With a cherry on top

Writer's Block: Nothing to fear but fear itself

2009-10-17T04:07:23Z

What is your biggest fear? Have you tried to overcome it?

My biggest fear would be cockroaches and I see no logical reason to try to overcome it. They are gross, freaky, disease-carrying vermin, can survive without a head for a week or more, and can live through a nuclear blast. Also, Kafka can suck it.

Writer's Block: Talking Ducks

2009-06-09T16:42:13Z

Happy birthday, Donald Duck! Which cartoon character do you think is the most disturbing?

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Donald is supposed to be disturbing?

I guess it's not "disturbing" per se but I never liked Tom & Jerry. Why is the disease-vector mouse the hero and the poor cat, just trying to do his job around the house by protecting his family from vermin, always painted as the villain?

When Maia was younger she was not permitted to watch Cow & Chicken, Two Stupid Dogs, or Ed, Ed and Eddy because I could feel my brain cells dying in my head when those shows were on...

I liked the old Loony Toons, and the later Tiny Toons and Animaniacs. Once when Maia was not yet in grade school she was reading some lame picture book and I told her I was going to make her read Shakespeare instead. She said "I already know Shakespeare," then recited the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet almost verbatim. I asked her where she learned it and she said, "Bugs Bunny."

Anything you need to know (up to a certain era), you can learn from watching Bugs Bunny.

Email forward re Prop 8 rally

2009-05-26T17:30:41Z

Day of decision:

On the 's Prop 8 Decision Day the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center will open by 9 a.m. and wi! ll remain open all day for members of the community who want to gather. The Center will house sign-making activities, a first-aid station, and onsite counseling or counseling referrals through its LGBT Counseling Program.

Regardless of whether the Supreme Court decision is for or against upholding Prop 8, the Center will host a community rally from 5:30 to 6:30 pm in front of the Center with entertainment and speeches by community leaders.

If the decision is to uphold Prop 8, Equality Action Now will lead a march from the Center to the State Capitol West Steps, where a second rally with speakers and entertainment will take place, followed by a march around the Capitol grounds. On return to the Capitol West Steps, participants will be invited to speak at open mic.

If the decision is to overturn Prop 8, following the rally at the Center, the crowd will be invited to move to the street just south of the intersection of 20th and K, where a st! age and sound system will be in place featuring music and ente! rtainmen t.

Items to bring:Supreme Court

White Ribbon to tie White Knots
White Chalk to write messages in the road and on the sidewalks
Wear White to show our unity in supporting same-sex marriage
Bring signs and bullhorns and anything else to make noise...let them hear us united and strong!

Really, LiveJournal?

2009-05-20T17:49:33Z

A spam LJ account "ibyeapl" just added me as a friend. I thought this was the one place I was safe...

Iowa? Really?!

2009-04-03T17:52:20Z

What kind of jacked up world do we live in where IOWA legalizes gay marriage before California does? Anyway, it's still good news.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090403/ap_on_re_us/iowa_gay_marriage

Writer's Block: It's the Little Things

2009-03-12T16:34:06Z

What's a little thing you do every day that brightens the lives of those around you?

Today's "journalism" blows

2009-03-06T23:08:47Z

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person with eclectic interests but sometimes I get sucked into the latest scandal on CNN and read every scrap of info they put out on it. This rant is not about a fresh news story but one that's several months old - the Casey Anthony insanity. Today's bombshell news is "OMG she had pictures of skeletons kissing on her laptop she's totally guilty!" Now there is no doubt in my mind that she killed her child but have these so-called reporters never set foot in a Hot Topic? The skeleton cartoons prove nothing.

/rant off

sundaegirl71 @ 2009-01-08T13:22:00

2009-01-08T21:31:17Z

My work station computer is infected!

If you get a popup window that looks like it could be legit but is somehow "off" or claims to be an Anti-Virus 2009 update, don't touch it, not even to close it. Call your computer techie person right away. Ours told me there is no fix for this malware and he's already lost a few computers to it. He said you can try Control-Alt-Delete when the first popup appears.

Sad Frowny Face post

2008-12-26T00:52:13Z

RIP Eartha Kitt

sundaegirl71 @ 2008-12-11T20:51:00

2008-12-12T04:52:42Z

RIP Bettie Page.

Writer's Block: Untimely Passing

2008-12-08T21:37:26Z

RIP John Lennon. The list of sudden and unexpected celebrity deaths is long—Princess Di, Heath Ledger, Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe, and many more. Which one affected you the most on an emotional level?

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John Lennon did, even though I was maybe 9 years old at the time I remember it very clearly.

River Phoenix.

And surprisingly Anna Nicole Smith. That one really bothered me for some reason, even though I thought she was kind of ridiculous while she was alive.

Hmmm

2008-12-04T22:12:02Z

Triscuits are basically Frosted Mini Wheats with salt instead of frosting.

Writer's Block: Fellow Libras

2008-11-08T20:57:22Z

Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula, have the same birthday. Coincidence?

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Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling also have the same birthday. Ooooh serendipity!!!

Writer's Block: Reading Aloud

2008-11-06T17:17:57Z

One of the highlights of going to a literary festival is hearing authors read from their own works. What author, living or dead, would you most like to hear read?

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One of the highlights of my life was going to see Tom Robbins when he spoke here in Sac many moons ago. These days, I'd have to say I'd love to hear James St. James or Christopher Moore. JSJ would definitely the be more flamboyant of the two....

JSJ: Only written two that I am aware of, Disco Bloodbath (aka Party Monster) and Freakshow

CM: He's written a a dozen or so but my faves are Lamb and A Dirty Job.

Vigil for Equality

2008-11-05T19:43:51Z

My co-worker sent me this info:

Candlelight vigil for equality tonight on the steps of the Capitol from 5 to 6 today. Please come and show your support. Bring candles. Pass this on!

sundaegirl71 @ 2008-11-04T11:51:00

2008-11-04T19:52:12Z

No on 8!!!!!

2008-11-04T18:24:37Z

I just got a call on my cell phone from Bill Clinton asking me to vote No on 8!!!! Woot!

Helpful hint

2008-11-04T18:12:10Z

If you voted and you received your little sticker at your polling place, keep it handy today. A lot of places are giving out freebies if you have your "I voted today" sticker. I already got free coffee at La Bou. Starbucks is also giving away coffee. Krispy Kreme is giving out donuts, and Ben and Jerry's is giving free ice cream.

Other stuff:

http://lifehacker.com/5075721/election-day-freebies-roundup

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?threadid=989221

Writer's Block: Tina Fey

2008-10-30T16:18:05Z

30 Rock returns to television today. Should Tina Fey's striking resemblance to Gov. Palin become part of this season's storyline?

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Since my sincere hope is that after November 4 Caribou Barbie will be sent back to Alaska never to be heard from or thought about again, my answer is NO.

Reposted from a forwarded email

2008-10-30T00:45:21Z

One of my instructors sent me this. It's Obamalicious:

What if things were switched around? Would the country's
collective point of view be different?

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, following
the debate, including a three month-old infant and an unwed, pregnant
teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his college
graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while
he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain
killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable
organization?

What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?

(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in
1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and
Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included
discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to publicly display a serious anger
management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

And, think of this - the candidates' educational backgrounds:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B. A. Political Science with a Specialization in
International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J. D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B. A. in History and B. A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J. D.)

John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B. A. in Journalism

Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in
the land as well as our standing in the world. Hmmmm

Writer's Block: Ghost Stories

2008-10-28T16:54:15Z

Everyone enjoys a ghost story. Or at least knows one. What is the scariest ghost story you've ever heard?

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I love ghost stories.

This one I read in the newspaper and it is supposedly true. It really stuck with me. A family moved into a house. The daughter developed an imaginary friend. She told her parents that her imaginary friend was another little girl who lived in the walls, and that she had her arms and legs chopped off (a detail which probably disturbed the crap out of her parents). At some point, the house was renovated, and the dismembered body of a child was found behind a plaster wall.

Update: I found a copy of the article, I got some of the details wrong but the gist remains the same.

GIRL SAYS BONES BELONG TO A GHOST

Investigators unsure how possible human remains got inside insulation

BY MELANIE BENNETT
Staff Writer

A Russell County fifth-grader is convinced bones found in her home last weekend belong to a mysterious friend who told her about being chopped up years ago.

Investigators have few clues about how and when the bones got inside insulation under the living room floor of the mobile home on Jowers Road, near East Alabama Motor Speedway.

The 10-year-old, Stephanie Ogden, and her family have lived in the home since 1998. Her great-grandparents, John and Marion Stewart, own the home.

The bones were found Saturday as the Ogdens, who are renovating the home, pulled up boards in the living room floor. Russell County Sheriff's Lt. Heath Taylor said an initial analysis shows the bones are from the pelvis and leg of a child at least 10 years old, and the child has been dead at least 10 years.

Another bone was found Sunday, Marion Stewart said. The area where the bones were found had duct tape over the insulation, Stewart said.

"There's an odor there that doesn't belong," Stewart said.

The bones probably don't have enough marrow to do DNA tests, Taylor said. Because the trailer has been moved several times between Georgia and Alabama, investigators now are faced with the daunting task of trying to track down missing children from a wide area in two states.

Taylor said gnaw marks on the bones may indicate a rodent placed them inside the insulation. Dirt and plant material on the bones indicate they were outside at one time, Taylor said.

Stephanie said a black girl in a white dress started visiting her room when she was about 5 years old. The girl was friendly, but she told Stephanie a horrible story.

"She told me that somebody put her in the floor," Stephanie said. "She said he had a mask on, and that he chopped her up. She didn't know who the person was, because he had a mask on."

Stephanie, a fifth-grader at Dixie Elementary School, now thinks that the bones that were found in her home belong to her playmate.

"It's possible because that girl was a ghost," Stephanie said Monday. "Nobody knows about them."

Marion Stewart said Stephanie used to tell her family about the visitor, but the adults always dismissed the stories as being an imaginative child's fabrication based partly on horror movies. Stewart said Stephanie used to always ask for two glasses of soda when she would play outside -- one glass for her and one for her friend.

Stewart said the weekend's grisly discoveries have convinced her that her great-granddaughter's playmate is actually a tormented soul seeking peace.

"I'm not a psychic, and I don't believe in some of that stuff," Stewart said. "But I believe this is a soul who has not been put to rest."

Taylor said detectives can't base their work on ghost stories.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to investigate a ghost?" he said Monday.

Investigators are looking through databases of missing children to find any links to the trailer's location, but Taylor doesn't hold out much hope of solving the case.

"It's just one of those cases where there's just not a lot to go on," he said.

ORIGINALLY PRINTED IN THE LEDGER-ENQUIRER.

Writer's Block: Fright Show

2008-10-23T15:38:13Z

'Tis the season for scary movies. Some rank The Evil Dead as the best horror film of all time. What is your favorite scary movie?

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Do we have to pick just one? We love horror movies at my house, the cheesier the better...

Poltergeist (I know, very PG; but the "curse" story makes it more fun - plus some of the "prop skeletons" were real corpses! Awesome!)

Company of Wolves (beautifully rending horror tale based on Little Red Riding Hood)

The Shining - All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Silence of the Lambs - I was 19, living alone for the first time, and had to have my date come in and check my apartment for me. Plus it was filmed near where I grew up so I recognized some of river and bridge scenes (I didn't bother with the sequels though)

I love the groan-inducing classic B movies with giant radioactive bugs or mutant bunny rabbits.

I also like the horror spoofs like Shaun of the Dead or Eight Legged Freaks.

I LOVED this article.

2008-10-23T15:25:02Z

Such an important issue, that even the closeted Reeps are coming out (double entendre intended) against it:

Ex-Folsom mayor, to signal disapproval of Prop. 8, announces he's gay

Glenn Fait, the former Republican mayor and city councilman of Folsom, did something he never imagined five years ago. He took out an ad in the local paper and announced that he is gay.

Fait, 65, said he felt so strongly about his opposition to Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that seeks to ban same-sex marriage, that he decided to out himself to the community where he has lived for more than 40 years.

Rest of the article here:

http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/1336268.html

The question remains, of course: why would you ever have wanted to be a member of a political party who actively hates you?

Writer's Block: I Love Lucy

2008-10-15T17:10:42Z

I Love Lucy premiered today in 1951, and has been on the air ever since. Although Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s marriage didn’t last off the air, Lucy and Ricky are one of the great couples in television history. Who is your favorite TV couple?

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Do Mulder and Scully count?

Writer's Block: Eat Your Vegetables

2008-10-06T18:36:56Z

The fall harvest is showing up in markets now, including many of the green vegetables children find so disgusting and yet are forced to eat. What is the most disgusting thing you’ve eaten, either by choice or against your will?

Submitted By bloodcurdling

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Liver and onions. Even the idea of liver is disgusting.