Category Archives: goodness

goodness, humor

Y’know what’s awesome? Home Movies.

Melissa, Brandon, and Jason

I’m on a Home Movies kick right now.  It’s such a great show.  The humor is so quick and subtle, the kids are hilarious, and the art style is simple and fun.  I burst out laughing at the last line of the first episode.  I’m so glad there’s an American cartoon for adults like this.

I’ve been watching a bunch with Boyfriend, who seems to take more pleasure in watching me laugh than he does in the show itself.  “Yeah?  Was that funny, pretty girl?” he’ll say as I chuckle to myself long after the last joke was over.  Then with the snuggling.

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goodness, life

Hidden talent

I’m more awesome than I thought I was.

I grew up with an oddly-shaped couch, and have apparently grown emotionally attached to it.  Teacher Roommate and I locked horns on this issue in late November while Diminutive Roommate attempted to mediate.  I didn’t realize how much I wanted to keep the couch until Teacher Roommate started pushing to get rid of it, and she pushed pretty hard.  I got defensive.  I said I didn’t want to get rid of it.  She said it was dirty and the upholstery on the cushion was in bad shape (true).  I agreed, and said that was fixable.  She said she was willing to just replace it.  I said that wasn’t a reasonable option, because that would mean I would have to buy a new couch at the next place I lived whenever that was.

And on and on.

bird's eye view

Eventually we decided that the couch cushion should be recovered and the rest of the couch steam cleaned.  I looked up pricing on getting the whole couch reupholstered and after a few $900 estimates (minimum), I started asking about slip covers: same price (which is absurd).  I stalled.  I sat on the couch day after day in December wondering what would happen to my comfy childhood heirloom.  A friend from the kung fu studio came over.  I mentioned my conundrum, and he said something surprising: he had reupholstered an entire couch of his own, without any professional training or assistance of any kind.  He had a look at the couch.  We decided that recovering just the cushion wouldn’t be too hard.  It could be done.  I had the time and energy.  I had just learned how to sew in order to make myself a cape (which is turning out pretty Renn Faire-ish).  All I needed was the ambition to take on a project that felt overwhelming due to my inexperience.

So I did it.  And now it’s done.  I’m pretty proud of myself for this one.  I was doubtful that I could do this on my own.  I’m feeling pretty slick about it.  It even has a zipper on it!

amateur win!

It’s looser than I want, but tough shit.  I’m not fixing it.  It’s done, and I’m happy enough with it.  Now all I need to do is get the rest of it steam cleaned, and this couch might have some new life breathed into it after all…

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goodness, martial arts

Word of the day: atlatl

find the face on the left half

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: The ancient Maya were amazing.  What an incredible culture.  Just super cool.  I love their writing style in particular: so many animal faces and allowance for creativity.

They weren’t the only ones to figure out how to use an atlatl.  Pronounce every letter: atlatl.  It’s a spear throwing device that basically ads another joint to your arm to allow a small spear to be thrown farther, and a whole lot faster than is normally humanly possible.  This device was used at some point in every continent except Africa for a long-ass time.

the last thing you see before you die

Aside from being an amazing way for an otherwise unarmed person to kill a fucking mastodon, atlatls are amazing because they’re still used today, all the time!  And people don’t even know that they’re doing it!  You can even buy one on Amazon.  It’s an arm extender called ‘Launchit!’ to allow dog owners to throw a ball farther, more easily.  And its design rooted in something the ancient Maya used to kill jaguars.  Awesome.

"c'mon, lady, just pick up the ancient weapon, mimic your long-dead ancestors, and throw the fucking ball."

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goodness, life

Art, or stupid?

It’s time for the age-old question: Is it art, or a huge waste of time?

Some spiders can make silk.  Beautiful, naturally golden-yellow silk, which can be harvested, then woven into clothing that will never be worn, due to their rarity.  Eighty people worked for seven years to collect enough raw silk material from these amazing (and totally spooky-looking) spiders to create this beautiful/pointless scarf.

wow

I love art.  I love that as soon as humans mastered their own survival and realized they had free time on their hands, they started to create for the sake of creating.  Creativity, the search for beauty, is what distinguishes us from most of the animal kingdom, the ultimate display of social maturity within a species.  And yet… what if every artist was working on finding alternate sources energy instead?  What a productive, drab little world we would live in.  I have to conclude that (most) art is worthwhile.

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goodness, nerd

This is a real thing

It’s a Zebroid.  Or a Zorse.  Either way, it’s a real thing, and has been for quite some time.  Apparently people have been breeding horses with zebras since the 1800’s.  WTF, GUYS.  It looks awesome, but… seriously.

shittiest photoshop job, or coolest hybrid animal?

lookit his little mowhawk!! bitchin

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goodness, life

Technicolor dreamcoat

I have a surprisingly colorful wardrobe, which pleases me to no end.  I used to be an all black-and-navy kinda lady.  This represents growth for me.

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badness, family, goodness, life

Baby steps

BossyBear, you are so bossy.

I read this article today about a kid who stood up to his dad on behalf of his younger brother, who wasn’t being manly enough for his dad’s taste.  So awesome.  Color me impressed.

I wonder if I was that kind of kid.  I don’t remember being particularly heroic, but I do recall not putting up with bullies.  I remember hearing (and saying), “What’s your problem?!”  The whole situation usually dissolved before any physical contact ensued.

The point is, it’s tough for kids to stand up to others, especially adults, because they don’t know where they stand on most stuff, and they assume adults are right until told otherwise.

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goodness, life

I bought a dress

I’m not the dress-wearing type, but when I discovered that I own a dress that makes me feel feminine, turns heads, and isn’t whorish, I decided to make it a point to wear more dresses that make me feel feminine, turn heads, and aren’t whorish while I’m young and fabulous.

So I bought a dress.

Cute, right?  Now I have to get a strapless bra.  Fuck.

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goodness, nerd

WoW food

Diminutive Roommate had the incredibly nerdy idea of having a dinner where all our friends who used to play World of Warcraft get together and eat dishes from recipes in the game.  It’s an idea I’ve heard tossed around, but when Diminutive Roommate sent me an email about it a couple months ago, it stuck.  We’ve send emails back and forth about this.  I made a list of possible recipes we could recreate without too much difficulty.

Here are the foods I chose, my imaginary experiences of them while I played WoW, and how they could be recreated IRL:

I hear shark fin soup it's delicious. dammit.

Spice Bread– something involving cinnamon
Brilliant Smallfish– any fish with white meat, smoked with salty seasoning.  I’m thinking halibut.
Crispy Bat Wing– I have no idea what we could do with this other than fried chicken wings.
Beer Basted Boar Ribs– pretty easy to make, I picture these piping hot and a little bitter.
Goretusk Liver Pie– any meat pie will do, obviously liver and onion would be best.
Blood Sausage– something really dark and spotted; should go to the Farmer’s Market on Fairfax and 3rd for this.
Redridge Goulash– a hearty meat/pasta/vegetable stew; hard to screw up.
Murloc Fin Soup– shark fin soup would be perfect!  If only it weren’t totally unethical and illegal.
Soothing Turtle Bisque– one of my favorites. Turtle soup does exist and sounds delicious, but it sounds horrifying to prepare.  Might just have to go with a fish bisque of some kind.
Dragonbreath Chili– I figured the spice of this wouldn’t hit you until you swallowed.  Boyfriend’s famous spicy chili might be perfect.
Spider Sausage– a narrow sausage with white meat and a tangy taste, in my mind’s eye.
Tender Wolf Steak– ribeye, bloody with very basic spices.

To drink:
Captain Rumsey’s Lager– lager is a warm color, so I think of the hazelnut blend sold by Rogue.
Thistle Tea– it’s basically grass tea, so I think of this as a green tea of some kind.

Game over.  This shit is happening.

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