ornamentalillness

Blog Moved

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:17:00 +0000

~~Blog Moved~~

I have started a different blog.

Reason #1:
Blogger will no longer support FTP publishing after May 1, which was what I was using for this one. (I cannot do the custom domain thing as Blogger suggests because I'm maxed out on subdomains)

Reason #2:
I got this cool software that I can use to easily update and change the look of my blog.

Reason #3:
I haven't written in my blog for a long time, so continuing on with "Ornamental Illness" after a 10-month hiatus seems a little silly, so I'll just start a new one. There is not much there now, but I really don't have time for this blogging stuff anymore anyway. Plus, I want to keep Ornamental Illness as an intact relic and not migrate it over to blogger, as I'm sure it would lose something in the transfer.

Reasons why I did not start a new blog with Blogger:

For the awesome support for Open Social Gadgets, and the growing number of third party gadgets built to work with Blogger, which will provide a lot of opportunities to add to my blog's functionality, like the selection of Social Widgets, Facebook and Twitter Integration, fanning, following and blah.

Despite the ironic new name, I can probably swear a lot more there than I feel comfortable doing here for various reasons I will not go into.

It's just the Oxycotin Viagra Cocktail Talking

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:05:00 +0000

I Heard This on The Ed Show

Limbaugh Mocks Recession

Actually I'd like to hear him squeal like a pig. A stuck pig. If any of the teabaggers with pitchforks had any brains, they'd be better off skewering this arrogant bastard.

DREAM: Bugs and Pugs

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:52:00 +0000

Bugs: Stan and I were in a strange building that was a combination of a mall or department store and a library. It was dimly lit, and Stan had brought his laptop. He was telling me that "the bugs were talking to him." I didn't know what he meant, but he told me he was talking to bugs, literally insects, inside his computer, or through some sort of messaging system in his computer. I though the was crazy. I then examined his computer and saw that he had connected to a bunch of different people's computer via some network, an each name that came up on the network, Stan thought was a bug. I was also looking at clothes in this library/mall...mostly jackets that were made with faux fur in colors like dark tipped yellow fur and hot pink fur. I don't know when I would wear such a think unless I felt like being ironic. Most of the jackets were cut too short for my taste anyway. Then the manager of the library/store starts to turn the lights off to shut the place down. I call to Stan because I didn't know where he had gone. He says something back, but it's indecipherable. I then yell to him again, again he responds and I can't understand a word he's saying, I say curse word, I wake up.

Pugs: I was outside of an apartment building and noticed a Pug tied up to a post . I thought it was cruel that someone would do that because it would be so stealable. I had Lucifer Sam with me on a leash. Then someone called me on the phone and asked if their pug was still tied up below. I guessed it was the owner of the dog in the apartment building (why they called me is anyone's guess...it's a dream, right?) I told them the pug was there and that I'd watch it for them. They told me they'd be down shortly. I then untied the dog from the post and started walking it on a leash. It was difficult to manage two dogs at once. Then the owner, female, came down and noticed that I had the dog and was walking it. I guess she thought I was stealing it because she reached her hands out to tackle me against the hood of a car. I thought she was approaching to give me a hug for watching her dog, but she slams me onto the hood of the car. Some gratitude.

Who's Your Daddy?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Now that we know Daniel Farraday's pedigree, there are a couple things that have me baffled.

1) His eyes. OK, maybe I'm really too picky, but I've always noticed people's eyes and their eye color. For example, when I saw "Tommy" the first time, I was really disturbed that the child they chose to play the young Tommy had average brown eyes, not the spectacular blue eyes of Roger Daltrey, who played the older Tommy. Your eyes can't change color like that. And ever since 10th grade biology when I found out that blue eyes are recessive, I've been super observant of the casting of actors in regards to their eye color and those of their characters' parents' eye color. Take Daniel Farraday. His eyes are brown. Eloise Hawking's AND Charles Widmore's eyes are both blue. Genetically speaking, it is impossible, assuming they are his biological parents. Which brings us to a subquestion...what's up with the name Farraday, anyway? Why not Daniel Widmore or Daniel Hawking? Who's Farraday? And why?

2) His accent. Explain why two Brits have a son who speaks with an American accent. Did Eloise send him away to boarding school in the states at an impressionable age? Perhaps while she was a Hostile on the Island? Or was Danny Boy with his mum on the island where most people spoke with an American accent which is where he picked it up? Will we see the young Daniel there?

Ever since I found out Eloise Hawking is Daniel's mother, I stopped suspecting that Widmore was his father because of the eye color factor. I then began suspecting Non-Aging Man Richard Alpert, not that that explains the last name either, but it would explain the eye color.

Other than the eye thing, the casting for young and old versions of the characters has been exceptional. And I knew at the opening of the show who the young boy and his mother were immediately. And I also guessed correct that Marvin Candle/Edgar Halliwax/Mark Wickmund/Dr. Chang is Miles Straume's Dad. But of course then I have to ask...who is Daddy Straume?

From a Different Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:55:00 +0000

Every evening I receive a preview of what will be on Wisconsin Public Radio the following day. Tomorrow is supposed to be a program in the morning with the following topic:

"A new survey suggests the economic recession has Americans redefining
their necessities. Some say dishwashers, clothes dryers, and
other appliances are now luxuries. After six, Joy Cardin and her
guest invite you to share how the economic downturn has effected the
way you consume.Guest: James Burroughs (BURR-ohs), Associate
Professor of Commerce, McIntyre School of Commerce, University of
Virginia."

Dishwasher? I never had a dishwasher. I never had a microwave. Guess I have always been in a recession. Now as for the clothes dryer? That depends on your perspective. I suppose the people saying that Clothes Dryers are luxuries have the luxury of living in a nice dry climate where you can hang your clothes out to dry on a clothesline. I assume they also have the luxury of having enough open yard space that affords them the room to have an outdoor clothesline that's not under trees and eaves where you get tree debris and bird poop on your clean clothes. And in inclement weather, I suppose these people also have the luxury of having a roomy basement or laundry room where they can hang their clothes inside. It seems that if you have the space and room and fortunate climate that affords you the ability to go without a Clothes Dryer, you are the one with the luxury.

More Dream

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:32:00 +0000

I remember more of my dream last night that I forgot to write previously.

I dreamt we also had a caged rodent...like a gerbil/hamster/guinea pig. I remember thinking in the dream that my house had become like the Natalie Portman character's (Sam) in "Garden State." I love that movie.

DREAM: Two Bulldogs

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:25:00 +0000

I dreamt that Stan and I bought a French Bulldog puppy. It was so cute. It was mostly all white. We were later at a pet store and found an English Bulldog puppy, white and tan, and bought that as well, thinking, "you won't get a chance to get both a French and English bulldog like this."

After we get them home (which was sort of like our home, but different because there was a hallway with bedrooms on the southwest side of our house running alongside the length of the house, sort of like a bungalow style except bungalows are rather hallway-less), I start to realize that maybe we had bit off more than we could chew with four dogs and two new puppies. The next morning I wake up and realize we didn't put the pups to bed. Our old dogs were in their kennels, but the puppies had free-range. We had neglected to buy the new pups kennels! As I walked down the hallway, I passed a room where my mother was sleeping. She was staring out a window, and didn't seem to realize I was there. I went into the living room. The English bulldog puppy was under the couch, and it looked like he was choking on something. I didn't know where the Frenchie was. I felt very sad.

What were we thinking? It's not like buying a couple rare houseplants or something. I mean, yeah, in dreamworld it would be great to have 4 dogs, plus the financial resources and space for them, but even in dreamworld having 2 puppies at a time is too much. Of course, maybe in dreamworld we don't have to work for a living and can spend our entire days taking care of and training two puppies.

Dream with Stamps

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:18:00 +0000

I just remember I dreamt more than I wrote down previously.

I was mailing a bunch of items as normal, however I was using stamps on all of them even though they had high postage (usually high postage items require DC or Insurance, so I take them to the counter at the PO). One envelope I had completely filled with stamps so there was no room for the address. So I tried peeling the stamps off, but I had overlapped some of the stamps so when I tried to peel them off, the printed part of the stamp beneath stuck to the backside of the stamp on top of it. I was really upset to see a $5.00 stamp ruined because of that (sorry, if an item of mine requires $5 of postage, it's also getting DC at the minimum, so I'm not going to stamp it). Also, some of my envelopes had stamps in multiple layers, attached at the top edge only on top of one another, so they hung like you could flip through them like a flip book, if that makes sense. I thought that probably wouldn't be kosher with the PO.

One Eerie Surreal Dream, with Special Guest Star, Jerry Seinfeld!

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:13:00 +0000

I was with someone I knew briefly about 15 years ago, and her daughter who was about as old as when I knew her (I have no desire to see this person again). We were in a large shopping mall that was very dimly lit. I started pushing her daughter in a stroller. It wasn't cumbersome at all, both brat and stroller were very lightweight...I was hardly doing any work (which is probably why I didn't mind). I pushed them into a restroom, and stood by the kid while mom went into a stall. When she came back out, I went into a stall. It had turned into a unisex restroom, since I could tell there was a big, noisy man in the stall next to mine. There seemed to be an extra door on this stall that just hung there and didn't seem to be useful for anything.

When I came out of the stall, it was like I was in the Student Center at CSU. I was trying to see if I got accepted into an art exhibit. I was looking through records and books trying to find my name. Finally I asked a woman in charge, and she gave me a sheet of paper. I couldn't find my name listed. I was disappointed. Then I went into the main part of the cafeteria. I sat down at a table, which seemed like a car (maybe it was at Jackrabbit Slim's) because it seemed to move. But maybe it wasn't the car/table moving, maybe it was the conveyor belt of old people passing by that was moving. Or were they standing still and I was moving? Who knows. But it was like a parade of Del Boca Vista residents. My parents were there too. First my dad passes by. He's facing the wrong way. I say "Hi Dad" and he turns to see me, smiles and says hi back. He's standing with a cane, and doesn't look as old as the last time I saw him. A few more old people down, my mom is standing, talking to some other old ladies. She's wearing an outfit that is like something Polyester Retirement Modern...kelly green and white color...totally not my mom. I couldn't understand why she dressed like that....not that there's anything wrong with that...it's just not her. Also on the conveyor belt was Jerry Seinfeld. Poor Jerry, ending up doing schtick to an audience of his parents' Florida neighbors on a tray line in a Colorado university cafeteria. So were the old people part of the show, and the audience was the people in the cafeteria, mostly students probably? Or was the show on the tray line and the old people were his audience? Hard to say. Despite this very strange turn of events for Jerry, I found him quite hot! He looked like Jerry, except younger, younger even than the first season of Seinfeld. Like maybe in his late 20s...his hair was longer. He had some strange piece of material with him that was like a small quilt, but not a quilt. It had about 5 squares of colors across and down...the edges of the colors blended into each other. I don't know what it was, but I found it fascinating. I have no idea why he had it, why I was intrigued by it, or why I found him so attractive. I mean, I like Jerry, he definitely wins out over George and Kramer, but...I don't know, it was kind of weird. Anyway, getting back to the dream...I turn around in my table/car and see all the old people that were formerly on the conveyor belt sitting behind me as if the car/table turned into a roller coaster or open train (like the kind you can take in the Milwaukee/Brookfield Zoo...zoomobile). Jerry is talking to people behind me, who are my parents. My parents know Jerry? This can't be right. I say something to Jerry and smile, hoping he'll notice me. Unfortunately, he's more interested in the old people. WTF.

Hey Stan, did you know Jerry went to high school in Massapequa, New York? Chattapeaqua, baby! Our Terry Mattheson is George's Art Vandelay.

Pretty

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:08:00 +0000

So I was searching on "Purple and Green" (don't ask) and happened upon this.

Who cares if it's healthy....I'd love to grow those just for the colors. Better check the seed catalogs.

Hillbilly Only

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:46:00 +0000

They do not come from a non-English-speaking country. They're not new to this country...they probably have to count back many generations to find an immigrant in their ancestry. They write forum and blog posts that smack of racism, they say how they "vote the Bible" and proudly support "Engish Only". They're out there, and they're on ebay and other selling venues. But they don't make sales, no. They make sells.

Sells. As in "woo hoo, I made my first sell today (doing happy dance)."

I just want to scream.

It's "SALES" you nincompoops!! You MAKE SALES. It's a NOUN. You SELL things. SELLS is a VERB.

It's so basic. Why is it so hard to grasp?

How did this happen to our "English Speaking" population?

Saw this on Keith last night

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:06:00 +0000

Fox is guarding the henhouse, and the pheasants have pitchforks. Birdbrains?

Teabaggers so totally didn't know they were being punked.

"Yeah, I make less than $250,000 per year...what? My taxes will be LOWER under Obama? Wait a minute!"

The guy addressing the sheeple is my hero.

Chalcedony

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:39:00 +0000

Huh...

It is "kal-SEDn-ee".

Not "chal-sed-OH-nee."

Fooled me, Stan AND Bill.

Merriam-Webster link

Potential Disaster Diverted

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I am very relieved that Kathleen Falk has won relection for Dane County Supervisor. It was a bit scary last night as the election results were coming in online, since Mistele was ahead pretty far. One of the local news stations was showing a Mistele supporter, a 20-something rural blonde, stating how she hopes Mistele wins because she doesn't want her taxes raised to support a commuter train since she'll never use it. I wanted to reach through my tv and slap her senseless.

I had to keep telling myself that the precincts reporting early at that time were rural, and sure enough, with each update the gap narrowed, until Falk was ahead. Then after about 33% reporting, the nightly news declared her a winner.

Last weekend Stan actually helped distribute campaign literature for Falk's campaign in conjunction with AFSCME, his union, and we got our very first political yard sign! It's odd how many people in the union at his old work place are Republicans (this was a non-partisan election, yet obviously, Falk is Dem and Mistele Rep). The disconnect is amazing. Put the Republicans in power in the county and they go for privatization and these people would face losing their jobs. I hear they did that they privatized either Milwaukee or some other county and now it's a mess, but it's too late. These coworkers just don't get it, biting the hands that feed them. Fortunately, that team of near-retirements are getting pretty powerless, and it's a good thing since Stan will be leaving the courthouse as a worksite and heading back to the "prairie" where these walking contradictions also work, where he worked since 1997 until 2006. Same job title, same employer, different worksite, different atmosphere. He's doing this to save his health. The courthouse had its advantages: Bike, walk, or bus to work, no hillbilly coworkers, a nice law library with WiFi to take a break in, when he got a break. But the disadvantages outweighed them. The kind of food preparation was extremely hard on his wrists. He has developed carpal tunnel, and he is the only one involved in cooking, so the burden is entirely on him. Sometimes he'd go from 6 am until 2 without a break due to the lack of coworkers. Although he'll have to drive to the prairie, the workload will be less. There are more people there to take over in the absence of coworkers. He'll actually be able to get breaks, and in the summer there's the prairie, which is beautiful and relaxing. He'll be able to run errands like post office runs on the way back from work which will save time having to make special trips. There's a post office down the street from "the prairie" in Verona, unlike downtown Madison, which believe it or not, does not have a full-service post office. I know, mind boggling. But the most important thing is his health. Since we both will have to work until the day we die, it's important to keep that.

Had (shudder the thought) Mistele won, this would have been a very different post. I probably would have been cursing Chief Niwot at making the prospect of returning all too real. I don't have to worry about that, at least for another 4 years or so. Job security for Stan, hopefully the commuter train will become a reality and he could potentially use it to commute to the prairie. Chief Niwot's curse still does not apply to us. Madison is where I live. And I want to keep it that way.

Back to Meat

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Last week I got really bad abdominal pain after eating Edamame. This past weekend, after eating Tofu, I got a lump on my tongue, and what felt like a lump in my throat, chills and diarrhea. I realized what is happening. I am allergic to Soy. Unfortunately, being a vegetarian/pescaterian was going really well. I'm actually someone who likes soy products...Edamame, Tofu, Bean Curd, etc. But I can't continue being a vegetarian/pescatarian without the Soy protein in my diet. I have to return to meat, so I get that protein.

Last night I ate half of a lamb shoulder cut, and for lunch I finished the rest of it. It was so delicious. I couldn't believe how good it tasted after all this time. While I had not been eating meat, I really had no desire to eat it, so I was fearing when I started again, the taste would make me sick. It didn't.

I can still eat other legumes, fortunately, green beans, lima beans, peas, peanuts, lentils, garbanzos. It's not all legumes, just soy. Stomach pains is bad enough, but getting bumps and lumps in my throat? That's scary. That could lead to swelling and anaphylactic shock.

I feel like no matter what I try to do for my diet, nothing works. I went off of meat because I wanted to eliminate the fat from my diet, because I thought *that* had made me sick. But it didn't work. Now, what is supposed to be "healthy" is making me sick too.

CSU Building DREAM

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:02:00 +0000

I was walking around City Park in Fort Collins, near the tennis courts (they have tennis courts there, right?) It was sort of morphy because it also seemed like it could be near the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison (on the north side of the zoo), and also on West Laurel by the CSU dorms. There was a woman following me, so I stopped in my tracks and turned around really fast and she was right on my back. I think I might have cussed at her. She walked away. I was trying to get to the other side of the park (which would mean I had to go east in the dream), but in order to get there I had to go through some dorms or buildings. They were very metal inside, but not in an industrial way, but sort of a modern styling antiseptic way. The building seemed to take forever to get through, and I think I saw Sayid from LOST in there. A woman also ran into my back, and this time I turned around really mad and ready to beat someone up, but I realized it was a mistake on her part as she was carrying a humungous backpack that she could barely manage...she was very small. I exited out one side of the building and into a courtyard that was between buildings. In fact it was completely surrounded by buildings, but the courtyard was so vast it seemed like a "normal" outside area connected to the rest of the outside, but it wasn't. I would have to go through another part of the dorm, which was an identical mirror image of the part of the dorm I just came from. I stared at the long lines of windows and doors across the courtyard, trying to figure out which was the corresponding door to the one I came out of. I looked at architectural elements, trying to match them up. But before I could go through the other side of the building, Stan's alarm went off ending the dream.

DREAM: Meet Julie K. Clark, Culinary Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:35:00 +0000

Stan and I were driving through some unknown town. We were driving down a one way street through an older residential area that was interspersed with businesses on the corners, sort of like Johnson/Gorham. We went past one business and I told Stan to stop because they sold beads. It was a converted drive-in restaurant. It had screen windows that faced a covered carport with blacktop parking. It had cheesey wooden signs that looked like the kind you'd see out west touting Souvenirs.

We walked into the building and headed to the back where I saw beads hanging from the wall. I noticed some agate/carnelian beads that had really neat nature-made designs in them, like clouds and fire. It was inaccessible behind a counter, so Stan climbed up on a tall glass showcase to get it. I told him to get down, that we probably weren't supposed to help ourselves to the off-limits merchandise. Soon a woman came to help us. I told her I wanted the beads and she had a hard time reaching it. Then Stan got on top of the glass showcase again, but then the clerk got a device from behind the counter that easily lifted the beads off the wall, sort of making a mockery of Stan's monkey climbing.

I left the beads on the counter as I walked around the store to find more. They really didn't have that much bead supplies...a lot of the interior/non-wall space was taken up by cards and trinkets. There was a young man, maybe early 30s, white, average length brown hair, sort of squinty eyes proselytizing to people. I guess he worked there. There was music playing in the background...I don't know what it was. The woman who helped me get the beads was saying how the song would be good to make something out of. I saw some rainbow moonstone beads and decided to get those. They were almost Labradorite-colored, but they were labelled as moonstone.

I walked by the proselytizing guy as I looked at more beads. He somehow knew my name and asked me "Who are you, Ann?"

I said, "Pardon me?" Not understanding his question...shouldn't it be, "how are you, Ann?"

He asked again, "Who are you, Ann?" I then realized this was one of his "pick-up for Jesus" lines. I told him I wasn't interested in cults, and that I'm an atheist, and that I hated being raised Catholic as a kid, and as an adult, I hate these culty Evangelical religions even more.

Stan, who is sitting on the floor looking through the moonstone/Labradorite bead selections, starts talking to him. I don't catch what Stan says, but it's along the lines of religion. Cultboy picks up on something Stan says, recognizing it as Jesusspeak, and goes over to him, extends his hand and introduces himself. Unbeknownst to Cultboy, Stan was making a mockery of it, but Cultie was a little slow to catch on. I then say something about "meet Julie K. Clark*, Culinary Killer." I then look down and Stan is covered in black lace, in a strange goth girl sort of costume. Cultboy is totally bewildered, but he's laughing, realizing Stan was making fun of the whole Jesus movement. I wake up, and although I didn't really understand what was happening, I was laughing too.

*Julie K. Clark was an alterego for Stan many, many years ago. Long story.

The Joad Family Starter Pack and Curmudgeon Rant

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:12:00 +0000

Back many, many years ago when I worked about 16 hours a day on my computer creating fonts and graphics, I had a program called "Poser." I never really mastered Poser--I found the interface a bit awkward, but it was a nifty program that allowed you to pose human figures and create images with them. This was version 4. There have been many advancements since then, although I have not upgraded. There are also enhancements you can buy that are like presets created by other Poser artists that feature these human figures in various costumes (or lack thereof) and hairstyles. It all seems too sci-fi heavy metal renaissance dragon airy fairy woo woo sex goddess porno 13-year old boy's wetdream starfighter bitch fantasy, with names like the Dragynfyre Goddess Corset Packs and the Barbarian Skeleton Gore Bundle.

This whole fantasy thing won't die, will it? It just gets more and more absurd. I thought boys playing D&D when I was a teenager was silly. And here it is, 30 years later and that genre still exists. Why? It hardly seems worthy and redeeming. Is it just me?

I'd love to see some Poser designers come up with something different. Something not so medieval, but something a little newer, like maybe 65 years back or so. Something also very relevant to the times we are in. Yes, I'd love to see The Grapes of Wrath Pro Bundle, or at least a Joad Family Starter Pack. Seriously. I might even consider upgrading.

DREAM: Wooden Ski Lift Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:48:00 +0000

I dreamt I was standing in a rather posh room...I don't know whether it was a hotel lobby or what. Lots of marble. There was a man standing by a reception counter staring at me. I don't know why he was. I got an an elevator and he followed me. The elevator morphed into a Ferris Wheel/Tram/Ski Lift. It had a wooden bench to sit on. As this mode of conveyance started to rise, the low wooden door/gate started to roll shut. As it did, I realized there was no room for my legs, so I put my legs up on the bench. The whole thing seemed very precarious as we rose several stories high, and I realized he could at any time push the door/gate open and I would be vulnerable to falling to my death. He was stronger than me, and he could easily then just push me out. I was very scared, and don't remember what happened next.

Oh No! Dick Died!

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:11:00 +0000

Obit.

This is so strange, because I never would have known had I not found it accidentally by searching for something completely unrelated which caused me to bring up the Ft. Collins obituaries. Today's obituary. How odd is that? It was like I was supposed to know. Why? Dick was an Old Towne Fort Collins institution, like Barney. Stan and I knew it was a good trip if we happened to see Dick and Barney on the street while driving through Fort Collins on vacation. And I was just writing about those vacations in my previous post today. Odd.

A Ride in the Country

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Yesterday I took Stan to the Dentist, and afterward I was going to head off to the Cottage Grove Post Office as I always do when I take Stan to the Dentist...a errand driving consolidation type thing. It was hardly a consolidated trip.

As you approach the Dental Office/Fitness Center/Bank/Who Knows What Else building complex going east on Cottage Grove Road, you turn left, then another left to get into the parking lot. I guess I had been on auto pilot, so I knew I had to then turn right, then right again to get back out to the Cottage Grove Road intersection, where I would at that point turn left to head to Cottage Grove. I've done this several times before. I know how to get to the Cottage Grove Post office, it's the easiest trip in the world, just a straight shot down Cottage Grove Road. Except my mind was occupied. Earlier that day, an ebay customer, a Disney Witch who bought over $200 worth of merchandise from me and had not yet paid after 18 days, became NARU*, which meant, I was out that $200. Sure, I still had the merchandise, but I'm out the time initially organizing her stuff into neat little packages, I'm now out the time having to put her stuff back into the original packages they came from, I'm out the time contacting her asking her when she was going to pay, I'm out the time having to file to get my Final Value Fees back (she bought a lot of items) and I'm out the mental $200 that I had planned on using to pay bills. Bitch. Psychotic #&@*!%$ "My Bank is issuing me a new Credit Card and I haven't gotten it yet" Bitch. So that was on my mind. So when I exited out the back entrance of the parking lot, not the entrance I came in, my Autopilot turned right, then right, and then left. But since it was not the entrance I came in, I needed an extra right in there before the left. So I headed out toward Cottage Grove Post Office, but not on Cottage Grove Road...on Sprecher Road.
*Not a Registered User

Stan and I had remarked as we were heading there how Cottage Grove Road was getting more and more built up. Years ago after you went over the I-90 Overpass, it was all country. Not any more. And as I headed out on Sprecher Road, which I thought was Cottage Grove Road, it seemed even more built up. It seemed weird. I didn't remember that median. And where was the 55 mph 2 lane country road? It was now 40 mph and a 4 lane. Everything looked different. And what was that interstate underpass? I didn't remember that before either. Things sure changed in the few months we were out last. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention before. Maybe they were always there. Maybe I just couldn't remember.

I drove quite a ways, thinking at any moment the scenery will start to look familiar. It never did. After about 3 miles I got a strange panicky feeling. I realized I had no idea where I was. I retraced my steps and realized my error of prematurely turning left and not getting on Cottage Grove. I figured out I was going north, not east (it was a cloudy day...there was no sun to guide). I then thought if I turn right, I'll be heading east at least, and then I could find another north/south connecting road to Cottage Grove. I turned at the first stop sign I found, Nelson Rd. I headed east about a mile, but I don't think I'd ever been out there before and didn't know where it would lead me. I decided to turn into a country residential neighborhood road that looped around. I then took Nelson back to Sprecher (which had turned into Reiner at some point...roads do that a lot around here), and then back to the Dentist office/Cottage Grove intersection, and then back out to Cottage Grove to get to the post office. By the time I finally made it back to the Dental Office, Stan was still waiting for his appointment. I was hoping that wasn't the case. I had hesitated calling him on our cells because I wouldn't want him to get the call while he had dental junk in his mouth. He had been worried why I had taken so long, fearing I'd been in an accident. No, the car was fine. But was I? It was all like some surreal dream. I have dreams where I find myself in the middle of some country area and I don't know how I got there. That's what this was like. I hope it wasn't some early senility. I'm hoping it was just a preoccupied mind. Stupid Manic Bipolar Disney Witches on Shopping Sprees.

As we drove home, I started thinking about the Homologous Streets of Madison and Fort Collins...you know, a street in Madison that reminds me of a street in Fort Collins. Then it hit me...they'd make great names for characters in novels or movies:

Monona Lemay. Elizabeth Milwaukee. The twin brothers, Winnebago and Williamson (Willy) Remington (very old west sounding, that). Mason Atwood. Stuart Buckeye. Sherman and Johnson Shields. Harmony Pflaum. Mr. Nesbitt Bingham Hill (proper English chap). Drake Midvale. Lesser Loftsgordon**. Sheldon Forster...Stan might not get that one...I had to look it up myself...Sheldon is the road by City Park where we fed the seagulls heart-shaped biscuits and Forster is the road that goes by Warner Park where we hear frogs in the spring.
**I totally see Lesser Loftsgordon as a William H. Macy Fargo Jerry Lundegaard character type.

Some of the street combo names make better sounding places, like Washington College, or University College (Stan says it was just a college with no panache, so they named it "University College" to make it sound better.) Then there's the employment agency that all the graduates of University College end up going to, "First Prospect."

There are probably more homologous name possibilities, and I've exhausted my mental map of both cities. I used GoogleMaps to help me remember street names, and in doing so I found all these names of neighborhoods in Fort Collins that I didn't know existed when I lived there. If I look at a Madison map, neighborhood names appear...Tenney-Lapham, Greenbush, Old Market Place, Carpenter-Ridgeway, (oddly, my neighborhood, Schenks-Atwood, is not shown). But GoogleMaps shows a whole new side of Fort Collins that never existed to me before: Sinnard? What the heck is Sinnard? (just north of 14 on I-25) Black Hollow Junction? (between Sinnard and Andersonville...actually, I did hear of Andersonville when I lived there). Side Hill? (east of Parkwood). East Dale? (around Stover and Locust). And here's a shocker...Omega!!!!! (corner of College and Horsetooth). Back in high school, there was a spot called Omega that was behind an old Safeway store off Prospect and College. It was undeveloped near a creek. People went there to get stoned. That's all I'll say about it. Not really sure of the places I lived...my parents live between "Old Fort Collins HIgh School" and "University Acres," although I only heard them refer to it as the latter. When we lived on Grant Street, it was either "Mantz" or "University North." On Peterson, it was sort of triangulated between University Park, East Dale, and Old Fort Collins High School. Very weird sensation thinking about this stuff. Just last year, I was there. Visiting. I had fun. I love vacations. But I can't go every year. I guess it's part of the deal I made with Chief Niwot.

Deadly Vipers and Killer Bees

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:33:00 +0000

So everyone's heard of Dick Cheney's Assassination Squad by now. Over the weekend, Stan and I mutated it into Dick Cheney's Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Kill Dick!

Dick Cheney of course is Bill, The Snake Charmer, er, I guess it would be Dick the Snake Charmer in this case.

Dubya would be cast as Budd/Sidewinder his brother, in this case it's Budd Weiser. An alcoholic living in a trailer. Perfect.

Condi Rice is Vernita Green/Copperhead.

Michelle Malkin is O-Ren Ishii/Cottonmouth.

Ann Coulter is Elle Driver/California Mountain Snake.

But that leaves Beatrix Kiddo. Who gets to be Black Mamba? Stan suggested Scott McClelland, since he used to be on the dark side and then turned against them, but, and nothing personal against Scott, but he is so very un-Uma Thurman-like. At least with the others they match, more or less. OK, Dick Cheney and David Carradine don't exactly come to mind in the same breath either in terms of physical appearance, but their initials match.

I'm a bit puzzled by this and it will no doubt take up my subconscious thinking about casting the perfect politico as The Bride.

----

I had a tragic perfume spill. Previously, I had diluted some Golden Champaka (super expensive stuff!) essential oil to a 33% solution so it would be easier to drop it from an orifice reducer. Unfortunately, it was still really thick, so I had removed the orifice reducer. And duh, today when I tried to make a recipe with it, I forgot the orifice reducer was no more, so I immediately took the top off and tilted the bottled, which elicited a flow of very fragrant Champaka out onto the table and all over my recipe cards. I sopped up what I could and put it back into the bottle. It is sad. It's not like it happened to Lemon or some inexpensive EO. But no, it happened to Champaka. The rest of the spill was sopped up and worn on myself, not to let any good Champaka go to waste. I smell great, a little strong, but good. I took the dogs out and was immediately surrounded by several early spring bees. I was highly desirable. Nothing smells like Champaka, in fact, literally to these bees, nothing smells like Champaka because it is from India. It was an exotic treat for them. It was a bit freaky. I hope most of the smell dissipates by the time I go for a bike ride this afternoon.

Erica Chanel?

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Last night I tried out an accord from a perfume recipe (not my own recipe). Just at first glance without testing it, it seemed to call for too much Frankincense and Vetiver in proportion to the other ingredients. I was right...the Frankincense was too acrid and the Vetiver too overpowering. Maybe I needed to use the Frankincense absolute that it called for instead of the essental oil...I only had the essential oil, so I substituted. I suspect the Aura Cacia Frankincense is just too acrid-smelling for these perfume recipes. It's almost like a really strong orange citric smell. I should probably try some from my favorite online companies instead, and maybe a different species besides Boswellia Carterii. Or an absolute or CO2. As for the Vetiver, I absolutely fell in love with Vetiver in the form of the Crystalized Essence from Eden Botanicals. It was sweet and earthy, all the best scents of soil and none of the bad. I bought some Vet. EO at Whole Foods in Ft. Collins, although it came from somewhere in the Orient and was quite smoky. I think later I got some Aura Cacia Vet. EO, which was Haitian, and not quite as smoky, but very strong and sort of molassesy. In doing research, it is recommended to get Haitian if you don't want that smoky quality. The thing is, all my fave EO Companies. online are completely out of stock of Haitian. I have tried cutting down the Vet. about 10% in my own recipes, but it still seems so overpowering even at that quantity. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Eden Botanicals states their Indian Vet. is less smoky than the Haitian, so maybe I'll try that. Meanwhile, Vetiver totally influenced my dream last night:

I dreamt I had a large bottle of what I thought was Chanel #5. It looked just like my long square black spray bottle. I smelled it...it smelled similar, but had a very pronounced Vetiver scent. I examined the bottle again and it said "Erica." I asked Stan, who was in the kitchen on the floor doing his exercises, if he had gotten me Chanel #5 as a gift. I think he said he had gotten Erica. I told him I had asked for Chanel #5. He wasn't making much sense, and said that's all they had. It was hard to understand him because he was lying down and sleepy and sort of incoherent. It was sort of an annoying dream.

Erica? WTH?

LOST Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:51:00 +0000

Sawyer and Juliet make a cute 70s hippie couple in a Dharma Initiative Infiltrators sort of way. And it looks like, with Sawyer in his Dharma Jeep (a blue Dharma Jeep...can you beat that?) finding the "Oceanic 3" (Jack, Kate, and Hurley) that Jin found in his Dharma Van (and they've got a whole fleet of Dharma Vans!), we might be in for not just the return of the Sawyer-Kate-Jack triangle, but now with Juliet in the mix, a love quadrangle! A love polygon! But not a square, daddy-o. It is the 70s after all. Well, at least for the real Dharma people like Horace Goodspeed--what a name...it's got to stand for something but I haven't figured that out yet. I guess it's...2008? for the O6/O3...but where did Sun and Sayid end up after the crash? And what the hell did Kate do with Aaron? And, I know this is off topic but where on EARTH are Rose and Bernard? Are they in a different time loop as Sawyer/Juliet/Miles/Daniel/Jin? I know they're older people in their late 50s and a bit overweight and not as sexy as Sawyer or as important plotwise as Locke but come on, they can't just write them out of the script. They're not redshirts.

And this has sort of bugged me when Richard Alpert appeared last night. He looked just like 1950s Richard and 2000s Richard, which, is quite understandable because he is after all Non-Aging Man, but remember the Ben backstory that showed Ben growing up as a young DI nerdboy and he encounters Richard in the jungle (which I assume was sometime in the 70s)? Richard, although his face looks the same as 1950s Richard and 2000s Richard, his hair was longer and more disheveled...hippie Richard. So why is this 1970s Richard clean cut again? I'm really confused by this. Either the production crew messed up big time (you'd think someone would catch it!) OR we haven't figured out something in the timeline yet.

OK, I'm assuming Benjamin Linus is probably around my age, maybe a year younger. I'm not sure, but something is sticking in my head about it being the year 1962 when he was born. Lostpedia just states "early 1960s". Ben was 11 when he and his dad became Dharma people, so maybe he was about 11? 12? when he saw Richard in the Jungle, placing it very close to Last night's Richard encounter (that was 1974...we know that as a fact).

And now that injured, unconscious crash-survivor adult Ben is on that small Hydra station island, will he ever counter Little Ben on the main island? And if so, what will happen?

Dumb Drug DREAM

noreply@blogger.com (Ann) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:07:00 +0000

Stan returned from the grocery or drug store and said "I got you more of these." I open up the bag and see a box of Sudafed. I'm really puzzled. I don't use Sudafed, and I tell him so. I'm rather mad because, in the dream, he had been doing this for a while, getting me a box of Sudafed every so often because he thinks I'm running low. I then show him a stash of maybe two unopened boxes and one partially used box of Sudafed that I am not using. I tell him to please stop buying me Sudafed, we'll never use it. He then says he'll use the ones I don't use. Yeah right.