Jersey Shore pictures - Point Pleasant, jellyfish, Justin, and the best use of potatoes ever
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Travel and Places

Man I'm tired today. I was about to go to bed last night when my sister hopped online. Since it was already the next day in Australia, she was officially 34, and we talked for better than 2 hours. I had a 9:30 call this morning for work with a guy (in Jersey, oddly enough) who messed up the time change, and called at 8:30. I wasn't really coherent for the first 15 minutes, but I can talk about databases in my sleep, so it went fine. Moving on.

During my recent trip to Jersey/NYC (1st batch of pictures is here), it was decided that it was a crime that I'd never seen the Ocean in Jersey. Since Kathryn and Michelle (my hosts for the weekend, and people I've decided are family to me, whether they want to be or not) didn't want me to get arrested, off we hied. Besides, I'd been at the Pacific (in San Diego) on Monday of that week, and I really liked the idea of hitting 2 oceans in 1 week.

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I tend to think of the beach, especially in touristy places, as a place people go to relax or whatever, so I'm always surprised that people fish there (see also: here).

It took us about 30 minutes to find a parking spot, but once we did, we were confronted with this:
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Lovely, no? I really like the palm tree.

We needed food, and Mich insisted that boardwalk pizza is better than pizza anywhere else (I'm reading her novel right now, and the main character made the same observation, and I thought "my friend says the same thing! Oh ... right"), so we stopped off for some. It was tasty indeed, though the place had Pepsi, not Coke, so I drank water.
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They we decided to go to the Funhouse. It lived up to its name, more or less. The first thing we did was a maze. Here's me in it:
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Then I needed to wait for Justin to mack on a woman. Again.

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A long exposure shot of revolving lights in a tunnel; I liked the effect so much that I took another one (see photo 9)- really threw off your sense of balance to walk through it though.

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I hate hate hate sunblock, but I wear it. However, it's tough to get off your hands, so I wiped them on my jeans. I thought I'd gotten away with it, until I went under the black light.

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They didn't have a painting of envy, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, or pride, but I liked this a lot even if it is only 1/7th of a set.

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Hey look! A castle!

The funhouse was nifty enough, though I did manage to lose my 2nd best neutral density filter in a slide there. I think I have about 8 others, so this isn't a tragedy on par with losing the library of Alexandria or anything.

Then we were off to see the Ocean. I removed my flip flops and went wading. It was rather nice.
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It's important to remember that while we were having fun, like Kath wrote, not everyone was. For instance, some poor woman lost a breast implant.
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They asked Kath to take their picture, she told them to have me do it, I asked them to pose with JT, they thought it was the coolest thing ever.

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We were walking by these women, when I saw the food on the right. My mouth dropped open, I said "I don't know what that is, but I want to have sex with it!" and I nagged them for information (it's a butterfly fry) and a picture.

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Currently reading : Essential Thor, Vol. 1 (Marvel Essentials) By Stan Lee

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A quick survey from Hello Nurse! (or With he debate)
Current mood: tired
Category: Quiz/Survey

Hello Nurse! (who really needs to meet Juanita!) posted this in her blog. I liked it, so I'm nicking it. There'll be Jersey Shore pictures tomorrow. Or perhaps something about pink elephants. Or families. Or families *of* pink elephants. Regardless, it should be at least semi-entertaining. Alternate title's from a spam email, as ever.

1. Have you ever considered what your place in this world is?
Constantly. The unexamined life is not worth living and all of that. Sadly, the *examined* life is often not worth living either. Happily, mine is. I hope that I can leave the world marginally better for my having been in it and not hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it.

2. Peanut butter and jelly, or ham and cheese?
Oddly enough, this vegetarian really prefers a hot ham & cheese sandwich to a pb&j (sorry, Nems). But since I'll likely never eat pig on purpose again, I sort of have to opt for the pb&j, no?

3. If you could heal someone, but each time you did lost a week off your life, would you do it?
Know what's weird? The only issue of Legion of Superheroes I read as a kid had this kid in it who could do all sorts of things, but every time he used his powers, he lost a year (I think) of his life. But he was such a swell guy that he didn't mind helping out anyhow. I also pride myself on being a swell guy (true), but I'm not that swell. I'd heal family members, of course. But other than that, likely waste the ability.

4. What is the best thing that anyone can do to get you off during sex?
Off of *THEM*? Poke me with a fork - I'll run screaming for the hills. Other than that? Ask your mom. Not that she does it often, at least not for me. Based on the videos she's always making me watch, I'm the only one. Why must I be so weak? And why must she be so bendy?

5. Puppy or Kitten?
No. I like old dogs and mellow lap cats. The youth of every species tend to annoy me. If I'm forced to choose, kitten.

6. If you would never get caught, would you cheat on your significant other?
No. No no no no no no no no no. No. The issue isn't getting caught; it's being able to look yourself in the face in the mirror every day. I had a friend (one of the bad pennies described hereish) who'd cheat on his SO at every opportunity. He thought it made him cool, I think. It mostly made me pity him. And his wife.

7. Tea or coffee?
Tea. Coffee's nasty. Tea is civilized and wonderful.

8. Have you ever had a vision?
Yes. Not of Johanna, though.

9. Have any long standing crushes on a friend of yours that would be surprised to find out?
I don't have any crushes at the moment. Except on Aimee Mann.

10. Butter or Margarine?
Butter. Margarine is adequate for some baking needs, but not good for any of them.

Currently reading : Murder on the Wheel of Fortune By Michelle P. Sauer

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Clone Wars haiku review, plus work and life notes
Current mood: mellow
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

Well, I'm no longer unemployed. Have a temp job for an indeterminate length of time (at first, it was going to be 2-3 weeks, then as we continued talking, it became clear that they had a lot of other work that needed done that I could do, so I suspect I'll be there for quite some time, unless something else pans out in the meantime) starting tomorrow afternoon. I also have an interview tomorrow morning. And I've applied to a travel writing magazine, just because. Oh, and if you read this survey wherein I mentioned sun tea and thought "Yum! I should brew some!" Jimmie Woo reminds me that sun tea can kill you, so maybe take a pass on that.

Anyhow.

Last night Ria and I went to see the new 'Clone Wars' movie. I'd watched the trailers a lot and was firmly in the "I want to have sex with this movie" camp, while Ria's expectations were lower. After watching it, I now think it's better if the movie and I just stay friends. Worth the watching if you're a big Star Wars nerd (like me), otherwise wait for the DVD. Though the new Harry Potter trailer looks really good on the big screen.

For reasons that made no sense even when I started doing it, I review movies in haiku. Earlier examples of this sort of nonsense may be seen at the following links: Big Lebowski, Jackass 2, Dan Ackroyd generally, Walk the Line, Silent Movie, Hill Street Blues, Talledega Nights, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Pirates of the Carribbean 3, KISS meets the Phantom of the Park, Heavy Metal Parking Lot, The Departed, Reign Over Me, Grindhouse, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres, Are We There Yet? (more or less), Ghost Rider.

Cartoon Anakin
is far better actor than
Hayden Christensen

Christopher Lee could
make phone book exciting. Still:
Dooku's wasted here

A's new padawan
Will die before Ep'sode 3
Do not get attached

Sen. Amidala
gets to cut loose a little
on gay Southern Hutt

Stilted dialog,
Somewhat posed lightsaber fights
Really pretty though

Decent clone battles
I think the show will be good:
3 out of 5 stars.

Currently reading : The Ruins of Dantooine (Star Wars: Galaxies) By Voronica Whitney-Robinson Release date: 2003-12-30

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How about some pictures from New Jersey, then? Flowers, Justin, Glorias, and tiara’s return
Category: Travel and Places

I've been mostly uemployed for the last month plus a bit. I've been putting the time to good use: I went home (Duluth home, not St. Louis home) for a week of hanging out with my folks and my Lake, weekended with Ody/Charles, went to the San Diego Zoo with Ria (pictures to follow), and a week or 2 back, headed to the Garden State so I could go visit the waterfalls in the East River (see here) and the Glorias. The Glorias, for those not in the know, are a group of friends in New Jersey. Then go out a lot to dance, especially to the song 'Gloria' by the Shadows of Knight. I first "met" Kathryn a little over a year ago - I was looking for a survey to nick, found her, thought she seemed fun, and invited her to read this blog; she liked it, told some friends, who became my friends, and who all sort of bonded with a lot of people here. Which is rather cool. Anyhow, she invited me to visit, I had a free ticket burning a hole in my pocket (from my birthday trip to Disneyland), so off I went.

My Sikh cab driver was friendly, my flight was on time, and I only had an hour layover in Denver (which turned into 3 hours, for no reason I could fathom - they changed the departure time 3 times, once while boarding us, without informing the gate agent, who was less than thrilled with this - as I'd been up all night, I slept for the hour or so they had us on the ground waiting to taxi, so it wasn't a big deal to me).

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Part of a big neon art thing in the airport.

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I couldn't get a good picture without flash while we were both walking, but this guy's shirt says "Fishing and sex: the only activities you can enjoy without being good at." And I saw this and thought "single guys (no ring) maybe shoudn't advertize that they're bad in the bedroom."

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See the Empire State Building?

I met up with Michelle at the airport. It's nice when you meet people and they're what you were hoping for, only more so. Mich is kind, wonderful, funny, and very very short. We got on, if anything, better in person than online. Our first stop was in some town or another to visit her daughter Ingrid. Ingrid is not kind, but is funny and cool. We're both smart asses, and got on like a house on fire.

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Hey! New Jersey had a State Fair for my birthday! I'm sure I had more fun at Disneyland (pictures: 1 2 3 4 5), but I wasn't able to buy pizza on a stick there. Life is full of trade offs.

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I really find storage containers visually interesting. But I'm not going to move into one

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It was dark by the time we finally got to Kathryn's, but look what was waiting for me! And in blue, yet!

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We all donned our tiaras and asked RD (Kath's fella) to snap our picture. He seemed confused, but went along with it. RD's good that way. I think I make a smashing princess, no matter what Jesus says.

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Cris (untiaraed in this picture) stopped by to hang out, dine, and meet Justin, who was pretty interested in Mich's yummy tofu lasagna.
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We stayed up until 3:30 talking, then finally crashed. The next day, after a delicious breakfast, we snapped a few Justin pics, then wandered through Kathryn's father's garden. I made the big sacrifice (for me) of taking flower pictures.


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On a butterfly bush, no less.

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This makes me think of a Georgia O'Keefe painting for some reason.

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Obligatory bee picture.

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Your debutant knows what you need, but Half Price Books knows what you want
Current mood: sad
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

With apologies to Bob Dylan, from whom I stole the title (sort of), which is an old tradition around here, (as is writing about the man).

I had an interview on Friday. I think it went well. Tech support/training, which I enjoy, the vague possibility of travel, which I enjoy more, and a nice atmosphere (I talked to the secretary about Star Wars for 5 minutes, and an affiliated company does legal work for Lucasfilm). It's cube land, but people seem to enjoy themselves there. And I have an interview tomorrow for a temp job (2-3 weeks), doing database development for a nonprofit I've given a lot of money to over the years. Pays slightly less than half what I usually get for database work, but it's a good organization, so I don't mind. Besides, it'll get me out of my (wonderfully decorated, but still) apartment for a bit, and replenish the coffers somewhat, both of which are good things. Details as they happen. Other than that, I've been playing a lot of computer games. I've been killing dragons in Baldur's Gate 2, and getting killed a lot by fellow myspacers in Mobsters. And riding my bike a little (Troy will be proud of me for no longer riding in flip flops, though less proud when he learns that I'm instead riding in tasseled loafers).

I'd intended to post pictures from my trip to Jersey today (I'm thinking I'll do 4 or 5 posts: one of hanging out with Kath and Jersey Mich at Kath's, one of the Jersey shore (it's nice - you can see why Allentown's fathers spent their weekends there while dancing slowly with Allentown's USO mothers), one of me earning the title of "Baby Gloria" (a title I didn't put on my résumé, oddly enough) and dancing in a bar with the Glorias (fair warning - I tried to cut a rug - this may be one to avoid), and one or 2 of NYC (deciding if I have enough waterfall pictures to warrant their own post). Then I called my (much cooler than yours) Mum, who informed me that Amber (their older, better dog (visible here, and now the best dog in the planet, rather than on it)) had died. I've long thought of myself as a cat person, not a dog person. And that's true to an extent. But of late, I'm finding that I do like dogs. Not to the extent I like cats, but dogs have their charms. And Amber was pretty special (the good sort of special, not the other sort). It hit me hard. I'm glad that I got to go home last month and see her. I said my goodbyes then - 12 year old large dogs with a history of cancer tend to reach their sell by date pretty quickly, so it wasn't really unexpected, but it was still rough.

Anyhow, I was in a bad place (I'm mostly ok now, thanks), so I decided to forgo the sheep related activities I had planned for the afternoon (not in that Gene Wilder way - Ria's work got a new lamb, and I wanted to take some pictures of it) and instead head to Half Price Books (bit player in my amazing first day in Berkeley) for some retail therapy. I like their HPB - it isn't as nice (or as entertaining) as the one in KC, but it's a decent way to spend some time/money. The universe must have known I needed a break today, because almost all of my bookish itches got scratched. A new Star Wars book, 2 of Vachss' Burke novels, an X-Men collection from when X-Men was really good (read: when I was in Junior High), the 'American Splendor' movie for next to nothing ($6 American, which will probably be worth ~£1.25 if the dollar continues to drop), and even a New Folger Library (my preferred way to red the Bard) Shakespeare I didn't have ('Love's Labour's Lost,' which, unlike the last 2 "new to me" books of his I bought, I didn't actually have already (anyone need a copy of 'The Tempest?' Yours for free if you pick it up)), and a Michael Dibdin book. I was in somewhat better spirits, and called to offer my condolences to my dad (who was playing cribbage with his dad (this one). We were chatting amiably enough (Scandinavians aren't big on talking about their feelings, while half-Italian Ernies are, so these things are often awkward) when a homeless guy who obviously didn't get my letter asked for money, even after I pointed at the phone. And blocked my path. So, being in a semi-foul mood, I yelled at him a little bit ("this is a phone, and I'm talking to it, not to you!"), and continued on my less than merry way, where, Berkeley being Berkeley, the same thing happened not 100 feet later. But this time I was at least polite about it.

Currently reading : Essential X-Men, Vol. 5 (Marvel Essentials) By Chris Claremont

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And he wasn’t even my worst boss, though he is in the bottom 3
Current mood: happy
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Last Friday, while hanging with the Glorias, Kathryn said that the telemarketer stories I tell are some of her favorites (earlier ones: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8). As I aim to please, especially Kathryn (who is a wonderful hostess, cook, and person), another telemarketer story follows.

When I was running the telemarketing center, my boss was a less than savory character, even by the somewhat fluid moral standards of the industry. He liked cocaine, he liked meth, he liked sex with underage employees in his office during working hours after plying them with drugs he'd bought from his dealer (whom he made us hire). After I started running things, the on site sex and drugs stopped (I even fired his dealer and wouldn't rehire him), and he spent most of his time elsewhere. He'd breeze in for a day or 2 every few weeks, try to make a lot of changes (generally for the worse), then leave again.

I usually come up with fake names for the people in these tales, or decide their real names are ok to use. This time out, I'm just going to call him "Boss," as one of my worst bosses hated to be called that because "it's double-SOB spelled backward." That fits here. In fact, maybe I should make it bosssss. Anyhow, continuing:

I don't know if you've ever been around anyone on cocaine. At times, they're fine. At times, they're completely nuts; irrational, paranoid, arbitrary, and generally less fun to be around than anyone you've ever met. And they can change from one to the other in seconds. It was a challenging situation to be in, as I had to be respectful to him or run the risk of him insisting we fire people I liked (that paranoia thing again) while at the same time not letting him ruin the work we'd done to rebuild the company. Generally we'd just agree to some of his less insane ideas, firmly but politely push back on his more insane ideas, ask for everything in writing (he had a habit of forgetting what he'd said to do and then getting angry at us for making changes without asking him - a forwarded "did I misunderstand what you said in this email?" email usually shut him up), and try to ride his visits out. Because if he left without the changes being made, he tended to forget about them by the next time he graced us with his presence.

One of the times he came to visit, we were in need of a new receptionist. The old one had had enough of him and given notice. Boss decided to tell us who to hire. "You know who make great receptionists?" said he, "Gay guys - can you ask [a gay employee] if he has a boyfriend or a friend who might want to work here?" Here, let's do this:

Ernie: Well, no, I really can't - we could get in trouble with the state.
Boss: Oh, I suppose we could.
Ernie: Indeed.
Boss: And I suppose it's illegal to ask them if they're gay . . . ?
Ernie: You suppose correctly. Even if that's who you're looking to hire, it's discriminatory.
Boss: Hmm, well, use your best judgment then, just whoever you hire, make sure they speak well English.

And there died Boss' hopes of ever being our receptionist. Too bad, really - he could finally have earned his keep.

Currently playing : Baldur's Gate 2: Ultimate Collection (Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal) Release date: 2003-08-12

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I finally visit the Pacific, thereby preserve a friendship, and post some pictures of the event
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Travel and Places

I moved to California last August (true). Since then, I'd been by the San Francisco Bay a few times, and had plans to go to the Ocean a few other times, but they never quite panned out. Peninsular Christine (who is far more fabulous than she knows) learned this and was horrified that I'd been in such close proximity to the Ocean and hadn't been. Even my pointing out that I'd been to the Atlantic Ocean (in Liverpool) didn't placate her - it in fact seemed to make things worse. We stopped briefly by the Ocean after our San Francisco Zoo trip (pictures: 1 2 3), and then went again in June. Here are a few (ok, more than a few) pictures of the place.

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It's big and salty, and I was enjoying wading in it, when I saw some ice chips on the shore. Then I realized the ice chips had tentacles on them. They were, in fact, jellyfish. This thrilled me like you wouldn't believe.
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After just a few minutes of this, we headed into the city or passive aggressive Chinese food. The passive aggression was there, but hey weren't serving any food until later, so we went to a pizza joint (Goat Hill Pizza, IIRC) instead. The pizza was tasty, but more importantly, there were some interesting stickers outside the place. Here, look at them:
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From 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' - I think he's trying to indicate that he's 1 in the 'hood, G.

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Of course, this should be "Hey! Apatosaurus," but I think I'll forgive the designer.

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Justin hangs with a very nice woman who thought Christine's daughter Lizzy was adorable (yes) and my daughter (no).

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And it just wouldn't be an Ernie photoblog without flower pictures.

The rest of these are from our excursion to Half Moon Bay some weeks later. We first stopped off to get Mexican food. It was delicious Mexican food, at least once I made them understand that vegetarian doesn't mean "with chicken," and they had this rather serene light in the men's room:
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Then it was off to the beach for a picnic.

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When I was a kid and visiting Florida, we would use chicken gizzards to catch some sort of bluish crabs. They weren't disemboweled bygulls,though.

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The two best times to go fishing are when it's raining and when it's not, or so I hear.

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I thought this jellyfish looked a lot like a brain.

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Whereas this kelp just looked odd.

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I have no idea what these are - can anyone out there help me? According to Liz and wikipedia, these are goose barnacles. Thanks, cast of thousands!

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It looks a lot like the shore of Lake Superior, except for the assorted sealife washed onto the shore.

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I'd always thought goldfish were freshwater fish. Shows what I know.

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Currently listening : The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 By The Traveling Wilburys Release date: 1990-10-19

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Summertime and the survey is easy (or not just a vote treaty is usually the clever)
Current mood: tired
Category: Quiz/Survey

Man did I have fun in Jersey/NYC. If you're in the neighborhood, you should really go see the waterfalls in the East River. Details to follow. Meantime, how about a survey? I stole this from Laurentia some time back.Alternate title's from a spam email, as ever.

Currently reading : Murder on the Wheel of Fortune By Michelle P. Sauer

12:14 AM - 18 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

The ever expanding (but still wee) Gloria survey
Current mood: excited
Category: Quiz/Survey

Kathryn posted this with 7 questions. Mich responded and added another question, Cris responded and added another question. I'm responding and adding another question, which gets it to the 10 Kath wanted, though I'm sure if you want to add an 11th question, she won't mind. I'm about to go out dancing with the Glorias, and become one, and am, in fact, writing this from Kath's computer room after a day on the Jersey shore. I apologize to New Jersey for anything bad I may have said against it over the years. It's so much better than the old Jersey I can't even begin to tell you. Old Jersey is dead to me.

1. Beverage you favor?
Diet Coke. We all know this. I think next time I head to St. Louis (next month, hopefully, after which I'll be posting more St. Louis photoblogs to join the others ((1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)), I'm shooting to top my 2 gallon daily record. Because why not? 16 pounds of creamery fresh goodness is really nowhere near enough.

2. Name a TV show you enjoyed watching in your youth, but, upon later reflection (i.e., once you had grown up), you realize had had an adverse effect on you.
'The Munsters.' Because it made me think werewolves were nice. I lost a toe learning otherwise.

3. What TV show did you watch in your youth that still brings a smile when you think of it?
'M*A*S*H,' 'Newhart,' and 'Thundarr the Barbarian' (so much so that I bought a piece of production art from it (by Jack Kirby, no less), which you can see here).

4. Tell us a place you'd like to visit -- but make sure you have never mentioned it in a survey before.
This makes it tougher. Oh man does that make it tougher. How about Iceland? I don't think I've mentioned Iceland in a survey before.

5. A cousin you never even knew you had dies and leaves you his car. It's not your dream car; not even one of your dream cars. BUT! When you see it, you think it's really cool and know you'll enjoy riding around town in it. What is it?
Hmm. I'm wondering which of my aunts/uncles is guilty of this crime. Maybe that "joke" of my grandfather's wasn't such a joke after all. Not any car I've ever though of as a dream car? Leaves out the Mach 5, a Smart Car, the Prius (before I moved to the Bay Area, where they are more common than jaywalkers or weather), and, oddly enough, the Ford Probe. How about a Honda Civic? I think my arms are long enough I could touch the ground from behind the wheel and make it look like I was pushing it. Hilarity would ensue, I'm sure.

6. If only one of your pets could talk to you, which would you pick? If you don't have pets, which ammonal would you like to have as a talking pet?
I have no pets, but I'd like to have a talking squirrel. I'd name it Ratatosk

7. You HAVE to pick a new middle name. What's it gonna be?
See, there are several anagrams of my entire name which I love, so it'd have to be something made up of the same letters as Rinaldo, and none of those sound appealing. Arnildo? Dranoil? See my problem here?

8. What song would you say is the soundtrack that plays whenever you have a major epiphany-type moment? (Epiphany is that moment when suddenly the light bulb over your head goes on because you just made a major realization about something or someone)
I'm usually sort of gobsmacked by the experience, to the point that the only thing in my head is the truth the universe has shoved into it. but if you'd like an answer, how's this: my first epiphany was at Disneyworld (here's some pictures of the place: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7), so how about the Small World theme?

9. If there were one movie you were forced to watch over and over again, which movie would it be?
Well, the word forced makes this one tricky, too. When I was dating good ex-Paula, I was often subjected to 'Top Gun,' which given my oft mentioned and heartfelt disdain of Tom Cruise's "acting" "talents" I dislike, but which is on TNT almost every weekend. If I got to choose the movie? 'Fight Club' or 'Citizen Kane.'

10. What's one thing you wish you'd learned to do in youth, and why haven't you done it since?
I have 2 answers to this 2-part question: learning to speak a foreign language or play an instrument. As for why I've not done it since? I just don't want to invest that kind of time.

Currently listening : Traveling Wilburys (2 CD / 1 DVD) By The Traveling Wilburys Release date: 2007-06-12

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Disneyland: Fantasmic! pictures, my favorite taxidermy, and tchotchkes that make Buddha cry
Current mood: excited
Category: Travel and Places

Earlier Disney picture posts: Paris: 1 2 Orlando: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Disneyland (winter): 1 2 3 (summer): 1 2 3 4 5

I'm writing this in the air en route to Newark, where I will meet several Glorias and eventually become one. Oh, and go see those waterfalls in the East River. Because why not?

A quick recap: in June, Primary French-speaking University librarian friend Sandy and I went to Disneyland for my birthday. We bounced back and forth between both parks, rode a lot of rides, saw the parade, and the fireworks, then caught Fantasmic! We managed to go on the Indiana Jones ride 4 times, and never waited in line more than 20 minutes for anything (and that was for Star Tours, so it was well worth it). I remain puzzled by the lack of lines for the Jungle Cruise ride, but mine is not to reason why. Fantasmic! deals with Mickey falling asleep and being attacked in his dreams by Maleficent, Ursula, and a cast of, if not thousands, at least dozens. It's got something to do with the power of imagination, but really it's all about looking impressive: there's fireworks, smoke machines, animation projected on water, and a ginormous pirate ship complete with Peter Pan/Captain Hook sword fight. It's awfully neato.

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Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time is enemy action. Pink elephants show up in my life almost as often as the band KISS.

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He once lacked strings, but as you can see, there are some strings on he.

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Oh, and fire - I forgot to mention the fire.

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Featuring a grayscale 'Steamboat Willie' era Mickey Mouse.

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From the dénouement.

After Fantasmic!, we rode the Indy ride again. Somewhere in there we rode the Jungle Cruise in the dark, where an overly chatty man tried to talk us out of our park tickets so he could buy a cheaper yearly pass. Then we hit the Winnie the Pooh ride, where a helpful Cast Member told us how to find the stuffed heads from the Country Bear Jamboree (the Pooh ride was built in the soundstage where the bears had been, and they left the heads there in tribute). Here they are:
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Because I can't not take this picture if I'm at Disney at night.

We stopped off at a gift shop so Sandy could buy some posters and books (spot the librarian in the room!). I'd already made my purchase, about which more in 6 or 7 pictures, so I was free to take pictures of some of the more disturbing examples of what they were selling. Know what the world doesn't need? Disney themed Precious Moments figures.
10.
Make!
11.
It!
12.
Stop!

13.
In a world where 'Sweeny Todd' is a big hit, this becomes a lot creepier than it otherwise would have been.

14.
I can't decide whether I like this or hate them, but they don't make my soul hurt like the PM figures do.

15.
What I bought for myself - goes great with my Donald as Han Solo figure from Disneyworld last fall (I think it's link 7 above, but I'm sort of on an airplane, so I can't check).

16.

In conclusion? Even though the Haunted Mansion (my favorite "classic" ride) was closed for the day:
17.

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