massive update

I owe my LJ a massive update. I never even told about, nor put pictures of the awesome sumemr BBQ of two weeks ago. Damn.

( Pics! )

At the end of the night I was having some fun with the fire and my camera. ( Under the cut. )

A few days later I took some really cool photos of some little dragonflies that were chilling around my yard. ( Clickety. )

Then this awesome one of The Ninja Wizards, sorry, it is too cool to cut:



So I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but a few weeks ago my Dad asked if I would want him to go into one of my gardens with the weedwacker and take care of some of the weeds. Foolishly I agreed. Not only did he cut down all of the flowers along with the weeds, but he cut 2/3 of my huge, well-cared for wisteria tree.


( This was what it looked like in the Spring. )

Me, I love the green. I don't even mind weeds as long as they are green and look nice and lush. There's a word in Hawaiian, uluwehi, and it means things that are lush, verdant, alive etc. That's what my K-mart pond/garden place was.

( This is what it looked like two days ago. )

This is what it looked like two days ago. Wisteria tree mostly gone, everything dead and dry. Looked like the desert.

( This is what I did yesterday and today. )

Surprisingly this didn't cost very much. Home Depot is my friend.

It's not uluwehi like it used to be, but it is sort of zen, peaceful, interesting and artistic, right? The yin yang, the figure eight, the swervy lines? It's not so bad anymore, right?

It reminds me of like a Japanese garden or something. Like in the Meiji or Heian, right, or even the the Chinese Empire like outside of the Forbidden City at the turn of the century, right, and then I'd be living there and I made that garden thing, and then like warriors would come along and be all tired and I'd be all like, "Come into my garden to rest and rejuvinate" and they would feel all magical and whatnot and I'd be like, "Have a drink," and they would, and I would get them drunk and they'd be all drunk and they would forget that I was this plain looking woman and I'd get all silly and girly and say, "Teach me some of your secret warrior moves!" and they would oblige me and teach me all this martial arts stuff and I would repay them with sex--because there are no STDs and they are drunk so they have sake goggles on--and then they would continue on their journey and the next warrior would come by and I would play out the whole scene all over again until I had learned so many Kung Fu forms which I would practice outside of the garden until I was nigh unstoppable, and then one day Bad Guys would come and try to take away my house, but little do they know that I had spent all those years learning from wandering warriors and honing my skill, and they wouldn't stand a chance against me.

That's what my new garden makes me think of, but I still miss the green.

So you may have noticed I've been posting lots of political stuff, lots of outrage. Well, I am always outraged but I think that since I lost my job I'm really struggling to find my place, and anywhere I find where people are fighting for a cause, speaking up, and actually doing something, really gets me tingly in my political places. It's exciting for me to have some time to discover these things. I've always been political, and I've always had lots to say, but now that there are all these roads in front of me I feel like I need to choose all of them. I don't know.

I went ahead and joined theyoungturks.com and I actually emailed the folks at the show and the blog. I thanked them for existing, briefly told them how I lost my job, and asked if they had any openings for freelance writers. They didn't, but said to keep in touch.

Like I said the other night to some friends of mine, this here ain't no beautiful heroin gonna bring down the evil infrastructure. This here is just a mouthy, frustrated thirty something who doesn't fit in much anywhere else. I've spent the last few years just bitching about the system and lending my voice, giving money and doing things that are easy for a privileged person to do.

But now I want to really do something, and people like this inspire me. When I go to the web page and it says "rebel headquarters," I know how ridiculous this is, but I feel like I just went into the basement of the Seventh Heaven to have a meeting with Avalanche, or am going to meet Princess Leia or something. It appeals to the geek in me, the one that has always been in love with the underdog rebel, with the Salvatore Giulianos and Luke Skywalkers. It appeals to the part of me that thinks that, maybe, in some weird, sick, twisted way, living in a post-apocalyptic mad world would be sort of fun; anything to be free of this reign.

But more, it appeals to my logic and the things I believe in outside of fantasy. I believe in the things that need to be done and I want to be a part of doing them, instead of just screaming about them needing to be done.

*Sigh*

Anyway.

Tonight in Kung Fu we did some drills then went outside for sword and staff. Lee got hit in the head pretty badly which was quite disconcerting. She is a tough lady though. I also put the idea out there for a party next Sunday and everyone was game for it. Now the weather channel says it's going to rain.

NOOOOO.

massive update

I owe my LJ a massive update. I never even told about, nor put pictures of the awesome sumemr BBQ of two weeks ago. Damn.

( Pics! )

At the end of the night I was having some fun with the fire and my camera. ( Under the cut. )

A few days later I took some really cool photos of some little dragonflies that were chilling around my yard. ( Clickety. )

Then this awesome one of The Ninja Wizards, sorry, it is too cool to cut:



So I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but a few weeks ago my Dad asked if I would want him to go into one of my gardens with the weedwacker and take care of some of the weeds. Foolishly I agreed. Not only did he cut down all of the flowers along with the weeds, but he cut 2/3 of my huge, well-cared for wisteria tree.


( This was what it looked like in the Spring. )

Me, I love the green. I don't even mind weeds as long as they are green and look nice and lush. There's a word in Hawaiian, uluwehi, and it means things that are lush, verdant, alive etc. That's what my K-mart pond/garden place was.

( This is what it looked like two days ago. )

This is what it looked like two days ago. Wisteria tree mostly gone, everything dead and dry. Looked like the desert.

( This is what I did yesterday and today. )

Surprisingly this didn't cost very much. Home Depot is my friend.

It's not uluwehi like it used to be, but it is sort of zen, peaceful, interesting and artistic, right? The yin yang, the figure eight, the swervy lines? It's not so bad anymore, right?

It reminds me of like a Japanese garden or something. Like in the Meiji or Heian, right, or even the the Chinese Empire like outside of the Forbidden City at the turn of the century, right, and then I'd be living there and I made that garden thing, and then like warriors would come along and be all tired and I'd be all like, "Come into my garden to rest and rejuvinate" and they would feel all magical and whatnot and I'd be like, "Have a drink," and they would, and I would get them drunk and they'd be all drunk and they would forget that I was this plain looking woman and I'd get all silly and girly and say, "Teach me some of your secret warrior moves!" and they would oblige me and teach me all this martial arts stuff and I would repay them with sex--because there are no STDs and they are drunk so they have sake goggles on--and then they would continue on their journey and the next warrior would come by and I would play out the whole scene all over again until I had learned so many Kung Fu forms which I would practice outside of the garden until I was nigh unstoppable, and then one day Bad Guys would come and try to take away my house, but little do they know that I had spent all those years learning from wandering warriors and honing my skill, and they wouldn't stand a chance against me.

That's what my new garden makes me think of, but I still miss the green.

So you may have noticed I've been posting lots of political stuff, lots of outrage. Well, I am always outraged but I think that since I lost my job I'm really struggling to find my place, and anywhere I find where people are fighting for a cause, speaking up, and actually doing something, really gets me tingly in my political places. It's exciting for me to have some time to discover these things. I've always been political, and I've always had lots to say, but now that there are all these roads in front of me I feel like I need to choose all of them. I don't know.

I went ahead and joined theyoungturks.com and I actually emailed the folks at the show and the blog. I thanked them for existing, briefly told them how I lost my job, and asked if they had any openings for freelance writers. They didn't, but said to keep in touch.

Like I said the other night to some friends of mine, this here ain't no beautiful heroin gonna bring down the evil infrastructure. This here is just a mouthy, frustrated thirty something who doesn't fit in much anywhere else. I've spent the last few years just bitching about the system and lending my voice, giving money and doing things that are easy for a privileged person to do.

But now I want to really do something, and people like this inspire me. When I go to the web page and it says "rebel headquarters," I know how ridiculous this is, but I feel like I just went into the basement of the Seventh Heaven to have a meeting with Avalanche, or am going to meet Princess Leia or something. It appeals to the geek in me, the one that has always been in love with the underdog rebel, with the Salvatore Giulianos and Luke Skywalkers. It appeals to the part of me that thinks that, maybe, in some weird, sick, twisted way, living in a post-apocalyptic mad world would be sort of fun; anything to be free of this reign.

But more, it appeals to my logic and the things I believe in outside of fantasy. I believe in the things that need to be done and I want to be a part of doing them, instead of just screaming about them needing to be done.

*Sigh*

Anyway.

Tonight in Kung Fu we did some drills then went outside for sword and staff. Lee got hit in the head pretty badly which was quite disconcerting. She is a tough lady though. I also put the idea out there for a party next Sunday and everyone was game for it. Now the weather channel says it's going to rain.

NOOOOO.

The Dark Knight, and why I didn't like it.

I'll admit up front, with no reservations that I didn't like The Dark Knight partly for the opposite reason that I did like Iron Man. So let's just get this out of the way: I either agree or disagree with the theme of something, and that greatly colors my overall enjoyment. If it's a theme or message that gets me going in a good way, like say the evils of war-mongering, and American accountability, I will enjoy it more. But if the theme is something that I disagree with, I am more likely to be bias against the entire experience.

Here's what I took away from The Dark Knight:

1) Sometimes innocent people have to die if you want to flush out The Terrorist. It sucks, but there's nothing you can do about it.

2) It's okay to use technology to spy and eavesdrop on an entire city in order to find The Terrorist, as long as you only do it once.

3) Even though someone who used to be good did evil deeds, like killing a bunch of people and almost killing a child, he should still be made a martyr, because people are ignorant and they need a hero, a White Knight. And if someone innocent (a "dark" knight,) has to be blamed for those evil deeds, that's acceptible, because people can't handle the truth of one of their leaders not being The Good Guy.

4) It's excusable to beat up your mom and sister if you're stressed because you made eight billion dollars a day for talking in a husky voice for a while and then the dead guy will probably get the Oscar. (Heh, no, not really of course, just being snarky.)

Nuh uh. Those are the very ideas that annoy me.

The movie was well done, and, except for a few parts where I was like, "Oh, please" with the overdoing it (Christian Bale, actually, and not Heath Ledger, who was supposed to be overdoing it,) was well-acted. I thought the effects were great. The scariness was really scary without having tos how any gore at all. There were things that made no logical sense (how a certain person's eye could stay functional for one example, and for another, how the Joker knew that there was going to be a boat of convicts and one of non-convicts and had both the time and foresight to set that whole thing up,) but I am always willing to suspend my disbelief when it comes to movies that require me to, and usually I can overlook stuff like that. (The eye thing did bug me though.) I really enjoyed the lack of overbearing soundtrack; there were times that were really tense and I was like, "What's not here that is here in other movies?" and I would notice that it was music. Sometimes the soundtrack is really overbearing and the music is unneeded and I liked how it was handled int his movie. And Heath Ledger really was creepy and intense and did his own thing.

But the propoganda, dude, I could not get past it.


Oh, anyway, this cute House test:

Your result for The House, MD Personality Test...

Dr. James Wilson

55% Eccentricity, 40% Confidence, 60% Kindness

Congratulations, you're Dr. James Wilson! You've got the tough role of being the conscience and best friend to Dr. Greg House, which proves that you must be secretly (or openly) insane. You're always a good person for providing advice, witty remarks, free lunches, lectures, and (wanted or unwanted) psychoanalysis. You are about as confident as the average person, but you have some big issues with yourself, and may have problems living up to the ideals you have in your head. You do really care about other people, though, even if you sometimes express that caring by trying to get into their pants.

Take The House, MD Personality Test at HelloQuizzy

The Dark Knight, and why I didn't like it.

I'll admit up front, with no reservations that I didn't like The Dark Knight partly for the opposite reason that I did like Iron Man. So let's just get this out of the way: I either agree or disagree with the theme of something, and that greatly colors my overall enjoyment. If it's a theme or message that gets me going in a good way, like say the evils of war-mongering, and American accountability, I will enjoy it more. But if the theme is something that I disagree with, I am more likely to be bias against the entire experience.

Here's what I took away from The Dark Knight:

1) Sometimes innocent people have to die if you want to flush out The Terrorist. It sucks, but there's nothing you can do about it.

2) It's okay to use technology to spy and eavesdrop on an entire city in order to find The Terrorist, as long as you only do it once.

3) Even though someone who used to be good did evil deeds, like killing a bunch of people and almost killing a child, he should still be made a martyr, because people are ignorant and they need a hero, a White Knight. And if someone innocent (a "dark" knight,) has to be blamed for those evil deeds, that's acceptible, because people can't handle the truth of one of their leaders not being The Good Guy.

4) It's excusable to beat up your mom and sister if you're stressed because you made eight billion dollars a day for talking in a husky voice for a while and then the dead guy will probably get the Oscar. (Heh, no, not really of course, just being snarky.)

Nuh uh. Those are the very ideas that annoy me.

The movie was well done, and, except for a few parts where I was like, "Oh, please" with the overdoing it (Christian Bale, actually, and not Heath Ledger, who was supposed to be overdoing it,) was well-acted. I thought the effects were great. The scariness was really scary without having tos how any gore at all. There were things that made no logical sense (how a certain person's eye could stay functional for one example, and for another, how the Joker knew that there was going to be a boat of convicts and one of non-convicts and had both the time and foresight to set that whole thing up,) but I am always willing to suspend my disbelief when it comes to movies that require me to, and usually I can overlook stuff like that. (The eye thing did bug me though.) I really enjoyed the lack of overbearing soundtrack; there were times that were really tense and I was like, "What's not here that is here in other movies?" and I would notice that it was music. Sometimes the soundtrack is really overbearing and the music is unneeded and I liked how it was handled int his movie. And Heath Ledger really was creepy and intense and did his own thing.

But the propoganda, dude, I could not get past it.


Oh, anyway, this cute House test:

Your result for The House, MD Personality Test...

Dr. James Wilson

55% Eccentricity, 40% Confidence, 60% Kindness

Congratulations, you're Dr. James Wilson! You've got the tough role of being the conscience and best friend to Dr. Greg House, which proves that you must be secretly (or openly) insane. You're always a good person for providing advice, witty remarks, free lunches, lectures, and (wanted or unwanted) psychoanalysis. You are about as confident as the average person, but you have some big issues with yourself, and may have problems living up to the ideals you have in your head. You do really care about other people, though, even if you sometimes express that caring by trying to get into their pants.

Take The House, MD Personality Test at HelloQuizzy