"if you move, I strike, and if you do not move I strike..."


The Indian snake creature known as the naga was
believed to reside in groups apart from normal
humans, and many legends tell of their secret
cities hidden deep in the jungle, underground,
or underwater. In many tales, the Naga is often
of royal lineage or sometimes even divinity.
Nagas are often associated with water, and it
is said that they can control the weather.

As a Naga, you possess strong leadership abilities,
you are highly intelligent, and you can also be
a bit intimidating. You also enjoy the finer
things in life and like to be pampered, and
you're not too keen on mixing and mingling with
the unwashed masses.


Who is your inner Shapeshifter?
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Links updated. Some broken, but now fixed. Some thankfully removed. I love exorcisms!

Cleaning in the real world isn't as much fun however. Though it's mostly done, I need to hit the garage and organize organize organize. We'll be sending a lot of things to Good Will and the Salvation Army once John comes home this month. It will be so nice to have al the extra room to store away other items.

Preparations for Turkey Day are underway. It looks like we'll have unexpected guests for the holiday, but good ones thankfully. Heather and Wylliam will be joining us for the weekend! Josh will be here and Georgiffer as well. I think Jennifer and I have decided to collaborate on Chicken vol-au-vent which is a wonderful recipe I've made a couple times in the last decade. This time though, Jennifer will be supplying her superior dough-manipulating powers to create homemade bread bowls for the sauced chicken. Mmmmm! This is going to be fun! I'm currently trying to convince our DC familial extension to come down to join in the festivities, but he may be too tight :( Oh well...he might be coming for our post-Crimmus Crimmus.

Happy Belated Blogday!

Wow, I just realized that in October I hit my first year on this blog! It went by so fast! I never really thought I'd get into the swing of this, but apparently I actually do enjoy it. Thanks to Jane for introducing me to this addiction. Oh yes, and thank you to her wife for my Chai addiction. So, in honor of a somewhat tradition set down by the Lowford-Crawers duo, have a Chai Latte and a carefully stacked Biscotti "cake" in celebration of my first year being blogilicious.

Waiting, Weaning and Cleaning

Music at the moment - Angelina "I Don't Need Your Love" (Pop Spanglish Edit)

The adjuster finally left a message with me the other night. Thus begins the game of tag. I left voicemail for him and am nigh-patiently waiting for him to call back so we can make an appointment. We shall see.

The day here is overcast and I think sort of cool, though I haven't been outside yet. Currently I'm sitting down for a sandwich. I hate making food in the kitchen now. Inevitably when I enter the kitchen my eyes are drawn to my tree to begin an interlude of mind-cleansing zoning. Alas, the tree is history and as soon as I realize that I return to my business a bit more sullen than before. That sucks. I need to find something else to look at out our windows and appreciate. Unfortunately all that surrounds us are houses, ugly trees that are not the one I liked so much and evil people that I'd much rather look at through crosshairs. Maybe I'll install a plasma screen TV on one of the trees outside so when I look at the window in the kitchen I have something to watch. With my luck it would only pick up that "fair and balanced" Fox News channel. Yeah, farily full of shit and a daily balance of nutritious hatred.

Music switch - Army of Lovers "Crucified" (Technostalgia Mix)

The upper tier of the house has been scrutinized for cleaning over this week and suprisingly, it's almost done already! Myshe's room is 300% better than it was, though she still needs to have a massive yard sale or just express her good will to good will. I dusted everything in our room last night, folded clothes, rearranged both closets and organized them with little shoes all in a row. Boxes unpacked, boxes repacked and stored away. I still have 5 boxes of cassettes I need to transfer to MP3 format before they disintegrate.

The stuff you find when deep cleaning! I found so many little sentimental things, postcards, letters, trinkets. I smiled at each thing for a moment upon finding it. THEN it was in the trash. Boom. I'm so ready to do the Edina Monsoon minimalist thing.

Music switch - Five "When The Lights Go Out" (Album Version)

Today I continued with the cleaning and broke out the new Dyson DC14 Animal! dun dun DUN! We'd needed a new vacuum cleaner so I went browsing. I'd read up on the Dyson among some other models when we started talking about a new one and then Myshe and I saw it while out one day. The DC7 I believe, it was an ugly yellow and gray. Ew. The one we have now is black and yellow and frankly I'm sick of vacuuming with a bumblebee. I wasn't prepared to invest in another yellow monstrosity. Then a light erupted to our left and what I can only assume to be a chorus of angels began to sing. Looking over there it was. The New Improved Dyson DC14 model made specifically for animal hair and allergy sufferers. My eyes widened as I read the specs on it and a tear fell from my cheek as I looked over its beautiful PURPLE frame. Hehehehe purple. SOLD!

Music switch - For Real "Like I do" (Album version)

Unpacked and assembled the thing is a juggernaut. I can't decide whether to vacuum with it, insert batteries and give it to Myshe to play with or to slot it with a lot of accuracy and damage enhancements. But dammit, it's purple! And wow...it works really nice! Animal hair step aside. Kitty and Julio, you are thwarted! I like my new one-hosed, non-bagged, sucking, purple, kitty cleaner. You can sing that if you're alone while reading this you know.

Music switch - Max-A-Million "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" (S.O.S. Band Cover)

Once everything up here is clean I'm going to finish a project that's been on hold since I moved the desk upstairs. I started it again last night as I cleaned. Phred, Muscial Multitasker Supreme. I'm taking the multitude of CD singles or full CDs with a couple songs on them and ripping them all to the other computer. Once I'm done I'll make a stack of MP3 CDs with all the singles on them and then pack away the boxes of singles I ripped. It's CD population control. As I move closer to 2000 CDs our shelf room is becoming dangerously non-existent. You can probably tell from the music in this blog. I'm currently in a lot of my 90's dance. Good stuff!

Music switch - Gillette "Short Dick Man"

Okay sandwich done and imaginary cigarette smoked. (Damn I miss smoking) Back to the grind and the hopes that the pet girl will show up at the door with Chai in hand for a job well done. Ciao!

Ending music - Merrill Bainbridge "Mouth" (THE version)

Here's another link that everyone should see. I think we'll send in a picture too. Thanks for posting this Josh! I was watching the news the other day and saw something about this. It certainly makes a point. Everyone take a picture and add your mug to the gallery!

--> Sorry Everybody <--

*Cackle*

Thanks to Peterrifico for showing me this! It really made my heart warm to see someone delivering prose like this. It reminds me so much of the conversations here at home, littered with such color and verve.

--> Yummy Goodness <--

Shameless Plug

I've been listening to this album for a while now and can't
get enough. Have a listen or just go buy it. Sublime.


Keane Hopes and Fears

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Our newish house will most likely be on the market in the next couple of years now that we are forced to leave America and seek refuge in a more civilized region. Canada looks best.

As for Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon and Utah, we'll be avoiding you like the plague. No money spent there, no visiting, you name it. So long Atlanta, it was fun! Farewell Biloxi, we'll miss your concerts and shows! Auf Wiedersehen Butcher Hollow! Goodbye Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain. Boy...are we going to cott the shit out of you.

A big thank you to all of our friends and family that helped it stay in office thus sending us packing. When (and if) you miss us when we're gone, you'll have yourselves to blame. And trust me, when we move you won't hear from us much, if at all.

Oh yes and Florida. Home for most of my life, keeper of white beaches and fond memories. Go straight to hell. I officially abhor this state. You can shove those oranges where the sun doesn't shine.

Apparently America has become one big, half-witted, corporate, straight man:

Sports above education
Fight rather than think
Pad my pockets, to hell with the poor
Bush is the best and anyone who doesn't like it, no rights for you!



The letter W: The new 666

Of Treats, Tricks and Halloween Hullabaloo

So, Halloween. It wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be thankfully. I'd fully anticipated being in a slump because it was the first Halloween John was going to be home in a few years and then that was dashed against the rocks like some unwanted child before we knew it had happened. Luckily I filled the time with movies, games and friends. I still missed my John though :(

Halloween Highlights

Chai
Keep this nectar of the gods flowing and everything can be made enjoyable. Curse you Sarah for this addiction! I would have gotten away from it if it hadn't been for you and those meddling dogs! *cue canned laughter and closing credits music while the Mystery Machine drives off into the sunset*

New Sandwich @ Starbucks
This may not seem like a highlight to most but we eat there on a regular basis. (It's the Chai addiction and availability of literature). The have a new (limited time *weep*) honey turkey, cheddar, mozzarella and cranberry sauce on honey oat bread. DAMN. This is really good. It's like a Monte Cristo only not deep fried. I'm all over it until extinction.

City of Heroes Hijinks
You can read about this at the Phone Booth if you want. Neat pictures included!
Phred Phun Phactor: 7 out of 10

Late Night Bowling/Drinking/Eating/Debauchery
We were invited by our UPS Store friends to a charity party at the local bowling alley. The party was set up to help a local girl make it to the national cheerleading competition. Having had an ex who was a fervent cheerleader I understand the passion of wanting to go to this event, so it was a good cause. The food was yummy, the drinks were tasty, the shots were potent and the company was fun. I got a strike and 2 spares which is a record for me being that when it comes to bowling, unlike my champion brother, I suxx0r.
Phred Phun Phactor: 6 out of 10

Chai
I must reiterate my love for this liquid crack

Movies
We went to see Saw which we'd been waiting for forever. I was hesitant to go see another movie on a sunday since the previous Sunday we'd gone to see The Grudge and could barely enjoy the movie from A) The chorus of constant cell phone rings and usage and B) the apparent school-outing around us. I swear there was a busload of unattended, 13 year olds running about and laughing. Parents, either go to the movies with your pro-abortion example or rent them DVDs and keep their asses at home.

...anyhow, we lucked out and were three of the seven people in the theater. Yay! Thank heavens for hangovers and late sleepers. Saw was an entertaining film, but riddled with problems. It was somewhat fresh and fun, but really didn't meet the expectations I'd had. The funniest thing about it was the fact that not 2 minutes into the movie I'd leaned over to Myshe and sort of detailed what was going to happen without knowing I was right on the money. In the last couple of minutes in the movie where we should have been gasping wide-eyed, Myshe and I couldn't help but laugh because of my outline earlier. Surprisingly, despite everything I'd heard to the contrary, this movie is not that gorey. It really didn't have anything frightfully graphic in it at all besides a decent amount of blood which was usually on the floor, wall, door, etc. instead of spurting from an artery. I did, however, dislike the high-speed segments. While this sort of shot can enhance the disturbing nature of a scene (A la Tool videos) it really detracted from the scenes in this movie. All-in-all it was well worth the watch.
Phred Phun Phactor: 5 out of 10

Back to The Grudge since I never really got to blog about it, the movie was good. Good in an "ehh..it was good." way and not in a "WOW! That was some GOOOOOD shit!" way. As in all Japanese to American horror migrations it changes a good bit. The plus to that is that the story becomes a little less convoluted. Japanese storylines are notoriously out there and loopy and a lot of times hard to follow simply because you're just supposed to accept it and move on. American audiences find this hard to do because of lack of imagination, attention deficit, or even sheer laziness. The downside to Americanization of these films is the commerical/vanilla factor. Groovy things from the original film get processed into more formulaic versions to be spoonfed to the audiences here. It can really destroy a movie.

As I said though, The Grudge was good. We enjoyed it as much as we could with the cacaphony of hell-spawn children and cell phones and any chance to watch Jason Behr on film is an A+ in my book. Then there's Sarah Michelle Gellar. Graduate from the Kathy Ireland school of Acting, this rather unattractive woman has one expression. "Confused Chihuahua." They really needed someone else in the film.
Phred Phun Phactor: 3 out of 10

A decent attempt at a migration movie but not toally blown away. If you want to see some really good asian horror check out these that we really liked (But be ready to push suspension of disbelief to new limits)

Tell Me Something director Yoon-Hyun Chang (Bryan and I love this movie)
Audition director Takashi Miike (Probably one of my favorite horror films to date..kiti kiti kiti kiti kiti)
The Isle director Kim Ki-Duk (This is one messed up Korean movie, though allegorically a love story)
The Eye director Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Other Foreign Horror worth watching:

Anatomie (Franka Potente stars. I Adore this woman. She's great in everything: Lola rennt (Run Lola Run), Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior)
Promenons-nous dans les bois (Deep in the Woods)