Friends

May 20
Air Berlin
STN DUS   16h50  19h00
DUS VIE     20h45  22h15

My 28
Air Berlin
VIE DUS     16h35  18h20
DUS STN    19h10  19h30

Jun 03
British Airways
LHR SFO   13h50  16h40

Jun 11
Southwest
SJC to BUR
10h10 - 11h10

to norCal

Jul 09
British Airways
SFO LHR   16h50  11h00+1

to vienna

A zombie is a dead person that is brought back to life through means of Vodoun or necromancy, destroying the mental processes of this person through the process. Most people consider zombies only to be the stuff of horror books and movies, but they do exist in Haiti in the present day. Thousands of people in Haiti are considered to be zombies, some of which lead normal everyday lives with families, jobs and are respected citizens. It¹s even considered to be a crime to make a zombie in Haiti.

Haitian Penal Code:

Article 249. It shall also be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made against any person of substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the person had been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows.


To make a zombie, a voodoo practitioner makes a potion that consists of mainly the poison of the pufferfish (one of the strongest nerve poisons known to man, the clinical drug norcuron has similar effects and is used during surgery) that is given to the intended victim. This causes severe neurological damage, primarily effecting the left side of the brain (the left side of the brain controls speech, memory and motor skills). The victim suddenly becomes lethargic, then slowly seems to die. In reality, the victim¹s respiration and pulse becomes so slow that it is nearly impossible to detect. The victim retains full awareness as he is taken to the hospital, then perhaps to the morgue and finally as they are buried alive. Then, at the voodoo practitioner¹s leisure does he come to retrieve the victim, now become a slave, as a commodity (at one time it was said that most of the slaves who worked in the sugar cane plantations of Haiti were zombies. One case in 1918 had a voodoo priest named Ti Joseph who ran a gang of laborers for the American Sugar Corporation, who took the money they received and fed the workers only unsalted porridge). A zombie will remain in a robot-like state indefinitely, until he tastes either salt or meat(so much for ³The Night of the Living Dead²). Then the zombie becomes aware of their state, immediately returning to the grave. The reality behind the zombie has only been taken seriously by medical science within the last ten years, since the use of CAT scans of the brain, along with the confessions of voodoo priests, explaining their methods. Previous to that, zombies were considered mental defective by science or explained as stunts to try to confuse scientists.

I was wondering why I felt so tired until I remembered what I've been up to this week, posted here for your reading pleasure and commiseration:

Last weekend I was with family celebrating mother's day and doing a wedding shower for my sister. I worked last Friday and then left for Schaumburg. Stayed up late with sisters and inlaws playing Guitar Hero and wrapping presents. I started and ended last Saturday in Schaumburg- but within 6 hours of transit, spent the middle of the day in Pekin for the festivities. I got to my parents' house at midnight, called my boyfriend to say goodnight, and crashed.

Sunday morning I got up early, drove myself to the Schaumburg train station in my dad's car, locked the keys inside so the family could pick it up later on their way back from Pekin, then took the train home and got ready for work. Worked all night.

Slept in on Monday morning a tiny bit but was up and going before 10 working on my photo project, wedding stuff, and cleaning up around the apartment. Was going to work at night, ended up off for the night, so I went to dinner with Jim since he really needed the company. Another late night.

Worked Tuesday morning. Met up with Jim and another friend after work for celebratory drinks and lunch. We did a bit too much drinking... so we got a hotel room downtown and crashed for the night. We partied hard but crashed pretty early since we'd started so early.

Got up Wednesday morning in a hotel without most of the things I needed for the day. I knew that would be coming- I had makeup with me and my uniform still at work. Showered with weird hotel products, had to borrow some stuff from Jim (so I smelled like him, which was weird), then went to work and worked a DOUBLE SHIFT. Went home late but couldn't stop because the next day was going to be busy, too. Worked on photos and went to bed.

Thursday I was off of work so I took an early train out to Schaumburg and met my mom and my bride-to-be sister. Spent a couple of hours with wedding pianist working on wedding music and the song I'm singing at the wedding. Lunched. Then went shopping at craft stores for jewelry supplies for wedding stuff. Had a long talk with mom. Got home, grabbed a quick snack, got on a train back to Chicago. Stayed up late doing laundry, catching up with emails and photos, and packing for the weekend.

Worked Friday morning. Extremely busy shift- I ran in circles all day. Got out of work quickly, met up with Jim, stopped at home to grab our bags for the weekend, and left town for his weekend home. Met up with friends at local pub, had dinner, drank too much, walked and laughed all the way back home, eventually crashed hard in bed and didn't move.

Saturday I got up far earlier than I should have. Vegitated on couch watching HGTV for about an hour, then got down to business. Made a ton of phone calls and finally booked the spa for sister's bachelorette party. Long talk with her and with my dad. Organized new jewelry supplies and made my other sister's birthday present. Got cleaned up, dressed, and went out for the night to a record release party. We danced like maniacs, then went back home in a ridiculous rainstorm. Walked home from bar in the rain, got soaked. Both too tired and cranky and low-blood sugared at that point. Ate a quick bite, sleep.

Now this morning I've woken up a state away from home and headed back on a train in time to clean up and head out to work for the night. When I get home I have a bunch of pictures to edit and upload, laundry to put away, and food to make for myself.



And then? It all starts over again. Help.

more air time!

Jun 11
SJC to BUR
10h10 - 11h10


still have to sort out exact return dates.
depends on shoots n whatnot

Happy birthday 2rossi!
I consider myself lucky to count you among my friends.

The headline "Grizzly Victim: 'He's Eating My Brain'"to this video on CNN, made me remember this Smith and Wesson short-barrelled .460 revolver I saw at Cabella's in Michigan when I was there last fall.

The extra-nerdy thing? I had already read quite a bit about this revolver before I encountered it. Why had I read about safety kits intended for use in case of bear attacks, when the closest I come to the wilderness is walking past the compost heap? Let's put it this way: A revolver that's useful in killing bears might also be of some small effectiveness against a twelve-foot-tall tentacle monster, which makes me sound, perhaps, even more paranoid than I actually I am. The case and the gun butt are safety yellow so you can see them in your darkened tent, which I imagine would also be helpful if you were cast into the infernal regions. In your RV.

My favorite part is that this kit also comes in orange. You can coordinate your high-visibility .460 revolver depending on your personal style.

Better yet, have two -- yellow loaded with hollowpoints for bear attack, orange loaded with silver bullets blessed by an Orthodox priest ordained under a waning moon, in case of attack by... No! No, we'd better not speak of such things. Merely fanciful thoughts brought on by my chef's curries, I assure you. Here, have another brandy and let's talk cricket.

The air conditioning kicked on at 6 this morning.
I think its going to be fucking hot today.
With two iced coffees in me i'm off to run from
Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach Pier and back again.
Perhaps twice....

rossi, lorenzo, edwards
nice one!

now time to figure out if the sun is gonna stay out.
camden n bento!

nah. didn't make it.
stayed in and watched Grease with ynl
now American Grafitti
tomorrow evening we're going to actually go out
dragging Matt with us
The Jersey Boys

I went on a long-planned flight with a co-worker who has a Cessna 150. He gave me some impromptu instruction, and then gave me the controls several times. That was a first experience for me, and very exciting. We flew West from Boeing Field out past Bremerton (I was flying at this point), and then eventually out over Greys Harbor. We then turned south and flew over Willapa Bay and down to the mouth of the Columbia River. Then back up the coast, flying very low (I got to buzz the beach!), back over Greys Harbor, and landed at the Hoquiam airstrip for a quick bite to eat at the diner there. On the way back, we hit some turbulence that made me nervous, so I handed the controls back over. There was a ton of traffic over Seattle, since every pilot in the area seemed to be wanting to fly today (a warm, sunny, clear day, go figure). :-)

DAMN, that was fun! Again, again! (Oooo, drat...here comes another expensive hobby...).

(Footnote: tonight, I MC'd, DJ'd, and performed three numbers in a dance show that my Troupe put on in North Bend. After getting up early to fly all day, then DJ'ing, MC'ing, etc. all evening, I'm about to collapse--quite literally--into bed).

Cut for those who are not interested. ( Read more... )

After the event, Sean and I went to see Iron Man is a real theater. ( I liked the movie. )

Politics aside, the SCA is still about having fun with your friends. Chaos Caravan had and aztec theme this year and so I went. I arrived to find the drawing of me done by draconisregena plastered all over wanted style posters. This was going to be fun. Soon I was in armor and all the other fighters divided into teams. I was a free agent with gold to take from me by single combat. There was also gold to be moved from one end of the woods to the other. A great time in the woods ensued. I was not on, but I was having fun. I decided that I would fight wounds retained. This gave an opportunity for a newer fighter to drop me with a very nice thrust to a very tender region. I can not come up with her name right now, but she was thrilled to have the ability to kill me. I had great fights with Mike Ivy and Almaric. The woods were really to big for the 25 fighters we had in them, but it was great still.

Then we did some traditional war practice. I took a nasty fall over a dead fighter in the field practice. I landed on my right arm and the impact went into the shoulder. It made me sit out the next one and I mostly fought spear after that. But I did get my pole back out for the unblets training session as I needed to give them a challenge. Hah. I was not exactly swinging it. I did pick up my two swords for youth rattan fighter who really wanted to fight me. That was fine as I just used it as a threat and that worked great for his training. Then I fought with the two boffer fighters and they loved it. My right shoulder is still very sore, but I do not think it is anything long term.

Feast was a well researched Aztec style. Sean and I were seated at head table. The chocolate drinks and turkey tortillas were done perfectly. They served the chicken shaped like igaunas. druminmychest came to head table seeking an explaination on how to eat the corn on the cob. That was too funny. mistressarafina kept coming up to head table and telling the group of us how she was so below us. The shire of Grey Hope treated me like royalty all day. We did not stay late as rain was moving in. But this was just the day I need considering what else happened in the Midrealm. These are the reasons for being in the SCA. Fighting and friends with fun. Other things are part of the game, but these are the reasons to play.

Jessica Rabbit, if she were a real person.
http://pixeloo.deviantart.com/art/Jessica-Rabbit-Untooned-83326468

Impressive job nonetheless.

I only use that title because "To the dump...." etc. done to the tune of the William Tell Overture is hard to render well in text.

For once, being annexed by the City of Lake Stevens has a benefit. Free dump day. (Well, not free for computer monitors and other electronic hazardous waste). Basically they had a huge lineup of trash trucks, and a few other haulers for special items, and everyone lined up to dispose of their stuff for free.

I took this opportunity to divest myself of my Grandmother's old sofa and chair. I don't sit in them, they were totally torn up by the cats, and they were difficult to move. I also dumped a chunk off a piece of exercise equipment I trashpicked ages ago and never got around to perverting, and the box from my new stove.

When it turned out that only certain appliances took a surcharge, I made a second trip to get rid of the old stove.

---

Of course, on the bad side of Lake Stevens is the local government's attempt to get to spend 23% of the current budget on whatever they want by trying to get people to vote to slough off the city's library onto the county's system, which will be paid for by a new county tax assessment. NOTHING changes for the library, but they keep trying to pretend that this will benefit us somehow (The promised benefits will only come from MORE new county taxes. This us just about the operating budget).

At first, I thought it was no big deal until a proponent in the local paper, the editor, pointed out that this would amount to nearly a quarter of the city's budget. If they were going to drop our taxes by that amount, then I'd be all for it, but they want to KEEP the money.

All politicians must be reminded, it's not their money. It's ours, and we let them use it for the things we want the city to provide. If they want to build new sidewalks, then ASK us for money for new sidewalks. Don't try to shed a huge line item, and claim that THAT'S what we're voting on.

Scumbags.

Downward

A closing book yet unread
A dying relative never appreciated
A setting sun not acknowledged
A corroding machine completely outdated
A departing train splitting lovers
A shutting eyelid submitting to inevitability

5.17.08