Friday, December 31, 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Two years of hope and change down the drain.

I don't know if I've ever had less feelings, than I do right now, about ending a year and starting a new one. I've been trying all day to wrap this year up with a bow and send it on its way. All I have is vast ambivalence.

Hey! Remember when we were all going to die because an oil platform blew up - opened a fissure in the earth - creating a giant mega volcano? Not to mention how the whole food chain would be infected and we were going to starve to death. And that bird flu thing. Cripes. Good times, this year.

I guess I'm looking forward to the Jerry Brown administration. It is going to be the funnest administration yet. He has no filter. The Dems are going to be forced to eat each other. He releases his budget, like - next week. The honeymoon will be short.

That is really all I've got. Except ambivalence.

My resolution for the year? To use more commas.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Updates. We have updates.



I don't really have a lot. Yesterday I woke up and it was sunny. So I immediately declared - that mow strip is going in today. And it did. All were happy and there was world peace everywhere. There was! I said it. World... peace.

I've been trying to get that damn thing in for three weeks. And it is a good thing I declared it yesterday, because Hawaii is crying and sending us her tears. Which basically means another pineapple express storm.

My mother in law is in the loony bin. Sort of. Which I find sort of comical. She was having that hip surgery over the holiday. She was doing so well she wasn't going to go to rehab at first. I think for liability they really want you to go anyway.

They never tell you in advance where they are sending them. Turns out the facility is an old psychiatric hospital. But, they only converted half of it to a rehab facility. The other half is still crazies. And she can hear them screaming.

In a little over a week I will be in Las Virus. I mean Vegas. For the Consumer Electronics Show. I'm not sure if I will be contributing a cold, or taking an all new cold. CES is well known for the havoc it reeks on peoples immune systems.

Until then, it could just be MIL updates. I'm trying to be zen because January is a busy month.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Peoples of the world - I wish you all....... would get new cell phones for Christmas.

Some people's video is like watching R rated movies without cable. All pixelly. I also hope Santa teaches you that once you shoot video, you can't rotate it. And turning your head sideways to watch a video, sucks. It'sa Santa PSA.

Oh yeah. And world Peace. Goodwill towards man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mostly the cell phone thing though.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Drudgery.



I still've got nuthin'. Basically. Saffron needed to go to the vet to get refills for her eye drops. So I took her to the hardware store.

One of the things about California in the last few years is just how pet friendly we've become. I was going to get shots of her next to the shovels, but meh. I get to the checker. Is that a bunny in the bag - he asks. Hey, guess what is in the bag - he shouts to another checker.

Her - Uuuuhm. A dog? Sounding unimpressed.

Him - No a bunny.

Ooohs and awwhs all around.

Monday, December 20, 2010

I told u it would be slow.

I don't have anything interesting for you.

There has been the rain. But not spectacular rain. The only interesting thing was waking up on Sunday and finding my deck flooded. Accidentally. I was just peeking outside to see the rain and went - oh shit.

The deck is effed. A recession and the fact the deck is a complicated project is the only thing that makes this story mildly amusing. Since the deck needs to be replaced - I normally keep the drains clean. It was super windy which caused leaves to clog the drains.

This deck is over my garage. And at this point is filled with 2-3 inches of water. Over the top of my feet.

I'm not really sure how much weight this deck can hold - but I'm confident I have to get that water draining right away. In the end, that was the only drama. So, meh.

Oh! I learned something new about Christmas. Apparently people send a lot of flowers. My mother in law is going in for a hip replacement - two days before Christmas. Electively. It isn't like she fell and needed the replacement. She's athletic. It just wore out. She is braver than I am. It's kind of a big surgery and staffing can't be that great during the holidays. Then 2 weeks in rehab through the New Years. Not the drug kind. I know you are a twisted bunch. You are.

Anyway. Pretty much all the good flowers were sold out. Which leads me into the forced shopping. I'm not a great shopper anyway. I don't mind the crowds so much. I just want them to move. Unlike the zombified shuffling they are doing now.

Oh! And I never hate women and old people as much as I do through the holidays. I saw this woman stare at a candy cane for like a minute. Like she'd never seen one before. I don't care if you want to fondle, smell, and dream about every item. Just stand out of the way.

See... nothing interesting.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

This years Christmas has last years sound track.



I was going to get you pictures from the light crawl - but I had equipment failure. Video instead.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

It'sa bout to get dark in here.



Wow. It isn't often that we get hit with a storm that spans the whole Pacific.

This is going to be the tipping point. Not the 30 billion in debt. Or unemployment. But, a vast long rain storm. Californians are totally going to freak out. We are a fragile bunch.

Scenes from the mall.



In SF.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

So - that is how you get all the good parking spots!



Strolled up to BART a few weekends ago and went to find a parking spot. Since we live in an earthquake zone - I like to park on the top deck.

Somehow I like to think that if the parking decks collapse, I will just get a helicopter to fly in there and pluck my undamaged car from the top deck. I know that is not the case. Still, my obsession continues with parking on the top deck.

Anyway. This is where we were greeted with radiation tape blocking off the whole area. Which immediately made me want to explore. But I didn't because I had somewhere to go. I thought staying at the line made for funnier pictures anyway.



Especially with this apocalyptic minivan sitting behind the tape strewn with garbage. Like someone had been sleeping in it.

If you zoom in more, you can see the radiation tape on the top of the car. So it must have belonged to the worker. Who was basically using a machine that looked an awful lot like an arc welder.



I wonder if he signs something to possess that tape? There must be some punishment for using it in random places. Like I would do.

Monday, December 13, 2010

A typically Californian moment.

Mr S. and I went to "the city" this weekend mainly to buy a new coffee maker from from a decidedly snooty sounding store down at the Ferry Building. The price was roughly the same as Amazon.

Something weird has started occurring lately. The emergence of "lifetime guarantees".

Kitchen stores sometimes have this kind of thing, but twice in the past week I've been offered a lifetime guarantee on something. Which I think is complete and utter bullshit. I don't believe for a minute they will honor that. At any rate - this store was offering it. Whatever.

We parked a couple of blocks away so we could take BART to other parts of the city that seemed like a pain in the ass to drive around. The city was packed this weekend.

Anyway. We walk out of the store with this huge box. I tell Mr S. - I will go get the car.

No - he says, it's only a couple of blocks. Yeah, but there is a loading zone right there! I can just park - I reply. He wasn't having any of it. Right then I spot a pedicab. Which is a bike cab.

Hey - can you take us two blocks? With our coffee maker? Which he agreed to.

Right then I felt like I'd fallen into a commercial for Visa or something. Bikes own the city. They are more important than cars. SF shuts down the roads, I think, once a week in areas to let nothing but bikes ride on them. Pedicabs will drive like they are cars. In the middle of the road.

So, imagine the Bay Bridge as a backdrop. In the middle lane of traffic, sitting in a pedicab - with a giant coffeemaker box that is taking up both our laps.

If that was someone else - I'd have definitely gotten a picture of that.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Local Earth.



My dishwasher freaked out in the middle of the night. So, I'm tired. More soon.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Don't shake the baby!



Obviously a reject shot. This billboard resides in front of a giant dip in the road.

I still think it is a funny shot. I mean, obviously shaking babies is not a funny topic. But I didn't know we needed giant billboards to tell us not to do it. I was pretty sure that whole baby shaking thing wasn't a lack of education. More of a rage thing.

Mr S and I however have co-opted the phrase and now we use it all the time. All of which sound less funny in text.

Never posted.



I think these shots just got pushed off in favor of other stuff. A lot of cars never make it to the blog. For a while cars seemed to be the only thing that was changing on a consistent basis. So there are always a lot of shots that never make it.

This isn't a car blog, after all.




Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Failure In three's.



Dust on my lens. Tent ruins shot. So I didn't post it. This was from the summer at the Marin Art Festival.




Somehow a black widow managed to get bisected by my garage door. You know how slow those doors move. Right? Not a great shot, but a lesson in how being all poisonous is better than being fast. I've tried to post this shot many times. It never made it.



This is from a restaurant in Sacramento called Orphan.

Sacramento has the best restaurants ever. But they take you all day. You always have to wait hours to get in or out. I hate that. Still, the next time I'm in Saccy - I will probably stop by this place.

They don't allow you to have catchup. No seriously. And, I'd still go back.

The interesting thing about this place is that it's a restaurant slapped in the middle of a residential neighborhood. And, not a crappy one. Hence the name Orphan. It is the only business for blocks. It's charming in a way.

Monday, December 06, 2010

Photography is a series of failures.



I thought maybe I'd post some of the stuff that didn't make it onto the blog for whatever reason.

I took this one a couple of weeks ago.

Saturday, December 04, 2010

The calm before the storm.

December is a pretty slow month around the Snarkolepsy blog. Usually by December I am unraveling from all the crap I have going on. This year I am just trying to finally fulfill my promise of the winter of naps. Although, it so far has been more of the winter of sleeping in. Which can really eat up a day.

Yesterday, I had planned to go up to the City and check out Santacon, today. It has been a pretty rough week. So, when I woke up - I declared it was too cold and I was too tired. Went back to sleep till 11 or so. By the time I had breakfast - it was 2.

January brings more interesting things. Like the consumer electronics show in Vegas at the beginning of Jan.

I mean - who knows what I will have between now and then. But, things should really pick up in January. For now.... sleep seems awesome.

Friday, December 03, 2010

I know Aunt Flow has terrorized more than one wedding, holiday, date etc...but I didn't know she was a jihadist.



I'm gonna tell you right now - I stole this line from one of the commenter's in the following article from the sfgate. I love reading the comments from Sfgate. They usually are hilariously snarky.

Anyway. Last night, I saw this tweet:

Female passenger subjected to pat down after her sanitary napkin showed up on body scanner. Read more.

I, of course roll my eyes, and think - who didn't see this coming? Except for men who seem to try and forget that women do in fact bleed from their va ja ja's.

I too would like to forget. You know the greatest thing about self checkout? Not having that awkward moment when you have to buy feminine products. I always have these imaginary conversations with the checkers.

Ooooh. You got that thing going on. I imagine the checker is saying. Yeah. I'm a bleeder. Whatsittoya? I think back. No matter how old I get, it still feels awkward.

This isn't the good part though. It was this sentence.

"She e-mailed GladRags, the makers of her flannel feminine product, to share her story and talked about how the TSA agent lingered in her groin area while fellow passengers, and a TSA agent-in-training looked on".

Honestly, this is where I became intrigued. Then mortified.

Intrigued, because I'd never heard of this company Gladrags before. And anyway - anyone who uses the word "glad" in any context of a woman's cycle makes me want to punch them in the neck. So, I clicked over to the site.

Then came the mortification. Oh yes. That is a word!

From the companies web site.

"Live more sustainably with GladRags washable menstrual pads and menstrual cups. We feature the Moon Cup, the Keeper Cup, the Lunette, The DivaCup, and Sea Sponge tampons. Reusable menstrual pads are comfortable and easy to use. Join our thousands of customers who have decided to make a lower carbon footprint every month!"

This is when I lost all sympathy for the woman. I was expecting a woman like some of my girlfriends who could literally move a canoe with their flow. Not someone who was so fervent about saving the planet she couldn't buy a disposable panty liner for the plane. While having a clean dry pad stuffed away in her carry on.

I'm sure TSA must know what the shape of a disposable pad looks like through the airport scanner. And really - I'd rather have them pull it out of my bag and hold it in the air to ask what it is. Rather than having a stranger groping me when I'm all period-ed up. Also a word. Google it.

I would destroy the planet for a clean disposable pad. I would.

And since I never talk about this stuff - I just have to gratuitously inject that a few weeks ago I "was shopping" and ran across Kotex U. Which are basically multicolored feminine products. I mean... you saw what happened after they started making computers in colors right? Who would have thought women would be attracted to colors?!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mary doesn't live here anymore - is staying at your moms place?

One of the more interesting things that happened over the holiday season, was that his mom called a couple of days before Thanksgiving to let Mr S. know that Mary was going to stay at her house for the holiday.

His mom, and her mom are life long friends, as I explained in this post. Her mom was having a big holiday thing and didn't have enough room for everyone to stay over. So Mr S.'s mom pulled the spillover.

I wanted to ask a million questions. But Mr S.'s family and mine are completely different. Everything is a secret in his family. But everyone knows all the secrets. Which is frustrating because nothing scandalous ever goes on. Still you just can't ask that many questions because you don't know who is suppose to know what. And anyway.. maybe the Internet made Mary out to be crazier than she was. Who am I to gossip about her?

I was busy anyway, and pretty much put the whole thing out of my head.

The day after Thanksgiving, Mr S's sister calls. She was kind of in a big lather. Did you know this? Do you know that? She asks.

Mr S. - Yeah. I googled her.

Still from her reaction, she was not prepared for the level of crazy that Mary has apparently become. She had the same reaction as Mr S. That girl was so normal, can I just turn up crazy one day?

At any rate. I am kinda enjoying the whole thing in a weird way. My family was completely dysfunctional and I've been trying my whole life to surround myself with functional people. Mr S's family has really been very boring this whole time with family drama. Now the crazy is creeping into their world.

It is just fascinating.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I got a sledgehammer for xmas. What did you get?



On Friday, Mr S. woke me up in excitement and said - We get to play Bioshock all day!.

I had completely different plans. I wanted to rent a concrete saw. Our patio had been bugging us the whole time we've owned this place. It is just a shitload of concrete. But of course, the way they laid it - you just can't chip the pieces off uniformly. Two of the pads had pointy bits that needed to be cut off.





This is the kind of project that is so small, it's hard to get anyone to do it. And really - it is always good to try the projects yourself. That way you know if you are underpaying your contractors or overpaying them.



Cutting concrete was remarkably easy. We were going to rent a jackhammer, but opted to just sledge out the three pads. Which we got done in about 6 hours.

Regrettably though... you rarely use the sledgehammer muscles. So today, you kind of wish you'd payed someone half your age.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

I know! W-T-F.

I'm gonna try to get a post out to you later tonight.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Really. Already?

I honestly can't believe Thanksgiving is in just a couple of days. All year it has been about finding a stable footing. Then bam. Holidays.

Just a week ago we were sitting in 80 degree weather. Amazing weather. Musically awesome weather. It didn't even start to feel like winter until this Saturday. I distinctly remember it. Not that I have a hard time remembering what happened only a few days ago. I was up in the city and it was mild.

Cross over the trans bay tube. Winter.

Now we are on track for the polar express. Which you don't hear all the time in California. Thanks Canada!

I had to pick this year to overwinter my chili peppers. Because peppers are assholes. I spent months trying to get my super hot peppers going. Then they didn't even produce any peppers this year. Assholes.

I'm serious.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Meet your bailout.



This is the new Fiat 300. Made solely from the infinite wisdom of the Federal government. It is a cute car.

Small. About the size of a smart car. Not for people who are tall. If you are over 6 foot, you probably will not be comfortable in this car.

The thing I thought was funny though - when I was reviewing my photos, I had an immediate flash about these old Chevron Techron commercials. Maybe you didn't have them in your area. But, they played here for years and years in the 90's.

The new fiat reminds me of the talking cars in those commercials. Over sized headlights that look like eyes. The body shape is the same. It's freaky.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

San Fransisco Auto show.



I don't know. I'm frustrated about my shots of this Corvette Stingray concept. So I'm just going to sulk for a while. It took on way too much yellow when the car should be grey. If that is even a color.

Video here. Where you will unambiguously see - this car is grey.



Riding the train is like taking a worm hole to a different time.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Tales from the parking lot.



Went to a classic car show this weekend, and I wind up finding this Rolls in the parking lot. It was more interesting then any of the cars I paid to see were.

I'm not even a Rolls kinda girl. I just like that it was all glamor lit.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Tomorrow this will probably all be gone.



I don't really like to doctor my photos. So, if there is dust in my camera. There is probably going to be dust on my shot. No matter how obsessivly I try to not make it be there.

Anyway....

The weather the past week in California has really been in rare form.

It's been double rainbow - awesome.

When we were in the city this weekend - the bay was as calm as glass. The rain hasn't kicked all the leaves off the trees yet. You pretty much can't look in any direction and not see the full spectrum of fall colors. I hardly remember it being this good. Ever.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Touristy anniversary post.



Last week was Mr S.'s and my anniversary. Since it came in the middle of the week we figured we'd go up to the city and have dinner over the weekend. Figuring the rest of the day we would just play things by ear. This is pretty unusual for us.

I've been obsessed with a new to me discovery of finger limes. I don't know what my deal is - but I am obsessed with them. I thought the ferry building might sell some. But they didn't.

We sort of hung out in the touristy areas. Areas we tend to avoid - because well.... of the tourists and homeless. San Fransisco was pretty empty. So it was enjoyable.

Mr S. led us in the direction of this park where the parrots live. I guess I never realised it was right there at the ferry building. A couple of times a year they talk about the parrots of San Fransisco on the news. I always thought for some reason they lived around coit tower. On the news, they make it seem like a bucolic little area of the city.

In real life the park is filled with homeless. And there must be a hundred of those effing parrots. Which make a ton of noise.

I mean, imagine. In the amazon, parrots have tons of space to be noisy. The birds in SF basically congregate in an area about the size of a third of a block. It's an interesting spot to run across to be sure. Yet not as tranquil as you might expect. And certainly not bucolic like the news always plays it out to be.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

It's been four days since you looked at me.

Most often when I stop blogging, I find it hard to start back up. I just have too much stuff stored up for stories. Nothing seems interesting to tell. So, I'm just going to update you on the week and hope it gets me back on track.

Last week Mr S. started complaining about his foot being injured. Or maybe it was two weeks ago now. By Thursday or Friday it had been hurting him for a couple of weeks.

Being female - I didn't really think much of it. We are walking on jacked up feet all the time. We wear shoes that eventually make some women have bunions. You essentially create a second toe baby. That eventually you have to have ground off.

By the end of the week though, it was clear he had been to the Internet to self diagnose. Now I don't believe in heaven and hell. But, when something is wrong with you - the Internet is the devil. It can work people into a complete lather.

Lather. What is this lather! Rabies? What! I've got freakin rabies!

Anyway.

No matter how many times I told him he didn't have gout - I wasn't going to cheat him out of his rabies. I mean gout. No amount of - Baby.. you don't even have any risk factors. Still he was completely married to this idea. And I'm not sure at this moment if he still isn't somewhat convinced.

I even tried - look, when your body gets unhappy about something and wants you to modify your behaviour - it is never something that you are okay giving up. It is always thing you hate doing. Since that doesn't apply in this case - you don't have gout. Your body never says - hey, I notice you don't like eating any of this stuff. Your lucky day. I'm giving you this affliction so you are never tempted. NO.

It is always "shit, I have to give up eating cheese"?! I LOVE CHEESE!

He eventually did go to the doctor yesterday and is now on prednisone. The doctor was not conclusive about the rabies. I mean gout. Which is why he still thinks he has it.

Hopefully the idea that feet are assholes will calm his nerves. The funny thing about feet is - the cure is often worse than the affliction. Once they start talking about putting needles in your feet. People tend to wait it out. Until the idea that needles in your feet will somehow feel better than what you have.

This is after he got a stomach thing this weekend that I wasn't sure I was going to have to take him to the hospital for.

We are both pretty anti doctor. So, when either of us starts talking about needing to go, it creates a lot of anxiety.

Friday, November 05, 2010

The love tagger.



The past couple of days I have been trying to center myself. I think pretty much everyone was agitated over the constant race politics. And even though I don't think this new crop of people will be that great - it just feels calmer somehow with a little anticipated push back.

I mean, California is still falling off a cliff. But - techland is starting to show a pulse and that makes me feel comforted. It means they anticipate the rest of the nation will start to feel a little better.

Segue.

Okay. Before I start my segue I have to laugh a little. I never tell anyone I'm changing directions. That is progress people.

Anyway.

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time getting lost in S. Valley. I could have placed the address of the place I was going to into GPS and it would have led me right there. Sometimes I just don't want to. I think it makes part of your brain atrophy. I like to go old school.

This is when I ran across this tagger. It seems simple enough. Most people might not even notice it. The style though reminded me of a shot I got a few months ago on an overpass on the 680. At the time I mocked it because it seemed so amateurish.

Clearly though - this is someones "style". Now I kind of like it. I'm going to have to keep an out out for them. This tag was well far away from where I saw the first one.

Thursday, November 04, 2010

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Just put it all in a bonfire.

I'm going to be honest. I'm not in a great mood today. The country might be tired of this bullshit. Californians aren't. I don't feel a bit better after yesterday. And that guy Boner. The new house speaker. Just.. whatever.

I wasn't even going to post today. Then, this little gem pops up in my tweetdeck.

Solyndra to Close Factory, Layoff Dozens

Self I say. There must be another company named Solyndra. It can't be that one I've been bitching about forever in Fremont. The one that sucked up half a billion in taxpayer money. The one the President Money Bags came and tried to raise funds for. Not that one.

Oh yes. That one.

From the New York Times.

"This year just hasn’t panned out for Solyndra. The company is going to close its first factory, is delaying expanding its gleaming new factory and is laying off dozens of employees."

It just so pisses me off. I knew that money was going into a vast black hole dug by make workers. But somewhere in the recesses of your mind you think this thing has gone on so long - maybe it will work. Maybe they can bend the space time continuum. Maybe find a new form of physics which makes it cost effective to put more energy into making something than it takes to get out.

The article goes on to say:

"Instead, Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison — who joined the company only recently, replacing the founding CEO — told the Times that the company plans to let go about 40 employees and will not renew contracts for 150 temporary workers. (The company said Wednesday morning the number is actually 135.) The Fremont, Calif., company will shutter its first factory to save at least $60 million in capital spending. Instead of boosting its overall production capacity to 610 megawatts by 2013, it’s now looking at up to 300 megawatts by then: less than half the original plan."

The whole thing is really just effing unbelievable that the people in this state just wont bust on a brain cell to see how much money PMB is just waisting. Now with Brown in - we can expect more of the same.

There are tons of things I hated about Meg - but now I pretty much think no one can wrestle this state away from the unions. Not 150 million. Nothing.

Whatever.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

All that is left is the crying.



It is really hard to judge sentiment right now. Other than more homeless people. More houses becoming stale. Everything pretty much looks the same as it ever has.

We live in a sunny little bubble. So I'd expect the Dems to win.

My polling place did report higher than average participation.

We wouldn't want to make your brain hurt figuring this one out.



In California pretty much everything is written in bilingual now. We don't think you should make any effort at all to learn English. This is the perfect example of just how incapable we make people.

I can see someone saying - I thought I knew what the word meant. But that one letter makes the whole thing confusing. Sure, it is on a trash bin. Still, that "Y" could make the word mean anything!

Monday, November 01, 2010

I can't believe how much ambivalence I have in regards to the election tomorrow. I will just have to hold my nose and vote for some of these suck ass candidates.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Zombie-ish pumpkins.





This years build didn't turn out as good as the previous years. Here and here. And, it turns out there is a reason people don't use candy corn for teeth.

Candy corn is candy. And pumpkins are moist. Candy melts in moist. Which is a bummer. I thought I was absolutely brilliant coming up with that idea. Turns out - I'm just so-so.


Saturday, October 30, 2010

House at the end of the street.

When death comes to town.


Done with IR.

Typical Silicon Valley.



Today I started out thinking I was going to go to the John Stuart Rally in San Francisco. That is - until I watched some of the DC one on TV. Where I about lost my mind with boredom.

I don't know what the point of that whole thing was. They sure showed the Tea Party who was edgy! I mean, what were they trying to do? Prove they were less interesting than old people? In case no one has informed them - or none of them have blogs. Sane is boring. There is nothing entertaining about sane. That is why things are always a shock on election day. All those sane people stay home biding their time.

Anyway.

Instead I went for cheese steaks at Amatos in Campbell. On the drive down we saw this Ferrari 458 Italia just sitting in a Fry's parking lot. This years model. Which was infinitely more awesome then the Restore Sanity tour. But, who takes a Ferrari to Fry's? And what were they buying? A cable tie?



Thursday, October 28, 2010

The new Spam zone. In the clouds.



I know 80% of you will not watch the video. So, you have to put up with my crappy picture where my lens is all full of crap.

Hey, life is about spontaneity. This whole event was over in 30 seconds max.

I really love these types of moments. If feels like if you blink - you will just miss the whole thing. And if you didn't document it, you might think you dreamt it.

I don't know why these people were over my house. They are based in Las Vegas. Northern California doesn't show up on any of their stops. I haven't seen any footage from the Giants game where they showed either.

At any rate. I kind of enjoyed the whole thing. For now. Until they start putting up penis enlargement ads, and giving you groupons from Applebees.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I don't care about lasers.



This weekend I found myself with some time to kill. So, we wound up going into on of those Halloween super stores. Have you ever been in one? They have everything you can ever imagine for the holiday.

Back in the day, when I was still prone to dressing up - we used every day items. Which is probably a good spot to tell you about the time Mr S. had me glue a conjoined twin on his face for Halloween. With rubber cement. And, wound up with chemical burns. Lesson learned!

This was a couple of years ago. I think these stores were just starting to get popular. It would have been helpful to realize massive stores sold everything you could ever need. Including probably some kind of non toxic glue.

Anyway. I immediately had my eye on this laser diffuser. If any of you need to ask why, you haven't been reading this blog long enough.

The running floor model was the only one they had left. Much to my enjoyment these people were ready to sell things. They would have sold me the wallpaper off the walls if I had expressed an interest. Which is refreshing.

They cut me a deal because the thing no longer rotated. Which didn't matter. I wanted to take it home and play stupid pet tricks on Paisley.

Paisley is super aware of her surroundings. You can't leave a shirt on the sofa over night without her freaking out. I'm sure it goes a little like - hey, is that a bear? It's a bear. Right? For sure that is a bear. Wake everyone up! Then she starts stamping. Without exception.

She freaks out over all sorts of things. One of the most entertaining was a test swatch I'd painted on the wall. From time to time she can be quite amusing.

Lasers though.. nothing. Completely fine.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Mary doesn't live here anymore.

This weekend Mr S. was talking to his mom and the conversation drifted to a girl he had grown up with. His mom, and her mom, are life long friends.

She made some vague comment about how hard it was on the other family's parents. Because "of the voices".

Wait.. what?! He said.

The story she had recounted gave news that this girl had joined a cult about mind control, gone a little crazy and lost her job and house.

At first my response was - wow, that really sucks. None of these things actually seemed very alarming to me. There are many scenarios where I can see people have a little psychotic break. Or mental breakdown. When pushed the brain reacts in very unexpected ways. It is a sad truth of life.

Then Mr S. googled her. She has a blog - he reported dreadfully.

Oh shit. No way - I replied. This is where we learned that she had lost all grasp of reality. People were trying to kill her. Anal probes. Government control. And then there was the voices and her trying to build a Faraday cage to keep them out. Posts over and over with the same repetitive delusions. Her insanity on display for all to see.

I don't understand why this particular illness manifests itself with "radio waves". It must be a particular short circuit of the brain. But it was pretty clear this girl probably will not be coming back.

This whole thing was particularly unnerving. For both of us. Mr S. for obvious reasons. He grew up with the girl. Though he hadn't seen her in a couple of years.

Unnerving for me because - I've met this girl a couple of times. I've met her brother. I've met her family. All smart, technically educated professionals. There was nothing about her that made me think - well... yeah. You couldn't see that coming a mile away?

And - crazy lives in my neighborhood. Crazy attracts crazy. We even had a family friend who would check herself in the psyc ward for "holidays". I fear crazy, like some people fear heart disease.

I thought I knew a lot about crazy.

Although to be sure - describing it is a little like describing back pain. One persons muscle twinge is anther's completely debilitating suffering. No two crazy is the same.

Sometimes when I feel a little out of control I wonder if I'm getting it too. Like a cold that can be caught. Then I look at other peoples behaviour and think - no.. I am totally okay. I'm okay.

Even the schizophrenics who popped up with crazy in their 20's, I'd always felt had the signs much earlier. If distance would allow you to see them. This girl was having a very late onset. In her mid 40's. That is a long time to be masking symptoms.

Anyway. I always felt crazy had a predictable (if you can call it that) path. You expect people to get cancer. You don't just expect people to pop up with crazy out of the blue unless they are under severe distress.

You know, when you get to my age I kinda had a feeling I would be out of the woods. But, maybe I'm not. Maybe no one is. And, that is what is troubling.

When hope fades.



It is irony People! Original here.