| | As memes go, I've just seen one pop up in four different friends' LJs. I answered to each one. I gave different answers every time. | comments: Leave a comment   |
| Awhile back, when ...m... was actually playing Halo and I was watching Red Vs. Blue, I had heard that Peter Jackson was attached to work on the movie version of Halo. At first, he was rumored to be the director. Then, it was rumored that he would be the producer and Neill Blomkamp would be the director. Then, because no one knew who Neill Blomkamp was, people posted some videos of his work. This included a fairly lengthy Halo trailer that demonstrated how awesome it could be, but it turned out it wouldn't be. Not anytime soon, anyway.
My favorite video of the bunch was Alive in Joburg. There was hardly anything unique about it, you could list off ever single science fiction movie that somehow inspired the images in the film or the story of the film. The best thing about the film was simply the directing. And maybe the music. But anyway...
Alive in Joburg has become this summer's District 9. I'm looking forward to it in a way I haven't looked forward to a movie in a long time. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I went to bed early last night, so I have no idea why I got up in the middle of the morning rather than my usual time. I was somewhat annoyed by that. Spent part of the morning taking my cat Laurel on an adventure, which is his favorite thing. Then spent the afternoon not doing much of anything. I feel the need to buy something interesting for my abode, but don't know what that would be or why I would need it.
Two things I really would like to do in my apartment is set up some shelves on the wall. Any act of setting something somewhat permanent to the walls or ceiling, such as artwork, windchimes, or shelves, is a massive step for ...m... or me. It indicates some sense of permanence to the place we are staying. I'd try to describe how this is a bizarre concept to us in our different ways, but I'm annoyed with my keyboard at the moment.
Last weekend I tried to clean my keyboard. I was trying in my normal way, which is to pop out the keys and clean with some tissues and cotton swabs. ...m... suggested putting the keyboard in the dishwasher. I thought this was ridiculous, so I put it in the dishwasher and set it to clean. It didn't work afterward, but ...m... is under the impression that it should. In the meanwhile, I'm using my wireless keyboard which is either sticking or delaying or something that prevents me from typing at speed.
The wireless keyboard also lacks separate numlock keys, which didn't seem important until I tried to play World of Warcraft.
So anyway, one of the veterinarians at work is a big World of Warcraft player. As I am the only other person who speaks gaming geek, I get to hear about her grand misadventures. She started talking about how I should play the game solely so she could get some sort of zebra. I finally made a deal. I would take her referral code, play the game, net her a zebra, and in return, she would drive in 24 Hours of Lemons.
Incidentally, I didn't know one could die so many times in the space of five minutes as I have trying to play this game. We'll see if I ever jump the learning curve and actually play the game with any regularity. It is possible. And she knows I will sit for an entire weekend doing nothing but gaming. Damn her.
Tomorrow I'd like to see Up. I actually haven't seen the trailer or know anything else about it other than it is Pixar. I like this form of ignorance, so I'd like to see this movie before something ruins it. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | Mouth | | Time: | 08:10 am |
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| While writing answers to the meme from a previous post, I made mention of one of the clinic cats. His name's Mouth. And I mentioned I would miss him.
A coworker brought him to the clinic to be neutered two and a half years ago. She intended to then release him back into the wilds of her apartment complex, but instead he somehow became a clinic cat.
His name is Mouth because he was an extremely loud cat at the apartment complex. The name just stuck.
He has the coolest personality. He loves to go up to any cat and hang out, and he doesn't understand why a cat wouldn't want to do the same. He loves to play with kittens. He loves to play. He would walk up to people and say hello, especially if they seemed sad.
Unfortunately, he also had a habit of walking up to people and biting them. Not in a mean way, but that cat way that only cat people understand. And he'd sometimes swat at a dog if it got too close. And sometimes we'd be trying to do a procedure and he'd jump up on the table to see what we were doing.
So the boss man kept saying he had to go. We never tried to actually adopt him out, because a lot of us thought he was cool to have around. Even the boss would change his mind after seeing Mouth playing with a kitten or being cute. He wanted him to go, but he wanted to make sure he went to the perfect home.
Then the other day a client asks if he's up for adoption. Well... technically, he is. She was extremely excited, as was all her family. I'm not entirely convinced it would be the perfect home, but it certainly wasn't going to be a bad home. So it was agreed that she could have him on a trial basis. And it was agreed that she could bring him back at any time if ever it didn't work out.
So yesterday, Mouth went to his new home. I hope he likes it.
Here's a picture of Mouth after a particularly cruel event in his life. Not the neuter, but the placement of caps on this claws. He had a tendency to tug at them immediately after application. We thought maybe if we kept him off the claws while the glue set, they would stay on longer. We thought wrong, but in the meanwhile, we were vastly entertained at his displeasure with the cone. He'd try to do a leap as if he could simply jump his whole body through the cone and onto freedom.
 | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| I woke up a little earlier than normal this morning, which means I'm looking for things to do before I have to leave for work. So I decided on a meme that I saw Rimrunner do.
( 30+ Meme ) | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I've been very lazy about getting around to a description of my trip to Vietnam. People have been asking me how the trip was, but all I could really tell them was it was exhausting. At times I had fun. Sometimes I broke down crying.
The crying came as a disappointment to my parents, I'm sure, as it was tears for one thing only: a western style bathroom. Such were all my beliefs shattered that I could backpack my way across any country in this world with nary a care for the amenities of running water and toilet paper. As it turns out, when I'm on my third day post-traumatic sunburn, I want to feel a little bit comfortable.
So feel free to click behind the Livejournal curtain and see the beach town of Vung Tau, the beginning of my demise.
( It was a five hour drive from Saigon... )
More later! | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I liked Kyle Reese. I liked Marcus Wright. I wish Christian Bale hadn't been in the movie.
And I did not like the movie. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I've been watching Dollhouse. I'm up to episode five. I know there's a slowly building story arc playing alongside the more standalone stories of each episode. I know Whedon will provide the climax to this story arc.
But I don't care. I don't like Dollhouse. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| "First of all, you've got a shaved head!"
"In the future, they love that shit!"
I can't really describe it any further than that, but it provided endless entertainment through dinner and onto the rest of the evening.
The movie was entertaining, too, but I'd probably only see it the one time. Probably because I went on to tear the movie apart through dinner and onto the rest of the evening. | | comments: 3 comments or Leave a comment |
| | It has come to my attention that I have actually been home for quite a long while and yet failed to mention it here. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| While attempting to throw water on my face, fell in mud instead. Lay there for several moments while a growing group of Vietnamese women hovered over me asking if I was hurt. "Only my pride," I said. Then threw water all over my clothes. Couldn't have been too much differen than being caught in a sudden downpour, I suppose.
Also managed to skin my leg after a mad dash up the stairs to beat my cousin who had taken the elevator. Won the race after a fantastic slide. On the rug.
Was again along the border with Cambodia to visit a Cao Dai temple. It's the largest one. Original one. My great uncle is a scholar/priest there, so I got to visit places that they normally wouldn't allow visitors. Noticed a door in the floor. My mother told me she'd tell me about it later. Turns out, in exchange for saving the temple during the war, they allowed the North Vietnamese to have offices under the temple.
There's a small mountain surrounded by flat fields. Rice fields now, jungle long ago. Right after my parents were married, my dad went fighting in the area. His entire platoon was wiped out. He joined up with another one, but they were fighting the North Vietnamese in Cambodia at that point, which caused some sort of difficulty in communication and getting backup. So he was MIA for six months. My mom already lost one husband to the war, so when my dad finally reappeared, she said they were leaving Vietnam right then. I think my dad ended up fighting drug dealers from Thailand after that, but so long as my mother didn't know...
Off to Chinatown now. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| I am starting to hear the horns that are a fixture of Saigon traffic.
Waiting on ...m... to finish getting ready. Going to a Cao Dai temple today. Am told it will be a day trip.
Spent yesterday in Saigon. Went to the Saigon Market, which am told is an old institution of the city. Didn't really buy anything. Would point at things I liked, but my aunt will go back later to buy it. They will charge her less because she is Vietnamese. In spite of also being Vietnamese, they can peg my mother as obviously being from America. They would charge her the same as me. I was told that every restaurant has charged us double what they would for natives. I think that equates to $30 for a large meal to feed eight, though.
Eating extremely well. Because ...m... is a vegetarian, a vegetarian cousin takes us to these hole in the wall dives that serve the best stuff ever. Get about fifty different fruit juices made on the spot. Or you could, but I keep ordering coffee. Vietnamese coffee is the bestest.
Trying to take a video of what it's like to go through traffic, but I keep hitting nonpeak hours or mysteriously empty cross sections. It's awesome, though. I am totally going to learn to drive a scooter here, once I can get a cousin not to listen to my mother about it.
Arguing about where to go for rest of vacation. Going to my grandmother's is a given. Discussed going to Da Lat and Nu Trang. Definitely Da Lat, I'm thinking. My mother lived there as a teenager. Mountain city. I told my mother I only want to go to Nu Trang if I get to sail, which for some reason she's not keen about. Otherwise, I'd go to the beach where she, my father, and her entire family had their first date. Can't remember the name of the place.
Spent a ridiculous portion of my time yesterday reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. Kept thinking I shouldn't be spending time on something I could easily due on the plane, but kept convincing myself that I should be allowed to do whatever I want on a vacation. So didn't go to the museum that I wanted to yesterday.
My cousin took me on a scooter tour of Saigon at night, so I found a couple more interesting places to visit. Another cousin wants me to see water puppet theater. I sort of want to go to the zoo.
...m... is finished getting ready, but trying to delay telling my mother we're ready to go. I guess because we're not totally awake. Did I mention it was 5 a.m.? | | comments: Leave a comment |
| 7:30 pm Tuesday. Spent most of day driving back to Saigon from Chau Doc, which is southwest on the border with Cambodia. I'd like to write about the interesting things I have done an seen, but all of it is overshadowed by the immense frustration I have with spending my first two full days in Vietnam driving. Sure, it's fun trying to figure out right of way patterns among the throng of scooters, but it does get old.
Rest of vacation shouldn't have as extensive driving. Tomorrow will be spent wandering Saigon.
I'm eating well. It's the only thing my family seems to think I want to do. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| Things to do:
Shop for some clothes. Much needed regardless of travel.
Batteries for my pathetic digital camera.
Possibly a cheap-ass CD or MP3 player that I wouldn't mind losing should it come to that.
Trip to bookstore for cheap books.
Shampoo and conditioner.
Laundry.
Debate: take raincoat or leave it? Supposedly not the rainy season.
OH MY GOD. Just learned April is considered the hottest month in Vietnam. I am going to DIEEEEE!
Wasn't going to take shorts, but now considering it. Experience in Thailand is that conservative dress gets you further.
Totally buying toys for young cousins. Wonder what I should buy.
Need to go to bank.
Need to pack light. Remember. Pack light. Can do. Do not go crazy with the packing because can get stuff there. Plus, mother going to take up half the suitcase for smuggling. | | comments: 2 comments or Leave a comment |
| I get bit by cats plenty of times at work and nothing ever comes of it. They tell me I should take antibiotics since cat bites are notorious for getting infected. And abscessing. But I've been lucky so far.
I get bit by my own cat, and suddenly, my finger is going to fall off. I know the first comment I'm going to get is that I need to clean my cat's teeth. The second comment will be an offer of antibiotics, which I think I'll take this time around.
It's not so much a cat bite as it is a cat molars mush and grind. I was attempting to give him a pill at the time. ...m... has this way of doing it that is completely not the way to do it, but it works for him.
It really hurts. | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | snob | | Time: | 07:52 pm |
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| | I've been loaned a movie to watch. A movie I want to watch. I have discovered this movie is in full screen. I am tempted to go out and spend money to rent a widescreen version. | | comments: Leave a comment |
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