1.  There is a very fine line between visionary and lunatic.

2.  When you walk amongst thunderstorms, you're bound to get struck by lightning.

3.  Of course I never realized it as a kid meandering through the school library, but Aesop's Fables can damn near teach you everything you need to know about life.

Africa, I cannot wait to meet you.

Is putting your own sanity before someone else's happiness self-preservation or just you being an asshole?  Because I really just feel like an asshole.
My living room is full of a bunch of men right now, so this is my comfort, I suppose.  If I had known I was supposed to stay gone, I would have.  Could have used the drive...  thanks sig.  Appreciate the warning.  Who is responsible for this 1800 sq ft acquisition anyway?  You're welcome.
My Private Nation is a super depressing Train album that I can't help but listen to sometimes.  It's especially hard because there is a nostalgia attached to it that will never leave me.  Something to do with tech school and getting over losing one of the most important people in my life during BMT.  Tonight is the first time I said out loud that I'm glad he died the way he did because lord knows I would have fucked his world up something horrible like I'm really good at doing.  That's not just self pity, either.
And I'm at it again.  I've got myself in yet another situation.  Here's the thing I've figured out..   I'm convenient.  Maybe if I wasn't so in love with everyone else, I'd be able to love myself enough to know when I should do the Dare thing and just say no.  It's a real vice...  for someone who hates people so much, I sure do love a bunch of persons.  It makes everything fucking complicated.  I should have stuck with the antisocial outcast persona.
And then there's GI Joe.  Well isn't that just a lovely side note on this fucked up track.  I'm counting this whole sector as a bad egg.  Shit.  Maybe the whole cylinder.
I don't think I've mentioned this here before, but everyone that knows me knows that I hate liars.  I've always considered leaving out the truth the same thing as lying.  However, I've been proving myself wrong lately.  Turns out there are details that are best left unsaid.  And I'm thankful for the recent change of pace in my morals because otherwise, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
I do make some killer fudge brownies, though.

I guess I've kind of ignored my vox for a while now.  I haven't had anything really positive to post and blog-bitching just isn't as fulfilling as it used to be.

As an update... Hawaii was beautiful.  I'd love to be a beach bum that did web design from home someday.  Freelancing is scary though. 

Vegas is coming up, so that should be a good time... but it's still two weeks away and I need a break right now, this instant.

So I went to Virginia for a week.  I visited family and went site seeing...  It was a good time.  Sometimes I really miss living there, but I'm not sure I'd want to go back.
The trip did, however, cause me to miss the first 2 days of my C++ II class.  Funny, it didn't seem like we ever did anything in C++, but I miss the first two days of the second part of the class and when I go back, I'm lost.  Real nice.  Not that I'm bitter...  I just had to do some extra reading and programming outside of class, which I never do.  I think I'm caught up now though.

Yet another trip on the way though!  I'm going to Hawaii.  And I'm crazy excited about it. :)  Usually planning a trip like this is a "One day we should... blah blah blah" sort of experience, but this time, it's for real.  I bought the tickets last night, and got 2 round trip for what 1 would usually cost.  <WIN>  I've never seen the pacific ocean.  I saw the atlantic for about 1 hour when I was 14... and I've seen the Gulf, but everyone knows that doesn't count.  Finally some real beach!

Also, Suncoast had an anime deal going last week for buy one anime, get one half off.  I finally got Hellsing Ultimate Ed. II and III to go along with the first one I've had forever.  I am worried that the series may not be finished with Geneon going out of business or whatever.  Not sure about the details, but it doesn't look good. =/

This is an article about the winner(s) of the 2007 Nobel Prize of medicine.  What interests me about this is not Mario Capecchi's strife throughout his obviously tumultuous life, but the research he was conducting with Oliver Smithies et al.  Together, they figured out that mice could be used to better understand diseases in humans.  Normally, I'm against animal testing, because quite frankly, I find purposely altering a creature for the worse pretty disturbing.  Most people seem to think that messing with nature in general is just a bad idea, and since I tend to agree, I feel like a hypocrite when I feel compelled to want to change things for the better.  That whole "leave well enough alone" attitude just doesn't work for me.  What can I say, I'm a bit of a perfectionist.  All that aside, it's great they figured out how to alter stem cells and use specific gene targeting methods to learn more about disease... HOWEVER... why is this always a negative thing?  Everything you hear about (in the mainstream anyway) has to do with disease.  Well, except for cloning (organs and such) -- you do hear about that and that's very positive.  But I won't get started on the whole 'thirst for negative news' subject.

So here's the question:  if genes can be targeted to make a mouse grow up and have cystic fibrosis or Alzheimer's, why couldn't they be altered in a positive way?..  i.e. for a better overall immune system, rapid recovery of particular cells (like skin or any other organ), or rapid muscle growth.  Seems like we'd benefit more from learning to be stronger, than just learning to fight weakness.  Although, now I've written it down, that sounds ridiculous.  I guess I just can't see why we'd spend so much time and effort recreating something horrible, and completely ignore the possibility of creating something spectacular.

BLUF - I realize that you need to know your enemy before you can defeat them effectively, and since scientists are discovering how to fight and even possibly completely eradicate illnesses that could pop up in humans over and over again, this is extremely important research...  I just wish someone would take it and go the complete opposite route.  Enough on this, though.

Work tends not to be very demanding these days, so I do a lot of sitting around and pondering about different stuff.  Sometimes it gets my thoughts places they shouldn't be.

One other thing that irks me:  I just had four consecutive days off from work, didn't work out at all, and ate entirely too many bad things for me... and I weigh less than I did when I was eating right/working out.  WHAT?  Maybe it's part of that whole womanly water-weight gain or something. 

Oh, and... throwing gang signs at work is awesome.

Yeah, this post has nothing to do with the title, but I got a great picture message on my phone earlier with this as the text...  it made me smile.  And that's what counts here, people.

I hate trying to make nice diagonal lines in photoshop.  It's damn near impossible for a novice like me to get even, elegant lines.  Lately I've been making a bunch of RSS icons though.  Today I tried to emulate a rippling wet floor effect, but it did not come out very well:

Liquid RSS

A good half of knowing yourself is knowing someone that knows you.  The other half of appreciating yourself is knowing someone that appreciates you... just the way you are.  It's a good thing, and it can keep you sane, even when you think nothing can.

Longboarding (the dry land skateboard type) is so much fun!! Mike took me skating yesterday, and I had a great time.  He's still getting over his last big fall, so it was just a fairly flat parking lot with a big hill going down to it.  I figured he would be bored on a surface like that, but he said he had a good time.  I'm so glad he's patient.  My coordination isn't really the best, but he's doing a good job teaching me to ride.  I tried 'toes-on-the-nose' (putting both feet facing forward at the tip of the board) and nearly killed myself, but I can do it moving really slowly now.  After that we goofed around on the playground.  I can't decide whether we looked like special needs kids or escaped convicts from the nearby jail.

I watched Knocked Up this weekend.  I saw it at the movies when it was out, and granted, it's a cute movie...  but I just have this giant fear of babies.  They're pretty highly disgusting.  And they're noisy.  And that whole process is enough to scare the bejesus out of me.  <DO NOT WANT/>...

Also, I bought and watched Green Legend Ran.  I ordered it from Amazon and got it in the mail Saturday morning.  It's a cute anime.  I've been wanting to see it for about 10 years now, but it took me a while to figure that out.  Sci-fi used to play anime early on Saturday mornings.  I got addicted to it and was more than a little angry when they stopped doing that.  I seriously went on a Sci-fi hiatus when that happened.  Anyway, all I could remember about the anime I never got to finish was something about strange pods landing on Earth and a special silver-haired girl/people.  Turns out the end wasn't as good as I was expecting, but I feel more complete now.  It's like I just finished one more thing on my subconscious life list.  One more flame upon my wing.

Oh, and I added something to that list this weekend.  One of these days, I'm going to do a weightless environment test.  I don't necessarily have to go to space... I just want to know what it feels like to float my fat ass around, instead of trucking along on the ground.  Which reminds me... I wonder if there's any research on what a weightless enviro would do for osteoporosis?  I talked to my mother over the phone and apparently she weighs less than me now.  It's good for her, depressing for me, but she swears my 140lbs is muscle and her 136lbs is chub.  Whatever, mom.  The point here is that if doctors are telling you to lose weight to relieve pressure on your bones, well...  maybe a space room is all that would be necessary for growth/repair stages.  I actually have no idea what I'm talking about here, and common sense doesn't really apply to science all the time, so...  I'll shut up now.  =)

It's been a week since I posted something because nothing particularly interesting has happened.  Other than going to the zoo (which I love doing) and making some immaculate penne alfredo, there isn't anything noteworthy.  The bears did manage to show mostly just their ass to everyone as per usual.  And the penguins were extremely cute while trying to figure out the best way to waddle/hop their way across their rocky little home.  I always want to poke one!  They look so squishy. :)

Wednesday is talk like a pirate day!  So grab ye booty and grog and wench and have yourself a mutiny.  YAR!

Versus (Director's Cut)

Oh, and I have big plans for Halloween this year.  Not only am I going to do the maid costume thing for the RockyHorror Picture Show, but I'm going to wear my Lawbreaker outfit somewhere.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to get educated... quickly.  VERSUS!  And yes, there are ninjas AND zombies.  It's amazing.

Ninja - Samurai Sword

Making text look like water over a background in photoshop is a lot harder than what I thought it would be.  I may never get the technique down.

I can make the Dethalbum eat a baby though (completed via request from a couple of friends -- I got the baby picture off the internets, so should the mother see this, I apologize):

Dethklok

Also, my C++ teacher talks too slow and keeps me there too late.  It's a waste of my time...  C++ so far is super easy.  It's like Java, except it's even more stupider.

BUT... there will be a Resident Evil Apocalypse viewing tonight and much rejoicing.  I should make a bumper sticker that says "I honk for Zombies", or "I <3 Zombies", or maybe just "I bite".  "Mass psychosis is fun!"?  "Beware:  Cricket bat on board!"?  "If dead people stink, you could smell a zombie coming."?   "Think of my boils as freckles."?  "That's not hair you're running your fingers through."?   "If I had toes, your face would make them curl."?  "My zombie ate your honor student."?
This could go on and on.

SO, a note from our sponsor, and I bid you adieu:

Ninja vs Mormon

ZOMG more text effects >>  here.

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