December 23rd, 2008

A meme for musics!

Chrissy "created" this little meme because she was bored and loves finding new music. We're going to tag some people, but if you weren't tagged, you're more than welcome to do it anyway.

Whatcha Do:

1) List five of your favorite bands/artists.
2) Choose three songs from each band/artist.
3) If you can find a link to listen to the song at Last.fm or YouTube, post it!
4) Tag five people.

Pretty simple, eh? Let's get to it..

Here's Chrissy's list:

1) Sufjan Stevens

a) "Chicago" (link)
b) "The Dress Looks Nice on You" (link)
c) "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti" (link)

2) Broken Social Scene

a) "Cause=Time" (link)
b) "Shampoo Suicide" (link)
c) "Hotel" (link)

3) The Mars Volta

a) "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" (link)
b) "Cicatriz ESP" (link)
c) "L'Via L'Viaquez" (link)

4) Interpol

a) "Obstacle 2" (link)
b) "Pace is the Trick" (link)
c) "The Heinrich Maneuver" (link)

5) Travis

a) "Writing to Reach You" (link)
b) "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" (link)
c) "Flowers in the Window" (link)

And now it is Mike's turn!

1) Sufjan Stevens

a) John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (link)
b) Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in his Hair (link)
c) What Child is This Anyway? (link)

2) Murder By Death

a) I'm Afraid of Who's Afraid of Virgina Wolfe (link)
b) Three Men Hanging (link)
c) The Devil in Mexico (link)

3) Beirut

a) Gulag Orkestar (link)
b) Prenzlauerberg (link)
c) Mount Wroclai (Idle Days) (link)

4) Frank Zappa

a) Uncle Remus (link)
b) Montana (link)
c) I'm the Slime (link #1 & link #2)

5) NESkimos

a) Kirby's Adventure: Grape Garden (link)
b) Megaman 2: Wily Part One (link)
c) Metroid: Norfair Tenement Blues (link)

Tagged: Allyson, Anna, Chenoa, Elyse, and Jess.

ETA - Mike wants to tag Andy, 'cause he is a rebel. SO WE SUMMON ANDY AS WELL!

December 19th, 2008

The Importance of Keyboard Maintenance

Lately, my laptop has been a pain. My mouse movement has been sluggish. My H key has had a working ratio of about 50%. My space bar has been... annoying to say the least. So, I decided to solve the problem. By systematically pulling off trouble keyboard keys and pulling out the hair. Also by swiping in between the rows to get the hair there too. Shall we see the results?

CAUTION: Picture not very nice for people who don't like looking at balls of dusty, gross-looking hair...

Seriously, how gross is that?

I put it next to a DS game for size comparison. Animal Crossing, for those who care. I'm going to... uh... blame my sporadic updates on this hairball. Yeeeah...

Now that it's fixed... I'll update more regularly!

You know... after the holidays...

And probably after I get back from visiting Chrissy. BUT WE'LL PROBABLY POST SOME COOL STUFF TOGETHER.

But then... yeah... updates!

December 12th, 2008

Do you want to rumble? 'Cause I want to rumble...

There are many things you're not told about weight loss when you begin a regimen to your road to a healthier life, but I am going to tell you about one that is currently my favorite: shrinkage in the hands and fingers.

See, I've lost over thirty pounds since I started actively trying to lose weight two years ago, but I never really saw too much improvement. Yeah, my clothes fit better and I've even dropped a dress size, but I could never really SEE it in the mirror. But my hands and fingers! Oh, it is glorious!

I've always had short, fat fingers, much like little Vienna sausages, and large hands. Back in high school, my ring size was 12. FOR A GIRL. Which is kind of disgusting, I'll admit. But now, 30 pounds-or-so lighter, I can wear a size 9 comfortably, although it wears a tad loose, but I can also wear a size 8. This is part of the reason I don't have an engagement ring yet, because each time I have my ring finger sized, it's another size smaller. Which will be a pain in the ass if I got a bitchin' rad ring now and have to get it resized a bunch of times.

(The other reason is that I am crazy picky and dislike diamonds. What's a girl to do?)

I'm all kinds of bony in my hands now, too. I can feel my veins and tendons and bones and although it freaked me out at first, I kind of like it now. And I must ask, what the hell is up with my knuckles? I could seriously fuck someone up with these bad boys. All pointy and prominent and bony as fuck. I kind of want to get in a fight just to test 'em out.

(Not really. But damn!)

(Also: NEWSFLASH FAT GIRL ASTONISHED WITH BONES IN HANDS NEWS AT ELEVEN STAY TUNED)

In other health related news... I'm not sure I mentioned this before or not here on this blog (I posted about it in my LiveJournal a ton, I know), but back in September I somehow managed to hurt my back. I didn't DO anything to warrant a hurt back, I just got up to open the door and felt a slight pinch in my lower back, to the left of my spine. Didn't think too much of it. Felt like I just pulled a muscle. OM NOM'd some aspirin, took a hot shower, and called it a night.

Well the pain came back and 12 hours after the initial pinch of pain, I was in so much pain I couldn't stand up. My parents actually had to help me out of bed. So off to the ER it was for me. Weeeeee! X-rays later, they told me I had deterioration in my spine and to call my family doctor (which I didn't have at the time because our family doctor retired a few years ago) and schedule an MRI, with a prescription for pain killers and a muscle relaxant (weeee those were fun!).

Fast forward to yesterday! I finally found a family doctor (because I finally have health insurance and they finally got around to assigning me a doctor) and went in. Turns out, and you're not going to believe this because I barely do myself because WTF, I fractured my spine in two places, causing a disk to slide out of it's normal position by 25%, causing a nerve to be compressed, causing pain. CAUSING WHAT THE FUCK HOW AND WHEN DID I FRACTURE MY SPINE?!

Treatment includes physical therapy to strengthen my hips and spine to alleviate pressure on the fractures so they can heal. They can't do surgery because of where it's located, and because I'm not feeling any numbness in my legs/ass/lower back or having problems with mobility. Pain killers as needed, which I honestly don't need anymore. I've been feeling pretty good lately, despite some mild discomfort here and there.

So really, I'm fine. No need to worry about me (dear friends who freaked out: I love you!). Just gonna get me some PT and ibuprofen.

Still though. I broke my spine. I honestly cannot get over that.

The good news is that other than my spine's fondness for crapping out, I'm apparently healthy. Blood pressure is good. Slightly higher than normal, but my doctor said not to worry about it. I'm actually going back in about 15 minutes to have blood drawn to test for diabetes and cholesterol levels checked. Also a thyroid test of some kind? Here's hoping all that stuff comes back normal.

And I'm out! Take care and have a great day and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU GUYS TAKE CARE OF YOUR SPINES!

December 10th, 2008

Where Kittybutts.org Cares!

So, hey, guys... we're not usually a go-out-there-and-do-good-things kind of place. In fact, we're more a make-poor-decisions-and-gripe-about-them blog. But today, we're going to be talking about a good cause!

Our friend Mrs. Rosey is currently being very charitable. You need a Twitter account. If you have one, go and follower mrsrosey!

For every follower she gets, she will donate $1 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation and will be doing so until May 1, 2009.

For ever 50 followers, Mrs. Rosey will also get two Liv Aids, one for the 50th follower and one for a local shelter.

All it takes is a minute of your time and a few simple mouse clicks. So, go for it! Thank you.