better update

okay, so the last update, from my phone, got cut off. i was on my way to a rock paper scissors throwdown under the 1st street bridge. we had on wigs. there are pictures from my camera phone (see links, right).

i'll update more about my and willie's exciting visit to los angeles. and the 80% of the time we spent in the car, lost.

Am in los angeles. Met james woods, talked w spike lee.s assistant, saw adam sandler. More later... Am on way to rock paper scissors tourn

hmm.

So, this was just a tiny bit odd, so I thought I'd update it.

A few weeks ago, when I went climbing, we had to learn some knots with which we tied ourselves to the rock.

The main one was the figure-8 knot, to the left. The way I knew when it was done correctly was, I told myself, when it looked like The Auryn from Neverending Story (Below)


The coincidence happened when MimiSmartypants used the word ouroboros, which had been bugging me since the climbing day because I couldn't think of it. Now I'm all jealous that she got to use it. But more grateful that she answered my question. How often does that word come up, though? If not for that update, I could have been waiting years.

Also weird is that all day, I've been pining after PJ Harvey (this happens every once in a while), and MS's sign-off phrase was from a PJ Harvey song, from the same album as the one that's been stuck in my head.

at least it wasn't 'free willie'

If you're in the New Orleans area, and you see any shirts that say:

FREE
DIRTY D

That's for my brother. It's his reward for being an idiot.

Heh.

Here is a good example sentence (that I made up, as an example of an example sentence):

Michael Brown was prepared for his job as a sinecure, not his job as a cynosure.

I wondered why both of those words aren't in the usual "frequently confused words" lists. Then I realized, first, that they are and second, that if you know two such mildly obscure words well enough to risk using one of them, you probably have a pretty good vocabulary already, so the typical "frequently confused words" lists wouldn't apply to you. But it applies to me, because I think I pronounced sinecure more like cynosure once, but I didn't know what cynosure meant until today. It comes from the name of the main star of the big dipper, the north star. So I should have known it, but I will just be glad I know it now.

joyful, joyful we adore thee

Here are further pleasant thoughts:

TB once told me that in an interview with Hugo Weaving, he admitted to owning both an Elrond and an Agent Smith action figure. He said he sometimes would make them fight. And "usually, Elrond wins. Because he is so wise." But what would happen if he throws V into the mix?

Things I probably would do for Natalie Portman:

• Blow up Parliament
• Stop taking anti-psychotics
• Sleep next to her to dull the pain of her slain husband
• Randomly adopt her and teach her the secrets of my trade
• Save her. With my new Powers

Today, I enjoyed Inside Man and V for Vendetta. I was shocked that three separate people walked out on V for Vendetta, though! One even yelled a snide comment to the rest of us as he left.

Fore word

dolores was her middle name
and now her mother's wondering
if i could see my wrinkled face
paint her lovely toenails red

Wow. I spent the whole week preparing for this weekend. And it's been great so far. No worries, no deadlines. No TV, either, because I watched it all already. Yes, I watched ALL the TV in the world. And now there's no more left for you.

Watched: Carnivale, Extras, Danger Mouse, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Tru Calling (2 episodes only), Lost (3 episodes only).

Okay. Extras? There has not been one episode where I didn't have to literally cover my eyes for a full minute. I just couldn't bring myself to move my palms away. Not a peeking-through-the-fingers gesture of empathetic embarrassment. It was so much worse than Curb Your Enthusiasm. But the day after I saw the Patrick Stewart episode, I couldn't stop laughing to myself every time I thought of it.

And, okay. Carnivale? Nick Stahl is soooo keeeyuuute!

Anyway, being on the computer kind of ruins the idea of no TV. Tomorrow is for entertainment (movies). Today is for books and swimming and meditating.

But here is a list of things I have to look forward to, in case I forget, because I often do. I keep a perfectly clear list of things I have to dread in my active thoughts, though.

• Seeing Slither some time this week
• My Mom coming to visit next weekend
• Going to LA with Willie the weekend after that
• Willie coming to Austin the weekend after that
• Passing all of my exams with 98% (here, I cleverly turn a dread into a goal, and trick myself into looking forward to it. Also note my non-perfectionism in a reasonable, unperfect grade goal)
• Going to New Orleans for 6 days when Willie graduates (every time I say that now, I cross my fingers; but as of now, he's still technically a high school student, so I'll keep crossing my fingers since it must be working).
• And I really have tomorrow to look forward to. I spent today at the spa, so will hopefully reap the rewards tomorrow. I broke two of my Lenten fasts, though. I had a piece of fish, hoping it would give me some extra energy to enjoy the day, and I had a cup of coffee. But I was still feeling torpid in the afternoon (it could have just been the sun, and the not having anything urgent to do; maybe this is just how people are supposed to be sometimes, but I investigated). It turned out my special coffee was DECAF! What a fool I was !

And things not to dread, but that I should not forget about:

• get driver's license before LA (Substeps: Get car inspected, registered in Texas, get Social Security Card, go to DMV and pray they don't make me take the driver's test again because I don't have my Louisiana license)
• My coworker at the doctor's office will be out of town for two weeks, so the 35+ hours of transcription work will fall to me and the lady that started last weekend. (this in itself isn't dreadful, though it does mean I'll be all the more pushed for time)
• I must not forget to write to that dude that wanted to make the reports I just did for my main job into a global process. I must not forget to write to him and tell him "No" in regards to my availability to do such a project. Telling some gazillionaire who is Blackberrying orders from his vacation in the South of France (he actually didn't say where he was vacationing) "no" will give me so much satisfaction, perhaps I should add this to the previous list.

Dolores, Freedy Johnston

more good news

I thought this was well put, from Katy.

Urgh. The only update I can muster right now only belongs in my Journal O' Depression. So I guess I won't update.

Oh, I can report some good news after all. I went rock climbing, and it was lovely weather. Some camera phone pictures have been uploaded.

And further good news, I will report this conversation I had with a girl I was climbing with on Monday. She had long hair, and was thin, and I wouldn't say beautiful right off to describe this girl, but she was. I thought she could maybe be in high school. But she had a really, really husky kind of voice, and a huge glasses. No one in high school would wear glasses that huge.

Anyway:

Me: My hands are still hurting from climbing. It's hard to grip anything.
Her: Yeah, I just can't get callouses.
Me: [not understanding that statement] Why? Have you tried before or something?
Her: No, I mean, I CAN'T get callouses [this stress, in light of her actual meaning, is confusing]
Me: Why?
Her: Because of my job.
Me: Oh, oh, I see. You need soft hands for something? Are you a masseuse?
Her: No.
Me: ahem. Okay. I'm out of guesses.
Her: I'm a dancer.
Me: A... dancer? Do you need soft hands to be a dancer?
Her: I mean.... an exotic dancer.
Me: [am I being naiive, is she talking about prostitution?] You need soft hands to be an exotic dancer? [I begin climbing on, in case she is talking about hand jobs, so she doesn't have to talk about hand jobs. Because, how grim!]

Belief in a Just World

Like Ginny, I've been struggling to find some way to conceive of Mia's family's tragedy. Lack of words, as Ginny points out there is, means lack of comprehension. Certainly at this point, there is none, and I don't know if there ever will be. My mind stumbles repeatedly today over the phrase "Belief in a Just World," which was a concept I read about in psychology last night. But I keep saying it to myself now, like a mantra, hoping it will become true, because in the face of Trina's death, it's the last thing that I can ever believe is true or right.

This entry is just to mark where I've been the last week, mentally. I've been with Mia, and with Ginny, and bewildered and sorrowful.

Dear old dismal Austin on a Saturday

The trees will bend
The cities wash away
The city on a river
There is a girl without a dream

Is it too willfully eccentric to sit in my back yard in a lawn chair wearing an LSU baseball cap reading economics while it's raining? Golly I hope my meds arrive soon. The online pharmacy left me a message to call them back, but I couldn't be bothered with writing down the number they left, or with saving the message.

Oh, man, snickerdoodle cookies are so much better than the description would have you believe! I'm so glad I live with a cook.

Now I hate MySpace. I am on it, and I got my brother on it, but I hate it. I'm thinking the only thing that will salvage the mission, for me anyway, is if I get a musician account myself and use it as inspiration to record 4 good songs: a girl and her accordion. Or, a girl and her 5 gummy guitar strings. Or, a girl and her snickerdoodles (this will be more of a John Cage-esque piece, which involves the sounds of crunching and dunking).

I was looking around MySpace earlier, and, like Friendster, I can't tell if I'm impressed or horrified by the people who have 200+ friends. Cause, impressive: that they even know 200 people. But unimpressive: the 200 people they know are on MySpace or Friendster. Okay, impressive, since if they know 200 people on these things, they must (hopefully) know even more people in the real world. But unimpressive: they must spend hours a week on MySpace or Friendster adding friends and writing comments like "UR kewl" to each other. But it was interesting to look up former classmates and things. I really didn't think it would be, but it kind of was.

• So. Central Rain (my favorite REM song, but I just found a cover by a favorite-ish band, Hem, too, and can't stop listening to it. It's my, siiigh, MySpace song if you'd like to hear.)