Why Write?

The words I type are a part of me. These words represent my choices, ideas, relationships, and feelings. I describe things in ways I never could before; the cold-moist feeling of morning dew, or the red-searing joy of running, or the sweet-wet thirst of wine. I write what I write because of the picture I see; a picture full of delectable dreams, or melted mountains. My inspiration comes from authors who have also written their choices and their feelings, and a teacher who forces me to grasp for creativity.

As the mild-summer turned to a milder fall I transformed my visions into a craft of words that represented my being. I told stories from my own viewpoint, and then tried to turn them into another viewpoint. I always used my own experiences to drive my momentum of creating an ultimate word count. I was high on words. I let a poem drift from my fingers to the computer and then to an online magazine. A poem of mine was published; a poem that represented the deep, dark, empty pain of the death of a child. Yet, my longing to write continued. I thought being accepted into the literary world would satiate my hunger to write, but it didn’t. I drove along the highway, thinking of new ways to write. New ideas began to flare. I wanted to write everything and on everything, and I did -- the sand at the Great Salt Lake speaks to that.

How to tell a geek from a geek.

In my wanderings and musings of the world I've noticed there are geek-cliques. Not the bad kind of cliques, but the kind where geeks fit into their own geek genus. There are sci-fi geeks, music geeks, fashion geeks, book geeks, and comic book geeks. I know there are more out there, but these are the ones that I've encountered in the last 6 months. Now, you're probably wondering how to differentiate between them. That's easy, or it seems easy to me.

Before I get started, let me address one thing I've noticed; geeks love their t-shirts. I don't blame them. They're comfortable, stretch easily, and can disguise a geek as being better groomed. As in, not wearing those dirty white tank-tops people use as beer gut cover-ups, and then go shopping for more beer. If you would like to know which shirts I'm talking about go here or here. I'm not saying that all t-shirts are better than the beer gut covers, but they help.

Moving on. When you desire to find the group of geeks that best suit your wants, you'll need to follow a few simple steps:

Quote any sci-fi TV show or movie you've seen. Any. Such as: Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (old or new), Mad Max: Beyond The Thunderdome, Terminator, and so many more. This will help in narrowing down the sci-fi geeks.

Look for certain tics. This is usually indicative of a music geek, but not always. These tics can be anywhere from a slight head-bob to a full blown air-guitar. If you notice someone using a chopstick to conduct a concerto with their sushi, you know you've found the music geek.

Find someone who is wearing (or has in their closet) Ugg boots. Anyone who buys these boots is considered a fashion geek. Why? Because no other person in their right mind would wear these. Okay, okay not all fashion geeks wear these, or have them, but it's a good start on your quest for geeks. Note that 99% of fashion geeks will have, at least one, 9x9ft. walk-in closet full of clothes, shoes, and accessories. The other one percent will have four closets.

Feeling like someone just walked all over you with their words? You've found the book geek. They're the best because they can make any person feel less of a person just by speaking. Why, they have a verbal IQ of 140. Words can seem so innocent on paper, but when they are used by someone who devours books by the minute, they cut deeper than the paper they're written on. Book geeks have the propensity to speak verbosely and use the five-dollar SAT words. Like cacophony or loquacious. Use those two words in a nice, neat sentence. They can also use words for fun. The next time you sit down to dinner with a book geek, try using wordplay instead of foreplay; it may not be as physical, but could be twice as fun.

Finally, we have the comic book geeks. The best of the bunch. They can encompass most of the previous forms of the geek genera. They're able to quote sci-fi movies and TV shows because they watch most of them, and are also able to quote comic book movies. Some comic book geeks even have the fashion geek mutation. This mutation gives comic book geeks an entire year's worth of ironic tees. They'll listen to almost any music and appreciate it, that covers music geeks. Plus, book is in the name of the comic book geek. When you see a comic book geek, you'll know it! If just by the fact that they call their car Clark or try to fling webs out of their wrists.

Hopefully, this list helps in the search for your type of geek. Maybe it will help you the next time you find your way into a random festival or convention.

Shining sun with hair?

Why do I only come out during the sunny months? Apparently, I'm a bear. I hibernate. Remember folks, you poke an angry bear you get to see it's mean side. I try to come out during the dreary months, but it's so much more cozy in my house with the florescents and computer screen illuminating my waking hours.

The sunny months are more tantalizing to actually be out in it all. Plus, I can actually see what I'm doing at four in then afternoon instead of having to search for a light. Daylight hours in winter can suck my lily-white toes.

Since that we've established I'm a spring-summer-autumn gal, we can discuss more important things, like shopping or hair dye. Let's go for the dye.

The other day I was in the grocery store and I overheard some chick say something about my hair, and how could I go out looking like that. Well, I'm sorry, but I used to dye my hair black and now I don't. It has to grow out. I look horrible with short hair and I'm not cutting it. I would have liked to give her a thing or two. Alas, I just thought about slapping her and walked out the door.

So, my hair is two shades. It actually is quite hilarious to look at and every time I look in the mirror I look like some sort of mutant skunk. I avoid cameras when my hair is down.

I like my more natural color. I will continue to dye my hair. I refuse to grow old gracefully.

There you have it. I will live to dye another day.

Woot!

I absolutely love www.woot.com I think it's one of the best websites out there. It's a website where they have one item to sell every day.  There are great deals and also the not-so-great deals, but deals that you would not find anywhere else.

I think the best part about Woot!, are the Bags of Crap. Every so often there is a wootoff, they have a giant sale of things left in their warehouse and when one item sells out a new item is up on the big screen o' Woot!

On April Fool's day they had a day of Bags of Crap. The catch? You had to play a flash game. Play the game to get to the level all the patrons were on, and then you could buy a Bag of Crap. It was difficult, not because the game was complex, but because of the obstacles they put in the way to get to the next level. Luckily, I had a brother help me get my Bag of Crap.

You must read the Bag of Crap rules, they can be found here: http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=16944 Plus it gives more of an explanation of the Crappy April Fool's day prank.

Anyway, I got my Woot! and was so excited, I got the bag, a monkey key-chain and a Striker Headphonie. All for just under $8.00.

So excited!

I posted my Bag of Crap loot on the Woot! forums, and someone said I didn't get all of my crap. My brother also told me I was missing a crap. Even though I didn't really need anything else, I wrote Woot! and they sent me my new crap, not only was the missing crap in there, but two extra craps.

In this new Bag of Crap; I got a set of Leak Frogs, an iPod FM transmitter, and another Headphonie. Now I can listen to my mp3 player in stereo without using headphones. w00t!!!

All I can say is: THANKS Woot!

For an awesome BoC idea, go here.

Sad post.

OUCH!
I'm pretty sure the world has been painted in a hue of pain. A little bit physical, but mostly emotional.

I had no idea it would hurt this bad. My Dad told us, when we were young, he wouldn't live past the age of 45. But he did, he lived to 61.

I'm pretty sure that he did stay alive long enough to hit Pi day (3.14) on purpose.  He was an intellectual geek, and thought it would be poetic to leave on that day.  Maybe, now, he can recite Pi to 100 digits, I know he was able to at least count to 31 in binary on one hand, I never actually saw him go up to 1023 on both hands, though.

I've heard people say, "just one more". That's actually what I wish for; Just one more hug, one more 'I love you' one more giggle.

Here's something he would giggle at:

I'm glad he gave me a sense of humor, and his thirst for knowledge.

I am a fashion victim!

I have no fashion sense. NONE. I like my t-shirts and jeans, throw in some sneakers or flip-flops and I'm set.  This being said, there are some fashions that even I know are wrong.

Jeggings. Who in their right mind makes leggings out of denim? Ewwwww.

Then there is the ever-present Ugg boots. The "ick" factor is in the name. Some designer thought they were cute, EVERYONE else said they were ugly. So what does the designer do? Names them after what they are: Ugly.

I was with my friend, at the mall, the other day. We were doing some people watching, and I couldn't help but notice how many victims fell prey to this horrible trend.  They're moon boots, people. You know, those boots that you wore as a child, running around for hours in the snow. Moon boots---in leather.   This lead to my next thought: Moon-deer. The most popular color of said moon boots is tan. As such, we have the moon-deer. The next color is a darker, we'll call it the moon-moose. Finally, we have the fur accented boots, which calls for the moon-yeti (when I see these I hear Chewbacca complaining).

I have to ask what these horrible boot wearers did with all that moon-meat. I mean, they got the moon-animal skin from somewhere, right?  I have to hope that they gave the meat to the poor starving Lunarians. Alas, I suspect they just threw away the moon-meat and never thought about it again.

Please be advised, that if I see you wearing these things, I will point and laugh. I am a fashion victim, but I will not fall prey to these horrendous styles.

No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot. -Dickens

In all my life, I never really thought that reading was all that wonderful. However, a little over half a year ago I met a great person who had an online/offline book club. She invited me to said book club, and I found out that I really do like reading.

Before this invitation, I read maybe 4 books a year.  This year alone, I've already read 4 books and working on 3 more.  This is weird to me. I know that I've always enjoyed the escape books can bring, but never actually relished in it.  I also learned that not all books can keep me entertained.

I, now, find myself staying up late at least once with every book. Even the ones that I find hard to read, like A Tale of Two Cities.  This isn't really a good idea since I need my sleep, but it can't be helped. I also know the reason why my brother and sister loved to do just that when we were growing up.

Since I started this new literary endeavor, I've found that not every book is really great....for me. I need to be clear; every book has it's fan, but every book doesn't need all fans.  Although I love Charles Dickens' writing, I can't read through 5 pages without getting a bit drowsy. I know there are many Dickens addicts out there, and this must be why it makes me feel bad that I don't like all the classics.  After all, aren't they classics because everyone enjoys them?!  I find that I need more than just beautiful prose to keep me interested.  I feel disconcerted for the need of pulp-fiction or the sensationalism of publishers to keep me reading.  That isn't to say that I always need the hype, but it doesn't hurt to have a bit of an intriguing plot to keep me going. 

But hey, at least I'll ALWAYS have some book or story to keep me entertained, and I'm glad I have so many choices to choose from to continue my new found infatuation.

No more double red blood cell donations!

Wow! Donating double red blood cells is not for me. It's been four days and I'm still tired. Maybe it's something else, but the information they give you after donating states the symptoms can last up to a full week. So, I guess I'll see next week if I'm doing better. Also, I can hear whooshing in my ear every time my heart beats.

I've checked some sites and it seems that the symptoms I'm feeling are equal to anemia. I'm not saying it's what I have, just sounds similar. I don't really like to diagnose myself, but like to be informed of things that might be going on with my body.

Luckily my next donation date is the first week of May. But it's not gonna be the double red blood cells, just the normal donation.

New Years Schmew years.

All I can say is THANK goodness this year is over.

Hallelujah! Joy! Happiness! Cheers! It's over! Gone! Kaput!

It was a year of too much loss, but also new friendships, and family connections.

So, I guess it wasn't all bad.

May 2011 bring the joy I need and the comfort for all those IN need!

mmm...chrisem

Although, Christmas is not my favorite holiday, it makes me smile. I love going downtown by myself and watching all the families laugh and play. I enjoy the company of friends and a quiet evening in. Fun times with family and watching the favorites: White Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Holiday Inn and so many more.

I have to say the best part about Christmas is watching my sister get all giddy about decorating, baking and getting presents ready.  She gives with all her heart.  Her big smile always makes me giggle and I love it!

Happy Holidays. Please enjoy the fun of the season and spend it with those you love.

Sci-fi gizmo request.

Dear Inventors/developers: 

The first definition of cleaning listed at dictionary.reference.com is:

clean·ing   /ˈklinɪŋ/ Show Spelled[klee-ning] 

–noun

an act or instance of making clean: Give the house a good cleaning.

I hate cleaning. Well, that is I hate cleaning my own house. It is the worst task anyone can ever give me. I will wait until the house gets so bad I'm embarrassed to let anyone in. Luckily, I have my sister living with me. She helps me to the nth degree.  Not only does she do most of the work, but encourages me in just the right way to get me to keep the house in working order.

You probably wondering why I'm writing you. Well...I think we need to get those gadgets and gizmos they have on science fiction shows, invented. I know they already have the roomba, but it's too expensive for my taste. Besides, my sister LOVES vacuuming. OOh, I do too, but only when it's a Dyson. My friends have one that they let me use when I'm over.

Picture courtesy of wikipedia.org

Some ideas to mull-over:

• Self-mopping floor.
• A mechanical laundry folder (I can do the sorting on my own...for now)
• (speaking of sorting) a dish-put-awayer. (trademark on name pending)

That's all I have for now.  Wait one more thing; not only do they need to be invented, but made inexpensive. There, that's my idea. Please inventors and developers get on it! 

Sincerely,
Your favorite geek; Psyfygirl.  (please if you don't realize this is a joke, then you need some serious help)

Crafty

My bother started talking to me one day about knitting. My brother...He's so funny, he starts doing anything creative, whether it be domestic or technical and he totally geeks out. I guess we're the same in that geek-out way.  

Anyway, he tells me about his sekrit projects, but he can't keep it a sekrit...he's making us all scarves for Christmas; hence the geek-out. So, because he's just had a baby, and we're all pretty poor, he comes up with the idea for us to; either get really cheap presents for the family, or do a homemade thingamajig.  I decided to make my new nephew (the first brand-new baby in the family since myself), a nice name plate-type thing. Now, we all use www.ravelry.com to share our fun projects and one-up each other (really just my sister and brother do the one-upping, I sit back and try to keep up).

I love the idea of this. I feel so much more productive and accomplished when doing these types of things. Plus, I get to use my sisters immense knowledge of all things crafts. Oh the joy of having a creative mother and witty father.

Speaking of crafts; my friend has also started a new crafty blog, which I'm excited to follow. AND, we get to share crafty tasks together.

The Inn show.

I did it! It wasn't by myself; it was with the entire cast and crew, but I did it and loved it! 

An Evening in Canterbury was the name of the show. The director took 4 of Geoffrey Chaucer's tales and edited them for time purposes. The 4 tales came from the Knight, the Wife of Bath, the Pardoner and the Miller.  The actors pantomimed the tales on stage while the storytellers orated the tales in the house.

My role was Innkeeper's Wife and I was to improv with the audience and the other cast members while they enjoyed their meal. It was so exhilarating and, like I told a friend, it was a giant ball of fun-stress. I can't wait for more...

Here are some promo stills of the show:

Love these girlies.

Me 'usband

Scene from Miller's Tale.

Almost the full cast. It was also the pic in City Weekly

Halloween pics.

As Promised:

My version of Carol Burnett's Scalet O'hara.

Hoop skirts can be a problem when sitting down.

I love my Mama.

Henna-style Cookies.

Happy Halloween!

Yay for Halloween, best time of the year. Especially because I think my costume is rockin' the cat box (I know it's casbah, but cat box is funnier, and because I always get song lyrics wrong, it fits). This costume has to be one of the best, if not THE best, costumes I've ever created. Of course, pictures will be coming tomorrow.

As for now, I'm making cookies and I'm going to decorate them henna-style, meaning not just frosting and sprinkles but intricate designs.  I got this brilliant idea from my friend who has been letting me apprentice for her.  Said friend and I did this a few weeks ago and had a blast. It's nice to be domestic every-so-often.

And now for something completely different: I'M IN A SHOW!  Happy day. I auditioned a while back (can't remember the date) and then was cast as the Innkeeper's Wife. I get to do improv the entire time. I have to be saucy and flirty.  It's a tad difficult because I'm no where close to being saucy and only sort of flirt. But, hey, I think I can do it, and apparently so do the people that cast me, so w00t!

Okay, blog time over. Have a great Halloween!

Dreams of real life from TV.

It's season/series premier time. I relish September for this reason, and for the changing of the leaves but that's a different story. My life has been so mundane without my shows. Okay, maybe not mundane, it's just been missing something. Right now, I'm thinking, “wow, you're shallow. You're life is missing something because of television?” I know, right? Anyway, I'll be watching some new shows, and mostly shows I already absolutely love. Today's ultimate question: Will I have time for my new found social life? I do have Hulu and a DVR, I think I'll make it. What shows, you ask? Follow me...

There are plenty of new shows but here are some of them I'm thinking about: The William Shatner sit-com, $#*! My Dad Says. Why you ask? DUH! It's William Shatner. Also, Outsourced, looks kind of funny and it's totally art imitating life. I've already checked out the new show Outlaw, and I like it. I'm a Jimmy Smits fan, and he was great in West Wing. I'm hoping for a bit of President Santos to come out in this character.  But, I'll only be watching three new shows because I have so many 'old' shows to be watching.

Speaking of 'old' shows here are some for this season I can't get enough of: There's Glee, with my musical obsession, this just hits the spot each week, and I'm always checking out the extras on Hulu.  Then there's The Good Guys. Bradley Whitford with a porn stache, so comical. I'm sensing a West Wing theme here.  I'm also bringing back the Chuck. A nerdy spy and the hilariously serious Adam Baldwin, need I say more?

All in all, I have my fantasy life (lifes?) back to make up for what I don't have in my real life. Yay for the imagination of others.

HTML coding or Pole Dancing?

I've been trying to re-arrange my blog for a very long time. I spent 4 hours on it last night and 2 this morning, only to realize: I have absolutely NO idea what I'm doing.  I started out with using a blog skin from blogskins.com, which is easy to use, but bothersome to get the way I want it. Then I decided I would try to add widgets, ugh!  Finally I opted to go with the blogger templates and choose a different background, so boring.  Here's the full story:

I've been wanting to change my blog style from the moment I started at blogspot. It's annoying that it's boring, bland and so generic.  I decided to search the web for something, I found blogskins.com. Great images! I really like a lot of them and I decided to add this as my blogskin.  It looked okay but wasn't exactly what I wanted. So, I decided to try editing the HTML which was easy enough to figure out how to add my own links and words, etc.  Still, there were elements missing and I ended up moving on to the next part of my project; Widgets.

GRR! Widgets suck when trying to add them to HTML codes.  Not only did I have to figure out where to put the darn suckers, but also noticed they don't actually capture the same dynamic capability as the widgets offered by blogger.com itself. After playing around with that for a while I gave up and chose to use a generic blog template instead.

How boring are these templates anyway?!  I want to use my own creations as backgrounds and add the blogger widgets with it. But, no, I'm incapable of actually figuring out how, and am frustrated it's taken me this long to decide to stick with the boring stuff.  Maybe I should try something more productive when working on projects, how about pole dancing?

Missing SyFy, Loving good times.

WAAAAAA!!!! I need my SyFy. Stupid cable company and their lame packages not allowing me to get it. I'm missing out on all the great SyFy movies, and new serials. Are there any new shows on SyFy? I guess I can check out SyFy.com, but it's not the same as being able to watch it on the tube. 

I just hope they're not doing any new vampire shows. Did anyone tell the network guys that some of us are kind of getting sick of the vampires?!  Well not the good vampire shows, just the crappy ones. And the crappy ones shall remain link-less.  Raise of hands on who wants another Jossverse show with a bit more substance than the last one.

On a less whiny note: Yay for happy fun Independence Day times! This weekend is going to be crazy. I don't think I've had this much social interaction since...well ever. w00t for friends and family, why did it take so long for my social bug to kick in. >.<

Oh, and by the way, Mr. Armstrong, I'm over 30 and I will freely use emoticons, I'm a geek and I have a right!

Yay for a family full of geeks.

I go through my day and need so many different things, such as something to sing and my geek-dom of whatever thing I'm squee'ing about that day. I've come to realize that I need these things because of the influences of others in my life, most notably my family.

When I was about 12 my brother's decided to join a Star Trek club. I thought they were so cool. So, I joined too. This started my love for most things sci-fi. Star Wars, Star Trek, MST3K, the list goes on and on. So, this has been with me nearly 20 years. Thanks Tim and Mark for making my life so geeky. Oh, and this leads to my brother Mark and his wife, Gemma, helping me to go to San Diego for a Smallville Con. Hello?!! There is no level 3, people!

Since before I can remember my Dad has had a computer of some type. He was always getting new things for it, too. Like a 300 baud modem, or whatever size it was, or a new computer screen that could be connected to the VCR. My Dad got me stuck on computers. I was on BBS's (bulletin board systems), which led to forums, which led to chat rooms, which led to the worldwide web, which led to here. Thanks Daddy for making me a computer geek.  Thanks also, for the Shakespeare Festival and getting the Bard in my blood.

Around 10 years old my Mother decided we would watch Hello Dolly! Not only did that get me ape-crazy over musicals, but also Babs. True story, I love Babs in all of her nasally glory! I also have a propensity to recite lines from old musicals when watching them, which bothers anyone I'm watching it with. As such, I have to watch them alone a lot of the time. Thanks Mama for helping me to become the most annoying car-singer there is.  Plus, you help me enjoy crafting, and loving creativity.

And now, because of my sister I'm addicted to B-movies, or C, or D-movies. Now, MST3K may have had something to do with it, but the movies my sister and I have watched, are...Oh so awesome! Have you seen Raptor??? Best Eric Roberts movie EVER!!! I really need those movies to help me get out of those not so pleasant moments. Thank you Brenda for being the bestest sister ever and helping me to love lame-as-ever movies.

So now, with all of my families influence, I have to be one of the most geeky people I know. w00t for geekiness.

Loss and reflection.

Death is the most vile villain that has ever existed. It's necessary to help with the circle of life. Although, I wish I could be the super-hero and take away everyone's pain when a loved one passes. If I had that super-power it would be awesome, but then where would all of that pain go? Pain belongs in the dumpster, where people throw their waste and only remember it when it lingers. Then the pain is taken to the compost heap and used to grow into the most astonishing and exquisite flowers.

I miss everyone I've lost. My grandparents, my cousin Cindy, my friend's son, Andy, and now my Aunt Susan (and so many others). Losing someone let's us reflect on what we have and want to cherish forever. I love them and hope, beyond all hopes, they are in a better place.

It is now time for me to reflect on my sublime life and all it has to offer. I worship the people in my life and long for everyone to know how much I care for them.