At the Southern Women's Show (that annual extraveganza where jewelry and purses get peddled to the double-Xers) I got a free mini-massage. Oh my lordy, I love that. Heaven, for me, is populated with my best friends, my family (maybe ;-)), an internet connection, a computer with unlimited memory, books, and a dozen of the best chiropractors at my beck and call. I will take a free massage almost any time I can get one. Dude that gave me the massage mentioned that my back, neck and shoulders were very tight for someone so young (which I already knew). I walked away slightly more relaxed than when I went in, which is nice for a change.

A meaningless, gratuitous, unnecessarily vitriolic rant (because it's fun): I hate commercials. So many are depressingly cheesy. I don't require that I constantly be entertained by commercials (entertainment is the responsibility of the show, after all), but it'd be nice if they weren't migraine-causing, vomit-inducing, soul-stealing, mind-numbing atrocities. The veil concealing their hypocrisy and dishonesty is made of cellophane. I hate that they not-so-subliminally attempt to convince people that buying a "superior" brand of toilet paper will make them better parents. We have endured the image of Carrot Top being thrust into our living rooms for months now. Shouldn't that qualify as some form of indecent exposure? It's no wonder people's brains atrophy after absorbing too much of this crap.

Really cool show that I'm starting to watch: Tough Crowd, with Colin Quinn. He has four scathing, overly-opinionated comedians (who frequently hate each other) yell at one other over current controversies. The fact that Colin is a host with little ability to control his guests just makes the show that much more entertaining.

'I want to know the thoughts of God.' -- Albert Einstein
Friday, May 16, 2003

Tonight, I finished reading Amir D Aczel's book God's Equation: Einstein, Relativity, and the Expanding Universe. Well, if the first two words of that title don't grab your attention, you're brain-dead, and I don't want to talk to you anymore (not that you could talk anyway, if you're brain-dead and all, so I guess that issue was in the realm of pointless). Those two words make my freaking heart-beat speed up when I first spotted them. However, due to a misconception learned in high school, I thought Einstein was looking for verification of God's existence, the mathematical proof of the necessity of a supreme being. What he really wanted was God's blueprints for the universe in the form of an equation unifying all natural law, a "theory of everything". Being the geek that I am, I find that romantically hubristic and idealistic and a natural human desire and absolutely the most lovely, perfect goal for a life. I want to shout, "YES! I want to know the source and the meaning and the cause and the organization of everything in the universe too!" Of course, I'm no mathematician; but I can dream, can't I? Silly cosmological theories getting me all worked up in excitement (yeah, I'm pathetic, you don't have to tell me).

The book is great. Mr. Aczel is a solid, concise writer with a good instinct for finding pertintent and interesting information. He's also generally easy to understand. The book explains the progression of modern mathematical theories and their implications for cosmology, but biography is also a large part of the book. Einstein is, of course, the focus of the biographical element, but other scientists have bits of their stories told as well. All in all, a very well balanced and well written book. I've high-lighted tons that I want to remember. Now, being the huge geek that I am, I intend to write Mr. Aczel. Partly to praise him, and partly to tell him what parts of his book he needs to fix (in case there should be another printing of it, and I'm sure there will be). The fixes are minor and easy. Just asking for more thorough explanations in parts and a few more diagrams. If he can gain access to some pictures of Einstein, he needs to include them. (The only one in the book was the one on the cover.) Plus, I have a few other questions concerning the implications of Einstein's field equation and the cosmological constant. Don't know if he'll answer me or not, but writing this will make me happy, so I'm doing it.

Okay, I've bored you enough with that for now. Onto the moon! There was a lunar eclipse tonight (the 15th). Hope you caught it. We actually dusted off our telescope to look at the darkened moon. It was pretty cool. You could see more of the craters when the eclipse was partial. The light was present then, but not blinding.

Oh, and finally, the funniest thing I've seen tonight: Jim Carrey high on laughing gas. Ole Jim was on the Tonight Show, and decided it'd be fun to show pictures of himself at the dentist getting his teeth drilled into. You know, if the guy would tone down the mania once in awhile, I do believe Jim is potentially a very charming guy. I always like watching him being interviewed.

Traumatizing the Little Children
Tuesday, May 13, 2003

I went to Mass with the fam Saturday night, which also happens to be at my old grade school. In the entrance to the church is this cabinet that holds suckers for kids. Our priest, Father Breen, likes to hand them out. However, all the kids know the stash, so they take a handful of them whenever they get a chance. In an effort to prevent children from becoming covert candy thieves, they've put up a sign on top of the cabinet. The sign says: "God is always watching you. God is watching the lollipops." I saw this, and I burst out laughing. I'm not sure if the intent was to identify God with Santa Claus or Big Brother. The wording would work for either. What made it especially funny (and entertainingly hypocritical) was that there is a picture of Father Breen enjoying a sucker right next to the sign, and he has this look of thorough amusement and laughter on his face. (Ain't it kewl when you can find a Catholic priest with a sense of humor?)

I'm figuring that the kids will either become extremely paranoid about doing anything bad, and will live the rest of their lives in fear of being smited by God; or, they will steal some candy, get away with it, and determine that all religion is bunk. In any case, I'm willing to bet that there will someday be some poor sap on a therapist's couch trying to explain away nightmares that God is a laughing man with white hair who likes to beat people with a lollipop if they violate the sanctity of the candy drawer.

So, all of my crapola was reogranized by Sunday night ... and they say miracles never happen. ;-) Anyway, I'm happy, because I actually went a bit through my junk drawer and organized the stuff under my bed too. It's probably the first time that stuff has had any sort of order since we moved in here. Anyway, this should make it easier to stay neat over the summer ... theoretically. Plus, since some of my things are at the apartment, there isn't as much here as there would be otherwise. Of course, there's still a hell of a lot here, and I can't believe I have room for it all, but I'm not going to bitch about having too much stuff. That'd be about as ungracious as I could possibly get. I'd be tempting the fates to take it all away. So, I won't do it. No bitching for me.

Oh, and they have now posted the website I got to design. It isn't the most beautiful thing on the web, but at least it's readable and the dead links have been buried.

'Untitled,' becuase I want to write, yet feel strangely uninspired.
Friday, May 9, 2003

The semester is done, I finished my web project for work study (when they get around to posting it, I'll link to it here ... not that it's that interesting, but at least I did it, and it's a hell of a lot better than their horrid, last updated in 2000 version), dorm-living has acquired a gloriously permanent "memory" status (though there are more good memories than bad), while my senior year mocks me somewhere in the not-so-distant future. Oh well, guess I'll just worry about the upcoming summer for now. I hope to be working at a nearby Borders. Will probably still do the waitress thing a couple nights a week, but I don't want that to be my primary source of income. I don't want the stress, and I need to get work experience outside the food industry.

Last night was my sole night in the dorms without my own computer. (The parents came Thursday night to ship out my heavier stuff.) No internet access, no video clips or movies, and no music!! It was like being without oxygen ... minus the whole dying experience.

Ok, that's it. No more thoughts for tonight. Laterz.

Yes, I'm a Geek. I Don't Care. :-)
Sunday, May 4, 2003

Expanded vocabulary is a beautiful thing: The Brobdingnagian, eisoptrophobic, loquacious, crapulous ecdysiast had a recrudescence of her acrid weltanschauung after being tied to a cucking stool and given the hypocorism "virago" for engaging in pettifog to nimiety, and castigated for her frequent supererogation with coadjutors. ... Teehee, that was fun.

Took a few things over to our apartment yesterday. :-) I'm so excited. A ton of my books are over there now (I don't need the majority of my books over the summer, and I already have stuff at home I want to read.) Plus, brought over George (the man I've secretly kept in my closet for three years ... damn he grills a good turkey and cheese sandwich). I won't be needing him over the summer, so Jenn and Jill can use him. Now, time for me to go study, turn in library books, and engage in other allegedly productive activities.

By the way, if you want to respond to any particular posts, you may do so in the upper left hand corner over the guestbook. Backblog doesn't mesh with Pitas to my satisfaction, so I'm trying a Fizbox now.

Wow, I'm friggin' holy. I should be a deity. Worship me!! ;-)
Wednesday, April 30, 2003

My #1 result for the SelectSmart.com selector, What Kind Of Friend Are You?, is The Confidant

My #1 result for the SelectSmart.com selector, Historical Individual Selector, is Jesus Christ

Which Angel would you be? By Angel

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test