Grumpy Gus, Spinning, Weekend in Review

I am grumpy. Do not try to cheer me up. It makes me feel manipulated. And when I feel manipulated, that's just a micron away from sheer, foaming-at-the-mouth, unhinged, unadulterated rage.

<hulk>Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry< /hulk>

Maybe not even a micron.

In other news, I

* Rescued stranded party-goers in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Beaucoup karma points for me, as they were going 20 miles south and I was headed 30 miles north, home after work. There was a fracas with their cabbie on the way home from a concert in Solana Beach and they got dumped. At about 1:30 in the morning. In Miramar. Near the business parks. Man, there was no one there. The McDonald's on that corner rolls up the sidewalk at 10pm. We're talking no one. Good Samaritan, that's me. Truckin' complete strangers around Pacific Beach at 2 am. One of them insisted on giving me 'gas money'. I've earmarked it for the first bum I see. I don't take money for this kind of stuff.

* Oiled and assembled and began spinning on my Kromski Minstral, one of the most beautiful spinning wheels I've ever seen. Spun up some brown "unspecfied sheep" and the loaves-and-fishes lavender roving (both of these are rather bulky) in double drive mode, then switched to my test merino (this beautiful pink stuff I'll only ever use as accent yarn, so it's OK if slubby) and spun up an okay single with the wheel in single drive with scotch tension

[*quizzical look* What did that mean? There's 2 things that need to move aside from the big-ass wheel you actually see when looking at a spinning wheel. And they move around one another -- the flyer and the bobbin (where your yarn actually goes). You use different 'ratios' with different yarns (thick stuff v. thin stuff). In order to get those two things to move at different rates (ratios) -- using just the one big-ass wheel to drive them, you either use double-drive, where your drive band (the string going around the aforementioned big-ass wheel) is actually 2 bands, one you put on the bobbin pulley and one on the flyer pulley (which are different sizes or slightly different heights relative to one another), or you use one band on both so they spin at the same rate, and then put a brake on the bobbin to make it go slower. That's single drive mode with scotch tension. There's more going on, but that's it in a nutshell. Most people only ever notice the big-ass wheel, but all the action is really going on between the flyer and the bobbin. I happen to have purchased a wheel capable of both, but they're not all like that.]

* Began reading a VERY irritating edition of the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, presented as 'The Emperor's Handbook'. I didn't want a self-help book for the captains of industry with pullquotes in little gray boxes and an introduction that lasted forever, I just wanted the damn Meditations. I will finish it anyway. And then give it away when I find another copy. Maybe to a CEO.

Memo From the Twilight Zone

Tonight, we bring to you the story of a woman alone.

A woman who experiences the familiar parasomnia of believing someone is in her bedroom, when she is, in fact, alone.

Quite alone.

A woman, we might add, superstitious about the dead.

A woman who, for ill or no, has just viewed the X-Files episode "Millennium", before trundling off to her warm bed, her two cats curled up pleasantly nearby.

Tonight on The Twilight Zone, the chilling episode "Zombie FBI Agents Broke In and All I have is a Small Cat".

But first, this commercial break.... dee dee dee dee, dee dee dee dee

Oh, Poo, what the hell: Endless Trivia About Me

From shining moon, via Marshmallows & Bile:

1. What is your name? Too clever by half.
2. Age? 32.
3. How old do you look? Mid-20's? Early-20's?
4. How old do you act? Mmm. Varies.
5. What's the last song you sang? "Fallin'", by Alicia Keys. At the restaurant during lunch. I think. Though I might have sung something since then.
6. Have you recently become a member of anything? The ACLU.
7. What did you do yesterday? Worked. Read a book I've read a million times before. (Intersperse this with petting cats, btw.)
8. What did you do this weekend? Worked. Slept. Watched a dumb-silly action movie. Watched a funny-silly episode of "The Dead Zone". Studied the ClearQuest API.
9. Do you kiss with your eyes open or closed? Closed.
10. What's the sexiest thing about the opposite sex others? 'Bout men? As attracted as I am to hair and a great smile, what I find sexy is intelligence, passion, and humor.
11. Do you sing in the shower? Friend, you have to duct-tape my mouth shut to get me to not sing all the time. Really. Of course I sing in the shower.
12. Are you in love with anyone right now? I love several people. I don't think I'm in love with anyone. Well. Ask me again tomorrow.
13. Have you ever said "I love you" and not meant it? sigh. Yes. And it feels terrible.
14. Does anything on your body itch right now? Nope.
15. What color is the carpet in your bedroom? Gray-ish-beige-taupe-charcoal? Something?
16. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex in your room? This apartment? Um, yes, the male segments of the band Moonlife (shameless plug! Moonlife rules!), I believe, and my dad. Oh, and the guys who delivered my bed. They kind of had to be in there, y'know?
17. Who is the sexiest (wo)man alive? Women: Kate Winslet. Gillian Anderson. Drew Barrymore. Melanie Lynskey. *fans self*. Men: Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp. Gabriel Byrne.
18. If your house was on fire and you could only save one thing, what would you save? Cats. No contest.
19. Who was your first best friend? My twin brother, of course. We've known each other, like, for ever.
20. Who is the next person you'll buy a birthday gift for? Does yesterday count? I had to get something new for Janis since the Amano calender is out of stock. Though, it was intended as a Christmas present. Well. Janis, I guess.
21. What's your favourite number? Pi. 9. Felicitous 3. I dunno.
22. Have you ever gotten detention, if so what for? I don't think so.
23. What is your fave place to go on vacation? Mountains. Evergreens. *breathes deep*. Yeah.
24. Up or down? Up.
25. Did you like playing truth or dare? No, thank you.
26. How many times a week do you bathe? Daily.
27. Perfect wedding song? (casting about aimlessly) ...Hell if I know.
28. The perfect breakfast? Eggs, sausage, maybe pancakes.
29. What is your deepest, darkest secret? The only way to keep a secret, is to not tell it to other people.
30. Funniest joke you ever heard? "Heisenberg walks into a bar. Maybe."
31. Saddest movie? Argh. Um. "Schindler's List", maybe.
32. Last movie you saw in the theatre? "The Two Towers."
33. When's the last time you rode a bike? Probably been over a year.
34. Who is the last person who asked for your phone number? I believe that was the first person who ever asked for my phone number.
35. What is it like outside? Gray. Rainy.
36. Last concert/play/sports event you went to? Beethoven's only opera, "Fidelio", with Janis.
37. Next venue you are going to? "Thérèse Raquin" , another opera, by Pickert.
38. Have you ever had phone sex? No.
39. Do you separate your darks from whites? Depends on how many quarters I have.
40. Do you have any piercings other than in your ears? Nope.
41. What do you wear to work? Reasonably nice clothes, usually.
42. Can you touch your toes without bending your knees? Yes.
43. Food you can't live without? Yes, very true.
44. Do you own handcuffs? Metal cop handcuffs, or...something else?
45. Do you like your friends? Isn't that part of the definition of "friend"?
46. Are you a flirt? If in the company of outrageous flirts, I flirt outrageously. If hanging with wallflowers, I flower the wall. Part self-defense technique, part not wishing to impose on someone else's lifestyle. I'm big on balance.
47. Do you miss anyone right now? I miss Bren the depth of oceans and the width of the wind.
48. Are you very ticklish? Who me? *shakes head vigorously* No, no. Whatever gave you that idea?
49. Would you ever go skinny-dipping? Nope. Bad self-image. Thanks for asking, though.
50. Have you ever kissed someone you weren't going out with? *sighs dreamily* Yeah.

Canda, Beware!

The Next Big Threat . You guessed it, our "neighbor" to the north. Because, America has decided Canadians need Biometric ID Cards to enter the US.

Does something ring funny about that to you? I mean, I've got a passport, which by definition is a certification by my country's government that I am who I say I am, when I try to enter your country. That's it. So, either the US is saying it doesn't want to recognize Canadian passports anymore, or.....or.... come again?

Patriot Act II

The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003

I read about this kind of thing, and I don't feel secure. I feel the exact opposite. Don't you?

Phew

It's been a terribly long week, but the light at the end of the current tunnel doesn't look like a train after all.

Look upon my works, ye mighty,
and say, 'hey, cool'.
    -- Sidramandias.

Also, From Russia

Russian ship docks with ISS.

Report from the Paramecia Department

Specifically, the Global Influenza Team:

Flu epidemic has begun in Russia. Omsk, Astrakhan, Chelyabinsk, Pskov, Rostov-on- Don, Novosibirsk, and Penza have reached epidemic-levels of flu incidence in all ages.

Telomerase 'Off' Switch for Cancer Cells

Secrets of Cancer's "Eternal Youth"

Whoa. Cool stuff.

The gist here is that cancer cells may be re-activating a gene that supports our initial cell growth in the womb. The result: cancer cells replicate forever and never stop. (Normal cells don't.). This effect is produced, quite possibly, by the cell unravelling its copy of the telomerase gene, which holds the on/off swtich for cell growth. According to the article, about 85% of cancers re-activate this unlimited cell growth sequence. Now, quite possibly, we 're on the edge of turning that back 'off'.

I'm all, like, acidopholous-y

I been cultured.

San Diego Opera. Beethoven. "Fidelio".

The Civic Theatre is very nice, and our balcony-side seats had a very good view ('cept for the guy in front of me, the one with the head....the one with the *big* head.).

Wonderful orchestra, fabulous singers, fun story and really seamless set changes. (Speaking as the offspring of thespians, seamless set changes are utterly marvelous.)

I loved the story, and this is the first time I've paid attention to above-stage captioning, which didn't get in the way if I wanted just to look at the stage, but were easy to spot if I wanted to know what was being said, as my German is so inadequate I'm loathe to use the phrase 'my German'. I can parse maybe one word in 10, and it better be a simple one.

ANYWAYS. A big thumbs up overall.

Columbia

Astronauts Die As Shuttle Breaks Apart

I didn't know until Kim mentioned it in e-mail this afternoon. Ah, no. Ah, no.

I haven't turned on the TV in about 2 weeks -- work's been busy -- and I'm not going to today. But I also need to see this, to see proof that this really happened. That, for Columbia, somewhere between points A and B, a disaster occurred. Disaster -- an ill-omened star, indeed.

I remember when Challenger exploded in 1986. I sat in the teacher's lounge with all the teachers who could get away from their classes, and the other students like myself, sent by those who couldn't. And together we watched the footage, great white plumes of smoke arcing like the fronds of some terrible plant, drooping downwards from where, moments before, living humans had been.

Like so many of us watched, together in 2001, when human lives were ended abruptly by jet fuel, concrete and the impacts flesh does not survive. I didn't believe it when I heard it on the radio. I didn't believe it until I saw the WTC, a plane, and fire, and a little later, when a tiny black dot fell from a great height, I said to myself, "I just watched a human being die. I just watched a life go out. I just watched the only gift we ever get, taken away."

That essence of potential in all of us, that possiblity one person represents, is precious, not like a diamond, but fragile and unique and irreplaceable. Like a snowflake.

Human lives are ended abruptly every day, some with a bang, some with a whimper, some even with a sigh of relief. But it's always a tragedy.

California Corrections Budget

In other news, I woke up to NPR the other day and a discussion of how the California state budget is getting slashed everywhere, with the notable exception of corrections. That's the cute euphemism for "dealing with crime".

Wanna save some money? Slash it, too. But, how, Sidra, you wail, how! Without putting Evil Pedophile Rapists™ on the streets!?

Simple:

1. Legalize marijuana. Instead of throwing money at stopping an industry, shift to making money off of it. What lessons have we failed to learn from Prohibition? Tax the booze, baby, and tax the weed while you're at it.
2. Get rid of that whole '3 strikes' thing. Y'know, that law that throws you in jail if you get busted for, say, smoking pot a little too often? Or stealing videotapes?

And what we save from the corrections can go straight where it belongs: the schools.

Looks like a win-win to me.

Kromski Minstral

My Minstral spinning wheel (Kromski of Poland) has arrived. It's a kit. I'm so busy with work right now, and so tired, that it's just sitting in its box here in my cubicle. Don't even have the time to take all the parts out and inventory them. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, SUCKS.

Textiles


I have a more-than-passing fondness for the history of textiles, and Asian cultures, so finding this display at the San Diego Museum of Art was a definite treat.

Check it out: :Chinese Robes of China's Last Dynasty. Qing Dynasty robes -- absolutely beautiful.

May I Have Your Attention, Please

And this does mean you, George.

"The presumption of dictating to an independent nation the form of its government is so arrogant, so atrocious, that indignation as well as moral sentiment enlists all our partialities and prayers in favor of one and our equal execrations against the other. I do not know, indeed, whether all nations do not owe to one another a bold and open declaration of their sympathies with the one party and their detestation of the conduct of the other. But farther than this we are not bound to go; and, indeed, for the sake of the world, we ought not to increase the jealousies or draw on ourselves the power of [a] formidable confederacy."

--Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1823.

This concludes today's Public Service Announcement. Thank you.