Forever A Fangirl

I'm easily amused~ Einstein the Parrot on Animal Planet

Einstein the Parrot

I Love My Computer

Narcissistic Blog Disorder and Other Conditions of Online Kookery

~Commentary by Lore Sjöberg  

narcissistic blog disorder

The AMA recently suggested that perhaps gaming addiction should be considered as a sub-category of internet addiction. This is a step in the right direction. Clearly "internet addiction" doesn't begin to cover the realm of bizarre and pathological behaviors the internet inspires. Herewith a list of afflictions and syndromes I feel should be added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, or perhaps the DSM IV.Ib.

Narcissistic Blog Disorder

This disorder is characterized by the creation of a blog in which the individual consistently denigrates not only the opinions of others, but the very fact that others have opinions, saying things like "nobody cares what some overpaid starlet has to say about global warming" and "nobody cares what some crusty career politician thinks is wrong with society today." Simultaneously, the individual assumes that people do care about what he or she has to say, in spite of the individual's only political or activist experience being watching the movie Dave twice.

Bookmark Loop Disorder

Web bookmarks remain a popular way to waste time when one should be working. You check a site or two, get something done for a little while, then check your bookmarks again. Careful research, however, has shown that at a certain point the list of bookmarks grows, the "get something done" period shrinks, until the reader goes directly from the end of the list back to the top, just in case there are new updates. Once entered, this "bookmark loop state" often cannot be broken until a couple hours after a sane bedtime.

E-mail Gullibility Syndrome

Adults who preserve a healthy skepticism when people knock on their door asking for assistance or political support often lose that sense of suspicion when they first receive an e-mail account. Every caution about the dangers of kiwi fruit, every warning that the U.S. Congress is about to outlaw Santa Claus and every plea for assistance from deposed royalty is treated with utmost credulity and, where appropriate, forwarded to *a dozen two dozen of the recipient's long-suffering friends and family members. Luckily this is usually a self-resolving disorder, disappearing after two years or $30,000 lost, whichever comes first. * My edit-Cyn

Atemporal Fad Disorder

The desire to participate in an internet fad is considered by psychologists to be a natural, if sometimes unfortunate, aspect of human nature. Some individuals, however, appear to have a clinical inability to recognize the fleeting nature of fads, and continue to attempt to participate after everyone else is sick to death of the whole thing.

The current diagnostic criterion is "the use of the phrase 'all your base are belong to us' in any non-ironic context" but in 2010 it is expected to be expanded to include any suggestion that a photo depicts a cat interacting with an invisible object.

We have a case of this in our household right now though the sufferer is a 14 year-old  boy, which I think excuses him at least slightly. Perhaps I'm enabling?-Cyn

Pugilistic Discussion Syndrome

In this curious form of aphasia, the subject is unable to distinguish between a discussion and a contest. The subject approaches any online forum as a sort of playing field, and attempts to "win" the discussion by any means necessary. The rules of the imaginary contest are apparently clear to the individual as he or she will often point out when others break them, but when asked to outline these rules the individual is reluctant, perhaps not wishing to confer an "advantage" on any "opponents." The conditions for winning are similarly difficult to pin down, although in some cases the individual will declare himself the winner of a discussion that, to all others, appears to be ongoing.

Amusement Identify Disorder

This is a sort of inverse cousin to Pugilistic Discussion Syndrome, in which the individual has difficulty distinguishing between an online game and real life. The individual sees his or her online character as being as "real" as the individual's real-world self, if not more so. One manifestation of this disorder is the tendency to treat game accomplishments such as impressive magic items or guild leadership as the equivalent of real-life accomplishments like pursuing a successful career or raising a family. In addition to impairing the individual's personal growth in the real world, this disorder also makes them extremely boring at parties.

How Many Supreme Court Justices Support Legalizing Marijuana?

Interesting, this passage in Justice Steven's dissent (in which he was joined by Justices Souter and Ginsberg) in the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case:

...just as prohibition in the 1920’s and early 1930’s was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies, today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana,9 and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product,10 lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs. Surely our national experience with alcohol should make us wary of dampening speech suggesting—however inarticulately—that it would be better to tax and regulate marijuana than to persevere in a futile effort to ban its use entirely.

(Image of "Mountain Jam" bud by Ryan Bushby)

Humans have been consuming marijuana since prehistory. Marijuana besides getting you buzzed, has been used as an antibiotic, an analgesic, and as an anti-emetic . It also stimulates the appetite.

We all know why it should not be illegal so I shan't rhyme off the reasons.

Just interesting to have a glimpse into the thoughts of one of the minds of the highest court in the land.

A Personal Space Invader

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Break Free

photo credit

How My Feet Feel

This is how my feet feel about wearing high heels:

Photo credit

                                                         

Happy Birthday !!! (Times Two)

My brother and I, though we live only 45 minutes apart do not see much of one another. He and his spouse, E., have been working their collective bums off creating and running their own massage therapy business in Evanston for about a decade. They are highly skilled having both graduated  from (and taught at) the Chicago School Of Massage Therapy and gone on to develop diverse specialities within and adjacent to the field of massage therapy. However, after residing as a couple in Evanston, a lovely town north of Chicago on Lake Michigan for about twenty years they have made a radical life change.

My brother applied and was accepted to medical school near Mesa, Arizona. He is going to become an Osteopath  (a D.O.-- a different flavour M.D.). Ellen will work, probably as hard or harder than him in the real world of massage in Arizona. They've found a little apartment near the campus of the oldest school of Osteopathy in the country and will reside there for a year. After that they will, thankfully, move back near the center of the country--to Cincinnati where my brother will further pursue his studies and Ellen will gain first hand (no pun intended) knowledge of the Amish people. At least they'll be driving distance away then.

My brother is my only sibling, 5 years, 10 months younger than me. Though separated when I departed Connecticut for California at age 18 we were reunited when I (plus my baby son) moved to the Chicagoland area seven years later. We've lived within an under one-hour drive of each other ever since.

I'm over the moon that he is taking on this HUGE challenge. He's been at it for a couple years now just to be able to apply to med school despite having a 4-year English degree.

What I'm not thrilled about is him leaving the state. I have no other family here beside the one I've lived with and my brother and wife. I should count my spouse's family as family and I do--as they pertain to my and my spouse's son. Otherwise, frankly, the sheer number of them freaks me out. And my spouse is one of seven kids with native Chicagoans for parents; I am one of two with parents native Torontonians--that insures a whole different upbringing.

So my brother and E. moving also makes me sad and insecure (what if one of us needs a kidney or some other part that only the other sibling can furnish!?).

Kidding aside, it's going to suck without them.

So here are what may be the last photos of them and two of my guys, taken yesterday in honour of E's birthday 2 days previous, and my spouse's birthday today.

Happy Birthday Ellen and Roger (spouse and sil)

(Notes on the slide show: the colourful Pritzker Pavillion is shown because unbeknownst to us on E's birthday, whilst we were snapping photos in Millennium Park (home of thePavillion), E & J were looking down upon us as well as at a beautiful sunset from the great height of the top of the Sear's Tower. "Snoozing" took place after  E & J had gone home.)

Cyanide & Happiness

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Segway This Way

Almost immediately upon us exiting the Millennium Parking Garage the other day a line of tourists trundled by--on Segways.
This puzzles me because they are doing a lot of standing (it would seem) and for me if I have to stand, I'd much rather stand and walk.
A couple of the  Segway-riders looked happy enough but I can't see myself on one navigating busy Chicago sidewalks, stuck in a pack of other Segway riders all wearing goofy-looking helmets.

The Belly of the Bean: Anish Kapoor's public art sculpture "Cloud Gate"

I'd not been able to capture any good images of Cloud Gate, the public art sculpture  in Millennium Park, Chicago since they'd finished sanding the seams some time ago.

I finally got my chance yesterday .

Much more in my Chicago Photo album   

Earlier post with photos in this blog.

Millennium Park Opening Weekend With Photographs (Original Post) on this blog

Click to enlarge

Find Me!

This is the interior of Anish Kapoor's public art sculpture "Cloud Gate." It's nickname is "The Bean." I am inside The Bean taking this photo. I'll give you a clue: I'm wearing blue Birkenstocks. :) (One Two more: My son, who is 6'2" is standing behind me...and there's two of each of us.)

The Bean at night ~

And my favourite from Millennium Park~(click)

"Blue Bow"

   

Walking The Salt Creek Trail

We--the spouse, the kid, the dog, and I-- took a nice walk after dinner tonight down through the woods on the newish bike/walking trail next to Salt Creek. I was hoping for some good photos but my game is really off.

Pond begins Salt Creek Trail~

Prior Post On Salt Creek Trail w/ more photos

New Trail On Salt Creek, Cook County w/photos (2006)

Thank goodness we are heading in to the city tomorrow afternoon. It's been free museum week and though we'll only be able to stay for an hour or so at the Adler Planetarium (if all goes as planned) we'll then head over to Millennium Park so I can try to get some sunset shots near Anish Kapoor's Outdoor art sculpture, Cloud Gate .                      

Cloud Gate~

The Art Institute is right across the street from the park and it's free and open 'till 9 p.m. on Thurs & Fridays so I'm hoping to have the boys chill out at Crown Fountain (below) while I get a glimpse of the photographic exhibit, The Earth As It Was. Not that I don't enjoy Crown Fountain but I'm jonesing for some time at the Art Institute and both my spouse and son want little-to-nothing to do with it. Both guys are very much left-brain thinkers.

         

Crown Fountain~ Opening Weekend (2004)

Spouse is a good shot (technically, he's far better than me) so we are bringing both the Powershot 630 and the Nikon D-70. I just made notes of some of the possibly better spots to shoot including the North Terrace at the Adler Planertarium so we shall see what turns up.

And I just realized that tomorrow is the June/Summer Solstice and the Planetarium will probably be packed. Spouse is going to think I meant to do this. :p  I'm gonna keep a positive attitude though as generally once I get past the traffic getting in to Chicago, I have no problem getting around and dealing with whatever. And I always have fun.

Always.  :)

              Crown Fountain~                

Happy Summer/June Solstice!

photo from Wikipedia

Unikilts update/St. Andrew's 21st Annual Scottish Festival and Highland Games.

I've noticed as I've been doing some blog maintenance that I've had a recent increase in the number of views of  this post on Unikilts .

Sadly, it appears that the Unikilt website is no longer up.

But I did take a few snaps of some men in kilts at last weekend's St. Andrew's 21st Annual Scottish Festival and Highland Games.

This was my first time at an event of this kind but the weekend was filled with family obligations which conflicted with the main part of the festival. Next year I shall make time to spend the day there.

Here's my festival photo album .

Enjoy!

Highland Games: Men's Caber Toss

Strangely, this fellow seems to be going for a metro-sexual look and he's almost pulling it off.

Highland Games strategising

Interestingly, it appears that some of the men in this photo have bit more of a grasp of how one sits in a short skirt-like garment. The fellow below left never moved his hands from his lap.

Backyard Catch

Catch in the backyard, originally uploaded by Caprica2006.
My guys. <3 <3 <3
Chris is the tall kid in black.

"Mom, maybe you should avoid making obscure cultural references to Dad's family."

The birthday boy's name is Trevor and I couldn't help having the tune Magical Trevor going through my head and the term Magical Trevor cross my lips a time or two.

My 14 y.o. son's comment on this?

"Mom, maybe you should avoid making obscure cultural references to Dad's family."

Today...

...was a beautiful day. :)

(click photo and/or reload your page to view slideshow)

Too Much Pink!

Yesterday, despite the soaring temperatures outside, I felt like an unbearable, cold awfulness was enveloping me.

Though simplistic sounding, when bad things happen to me the sooner I can get going on something positive--move forward--beyond--the worst thing for me is to be stuck spinning my wheels going 'round and 'round with self-doubt, insecurity, fear---the sooner I can pack things up and move on, the better.

My mind has been racing so I haven't slept much at all in the last 24 hrs.

Replaying and replaying what was one of the biggest left-field occurrences to have happened to me in more than a year.

Reeling, I tried to process it all so I could let it go, move beyond it, but the grip of fear held tight.

Finally, a few hours ago this thing, this ugly good-for-nothing baggage that I was heaving around--I put it down.

I've stopped--for now anyway--trying to figure out why people do the inhumane things they do. I realize that I was let off pretty easy. I've landed on my feet, making a good recovery.

Our front "yard"-- it's a condo so technically, no. Shhh! Don't tell my spouse.

Original (framed)

Bevel Finish

Our Garden: Daylily

I had *no* idea  until my gardener a/k/a my spouse  told me that the Daylily got it's name because each blossom lasts just one. single. day.

These two look as if they area about to wilt. The heat of recent days has wilted the lilies almost as soon as they bloom.

/edit No, spouse says they curl that way when they are full of water.

Hair & *%@! Storms

Testing

I haven't set foot in a hair salon for at least 10 years--probably more. My friend does hair at a salon and "on the side" at her house in her cool little salon. Anyway I'm pretty sure she's giving me a deal ($67 for full colour, cut, highlights)as it is a huge haul to drive three counties away for the touch of her magic hands.    

Hey look there's Lake Michigan!

I may have gotten burned--even with 30 sunblock today--but it was a gorgeous top-down day.

On the way home I got bombarded by a truck full of shit something that smelt really bad and which kept whizzing by my head as it fell off the truck. It was one lane of course. I still have to transfer those photos to the computer. I'll get to it tomorrow.

Shit flying makes quite a picture.

edit/

Exhibit "A"

edit/* Though when it was actually flying I guess partial sanity kicked in so I'm disappointed to now find that I did not get a snap of the cloud of shit mulch that was hurtling by (it had nothing to do with the fact that I barely know how to use my phone camera at 55 miles per hour whilst driving a stick shift).

Kinda blonde. It should tone down.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad turned 77 today.

Mom  & Dad on a date at at Niagara Falls,  1955.

Here are some people who share June 11 as their birthday:

Hugh Laurie born on June 11, 1959

Gene Wilder born on June 11, 1933

Vince Lombardi born on June 11, 1913

Cyanide & Happiness

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Really Random

This is from Stumbleupon

Save the Vowels!

And from tonight:

Roger  & Raven by the firedancer.  Both of them look pretty glum. What's wrong, guys?

This 2004 Delicato Shiraz was pretty tasty.

Nice cool night, perfect for firing up the firedancer and having a glass or two of wine on the mini deck.

Dancing Monkey

New Additions (Flowers)

Gerbera Daisy

I mentioned to spouse that although I like what he's been doing with the front and back of house gardens, some hanging baskets would be nice--plus maybe something for the center of the mini-deck table. Voila! Today he brought home Gerbera daisies and...

Trailing Geraniums

...two hanging baskets of Trailing Geraniums. Since it's still early in the season everything needs to fill out so until then I'll probably hone in on the fuller parts of the plants.

Pink New Guinea Impatiens

Here's some of the pink New Guinea Impatiens which we have in a half-barrel. They are doing well but seem very slow to grow. I know next to nothing about them but it's my understanding that they are doing what they are supposed to do.

Finally, though it doesn't belong in this series I had to photo-manipulate the red flowers 'cos I have to be honest--red is among my least favourite colours.

Gerbera Daisies Coloured

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?: Häagen-Dazs Mocha Chip

                                                Häagen-Dazs Mocha Chip

                                                               

I even have a cute little story that goes with it.

A long, long time ago I moved to a faraway land called Southern California.

I was young, fairly unschooled and unskilled and whilst I was taking classes at Golden West College (theoretically--in truth, I was skipping classes to go to the beach) I worked at a Häagen-Dazs store in nearby Seal Beach.

This was a very good thing. For one, I had my first taste of super premium ice cream. I'd been used to the grocery store brands that my dad bought so this was a BIG revelation (I also had my first Mexican food in SoCal but that's another post).

The other really good thing is that at closing time I was allowed to eat anything in the shop.

Since I was very, very poor this was an actual lifesaver. At night's end I'd make a two or three scoop sundae with a whole banana and a good sprinkling of nuts and raisins and whatever other toppings sounded good and I would call it that day's meal. Sometimes, prior to coming to work I'd have an iceberg lettuce salad but other than that on days I worked, I lived on Mocha Chip ice cream. It's really not such a bad way to live when you are 19 years old. And one would think I'd have packed on the pounds but truly if you only eat once a day, it doesn't matter if that one meal is Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream with a banana and nuts on top. You won't gain weight.

Still, since then I've rarely had my very favourite ice cream as until recently it was unavailable in any grocery stores nearby to where I now live. Besides, once you've been spoiled by fresh ice cream, eating it out of a cardboard container just doesn't cut it.

P.S. Whomever thought up this question is evil as I now have a huge craving for some Häagen-Dazs--any Häagen-Dazs but there is only one store in the Chicago area and it is 25 miles away so instead I'm going to break my "never grocery shop" rule and head over to Dominick's tomorrow to bag a pint.

Thanks. I need a pint of mega butterfat ice cream like I need a third eye.  :p

Show us your current cellphone and/or your dream cellphone.

Current phone:

Motorola RAZR V3c in Pink ~Cost: Nada for three.

One of very few fringe benefits of working for Motorola is a free phone for each of us every two years.

I'm hoping Motorola is working on a Nokia N95 knockoff so I have something to look forward to in about 2 years.

Motorola RAZR V3c in Pink

Dreamphone:

Nokia N95 ~ Cost: about $700        It's GPS. It's a photo studio. It's a mobile disco. It's the world wide web. It's anything you want it to be. Explore the internet with 3.5G ease. Navigate the world with interactive maps and purchasable local city guides. Download your favorite music tracks. And capture it all with 5 megapixel clarity and Carl Zeiss optics. Experience the true power of multimedia computing with the Nokia N95 multimedia computer.

I just want it for the phone and the real camera (as opposed to the 1.3 megapixel not-camera cellphone I have now).

                                                                        

Life is short

Thanks to joyas.stumbleupon.com [stumbleupon.com]