Obsessions, Compulsions, and Pet-Peeves

One of my bigger pet-peeves is FW:emails. Part of the reason I hate them (is that strong for a pet-peeve?) is > > > > > > > > >

I find it intolerable to read a message with 15 > in front of each pseudo sentence, usually followed by every other line containing only 1 or two words because the formatting has been so corrupted.

If I do feel the need to actually read one, which is rare, I HAVE to (this is the compulsion/obsession part) cut and paste it into Word and fix all of the formatting issues to make it readable. For example, this morning I received a Dr. Phil Quiz from a co-worker. My interest was piqued, so I ctrl-A, ctrl-V and start my reformatting. Once the quiz was in the suitable format (25 minutes later) I proceeded to take the quiz, scoring a 35 - which was pretty fitting to my personality. Did I forward it on? Absolutely not.

Which brings me to my next pet-peeve: I don't care if lightning strikes me dead the moment I delete it, I WILL NOT forward it to 10 people to save myself from the terrible things a pseudo-spam threatens me with. Do people actually think that a train will crash into their house if they delete an email from the inbox? Give me a break.

My final pet-peeve of the evening: "I don't normally forward these, but..." Puh-lease! If that is the case, clean it up and send it as it's own email with a nice bit of personal correspondence working up to the followup of pseudo-spam.

Oh, the irony. While composing this blog I just received FW: FW: FW: A NEW WAY OF CAR JACKING to warn me about the dangers of windshield fliers. Will I "Please keep this circulating, caution to women especially."? Of course not.

Only The Lonely...

I have the night to myself, CK is out of town. I feel like I should be doing something exciting or wild, being suddenly single. I am almost let down with myself for not. Tonight was my final for the previously mentioned class I am taking. I am wrapping up my evening by blogging (obviously), sharing fat-free pretzels and hummus with the dog, watching CSI, and maybe - just maybe - I will Dance Dance Revolution for a little while. I have become so boring...

On another note, I recently downloaded Mozilla Firefox as an alternate web browser. I am finding it quite nice and highly recommend it. I am finding that I have far less spyware that gets installed. Granted, I don't go to "questionable" sites, but none-the-less, my 4 spyware detectors are coming up dry where they used to come up with 6-10 on every run.

I am off to dance...

Dancing Queen

Yesterday CK and I purchased Dance Dance Revolution. The thought was that this will be a fun way for us to get out of the recliners and actually exercise. And boy-oh-boy were we correct.

So... I have zero - and I mean zero - rhythm and coordination. I have trouble Sweatin' to the Oldies. I also have a strong anti-humiliation drive. After attempting a few steps with CK in the room I had to ask him to go downstairs and play on his computer for a half hour. Now, alone in the room with a VERY perplexed dog, I begin the tutorial. I actually am enjoying this.

I finished tutorials 1 and 2 and played a game (passing all 3 rounds with a D). By now I am Sweatin like the oldie that I am (30) and I have to admit, this will be much easier to do and enjoy than Yoga for Dummies (bought it and did it once) or Walk Away the Pounds (bought it and did it twice).

I'll let you know if I Dance Dance on a regular basis. Maybe I have found a workout I can enjoy!

jIyajbe'

For those of you who don't speak Klingon (myself included) the title means "I don't understand."

I have often pondered the mindset of "Trekkies". While I think it would be interesting to know a few phrases in Klingon, I can't imagine spending my every waking moment creating the perfect outfit for the next convention. I do catch myself watching Star Trek: The Next Generation whenever I flip past any channel that it is playing. Marathons can keep me parked in a recliner for the duration, but I wouldn't consiter myself to be Trekkie.

Now, I am watching Access Hollywood for lack of anything else on the television. They are doing a story about Star Wars and I am faced with the same "jIyajbe'" Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the movies and am looking forward to the next movie coming out. My question, what makes a person go to a convention and dress up like a character from a film? On man had a costume on that he said took him 3 (!) years to make. All I can do is shake my head.

pItlh.

The Naked Truth III

Last night was our last class of figure drawing. To my disappointment, our model pulled a no-call, no-show. I say "to my disappointment" because I was starting to enjoy tormenting everyone I know by showing them my drawings of the naked lady.

Unfortunately, we were not off-the-hook by the model being MIA. Our instructor decided she would stand in as our model. (gasp). Fortunately, she kept her clothes on for the experience. (whew).

Next week is the final - we have to draw more bare skin, but this time it is only the skin of an apple.

TTFN (as my friend Lisa from high school used to say)

The Naked Truth II

Second night of our figure drawing.

This week I had issues because we (the class) are on a first name basis with The Model. Last week I had no trouble drawing everything, except her face. My psychoanalysis of this is that by drawing her face I am making her a real person. This week, now that we are calling her by name, I had trouble even looking at her - for fear of meeting her eye. My psychoanalysis of this is that in my mind if I looked at her she would suddenly realize she WAS NAKED in front of 25 people and be embarrassed. (Ridiculous, I know).

I still managed to do the required drawings (and well done, if I do say so myself) but I had a slow start. Only one more naked night to go and then we are back to the apple. (Whew).

The Family Business

Back in the "olden days" the surname of a family was based on what the family did for a living. What does it mean when you Google your last name, just to see what comes up, and you get link after link of...Dutch porn?

A few years ago, when I had a few minutes to mindlessly search the web for something to look at, I encountered just this when I typed in my maiden name. Does this mean that my ancestors were affluent in the porn business back in the day?

It certainly would be fitting, I suppose, since we recently cleaned out my grandfather's house after he passed away and found his sizable stash of nudie movies (and not the Skinimax type either). Maybe he was carrying on the family legacy.

I, for one, am not carrying on this legacy in any shape or form - just in case you were concerned. For those of you who are curious - Billen.

Surfing

I am channel surfing to find something to watch. It is Saturday around 1:00 and there is nothing but a steaming pile of crap on TV.

On Spike TV I have found a red headed WEEPING boxer on what I assume is The Contender. Oh, actually it is The Ultimate Fighter Marathonl, my bad. Apparently he is so emotionally scarred by what another meat-head said to him that he is weeping uncontrollably and decided to sleep outside because he cannot face the other meat-heads. The others become intoxicated and further antagonize him by hosing him down while he sleeps. He is (understandably) enraged, just before I changed the channel, he broke a door down because it was apparently not allowing him entry. [[click]] Testosterone overdose.

On VH1 they are showing Showgirls, again. The program director must have a thing for "Mamma" as Slater called her on Saved by the Bell. I don't even want to waste my time typing about how awful this movie is. The hightlights: the fake clothes VH1 has "photoshopped" onto the strippers, Tre from Sex in the City with a very interesting hairdo. [[click]]

On all news channels, CNN, Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, etc. we have the Royal Wedding Recap. [[click]]

HGTV, Discovery, and TLC all have some home improvement show on. No thanks. [[click]]

MTV we have Real World 23 or is it Road Rules 20 or is it Inferno 10? Anyway, we have a red team and a black team. They are standing on a 4x4 plank over water taking off and putting on each others clothes. We have men in bikini's and tank tops. Hmmm. [[click]]

TBS has Back to the Future 1, 2, or 3. [[click]]

Sports channel [[click]]
Sports channel [[click]]
Sports channel [[click]]
Lifetime, Linda Hamilton crying. [[click]]
Nick, Sponge Bob. [[CLICK!]]
Food Network, Low Carb and Lovin' it. [[double click]]

I supposed I could turn it off and do something productive...Nah, I'll just watch the Weather Channel.

[[click]]

The Naked Truth

For the past two semesters I have been taking required art classes in school. I have always enjoyed and been good at many types of art, but due to a serious fear-of-failure syndrome this is the first time in my life I have taken any classes.

This semester I learned that we were going to be "working with figures". In plain English, nudes. Ten years ago I would have dropped the class immediately upon learning this information. Older and wiser (and properly medicated on anti-anxiety/social disorder medication) I decided to ride it out.

Tonight was night number one of three for our figure drawing. It turned out to not be as horrifying of an experience as I expected. Actually, it wasn't bad at all - don't get me wrong, I am not making a career out of nude portraits, but I am not scarred for life. I think it helped that 1) our model was female. I would have been severely embarrassed drawing the male genitalia. 2) she described herself as Rubenesque and was correct in that description. This for some reason made me feel more comfortable than I would have had I been drawing a Kate Mosesque model.

All in all, the naked truth is that I lived through the class without blushing severely and will survive the next two classes without permanant damage from seeing a naked person in public. I guess I can giggle now about having to draw the crack a bottom.

Until later... (BTW, I have stolen this closing line from The Fount, it's better than "ta ta for now" or "After a while crocodile"). Thanks CK.

Confession

I am sitting here watching "The Core" for the third time on Showtime. I hate to admit that the first two times I secretly enjoyed it. As I stopped channel surfing to watch it again for a few moments, it took 5 minutes to figure out if it was a skit making fun of the movie or the actual movie. The voices seemed dubbed and the acting melodramatic.

I am still secretly enjoying it (big-budget disaster films are my secret delight - I watched Dante's Peak the other day for the billionth time - and still cried at the end), but if CK comes up the stairs I will quickly click away from it and deny watching it again.

Hillary Swank just knicked a "diamond the size of Rhode Island" so I better pay attention so I can hold my breath for the cast!

Until later...

Cereal Addiction?

I have recently discovered that I LOVE Crispix cereal. Since I discovered it for less than $3.00 a box at Wal-Mart, I cannot seem to leave the store without at least one box. I eat it with milk. I eat it without. By the handfull or by the bowl. I think I'll have a fist full right now...

As CK would say, Until Later...