It wasn't your fault

It wasn't your fault that I quit smoking.

It wasn't your fault that I had cravings. I told myself I could have anything I wanted, as long as it wasn't a cigarette.

I apologize sincerely for eating a piece of your hiney.

I promise to try not to do it again.

love,

liz

Let's link internets

I don't even remember the chain of searching that led me to discover this video.
I wish I were alive and watching television when this came out...if only to figure out what the original appeal was. It's labeled 'comedy'.


I was also directed toward a number of facial hair related sites last night that you may find interesting.
The Handlebar Club has an extensive membership from all over the world, and includes a FAQ with questions like 'What is a moustache cup, and where can I find one?' as well as a recipe for homemade moustache wax.
Mybeard.org allows you to cruise user profiles of men who are bearded and proud, and looking for friendship...or more?
And The Beard Community claims to host the world's largest community of bearded images. Like this one.

I also spent some time living vicariously through someone else's family life here.
Thanks again boingboing for reintroducing me to my inner stalker.

And last, but not least. Relive, with me, fond memories of the quality commercials that appeared on tv while I was in Japan. Cute, sexy, entertaining, and ridiculous, I believe that the song is about 3 o clock snacktime at the office.

Homebound Korean Movie Reviews or Sicky and the Laptop

I've been off work for the past two days, sleeping most of the daytime hours away. By late evening, I would get a tiny burst of energy which I would use to crawl out of my room, shower, eat something instant and disgusting, and then return to the cave to watch a film.
I watched two Korean films that had been recommended to me by friends. I'm too lazy to learn how to download films, so I watched them online.
'My Sassy Girl' was the first of the two films. The story of a bumbling student who gets tangled up with a fiery, abusive and troubled girl one night on the subway.
I thought it was charming at some points, but I think I might have missed out on something. The girl, who is unnamed throughout the film, is an exciting but difficult girlfriend. She is constantly making a scene in public, getting too drunk and passing out and assaulting the male lead.
One great scene of the film (which was generally a little to schmaltzy for my taste) has the Sassy Girl confronting two young girls in a restaurant who she overhears prostituting themselves to their older male companions.
"Are you PROSTITUTING?" she says.
"Leave us alone. What is it your business?"
"Let me see your ID!" she demands of the girls.
"These are just our friends." The men respond.
"Do you take your friends to a hotel?? Shame on you!"
To the girls: "You shouldn't be prostituting yourselves!"
To the men: "How old are you?! Get out of here!"
I liked this scene a lot, but didn't quite understand the appeal of the Sassy Girl. If I knew someone who was in a relationship where their partner was as volatile, inconstant, and troubled as the Sassy Girl, I would most likely tell them to DTMFA.
6/10

The second film was quite different. The King and The Clown is set in the 16th century and tells the story of a troupe of minstrels that insult their way into the Imperial Palace. Once there, they put on risque plays that amuse while highlighting the corruption in the King's Court.

Lee Jun Ki , perhaps the prettiest boy I've ever seen, does an excellent job playing the more effeminate clown. Interesting homosexual undertones and fascinating examples of classic minstrel skills and diversions of the past. Rope-walking combined with sexually suggestive comedy, shadow puppet shows and old-time slapstick.
7/10

S.O.S

I've been infected.

Days off should be for fun, not for fevers and mucous. For being productive and having coffee with a book in a sunny window.

Send over soup. Stat.

But for your own good, leave it at the door.

My Imagination is a Garden

Unfortunately, it sometimes seems as though it's trapped behind a fence, on private property.

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I came up with a melodic drum sequence. Each beat had a different note and depth, imagined on different types of drums, creating a wonderful, repetitive melody.
Do the drums in my mind even exist in the physical world?
I imagine scenes and drawings that are beautiful, and beyond the ability of my meat-self to make a reality.
Sometimes the distance between the creativity possible in my imagination and the reality of physical limitations seems impossible to traverse.
I find it a fascinating, discouraging, wonderful part of being alive.

Reverse Motivation or Earth to Steve Jobs

Motivation. I suffer from a habitual lack of it.
I'm not a complete slouch, but I've often found it difficult to begin things, even though I consider myself a fairly creative person. I fill with excitement at the prospect of a new adventure in creativity, but a combination of things seem to deter and distract me.
Most motivational speeches don't appeal to me. I feel as though they fill me with sentiment and energy that are only temporary, and I've never heard one that I can remember that's left a lasting mark.
I recently heard a commencement speech that Steve Jobs gave to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford, and I thought about it for days afterward. The title of this post is a link to the full text of the speech.
The part that got under my skin was when he said
"...for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."
This line dug at me, and bothered me over the next few days. I thought: not everyone is you Steve Jobs. For many of those 33 years, you've lived a privileged life, with many options open to you that aren't possibilities for average people.
You're white, you're male, and you've had money for a long time now. How dare you imply that it's easy for people in other situations to throw off everything and change?
As I thought about it more, and became more angry, I realized that Steve Jobs' attitude really was motivating me, but not for the reasons that he intended.
For me, a good motivator is often anger. I remember a professor at York, one that I thought was amazing, giving me a copy of 'A Room Of One's Own' by Virginia Woolfe. At first I was pleased that he gave me something that he thought would help in my development. Looking back on it shortly after, I started to feel insulted.
Did this man think he knew me...? Or did he just think he knew where I might be in my development as a young woman?
Either way, he pissed me off. And, juvenile as this is, I find this kind of thing to be a source of motivation far more powerful than any poster or speech could be.

The Blues

Tried to make me some lunch,
but the kitchen was occupied.

Started to do my cooking,
didn't have the right spice.

Went out my door,
the sidewalk was covered in ice.

Panhandler on the street,
mumbled offensive words my way.

Off to the grocery store,
went to pay, but forgot my wallet.

Back in the kitchen,
all the pots and pans are in the sink dirty.

Things aren't going exactly my way,
I'll just sit in my room and pout.

I got the city-living, spoiled brat, nothin' s really that wrong blues.