Saturday, February 16, 2002

Every time I see the Trading Spaces ad with the sillouhettes of the furniture with the prices under them, I always want to slap someone. One hundred twenty-five dollars for a _table_? Three fifty for a couch? People, people, people, they're called Used Furniture Stores. Thrift Stores. The Salvation Army. You can stretch a thousand dollars for miles and miles if you don't mind things that aren't exactly brand spanking new...

*Snerk* You can see my formative years of stretching fifty bucks for a week's worth of groceries showing right through, can't you?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:19 AM |

Mmm, Nightnoise's Snow Is Softly Falling is being ripped to my hard drive as I type. It's a K/A song! It's also very very hard to find, no matter _what_ music-search software you use.

...I'm lazy, that's why. We have it on CD (Windam Hill's A Winter Solstice III), I just didn't want to look for it. I know, I know, how is downloading it easier than walking out into the living room and pulling it out of the 6-cd magazine in the player? I don't know. I never claimed to be -brilliant-. Heh.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:41 PM |

I am in love with European-style hockey playing. *Happy sigh* Have you ever seen anything so fluid, so open-ice-dependent, so end-to-end and fast and requiring -such- good hands? Soft hands, sweet hands, fast and smart and gentle and magic...

I like hockey terminology, too, but not nearly as much as I'm liking this Olympic-international-European action I've been watching.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:48 PM |

Friday, February 15, 2002

*Laugh* "Pants, dammit!" Neets had some of the best lines in TSLC. Also? I abused my thesaurus -horribly- in the writing of that epic. I hereby officially apologize to anyone and everyone that ever scratched their head and said 'what the -hell-?' at the words 'hebetic', 'puerile', and 'atacamite'.

In other news, I found 5 of Neets' letters, so far. I know there are more, which I will look for in a minute or two.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:20 AM |

Y'ain't ev'n -seen- drast'c, Bl'ckwat'r Jon's... ~~ Ah-HA! -There's- that other arm! What's it doing? Oh my! It's...why, it's snaking out now, and fingers are being wrapped around a tanned arm... Oh! It doesn't look good for the S'Harran folks! He's being dragged into the bedroom! Yes, it's Neetlemyre, for the team...he shoots!...and dollars to plug nickles he scores, too!~~

*Snicker* You know, it only takes these two 46 pages to get from 'I hate you with every cell in my body' to 'You're not that bad... In fact, I'd kiss you if you'd let me.'. Idiots.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:30 AM |

I...just euthanized a poor Stupid Baby Mouse that Toulouse had caught but not-quite-killed. I feel weird... On one hand, I'm relieved and grateful that I could end its suffering, but on the other, I feel kind of bad that I -killed- something that wasn't a bug.

A ziplock baggie and an exauhst pipe make a suitable substitute for an overdose of anesthetic.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:30 AM |

Hm. Well, I haven't found more NeetsLetters, but I -did- find snips of Reesa's M/K fanfic wherein Krycek sings 'Someone That's Cool' in Mulder's shower and our discussion Re: The Odds, leading to my introduction to the band. And I can still sing the bit from 'We'll Talk' that was your sig for a while, Reesa.

Also found: Blinky Starduster's first foray into Glen's; early, _early_ Mari-mail, including Monster Post replies *Grin* With footnotes!; the Vic/Dirk/Toy/Lin scene where Vic has spent the night on the floor in the locker room because Marc told him he loved him; various songlists/lyric collections for TSLC, including the lyrics to Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit, the chorus of which I can still sing; and all sorts of other lovely little distractions. Still looking for the letters, and will post the fun stuff I found in a little while.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:18 PM |

...actually, I'm going to put on some music, round up something to eat, and see if I can't finish some piece I'm working on. I'm hoping for K/A Solstice, but I'll take whatever I can get.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:30 PM |

Fur Rendezvous, for all of you Outsiders.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 7:36 PM |

All right, it's not done, but I certainly did get more. K/A Solstice.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:11 PM |

Also, tomorrow at midnight, I will be switching from this address to https://zuutzuut.tripod.com/blogstuff/index.html.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:13 PM |

Hm. Apparently, 'Neets' stands for 'Navy Electricty and Electronics Training Series'. And I've turned up no hits for 'Neets letter' on Google, yet. I'm still looking!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:30 PM |

Bwahaha... Putting "Neetlemyre Knickerbocker" into Google gets you my copyrights page and the first Rick's Orgy page.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:35 PM |

Here's a burning question guaranteed to keep me up nights (not -really-, but I Had An Idea and need to know): Is Ethe pretty much a top, is he primarily a bottom, or can he switch without much in the way of problems?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:06 PM |

Thursday, February 14, 2002

Well, I found -some- of the letters in the Letters Version of TSLC in a word-processing document. I converted it to HTML, compressed it as an .lzh file, and have been unable to open the D/L of it due to file corruption or something... *Shakes head* I have a couple of other places I need to look, and a couple of options to try for the .lzh file.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:34 PM |

Oh, and as I only have ten more minutes -- happy Valentine's day! *Grin* I'm _trying_ to get stuff out of people, but they're all grumbling and brushing me off. Odd, that... *Snerk* G'night.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:49 PM |

Wednesday, February 13, 2002

Tonight, after class, I learned that one of my classmates is a Good FanGirl. She mentioned Gravitiation, I perked, she bounced. And she howled in sympathetic agony when I vehemently declared that Duo is not a surfer dude. I mentioned X, she -poinged-. Literally.

She's very cool.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:23 PM |

The cat landed on my head this morning -- she'd jumped off my bookcase. Then she crawled under the covers, down to my feet. And back up to my thighs, and then up to my chest. While she was lying there, the dog discovered that she was under the blankets with me... And proceeded to stick her nose against them. This made the cat unhappy, to say the least. However, she was less upset than I, as -I- was the one that would have been in the middle of any conflicts.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:26 PM |

My car is back from the shop -- it had a cracked fuel line. They replaced my line and filter, and now my car is much much happier, as am I.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:27 PM |

...and now I'm going to quit procrastinating and go look for the NeetsLetters. Yay, Neetsipuddles-sap! *Snickers and hides from the cranky little green-haired guy* *And the big marginally-amused brown-haired guy* *Is either getting a Black Glare of Death or shoes thrown her way*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:30 PM |

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

Callum Keith Rennie, yay! Also? Chris Chelios, the big ham.

Bliss better show in my area, too, or I'll be cranky. Should I make my obligatory mention of Wingfield's nose, or will this suffice?

Thanks for the info, Reesa. *Grin*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:39 AM |

And, also for Reesa: Letters. The Beej-sides, anyhow, as all of the Neets-links are broken... Did you maybe upload them to LooseLeaf? *Squints* I thought I had a few of the NeetsLetters saved and uploaded, but maybe I -don't-. If I do have them saved but not uploaded, they're probably saved to disk somewhere, as I couldn't possibly bring myself to throw them out.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 8:43 PM |

Valentine's day is coming up. On the one hand, bleah. On the other, Yay, sap!

...Can you tell I want to write? I've been trying, but I A) keep getting interrupted and B) I can't seem to write sleepysweet smut without getting sleepy myself.

Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:10 PM |

We're doing an experiment tonight. Yasminda hates to step over wires, so I'm going to tape telephone cord to my doorframe and see if that will keep her out while still allowing her to see/hear/smell me and the cat. I -know- Toulouse will love the dog when she gets to know her, she just has to do it on her own terms at her own pace. Unfortunately, the dog wants to do it in -her- own noisy wet-nosed way. If she goes to sleep and lets the cat get close to her, things should be okay... I hope.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:14 PM |

I'm hungry. Jaa maate!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:17 PM |

Monday, February 11, 2002

Pop Quiz! Sharpen those pencils... *Sniggle* I forgot about this. I also forgot about poor Fraser Lyn's run-in with popculture and audience-participation theater... *Needs to dig up that Interlude* *Needs to dig them all up* "If we'd been more awake, our kissing would've been better."
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:23 AM |

"They're tough. -Mighty- tough." *Is very, very punchy* *Needs a nap* I only got about four and a half to five hours of sleep last night, but in the plus column, the cat jumped off my bookcase and did -not- land on me.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:56 AM |

*Smirks at Scrubby* I wonder if Woodcock and Johnson ever resented thier parents' name-choices. Or maybe no one noticed, or cared, or something... And thanks for the enlightenment.

...and now I have to go back to doing my homework. Only five more sentences and a journal-entry to go...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:05 AM |

Well, she may not heel, she doesn't know 'stay' from 'Wanna go for a walk?', and she can't speak on command, but Yasminda _can_ sit and wait to take a treat on nothing but hand signals. And she learned those last week.

I'm going to call Alyeska Canine Trainers about beginner obedience classes, because until she can pass the Canine Good Citizen Test, she can't go into agility. Agility would be good for her (exercise, socialization, fun, using her little brain), good for me (exercise, socialization, fun, using my little brain for something different than what I usually do), and good for the community (teaches Yasminda to behave herself, not that she's caused problems in the past).
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:24 PM |

Sunday, February 10, 2002

Well... I finally managed a decent-looking iframes layout. As I cut up a DN Angel wallpaper downloaded from a site whose name escapes me, this is not going to be an official layout any time soon. (In fact, I don't know that I'll -ever- use an iframes layout, but who knows.) There's only one or two minor imperfections, but I -did- it. All by myself, and without A) asking the author of the tutorial for help or B) looking for other sources of information on how to make iframes. Go me!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:22 AM |

...Okay, three little problems. I forgot the background properties="fixed" tag. Oops.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:23 AM |

You know, I like John C. Dvorak much much better as a moderator of Silicon Spin, as he has much less time to come across as a pompous know-it-all of the most irritating kind. And what's wrong with pictures of your cat? I'd post a picture or two of Toulouse if I could.

Link from Blogger's front page.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:26 AM |

I need to go back to sleep.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:31 AM |

Mmmmph... I just ran across an anti-porn clique. The author is against it when it's used by people in "committed relationships", because "It's cheating. Not physically, but mentally. Mentally, it's cheating." She claims not to have a problem with porn in any other context, but I'm not convinced... For instance, she tries to puntcture holes in the argument of "They're guys, that's what they do. It doesn't mean he doesn't love you. Everyone wants something a little different; who does it hurt?"

"2) 'It doesn't mean he doesn't love you.' Of course it doesn't. It just means that he isn't satisfied with you, and feels the need to indulge in his pleasure/fantasies elsewhere.
3) 'He just likes something a little bit different.' Well, we all do, but 'something different' doesn't necessarily have to be asian lesbians with strap-ons. Since the 'something a little bit different' refers to changes he wants in his sex life, he should take it up with who he's involved with, instead of choosing something else over her."

I think there are two points getting confused, here. First, porn viewing doesn't instantly and unequivocally equal dissatisfaction with one's sexual partner. Secondly, people tend to keep their fantasies to themselves; whether out of fear (or ridicule, rejection, outright accusations of mental instability, etc) or because they think their partner wouldn't be agreeable. When they want to "indulge [their] fantasies", they don't feel they _can_ bring it up with their partner. Their only recourse, outside of what _I_ think of as true infidelity, is porn. To steal blatantly from mouthorgan, how many women would be comfortable learning that their male partner would deeply enjoy having her act like a robot? Emotionless, unresponsive unless directed, lying still and stiff as a doll... That's kind of a creepy and disturbing fantasy, right? Men that want that kind of thing and are afraid their ladies will call them sick and leave them have the 'net as their only choice. The whole open-communication-problem thing is a rant unto itself, so we'll move on.

Another problem is that "Asian lesbians with strap-ons" are one of those fanatsies that's not easily fulfilled by one's partner. Having a blond giving him head while wearing a corset and pinching his nipples? Easy. You buy a wig and a corset and learn how to breathe through your nose and how to suppress your gag reflex. It's easy to discuss, it's easy to implement. She wants him to bend her over the back of the couch? It doesn't take but a few whispered words. It's the fantasies that your partner _can't_ (or -won't-) help with that sends people to pornographic resources.

"4) 'It's harmless.' Harmless? Hardly. It creates an instability within the relationship. It causes jealousy, anger, and insecurities for the victim (yes, victim- I believe that women (or men, if such be the case) are victims of this kind of thing), as well as other problems."
[...]
"Insecure: Most men seem to forget that no matter how beautiful they think we are, most women are insecure, especially about their bodies. Pornography features society's standards of beautiful, gorgeous, and sexually appealing women, and men looking at pictures of their naked bodies only reinforces our feelings of insecurity, believe ourselves to be 'inferior', and feeling rejected and unwanted by those that are supposed to love and cherish us, and only us."

You're only a victim if you let yourself be one. You're only subject to jealousy, anger and insecurity if you choose to believe that your partner could possibly ever _find_ the examples of humanity portrayed in porn locally, and believe that the porn 'stars' are somehow better than you are. Also? "society's standards of beautiful, gorgeous, and sexually appealing women" is hysterical. Have you _LOOKED_ at the women in porn? Overinflated breasts that look thoroughly unnatural, blatantly displayed genitalia that more resembles some sort of strange growth than its more often flower comparison... (Of course, those are my personal biases, but I can't imagine that every single person in the world disagrees with me.) Again, if your partner's viewing of these grossly malformed people makes you feel inferior, rejected and unwanted, perhaps your problem lies a little closer to home than you think.

I'm kind of confused by the "by those that are supposed to love and cherish us, and only us." part. In her little rant, she mentions her finacˇ, and doesn't -seem- to be speaking solely to/of married couples. If you're not married, there's no, ah... contractual obligation to be monomaniacally monogamous (that's hard to type). ...And now I've run out of stuff to say, sadly. And Toulouse wants me to play with her.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:28 PM |

Mmm, road trip! *Grins at Reesa* I'm up for one, as long as it doesn't involve the walking mostly-dead. Ravens, wolves, hawks, dogs and cats are optional.

I really, really, _really_ liked American Gods. It was deliciously creepy-sweet, and the twists were...perfect. I would give it to my mother to read, but I don't think her imagination and/or spiritual connections would allow her to enjoy it as much as I did.

To reiterate what almost everyone already knows: The Man Can Write.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:52 PM |