urban earth mother

Boss Lady noticed the pink hair. Edrie gave me this pink spray on hair stuff to try, and some blue hair glue too, and I put it on last night and looked like a big, fuzzy, pink flower. I tried to wash it out in the sink last night, but there was still a little left in so I washed my hair again in the shower this morning. No luck, still kinda pink. At least Boss Lady didn't freak about it, just remarked. And I'm still kickin' the Doc's ass arse in the journal duel!

I read Pseydtonne's Journal this morning and he has a bit on MP3s. It seems some clever soul has figured out that downloading MP3s is the only way some new bands are heard. Amazing! Next we'll find that frozen water is cold! Which was pretty much Dante's point too, but I felt the need to blog a "me too."

Katharine Hepburn died last night at the age of 96. This makes the third death I have blogged about. I feel like I'm taking notes for the Parade of Death sequence at the Ocsars. The Boston Globe has a really good article, but The Guardian has a better picture.

I got my transcript in the mail yesterday. I was one of the 28% who did not graduate with honors, and now I see that I just missed cum laude by 0.07 points. Dammit. I should have started grade grubbing earlier.

Well, I'm a shitty friend. I totally spaced a party that was happening tonight begining at 6:30. I didn't realized until after 8:30 when the AC was finally in and I walked past the calendar. Dammit. So I went out and rented flicks and emailed the doc. He's staying with someone in London and was using the computer there. Had a lovely IM session >

Okay, so I got off my ass arse after finishing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (borrowed from friend), and went to The Globe Corner Bookstore in Harvard Square. Picked up Lonely Planet guide to England, Streetwise London map and Virgin London Guide & Map. You can never have too many maps. Went home, and then the fun began. After many tries, got the AC window thing on. Took forever. I don't even think the thing is safe, it looks too low, but the only way I could raise it up would be to order another bit of plastic, or to rig an extender, which I did try to do with a bit of wood, but the screws weren't long enough. Used my drill so much with this that it lost it's charge. Wasn't even able to get the screws in with the drill, or by hand and ended up using a hand screwdriver and a wrench to torque it. Fine. It's in. I then go to put the AC casing in and see that I'm going to have to brace it until the unit goes in because the window bracket ...

The good doctor is being teased about me. I'd let him put up a pic if it was a clean one ;) Actually, he's gone to London this weekend. I'm hoping he takes some pics there that I can see. He's staying in a place that's fairly inexpensive, and it looks like that's where we'll stay next month when I go out. It seems convenient, I guess, near Euston Station. It's hard to judge since I don't know the city at all. Really need to get my ass (oh, sorry, arse ) in gear and get some maps and stuff.

Ugh. Note to self: never go out drinking with former student when having to work the next day. I went out for drinks with someone from the class I TAed last semester. We've gone out before and I never headed home sober. Although last night was worse, much worse, which was why I wanted to go out at the end of the week and not have to either drag myself in with a hangover, or call in sozzled. Beer goes down really easy when it's warm out, and four hours of beer with no food... > Feeling much better now though. Had food when I got home and passed out fully clothed on my bed. Undressed when I got up in the morning to feed the cat. Slept in. Good feeling. I bought one of those metal window bracket things to hold the AC, but I'm holding off on installing it. The building next to mind is being gutted and turned into condos and the contructions guys are in the back, pretty much right below my window. Yeah, I'm a wuss and don't want to start in with the...

During my struggles with the AC, I had NPR on in the background. Now that I've heard from Goddess Edrie that she and hubby had the same reaction, I don't feel quite as bad for being happy Strom Thurmond is dead . And for the full text of what probably caused him to finally die, see LAWRENCE et al. v. TEXAS in FindLaw .

I left the AC in the wrong window last night and decided I would take it out in the morning as there is a good chance of rain today. The whole reason this is the "wrong" window is that the gutter above it is buggered and rain sheets down which would just come pouring in the room. Not good. So I get up, feed the cat, take a quick bath and set to work getting the AC unit out of the casing. Again, dressed only in panties. I manage to get the thing about 6" out and it sticks. Looking in the side, I can see it's caught on a screw from the side extender flap thing (this is highly technical language, I know), so I know I need to get that screw out first. Of course I can't find the damned screwdriver that I just had so I go get another one. Oh, and looking outside I see people going through the trash across the street so decide adding a bra at least would be a good thing. Okay, new screwdriver in hand, I open the window and lean out to get this thing out as...

I told the tale of the A/C to my roommate who emailed me to ask if it made sleeping any better (I leave before she gets up so she must have noticed I'd gotten the thing out of the hallway when she got up). She was as sympathetic as can be expected when one is laughing. She thought it sounded v. BJD, which it does when you have the full information, such as that I was dessed only in a pair of panties at the time. But given that the instructions on my cordless drill (which needed the cord anyway since it had run out of juice) do not specify that shirts or bras need to be worn, I suppose it's okay. And she offered to drive me to get stitches if I ever need them in the middle of the night :)

I bought an air conditioner from my friend Max last September. He was selling his studio and didn't need it any more, so since it was practically new and cheap as hell so I bought it. Last night was the first hot and muggy night of what could be another hellish Boston summer but I decided to just use a fan instead of trying to install the AC before going to bed. I should have just done it then. I woke up at 2:00 hot, sweaty, cranky and decided this was the best time to put the AC in. Now, you'd think I would have abandoned the idea when I couldn't get the unit out of the casing. No. Maybe when I realized the pain in my finger and the slipperiness were somehow related and I was bleeding all over the place. No. How about when I realize the support blocks won't work with my window? No. Well, an hour later, I have a bandaid on my finger, the casing screwed in to the sill, the main unit back in to the casing, a deep appreciation for Max who carried this thing ...

Okay, I handled the small kitchen fire well enough alone, but still it's a scary sensation when the flames are coming up along side of the pan. There must have been some grease on the burner (it's electric) as it started to smoke a little when I turned it on, but that usually goes away. So of course I just turn on the fan and leave the room . Stupid. I saw the flames through the plate pass-through and ran in and tried to blow them out. Ended up quashing them by pouring salt on. So much for the toasted pine nuts. On the plus side of things, I got my plane tickets today. Wheeeee!

Talk about full service providers! One of the admins of my email service, which is based in London, has offered to pick me up from the airport on his way to work. Now that's service!

Now that I have a ticket, I went out to get "stuff" that I would need for the trip. Stuff like a debit card (although, when I applied I had to choose a new PIN that was at lease 6 digits and I've just been informed that I won't be able to use an ATM over there now that my PIN is over 4 digits. Dammit!), and um, a new backpack, and some pants, and a hair cut. UGH! I am such a consumer. But the pants are comfy and second-hand, and the backpack is big enough that that's all I should need to bring with me.

My ticket to London was booked today! Woo Hoo! Now I just need to find a place to reset my weary head when I get there. Or with luck, I'll get my debit card soon (applying for that this afternoon) and I can just book my first night online. But even if I end up in a hostle I'm okay with that. All I really need is a bed.

The Canadian Prime Minister is filing a bill to allow same-sex marriage. When this goes through, they will be the third country to give equal marriage rights to homosexuals (Belgium and The Netherlands are the others). Take that Vermont with your puny "Civil Union!" Truth be told, though, I'm quite proud of my home state for even that tiny step of civil unions. In the US, with it's views on religion running to fundamentalist in nature (which is just fucked, western countries with a state religion give you more freedoms than we do), it will be a cold day in hell before all couples are recognized equally (yes, I'm looking at you Senator Santorium)

Cary Tennis' column in today's Salon struck a big nerve with me. I do firmly believe that interactions in the digital realm are real and valid interactions. There has been a lot of arguing (and pissy whining) lately on the forums I read about this. While some may not believe these interactions to be "real" as they see that people can hide behind an online persona, I very strongly disagree with this. People hide behind personas all the time in face-to-face interaction, yet somehow this is seen as more real. People claim that they can see through it in person, which, if true, and I doubt it is true in all or even most cases, should mean that they can intuit what is real and what is not in written correspondence. And that's what online communication is: written correspondence. It just has the advantage of not waiting for a physical postal system to deliver your message. I'm happy that someone with a fairly large readership has addressed this issue. ...

Jesum Crow, DoctorMO, I'm not that far away ! Mostly the other side of the world, but not entirely the other side ************************************* Oh! Now that I've read the responses, I see that he was thinking of sending me chocolate. How nice! (and sending them to my work address would ensure that I get them. um, I mean if you really were going to and all)

Oh, and I did find out how the Doctor's date went. The ball has moved back into my court it seems.

Pretty good weekend for me, all in all. My mom took my advice of "that haircut is not too young!" and went for it. She loves it! It's all short and spiky and thier lodger thinks she looks ten years younger. I am insisting she send me a pic. So now I have to get mine trimmed to keep up with her. My minion arrives today at work. All summer I get a young student programmer at my beck and call (okay, as long as my beck and call extends to "Make this bridge").

Got into the weirdest bar conversation with a Theosophist today. Made my brain hurt by the end. His friend said he did that to her all the time which is why she passed him off to me. And the more bizzare upshot is the friend turns out to be going back to England to visit her family during the time that I will be there and wants to show me around the Lake District. Oh, and did I mention she is a Medieval historian and her step-father a Hadrian scholar? It's like the time I wandered around a museum with an art historian.

Got a call from my dad today. He's still glowing and gushing about my graduation. I could almost here his eyes welling up with tears of pride. It's funny, because while I guess I'm proud of the accomplishment, it hasn't really hit me as a big thing. Yeah, I graduated. It was more than 10 years later than most people do it, but I did it. And that is something to be proud of. But the folks are really quite beside themselves. I'm glad I made them happy. *********************** Am waiting with baited breath (baited it with faux pho - quite tasty) to hear how the Doctor's date went. It looks like he's getting his own place too which is wonderful. I'd offer to help him move, but I have a distance limit of no more than a 2 hour drive :)

What a fuckedup day this turned into. I hate it when I get sucked into an online pitty party, especially when I'm at work because I can't even show that I'm upset. I did at one point sneak off to the ladies room for a good cry, but mostly bided my time until I could go for drinks and lunchies at Border Café. Ate a giant plate of cheese. Food coma now. And my email now thinks I'm brilliant. It has a cute voice too

Had some odd dreams last night. Very odd, but sweet in a way. And it's the first time in a while that I've been kissed so it was hard to wake up

I can smell the sea this morning

I so have The Good Doctor beat on journal entries. He may think that response threads count, but they don't. Full independent entries, that's what I'm talking about! Of course things are weird now, and it's easier to just be randomly flirty than come up with the sort of crap I'm spilling out here. Not that it's easy for me, especially since I now know that there is one person reading this. It was much easier when I could assume I was alone in the ether, but now I feel like I'm writing for an audience. Ah well. Saturday is the day of reckoning. I'll know where I stand for a time and then have other worries. But until then, I'll blog.

Gregory Peck died last night. What a bummer. I'm hard pressed to think of any Hollywood Greats who are left. But he died at home, with his wife by his side, which doesn't sound like a bad way to go at all. Goodbye Link to BBC story

The neck still hurts today. I don't know what I did to it. Took a hot bath last night to make it feel better and ended up dozing off for a while. Didn't realize until I got out that I had been in the tub for over two hours. I was a great big prune! Crappy weather today and slow posting boards means I should actually be able to get some work done. A good thing too since I have to have the first iteration of a major project completed by 10:00 tomorrow morning.

Healing hands, help me! Ugh, I've taken 12 ibuprofen in an attempt to deaden the pain in my neck and shoulder. I knew my warrantee ran out at 30, but I didn't think I'd go downhill so fast. Maybe it's from being on the phone last night (that would at least make it worthwhile)

And let's hear it for coinciding sexual peaks. Aiya! Well, for this brief moment at least

Got snagged for not mentioning the second video clip I got last night. It was much longer this time, just under 45s, and made me all weepy at the end (yeah, I was a little worn out yesterday). Maybe he'll start sending naughty ones instead [dirty girl emoticon here] Today, however, is much better. Got my machine back at work with XP now, and am finishing up replacing all my software and trying to figure out why my Palm isn't synching. But the new Alan Cumming wallpaper looks nice. Oh, and the firey ball has made an appearence which is always fun for the moments I get out of the basement.

In a worst case scenerio, it could be Moloch Could really use the "healing hands" today as my neck is killing me. Probably from being anxiously hunched over a computer for too long [insert rueful emoticon here]

Best advice I've had all day: Don't stress, it's just life So on that note, I've changed my mind: obsessively watching a 10s video clip over and over is a good thing. Be nice if it were longer though

Should get my machine back tomorrow. Will be nice to be in my regular office again. But I did get a chance to get both sound and vision on the Doc :) --- Ooh, got both at home now too. Not helping my mood any though to obsessively watch a 10s video clip over and over

Scammed some Penguins . Feeling much better now.

Kinda down today. Woke up way too early and since I couldn't get back to sleep, I just got up and went online (been online a lot lately). Then when I got into work, my computer was buggered because of the @#&$*! Microsoft Project I had to install so I could work on the summer project chart with a group of people. The thing had to be totally wiped and a new OS put in and I've no idea when I'm going to get it back (although I must say, I'm really happy I asked the person I did to help because this way I know it will get done and done well.) Thank [insert higher power here] most of my job is web-based. Sigh. Tired. Confused. Having life issues. But did get the Doctor's smile to work in the office. No sound though, but I got that at home.

How big an age difference is too big? I've a friend who is 5 years older than her husband and feels uncomfortable when she remembers something that happened while in high school and he points out that he was in fifth grade. Another friend is 13 years older than her husband and finds it amusing when her husband points out he was in fifth grade during her post-collegiate reminiscences. It's all just odd to me. I'm used to being the younger one.

And oh yeah, I graduated. For real and everything! Insanely stressful and emotional all around. While they didn't cry in front of me, my parents were all teary, and I had one moment of full-out sobbing after I was finally alone again. It was such a long haul and I'm still not quite sure if it really means anything. But I can't wait to get that diploma framed.

Been doing the mutual gush for a while, and now I see that the good doctor is posting about me on his journal. More gushing ensues. **Update** He's trying to out post me now. That might work on the regular forums, Herr Doctor, but I think I have the advantage here. Mmmmuuuuaaahahahahahah!!!

I have the phone bill from hell! Just got international service so I could call the UK and spent over five hours on the phone to someone in two days. Thank [insert higher power here] for graduation money from the fam. However, I must say that it has really been worth it to finally hear the voice of someone I've been talking to online for a couple of months. But I never, even in my most junior high moments, thought I could stay on the phone that long. The online portion of this has helped a lot too. It's really given a chance to test the waters before diving in to drown

A friend recently referred to romantic relationships as "a matter to have fun until I find someone that can rip my heart out so as to caress it gently." I almost want to make that my new slogan.