30 July 2008

Even nothing has a catch

So after over thirty years, I'm finally starting to get the hang of how to handle my wavy/curly/frizzy hair.

Naturally the greys coming in are of a completely different texture and quality.


3 years ago on TTaT: What's on now

29 July 2008

After all this time nothing is the answer?

As I've said before girly stuff isn't my forte. You can't really get away from hair though, not unless you shave it off. My hair's somewhere between curly and wavy, I guess, curls varying with hair length and weather.

Turns out it looks better if I don't comb it at all when I get out of the shower. That's just fucking crazy to me. For as long as I've skipped using conditioner, it seems to be the key to everything.

I still need a better cut, but I'm not quite sure how to explain what I want yet. Also some additional frizz control would be good. But it's coming along... I might figure my hair out yet.


A year ago on TTaT: Day of Reckoning

28 July 2008

Red weather days

A bit before 2 AM when I went to bed the other night, I checked out the local forecast on the Weather Channel and saw a storm en route made up of the yellows and reds at the severe end of their rain/thunderstorm scale.

There was so much lightning that once the thunder started, the rumbling was near continuous for an hour and a half. I'm glad it was to the north a bit, so I wasn't hearing a constant string of adrenaline-inducing KABOOMS. Two or three of those was more than enough at 3 AM.

The next afternoon was much the same. As much as I love thunderstorms, I'm ready for some mellow satellite greens.


Two years ago on TTaT: In mind

25 July 2008

Unanticipated

Damn sam, moving to the room across the hall is proving to be much more of a pain in the ass than I'd anticipated.

All for 9.125 more square feet, and I'm told 6 additional inches of closet width. Also better views and light. That would be enough, but the biggest perk is that this move allows me to sift my stuff out from everything that wasn't actually mine in my old room. The new room may also be quite cluttered by the time I'm done, but at least it'll all be mine. So much stuff in the closet still, not looking forward to continuing that switch-off.

Moved the last 3 bookshelves and their books in today. Shimmed the shelves but have a long way to go to clear my bed of books. Should get back to it so I can watch Dr. Who later.

Hope you've all been well. I've fallen behind on my feeds again.


A year ago on TTaT: What do you mean, no more Wendy's?!

17 July 2008

Dr. Horrible, yea!

Acts I and II of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog directed by Joss Whedon are currently up. So good! A super villain musical is just the treat I needed this week.

Act III goes live on the 19th. All three acts will be viewable for free until midnight Sunday July 20th. After that you'll need to pay to see them. The first two acts are already available on iTunes and later on, they're going to release the whole thing on DVD with extras.

I highly recommend you find the time to see it now (for free!). So far, each act is 13-14 minutes long. Good times!

I was right to fear

It's just barely been 3 days since I last turned my computer on and I've got 252 feeds to read.

The window guys finished yesterday as scheduled which is great, but, of course, they're not totally done. They have to come back in a few weeks to finish up some stray bits they have to order parts for. The house is still in great disarray. On the upside I'm getting a bedroom with a better view and a few more square feet out of it, but it entails a lot more work to swap the rooms and get settled again.

I've resigned myself to getting my graph paper and architect's ruler out so I can figure out where my bed should go. Historically, my bed rests in a corner to maximize floor space, but if I let my bed jut out into the room, it'll be easier to make and I'll have more wall space for shelves. There's still a lot that has to be moved out though.

Ooh, I think I just remembered where my old scale furniture cutouts are. And they're not in storage! Not all of them will apply, but it'd save me the trouble of remeasuring and recutting a few things. I hope I'm right.


3 years ago on TTaT: Missing blood, Shot through the heart

14 July 2008

4 feet isn't that long, right?

Now try moving everything you own four feet away from all of your windows.

Replacing all the windows at home wasn't my idea, but it's also not my call. I've been gradually moving stuff for the past couple weeks, sussing out the jigsaw that my possessions have become. Four free feet is just not possible in some cases; I figure if they can change out bathroom windows, they can manage if space is a bit tighter.

It's Saturday as I write this, and I've yet to move my computer to the basement, one of only 2 rooms unaffected. Internet should work, but my access will likely be sporadic this week. Times like this a laptop would be nice.

Tomorrow I have to upend my bed and remove the rest of the blinds and curtains. I also must remember to screw in all the loose bulbs above my bathroom mirror. With all 8 bulbs on, it's like the sun, so only 2 are screwed in all the way.

Cross your fingers that the weather behaves and it only takes the 3 days they estimated. Then we can start putting everything back. Uf.


A year ago on TTaT: Forget the shortcake

12 July 2008

Tan, maybe

My car registration was up for renewal and the color listed has always bothered me. There were limited choices when I first registered, but I thought maybe I'd missed an option or they'd expanded the color selection beyond black, white, red, blue, yellow, green, and brown by now.

My car is metallic beige, and for years it's been listed as yellow on my registration. I sent in the renewal with beige as my color change and just got it back. Now it reads brown. Apparently I did remember correctly: brown and yellow had been my closest options then and that's all they've got now. Might not bother me so much if I didn't hate both of those colors on cars.


A year ago on TTaT: HP #5

09 July 2008

I need better role models

In the moment the waitress sets down your pizzas, one with clearly misplaced branches of broccoli and the other at least half-right at first glance but with something like peppers on it that you didn't ask for, what do you say with grace and class to convey the error?

What do you say if it took a fair while to get the wrongly-topped pizzas, and you're really hungry and in no mood to wait for them to start over from scratch?


A year ago on TTaT: Boom then Shine

08 July 2008

The questions

Brandon recently wrote a bit about his reaction to being asked about his 5 year plan. Last one I had was to attend a 4 year college after finishing high school.

Last time I was asked was in a job interview some years ago. Amidst a room full of interviewers, one guy commented how essentially useless asking about a person's 5 year plan was; I agreed and then he asked me anyway.

Though I've had a reprieve from that particular interrogation, other loathsome questions have cropped up in its stead. E.g., all the variations of "So what are you up to these days?" when it clearly means either: "What of significance to me are you accomplishing?" or "Are you failing or succeeding at what I thought you were or should be doing?"

I've heard it often enough I really should have a better answer by now, but I remain stumped, sputtering through the encounters until I recall my best too-late deflections.

What's your least favorite question? How do you handle being asked it?


3 years ago on TTaT: Somewhat better in retrospect

07 July 2008

Hands

I just stopped by the drugstore and as I was walking down an aisle, I noticed a young man approaching me. Young in this case could be anywhere from 15 to 23, I'd guess. He was wearing long white shorts, some kind of synthetic since they were almost shiny with an elastic band.

And his hands were down the front of his shorts. Way down as if inside his shorts were deep pockets, but more to the center than to the side. He had the relaxed posture of someone who'd hooked their thumbs into their waistband, except that it was all under his shorts. I was nonplussed.

After he'd walked past, I saw him turn to look at me in my peripheral vision. No, buddy, this wouldn't be the time for a pick-up line.

Purple

Past their prime, but I love the color of these bearded irises, my favorite variation of this flower.
dark purple irises
New bloom the following day:
purple iris MSpurple iris CU, cantedpurple iris, overhead view

Two years ago on TTaT: What is my life coming to?

04 July 2008

Blue

Bearded irises, as far as I know; they probably have a more specific non-Latin name.

3 bearded irisesbearded iris, middlebearded iris, top
Happy 4th of July!


A year ago on TTaT: Let The Pictures Do The Talking: A Road Trip, iv

03 July 2008

Not Quite What I Was Planning

35. Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure Edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith, SMITH Magazine (4.5/5)

The perfect book for summer or indeterminate periods of waiting. Reading six-word memoirs is addictive, and some reveal quite a bit. Some faves:
Afraid of everything. Did it anyway. -Ayse Erginer
So it goes, a tad askew. - Michael Dickter
Quietly cultivating my inner Lynda Carter. -Joanna Sheehan
I couldn't possibly fuck him again. -Theodore Bouloukos
I love that the book has an index with entries like daddy issues, hippies, and nerdy. Several entries are accompanied by artwork or photos which break the quotes up nicely.

Though it's easy to focus solely on the memoirs, I read everyone's names as well because I felt like this was something someone I knew would participate in. I was right; my old film partner from undergrad had an entry. Though other people might have his name, I knew it was him because of what he wrote.

You can submit your own six-word memoir here to be considered for the next book. I wrote myriad memoirs in six word increments while reading Not Quite What I Was Planning, a fun writing exercise to be sure, but I've yet to settle on just one to submit. What would yours be?


A year ago on TTaT: I miss audioblogger; My health insurance actually did something nice for me; Damn your revisionist history, George Lucas!

01 July 2008

Nobody's faster than Bruce

Over the weekend, I got to see Enter the Dragon on the big screen with a new live score by Karsh Kale. I'd hoped to see the film outdoors, but it's just as well the weather didn't cooperate since it was really muggy out when it wasn't raining. I was also hoping they'd project film rather than video, but aside from that it was a great show.

Bruce Lee's fighting and fight choreography is stunning. The fight scene that Lee's character's sister has in the movie is amazing and really moving.

Though I've seen much more violent movies, the violence in this film was visceral because it felt more realistic: characters bruise, bleed, and more or less stay down when they get whomped, and no one refrains from hitting someone in the nuts. Probably wouldn't be a bad thing if violence had more realistic consequences in today's movies.


Two years ago on TTaT: Just like Pinocchio...sort of