Saturday, March 23, 2002

I really have nothing exciting to offer or report. Um... *Waves* Greetings from beautiful downtown... Somewhere! (Okay, there's really no 'downtown', here. But I had to say -something-....)
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:52 AM |

People have moved in to the unit next door. So much for having this block to ourselves -- now we have to be quiet and considerate. As long as it's not the idiot tourists that wanted us to pay for breakfast this morning, or the ninnies with the woman complaining about everything she could(n't) eat, I'll be happy.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:29 PM |

Everyone except me is asleep, and I may go take a nap of my own here in a little while. Hee, vacation!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:30 PM |

Yet more corsetry sites.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:36 PM |

Friday, March 22, 2002

*Grin* Yaaaaay! Today is the more-or-less official start of Spring Break! I'm leaving for the Peninsula tonight (we're wating for Ev's girlfriend to get home from work before we leave -- *Small snicker* Shades of things to come, I swear.).

The downside of all this time off, of course, is that A) Misawa-sensei gave us a boatload of homework B) I need to finish reading All She Was Worth (not much of a hardship, but...) and C) I have my darn Project Paper due by the time I get back to INTL class. I _do_ have an inkling of what I'm going to write it on, though -- Myth/folklore of Japan, with The Dream Hunters as part of my source material. My term paper, I think, will be about the literature of Japan, circa Bashou's life (more particularly, The Narrow Road To Oku).
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:40 AM |

Hee. I love this episode of That's My Baby -- Tia the black lab, brood bitch for Guide Dogs For The Blind. The women that take care of her are _so_ excited, much more so than the dog. And their daughter is actually quite cute.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:41 AM |

Also... I'm taking my laptop with me. Of course! *Grin*

I reallyreallyreally hope that I can get some writing done, in between everything -else- I have to do... And I have to go call Mercury's mama before I forget. Whee, housesitting!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:43 AM |

Well, poo! *Small grump* Mercury is going to stay with someone that lives out here on the hill, so I don't get to stay with her. *Brightens* But, on the other hand, I have A) an art job coming up for Cocoa (the German Shorthair) and Buster's (the neurotic cocker spaniel) mom, for which she will pay me whatever I say, B) a computer tutoring job with Mercury's mama, for which I can also charge whatever I feel comfortable, and C) I'm working on the auction, which means I get to dress up in something that I consider fancy/sexy. I'm thinking my racing-stripe skirt, charcoal-heather microfiber tights, new shoes (of course!) and possibly my Spell Shirt, if I ever find it again. *Frown* I'm also considering getting a corset-top or something, because hey. I'm girl-shaped! What fun is that if I can't show other people that I'm girl-shaped every once in a while?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:59 AM |

I'm considering doing the Friday Five, but... I don't know. This Friday's questions just don't really grab me as all that exciting.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:02 AM |

A corset top. Like... This one. Gorgeous, and only fifty bucks! Wow. Of course, there's always Gallery Serpentine... *Melodramatic sigh* And Yosa. Oh, _Yosa_... Particularly the Seduction corset, the Antique, and the Cyber. The Vamp corset is also nice.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:37 AM |

GS favorite? Edwardian long-line in velvet/brocade, followed by the Spanish Harlot and the Victorian.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:44 AM |

Every time I see/hear a commercial carrying on about the evils of having a dog that smells like a dog, I always want to go hug Yasminda and tell her she smells good. Because she -does- -- she just has a nice, plain, clean doggie smell. Either that or I want to get her wet and invade the homes of people that believe 'smelly' things will send them to hell, or whatever it is that causes them to be obsessed with deodorizing everything in sight.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:58 AM |

Isabella Costumeire -- The page's layout is kind of wonky in my browser, but the JavaScript works. The Edwardian, Midnight Butterfly, Valentine Victorian, and Victorian Button overbusts are my favorites, so far.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:03 PM |

A handful of corset sites.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:07 PM |

There are a couple of corsets featured in Lover's Lane that I'd like. If I see them online, I'll point them out.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:08 PM |

Corsets on sale!
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:09 PM |

Thursday, March 21, 2002

Aaaaaaaigh! *Sigh* I could list my woes, here, but instead, I'll say this: I called the vet's office; I had breakfast and my meds; I am _almost_ done with Rickshaw; and I still have a few hours to go.

Notice: Rickshaw is NOT a good book. It is marginally amusing, a LOT redundant (it'd be half as long if the translator had had the balls to cut half the repetitive crap out of it), and not very cheerful or uplifting. So far, of the three books I have to read for INTL 335, All She Was Worth has been the best. And -it- is a murder mystery! I'm really not at -all- anxious to start Comfort Woman, but... I have no choice, really. At least it's the last one, apparently saved for last because it's so hard to deal with. One of the professors told us cheerily that there were people in tears, last semester. Gee, fuuuuuuuuuuun. *Grumble* I really should be reading. And not just the Blogstickers site, either.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:22 AM |

Finished Rickshaw. Good God, what a depressing, dull, sad and unredeeming book. Why is it that ninety-nine percent of all assigned reading -sucks-? There's nothing I've _ever_ been required to read (outside of A Midsummer Night's Dream and All She Was Worth) that I've enjoyed, really. The Binnacle Boy; The Scarlet Letter; Rickshaw; A Clean, Well-Lighted Place; and I'm sure a number of others that I've completely forgotten, all of them were horrible.

On the other hand, I voluntarily read To Kill A Mockingbird, which wasn't all that bad -- I can see why it became a classic. I've even reread it, and I'm thinking of reading it again. Maybe it's all a matter of free choice over required reading? Hmph.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:39 PM |

Adobe Photoshop Elements! That was what it was called. I'm still not too sure I want to pay Adobe a hundred bucks, but then, not -having- a hundred bucks to spend on _anything_, the point is moot.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:30 PM |

*Grin* Ah, Ichiro-san! He alone did not put the fun back into Mariners baseball, but he certainly was one of many that were fun to watch. The thing about last year's Mariners was that they epitomized the "There Is No 'I' In 'Team'" ideal. Ichiro made clutch plays; Martinez was his usual designated dangerous self; McLemore and Boone made their marks -- Boone in particular; Buhner came back and did not pitch a fit about his right-field spot; Lou made sure that everyone got a chance to play and a chance to shine. The bullpen? The -bullpen- was freaking _brilliant_, last year. One of the Mariners' biggest problems in the past had been their pitching -- they could open, but none of their closers could pull it out of the fire. Last year they not only pulled it out of the fire, they put it back in the pan and served it up as a gourmet dish.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:50 PM |

One of my favorite albums from when I was far more short'n'sawed-off than I am today:

"I'm Really Rosie, I'm Rosie Real..." One of my all-time favorites. Chicken Soup With Rice, Alligators All Around, Mrs. Dracula, Pierre, One Was Johnny... Great for all children, particularly children who have plenty of imagination. And old children, too. *Grin*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:11 PM |

I have to leave for class, but at least I didn't have to write a book report. Guh.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:11 PM |

S'funny, that sometimes I read something that makes me just want to jump on a plane and hunt down the author and just hug them 'til they feel better. Or to hug them and stroke their hair and tell them that it'll all be okay, it just takes a while, and things will turn out fine.

It's funny because it seems so -maternal-, and -I'm- the one that dislikes small children to the point that my idea of 'effective childcare' involves several yards of duct tape and a closet. (Well, not -really-. But it's what I threaten unruly twerplets with under my breath...)
Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:21 PM |

Wednesday, March 20, 2002

Battleground God -- An Intellectual Exercise

This is an incredibly easy, incredibly skewed thing. First of all, all you have to do is make sure all of your choices are consistant (which they tell you right off the bat), no matter what you belive. Secondly, they use unnecessarily confusing wording, which increases the likelihood of one contradicting one's self. Thirdly, their questions are starkly cut-and-dried, leaving little to no room for people with pantheistic or decidedly -different- views of what an ultimate power consists of.

I can't decide if it bothers me because I got a good score by answering contrary to my beliefs*, or if it bugs me because the wording of the questions was such that -I- was confused (and I _hate_ that).

Posted by: Shannon M.: 9:28 AM |

* -- I answered false to the second question, to which I -should- have answered true... Oh well.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:10 AM |

My mother, last night, handed me twenty dollars. I asked her what it was for, and she said 'a little while'. *Blinkblink* Oookay, I said, thanks so much. I -still- don't know what prompted her to do that, but I'm -not- complaining.

And that was -before- I told her that my card had been declined at Barnes and Noble. *Grumple* I _KNOW_ there's money in my checking account, I -know- there's more than 3 dollars in there... Or at least there -should- be. It's entirely possible that the network for my credit union was down, as they were having problems with it earlier in the day, yesterday, plus my mother said they'd had a power outage downtown. so... But it was still disappointing, because I'd wanted to get a couple of books for myself, and a book for Ev. We ended up with Bad Chili, but it was more of a consolation prize. The clerk was really nice about the whole declined-card thing, though, which made me feel better.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:34 AM |

Wuh. I need to finish my Japanese journaling (more precisely, recopying corrected entries... whee.); check blackboard to see if I missed anything else, review my adjectives, run through the dialogue I'm supposed to have memorized by tonight...

I'm feeling sleepy again, all of a sudden, and I slept well last night. I'd rather be doing something else besides my homework... How do I think I'm going to, I dunno, -survive- - slash - _succeed_ at, say, Bio/Chem/Math if I can't even make myself do something I purport to -enjoy-? Hm. Bah...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:42 AM |

I have Finch's bed and it's. driving. me. CRAZY.

Unfortunately, I've -looked- at my bed and I don't think I can fix it. I'll just have to put up with my typing making my bed squeak; wiggling my toes making my bed squeak; having the dog lying on the foot of my bed and panting making my bed squeak... You get the picture.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:23 PM |

*Snicker* My spellchecker wants to convert 'Grigio' to 'Grudge'. Does this surprise anyone? (Also, I find it terribly amusing when wine commercials advertise pinoit grigio and pinoit noir wines, but most especially the former.)
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:28 PM |

And now I have an Official Mandate from my mother, preempting my Japanese homework! Well, sort of. I have to go drag the sump-pump hose in from outside to thaw, before the garage gets any more awash than it currently is.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:30 PM |

I got home a whole hour and a half (at least!) early. Didn't have to pick up Mme. Jean, as her mama is part of a school-play-costuming committee or something, and she and Mme. Jean (as a propschick) had a meeting after school...

Gotta finish the last rewrite and then... a nap. Maybe. Boy's're being quiet, again...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 3:13 PM |

Tuesday, March 19, 2002

My right foot -itches-. More specifically, the arch does. And I don't know _why_. Yargh...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:17 AM |

Um... These people are a little odd. In fact, they could be considered a -lot- odd. The most odd part of it all, though (to my mind, anyhow), is the four wooden posts. Why not pour a big old circle of salt around the town? Maybe have some sterling silver and iron hardware on those posts, too? It just seems a little...pagan, for such an ostensibly 'Christian' town.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:37 AM |

butt yaahh...im soOoo pissed dat im not guna be at rach's 1st cOtiLLion meEting thingeE...geeeeze..mah rents are soOo gayy..y dO they have to make meh go wit dem to a fam. parteE, knOin i dunt lyke them ?

Some day, -some- day, I will stop clicking on random blog links because they have interesting names. Then I will no longer subject myself to tripe like the above. And, once again (say it with me!), no, I am NOT making this up.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:51 AM |

The sun is shining brightly, cheerily melting all of the snow we got Sunday night/Monday morning. I can hear the meltwater drumming on the downspout extension, which doesn't exactly direct the water away from the foundation as it is intended to do... The fact that it doesn't -stay- in the bottom of the downspout helps.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:15 AM |

And a belated edit -- it's "There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold[...]".
Posted by: Shannon M.: 11:21 AM |

I love ThinkGeek's tshirts. Yes, I know I do not -need- any more shirts, but... I sure would like to own one of these.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:37 PM |

This shirt was my fondest dream, some days, at ECA.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:41 PM |

Monday, March 18, 2002

Y'know, every time -I- have to wear a hospital gown, they invariably give me some soft cotton thing I want to take home with me. My MRI outfit had three arms and was pretty warm -- there weren't any non-publically-veiwable bits of me hanging out, anyhow. Same with my tonsillectomy, and for my EGD, I'll have to wear a smock that ties in the back, but it's not something I would say no to, if they wanted to give it to me.

This post brought to you by the excerpt from Bad Chili.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 12:22 PM |

It consistently amazes me that people can, in good conscience (or something) run puppy mills. Especially puppy mills that are awash in excrement and other detritus... I mean, _I'm_ not anything -close- to a neat freak, but Lord above, the -smell- alone would be excellent motivation to keep everything in tip-top shape. Not to mention the sanitary/hygine issues, or the whole not-tripping-over-stuff angle... Yeesh. Gonna write up this M/V/T snip that's bouncing around in my head to help clean out my brain...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 1:32 PM |

Here you go...

03.18.02

------------

Tikka came bouncing up the stairs, arms full of laundry. He leaned around the end of the staircase, grinning brightly at the two men on the couch.

"What?" Marc blinked at the younger man. Victor just looked over the top of his book, feeling one corner of his mouth turn up in response to Tikka's infectious happiness.

"Warm laundry, just out of the dryer? It's the best. It's like getting into bed with your best friend." He laughed and disappeared up the stairs.

Marc, eyebrows hiding under his bangs, glanced at Victor.

Victor, clearly puzzled and highly amused, looked back. "He was -your- idea."

Marc laughed, shaking his head. "I was just thinking that perhaps it lost something in translation."

Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:06 PM |

Darling, LeapPad does not teach you how to read. When you have to have the word said aloud for you before you can say it, that's not reading, that's repeating what you're told. Echolalia, parroting... Any way you slice it, you don't -actually- _know_ how to read. Sorry, Darling, but it's true. Perhaps if Daddy spent more time at home with you and less money on crappy uneducational toys, you -would- know how to read.

In other words, I hate the LeapPad outfit with the burning passion of a thousand firey suns, or however that phrase goes, and wish they would drop off the face of the Earth. Grr.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:23 PM |

Er, if it's not obvious, Vic really does like/love Tikka. It's just that sometimes, he simply doesn't -understand- the boy. Of course, he doesn't understand Marc at times, either, and is found to be incomprehensible by the other two, so it all works out.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:27 PM |

Poor Yasminda... I'm watching TV (no class today, due to excessive snow), and a woman was making kissing-noises and encouraging a dog to come to her. Yasminda sat up and was looking around, trying to figure out who was calling her...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:05 PM |

Last night, we had chicken soup with rice -- sing it with me! Whoopee once, whoopee twice, whoopee chicken soup with rice! *Ahem* *Grin* All Really Rosie references aside, I had to start the soup while mama cleared the driveway. No big deal, I think, it's just chopping some veggies, boiling the rice in some stock, thaw the chicken...

Well, I could only find one can of chicken stock. I thought for -sure- we'd bought more, but I had no clue as to where it -was- if we had. Oh well, I shrugged, it'll be okay. We have chicken, and the stock is really only for a little extra flavoring, anyhow. So I toss a cup of rice into the stock and put it on to boil, then set about cutting up potatoes, carrots, celery, and part of an onion. (The flat of stock we'd bought was right where you'd expect to find it -- sitting, unopened, on the seat of a dining room chair.)

The first four ingredients went smoothly. I didn't cut myself, I didn't drop too many bits on the floor, and I remembered to wash everything and trim the gicky dried-up bits off the spuds. Then, I got to The Onion. The Onion was -not- a Maya Sweet, which is what we _usually_ use in our soups. It was a yellow boiling onion, and it was _stout_. Normally, mom cuts up the onion, Yasminda sneezes a few times, and we all do just fine. Last night, the oil from the onion was so volatile that my eyes watered, my nose ran, and I could barely see to put the onion in a baggie and then into the fridge. It was -such- an unexpected reaction that all I could do was laugh about it.

I know you're not supposed to feed onions to dogs -- Yasminda doesn't like them, anyhow, and the smell makes her sneeze -- but does anyone know why? Do they cause some kind of bad respiratory reaction?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:28 PM |

Hm. Ev just handed me ten bucks, which he told me was from dad for gasoline. (Ev took my car to pick dad up at the airport.) I'm sitting here, thinking, 'cooool, I can go to TitleWave!'. My priorities are not the same as those of other people.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:34 PM |

Working on M/V/T: The Great RPS Fic thing. However, rather than finding out more about The Blueberry Holiday, I am finding out more about how the three of them relate to one another. It's a Good Thing, just not an Expected Thing.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:36 PM |

Every time I hear the word 'Ultra' in the Charmin commercial, I hear 'Oprah'. Then I wonder why on -earth- there's a Project Oprah going on, then I realize that no, it's just that dumb commercial again...

I find the T.J. Maxx commercial with the women watching their daughters play baseball to be marginally amusing, though... For one thing, the women are conversant in Baseball ("way to crush it!" "Steal, steal, hit the dirt, baby!"), for another, they're -not- sniping at one another for their choice in clothing or store of choice. It's nice to see some adults at a children's sporting event portrayed as getting along, rather than as a couple of bitchy competitors.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:56 PM |

Added some to Spending A Quiet Evening At Home. The guys spend a -lot- of time on the couch... *Blink*
Posted by: Shannon M.: 6:37 PM |

Sunday, March 17, 2002

"Bored of", "I would of (done whatever)"... No, no, NO. I would _have_, or I would'VE. I am bored -with-. Gaaaaaah!

*Ahem* I feel better, sort of.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:26 AM |

Good Lord _Almighty_... *Blinkblink* I found _this_...travesty linked from a blog that was written almost as poorly.

Do people that write like that really believe that they are somehow communicating in a clear and concise manner? Or do they simply not care one way or the other? What do they hope to accomplish? Do they sleep through English class? Do they _ever_ -read- books? How is it that they manage to read a book and not -realize- that the way the book is written and the way they write are wholly and fundamentally _different_? Am I simply beating my head against a brick wall?
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:32 AM |

Jazzy did u get mah review for ure poem? That person with the first review... sounded like a teacher... "very well written, despite several errors" lolz. Although there were a lot of spelling mistakes and crap. w/e. It's da best poem I ever read that's been written by sum1 that's not an adult. Must admit tho, mah fave poem is The Cremation of Sam McGee... ure's is nxt. lalalalala....

There are strange things dun by the midnight sun,
by the men who moil for gold.
The arctic trails have their secret tales that would make ure blood run cold.
The northern lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see..
was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

Yes I have memorised it... U dun wanna hear the rest tho it's really really really really looooonnnggg. well gonna go now... wish I could c ya'll at Jackiez b-day but I'm really SICK. bye

I'm not making this up. I wish I were... Why in GOD's NAME does anyone let these people near either A) a keyboard or B) classic poetry? The Cremation Of Sam McGee is NOT that long, for cryin' out loud. And I'm pretty damn sure that Robert Frost did NOT spell 'done' or 'your' like that. How the hell do you pronounce 'ure', anyhow? I'm inclind to say it just the way it's spelled, which means it's said 'yuu-er' or 'ewer', like the...thing. I think an ewer is part of the liturgical hardware for a service; it's either the thing used to sprinkle water from the baptismal or the jug that holds water/wine for communion.

I am an intellectual snob. I acknowledge this, and I embrace it. If you can't keep up with me in conversation, then don't even bother, because sweetie, I'm not about to use diminuitive, monosyllabic words so that your pusillanimous cerebrum might possibly comprehend them. If you can't -write- without using shortcuts, acronyms, or fucking NUMBERS to stand in for -real words-, then don't even -try-. (Abbreviations, when necessary, and of course -accepted- acronyms [LOL, ATM, AFAIK, etc.] are fine, as long as they're not overused.) If you can make me laugh, shiver, think, and sniffle with your writing alone, I'll probably let a lot slide... But not until you've proven that you're worth the investment of my time and energy.

So maybe the people that this rant is aimed at will never in a million years read this, but... I feel better now. I -told- you I was a curmudgeon.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:49 AM |

Speaking of communications and language and writing... What sort of insane culture came up with the idea of conjugating -ADJECTIVES-? They're -adjectives-! They should just...stay! *Pulls out hair* *Whines* Someone remind me why I thought Japanese would be a -good- language to take?

At least I don't have to worry about genders and articles that change with genders.
Posted by: Shannon M.: 10:58 AM |

Y'know, most of the time, I can take or leave real RPS. However, when it comes to slashing -Alton Brown- with Tyler Florence, I have to take a deep breath, calm down, and hit delete before I hit reply and flame the author for the sacrilege of slashing Alton with -anyone- from Food911. (I -am- grateful it's not Bobby Flay or Gordon Elliot, but anyhow...) If I were to write RPS for a real person, and that person were Alton, I'd go for...I don't know, Jaque Torres, or Jamie Whatsisname from The Naked Chef. Torres knows chocolate, and Jamie's got that interesting accent... Blergle. I have to go lie down, now, because there's just some things I don't -want- to think about, RPS with Food Network stars is one of them...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 2:14 PM |

The Old Mac That Went To Pot, from Wired.

All I really have to say is, 'yeah, but LSD and DOS both came out of Berkley, at the same time, so what does -that- tell you?'. (And personally, I don't know a single Mac owner like these guys. I know a guy like them whose -parents- own a Mac, but I don't think that counts.)
Posted by: Shannon M.: 4:43 PM |

'national alliance' (a white 'supremacy' group) keeps putting up banners on a pedestrian overpass, here. The overpass is there to allow little kids to cross one of the busiest streets in the city to get to school. Something needs to be done, but I don't know -what-, precisely. Most of my ideas are fairly illegal...
Posted by: Shannon M.: 5:08 PM |