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31 July 2004

 
Second Life
As I was keyboarding that title I accidentally wrote "Send Life." Freudian slip! Anyway I've spent time on SL these past couple of days doing things:
I made a weird headdress thing and flew around in it for no reason.

I bought a car today -- a Fairchang Futura. It's hard to drive but I discovered that I could fly really fast into the sky then parachute back to earth.

Later I went to Lime and practiced driving around on a large expanse of hilly ground. Maybe I'll build my favorite car -- a Studebaker Avanti. I need to take a beginner script class.

Last night I flew around in a demo flying machine, and today I rode a chairlift and did 3 seconds worth of snowboardiing. I also built a little house that was all water-texture-with-movement-animation. It was fun, but I deleted it as I couldn't see any reason to keep it.
Psi IMed me the other day -- not in There, but as a "civilian" He won a hoverbike at the There Winterfest, which is cool. We talked for a long time, until my fingers were falling off.

This last picture is older, but I think it's funny. I called it, "Dang, I snagged my sweater." That little black figure in the air is Os.

I've had four gallery visitors, yay, and I "drank" an animating drink that made my avatar act completely drunk. Now I can't get rid of the effect. I even found a "stop all anim" script ball, but it had no effect. Poor Os (only near home) falls over and spills things, wipes her front off obsessively, and keeps on drinking even though she's not holding anything.
E rang me today, and we talked about putting her made-up recipes on her website. She's had something like 1900 visitors. Tiffany re-wrote the E book in Spanish, which we want to upload to the website.
Looper rang me and said Mr. Looper's parental units have expressed a desire to see me during their upcoming visit from NY, which is groovy, and she also said her mother expressed a similar thought to be fulfilled during her visit from NY following that of Mr. Looper's mère et père. That's very nice of all of the units. I told Looper I'd fooled them into thinking I'm interesting, ha ha!



30 July 2004

 
Collections
D sent me photos illustrating R's chicken-image collecting. I responded, "Well, I collect things that look like houses... and I have a mental collection of flattened pencils... and discarded ends of wire... so who am I to judge?"
I've always fallen into the serial thing -- for instance, discovering French literature as a teenager and reading all of Voltaire, Moliere, Balzac, etc. in a ribbon. Discovering, as a kid, mysteries, and reading in a non-stop ribbon Conan Doyle, Poe, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, etc. Cutting out and digesting a chunk of Carribean literature... South American... Ancient Greek... Icelandic sagas... My paintings fall into series of landscapes, cityscapes, portraits, lawn ornaments, roadside shrines... I have a collection of things that look like houses, and I have an inadvertant collection of weird old souvenirs that seem to apply themselves to me without me doing a thing. I collected strange mountain bad-paintings from thrift shops for a bizarre idea that has never been realised, paint-by-numbers paintings -- oh, lots of things. Brooches. Weird beverages. I collect shopping lists.* I no longer go to thrift shops or buy things, because I don't want more damn crap, and anyway I can't physically do anything with objects anymore. Life can be divided into two parts: accumulating things one needs -- and then divesting oneself of those same things, which have become a burden and which have the grip of a bulldog and won't MOVE ON without a fight. People love nothing better than to assign one a THEME, though, as then gift-buying is simple. And it works for some people (I think). RacerDave likes cars, and give him a cool car-themed object for Christmas and he'll love it! (I think) We know that R likes chickens, therefore we can apply a chicken theme to all our gift-buying for R. We're trying to please her... or we're lazy. Both? Anyway, once "they" apply a theme to their gift-buying, it's curtains for you. Pretty soon you're swamped with chickens, Elvises, souvenirs, old telephones, shoes, houses, Shriner gear, mountain paintings, cars, cats, lighthouses, Noah's Arks, postcards, ceramic knick-knacks, seals, ashtrays, cocktail shakers, New Kids On the Block memorabilia, or whatever your assigned theme.** Unless you collect first editions: then you get chicken statues :-) I do it too.
BUT
I was writing this because for the past 5 years my collecting has been of the non-physical-world variety. Every time I see a pencil that has been run over by a car I have to pause and look at it and fight the urge to pick it up... but seeing it is really enough. There would be nothing added to my life through owning a box of squashed pencils that I don't have with my mental squashed-pencil collection. I draw the line at shopping lists, however -- for them I need the object.
Do you have a theme? Run for the hills!
I always tried to give my mother intangibles -- theatre tickets or other things that didn't take up houseroom and weren't fattening. Her women's group insisted on a round of tangible and costly crap for each occasion. I suggested that a great present for, say, a birthday, would be for each person in the group to give one cut flower. The resulting bouquet would have the pleasing (to me) addition of randomness. That would spark conversation and be cause for hilarity at times. Anyway, they never did it, but I still think it's a great idea.
*This collection on-going, however.
**Actual known themes


Good therapy: Bubblewrap Popping



29 July 2004

 
Subtext
As a painter I felt like I was communicating with other artists when I'd paint part of a canvas with very whacky brushstrokes.  A non-artist wouldn't notice, but artists would -- I always look at brushstrokes.  For one thing they are indicators of the movement of the artist.  And texture is a huge part of painting.  I thought another artist would look at certain passages I'd painted, and laugh out loud.  So each painting has a general meaning for everyone, plus a subtext for artists. 

I analyse the world around me through my paintings: I moved around as I was growing up, and didn't understand things because the rules were always changing.  Through my paintings I looked intently my surroundings.  For instance, I could see that people planted little shrubs too close to their houses, then the shrubs grew into huge things that pressed up against the walls.  So  I was undercover, but not by choice -- trying to figure things out from a purely visual standpoint.

Once I worked as a waitress.  I only did it because my friend A$ asked me to please work for her.  Waitressing is part theatre and part nursing as well as part undercover spy.  I was tickled by the undercover spy part:  if you want to know who is genuinely a nice person work as their waitress.  I'd never been in that section of society before -- holy moley it's a bizarre place.  I should add "invisibility" to my list of waitressing components, as some people don't see you (as a person).  I've always liked grumpy people, so the nursing part -- waiting on people with low blood sugar grumpiness who suddenly become wreathed in smiles after eating -- made me laugh.

I used to paint huge murals for money not art.  I was painting something for a friend who had other artists' work on her building.  I realised that the tree in the mural had been painted using the tree across the street as a model.  From a particular angle that you'd never be looking from unless you were painting on the building, that funny fact popped out.  I felt warm, fuzzy communion with the other artist.

Because I'm just that way, I've been searching for something "cool" about having ms, and let me tell you, it's been a fruitless task of many years -- until this morning as I was staggering up the stairs bearing a load of laundry.  I don't know why it didn't occur to me before, but being a hopeless crip gives undercover observer status.  I went to a Japanese teahouse once, for a tea ceremony, and as each person receives a cup he or she turns the cup and looks at every part --
observing and appreciating the weight, the texture, the dimensions, the color, the shape, the design, etc.  I'm inclined that way anyway -- so what better way to turn life in my hands and observe each part than to have many roles?  I like to see all around things -- so I have to go here and see life from above, here to see from below, here to see from any of a vast number of possible viewpoints.  Makes sense to me...



28 July 2004

 
For some insane reason I've had a craving for cornmeal mush for days and days.  It's hardly been mush weather -- damn stuff could cook by itself.  Finally I made some, just now -- coarse cornmeal, water from the lake, Czech butter (grocery outlet), and French seasalt (what I always use).  lol  It was fine.  Maybe now I'll stop with the craving, already.   

I'm making a website for a band -- it's a secret so you can't see, but I made a page for sound clips last night.  It's groovy -- you can play sound from a weird radio, a drive-in speaker, and a thing like an iPod that's made out of vegetables (I drew all these things, natch).  I'm also doing the color consultant website, which is coming along nicely. 

My goji berry connection rang me -- the gojis are in!  Honestly, I'll do almost anything to amuse myself. 

Looper -- I was apprised of the current cycle: gall bladder. 



26 July 2004

 
Cool Camels
Because I was led astray by another blogger I went to this weird Hungarian site and got a camel. My camel's name is Dr. Fireball.  I have no clue what happens after the camel is spawned, as I couldn't get the site to work.  However, I love the name Dr. Fireball, which is a combination of my name choice ("Fireball") + "Dr." from the site's list of add-ons (since "Fireball" was already taken).  I might have to be the mild-mannered human who turns into fabulous super hero Dr. Fireball.  Dr.  Fireball flies through the air and lands next to your fireplace if you're having flue troubles. 
I had to go back and look at the suggestions once more:

Dr. Fireball sounds like it's from the John Irving School of Naming.  No way near as good, though , as Dr. Fuzzy Stone, which has kept me in stitches since the year that book came out.  I'm easily amused and it's a gift, I tell you, it's a gift (no one would pay money for it).



 
Whackiness.



25 July 2004

 
Much Cooler Today
I wanted to figure out how to animate a waterfall, so yesterday I made a seamless water texture
(most of the waterfalls I see are a swimming pool color, but I wanted it to look watery to me) and warped a prim into a weird shape.  I went chasing around to see what scripts were being used -- found I had one (part of the gear I was "born" with?).  I wouldn't've known what it was though, except I found a fountain using "anim smooth."  I went back and animated the prim, but I wanted mist.  Looked around for mist scripts.  Nope. 
Today I worked on a website for/with someone, then after about seven hours she left and I went mist-hunting -- found some after a couple of minutes, with a copy-able script.  Went back and added the mist, which looked like it belonged with Niagara Falls.  I'm learning just a tiny bit about scripts by fooling around -- toned down the mist, and was happy. 


Above: Water running over the former-stone-steps below my house.
Once I get a bit more familiar with things I'll look into making scripts from scratch.  I just started making tattoos and things -- I'm not sure what I'll want to do with that...
I had two people in my gallery!  Yay!



24 July 2004

 
Hot
It's been ridiculously hot here -- like 99º yesterday.
It's supposed to be cool and rainy around here -- so when it gets hot we all feel badly done to and whine about it.  Of course, heat affects ms, but I'm inside with my new portable air conditioner on -- I got it because last summer was really terrible for me.  It was a hot summer, and I just lay on my bed gasping like a fish out of water for months.  The first day I turned this thing on was yesterday -- works admirably.
I spent yesterday morning figuring out how to make a webpage for SWMNBMIMB that looks a particular way with a menu bar under an image.  I know nothing, really, but everything I know I've figured out for myself -- which for me is a lot more fun than going to a party.  I like having a thing to figure out, a problem to solve.  Then I'm happy as a clam.  I remember my father telling me about his uncles (I don't remember how many) -- his mother's brothers.  They were all engineers, and went to all kinds of exotic places to build things (a bottle factory in India, bridges in Africa).  He said it's a common engineer thing to like to getting things from nonexistence to the point of functioning properly -- then losing interest and moving on to a new problem.  I believe I have inherited a bit of that. 
When I emailed SWMNBMIMB yesterday I told her that a/c=my brain working.  So true.
the other day I went food shopping at Slaveways -- just a wee bit.  Anyway, I got a big box of blueberries that I threw in the freezer.  Frozen blueberries are a good way to cool down a little.  These are great, big rather tart berries, which is good -- I don't like sweet stuff particularly.  That reminds me -- when I was a child I used to break chunks off the horses' salt blocks and eat them.  I wonder what effect that had.  My mother told me about sneaking into the pantry as a tiny girl (5ish) and drinking vinegar.  I can relate to that -- I love vinegar (well, mostly malt vinegar).
I can idly sit here and write any old crap as I am trapped inside.




23 July 2004

 
Dave received "City Trees" -- aka painting number one

"Just got the picture, LOOKS GREAT..."
I boxed it, Mr Looper shipped it, and now all we need to do is get another one out there! 



21 July 2004

 

Amanda is a Master
This actually happened about six weeks ago, more or less -- but I'm just now giving Amanda a congratulatory blogmention:  You go, girl!  She completed her master's degree in nine months in Chicago -- and the fam sent me this card from Chi-town as they know I'm a Wright-winger.  Woohoo!  Yay for Amanda!


Now I've got a little gallery in Second Life, and you can buy my paintings to hang on your virtual walls (for about 40 cents ROFL).  I'd like to have more space to experiment -- can't do it, though.  Each plot of land has a prim allowance.  Mine is 117, and I've been back and forth across that line for days (things go off-world when they put one over the allowed number of prims).  I don't want to delete the few trees I've put on here -- but I need the prims, man -- I will have to.  A complex object may be formed from lots of prims.  I try to get the most out of the ones I'm allowed, while raising my skill level with experimentation.  I may wind up deleting everything but the gallery and paintings (maybe 13 or 14 prims) and building up in the air... who knows...



20 July 2004

 
Today
Looking at all the incredible things people have made in Second Life gives me hope for the future since figuring out how to do these things requires lots of reading and traditional learning skills like memorisation. On the other hand, it's all so technology dependent that if an atom bomb took out the power grids all the 3d imaging skills in the world wouldn't grow one lousy turnip. On the OTHER other hand, though, maybe the same spirit of obsessive learning and problem-solving would serve people in mastering survival skills if turnips are required. Or maybe there will never be a forced return to a pre-techno age. Our heads will grow larger, our bodies will shrivel, and we'll ride around in time-traveling spaceships for the fun of freaking out those rubes in the past.
Maybe they'll have a hard time identifying us as ancestors.
We look so... meaty and animal-like. Hairy.
Maybe they'll be able to change their looks as we change our avatars' looks. They'll dress up like aliens and fly around... they'll have all the science fiction views on what they and their vehicles should look like in order to tap into our minds... they are probably the wiseacres and university geek clubs that are flying around getting their jollies by using our own imaginative views of the future against us...
Anyway -- what was I talking about?
I'm writing this blogpost offline. The Comcast man just arrived -- yay! He's gone off to the crawl space above the garage to investigate Mr. Landlord's suggestions concerning wiring. I'm so thoroughly into my blog that I suffer when I can't post. Now he says he thinks he can fix it up there. And the new downstairs woman just came in and I REALLY like her!! She's a totally groovy enviromental, scuba-diving, DC native who is 26 and a student at Evergreen. The former downstairs woman decided to leave, then changed her mind, and now is directly below me in the landlord's rooms that were empty before this... and I want it to be temporary. The Comcast man got his buddy in with some parts, they fixed it in the garage, and left. They said it was set up very well now with a separate power line, and swore I'd have no trouble. Y^ay! And Marilee called and she has goji berries on the way. Life is good!


 
I bought a little land in Second Life...
...and built a tiny place on the hillside.  My triumph today was making a curving glass door that opens and closes.  Building means starting from basic shapes, primitives or "prims," and changing their size and shape, combining them, and adding texture.  I didn't build the rug, bed or the parrot -- everything else I made, though.  I went sky-diving but was a laughable newbie.  I talked to Virtual Vikki from There -- a There employee and a man, I THINK.  Talked to a guy named Ice who had an extremely long sword.  He introduced me to a virtual blacksmith who makes old Norse implements of war.  I uploaded pictures of my paintings including the one of Fidget. 
Took the boxed painting over to the Looper's so Jim can ship it to Dave in Illinois.  Dave and Rachael bought two but haven't quite decided on the second one.  Talked to Tiff on the phone.  Had an email from Chrys asking me if I want to run the chess events while she's away -- about a month.  If my internet connection ever straightens out it would be possible... 
I had internet for just minutes on both Saturday and Sunday morning -- very few mintes, too.  Just long enough to get my email a make one tiny blogpost, but not long enough to answer my email.



I went to look at the snow sims...

A VERY  tiny strip of land (runs down the hill but is only a bit wider than the little house).

My painting of Fidget. 




18 July 2004

 
Grab the Steering Wheel:
 
Donate One Dollar to 34 Million Friends
Following Flummel's lead, I'm posting a link to 34 Million Friends, an organisation that is attempting to do something about the US government's (Bush blech) decision to withhold money from the UN Population Fund for a third year.  Look at the website and donate a dollar or two if you want.  The feeling of actively thwarting Bush's policy is worth a lot. 



17 July 2004

 
Anji's Back in Contact... after the move to Brisbane
"the move went well. very smooth, but now the disasters are happening.the car's been to the mechanic twice, the plumber's been, the electrician's been, ryan is sick,caitlin's being a brat, the dog has tried to escape, and the list goees on.  the thrills of living in a tropical paradise.  i have this shocking rash over my face andforearm....who knows from what, i am the elephant man.  i have the computer set up on the floor, not too comfortable, but temporary, we are looking at furniture later today. we almost need a house full, as we have moved to a much bigger house.  catch you on the b side."


 
 It's funny that so many people are struggling for the right to be married in the eyes of the state -- to me the most chilling aspect of marriage was being legally bound to another person.  The contractual elements are the only things I see as differentiating state-sanctioned marriage from saying "We're married!" or being married in a church without the state license.  It's just another horrid way in which lack of universal healthcare warps society, since I think people frequently get married for medical insurance.  Healthcare should be universal and spousal retirement benefits should be applied to any person the retiree chooses.  And the state should get its nose out of domestic arrangements, perhaps. 
 
This email from JF got mired in Google's spam box, for some reason, so I didn't see it until yesterday...
 
"For the past week, you've been on my mind.  Hope it's because positive vibes are coming my way and you are happy, healthy and having a great summer.
 
Playing catch-up would take hours (wish you lived nearby) but in essence I am doing well and though I've had my challenges these past 6 months (a 3 1/2 mo. remodel which included all new windows throughout the house!  another movie in the making!  I was impaled on a tree limb ( ala Freida Kahlo, though it was my thigh, deep in the heart of the Pecos Wilderness)...a little surgery and I'm fine!  A is back living with us and looking for work!  Went to New Zealand and Australia...did I tell you that?...do you want the written journal accounts!  Anyway, I will be spending my 55th birthday at the Santa Fe Opera listening to Beatrice and Benedict (wish I'd appreciated opera back when we could have attended in the Northwest together) and celebrating my 35th wedding anniversary in Italy!  No complaints, though it is a busy time and often I feel I'm running to keep up.
 
When you get a chance, let me know what you are doing.  We used high definition cameras this year in the competition...loaned to us by Sony...pretty incredible.  I am desirable as a script director because I work for as little as $100 a day.  If I didn't have a life, I'd work in the industry full-time.  Just can't get the writing going these days, but who knows?  maybe in the future.
 
Know you are being creative, because it's in you to be so."
 
How cool!  Back in the olden days JF was the writing consultant and I was the art consultant at Wa He Lut.  She moved to New Mexico years ago, and I visited once.  What a beautiful place!  I fell in love with a village contained within a fold in the ground, and immensely enjoyed El Rancho de las Golondrinas.  That museum was a ranch along the Santa Fe trail, and the buildings have been restored to illustrate various periods.  Anyway, we keep in touch just a little -- that little having been sabotaged by a spam filter.  Damnable spam. 





15 July 2004

 




14 July 2004

 
Now I Can Change Osprey Every Day...
...if I wish to. Today she looks like this: ...I made the black coat, etc. last night, then today I was looking at land auctions when a cat came up and started a conversation. Moggie, Queen of All the Cats. I told her all about Fidget aka my tiny orange husband, and told her I'd tried making cat ears out of my hair. She gave me ears, a tail, and eyes. I told her she is a cat with a woman familiar (me, lol). She invited me to join the group of strays she has formed, and so I did. She's a Therian, too.


 
Read the paper. Something unbelievably horrible happened to a girl named "Antigone." What an ill-starred name to give a child. I can't imagine having a baby a thinking, "Hmmm... Antigone... yes, I'll name her after that tragic girl." On the other hand, if the girl this morning had been named Anne the fate that awaited her would've been no less horrific. Unless you believe in names=destiny.

Second Life
Last spring I found Second Life and was aching to go there, but I had dial-up and that was insufficient. Then I discovered There, signed up for the Beta, and was accepted, but not called in until late September. I fell in love with the cunningly wrought landscape, and enjoyed it immensely. Then There,inc pulled the struts out from under us all and we felt disheartened and confused. Was There closing? Should we invest emotional energy in a doomed world? I decided to get broadband and investigate There further while at the same time trying out Second Life. As an artist, the frustrating thing about There is that it's expensive to create things, even if you want to have just one for your own use. In Second Life, admittedly, the avatars perambulate strangely -- however, creating is an integral part of the world. In There I never saw the point in having a house. In Second Life I immediately placed a bid on land as the point became clear -- I can alter the land itself and create anything I'm skilled enough to place on it. I want both worlds. Second Life is far more suited to artists and designers. There has avatars that are not creepy, and a clarity that comes from immutability. It's that very immutability that is its weakest point. For people who work in other fields and don't want to have to make everything from scratch, There is probably better. In Second Life everything works very well. As a Therian, I'm used to bugs and work-arounds. I never much minded them, but it is a sign of instability in the platform. It was ok until There,inc pulled the engineers off the project and no fixes were possible. So -- I'm a resident of both those worlds, and this one, too. Second Life is actually my Third Life.



12 July 2004

 

Virtual Pack of Hounds
Went to There, to a place where I always go to play with my dog. Next door for a dog-themed quest X and S had put up a ring with a pack of their dogs in it, so I went there instead and the dogs all ran around. I got tired of having to retrieve the ball, though. I did like one of S's dogs particularly -- there's enough randomness in them that some of them are more likeable (I suppose that's what it is). In SL I noticed butterflies fluttering about and swans gliding on the water while eying me nervously -- something we don't have in There. However, we do have our dogs -- labradors and wiener dogs.


 
Quite a bit better. Spoke with Marilee on the phone -- she got a speeding ticket on the rez -- no way, man -- and is going to court in Olympia. I was reading an article about out-sourcing, something that made me shake my head in disbelief when I first heard about it. I see a country's economy as a waterwheel. Someone comes along and says, "I'll just put a pipe here at the top so I can irrigate my field." Well fine -- but the waterwheel is going to slow and may stop. I don't see how there can be freedom of trade between countries with vastly different standards of living and so forth. Damn, I'm fading fast...
Flummel talked about chaos theory today. I've always thought we are, in the modern world, influenced much more than we know by the mere fact that we divide our world into the lefthand side of the road and the righthand side of the road. As a former horsewoman I grew up in a world where you just went anywhere -- the world wasn't sliced into two pieces for someone's convenience. I think that aggravates any tendency we might have to see things in black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. On the other hand I've had a headache for a week, so maybe I'm drifting... drifting...



11 July 2004

 
Ugh... sick... can't do anything including be on computer... must go back and sleep now...



07 July 2004

 


 
Uh... I'd Kiss You But YOU'RE A PARROT

Another Comcast man came, and didn't fall through the balcony like the last one (well, that man only fell PART of the way). He said it was not a weak cable-signal but a weak ELECTRICAL signal that was causing our off-linedness. I can well believe that as the trizzities ebb and flow in an obvious way here. The Man did something to raise up the signal, then said if that doesn't work our next plan is to run a wire up from below. He had A Plan. I have been fiddling around in Second Life last night and today to find out what it's like. It's ever so much more... um... well, I think if There is like being in Hawaii, then Second Life is like L.A. There is a smaller, more sweet community, and the avatars seem fairly natural. In Second life it's a big, somewhat chilling world. Things work VERY WELL, and there's a great deal of variety. I got a hoverboard (which is my main concern :7) and I was doing that, changing my appearance, and flying around after attaching things to myself (a chair, etc.). Last night before the internet disappeared I was talking to Hiro Pendragon, who makes swords. He advised me to make my nose shorter and tighten my trousers. I asked him about the strange knitting motions we were making, which made him laugh (ho, ho, ho) -- it's the avatar "typing" when we type. Why? I have NO FRIGGIN' CLUE why the avatar would be doing that. He had swords crossed on his back, which looked very cool. I was emulating him today, but accidentally put two swords THROUGH MY SHOULDERS AND OUT MY BOTTOM.
I didn't see it until I was flying (I am sure there must be a way to see from different angles, but I don't know it). I got a giant monkey and attached it to me... Last night I was sitting on the chat parrot -- a teaching tool of Linden Labs. I shot in the shooting gallery and played put-put golf. There are some good gestures, but some like the laugh (hold your tummy, ho ho ho) were familiar to me from the Second Life video -- because it's so bad. The main thing I dislike is that Osprey has this peculiar puppetlike method of ambulation.

Meanwhile, back at There, they've introduced skirts (I'm not a big skirt person but the outcry had been constant), and I flew around in a boat. There has ongoing spats between people -- and not just the personal vendettas, but the Christers vs the Satanists, etc. There has been an avatar named God standing on a cloud as long as I've been there. Lately G knocked God off her cloud then blocked her re-acension. She responded by making a club called "G is an A$$hole," and was "moderated." "Moderated" -- think one's eyelids are clamped open while an offensive movie plays? The teleport to one zone was purposefully blocked by J, and a There employee (aren't many left and we appreciate the ones we have) had to go into work on a Saturday night to remove the block. Lately because the special spots in There that everyone enjoyed had been co-opted for use by certain individuals, There has developed a way to protect them. Anything to do with people instantly becomes immensely complicated in unforseeable ways.



05 July 2004

 

Had a fun dinner at the Water Street... whatever it's called. Bar and grill? They were out of what we ordered (halibut) but they substituted salmon (wild). The courses were ... a ... long ... time ... apart ... which was ok, really, as we got to hang out. Dave and Rachael pointed out that although the parking signs said "back in" I was nose-in. I never even saw the stupid sign. Screw the sign. Just my contribution to social disobedience. I will miss those guys -- they leave tomorrow, then Dave has an onc appt Wednesday and procedures on Thursday.



 
Now the Comcastrian is returning on Wednesday between noon and 4. I'm going to dinner at the Water Street Cafe with Looper, Rachael, and Dave. Looper just described where it was -- I've never heard of it. Apparently it's the newest effort on the part of the man who catered the Looper wedding on the Lotus (a very large old boat). That was in... what? hmmm... 1993 or something. I painted a gigantic banner with a fake-painted-mola look that read "Lucia and Jim," for them. The caterer promised that everything would be, "dripping with balsamic vinegar," and he set up a grill on the dock. Anyway, it was a groovy wedding...
My computer place is owned by a woman, who has flocks of young computerish men doing her bidding. They are all nice -- when D brought my puter here we talked about operating systems. I spat on Win98, but said I had enjoyed Win2000 as I hadn't needed to fix it every day. He brought up WinME, and we both spat, then he said the good thing about WinXP is that Microsoft won't be coming up with a new o.s. until about 2006. I said, yes, WindowsFU -- he said, "Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" Which just goes to show you that young men are horrified when someone my age steps out of the box (I suppose that's what it shows).
I'd better publish before the online-i-ness goes away...



04 July 2004

 
Obviously things are NOT QUITE set up correctly as yet, since instead of having slow dial-up that is always available I have fast broadband that is down 99% of the time. Since Friday afternoon I've had a few minutes yesterday morning (It's on! Oh! Oh, it's off...) and today it has been on and off... I would've called Comcast on Friday except that a long outage was unprecedented -- so I thought (at 3 when it went off) that it would be ON ANY MINUTE... I'm not particularly worried about it, but Dave and Rachael are here from Illinois. They were here yesterday. I've been trying to entice Dave into There by sending him shots of Osprey in a hot tub, etc., and it was JUST DAMNED INCONVENIENT that we couldn't go There yesterday. I hadn't seen D+R since Dave became wheelchair-bound. I had dinner chez Looper with D+R, and it was a lot of fun. Yesterday they all taunted me about There -- saying maybe I was trying to keep it secret from them... Dave said he wasn't sure he had anything to wear in a hot tub. I said ('coy), "OH WELL!"
Jim brought all kinds of groovy snacks -- which I appreciated a lot as shopping is not my fave, and I was in a time-squeeze for some reason, and only just picked up E and got back shortly before their eta.
D+R bought two of my paintings, "Celebration Olympia Artists" and "City Trees." Cityscapes of Olympia and Tacoma repectively. Shipping The larger one may be somewhat hard.
The lake denizens had their big celebration last night for some unknown reason. You'd think "July 4th" would be celebrated on the Fourth of July, however it seems to relate to calling a game "football" in which one doesn't use one's feet. There was a cover band that was a good cover band (classic 60s rock!) -- like all cover bands the songs sounded the same after a while. Fireworks... Perhaps there'll be much more in the fireworks department tonight -- I don't really care, but E likes fireworks. I like the smell, but you can't smell anything from my house. I love the smell of gunpowder in the evening...
Today SJ and Michael might come to escape Seattle. I hope they do! I'm picking up E again. Looper+D+R are going up to drop a watermelon off the steel bridge today. Mr. Looper arose at 3am to fly to Atlanta (to set up a stage show ). D+R fly out on ... Tuesday I believe (Dave has an oncologist appt). Jim returns on... Wednesday? Well, something like that. Dave looks good but his tumors are starting to appear on the outside. He told me he was relieved to see me as he'd been worried.



02 July 2004

 
I was thinking about old television programs this morning: My Living Doll, My Mother the Car, My Favorite Martian, My Little Margie... I remember watching "Eighth Man" after school at one point. Looper laughs that "Tobor," the name of the Eighth Man, is just robot spelled backwards, however, I was never conscious of that as a child. I went straight to that mysterious "eighth." Why was Tobor the "eighth" man? Was he number 8 in a series of robots that, like nesting dolls, were all contained within the largest robot? If a child fell down a well would we hear "zipzooot" as each robot opened to reveal a smaller robot? At last a size-appropriate robot would fly into the well and save the child! Or perhaps there were seven failed robot design projects... or an infinite quantity of numbered robots, exactly the same, which worked various beats around the globe, No. 8 being assigned to Japan? There was probably some explanation in the program, but I never saw it. Part of the theme song remains fresh, however: Call Tobor, the EIGHTH man! It was in black and white, I think. I wonder if Tobor knew Klaatu. We also watched "Diver Dan," I think it was. We liked the barracuda, I think. In the olden days I probably watched a television show because it was on between the time I returned from school and went out to look after the horses, which was about half an hour. After that I didn't come in until I'd ridden my horse and mucked out all the horses -- a varying number at that time from 3 to (briefly) 7 or so. Every once in a while, because I was so small, the horses would deliberately push past me when I was opening the gate to bring one in from the paddock. Then they'd all dance around all over the neighbors' grass, and I'd have to catch them all, then wearily trudge back to knock down all the divots. Horses have a definite sense of humor -- they all thought it was hilarious. I used to see them play little jokes: my mare at one time was cropping grass with a gleam in her eye, as we were all lying around in the sun -- horses, dogs, cats, chickens, me. She cropped closer and closer to one of my dogs, who was obliviously watching something in the distance. All of a sudden she (Oops! Sorry!) took a mouthful of dog instead of grass. The dog leapt up, surprised but not really hurt or scared. She laughed and laughed...



01 July 2004

 
Once my husband and I were sitting quietly in our house when we heard someone PEEING. We looked at each other in disbelief, then went to the bathroom where we saw my cat, Fidget, peeing into the toilet -- a self-taught toilet trainee. My relationship with Fidget predated, and made more sense than, the one I had with my husband, and it lasted longer. I wrote all this in the Flummel comments for this post, which proceeded to erase it all after telling me I'd not put in a valid email address -- so in a fit of pique I huffily flounced over to Blogger.

 

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I want to ask for thoughts about improving the world -- what do people need? How can things be organised?