Herd Instinct

While driving to work this morning, I was once again reminded that I should write about a certain topic, but continually forget to by the time I get home. Even though I drive right through the reminder again, and grumble about it all the way home. Perhaps this isn't something that bothers most people, or maybe its something everyone just thinks is normal, but it bothers me somewhat. So I will pose a question. WHY do people on the freeway like bunching up together like frightened African prey animals? Its true. There will be long stretches of zero cars on the freeway, and then clumps of shee... I mean cars, packed so tightly together that they could be passing cookies and coffee through open windows. Hell, who needs cell phones, just roll the bloody windows down and have a chat with the cars' occupants clustered around you. Meet someone new; socially network face to face, glance to glance while you drive on the freeway. Its really no worse than having a Borg implant.

Just remember, if you happen to be a herd animal, that if someone slams on the brakes, you're all going to die in a twisted, burning, wreck of exploding horror. I won't be with you. I'm anti-social. I'm the, I'm sure many times cursed, person who drives at a sane speed and in the gaps between the herds. Sure, I'm probably more likely to get hit by a speeding distracted nitwit, but at least I have room to maneuver. While traveling in packs, unless they are synchronised driving teams who train for stuff like this, you run into someone. For the synchronised driving teams out there, no offense intended.

All annoyance aside, I began wondering if there are scientists out there who study driving patterns, and if so, what are their findings? Is anyone even watching the prey drivers and the social-driver loners? Considering only my Mom reads this blog (or at least she's the only one who comments) I'm not expecting answers. But if someone out there is looking for a place to study flocking patterns of the human animal while driving, then I've got the perfect freeway for you to watch. Let me know. I'll point it out.

And at the end of all this, I feel I should say that normally I'm not this cranky, but I today I have a splitting headache. It makes me irritable, cranky and generally unpleasant company.

... perhaps I should've put that at the top as a fair warning...

Slightly Halloween...

Yes, I know we're three weeks off from Halloween, and its only the 9th, but I can't help trying to stuff all sorts of Halloween stuff onto my blog... Except it wouldn't all fit. And some of the gifs refused to cooperate with the blog. I suspect that they're not compatible or something. Last time I got around to fixing up my blog for a holiday, I was using my old Dell (man, I should really just go out and get it a new hard drive. Nothing else is really wrong with it.... except the $900 price tag for a new hard drive. ACK!!) and some of them didn't work then either. Now I'm on the Mac, and some of them that didn't work while using the Dell, now work on the mac. Odd coding or something I guess. I have not the know-how to go in and play with all the 1's and 0's, so I shall let sleeping numbers lie.

Well, I have something of a 4 day weekend, in which I get to do nothing, but sit on my duff and practice the lost art of couch potato-ism. I even got myself movies to watch and Dad just supplied me with a thing of popcorn. On the downside its freezing in the house, and I'll have to bundle up under some blankets to watch my shows, otherwise I will be a frozen couch potato. Having experienced this before, it doesn't make for a enjoyable movie watching experience. We do not have a heating system in the house, besides the wood stove, and we don't fire that up (forgive the pun) until its rained... heavily. Although Dad was kind enough to get the old sucker going last week, because it had rained a little, and it was relatively safe to go around lighting fires. You see, I live in what can be construed as a matchbox state. Forest fires start here at the drop of a sewing needle... especially if it hits a rock and sparks. FWOOSH!... yeah, been there, done that, DO NOT REPEAT!

Now, I'm going to go make popcorn, and tea, and plotz on the couch, and enjoy ridiculous TV shows for a while. I hope. Sometimes my plans go awry, like a wolverine on speed. I'm hoping that this isn't going to be one of those days, as I'd like my 5 days of headache to go away. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Like Christmas! A painless head for .... Halloween?

*crosses fingers*

And in the Second Month...

Last month, it was like wading through a river of loud, obnoxious, smelly, semi-conscious legal adults, (although in many cases I disagree on the legitimacy of their adulthood). This month... its like 2/3's of the people who were on campus for one reason or another... are gone. It no longer takes me 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. There is no longer a reenactment of the running of the bulls in the cafeteria, but then the cafeteria closes at 2p.m. now instead of 6p.m. due to budget cuts. Now you have to go to the little coffee shop and order stuff... and drink coffee while you wait. And just so you are forewarned, the coffee is appalling. A-P-P-A-L-L-I-N-G. I've come to the conclusion that they must find some sort of roadkill to use as a strainer, then burn the coffee beans, let those sit in water for several days, then make the coffee... and then use the business end of a skunk to stir it. Its the best excuse for the taste that I could come up with. Now I have to be honest here, I don't like coffee to begin with, but dear god, on the occasions when I've had coffee, it was NEVER that bad.

So, its October, my favorite time of year. Okay, so Halloween is my favorite time of year... that makes exactly one day in which I am totally happy. Hmm. Anyway, Favorite TIME OF YEAR! I shall carve pumpkins this year, and not just threaten to do so. There are even drawings this time; that I made over the summer with which to inflict emotions upon the pumpkins. Don't feel sorry for them. They have it coming. When I am finished with the torturous ordeal, I shall post pictures. Hopefully. Unless the pumpkins are fallen upon by the ravenous hoard. Aka... the chickens. They discovered my torture victim last year, and made short work of him. Poor thing didn't even have a mouth to scream with. I hadn't gotten to him yet you see. The blog with probably undergo some changes, decoration wise. I'll still be slow putting up posts, considering I am still have 'I-not-terribly-interested-in-posting-right-now' disease. So, what have I been doing in the meantime? Well, lets see...

I decided to solve a mystery. Its called,"Why the hell is almost every anime nut I meet totally obsessed with One Piece?" (okay, not all of them, but a goodly amount if asked what which anime is the best of the best, 95% of the time, they'll say,"One Piece".) Which baffled me for a long time, because I watched One Piece on Cartoon Network, all the way up to where they pick up Sanji at the Baratie Restaurant, and decided that it really wasn't that good. Now, I did two things wrong right off the bat. ONE - I made the foolish assumption that the dubbed version was actually being honest about the original Japanese. Um. Wrong. There's a whole enormous dump truck (equivalent to those found in open quarries) load of things they leave out, that is extremely detrimental to the entire world/culture of One Piece. Yes, culture, because its definitely got one, and you lose it completely with an English dub. I don't know who makes these decisions, but they need a swift kick to the head. TWO - I stopped watching the show way too early. This show doesn't really take off until they get past Sanji. And then it takes off again once the crew gets into the Grand Line. Holy Crap, does it ever take off. How do I know this? Because I sat down this summer, and watched all of it (including the movies), online and subbed. I've said this before, and I will say it again. The people who do the fan-subs do a fantastic job translating. Granted some are better than others, but they are still head, shoulders and quite possibly chest cavities above the dubs.

I couldn't originally stand the show because of the main character. The Americanized version gave Luffy a really REALLY annoying voice, and they made him out to be a total and complete idiot. Not Luffy's fault. What he's actually saying, was not translated into English correctly, because of unknown reasons. ... okay, I have suspicions, such as, the American population no longer has the attention span, nor the willingness to understand a different culture. Plus, I'm not sure the whole concept of the word 'nakama' translates culturally here. I'm not going to try explaining either, because being an American, I can't say that I fully understand it, but I certainly love what I do understand. Secondly, Luffy's not an idiot. He's just never lost his child-like sensibilities, nor the very basic understanding of what's right and what's wrong. Everyone knows the difference between Justice and Injustice... Luffy's just very direct about how he deals with it. Thirdly, this show was presented as a children's show, and while this is true in some respect, there are totally adult dynamics at play here as well. Its funny, its sad, its heart-breaking, anger-inspiring, and even, at times horrifying, but that's what makes this show so good, and also, I have got to say when I go watch this show, I NEVER know what to expect. Its is only predictable in that you know Luffy and his crew are going to eventually kick the bad guys' ass with extreme efficiency, and that no matter what's happening they will always believe in each other, but aside from that... you never see what's coming. You never know when you're going to laugh so hard you can't breath, or cry like a baby. (That happened on more than one occasion) I guess I've become sick to death of the predictable, because I actively hunt down shows like this. I'm just sorry, I saw the dubbed version first. What a mistake that was. I missed out on Luffy for YEARS. YEARS!!! Anyway sorry to those who have no idea what I'm talking about, but to those who have yet to go watch this show, have fun. A show that's been running for over 10 years and still going strong is not something to ignore because you saw it as a kid and didn't particularly like it. So, mystery solved.

I'll stop now. Promise.

PS... okay, so Luffy is a little bit of an idiot, but he's a good person... character... whatever...

Back In Class

It was the first day back to school for me, and I have to say it was rather surreal. I've been attending this college for quite a while now, mostly because I can only handle so many classes, work, and driving before I start teetering on the great sea of insanity. But over the last two years, the amount of students going to this very nice junior college has grown ... A LOT. In the future I will have to be sure to leave for class at least an hour and a half early in order to get a parking spot and get to class on time. Otherwise there isn't going to be any hope of the parking spot or arriving at class... ever. Today, I was an hour early and got a parking spot fairly quick. On my way through the cafeteria, it was so thick with students that I had to skirt the walls to get around the lines, and once I got out the other side the entire courtyard was packed with people going in every direction... And not one of them was watching where they were going. Almost everyone was staring at a hand held device of some sort, texting.

Now, maybe I'm getting old... or maybe I've just never really gone with the "new thing", but I was sort of alarmed. I have a cell phone. I hate the damned thing. I don't LIKE being available to everyone 24/7. I'm one of those solitary people who likes being left alone to do their own thing. There are of course exceptions, but for the most part, I never turn the phone on unless I need it. It never gets used for texting, even though its free to do. It doesn't have a camera in it. I like being AWARE of my surroundings! Usually I don't really care what people do as long as they're not going to get me killed, but today... it was a day I wish I had a camera in my phone, because all of these kids are walking around completely oblivious to the fact that there is a flock of wild turkeys trying desperately to get out of the courtyard. They're darting this way, and that way and making turkey noises and not one kid stopped to wonder what that odd warbley noise was. Not one looked down to see what had just run into their leg... Not one looked around to see turkeys running around their legs. No... they were totally glued to their phones. And they've got Borg implants in their ears! Aka, Ipods. Okay, so I have an Ipod too, but I don't generally have it ported into my head while walking on campus. That's called inattention, and paints a big fat target on your back for any loony who wants to have fun at your expense. But I listen to it in my car. There I have doors I can lock; not to mention a gas pedal with which to mow down said predator.

Do they do this while they drive? Do they do this while they're in class? Do they ever put those things down and look at each other face to face? I'm just curious, because it looked like scenes straight out of Wall-E. I know. I've watched Wall-E at least 5 times this past summer. Fat people, in floaty chairs, letting robots tell them what to do. No thinking involved. Holy crap! I've seen it in real life?! Its the beginning isn't it. Pixar saw it coming and tried to warn us... but half the population didn't look up now did they. Oh well, its their loss. It'll really be their loss if the next thing they don't notice are the rattlesnakes that have been seen all over campus.

... yes.. I'm mean. And no, I'm not a fanatic. Point fingers at your own expense.

Miss Me???

Yes, I know. Its been months, but I seriously haven't felt like writing anything on my blog. In all honesty I was recovering from two semesters of Japanese classes. Can I now speak Japanese? No. Can I watch a movie or anime in Japanese and understand it? No. Can I at least make myself partially understood? Probably, but I would be so damned embarrassed by my attempt I'd have to go hide in a nice dark closet for several days. What was the point you ask? For some hideous reason, I actually like the language, even though I was a total failure at catching on. Which caused a huge amount of stress. I'm rather spoiled in that I usually am able to breeze through classes without too much effort, so when I run into a subject I suck at... I become a human basket case. Two semesters of being a human basket case will do horrible horrible things to you... like make you spend money to have your wisdom teeth removed... (What the hell was I thinking?... okay, I was thinking that the economy sucks right now, and in the near future I might lose my dental insurance ((god forbid)) and I should do it NOW. ) or kick the rather vulnerable ego knees out from under you... or... Well other things that aren't coming to mind right now, but were equally mind numbing.

Thus I decided to ignore everything except summer programs for my job. Except I got tripped up with that... You see, having my wisdom teeth removed also taught me that I have a bad reaction to certain medications. Ugh, that was fun. So once I'd completely destroyed the month of June for myself, I spent the next two months just messing around. Going out to eat, invading bookstore and leveling my bank account in the process, reading said books, and watching Anime online. There's some really good stuff out there! Especially subbed. I have no idea where the hell the big Anime companies get their translators, but my god, they ruin a lot of quality shows dubbing them. *shudder* It still takes me at least 30 episodes into dubbed Bleach to not be extremely irritated with the not only the voices chosen, but the hatchet job they did on the translation.

I did go to see a few movies. "Watchmen" (which Dad and I call "Big Blue". To understand that you'll have to see the movie. I am NOT explaining.) which was one of the most loyal comic adaptations I have -EVER- seen. Well done, if a bit surprising... just because it was so dead on. Others on the list were "Wolverine", which was pretty good, even though I had reservations about seeing it. Marvel has a habit of harping on things, and after a while it gets irritating. Then there was "Star Trek". The first time I saw it, I was so blitzed by the action I couldn't tell if I liked it or not. So, I went to see it again to try and figure out whether I liked it or not... I DO like it. A lot. The characters were so well portrayed and loyal to the original cast that in certain cases it was like they were channeling the original actors. It was almost creepy. Funny as all hell, but creepy. After that I didn't see anything for a LONG time partially because I had my wisdom extracted, and partially because I was so exhausted after work I couldn't even get up the energy to sit in a theater. However, I did go to see "Ponyo" on Monday. I loved it. Its a Ghibli Studio release, and it very much a children's movie, but it was still great. And a couple of weeks back I went to see "The Ugly Truth", which I really ended up loving. Normally romantic comedies are NOT my thing, but I HAD to escape from the house that day, and the theater was my best bet of something to do while down the hill. Ugly Truth is extremely well done, and very funny. I haven't laughed that hard in a theater since I saw "Something's Gotta Give".

I'm sure I did other stuff during the summer, but at the moment I can't remember anything else to mumble about. School starts on Monday, but I've only got one class. And after that I've only got a speech class to take. I cannot fully express my dire hatred of speech classes. Its beyond my ability to explain. If there was a way around this, I would get around it... with all due haste.

I shall possibly post again soon, but don't hold your breath. I'd hate to have your death on my conscience.

Screamer Hen

Alright, I'm doing this under duress. The post that is. Usually I'm not all that inclined to keep up on my blog, because ... okay, I'm lazy and would much rather be watching Bleach at the moment. No, I'm not going to explain. Mom wants me to write up this story. Sooo....

Last night at around 10:30 p.m. I took Morgan out for her nightly rounds of evacuating unwanted materials. Its been hot here, and sort humid, which makes for mild nights, and unpleasant stickiness. As we got out to Morgan's favorite spot for going potty, I heard an odd noise coming from the area of the chicken coop. Those of you who have chickens know that they make a lot of unfathomable noises just for the heck of it. Noises that you wouldn't think a chicken could make. I frowned into the darkness towards the coop, wondering if maybe something got into the coop, then consulted my dog's ears. Dog was... "concentrating" and giving things around her very little attention. Hmm. I moved upwind of the concentrating dog, and wondered if the coop door was even closed and locked. 

Once Morgan was done, we headed back across the driveway, towards the house when the weird sound started up again. "EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!" I paused and looked towards the coop again. There was a large black hole were the door should be. Nope, no one had locked up the coop. And,"EEEEEEEEeeeeeEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" filtered down to me again. Alrighty then. Morgan and I got a flashlight and trudged out to the coop, I being more interested in the coop, than Morgan who actually yawned twice before we got there. Once we reached the doorway, I flipped on the flashlight and the beam hits an indignant light brahma trying to be down for the night on top of the nest boxes. There's always one idiot who thinks its a good idea. She lets loose with a much more familiar shriek of egg-theft-rage, then emits the "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" again. Ah. Its "Screamer Hen". This is the hen who reaches astounding decibels while you're innocently reaching for the eggs underneath her. If you are unfortunate enough to have gathered an egg from this hen once, you are probably somewhat deaf for about a day. Seriously, her scream makes your ribs vibrate, and it rivals the air horns on the trains that pass my place of work everyday. 

Apparently she didn't appreciate the fact that something was lurking out there in the dark while she was trying to sleep. I wasn't using a flashlight because it was fairly moonlit that night. No need for the artificial torch. Chickens have poor eyesight in the dark, and when she spied two things wandering around out there in the dark and her door was wide open, she objected... quietly, to avoid undue attention. Well, it half worked. Anyway, that's her at the top. Goofball bird.  Not sure when you'll hear from me again. 

Signing off. 

Numb Space

Its already February, and I seem to be hitting my energy limit. In fact I feel a lot like this shot of "Knuffle Bunny" (its a character from a childrens book by Mo Willems. Highly amusing if you haven't already seen it. For obvious expressions upon the face of Knuffle Bunny, I felt the need to use him as a visual prop.) If you can't figure the expression, its one of stunned overload. Yes, that'd be me. I've reached "Numb Space" which is a catch all phrase for when nothing really touches you, but hovers in an eager satellite swing around my numb field. A feeling that I'm totally loving at the moment. It beats the sheer and all out panic attacks I was suffering last semester. Joy. 

On another note a friend emailed to let me know that they had to put their dog, to sleep today. I've been told of the passing of friend's pets before, but this was different. She was a like a person, always there to greet you at the door, always there to sit up and beg you for scratch her, and I'm sure a hundred other little things that are going to be sorely missed by her 'parents'. I too will miss her, very much. Goodnight Topaz, sleep well.