Bubble: 2B

Once upon a time, I was asked about my "type". A bit later, I was asked (half-jokingly, I think...) "Do ballerinas do anything for you?" Um...*

So, tonight when asked "Does the movie Bound do anything for you?" Unless my memory totally fails me, I'd give Bound 10 out of 10 ballerinas. On the flip side of that, I would give the movie I saw today a measly 2B** rating. Bubble didn't do much for me, other than suck an hour and a half of living from my being. The new theatre at Keystone at the Crossing was pretty nice. Chushy/kooshy seats and adult beverages in the lobby were nice touches. It's too bad you have to actually enter a mall to get to the theatre. But, I guess it all evens out in the end.

*Yeah... Not so much.
**I'm being generous.

A little to the side...

Just found out about Bed Books. They seem like a nifty concept. I have an astigmatism in both eyes, so when I've had contacts in the past they've been weighted (and expensive). Weighted contacts made reading or watching TV a little more challenging than most other activities. Lounging wasn't as fun for me as for other people. Bed Books wouldn't have helped in my situation, but they do seem to be a creative solution to reading in bed.
P.S. - With specs, I'm much less likely to complain. :)

Hola!

I'm still here, just super busy (and thus, very tired when I'm not). Thought I'd share my answers to Belicove's Friday Five:

Q1 - Teachers: The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is about to become the largest public school district in the United States to tie teachers' pay to their students' standardized test scores. How do you feel about this? Do you feel HISD and other school districts around the country should be able to tie teacher pay to student performance, or should merit or something else aside from student performance figure into the equation?
Since I'm not in school and haven't been for some time, I hadn't thought about how easy it is for a teacher to cheat this type of set up until I recently read Freakonomics. I'm not sure how teachers should be paid, but I do see flaws in the HISD system.

Q2 - Osama: Do you honestly think Osama bin Laden will ever be captured or killed by U.S. troops? If bin Laden is captured, the current administration will have to chase after someone or something else when it's time to distract Americans. Why not keep it simple and keep chasing the same guy?

Q3 - Emotion: When and why was the last time you screamed at the top of your lungs? It was last January when I was at the end of my rope with a work project. I took a short drive to get away. When crying wasn't enough, I decided to scream. Screaming is great, but should be saved for special occasions.

Q4 - Your Bed: Is your bed really comfortable, or do you live with poor sleep caused by the quality of your bedding? My bed is really comy... Though, I could use a few new pillows.

Also interesting...
The Freakonomics Blog has a link to this story at Editor & Publisher about the Indy Star's plans to celebrate the assumed Colts' Super Bowl victory.

Reading... The Rule of Four

I just finished reading The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. It was a book about a book (HYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI)neatly tied in with a coming of age story. Yesterday, I jokingly said "If you liked The DaVinci Code... You'll love The Rule of Four", in that there are clues, chases and chapter that end mid-chapter. Meaning... Instead of tidy little chapter bundles, you're left hanging until the middle of the next "chapter". It's a literary device that probably has a name that I'm entirely not familiar with. Pretty clever though, as it keeps the reader reading. It would have helped had I been familiar with the book that it's about before I started reading this book. A pretty good read, but I doubt that I'd recommend it.

Since Sliced Bread

Since Sliced Bread is a national call for fresh, common sense ideas. A call for ideas that will strengthen our economy and improve the day-to-day lives of working men and women and their families. It’s also a place where ordinary Americans and experts alike can discuss the important economic issues of our times.

Since Sliced Bread is now accepting votes on the first round of ideas. Get this...

The first place winner will receive $100,000, and the runners up will be awarded $50,000 each.

I love this idea.
(Check it out and be sure to throw in a vote while you're at it.

According to Google...

People in the world are known for... Check out this map. Pretty interesting. Americans are known for:
- strength
- dislike of walking
- geniality and hospitality
- guarding their rights
- anti-Muslim politics

Germans are known for:
- precision
- enjoying their beer
- resourcefulness
- punctuality

Apparently I'm much more German that I am American.
What are you known for?

Random Crap That I Felt I Needed to Look Up

"Picture Pages, Picture Pages,
Time to get your Picture Pages,
Time to get your crayons and your pencils..."
You can play with Picture Pages,
Fill your day with Picture Pages,
'Till Bill Cosby does another Picture Page with you!"

AP's 30 Stand Alone Cities
(Places I've Been... Counting layovers):

Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Chicago
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
St. Louis
Washington (D.C. isn't used)

Still looking for info on the famed Barbie Hospital.

A-Z

It seems like a bunch of memes are going around lately. Think we're all kind of in a post-holiday-it's kind-of-quiet-here mode, or what? It's much easier to fill in a meme than to actually create something from the dry ingredients. Feel free to share your love with Ms. Sizzle, the source of A-Z amusement.

A is for age:
30. I never ever thought I'd ever be thirty, but hey... I made it this far, I suppose.

B is for booze of choice:
Dirty martinis make me very happy, as do most sweet wines and wheat beers. I'm not too choosy.

C is for career:
I sell ideas and events.

D is for your dog's name:
I have no dog. But, my youngest sister just enabled the adoption process of one Bailey Irish Cream Puppy Pants. Cute dog.

E is for essential items you use everyday:
Must have Diet Coke.

F is for favorite song(s) at the moment:
I'm digging on the new "You Push Me" song by Madge. Not sure what it's really titled and too lazy to look it up at the moment. It beats the "New York-dork, get off my street" song as it sleeps. I'm also still stuck on the song Breathe by Anna Nalick.

G is for favorite games:
Scrabble, Yatzee (when I'm winning) and Pictionary. These are oldies but goodies.

H is for hometown:
Ich wuchs in einem kleinen Dorf auf.

I is for instruments you play:
Ha!

J is for jam or jelly you like:
JP's grape jelly is delish.

K is for kids:
Again... Ha!

L is for last kiss:
This is getting out of hand...

M is for most admired trait:
Extended public tolerance of those most likely to annoy?

N is for name of your crush:
Hmm... I'm in the market for one. Surely she's around here somewhere.

O is for overnight hospital stays:
Thankfully only as a wee babe.

P is for phobias:
Nuclear war and a winter with no snow.

Q is for quotes you like:
- What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. (Actually: "What does not destroy us - we destroy, and it makes us stronger." ~ Nietzsche)

- Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb

- The weaker sex must protect the stronger sex from the strength of the weaker sex, lest the stronger sex feel weakened by the strength of the weaker sex. ~ I forget... If you know, please share in the comments.

R is for biggest regret:
No real "biggest" regret. Probably most frequent regret is not catching obvious mutual attraction until it's too late.

S is for sweets of your choice:
Diet Coke, tiramisu and carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

T is for time you wake up:
It's a process beginning at 5:45 and ending at 7:00am. I can't function at a normal level for the first hour, so this seems to work.

U is for underwear:
Boy shorts with cute prints are the best of both worlds.

V is for vegetables you love:
Tomatoes, eggplant, okra.

W is for worst habit:
See "T".

X is for x-rays you've had:
Teefies multiple times. Not sure on other bits and pieces.

Y is for yummy food you make:
Pasta bake and fucking cake.

Z is for zodiac sign:
Usually Cancer, sometimes Gemini. I sit squarely on the cusp.

Indiana's Choice?

A new bill has been introduced in Indiana. By taking action, you're helping keep choice an option in Indiana and the United States.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana says:
Today, Rep. Troy Woodruff filed a bill to make abortion illegal in Indiana. Less than 24 hours after Speaker of the House Brian Bosma promised to uphold the law of the land, we face HB 1096, which mocks both the U.S. and Indiana constitutions. HB 1096 would derail decades of progress for women’s rights and make abortion--which has been a safe, legal procedure--a felony.

If you live in Indiana and you believe in a woman's right to choose, please send a quick email to your representatives. Don't let it go federal.

Shakespeare's Sister outlines the implications HERE.

She Gets It From Her Momma

Just popping in to let you and you and you know that today is JP's birthday. If you ever wondered where I get my sense of humor and poor eyesight, now you know.

Happy Birthday, JP!

Zzzzs or playful descruction lessons?

Difficult decision time... I have an early meeting in the morning, but I just found this site. (My thanks to the MJ over at Friday Fishwrap. I might be cursing you in the wee hours, but this is golden. Kudos!)

Flag Boys

Tonight I am attempting to uncover the start of the tradition of go go boys dancing with flags. It's an offbeat tradition that I've seen in gay bars for years. So far, I've found: Go Go Boy Diary and looking for Circuit Party Flag, I found this.

Neither of which have helped at all. I'm very specifically looking for websites that aren't "adult" in nature, which is probably throwing my chances of actually finding the info. Maybe I'll try wikipedia next...

~ Update ~
No luck on wikipedia, but I did find what I was looking for. (Or I found enough to satisfy my curiosity.) From http://www.flaggercentral.com/body_article.php?article=22:

For those in the know, flagging is hardly new. Flag lore has it that a
gay contingent visiting New York from California was introduced to fanning (dancing with fans) in the mid-Seventies at the gay and then-hot spot, 12 West. The group returned to the West Coast and carried fanning into gay clubs in San Francisco. Soon enough, the art found its way to bars in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale, and fabric fans replaced paper ones that ultimately shredded. Fan dancing began to fade from gay night life by the nineties, when AIDS claimed the lives of many dancers before they had a chance to pass along their knowledge of the art.

Yet a new generation of clubbers revived fanning, first by spinning their T-shirts or bandanas in lieu of fans, then by stitching fabric flags from scratch. Call it what you want: rag-dancing, spinning linen, throwing fabric or flag dancing, the art has mutated, and today flagging graces clubs and circuit parties in Dallas, New York City, L.A., and as far away as Montreal and Sydney, Australia.

Some flaggers perform with troupes in choreographed dances, but many prefer to go it alone, freestyling their way through house and trance tracks. Standard sizes for flags are thirty-five inches in width and forty-five in length, but this too can vary.

Much more pretty than the hulahooping that I've read about in the past.