Relatively Original Miscellany

2005-07-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

I'm wondering if this will work. But it's a pretty picture anyways.

Go me!

2005-04-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

This is a joyful noise for me. It seems that I have gone a month without visiting the salon. I know this because I no longer keep a checkbook, but use the debit card to make Bankety do it for me. Naturally, I keep all the receipts to make sure it goes down right on the spike, but I am impressed.

It is also just a little bit depressing, because I originally had time to go and get facials and manicures and highlights and pretty things like that. Now it appears that I no longer have that kind of time.

In the spirit of that, shall get back to writing papers. Have one week to finish a ten pager that I have barely done the research for. Have two days to finish a paper that has no limit and I have not read for. Have one due at noon that I have halfway done.
Funny how my life revolves around papers right now.
One week!
-- lilith

Meditation on Procrastination

2004-12-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

I can always tell when I'm procrastinating for real. I start doing nutty things, like trying to find all the country music I can manage to find on iTunes.
And writing letters.
I keep telling myself that I study better with country music, but I'm not sure this is so. It's very comforting and reminds me of long quiet drives up the mountain that was a guaranteed half-hour of meditation time leaving the city behind. Funny how it is that I always imagine going -up-, but I never imagine coming down. I remember the days where it's lovely and I'm wandering down the mountain, watching the clouds against the blue sky retreating into the smog of the city and .. knowing it all so well.
I think I'm homesick for the mountains in summer. I am trying desperately to reconcile the chaos and isolation of finals with the chaos and isolation of winter break. It's much too long, and yet not long enough to really do anything.
And so I am going to go back to writing about the efforts of decolonization in Hong Kong and India. I first put Iraq in there, but then realized that what I was writing had nothing to do with Iraq.
In other news, M is back from Chile. I missed her. And so now I am thrilled, because she is back.
And I have thousands of things to do. Which is ok.

Pampering Day, #2

2004-11-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

As N is gone for all of Thanksgiving, having barely missed and then made his flight, I have declared this weekend a working vacation. (While I have work to do, I'm only going to take the work that I -have- to do seriously.)
Yesterday was Thanksgiving with family, where I indulged in the drama queen side and enjoyed it thoroughly. (Note to self -- tiara definitely needed at home. Shall drop hints to N. And by hints I mean actively putting this into words. *pause.)
And that was lovely.
I have now decided that baths surrounded by candles are lovely, and shall make every effort to make them nicer every single time. (Believer in HomeSpa right here.)
And Lover's Hot Chocolate is fabulous. Simply hot chocolate made how it should be made, by melting real chocolate into half and half. And then sipped while in bath.
So that has certainly made me happy.
The rest of today's activities may be added to this, depending on what they are and if they involve making me happy.

On another note, if you are ever unhappy with your filthy bigoted roommate, do not try to clean her refridgerator because you just can't take it anymore.
It will not make you more pleased with the infestation of trash that inhabits the other side of the room. *le sigh.*
I may be posting more frequently about less than thrilling things. Then again, that's what drama queens do. (Bombshells might be drama queens too. The terms might be interchangable.)
I will have crossed the line from drama queen to bombshell when I stop throwing verbal fits and progress to throwing drinks, fine china and crystal. It could happen sometime.

My new wake-up song? "Buon Giorno Principessa" by Alex Fox Trio. It might be better than "Butterfly's Day Out" by Yo-Yo Ma.

Wishlist

2004-11-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

Because I think it's easier this way.
An MP3 player, of some sort. iPods are silly and overpriced. But funny things, anyways.
Leatherman, small type, are also awesome.
Anything from BasBlue.
Any DVD that anyone thinks I might need.
Any sort of writing implementation anyone thinks I might adore.
Socks. XD It's silly, I know, but I can never have enough, and the college washers keep eating them. And what the washer taketh away, sometimes you find something else in its place. Like.. blue markers that leak all over clothing.

Epiphanies do not usually come gently

2004-10-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

I walked a labyrinth today, for the first time in my life. For some people, it is a spiritual journey, and I found that something was disquieted, and what it was. It was a decision that I had already come to, and now.. it's time for acceptance.
I'm definitely not doing crew in the spring. Even when I'm good at it, and there are some days, I'm still not fully happy with it. And the parts that I'm not fully happy with involve the crew parts of it, but I love the "cultlike" atmosphere with the team. However, I can still have that without the awful parts of it.
And so. There will be other things. And I should find them before they find me. Because crew found me. Which is good. And bad.
I think I learned a lot. 3 more days of practice, and then I can be completely open and then tell coach that this is not what I need to do right now.
And a labyrinth is a great idea. Sr. Loretta is.. wow. When I am old, I want the serenity of a nun.
So reverent and beautiful.

An ode to the greatest time-waster known to man -- The Internet

2004-10-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

I think I would possibly get a hell of a lot more done if this beautiful medium did not exist.
All of it. Blogger, eBay, Google, NYTimes, Salon, etc.
Productivity would actually rise because of it. (I think there may have been an article in the Onion [online, of course, where else do I actually read things that have some significance on my life] about how office productivity rises 62 percent when internet access fails. Because you can't go read Fark.com.)
But without the internet, I would have been unable to jumpstart a friend's car this morning.
Or at least know when the gentlemen who were "helping" us were utterly wrong. Men. Headshake.

In other recent news, we won our first headrace of the year, and I got thrown in the Willamette. Lovely much.

And then there was curiosity

2004-10-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

AskMen.com - Feminism: "If you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a sexual revolution when it comes to the word 'slut.' Feminists love to talk about the power of language and reclaiming words that men use to hurt.
'Slut' is one of those words.
These days it has a mixed meaning. Call one of your girlfriend's friends a slut, and you'll never hear the end of it. That's when you'll see the 'I'm a total feminist' side of her. But call your girlfriend a slut while you're in bed together and she'll love you for it. "

Apparently, it's all about language reclaimation. "Dirty" words are now acceptable and more so. However, I think I approve. The feminists looked for openness in gender relations. Meaning that fathers can actually be real dads, and not Mr. Cleaver. Which I approve of, but have no intention of getting to that stage within a decade. Or two.

A Public Service Announcement

2004-10-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that the world was unable to respond to my insightful prose.
This has been fixed.
You are now free to go about your meaningful lives.
(And don't shoot each other in the face. You won't like it.)

Things we ought to have remembered

2004-10-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

1) That safety is very important. 2) That when a gentlemen tries to convince you of something, particularly if he is drunk, he may not have thought of this all the way through. 3) A gentleman, or a group of gentlemen who is/are drunk, are not generally considered "guardians of safety".

To make a long story rather short, I am now sporting a "beauty mark" on my face, courtesy of D and his assault rifle (Airsoft. To be sure.)
A goodly number of other gentlemen are also sporting wounds, inflicted by each other, or each other's AirSoft rifles.
And while a pistol may be a ladylike sort of weapon, it does relatively little. Bear this in mind the next time it comes up.

This would be considered whining

2004-10-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

It would also definitely be a time to whine. When choosing to undertake an online executive position, remember that normal business hours are fiction in the extreme.
And that it is more than likely that you will become a target at your "before bed correspondance check", for at least 6 hours of work.
Which would have been the approximate amount of sleep one expected to achieve.
Remember, as well, that Murphy's Law (and all of its assorted corellaries) is alive and well. [Whatever can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible moment.]

And you will still be expected to cope. Remember this.

Lamenting the amount of formality

2004-10-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Because there seem to be too few occasions to truly justify spending vast amounts of money on, something should be fixed. Either the equipment for these occasions should be brought down in price, or it should be a monthly occurance.
Curious as to what line of work gets to look that good all the time. "Belle Du Jour" does not count.
Off to one of these said occasions. The only one of the year.

Tea and very few intellectual crumpets

2004-09-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

After an invigorating session of macha (Japanese Green Tea, complete with ceremony), I returned to an infantile discussion of chi and gu, and how the balance of one partner's chi (namely, mine), will be improved by the making of brownies (again, the effort is also mine) for the other partner, (namely, N).
I believe he was attempting to be funny.
Sadly enough, no jury will convict on charges of absolute rubbish.

In other news, the prodigal son hath returned! As I am as yet unsure as what he wishes to be referred to as, we shall simply rejoice that D (most definitely capitalized) is restored to good health and good spirits. There may be many other D's in my life, but none compare to this particular one. (Neither does N, come to think of it. )

Why Lilith?

2004-09-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

I write this as a first year anniversary draws very near. Very near indeed. (This is still a point of contention between N and I. He claims that he will tell me exactly when this relationship-milestone is. This is silliness. It's whenever I wish it to be.)
Lilith is, of course, a nom de plume. (Why write under your own name when there are so many other v. interesting ones that can so so much more about you, and your desires?) Not saying that all of Lilith's history is completely desirable, but the part about relationships and equality is definitely a good thing.
(NB - I am not Jewish. I have no particular affinity for Judaism. I may or may not have played one on TV. This is for you to decide.)

I found that I spent much time mentally discussing relationship with N in previous times. While I shall strive not to do so in this particular place, it may happen. I have accepted it.
When questioned about the tendency of lovers to become preoccupied with their significant other, A finally gave me a straight answer. "It's because they are the most important things in our lives. Like it or not, they make our lives better or worse by the mere presence." (Generally, I'm for the opinion that it's better.)

These are the things we learn slowly. Trust a man who admits things. You may eventually feel freer to admit things as well.

A beginning.

2004-09-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Have noticed something interesting. It's sometimes useful to set up "New Year's Resolutions" in September. That way, it feels a bit like "Back to School Resolutions", even if you've never truly left. It's very high on the productive factor.
(I kept putting in "resoulutions". Freudian slip, anyone? Either this means that I really -have- sold my soul to some sort of higher power [namely, crew], and that I'm trying to retrieve it, or I really had no soul to begin with, and are searching for it.)
Because I am lazy, and desire not to be, and because I enjoy(ed) writing and using parentheticals (and will continue to), this is.