22 posts tagged “rambling”
A month ago, the USA women's team won the Venice Cup, the women's competition at the World Bridge Championships. When they were presented with their trophy, they put up a spontaneous sign stating "we did not vote for Bush". Now, they have been censured and among other penalties, are facing a years suspension, which will affect their incomes. So how far do their rights to express themselves freely, without fear of penalty, go? At my bridge club lately, surprise surprise, it's been quite the topic of conversation.
Do you ever get those intense mini-crushes on people? Like, for 10 minutes you're staring at them thinking that they are one of the most awesome people you've ever seen? It happens to me quite often. (Luckily, it rarely lasts longer than 10 minutes or so.) I got one last week at bridge. Walked in and there was a young (read: under 40) guy there, chatting with one of my friends. He was just my type: dark hair, glasses, looked bookish. So I stared at him for a while and fantasized about him falling in love with me, and me having to cruelly reject him, but not after I'd run the gamut of overwrought melodramatic pseudo-emotions. As you do. After a while he wandered up and said "oh, you must be [gaspode], I'm D." And I realised that he was the person I'd been emailing with about playing sometime*. So he wasn't mysterious anymore and I promptly lost my crush. But it was a fun few minutes.
*this happens a lot in bridge -- names get passed on and you make contact with people without really knowing who they are
Which is what happens when you soak for an hour in a bath with one of these dissolving in it. Mmmm cocoa butter.
A label on the hairdryer (paraphrased):
The cord of this appliance contains lead, a substance that has been determined by the State of California to cause birth defects and other health issues. Please wash your hands after handling.
Words fail me.
This is how I know I'm getting older:
People chewing gum annoy me. Particularly - oh how this pisses me off - young women at weddings, all dressed up, chew chew chewing, like a damned cow.
My back hurts.
I need to write everything down, in case I forget stuff.
I don't understand why people are interested in reality TV "stars".
I want to scrub the makeup off young girls' faces, and pull up young boys' pants.
The OB-GYN fellows that I work with, who are on call delivering babies and suchlike all the time, are younger than me.
People have stopped asking me "how old?" when they find out it's my birthday, because all of a sudden, they might be pushing sensitive buttons.
People have stopped joking that it must be my 18th birthday (although I still look young, IMO).
After a few beers last night, the thought of doing so again tonight makes me feel tired.
So I finally got my New York State driver's license. I'd been rocking the Maryland one for a while, mainly because it had a really good picture of me on it. (Downside: the MD license lists your weight.) Also, you have to take an eye test to get a new license, and I knew I would need corrective lenses, and as I said the other week, I only just got around to getting glasses.
Anyway, thank goodness my friend J. told me about the DMV express on 34th St. Forty five minutes in and out, wham bam I got my license. It was so quick, I felt violated. Not the usual soul sucking 4 hour DMV experience we have all come to know and love. I took a book and three magazines with me to read and didn't even get to finish the last 50 pages of my book!
And what a blessed event the eye test was. I could read every line. I wanted to volunteer to read more! ("You want I should do line eleven? Because I totally can.") But now, for the first time, I have a restriction on my driver's license. And of course I had to get my license photo taken with my glasses on. It's a shitty photo. Of course. Farewell Maryland license: I loved you so.
(Oh, and here's what I look like with 'em!)
Actual conversation between mr. gaspode and I last night, as we were walking from the citysol festival to our local bar:
mr. g: wake me up when we get to heaven*
me: let me sleep if we go to hell*
mr. g: we're totally going to our local
me: yes
mr. g: are you going to get a febreeze?**
me: yes
mr. g: farts
no, he didn't fart, he just said it. I dunno. He's a weirdo.
* Les Savy Fav lyrics (song = the sweat descends)
** What he calls a seabreeze, my favourite cocktail
I watch so little television it's pathetic. And it's not an elitist thing: I like TV! It's just that I don't really like reality shows (except Project Runway, which hasn't started yet) and I don't like CSI: NY/Wyoming/Otorohanga or any of the Law and Order incarnations or anything else like that. We don't get HBO so I can only watch The Wire on DVD.... you get the picture.
This is what I like: really really good quality drama (see: The Wire), or comedy (Colbert, Arrested Development, Scrubs) or really really silly teen drama (see: The OC) or maybe some heartwarming family stuff as long as it has good acting and is semi-believable (see: Everwood).
To that end I've finally found something new for me! It's the first new show I've picked up in years, I think, and with the demise of all my regulars in the last 5 or so years (Gilmore Girls, Arrested Development, Everwood, Buffy, Angel, the OC) I have a big gap in my TV watching. Like, I tivo nothing. But now I have Greek! (note: the Es are written in greek capitals, so that means it's really GRSSK, but who's being picky? me? oh, OK). Pilot was last night and it was awesomely crappy. I love it! I want to marry it and have its little frattish babies.
Of course, I had to wrestle the remote off mr. g who was trying to prevent me from adding it to our tivo season pass, but hey, I prevailed. Of course. He's just a tivo elitist.
...that people in science commonly do that are annoying
1. Forget that "data" is plural. "These data are..." NOT "This data is..." Gah! Of course, this is just a dumbass thing, and I'm sure non-scientists do it as well. But gah!
2. Use "progesterone receptor" instead of "progestin receptor". Look, it's the same principle as "estradiol receptor" or "estrogen receptor" and nobody gets those confused! Estradiol is one ligand that binds to the estrogen receptor; progesterone is one ligand that binds to the progestin receptor. Learn it, live it, love it.
3. Confuse sex and gender. Sex is biological. Gender is a human construct. A rat cannot have a gender. The end.
Thank you for listening.
You know how sometimes you're just having a blah day, not necessarily a shitty terrible day, just mediocre, and you look forward to some minor thing that will make it a little brighter? And then that little thing doesn't turn out like you want it to? And your reaction is waaaaay over the top considering the level of disappointment you might be experiencing? No? Just me then? Huh.
Anyway. Today I was ridiculously tired after moving and unpacking all weekend. I had a meeting all morning, and was looking forward to lunchtime, when I would go and buy my sandwich (turkey, muenster, coleslaw and pickle on whole wheat) and eat it in the nice quiet lunchroom, and read my novel.
So I go buy my sandwich. I'm very tired. I order it. I walk back to work and go into the lunchroom. Annoyance number 1! Mr-loud-eater-man is in the lunchroom. I don't think I've mentioned him before; I kept meaning to write a thing about him but forgot. He eats very very loudly and sucks his gums. And flosses. In the room. Gah! So I sighed and sat down, resigning myself to a 10 minute lunch because any longer than that in the same room as him makes me want to gag. Opening up my sandwich I see a telltale smear of bright yellow. Fuck! I forgot to say "muenster cheese" and just said "muenster". It's a trap for young players that I usually avoid. My accent combined with the fact that the deli guys don't speak english that well = mustard instead of muenster. Did I mention I hate mustard? Gross.
For reals, I was so tired and pissed off that I nearly burst into tears. But I smeared off the mustard, ate it super quickly, while listening to loud-eater-man slurping and snorfling, chugged my diet coke and went back to work.
Sigh.
