Saturday, November 04, 2000

Turns out that not only had we played the Lost Levels, but someone got up to world 6. Go us.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:10 AM |

Posting in big chunks, today...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:09 PM |

Why do I own 64 bottles of nail polish?

I don't know either.

Colors	Colors	Colors	Brands
Firefly Temptation Zip Fly My Heart's A Glitter Regal Dude Nocturnal Crushed Absinthe Twisted Sister Gold Mine Jasper Jade	Grape Forest Tar Gash Cosmos Constellation Ink Mercury Iguana French White Tip Fearless Creme	Electric Frost Silence Is Golden Blue Metal Celestial AWOL Chocolate Kiss Chick Shattered Grassroots Wild Calyx Shock Wave Dark Secret	Wet 'n' Wild Urban Decay Hard Candy Tropéz Cutex Revlon L'Oreal Sinful Colors Maybelline Jordana Afterthoughts Naturistics OPI Creative Nail Design Orly Petites by Scherer Sally Hansen Nicole (by OPI)

Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:13 PM |

Firefly and Temptation are bright yellows. Crushed is orange. These are colors that I almost never wear in my wardrobe, let alone on my hands... Yet I like them. I meant to wear black and orange (or black with red glitter and orange) for Halloween, but I forgot.

Most of my colors are blues, greens and purples, with black, dark, dark reds, golds and glitters thrown in for variety.

Whoops. I was looking for Wet 'n' Wild's website, and found this Wet'n'Wild site. *Grin* Next time I go to Vegas, I'll have to look for them... I think I vaguely remember seeing their billboards/park sign...

This should show you how my mind operates. I'm flipping back and forth between nailpolish/cosmetic company sites and looking for a website for Cloud Nine Chocolate. I _love_ Cloud Nine, particularly the Butter Nut Toffee and Malted Milk versions. I was introduced to it at a Cooperative grocery store in Corvallis Oregon and I have only recently been able to find it in great quantities up here. *Blushes faintly* In fact, when I bought my latest stash yesterday, the clerk said, "You really like these things, don't you?"

One warning, though -- the Cookies and Cream bar is not very good at all. *Makes a face* Bleah.

Anyhow! Going to http://www.cloudnine.com/ gets you to Qwest.com's Virtual Help Desk. *Shrug*

Grr. I'm tired of being told that I A) need Flash/Schockwave software (I already have it, thanks) or B) that -I- suck because I don't have it. Excuse me, but I'm already using my time and money to get to your undoubtedly graphics-heavy site, which will take long enough to load without having to worry about Flash or Shockwave stuff loading, too.

Damn it, when will people realize that not everyone wants, needs, or can use the latest in UltraSpiffy Technology? I'm on a 56K modem and a Performa 6116 running 7.6.1, here, people. I canNOT download The Latest Thing because it only runs on sys 8.1 or later. There are people out there that can't afford a better/newer computer, there are people that can't get access to the new tech. Suck it up, take it like someone tough, and deign to make a version of your site that works for the rest of us.

And people wonder why I stick to pretty much text-only pages. Hmmph.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:15 PM |

Pizza, Cloud Nine, and a bagel liberally smeared with cream cheese. Breakfast of Champions. No wonder my Endo and my GP want me to work out. Heh.

Noooooooo!! I just got cream cheese all over something I was gonna send to Scrubby... *Whine whine* Well, maybe if I hurry, I can save it... Well, it looks okay. It still kind of smells like cream cheese. I'll see how it's doing this afternoon. It -is- looking a little curled... *Quits fretting* I need to get that box put together soon...

Speaking of food, I love cognates. I'm on TravLang's Word Of The Day mailing list, and today's word was ice cream. Basically, if you say 'gelato', 'i-sue krehm-oo', 'zhmeerleena', or 'sladoled', you can get ice cream in just about any country. Well, provided you're in a place where ice cream is available. Hee.

Okay, confession time. The last song on Daylight Again (Crosby Stills and Nash), with the lines about finding the cost of freedom buried in the ground, Mother Earth will swallow you? That has ALWAYS scared me and/or creeped me out. It's beautifully done both by CS&N and Pur Faya (I think that's her name), but it's really sad and... -creepy- nonetheless. I -like- it, but...yeek.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:16 PM |

Hey! Cloud Nine, kinda. If nothing else, it's a picture of the packaging and a description of some of the flavors. There are more, including just plain milk chocolate for those that like that kind of thing. I personally would like to see a crispy-rice bar.

Sinful Colors is still getting its web-side act together, apparently.

And this is not the Jordana I had in mind. *Blink*

Hmm... According to the Biz Journal, Venator Group owns Afterthoughts accessory (excessory...? Heh, more on this in a sec) stores. According to Venator Group's own Brand site, they don't.

I kinda like Afterthoughts, because they have jewelry that distracts me (bright shiny things), lots and lots of hair stuff, but the prices are a little prohibitive. Eight dollars for one scrunchie? I -don't- think so.

Is it just me, or is this woman making sweeping generalizations on the order of "Boys like trucks, girls don't."?

Heh. Mme. Jean agrees with me that our SOs (if ever we find them) should be willing to let us dress and/or make them up and take them out. No, there was nothing pressing on me to share that, I just thought I would... Well, that and I was thinking about boys in makeup again.

Victor Orly Consulting in Califorina wasn't what I was looking for...

 

I want hair like hers. The makeup I can live without, but the hair...

Something else I wasn't interested in. It never occurred to me that the WWF and WCW would be internationally adored outside of the North American continent... Mostly because I tend to think of Europeans as somewhat more refined than Americans. (Canadians, too, but Canadians are weird. *Hides*)

Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:17 PM |

I love the "Say It In..." line of phrase books. They include such useful things as "I love you", "Does the apartment come with a terrace?", "Where can I see ice hockey?" and "Give my regards to your boyfriend."

So far I have Czech, Finnish, and Russian. And a mad desire to have someone tell Vic to give their regards to his boyfriend... Poor Vic.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:21 PM |

Unspeakable Joy. I love that song. *Grins and bounces to music turned up -waaay- too loud* I love the whole Trick soundtrack, but Unspeakable Joy and I'm Not That Kind of Girl (I want a brand-new lover) are a couple of my favorites. And these speakers are -great-...

Speaking of new lovers... I'm reading more BuffyFic, though it's Xander/Oz. Little Songs, to be exact... And it's up to the usual standards. The author is not an expert on what sucks, at least when it comes to her own stuff... *Rolls eyes* Yeesh. I'm not asking for unmitigated arrogance, but really. She's good and she'd do well to accept it.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:58 PM |

Oz's lips hit his at an angle, and their foreheads bumped together slightly. Eventually they adjusted, and Xander could taste pot somewhere at the corners of Oz's mouth. For long minutes they didn't part, trading off the gentle nipping of lips with the warmth of their mingled breath. The guitarist's fingers caught in the hair at the nape of his neck, and his own found pattern and meaning in the small knobs of the other boy's spine. The kiss stretched to the point of no return, and then broke, each of them drawing back reluctantly.

See what I mean? Bah. Reesa, for cryin' out loud, you can TOO write.

Excerpted totally without permission or knowledge from Transmission.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:05 PM |

Ow. I just dug the second splinter of the week out of my foot. You'd think I'd learn to wear shoes in my own home.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:41 PM |

Oh, I found my Lev-R-lock, too. I love that knife...

This has been another installment of Inanimate Object Lust Theater... *Cough* I'm in a weird mood, if you couldn't tell. I'm blaming it on reading slash and listening to disco.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:44 PM |

More Stuff I like:

• Forgetting I put Yu Yu Hakusho: Sai-Kyou (or whatever it is...*Small wince*) in my CD player.
• Clean laundry, still warm from the dryer. (I wonder if there's anyone that -doesn't- like that...?)
• Having warm feet. Strangely enough, my feet tend to be warmer when I don't wear shoes.
• The fact that my touch-typing skills have been steadily improving since Gail installed the dots on the keyboards.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:04 PM |

Mercy would have a Lev-R-Lock knife. *Snicker* Grace would, too, but Mercy would fiddle with, and actually -use-, his far more often. Lev-R-Locks are wonderfully useful little things. They open, as the name may imply, with a lever action. This only takes one hand, and has the added advantage of sounding and/or looking scary when done correctly. Say, holding it down by your leg and pressing down hard, or up near someone's face. The blade snaps out so fast it looks spring-loaded. The blade is made of good steel, too -- mine's withstood being bent (on of all things a model-rocket engine) and being used as a can opener (long story), as well as cleaning my nails and slicing cheese (yes, I washed it). It does need to be sharpened, but only to smooth out a couple of teeny burrs in the serrated part. Mercy would be attracted to the 'useful' and 'intimidating' factors.

I like Mercy. I like Grace, too, but Mercy's a little more fascinating. He's the one with all the ambition in the pair, I think. Not that Grace doesn't have any, it's just that Grace's is more...low key. Grace doesn't want fame, fortune, and the reverence of the Guild as a whole, but rather to make it to retirement age with his limbs and sanity more or less intact and functional.

Mercy wants to be if not famous, at least seen as an incredibly important member of the Guild. He'd rather be famous, though. I don't know what for, though... Nothing so mundane as saving a small child from imminent death, though he'd do it.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:23 PM |

Friday, November 03, 2000

Under 'Computers' for two hundred, Alex...

A computer that is not a Mac, but not a real live IBM, either. What Is A Clone?

I miss Jeopardy, but speaking of clones! I've got a new one to add to my list: Vin Diesel. Pitch Black was _good_, if a little bloody... And it did have several mostly-pointless character deaths in it. From a practical/instructive POV, though, one death did serve to point out that fear can and will get you killed in certain situations. The dialogue was good, for the most part, and it had something so rare as to be almost unheard of (in action movies, anyhow)- a strong female lead that was human and believable.

No sex, either, which made me happy. Okay, let me rephrase that -- no sex that added nothing to the plot, or reduced the woman to a mere plot-point. (See Mission Impossible 2 for a prime example of this kind of sex. Well, don't -watch- it, it's not worth _that_...) Out of the Movies We've Never Seen But Wanted To we've purchased so far, Pitch Black has been one of the best.

Generator Gawl (episode/disk one) was great, too, but it's anime so it doesn't really count. It's kind of a cross between EVA and... I don't know. Escaflowne, maybe, or X/1999.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:22 AM |

"Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat for Halloween..."

When ghosts and goblins/by the score
ring the bell on your front door/
You better not be stingy or/
your nightmares will come troooo-oooh!

Heh. Old Disney cartoons at their best. I wanted to see that on Cartoon Network...

I went trick-or-treating! *Bounce* I now have about two pounds of candy (in addition to all the other sweet junk I bought on Sunday night during the weekly grocery shopping expidition, heh), and I had a great time, and my costume was... Well, it could have been better... *Snerk* I wish I could conduct a poll of the people that answered their doors on Tuesday night.

"Raise your hand if you thought I spent waaaaay too much time in front of the mirror with tweezers and spirit-gum."

I got complimented, though, for the most part. It's not easy to dress up as a dorky cat-boy vampire, though. *Giggle* Mme. Jean and I had to go to the library before we went over to her house to get ready to go, and the woman that checked us out was wearing a pin that said "Vampire. Store in cool, dry place." I liked it so much I scribbled it across the front of one of my white T-shirts and wore it over my little grey one and my short-sleeved black silk shirt.

At school, I wore my new black skirt (it's a stretchy one by White Stag -- it's too big! I shooould have gotten a size smaller than I did, but I don't really care. It's -nice- to own clothes that are too big.), my burgandy velvet 3/4-sleeve shirt, fishnets, and my boots. I bought a -great- boa to wear with it, but between the excitement of Halloween and the panic caused by a couple of inches of snow, I forgot it. It's still hanging in my closet, waiting for the next time. My mother put my (shorter) hair up in pin curls, and they turned out beautifully... They fell out by mid-afternoon, but I kind of expected that.

I actually wish I'd made someone take pictures of me.

 

I _liked_ getting all dressed up. When I came into school (late, due to snow *grump*), one of the first things anyone said to me was "-Beautiful!-". And they weren't related to me, nor were they somehow obligated to tell me so.

It felt nice to be all dressed up, even if my skirt does creep so the pockets sit on my midline and the walking slit is on the side.

It's funny -- I've always thought of myself as this really modest person that doesn't want to show off any bodyparts they might have, but I _really_ want a shorter skirt. Like, knee-length short. With, possibly, a slit or slits. Not a tight one (because that would just look bad), but... I don't know how to describe it. All I know is that so far, none of the pattern books I've consulted have had what I'm looking for.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:30 AM |

Saw my new Endocrinologist on Tuesday, too. She didn't say anything about my outfit, other than to say she'd forgotten about Halloween, which was why she wasn't dressed up. I liked her, though. She's in the professional part of the same hospital where I was born, which is pretty cool.

I have to get more bloodwork done, the usual hormonal panels -and- a glucose tolerance test which consists of coming in hungry, getting blood drawn, then drinking/taking in a whole bunch of sugar, and getting more blood taken at 30, 60, and 120 minute intervals. Poke city. *Whinewhine* After that, though, I go back and talk to Dr. Koval and maybe get a prescription for Glucophage or M-... Meta... Metapholine? Meta...something. Metafornin? Formin. Metaformin sounds more like it... She said they used it in conjunction with Clomid, which I didn't really care about. Well, I -do- care, I just... Gah! I don't want to have a baby right now, never mind the fact that no one wants to get within ten feet of me if they don't have to let alone close enough to sleep with me. So there.

 

In less-pointy news, though, I have to go birthday shopping for Mme. Jean... Hee. I'm going to make her draw on unlined paper if it kills us. Well, okay, I'm -giving- her unlined paper and lead-lined hints that she should really learn to draw on drawing paper.

 

Speaking of pictures, I was given the shots of myself from the ECA yearbook. I still haven't decided if I'm going to scan them or not. I also remembered that I have a picture my brother took of me in the middle of summer... I am wearing sunglasses in that one, though.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:31 AM |

When Riggens fell, Garcia's gun came up and Pinkworth started forward, and that's when Joe Pike reared up from behind their car and snapped the slide on a 12-gauge Ithaca riot gun and said, "Don't."

Garcia and Pinkworth froze. They spread their fingers off their pistol grips, showing they were out of it.

The crowd went, "Ooo." Some show, all right.

Joe Pike stands six-one and weighs maybe one-ninety, and he's got large red arrows tattooed on the outside of each deltoid, souveniers from his days as a Force Recon Marine in Vietnam. He was wearing faded blue jeans and Nike running shoes and a plain grey sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off and government-issue sunglasses. Angle the sun on him just right and the tattoos seem to glow. I think Pike calls it his apparition look.

I said, "Gee, and here I thought you'd got lost in traffic."

-- From 'Free Fall' by Robert Crais.

See what I mean? Odd style, but good writing...

 

*Soft snicker* Okay, I'd missed that before -- There's a band that gets airtime up here called "Five For Fighting".

Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:33 AM |

Nothing happened to me, why am _I_ the terrified one?

Of course, hearing skidding tires, a thump, and feminine screams of "OhmiGod!" over and over isn't exactly Tchaikovsky, either.

I called 911, being the over-efficient citizen that I am, for a dog that was struck by a car.

I promptly called them back (at the dispatcher's behest) and told them that nothing was needed, it was a dog and most likely dead.

I can understand perfectly why they were screaming like that... I'm still shaking.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:48 PM |

To change the subject dramatically, my mother is playing Super Mario Brothers. We recently dug the Super Nintendo out of the closet and have been playing with it this last week... I'd forgotten that Super Mario All-Stars had a 'lost levels' game... I haven't tried it, though. *Blink* I don't think I tried it when the game and system were new. Wow.

It took my mom a while to warm up to videogames. We finally got our NES (that's right, the -first- version) about 1991 or something. The SNES was a 'thank you for moving and not bellyaching too much about it' surprise present in 1994. Ev got a N64 a little while after they first came out, but it wasn't... I don't know. -I- don't like it because the controller is all wrong. I can't use it, one or two-handed. That's really odd, because I can use the Playstation controller without any problems whatsoever. *Shrug* And the graphics for the N64 aren't... They just don't -do- anything for me. They don't impress me, and they certainly don't make me feel as though I'm part of the action. PSX graphics are impressive, yes, and sometimes I feel 'there'... But virtual-reality isn't what I want to play a videogame for.

That being said, I -still- want a copy of The Sims. Heh.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:58 PM |

Sunday, October 29, 2000

I really, really like k.d. lang's voice. I bought Ingenue recently, and while I (as usual) haven't managed to finish listening to the whole thing, I love it. I want Drag, now...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:18 PM |