“My parachute didn’t open
And when my back up failed
The pixie dust prevailed
And I woke up next to you
All I wanted was to hold you.”

When I found out the first one had never truly cared about me, it hurt. I told myself I’d wait a bit before looking for love again. But when that failed, well… hormones prevailed. I woke up out of my sleep and saw him again and all I wanted to do was get close to him.

“What do you do
When your lifes a disaster
And you’re moving faster
And it’s getting harder to breathe.”

What do you do when the boy you like never likes you back? When you’re moving so fast between crushes it’s getting harder to get a sense of reality? When you can’t take a stop to breathe? What do you do then?

“What do you say
To someone whose right but
You disagree
Even if it’s the truth?”

I do this. When I tell someone something, they usually say it doesn’t mean anything. I disagree because I’m blind then. But it’s really the truth, and it would be so much easier if I could just accept it.

“I was told you are depressed
By a little bird
That was severly hurt
As it did not notice my window
It just flew wherever the wind blows
As it convulsed on the pavement
It whispered I am hated
Your genetic flaws
I said say it all
You can’t decipher reflections from reality
But neither can I.”

I fly straight into a wall when I think reflections are reality. I get annoyed when people mistake my reflections for reality, yet I do the same thing to myself. I look at it all and see something that never really existed. That is where I start to pain.

“You are the circle
I am the square
I have the non cut
You have the cool hair
We both take showers
For almost an hour
But only once a week or two.”

We aren’t very alike, in reality. I still think we are, which is what will lead to my downfall. Our only similarities are in things everyone does.

The Black Screen of Death has recently been striking computers running everything from Windows 2000 and NT up to Windows 7. It has made major headline news on the BBC, at one point becoming the most read and most emailed story. The flaw has exposed several weak points in Microsoft’s software development:

• Windows is still exposed to malware. There was a lot of hype about how Windows 7 is more secure – and this seems to have been prevalent among upgrading folks. However, the Black Screen of Death is probably malware in most cases. This may lead some to believe that the Windows team is a bunch of liars.
• Bug fixing is still quite antiquated – at one point Microsoft believed a security update rather than a breach to be at fault and duly started fixing the wrong thing. Systems can’t now cope with substantial and important demands that need to be fixed really urgently.
• Microsoft is unable to offer what they promise when developing software – security was meant to be less of a pressing issue than Vista in 7, but somehow it’s the problem of the week.

If this isn’t going to be huge bad press for Microsoft and good press for Unix-based OSs like Mac OS X and Linux, the publicity stunt to cover this up will need to be huge. I’m sure they’ll find someone other than themselves to blame.

It does not hurt when one of going public with the vulnerability of a certain piece of software when there are only three or four users of the software worldwide. But there is a problem if billions of people using the software.

Been seen flashing a vulnerability at all, more people at risk, as would be the case if you kept quiet. Who are you really doing a favor? Users? Potential users? The software company? No, not one of them. They make the task ofHackers and people take advantage of the mistakes that much easier. Are, in fact, you do the homework for them and feed their dark thoughts with sensitive information.

Many people feel software companies give a blow with the announcement of deficiencies in the wild. You get the chance, even with the company you hate the most. But is this really a negative influence on the really big companies? Yes, I agree with smaller companies the impact will be much more difficult than the feelinglarger, but the big guns to seek controversy, because advertising is a free way of marketing your product. You can not impress everyone, but if the word gets out, the product's name to be mentioned, that's for sure. To take an action, only it look like you really care.

Companies like Microsoft and Google are making huge mistakes with their products, but almost everyone seems to support it. It will take some big flops to the people lose confidencein companies like these. This article is a good example, I'm not a big fan of Microsoft products. I prefer open-source products because most of the time they are safer and more effective. But Microsoft name is mentioned. Google was doing things right, until all their fame and success came in the mind. Today, they are disappointing thousands of search engine users, webmasters and advertisers, but the people still with their products.

You can use the company a temporary shockby following the public road, but in the end you are creating new opportunities for them to make something good out of something bad. Your efforts will be futile, and help in the end, creating more problems for the software community as them.

Why do people think it's a good thing to go public with security holes? It is because of thinking in terms of the open source community. The only way to an open source application is determined by using public mistakes. The Open Source Communitycomes with fixes for their applications in no time, because it was a huge pool of contributions to the community. Unfortunately you can not be that way with a closed-source applications. You are at the mercy of the software company to get fixed the problem. But you are not a lot of things easier for them by a fire in the woods. Insert at the end of fires, rather than focusing on the root of the problem. The result appears to be patching the software until a new error. MorePatching made until the next error, and the process repeats itself over and over again until you are stuck with a patched application that is not yet threatening the battle of security vulnerabilities. You can always patching the software, but the patches are the real nightmare.

Patches are the result of poor development in the first place and impatient in the second place. I agree it is not the responsibility of the user to debug the software, you pay for the software, so that theSoftware companies can pay their testers to properly fulfill their duties. So what's the bottom line here? Are the intentions of the closed-source users the same as open-source users, if they go public with security holes? Certainly not. Closed-source users do it out of frustration with the software companies, while open-source users are looking for a solution to a threat too.

What should I suggest you the next time you stumble on a security hole? Keep it quiet as long as possible and shall report it to theSoftware companies responsible. In this way you will be an uncontrollable spread of exploits for this specific error to be avoided. If the company allows the determination of their software when they will be more time devoted to focusing on the core of the problem. This is beneficial for the end-user as well as the software company. It is their software more secure, leading to more support and consumer confidence will result in their products. Better consumer confidence leads to greater profits and aresponsible company uses these profits to make their products better.

I agree that the picture I am a painting is disinterested from a perfect world, but it will not help, either to do the opposite. To encourage people to switch to more secure applications and stop using any of the revealed less secure application.

Spend your time and energy to promote and improve promising software instead of bad mouthing software that does not deserve the attention toall.

I feel energy as surely as someone feels a slap on the face. So the more time I spend with someone, the more I know who they are at the core. Most people are more or less the same. Many people are fundamentally good but have major flaws  … insecurity, selfishness, jealousy, greed, superficiality, arrogance, lack of self-control … the list goes on and on. Most people’s flaws and innate goodness sort of balance out. There are a few folks who have more good than flaws, and they are the extraordinary ones, the ones I seek to populate my existence with.

And then there are the individuals who skew to the flawed side of the scale. The problem with these people is that they tend to be master manipulators who have made an art of masking their true selves and getting others to see them how they want to be seen to control a situation.  Energy-wise, they are empty/flat and I tend not to be able to sense anything. So, when I experience that zero-read feeling with someone, my radar goes up. And since this category of people tend to be the most complex, intriguing group I have ever met, I don’t always run the other way like I should when one pops into my life. I stay to learn more because they hold my attention and interest and I sense there’s more beneath the surface. But when I finally start to see through cracks here and there, I seldom like the darkness I see and then I usually run. It’s funny though. Looking back, those people tend to be the most interesting ones that populate my memories.

This energy thing I have can be both  a plus and a minus. Since I am so receptive to energy, it’s very easy for me to get sucked into someone’s emotions and feel what they are feeling, which in and of itself can be both good and bad. On the plus side, it means I connect with people and am genuinely empathetic. Also, the insight into the core of a person means I have an advantage in my dealings with people. And also on the positive side, I have a really hard time lying, manipulating or doing any other injustice to fellow humans because I can so intimately connect with the feeling of pain. Additionally, I can influence and project my energy into high stakes situations to get a positive outcome.

But on the negative side … I’m vulnerable. Whether accidentally or intentionally, people can all too easily pull me  into their whirlwind of dark energy and in so doing inflict a lot of damage. I’ve been hurt badly by this in the past, and going forward, I need to be more discerning about who I will open myself up to and who I will not. I need to build walls at the right times and take them down at the right times … a skill I’m sure will not be learned over night.

The following is a devotion from one of my favorite writers, Frances J. Roberts. I treasure her book – Come Away My Beloved.  Each devotion is written as if God is speaking directly to the reader.  God used this devotion to speak directly to the empty places in my heart today.  These words satisfy my soul. I pray that they will help you as well.

I Will Bring the Victory

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 15:57

O My child, have I ever failed you? Have I ever turned My back on you, or forsaken you? Have I not been your refuge and strong defense?

I have protected you and kept you in sickness and in health.  Yes, I am with you to help you now.  Fear not.  My purposes will be fulfilled in spite of your weaknesses, if in your need you rely on My strength.

My will shall be done regardless of the flaws in your life, if you count on the power of My righteousness. I do not work only in cases where there are no obstacles; but I glory in overruling the prevailing circumstances, and I take pleasure in bringing victories in those places where no victory is anywhere in sight.

Count on My coming. Know that whenever faith brings Me on the scene, everything is changed. Darkness is turned to light.  Grief is turned to joy.  Sickness to health.  Poverty to My sufficient supply.  Doubt to faith. Anxiety to trust.

No negative force can occupy the same place as My Spirit. When My Spirit comes in, all these things must go.  Yes, they shall go!

Ask for the victory.  I will come and bring it.  Don’t look for the victory – look for Me, and you will see the victory that I will bring with me.  After I have come, you shall behold the miracles I will do.

this is literally me in a nutshell.  I do this a ton whether it is in an email, IM, text, facebook, and probably even when I am speaking.  When I saw this I just had to share with you because this sums me up in one very long word.hahahahaha. {see it is just so adicting!}  I am a creature of habit. I say definately and like way too much.  I laugh at everything I see. I laugh wayyy to hard.  I can never hide an emotion because it is right there on my face. I can get moody when I don’t get my way or I find out that I am not right.   And the older I get the more I realize people may see these as flaws but it makes me who I am–and I think I am pretty great {and special}. And in the end all you can do is just laugh it off…HAHAHAHA!   

Happy Day!!

xoxoxoxo

It had been almost over a year since i wrote my article about Hollister, but yet i still had the job.

I did not seem to mind anymore. I continued the tradition of swallowing my pride, but no longer  did I care about my discount, my job became an important social aspect of my life.

Oh yes, this was until we got the new boss.

Everyone knows what it’s like getting a new boss. He or she will either be a pushover or a complete toolbag. For me, it always seems to be the latter.

His name was Derek. He was a large man who barely fit into the company’s clothing. This was because he spent most of his life at the gym. I think by spending so much time sculpting his guns he may have constricted a few too many blood vessels.

He seemed to have been pointing out flaws in everyone’s work and letting us go unappreciated for the hours we were putting in.Luckily for me, he hadn’t found a flaw yet.

I think this panicked him. So for my final month working, he stalked me. Hid behind plants, lurked quietly in the corner, watching, waiting for me to screw up. And then I did.

A woman old enough to George Burn’s mother walked into our store. I was not about to berate this woman with the company’s tagline “Hey, what’ up?” It would have only have confused her, and I did not feel like giving this woman a cerebral aneurysm by explaining it.

"My mother was a saint!"

So I said “Hi, how are you doing today?!”

Big fucking mistake.

According to my manager, being hip and cool out weighs friendly and polite. No more could i work for this man, so I wrote him this letter

“Dear Derek,

If you don’t know by now, I don’t enjoy my job. If you haven’t noticed, it’s because you’re completely devoid of human emotion.

I started this job with high hopes. I thought working here would be a relaxed environment; my oh my how naïve I was.

I soon was whisked into a world of mass consumerism and materialism that I couldn’t have begun to fathom before I started working here. For instance: the company’s idea of model standards.

I’m not an idiot; I can hear your conference calls. I heard Chelsea complaining about our model’s not wearing enough plaid. I heard the other managers talking about their new recruitments. “I think she’s really cute, she’d be great” or “I don’t like him, especially after he shaved his head.”

How about this, who gives a fuck?

It wasn’t until recently that I realized this, I’ve known this forever. If you didn’t know I’ve been with the company longer than you have, so for me to only notice this now would be absurd.

The last string was pulled earlier this week. According to anonymous sources at the manager meeting, the managers, you believe that we are stressed out because of the company’s instance for us to wear plaid.

^Way too stressed out

I’m tired of making witty comments and transfusing them with sarcasm, so I’m just going to be blunt. It’s not the plaid; it’s you.

By hearing this quote I realized there is no getting through to you. You have no idea of how other human beings think or act. It’s the only explanation

You’re like a robot.

But it doesn’t matter, because you don’t. I can think of a long list of things that are more important than Hollister’s and your impact in the world including Atkins, contact lenses, snuggies, antiperspirant deodorant,  Go-gurt, crystal meth, red states, socialism, Hayden Panterrie, that funny asian guy off of Knocked Up, construction paper, Bonanza, barracudas, cheap cologne, and George Clooney.

So I’m going to go back to my life of yager bombs and happiness and you can go back to yours of snorting testosterone and So Cal.

Yours truly,

Mario

PS: PULL UP YOUR FUCKING PANTS!!!!!!! “

I hope I made my point.

Are you ugly? A liar like me?
A user, a lost soul? Someone you don’t know
Money it’s no cure A Sickness so pure
Are you like me? Are you ugly?

We are dirt, we are alone You know we’re far from sober!
We are fake, we are afraid You know it’s far from over
We are dirt we are alone You know we’re far from sober!
Look closer, are you like me? Are you ugly?

I’m not very happy.

Is it bad that, lately, my annoyance with a lot of my “friends” is steadily increasing?

I don’t know. These are the people that I’ve gone to school with forever, but I feel kind of…distant. Excluded. Out of the loop. I am out of the loop. They all have their little inside jokes and secrets that they don’t tell me. They don’t invite me to hang out with them.

And I don’t make friends well. I’m kind of shy and quiet, I guess. And terribly uninteresting.

I’m tired of being the butt of all the jokes. I’m tired of being the overly-flawed one. I’m tired of being the unattractive one with bad hair.

Meh. Apparently, I complain about everything. Which I do. But I’m not the only guilty one.

I need new clothes. I need to learn how to do hair and makeup.

It’s pointless anyway, I suppose.

Turn a blind eye Why do I deny?
Medicate me So I die Happy
A strain of cancer Chokes the answers
Are you like me? A liar like me?

Are you Ugly?

–The Exies

Featuring: Adobe Garamond Pro (Regular & Bold Italic)

The celebrity blogosphere has been buzzing about actress Amanda Peet.  In an interview in Self magazine, she said, “If I could choose an ideal body, I’d take Gisele Bundchen’s. I challenge anyone to say she wouldn’t want Giselle’s body, deep down. Actually, I’d take a number of people’s bodies. I’d take Jennifer Anniston’s too.”

Have you seen Amanda Peet?  She’s a beautiful woman.  How could she possibly want to swap her looks for someone else’s?  I dare say there are millions of women who would take her looks and be deliriously happy.

This kind of thinking has to do with those dastardly ”myths in the mirror” that I write about in chapter one of SMMTS.  With all due respect, you ladies tend to see flaws when you look in a mirror that either don’t exist or are so minor that no one else would notice them in a million years.  As a guy, I am always amazed when I hear a 120-pound woman disgustedly say, “I’m so fat!”  Or, yes, when I hear a woman with movie star looks say that she’d like to have someone else’s body.

I’m guessing you’d be much happier if you stopped the microscopic scrutiny of every square inch of your body.  Sure, go ahead and do the best you can with what you’ve got, but don’t sweat the tiny details because most people–especially guys–see the big picture anyway.  And remember, good character is the greatest beauty secret of them all.  The better person you are, the more your physical flaws become invisible.

Mark

Blatant scientific fraud and global warming alarmism have been best buddies for quite some time.

But hundreds of emails pilfered from a major British university climate change center are stunning even to those who know what a whopping load of crap global warming is.

The emails are available in an easy-to-digest format HERE.  There are somewhere in the vicinity of a thousand-plus, along with some 72 documents.

A UK Telegraph article slams the whole industry as bogus.  And we learn that some of the “scientists” who took part in these emails were huge names in the bogus industry they created:

Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’?
By James Delingpole Politics Last updated: November 20th, 2009

If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)

When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at Hadley CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:

Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

One of the alleged emails has a gentle gloat over the death in 2004 of John L Daly (one of the first climate change sceptics, founder of the Still Waiting For Greenhouse site), commenting:

“In an odd way this is cheering news.”

But perhaps the most damaging revelations  – the scientific equivalent of the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal – are those concerning the way Warmist scientists may variously have manipulated or suppressed evidence in order to support their cause.

Here are a few tasters. (So far, we can only refer to them as alleged emails because – though Hadley CRU’s director Phil Jones has confirmed the break-in to Ian Wishart at the Briefing Room – he has yet to fess up to any specific contents.) But if genuine, they suggest dubious practices such as:

Manipulation of evidence:

I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.

Private doubts about whether the world really is heating up:

The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.

Suppression of evidence:

Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4?

Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family crisis.

Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new email address.

We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.

Fantasies of violence against prominent Climate Sceptic scientists:

Next
time I see Pat Michaels at a scientific meeting, I’ll be tempted to beat
the crap out of him. Very tempted.

Attempts to disguise the inconvenient truth of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP):

……Phil and I have recently submitted a paper using about a dozen NH records that fit this category, and many of which are available nearly 2K back–I think that trying to adopt a timeframe of 2K, rather than the usual 1K, addresses a good earlier point that Peck made w/ regard to the memo, that it would be nice to try to “contain” the putative “MWP”, even if we don’t yet have a hemispheric mean reconstruction available that far back….

And, perhaps most reprehensibly, a long series of communications discussing how best to squeeze dissenting scientists out of the peer review process. How, in other words, to create a scientific climate in which anyone who disagrees with AGW can be written off as a crank, whose views do not have a scrap of authority.

“This was the danger of always criticising the skeptics for not publishing in the “peer-reviewed literature”. Obviously, they found a solution to that–take over a journal! So what do we do about this? I think we have to stop considering “Climate Research” as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board…What do others think?”

“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”“It results from this journal having a number of editors. The responsible one for this is a well-known skeptic in NZ. He has let a few papers through by Michaels and Gray in the past. I’ve had words with Hans von Storch about this, but got nowhere. Another thing to discuss in Nice !”

Hadley CRU has form in this regard. In September – I wrote the story up here as “How the global warming industry is based on a massive lie” – Hadley CRU’s researchers were exposed as having “cherry-picked” data in order to support their untrue claim that global temperatures had risen higher at the end of the 20th century than at any time in the last millenium. Hadley CRU was also the organisation which – in contravention of all acceptable behaviour in the international scientific community – spent years withholding data from researchers it deemed unhelpful to its cause. This matters because Hadley CRU, established in 1990 by the Met Office, is a government-funded body which is supposed to be a model of rectitude. Its HadCrut record is one of the four official sources of global temperature data used by the IPCC.

I asked in my title whether this will be the final nail in the coffin of Anthropenic Global Warming. This was wishful thinking, of course. In the run up to Copenhagen, we will see more and more hysterical (and grotesquely exaggerated) stories such as this in the Mainstream Media. And we will see ever-more-virulent campaigns conducted by eco-fascist activists, such as this risible new advertising campaign by Plane Stupid showing CGI polar bears falling from the sky and exploding because kind of, like, man, that’s sort of what happens whenever you take another trip on an aeroplane.

The world is currently cooling; electorates are increasingly reluctant to support eco-policies leading to more oppressive regulation, higher taxes and higher utility bills; the tide is turning against Al Gore’s Anthropogenic Global Warming theory. The so-called “sceptical” view is now also the majority view.

Unfortunately, we’ve a long, long way to go before the public mood (and scientific truth) is reflected by our policy makers. There are too many vested interests in AGW, with far too much to lose either in terms of reputation or money, for this to end without a bitter fight.

But if the Hadley CRU scandal is true,it’s a blow to the AGW lobby’s credibility which is never likely to recover.

You can’t even begin to imagine what a pure scientific fraud all this global warming crap is.

Let’s take a moment to contemplate the “science” of chief global warming propagandist Al Gore when he appeared on Conan O’Brien’s program [youtube available here]:

CONAN O’BRIEN, HOST: Now, what about … you talk in the book about geothermal energy…

AL GORE: Yeah, yeah.

O’BRIEN: ...to create energy, and it sounds to me like an evil plan by Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. Can you, can you tell me, is this a viable solution, geothermal energy?

GORE: Yeah.

O’BRIEN: …and that is, as I understand it, using the heat that’s generated from the core of the earth …

GORE: It definitely is, and it’s a relatively new one. People think about geothermal energy – when they think about it at all – in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, ‘cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot …

The problem is that even the earth’s core is only around 2,000-7,000 degrees Celsius (we can’t get to it to measure it precisely).  The whole “several million degree” thing is the blathering idiocy of a blathering idiot.

A blathering idiot who received a Nobel Prize for Science.

This is on top of the fact that Al Gore’s new book pimping global warming relied on photoshopping to artificially “show” the effects of global warming.

And THAT’S on top of the fact that the propaganda film that Al Gore won his Nobel Prize for science in the first place was based on documented exaggerations and lies.

From the Times Online Business section:

An Inconvenient Truth won plaudits from the environmental lobby and an Oscar from the film industry but was found wanting when it was scrutinised in the High Court in London.

Mr Justice Burton identified nine significant errors within the former presidential candidate’s documentary as he assessed whether it should be shown to school children. He agreed that Mr Gore’s film was “broadly accurate” in its presentation of the causes and likely effects of climate change but said that some of the claims were wrong and had arisen in “the context of alarmism and exaggeration”.

In what is a rare judicial ruling on what children can see in the class-room, Mr Justice Barton was at pains to point out that the “apocalyptic vision” presented in the film was politically partisan and not an impartial analysis of the science of climate change.

There were at least nine significant bogus claims contradicted by science in Gore’s Inconvenient Truth.

But that didn’t stop him from receiving a Nobel Prize for it.

The Nobel Prize for Leftwing Propaganda.

When you include the Nobel Prize for Accomplishing Nothing that Barack Obama “won,” you begin to see what an empty suit our chief institutions of leftwing credibility truly are.

But it’s worse than making the Nobel committee or the Nobel Peace Prize a mockery.  What has happened with global warming has made science itself a mockery.

I wrote a couple of articles that expose a lot of these frauds and present the actual legitimate science some time back:

What the Science REALLY Says About Global Warming

What You Never Hear About Global Warming

There are a few truly good scientists out there.  But there are way too many partisan ideologues who are willing to go to any lengths to pass of ideology as science.  And the new “Galileos” are those who stand in the way of liberal secular humanists academics for whom ideological political power and science are one.

The “scientists” who support global warming theory are not scientists, regardless of their degrees or positions.  They are propagandists.  They are political ideologues who seek to exploit their positions to impose economic redistributionism on people who can scarcely afford to make ends meet as it is.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times these pseudo-scientific fascist frauds are caught lying, fabricating data, making bogus claims, or generally defecating on the principles, methodologies, and ethics of science.  They just keep rolling merrily along as an equally dishonest, ideological, and propagandistic media covers up for them.

And if I may make one more comment: the people who are trying to impose ObamaCare on us are the same sort of people who are using the same sort of deceit.

[Update, November 22] From “IPCC Researchers Admit Global Warming Fraud,” by Rebecca Terrell and Ed Hiserodt:

[In reference to a] New York Times article [which] opined, “The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument.”Climatologist Patrick J. Michaels challenged that position. “This is not a smoking gun, this is a mushroom cloud.” The e-mails implicate scores of researchers, most of whom are associated with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization many skeptics believe was created exclusively to provide evidence of anthropogenic global warming (AGW).

Among the IPCC elite embarrassingly, if not criminally, compromised is Phillip D. Jones, a Ph.D. climatologist at the University of East Anglia whose work figured prominently in the IPCC Third Assessment Report of 2001. Jones also contributed significantly to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 (AR4), but he failed to follow through when skeptical investigators asked to review raw data associated with that report. They announced intent to use UK Freedom of Information laws to obtain the data, so Jones sent the following e-mail to one of his collaborators: “Mike, Can you delete any e-mails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise…. Can you also e-mail Gene and get him to do the same?… Will be getting Caspar to do likewise.” The Mike in this message is Michael Mann, professor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, whose influential “hockey stick” graph warning of pending global warming eco-catastrophe was found by a congressional investigation to be fraudulent. In another correspondence about AR4 labeled HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL, Jones contacted Mann regarding research critical of their global warming platform. “I can’t see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report,” wrote Jones. “Kevin and I will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!”

Mann received another incriminating e-mail from Dr. Kevin Trenberth, a New Zealander now with the University of Colorado and Head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “The fact is we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t.” An incredulous Trenberth simply blamed “our [inadequate] observing system.”  Yet he and his colleagues are now dodging the “Climategate” bullet, indignant that global warming skeptics are supposedly taking their comments out of context. One wonders if they might be referring to a message from Jones who wrote about a statistical “trick” he used to “hide” data. Or perhaps they mean Mann’s reference to climate change skeptics as “idiots.”

.

Have you ever noticed that people try and hide their flaws? Their cracks that reveal the damaged goods. It’s just the proper thing to do – pretend you function like a normal person, pretend the things that have happened to you haven’t ruined you. I do it at times. But I know, just like everyone else knows, that I’m broken. Who isn’t? Why pretend we aren’t when we all are? I’m not saying walk around and showcase all of your problems but to be human is to be broken. No use pretending you’re normal – you aren’t.

What’s got me thinking about being broken is the fact that I broke my wax pencil. Yes, the very tool I use to write affirmations on hard surfaces is broken (fitting for life, isn’t it? The thing that’s meant to build a person up gets wrecked). Worst part is it was my fault. I thought ‘I could write neater if this were smaller.’ So I take out a sharp knife and go about cutting it lengthwise. Of course it cracks into 3 useless pieces. So I’m sitting here, staring at it, and pretty mad at myself for trying something that dumb. The next logical step: try and cover up the breaks. It didn’t happen, it isn’t ruined. Krazy glue to the rescue. Cracks are still there, plain as day. No different with human beings. I’m here, I’ve survived a lot of things, it’s changed it, it’s ruined parts of me. I am broken. I couldn’t care less. It’s a good feeling, oddly enough.

‘I say never be complete. I say stop being perfect.’ Well said, Tyler, well said.

Mental illness is a very touchy subject with most people.  While someone can have a physical illness with little impact on self image; admitting to the possibility of a mental illness or a mental problem, even a minor one, can seriously affect someone’s self image.  This is completely understandable, since many people identify more strongly with their own mind than with their body; but, it does cause problems since it makes people even more resistant to attempts to help heal.  There is an extra layer of shame that just does not exist when dealing with a physical ailment so denial tends to be stronger, and this stronger denial means that people are less likely to admit to a problem, and less likely to ever overcome that problem.  People are much more willing to make excuses such as “That’s just the way I am” as opposed to even admitting that something is a problem, much less that it could be fixed.

If someone is broken then they are broken and sometimes the damage can be repaired and sometimes it cannot.  If someone is sick then they are sick and maybe they can heal and maybe they cannot.  I feel that most of the time it’s best to keep an open mind and at least try, because there is no chance to succeed if you don’t try.  It’s important that we forgive people for being broken and forgive people for being sick.  When people are damaged and flawed, it’s usually not something that can be controlled, does anybody really want to be sick?  I think there is too much stigma in our society with mental illness, we need to look at mental illness in exactly the same way as physical illness if we are to have any real chance of bringing it under control.  There is no point is being angry at someone for being sick.  There is little point in denial, if you’re sick your sick.  Just like physical illness there are different degrees of illness, some are the equivalent of a cold and some are more like a cancer.  Some are caused by trauma and some a learned behaviors and patterns of though.

The fact is that most mental disease boil down to an incorrect idea or incorrect conclusion, and spread out into incorrect patterns of thought.  Sometimes these are minor problems that are easily fixed, requiring little more than to recognize that the problem is there and to recognize the idea as foolish.  But sometimes someone has something seriously wrong in their world view, which can cause layers upon layers of incorrectness spreading out from one foundation issue.  There are times that ideas that are foundational to our sense of self and to our view of the world are flawed, when these are flawed it can take years of work to identify and repair all the various related issues.  If, for example, someone was abused as a child it can severely damage their self image.  Thoughts and feelings of weakness, of insecurity, feeling dirty or unworthy of love can all radiate out from one single traumatic event.  The myriad distortions can spread through the mind just like the cracks through a broken bone.  Sometimes a single trauma can destroy a mind beyond anyone’s ability to repair, and sometimes the damage is minor and a little time talking to a friend is all that is required to fix it.

There are some issues that can be dealt with alone, and there are others that you need help.  There is no shame in needing help, we all need help from time to time.  If you are very sick, there is no shame in going to a doctor.  I believe that for most people, meditation and contemplation along with a good friend to talk to are all that is really required.  The mind is designed to fix itself much the same as the body is.  Many issues, even the complex and foundational ones, can be recognized and repaired so long as you are willing to take the time that is required.  If you have faith in yourself and in your ability to identify and deal with issues it can be done.  A positive attitude is essential, you are dealing with the mind and if you do not believe that you can do it then you will have a great deal of difficulty making progress.  A negative attitude will not halt progress completely, but it will slow it immensely.  But, if you are unwilling to look inside or to even try and identify your issues and the flaws then it becomes difficult to heal.  Realization can still come from time to time, people do still recover, but the pace is much slower.  Look at meditation as therapy for the mind just like there is physical rehab and physical therapy for the body.  If you don’t go to rehab and you don’t do your exercises your recovery from injury will be slower, and it becomes much easier to injure yourself again.

Meditation may not be able to heal everything, I honestly do not know, but I know that it has helped me immensely.  Every day my mind gets stronger and better balanced as a result of the time I spend meditating.  I am continually amazed at the amount of issues that I find, and am amazed at the ease that I deal with them once I identify them.  You will not really know how much it can help you until you give it a try.

No need to turn to drastic solutions, such as plastic surgery to correct facial imperfections. If you have a more prominent nose all be solved in the brush, if you want cat eyes, eyeliner pencil used with confidence. We present some small tricks of gold, known only by the greatest artists in the make-up. Try this method of makeup, even holidays!

Prominent nose

To mask a larger nose only needs to apply blush slightly lighter than the cheeks, the sides of the nose. To effect a snub nose, apply a little makeup and on top of.

Small eyes

If nature did not endowed with long, seductive cat eyes, opt for pencil eyeliner gray! Draw your little eyes tight to the foundation, which will have a guaranteed stretch.

Face too round

Apply blush under the cheekbones to give the effect of stretching. If you want to blur all the roundness of the face, you can play with your hair: let your bangs and tightened it up in ponytail!

Girl too long

Many women wrong when they apply blush. If you go to brush on cheekbones length when you have an oval face, you do than to alungesti and harder! Apply very little blush and finalize with some on the chin and forehead.

Lips too small

A zoom effect you have lipsticks pink pearl. Opt for a natural lip gloss or transparent, because any other color would make it look even smaller. It never apply powder or foundation on them.

Lips too high

Although many women want fuller lips, those who were lucky to acquire from nature are not always happy with them. So if you give them a thinning effect, use lip pencil. Do you outline your lips with colors of earth (dark brown, purple), the inside lip. The more shades lipsticks are closed, with both lips will look thinner.

Tricks of Hollywood:

- If you opt for a shirt or a low dress, apply a thin layer of dark blush between the breasts and hollows near the collarbone. Make sure everything look natural, not exaggerated. Then apply a little powder on the bust and bright ready.

Enjoy effect, you will not go unnoticed!
- If you opted for short skirt, but you can not wear and repaired, greased up with baby oil on legs. Effect of glow is very sexy and natural. The legs will look more supple and more balms. Do not exaggerate or oil, so that you can dirty clothes and you seem unsure.
- Should not spray perfume everywhere! If you pour it, actually, in the head, it will keep very little effect. The most appropriate is to spray it on wrists and neck.
- If you choose to your eye makeup in strong colors or more black, let your natural lips and vice versa! Never paint so your lips, and eyes tacky, strong.
Harmonizes your eyes with the eye shadow

Green eyes: blue eye shadow, black, yellow and red.
Blue eyes: green eye shadow, cream, gold.
Eyes: makeup purple, dark brown, pink.
Black eyes: makeup silver, red, blue.

It is a simple fact of life that there are many things which are better than others.  This is obvious all through the world.  For example, there are gems that are high quality, with hardly a flaw in them; and there are also gems that are so full of flaws that they cannot be carved without breaking.  Sometimes the flaws and faults add character and can in fact make the gem more interesting and visually appealing; but other times the flaws just make things ugly.  Sometimes a skilled craftsman can work around the flaws in a stone and still create something beautiful; but other times the flaws are too much and the gem is of little to no use.  The more flawed a gem is, the harder it is to find a use for it.  This is why a flawless, more perfect gem, is more valuable.  This is not to say that imperfect gems have no value, but it is foolish to claim that all gems are of equal value or of equal use.  I also believe that if all gems were perfect and there were no flawed or imperfect gems than we would have no basis for comparison and not be able to truly value and appreciate that which is flawless.  If it weren’t for the damaged and the flawed, perfection would be meaningless.

Superiority become a much murkier subject once you put the human body and the human mind into the equation.  For example, there is research that shows that weight training at night, before you go to bed yields roughly 10% more gains in terms of muscle growth than training in the morning.  Many people however have trouble getting motivated at night, or have trouble falling asleep afterward.  These problems mean that attempts, for those individuals at least, to work out at night are less likely to be made habit, and less likely to work as a long term solution.  If you have trouble working out at night, it is better to work out in the morning than not to work out at all.  The knowledge that there are greater benefits to be found in working out at night could cause problems if it keeps you from doing anything at all.  Sometimes, for some people, the superior method is actually an inferior solution.  This same point is also very apparent in medicine, where different drugs may have more side effects for some people or work like a charm for others.  The best technique or the best medicine for you is the one that works best for you.  When it comes to judging the value of a technique, or a medicine, or a method of doing something it is important that we recognize that the “best” technique is the one that works best.  But, best is subjective, what is best for you is not necessarily best for someone else.  And that which is best for most people is not necessarily going to be best for you.

I believe that this concept is vital for people to understand.  Some people react differently to different treatments and different methods.  It is also important to recognize that sometimes what we have been doing, even though it has value and may be effective, is not necessarily the most effective option.  Some techniques are superior and some are inferior.  Sometimes, for some people, trying to switch to a superior technique that would yield better results can be a bad fit if you are highly attached to another option, but that does not change that it is still a superior technique.  If you cling to an inferior method you will get inferior results, but some results are better than no results.

It is also important to recognize that not every situation and not every problem require the best.  There are many times that lower quality is not really a problem at all.  Would you pave your driveway with fine Italian marble?  Do they use flawless diamonds for drill bits?  While there is second best and there is inferior that is not always a problem, and many if not most imperfections are not nearly as big a problem as people make them.

Even when feelings of superiority are accurate and justified they can still cause problems.  Many people get addicted to feeling superior and drive away friends and family through smugness and condescension.  Some people get so caught up in feeling superior that they lose sight of the truth of their situation.  If you are convinced you have the best, or are the best, it’s very easy to miss out on opportunities for improvement.  This is why humility is so important.  I do not believe that humility requires you to deny superiority when you see it or have it, but to accept that possibility that no matter how great what you have is that there may be something greater and to accept that no matter how strong or smart you are there will be those stronger and smarter.

Many times when people get completely wrapped up in feeling superior or become addicted to feelings of superiority it has at its heart a feeling of inferiority that they are unwilling to consider and try to convince themselves does not exist, but denial is dangerous and never truly solves the problem.  Sometimes to protect themselves from feeling inferior, some people try to deny even the possibility of inferiority.  But a flaw is a flaw, regardless of what people say.  Weakness is still weakness, even if you convince yourself it’s not.  Inferiority is still inferiority, even when you deny it.  All  of these things have at their heart a fear of interiority and a degree of shame.  There is no need to feel ashamed of inferiority.  Sometimes, it is alright to be less than the best.  Not every situation requires the best.  Sometimes positive comes out of negative.  Sometimes weaknesses and flaws bring us together.  Sometimes a shared weakness does far more to bring people together than shared strength.  Sometimes that which makes you weak is that which makes you special.  There is no reason to hate being or feeling inferior there is no reason to be ashamed of inferiority, but that doesn’t meant that weaknesses and flaws don’t cause problems.  There is a reason that a feeling of inferiority is a bitter, unpleasant emotion.  You are meant to try to avoid feeling inferior by striving for excellence, it is built into your body and mind.  There is no point in obsessing over it and no point in fighting it.  When something is flawed or inferior, just accept it and, when possible, work to correct it.  Only once you accept the possibility of inferiority can you hope to overcome inferiority.  Not everything needs to be perfect and not everyone can be the best.  But, we do all have a need to do our best, however good that is.  If you do less than your best, and you know that it is less than your best, then that knowledge will eat at you.  There is shame there that can be and should be avoided, and is easily avoided by doing your best.  Correct what can be corrected and live with what cannot.  Love yourself regardless.

Also remember people are complex.  Just because you have a weaknesses or  flaws does not mean that you yourself are inferior in general or on the whole.  I have many friends that are better than me at math and with computers.  Their skill level is higher than mine, and in that regard they are superior to me.  I have other skills and areas where I excel and am superior.  It is a very bad idea to let weakness in one area or a few areas convince you that on the whole you are not good.  Not as good at running is not the same thing as not a good person.  Part of what makes our species strong is that we can all specialize a bit.  The fact that I have friends who have computer skills means I don’t have to focus on that as much and means my time and energy can go to things that interest me more.  When I have a superior knowledge or understanding of something, than they can come to me for help with that.  On the whole we are stronger as a species by each focusing on our strength and interests rather than obsessing over perfecting every detail.  Find what you are good at and what you love, find where your talents lie and become superior there, do not allow yourself to get caught up obsessing over flaws that really do not matter.  Developing superiority in areas you love and are naturally gifted in is beneficial to you and everyone that you can help by developing that skill.  We all have areas where we are superior and all have areas that we neglect, it’s unavoidable, and brings us closer together.  Love yourself with your strengths and weakness and learn to love everyone with theirs, that is what brings peace and helps us to grow and evolve together.

It’s a nice Sunday morning. I’ve been watching football the whole time but I’ve just showered. It feels so great to shower! I’ve really needed one, anyways.
My dad made a big breakfast for us. He used to be a cook at restaraunts so he really knows how to cook amazingly. I love his food. We’re lucky to have him, and for many more reasons.
I’ve been thinking about more articles to write, I find them interesting myself. I want to write another music one because, well, I like to do that. I was watching That Metal Show last night (Yes, I am quite the geek. I do watch it. I never watch TV anyways, it’s either that or Metal Mania, or football.) and I realised those guys don’t know what they’re talking about a lot of times. First of all, I remember one show when they had “the throwdown” against Bruce Dickinson (from Iron Maiden, my favourite band!) and Rob Halford (Judas Priest, I love them too) for who was the better singer. They all voted Rob Halford.
Me, being a Maiden fan myself, was furious. How could Rob win? I mean, I love Rob’s voice and all, but look at Bruce Dickinson’s voice. They argued “oh yeah, he has a good voice, but I mean look at Rob he’s the singer of Judas Priest, blah, blah, he’s a Metal God, blah, blah, he rides a motorcycle on stage.”
My dad was there watching as well. He explained how Rob and Bruce’s voices worked in the recording studio.
“Rob’s voice is great and all,” he explained. “But he cheats us with his voice. Bruce’s is just his voice, Rob adds backing vocals a lot and things to make his voice sound cool.”
He was right. In the Screaming for Vengeance, Turbo, and Point of Entry albums – Rob does do that. I am not trying to ridicule Rob in any way here, but I must agree. Bruce records with backing vocals for the chorus, but mostly it is just his voice. It’s all him.
Plus, Bruce has a stronger voice than Rob. Rob has a great voice, he can hit high notes, but Bruce can hit higher. After all, he was trained as an opera singer! The operatic tone to his voice adds with the metal and produces something absolutely amazing.
Then they started arguing who put on a better stage show. I thought it was “who is the better singer”? I didn’t think it was “who puts on the better stage show”! These guys can be really dumb sometimes.
Sure, Rob can ride a motorcycle out on stage – but look at him now. He just stands there. He’s much too old.
Bruce is in his fifties and he’s still running around on stage – who could not love The Trooper when he runs around with the British Flag? Or, perhaps, Powerslave, when he puts on the Powerslave mask! Who doesn’t crave the foggy stage during the slow build-up in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and wish they could see it again months after the show?
I do love Judas Priest. I just love Iron Maiden much more, and I think the argument the guys presented was far from accurate.
The one that I watched last night bothered me as well. The compared two books:
Walk This Way an Aerosmith book, and Motley Crue’s The Dirt.
Their throwdown was: “Which was the better book?”
Well – they certainly didn’t review that accurately as well. They started judging the books on “which is more X rated”, then they went into “But Motley Crue did more drugs and had more sex, so thus this book is better!” and “Oh, but Joe and Steven the Toxic Twins! They did too many drugs that they didn’t need to have sex!”
It was quite bothersome. I don’t know why they did that. Even my brother disagreed. I had remarked:
“Oh, so now they’re judging which one’s better from how many drugs the band did? I thought they were asking which book was better!”
My brother said: “Yeah, they think ‘Motley Crue did more drugs, so they’re cooler’.”
It is not right! My brother and I vowed we should make our own “That Metal Show” and it would be better, because we would actually stick to what we’re talking about. Those guys bother me.
Anyways – I just wanted to point that out even if it was pointless all together. How about something more exciting?
BAND REVIEWS!!!
Or, song/album reviews. Or something else. How about we do that later? For now I just want to say: RANDY RHOADS FOREVER!
(I will explain him much later, for now – cheers to all! )
~DesolationBoulevard, 11/15/09 \Y/<3././

This is a video of me (sitting in the lawn chair at the start) and my little brother, Mathew (behind the shed yelling bear noises at the start).
I posted this video on YouTube about July 2008 (the summer before ninth grade, I believe. I was thirteen, Mathew was … nine, I think?).
It was about a year and a half ago, I believe. It feels like it was longer, though.
There’s been a lot that’s happened since then.

I started high school.
I won an art award.
I went through 9 exams.
I went camping at a beautiful provincial park with the student’s council.
I gained like, 10 of some of my best friends in the world at pathfinders.
I got a facebook account.
I got a blog.
I’ve attempted to finish writing several novels.
I got an iPod.
I went ‘out west’ for the third time in my life.
I visited Vancouver for the first time in my life.
I dipped my feet in the Pacific ocean.
I went to my first high school dance.
I went to Niagara Falls on a (geography class) field trip with some really great people and got in trouble with the teachers because we brought too much sugary pop and chips for our own good and all had sugar rushes at midnight.
I had the time of my life in Dinner Theatre.
I discovered a secret passageway in my school’s proproom hidden behind shelves.
I invented the word ‘AWESOMAZING’.
I’ve made a zillion more people laugh.
I joined my city’s youth council.
I met the mayor.
I discovered Twilight a few weeks after the above video was filmed.
I’ve come to terms with myself. (I am not so ashamed of who I am anymore. Because I am awesomazing.)
I spent a night in a haunted hotel.
I contacted a ghost. (One of my BFF’s birthday party. Her place was haunted so we pretended to be like TAPS.)
I sang ‘Tomorrow’ (from Annie) at the top of my lungs in the middle of a forest while cleaning an outhouse.
I sang ‘Tomorrow’ (from Annie) at the top of my lungs in the middle of a forest with some of my very best friends.
I have learned that everything has flaws but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful and perfect by all means.
My kitten turned three years old.
I discovered that I truly would prefer world peace over all the money in the world anyday.
I have done way more than I ever thought I would and today it has occured to me that the past two years of my life have been worth every second, and I wouldn’t change anything at all.
I really truly wouldn’t.

This is a video of me (sitting in the lawn chair at the start) and my little brother, Mathew (behind the shed yelling bear noises at the start).
I posted this video on YouTube about July 2008 (the summer before ninth grade, I believe. I was thirteen, Mathew was … nine, I think?).
It was about a year and a half ago, I believe. It feels like it was longer, though.
There’s been a lot that’s happened since then.

I started high school.
I won an art award.
I went through 9 exams.
I went camping at a beautiful provincial park with the student’s council.
I gained like, 10 of some of my best friends in the world at pathfinders.
I got a facebook account.
I got a blog.
I’ve attempted to finish writing several novels.
I got an iPod.
I went ‘out west’ for the third time in my life.
I visited Vancouver for the first time in my life.
I dipped my feet in the Pacific ocean.
I went to my first high school dance.
I went to Niagara Falls on a (geography class) field trip with some really great people and got in trouble with the teachers because we brought too much sugary pop and chips for our own good and all had sugar rushes at midnight.
I had the time of my life in Dinner Theatre.
I discovered a secret passageway in my school’s proproom hidden behind shelves.
I invented the word ‘AWESOMAZING’.
I’ve made a zillion more people laugh.
I joined my city’s youth council.
I met the mayor.
I discovered Twilight a few weeks after the above video was filmed.
I’ve come to terms with myself. (I am not so ashamed of who I am anymore. Because I am awesomazing.)
I spent a night in a haunted hotel.
I contacted a ghost. (One of my BFF’s birthday party. Her place was haunted so we pretended to be like TAPS.)
I sang ‘Tomorrow’ (from Annie) at the top of my lungs in the middle of a forest while cleaning an outhouse.
I sang ‘Tomorrow’ (from Annie) at the top of my lungs in the middle of a forest with some of my very best friends.
I have learned that everything has flaws but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful and perfect by all means.
My kitten turned three years old.
I discovered that I truly would prefer world peace over all the money in the world anyday.
I have done way more than I ever thought I would and today it has occured to me that the past two years of my life have been worth every second, and I wouldn’t change anything at all.
I really truly wouldn’t.

This is a video of me (sitting in the lawn chair at the start) and my little brother, Mathew (behind the shed yelling bear noises at the start).
I posted this video on YouTube about July 2008 (the summer before ninth grade, I believe. I was thirteen, Mathew was … nine, I think?).
It was about a year and a half ago, I believe. It feels like it was longer, though.
There’s been a lot that’s happened since then.

I started high school.
I won an art award.
I went through 9 exams.
I went camping at a beautiful provincial park with the student’s council.
I gained like, 10 of some of my best friends in the world at pathfinders.
I got a facebook account.
I got a blog.
I’ve attempted to finish writing several novels.
I got an iPod.
I went ‘out west’ for the third time in my life.
I visited Vancouver for the first time in my life.
I dipped my feet in the Pacific ocean.
I went to my first high school dance.
I went to Niagara Falls on a (geography class) field trip with some really great people and got in trouble with the teachers because we brought too much sugary pop and chips for our own good and all had sugar rushes at midnight.
I had the time of my life in Dinner Theatre.
I discovered a secret passageway in my school’s proproom hidden behind shelves.
I invented the word ‘AWESOMAZING’.
I’ve made a zillion more people laugh.
I joined my city’s youth council.
I met the mayor.
I discovered Twilight a few weeks after the above video was filmed.
I’ve come to terms with myself. (I am not so ashamed of who I am anymore. Because I am awesomazing.)
I spent a night in a haunted hotel.
I contacted a ghost. (One of my BFF’s birthday party. Her place was haunted so we pretended to be like TAPS.)
I sang ‘Tomorrow’ (from Annie) at the top of my lungs in the middle of a forest while cleaning an outhouse.
I sang ‘Tomorrow’ (from Annie) at the top of my lungs in the middle of a forest with some of my very best friends.
I have learned that everything has flaws but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful and perfect by all means.
My kitten turned three years old.
I discovered that I truly would prefer world peace over all the money in the world anyday.
I have done way more than I ever thought I would and today it has occured to me that the past two years of my life have been worth every second, and I wouldn’t change anything at all.
I really truly wouldn’t.

For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 3:23 (NLT)

As Breathed through Paul

Context        Related Verses        Meaning

The following two websites display a humorous look at the most annoying and common logic flaws and stereotypes found in movies. In other words, here are some lists of common movie cliches. They are really funny if you’ve seen a lot of movies.

http://www.moviecliches.com/

http://www.saviodsilva.org/lists/f9.htm

Enjoy!

If you want to make money online, click here: http://tinyurl.com/yfk7wqj

Things happen, and it’s only in the narrative that you can apply meaning. Some days are so eventful that the narrative practically creates itself.

Yesterday was not such a day.

Even so, it was a perfectly fine day.

I called my mother in the afternoon to wish her a happy birthday. I didn’t sing for her voicemail, as is our tradition, because I was standing out in the hall, and even though I occasionally like to flirt with being revealed, this bit of me is a bit too close to me for me to feel comfortable with subjecting it to potential ridicule.

Most of the afternoon was spent sitting on the couch in the main lab. My desk is located in the annex, but the lights there are too harsh and sterile, and I don’t like sitting facing a wall. It’s too isolating. So, on Tuesdays I’ve more or less taken over the main lab couch as my work space. I actually got some work done on my project for Prof. Tightpants! Excalibur and Eternity were working away at their desks, occasionally offering or being amenable to conversation. I suspect that I impose too much on them, but I’ll probably calm down from my glee at the possibility for human interaction soon enough.

Excalibur says he wants to bequeath his legacy to me (his desk, his PC) when he leaves. We’ll see if that actually happens or not. Not because he doesn’t want it, but because it may not be under his control. Apple (my other co-adviser, but the one who actually signs my paperwork) laughed when I told him this and said, “As if it’s up to him.”

Excalibur had to leave in the afternoon to get fitted for his cap and gown. Eternity and I discussed how we would change the uniform of our PhD graduates. I posit that they should leave the gown alone, but replace the standard square cap with one of those fancy soft caps with lobes and a bright button on top. Then we somehow we got on the topic of personality flaws, wherein I revealed that I am a manipulator. To be clear, you don’t ever stop being a manipulator. There is no “recovery” or “healing”. You just fight your nature at every step, for the rest of your life.

Obviously, there’s a bit of a catch-22 in that revelation, but I can’t really let myself think about it. It’s too circular, and it makes me sad. I inherit this tendency from my mother (see? blaming others), but this is the hand I have (um, adversity? pity me?), and it is my responsibility to resist this urge and not be a horrible person.  I don’t know. I (narcissism) hate to think that I (narcissism) am this way (self-loathing), but I (narcissism) think that the only way to be a whole human being that is fit for human company is to own your choices. Not make excuses. Work hard, don’t suck, and don’t pretend that you are something other than what you are (fundamentally horrible person who is, on a daily basis, trying not to suck).

When Excalibur came back from his fitting, he had his mom with him. She seemed really nice. Just having emerged from the brain-soup of contemplating my own shitty tendencies, I was struck by how clear she was with him about her expectations. After being introduced to us, and chatting for a minute or two, she asks him, “Would you please walk me back to my car?” No hinting, no guilt. Just normal normal normal nice. I wish I could be so natural.