Consent Culture - We Needs It

Couple of excellent posts on consent culture from Pervocracy. I recommend reading the comments (especially consent culture post) as well. Some good discussion and clarification in them.

Now back to the mound of homework plaguing me.

Interesting Article on The Brain

http://io9.com/5871076/what-happens-when-your-brain-is-split-in-two-+-and-you-survive

"The left side of the brain is generally in control of the following: language, math, and logic.

The right side of the brain takes over other functions, including: imagery, including facial recognition, music, and spacial relations."

---Got me thinking about correlations between certain things based on brain dominance. Do right brained people, feel differently about music? Stronger? More in tune with it? Does it mean more to them? Do they process music differently.

Some people only care about the lyrics of a song, others the music, others need the whole thing to be good to really enjoy it/get the most out of it. Does brain dominance make a difference in which one of those a person is?

Is the left-brained person more inclined to listen to the lyrics while the right-brained focuses on the musical sounds themselves? what about people who don't have one side significantly more dominant than the other? Are they the ones who need for every part of the "musical package" to be just right to work for them?

I don't have these answers. Hell I don't even know if these answers exist, but it's fun to muse and ponder. :)

Random Stuff

Here is a link.









I should be strong today. I should get stuff done, not spend the entire day in Skyrim. I should....
I have slayed dragons! I snuck up on a dragon!

I am a terrible hero. And compulsive collector of anything that isn't nailed to the floor (and believe me, I've tried to get those as well).

I have part of a post for this that I need to flog myself to finish and post because it's kinda funny (mostly at me).

My first inclination in almost any game like this is to raise my carrying capacity. Even before damage or armor. Why? So I can carry more stuffses! More stuffs is more monehs! And more flowers. More bowls, pots, armor, lanterns, emblaming tools, pickaxes, linen wrappings, ruined books and barnacles! I HAZ STUFFSES!

Dammit. I told myself yesterday that if I played then, I'd have to be productive today. But my will is weak... And the urge to avoid life is strong. And, and, and... there are internet dragons to slay. Because apparently one cannot play single player games without a mandatory internet connection anymore. Which is an angry, frothing, fist-waving rant for another time.

Perhaps I shall stare at animals I cannot afford atm. Soon animals. Soon you will be mine.

The beauty of it.

The beauty of sharp knives is how damn sharp they are.

The problem with sharp knives is how damn sharp they are.

In other news:

I have seen the face of my enemy and they do not weigh the 600 pounds you'd expect based on how heavy they walk. And incidentally, their absurd OCD pacing lasted for 6 hours*.

There is no way I'm going to be getting a good night's sleep again, let alone the nights before my exams. I weep for the brilliance that could have been and never will.

See? See what lack of sleep does to me?

*No need to rub your eyes, you are not hallucinating. You totally read that right.

Big Final Projects due, so of course my brain has a "Gone Fishin" sign!

Let's see.
Major projects due?
Check.
Urgent need to work on them tonight?
Check.
Too much energy to be sitting at a computer?
Check! Checkity, check, check!
Entirely too many distractions?
CHE- what? Oooo, shiny.
Desire to be anywhere but here right now?
Holy hell check.
Sigh
Gonna be a long few days peeps. Wish me luck. No. Wish me mental fortitude and stick-with-it-ness!
Yessssss...*

I don't give a fuck how old it is Ride Cowboy Ride** is still amazing!

I really wish I had somewhere to go and something to do tonight. But this town sucks. A festering, unfriendly pile of nothing.

*for some reason that yes is creeping me out. Did it creep you out? Does it now that I've brought your attention to it? Will it haunt your dreams in strange ways? You're welcome. :D

**Old school Bon Jovi song.

You Know You're A Night Owl

When you habitually start major baking projects after 8pm, knowing full well they won't end until somewhere around midnight. Or later. I'm just sayin'.

There has got to be a better way to do this. Baking shouldn't take this looooong.

Is this worth posting? Probably not. But you get it anyways! Oh you lucky people, you!

I Feel Like Bragging Tonight

Just took a vocabulary quiz here and scored 3,660 points. The average score is 2,470. So yea, I kinda rocked that. Tee hee hee. I identified all the words correctly. The only word I'd never seen before and didn't actually know offhand was Repine. Puerile being the next hardest word on there.

Ok back to homework and trying to find the perfect descriptive word (that I can't remember) which is what started this whole digression in the first place.

Links! To Things!

Here is a link to a fascinating article by Rachel Stark on YA novel covers and the the current* trend to the objectification and dehumanization of the "beautiful dead girl."

I only just discovered it, but the blog as a whole looks quite interesting and worth checking out beyond the post in question.

Here is another very interesting and well argued post from the same blog titled: Waiting for the Right Monster to Come Along: On Twilight, Abusive Relationships, and YA Saves
Here's a longish quote from the post:

But when I think about the vast throngs of teenagers who have read the series and swooned over Edward, it physically pains me. Because no matter how many times Edward saves Bella’s life over the course of the series, that will never change the fact that, on their first date, he tells Bella he may not be able to stop himself from killing her. It doesn’t change the fact that he follows her, threatens her, makes all of her decisions for her, cuts her off from her friends and family emotionally and physically, instills her with the belief that his murderous impulses are her fault (she “has to be good” and not lose control of her urges when they kiss, so as not to tempt him), and attacks her when she says she’s not afraid of him, just to make sure that she learns to be. That’s just in book one, and it sure doesn’t sound like any healthy relationship I know of. In fact, I’m not the first person to point out that Edward’s and Bella’s relationship shows all the signs of an abusive relationship.

That is exactly what I've tried to argue (but not nearly as eloquently unfortunately) with a few people regarding my extreme distaste of Twilight specifically and the trend in Urban Fantasy** novels in general.

Last serious link. Here's a video on YouTube by Jean Kilbourne about the portrayal of women in advertising.

Ok this has gotten entirely too serious now and I'm fucking tired because I haven't been getting more than 4 broken hours of sleep each night. Again. As well as dealing with renewed surge in anxiety levels.

I found some cool music, but I accidentally lost all the internet tabs so I have to try and remember/find them all again. Also, I want a pet. A dog is a lot of responsibility and I question my commitment. I'd kinda prefer to have a cat at this point in time, but I worry any cat I get will be too much for my allergies, no matter how non-allergenic it is. Guys, my EYEBALLS swell. Not my eyelids (well, they do to) my fucking eyeballs!!! The white, squishy bits I use to see shit with? Yea, those. If I'm not careful and touch them after touching a cat or anything with too much cat on it, I look like a goddamn pug. Eyes all bulging out of their housing and shit. Fuck that. Plus, I could bring a dog on walks with me. Take it to the dog park and let it make all sorts of friends while I hang back and fade into the fencing until it's time to go. But, do dogs adjust to night schedules? Is there such a thing as night owl dogs? Will I be able to get my dog to switch to a more evening/night schedule and not need/want to wake me up at 5am to let it shit? Because I don't have a yard or anything. The park is a 5 or so minute drive away, but it's still a drive.

I probably shouldn't get a dog. :( And I probably can't have a cat. Rats are cool, but it's best to get more than one and they'd need a big cage... I want some thing more engaging than a hamster or a rabbit. Or bird.


*I say current because, as the article explains, there's a pretty long established history of this albeit with women as opposed to girls.

** Urban Fantasy which half the time isn't, even, because it's actually Paranormal Romance (which is its own fucking genre) being erroneously labeled as Urban Fantasy. Which kinda pisses off a lot of urban lovers because we're not fucking looking for romance stories with a paranormal twist to them. If I wanted a romance novel I'd go pick one up. I don't. I want kickass heroines actually doing shit, not slave-to-their-libido, dis-empowered, angst girls looking to be saved by their badboy alpha male who will now happily dictate their life from here on in and negate any smidgens of empowerment all those Little Miss Angst Buckets might, maybe, have managed to trip their way into during their high-heeled, quest for a husband.

That knife on her thigh? That knife there reader? That knife there? Pshhh don't pay that knife no mind, that's just a flimsy decoration to scare off weaker men. Any real alpha ignores the knife and the no associated with it because every alpha man knows no really means yes.

Edited to remove confusing explanation of something.

I would carry it with me where ever I went

I want this mug for when I'm feeling anti social, or in a public place. You know, whichever. The product description for it is incredible.

I owe you posts, if for no other reason than because I just so*.

Also, here is this. This is funny. Go look at this**.

Life here still looks like a chicken running around with its head cut off splurting**** blood everywhere... if said chicken also happened to have octopus arms attached to it that were flailing around all crazy-like in their death throes.

Ok, back to homework and trying not to burn things or make them taste like shit because God knows I don't make anything else instead if I fuck it up and it does end up tasting like shit. A girl can only spend so much time cooking before her head explodes.



*Way to go me. Now you have to deliver. Way to pressure yourself. Way to set up expectations you now have to actually meet. I'm such an asshole to myself sometimes.

**This being awesome responses to obnoxious graffiti. I should have explained that up there, but since I'm being an asshole to myself, why stop there? Why not make you work for your fucking funny. Huh? huh? How do you like that***?!

***Wow. I don't know what to say to that. Sorry? I will send myself to my room for a time out... After I finish cooking. And getting my homework done. Which is due tomorrow. So maybe that time out will happen tomorrow. No, wait, I've got class and shit tomorrow. Sorry, my time out for being mean to you will totally have to wait til.... uh, hmmm (mumbling to self now) well, Tuesday I have to do all that damn running around and Wednesday I'm back in class, so, uhhh, maybe Thursday I'll discipline myself?

**** Spellchecker doesn't like splurting, probably because I made it up and spellchecker is a little hidebound about that sort of shit. Spellchecker needs to learn the value of adaptation.

The Fail Would Be Epic

I can never, ever have a phone with auto correct on it. Terrible, terrible things would come of it.

This Site is made of epic win.

Random Shit That Will Probably Bore The Pants Off You. Now With Updates!

And then you'll be wandering around pants-less, possibly being pointed and laughed at and cursing me. No one wins here*. Just walk away man. Just walk away.

I miss understanding the latest in comp tech well enough to build my own rig from scratch. I've done it 2... maybe 3 times in total, but that was so long ago. I look now and so much has changed. I don't have the first clue anymore on matching components, compatibility, best buys, prices, performance etc.

I love computers, but that love (and my damn free time) falls shy of the amount needed to constantly keep up-to-date on this stuff. I want to, but every time I try to wade in, it's like I know nothing and I'm starting from scratch all over again. And, well, I don' wanna. An alternative to writing would have seen me probably happily building computers in a back room somewhere, lacking basic human interaction and loving it**. Sadly, I was never quite able to get into that. Instead, I usually end up in Techsupport, *shudder* with it's customer service and helping people*** horrors. I'll be right back, no worries, just need to clear a little vomit out of my mouth.

So anyways, the tldr version is, want new computer. Broke and cheap, wish to make own, can't. Don't know enough anymore. Ugh, Wicked feel stupid. Smash gud. Teach electrical thingies not mess with.

Oh hell, ADD strikes again. I had more random shit I was going to bore you with, but I can't remember it now... Nope, still missing. Fine. Here you go. Perhaps it'll come to me later and I can update this post.

UPDATE: Ah ha! I remembered. My blog is too limiting. I can't do the things I want with it. Can't rearrange things the way I want to. I keep looking at that there Wordpress thingy that all the published, professional writers use. But the sheer amount of work involved, wow. And to get the themes I want? Money. Web hosting. Registering a domain name (all the cool names I want are taken. And I'm terrible at coming up with names and titles. You have no idea.). Jesus. So. Much. Effort. And money. I mentioned I'm broke yes?

OK, bye bye.


*Unless you're the kind of person who never swears. In which case, I count this a total win for me.

**Yes, I am that antisocial. :) I once had a glorious job wherein I frequently went weeks at a time without talking to another human being in a way that required my voice. I loved it. I keep waiting for this whole "oh, woe, woe is me! Writing is so lonely, so isolating" thing to kick in. *Peers around* Not fast enough I tell you.

***Which, sadly, I'm pretty good at. Or use to be, my threshold for this shit has worn very, very thin now.

Spellchecker Likes To Think It's Better Than You

Spellchecker needs to get the fuck off its high horse and accept cuss words. Life is messy Spellchecker. Deal with it.

The Things I forget To Post

The things is, I write snippets of things all the time. Sometimes they end up on this blog. Sometimes I revisit them and decide, "Mmm, no. Not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent."* Sometimes I just lose them. Didn't mean to, but there you have it. If I'm lucky, I find it later. Like this one, which I wrote sometime during the semester's end. Here you go, in all its unfinished glory. :)

For Your Amusement and Edification While I'm Busy Plunging Into the Soul Sucking Vortex of Exams, Stress and Sleep Deprivation**

I can't remember where I saw it now, but some blog had a bunch of people pissing and moaning over the “state of language today.” * rolls eyes * Yea, because language has always been such a static thing up until now. Jesus.

One of the words they hated people using was actually. Apparently it irritates them to no end.

I use that word.

I use that word because I live in a world where I have to clarify these things. For ex. “That's actually interesting.”

Person A: “So then I told him he could jolly well jump off a bridge and get stung by hornets. Can you believe he said that to me?!”

What Person B says out loud: “That's interesting.”

What Person B was really thinking: “Oh my sweet fuck. Will you just shut up, I have a bottle of hard liquor and a STD I could be catching right now.”

Shit, I was going somewhere with this. Next up was an example with me using the word. It was funny, but I can't remember it now because:

I haven't been sleeping lately, I only have 20 pages finished of a 120+ page script, exams to study for, and I'm up at 5:45am every morning and I'm most definitely not a morning person.***

So, that was my blast to the past. Hope you enjoyed it, I know I did. Now I leave you with this strange image I wrote down somewhere around 3 am last night and can't draw myself, but totally would if I could. But might yet someday if I ever learn that there drawrin' thang.

A polar bear enjoying a nice, fresh croissant.

*Given the things I do deem to be postable, can you imagine what it must take to make something unpostable? For me?! Inconceivable!

**Would have been post title.

***And no, I won't fucking adjust eventually and the next person who suggests such a profoundly stupid and irritating thing gets their teeth shoved through their liver while I punch a pepperoni through their skull. Some people's circadian rhythms are naturally tuned to night, just like some people's are tuned to morning (with the majority being a little later in the day, but not the godawful early of “morning people"). There's piles of literature on it. Read it. Know it. Stop being a dick.****

****Goodness gracious I was angry there! Or at least grumpy. And clearly sleep-deprived. And tired of being told "You'll adjust to mornings."

It's always bullet time when I vomit.

If you go all the way back to the end of May, there is a post that I accidentally left sitting in the draft stage and only now got around to posting. It's an angry post, but in it I also dub myself the Sith Lord Queen of Failbake so it might be worth a read.

In other news, I give you more random convo snippets and things you might hear if standing near me:

"It's always bullet time when I vomit."

"No, Most Beloved, you may not “capture my crazy” on camera for posterity."

An Open Letter

An open letter to the bag of Swedish Fish I bought to try and recreate a portion of my childhood.

Dear Swedish Fish,

You are fucking up my childhood. Please stop.

Thank you.

Things You Might Hear

Things you might hear while standing in line next to me:

“...and that's why I don't winter camp. Out in the middle of nowhere, freezing your ass off, next thing you know you've gone and eaten your tentmate and now your a Wendigo and no good ever comes of that.”

Also, still sick. Sick! Still!! 16 days of sick. I've had quite enough of that, thank you.

Incentive!

Incentive is sitting next to the corpse you can't dispose of until you've met your word count for the day.


I had the incredible urge to add the "this shit only happens to me" label to this post and wait to see how long it took anyone to notice that and say something. Then I remembered the fear-world we live in and decided I didn't need cops busting down my door, pepper-spraying me in the face and taze-ing the shit out of me over a joke.

Flying is Hard Work

In my dream I'm batman, except I can fly by flapping my arms like a bird. Which I am doing, vigorously, as I try to gain enough altitude to clear the building in front of me.

Here is my internal monologue while doing so: Batman would catch more criminals if he didn't have to flap his damn arms so much. Flying is fatiguing.

Also

I wrote something, lost part of it and can't remember what the rest of it was about. For your amusement you get a snippet of something to do with daily life.

Pretty sure I shouldn't be driving in that state, but, oh well, not like the magic driving fairy is gonna take me.

You're Missing the Mark on This One

Whole wheat rice crispy squares.

W. T. F.