Musings of a Scattered Brain

Government Essay, good read!

2009-01-29T01:07:21Z

http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/422902.html

He put it much more eloquently than I could have.

Cat quiz

2008-11-17T15:03:44Z

Horsemen will understand this one

2008-10-10T02:50:20Z

JUST A HORSE!

Author unknown

From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a horse," or,
"that's a lot of money for "just a horse".

They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or
the costs involved for "just a horse."

Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a horse."

Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a horse," but I did
not once feel slighted.

Some of my saddest moments have been brought about
by "just a horse,' and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just
a horse" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it's "just a horse," then you will probably understand
phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise."

"Just a horse" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and
pure unbridled joy.

"Just a horse" brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person.

Because of "just a horse" I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future.

So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a horse" but an embodiment of all
the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the
pure joy of the moment.

"Just a horse" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away.

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a horse"
but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman/man."

So the next time you hear the phrase "just a horse" just smile, because they
"just" don't understand.

Interesting

2008-09-18T22:17:56Z

Your result for The RPG Class Test...

Spellsword

59% Combativeness, 47% Sneakiness, 68% Intellect, 39% Spirituality

Aggressive, but with the brains to back it up: You are a Spellsword!

Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you've fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you're an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't.

Spellswords combine arcane might with combat know-how. They're much tougher than mages, like to wear armor, and can cast spells through their weapons. They're very, very, good at doing lots of damage to a single target very quickly, and while not quite as tough as most fighters, are still pretty hard to kill.

You're both smart and aggressive, which means that you're probably pretty dangerous when pissed off. You also tend to be somewhat straightforward, which is nice, and don't have much use for spirituality or mysticism.

Take The RPG Class Test at HelloQuizzy

eponasr @ 2008-07-14T18:06:00

2008-07-14T22:07:50Z

Steampunk Archetype

Foreground Cat sez

2008-07-07T02:14:55Z

I was playing with my new macro lens when 'Dite walked into the shot. It was perfect for an LOL.

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=1489289

eponasr @ 2008-07-04T23:07:00

2008-07-05T04:34:08Z

It's been a very busy week.

Monday night actually played an RPG for the first time in years. D&D 4th edition rules have just come out and a friend was wanting to try them. Despite the rules stating that it should take about 20 minutes to put together a character, it took 4 experienced gamers nearly 2 hours to put together a party. The general attitude at the end of the evening was WTF?? re: the rules, but we all agreed we'd had a good time.

Tuesday...sleep

Wednesday abovenyquist and I went to see Peter Murphy in concert. It was a small show at Center Stage Theatre, about 400 people. Excellent concert, only disappointment was that he did not perform "Cuts You Up".

Thursday B and I went to see Wanted with friends. It's a good action movie that doesn't take itself too seriously and has some nice eye candy. I have to agree with the reviewer who stated that "like the Matrix, this movie isn't as complicated as it thinks it is."

Today was Dim Sum for lunch with friends and local fireworks with B.

Literature Meme

2008-06-30T18:46:36Z

Supposedly the "average American" has only read 6 of these. Bold are the ones I've read, underlined are the ones I've read and loved, italics are the ones I plan on reading. Comments are mine.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen I initially didn't like this but it grew on me over time.
2 The Lord of the Rings - I've tried. I just can't get past the wordiness.
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell I liked it on initial read in elementary school, but later re-reads fell seriously short.
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy I don't remember liking this one.
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier Read it for class.
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger Good, but his short stories are far better.
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald Read it for class, don't recall being impressed.
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens Wish I had those hours back...
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis Ok, yeah, it's blatant promotion of Christian ideals as well as Lewis' projected ideas as to what children should be like. However, it really resonated with me as a kid.
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood The book is SO much stronger than the movie could even think about being.
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens Proof that just because an author's works are read for over a century doesn't mean he was a good writer.
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

BWAHAHAHA!!!...yeah, that's about right

2008-06-08T20:38:52Z

-4

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

Caffine rating

2008-06-08T16:01:43Z

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets>

Fun MEME

2008-05-30T23:14:57Z

1. Your cell phone?
a Nokia with a full QWERTY keyboard

2. Your significant other?
which one?

3.Your hair?
needs to be cut again

4.Your mother?
unpredictable, unstable

5.Your father?
nice guy

6.Your favorite thing?
curiosity

7.Your dream last night?
odd

8.Your favorite drink?
a very old, very smooth whiskey

9.Your dream/goal?
knowledge/experience

10.The room you’re in?
kitchen

11.Your exfriend?
paranoid with no sense of boundaries

12.Your fear?
being abandoned

13.Where do you want to be in 6 years?
still on earth

14.Where were you last night?
gym and home

15.What you’re not?
a socialite

16.Muffins?
BLUEBERRIES!!!

17.One of your wish list items?
a stable with running water and power

18.Where you grew up?
mountains of east TN

19.The last thing you did?
surfed teh web

20.What are you wearing?
tank top and shorts

21.Your TV?
large one for watching DVD's

22.Your pets?
cats, horses, goats, fish

23.Your computer?
currently on the small desktop in the kitchen

24.Your life?
needs more excitement right now

25.Your mood?
hopeful

26.Missing someone?
yep

27.Your car?
old, but I <3 her

28.Something you’re not wearing?
shoes

29.Favorite Store?
Dover Saddlery

30.Your summer?
too damn hot

31.Like someone?
yep

32.Your favorite color?
black

33.Last time you laughed?
within the last hour

34.Last time you cried?
about a week ago

35.Who will re-post reply to this?
probably very few people

Ironman

2008-04-30T10:30:01Z

I went to a sneak preview showing of Ironman last night.

I'm not a huge comic book (or graphic novel) fan. I can probably count on one hand the number of comic books that I've read in my lifetime. The people I attended with ranged from huge fans of the comic to those who had little frame of reference. I had no information at all about this film going into it, so I was pretty much viewing it from the perspective of a clean slate. Tabula rosa.

We all thoroughly enjoyed it. :)

While it had many of the weaknesses of most films based on comic series (dialog was not top-notch, secondary characters tended to be 2 dimensional), it was a well-crafted film. The acting and directing were strong, even those characters who were not fully fleshed out did not appear stiff. The internal conflict of the main character was evident without dissolving into overacted angst. The pacing of the script was excellent. This is one of the few movies I've been to in a while that neither dragged through bits or felt rushed. The special effects were beautiful, pretty much par for the course for ILM. The storyline was not terribly complicated but was presented nicely.

Overall, I'd have not felt bad if I'd paid full price to see it. It's not high art, but it's certainly worth $8 or $9 for a couple of hours of entertainment.

Overheard at the Johnathan Coulton and Paul and Storm Show

2008-03-23T12:56:52Z

and most of these came from the crowd during breaks...

"Illinois, stays crunchy in milk."

"Espresso Stout! That's just what we need, awake drunks!"

"If the piano has a gun in the first scene, it has to fire it by the third scene."

"Look at this crowd. Not a tan in the bunch."

"It's a double-blind date."

"We're piloting the good ship ADD...right into "oh look a bunny!" Bay!"

Reading lists

2008-03-20T00:44:08Z

Completed...
Thieves' World Vol. 3
Misconceptions in Dressage

Misplaced!...
Sacred Rage
Steppenwolf

Still working on...
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail

Started...
Ready Ok (C, I lifted this off of your shelf, will return on completion)
Theives' World Vol. 4
A Pen Warmed Up in Hell by Mark Twain

Overheard at work

2008-03-17T23:45:39Z

"He said I was discriminating against him because he's Chinese. I wasn't discriminating against him because he's Chinese. I was discriminating against him because his hot water heater doesn't work!"

"No ma'am, your neighbor letting his dog poop in his own yard is not a health hazard."

"Well if we can't laugh about shit, what can we laugh about?"

"Which permit did I apply for again?"

Quiet Here

2008-03-15T04:43:52Z

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/14/storm.atlanta/index.html

Looks like the damage was limited to specific areas of downtown ATL. Downtown friends accounted for and are ok.

OMG! I am in lust!!!

2008-03-10T01:53:17Z

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Buick-Byzantine-PRE-WAR-BUICK-CARVED-SIDE-FUNERAL-COACH-HEARSE-CASKET_W0QQitemZ110230912906QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110230912906

Anyone got a spare $30K laying around? Anyone? Please?!

Interesting test

2008-03-10T01:48:41Z

http://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/type1.php

I can see where I fit into this professionally. I'm known as a bit of a driven perfectionist at work, getting angry at myself for even the slightest mistake. Unfortunately, others' mistakes annoy me too, although I am not quick to express anger.

In my personal life, I think I'm much more of a 5. Interesting that it notes that 1's often mistake themselves for 5's.

Updates and such

2008-03-01T02:27:41Z

Damn, it's been a long time since I've updated this.

This is likely going to be boring for those of you reading. I'm writing it in the true sense of journaling, i.e. giving myself an evaluation of where I'm at and a record of where I've been for the future. It's probably the crudest form of mental masturbation, but hey, it's useful.

It looks like last year and hopefully this year will best be summed up as "renewal". Trying to find the remains of those dreams which faltered and fell under a load of practicality. Remembering those things which were distinctly "me"...that I was known for to my peers...which I used to define myself at some point long ago.

I used to write. Not as in "oh, I'm an artist...will you read my manuscript?", but as in published. As in went to a special high school for the creatively gifted in the writing department. As in got paid $$ (not copies) for a few short bits. As in had an editor at a publishing company (who unfortunately died before my genetics text for non-scientists saw print and her projects were all shelved by the company). I seriously looked at journalism as a career. I started out as a journalism major in college then switched to English Lit when I realized the college wasn't really interested in putting out writers and I lacked the voice, body or charisma for broadcasting. I stayed in English Lit for a couple of years, until it became apparent that my future job prospects were likely to include the words "would you prefer fries with that?" I also was disillusioned by the fact that my coursework was placing far more emphasis on analyzing other people's writing than it was on creating my own. Granted analyzing others' works is critical to learning to write well, but shouldn't I have had at least one assignment on my own work somewhere in the semester? So, my love of biology and the better job prospects won out. I started writing less and less. By the time I reached graduate school, I'd all but abandoned my fiction and poetry projects. My non-fiction work was still going, mostly in the form of really good lab reports and the genetics text that was to come years later. But somewhere around 8 or 9 years ago, even that got dropped to only work-related letters.

So...this journal will partially become a way to practice that again. Writing is like any other skill, if you don't do it, it escapes. You also may see the occasional short bit appear from time to time as well.

An old friend looked me up last April. We were inseparable in middle school, two social outcasts who shared science fiction, dysfunctional families and dreams of escaping. We hadn't talked in nearly 20 years. Of course, there was a lot of catching up to do. One thing from the conversation struck me hard. Charlotte was one I always looked at as the artist. I did some sketching, but only thought I was marginal at best. During our conversation, she asked me if I was still drawing. I told her I hadn't picked up an artists' pencil in 10 years or more. Her response was "damnit, why not?! You were so good at it." That conversation prompted the purchase of a sketch pad and a cheap set of basic pencils. I was surprised at how some of those skills came back to me. The mind may have been fuzzy on the details, but the eyes and fingers remembered the techniques. With a bit more practice, I'm thinking I can quickly be as good as I was...or maybe more.

Reading...used to read 2 - 3 books a week. I realized a couple of months ago that I hadn't read a single work in over a month. So..I present to you the current reading list...
Thieves' World Vol. 3 (already re-read vols. 1 and 2)
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson (appropriate for an election year)
Sacred Rage by Robin Wright (history of Shi'ite terrorism...trying to get a better understanding of our current globe)
Misconceptions and Simple Truths in Dressage by Dr. H.L.M. van Schaik (considered an essential book for dressage riders)
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse (damnit I'm going to FINISH it this time)

Two other topics for a later post... riding and weight lifting.

eponasr @ 2008-01-28T16:39:00

2008-01-28T21:40:51Z

More memes

2008-01-28T00:39:55Z

Your results:
You are Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)

Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		75%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		60%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		60%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		55%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		55%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		50%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		50%
River (Stowaway)		50%
Alliance		45%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		35%
Inara Serra (Companion)		30%

Medicine and physical healing are your game,
but wooing women isn't a strong suit.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

Happy Meme

2008-01-28T00:35:03Z

Leave a comment and I will...
1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, a word etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ.

And if I don't actually know you well enough, I'll make something up!

Passing the word

2007-09-21T22:08:32Z

Just to get more eyes on this. Yes, I know this person and it's legitimate.

http://www.asbrand.com/

They're not witches. They don't float!

2007-07-10T16:04:10Z

What is it with you people?

In the past four days, three of my friends have sent personal electronics to a watery grave.

Suzan
personal body count:
1 Motorola radio drowned in swimming pool
2 Nokia phones drowned in washing machine

Hehe, courtesey of tk0667

2007-06-28T12:57:08Z

Your Livejournal zombie attack.

LiveJournal Username

The name of your zombie infested home town.

Your zombie killing weapon of choice.

How much do zombies scare you?

Oh noes!!11 A zombie! What do you do?

Blasting zombies left and right with a freaking twelve guage. What do you think?

phoenixgeisha

Curled into a fetal position crying their eyes out.

sara1221

Is pwning some zombies with Don't Stop Me Now playing in the background.

madame_foo

Is sitting at home watching CNN and eating ice cream.

photognome

Get ripped to pieces by the zombies. Bummer.

gwdanton

Is the zombie king who you must destroy to end the zombie menace.

quadrivium

Number of zombies you decapitate.

755

Chances you survive the zombie swarm.

91%

This Fun Quiz created by Rob at BlogQuiz.Net

Aries Horoscope at DailyHoroscopes.Biz