found objects

On Ebay: a rarely used soul for sale. Also a haunted hard drive.

the plot thickens

I'm going to Houston today, to hang out with my mother and study for the EMT exam & possibly my current classes. Then her knee surgery is Monday, and she may have problems with the anesthesia (she usually does), so I may miss classes on Tuesday, as well. My sister has her Orals in Psychiatry Monday, too. She's on the faculty of a medical school in Houston already; you'd think they'd let her skip this stuff, but that's apparently not how they work. I can't decide if I want to drive to Houston today or tomorrow. I have to see an MD about my right knee, which has been bothering me for several months, but I told my weight lifting instructor I'd get it checked out. With any luck they'll give me pain pills and not mention the word surgery. Wish me luck, eh?

just a small whine

I've been exchanging almost daily email with L for quite some time, but she only emails me when she is at work, and she has Wed and Thurs nights off, so when I checked my mail today, it being a Thursday, there was no mail from L. Sometimes we're in the midst of a lengthy conversation, sometimes it's just short notes, but an email from her brightens my day, and its absence sends a cloud over the whole day. I'm not in love with her or anything; we're just friends. I always miss the routine of waking up, waking the computer up, taking Binky out to go potty, coming back in, and logging on to check my mail, and finding at least one email addressed to me, personally, and not just me as a member of a mailing list.

journal entry & tv heads up

Today went well: I got all my books, at no cost to myself. Saved nearly $300. My mother is starting to give me a hard time about getting a job, but I pointed out that she wants me to be available in Houston for her knee replaced next Monday. My sister has her Oral Exam for her Psychiatry Boards the same day, so I for sure want to drive down there and give moral support.

I've started re-reading Flatland, by Edwin Abbott. My sister gave me a copy for Christmas. I last read it when I was 14 during the time when I wanted to be a mathematician. I don't know why I was given a copy this year. It's a great book, though, and the Village Voice has a recent article about it.

This Saturday the new Babylon 5 movie, 'Legend of the Rangers' premiers on the Sci Fi Channel at 8 pm Central time. I hope it's as good as the series (& the other movies.) I'll be checking it out. I'll watch it with my Mom, who is also a B5 fan.

journal entry & musings about books

HA HA! Yay! 1st day of classes is over. Best news: we don't have to start cutting up little animals until mid-semester. I am so not looking forward to cutting up a cat. I used to breed cats: blue eyed white Oriental Shorthair cats, in fact. Weight lifting was totally non-strenuous: she just told us to get the book, so I have to get up early tomorrow so I can find a parking place at the bookstore, write down prices, and take my form to get my scholarship people to cut me a check. Then take it back to the book store, etc. Don't have Death & Dying until Thursday.

Other good news: Texas Dept of Health sent me an email confirming my EMT test date on January 29, two weeks from today. I'll start studying -- just reviewing my notes, basically -- next week. I don't want to peak too soon.

Finished reading Virginia Lanier's Ten Little Bloodhounds. It's the 4th in the series. This woman breeds and trains and tracks with bloodhounds in Florida. The first three books were better (excellent, in fact), because of the details of the search and rescue missions that Jo Beth, the heroine, goes on. This book just seemed like it was tying up some details of her personal life. Like, a theme that has been running through all the books is her relationship with her ex-husband, which is basically that he keeps trying to kill her whenever he's not in prison. This helps keep up the dramatic tension. It gets resolved in this book. I really enjoy reading about the training and searches in detail in this series. I even gave a non-mystery reading friend Death in Bloodhound Red, the first book in the series, because I thought she'd like it. AND she's a cat person.

Now I'm reading Terry Pratchett's Colour of Magic, for the 8 or 9th time. That's what I do with PTerry's books: read them over and over again. I find them very soothing before bed. They're also witty and fun and full of references to chaos theory and quantum physics. I have all of his books, the maps, and the computer game, and I'm working on collecting the full set (~25 as of this writing) of the British editions. Most of his books are set on the Discworld, which rides on the back of 4 elephants, who are in turn standing on a giant sea turtle, which is swimming to who knows where. This universe's Creator had more imagination than mechanical aptitude, and it shows on the Discworld. If you have read the Terry Pratchett books, you'll know who Binky, my dog, was named after. Leave the answer in the comments section, if you know.

journal entry

I went to bed and fell asleep around 10 pm. Now I'm up again, watching Daria episodes back to back on MTV. They've got a poll up where you can vote for your favorite eposides to be shown the 18th & 19th. There's going to be a Daria movie Jan. 21st. I don't watch enough MTV. These critical events are passing me by. My fondness for Daria aside, I miss the 24 video format they used to have, with everything thrown together and when being a VJ meant big hair. Comedy Central just had hour after hour of standup clips then, too. This would have been... like 20 years ago. Sheesh. I feel quite elderly.

I tried to run Myst III (my sister gave me a copy), & it won't load. I got the patch from the Myst III site. Hope it works. I got this Dell about a year ago, so it's already obsolete.

interesting places

"At least once per day, without fail, my computer, like every computer I have ever owned, has some kind of emotional breakdown" So begins a very funny Dave Barry that is at this url.




Which Internal Organ are you? Find out at willaston's lounge!

journal entry
So I'm sitting here reading people's blogs, drinking my coffee with coffee-mate & sugar, because it's cheaper than folger's latte. It's now 1:30 pm, and not only have I not done anything about getting a job, I've not done anything at all besides make coffee. Not brushed teeth, showered, put on clothes. I did take Binky the Wonder Dog out to go potty.

School starts tomorrow. I need to get together what I want to wear to weight lifting. Probably spandex pants and a really huge top. It's my first class of the day, at 1:40 pm. Then I have Death & Dying, then Anatomy & Physiology. D&D is only once a week. This is probably for the best. I get done with class at 9:45 pm. This may seem late, but only if you're not a night person, which I most emphatically am.

I so miss having a regular schedule. My whole life is just sort of floating since Dec 5 (Finals.) And I still haven't seen Harry Potter. I was planning to do that. I read all the books. I like the story. I love Maggie Smith.

I don't think I will be finishing Black House, by Stephen King and Peter Straub. It's just stupid. I mean, I'm trying to go along with this world they've created, and accept their premises, but it's just stupid. I think I have out grown Stephen King. Either that or it's not a very good book. Possibly both are true.

There goes my upstairs neighbor. I think he lifts weights. He makes a hell of a lot of noise up there every day at 6:30 pm. Oh, he's blind. Not that that matters... well, he's pretty noisy going up the stairs with his stick *bam* *stomp* *bam* *stomp* *bam* *stomp*. There are 14 stairs. Not that that bothers me, or anything. ;) He likes Binky. He says he used to have a dog, too. I think all blind people should be furnished with a free dog. It makes them so much more approachable. There are a couple of blind people who live here. The Texas School for the Deaf and Texas School for the Blind are both here in Austin, and a lot of the graduates like it here. If you're up around the School for the Blind, you'll often see little clusters of blind people learning how to cross the street together. It's pretty cool.

I worked for awhile at Relay Texas, which is how deaf people who type their phone calls can talk to hearing people who don't. We read what the deaf people typed, and typed what the hearing people said. Got my typing speed up to 120 wpm. It's much lower than that, now. Well, anyway, we who worked there all decided that, if given the choice, we'd rather be blind than deaf. Being deaf, you get cut off from the culture of hearing people in a way that doesn't happen if you're blind. I don't know how happy I'd be having to learn braille, though. So all in all, I would much rather have all my senses than be missing any.

Ricki Lake is on now. I think I'll go read my HTML book & watch tv. Maybe I'll look for a job on Wednesday, after school starts. There is a possibility I may feel more energetic then.

'Because Pop-Up Ads Suck' you can opt out of them. This is great!

Been trying to clean house. Haven't really done so since before Finals in December. I seem to have misplaced my Spiderco Delica, which is annoying. It is my first (aside from stethescope and blood pressure cuff) piece of EMT gear. I have CDs and mail scattered all over the coffee table and computer desk. The knife must be buried under there somewhere. For awhile when I first got it, I carried it around in my pocket everywhere I went. L told me I should. She also recommended the brand. I felt very butch and cool. 'I've got a weapon' or 'I've got a tool'. Really it was more the tool thing: I like having something handy to open boxes from amazon.com with. I'm such a geek.

Found this page after losing the bookmark: The Lunatick's Fire & EMS page Lots of fun stuff there. I especially like the EMS Buff Test.

Another 'medical'(?) one: DILE Insert Foreskin Restoration System Eek! Not for the squeemish. Found at lara's blog.

A Serial Killer Profile Test. I scored a 14:
SCORES 11 - 15
We're not going to label you borderline, but the Death Row staff would sleep better at night knowing the word "psychotherapy" is part of your vocabulary.

What would your AD&D stats be in Real Life? Check here. Mine are:
Str: 7
Int: 11
Wis: 13
Dex: 12
Con: 9
Chr: 14