link/video/everything dump

Long overdue posts. I have drafts of text-y posts, but those aren't fun, are they? :-) Maybe some other time.

Everything I've liked, seen and rememebered, heard...

• 7th graders tell it straight. You can vote however you like. (via my officemate) I sort of wanted this election to be over, but I also want more songs like this.
  
  
  
  
• Top 10 Embarassing Halloween Costumes. Is the YPMB going to Halloween Parade this year? Or ever again?
  
  
• Gimme my Guinea! A new tumblr I made dedicated to guinea pigs. :-)
  
  
  

Other than that, my blogging equilibrium has shifted back to tumblr. Hmm!
I suspect it shall shift again. Like the seasons! Okay in a weird mood and sort of stressed about my schedule and stuff. Being out of town so much does not help with my docket! Well, helps in some ways, but not in others...the PTO production system makes no sense.

a tale which is written in a way that is not yet overwrought

I don't find time to read often, but I finally got to when I was at my sister's! This is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, published in 2003.

It's written from the point of view of an autistic teenager, as a very long and tangential tale unfolds from his point of view. This sort of pseudo-unreliable narrator style reminds me most of the movie Memento, and the multi-faceted use of footnotes to forcefully impose background information and the thought processes of the narrator reminds me most of House of Leaves. (Hey, I'm working with the little I have in my brain's library!) It's fairly pleasant though, as it's not overly done. I read it in about 2 hours so that says something. (Seeing as I usually give up on books when I have 20 pages left since I usually realize that I don't actually care what happens. And then I continue to "read" this book for a few more weeks.)

Read, please. And no, it's not all about dogs and that's not why I read it. Okay maybe that's why I initially read it.

checking in

Thought I'd say hi. Had a lot of ideas to spew words about, but I keep forgetting them! Sort of busy. Sort of decompressing. Mostly busy. :-)

Taking my second domestic trip via airplane ever! Other than a bit of jetsetting around Europe when I was in Germany, I've only taken 5 trips involving planes ever! This'll be a super short one though, compared to what I'm used to. (14 hours until touchdown in Asia? Where's my Game Boy?)

Delta as operated by Comair.



Though the article is 2 years old and is talking about the DC to NYC flights, the headline of the article this picture is from is "Comair flight late 100 percent of the time". Not encouraging. Here's to meeting more nice people at the bar.

boing boing pass

A-ha, "Take on Me"...but not A-ha, and the lyrics are based on what's happening in the video. Watch it. It's not quite on my "videos that make me giggle" list, but it's a job well done.



Boing boing boing think paaaaasssss...

skittles commercial

This gets added to the "videos that make me giggle list". Along with the most recent batch of cat videos (ninja cat, horror cat, and cat v printer).

I feel like a Chinese gymnast

I don't know if it's because I'm asian, because of my height, my voice, or the way I act, but I often get mistaken for a teenager, or at least questioned.

I'd get carded in college when I bought lotto tickets at train stations and was just about carded a few days after my 21st birthday for a free item giveaway (a Con Edison pen) at Yankee Stadium. Been carded for alcohol, but that's normal. Except for a few times in NYC and once at Whole Foods...that was strange. I've been respectfully asked by some TKD instructors and parents how old I am when I hint that I've been to college and they're shocked, and I've been not so respectfully told by kids that "you look like a child", "I thought you were 14", and "you look too little to be a college person".

But recently I feel like I've been getting younger. At the dentist's office, the way the hygienist asked how old I was when I was signing my forms was kind of funny. I guess I had taken the day off and I was in casual sneakers, jeans, and a colorful t shirt. My black belt exam was kind of funny with every other question from a stranger being "wait, how old are you?" and then them walking away. Today I was carded for buying a used video game rated M. (ages 17+) I think this guy was just playing by the rules...I already had my ID out when he asked this father in front of me if he was okay with the M rated game he was buying for his sons.

I think innocently buying a rated M video game and getting carded is a bit of the last straw. This is insane. Maybe I should start wearing makeup and generally maintaining myself. I should also stop shopping at Aeropostale (though in my defense? maybe? I only get sweaters and the plainest of shirts there...nothing with a logo or dumb print), Claire's (but they sell clip ons! I was also questioned if I knew they were clip ons...as if "you're too old for these"), and carrying a gross messenger bag.

But at this rate I'm going to leave my ID somewhere by accident, and not be let in for a PG-13 movie. Maybe I should make it a mission to get carded for the most ridiculous thing possible.

And just like childhood, I'll miss this stage of life when it's gone. :-)

hi old friend

I don't miss Joe Torre 'cuz the Yankees aren't perfect anymore. I miss his stoic mug.

oh, teehee, beeteedubs

I earned my first degree black belt last night. :-)
Even if my job doesn't work out (oof, shouldn't have reminded myself) at least I can say I achieved something in DC. (Even if it's just a silly milestone.)

in honor of forcing myself to watch the VP debates

Guess what's gonna happen now? Diana is gonna write tangentially about politics, sound stupid, but doesn't care. YAY!

So hey guys. I am not voting Republican. I agree that Palin is not as qualified of a VP. But as usual, I get sick really easily of constant nonconstructive bashing. I don't mean the Tina Fey business since they make fun of everyone. I mean the consistent barrage of snarky comments. I know I should phase it out, and that there are people who actually are deeply, truly angered as far as they know. But a lot of people aren't. They're just kicking someone when they're down.

This opinion piece that was sent to me gave me faith that someone feels the same way that I do. I don't quite buy the "McCain is sexist" sentiment, but I do feel that we have to give Palin credit for even attempting this hard road till November.

My point is that, Sarah Palin never struck me as stupid. When she talked about not backpacking across Europe and working her whole life, beneath the dumb anti-intellectual dig, I saw a gem of truth. I wish she had have mined it, instead of trying to score a cheap point. Rambling aside, she simply isn't ready. Maybe she would be eight years from now, but she isn't ready now, any campaign worth its salt would have known this.

It's true that she could have turned down the nomination, but somehow, I get the feeling that didn't seem like an option. If I were sitting as a newly elected governor in the non-contiguous United States, and someone asked me to be his running mate, I think I would be equally as unprepared. She's been learning over the past 5 weeks what's expected of her, how she's supposed to act, how she's not supposed to say "darn right" that much, and for on the job super-stressful training, I'd say she's doing alright.

Am I the only person who thinks she's closer to a normal person than the rest of the candidates? I don't mean "most like us" or "true American"...I just mean...abnormally normal. So she sounds dumb sometimes. Maybe has strong opinions that us liberals really really really whooooa there DO NOT agree with. But that's what normal people are like! You get nervous before interviews. You don't speak as much double talk (and speak more lines that are fed to you) and you speak about the little you know about. She's not your average lifelong politician. Thus far in her career, she's in the "hey, I make a good figurehead and I'm probably smart enough to lead the population of X" phase. X is not yet America as a whole. And my point is once again, that it's not her fault. So if somehow I could get everyone to agree, could we please not take cheap shots at her public speaking? And also at her family? Since when can parents control their kids. Honestly now. Go look outside.