Lizard Lounge, 8:30 pm.

http://www.theegoandtheoracle.com/

This is a one-time show.

Not like it was at Jimmy Tingles. I think there is the possibility to perhaps book a series of shows, IF this one does really well.
(Various folks said tonight was just slightly too inconvenient and they'd hit the next one, but, there may be no next one to hit. It's bad enough that it's on a Tuesday, and the existing fans aren't doing much to bring new people in.)

(For those of you who don't follow me on twitter or facebook, which, quite honestly, I check daily in exactly the way I no longer do with LJ)

We didn't get gold, but we didn't come home empty-handed either!



Also, Mike, who uploaded this photo, has about 300 pix from the weekend on Flickr. None of our actual races, and he missed the time I spent with Yokes & Michelle on Saturday, but otherwise pretty thorough coverage.

30th annual Boston Dragon Boat Festival.

Express stalking! (for those of you who are shooting a wedding or TV show on Sunday)
Saturday, ~11-11:15 am.
Living Root Team "Goose" Time Trials.
Within 500 meters of MIT's Pierce Boathouse.

(Note: there is no festival attached to the Saturday races, and they are back to back. And, since competing teams have to check in hours in advance, it is *possible* that our time trials could happen earlier.)

They just had to redo the roster for the alternates, because the Coach kept assigning a left paddler to the right. Now I'm an alternate for Saturday. So, I may or may not be on one of our boats tomorrow. >.<

Picnic stalking!
Sunday All Day!
Races 9-5.
Festival 12-5. (Including Taiko drumming! Woot!)
Our first race will be determined by Saturday's time trials. (I'll update here & on twitbook once I know)
I am an alternate for the second race of the day (which means I may end up working as doc staff for several hours.)
I am back on the boat for our third race of the day, which should be one of the last two races of the day. (Hopefully the last race.)

We have a really good chance of winning.

"I just wish I could start a relationship about 12 years in when you really don't have to try anymore and you can just sit around together and goof on TV shows and then go to bed without anyone trying any funny business."
--Liz Lemon (30 Rock)

Glad I remembered this in time! While in Chicago on Friday, I have to go see The Bean!

He was wearing the same shade as the wall, which was the same shade as the cup, (which got a bit washed out by the flash).



Makes me want to dig up a tripod (or better camera) and do a monochromatic portrait series. Who's with me?

I will be spending 4 hours of it (at least) on a trolley, but, would not mind company for some of that.

I'll be on a Trolley from 12-1 & 5-6, this Saturday & Sunday. On Saturday, I will be rushed to make a 7 pm dinner party, and on Sunday... rushed, or just giving up on... a 1 pm Brunch party.

So, I am available all day Saturday to browse studios with folks, and, on Sunday, probably available after 4.

Dave Navarro at least believes that the NIN fans came up with the tour name. I suspect that, in fact, they jokingly suggested it at nin.com, Trent read it and promptly invited JA to tour. But... I have no proof.

Ok, now to breakfast al fresco before heading back into the darkened theater.

the NIN app is interesting, if at a concert, I guess. shrug.

but... they have re-released Crystal Quest... for the iPhone?

If they re-release "Asshole Tetris", I'm definitely getting an iPhone.

two local arts missions:

THIS WEEK ONLY: Astrodime needs clean tin cans, of the proportions of ones used in "tin can phones". I am helping them out with a Cyberarts installation that goes up on Friday. Since most of these won't be used for phones (but as installation backdrop), the opener edge can be a little jagged. The sizes can vary, but the proportions shouldn't, i.e. no tuna cans. And... unless I get them tonight or tomorrow, there probably won't be time to clean them, so they have to be pretty clean, and without labels. They will most likely be spray painted white. (So the printed-directly-on-the-tin style makes no difference.)

If anyone wants to join me for a walk tonight or tomorrow morning scavenging through local recycling bins in Davis, let me know.

MAY 2nd & 3rd: SOS Trolley Guides. Need people to set up & take down the trolley stop sandwich boards, orient the trolley driver if needed, greet riders, and, if you can, recommend which studios you think might be to their tastes. Obviously, I've been going to Open Studios for over a decade, and can chat people up about artists ad nauseum.

If interested in either of these, let me know.

For those of you who haven't seen my posting about this on twit|book.

We Live In Public
Winner, Grand Jury Prize for Documentary - Sundance Film Festival 2009
http://weliveinpublicthemovie.com/
Screenings:
4/24 9:45 PM
(Alt. screening is 4/25 7:30 PM, I'll be too busy volunteering to attend.)

Note that I am using the BOSTON icon, not the TRENT icon. (I tried encouraging the nin.com regulars to go and got no response. Meh.) So, sure, the first I heard of the film was via Trent's twitter, but... Sundance and IFF like it. It's not as if he was taking a big risk in recommending it. There'll be a lot of other films at the festival that are probably as deserving of this buzz, but, if this at least gets you there, then that's a start.

In fact, the festival does NOT entirely conflict with NEFFA or T@F. Maybe not these 2 screenings, but... my volunteer pass will get me into any show that isn't sold out. So... let me know what other shows work for you.

Depending on who I know is joining me, I may (1) dress up for it, and (2) try to visit the Miller Street Open Studios event before Friday's screening.

I dunno, I worry that maybe you haven't noticed. Maybe I'm... too subtle, you know?

NIN even released another new record today!

I <3 Trent!

(and yes, you DO want to give an email address, but trent@nin.com will work... dev@null.com if you really want to be old school...)

so... Trent finally started using his twitter account a few months ago. Now he has 100,000 or so followers.

and now this masterpiece: https://twitter.com/pirate_treznor

maybe there's a pirate_ngaiman or pirate_jcleese too, and I just didn't notice them yet... but... this is so awesome.

wonder how pirate trent will deal with the NINJA tour. bwa ha ha ha ha.

Do I reference this more than the Penn Gillette chocolate & bacon theory? In any case, it's much harder to find.

“One day a teacher named Murphy wanted to demonstrate the laws of probability to his mathematics class. He had 30 of his students spread peanut butter on slices of bread, and then toss the bread in the air to see if half would fall on the dry side and half on the buttered side. As it turns out, 29 of the slices landed peanut butter side on the floor, while the thirtieth stuck to the ceiling.”

Turns out it's merely one of many unproven theories as to who was the Murphy in Murphy's Law, from Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins.
(Cited here.)

Filled up while I was down under, so I ran this as a bandit. There was one water station (after the 2 mile marker), and no mile splits, except at the end. I crossed the start line several minutes into the race. (Finish clock was around 38 minutes.) Registered runners had tracking chips.

Not all (registered) runners got finisher medallions, which... well, I wish the slowest runners got at least as much support. If they're not just starting, and thus need encouragement, then they're struggling, and need more validation... I have issues with baevents, but... the local alternatives haven't been any better. The Boilermaker is so slickly run, most races suffer from the comparison.

Find me pix of the 3 girls dressed as Pots of Gold! I started and finished near them. But I forgot to note their race numbers, and they disappeared into the crowd while I waited for saxikath and sirhc_warrior. I was maybe 3 minutes ahead of Kath, who finished in 36 minutes, hence my guess at time. (Never saw Laurinda finish. Hope she's ok.)

The weather was perfect for running, low 50s. Wished I'd worn shorts while running, but glad of the layers once I stopped.

year	pace	total	race
2009	~10:40	~33	Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 5K
2008	11:19	35:08	Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 5K
2007	10:40	33:07	Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 5K
2006	--	--	--
2005	11:00	34:08	Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 5K
2004	12:34	42:41	Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 3.4 miles
2003	12:18	41:46	Ras na hEireann U.S.A. 3.4 miles
2002	12:08	48:30	An Ras Mor 4 Miler
2001	12:34	50:13	An Ras Mor 4 Miler

http://www.clooneyunlimited.com/clofu-clooney-flavored-tofu/

"thanks" to hahathor  for rushing this one over to me.

My nephew got accepted into the naval academy!

This calls for a toast, perhaps a nice sparkling Tasmanian (wine).

(tamidon warned me about letting charleshaynes pick wines, but I thought it was that he merely had expensive tastes, not that expensive tastes were quite so highly infectious.) Unless people can recommend a specific awesome wine that rarely gets sold in Boston. (I really wanted the "3 sisters" wine to be decent, since I am one of 3 sisters, but, alas, no such luck.)

I'm reluctant to check much wine (ok, I'll check white wines, but no reds!), and... probably won't carry-on more than 2 bottles, packaged in a yellow bag that says "DUTY FREE" in large friendly letters.

Here's the first round of confirmed dates.

Larger means I (especially) want to go.
Smaller means you need to give me a reason.
Strikethrough means the reason needs to be good enough to outvote parts of my life that keep me from being nothing more than a rabid fangirl, so, a really good reason.

Fri-May-08 West Palm Beach, FL [Cruzan Amphitheatre] √ if with m0reta, and kmd? (1a)
Sat-May-09 Tampa, FL [Ford Amphitheatre] √ with m0reta and bridezilla? (and visit nieces) (1)
Sun-May-10 Atlanta, GA [Lakewood Amphitheatre]
Thu-May-14 Albuquerque, NM [Journal Pavilion]
Fri-May-15 Phoenix, AZ [Cricket Wireless Pavilion] but... conflict with DC Dragonboat races.
Sat-May-16 Chula Vista, CA [Cricket Wireless Amphitheater]
Mon-May-18 Las Vegas, NV [The Pearl] √ if there's a nin chat reunion! ok, there will be, so... per (time as well as money) budget
Wed-May-20 Irvine, CA [Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Irvine Meadows]
Fri-May-22 Mountain View, CA [Shoreline Amphitheatre]
Sun-May-24 George, WA [Sasquatch Festival, The Gorge Amphitheate] √ if with Michelle Smith-Lewis? (likely conflict with holiday weekend stuff)
[Mon-May-25 Memorial day]
Tue-May-26 Englewood, CO [Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre] √ visit sister?
Wed-May-27 Kansas City, MO [Starlight Theatre]
*** Fri-May-29 Chicago, IL [Charter One Pavilion] NINE INCH NAILS Only (3a)
Sat-May-30 Noblesville, IN [Verizon Wireless Music Center] √ (with momma & poppagoth?) (3)
Sun-May-31 Clarkston, MI [DTE Energy Music Theatre]
Tue-Jun-02 Toronto, ON [Molson Amphitheatre] (with nat and guigirl?)
[canceled] Wed-Jun-03 Darien Lake, NY [Darien Lake Amphitheatre] √ with KH and Dan (2)
Fri-Jun-05 Camden, NJ [Tweeter Center At The Waterfront] conflict with dragonboat races
Sat-Jun-06 Holmdel, NJ [PNC Bank Arts Center]
Sun-Jun-07 Wantagh, NY [Nikon at Jones Beach Music Theater]
Tue-Jun-09 Columbia, MD [Merriweather Post Pavilion]
Wed-Jun-10 Burgettstown, PA [Post-Gazette Pavilion]
Fri-Jun-12 Charlotte, NC [Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre]

spwebdesign, yes, I am keeping London in mind. (Barcelona? and if show is near The Bunny) (4, 4a, 4b)

(final show, even if singapore, maybe, sigh) (5)

Right now, I'm smelling roasting garlic, and baking brownies. Chocolate and garlic are two awesome smells, but they trigger such different sorts of hunger as to be overwhelming together.

It calls to mind a great commentary by Penn Gillette that I mention frequently enough that I feel obliged to note it here.

From Maxim:
It doesn’t double the deliciousness to put bacon and chocolate together. It’s actually less good than having them separately. Bacon is so good by itself that to put it in any other food is an admission of failure. You’re basically saying, “I can’t make this other food taste good, so I’ll throw in bacon.” So bacon-wrapped scallops, for example, convey that you are unable to prepare scallops. You had to go to bacon. Chocolate has the same effect: You dip a shoe in chocolate, it’s gonna be pretty good. So putting the two of them together is totally unnecessary, because they’re both already 100 percent awesome. It’s the same reason nature makes it so that you can’t get a blow job and fuck at the same time.

Granted, I've like the chocolate and bacon combos I've had, but not as much as having them separately within minutes of each other. So I get his drift, as it were.

And now perhaps to go outside for a walk, and enjoy the smell of the flowers, and do my best to get a little sunburnt on the behalf of all my snowbound buddies (some of who've been msg'ing me to insist I enjoy the weather while i've got it, dammit.)

So, NIN was good, sure.

The other bands I saw? good, sure.

The dust and straw in such high winds? not. as. such.

Going to Melbourne at the last minute, when the only familiar faces are NIN, who, if they recognize me at all, likely think I'm a potential stalker? Well, I've done dumber things.

Trying to find a room in Melbourne at midnight was unfun.

The one hostel (that i had the patience to find with the slow net connection) that had room had been totally panned by pseydtonne. The remaining options were pricey, (the 5-star Hyatt really, really pricey). I managed to find somewhere central (a.k.a. CBD). But, yeah... the whole situation made me appreciate my Sydney hosts all the more, and regret going to Melbourne at all. It definitely made the whole weekend more expensive than going to Uluru would've been... so I was overflowing with the pointlessness of regret.

The next morning, lacking a plan (I'd forgotten to pick up a visitor's guide from the airport, since my flight had been delayed and I was in a rush. I also hadn't packed my laptop, so I felt extremely disconnected), I grabbed the hotel tourist fliers, find the cafe that had been recommended to me, and at least be able to drown my sorrows in what charleshaynes described as "possibly the best coffee in Australia."

I got off the tram at probably the right spot, but I was obviously lost enough that a kind local stopped to give me directions... to the nearby open market. (South market, not Victoria).  I should've said the cafe explicitly, as it turned out we were both went there... by different routes. As solo diners, we were "exiled" and thus reunited on a back porch (and y'all know how much I hate eating on porches... heh). I told her my plight, and she gave many good recommendations, which totally turned my trip around.

Super-genius forgot to get her name... but I did give her one of my postcards... (btw, most of my postcards have arrived stateside by now, if you haven't received one, try giving me your address... with zip code.)

With her recommendation, I headed to Melbourne's version of Bostix, got a half-price ticket to a play at the Arts center. Then proceeded to find some of the other coffee place she recommended. Along the way I figured out what she meant by "checking out the lanes".

Melbourne is known for its trams and alleys. The trams? Shrug. The alleys? Wow. The first one I encountered was all graffiti... protected/endorsed by the city. I'll get photos up ... "soon".

(Melbourne is also known for its various and sundry weather. Just because the day might peak at 90°F doesn't mean you won't find yourself cold and wet an hour later. I'd left my "jumpers" in Sydney. Big mistake. Although, it made for primo people-watching. Wintercoats AND flip-flops, often on the same person.)

Agonizingly, it seems like all the "attractions" (museums, gaol, etc.) close promptly at 5, as well as most of the downtown coffeeshops, which left me at odds until my show at 8:30. I hung out at a very touristy bar in Federation Square, listening to the Heather Stewart Trio, with a nice view of the dragonboats stored across the river (was waiting to see if they'd be brought out, and I'd run over. When I finally caved to a net cafe it was because I wanted to see if there was a practice on Sunday morning. There wasn't.)

The play Moonlight and Magnolias was chosen because the other discount shows were either [depressing-bonding-over-tragedy] or [really funny... if you like cricket]. I'm still not sure if it was good. It was set at the beginning of WWII and kept... "invoking Godwin", as it were.

I bailed on going to a late night club because (1) the queues were full of people cuter than myself (more hen parties, for one thing), who couldn't get in, and (2) I wanted to get an early morning go of the attractions. I did finally get that bath... the posh hotel had a hot tub. And a gym, but I opted out of a first 5K in weeks since I expected a day of walking. (And had only one pair of suitable socks, which probably should've been taken out and shot after I got back to Glebe.)

Checked out the Gaol the moment it opened, skipped the special guided show, and Victoria market, to rush up to Brunswick because I didn't realize the street festival wouldn't start until noon, and that breakfast at the Green Refrectory didn't take more than an hour.

Listened to live music for a while (Tim Scanlan, Hoodangers), finally bought some aboriginal work from the specific maker (cheaper, more personal). Then took the train to the 96 Tram to Luna Park, and the craft fair along the St. Kilda esplanade. Made it to the NGV in time for a quick browse, and obligatory interaction with the water wall.

Most of the rest of what I could do between then and grabbing the aiport bus was just hang out in one of the few cafes open after 5, and take random tram rides to justify the cost of the day pass.

I wonder how much I'm actually spending on things like bus fares. The exchange rate makes it hard to really translate. Hell, I'm still trying to get the hang of Celcius. It'll all be over soon. Too soon.

Debbie and I went to check out the Yayoi Kusama show at the MCA. the description led both dangerpudding  and myself to wonder if she was the same artist who did this, but, she's not.


Reminded me very much of a pristine, dust-free variant of my favorite installations at BM 07 (or 06?):

also here and here.

(there are pix of me in that mirror box, but I can't find them.)

Yayoi Kusama would've added spots to the playa piece, or at least something repetitive yet effective. In that way she reminded me of Sandy Skoglund, who does stuff like this.

Best of all, the MCA is free. I can go back regularly, for brief visits, if I want.

(for those of you not following along in twitter/facebook).

One of those concerts I'm going to brag about attending, for years.

"Did you hear about the show in Sydney, where the power went out, and Trent came out with a megaphone and flashlight?"
"Dude, I was THERE!"

You probably don't think the A/C is on when you're sweating it out in the mosh pit, but... trust me... you'd notice if it was off... for 40 minutes!

I tried to take pix. Mostly, I was on a mission to get pix of JT, the security guy all the fangirls adore, and... they stowed my purse for the show, so I was stuck with my camera in hand the whole time, but... I'm not skilled at concert photography, even in good conditions. There's probably settings on the camera that could make up for that, had charleshaynes  been there to show them to me. (o:

EDIT: video of what NIN was doing during the outage.

The other exciting thing about spending hours in the Auckland airport is getting to see the Iron Maiden plane.

damn.

even sans encore (and "dead souls" was on the encore set-list, whimper) it was worth the trip down under (not that the trip hasn't been worth it without NIN, but... wow.)

and...
it turns out the guy I bought the spare ticket from used to be in a band with MJ...
yeah, my campus patrol partner.

this planet is really rather small.

It's that time of year again.
Poll #1343021 postcards
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

If you could get only one postcard from me during my vacation, which would you prefer?

I printed 200 cards. I don't plan to mail out more than 100. I'm shortly to head to Diesel to start numbering them, if you want a sneak preview. (I won't be giving them out yet tho')

Postage priority goes to people who sent me a holiday card or other card in the past year, who make sure I have their overland address. Then: folks who simply don't do cards, but have been there for me in the past year, who make sure I have their overland address. If you sent out cards but didn't send me one, start groveling now. (Offer to drive me to the airport or something.)

Detect a pattern here? (Comments screened for those who wish to provide contact info).

balloon animal porn.

stop sending it to me.

but, thanks for thinking of me. (o:

This guy was seen watching over HP Lovecraft's grave today.
(I love my virtual geocache).

This keeps coming up, so I will list my Arisia schedule here.

Pre-prep:
help build & decorate robot (this weekend?)
gingerbread-style decorating for party food.
get enough sleep & exercise to not be sick or overly prone to drama on the weekend.

Friday:
10 am. hopefully unloading at IIF HQ (location TBD)
12 noon. MIT Mystery Hunt, starts at Lobby 7, MIT. 
consume decorated party food.

This event continues until completed, probably sometime on Sunday.

Last year's attempt to do overlap the Hunt and Arisia made it nearly impossible to fully enjoy both. (And the hunt is more fun, less drama... more sense of accomplishment for effort invested... ) I am not really making any plans to visit the hotel. Given the unpredictable schedule of the hunt, this is really the best solution anyway. If the hunt ends early enough, I might be able to visit. But, I'm not allowing myself to plan anything until that point arrives.

you know those plants you expected me to kill within a year when you gave them to me in, o, 2004?

well, better late than never!

sigh.

They were left on the uninsulated front porch during the two weeks I was out west, and froze. (Neither of my roommates noticed. Then again, it was pretty clear that all the houseplants are my problem.)

Managed to take out the jade plant too. (And that thing was probably old enough to drink legally. Its parent plant, at Chez Mom, could run for president.)

Let me know if I should drop off the plant pots for a refill.

David Lee Roth Soundboard. I have been driving people crazy with this since Phoenix. (The guy sharing my outlet at the vegas airport couldn't hear it over the noise pollution, or else didn't care.)

Also, two of my favorite bits from DM of the Rings: The set-up. The other shoe.

SImple, yet effective: The 25 Days of Newman by Paul and Storm.

A lovely photo of fangirl715 's homemade NIN shirt:



The GA line wait in Sacramento did start out sunny and warm. But it didn't stay that way. Eventually it got cold. Between that and my sleep deprivation my resistance was low against whatever I could catch in the mosh pit. I'm officially blaming Robin Finck for slipping me a tainted water bottle, but only because of all the ways I could've caught this cold, that's the best story.

So, I'm sickly and laying low in Vega$. Glad to not be dealing with this AND the weather back home. The "ZOMG I met Trent" [rush/crash] is messing with my ability to relax. As expected. It comes at a time when I am trying to psychologically prepare myself to be someone else's much needed in-person shoulder. And I suck at empathy on my good days.

Probably going to be fragile when I reach Phoenix. A rotten trait in a houseguest, I know. But not placing bets on my ability to diffuse it by then. May need a Sedona vortex stop just for the electromagnetic realignment. (Assuming that trick works twice.)

I am a dirty bandit! I need a mask... and cape!

They only had online regs this year, with another new, untested registration site that would likely spam the crap out of me with sporting events. Plus, by the time I looked, they'd already had the first 2000 so would have no more shirts, and, the only other main perk is beer at the Burren, which is appealing only when I have a line buddy, which I didn't. so, I rolled out of bed, into my shoes, and ran to meet the race in progress.

I ran at least a mile (but not entirely on the race route) before the 1 mile mark [12:08], so that's when my clock started. 2 mile split [22:57]. No 3 mile split. 4 mile finish [44:06].

Gobble Gobble Gobble 4 mile
year	total	pace
2008	Bandit [3 miles in 31:58]	[10:40]
2007	46:24	11:36
2006	untimed solo run
2005	untimed solo run
2004	no run (health issue)
2003	51:04	12:46
2002	50:22	12:36
2001	54:18	13:35

Tags: charts, roadrace, roadraces, running, tables

Thanks for the little treat in my mailbox. (o:

At least, I hope you're an admirer. A deeply paranoid part of me wonders if the gift has had some sort of curse placed upon it that is activated if I use it. Anonymity makes me nervous, but I have to remember that people who dislike me don't hate me enough to make that kind of effort.

If r_ness knows what his number was (he was 10-20 people ahead of me in the line, and is (so far) my top-ranking personal savior du jour for getting me a coffee) ... then I can guess at what number I was in my precinct. (Others who voted about an hour later than I did were in the 600s. It didn't occur to me to even check that until I read their posts).

Got my free coffee from *$ and was late enough to work to miss the firedrill. Yay.


(They have plenty more awesome cards. I tried to pick one that is non-partisan.)

Also, apparently all my coworkers are blasting the NIN in my iTunes library. I guess it's an angsty kind of day, eh?

dougo  has at last posted pix of my 9th anniversary of 9/9/99. (Of course, had he not brought his camera, there'd be no pix at all!) Yay!

who who, who who.

The Who are playing tomorrow night.

I do not have tickets.

I feel bad about this, but... I don't know how being reminded the music of my puberty is going to affect me, other than wishing I could go back and try to play my hand better this time. (I could spend my life hoping for a reset button.)

Opportunities to see any version of them live are rapidly dwindling, I know it's not going to be like the shows that made me a fan and send snail mail and GET snail mail back from Pete Townshend. (Yes, I still have his letters. But I rarely dig them out because people freak, and... I have no idea where they ended up since the move... well, I have it narrowed down to about 8 boxes of thickly packed assorted paper memorabila, which would be a pain to excavate.)

But, he DID answer mail back when postage cost money and stuff, and... yeah. 

So, that said, if you know of a homeless Who ticket, let me know.

Sorta want to let synchroncity make this decision for me, or something.

I was just commenting about DeathTongue!

They say everybody writes a journal with the hope that someday somebody will read it. I think most people in the explicitly-public LJ-land list interests in the hope that someday somebody will ask about them. This meme, like a dating service, turns all that hoping-somebody-will-ask into a straightforward request. Viva communication!

Leave a comment and Explicitly request it in a comment and I will choose 7 of your LJ profile interests for you to explain/write about.

spookyhandle asked about the following interests:
(but they seem so self-explanatory to me!)
First of all, I deliberately maintain exactly 42 listed "interests" at any time. To maintain this number, other interests may be expressed merely as listed communities or icons.

In the early days of LJ, when you friended anyone you knew, because that was, like, 6 people, you'd surf interests to find like-minded strangers. This is how tyrsalvia found me. At some point, the noise level increased enough to make this impractical. Around then, my goal was to instead come up with unique interests, like sapient pearwood instead of Terry Pratchett. This backfired when people saw my profile and decided that was a much cooler way of expressing an interest. (Other no longer unique interests include: boilermaker 15k, cracking eggs on heads, liquid nitrogen ice cream, pink grapefruit jellybeans, zbs radio plays)

bitterfilms: Don Hertzfeldt, particularly before he started taking himself too seriously (i.e., before Meaning of Life). Dedicated an early film (this one?) to his good friend, Caffeine. I'm bitter, and addicted to coffee. A perfect match!
dia de los muertos: day(s) of the dead. I love the idea of celebrating, rather than mourning, ghosts and death. Hence, I have that party every year.
maize mazes: Zarf introduced me to getting lost in the corn (and sorgum?) One season I went to about 4-5 of mazes, and somehow I've become too busy/tired for that now.
Trent Reznor's triceps: A classic example of stretching for a unique interest. You probably knew I was a NIN fan. You probably also knew that I like men with visibly developed arms. You've probably heard me rave ad nauseum about Trent's arms (even before he got addicted to bodybuilding). This covers a lot of interests at once.
When Night is Falling: A sensuous, beautiful movie about wanting to run away from your unsatisfying reality, in either direction. Considered a lesbian film. (This and Strange Days, correctly applied, could probably get me to date a girl.) Mostly tho', I couldn't remember the exact title enough times that I decided to list is as an interest. (Did the same with The Wolves of Kromer, until I found that LJ community).
community art projects: I love living someplace with enough artists that there's a lot of random art in my neighborhood, be it sonic signs, the sculptures in the community garden, or things more formally organized by the arts council. Art improves a commmunity. I may not get much personal art goals accomplished, but I volunteer to keep community art happening.
hamsterstapel der liebe: NinCon Lobby Hamster Pile of Love! Using German makes it more Industrial! Turns out these hamster piles happen all over. (But seeing black-clag/goth/emo/miserable NINnies being all cuddly was shockingly novel at the time.)

32nd Tufts 10K for Women

Year	gun time	chip time	Pace
2008	1:14:22	1:11:31	11:31
2007	1:12:31	1:10:01	11:17
2006	did not register
2005	did not start
2004	1:18:39	1:14:39	12:01

fangirl715 was my cabana babe/pack mule. surrealestate joined me for the last 4 miles.

Losing only 1:30 from last year is not bad, considering that I haven't run more than a 5K for months, and... my weekend.

Breaking in my patent leather shoes with 10 hours of HONK on Saturday was... ill-advised. Followed by the HONK parade. 2 concerts (Jim's Big Ego on Friday, Residents on Sunday). Also, getting up early Sunday to re-acquaint myself with weight training after a summer off dragonboating instead.

Ti(red).

Tags: charts, health, running

I'm being spammed with WSJ articles.
I'm not sure if I should bother to respond, but I'd love to hear refutations of the "facts" from more diverse news sources.

Responding with "Please cite a news source not owned by Rupert Murdoch" has not worked in the past. sigh.

exhibit A:
Biden's Fantasy World
Sarah Palin may not know as much about the world, but at least most of what
she knows is true.

exhibit B:
Obama's Leftism
The Democratic nominee is nowhere near as moderate as he sounds.

Current Music: another damn sox game tied in the 9th

my old, old apartment is for sale, again.

I had a full night's sleep, woke because I can't stay supine much longer than 8 hours without getting a back ache. Still operating on a massive sleep deficit. Or energy deficit, since, I don't think I was atypically sleep deprived.

I got 6+ hours Thursday night, despite waking early enough to get in a 5K and parboil before the train to Philly, where I also dozed a bit. I did get some sleep Friday night, despite the presence of People I've Never Before Slept In The Same Room With. After dinner (at Tria) and a stroll through Philly's first Friday, Upyernoz and I were both ready to call it a night by 10 or so, so I even got a solid hour or so before my roommates arrived.

Saturday was an insanely long day.

We mustered in the lobby by 5:45, in theory to get to the site by 6:30. Although, if you include getting lost and then trying to find parking, it was more like 7.

First race was at 8:36 ish. Then, a lot of waiting. twoeleven came by to watch my next race. (Around 2 pm)

I was reminded of the problem of inviting non-dragonboaters to watch dragonboat races. It took me several races, as a participant in the sport, before watching the heats became more than "ooo, colorful boats with dragonheads" or "hey, look how they dressed up their drummer!" The typical observer gets pretty bored pretty fast.

The philly race (1) does not also feature an Asian Festival (no Taiko drummers, no martial arts demos, no Dragon dancers, etc. -which reduces the crowds, good for a race that has so many teams, but bad for non-racers) and (2) is far enough away from anything else that it was risky to leave the site, particularly since the organizers' slick machine for cycling through 150+ teams in a day obliges teams being sorted into chutes up to 45 minutes before their heat.

This is a crazy amount of standing around, all lined up, for a 2-3 minute race. The 30 minutes (maximum) that I was on the water was not the cause of my sunburn. (yeah, hmmmm, ok, some of my exhaustion is likely "too much sun"). That 45 minute advance means that, even though your next race is 2+ hours off, you really only have an hour to leave site, see something and then come back. Even our guest drummer (a teammate's college coxwain) bailed before our last race, because the lag was too much.

Granted, the lag would've been shorter if we'd sucked. We made it into Divison A (top 10% of teams attending), so our last race was going to be one of the last two of the day. Otherwise, we might've been done by 3, and there'd have been time to be social. But, I'm not sad that we made Division A our first year in the race, especially with such a motley boat line-up. (Although, we would've smoked B and gotten bling.)

The DC Dragons had a slicker group than when I paddled with them in Ithaca. Although they still lost to That Other Boston Team, (who had a stacked team, which is something "we" are somewhat reluctant to consider). We stole DC's camp mom to be our drummer for the last race, and she was awesome. (She claimed she hadn't done it before. I think she was lying.)

Twoeleven had left by then, and, my other local potentialiaties had evaporated, so I grabbed the first available ride back and left before the final results were posted. We came in, at worst, 11th. Oooooooh.

send flowers, fresh veggies, crosswords, hit men, etc. to team tent #60 -- Living Root. If you see other Boston teams' tents (the Harvard team is, of course, maroon) or the DC Dragons (a lot of purple), you're close.

Our first time trial is tentatively scheduled for 8:36 am. After that, your guess is as good as mine. Final heats (for the top ranked teams) are after 5 pm. Our team captains actually think we might go that far. We'll see.

I get my Vegas NIN tickets and then, then, I find out that's the same weekend as the First (ever) Mombasa Dragonboat Festival. In Kenya! And, it's not significantly more expensive than the First (ever) Disney Dragonboat Festival, which our team also nixed. (There's something to be said for both going, and NOT going, to a group's first attempt at running Dragonboats.)

This sport is totally picking up. Will I still be competitive enough in a year to be able to consider such things? Right now us amateurs can still participate.

But, this means the Philly weekend is going to be a lot assorted paddlers trying to see if, among 100s of teams, they can assemble a team for either of these things.

damn this photo is hot.

(and, despite a number of LJ friends in attendance, the pointer came from /harem.)

has caused my conflicts to stop conflicting.
I will be driving to the Memorial Service this Saturday, staying overnight at Chez Mom (where there's room if you need it).

Anyone need a ride?

So yeah, remember how I said the NIN stage looked totally interactive, but was probably all staged? Yeah, big mistake to underestimate the perfectionists.

It's all real.

The Manchester pre-sale (for November 8th) is on Monday. Om nom nom nom. It probably helps if you also like their music (and... listen to the recent instrumental stuff, it may be more to your tastes than you'd expect). It may not be necessary... especially if really awesome stage design makes you moist.

(before the rest of you pointer me to it).
http://community.livejournal.com/spellfecker/129594.html

at least, I wouldn't be to surprised to see them in a future novel.

• Falun Gong, and the rumor of how the Chinese Government is so threatened by the supernatural potentals of Qi that they burn the remains of its captured practitioners. (Oddly enough, dragonboat races tend to happen at Chinese festivals, and the Falun Gong folks had a booth).
• The elderly twins in LA who were breeding rats. (Surely as a defense against some demon, and now that they've been stopped, suddenly some unwitting protagonist will have to rise to the occasion to protect southern california from itself all over again.)
• William Ashbless, who turns out to have yet another incarnation, as Pied Piper and master of Qi.

The Pawtucket races were NOT cancelled due to lightning.

Hanna held off long enough for boat 1 to win the C division (a $1000 prize), with what would turn out to be the best overall time of the day.

However, so many of our team failed to even show, that most of us were on both boats, and hence were well and truly fried when we went back out as Boat 2 for the A division race. Yes, the line-up got so screwy that Boat 2 spanked Boat 1 in the time trials.

Now I'm home, listening to the rain, playing with the shiny, new nin.com (and wishing it had a twitter function, and multiple icon options, and KoL's chat interface rather than IRC... as long as I get "lounged"). And, o mystical fate seems to have noticed my recently renewed interest in Trent's triceps by offering me opportunities to beat the crap out of mine. Last minute promotion to stroke at Thursday's practice, double-boating today. Maybe I really do have guns for dictator555 to notice, and she's not just being polite. Neat! And, $1000 means practice fees will be cheaper. Yays.