Batagur says: Soylent Green is PEOPLE!

As seen on Post Secrets.

This "Secret" was on Post Secrets this Sunday. I totally agree.  Why all the drama. It's suppose to be the season of good will.

DC Comics dissapoints

I mentioned this on my Twitter when I became aware of the brew-ha about the redux of the Teen Titans.

The web comic Shortpacked explains it best

As I said on Twitter:

Superheroes today according to DC Comics

Male = steroid pumped body-builder

Female = Stripper

 

Le sigh, is there no place left where a fan-girl like me can feel ok?

 

It's been a while since I've had anything good to say. I'll let you know when I do.

I can't believe I found this!

OMGator! The most awesome thing ever!

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April Fools

 

There goes... something

Two people have been reported killed in clashes between security forces and protesters in the Gulf state of Oman. -BBC

My Sophomore year in college, I dated a handsome young man From Oman named Sultan.  We talked often about the differences between his home and my home, and I came to believe that Oman was this peaceful, happy place where all the people were prosperous, the beaches were gorgeous, and the Wadis were mini paradises. I longed to go there. Sultan didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay here and become an American. He wanted to live in New York off his father's money and be the quintessential Seinfeld-archetype New Yorker.  He also started talking marriage about our third date.  Well, that wasn't where I was going. Soon we were only going out as friends, and from there, we moved apart. After I left that college to eventually go to OSU, I never saw him again.

Every time I hear about the Middle East, especially about the countries that boarder Oman like Yemen and Saudi Arabia, I think of Oman and Sultan. I always liked to believe he came to his senses and went home to that happy, peaceful paradise. Or, maybe he married a nice American girl and they had residences in both countries. That would have suited him well.

When the unrest hit the Middle East, I foolishly believed that Oman would not come to such a fate.  I foolishly still believed it was this pretty picture Sultan panted for me back in 1988. Well, no matter where you go, there you are, and I've never been to Oman. I have to remind myself now that what I heard was one young man's story told to a pretty, young, and somewhat vapid college co-ed some twenty three years ago.

Reading something? Nope, listening to a book. How semi intellectual of me

Books: I love them, but I've had a hard time recently keeping my mind on the page. It could be the most gripping novel I have read in a while and I'll start drifting off to sleep. What's the problem? Well, I only read while laying down. That's my favorite, comfortable reading position (unless I'm on an airplane, in which case there is no position that could be called comfortable). That being said, I tried to read some David Sedaris, an incredibly witty humorist with one hell of a warped world view that rivals my own. The man is a genius and his works, highly entertaining. I however, will take a week to roll through a chapter of his stuff because I read it between catnaps. Sucks, really.

Then I discovered Audible. You heard of this thing. They are a subsidiary of Amazon.com and all they deal in is downloadable audio books. The convenience is staggering. I get a book, I load it on the ol' iPod, and I drive to and from work, a half hour commute, with instant entertainment. For two weeks, I've been listening to When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. The book is read by him, which makes it all the more fun. I don't know if you have ever listened to Mr. Sedaris before, but I find his vocal delivery a very fun part of the whole experience of his story telling.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the book. However, upon looking back in when I purchased it and reading the customer reviews, I realize how hugely unhelpful those reviews were. Some of them, negative and positive ones, I have to wonder if these readers had listened to the same book. I found none of the elements in which they either complained or gave commendation within the story. One the whole, I think these people just showed up and started writing a random review so as to have their screen name in print somewhere on the internet, other than on their email addy. *shrug*

Go figure. I need a new book to listen to now.

It may seem necessary, but it is not polite to assume everyone is an uninformed fool

A few days ago I responded in sympathy to an Blogging friends current state of malaise and mentioned as a matter of fact about my current medical decision to deal with a somewhat similar problem. Now, I was in no way advocating my decision or suggesting that it may be this friends best option as well. I was just stating it because I felt like sharing with the class. Along comes well-meaning friend of the friend who is not a mutual friend who has had a bad experience with the mentioned solution and tries to sound supportive if I need to "talk" about my decision.

I kept my mouth shut. Why? Because, the person meant well. However, in my reality this person was saying to me, "You probably haven't thoroughly researched this medical product so let me give you the 411." My cranky response: NEWS FLASH: Yes, I did research the product for several weeks and amassed a pretty big list of both kudos and complaints. Thanks, but no thanks. I made this decision for myself because I'm a big girl who knows what it means to make an informed decision.

People do mean well. Nevertheless, it occurs to me that sometimes that sort of stuff can seem both annoying and condescending. It's one thing to make discussion by bring up some poor side-effects or possible problems. It's a whole other thing to offer support to someone you don't even know about a medical decision they have made that hasn't even been executed yet.

The thing about it is...

I miss smoking. Yes,  it was a bad habit that smelled nasty to non-smokers and could kill me with all manner of lung disease and cancers.  Hell, it still could, considering that I breathed my parents' second-hand smoke from infancy until college, and then I breathed my own first-hand smoke at a pack-a-day for over twenty years. Nevertheless, I'm better off now. Right?

Seriously. I miss smoking. I miss the way stepping outside, away from my coworkers, away from the ringing phone and the stupid memos made me relax. I miss how inhaling made me take deep breaths and how exhaling could end on a content sigh.  I miss watching that hypnotic glow of the lit end that waxed and waned with each draw.  I miss flicking ashes and watching them fall away satisfactorily with a mere tap of my fingers, the one thing in my day I could so easily control. I hated when the cigarette came to an end because that meant I had to go back in and face them.  However, I could crush it out with a note of finality that would be the cap to my resolve. I could square my shoulders, feeling refreshed and face it all over again until the next smoke break.

Tea Party Talking Head: "There is a problem with spending in Washington!"

TV News host: "Tell us more? What specific problems can you see? Why should we be concerned? Please enlighten us!"

Tea Party Talking Head: "Well I'm no expert. I can really give you an answer to that..."

Me: "Then what are you doing on my TV crying 'WOLF!' Get the f**k out! You blew your credibility here."

A thought for 2011

Via Geekosystems