July 1998

Wednesday 1 July 1998 ::: Dr Doolittle :::

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Here's the movie review of the day. Today I went and saw Dr. Doolittle. I figure, hey, I'm an animal person who could use a little bit of humor in her day. The movie was not all I expected. It was an okay flick, but nothing more. Some of the double ententes were rather amusing, tho I found I was the only one laughing in a theater full of kids, ha. And it had a happy ending, but ho hum.

Thursday 2 July 1998 ::: Pet Peeve :::

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Hmm. I spend a lot of time on my computer. In fact, most of my free time. And probably 75% of that time is spent on the internet. Pet peeve: People come by and ask "What'cha doin'?" I reply "Internet." People (who know computers/internet) ask "Where you surfin' today?" That is kind of nosey, don't you think? By nature I am a very private person and I hate answering these kind of questions posed by mere acquantances. Especially since I surf to places that most "normal" people would not. I spend a lot of quality time at places most people consider a "waste" of time. Well, to each, their own, and judging is wrong, I say.

Friday 3 July 1998 ::: UFOs :::

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I love the Discovery Channel! Their UFO documentaries are great. Today's shows were about how some of the UFO sitings are actually government projects. Crazy planes without tails, with bodies fused with wings, flying saucers, the Aurora going mach 8 at near orbital altitudes and can get anywhere on earth in less than 3 hours. These planes were/are tested at Area 51, thus explaining the UFO sightings there. Fun stuff! But then Discovery interviews a guy who used to work at the Area. The guy's job was to reverse-engineer a disk-shaped craft. A craft obviously not made for humans.

So do you believe in extraterrestial UFOs? I do. It's a big universe out there, there is definately other intelligent life. And they have found us and are checking us out. Too bad the government feels the need to hide this stuff.

Saturday 4 July 1998 ::: :::

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Happy Fourth of July, everyone!!! :)

Sunday 5 July 1998 ::: Sleep :::

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They say the average human falls asleep in seven minutes. Wow. I wonder if they were averaging in all those people with insomnia. If so, a ton of people will have to fall asleep in seconds to balance out the people for whom sleep takes hours.

Sleep is such a wonderful and beautiful thing. You basically go crazy and die without sleep [... They have proven this over and over with excessively cruel tests to animals. :( But anyway.] Sleep rejuvenates the mind and the body. 'Course on the other hand, sleep is such a waste of time. Think about all the fun stuff you could be doing if you didn't have to sleep... Think about all the trouble you'd be getting into, as well! Yes, sleep is a good thing!

Tuesday 7 July 1998 ::: Passwords :::

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Hey people. Here's a thought. Join lots of on-line communities. They all require a password, right? Of course. Use a different user name and a unique password for each one. Now go back to an old place and the cookie gives your user name but you have to try to remember the stupid password. ACK. You write a note to yourself as you comb your brains for a password: "Hey! Stupid Person! Write down your flipping passwords!!"

Wednesday 8 July 1998 ::: On-the-job Injury :::

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Oh boy! On-the-job injury! It's fun. You get to spend lots of money at the doc's office and you don't even have to worry about it 'cause your employer has to pay! They give you really expensive drugs! Unfortunately these damnable subscription painkillers aren't doing their job. Oh bother.

Thursday 9 July 1998 ::: On-the-job Injury Part 2:::

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So basically I have been hanging around most all day, moaning and groaning in pain. Every once in a while I get up and go to the doctor's office. There they always tell me the same thing: "oh, that must hurt, keep taking your meds, when was your last tetnus shot?" I am having so much fun, I tell ya! :) I would definately recommend an on-the-job injury to everyone! Be sure you get hurt bad enough so that the habit forming painkillers they give you don't really work, just so you get the full experience. ;)

Friday 10 July 1998 ::: Mouse vs Track Ball :::

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There are two types of people in the world: mouse people and track ball people. Mouse people think that track ball people are ridiculus. In fact, you might go so far as to say that mouse people hold track ball people in high contempt. Track ball people, on the other hand, are open-minded. They have tried out the mouse, and it's okay, but have discovered that life's true joys lies in their track ball. Track balls are more effecient, they require less energy (just have to move the ball as opposed to the whole device) and they require less room (no mouse pad area required). We track ball people understand that all you mousers out there have yet to see the light. That's okay! It takes all types! :)

Sunday 12 July 1998 ::: Win95 Crashes :::

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Windows 95. You've got to love it when it crashes creatively. Yesterday it started with my track ball buttons. All three buttons were giving right button results. Ack. Shortly thereafter it hangs. The other day it wouldn't let me close any windows. Ack. After several minutes of me shouting "Go Away, Go Away!" it finally gives me the Blue Screen of Death. Oh. It's even better when it hangs and you are in the middle of a loud and obnoxious game. Everything dies... except the sound which is holding that one, screeching tone! You hit the reset button, only the screeching Continues! Ack, get a clue, you stupid SoundBlaster!

Monday 13 July 1998 ::: nova's ISP :::

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Okay. Oh, I am pissed. Pissed, I say! My ISP got bought out by a bank or something a month or two ago. I recieved a rather cryptic snail mail letter from these people explaining this and how I wouldn't be asked to change my Internet addr for a "minimum of one year", there are no planned rate increases, etc etc etc. Today I got an email saying my username was already taken (by someone with the bank people, I guess) and I will have to change that in 2 weeks. Oh, they lied to me. Damable curses on them and their children and their children's children to the 10th generation. And "nova" was just so cool too. Damn them. Guess I am stuck with numbers after my handle now. :(

Tuesday 14 July 1998 ::: Telemarketers :::

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Oh. Telemarketers. It's a constant battle, I tell you. They usually call when I am in the middle of a nap, when I am at my most grouchy. heh. My goal is to get them flustered. Flustered telemarketer: "But wait, you're going to save 50% off all your long distance calls" Me shouting: "Look, lady, I Told you, I don't make ANY long distance calls!" What is it with these people that they feel the need to call me several times a week?? I have no idea, but man, those telemarketers are dealing with people like me all day long probably, and that just has to suck. I hope they get paid well.

Wednesday 15 July 1998 ::: Assisted Suicide:::

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Today it's physician-assisted suicide. I'm all for it. And not just for the terminally ill, it should be available to every adult who is mentally capable of making the decision. People who go through with suicide lead pretty grim lives... and usually leave this world pretty grimly too, it's pretty messy and someone has to clean up after them. With a physician-assisted suicide, you greatly reduce the pain and suffering of friends and family.

Guilt is a residual of those left in the wake of a suicide, and I think that a physician-assisted suicide will help assuage this. There will never be any doubts about whether or not the dead tried to reach out for help. They did reach out for help, their doctor tried as many things as the person could cope with, but in the end death was the best option. And, after all, in the very end, death is the only option for everyone. Some people just want a speedier way to get there.

Well anyway. Again, just my stupid opinion.

Thursday 16 July 1998 ::: Netscape 4.05 :::

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Oh, freaky! I have finally got around to upgrading to the esteemed Netscape Communicator 4.05. Neat-o, cool, I get to see the Geocities watermark now, hip hip horray. But anyway, I was typing in a URL and the thing tries to anticipate what you are going to type! Wow, I say, because it actually got it right. :) So Netscape now knows for sure that I do visit my own web site fairly often. laugh. Is that egotistical or what?!

Another thing I really like about the new version is the user profiles that you can set up. Nice. I like it. I can have one profile for "sensitive" stuff on my startup page and bookmarks, and another profile for when I get nosey visitors.

So anyway, if you don't have the latest Communicator yet, I definitely recommend it!

Saturday 18 July 1998 ::: Dream :::

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Man, there's this dream that has been bugging me all day. Any dream interpreters out there? Hopefully if I type this thing out, I can stop obsessing over it...

Basically, everyone around me is dying of some weird disease. Someone found out that if you cut off the right arm at the shoulder, you can live a little bit longer. So, I am out with my sword cutting off people's arms. I am with two friends, I have cut off one friend's arm, but shortly he is lying on the bed, dying, I can't do a thing for him, then he's dead. My other dear friend is dying too. He hates me so much he won't even look at me as I kneel in front of him, wanting to hold his hands. In the last instant before he dies, he looks straight at me, then looks away in disdain, then is dead. I get the feeling that I have killed all these people, including my friends.

Fortunately, the end of my dreams are usually lucid and I can control the outcome. This ending was pretty lame: a cure comes from people visiting the moon, everyone is brought back to life, and even my one armed friend likes me again. Oh, and my friend the guinea pig is hopping around happily on three legs, too.

But the 'real' part of the dream? What does it mean? Something along the lines of "I am the cause of every evil" pops into my head. Or "I have a way at crippling my friends and killing friendships". Or maybe I just have an over active imagination!

Sunday 19 July 1998 ::: A Chicken :::

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This morning, as I was driving home from work (yes, some of us have to work on Sundays), I saw a chicken cross the road. I had no idea that these kind of things actually happen in real life. I thought it was just a lame joke. But, nope, in actuallity, chickens really do cross the road. Strange but true. :)

Monday 20 July 1998 ::: Milk Products & Me :::

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I have a confession to make. I love that really expensive french vanilla ice cream. I realize that this makes me a pretty pathetic vegetarian, but some times I just can't help myself. And Hershey's milk chocolate... Is there a way to live without that? I don't know but some day, I will have to find out. And pizza? It tastes funny without the cheese (and yes, I have eaten many Pizza Hut pizzas w/o cheese, call me weird). Bagels without cream cheese? Arg. Oh, horrible horrible vegetarian that I am. Poor cows, poor calves!

On the other hand, I can't stand milk. I have to pour rice milk on my cereal. Rice milk: kinda like soy milk but made with rice and doesn't have the heavy "milk" flavor that soy milk has. Very expensive, too. But anyway. At least I try to be a real vegetarian. Usually.

Tuesday 21 July 1998 ::: nova's Books :::

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I think you can tell a lot about a person by the books they have within easy access, that they use often. As for me, my most looked at book is a paper back Webster's dictionary. I use that thing practically everyday for definations and spellings, especially since my spelling is so atrocious my spell check has a hard time figuring out what my word is. (And I just found out that 'figuring' is Not in the dictionary!) Next is my little black book... of HTML tags. :) Then come the less accessible books, not used quite so often, mostly hidden under papers etc. A thesaurus. A PC mag. A James Herriot book. The Artist's Way. A bible. So. There you have me. You know all about me, now, don't you?!

Wednesday 22 July 1998 ::: Newsgroups :::

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Ha. For those ultra-boring days, you're perhaps a little bit down and out, try a good ng to cheer you up! I'm just back from my favorite newsgroup... the regulars are flaming a few trolls who had not read the FAQ. snicker. I was rolling, dying of laughter from the responses. While you nod in agreement with the unimaginative "fuck off"s, the really artistic ones are so wonderful you just want to frame the whole thread and hang it on your wall!

Friday 24 July 1998 ::: Mental Health Days :::

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Oh boy. I work way too hard! Yes, here I am, fixen to work my second weekend in a row. ugh. Very soon I am gonna have to take one of those "mental health" days. Similar to sick days, the mental health days are for those of us who are mentally unstable. It's either that or a nervous breakdown!! Or actually I could just go postal. That might be fun... <evil grin> <maniacal laughter>

Saturday 25 July 1998 ::: Paranoia Part 2 :::

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You know, maybe they aren't all out to get me... Maybe instead, this town is just full of stupid drivers. It has gotten to the point that so many people have pulled out in front of me, that I no longer get an adrenalin rush as I slam on the breaks. Couple days ago when some idiot pulled out into traffic and chose to get right in front of me... I squeal my breaks, I check my rear view mirror for the possible "pile up" situation, and still had time to say "oh, man." No adrenalin at all, heart just keeps right on beating at it's normal rate. It's become a routine thing.

Monday 27 July 1998 ::: nova's HDs :::

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Does anyone else have this problem. I keep running out of room on my C: drive. It's a 1.2gig... you'd think that would be plenty of room for all the important stuff, right. Unfortunately I think everything is important! I did finally learn that maybe 100megs of sound files and 100megs of art could probably go some place else. They are now on my little baby 250meg E: drive. And the games get the D: drive. I think I just need... Well, for starters win98 with that ever so cool fat32. Then of course I will need one of those big huge 10gig hard drives and make the whole thing my C: drive. Ha. Who needs partitioning?!

Tuesday 28 July 1998 ::: Animal Legal Rights :::

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Abuse an Animal... Go to Jail! That's what my new bumper sticker from Animal Legal Defense Fund says, and I agree whole-heartedly. Animal abuse is a heinous crime, and abusers should definitely be punished. It has been proven that people who abuse animals go on to abuse humans... it's not such a great leap from kicking a dog around for fun to kicking a child around. Companion animals aren't the only ones being abused, of course. I've said it before, factory farming sucks. Also lab animals, major cruelty there. Cosmetic testing on animals should be banned, there are better ways. Lab animals are kept in ridiculous conditions. And so often the laws that are there to protect these animals are not obeyed. And it's just not right, people.

Wednesday 29 July 1998 ::: Hi Mom :::

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Well, folks, you probably won't be seeing much of me around here for the next week or so. My mom is coming to visit me and will be arriving tonight. I have no idea what we are going to do while she is here. I live in a little college town. Basically there is nothing here but coffee shops and bars and I can't very well take my mom bar hopping, now can I??!! :) Maybe coffee shop hopping, see which Jittery Joe's has the best mocha. ha.