thank you. The butterfly is stunning, and I'm happy that it lived out its life naturally. The stone is a very good fit to the hand - quite an interesting sense to it, too.

The Death Note...caused some consternation among The Boys, with Ormondy declaring "Give it here!" and Laen pointing out that he didn't have any presents. So...Laen has it for the time being, but I half expect there to be a fight later. ~_^

Book rec!

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:10:16 GMT

I just finished reading "Leviathan" by Scott Westerfeld. It's an AU retelling of the beginning of World War One through a steampunk twist.

It. Was. Awesome. :3

And...the sequel won't be out until October 2010. :O

But I'll be waiting for it, dammit! For me, this promises to be a happier wait than the last couple of Harry Potter books. The author has established a believable reworking of history along with sympathetic and interesting characters, and the plot is tight. It's a young-adult novel, but I kind of skipped that phase in reading when I was legitimately that age, so I figure I may as well enjoy it now.

The author has a website with lots of goodies - Scott Westerfeld Blog - Leviathan - including trailers, sample chapters, and wallpapers. Go and look! Get hooked! And join me in waiting for book two - "Behemoth" - due out for my next birthday! :3

mildly alarming h1n1 reports

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:21:19 GMT

Apparently people are starting to report reinfection with H1N1.

From the article: John Law, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Resources, said the information his agency has is that the likelihood of getting the virus twice is "very, very, very rare."

"Once you have had it, you have a natural immunity to it. It's like the mumps or the chicken pox," Law said.

Problem with this? Chicken pox can recur spontaneously via the virus taking up residence in the body and never leaving. So...I'm not really comforted by his statement. We still know far too little about the behavior and life cycles of viruses to be making such bland announcements.

The reason for this post? Romy's sickly again and we're not sure what's going on there. We'll be keeping a close eye on this.

a magical transition

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:44:43 GMT

One door must close before another can open. With the passing of this night I am looking ahead to a less sad and less fearful future. I wish to honor life and its mysteries without compromise.

The future begins now.

far too entertained

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:07:33 GMT

I caught a show on the History Channel - The Haunted History of Halloween - and something about the narrator seemed familiar.

Then it came to me: he sounds like Lazard as performed by the cast of Crisis Perverted.

If you've never heard these guys, check 'em out! The satire level and sheer hilarity - not to mention some dead-on voice acting and some utterly bizarre subject matter - make these unforgettable. ("Drunken Dial" is one of my favorites.)

bluejay mimic

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:30:30 GMT

We heard what sounded like a hawk right outside our window. It was so clear and distinct, it could only have been a hawk in the cedar tree - but no! It was a big sassy bluejay, strutting his stuff and imitating a much larger bird. I'd heard they could do this, but I'd never actually experienced it before.

It sounded just like the hawk that kept turning up when we were at the mom's swimming pool this summer. Hm, maybe that's the whole point, eh?

oink oink

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:30:40 GMT

On a whim I looked up the symptoms of H1N1 in adults.

I...think I have a mild case of it. Except for the cough/sore throat, and not-quite-barfing, I scored the whole damn checklist.

I'm actually hoping that's what it is. This would mean I don't have to spring for a shot. And it's mild enough to just be miserable without being dangerous. And I think I'm on the upswing. I think.

So...yeah.

a happy moment

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:00:05 GMT

Woke up this morning to extreme cuteness.

I was lying on my side, and Wylie-kitty was stretched out against my back, under the covers with his head on my pillow.

Of course, as soon as I said "get the camera" he moved. :3

spam subject line beat poetry

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:14:42 GMT

Nor my titanic tears the seas be dried
Nor fear the mockery of thy yellow flowers?

(yes, they are both for *ahem* male enhancement products)

...and I'm sick

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:27:11 GMT

I've been absent from online these past couple of days because, on top of everything going on, I've been hit in the gut by some kind of virus. It's miserable timing all around but it's on the upswing today.

I'll try to get back to commenting tomorrow.

picking up the pieces

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:43:58 GMT

I couldn't bear to do a proper post yesterday, but there are some things that need to be said in memory of a great cat. Or a great little alien in a fur coat, pretending to be a cat - we're still not too sure.

Syrius Black, aka The Mocker, was either the most catly cat who ever lived or the most uncatlike imposter, depending on what you caught him doing. His aerial and high dive acts were amazing, crossing the divide between fridge and cabinet tops (about 6 feet on a 30-degree upward slope) as though he were just stepping over a line in the sand. He would go up there only to run to the end and jump back down, and then go up again - like a kid on a waterslide. But he didn't eat cat treats or people food. Except ham.

He talked to spirits. I'm convinced that, half the time he went up on the cabinets, he was playing with them. And I believe that they told him exactly how to swipe and hide a contact-lens case so that the monkeys would have a right old time trying to find it.

He lived his life never doubting the ability of his body to do exactly what he wanted it to do. It's a blessing that we never discovered his heart condition, or else he'd have been on medications that would probably have slowed him down, and we would have been afraid to let him run and play - and that, to him, would have been far worse than death. He was a feral thing, in all the best ways: fearless, daring, bold, and mocking all things domesticated.

Syrius ran into our lives the Sunday after September 11, 2001, while we were trying to fix a WTC-shaped hole in our lives. He howled at the door, and we opened it to look, and he helped himself to our hospitality. We tried to "do the right thing" and return him to his owner, an upstairs neighbor, but they didn't really give a damn about him and he was back at our door within the hour. I told him that if he came in again, he was staying. He thought about it, then stepped inside.

Yesterday he left us just abruptly, and there is some speculation here as to whether he'd only been visiting this entire time, as if he had somewhere else he had to be. He never had time to doubt his health or his agility, and for that I'm envious: if I could only be half as fearless as that weird little cat, I could do anything. And then jump down and do it again.

He was weirdly smart, clever as hell, understood far more than he let on, and had the most deliberate and understated purr I've ever heard. For him, life was very much a matter of "for everything there is a time," and it was his clock we all moved to.

The shock of his passing has really hit me hard. It brought back memories of other sudden deaths, and I'm reeling quite a bit. Still, no matter how bad it hurts, I wouldn't turn back time and choose not to know this amazing cat, and I would never begrudge him a quick, painless exit. May I be so lucky when my own time comes.

My last bit of doubt as to whether this was meant to be fell apart as I drove him to the hospital yesterday. We were shepherded all the way to our offramp by a yellow Volkswagen. As a kitty who hung out with spirits, ghosts, and guides, this was the perfect escort, and it told me that things are just as they are meant to be. Doesn't help the pain stop, though. I guess I just need time, and love, for that.

Thank you all for your kind comments and thoughts. Even though I disabled comments on my own post yesterday, I've been reading my sweetie's post and I'm touched by all your kindness. (I couldn't bear to read comments to me AND those to my sweetie, so that's why I disabled comments on mine.)

Please keep our other kitties in your thoughts. I can't help but worry - so many things, you know? Beanie, Sami, and Herme are apparently taking it fairly well, but Wylie is pretty despondent and clingy. This is his second playmate lost to heart failure, and it's got to hurt.

farewell, fierce friend

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:18:00 GMT

The Mocker has left us as abruptly as he had arrived. He barged in on our household the weekend after September 11, 2001, and this afternoon his heart gave out with no warning. He went on his own time, as I kind of expected him to do - just not this soon.

There is a picture of him here. I...can't really talk now.

got an early b-day present from my sweetie!

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:07:51 GMT

And it's awesome! :D

I've gotten rather sound-sensitive at night, to the point that a neighbor's air conditioner or a loud transformer (heh!) can keep me awake - it's that low-frequency thrumming sound, it gets into my head.

So...sweetie got me a Marpac Sound Screen white noise machine. We'd been using an electric fan to cover the noise, but with winter coming it'd be too cold. This thing sounds like our fan, but gives off no cool air - it's just sound, and it covers not only that low-frequency electronic noise but the other night, when we had 50 mph wind gusts and rain, it made the whole storm sound like rolling ocean waves! I don't think I've had better sleep! :D

If anyone has trouble sleeping through random irritating noises, I wholly recommend this gadget. It's adjustable in several ways (hole covers rotate in two areas, and there's a two-speed switch), it's small, and it WORKS!

another instance of being made invisible

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:49:32 GMT

I subscribe to a number of "help you find a job"-type newsletters, and this one just...no.

Job Search Information

The Insider's Guide to Efficient Career Advancement
Questions on Job Applications about Race and Gender

In today’s diverse workforce there are many new laws in place that most, if not all, of us know very little about. For years, we all were led to believe that it was illegal to ask questions about race and gender and now the government is requiring companies to track the diversity of the applicant pool through anonymous questions at the end of an application. This seems a bit of an about face for a government that usually is as hard to move as a million year old dinosaur.

Where does the info go?

The government has very strict guidelines for how this information is handled and the law states that the information is to be used solely for the purposes of analyzing the diversity of the applicant pool for specific companies, for regions, for industries and any other analytical need to ensure that EEO and AAP targets are being met.

So, whether you are filling out a form by hand or entering your information online, you can be 99% sure that the company who is receiving it will make every effort to keep your EEO answers separate from your actual application. If not, the government will penalize them heavily and any individual who was not hired could get as much as one year’s salary in a lawsuit for discrimination if the hiring decision was based on the information provided.

How is the information used?

In an effort to ensure that positions being offered by larger companies to the general public are being offered to and pursued by a diverse group of individuals, the government has put in place reporting requirements that mandate that these companies track this information through voluntary questionnaires.

Of course there are some margins for error built into a voluntary questionnaire. There are also margins for hedging or abuse in that if a company does not get enough female applicants or Asian applicants for a specific position, that company will decide on who they are going to hire without making an offer and keep the job requisition open until the correct number of minority applicants have been recorded.

How does answering these questions affect you?

You can be fairly sure that your information is not being combined with your application to make a decision about hiring. If you ever suspect that this is happening, you should contact the local office for the department of labor.

What it all boils down to is the government is now looking at you as a race or a gender instead of just a number and they are using your race and gender information to turn you back into a number to evaluate EEO and AAP compliance. So guess what?...You have come full circle and are just another number. So, go ahead and answer the questions. Go ahead and help those individuals who are considered minorities to get the same considerations as everyone else in the workforce.</i>

For folks who don't belong in the strict gender binary, this is more than a few steps backward.

I hope this is all voluntary, or they add an "other" option. Not holding my breath, tho.

Chipmunk cheeks

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:08:45 GMT

ladyofshadow asked me to do a post for her now that she's had her wisdom teeth extracted. She's sore but okay, and is stocked up on jello and other soft foods.

Here's wishing her a speedy recovery ~~and suggesting that she probably looks a lot like the hamster in my icon right about now, sans karot~~!

Yogi cold-care tea is love

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:47:33 GMT

Still don't know if it's a cold, allergies, or weather-related sinus, but my sweetie's still sickly, and now I'm miserable too. It's a very low-grade sinus pain, sniffles, and headache, combined with that all-over achy, wish-I-was-still-in-bed feeling.

We're trying to find something brainless and pleasant to occupy our evening. When I was a kid, if I was sick on the weekend, they were always showing old (black-and-white old) sci-fi and monster movies on tv, and I have memories of being soothed in my misery by such heroes as Rodan and Creature from the Black Lagoon (what can I say? I cheer for the monsters).

And now I'm curious: anyone on my flist treat their colds with old movies? If so, what's your favorite to sit and watch from the underside of a pile of blankets?

A tasty little something from StumbleUpon

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:02:29 GMT

problem solved

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:10:56 GMT

I feel a little silly for freaking out yesterday over that website, but it was the latest in a string of incidents that left me feeling spoonless - the straw that killed the camel, so to speak.

I am very happy to inform that it's been fixed, quickly and professionally. And yes, I bought my book.

It's funny, but until recent events (RaceFail, GenderFail, SurveyFail) I really didn't have a grasp on why, exactly, stupid little details caused so much trouble. All my life I'd been told to "lighten up," to allow people to say what they wanted even if it left me feeling like dirt, that it was my fault for being "too sensitive." Now I'm beginning to understand the depth and prevalence of - what? I'm still unsure what to call it. Institutionalized privilege? The sense that society reinforces the stereotypes while simultaneously shutting down anyone who speaks out against those stereotypes.

I'm still learning that no, it has never been my responsibility to lighten up when I am hurting. It has never been a failure of mine that I take issue with things that cause me pain. I am not too sensitive - I am a person with feelings and value and dignity, and because I do not conform in one or more vectors I can expect to be presented with situations that cause discomfort, anxiety, or pain on a more consistent basis than many of my peers.

It IS my responsibility to guard my mental, emotional, and physical health, and to that end I must learn that anger and frustration are not the best reactions. Sure, I'll flip right out if I'm weary and already stressed; but it's my choice to calmly address those things that cause me discomfort rather than just stew on it. And by not stewing on it, I get stronger. I remind myself that it's not a problem with my perceptions, it's a problem that has become an integral part of modern society, and it's not insurmountable.

Today I feel stronger, and my faith in humanity has been boosted. Thank you, bookseller, for being civil and prompt in your action and reply. It means more to me than you might know.

Couldn't resist, mate!

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:13:45 GMT

I just joined another writing comm at DW - propfiction. (There's also a mirror community here on IJ, same name - will probably play here too, but I don't want to double-post.) It's pan-fandom, there's no word limit, they take fiction and art, and there's no requirement to post to the community - just take the bunny and run, if you want.

The bunny bit, and I decided to go ahead and post to the community just for grins. You can find it here. :3

A Fun Thing to Do!

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:05:18 GMT

Jou always finds the best online crack!

There is a site that originally wanted to be a health-info search-all. It set up its searches to cast far and wide across the web, and opened its virtual doors for service.

It did not, however, remember the Three Cardinal Rules of Online Cover-Your-Ass:
1. NEVER go live without going through a beta period and finding and squashing all embarrassing bugs first;
2. NEVER overlook the potential for users to be smartasses and find hilarity in your shortcomings; and
3. NEVER but NEVER rely on Wikipedia for non-lol purposes.

And now I give you...Healthbase.net's suggested treatments for Mary Sue.

Go ahead, have some fun before they figure out the bugs!

Wolf hunt goes too far

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:45:28 GMT

Apparently gray wolves aren't considered an endangered species anymore, despite their still-precarious foothold in the United States. And in Idaho and Montana, the powers-that-be have decided that 1000 wolves is too many: they have authorized a hunt to the tune of 70,000 hunting permits expected to be sold in Idaho alone. The quota is a mere 300 wolves total; there is of course no chance that hunters will err/lie outright and cap more than the allotted amount, right?

Maureenlycaon sums this up better than I can right now.

Wolves are a very emotional subject for me. When I first read about the hunt, I freaked the heck out. Then I read a very coherent and thoughtful comment about why this might be a good thing: the more wolves come into contact with humans and domesticated animals, the greater the chance for disaster (not least of which, I observed, is the chance for dog/wolf hybrids that are not afraid of humans and which might be carriers of rabies). At the time, I thought it was a smaller, controlled hunt under discussion.

But 70,000 permits?? To kill 300 animals across 2 states??? And I'll tell you, if you click on the link in Maureen's post about the first wolf killed in this slaughter, the cowboy-machismo of the killer will make you sick. These people aren't about keeping wild and domestic separate by force, they're about trophies and scoring the kill before their buddies.

It's enough to make me puke.

The Defenders of Wildlife have a special page set up to educate about this heinous situation and other threats to America's gray wolf populations. They have a form letter you can customize, to send to President Obama urging immediate action to place the wolves back on the endangered list.

I have now written to two U.S. presidents - Carter and Obama. Both times, it was about the wolves. I really hope things get fixed and stay fixed for this beautiful animal.

Please, step up and speak up. This is urgent.

adventures in Uncyclopedia

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:28:24 GMT

We're not game-players here; no time for it and less patience. Also lacking a PSP or a Wii, which makes gaming kind of difficult.

No, we're into watching cutscenes like an anime series. And our current quest is Understanding Kingdom Hearts. Seriously. There's been much MST3K-ing in our apartment these past few days, ever since loading up the original KH cutscenes and ~~staring blankly at the computer till our eyes bled~~ ~~chowing down on all the junk food in our home while~~ trying to figure out what the deuce was going on.

I've tried to read through the scripts of KH1 and KH2, and I keep hitting one thing that throws me into utter confusion. Before I lure my sweetie into a viewing of KH2, I sought out the answer so that I could ~~lord it over my unsuspecting other half~~ conveniently and casually toss it out at the opportune moment ~~to earn myself a thank-you snog~~. And so, as anyone with a question and the permanent impression of an advertising campaign drilled into their head would do, I went to Ask.com - and asked The KH Question of Doom.

Dear Ask.com: in kingdom hearts, what is the difference between a heartless and a nobody?

The first link looked promising - also highly entertaining. And so, I went there, and now take you there with me to marvel at the heretofore unexpected answer: Heartless and Nobodies

Clears it all up, don't it? :3

Another random Stumble moment

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:27:32 GMT

11 Sexy Photos Totally Ruined By People in the Background

It's pretty bad, just as you might think from the title - but picture #11 is pure gold. XD

Random acts of kindness

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:18:56 GMT

While browsing through Snopes.com for drabble fodder (the FFVII_100 comm on IJ is doing Urban Legends this week), I tripped over one story that's just too sweet to keep to myself.

Jasmine the Greyhound

Enjoy the smiles!

I love StumbleUpon

wersofthegrieve@aol.com — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:13:58 GMT

Okay, this is righteous: What's in the box. The link goes to a streaming video, and the first two seem to be part of the same story - the very first reminded me of some kind of video game. And the situation reminded me strongly of something you'd find in a FFVII ShinRa-backed science disaster.

ETA - Another dam link :3