The fact that life has no meaning *is* the reason to live.

I just finished watching the last of all 43 episodes (3 seasons) I had recorded of Land of the Lost when it was run in its entirety on the Sc-Fi Channel a few weeks ago.

I had forgotten just how truly awful the third season was. Granted the first two seasons were not literary masterpieces, but at least the writing was reasonable and each episode had continuity and consistency. For the third season they pretty much threw that out in the garbage...stuff coming in a later episode would directly contradict what was stated in earlier episodes, and such like that. It made the third season really hard to want to watch. Pretty much the only reason I stuck it out was simply to have rewatched the entire series. This is certainly not something I'd buy on DVD for the collection.

Watching a few of the commercials also left me with a question...do people really believe the idea that professional wrestling fits in on a science fiction channel?

MAH ICONS.

default	oldest	newest
saddest	happiest	angriest
cutest	sexiest	funniest
fave ship	fave fandom	fave animated
best quote	best textless	best stolen idea
use the most	favorite

HOW MANY ICONS DO YOU HAVE: 50
OUT OF HOW MANY AVAILABLE ICONS SPACES: 52
IF YOU COULD BUY SPACE FOR MORE, WOULD YOU: Not at the moment
DO YOUR ICONS MAKE A STATEMENT: Mostly they just make me happy
WHAT FANDOM DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: True Blood
AND THE SECOND MOST: Life on Mars
WHAT SHIP DO YOU HAVE THE MOST ICONS OF: Do Johnny Depp and Tim Burton count as a ship...?
ARE YOUR ICONS MADE MOSTLY BY OTHER PEOPLE: Mostly
DO YOU MAKE ICONS: Occasionally
ARE THEY ANY GOOD: Meh?
ANIMATED ICONS ARE: Awesome!

DO THE MEME.
Coding can be found here

A: Look at this room! Have you seen this room?
B: Yes. We're in it.

Not that I'm complaining, but was there some big bust I missed in the news?

My 30-day spam count has dropped from approximately 1400 messages to just shy of 600 messages...over night.

 “History, I believe,” wrote Thomas Jefferson, “furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government.  This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”

 

No country in the West has been so thoroughly priest-ridden as Ireland.  The priests have taken not only Ireland’s past, but her future.  For the past sixty years, priests and nuns have inflicted physical, mental, and sexual abuse on children in Catholic schools and orphanages.   A nine-year effort culminating in a 2,600 page report published last May by Ireland’s Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, found “a climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment...  Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from.”  

 

As we saw in the Archdiocese of Boston, and in other Roman Catholic dioceses in America and Canada, when confronted with charges of sexual abuse of children, religious superiors simply moved the offenders to another location where they were free to abuse again.  “There was evidence that such men took up teaching positions sometimes within days of receiving dispensations because of serious allegations or admissions of sexual abuse.”  

 

Last week, Ireland outlawed blasphemy.   From the new law:

 

Section 36

(1)  A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offense and shall be liable upon on conviction to a fine not exceeding €25,000.  

 

(2)  For the purposes of this section, a person publishes or utters blasphemous matter if (a) he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion, and (b) he or she intends, by the publication or utterance of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.

 

Section 37

(1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 36, the court may issue a warrant (a) authorizing any member of the Garda Siochana to enter (if necessary by the use of reasonable force) at all reasonable times any premises (including a dwelling) at which he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that copies of the statement to which the offence related are to be found, and to search those premises and seize and remove all copies of the statement found therein, (b) directing the seizure and removal by any member of the Garda Siochana of all copies of the statement to which the offence related that are in the possession of any person, specifying the manner in which copies so seized and removed shall be detained and stored by the Garda Siochana.

 

(Note:  “Garda Siochana” is Irish for “police”.)

 

The first offending document must surely be the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse’s report.   

 

What a terrible shame it must be to worship a god powerful enough to terrorize children into submitting to torture and rape, but so pitiably weak his reputation must be defended by threat of a fine.

edit: Referring to my previous post.
Called the manufacturer. $225, ouch.
A thorough search of the storage building where the dish was kept revealed the strips I was searching for beneath 15 years of dirt and dust. Whoo!
The 52 bolts to join it together were ordered from Raks.
Not that I will have the time or money to construct a proper EME station anywhere in the near future, it helps to get the little things out of the way.

Notes:
1. I'm not a tease.
2. I decided that the therapist couldn't be named "Dr. Falkner". It was too similar to "Faulkner". I'm not comfortable having a character named after such a major Southern writer. (Even though I just picked the name at random out of an infomercial.) So he's now named Dr. O'Connor¹. I have updated the previous entry.²
3. I shouldn't have posted the first part here. I should have kept it in my personal blog or one of my writing sites. I had previously resolved to keep these two parts of my life separate. I just wanted to acknowledge that. It's too late to go back now, I guess. (See #1.)
4. I'm concerned that this part is boring, and that it's necessity to the planned narrative arc is a sign of that arc's weakness.


Footnotes:
[1] Yes, this is an oblique attempt at humor. Seriously, though, the name just seemed more fitting.
[2] I made some other changes too, but they're not really important.

---

"I don't think that they were consciously using me. I don't think that they realized what I was either."

Dr. O'Connor had posed one of his frequent questions: "How is it, do you think, that it took so long for you to discover that you are a psink?" I had swiftly rambled off topic.

"Stop defending them", he said. Then, "Start again at the beginning." His method seemed to be to prompt me to tell him stories from my life, initially at my own direction but now in sequences guided by his prompting, until I picked out common threads and gained some new insight.

The first time he asked me about my childhood friendships, I told him, "I have always been a magnet for the weird." And by weird I meant the most reviled of the outcasts. After working with Dr. O'Connor for a time, I now knew better.

I have always been a magnet for the egotistical. And not the sort whose flights of ego are condoned by their peers; I drew those who were titans only in their own minds, and who railed against the world for refusing to recognize their worth.

On the first day of first grade, shy and quiet, I managed to throw my lot in with Patrick, the least popular boy in the class. I met him on the playground, loud and brash, demanding that sticks be brought to the large, half-buried tire.

"We have to build a wall to secure this region!", he barked.

As opposed to all of the other recess activities, which required taking some initiative, following orders was simple and unterrifying. I dropped an armful of sticks at his feet and was rewarded with a "Good soldier!"

Both of Patrick's parents were retired military. He was shocked at our unfamiliarity with old war films and drill sergeant tactics. He regarded everyone but me with suspicion; they regarded us with derision. I used to wonder if my social life would have been different, had its nascent blossoming not been marked by Patrick. Now I wonder if his would have been different, if he would have stopped playing at soldier and integrated with the others had I not been there to play along.


We moved the summer before third grade. I thought it was my chance to start fresh. The first day of school, Peter decided that we were best friends. Peter was loud, obnoxious, smarter than the rest of us, and knew it. And he wanted everyone else to know it. Peter got beaten up a lot. At first I thought it was normal bullying but, no, on top of being an obnoxious weakling, he was also prone to physically violent outbursts; he always started the fights, if something so lopsided could be called that.

His mother thought that I was a good influence on him. I heard her tell my mother that he didn't seem so angry when I was around. That was news to me. When he got made at me, which happened occasionally, he would clench his fists and wind up; I'd turn and let him punch me in the back.

"Why did you let him punch you?", asked Dr. O'Connor.

"It was the simplest solution," I said. "After he punched me, he wasn't mad anymore."

"So he would be full of rage, and then he would touch you, and all of the rage was gone?"

"That's one way to put it, I suppose."

"And you never realized that you are a pain sink?"

 

It's on College Avenue in Berkeley, between Alcatraz and the Rockridge BART station. It's actually up the street from Barclay's, if I recall correctly, or is at least on that side of the street and is also close to Cappezzio's (or however one spells that).

They sell housewares and neat little signs that you can hang up wherever, not to mention some framed artwork. The storefront is tiny. A few years ago my boyfriend and I purchased several signs there for our apartment.

I just need the name! Google isn't helping me since I don't have the address.

im trying to put together a book for my friend of thought-provoking films. but i cant seem to gather the best ones ive ever seen. i feel like im mixing up between thought-provoking and jarring films from one another. so far i thought of elephant, irreversible, the diving bell and the butterfly and waking life. i know there are millions more but which ones do you recommend? thanks.

I wrote a very long review (like, way more than my usual 2-3 sentences) of Bruno and posted it on Kittysneezes. Check it the fuck out!

Hey y'all!

Some gal friends and I headed up to the GA mountains to ride the twisties (near the Dragon's Tail). Someone posted earlier about heading to a destination vs. taking some alternative routes so I thought I would combine the "hey, that's freakn cool" with "the alternatives are freakn great too" post. I've been riding 11 months now and have 9,000+ miles under the belt so am still new. The experienced riders rode up front which was fine with me cuz I didn't want to slow anyone down. To my surprise I didn't trail too far behind (ok, well I lost sight of them once). What I encountered on my ride, nothing but curves: hairpin turns, downhill hairpin turns, decreasing radius curves, off-cambered roads with curves, and my least favorite curvy roads covered with tar snakes. I don't think I rode faster than 40 mph on my lowered Harley Sportster. I did pop my bike's cherry and dragged something around a tight curve. I backed off after I heard the scraping noise. It helped that I kept my rpms high so I could easily "engine brake", but I also used a little bit of back and front brake right before I entered challenging curves. Once while I was leaned over on a road covered in tar snakes I felt my rear tire slip just a bit. I had great fun and am heading up in another couple of weeks for a weekend of mountain riding. On a side note as some of you know 1/2 my spine is fused solid with donor bone and titanium rods and screws. Well, out of all of the different types of riding I've done riding the twisties caused me to have a mother of a back ache (I medicated when I got home -12 hours later). I figured I shifted my weight around a lot unconsciously because my arms didn't ache (my bike weighs 565 pds. and I weigh 120 pds. so when I completely rely on my arms to lean my bike...I totally feel it).

So, I loved riding the twisties. I know why they can be particularly addictive for those of you riding sport bikes. But, for those of you who want to ride The Dragon, you don't have to ride the route to get a similar experience AND you can avoid all of the bike traffic. The gals I rode with told me that what we rode was very similar to Deals Gap (not quite as severe though).

Here's a pic of our bikes during a break. The girl sitting on a friend's bike wanted her pic taken on a "cool, pretty motorcycle." Mines the black Sportster in the back with the barrel bag.

When was the last time you saw a movie that you were sure was a wholly original concept...or at least not a remake of something?

I got my tickets for the midnight showing of HARRY POTTER and the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, bitches!

Tomorrow night!



Don't you wish you were cool like me? :p

( Hi all, I've been lurking for a bit, but I find myself with a bit of a dilemma. )

Edit - Looks like a new gasket and a plate it will be. I'll let you all know how it comes out. Thanks all!

As a kid I never gave much thought to motorcycles. I rode all over the place on my bicycle ,it was the 1950's. In 1965 I turned 16,got my drivers license and couldn't afford insurance on a car so I bought my first motorcycle ,a 55cc Yamaha that cost 54 dollars a year to insure and went just under 50 mph.I rode it to death . I rode all over Long Island where I live and that winter I rode it even in the snow. I was hooked!The next spring I bought a new Yamaha called a Twin Jet 100 .I was 17 . That summer I bullshitted my parents into thinking I was going camping out on the beach and instead got on that little 100 cc 2 stroker and crossed the Throgs Neck bridge,hopped on I 95 and rode the damn thing to Boston going a whopping 63 mph with my chin on the gas tank getting blown all over the lane everytime a truck would pass me. So began my life as a traveler. That bike was incredible ! I used to hold it wide open until the engine wouldn't rev any higher and then shift . I never blew it up! I rode it for 3 years until I managed to get enough money together to get a Yamaha YDS3 used. I had that bike for 3 months when in 1969 myself and my best friend decided we wanted to go to California . We packed just what we needed ,sleeping bags with some clothes and a cheap plastic tarp,with cloths line tied it all on the back of the bike on to this little luggage rack and 2 up rode that 250 cc 2 stroke from NY to Los Angles.We used that bike for the year we spent out there going to school going up & down the coast high way to San Francisco numerous times and a year later I rode that thing back to NY with this girl I met in LA. Met these guys with an old cabin cruiser who were headed to Marthas Vinyard and we lashed my bike to the back deck of this thing and headed up towards New England. Never once worrying about where we were going or what we would do if something happened.Kept that bike another year then picked up a 1969 Yamaha DS6C (250cc high pipe) Rode that to Newfoundland for the summer in the mid 70's I still own this bike and ride it. Rode this bike all over the place until the mid 80's when I got the 1971 Yamaha R5 that was pictured all loaded up it that previous post about sport bikes being the wrong bike to travel with or something. That's what this is about really. You see, there is no "wrong or right" Motorcyclists are individuals and we all do what we do regardless of what others think we should be doing.In fact, some of do the opposite just to prove them wrong!Motorcycling has opened up a world to me that I never would have otherwise seen. It gave me the confidence to do whatever I set my mind to. I have met the most amazing people thru it and seen things that most people only read about because of it. There is no right or wrong motorcycle. There is no better or worse motorcycle . There is no perfect bike for any one purpose . All there is are motorcycles and we make them do what we need them to do.I come from a time when we had a sand pit that used to be a sand mine for a cement company. We used to go there on Saturday & Sunday and ride ,or try to ride up the sides of the hill. Guys would be on Triumphs, Nortons, Yamahas,Harleys,Indians, you name it. Street bikes in the sand doing crazy shit. We would go into the woods with street bikes ,There were no "dual purpose " anythings around. There weren't any dirt bikes even for the most part. You run what you brung. So here I am, close to a half century later , going out into my garage to fit new Avons on my Moto Guzzi to get it ready for yet another road trip. Still doing my own wrenching and still riding old stuff that most people think belongs in a museum listing to chatter about what bike is the right bike for the job. JUST DO IT ! there is no right or wrong when it comes to motorcycling.

I'm having a bad attack of bloating and indigestion tonight...probably that bottle of wine, block of cheese, and big pile of wheat crackers I ate during Expedition Africa.