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jedimentat's Journal

Below are the 25 most recent journal entries.

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  2009.07.09  13.03
YA summer reading

My reading has taken rather a turn into the schlocky world of pop teen lit (hey, occupational research).


spoiler-filled book reviews:







( Read more... )



Mood: bouncy 		 
 


 
  2009.07.02  16.13
107 year old man is cute

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103861.html?g=0

Ask Larry Haubner for the secret to living 107 years, and the Fredericksburg man flexes his biceps, flashes a mostly toothless smile and growls. "Nutrition!" he bellows. "Exercise! I think we should all exercise more than we do."
Today Haubner seems as vigorous as ever. He takes no medication and can lift his walker over his head. Haubner, who was born June 14, 1902, is blue-eyed and bald and answers to the nickname "Curly." He lived alone in a Fredericksburg apartment until he was 102. Locals knew him as the older fellow often seen cycling around town. But in 2004, he fell off his bike and was taken to a hospital.
Haubner's room is spare, furnished mostly with donations. A recliner is flanked by ancient exercise equipment, including a homemade weight -- an eight-kilogram lead ball inside a basket -- that he lifts at least 20 times a day.
He worked at a Tacoma lumberyard before enlisting in the Army in his late 30s, then moved to New York to work as a doorman and pursue a dream of singing opera. He had a teacher who believed in him. "She said I had a voice that could make it," he said. But he never sang professionally. Fredericksburg resident Dianne Bachman said she often saw Haubner cycle to the Rappahannock, dismount and croon to the river. "He didn't have to have an audience," she said.

a lead ball inside a basket, and singing to the river? cute old coot.

  
 


 
  2009.07.02  08.24


following up on that Goldman Sachs article: http://www.joncorzine09.com/barackobama

  
 


 
  2009.07.01  20.23
oh, foul!

holy crap. article in Rolling Stone re: Goldman Sachs
http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=16763183&access_key=key-aq99m8654zlwmm5muht&page=1&version=1&viewMode=

read the whole thing. so angry.

Lightening the mood: internet distraction! Here's a collective wiki version of Pulp Fiction, done in the style of the bard
http://pulpbard.wikispaces.com/

and I've been watching a ton of "Mitchell and Webb" and their Peep Show clips on Youtube..here's one along the lines that ive been thinking lately...anyone want to buy a communistic farm?





Mood: enraged 		 
 


 
  2009.07.01  10.47
layoff poll

Poll #1423745 layoff poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

How many people personally do you know who have been laid off within the last year?

View Answers

none, fortunately
2 (14.3%)

i've been laid off
1 (7.1%)

two or three friends of mine
7 (50.0%)

at least 5
2 (14.3%)

at least 10
2 (14.3%)

nearly 15 people
0 (0.0%)

more than 15
0 (0.0%)





Music: l'arlesienne 		 
 


 
  2009.07.01  01.34
awesome xmen hookup map

i really want to make one of these for faire...

http://www.uncannyxmen.net/images/article/relationship/relationshipmapv1.htm



Mood: naughty 		 
 


 
  2009.06.29  21.20
it's not exacly sprain science; and explosions in people's faces

Posted in anticipation of the 4th, when I know friends and relatives who love to blow stuff up will be busy singe-ing their eyebrows off...NSFW, because of the language used when things of course blow up in your face:


in other news, i'm now gimping around, sans crutches. they really slowed down my pace of existence; five minutes up-and-down stairs instead of 5 seconds, thoughtful consideration of weight-bearing legs before movement, etc. i am choosing between nifty ankle accessories of wrap or brace this week, then we'll see...ankle still a bit testy/twingey (can't wait for more active pursuits; riding moto, dancing, jogging, walking around city, flights of stairs in reasonabile amounts of time, etc.) going swimming tomorrow. playing "Left 4 Dead" now to give myself zombie nightmares...why are zombie things so popular? Been thinking about this...another reaction to the vacuity of consumer culture? hm. off to shoot zombies with mah pistols...



Mood: recumbent 		 
 


 
  2009.06.24  15.30
summer vaca so far...needs AutoTuning

i could write some boring events-of-the-life post about how my summer is off to a stellar start...finally finished up all school-stuffs, raced into renfaire, and then promptly sprained an ankle last sunday and now have been bored bored bored, sitting upstairs in my slowly-getting-hotter apartment, crawling up one side of the internet and down the other. I've read one book so far ("The Thirteenth Tale"), and have been working on another that I wanted to use as novelsource material, watched "Ghost in the Shell" One and Two, sorted through all school binders and papers and reorganized my teaching webpage, all flashdrive files, and messy school email Inbox...and there are only so many times that i can hit 'refresh' on Facebook. I'm off to go play kingfox's borrowed Xbox, reorganize my closet, and maybe look at some grant-writing. here're two more AutoTuned News videos...I just find these so entrancing.





 
 


 
  2009.06.23  15.00



vs



  
 


 
  2009.06.13  22.07



::languishes::

five more days. and then it is done...



Music: listening to "Rome" as i play it as a marathon, again... 		 
 


 
  2009.06.11  06.27


woah nightmare:
http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/an-innocent-abroad/



  
 


 
  2009.06.09  00.04




  
 


 
  2009.06.05  19.45


woah, crazy. search overload.


and this has been in my head all week:




Music: serendipity movie on tv 		 
 


 
  2009.05.29  06.17


http://www.minsh.net/
Underwater Visualization for Twitter Users:
this is truly awesome...a site that makes a fish-avatar of you, and makes it move around in "schools" etc, according to your Twitter feed. too cute! I think your size should increase if you have a lot of subscribers, etc...

Also, for the undisciplined, the "Study Ball and Chain"...
http://www.curiosite.com/scripts/product/enproduct.php?idproducto=19126738#
you set the timer and chain a heavy ball to your leg, and it doesn't release until your study time is up.

had to stay at school late last night for an art fair, so treated myself to Thai red curry last night and this morning for breakfast...mmmm! Also watched the last fourth of "The Abyss" last night on tv...so corny, but Mary Mastroantonio really did a great drowning scene. What are the most realistic-looking "deathbed" scenes? I vote her, and Uma Thurman in "Les Miserables." Worst: hmmm...Val Kilmer's in Tombstone is kind of bad...i'm sure more will come to me. (Note: I'm talking about scenes where the character sort of slowly dies in front of you, gasping for the last breath sort of thing, not just death scenes. If that was the case, I think the one that cracks me up the most is Meg Ryan's in "City of Angels" when she is riding her bike, smiling in the sun, and gets hit by a semi...



Mood: awake
Music: BLUEGRASS Green Day 		 
 


 
  2009.05.26  20.53


i thought that this tiki drummer that kingfox bought runstaverun was pretty damn AWESOME...and there were already like a dozen videos of him on youtube...my fave was three of them, playing at once:




Music: the prophet song-queen 		 
 


 
  2009.05.26  19.24


eating dinner (salmon burgers, eeeww!) and watching "Driving Through South Africa" travel show...just got back from getting my car inspected, where I waited after work in a very, very, very long line, with other "end-of-the-month" slackers, but am celebrating my car's passage with a glass of fine red wine.

counting school down, day by day...today's lesson: getting sh*t started, debating both "censorship" and capital punishment...interesting opinions from the kiddies, not what you'd expect, really...



The Memorial Day weekend: golden, glorious. Saturday, spent all day with kingfox's family meeting my family, out at the farm (ATV-riding, moto-riding, and much fun was had, along with awesome food), see kiddie pics. Sunday= Faire rehearsal: Opening, Closing, live steel drill with the other footsoldier-types, Chess...then to noreen's, for some painting and some comedy. Dinner @ Marita's Cantina, New Brunswick, in the lightening, then back to farm. Monday; tooling around Clinton-town with Kingfox, (bought an awesome "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" book), getting yummy jalapeno pretzels from a farmstand and saying hi to the goats, and then off for more painting, and then ceviche and pleasantness at runstaverun's. kingfox fixed my computer, so now my Itunes work again in time for summer...awesome.

whew. wine. off...



Mood: exanimate
Music: hocus pocus by focus 		 
 


 
  2009.05.24  09.05


staying in the game: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/health/research/22brain.html?em

  
 


 
  2009.05.19  20.07
Events of the Life, two or three weeks in brief

here's a bumblebee that was on the deck:


Class Trip today to Sandy Hook...glorious day for it. They are in the midst of redoing the bridge that goes there.



(actually, my fave pic from today was one of the kids holding up part of a car door that they found washed up amid other flotsam...Sandy Hook is always good for random trash).

watching "Sleuth" with Jude Law and Michael Caine...such British urbanity. watched "Marie Antoinette" last night...what a plodder. beautiful costumes, though.

busy busy with schoolwork that i don't want to do. diet flagging this week; changed my eating habits during the past 2-3 weeks, but since i haven't pared this with any exercise whatsoever, it has had no effect on the current sad state of affairs.






still haven't unpacked from last weekend...went to see Leonard Cohen last Sunday night with Kingfox at Radio City Music Hall. fave songs: "Dance Me to the End of Love" and "Everybody Knows" (and "If It Be Your Will", with the angelic Webb sisters). It really got me when the old guy took off his hat at the end of every song when people applauded.

got a bit soused beforehand.

it was a lot of fun, but a rough way to start Monday morning.
Saw kingfox's family on Sunday; had Polish food in Brooklyn. Saturday, spent the day with my family; we were breaking down my grandparents' house for most of the day. dumpstered a lot of stuff. held on to some...here's some pics of some keepers










(i also took the yellow kitchen table and chairs, and an old mantelpiece clock. i'd like to re-do the kitchen set...it's bright yellow 1950s vinyl, and if i'm able to clean it up, I think it'll be dynamite). handwashed 52 neckties...might make them into a quilt..dunno yet.

i feel like i'm having a bit of an artistic resurgence in my life...Haven't been artistic in a long time; in fact, to quote the spectacular character Corwin of Zelazney's Amber books, "That part of me is sleeping." Well, maybe it's rousing a bit. Been doing sketching at school during an extracurricular session several times a week, and just the way i've been looking at things.

last week, did some renfaire practicing which was a lot of fun and kicked my butt. it's challenging, fighting with a shield. fun stuff. Also, watched "Lost" on my bro's HDTV, and had Dharma food. the weekend before, strolled around Hoboken with Kingfox, shooting pics of different areas. went to kingfox's stepdad's wake.

driving in to Hoboken, been observing all the Kid Omen graffiti

the weekend before, saw "Henry V" with this crazy guy;

and then went to Kenka with some friends after Korean BBQ...got in at 5am due to tunnel traffic. also, currently up on movies (never happens)..."Star Trek" last weekend, and "Wolverine" two weekends before.

off. four and a half weeks of school left.



Music: o saya 		 
 


 
  2009.05.12  06.13


handy graphic: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/wdc/stimulus_counties/index.html?SITE=YAHOO&SECTION=HOME

busy, feeling overwhelmed with all i have to do before the end of the schoolyear, and too little time. need to force myself to grade. feel exhausted at night and in the mornings, but i think this is just mental and that i have to make myself haul my carcass around more.

LOST finale on Weds...bringing Dharma-food to my bro's, and watching on his HDTV after playing with the kiddies.

what are your summer plans and goals? My short-list: learning guitar, learning to dance, learning (and hopefully installing) some solar power, reading a whole bunch of books, and working.



Mood: cranky 		 
 


 
  2009.05.11  06.12


aw, shatner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzOs4WEutQ8&NR=1

just saw a Burger King commercial re: Star Trek, with the scary King guy: KINGONS!

  
 


 
  2009.05.03  19.58
Toiletry Swap/Giveaway Idea

Ever have a bottle of shampoo or lotion that you tried a few times, didn't like the smell or the results, and then it sat on your shelf? Well, I do, and was spring cleaning, and would like to do a sort of swap/giveaway of things that I have accumulated...i'm hesitating throwing things away, because it seems a waste, and some people might like the products I want to get rid of...so. Ladies! (or gents, why not)...do you want to have some kind of "Swap" Evening? Otherwise, I might just bring a bag to faire practice and leave it for grabs, and toss whatev is not taken...

I love trying new shampoos and whatnot (that's part of the problem), so a swap of something that you *didn't* like would be more fun...Here's what I have in the bag at this point: a whole bunch of perfumes and perfume samplers (I really hate most perfumes), lots of Burts' Bees stuff (i don't like their lotions), body butter and massage oil that i don't like the scent of anymore, a few conditioners, etc. Some of it is gently used, and if that grosses you out, fine.



Mood: accomplished
Music: fight club on tv, edited 		 
 


 
  2009.05.03  18.26
oooooo

via grantgould, the fanfic "Hunt for Gollum" is free online:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jedimentat/2431937149/in/set-72157604527662435/



Mood: contemplative
Music: empire records on tv 		 
 


 
  2009.04.28  21.54


first moto ride of the season, lovely.
battery was dead though and had to jumpstart (waddle and pop clutch!)
now bike is getting new tires...

also, took a 2.5 mi walk for the past two days (just up and down my driveway several times. at sunset, it's like my own private sherwood. or lorien. i just hope i don't see any bears...

counting down, can't wait til end of school.

  
 


 
  2009.04.23  15.59
Boldly Go..

ohwow, i need a house so that i can make a Trek Bathroom...look at this wall mural for sale:



::off, picturing red towels with logo, and where the Captains' chair would be...:



Mood: silly
Music: da da da... 		 
 


 
  2009.04.14  21.52


the farmhouse now has the most beautiful paved driveway in the world, smooth as glass, and super-fun to zing along fast on. (yesterday, when paving, my dad gave me a ride home on the ATV, and I bounced along in my skirt with my schoolbooks, whooping up the side-trail...it was fun.)

went to Borders tonight and drank some supercaffinated Seattle's Best, and graded a whole bunch of papers. There was some minor actor there who i knew i had seen but can't identify, sitting in the cafe chatting it up with some local friends. it was fun, and i needed an "outing", especially since i had just been to the Ford Dealership. Seriously, I'd rather go to the dentist. I HATE those guys. I've been to three different Ford Dealerships in NJ (Fullerton in Bridgewater, Maplecrest in Mendham, and Flemington Ford). One of these *used* to be okay, but then also degenerated into the same kind of crappy experience; run by gouging, arrogant @ssholes, who are rude and talk down to you just b/c you have a uterus, piling on fees and other crap, and they just act like mobsters. it always takes forever, and is way more expensive than you'd expect, and i never go to a dealership if i can help it. but when my trunk-lock broke (again: Focuses have a faulty lock; the first time it was within the three years covered by warranty, but of course its a bad part, so it broke again) and i bent my key slightly when i was finding this out, which is a problem, because i only have one key. (i know, i know. but it was a used car, and it only *came* with one. plus, i've lived this way for like six years). but yeah. when they saw my key, they were like, "this still opens your door and starts your ignition? har har!" but of course, it being 4:30, their key-guy was leaving (he always leaves at that time, doncha know), and i couldn't make an appointment until saturday afternoon, which kills a good part of my saturday, sitting there in their waiting room craphole. (as you see, i abide minor inconveniences with the greatest humor and gravity).

school= busy busy, as always. maybe i need to cut back on the caffeine, but i heard a great idea tonight...one recipe book was like, "does your ice coffee get all watered down as the ice melts? well, just freeze some leftover coffee in ice-cube trays, and use those cubes for your ice-coffee next time!" brilliant! i also read how to make these lovely little egg omelet thingys in a muffin-tray by lining it with pieces of ham...mmm.

they were selling these at Borders, haha, "Dazzle" and "Lamb":


watching 'Deadliest Catch' and debating doing some ellip.



Music: black ghosts 		 
 


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