Greetings from Spockgirl Musings, where logic rules, but the frailties of
human nature, genetic inadequacies and hormonal imbalances wreak havoc.



Saturday, September 29, 2012

Mixed Nuts

 
The holidays, Steve Martin, a suicide hotline, Rita Wilson, a serial killer, Juliette Lewis, a fruitcake, Liev Schrieber, a fruitcake, Adam Sandler, Madeline Kahn, Anthony Lapaglia, Jon Stewart, Parker Posey... all wrapped up in a movie by Nora Ephron called "Mixed Nuts". One of my faves from 1994. I had been thinking of doing one of my "non-review" reviews for a while, and thought I had started one, but I guess not. This is a neat, tidy package of an hilarious mess.
 
Oh, the reason this came up again was because of this stupid song, in light of where I've been lately.

What's in your grocery cart?

 
Well... first off... I don't use a grocery cart... never have. I also don't use the basket that you can wheel around. I'd rather use the basket that you carry. So... what made me think of writing this? It popped into my head tonight after dinner when I was putting my groceries on the conveyer. I was thinking... boring... sort of healthy. The other thing is that I wanted to just write something, but there's nothing floating to the surface at all, and let's face it... my head sort of thraches (somewhere between throbbing and aching) ... I call it the "headsquish". Not really a headache per se... just feels as though the head is in a vise. Nothing big. So here I am writing about ... groceries.
 
What's in your grocery cart? Tonight? Not much...
 
2 litre carton of 1% Milk
 
1 loaf of Alpine Grain bread (made in the in-store bakery)
 
1 large container of fresh Spinach
 
1 box of Quaker Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal
 
1 box of 10 Extra Buttery Orville Redenbacher Popcorn
 
1 box of Chocolate Cheerios (with REAL cocoa... really!)
 
1 jar of Miracle Whip
 
 
Things I was thinking about getting but didn't:
 
Pork and Beans
Red Kidney Beans
Canned Tuna
Cheddar Cheese slices
Caffeine-free, Sugar-free Diet Coke
 

Things I want but rarely buy anymore:
 
Ice Cream
Ground Beef
Steak
Frozen Fishsticks
Frozen Pizza
Swanson's Turkey TV Dinner
Pepper or Hungarian or any hot Salami
Jalapeno Havarti Cheese
French Bread
 
 
Things I think about but never buy:
 
Bacon
Chicken Breasts
Flowers
 

I miss making things like my Three or Four-cheese Spinach Artichoke Dip. The two-layer Chocolate Cake with chocolate frosting. Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Manicotti. Not that I made them very often, but... sigh.
 

Better or worse?


 
Another photo I took in the 90s I think... The first one is "as is", the second auto-corrected.
 
***
 
Still lacking for words (meaningful words, not this drivel) ... now also lacking for brain activity. Lately, still or again. Thought I had a reaction to something I ate the other night, but has blossomed into something else. Runny nose, sneezing, headsquish, hot/cold spells, feeling out of sorts, but actually not that bad. Felt like eating oatmeal, but I used up the last package a week or so ago. Popcorn is all gone. So... I roasted a jumbo jumbo marshmallow over candle flame. It took twelve minutes. It was just too fat, so I put it in a mise-en-piece bowl and nuked it for not quite ten seconds. I must say it is rather cool watching a jumbo marshmallow in a wee clear glass bowl puff up in the microwave. So I experimented Smore style. I tried part of it with a small piece of Lindt Dark Chili Chocolate on soda crackers. Not bad... Then I decided to twirl up some of the melted marshmallow innards and roast that... Very cool... Caramelized marshmallow. Tried that with a dab of peanut butter on a soda cracker and a piece of that chocolate... Nice. When I said jumbo jumbo marshmallow, I wasn't kidding either. I had enough from one marshamallow for three smores. By the third one, I had goop on my hands and face. Now that was kinda fun.
 
***
 
I noticed the other day that I am way, way down in the number of blogposts I did this month. Clear indication of lacking thoughts, ideas, words. Just haven't been feeling it. Haven't been feeling much of anything I guess. (Wow... I just checked and this is the lowest number of posts in a month since November 2010, when the blog was just nine months old.)
 

Friday, September 28, 2012

Seeping


I am as concrete being poured into a form but that won't set... now slowly seeping through the edges of the frame.
 

Lest ye forget...



To honour the fallen since last time:

Australia (5)
UK (8)
US (Illinois, Arkansas, Hawaii, Texas (4),
       North Carolina, Oklahoma, Florida,
       Indiana (3), New York, Michigan (2),
       Pennsylvania, Virginia (2), Colorado,
       Oregon, Mississippi (2), Maryland (2),
       Ohio, California (2), Washington,
       Puerto Rico)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Creepy?



(Click image to embiggerate.)
 
 
Whilst sorting through more old photos from the 90s, I had come across one that reminded me of something that a blogger buddy had brought to my attention. So... I changed it to black and white to see what it would look like. You think it looks creepy?
 

Where


I am lost where I am... within this beautiful, desperate, peaceful agony of uncertainty.

 

Out there

 
As I was walking home this evening after the twice weekly sporting activity, a song came into my brain and I began quietly singing the words, all the while with my eye upon the almost full moon in the not quite dark sky. I think I am showing my age and sort of strange sense of humour when I say that I could always hear it being sung in my head by Edith Bunker. So I went agoogling for it and ... holy mother of ... I didn't think it was that long ago... It was from a cute little annoying mouse movie back in ... 1986.
 
Odd though that I am not exactly very fond of movies where the characters randomly break out into song and/or dance, even moreso when those characters are talking animals... regardless of how cute they are. But... I know I had the piano sheet music for this one.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

When

          I have forgotten who I am...
what will I remember?
 

A rather long journey...


Yes, it has been over 25 years since I took them. I found them tucked away in one of the boxes I had packed up ten years ago but hadn't brought with me when I moved here. I still have the slides as well. I have no idea what other pictures there were, as I only had twenty or so of the prints sitting in the envelope. I would have to guess that these were the best shots I got. (Not bad for a teenager back then with a borrowed Nikon.)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I knew I had this.
 
 
 
One week was spent in Paris and then we travelled by bus to the south.
 
 
This one was taken standing near the top of the coliseum in Nimes... Actually, I have Nimes written on the back, but for some reason I think it was Arles.
 
 
The next one... no way I could pass up the opportunity...

 Le Pont D'Avignon. (On the back I wrote that this was taken at around 6:30 or 7AM.)
 
 
... and this final one was in Monaco.
 
 
You may notice that some of the pictures look clipped, or have their corners curved. These are from 1985, a time when they were still processing photos this way, so when I scanned them in, it shows on some, but I left them as is.
 
***
 
The other day I was wondering why I am doing this. Why have I been scanning my old pictures. Why bother? Who am I sharing them with?  

Monday, September 24, 2012

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Balls of steel...


Remember this?
 

 
How about this?
 



I do. Now go read this.
 

Friday Fun

 
In no particular order, except for the first one, which had to be at the top.
 

 


 


 
 
 
 
             

Friday, September 21, 2012

Thinking in the shower...


Was in the shower and a thought crossed my mind. Actually two thoughts. They were, in this order:

1. Language was created as a control for a human's vocal pursuits.

2. Law was created as a control for a human's indiscretions from and abuses of his individual freedoms.

I have no idea whatsoever why they would pop in my brain whilst I was in the shower, but they did, so here they be.

Blowing things up...


I greatly enjoyed this...

so...

of course, this made me smile.



Curtsy once again to the Borderline Sociopathic Blog for Boys.

On being who you are...


"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” I had heard something akin to that before, but did not know it as being attributed to Dr. Seuss. And then I found this, which clearly is a Seussism.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

And that's all I have to say about that.

That four letter word

for which I have no words...

but borrowed...

Here's something real that I found today catching up on an old blogger buddy, and something that rings true to me that I remembered from quite some time ago.

Different styles and perspectives, but that which all speak to me. This one made me chuckle.


Came across that on Facebook yesterday and went agoogling for it today. Not sure if it actually is a Seussism, as I also found this: “We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.” ― Robert Fulghum, True Love

Follow your dreams...



(Curtsy to the Borderline Sociopathic Blog for Boys.)

Stupid games


After an extensive, in depth personal two year study, I have made the following determinations:
 
1. Solitaire and Spider Solitaire are not as addictive as Tetris;
 
2. Tetris makes you feel more alive than Solitaire, Spider Solitaire or Sudoku;
 
3. Sudoku makes you use your brain in a completely different manner than Solitaire, Spider Solitaire or Tetris;
 
4. Sudoku can be absolutely agonizing if your brain is not functioning up to par;
 
5. Solitaire, Spider Solitaire and Tetris all have saturation points at which, once reached, you realize you have done all you can and you must therefore stop;
 
6. Sudoku, because it requires the use of a unique part of your brain, does not actually have a saturation point at which you must cease to play;
 
7. Sudoku is both agonizing and aggravating because your brain knows that it can complete the puzzles, but it fails to do so on various occasions, causing sensory overload and meltdown;
 
8. The finding in number 7 would indicate that the finding in number 2 is incorrect and unsupported;
 
9. On further analysis, it would appear that the finding in number 8 is rather more complex than that. Tetris, as it requires both mental and physical (to some extent) dexterity, makes one feel alive on a visceral level, whereas Sudoku requires more mental fortitude and the use of logic, and therefore, in the event of failure of one or both of these, there is an insidious emotional response which by its very nature makes one feel something on a completely different level.
 
 
In conclusion, Tetris is the puppy frolicking in a field whereas Sudoku is the old dog growling in his kennel.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

On sharing...




Found this on Facebook. Reminded me of this and a little of this.


(On a sidenote, it would appear that the link to one of my posts (in the second "this" above) was arbitrarily changed by Blogger, to a link that doesn't work to some other blog that doesn't seem to exist. I checked the HTML code and it is definitely not my own link. Strange it is. Although, now that I think about it, one time when I was posting several videos all in one post, Blogger kept changing HTML codes for each of the links to just one of the videos.)

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Of surprises and sentimentality

 
 




When I first looked at this last photo, I didn't see it.


From the batch of stuff I brought back from the old house the other day, I was sorting through some more old photos I had taken from the mid to late 90s and came across these. I didn't realize that I had captured a butterfly with the old camera, which is why I suppose I was so surprised when I got these a couple years ago with the cellphone. Pretty cool.

Speaking of surprises... When I was going through the closet at the old house, I found one of those Bradford Exchange plate boxes addressed to my mom. I opened it up and noticed just a red bird... a Cardinal... Closed the box and set it aside. When I started to pack things up into my boxes to bring home, I just happened to look at it again... more closely... I brought it out of its box, and there was a cat curled up sleeping in the birdhouse on the fence, just below where the Cardinal was perched... Looked just like my cat (and something he would have done) who had died /had to be put down earlier the same year my mom had passed away. I am thinking that she must have ordered it to give to me for Christmas and had hidden it away. Oh... and in one of the other bedrooms, there were three of the Christmas presents I had wrapped up to give to her that year. I wonder what is in the boxes. As for the plate, spoke with aged father and big sister about it. I'm going to wrap it up and put it under the Christmas tree from mom to me. I know... it is too early to be thinking about Christmas, but oh well... Of course, finding all the old family pics and stuff didn't help in that department. I think I'm getting a wee bit sentimental as I get old.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

In Memoriam





The old man... Didn't think I had taken any pictures of him. He was with us since we were little kids.




 








The last kid.
 
 
My boy.
 
 
Funny thing... all of them have visited me in a different dream each this year, but never before and none since.
 
***
 
Oh... I ended up deleting that lengthy post I mentioned previously. Just seemed superfluous.