the wrong side of the bed

you know clamato? that clam/tomato juice cocktail? well, they have recipes for mixed drinks on their webiste. i will never, under any circumstances, drink this. maybe to save my mother's life i could gulp down a glass, but it isn't likely.

Labels: gross

from jon. a video of a centipede killing a bat. i immediately thought of my mother. guano features heavily in my mother's cup of tea. as does death. eye of newt, too, if she could get it.

Labels: animals, family, gross, jon

i can no longer look at cute overload. yes, some of the animals are cute. i'm just so tired of the baby talk and the stupid puppies. i refuse to look. if you see something especially cute that isn't a dog or a cat, please let me know. especially if it is a reptile. i adore reptiles.

update: connie and i think we saw a muskrat on our walk this morning. awesome!

Labels: animals, cute

from the epilepsy foundation website:

Ineffective treatment, delayed or lack of access to high-quality, specialized care, and the severity of the underlying neurological disorder are all possible contributors to the development of hard to control seizures. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: a lifetime of dependence, enormous cost to society, and a formidable barrier to individual productivity and happiness.

so, yeah, the part that i bolded? not so encouraging. also, an enormous cost to society? i guess i apologize to you folks for the burden you are enduring on my account.

* i just wanted to look up information releated to the ADA and driving.

Labels: epilepsy, worry

i don't. i clearly don't.

this might be a good example of our perceptions of ourselves not really matching how other people see us. or it might be an example of connie needing glasses.

yesterday at target, careyoke and i saw two little boys, obviously brothers, riding in a cart together. the older boy was probably 3 and the younger boy was about 1. the older boy was facing the younger, and yelling in his face, "i love you!" there was a menancing, growly tone to his voice. he shouted the phrase over and over. the pre-verbal brother just sat there staring. after a few minutes, careyoke and i were obviously laughing. a look at the mother showed that she was, too, but she also looked sort of chagrined. her face relayed a look that said, "i have no idea why my son is doing this or why he has chosen to do so in public."

today on campus, i saw two children playing in a grassy area near a fountain. the oldest one, a girl, looked about seven, the younger one, a boy, looked four. they caught my eye when the little boy, running from his sister, fell onto the ground and she sat on him. i started looking for a parent. the little girl then taunted the boy with a bright yellow duck stuffed animal, which i suspect was his. when he made a move for it, she would yank it away. she ran from him, but he couldn't really keep up, so she would slow down and let him make a grab for her. i heard my mother's voice from inside my head, and she clearly thought that someone was about to get hurt. everyone nearby seemed to think so, if all of the stares could be read as concern. still no one jumped up to stop the kids. one woman i walked past, sitting on a cement wall which was separated from the grass by a hedge and was about 50 feet from where the kids were playing, was staring over her shoulder at the kids. where was a parent or caregiver? we all wanted to know.

just then i was distracted by a purse sitting unattended on the ground. i was thinking to myself that nothing was being watched today, when i heard someone scream, "rain!" turning back, the woman on the wall was yelling over to the kids. the girl stood still, back straight and startled. obviously, this was rain. "you do not punch when you are angry! you do not punch!" she screamed over her shoulder, obviously angry. still she hadn't moved. finally she stands and starts moving towards the kids. "when you are angry, you turn your back and walk away!" she yelled, storming over.

my questions:

couldn't the fight between the children in the second example have been prevented if they were being watched? i mean, the caregiver wasn't even sitting in a direction that faced them. i've never raised kids, but wouldn't it be better to intervene sooner?

when is it okay to yell? when it is a bizarre expression of fraternal love (if that is, indeed, what that was)? when you are telling your children not to lash out in anger?

is it only okay to scream, shout, yell at your own family? can you do it for any old reason you want?

if somoeone names his or her kid "rain" can they possibly be anything other than a hippie?

Labels: children, confusing, questions

when i was still a kid, i used to have recurring dreams that i couldn't do something. i would need to run, but i wouldn't be able to, and would stand there in terror as what ever was coming for me got closer. i'd often lose my sight about then, too. one of the worst, for some reason, was trying to read a passage from a book, but seeing nothing but blurry shapes. i could barely tell there were symbols of any sort on the page. sometimes this was accompanied by someone yelling "read!" i would become increasingly uncomfortable and demoralized, eventually finding my self screaming back, "i can't read!"

i wan't your recommendation for books to read. preferably fiction and biographies. i think that i can read.

hey, i screwed around with my margins. if it bugs you, please let me know. also, if i am overlooking you, and you want to be in my sidebar, let me know. i might add you, unless you are some kind of nutty stalker.

this is what my apartment looks like:




why is this under my sink? like i am ever going to use these.

Labels: mess

signs on the door of a local "tobacco & gift" shop. in case you need ideas for dad.

Labels: confusing

yesterday at jon's apartment, his roommate's girlfriend asked if she could open a window or turn on the fan. she felt it was stuffy in the apartment. jon's roommate said, "of course you can. in this apartment, girls can do whatever they want." i said, "so i can do what i want?" "no," he said, "you aren't really a girl. well you aren't girly."

right. i suppose he wouldn't consider the fact that, while walking to their apartment, some guy screamed out his car window, "hey, you have a fat ass!" because people scream that at boys all the time.

Labels: complaining, fuck off, fucked up, gender, jon

the other day, i posted about the game of cornhole, but i didn't really explain why. kids* in my neighborhood have started playing this game, first at the house next to mine, and now two blocks away. last weekend i saw four different groups of kids playing. one of the groups uses what i have been calling the "civil war commerative cornhole set." one of the targets is the flag of the US (current) and one is that of the confederacy. i have no idea why one would use a set like this. i want to confront the kids and ask them why they are doing it. WWMDD?**

here are some images for you. some of these are "baggo" sets, which is exactly the same game. i think that some people for some reason don't like to call it "cornhole." i'm sure that in cincinnati, where the game originated, they call it cornhole. keep it real, that's what i say.


* college kids
** not wah-weapons of mass duh-destruction. what would mitch dunier do. i suspect he would walk up to the kids, play dumb, and start asking questions.

Labels: fucked up

happy national day of slayer!!! for extra fun, check this out. make sure to follow the sociology link at the top.

Labels: fashion, fun, jon

try this instead. or, hell, screw the ACA, too.

this cracks me up: nothing makes me burp more than the combination of peanut butter and a coke. seriously. i had an english muffin with peanut butter and a diet coke for breakfast and i am belching up a storm, um, of peanut butter scented burps. hee!

stand back, world.

Labels: fun, happy?

get ready for me to put on some weight. the stress of various things (finding a job, thinking about epilepsy, etc.) is leading to some unnecessary eating. the biggest factor is probably the prelim. everytime i sit down to study, i almost immediately want to eat a pack of twizzlers and a grilled cheese sandwich. better yet, i wish i could eat a tiny triangle of my stomach over and over again, like in that one itchy and scratchy cartoon.

* when i was a novice talker, one of my favorite things to say to people was whatever they had just said to me, but with the addition of "on a bun!" if you offered me a dolly, i would have said, "dolly on a bun!" if you offered me a bun, i would have said, "bun on a bun!" you probably get the picture.

Labels: academics, i suck, worry