den_down_unda, posts by tag: misc - LiveJournal

Random thoughts:

Does it count as a spoiler for a Tad Williams novel if I say that at some point the main character is lost underground?

How about we outlaw for-profit prisons and stop monetizing sending people to jail.

If your 30-game hitting streak consists of going 1-for-4 30 times, does it really matter?

I'm amazed by the number of people who are anti-union who would not have gone to college if their parents hadn't had good union jobs.

Gene Wolfe wrote novellas called The Island of Doctor Death, The Doctor of Death Island, The Death of Doctor Island, and Death of the Island Doctor. This means something.

"Man had always assumed that he is more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars, and so on—while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons."
  —Douglas Adams

"Except in dreams, you're never really free."
--the late, great Warren Zevon

As pantsie noted, it's Quote of the Day month, so I'm going to do that. Sometimes, I'll include the quote in another post, and sometimes I'll post it alone, but at least I'll be posting.

For my first quote, I offer, "Zark off!" by Zaphod Beeblebrox (via Douglas Adams) because it's late and I'm tired. Night, all.

If I promise to start posting more again, will folks start commenting again?

Also, it's a good thing I'm not a Republican; otherwise, how would I out-crazy this presidential primary field?

Apparently, I made Diane Duane laugh on Twitter. My month is made. Making Diane Daune laugh and getting a job makes 2011 already rank better than 2010, which featured losing a job and getting retweeted by Danny Bonaduce. Here's hoping 2011 continues on this good path and that the dictators in the Middle East keep falling and are replaced by sane and stable governments that care for the welfare of their people.

Today's Valentine's Day and in the spirit of always trying to seem like the most miserable bastard alive, I set my Facebook status as, "I hate when Valentines Day falls on Monday, cos when I drink my lonely ass to sleep tonight, it's going to mess up the entire rest of the week." For the record, I don't really care about Valentine's Day and don't really notice it anymore unless someone reminds me.

I suspect my opinion might be different if I had actual Valentines, but since most of my relationships can be measured in hours, this hasn't happened. But it does remind me of something. One of my favoring ideas, and the reason I always make a big deal of my birthday, is that everyone deserves to be celebrated by someone. We should all get a chance to be the center of positive attention and of someone's world, even if it's only for a day, because we're all worth it.

And I guess, despite it commemorating a particularly gruesome martyrdom and being mostly an invention of the evil greeting card industry, that's why in the final analysis, Valentine's Day isn't so bad. But if my mom sends me a valentine this year, I'm tearing it up.

In the wake of the debate about violent speech in the media, I'm going to try to think a little harder about what I say in all situations, including on this blog.

I will not, however, stop calling people Today's Asshat.

I was very lucky today, in that ladybird97 is in the Boston area and was free for lunch this afternoon. Sneaky bastard that I am, I suggested we go out early so I could have as much ladybird time as possible. I got over two hours, which was awesome, but I didn't get uninterrupted ladybird time, because, "Oh, Christ, the freakshow's found me again." Yes. Aslan sent another adventure today, in the form of a chatty stranger.

Admittedly, it was partly my fault. In a fit of optimism almost totally foreign to my nature, I decided the Diesel wouldn't be insanely crowded, and would therefore be a good place for lunch. Clearly, I'm an idiot. In my defense, I'm usually looking for space for more than two when I'm at the Diesel. Still, it was so crowded yesterday pantsie and humanbeatbox didn't want to wait there, much less try to find a table for three. So, like I said, I'm an idiot.

Anyway, ladybird97 and I went there at 11:45 and made the mistake of ordering before we found a seat. The result was us with food and drink and no place to sit. With few options, I decided to find a booth/table with one person who looked like they were almost finished. When I found this paragon, I asked if we could join him, figuring he would feel out of place and leave shortly. The best laid plans, etc., etc.

What he actually did was insert himself into our conversation. Turns out he's also a tech writer, so he started by commiserated about my job search. Then he moved on to his ideas about entertainment and the nature of the World Wide Web. Eventually, we got to accordions, busking, and the likely value of a fiddle of gold won in a bet with the Devil. I also got to give my one line review of Tron: Legacy, "It's like a stereotypical cheerleader: very pretty, and very, very dumb."

In all fairness, he seemed very nice and it was quite a varied and interesting conversation. The problem was that I wasn't there to have a varied and interesting conversation; I was there to have a varied and interesting conversation with a specific person, a person who is an old and dear friend, a person I don't get to see very often, and most importantly, a person that wasn't him. It didn't help that he was right out of Central Geek Casting: long hair, dubious shaving habits, and granny glasses perched on a long nose. Yes, it's the Techie Philosopher, sharing his ideas whether they're solicited or not. When did lunch turn into a cliche? (Oh, yeah, when we walked in the door of the Diesel. I really am an idiot.)

My lovely lunch companion finally saved the day by noting it was 1 PM and we had to leave. We suited action to the word and walked over to JP Licks, and ran into some friends on the way. This was more welcome interruption and also a shorter one, since they were on their was elsewhere. At JP Licks, ladybird had a kiddie cup of candy cane ice cream, which is awesome, and we had the conversation we'd tried to have at the Diesel. Also, we heard one of the stranger musical segues ever, when the theme song from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air gave way to "Have Another Drink" from the Kinks' deservedly obscure Soap Opera album.

So the story has a happy ending. Conversation was had and strange musical segues. She learned that the Kinks have an album called Soap Opera that she shouldn't seek out, and I learned that Great Big Sea covered "It's The End Of The World As We Know It." And then she headed off to meet up with other friends (some of whom are my lj, and real life, friends as well), while I came back home and opted to write this post before I send out resumes, instead of afterward.

So I invented a word yesterday:

pirg (v.), to solicit passing pedestrians for worthy causes.

I had lunch with gee_tar and hca yesterday in Davis Square, and all three of us were separately asked "for a moment of our time" by fellow with a cause, a clipboard, and an earnest expression. Folks like this are pretty common in urban areas, running voter drives, passing around petitions, asking for donations, things like that. One of the original examples of this is the Public Interest Resource Group (PIRG), which was founded by Ralph Nader, back before he was the Senile Antichrist, to advocate and solicit funds for causes "in the public interest" like protecting the environment or consumer safety. Hence, to pirg. I hope it catches on.

Also, came up with a neat parallel between an author and a band. To me, Roger Zelzany is the Queen of the science fiction world. Both were endlessly varied, endlessly interested, but usually recognizable. Both had grander ambitions than may of their genre peers: Zelzany's work could be very literary, while Queen had explicit operatic and theatrical aspirations. And most of all, their work was usually good, and when it was good it was incredible, but when it was not good, it was bloody awful, like "Body Language" by Queen or Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming by Zelazny (with Robert Sheckley). Oh, and they both went out on something of a high not. Queen's last album while Freddy was alive is the competent and occasionally amazing Innuendo, while the last book Roger completed (as far as I know) was the delightful A Night in the Lonesome October. Everyone who hasn't should check them both out.