This past weekend I went to Japan Fest down at Stone Mountain. I went with my husband and our friends from New Orleans. We did a lot of fun things. Participated in a tea ceremony (yum, I have a weakness for all things tea), watched a banzai demonstration, watched japanese drummers, had our fortunes read (apprently it was a super very bad day for me), shopped about, had our names done in caligraphy, and ate lots of japanese food. (And by eat I mean drink, and by food I mean beer.)

I was also chosen to participate in a cooking demonstration put on by the japanese consulate here in Atlanta. I was brought up to the front for all to see and taught to make sushi by a master chef. Fun! I was taught how to make a california roll. Not very hard, but still pretty neat. Of course, I can't eat rice as it makes me horribly ill. This makes me similar to a bird in many respects. Strange yes? Perhaps in my past life I was a bird and did something tremedous to become human. Or perhaps in my next life I am meant to be a bird and I'm prepping for it now.

Anyway, I have pictures of me making sushi.

Yesterday I got called a Liberal like it was something bad.

I was called a Liberal because I criticised Intelligent Design being taught in schools. I think being called a Liberal these days is akin to being called a "Pinko" in the 50's. Intelligent Design is simply Creationism under a new and flashy name. Creationism was banned from being taught in schools, there is no reason why this new, modernised version of it should be taught there.

This issue went on trial yesterday in Pennsylvania.

Uhg. Soon I will be forced to wear a red dress and be called a Handmaid. Doctors will be killed and put up for public display. The 'Angels' will fight against all outside influences and the world will be a very hard place to live. I for one will shout from the rooftops: "May Day! May Day!" Am I unpatriotic because I do not think that Religion has a place in the State? Am I a horrible person because I don't think that Religious drivvel should be taught in schools?

((And Does anyone else catch The Handmaid's Tale references in life lately?))

Today I got to play with the centrifuge at work. Its not as cool as the magnetic resonator, but still fun to play with. I was spinning down blood to syphon off the plasma. Much to my consternation, we were out of powder-free laytex gloves. I had to use the powdered ones. Now, if you know anything about lab work and gloves, you know that these gloves suck. Especially when you have to wear them for longer than a few minutes. No matter how many times you wash your hands the wet powder sticks to them, especially under the nails. Uhg.

I also got to play with the tonometer bowl today and tanks of gas (obviously as I'm using the tonometer bowl).

It has been a good gadget sort of day.

My husband wants some linky lovin' for his eBay store that he just set up. Because I adore him, I am posting a link to his store. I warn you, everything he has written there are lies! I never threatened death. I never even said anything.

But... it's all in how you market yourself.

Sparky's Auctions!

So, there baby. There is some linky love for you.

I better get laid tonight for that.

So, last night I went to the library as I often do. I got there returned my books and picked up several new ones to last me the week. Much to my elation, the book I had special ordered happened to be there a day early so I picked it up. Hazah! So, I check out my books and wander back out to the parking lot to my car. I get into my car and turn the key..

...nothing...

Bloody nothing. The battery was dead. It was deader than dead. It was so dead the lights on the inside of the car were sickly. So... no problem. I call up my husband and get him to come and jump the battery so I can get home.

No go.

The battery was so dead it wouldn't even hold a charge anymore. Alright then. I have AAA. They will come out and replace my battery for me. I call them up in the parking lot with my husband. The operator tells us there is a 3+ hour wait in our area for this service. This is at 9pm mind you. (And, you should know this is the same time the bloody auto-parts stores close.)

Okay. We tell them we'll take care of it. So, we head off to the ever present and ever open Wal-Mart. We get to the battery section and they every, single battery model imaginable. Every single battery save one.

The one I need.

Well, fuck me sideways.

We find out that there is one more auto-parts store open until 11pm. That means we still have time to get there. We get there and they do have the battery. Once again... elation. This battery of course costs me an extra $20 dollars as compared to Wal-Mart (or probably anywhere else in the whole gods damned world), but thats okay. We get back to the Library. We try to get the old battery off with the tool kit I keep in my car.

The bastards who put on the last battery at my 100,000 mile check-up used an electric torque wrench with the torque turned waaaaay too high. I couldn't get the bolts off of the battery with the tools I had. So, back to the house to get more tools. Back to the library with more tools.

At 11:15 I finally managed to get the fucking bolts undone and the battery out. By 11:20, the new battery is in.

Get in the car, turn the key...

And it starts. Thank the gods.

I drive home. I feel gross. Beyond gross. I am covered in grease, sweat and other assorted ick. So I hop into the shower. By the time I get out its midnight and I am tired so I go to bed and even manage to fall asleep.

My alarm goes off an hour late in the morning. But it's okay. I get to work late because of that. But it's okay.

I take 3 Midol and finally start some work only to find that all the reports I have taken the past two weeks to write have since become out-dated as my boss changed all the specs on me. A fact he didn't (and still hasn't) informed me of. I had to hear it from someone in QC.

Okay, so I update all the reports and start writing validation protocols. That gets me up to now.

I am cranky.

I am in a foul mood.

I just want to go home.

But I can't.

Fuck me sideways.

This weekend I did a lot of stuff. This means I didn't actually MUD much. This means that despite it all I do actually have a life outside of the internet. Which, in itself is reassuring and makes me feel a little better about myself.

Friday I spent the day with my in laws. It was my granny's Birthday as well as the father-in-law. So we went out to dinner and gave them gifts. It amazes me that people put so little thought into their gifts. We actually got granny something she wanted and asked for: a yarn-baller. We got my father in law a Swiss Army pocket knife with a detachable geek stick (USB drive). He was very excited about it and kept showing it off to all his friends all weekend. That makes you feel are warm and fuzzy and stuff.

On Saturday, we went to another Birthday party for a friend of ours. He turned 50 and had quite the birthday bash. There was much whiskey, beer and scotch involved in this party as it was flowing like the proverbial water. About half of the gifts he recieved were 14+ year bottles of single malt. We got him a Totoro poster and a copy of the movie because he said he absolutely loved the movie when we lent it to him.

Sunday... well Sunday I was a naughty little monkey. I spent 70$ on anime. I probably shouldn't have, but I did. I bought Nadia (the whole thing, so it really wasn't all that expensive). I came home and watched 28 Day Later and Dodgeball. I watched these because I joined Netflicks and these were some of the first movies to arrive from my queue. I do love the zombie movies. While I was watching these, I was writting thank you cards for the gifts we got from our wedding.

Also, I caught up a bit on my reading. Finished three books and I am reading (Gods I am a bloody moron... but that was a nifty typo) ready to go to the library again.

On a side note, apparently Jeckles over at the Shitty Blogs Club isn't getting enough lovin' lately. So, I shall give him some linky love. I also left him some comment love because he just had to go and piss and moan about the lack of it lately. Also, he is apparently in tech support, and I know those poor, unappreciated bastards need much lovin. So... here is to you Jeckles! You're my Fucking hero with a capitol F. Of course, I don't know why I'm giving you linky love because you havn't even added me to the Shitty Blogs Club Bloggroller you lazy fuck.

In my time I have heard some stupid things fall out of people's mouths in regard to this subject. The first took the cake back in junior high. Now, junior high is a time of misery, cliches and overall self-loathing. I went to a 'special' school for a long time prior to entering the school where I heard the first stupid thing I heard. This basically means that I hadn't ever interacted with truly ignorant people my own age. So, when I heard the following fall out of a friend's mouth in my new school, I was simply flabergasted.

This is what she said: "Oh, Jurassic park is a nice fantasy, especially considering there were never dinosuars to begin with. All those bones were put there by God to test satanic scientists..."

It's good to know that she thought of science as Satanic. Mind you, she also didn't believe in Plate Tektonicsand honestly thought the world was only ~5000 years old. She did, however, believe in science of medicine, inventions of convenience, smoking, drinking, and lying. I will never forget the phrase "Satanic Scientists". Nor will I forget how when I stayed the night at her house and she took me to church (Southern Baptist) that the lady in the Sunday school wouldn't give me a popsicle unless I filled out paperwork with my name, address, or phone number.

I believe she has two kids now, divorced once and currently unhappily married.

On to a brief interlude of my research into the phrase "Satanic". This idea that scientists are satanic is actually quite old. It was first applied to the scientific community by the Catholic Church in Galileo's time. There are rumors that they used this term in reference to the Illuminati, but who knows if they ever really existed in the way all the cult theorists speculate. Satan is derived from an arabic word Shaitan and is actually plural. You can be "a satan", which simply means a bad influence. A satan is something that is meant to lead people astray, confuse and begile them. In other words, a simple miscreant. No fire and brimstone, no horns or a tail. Just someone that another person sees as improper. (This is probably why the Church used an arabic term for it.)

So, perhaps I am a satanic scientist. Me and my miscreant ways.

This leads me up to the next stupidest things I've ever heard. This happened in college (I'm rating by order of jaw dropping, not horribly chronological.) This happened in an English class filled with fellow Engineers and Scientists. This one honestly made my head spin and apparently it also made the head spin of the chap sitting next to me who was Mormon. That should give you an idea of how truly assinine this was.

This guy (who later became my arch-nemesis) said this, outloud and with no humour: "People don't evolve, they just adapt to their surroundings."

I was stunned into silence by this one. Everyone in the class just turned and looked at this wanker and stared as if he had just stated the world was indeed flat. Let me refer you all to Webster for this:

evolution: a process of change in a certain direction

Okay. In other words, adaption dumbass. Gods above, the utter crap that falls from people's mouths is staggering. Of course, this is the same man who said, aloud, that the reason there were not many female scientists was because "God doesn't wan't women to be scientists so He made them inept in mathematics."

So, why am I ranting about this? Well, it's this whole intelligent design debate. Yes, I am sure many people believe in it, but in essense it is a religious theory and therefore cannot be taught in school under the laws of separation of Church and State. Evolution on the other hand is not a religious theory and can be taught within school under this same premise. It should be taught as a theory because that is what it is.

So, I leave you all with this little gem.

I have gotten bad once agian about updating my roleplay blog. Bleh. I hate when I do that. I know I should just write something, but I have been very busy. At least that is what I tell myself. I have been working on character pictures for people on Shadow Siege. I finished two this week already. One for Nybrylla and one for Canti. I still need to make a sketch for Aanson, Bjar and Lia. Bjar is a tough one. I am thwarted by the beard and the arrogant personality. Aanson should be a little easier as he is more effeminate and I love drawing men in glasses. Sexy. Also, I have an idea what manga character I'm going to base him off of and I can base the sketch off of one of those so it will definately cut down on the sketch time. I am putting of Lia to the last as she should be the easiest to sketch. I am much better at woman then men and I fully admit to that.

I did finish a picture of Aavak and Zarika. I know I did the ears wrong on Zarika, but I really like how the rest of it came out and I didn't want to mess with the sketch after I had finished it. on colouring it, I think it is one of my better jobs. I even managed the freckles and personality in the colouring.

All of these niceties in doing character sketches for others has put off my own goal of redesigning my Realplay and Roleplay blog. I really am not pelased with how my latest design for my roleplay blog turned out and it hasn't grown on me. So, I plan on redoing it. It should be fairly quick to redo as I already have a concept for it. However, I also promised Aanson I'd help him design his. That means I need to draw him a banner and lay out some templates. He wan'ts a book-like theme which should be fairly easy to layout. I already have an idea of what I would do for him. This just means I need to put my own blog redesigns on a slight hold.

So, in the meanwhile, I am taking votes as to what my new Real Play Blog theme should be. Leave a comment on this post as to what you think I should go with... here are some possible ideas:

• The Desert
• Anime (specific or otherwise)
• A Season
• A book / movie
• An Abstract Idea (psyche, idependence, chaos etc)
• Libra-ness
• A Science
• An Art Style (my current template is based on Art Nouveau)

Feel free to suggest other themes as well.

Snow
Silent white bleeding out of me
Nothing is falling except the sky
     bringing

      Suffocating white death
      Frighteningly steady
This amazing lack of sound
    falls out of the sky.

This horrible white death is gunna swallow me
    Inside pain this resides
    Inside pain - outside of me

Unattached
   Reattached again.

Falling out of me
   with the clouds
covering the mist people.
Tiny - crawling through this white death
     I sprinkle upon them -

As an unforgiving goddess
   giving out blood
   like candied apples.
Sweet golden fruit

covered in sugar
which is white death.

Unattached
   Reattached again.

High doses of vitamin C injected into the bloodstream may help fight cancer, a US study says. Scientists found that intravenous vitamin C in the form of ascorbate killed cancer cells in lab tests.

Scientists found that intravenous vitamin C in the form of ascorbate killed cancer cells in lab tests.
BBCnews.com, Vitamin C 'helps to fight cancer'

Alright, this doesn't mean that people with cancer should run out and start overdosing on Vitamin C. That's just foolish. This simply means that it may help to kill the cancer cells. This evidence apparently contradicts an earlier test done in th 1970's. Why? The researchers say that they used much higher levels of Vitamin C this time.

Well, Duh.

Vitamin C often contains something called ascorbate. Many cancer cells are in fact sensitive to this chemical. This chemical apparently led to the formation of hydrogen peroxide (mmm... fizzy) and that killed off the cells.

There is still overwhelming evidence that says that Vitamin C isn't really all that effective though. But, like many cancer treatments, it can be used in a cocktail like method and perhaps add a few extra perks to the whole concoction of cancer treatments. Of course, there is no evidence that this treatment will work on people. Many many drugs that work in labs don't work in humans because the lab is a perfect, controled environment where as the human body is most definately not.

I am still all for nano-tech to fight cancer, but this too is encouraging. It means that they are exploring some of the more natural and common drugs rather than the chemical/radioactive drugs that have quite harsh side effects.

In the midst of the Hurricane Katrina madness, relief, support and tradgedy; I think some important bits of news have been sidelined. The natural disaster has taken the spotlight off of something else that is equally important.

The Death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

How many people can actually name the day the man died? Not many I'm sure. His death was shadowed by the tradgedy of a city... of a nation. On Saturday, September 3rd, 2005; William Rehnquist finally succumbed to the thyroid cancer that he had been battling for almost a year.

In light of this, Mrs O'Conner said that she would put off her retirement (that she was going to take in order to take care of her husband who is suffering from Alzheimers) so that Rehnquist's position can be filled first. Bush promptly removed his nomination for Judge Roberts from her position and shifted him into the spotlight for the position of Chief Justice.

Rehnquist was a conservative judge. So is Robert when you get down to brass tax on the matter. Both oppose affirmative action and Roe v. Wade. Both wanted more ties between church and state (a concept that makes me shudder and one that I am certain has Thomas Jefferson rolling about in his grave.) Rehnquist opposed the Miranda law, but none-the-less wrote the High Court's decision to include it into federal law. Despite all of this, he was a voice of reason, often putting aside his own views for the good of the country and the Court.

So, now what?

I suspect Roberts will glide through the nomination process relatively unscathed. The people's attention is diverted to more important things at the moment and thus the Senate won't be able to garnish the spotlight for their crazy bi-partisan wars.

To be honest, I don't like Roberts. Want to know my #1 reason why I don't like him? No, it is not his stand on Roe v. Wade. It is not his record in various church v. state decisions. It comes down to one major thing that angers me.

He does not believe I deserve to be paid as much as my male counterparts.

I work twice as hard and get paid 2/3 as much.

Sometimes, action really should be affirmative.

Well, today my special edition copy of Norwegian Wood came in. It is super spiffy. It is a box set of two small japanese style paperbacks. This copy of the book was only released in the UK. It came to me today. All wrapped and spiffy. I would post a picture, but... well, I'm lazy.

I have this new book and I want to read it, but I also don't want to put a crease in the shiny books. It would be like destroying a thing of beauty. i hate that.

On another note, I have been reading a lot of Ha Jin. This is a chinese author. Quite good really. I've been working through the many works: Waiting, The Crazed, The Bridegroom. At the same time I have been reading Gravity's Rainbow. The mix is... interesting. This Pynchon book is not as good as The Crying of Lot 49 but still alright thus far.

I have several more books lined up for this week and hopefully I'll have time to read them all.

Okay, so I went to Dragon Con. It was cool and amazing. I saw the whole cast of serenity / Firefly talk about the upcoming movies. They were pretty funny and friendly. I saw Levar Burton and got him to sign my Reading Rainbow book rather than some lame Star Trek paraphanelia. I saw Mirana Sirtis and said 'Hey, are you a winner?' to which she stared at me blankly for several moment, then just laughed. I saw Dean Stockwell drunk out of his god damned mind trying to hold pens to sign a photo forsome little girl. Ahhh.... whiskey at 10a.m. I saw Lou Ferrigno and tried to get a snap shot with him but the bastard wanted to charge me 20$ for a bloody snap shot. I mean how cool would it be to have a picture with The Hulk. Seriously. But the man was a wanker and lame so bah to you Lou Ferrigno! BAH, I say! (and not in the cute sheep way)

But the highlight of my entire time at the con was running into this man and getting a picture of him with my husband in the Food Court.

Do you know who that is?

No, it's not Mel Brooks dumb asses.

It's fucking Lloyd Kaufman.

If you know who Lloyd Kaufman is, you are automatically cool. If not, then I shall give you a lesson.

Lloyd kaufman is the master of all things related to cheesy Horror movies. He is the Mastermind behind... Troma Movies. He has brought us such gems as The Toxic Avenger!, Blondes have more Guns, Class of Nuke'em High, Tromeo and Juliette, Killer Condom, A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell, Redneck Zombies, and Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. For a full list of his grandiose filming carreer and production go here.

Lloyd Kaufman was by far the nicest person I met at the Con. Hands down. He actually thanked me for saying hi to him. And not in that snotty way, but in that nice way where he was surprized someone knew who he was. I filled out a survey for him and once agian he said "Hey, Thanks, that's nice of you." Damn. I told him about my goal to die in a Troma movie and he told me that he would email me and tell me when the next filming of one was. Cool huh?

So, this was the high point of Dragon Con for me.

Also, I got to hear the first three Chapters of Dune 7 that will be out in Fall '06. This is the last book of the Dune saga and will tie up the loose ends of Chapterhouse Dune.

My best friend lives in New Orleans. He is the man who introduced me to my husband and who saved me from insanity during college. We relate to each other in that creepy Libra way that all other non-Libras will never grasp. We speak in singular words that mean sentances if not complete paragraphs. It is a way of things. He'll loft an eyebrow and I'll scrunch a lip and then he'll wiggle a finger and we both know exactly what it means without words.

"Wanna go get some coffee at the Shop?"

"Nah, I just worked there for seven hours straight, I'm on a coffee buzz from hell, how about a beer at the Cap?"

"Beer, tsk tsk, I hope by beer you mean tequila. Let's go."

Thus, I was horribly worried about him, until I remembered (of course the day after everything happened being the frazzled, absent-minded genius I am) that he was at Burning Man when the storm hit the levies and the shit covered the town.

My friend has good Karma that approaches near Bohdivista proportions. Not bad for the man who spent most of his past lvies as a rock if I do say so myself. Anyway, he is enjoying himself at Burning Man enjoying this years theme of "Psyche". Something I am certain he will frolick and revel in. It is most definately his thing. Construction and destruction... chaos and order: the pillars of burning man are essential to the Libra way of being. And the two of us do revel in our Libraness.

On a side note, our other compatriot, and our other best friend, is also a Libra. Sitting the three of us down at a table causes much consternation in any who do not understan the Libra way. Like Our third compatriot's sister and my husband who are both Leos. I am the youngin Libra in the trio, but getting us together, you would think we are all the same age (either young or old, depending one theday and spin of the stars I suppose) and have been together since birth.

So, now my friend must worry (always leave worry to the time it is needed) about what he is to return to. I suppopse he shall either stay with me or our other compatriot. I figure our other compatriot as he lives in Houston and I live in Atlanta. Houston is much closer to the rigs where work must be done.

Karma...

New Orleans must have accumulated quite a lot of it. Good, bad and in between. This was a disaster waiting to happen, but it took quite a long time for it to reach the point where it did. I wonder what has happened to tip the scales?

Or perhaps, it isn't Karma at all.

After all, we all know that it's a load of hippie crap anyway.

I figure Kali got a bee in her bonnet and decided people needed to be reminded of some good ol' fashioned smiting.

Construction ----> Destruction ----> Rebirth

What is this weekend??

Dragon Con! Yay Dragon Con.

Ahhh... to geek out for a whole weekend then have Monday off of work. Peter Mahue, Dean Stockwell, the cast of Firefly... *swoon*

By now, I'm sure you all have guessed that I live in Atlanta, GA. The Home of the most massive and always spiffy, DragonCon. My husband and I plan to truly geek out over the weekend and frolick in the convention center with the hoards of other people geeking out. We shall battle our way to the front of lines for autographs, silly action figures and otherwise otaku collectable stuff.

My only conundrum now is whether or not to dress up like a mook like half the other people going. I would like to, but that is a lot of plan between now and then. Theme, costumes... Arg!

To plot...

To plan...

To revel in being a geek.