Onward!

Jackie Tohn:  Oh, honey.  Spandex?  REALLY??  And, booooring.  You gravel-voiced girls, there’s a place for you, but it surely isn’t on *this* show.  (See Amanda Overmyer.)

Ricky Braddy:  Utterly, utterly forgettable.  Next.

Alexis Grace:  Eh.  I can’t believe how the judges slobbered over this girl.  The Irish girls in The Commitments soundtrack did a better version of this song.

Brent Keith:  He’s pretty, and he can sing, so the country music industry should snap him up.  Bucky was not pretty, y’all.

Stevie Wright:  Oh, HONEY.  I missed most of your performance dealing with a mysteriously foaming-at-the-mouth cat, and honestly, I probably had a better time.  (Kitty’s fine, just upset at being accidentally locked in the bathroom all by his widdle self.)

Anoop Desai:  Sorry, I just don’t get it.  He does the R&B crap well enough I suppose, though I generally sprain my finger reaching for the CHANGE  button when that crap comes on my radio.  Seems like a nice boy, but eh.

Casey Carlson:  OH, HONEY.  From the face twitches, to the forced winks, to the apparent shoulder spasms, you just never – and I mean NEVER – need to go near a stage ever again.  EVER.

Michael Sarver:  Gah.  While I am not insensitive to your desire to become something other than a roughneck, I just have two words for you:  community college.  Go.  Do.

Ann Marie Boskovich:  Gack.  Double gack even.  Sing at your cousin’s wedding, ok?  Nothing else.

Stephen Fowler:  Why. Are. You. Here?  

Tatiana del Toro:  I just can’t describe how much I want her to be struck with a lifelong case of bronchitis.  Oh, she can sing well enough, but that Does Not redeem hertwisted antics through the audition rounds.  Bad karma, baby.

Danny Gokey:  Nice voice, some actual soul under that whitebread exterior…but I swear if you plug your wife’s death once more I’m going to suspect you’re trying to sail in on the sympathy vote, son.  Double super bad karma there.

We’ll see what next week’s group has to offer.

Anyway, this is going to be hard since I’ve already done at least a couple of these things before.  

7 Things You Don’t Know About Me

1. I had a Naval Academy appointment.  Turned it down because I was a vapid, self-indulgent teen-ager, yes.  Some days I regret it, and some days I don’t.
2. My first “job” was as a volunteer for the Humane Society.  The then-director used to go to the pound, pick out a few dogs, pay the adoption fee from her own pocket, and take them back to the HS to put up for adoption.  Looking back, she was a bit of a loon, I think.
3. I used to ride dressage on a huge Percheron-breed named Steeler.  Most. Boring. Sport. Ever.  Bastard stepped on my foot once while watering after a workout.  I *still* have that mark, 20 years later.
4. I have three tattoos.  The only visible one is on my left ankle, a stylized representation of the goddess Diana, with drawn bow.  
5. I used to be a painter.  These days I just don’t have the time.  Plus I have this whole problem with going to That Place, the place where the creativity is…it’s a very selfish thing for me (for LOTS of artists), and I have a husband and children who would miss me.
6. I have killed a poisonous snake with a knife.  I was about 16 – therefore immortal – and it was a truly foul-tempered cottonmouth.  I pinned its head down with a stick then lopped it off with a diving knife.  And that seemed to satisfy its curiosity.
7. I own 50 domain names.  They’re a perq of my job and I’m a complete freaking pack-rat apparently.  

There, wasn’t that fun?  Ok, part of this whole meme thing means I have to in turn tag 7 other Twitterites, so here goes:

@stephenkruiser

@perlchyk

@lagomorph13

@christinakb

@jessiechatigny

@TheBloggess

@practicalwitch

Enjoy, suckers.

Here is what you can see of him.  On a clear day.  When the sun is shining directly overhead.
 

Here is a scale pic to show the relative size of the drain.
 

Here’s how we found out we had a snake in the drain in the first place.
 

Yep, Hermes, the (apparently) great hunter, both smelled and saw the thing plotzing around in there.
 

And with the optimism of the very young, thinks if he just gets the right angle, he can get his paw down in there and snag the beastie.
 

That angle didn’t work, how about this one.
 

It’s still there…how about this way.
 

Or maybe this way.
 

Ah screw it…
 

I’ll just lay in the sun instead.
 

What?
 

We’re pretty sure it is a Mole Kingsnake, which spend most of their life underground.  And since his main diet consists of bugs and lizards, I’m more than fine with him being a guest in our drain!

A-Ha’s Take on You:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tears for Fears Head Over Heels:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And now, Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pity that last guy can’t carry a tune in a bucket.  Still funny though, especially with the whole Rickrolling angle.

Just like real plants, the robot emits oxygen, moisture, and aroma. It also responds in various ways to stimuli from outside, such as approaching persons, music or light. When a person comes within a 40 cm radius of the flower, its supersonic sensor perceives the approach, the stem bends towards the person, and the buds come into full bloom. When the person leaves, the plant returns to its original state.

If a person’s voice becomes louder than a certain level, the flower buds will come into bloom, and the stem shakes slightly to suggest a greeting. When the room lights up, the buds open and close, and when music is played, the plant dances.

I believe I’ll stick with the real things, thanks.

The Rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you
• Post the rules on your blog
• Write six random things about yourself
• Tag six people at the end of your post linking to their blog
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
• Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

My six random facts:

1. I do not like things pointing at me (particularly sharp things, ie. table knives, scissors) and I will move them so they do not point at me. Husband thinks this is hilarious. I think it is just common sense!
2. I’d rather read than do almost anything else. I’ve been in books that have made me forget what day it was, forget to eat, forget to sleep.
3. I carry this Walther PPK/S pistol in a belt holster when I leave the house. I’m not paranoid, I am prepared. Huge difference.
4. I want nothing more from life at this point than to chuck all material goods (except my camera and all the computers), and live on a chunk of land raising flowers, food, kids and various four-foots. Less to dust, you see.
5. I drive a Honda Element, have driven one since they rolled off the line back in 2003, and will probably always drive one…not only because it has ultra-cool “suicide” doors, and not only because it has super easy-to-clean plastic floors…but mainly because it saved our lives once. The day after that wreck, we also traded in the Husband’s commuter Civic for another Element.
6. I keep my toenails painted silver. Oh, I have dozens of other colors, but silver is apparently what I should see when I look down. I wear two silver toe rings, too, have since we moved here to Florida. I like to think this doesn’t make me “eccentric” but you never can tell.

And now for the the tag-ees:

1. Caitlin of Bookgoblin
2. Coriander of Eat My Yard
3. WG of Wicked Gardener
4. Joan of Primordial Slack, because it will vex her
5. Phillip of Dirt Therapy, from my old stomping grounds in North Alabama
6. And even though she won’t do it, A of Musable

Have fun kids!

Ta-da.

sekimori.org will still work, of course, it will simply redirect you to the new domain, easy peasy. You can call it whatever you want…FBY, .ORG, Alfred. I’ll answer.

Onward!

I’m glad we planted lots of flowers this year. Speaking of, how frickin’ cool is this? The green “petals” are actually bracts, only the center yellow bit is the flower. But it looks amazing, and named after a superhero? Color me there.

UPDATE: Check out my new little flash header graphic up there.  Yeah, I remember maybe two things about using Flash.

Anyway.

Can I just tell you, I have the worst mouse hand this week. Fire in the heel of my hand, and a dull ache from fingertips to elbow. Ergo, I am looking for an alternate pointing device. Can you, my three loyal readers, suggest anything that has worked for you? This site has some interesting suggestions, including the head-movement = mouse-control widget, and this zero tension mouse that rather disturbingly resembles a sex toy. That’d be a conversation starter in the office, wouldn’t it?

I was walking down a road that ran between some grassy hills (a lot like this road in the movie Toys, which I haven’t seen in years). I turned to look behind me and found a very tall man there, dressed in a shabby black suit, and wearing a black top hat. He face was skull-like, painted black with white rings around the eyes, and white paint around his widely smiling mouth (sort of like this). He kept walking towards me, trying to touch me, and I was doing everything I could to prevent that from happening.

I’ve always had the ability to wake myself up from dreams, and did so at this point, having had quite enough of that. He didn’t seem malicious, just mischeivous, but I still wasn’t interested in going where his touch would have taken me. The Husband suggested it was Papa Legba, who is something of a gatekeeper in the voudoun mythology, and whose permission is required in order to speak with the loa.

Odd that I can still so vividly recall that dream all these years later.