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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) doktor_jess | |
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. . . I took the belief-omatic quiz thing. This quiz has been around since I started college in 2002 and I took it in the beginning of 03 when I first started blogging. When I took it back then, my views solidly aligned with Judaism with conservative being the top contender. No surprises there, because while I was still orthodox, by that point in time I was starting to question. Now, my beliefs are reading as Neo-Pagan, Unitarian Universalist, which correctly names the way I identify myself, a Jagan-UU. I think it's really interesting how accurate the quiz was, and even more interesting to compare the beliefs of college-me to now-me. I'm always amazed at how much I've changed since then. It's been 6 years since I was a freshman; 6 years is not long, but I'm so different I almost can't relate to the person I was then. I feel like the time has been one big chrysalis phase, and now I'm fighting my way out to become something different, something more. What that is, I don't know. Hell, I don't even know what kind of job I want, even ideally. But whatever, the universe has a way of aligning my life properly and doesn't appreciate much medling from me so I'll sit back at let it come. The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa. Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking. How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards. Current Location: Couch B, Geeks Unlimited
Mood of the Moment:  pensive
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drownedmagenta | |
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So, again, I've let posting lapse. I remember a time when I was posting every day. Multiple times. That was likely a much more annoying time rather than entertaining, but still. Even if I have a hard time reading what I sounded like in 2001 over again now, it was nice to have a record. So here's another go at picking it up again. Let's see if I can sum up the recently of things, yes? A couple of shows have happened. George, Genevieve and I went to see Fuerzabruta in May which is this wild show off Broadway (a birthday gift to Genevieve from me and Michael). Action happening all over, above, on the walls, on treadmills. The audience moves around with the show. Crazy lights and building music. It all ended with a rave dance party under indoor rain. Thoroughly enjoyable show; quite the worth it experience. Only other notable experience in May was more festivities for Genevieve's birthday. Lots good food and lots of friends. June came and went almost as though it didn't exist. Many things happened, but it was one of those months that felt like it was over before I'd realized it started. To kick off the month we had a performance in Asbury Park for a ::insert many different sexualities and lifestyle choices here:: benefit. Our very first outdoor (and on asphalt, no less) show which went swimmingly but far too quickly. I did "Fuck You" again (which I absolutely love) and almost bought chaps. Damn my slightly too big (but beginning now to slim) thighs! I'm determined to have a pair by next year. This was followed by Dan's graduation party which was mucho fun and my introduction to a great family tradition of theirs: celebrating important milestones with lots and lots of crab. Around the same time I got to enjoy both a boys' weekend and girls' weekend (one while Genevieve was in Virginia and one while Michael was in south Jersey). Boys weekend included much geeking out (including seeing the new Star Trek for the second time), much drinking, and a great deal of laziness. Girls weekend started by seeing the rescheduled Bailout Burlesque Charity Auction. (The first of which was cancelled, uncancelled, cancelled, moved, and finally cancelled the first time around - all on the same night. That experience included hanging awkwardly in the new Indian restaurant which was appalled to have us there in the first place, then move up to the scary soon-to-be clothing store which was falling apart, boxes and furniture - and rat pellets - strewn everywhere, only to discover performing there as illegal, almost moving the the gay club down the road, and ultimately turning away the whole audience and going home completely unfulfilled. Although in retrospect not a bad story to have.) The rescheduled show was much fun to watch, some for tragic and some for very talented reasons. Parts made me very much want to collaborate, and other parts made me cheer (slightly inappropriately) as one act was dragged off stage. Overall and very fun night. I would love to see the auction aspect revisited now with lessons learned. Saturday continued our girly-fest starting with some shopping, where I spent money I didn't have on clothes I _really_ wanted. Next we saw The Proposal which I liked a lot, followed by Appletizers and an impromtu stop at the club Switch to have shots and dance until close. I hadn't had a girly weekend in a long time; lots of fun was had. Following the fun and leading up to the first of two full weekends of gaming, I got very sick, although nothing compared to the red death rash of earlier this year. Fortunately, my health returned for my weekends of gaming. You see, many times in the past we've started talking about RPGs and playing and I've said something like, "Oh! We could play now!" and everyone laugh and pats me on the head and we move on. But several weeks before, this happened while Dan and Katie were over only instead of laughing and patting, Dan, Michael, and Joe said, "Okay!" and Katie and Genevieve went shopping. This in and of it self was a geek-dream come true for me. And even moreso, as wee talked further, spawned into a plan to do full-on gaming weekends while Katie was away in Texas for a couple of weeks for a wedding. This gave us (Michael, Joe, Dan, and I) a chance to plan an awesome D&D campaign Michael's been working on for a while on weekend one. Last weekend we tried D&D 4th Edition Friday night and then George joined us for Saturday and Sunday where we played card and board games and watched some geeky British comedy. (Best way to celebrate Fourth of July ever!) Completely enjoyable weekends and I absolutely want to do similar for every celebration that's for me. And many weekends in between. Besides these gems I've remembered to mention, I'm sure many other really great things have happened, and for those things I forgot, I appologize. Much of the rest of my life has been exercise, shower, work, shower, dinner, sleep, repeat. Much with the work. But things are pretty okay right now. Enough rambling; hopefully another two months will _not_ go by this time. Tags: dan, entertainment, friends, games, gaming, genevieve, george, life, michael, movies, shows, tv, white elephant burlesque, work
Mood of the Moment:  rambly
Auditory Hallucination: Regina Spektor - "Machine"
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ptocheia | |
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Drew and I ventured over to Manitou Springs today, which is this really neat town on the edge of Pike's Peak. Much barbecue and chocolate were consumed. I'm trying to do a fair bit of biking, because a.) The weather is fabulous: sunny, rather warm, and when I sweat it immediately dissipitates, b.) it's an excellent way to get to know the area, c.) We're currently located on the edge of suburbia, right beside fields and country with horsies and such and it's really pretty, d.) the suburbia is a lot more bike-aware then Richmond's suburbia ever was, and e.) If I continue to eat copious amount of barbecue and chocolate, the biking will be highly necessary to ensure that I don't have to go spend entirely too much money on new bras. It's interesting, the suburbia here is so much friendlier then what I'm used to. Mind you, it's still rather inconvenient if you're trying to walk to the grocery store, and there is excessive use of strip mall-age. We're in an area where there's a lot of newer housing, and it's nice looking smaller houses. I'm used to seeing either new giant McMansion type buildings, or cheap and crappy new buildings. There's a lot of nicer looking 2-3 bedroom houses, with interesting architecture and rock gardens and such. Mind you, the architecture might just be related to the fact that I'm used to seeing colonials and whatever else they use all over the Mid-Atlantic, and here everything has more of a western feel. Also, there's sidewalks! Lots of sidewalks! Jobwise, there is slight advancement. My resume is being submitted by a recruiter for a position doing web stuff with Barclay Card. It would be working with table-less design (and hand-coding at that, yay) and trying to make all their websites standards-compliant, which I'm decent at, so the job itself sounds interesting. I need to go look at YUI and see if it's in any way similar to Jquery, and either way I should try to learn some, as they're interested in having that as well. One downside is that it's located in Colorado Springs, and I was really stoked about being in Denver. However, I've explored next to none of the area, and I'm pretty sure I'd be fine staying in CS for awhile for a decent job. I'm just a sucker for giant cities with nightlife and such. I am also a sucker for mountains and paths that allow me to climb all over said mountains, so either location should work just fine for that. I will now end this with two excellent pictures of Andrew. The first one shows him gliding majestically up a hillside:  The second shows him being, uh, less majestic:  Tags: adventures, misc
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liquiddatura | |
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I like greatest hits albums like warm blankets and cool breezes, so when I hear one is coming out for an artist I like, I bounce around a little. Aqua, who I loved while in middle school and throughout high school, just released their best-of: Back To The 80's / My Mamma Said / Live Fast Die Young / Happy Boys And Girls / Barbie Girl / Around The World / Doctor Jones / Aquarius / Cuba Libre / Lollipop (Candyman) / Cartoon Heroes / Be A Man / My Oh My / Freaky Friday / We Belong To The Sea / Roses Are Red / Halloween / Turn Back Time / Goodbye To The Circus Because Aqua is a group with 2 albums, it's not surprising that more than half of it are not actually singles. However all of the singles are in fact represented with the exception of "Bumble Bees," which sucks hardcore. Add 3 new tracks, and life is good. What they chose as best-of-worthy album tracks (Happy Boys, Aquarius, Cuba Libre, Be a Man, Freaky Friday, Halloween, Circus) are mostly top notch, although the last two are gimmicky and especially "Circus" is rife with over-concept. All this said, tho, you could've simply hit "random" for 16 of their previously released songs on iTunes and come up with the same tracklisting. Most exciting today is the announcement that Madonna's next greatest hits collection is double disc. ( unnecessary Madonna rambling )Tags: madonna, music
Mood of the Moment:  geeky
Auditory Hallucination: Garth Brooks -- "Ireland"
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sinndar | |
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 The Girls Coming into San Pedro
Originally uploaded by sinndar.Belize was awesome. I went with a great group of friends and we had lots of fun and relaxation.
The highlight for me was snorkeling in Shark Alley. Belize has the second largest coral reef in the world. I got to swim with many beautiful fish, sea turtles, sting rays, barracudas, and sharks. I even had the opportunity to PET a nurse shark. Very cool!
I also went on a guided tour of a Mayan Temple which was very interesting. Our guide really knew her history. The trip was followed up with a traditional Sunday lunch with our driver and his mom at a local restaurant on the side of the road. Yummy!
We enjoyed a little night life in San Pedro, shopping, and eating at Fido's. Food was fabulous... papusas, cerviche, lobster wontons, Malasian snapper, and key lime pie. Also of course the local beer, Belikin. I met a guy with a cockatoo and we ended up bringing her to our table and birdsitting for a while. Fun night out!
When we weren't running around we were pretty much either in the hammock or in the pool. I spent one whole day doing absolutely nothing in between a seaweed massage and a pedicure. Total relaxation!
I highly recommend Belize as a Caribbean destination. The people are super friendly, it's beautiful, there is a ton to do, the money conversion is easy (2/1.) Just make sure you bring extra for transportation and tipping. We had to take a water taxi every where we went!
All in all a very memorable trip that I'm grateful I had the opportunity to experience. Tags: beach, flickr addict, friends, vacation
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cretaceousrick | |
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Of the various areas of creative expression I've dabbled in, writing has always been my "thing." I've been doing it since I was 11, and by this point I'd say I'm fairly good, though far from great. Sketching was never something I was good at -- I never even learned the rudiments, and never developed much beyond awkward line drawings. Photography is something I want to improve at, and eventually I'll get some self-help books and hopefully develop my eye, and maybe even challenge myself to rise above my current mediocrity. I had fun playing at music, but whatever glimmers of skill are buried deep in our Fayetteville recordings are almost entirely James. On my own, I've produced possibly two snippets I wouldn't mind hearing again, one ten seconds long, the other about five. I go through periodic spates of enthusiasm for writing, photography, and music. I drafted a novel recently, and I've resumed dabbling in short stories after many years. I persevered through a year of daily photographs, and turned out maybe sixty shots I would consider not bad. But I've never pushed myself to improve musically. Whenever I get enthusiasms for recording, Jen will buy me instruments and we'll buy software, but it never gets anywhere. Two keyboards and a little drum machine are languishing in corners and the attic, and we got rid of the toy guitar and percussion sets during the move. Curiously, thanks to the Dunning-Kruger effect, I'll occasionally remember being a far better musician than I was. The fact is, I have no musical talent. I don't know how to play a single instrument. I may have a touch of rhythm, but I've had no training and little practice. I do okay when I'm supplementing someone with actual skill (witness my guitar work on Campbell's Ultrasounds' hit single, "It All Works Better When We Hold Hands"), but on my own, I'm hopelessly out of my depth. Ronnie has repeatedly offered to jam with me, but even his awesome music software feels unsatisfying after getting to play with James' instrument collection. I have a vision in my head of putting my own literalist spin on technobilly -- fiddles, cow bells, spoons, washboards, harpsichords, random boops and robots, and vigorous live percussion mixed with electronic beats. I described it to Steve as what would be played in a saloon on the dark side of the moon. But to make that happen, we would have to acquire all those instruments, together with recording and mixing equipment. Plus a place to record would be useful. In the meantime, I should probably take Ronnie up on his offer. Maybe get a copy of his software and start tinkering with it on my own. Because it isn't as if I have other, more important creative pursuits that I should be devoting my time to. Edit: Like many untalented amateurs, I envision a concept album. A trip through the seedy saloon underworld of the moon, or Mars... For some reason I'm intrigued by the idea of doing a cowboy cover of Linda and Richard Thompson's "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight," as if sung by a minstrel 'droid. I really am out of my depth. Tags: music, recording music
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voltbang | |
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Gencon is getting closer! I have heard from all but one of our merry little band that they have their plane tickets. Rooms have been reserved for some time now. Event pre-registration is closed, so we have preliminary schedules set. All that's really left is packing stuff and going, and I have to wait about a month for that step.
Most of us will be on the same flight out, on wednesday, and all of us will be on the same flight home on monday. Party plane! We will be the obvious group on this flight. Every year we can actually start playing "spot the convention people" at dulles airport, don't have to wait till we get to the city where the convention is being held. That's fun.
Of course, now that you have to pay a surcharge for every single bag you check, I imagine the lines at the airport suck even more. I know, they are doing a difficult thankless job. If they did it well, it would be less difficult, and they might get occasional thanks. If you hate your job and your customers, they hate you right back. And they only have to deal with you when they fly, you have to deal with them every single day. It's like karma or something.
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ptocheia | |
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Estha was either really curious when we got to our hotel a few days back, or was really thirsty.  This is a local street near where Drew's aunt lives:  All of this is cross-posted from my facebook photo dump, btw. However, if you are anything like me and are terrified enough of the gobblydegook that is the facebook update stream (err, swamp rather) which allows you to find little of use at all, then you may not have seen the pictures at all. Or, you might not have me friended on facebook in the first place, for that matter. If you'd like to and have not yet, I'm moi@varoper.com, and I'll happily play scrabble with you and maybe look at your pictures if I happen to see them, and that's about it. In any case, expect more pictures in the future, as I am getting camera-happy as of late. Tags: photos
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alpheratz | |
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I'm nervous because my internets suddenly went out last night (after I downloaded both episodes of TW). They're still not on. My connection is fine and I restarted the computer, router and the, um, other box (is not enough sleep an excuse for this?), and checked all the connections; no change. The other box has all green lights for DSL and everything, but a red light for Internet. So I think it's Verizon's fault and I guess unless something magically fixes itself while I'm at work I'll have to be on tech support tonight. Anyway, Torchwood! Or, as I'm now calling it because I make this typo every single time I type the word, Torchwoof. Boy, was it ever good! I didn't really know what to expect and was completely unspoiled - actually I haven't thought about Who in months - so I was a little stunned by how good it was. ( Spoilers for the first two eps! )In conclusion, awesome! Also, the Guardian and io9 reviews of TW are really good. The Guardian's made me shake with silent laughter. Tags: doctor who, tv
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allyra | |
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For reals this time! The Virginia Beach Bengal who needed rehoming didn't work out at his new home. It sounded like the people who took him were clueless about how to introduce a new cat to an existing cat, so Trouble ensued. He's a very sweet boy named Toby, and he seems perfectly pleased to be in his new isolation room. He even gave me head-butts this morning. My cats...well, Squeaker seems a little freaked out. Apparently, now he thinks that there are cats in the garage as well as inside the walk-in closet (the only other door in the house that remains closed - and it's closed because he likes to climb up my clothes to reach the shelves!). He started crying last night at about 3:00, I guess because he decided he REALLY wanted to get into the room to see Toby. Casey hissed at Toby once when I brought him inside (in a cat carrier), but after that, she seems to have forgotten about him. I don't think Lucky cares, other than the fact that he can't follow me into the room when I go see Toby. (I really should have named him Shadow, not Lucky!) So now my job is to rehabilitate Toby so he can be adopted into his new forever home. Anyone in the Tidewater and Central Virginia areas want a Bengal (eventually)?? And now, a photo of the lad himself (taken by the initial owner):  Tags: bengal rescue, kitties
Mood of the Moment:  pleased
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elainegrey | |
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Awoke early, to Mr E's plaintive cries. I'm thankful for the morning time, thankful we've taken in such a sweet tame creature. (Our cats are so wild, comparatively.) Digital correspondence and reading until the 7 am conference call. I'm thankful that the other prerequisite projects clearly will not be done in time. Also, i loved having Christine up, giggling at some of the call. After, Christine & i went to Hobees. The service came to a screeching halt -- almost as if there were some sort of drama happening in the kitchen for a bit -- and then resumed. It was entertaining to speculate on what happened, and my mood perked up quickly as i got food in my system. From there to the pet store and CostCo and the grocery. Home with a new external *rugged* hard drive for my lap top and much bird food. Christine turned around and took Mr E to the vet for re-suturing. I restored some disk images on the second living room hard drive (a to-do task since sometime in May) and our media library is back. I also ran some laundry, washing the dyed fabric for the final rinse and the cat marked towels and throw rugs from Mr E's adaptation to indoor life. i felt i should be doing work or Meeting work, but ended up doing much housework. I dusted! The kitchen is mopped! Microfiber cloths are amazing on stainless steel in the kitchen. This evening, i did not have something out of the house, so Christine went to get Mr E back while i fixed dinner. We watched Star Trek & ate, hen we fiddled with some tech for a bit. I'll take tomorrow morning's 8 am conference call at home. I'm a bit anxious about the training week and travel next week, but i know all will be well in the big picture. I just suspect i will metaphorically stub my toe often oer the next few days. Aversion, perhaps, instead of anxiety. Cats growling at each other -- hope i can get a good night's sleep! Tags: log
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xydexx | |
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As you've probably been hearing all over LJ today, it was another awesome convention. I won't be doing a lengthy con report because I can barely even remember what I did. I know my Thursday was spent wrangling the media pretty much the entire day... and then... it's all pretty much a blur after that. Perhaps I was abducted by aliens and had parts of my memory erased. I wonder. Oh well. Random bits and pieces: - We had super amazing Guests of Honor: Joe Harris, Ben Balistreri, and Bob Boyle. I got to see them all for a little bit while I was running around bringing things from Point A to Point B.
- A new sandwich place (Cory's) opened across the street from the Westin. They apparently ran out of bread on Thursday feeding packs of hungry furries.
- Standing up on the roof of the DLCC watching the fireworks with rigelkitty and kurradragon, and people in boats on the river yelling "Furries!" and us waving back and everyone just having a super fun time. Pittsburgh is just a really nice town.
- Closing Ceremonies notes: Total attendance = 3,776, an 11% increase. We had 640 fursuiters in the Fursuit Parade (I got about 5 minutes of footage before my camera didn't want to do video no more, so I took pictures instead.) There was a huge group photo taken of them all in Hall C. $8,992 raised for the charity. We need to add the estimated price thingy back into the Dining Guide.
- I tried one of the yummy Furnando's lasagna wraps and picked up a t-shirt. Had a ginormous cheeseburger and fries at Steel City Diner. OM NOM NOM.
- Rigel and I tried to go to Big Mama's House Of Soul (at Penn and 16th) for dinner on Saturday (the place was recommended by AC attendees last year) only to discover ravenous hordes of furries had descended on the place and eaten everything and there was no food left. We ended up at Golden Palace Buffet instead.
- I took lots of pictures of really cool fursuits and wish I had one. What's up with the folks dressing like Batman villains (i.e., Joker, Two-Face, Scarecrow)?
- I was tempted to check out the Harris Grill based on their interesting furry-themed ad in the City Paper, but didn't know where they were (I found out later only a 30 minute bus ride, according to Google Maps). -=/ Maybe next year. How can one resist a brunch menu with an item called "I Can Has Bacon Cheezburger?" on it?
- Events I attended (more or less): Opening Ceremonies (of course), Presenting Furry Fandom to the Public (part of it), Lupus in Tabula, Fursuit Parade, DJ Rigel's dance, Fursuit Games (part of it), Toonseum Presentation (part of it), Iron Author (part of it), Closing Ceremonies (of course).
That's all I can think of at the moment... I hope everyone had a great convention! Tags: ac2009, anthrocon, furries, furry fandom, omg aliens, pa, pittsburgh
Mood of the Moment:  busy
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