My Weekly Personality Analysis

The Cutting Edge (66% dark, 42% spontaneous, 15% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARK Your humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't themselves confrontational. You probably have a very dry delivery, or are seriously over-the-top. Your type is the most likely to appreciate a good insult and/or broken bone and/or very very fat person dancing. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: David Letterman - John Belushi The 3-Variable Funny Test! - it rules - If you're interested, try my latest: The Terrorism Test

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 84% on darkness You scored higher than 35% on spontaneity You scored higher than 3% on vulgarity

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

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Outage, Day 3

For the third day in a row, I've seen workmen out in the courtyard behind our apartment working on Teh Intarwub connection. Once again, Intarwub service gets restored for about an hour or two, then completely fails. I have to say that they appear to be trying. Today, I saw them replace whole components, and they still had troubles.

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Unfortunately, that means I didn't get to finish listening to this episode of NPR's Talk of the Nation from last year about NaNoWriMo. I'd do it now, but I've got other things to be doing, not the least of which is getting ready for this thing.

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How is it that Rupert Murdoch leans so far to the Right with his Fox News Channel, that he walks in circles and still manages to accomplish this?

4 Fox shows named worst for families
'War at Home,' 'Family Guy' lead list

Wednesday, October 19, 2005; Posted: 10:26 p.m. EDT (02:26 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Four Fox network programs, led by the comedies "The War at Home," "The Family Guy" and "American Dad," topped a parents group's annual listing of the worst prime-time shows for family viewing.

Between this and the whole Harriet Miers thing, I'm watching the Right eat itself up with almost pornographic interest.

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Outage

Teh Intarwub has been down at our place for the past two days, so I've had to leave to get online. Jaysus, it feels like I'm in Athens, again. So, that means I'm on the run, especially on Mondays and Tuesdays, when The Wife needs rides to and from work because of her irregular hours. I've sort of buried myself with deadlines and such for various projects, and I go ahead and take on another one, thanks to Datu_B.

I don't have high hopes of accomplishing 50,000 words between November 1st-30th, but it's a good excuse for me to work on this short story idea I had from a decade back that got too large and unwieldy for something under 5,000. But, will it stretch out to 50k? We'll see.

We went to a Halloween party in Rochester. (Yes--more weekend travelling. Jaysus.) I'm glad I went, though, because we had some nice costumes that weren't too expensive. All we needed were hats and accessories. Everything else came out of our closets, and like homemade presents, aren't those the best kind?

All right, now I gotta drive to the Library and return some books. Hopefully, I can find some more episodes of BBC's Coupling. Actually, there's one more task I need to get to first.

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Just Ignore

It seems that I let our free image-storage account on Ripway.com expire. I emailed them to reinstate them, but I've been meaning to do this anyway. I'm uploading a bunch of images to link to later.

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Seven Things

Since Mushtaq tagged me...

Seven Things I Will Do Before I Die

• Have a child
  
• Write and publish a book
  
• Find a way to get my black sash (i.e. permission to teach) in my old kung fu system.
  
• Complete my list of all the similarities between the techniques and principles of my old system and those I've learned studying FMA and dabbling in silat.
  
• Have enough martial arts knowledge to pass on to my child. Because few things are scarier than a Filipino descendant with a stick being asked "What system do you know?" and answering "Just some stuff I learned from the old man."
  
• Go to the Philippines and find an old GM to have at least one lesson. If none are living by the time I get to it, I'll settle for a first generation student.
  
• Finally learn how to play the jazz standard "Joyspring" on my trumpet. It's been a decade, and I still haven't mastered it.

Seven Things I Can Do

• Learn just about any skill if I'm apprenticed to the right person. I tell myself, "If I can learn kung fu, I can learn this..."
  
• Listen. Even now, the mental health counseling bug hasn't completely been eradicated from my system.
  
• Generally see the "big picture" or the general principles of a given thing, without necessarily needing every last detail.
  
• Hum along with the horn licks of every Chicago song from any album, all the way back to Chicago Transit Authority.
  
• Take care of my wife (I know I can do this, 'cos she told me so).
  
• Hang out comfortably with and feel accepted by lower-middle-class Appalachians in the morning, and rich, Liberal, semi-elitist snobs in the evening. It's all about how you listen to and talk with people.
  
• Stay calmer than average in a crisis situation. One of the lasting benefits of working in Residential Treatment.

Seven Things I Can't Do

• Stomach even a hint of the Filipino cultural "I'll-scratch-your-back-and-you're-an-ashsole-if-you-don't-scratch-mine" mentality. This is a bad thing, really, because I know I've actively avoided relationships with some people because of it. I have to work on that.
  
• Even think of the possibility of ever moving back to Euclid, OH.
  
• Play any tune done by Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker (except for "Scrapple from the Apple" and bits of "Ornithology")
  
• Own a firearm (at least if I want to stay married)
  
• Address a Catholic nun any differently than I did in grade school, even ones closer to my age
  
• Transition cleanly back and forth between "right side" hubud into the "left side."
  
• Resist chicken wings
  

Seven Things I Say Most Often

• Whaaaaaaaat?
  
• Oh, no he/she didn't!
  
• [I've got/she'll get/he knows/you deserve/I owe you/etc.] two things: jack and $hit.
  
• Gotta put the game face on, baby.
  
• [What'd I get you for your birthday/for lunch/etc.] Twice as much as I got you last time.
  
• [In response to feeling screwed with] Motherfcuker's got the wrong one, today.
  
• Told you that btich crazy.

Seven People I Would Like To Pass This On To

You know how I am about spamming people ;), so I'll just open it up to the first seven people who want to do this either as a comment or on their own blogs (and leave a comment telling us all where to find it).

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

I'm going to do something different this week. An analysis in the mental health field usually involves a needs assessment. Because after all, there's no reason to just see where a person stands if you're not going to treat them in some way, right? Not financially feasible. Greedy insurance bsatards Anyway, here is a needs assessment according to Google.

Don needs to fire his barber.

Don needs a new ski handle for his favorite toy.

Don needs underlings

Don needs *professional* advice which will surely serve him better than the amateur variety.

Don needs to play the backyard.

Don needs more help weaving all these issues together in to a comprehensive work plan, and due to personal commitments for this week, will not be able to get it done for this funding cycle, but he will try to put together something quick and dirty.

Don needs a hug! Don needs a hug!

Don needs rhythm accompaniment about as much as a doctor needs pills.

Don needs you to volunteer time on his campaign.

Don needs to identify all the women who might be candidates and take the ultimate road trip of his life.

Don needs help picking out sweaters (he has absolutely no fashion sense)

Holding this belt for over 10 years, Don needs to step up against a hard hitting top ten contender, Gabe Carmichael to keep this record intact.

Don needs to continue with the current Dokken line-up.

Don needs help understanding strange sex acts

DON needs to be considered in the overall nitrogen balance of the region.

Don needs out of Portland and quickly.

Don needs to continue to balance the needs and rights of landowners with the need to protect the environment and Stearns County's precious resources.

Don needs his blue pills, no not those, his Xanax.

Don needs to handle it and not air his laundry in public.

Don needs to be tied up and punished!!

Don needs 35 apple pies for Saturday, October 16th’s Ham & Bean Supper.

Don needs stop using psychoactive substances and deal with real world and a world of made up intelligence.

Don needs to occasionally keep his mouth shut!

I remember telling Brian, when I was trying to describe Don's needs, "We're not quite to rubber sheets yet, but we're into Depends."

Don needs to ask the Chief if we should accept the $100.00 from the L'Amour Shoppe, which is an adult bookstore shop.

Don needs to go back to being Don the Obscure.

Don needs to add a London double decker bus and a B-52 bomber to go with his fleet.

Don needs something to calm the demons.

Don needs to quit playing, and pay them damn fees.

Every don needs a pinky ring in order to start a family.

Don needs to begin his drug education!

Don needs his high walls to keep the world out and the tears in.

Don needs to cover a mile of this alien landscape in less than 8 seconds.

Don needs to slink into the murky depths of the entertainment world before Xena the Princess of Truth can catch him red-handed making a profit.

Don needs desperately needs two things in this world: Booze, and anger management.

DON NEEDS TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM THE INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE AS HE CAN GET - IN A BIG HURRY !!!

Don needs therapy....what a delusional fool.

Don needs a tissue.

Don needs his own show, immediately!

Don needs shooting.

Don needs to get up the energy to open the barn for a sale.

Don needs to show everyone he can squeeze out some shrimp.

I forgot where I picked this meme up. Just Google the phrase "(Your Name) needs" and see what pops up.

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Media Consumption

Between chores and more job searching (another interview hopefully this week!), I've been passing the time with:


American IV: The Man Comes Around definitely sounds like the album of a man who knew there weren't going to be many more albums. It's haunting. I literally can't listen to the whole thing in one sitting because of the all the pathos.

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I've been dividing my time between Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies and Jonathan Lethem's The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye. There was a line in Lethem's story "Light and the Sufferer" that bothered me. I won't quote it analyze it, so as not to start any unnecessary roughness on my blog. Suffice it to say that there's every chance that I'm biased because of my continual exposure to the blog of Steve Barnes.

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Flash - ah - Saviour of the universe
Flash - ah - He'll save ev'ry one of us
Flash - ah - He's a miracle
Flash - ah - King of the impossible

Come on, now. If you want a personal theme song, and you're upset that most everyone else has co-opted the "Theme from Shaft" and "Princes of the Universe," you can't get much better than this.

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I'm sure most of you have read the reports, so I won't bother linking it. Stallone's mustered up the balls decided to finally go ahead with Rocky VI (followed, apparently by Rambo IV). I hope George Lucas is on board, because SFX are the only way you're going to convince me a 59-year old man is going to put on a show in any kind of boxing ring. Datu_B and I were talking about this yesterday: Wasn't the character of Rocky Balboa washed up in Rocky V? As far as story continuity, I better see people in skinny ties and rolled-up suit sleeves. I'm sort of glad Talia Shire isn't in this one. Maybe she learned her lesson from Godfather III. Hey, I liked that movie, but that didn't change the fact that it couldn't go more than three minutes without a reference to the first two films.

All right, that's enough for now.

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Why Wasn't I Told About This?

Lookee what the Electronic Frontier Foundation done found:

Secret Code in Color Printers Lets Government Track You

Tiny Dots Show Where and When You Made Your Print

San Francisco - A research team led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recently broke the code behind tiny tracking dots that some color laser printers secretly hide in every document.

The U.S. Secret Service admitted that the tracking information is part of a deal struck with selected color laser printer manufacturers, ostensibly to identify counterfeiters. However, the nature of the private information encoded in each document was not previously known.

The article has links to a list of printers they've researched as well as how to see the dots (of course, it's not easy).

The Secret Service quickly admitted to it, which sort of tells me that they're telling the truth about how it's only currently used to fight counterfeit. "What," you're saying. "You believe the gub'ment?" First of all, the "code" was easy enough for an EFF intern to crack. Second, I truly believe that if the gub'ment wanted this to remain a secret badly enough, this post would be about how some mysterious worm destroyed all of the EFF's computers, instead of dots. Which may yet happen, as people discover more ways your technology can rat you out.

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Biorhythms

For years, I've noticed that in the week preceding a full moon, my physical biorhythm always sinks. I mention the full moon as a point of reference, not as any sort of implication. No matter how much or how little I do, I feel drained that week. What's weird is how it sneaks up on me 95% of the time. I wonder why I don't feel like doing a damn thing, why everything seems like such a struggle, and when I start to feel better I look up, and there it is.

Anyway, I think I was it harder this past week as I was recovering from both illness and travel. Speaking of recovery, my dad was briefly in the hospital again last week for a pre-scheduled procedure. He's doing great!

Ok, as promised last post, there will be stuff to btich blog about...

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

It's been a week, and between sickness and traveling and more sickness, I'm feeling a bit more like myself. I have been feeling better, but I swear this thing is moving up and down my body. First my head, then my throat, then my lungs, and yesterday, to my stomach. So, I apologize for the lapse. When was the last time you saw two weekly personality analyses back to back? Don't worry, I've got lots to btich blog about.

But, until then, I said I've been feeling a bit more like myself. What does that feel like this week?


Destiny - You are mature and saddled by
responsibility. Sometimes you seem cold because
of this. You need to learn to have fun and
loosen up.


Which one of Sandman's Endless are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

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My Weekly Personality Analysis

Sorry, it's late, but yesterday was the first day I've felt like myself in a week. And, I had exactly 12 hours to enjoy it, because we hosted a friend of E's from Columbus last night and this morning. He's on a trip to Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, NY and stopped here to spend the night, take us to dinner, and to visit another similar place about five miles from here on his way to KTD.

And, today, I get to finish getting things ready for another long-@$$ road trip to Cleveland to see my folks. It sounds mean, but I probably wouldn't go if my father hadn't been in the hospital in early September and if he wasn't due to go back in (for some "routine" procedures) late next week. The Columbus Day weekend is really the only time between when we saw them last and the holidays. The Wife really wanted to see them, too. Now, let me add the disclaimer :) --The Wife in no way pressured or intimidated me into going. I am solely responsible for choosing to go over my own protests ;). I take full responsibility for the resulting effort and stress which will undoubtedly make me relapse next week.

Okay, time for me to take The Wife to work, come back and see our guest off, get the car ready, get my stuff ready, get... Oh, here's the test already, for Pete's sake.

Don took the Which Star Wars droid are you? quiz, and is clearly R5-D4.

R5-D4 What can be said about you. Hardly anyone even knows who you are, and yet your very purpose in life is of paramount importance. You mostly keep to yourself and ponder your existence in this Mechanical Coil. You believe in the power of self-sacrifice. Whenever you're sad, you watch Amélie and feel better. Seriously, without you, most of Star Wars would never have happened. So bravo!

Enjoy the weekend named after one of the chief pawns of the Colonial Oppressor! ;)

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The Joys of 10 Hours of Sleep

I feel like I'm just barely over the worst of whatever's ailed me. This is just how I felt as a child when I would be sick of being sick and wanted to go play outside. And, then I would and end up relapsing. So, I'm just going to chill out and go back to bed after lunch. I've only been up two hours, and I'm still damn tired. My abs have been getting quite the workout though, what will all the coughing I've been doing.

The Wife and I were much too far gone yesterday to drive to Rocha-cha to see Serenity. (I've been meaning to ask just why people call Rochester that. On second thought, I don't want to know). We did make ourselves go out and see it at the movie theater across the way from our place, though. I might not have wanted to contaminate our friends, but I'm Chaotic Evil--what do I care about total strangers ;)?

Serenity was good. I think just enough work was done where you didn't necessarily have to have seen Firefly to understand what was going on. Sure, there was a lot of shorthand for things that originally took 12 episodes to go through. But, everything the audience needed to see was in there in just the right proportion to achieve what Whedon probably wanted to achieve, storywise.

So, what didn't I like? Eh, nothing I couldn't cope with, really. But, did Chiwetel Ejiofor have to dress up like Blade at the end, for pete's sake? Plus, I'm all for twists and shocks, but cram three or four together, and I'm going to think you're just yanking my chain. That's all, really. I'll probably get all of Firefly and this film on DVD.

I'm going to watch the episode of Everybody Hates Chris that I... procured... the other day (since there's no UPN affiliate in Ithaca). Then I'm going to sleep for another ten hours.

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