Chaos Theory:

What's Going On

Easter Calendar
My Swurl page
Aggregates a bunch of journal-y blog entries together. Convenient!
Ravelympics
Knitting and crochet and all kinds of projects, competing to be finished within two weeks and change!
National Novel Writing Month
Saturn Return Can Bite Me
My beta test blog over on Vox, astrology-related.
Knitting Olympics 2006
I was a gold medalist!
The Spanglemonkey Awards 2005
Best Internet Variety Show (and Good Luck Getting Anything Done, Ever) in 2005!
My Bloglines blogroll.
Fine. There you go.
I am the Minister of Chaos
Like you were surprised to hear it. Heh.
My Blog Threat Level Is:
The Feminist Valentine Blog Awards.
The Spanglemonkey Awards

* Spanglemonkey's Best Site From Which to Steal Links Shamelessly in 2004
* Best Blog Title Based on Ian Malcolm's Dialogue in Jurassic Park, in 2004
Davis Wiki
Welcome to our wiki little world. I can't believe I just said that.
Kingdom of Loathing
It's my Evercrack. But it won't turn you into a drooling idiot who can't leave the computer screen, ever.
BugMeNot
Be a rebel. Screw registering. Read stuff.
Craft Enabled, Domestically Disabled
My new craft blog, to give the "Craft Projects" photo album a bit of purpose.
Speed-Reading Book Nerd Reviews
Yes, I started a booklog, mostly for summer reading. Eventually, I'll even add reviews to it.
My NaNoWriMo Novel Site

If you're interested in that sort of thing.

Quotes

Jennifer Finney Boylan:
"The world is full of false hopes, most of them dumber than the hope of being transformed by love."
Hugh Macleod:
“Good ideas come with a heavy burden; which is why so few people execute them. Few people can handle it.“  
Fiona Glennane on meditation:
“I want you to close your eyes and breathe deep. Picture a peaceful mountain stream. Can you do that? Picture yourself drowning the kidnapper in the stream.”
Sarah Haskins:
"We used to just grow old and be spinsters. Now we have a lot of options: We can be spinsters or cougars."
The Doctor:
"All that attitude, all that lip, 'cos all this time... you think you're not worth it. Shouting at the world 'cos no-one's listening. Well... why should they?"
Winter, the guy trying to visit all the Starbucks before they close:
"Pointless though it might it be, a goal is a goal."
Carolyn Hax:
Carlsbad, N.M.: How do I figure out what to be when I grow up? Carolyn Hax: I dunno, but it's easier if you grow up first, then figure it out. Otherwise you'll just change your mind when you get there.
Bobby Singer:
"Are you under the impression that family is supposed to make you feel GOOD? Bake you an apple pie, maybe? They're SUPPOSED to make you miserable, that's why they're family!"
Dan Savage:
"You want crazy frosting on sane cake."
fillyjonk on Susan Boyle:
"What makes people stop laughing — or at least, what makes you stop caring if they do? The discovery that something about you is utterly remarkable."
Gregg Levoy:
"Chaos is just going to throw on a tie-dye shirt and come to work with no pants on."
Carrie Fisher:
"My mother always said to me, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, dear!” and I wanted to say, “Oh, okay! Then I won’t! I thought that it was a good thing to rough yourself up, but you say it’s not, so I’ll just stop! Thanks for the tip!”
deering:
"Someone who wants to be a doctor or an engineer isn't told right off that bat that they are untalented, or impractical, or can't make it, ever. :P"
Jonathan Coulton:
"This is the thing about the new landscape that drives everyone crazy: you can’t see inside the cow; you can only build one, feed it music, and wait for it to poop."
Andrew Ramer:
"All life wobbles on this planet. Wobbles, or dances. As sometimes, when someone bumps into you on the dance floor, you turn to them with anger in your eyes. And sometimes, you turn to them and love stares back, and the bruise on your thigh was all worth it. So with Earth. It smiles, and rubs its hip. "When you understand fire, you no longer stick your hand in it, you contain it and cook with it. When you understand the wobble, you no longer fear it or hate it, you move with it, use it. And sometimes, when your life is a mess, when you've been in therapy for 57 years and you're still falling in love with the wrong person--stop blaming your parents or yourself. Stop and take a deep breath and say to yourself--I'm living on a world that wobbles on its axis. It has seasons and changes. And sometimes, what seems to be going wrong in my life isn't really a flaw in my nature. It's just that I haven't learned to wobble with the world yet. The Earth laughs at itself. Can you?"
Carolyn Hax:
"Short description of a long process: Figure out the things that make you feel confident/fulfilled/energized; that give you a sense of purpose or accomplishment; that tap into your natural abilities and strengths; and that -don't- put you at the mercy of any one person, and orient your life around those. Often, this requires another step--concurrently or as a precursor--of reducing the role in your life of things that make you feel worthless/empty/exhausted; that require skills that don't come naturally; that feel like a waste of time; or that put you routinely at the mercy of others."
Kitty Norville:
"People are always saying that to me--how can I possibly be a skeptic given what I am? Given how much I know about what's really out there, how can I turn my nose up at any half-baked belief that crosses my desk? Really, it's easy, because so many of them are half-baked. They're formulated by people trying to con other people and make a few bucks. The fact that some of this is real makes it even more important to be on our guard, to be that much more skeptical, so we can separate truth and fiction. Blind faith is still blind, and I try not to be."
Kitty Norville:
"The supernatural world was like an onion. You peel back the layers, only to find more layers, on and on, hopelessly trying to reach the mysterious core. Then you start crying."
regicide is good for you:
"Are ads even trying to sell anything anymore, or just keep us vaguely, constantly aware that there are generally things on sale somewhere nearby? I like this new model. People get paid to delight me, and I walk away still blissfully unaware of products."
Hanna Rosin:
"One fleeting thing—an unearned pile of money, a one-night stand, a tattoo, a suddenly paralyzed teammate—can change your entire life. Accident and coincidence are more powerful than any God-driven holistic narrative."
B.J. Love (what a name, eh?):
“People may think art is a waste of time because it’s not ‘goods’ that can be bought, sold and taxed, but down the road art is all we got. The only historical documents I've read from the 1860s are the Gettysburg address, a poetic speech, and Leaves of Grass and THAT is how I understand those times, and I think years from now, poetry will still be how we understand times, these time included.”
Seymour, "Burn Notice":
"Don't argue with destiny. It will kick your ass."
NoStyleHere:
"So I'm 48, good god man, and my experience is that every time you think life is finally starting to be less weird, it busts loose with a whole new *kind* of weird. Life ebbs and flows and changes and much of the joy of it is in its utter unpredictability."
Patricia Briggs:
"As an author, I sometimes feel like the wicked witch. My job is to find someone happily minding their own business, and mess up their happy little lives until they're upset enough to get off their rump and go change something."
Elliot Bangs:
"What the hell was I doing? I asked myself, more than once. But haven't you ever needed to follow a mystery past all the limits of common sense? Have you ever found yourself in a whole awful prison of a world in which every last familiar and sensible thing has finally come up hollow and pointless? Have you ever been left with nothing on which to stake all your hopes of transcendence, save one good leap into the abyss? It also suffices to say that the story would have ended here if it hadn't been for alcohol."
Elsa:
For me it’s like being a horse… a thoroughbred. That "horse is born to run… pretty much that is why it is here. It can rest but the basic life is getting ready to run, running and then recovering from running. If you take a horse like that or a person like me and you tie them down, you are killing that horse. You are perverting nature. That horse is not going to thrive and God or the universe is going to be very pissed at you. He or it will also be pissed at the horse because what’s it doing standing there when it knows damned well it’s supposed to run?"
Carrie Fisher:
"Now, keeping yourself impervious to mockery is a full time occupation. I’ve been working at it ever since I can remember."
Murdoc Niccals, The Gorillaz
"Always be wary of people who use quotes." I don't know who said that."
flipside:
"Following your heart through life is like following your feet across a piano."
The Doctor:
"You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself."
Jessica Lovejoy:
"You know what would be great? This totally impossible thing!"
D. Brian Burghart:
"I’d like to be in love—if not with a person, then with a consuming new idea or project that will move me from the waiting for the next phase of my life to the real deal."
Anonymous:
"If a cannibal can find someone to volunteer to be killed and eaten, surely our problems of finding the appropriate relationships to suit us are considerably more minimal."
Joss Whedon:
"Honestly, it really is that little chaos factor. It's when the thing starts talking back to you. When you come up with something that is a little bit more than just a good reproduction of what was in the book, and somehow reflects you in a way that you didn't understand yourself: that's art."
Rasputin:
"This is what has always bothered me about relationships. It’s never just you and your partner who get into one: It’s always you, your partner, and society. And that’s not a three-way I’m comfortable with."
Anonymous:
It's funny how quickly your plans change from "changing the world and chasing your dreams" to "getting really fucking drunk."
Keith Olbermann:
"You are asked now, by your country, and perhaps by your creator, to stand on one side or another. You are asked now to stand, not on a question of politics, not on a question of religion, not on a question of gay or straight. You are asked now to stand, on a question of...love. All you need do is stand, and let the tiny ember of love meet its own fate. You don’t have to help it, you don’t have it applaud it, you don’t have to fight for it. Just don’t put it out. Just don’t extinguish it. Because while it may at first look like that love is between two people you don’t know and you don’t understand and maybe you don’t even want to know...It is, in fact, the ember of your love, for your fellow **person… Just because this is the only world we have. And the other guy counts, too."
Lafayette from True Blood:
"Ain't no freak gonna tell no other freak how to live."
Mitch Hedberg:
"I'm tired of following my dreams. I'm just going to figure out where they're going, and hook up with them later."
Cathal Morrow:
"Two truths I didn’t realise until just now: 1. I’ve always had the sense that my life is moving towards some sort higher truth 2. It’s not going particularly well"

June 15, 2007

This is a hoot.

"BEST FRIEND: Whatever. I just know that all I’ve been hearing recently from heroines is, “Can’t we just be friends?” And she’s not talking about taking my last name in marriage, folks. Times are tough. For Pete’s sake, in chick lit, I’m almost always gay!

SWASHBUCKLER: (filing his nails with a spare spear point) But when you’re not, you do get the girl. I never get a chick lit heroine.

CHARMER: Neither do I. It’s such a crock. I do everything for those girls, and in the end, they always up and leave me for… well, him, usually. (He gestures to the CHIEF.)

EVERYONE ELSE: Get in line."

Posted on June 15, 2007 at 11:05 PM in NaNoWriMo/Writing Stuff | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fun with BPAL.

Found here:

"You know you're a Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab convert when you start your day by squawking "OW! I got the Sacred Whore of Babylon in my eye!"

"Yeah! That's the best part about bpal, the weird (out of context) names.
"What's that scent you're wearing?"
-"Oh, it's Monsterbait: Underpants!"

"Hoooray, I got my Frumious Bandersnatch!"

P.s. I hope you didn't really get Sacred Whore of Babylon in your eye. That sounds like it would hurt. Is it gone?"

Posted on June 15, 2007 at 01:37 PM in Weird, Wild Stuff | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today's Carolyn Hax chat.

Washington Post:

"Couple Friendships, Washington, D.C.: My husband has longtime friends with a guy I do not like. My husband is aware that I do not like him and has a vague idea of the reason why. The guy is aware of what he did and has apologized but for my own sense of personal safety I will do anything I can to avoid being in his presence. This guy is married to a woman I do not like much either (drug user/drunk) but I am certainly civil to her. Anyway, I do not care if my husband want to go hang out with this guy and play basketball etc., but I will not do 'couple' things with them so when this pair keeps inviting us over for dinner, I won't go. I have told my husband that he can go if he wants but to tell them that I am busy. After using this approach for several months, they've now asked us to pick a night when we aren't busy and they will have us over then. Obviously the truth is too harsh ("I won't come to your house because your husband got drunk, grabbed me, & tried to rip off my shirt while you were passed out in the next room and only because someone walked in was I able to get away") but they don't really seem able to take the subtle hint that I will always be too busy.
What would you say?"

"Carolyn Hax: I would say, why is your husband only vaguely aware of what happened?"

Uh, good point.

"Couple friends again: I miss-spoke when I said vaguely. Actually before I could even tell him what happened, they guy that interceded had already told him. As to why my husband is still friends with him, they have been friends for 20 years, have been through a lot of personal stuff together, and have a lot of the same mututal friends. Deep down even I don't believe the guy is a bad guy (or I would have pressed charges), I do believe he is a very bad drunk (he actually remembers nothing about what he did as he was in a black out but he's been told.) My husband says he has really cut down on his drinking and is trying to better himself. My husband is a beliver in 2nd chances so is willing to support him in this - he asked itf he should stop being friends with him and I said he didn't need to on my account. I too have forgiven him but will never put myself in the same situation again - ie forgiven but not forgotten.
That enough background to get back to the actual question?"

"Carolyn Hax: Yes, I think so, thank you.
It's time for your husband to say that you understand he was drunk at the time and you have forgiven him, but nevertheless you don't feel comfortable socializing with him, and hope he understands. If your husband refuses, then you need to say it. Once, clearly, without rancor. Since it's out in the open, there's no need for this "I'm busy" game."

But man, this is why "couple friends" is not a good idea at times. Dayum.

"I'm writing in response to Wednesday's column about being the ugly friend. Throughout college, I was the other occupant in a dorm room whose other bed was filled by a perfectly proportioned, perfectly complected supermodel. They were all nice to me, and I was never jealous. I learned a lot from each of them even though I never made it past one semester with anyone.
One morning, my roomie toddered off to the shower, post conquest. Her suitor, who looked just about ready for his cover shot for Abercrombie and Finch, roused, rolled over, looked at me and said, "Why is she so____" and I forget the word he used. Some little personality quirk he didn't like. And I answered, "She's normal. She does stupid shit. She says stupid shit. She can be annoying and insensitive just like anyone else. She's just pretty. Just because she's perfect on the outside doesn't mean she's perfect on the inside."
And he nods like I've just offered him some great truth about the universe. I have a limp due to an orthopedic condition. My hair is graying. I like it. If I was too perfect on the outside, stupid people who judge just by appearances would want to whistle me into their lives only to be put out when I got a zit or didn't know something they thought should be common knowledge. I liked my roommates, but I didn't envy them. They had it a lot tougher than me. People who date me are going to be accepting and realistic by definition."

"Carolyn Hax: I want to laminate this. Thank you."

Posted on June 15, 2007 at 01:25 PM in Quarterlife Crisis | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 2009