i have seen the future, and it is in my Mariam's pants!

coworkers Rob and J. have had entertaining speculations about the notion of Mariam's pant theft. Rob was kind of hoping it had been a case of "Mariam passed out asleep on bus. Someone stole pants right off her." J. had suggested the possibility that she'd been conned right out of her pants, and went about composing the proper sort of grift for just such an occasion.

and i spoke to Mariam a little bit ago. she'll be joining me later on; luckily, it turns out her transit card wasn't in her pants, so it didn't get stolen as well. and it turns out apparently that the theft wasn't nearly so exciting. a) she wasn't in the pants at the time, and b) they merely got stolen from the front counter of the library. that's all. XD

however, perhaps we'll still draw comics at lunchtime anyway. who knows? can't wait to see her, however---it really has been too long (although i did briefly see her before the Hang On The Box show i went to awhile back).

but, er, just so you know.

perhaps this is meant to be a lesson wherein she's meant to learn that she shouldn't ever wear pants? hrrm.

maybe it's Think Tank that de-panted her? XD

AHA! Dirty Damon strikes again! XD XD XD

happy/sad

so, went to court this morning, allegedly to be a witness in the case of the Village of Bloomingdale vs. Ms. Binty McDumwench (er, the one who hit us. that one).

we weren't sure if she was going to show up, but she did. and she pleaded guilty and went with court supervision, paid her fine---and we didn't end up doing much of anything. court was in session as of 8:30am, and we were out of there before 9am. i took the whole day off, and Spaz had taken half the day. so we had a few hours before anyone had to actually be anywhere.

what to do? we'd been wanting a small cat tree or something similar for Diesel. or rather, it seemed like it was something she'd really enjoy. so we went looking for one. first store we stopped (Petsmart) at didn't have one we thought she'd like; most were too tall or had swings on them or something similar. or were carpetted scratching posts with a small platform way, way up at the top. not really good for a bunny who likes to sit under things and hop up on top of things.

the Petsmart in question also had a little golden hamster sitting in a small cage up towards the front of the store. it had a sign on it stating that it was waiting to be adopted, and that it had been found running loose in an apartment building, but the finder was unable to keep it. it also said that the hamster was free to a good home, and the cage was included.

we watched this hamster for awhile, and indeed, we were perilously close to coming home with it. SO CUTE. obviously, we'd been brainwashed successfully by Hamutarou. XD

there were two little tiny baby hamsters in a cage a few down from this one. no sign on them; i think they were for adoption as well, although i really wondered if they were even big enough to safely be away from their mom yet. they were eensy.

we got some food and treats for Diesel and left---without the hamster. i'm still not sure how i feel about that. but where does it end? you can't take them all home with you...^^;;;

the next store we went to was a Petco, over on Barrington Road in Streamwood. and there, we found exactly the sort of tree we were looking for---and only $20 (still a bit much, but those things are all ridiculously overpriced, so in the grand scheme of cat trees, this was cheap). as we were going to bring it up to the checkout, i saw a big sign saying they had bettas. and went, "ooh, those are what Katelynne is always talking about!" and went over to look. they had a whole endcap full of them, in fact.

and it was REALLY DISGUSTING. they had them all in tiny little cups, about the size of each fish itself. they could barely turn around. none of them looked happy, and in fact more than a few of them looked completely and utterly dead. it was really appalling.

i put the tree back and we left quite hastily, both quite nauseous and unbelieving, and also quite sure they weren't going to get our money. >P i mean, i know pet stores are generally not a good idea---in very rare cases are the animals in the store (fish included) treated as well as they should be. but i'd previously never seen such stupidity up close. we won't be going back to Petco anytime soon, and perhaps never. definitely never for that store. >.<;;;

i wrote an e-mail to them as well about this. i didn't write it in a shouting manner, but rather in a sad, disgusted, and disappointed manner. also stated that it's highly unlikely i'll be shopping there again. it probably will have no effect whatsoever; i mean, they're a huge nationwide chain, after all. but that was just...i don't know what that was. it was very, very wrong, and not in a good way, either. :P

oh well. gonna try not to waste the rest of my day off in front of a computer. gah. those poor betta. ;.;

my eyes aren't blue; there's nothing i can do

i am decidedly far more in favour of elevated A-line bobs than keratoconus.

there, that's my review of the past two days, then.

*puts head on hands and falls asleep*

[addendum: firstly, should i ever become an MC, my name shall change to Froggella. secondly, i neglected to make any jokes about kitten-killing and blindness. obviously a grand oversight on my part. d'oh. XD]

sick to death c/w mystery box!

was at the protest yesterday. couldn't stay for the march, but was there before it got underway. even more police than last time, which i suppose makes sense. loads more on horses. helicopters overhead, at least two; might've been more. all the buildings kinda get in the way, so i couldn't really see. Federal Plaza was filled with people, and more kept coming in all the time. it was good to see, but still made me cry. this whole thing. i try to stop thinking about it, but i can't...

even after i had to leave, though, i could hear their chanting all the way across the Loop. it was half-heartening and half-sad. so many people who feel this way, and the ones who can do something about it, of course, don't give a shit. way to treat your constituency. :P

i'm going to try to think of other things. i don't know how much luck i'll have. yesterday was one of the most completely emotionally draining days i've spent in a long time, and i'm fairly certain i'm not alone in that.

it's horrid. there are people around here who are complaining because there've been these articles in local papers about how Mayor Daley's requests for an FAA-declared no-fly zone over Chicago have been ignored. ah, yes, it all comes down to this. believe what you're told, oh yes. you'll be ever so much better off that way. some people are such unbelievable tools. it's really sad and frustrating to see. i bet they bought the fucking duct tape, too. and the plastic wrap.

yes, children---remember to duck and cover. cos yanno, it's really all coming down on our heads. imagination wins out over reality every single fucking time. disgusting.

i'm, er, a bit bitter and worked up. 'scuse me. >P

oh, i know. here's something kinda amusing from the other night, just before this country actually began this thing they're doing.

i got to the train station near my house, and as usual, Spaz picked me up. as we're driving home, he asks who i know in Australia. i know people who've been there, but i don't think i've got any friends there right now (and if i do, and you're reading this, feel free to kick me for being so forgetful).

i can't think of anybody, and ask why. he responds that i've got a giant box that just got delivered sitting at home, from Australia. he can't remember the name on it, so there's not much i can really do about it till we've gotten home, other than wonder who it could possibly be from.

a few minutes later, we're home. sure enough, this huge box is sitting on the table in the kitchen. i examine it; the name isn't one i recognise. it's from Breckenridge. hrrm. can't think of anything to do with Breckenridge. look at the customs slip, and it states the contents to be "SNOWGLOBE." signature doesn't look familiar. hrrm.

(of course, this makes me think of my sister. Mariam had this thing last year for snowglobes; in particular, there were these REALLY nice ones that had been made featuring scenes from Lord of the Rings. i wouldn't spend so much money on them, but i did think they were quite lovely. she collected them all. XD)

i look all over the outside of the box, trying to see if there's a note attached. look under the customs slip. nothing.

finally, Spaz hands me a razor and i slice it open. no note inside; just a lot of styrofoam peanuts surrounding a slightly-smaller-big-box inside that says "Harry Potter" on top. a Harry Potter snowglobe. hrrm.

Spaz holds the big box so i can pry the HP box out of the midst of all the styrofoam. pull it out, open it up---still no note. sure enough, it's a snowglobe; Harry Potter, even:

you shake it and there's little stars. there's even Scabbers! the books are really cool; the bookmarks are actual ribbon coming out of the ceramic. and the cauldron is pretty neat (although if they've got a cauldron, why not Snape instead of Dumbledore? XD), with the little bubbles.

but still---where did it come from? i couldn't think of any contests i'd entered. i never really liked any of the HP merchandise---except the Legos. thought the Grandpre art was hideous. didn't want the movie stuff (excepting the actual movies themselves on DVD). so i pondered. and Spaz teased, in a singsong voice, "you've got a STALKER! someone must've seen a SWEK show or something! XD XD XD" pointing and laughing. i glared, half-amused but playing along. where could it have come from?

i decide to call Mariam.

(now, what i mentioned earlier? people upset about there not being a no-fly zone in place? my mother was one of those people. she had in fact called me at work earlier in the day, wanting to set up a system wherein we'd check in with each other with a phone call every day. nevermind the fact that a) it's bullshit, and b) even if it were much of a possibility, were something to happen, i'd think either one of us would probably figure out something was wrong with the other. :P really, such a system makes no sense whatsoever. way to buy into the bullshit, mom. :P)

anyrate, i'd told my sister about this conversation via a phonecall we'd had earlier. her response was a gigantic pause, followed by "my silence is my response. O.O;;;" i'd had a similar one, i told her---there was a long pause in my convo with my mom, during which i could feel the ellipses circling my head. and i also related that suddenly, i'd felt this overwhelming urge to run to the bathroom. so i told my mom, "er, i've really got to go to the bathroom. can i get off the phone now?" and i did. i wasn't making it up. and i told Spaz about this conversation on the way home, too. hence, what followed after i announced that i was going to call Mariam:

"Ooh, can I call her?" he asked. "I want to make sure she's okay---tell her she needs to check in with us twice each day to make sure nothing's happened to her. XDXDXDXD and then we can call your mom and tell her we just opened up a big box from someone we didn't know, with a snowglobe filled with anthrax---see, Harry Potter is evil! XDXDXD"

he phoned up Mariam. and informed her solemnly that we ought to check in with one another every day, twice a day. and it was hilarious. and he told her about the snowglobe.

and we found out she was the one who'd sent it.

"...but from AUSTRALIA?!?!?" i asked. apparently, it was my late christmas present. she thought it was neat, and that i'd like it. and it is, and i do, even if i never would have bought it for myself. Hedwig, Hermione, Ron, Scabbers, and Dumbledore look pretty good. and Harry looks a bit like he's got leprosy, which is okay too. it now sits amongst my Lego HP sets, Milk & Cheese + Lenore lunchboxes, and Filler Bunny in his capsule on our bookcase. the books at the base are the coolest part of it, though. XD

well, we were amused. XD

either with or without the H

today, i would like to thank (in no particular order):

* live ophiluses (ophilii? and as opposed to dead ones? XD)
* whoever discovered the entity known as "yogurt"
* whoever figured out the mysteries of cacao beans
* whoever thought to put them together (and in particular, the people at Stonyfield Farms )

well, actually, i think the caramel is probably better. but the flavour known as "chocolate underground" is quite good. reminds me of the yogurt my mom used to make (and no, i'm not kidding). it's very, very satisfying in a completely different way to other yogurt i've had. wish it were less expensive; i'd eat it more often. as it is, it's a nice treat once in awhile. (eat cheaper yogurt the rest of the time. mmm, Yoplait. XD) and YoBaby (if you get over feeling that your yogurt is harassing you) tastes quite like pudding. only not. num. ^-^

in other news, Mariam took the mommie* to see Disturbed in Milwaukee last night.

the mommie CANNOT claim no one loves her. --;;; XD

* = "the mommie" is the most oft-used term to refer to Mariam's mom betwixt Mariam and i. it is never meant in reference to my mom. it's a long story, and perhaps someday i'll splain publicly. although i do indeed have at least two mommies, it's not in the way you think. and some of you know the story already, sooooo...

sat in a pub watching the women's tennis

hrrm.

i've had a few thoughts in mind for days now that i considered writing about here. i still might, but...not today.

however, some people will be pleased to know that it seems likely that we may very well have t-shirts made up sometime in the forseeable future. and probably by sometime in May at the very latest, as there's Acen going on (which we're allegedly involved in). more details as they're available.

if you'd like to read more about my fairly non-eventful weekend and a lot of rambling about the Formula One Grand Prix of Australia (whee, opening race of the season), click in at your whim...

weekend did what it said on the box. brought the week to an end; no more, no less. got some things accomplished; not so much with others. made pancakes and a new kind of pizza which needs a bit of tweaking, and which at one point had me so angry at it that i really was thinking about throwing it out. am glad i didn't, as it's still quite tasty---just, as i said, needs more tweaking. also rediscovered why going into any store on a Sunday afternoon/evening is a Bad, Bad, Horrid, Stupid, Imbecilic, Dangerous Idea. remembered to breathe both times.

the Grand Prix of Australia was this weekend, and this season does promise to be a fair bit more interesting than the last. which is good, because really, it couldn't get much more coma-inducing than last season, bar a few moments here and there. when you know pretty much exactly how things will shake out over the course of a season before it's even started, there's a problem.

(it also doesn't help if the omnipresent smug look on Schumi's face more often than not makes one want to smack him, particularly when he ends up on podium [and usually the top step] all season long.)

all the rule changes that Max Mosely, In His Infinite Wisdom *cough* (oh, andthoseotherguysintheFIAtoo) have come up with do promise to make things more interesting, but i don't think anyone will be able to keep them all straight. particularly as they keep changing every other second (or so it seems). some are a bit inane---the "must qualify with the fuel load you're going to race on next day" one in particular. but the series needed something, else it would've been as cut-and-dried and dead boring as last year's was, for the most part.

as for the result? i'm fairly pleased---would've been even cooler to see Kimi Raikkonen on the top of the podium, but as it was was quite nice as well. i'm fairly happy whenever Schumi doesn't win, mostly because he does it all the time. and not even a podium finish, well---that was brilliant! i hope we continue to see good things out of Sauber this year as well. and Minardi's why-bother-qualifying flouting of the new rules was quite amusing.

drive-through penalty for Kimi was STUPID. ONE-kmh over limit? O.O;;; dude.

also saw A Clockwork Orange almost entirely all the way through this weekend. on IFC, and unedited. i'd seen probably almost all of it before, only completely piecemeal, so this was a bit of a change. i was reminded, though---one of the Dell commercials featuring deposed stoner king Steven the Dell Dude used to always automatically bring a certain scene from this film to mind due to the music. well, and the look on Steven's face.

...well, it made me smirk.

oh, nearly forgot two other important things about the weekend.

one: the jasmine tea from Takashimaya's Tea Box that Fi recently sent is AMAZING. i've enjoyed various jasmine teas before, but this tops them all. the fragrance is more...pure, for lack of a better word, and i don't believe i can properly describe the taste.

two: while i didn't get around to doing that survey of everyone at work and their reactions to the Skippy Lou keychain and accompanying stickers, i did remember to take them to band practice and commenced to quiz everyone there. and amazingly, no one is as disturbed by them as you and i are (excepting Spaz).

me, i stand by my vanilla extract theory. naughty Sanrio ought to learn when to say no. XD

PSA (of sorts)

for anyone else wondering what's been up with LiveJournal since sometime late last night, here's the scoop.

just so you know.

ROLLER-GIRL

made a quiche last night. have made soufflé(s...?) before, but never quiche. turned out really pretty and quite tasty, although the time it spent in the oven was more like an hour than 30-40 minutes. i know things vary based on your oven, but my oven is still pretty on-the-mark, as it's still pretty new. but. it had bacon, sauteed onions, and cheese (one of those mixed bags of cheddar, asadero, and i forget what else). will add mushrooms next time, which will make it even better. did a cornmeal & garlic crust for it, and it turned out quite tasty. i <3 what you can do with pie crusts. XD

have also been painting! while it's historically been Spaz' Big Project to paint things around the house when the mood strikes him, i'm doing some as well this time. he's really good at it though; i haven't quite reached that level of mastery yet. hopefully i'll get there. the house is going to look really great, though; i'll take pictures once it's done. can't guarantee how great the quality of the pictures will be, but i'll try to make sure they're at least lit decently. XD

other goings on have been afoot as well. have been organising and putting things away like mad, as well as compilating like mad...amongst other things. several Big Bad projects are underway even as we speak; most of these are things which i cannot speak about here, under penalty of death by severe sporkage. so i shan't. XD

got a (much-needed) haircut yesterday; as a result, my hair now looks approximately 10,000.00935% better than it had been lately. have been asked if it was recoloured as well, which it wasn't---hasn't been for a few weeks or so (i've lost track already of when last i did it). it's kind of nice now, having dye that doesn't come out so easily---but i really do miss the colours from before. the purple was nicest of all. too bad there isn't permanent dye like that; i'd snap it up in an instant.

am using a leave-in conditioner now too, on advice of the lady who cut my hair yesterday. and truthfully, i had known i probably needed one; so far, it's helping nicely. this is the stuff i got, although it's in a slightly different bottle and has the words "hair healer" before "intensive leave-in conditioner." it's nice; most leave-ins i've ever used thoroughly gunked up my hair, but this doesn't. it just makes it soft and silky and nice. it smells like some sort of cologne, but you don't end up using enough of it for it to be obnoxious and/or overwhelming. also, the bottle isn't kidding when it says you only need to use it sparingly, which is also really nice.

(and i think i may end up sniffing my hair in a most unseemly massion fashion all day. ^^;;;)

IN THE INTEREST OF DEMONSTRATING JUST HOW EASILY AMUSED I AM...

i give you the AOHell translation of the entry below:

FRIDAY NIGHT WANT 2 DA BIG BAD PLAEC OF AVIL 2 PIK UP A BOK ID ORD3RAD!1!1!1!! LOL THEN WENT 2 IEKA
WHARA WE HAD MAH DINAR AND PLAEYD WIT A FUN LIGHT TAHT HAS LITL3 PLASTIC SIGNS U CAN SLIP IN-- WUD B FUN 2 MAEK CUS2M ONAS FOR IT!1!1!! WTF >D (L8R FOUND OUT SHINJON HAD BOUGHT ONE AARLEIR IN DA AV3NNG WHICH IS 3VEN FUNEIR1!!!!1 XD) AET MAH FOD FOUND DORKNOBS AND HEARD GATNG AWAY WIT IT PLAEYD IN DA S2R3!1!11111 OMG WTF I CUDNT BLEIVA THEY WARE PLAYNG IT!!!!!1!! OMG WTF LOL I GIGLAD HYSTERICALY!111!11 OMG WTF MAN

HAD1111! OMG WTF LOL ANOTHER V1!!1!11! OMG LOL SUC3SFUL AND PRODUCTIEV PRACTIEC YEST3RDAY THEYRE LOADS I NED 2 WORK ON BUT I
THINK W3RE DONG PRATY W3L1!!!1 HUNG OUT WIT ERIC AND SARAH AFT3RWARD WH3R3 WE W3NT 2 TEH BILY GOAT TAEVRN TEH ORIGINAL ON3 DOWN ON LOWER MICHIGAN) AND HAD BURGERS COS SARAH DASPERAETLY WANTED ONA (OR TWO)!!11!1 OMG WTF LOL THEY WERE OKAY NOWHERE N3AR DA BST BURGERS IVA EVAR HAD BUT ALRIGHT!1!1 OMG WTF I THINK I DONT HAEV TEH HATRED FOR TH3M SPAZ HAS GOT MOSTLY COS IT WAS N3VER BUILT UP 2 B THIS MAZNG GREAT L3GENDARY PLAEC 2 ME11!! WTF I SORTA MIS3D OUT ON TAHT WHOLE THNG!!11 OMG SO IT WAS SORTA JUST LIEK SOM3 NU EXP3REINCE 2 ME WIT NOTHNG PARTICULAR ATACHAD 2 IT AXCEPT 2 R3MIND ME ONCE AGANE TAHT PARKNG DOWN2WN SUKS!1!1111! E31!!!1 BUT IT WAS FUN GOD 2 SE THAM!!!! LOL THEY DROP3D ME OF AND I MAED TWO OF TEH CDS ID PLANAD111111!1 WTF ALSO MAED TACOS FRIJOLAS NAGROS Y AROZ!11!!11! OMG WTF LOL MAH DINAR!11!!11 LOL LOADS MORA STUF 2 DO 2DAY SINCE I DIDNT GET MUCH DONA Y3ST3RDAY1!11!1!1 WTF LOL *YAWNS* EEEE.I1111111!!!1111! LOL WISH WA HAD MILK!1!!! WTF P

y'know, now that i think about it, i ought to've saved that up till 1 April and done over the whole front page of HSL...oh well. ^-^

Emperor Norton's birthday is coming up in 5 days! prepare yourselves!