November boots

The clickity-clack
With which my boots
      Attack
The bricks beneath my feet
Make me feel powerful.
     My feet make noise,
                       Therefore I am.
And the November winds
Are why my eyes are wet,
Not tears. Never tears.

         click. clack.
     clickity-clack.

good day, sunshine.

I got my $30 glasses (frames AND lenses!) from Optical4less.com today! They have not paid me, nor given me any other incentive to tout their praises. Tout! Tout! They're nice and from Hong Kong, and their website has adorable Engrish mistakes. Took about a week and a half to get my new specs. I kind of love them. And before you get all "Hey! Sweat-shop labor! Blah!" I'd remind you that your glasses were likely also made in Hong Kong, but I bought directly and didn't have to pay any middle-men/importers, so there.

If you are like me, you will listen to this podcast about Lord Byron, and immediately fall in love with him. But just incase you are too lazy to listen to a 15 minute, awesome podcast, I'll give you the highlights:

• While enrolled in Trinity College at Cambridge, he discovered they didn't allow dogs. He was a life-long animal lover, and he didn't like this dog-business. So he got a tame bear that he kept on campus. No. Really. The college couldn't do anything about it. ZING!
• He was a slut. Men, women, whatever came his way. He slept with this one chick, Lady Caroline Lamb, and she got all nutters on him when he dropped her like she was hot. She hosted a bonfire, invited the village maids, where she burned an effigy of His Grace, burned letters and gifts he had given her, and they danced around the fire. Snap. She also would show up to his house unannounced, alone with no chaperon, sometimes disguised as a man, and once attempted to kill herself at his house with a sword before His Grace and a friend of his wrestled it away from her. Oh, and she may have sent him a letter containing her pubic hair. Given that he had this nut-ball on his hands, what did he do? He married her cousin. Of course. ZING. The cousin, Annabella, eventually sought a divorce because she claimed Lord Byron was sleeping with his half-sister.
  
• He once shot an eagle.
  

If those aren't good reasons to listen, I don't know what is...except that he very nearly won the war for the Greeks against the Turks, and maybe would have been made King of Greece, had he not died of a fever which was likely caused by doctors bleeding him. Lame.

Hannah cut my hair tonight! New hair and new glasses and Lord Byron. Good day.

Nerd.

Here is what I've been nerdy about lately:

• I figured out a spoof-article online about Egypt was a fake, on the basis of the wall-carving depicted. The Pharaoh in the carving was wearing the crown of Lower Egypt, and the city it was supposedly found in was the capital of Upper Egypt. Unification happened there, and the crowns were combined.
  

• I watched The Atom Smashers on Netflix. So here's the situation, as I understand it. We have a particle accelerator, which has the totally awesome name of the Tevatron. It's the biggest working accelerator in the world, which is important because the larger the microscope, the smaller the particles it can see. Except Bush slashed the funding for scientific research, so a bunch of physiscs got laid off. And you know where they're gonna go? The LHC, at CERN in Europe, which is an even BIGGER microscope-of-sorts. If it ever works. Which it really hasn't so far. Here's where it gets insanely awesome: both are trying to find the Higg's Boson, which, to quote Wikipedia:
  

  The Higgs boson particle is one quantum component of the theoretical Higgs field. In empty space, the Higgs field has an amplitude different from zero; i.e., a non-zero vacuum expectation value. The existence of this non-zero vacuum expectation plays a fundamental role: it gives mass to every elementary particle which has mass, including the Higgs boson itself.

  Woah. It gives mass to massless particles! It is the reason objects have mass, ergo it is the reason we have form and shape, or anything has form and shape. One could argue the Higgs Boson is GOD. And if they smash up enough photons, they might just find God. AWESOME. Except that if they ever get LHC working, the Tevatron will be obsolete and shut down. And thus ends the US's position of being a leader in science. Thanks, Bush. I want scientists to find God in the tiniest part of being. I also want to go visit the Tevatron, although I'm assuming they don't give tours of it. But they do have a buffalo herd who lives above it! Rad.
  
• For the next week or so, I'm working 10 hour days. It's weird, the more I work, the more energy I have. But my feet hurt. Yesterday, I woke up at 6, walked to the chiro (takes me about 20 min, but it's on Adam's Street...uphill from me) and then walked to pick up my car, but the battery was dead. Walk on to work, about 4 miles. Make the money go-right for Burton for 5 hours. My car was delivered to my job! Try to cancel the kind offer of a ride, but he left his phone at home and didn't get my message in time. Rats. Skibble home, 4 wheels attached to my car, and put on eye makeup. Work at Old Gold until 6. I reorganized the Cowboy Boots by SIZE. Giving order to things makes me happy. Then I came home and I perfected my version of the Crispy Green Beans they serve at Single Pebble. If you're nice, I'll make them for you. They will make your mouth quite pleased. The weird thing is, I still had ENERGY at the end of the day, I didn't fall asleep until after midnight, and woke up around 5:30. I might knock myself put tonight just to make sure I don't get sick.
  
• I saw Where the Wild Things Are. Before I continue, I feel I should try and impart to you how much that book means to me. My refrigerator is covered with WTWTA magnets my sister gave me. I had WTWTA checks made up for my previous bank account (the one I have now gave me free checks. Snore.) which made paying rent more RUMPUSY. When my sister reads the book to my niece, she sings the same song during the Wild Rumpus that my mother sang to us, and that I sing whenever I read the book aloud. That book was in a rotation for bedtime stories (my parents were both once teachers. Bedtime reading was not optional) for the first 10 years of my life. I commented on Facebook to my friend Melanie's assessment of the movie thusly:
  
  • I think the book is about how childhood is equal parts SUPER EXCITING ADVENTURES around EVERY corner...and the only period of life where we are constantly learning to fear new things every day. It's terrifying, and you have no control. And when people don't feel like they have control, sometimes they dissociate and run away. It's called a Fugue State, like in music. They run away, and forget their former lives, their need to escape is so great. That's the other thing I have always (since birth! I can recite the book from memory!) felt about the book...like all good children's literature, it's about being a kid, but also is about being human.
    
    So I feel the movie hit the points that mattered to me. I was disappointed that the forest did not actually grow in Max's room, and that the monsters were human. I mean, I get it. Reflections of his personality. But...they are MONSTERS. With HORRIBLE EYES and TERRIBLE TEETH, not neurotic extended family members.
  I remember very vividly being read that book, under a pile of blankets (our house was wood-heated for the first few years of my life) cuddled under the wing of a parent, exploring a very Jungian exploration into the psyche of a kid. And I related. I still do.
  

Here is what I've done

• I learned how to shoot guns.
• I downloaded and was impressed with the desktop version of Picasa. It's neato.
  

• I started working a lot at Old Gold. It's fun, I work with neat people, and get to play with cowboy boots. A lot of cowboy boots. Best part-time job EVER. I've only adopted one pair.
  
• The driver's side ball-bearing gave out on my car. That means the wheel fell off. It's like if your shoulder dislocated, and there wasn't any skin holding it together. Like that. My mechanic is awesome, and I have the car back 2 days later, fit as a fiddle.
  
• I babysat an adorable 2 year-old and her 7 month old brother, who is the happiest, most relaxed infant ever. He just wants to cuddle, and enjoys being told he is handsome.
  
• I taught my sister how to use Skype! Seriously, it's amazing how much more REAL a conversation is for me when I can see the other person's face. My sister, my niece and I had a virtual dance party via Skype. Awesome.
• It's October, which means Ian is celebrating Octgoreberfest. There are many rules involved, but the most important are as follows:
  
  1. No horror movies are to be seen during the month of September (unless they are seen on the big screen at the movie theater)
  2. At least one horror movie a day is to be watched in October. Preferably more.
  3. Halloween is to be viewed on Halloween.
     
  I've never been very good at Octgoreberfest; I lack the commitment, as I've been reminded repeatedly by Ian and Tiffany. But I have watched a number of them this month. Teeth is really awesome. And Trick 'r Treat is perhaps the best movie I've ever seen which was never released in theaters. Seriously. It's clever and not stupid at all. Check it out.
  
• Yep. It's all coming together, kids. As soon as I'm done at OG, I'm going to see about volunteering for the Guardian Ad Litem program, which advocates for abused and/or neglected kids. New plan: I'm thinking about becoming a lawyer. Seriously. It's the first idea that I've had in years for a career I think I'd be legitimately good at that doesn't make me want to throw up, and that I don't think I'd be bored with. Please give me money for law school. Thanks.

I hope you're well. Let's run around before the snow makes our feet cold.

Three Wolves Pumpkin!

Me and the gays carved pumpkins tonight. I was informed that the quality of my result gave me "Honorary Gay Status." FINALLY.

I used to spend hours in High School sitting at a light table with an exacto knife and white-out, touching up and correcting plate negatives for the school paper. I found it meditative and relaxing. That's what pumpkin-carving is like to me...I enjoy it. Perhaps I should become a whittler.

Put it down.

I once heard a story. This woman had had a hard day at work, one that was emotionally draining. Safe at home, she burst into frustration tears. Her daughter, 3 years old, toddled up, confused and puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
"I just had a heavy day," she said, smiling and patting her daugher's head. The girl paused, and cocked her head.
"Well, if it is heavy, why don't you just put it down?"

I bought a pair of boots yesterday. They are pure cowboy/motorcycle magic. Speaking of which, my father has promised to teach me to shoot this week. Pumpkins WILL be exploded. Rifle, shotgun, pistol. I convinced him by telling him that it was irresponsible, as a veteran and a gun-owner, to allow his daughter to turn 30 without having used a firearm. Also, how will I know what to do in the event of zombie invasion? He agreed my logic was flawless on both points.

I am making a habit of crying in public. It grows less embarrassing with time. At this point, I consider emotional vulnerability a disability on par with my vision. I can't see awesomely, I carry my glasses around. I burst into tears suddenly, I carry tissues. For I am a girl scout. (OK, or was...) Nah, really, it's more surprising for the people I'm with then disturbing to me. Man, invisible tears would be great. Emotional catharsis with no red-blotchies or puffy eyes!

This is what I am reading right now. Ian got me a signed copy at Harvest Market. Seriously. It's sort of amazing, and I'm not trying to be cute here. She grew up as a 2nd generation Lithuanian Jew, living in Salt Lake City. That's bound to make an interesting person. It does make me want to wash my brain out with Dostoevsky, but in the best way possible.

An invitation

I wish to visit
Many mysterious places
Wanna come exploring?

• Winchester Mystery House
• Oregon Vortex
• Gurdon Light
• Greenfield, MA Gravity Hill
• Booger Mountain (I want to go to Booger Mountain especially badly...it has the additional advantage of being in Cumming, GA. I love unintentionally dirty town names!)

Too busy to haiku.
Sorry. Life happens sometimes.
Occasionally.

My greatest fear is
Being too scared to finish
Any tasks at hand.

Sometimes I am brave
When I'm more mad then scared
Can't count on that, though.

I am going to
Go get a free beer from the
Keg in the bath-tub.

ow.

I wake with jaw pain.
Caused by dreams: teeth cracking nuts;

A wish for true strength.

For the next week, I will update only in Haiku form.

Started at Old Gold
Surprisingly, I had fun.
Then I babysat.

Petunia: BE QUIET.
We played with blocks and puzzles.
Now I feel cash rich.

GOD, Petunia! SHHHHH.
Anyhow, today was good.
Distracting, and good.