I’m a tad embarrassed to share this tale but it’s a worthy story.
Woke up this morning at 7:30 as usual for a 9am lecture, after a glorious 10 hours sleep I woke to deathly painful red blood shot death eyes. To much death maybe?
Not a problem I thought, I’ll struggle through my breakfast and several cups of tea before heading off in glasses rather than contacts to my MATH2650 Calculus of Variations lecture this morning.

No problem’s so far, walked in to uni with 2 friends, all happy as larry having the walk of our lives, I split of to my lecture theatre, sit down with my gang and get all my stuff ready for a good solid lecture with a good vibe.
Whip out my £4 D&A glasses and wow…screw pops right out of those buggers never to be found again.

At this point I ran, ran away,I had to walk back out the front of the lecture theatre hanging my head in shame.

I was slightly embarrassed I must admit but now I’m warm at home with a hot cocoa and their all sat in the cold doing work.
Plan is to do some V

James could only watch in horror
as his body reacted bizarrely to the
insect bite.

This was one hell of an allergic
reaction.

It was going to take more than
some antihistamine to fix this….

Since Dan and the folks up at Walsall Council’s press office helpfully include me on their mailing list, I receive a steady trickle of low-level press releases from Walsall Council, which I keep a weather eye upon for anything useful or noteworthy. This morning, I recieved one such press release that surprised me, and having thought about it, I wonder what the views of readers are on the matter. Here’s the release as sent to me.

Walsall Council  PR 4406    30/11/2009    [For Immediate Release]

Residents and council join forces to keep Brownhills clean

Volunteers in Brownhills have joined forces with Walsall Council’s Street Pride team to keep the area clean as part of a tidy up operation. Aruond 10 helpers meet up twice a month to carry out a thorough clean in parts of the town which they feel need targeting.

This weekend saw them clean up an area known locally as the black path which runs from the Parkview Centre, past Holland Park and across the A5 and is used by large numbers of pedestrians every day.

Doug Birch, chairman of Brownhills Local Committe, said: “We feel it is important to keep the town looking as clean and tidy as possible. We are a small but very enthusiastic team of volunteers who want to do our bit for the area we live in.”

Their work adds to and complements the clean ups which are also carried out by the council’s Street Pride team. The volunteers work closely with officers who arrange to meet up with them to collect the rubbish after each tidy up.

Councillor Mike Flower, Walsall Council cabinet member for environment, said: “The Street Pride team do a great job keeping everywhere clean and tidy but it is a never ending job. It is great to see the amount of pride these Brownhills residents have in the area they live in and their determination to keep it looking smart and welcoming to visitors by organising their own tidy ups.”

Let me put this straight from the beginning: I have immense regard for the work the volunteers are doing here. Litter picking is a foul job, and it must take real balls and dedication to do so for no other benefit that that of the community. I salute anyone who undertakes this work, and I’m not criticising you in the slightest. I’m also very much aware that it’s generally idiots within our community that cause the mess, and education and effective detection are key to stopping the litter problem. What is worrying me, however, is that Walsall are collecting council tax and business rates from citizens of the borough in order that they carry out tasks like street cleansing on our behalf.

Clayhanger Common in 2007 - I reported this mess to the council, but Brownhills Champ reckons he cleaned it up as a volunteer. Should volunteers really be dealing with waste of this nature?

I’m not surprised that Councillor Flower is chuffed about the voluntary effort; every job he can get done for nothing by willing volunteers doesn’t have to be funded by an increasingly overstretched authority who are just about to push through another eye-watering council tax increase of over 4% on an already hard-pressed public. Since we’re paying these above-inflation hikes in taxation, it seems reasonable to expect that we should get decent levels of service, not a council that milks every last penny out of it’s citizens then crows about the goodwill of those who are prepared to do a job for free that they have already been paid to do.

I’m aware that this arrangement has been going on for quite some time, and I feel that it’s sad that ordinary members of the public feel the need to clean their own town. That they find it necessary to do this can only signify that the council is not fulfilling it’s obligations fully, and that’s regrettable.

Walsall has been shouting from the rooftops for some time now about its crackdown on environmental crime – however, the reality of this crackdown experienced on the ground is one of a service provider that talks tough but shilly-shallies when it comes to action. Many sites remain blighted by flytipping, like the former Railway Tavern in James Bridge, as the authority claims itself unable to act about issues on private ground. Is it really beyond the authority to clean the site up, then secure it and just bill the owners, taking court action if need be? Brownhills’ showpiece pedestrian bridge remains plastered in the ugly scrawl of Malpas and his mates, because it’s apparently the responsibility of British Waterways to remove it – this point seems to have escaped our mandarins when they trumpeted the new facility as being their own beneficent gift to our town. In fact, every single piece of graffiti I highlighted in that post still exists, whilst buildings like the Brownhills Senior Citizens Centre remain plastered in spray paint for months. One supposes it will all remain until some helpful volunteer with a scrubbing brush comes along and removes it, so that Walsall Council doesn’t have to.

Now I may well be wrong about this, but it leaves an unpleasant aftertaste for me. I’m interested to know what you think.

]]> http://receptionist.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/a-bunch-of-overdue-pictures/ Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:37:56 +0000 receptionist http://receptionist.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/a-bunch-of-overdue-pictures/

Hey y’all.  So a lot of things happened while I was being really busy and unavailable and unbloggy.  Thought I’d catch you up.  Here’s some pictures Billy made me take of these pickles he made that were really pretty but confirmed our suspicion that cooking pickles makes them yucky:Refrigerator pickles are way better.  Also, drinking whilst pickling sometimes makes you tell your girlfriend to take a picture of your head next to a glass of wine and six jars of pickles.  Cautionary tale.

Another thing Billy made me take a picture of was a couple Cat’s Meows we made.  Again.  Drinking + digital camera = this:You remember this drink, right?  I talked about it in an earlier post and I’m too lazy to link to it.  It’s ouzo and cranberry juice and it taste like a sixteen-year-old girl’s bedroom decor if that had a taste.  Billy made me take a picture of Oscar with the Cat’s Meows too.  ‘Cause he’s a cat.  Get it?  GET IT?!A perk of being done with some of the really annoying stuff I was doing that was taking up so much time is that I now have a few spare hours a week to dedicate to crafts.  See below:A few pieces of fancy/awesome paper from Paper Source, a little black paint, and a few $1 picture frames from Ikea that I had lying around.  Put ‘em all together and you get some cool wall art!  Fun, right?  I think I’m going to use this technique for table numbers for the wedding, too.  CRAFTS!

Also, a few weeks ago we went on a romantic getaway to western Mass and had a romantic French dinner that cost us a romantic shit ton of money but we got this pretty adorable picture out of the deal:Worth it?  I don’t know.  But we had fun.

In other news, Halloween happened.  I didn’t have time to put together a real costume of any kind so I bought a wig and a petticoat and went as “Up For Interpretation: A Study In Purple.”  Here’s a picture of me looking a fool:

 They came,they ate and they left. Yes,the relies are gone.

Now our house seems a lot bigger…..

I’m looking forward to December. I don’t have to wait very long tho,cuz it’ll be here tomorrow.

My birthday is on Saturday.

And I can’t wait for SNOW!

The incomparable Betsy Cross

1.  Tell us about your work. There is a wacky path I’ve taken that has led me to so many awesome endeavors.  I’m truly a lucky lady.  And it goes something like this:

At 6 years old, after seeing a friend’s dance recital I proclaimed that as much as I enjoyed myself and appreciated the work dancing was too “girlie” for me and I’d never do it.  Three months later I’m enrolled in dance classes that would begin my childhood love affair with all things that involved expressing the soul through movement.  I danced all the way through high school, competing and eventually choreographing.  When it college rolled around I couldn’t find a dance program in state (for $$ reasons) that I really liked so I joined the theatre department (wherein they said dance class was available).  I had no CLUE what I was in for.  I studied method acting at VA tech.  There were movement classes, but all was separate.  Fast forward a few years, where I’m attending Dell’ Arte International in northern CA in the inaugural MFA class, where everything is accomplished by letting the body first touch it.  I mean, the connection between the body and mind is immediate, visceral, necessary.  This, by far, became my preferred way of working.  The main task, as simple and solid as it sounds was nearly impossible for some folks, was:  to be.  There is so much unbelievable discovery, pain, and joy tied up into that tiny little phrase.  If I had to narrow it down, I’d say that defines my interests in theatre and music.  And it’s amazing how hard it is to find it out there.

2.  How did you form the Brendas and Betsy and Iya? I was finishing up my MFA at Dell’ Arte and had become close friends with one of my classmate’s wife.  I was inspired by her vision of and distance from theatre.  We had become so entangled with the ways and meanings and alienations of theatre that by the end of the program I was quite disenchanted with most theatrical interactions I was having.  I still have a hard time attending theatre and enjoying it.  I find most of it missing.  When it hits, it is nothing short of magic.  But true magic is extremely hard to find.  And if it’s not that, then I don’t want it.

Yes, that does help lead me to actually directly answer this question.  I found music easier.  Where theatre pushed me away, music pulled me in.  Plus, I had a chance to work with a very close friend who I wasn’t writing papers with and discussing the technical details of beats and intentions and disgusting fakeness onstage (okay, that’s extreme, but truly how I’ve felt).  I had a friend that just wanted to play and I wanted to play with her.  So we started the Brendas—-an all girl musical soiree of brilliant performers and amateur musicians.  The Brendas have been anywhere from 3 ladies to 9 ladies onstage together.  We sing silly songs about heartbreak, friendship, and growing old.  We are nothing but who we are and that’s what we bring before you.  AND we always dress up in a theme which makes for some good laughs or stares—superheros, 30s gals, gingham and lace, glam rock; none of which really fit the music, which seals the perpendicularity even more, and we LOVE that.  We just want people to have a great time!

As for betsy & iya, I was teaching theatre at an arts university in Mexico.  So far from home, I started finding comfort and stories in ornamentation.  I began adorning myself with wild Mexican jewelry and finding major inspiration in that handy-artisan work.  I get very excited about rough, calloused hands. It was later in grad school when I picked up a part-time job, learning to make jewelry.  At that time (2006), I had NO plans of making a career out of it.  Somehow, it just happened.  There came a point at the tail-end of 2007 when I craved a more stable job (HA! as if this is really more stable) and I couldn’t fathom doing anything outside of something creative.  I sat down, literally, one day for 9 hours and mapped out, with pen and ink, how it would be possible. For one month straight, I locked myself in my tiny studio (that had sorta fallen in my lap) and designed 6 lines of jewelry that would become, betsy & iya.  I gussied up the studio and opened it to the public after the hermit month, to see how folks would respond.  That weekend, I nearly made back my entire start-up costs.  This has been my full-time job since.

3.  Who has influenced your work the most? A place–Dell’ Arte.  The deep friendships I made at that school and the way in which we were required to work and the amount of work we produced and the spiritual aspect of connecting one’s mind, heart and body to be honest in the work, has disseminated to every single facet of my life.  Any work I attempt (even if it’s just cooking a homemade meal), has some element of that way of existing.  We were encouraged to form our own point of views and really know and understand what that was for us, individually.  I was terrified of it at first, but I grew to love my point of view.  And that doesn’t just go away.   I think we should all find that strength within ourselves, in our everyday lives.

4.  Do you have any particularly interesting inspirations? I absolutely love finding inspiration in nature—the textures, lines, geometry, truth, roots, silence, etc.  This is along the same lines, but I really enjoy going to the symphony.  The ensemble work is staggeringly beautiful.  Did I mention that the proper title of the MFA is Physical and Ensemble-based theatre?  That’s right, the crux of the work was “to be” and then put that inside an ensemble of other solid povs.  The balance of an ensemble, when played right, is breathtaking.  I look for these in other parts of life.  Ants working together.  Children.

5.  How do you keep your work current/relevant? I don’t feel like I am aware of making this a priority.  I think it just happens.  I feel like if one is listening, as should be, the case at every point in life, then staying on the pulse of things is not really an act of will–it just is.  At the same time, it does take an active effort to listen, but what I mean is if one chooses to be an active listener and does so daily for everything s/he participates in, then relevance becomes a moot point.  If the individual finds the work relevant and s/he is working to be his or her most authentic self, then most likely, the work will be compelling.  Quick example, I make jewelry for a living (oh yeah, forgot to mention this part).  When I’m designing, I don’t consult magazines or any other kind of work, it just pops out of my head at any given moment and I have to write it down, take notes.  That doesn’t mean I’m not drawing inspiration from fashion magazines, the internet, other artists around me and/or nature, it just means that I’ve been paying attention.  It also means that I strive to stay true to my own nature.  I think it shows when someone in the design world does not know who they are.

6.  What is your creative process like, typically? It can vary drastically with each project, but I tend to work last minute (or at least it feels like it).  It seems that all of the information and sights and colors I’ve absorbed must finally find a place outside of me; with designing jewelry, they pop out before I have a chance to think too hard about it (and when I think too hard about it, usually it shows…it’s not as fresh, real or me. It’s slightly boring, really).  When I’m working on a theatre project, I prefer to do work outside in, from the character’s pov.  I like moving and discovering and sort of flailing for a little while.  It’s very important to me to discover who is really at the center of the character I’m playing and then take that individual and put her into the work.  I’m happier when the detailed structure comes at the very end.  With music, I like to have fun, bop in some trumpet notes when someone else is playing, find harmonies after the melody has been set and throw words onto a story that has already been mapped out by the music.  When I paint, I like to start with a blank canvas and a line and then discover what comes out.  Wow, it looks like I don’t like structure!  Not really true.  Sometimes I drive myself CRAZY!  But really it comes down to finding truth, balance, and life in all things I attempt to put forward.

7.  Tell us about the other stuff you do. I am currently working on an adaptation with some very inspiring ladies who I met at Dell’ Arte.  We are taking a memoir by Ann Patchett, Truth and Beauty, and adapting it for the stage with the same name.  It’s a story about struggling artists with an unrivaled, impenetrable friendship that endures multiple blows and the remarkable journey that leads to its end.  We are taking our own adaptation, which could easily become incredibly stagnant realism, and turning it on its head.  We love the unconventional path that leads to the conventional truth.  These women knock me off of my rocker with their talent.  I’m blown away, every rehearsal.

8.  What’s the best thing about creating original work? what’s the worst? The challenge with the aforementioned is that while the discoveries are big, beautiful and endless sometimes it feels like there is nothing left in the barrel to pull out.  The reality of living an artistic life today is that most likely the one project you are focused on is not the only thing you’re involved in.  If you’re like me, your life is pulled in so many different directions.  The best thing about creating original work is the element of surprise; the ability to find more of something out of nothing.  The worst thing is finding the time to do it.  And when the time is there, fully give over to the moments of discovery, so they come alive.

9.  Do you have any suggestions to emerging artists out there? Be big, fearless, honest, and authentic.  Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Don’t sit on your ideas, move them.  Listen to the work. Don’t try to be what you (or they) think you should be; be who you are.  Once you think you’ve gone too far, go farther.  Find the buoyancy and joy in all the work you do– find it in yourself. 

Yowza!  Want to hear Betsy’s voice in your ear on a more daily basis?  Check out her blog – where she talks about life, love and the pursuit of happiness… oh, and jewelry.

Also, check out Truth and Beauty at the Fertile Ground Festival. You’ll have the great priviledge of seeing Betsy do what Betsy does… up close and personal.

: Want to know more about featured: artist? Check out my intro.  Know someone who should be featured here? Leave a comment or drop me a line.

Hi, I’m Syrika, Zarion’s younger sister. He’s letting me do a post. So here goes!!!!!!!!!!

Uhhhh……… What should I write  about? I know… Did you know lightning bolts can shoot out of a volcano? Did you know squid’s food passes through its brain on the way to its stomach? Did you know… BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!!! I talk a lot.

THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, what are you waiting for? Why are you still reading? Go away!

Syrika.

P.S. Did you know, right now , as I’m writing this, I’m dressed in a homemade Minun (That’s a type of Pokemon) costume?

Because nothing says “Unhealty Addiction” quite like an action figure.

Twilight Bella and Edward.

*Warning Bella doll may cause irrational mood swings, dizziness, inability to distinguish fact from fantasy, amazing motor sport skills,desire to throw oneself from a cliff,  the ability to piss off a crowd full of vampires without even speaking. (**Some studies show the same effect on grown women and most men not of vampiric descent.)

Warning Edward doll may cause an iridescent quality and sheen to unprotected skin, blood loss, an unreal expectation of the entire male species, dizziness, the desire to run through a wooded area very fast, permafrost on exposed areas in contact with doll including but not limited to hands, lips, neck and chest.

after saying thanks, it’s also okay to say no.

feel free to use this as you wish.

http://www.thanksno.com/

(thanks to Khara for the RT on this.)

The Captive and the Silly

“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
- II Timothy 3:6-7 -

The words ‘captive‘ and ‘silly‘ are not kind words. I am certain no woman would like to be considered as such. Still, God does not waste words.  He is merciful and kind, long suffering and full of mercy.

These select words ‘captive‘ (meaning without freedom) and ‘silly‘ (meaning foolish or void of understanding) once considered, might change the mind of the modern woman.

These are descriptive words and the direct result of two things:
1) their divers (many) lusts (forbidden desires), and
2) their ever learning (never ending) of new ideas and things.

In today’s society, women boldly declare their intellect, their fortitude and their independence. But here in Scripture we find that the demands of many women to declare their rights and never ending desire to always look for the new and better thing results in the two unkind words ‘captive‘ and ‘silly‘.

It seems that professing themselves wise, they have become fools for the end result is they have become ‘captive‘ (meaning without freedom) and ‘silly‘ (meaning foolish or void of understanding).

Much worse is that they have made themselves prime targets for ‘…those who creep into houses‘.

A wise woman is a free woman. A wise woman’s head is not easily turned to the ‘new and better’. She has selected to build her house with wisdom by confessing her sin when God reveals it to her and avoiding the ‘new and better thing’ by holding fast to the teaching of her LORD.

If you have few minutes to spare, visit.

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So many things to be thankful for this year. It would be ludicrous trying to write them all down for you. It ranges from my family, to my travels, my friends and good beer. I truly hope that I have so many things to be thankful for this same time next year.

Yup, another new cousin.
I didn’t touch her though, gorgeous as she is, because if I had all her innocence would have been taken away.

I just have that power on people.

I keep on leaving my posts hanging, or with a really poor finish, so here I am updating this to apologize for my past self’s failure at having a nicely ended entry. I just finished watching The Ugly Truth, and in doing so, overcame the drowsiness effect of the drugs I took earlier for my sickness.

I’ll come out and say it, I’m an awkward person. I’ve never been good at making conversation, my horrible memory probably contributes to that, and well, to be honest, I like just listening to people talk. So if you put me with another awkward person, well there’s a lot of awkwardness that’s going to ensue. Thing is, I don’t mind the silence though. I’m perfectly content just sitting there not really talking about anything, but that’s probably cause I’m a huge daydreamer. I think the perfect relationship for me, would be one where I could run off with my thoughts, thoughts that aren’t worrying if the other person thinks I’m weird for not saying anything in long periods of silence.

It’s difficult for me to open up, or not even open up, but be able to really talk about myself.  A lot of the time, I wonder how much people really know about me. Friendship is a two way path, but I’m not very useful in that aspect. I don’t have a lot of ‘favourites’, and I honestly don’t know what to say when people ask me questions about myself.  I don’t have answers, but does not having answers make me who I am?  I sit and think, what can I say, what can I tell people?

Being sick has really screwed me up =( Oversleeping, not eating enough, and falling even more behind in classes. Ack!

-

This post has been written over the past few days, which is why the beginning is related to a post I wrote several days ago….but I didn’t want to leave it hanging again, so it’s taken a while for me to gather enough thoughts to finish this off nicely. FINALLY finally cleaned my room, you can see the floor again! I’m ready to study in it (if I so desire).

Here’s the new layout of my room by the way =) rearranged it so my face doesn’t get all drafty in the winter…

desk and clothing storage area haha. I put up my christmas lights! =D

the bed's still a mess because I haven't put away some of the stuff/fixed the crazy mattress...

Anyways, finals are in a week and a half, so I’m not sure how often I’ll be updating (although, I procrastinate a lot so….we’ll see).

=)

The race to finals debuff doesn’t just eat your brain and your soul, it lowers your sleeping skill by 60%. So instead of wasting my time by telling myself stories in the dark, I’m going to waste my time by writing a blog post in the dark. (On the bright side, I’m almost done immunology and did 2 tough chapters in therapeutics. I’m on a rooooooooll.)

So the other night, I was attending this recruitment casino fun night thingy for school. I try to get out of “social chores” as much as possible, but being a poor, starving college student, free food means I’ll show up. Free drinks are a bonus. I was even enjoying myself, winning at pretend Blackjack because our (kinda hot but happily married) dealer was cheating in our favor. It started getting late though, so I excused myself.

Me: Sorry guys, I gotta go, I have a raid in about 30 minutes.
Female classmate: Did you say you have to raid in 30 minutes?
Me: Mmhmm
Female classmate: What?
Male classmate who often plays WoW with me: She plays World of Warcraft and she has to run ToC tonight. Someone’s gotta heal it.
Kinda hot but happily married dealer: Oh, one day she’ll be one of those really attractive women who write game reviews.

I found that absolutely hilarious. The free wine probably had something to do with it, but I’m sure I would have found that insanely funny under worse circumstances. The image of Veronica Belmont (who, by the way, looks nothing like me) flashed in my head and I laughed even harder. It took me a few moments to compose myself, then I fled the scene.

I’ve mentioned before, a long time ago (which means 3 months), that playing WoW is like picking your nose and you should never publicly admit to doing it. Yet, I’m becoming more and more open about my WoW playing. I think blogging has something to do with it: I never realized how much fun it was and now I want to talk about it all the time. I spend a lot of my time in coffee shops (which I’ve always done anyway since I have nowhere else to study), surrounded by other caffeine addicts who have wordpress open. Sometimes they look over my shoulder and talk to me.

Them: Oh, are you using wordpress?
Me: As a matter of fact I am.
Them: What a coincidence! So am I!
*awkward silence as they smile at me*
Me: So, um, what do you write about?
Them: *insert very intelligent words that are beyond my meager grasp here*
Me: That must be really interesting!
Them: What are you writing about?
Me: Video games.
Them: Oh cool. I played guitar hero once at a party.
*We resume our silent tasks*

And thats the usual reaction I get when I say I play WoW. “Oh, cool” Not, “OMG you must a weird crazy freak with no life!”, no “OMG you pollute our green air with your lowly hobbies!” Just “oh, cool.” Really, no one cares.

Well, except my parents. They care but they’re getting better. I wasn’t impressed when I discovered they were telling family friends that I did nothing but play WoW all the time. I wasn’t impressed because that happened was while I was trying to get in pharmacy school and did nothing but study all the time. At least wait until I’m indulging in my bad habits before you accuse me of doing so, tyvm. I haven’t gotten any hassle for well over a year now, though, which is nice.

Even my being a girl rarely causes much commotion. Other girls usually give me “oh, cool” followed by “have you seen the new Twilight movie?” When I say no (I hate movies, sitting still for 2 hours is torture and I refuse to pay 10$ to be tortured), we run out of things to talk about and the conversation kind of dies. While I used to have tons of female gamer friends back in high school, they seem to be hard to come by now… A few female friends of mine watch The Guild, but that’s about it. It gets lonely. WTB IRL BFF who also plays Warcraft.

Guys who game also give me the “oh, cool”, but they add a “!” at the end. Yet, generally, after comparing our classes and roles, the conversation moves on to other games and music and whatnot.

It just seems so…anti-climactic. Here I am, revealing a naughty, naughty secret and I can rarely get a good story to tell from it. What a waste of a dirty secret.

I know there’s still a lot of gaming misunderstanding. You see magazine articles warning you to not reveal playing WoW during a job interview. Every now and again, you’ll hear sad stories proving that gaming will cause you to flunk out of school and/or destroy your relationships.

But in every day life, I find that it’s rarely as big a deal as I expect it to be. Oh, maybe the people around me think horrible things of me because I’m open about my WoW hobby. If that’s the case, they hide it very well.

It’s almost disappointing.

Introducing a new weekly feature! Just for kicks, I’ll be choosing a word at random and sending it through Google.. and posting the wierd, strange, and puzzling query result here.. such as the one above. Not very thought provoking, however its worth a laugh. Enjoy!

My family and friends have requested that I blog the funny and cute things that Bailey and Hannah say so they can go back and read it someday when they are older. So here we go.

She could hear it coming

The rumble and the roar

It always came this time of year

Right outside her door.

The temperature was perfect

Cool and brisk and gray

The weather for a visit

From the Sugar Train today.

It’s engine roared inside her head

Or was that just her tummy?

Either way, she was on board

To taste something so yummy.

The Sugar Train was fast

The Sugar Train was sweet

And she was completely powerless

To resist it’s luscious treats.

Why couldn’t she avoid the train

And catch another ride?

Once on, she never could get off

No matter how she tried.

The Sugar Train would speed along

Her sense of taste in awe

With  sweets and treats, the chew, the crunch

The best she ever saw.

The flavors lingered in her mouth

Tastes rolling round her tongue

It brought a smile to her lips

The Sugar Train was fun!

But soon the temporary high

Was eclipsed by a case of the “blahs”

A food coma overtook

And sugar was the cause.

Her sleepy eyes longed to close

Her future was a nap

To sleep off the glucose hangover

And escape the sugar trap.

She fell asleep to the sound

Of the Sugar Train’s mighty roar

Which now became white noise to her

And she began to snore

She dreamed of  lands of candy

And other treats galore

Of things made out of sugar

And of confection stores.

She woke up feeling groggy

Not knowing where she was

But heard the distant engine

And smiled just because.

She knew she’d gotten off the train

And she knew where she had been

She’d like to think she’d never return

But she knew she’d ride again.

The moral of the story

Is simple, but it’s true

The fate of this young woman

Could be the fate of you.

The chilly weather brings desire

To ride the Sugar Train

A ride so glorious

That you’ll want to ride again.

Then when holidays are over

And normal life ensues

You’ll wonder why your jeans don’t fit

And then you’ll get the blues.

So be cautious of the Sugar Train

Avoid it’s sweet entrance

Or hop on with me and enjoy the ride

And just buy bigger pants!

egregious:

1. Exceptional, conspicuous, outstanding, most usually in a negative fashion.
2. Outrageously bad.

Example: this headline from Science Daily: Fruit Fly Sperm Makes Females Do Housework After Sex

Seriously. How freakin’ embedded in your culture do you have to be to project your heteronormist, traditional gender role shit onto FLIES, people?

Do fruit flies have a monogamous sex life? No.
Do fruitflies live in houses? No.
Do fruitflies live in nuclear families? No.
Do fruitflies iron, bake, or do any sort of traditional Western gender-role stuff? No.
Is it necessary to have all science news stories relate to humans? No.
Is it necessary to have all science news stories relate to sex? No. Maybe. Yes. What was the question?

PhD comics has an EXCELLENT description of the science news cycle. If you haven’t seen this, go print it out and stick it on your door/cube/whatever.

Anyway.

The paper they were actually describing is this one:

Isaac, R., Li, C., Leedale, A., & Shirras, A. (2009). Drosophila male sex peptide inhibits siesta sleep and promotes locomotor activity in the post-mated female Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 277 (1678), 65-70 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2009.1236

Oddly, no mention of dustpans and ironing there….

The paper is actually pretty fascinating–it provides a connection between a peptide in a male fruit fly’s sperm and a change in behavior in female flies after mating.  Mated females skip their afternoon naps (fruit flies take a siesta, as mentioned in the title of the paper) and spend that time looking for food, or places to lay eggs.

This is, regrettably, described as “domestic type activities” by one of the paper’s authors in the news story, although the actual research paper stays on point and doesn’t branch off into this sort of silly anthropomorpic speculation.

I was not aware that finding food was housework. Thank goodness I have science reporters to help enforce gender norms!

For bonus points, guess the Order of Insect covered in this news release before you click through:

Why Nice Guys Get the Girls

EDITED 11.30.09 TO ADD: Ha! the title of the article has now been changed to “Female fruit flies do chores after sex”. Screen shot of the original article now linked.

The other day I took a photo of Azar trying to make me laugh by doing his new death defying sofa walk. In fact, I took several photos but only managed to get one that wasn’t totally blurry. So I promised to make a video of him doing “the walk” … and here it is. Perhaps this isn’t the best example of his daredevil twists and turns (he’s usually more daring and energetic and often falls off) but it was a spontaneous moment, so I went for it and tried to cajole a performance out of him.

Cute, isn’t he?