Friday, April 15, 2005

New York

The wing flirts with oncoming night,
dancing with dark and shadows.
A blanket of shimmering light
spreads as far as I can see.
I think of gathering it up
and presenting it to Grandma's
Singer sewing machine.

Back home in the light of one small lamp
her machine hums softly for her,
she and it working as one,
each no more than an extension of the other.
This woman-machine
defies logic, creating exquisite clothes
one would not think such a
mismatched pair
of wrinkled lady and rusty noisy machine
left over from another age
could fashion.

If the blanked outside my window
was set upon Grandma's table
left to the care of she and the Singer,
it would perhaps be molded
into a risque evening gown.
The seductive shimmering robe
would follow closely the curves
of any body it draped across,
winking softly as it played wanton
games with light and shadow.

The illusory dress jolts from thought
as I am jostled
in my straight-backed
worn to the floatble cushion seat.

I look at my table with the
crumpled pretzel wrapper clinging
to the bottom of my dewy
plastic cup, condensation pouring
down the sides, born from
cool of iced Ginger Ale.
Accompanied by the rustle
of garbage bag filled with
napkins and pretzel wrappers,
the stewardess steps up the aisle
and squirrels my garbage
into the bag with all the rest.

Back outside the window
my potential gown has dissipated
into a mass of broken lights, no longer
meshed into the breathtaking
glitter blanked that Grandma
and her Singer would have coveted.
- Kathryn Krueger, 1997
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I shame the tiger

I shame the tiger
The brilliant streaks
which comprimise his coat
pale
against the intricate web
of confused
yet proud
streaks, spots, interlocking bands
of blazing color and light
which amalgamate my soul.
- Kathryn Krueger, 1998
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Thursday, April 14, 2005

Grey, rubbery, ballooning its way up through my abdomen, my pain said to me, "I protect you.

'I hold all your other pain."

In simply noticing it, it changed. The air slipped out. This thing which had been large, rubbery, now became small, snakelike, snaked in amongst my intestines and other orgrans. And it slithered away out of sight, silently, leaving hardly a trace.




My right half; red, prickly, firey. My left; calm, smooth, orange, rubbery.

"I am your right side," says the right to the left. "I am an animal. I feel. I live. I burn wild and free, I am consumed."

"I am your left," says the left to the right. "I cool you. I protect you. I cradle you when you hurt. I am forever healing you, calming you, sedating you. I need you to calm yourself, and to pay attention. To feel less. To tame yourself. To be more like me."

"I need to burn," says the right. "I burn. Burn with me. Live and feel. Nothing that is around you is important."

Do they then begin to merge?

Saturday, April 09, 2005

Flesh. Now we draw closer. The question is: can I love Connor, who will die someday, any day, the smell of his shoulders becoming only a memory. Can I soften to love, with full knowledge of the suffering I welcome in? Thomas Merton said the love we most cherish will, of necessity, bring us pain. Because that love is like the setting of a body with broken bones.

- From Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Monday, April 04, 2005

As I was driving back to school after our break tonight, I found myself at a red light with an old guy in the car next to me. He was looking over at me, smiling, waving. Seemed so happy! I smiled and waved back.

Then, he leaned over, holding something to his face. I thought he was blowing his nose, so I let my attention wander back to the traffic light.

Momentarily, his left turn arrow turned green. I turned to look at him once more as he drove off, and ... he was transformed! He had slipped a rubber rat-nose onto his face. Was stroking his whiskers, waving at me again, and giggling like a little school girl. I had just moments ago been listening to loud dramatic music, but now couldn't help but laugh, myself, as well. He was such a sight, and so very, very happy.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Rants from Seattle's Newest DJ

I got some new DJing software for my computer, and an external USB sound card, so that I can both preview and send output from the same machine.

And that software, man, it's been crashing all over the place. I'd heard from Alex that it crashes for him, but he thought it was because he loads his whole music library. He said that it doesn't crash for Kevin, because Kevin drags and drops. Well, I didn't even load a playlist, much less my library -- I was just dragging and dropping files. But still, the crashing.

Also, I don't think I understand it very well yet -- at one point during the Practica I accidentally played two songs at once. I quite unfortunately had my headphones on when the incident occured, previewing something else, so I didn't even notice right away. Took a short while for me to realize what was going on and stop the offending second song. It was horrific! I had, like, FIVE people come up to me later that night and say, "Hey, it's cool that you're trying to mix songs and be creative and stuff, but the beats weren't matching up too well. You maybe need to work on it a bit." Argh! What I really need is to work on playing one song at a time.

In other news, I seem to have some crazy electro-static field that wreaks havoc with mics and such. During classes, we kept having problems with huge bursts of static over the sound system, so bad that we had to power the whole system down several times. And I swear, I'm not being paranoid, but it was somehow tied to me. It sucked.
I hate email. I hate that I can write any number of emails to any number of people, and sit for days, or weeks, and never get any response. The same for phone messages.

So, getting no response - what does that mean? Someone read what I wrote and didn't feel it warranted a response? Didn't read it at all? Didn't even get the email?

Do I just let it go, or write another, or call, or write a real letter? At what point does reaching out to them more become an annoyance, where they are perhaps sending some signal that I'm not picking up on because it's all-too-subtle?

I dislike the little ball of something-bad that gathers in my chest when I've written someone about something close to me, and it's been days, and they haven't responded, and at this point I'm not sure they ever will. I almost want to be angry, but then again, I'm probably one of the worst for being consistent in responding to emails and phone messages. So who am I to hold it against anyone else? It would be so hypocritical. So the ball just sits there. Sort of like the ball that you can feel in your stomach just after you've eaten Dicks, a little ball of fat and grease and salt just sitting, only this one is less salt and grease and fat and more bad feelings.

Or maybe I'm still just feeling the Dicks from last night.
As of yesterday morning, there are no more metal fillings in my mouth.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Jonny fell asleep last night in the crook of my arm, purring! We've come so far.

Then he woke up at 3:00am and started batting mugs full of pens off of my desk. He does like to knock things to the floor. Especially in the middle of the night. Especially if they are made of glass. Bat-cat.
Happy Birthday Me!

Seriously, so many people have written, called, sent little notes - it's a bit overwhelming. I'm so used to my birthday going relatively unnoticed, and then y'all have to go and remember it. Almost enough to make a girl cry.

We were talking, tonight, about birthdays, Chris, Chris, Coquina and I. Coquina asked if any one of us ever had one birthday that was really, truly, memorable. I told this story, which I will now share with you -

I remember, on my fifth birthday, walking down the hall of my nursery school with my uncle. In the course of conversation, he said, "You know, you will never be four again."

Just like that. Exactly those words.

I was traumantized.

Four was a good age, you know? I quite enjoyed it. At that point, it had been a quarter of my life so far; I wasn't really ready to give it up. This is one of my strongest persisting childhood memories, this point of surprise and horror at the passing of time, at the thought that four was now in the past, unreachable for all the rest of time.

I'll never be four again.

Friday, March 25, 2005

the days fly away like leaves in a gale

each breath fills my lungs
breath in
breath out
an endless repetition
my heart bleeds
to and from
each organ
each limb
every extremity
fire consumes my vision
time blurs the days, a parade
what was yesterday?
so many heart beats ago
the air which filled me
which left me
long since replaced
- Kathryn Krueger, March 2005
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I'm really finding that, at heart, I'm a social dancer. I want to teach, I want to DJ, I want to build a dance community -- but most of all, I want to social dance. I want to be out every night that I can be, dance with a variety of people, search for connection, and occasionally connect with someone in a way that is so compelling, beautiful, and powerful that I can't help but keep going out searching for a repeat or a sequel to the experience.
We've been cat-sitting for a few weeks. Jonny is a 2-year old white cat. But for the occasional scuffle, he and Louie have been doing quite well.

The cat loves Chris's chair. He will lie in wait for hours, until Chris gets up, and then attempt a steal.

He also loves to break things. Set a perfectly good mug down in the middle of the table, and the cat might jump up and purposefully knock it all the way to the edge.

Don't we all love to break things, though? I mean, I do. I just don't act on that love all too often.

I do miss having cats about. Such a different energy than that of dogs.
Much of what I am posting now I have stolen from correspondence. Lesley, if you are reading, do not be offended -- I took the time first to write you, and only now that it has already been written am I picking out bits for journaling.
In other, related news, Chris and Chris and I are moving. A whole 50 feet, or something. We're moving to the lower apartment next door, which is owned by the same landlord. It's a bit bigger, almost the same price, has windows on 3 sides of the house instead of 2 (none of which face a driving school parking lot with cars going in and out and blowing exhaust right by the house), has 2 bedrooms which I think would be big enough for my personal belongings AND my massage table (which will be great for me, not to have to depend on someone else's space!), is not directly underneath noisy 6:00 AM driving classes in the summer, and generally, feels to be a good change. We've been given permission to fence off the back yard and let Louie run back there. Chris will rent the shed in back and turn it into a dark room. Many, many good things. See, Kat? Change isn't all bad.
Jaimes has left, also. Right now in New Zealand. Soon to be in Vancouver, Toronto, Portland, Eugene, and then off to Beijing; pretty much gone from Seattle through August. How things do change.
Christa has moved away. It's quiet without her. I miss her, but perhaps the break is good. I think we were simply too close for a while there at the end, and it was stressing our friendship. Hopefully the break from daily-roommate-living-stresses will give our friendship a chance to regenerate.

In the meanwhile, one of Chris's friends is staying in our 3rd room. His name is also Chris. From living with Christa and Chris to living with Chris and Chris... cute. He's only here until June 13th, when he heads off to Rome. I'm not sure what we'll do with the room after that. Maybe, when deciding, we should make a rule that if "Chris" is not at least a portion of your name, you can't live there. Just to stick with tradition and all. You know.
Is it possible to miss someone and to be glad that they've gone, all at once?
Man, what a pity party last night, eh?

I'm feeling much better today.

Well, I was feeling a little overwhelmed this morning, just thinking about all the things I want to get done in the next few months and the discipline I will have to employ to do so (discipline has not, traditionally, been my strong point), but even that seems all good at the moment. As the theme song to Reading Rainbow comes to mind and plays on in my head:
butterfly in the sky -
I can go twice as high!
take a look, it's in a book, it's reading rainbow.

I can do anything -
friends to know, and ways to grow
reading rainbow.
I can go anywhere -
reading rainbow.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Some days I feel like my life is charmed. So many wonderful things happen, one after another, chains of amazing, wondrous events. I feel loved and warmly enveloped by the universe.

Other days I feel like I'm being tested. Change makes me uneasy to start with, and then so many things change all at once. People leave, places change, homes take on different feels as new people become dominant forces within them. Belongings get broken. Objects get lost.

It's such a trial, learning to let things go, to give up attachments. Things are merely things, but it is so easy to forget this. Emotions encase things, cover them in so many layers, and then after a time these objects seem to be so much more... and then when they reach their time, disappear or get lost or broken, what happens to all these emotions? How to let them go gracefully, also, to let them blow away in the wind, gently breathing a goodbye, rather than stir them up and drown oneself in them?

It all comes back to this mortality notion that I feel breathing down my neck now and again. Nothing is forever. We are all but dust in the wind. I want to be more than dust! But I am powerless, utterly impotent. These objects which are broken, they are each a bitter reminder of all mortality -- with time, everything and everyone I love and care for will be broken, lost to this world as well. And so will I.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

I am hosting the Tuesday night practica at the Century Ballroom and the monthly After-Hours Tango dance at the Trabant Chai Lounge now that Jaimes is off exploring the greater world. Ah, how things change. I've DJ'd and partially-hosted two practicas already, and it has gone well, but it's still a bit to swallow - suddenly going from no responsiblity at all to quite-a-bit-more-than-none.

Tonight's the first night that I host all on my own. Wish me luck. And if you're ever in Seattle and you feel like dancing tango, watching tango, or experiencing tango in any way, stop by and give me some love.
Behold, the Power of Garlic

I've been on this kick lately where, whenver I feel that I might be getting a cold or such, I eat raw garlic. It's quite heady. The last few times I've done it, it has worked like a charm; I felt better within hours, and did not come down with a full-blown cold. But I did smell like garlic for days on end. Ah, the sacrifices we make.

On the subject of garlic, if you are ever slicing cheese to eat on top of apple slices, and you were slicing raw garlic just before, and you are using the same knife -- maybe rinse the knife off before slicing the cheese. Otherwise your appley-cheesey snack may pack a bit more kick than you had been planning for.
Peeing after you've been holding it for a while has to be one of the most gratifying feelings ever. But not gratifying enough that I would voluntarily choose to do it all the time.

Monday, March 14, 2005

I wish that you were
holding me right now, and that you would whisper
nice things
about how maybe I annoy you sometimes
and you like to kick me while I'm down
and enjoy that you have the power to make me cry,
but right this moment you adore me
and are happy
just to be
with me.

And I would fall asleep in your arms,
and love
and be loved,
and be happy.

And maybe in the morning
you would be quick
to jump out
. .of
. . .bed
and be short with me,
kicking me out so you could start the day,
but there would be that short moment,
right before, where I wake up, and you're right there,
and the sun is shining on your skin,
and you have this glow,
and everything in the world seems
good
and wonderful
and I'm glad to be who I am,
to know you,
to just be.
- Kathryn Krueger, Jan 2005
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Isn't it apt that I am a biter dog?
What kind of dog is Louie? According to the same survey:
AMERICAN BLACK & TAN COONHOUND

Origins
USA. The first to foster the Black & Tan in the late 1700's were Simon Kenton and the Poe brothers from the Ohio Valley. Purpose bred to hunt raccoon and opossum, chasing their quarry up a tree and hold it there for hunters. American Coonhounds were developed from Foxhounds, with dashes of French, German, and Irish dogs for specific needs. Similar to a Bloodhound.

Personality
A very versitile and hard working dog, which is also obedient, friendly, and intelligent. They will stand their ground with intruders and are usually kennelled out of doors.
Well, he's not really black & tan, but he would love to hunt raccoons.
What kind of dog are you? Here are my results:
GERMAN PINSCHER*

Origins
Germany. The Pinscher* ("biter" in German) has existed for several
hundred years. Resembling the larger Doberman to which it contributed
its genes, it was officially recognised as a breed in 1879.

Personality
Often described as high spirited and self possessed, this is in fact a
good natured, playful dog which is good with children and makes a fine
guard. It is alert, loyal, watchful, and fearless. However, they can
be bull-headed and stubborn and need to know who is boss. For this
reason the German Pinscher is not a good breed for children. They will
bite first and think later.
* In the original description, "Pinscher" was spelled differently each time it was used. I have corrected this in my posting.

Friday, February 18, 2005

I'm in Portland now. It's sunshiny and beautiful here, but oh, so cold.

The dancing last night was lovely, although my whole body hurts now. I feel like a train wreck. I'm not used to dancing that long and that energetically, and the weekend has hardly even started.

I didn't dance with that many people. Muliono, Wade, Bill from Portland, Jaimes (and hardly that, just two songs), and Greg from Eugene. I'm never quite sure how that happens; the night is so long, you'd think I would have danced with more. But the dances I had were connected and energetic and wonderful, so it all works out.
OUR COMPLAINT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED

Thank you for filing your complaint with the National Do Not Call Registry.

Do not call complaints will be entered into a secure online database available to civil and criminal law enforcement agencies. While the FTC does not resolve individual consumer problems, your complaint will help the agency investigate the company, and could lead to law enforcement action.
(Yes, they are calling again.)

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Hey, take a look at what's gone down lately in my hood.
From The Seattle Times: Feared Seattle property manager is arrested; dozens of guns seized

". . .They say that since the early 1990s, Gilbert, a convicted felon and outspoken member of the Aryan Nations who once spent time in prison for plotting to kill Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had intimidated, threatened and sued neighbors so often that his presence became "a total cancer. . ."
I guess I should consider myself lucky that our landlord is not an arms-bearing, convicted felon who threatens and intimidates us day in and day out.

Friday, February 11, 2005

The word of the day today is 'pseudocyesis'.
Ooh, I just realized - no call from Cingular today!

Maybe they fixed the problem. Or maybe they don't do automated calls on Fridays.
Adults don't often have it all figured out.

Rarely, even.

I am just now starting to break this myth that has colored my childhood and all of my adult life so far; that adults are grounded, all-knowing, and always certain, and so will we be too, when we are grown up.

Except now that I'm looking more closely, paying more attention, I see more adults who struggle for clarity, for direction, for meaning. My peers. My co-workers. My elder family. Dancers, professors, computer programmers, journalists. Americans, Europeans, Middle-Easterners. Their lives are so much more complex than I would have ever thought.
I'm always amazed at the people who find my blog. Like the time, down in Eugene, when I thought I was meeting this couple for the first time, except that as we were introduced, they said, "Oh, you're the girl with the web journal." Or when I got in trouble with my employer for work-related content; good times, those. This forum is not as anonymous as it can get to feeling sometimes.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

I'm still getting Cingular's daily pre-recorded auto-messages.

As noted below, I took additional steps today and filed a formal complaint with the FCC. I got the idea from the FCC Consumer Facts page on Unwanted Telephone Marketing Calls; a lovely little reference. (This may be the first time I have really appreciated the existance of the FCC - I take issue with the FCC for a number of things, such as the commercialization of radio.)
Filing for: Kathryn A Krueger has been received by the FCC

Thanks for your information.
When inquiring about your complaint, be sure to reference the following confirmation number:

FORM475: 10253235

Additionally, be sure to mention that you filed this complaint over the internet.
Finally, the carrier will have 30-45 days to respond to this complaint.


Thank You!
In Direct Contrast

Traffic today on I-5 was pretty bad.

Turns out someone jumped off the ship-canal bridge. I heard this on the radio just as I was driving past the exact spot. They had shut down the right-most lane, and a number of troopers were on the spot, investigating.

According to the radio, the person jumping hadn't landed in the water, but on pavement. So things were shut down below the bridge, as well, and even more investigators down there, and troopers cleaning up.

It all seemed so close, hearing this as I was driving past the exact spot. Too close.

I cried.

It seems so wrong, living in a world where people can feel destitute enough to end their life in such a way.

Now I feel mostly numb. For a while I was connecting with it on a personal level; now I'm back into "normal"-mode, where I might read about something like this in the paper, nod, and think to myself, "it's sad," but not necessarily feel sad. Not that I'm happy. Just numb.
I was inexplicably happy all of yesterday, and drew this picture as a
means of expressing my joyous mood:




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Wednesday, February 09, 2005

I JUST ROLLED AN 'R' FOR THE FIRST TIME, EVER, IN MY LIFE.

What a momentous experience!

I was in my car, listening to tango music -- more specifically, to Canaro's "No Hay Tierra Como la Mia". And I was trying to mimic and sing the words, with more (or less) success.

I was thinking about the rolling of 'r's... "If babies can learn to do it, and everyone in the Spanish-speaking world can do it, then physically, I must be able to do it too," I thought to myself.

So I was making noise after noise.

Most were far too gutteral. (I've never had a problem making more gutteral German-ish sort of noises.)

I experimented with closing my teeth, opening my teeth, using the back of my tongue, the front, using more or less lip...

...and then...

...suddenly...

...I was doing it! Rolling my 'r's! I was an 'r'-rolling demon!

It was so exciting. I had to call and tell half my friends, roll my 'r's for them, gush and gush.

And I still am! An 'r'-rolling demon, that is. I think it's like learning to ride a bike. Once you do it, it's always with you.

So r-r-r-really, life will never-r-r be the same again.
Update:

I called someone at a local Cingular store, and he said he couldn't help me. He advised me to call the automated lines again and just randomly enter a long series of numbers, which he thought would eventually hook me through to an actual customer service representative. I tried this, and was eventually put through to a real person.

She thought that perhaps Cingular might have my number incorrectly listed on someone else's account as a home number, but they are not able to look up accounts based on home numbers so she was unable to help me resolve the issue in any way.

I asked if there was an IT department it could be escallated to, or anyone who could help me, and she said the best she could do would be to write up a ticket for my problem. She did so at my request. We'll see what/if I hear back from them.

In the meanwhile, to temporarily soothe my rage at my helplessness in this situation, I've filed a complaint with The Better Business Bureau. I've also attempted to file a complaint with the Do Not Call registry, with whom I listed my cellphone several months ago, but keep getting a message indicating that the site is down.
I keep getting a pre-recorded message from Cingular & AT&T on my cellphone asking me to "call customer service" about my number.

Problem is -- I am not WITH Cingular or AT&T. I use Sprint.

Getting this message -- either listening to it real time, or listening to the message -- eats up my cellphone minutes.

When I've talked to Sprint, they've been unable to help me -- they are not Cingular. They throw me around from this person to that person, but nobody is actually able to help me. They say the best they could do would be to change my wireless number. I think that's a stupid / cruddy solution.

When I attempt to speak TO Cingular, I can't get through to anybody, as I do not actually have a Cingular number to speak to them about. The people at the local Cingular Stores tell me that the best they can suggest is to talk to Customer Service, only I can't, because it's all automated and doesn't actually let you through to talk to anyone unless you have a Cingular/AT&T number to enter.

Any ideas on what I can do to stop this? It's really annoying, and I'm frustrated / annoyed / pissed off that I can't get it to stop.

I've already spent 30 minutes of my time sitting around talking to Sprint Customer Service people or sitting on automated lines trying to get ahold of real Cingular people. Not to mention the cellphone minutes I'm getting charged for each and every time they call me with that @#$@#% automated message. Not cool.

Friday, February 04, 2005

See my new toy?



Half a gig! The size of a pocket knife! Will wonders never cease to amaze?

Thursday, February 03, 2005

I'm on hold with the Internal Revenue Service. How exciting! I've never spoken to the IRS before. Trying to figure out if cost basis of ESPP shares should be calculated using Purchase Price or Purchase FMV.

Other than this one last question, I am done filing my taxes. Done done done! And it is only February the 4th.

My mother always advised to "do" one's taxes as early as possible, and then to actually file earlier or later based on whether one owed to the IRS or was owed by the IRS. She didn't want the IRS collecting interest on her money any longer than they had to. Since I am owed this year, the advice sits well with me.
So I've been a student enrolled "at least half-time" since last September. This means I qualify for a credit on my tax return.

Here's what I don't understand -

I'm filing my return in TurboTax, which calculates your expected rebate (or payment) real-time as you go. The student tuition payments were one of the last things I entered, and when I entered them...my expected rebate was cut in half. That's right, the IRS will give me back less of my tax money due to my tuition "credit".

What's up with that?

Really, I'd be okay without credits like that.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

On Drinking and Test Taking

This probably wouldn't help me any, eh?

I mean, unless I drink while I study. The way the nervous system works, the mind is more easily able to recall information in an environment similar to that in which it learned the information, so it's to your advantage to recreate your study environment as best you can when taking tests. That way your system will more easily access the information you want.

...so if I drink this weekend while I'm studying...

...and then drink next Wednesday right before the big Anatomy & Physiology exam...

...I'll actually be doing myself a favor, right?

Right.
On Test Taking

I am not looking forward to upcoming tests. I bet they would be easier if I had spent more time these last several months working on paying attention.
On Paying Attention

I suck at paying attention.
On Drinking

"Not only red wine but also white wine, beer and hard liquor
appear to protect against mental decline in older women, two new
studies have found,"
or so says the New York Times. Interesting.

Friday, January 28, 2005

Check out my new favorite French hip-hop song. Such a nice groove! I'm waiting expectantly for the album to arrive in the mail.

Here is an (poor) approximate English translation of the lyrics:
They met back in school
Between a math class and a spanish class
She was a soccer fan
But he didn't fear balls, it was the goal
He promised rides in a Corvette
But for now, he was stealing scooters
Between them there was always complicity
Stop on a pedestal, a clear dream
If he became triangle, she would be rectangle
The beauty and the bad boy, the triangular rectangle
It's like going from Joe Dassin to Jodeci
A real R&B videoclip drama
She's living the great love, that begins in the court
Continues during tours and always rhymes with 'toujours'
But the context is sronger than the concept
Her man jumps into the flames and showers in them

Refrain
The subsets in the great sets are assembled
The beauty and the bad boy(x3)

The subsets in the great sets are assembled
The subsets in the great sets are assembled
To win money together
Talk without giving the impression of doing business together
And when it gets bloody, they plead God ogether. See.
They were convinving, She was convinced]
To think today that stopping was out of the question
They traffic counterfeit money with Slavic networks
Beat the competition. In France it's a serious offense
Risk for the knobs, he leaves the Baumettes
He has only one trick in mind, it is the search of his Corvette.
Paranoiac environment, the opposing team lags behind
Projectiles go off when a BMW brakes
When she falls, tears drops off his eyes
Two .22 bullets. Twenty two(years old) Goodbye.
The Context is stronger than the concept
Her man jumps into the flames He has to shower in them

Thursday, January 27, 2005

As you've noticed, I've not been blogging much. Or maybe you've not noticed, having given up on even looking for new content.

This, despite now again owning a computer.

What's up with that, you ask?

I do occasionally think about things which, in my mind, may be worthy of posting. But I find my bar is higher these days -- things I'll discuss in conversation with friends seems too mundane, or too risque, or too lewd for posting in a public forum.

Like today, during a coffee break, Chris and I were talking. He has noticed a trend over time where it seems the bigger the guy, the harder it is to get him off. I thought back on all my relationships, and this seems to generally hold true in my experience, as well. Why is that? Littler members can be more easily encompassed in their entirety? It is harder to stimulate as great a percentage of bigger members, and percentage of the member stimulated makes a difference?

Had you ever thought about that?

Are you glad you have now?

If not, too late -- it's posted, you've read it, so move on and deal with it already.

But there's lots like that that I'm not posting.

Should I be? Is it better I'm not? Will I feel inclined to again with time? Will I find different content to wrap myself around, given a few weeks or months? Or is my blog doomed to die a slow and painful death?

Tune in next time, when all these questions and more may be answered. Same kat time, same kat channel.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Have you ever lodged a nail in your brain and not noticed it for 6 days?
A Breckenridge construction worker is recovering after going to the dentist for a toothache that turned out to have been caused by a 4-inch nail lodged in his skull. Patrick Lawler, 23, said he was using a nail gun on Jan. 6 when it backfired, firing a nail into a nearby piece of wood. And, unbeknownst to him, a second nail went through the roof in his mouth, and into his head -- about an inch and a half into his brain -- barely missing the back of his eye.
How, how, how do you not notice a nail lodged in your brain? Or at
least the entrance wound, you know?

From the article: "'We just thought it was a big contusion. You get
punched or something, and your eyes swell up, your jaws swell up,
whatever ... We didn't think a nail was hanging out, poking where it
shouldn't have been,' Lawler said."

So he didn't notice because he thought it was like a contusion where
he got punched... but he never got punched! If my eye and jaw was
swollen, all of a sudden, as if maybe I had been punched, and I didn't
remember getting punched, I'd think it might set off alarm bells. I'd
hope.

Monday, January 17, 2005

From ABC News: Minnesota Town Hits 54 Below Zero.

Ah. It's days like this that I miss home. I mean, that I don't. Miss home. Not all that much.

I like having warm feet and hands and digits and such. Yeah, the rainy dreariness of Seattle gets old, and yeah, it's been pretty cold here lately, but not cold like that.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

The New York Times Magazine recently posted an article about toxicity of breast milk. Interesting reading, and good stuff to think about given that I plan to breastfeed if I ever mother children. All the same, continually reading about stuff like this may be somewhat akin to picking at a wound... I can worry, worry, worry about all the chemicals building up in all of our systems, about exposure to flame retardants, to teflon, to chemicals that were banned before I was born but are still being passed through the food chain and building up in my body, but what can I do about any of it? Yes, I am getting my amalgamated fillings taken out, but there's still everything else in the world affecting me, my environment, the food I eat. Crazy to think about.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

I've been sick today. I hate being sick; I become a whiny, emotional mess. I feel physically awful, and on top of it, I feel sorry for myself, wishing someone would take care of me. Maybe because my father spoiled me when I was little, and waited on me hand and foot when I was ill. I hate asking favors of people, asking for help -- but when I'm sick, I find myself breaking all my rules and asking away. Or even worse, asking without asking. Don't you hate it when people do that? Why can't they just be up front about what they want?

Alex came by and brought me Pho at lunch time. Very sweet of him. And very nice, because I had no food, was not up to leaving the apartment, and probably would not have eaten today otherwise. I love him for doing it, but hate myself for not being self-sufficient, for needing help. How messed up is that? And more so that I am conscious of it.

On the bright side, I am starting to feel a little better. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be well.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

The Dante's Inferno Test pegs me as a violent sinner:
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
LevelScore
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Low
Level 7 (Violent)Extreme
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)Very High

Take the Dante's Inferno Test
What sort of sinner are you?

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

I made three new year's resolutions. Was talking to Tina, who made several well thought out resolutions that I think she has a good chance of holding fast to. I admired her willingness to look within and to address areas in which she wanted to grow.

Here are mine:
  1. Floss.

    (I cheated. I stole that one from her. And she had stolen it from someone else.

  2. Be more dependable.

    (I am generally not dependable, socially. Especially when I've got work and school both going strong. I do realize this about myself, and I do not like it. But at the same time, I haven't really found the motivation yet to tackle it head on and attempt change. I resolve now to make a good-faith effort at modifying my behavior in this arena.)

  3. Do not make commitments I cannot/will not keep.

    (If I watch before I speak and cut down on making commitments I would like to keep or feel like I should but know that I will not, it will help me to be more dependable. If I say I'll do something or be somewhere that I will not, I am setting myself up for an instance wherein I will be engaging in non-dependable behavior, as I later break the commitment.)
So...

Yeah.

Wish me luck.
I had all these things in mind that I wanted to blog about this morning, but now, for the life of me, I can't remember what they are.

In other news -

I went to the dentist today. He doesn't think I need to have my amalgamated fillings removed. For myself, I think I would probably be okay keeping them in, but I want to bear children sometime in the next decade, and I don't feel comfortable going through a pregnancy with them in, given the possibilities. Maybe they're harmless. But maybe they're not. And it's my potential offspring that will suffer if they are harmful, and I'm not willing to take that risk for the sake of saving a little bit of money right now. How much is peace of mind worth to you? Hard to put a price value on it.

I started work again today, also. It was difficult concentrating and getting back into the flow. Not that I was all that into the flow before. I need to figure out how to get into productive-programming mode each day without requiring several hours of warm-up time.

So, about that - in the neural system unit of anatomy last month, we learned that, if you have trouble taking tests, you should make your study environment as similar to your test taking environment as possible. This is because environment factors into the way that your body takes and processes information, and it will be easier to access information in an environment similar to the one in which you learned it. So wear the same underwear, or eat the same foods just before, or do whatever you need to do.

In college, I think I trained my body to process programatic sorts of thoughts best late at night/early in the morning, when I was always finishing up programming projects the night before they were due. And now, it's hard for my to get into that frame of mind during the day. 9 PM - 5 AM, I can slip into that mode quite easily. But 10 AM? Not so easy. Problem is, I don't want to do all my work at night. And my boss doesn't want me to, either. So I need to retrain myself. It's pretty painful.
Several months ago, the commenting service I subscribe to stopped sending me notifications when people create new comments. I have not gotten any responses to my requests for support, even though I paid for the service. I need to get my butt in gear and just create my own blogging and commenting system that addresses all the little problems I have with the ones I use now -- hopefully, now that I have a computer again, I'll be motivated to do that sometime soon.

What's with that, anyway? Why is it so hard to motivate myself to start things? My to-do list is, like, a million items long. I accomplish this and that here and there -- this weekend, I completely cleaned my car out, and it's cleaner since it's been since we bought it -- but then the rest of the list sits stagnant through the years.

Sunday, January 02, 2005

My family sent me a package the day before Christmas. It has yet to arrive.

I think the postman may have hijacked it.



At least I got myself a Christmas present. And I didn't mail it to myself. So it never got lost in the mail.

And now I'm happy, oh so happy.

Until tomorrow, when I start school again. And Tuesday, when I start work again. Did I mention that I'm a little bit nervous about that? Vacation has been so nice. I dread the thought of getting so very, very busy again, of running all around all the time and always being behind on everything, from now until August when I graduate.

Speaking of which, I have an Anatomy exam coming up. I guess I should probably study while I still have some free time left today and tomorrow. Pish Posh.
Merry Christmas, me.

I am now the proud owner of a 12" G4 PowerBook. A Mac! How do you like that, Mr. Gates? I agonized for months over whether or not to make the leap, but on Dec 29th, I went for it. Conveniently, I was able to buy it while travelling through Portland on my way back up from San Francisco, so there was no sales tax.

The machine and I love each other. We have had an intense few days with each other. She still has no name... neither of us is sure yet what she will be called. But it will be magnificent, as she herself is. Ah, if only all love could be so rich, so rewarding. But what need have I for other love, now that I have her?

I am actually blogging right now on my bed. I am leaching Jaimes' wireless from across the driveway. The signal is poor, however. Our apartment could use a new wireless router (my roommate has a stupid netgear one that doesn't work, so I don't think it really counts), but it will have to wait until my next paycheck, as my funds have been stretched rather thin.

This may mean my blogging frequency will increase again, although not necessarily so. We shall see.

My dog is on the bed with me. He actually slept here last night. That makes twice ever in all the years I've had him. Happy, happy us.

Happy, happy me.

Ain't love grand?

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

On reading my most recent post, a friend of mine who worked an internship last summer with Environmental Working Group, a non-profit advocacy group, directed me to the EWG report on mercury and autism in susceptible children. Its findings are in line with many of the other bits I found and posted, but it is all bundled up in a nicely written and referenced package. Good reading.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Everywhere I look, these days, I seem confronted by the topic of autism. I learned last week that an aquaintance at work has two autistic children. Care was so difficult and the cost was so high that he and his wife eventually had to give the boys up to full time care facilities. The New York Times has had several articles on autism recently. I have seen articles in a number of other journals, as well. It has come up in a number of conversations, recently, and not of my accord.

Today I gave in, and I read a number of articles on on the disorder, discussing onset, causes, rise of incidence in the US, related diseases, etc. I figured if fate so vigilantly continues to place the subject in front of me, perhaps it is worth taking her up on it and exposing myself to it.

I found particularly interesting one article which claims that breastfeeding might help autistic children, and may even prevent autism. Of course, there were also articles warning against breastfeeding autistic children, speculating that the casien protein in breast milk can worsen the condition.

Then I got side-tracked for a while, reading about breast-feeding in general. Autism aside, it seems that children who are breast-fed develop a higher IQ than children who are formula fed, and develop stronger immune systems, as well. I plan to breastfeed all my children. I found it interesting (although unsurprising) that women with unintended pregnances are much less likely to breastfeed their children.

Back to autism. Further reading on autism led me to read about vaccines. Some feel that childhood vaccines are at least partially responsible for many incidences of autism these days. Preservatives in vaccines are a concern, particularly thimerosal, which is 50% mercury (although it seems that they have been phasing thimerosal out in the last several years due to such concerns).

What, then, can you do if you are concerned about the risks of vaccinating your child? Vaccine requirements are decided on a state to state basis. Generally, states require some level of vaccination for children to enter into the public school system. Many states allow religious excemptions and a few offer philosophical exemptions, but these can be hard to obtain.

I'm not sure how I feel about vaccination; there's so much diverse information out there, and I'm not at all educated on the subject. I will certainly want to become more educated before my children are vacccinated, however.

Reading about mercury in vaccinations and the possible causal link to autism led me to read about mercury poisoning compared with autism. Symptoms of mercury poisoning are quite similar to symptoms of autism, and some believe that at least a portion of reported cases of autism today are actually cases of mercury poisoning. Mercury toxicity also seems to be related to a number of other diseases, including (but not limited to) Alzheimer's disease.

This brought me to dental amalgams. Did you know that these widely used "silver fillings" are actually 50% mercury, and continually leak mercury vapor into your system day after day? The American Dental Association maintains the position that "amalgam continues to be a safe and effective restorative material" and "there currently appears to be no justification for discontinuing the use of dental amalgam". The US Government maintains a similar position. This line of thought is hotly contested, however. Some countries, including Canada, Sweden, German, and the UK, have even passed laws restrictng the number of amalgams that can be placed in children and pregnant women.

I now want to get my amalgams removed. Certainly before I ever conceive or bear children, hopefully quite a while before then. I'm going to call my dentist tomorrow to chat about it.

For all that blather above, I've barely brushed the surface of these topics, and I don't really know anything more about autism than when I started. I feel so under-educated and uninformed.
Good news - I passed my exam. I think. I felt like I did well, and our instructor said she would call to notify us if we failed, but only if we failed. I have not yet had a call from her. Safe for now!

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Oops

In class just now, as we were winding down to our lunch break, the instructor said something to the effect of, "blah blah blah blah the exam on monday blah blah."

?!

I turned and whispered to Janet, sitting behind me, "Did she just say 'the exam on Monday'? Did she mean this Monday?"

Apparently she meant this Monday.

Janet said that it's better that I found out now than it would have been if I had found out ON Monday.

I guess that's true.

Still... oops. I should pay more attention to these sorts of things.

Friday, December 10, 2004

So cute!
It's not just me -

According to a story on eWeek, AOL has mistakenly suspended a very large number of AOL Instant Messenger (one of the most widely used IM programs) accounts, by mistake. I don't know about you guys, but this happened to me and a large percentage of friends and coworkers. AOL says that a fix should be ready by Monday.

AIM also finally added the following bit to their tech support page halfway through the day today: "If you recently began receiving an error message indicating that your sign on has been blocked because your account has been suspended, please be patient as we restore the accounts over the next several days. We apologize for the inconvenience." Rumor has it they'll have all accounts restored by Monday.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

AOL has suspended an AIM account that I use regularly. When I attempt to sign in, I am directed to a page that tells me:
Your Screen Name is blocked from signing in to the AIM service.

Your Screen Name is blocked from signing in to the AIM service. There are several reasons why you may have received this message:

  1. Screen Names that were previously used on AOL but have been cancelled or suspended, can no longer be used on AIM. This includes both master accounts and sub-accounts. In order to continue using this Screen Name on AIM, please reactivate the account on AOL.


  2. AOL Screen Names that have one or more of the following Parental Controls set will no longer able to use AIM, even if they have previously been able to do so:
    - Instant Messages are Blocked.
    - Kid's Only age category.

    To access AIM, the Master Screen Name on the AOL account must go to AOL Keyword: Parental Controls and change the above settings for this Screen Name. In addition, your Screen Name must also be set to one of the following age categories: Young Teen, Mature Teen, or General (18+).


  3. Users who identify themselves as a child under the age of 13 may not use this service at this time. If you are an adult and have entered your birth date incorrectly, you may use a credit card to complete our age verification process now, or anytime within 30 days of the date when you identified yourself as a child. You will not be charged for this credit card verification.

    Click here to sign in to our age verification form to reactivate your Screen Name.


  4. An account may be terminated for violations of the terms of service.
This was never an AOL account; it was only an AIM screen name.

No parental controls were set.

The age verification system will not allow me to sign in with this account, leading me to believe that age verification is not the problem. I am quite sure I set the account up with my correct birthdate, anyhow.

That leaves only terms of service. But I read through their terms of service, and did not find any that I have violated. I use the account only for messaging a few friends. No email at all. No spamming. No questionable material. Did someone else hijack my account to do bad things? Is AOL erroneously blaming something on me? Are they suspending accounts for no reason at all?

It's just a silly IM account. I know that. But still, somehow, I feel violated.
I wrote the following in a comment on a friend's blog. As it's been on my mind, recently, though, I think it perhaps belongs here as well.
There was snow in MN when I was back last weekend. It made me so, so happy. So did all the brown. I realized that perhaps one of the reason I feel oft compelled to wear shades of brown these days is that I miss seeing it in the landscape around me each winter.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Well I had a dream I
stood beneath an orange sky

Yes, I had a dream
I stood beneath an orange sky
with my brother standing by,
with my brother standing by.

I said, "Brother, you know, you know -
It's a long road we been walking on
yes it is, yes it is, you know
Brother it is such a long road we been walking on
Oh brother, oh brother."

And I had a dream I
stood beneath an orange sky
with my sister standing by,
with my sister standing by.

I say, "Here is what I know now, sister
here is what I know now, goes like this -
In your love
my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
in your love, in your love."

Oh, but you know, I am so weary
and you know my heart, my heart's been broken
Sometimes, sometimes my mind is too strong
to carry on

Too strong, too strong to carry on.

But when I'm alone, when I've thrown off the weight of this crazy stone
When I've lost all care for the things I own
That's when I miss you
that's when I miss you, you who are my home
You who are my home now.
You are my home now.

Here is what I know now brother,
here is what I know now sister - goes like this:
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love, my salvation lies
In your love!
My salvation lies in your love
My salvation lies in your love
My salvation lies in your love
in your love, in your love, in your love.
In your love, now.

Oh, I had a dream I
stood beneath an orange sky
with my brother and my sister standing by.
My brother and my sister standing by.
- Orange Sky, by Alexi Murdoch.

Heard this on John Richard's show this morning. He made some comment about having had it played at his mother's funeral. The song resonated well with me, and also it seemed fitting with yesterday's post.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

One of Alex's friends died in a plane crash on Sunday afternoon.

Alex is sad.

It makes me worry for the friends of mine who fly.

It makes me feel inadequate as a friend. I don't know what it is to have a friend die. I have not yet experienced that.

It makes me feel more mortal. What would happen to my dog if I passed on? Who would notify my family if something happened to me? Who would even know how to contact my family?

And I feel more acutely the mortality of those around me. What if this were the last time I ever spoke to he, or she, or you? How would I ever come to terms with it? We are all mortal, and the time will come when these things become a reality, no longer idle questions -- how will I hold up? Will I hold up?

Why do we live in this world, just to die? Why expend so much effort living, doing, working, buzzing about, when it all comes to nothing in the end? Why do we waste so much time on so many things that matter so little, when time is a limited commodity?

Susie's rat died the other day, also. This rat mothered the rats I had out here in Seattle last year. I was home for my brother's wedding last weekend and held the rat on Sunday afternoon. Two days ago, it was happily crawling up and down Susie's scarf, and I was petting it and playing with it. And now it is dead.

It's sad. And so much. So beyond my understanding. Life, death, time, mortality... I can't get my head around them.
According to a new study, lack of sleep messes with your hormones and may cause weight gain. Vewy, vewy intewesting.
If Susie were a princess, she would be Snow White. Which Disney Princess would I be?

. . .

I am Esmerelda!

Mysterious and passionate, I am a survivor. Even though life has swung me some difficult situations I have a strong intuition that gets me through. Also, I have the capacity to sympathize and relate to people.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Monday, November 29, 2004

They told us tonight in class that Term 2 will be our most difficult term. This makes me nervous, especially as I've already been feeling a bit strung out. Wish me luck. And health and happiness. And maybe a Time-Turner; I could totally do with that.

Man, speaking of Time-Turners...

Thursday, November 11, 2004

I miss Paul Wellstone.
Woah.

You know that thing you see on some web-forms, where you're supposed to "type the words in this box", and they're all skewed, and it's supposed to prevent spammers and bots from using the form?

Yahoo makes you do that now before forwarding an email to multiple recipients. Insane.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Monday, November 08, 2004

From my brother's fiance's blog:
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
4 More Years?


4 more years of worrying about Leroy having to go back to Iraq (or who knows where)...
4 more years of fearing being a widow at the age of 25...
4 more years of being unemployed...
4 more years with no health insurance...
4 more years of budget cuts...
4 more years of poverty...

STUPID AMERICANS AND THEIR ONE ISSUE VOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO VOTED FOR BUSH FOR CONDEMNING ME AND MY FAMILY TO ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF HELL!!!!!!

Canada is looking mighty good right now. Or perhaps teaching over seas.

posted by Amber @ 1:29 PM

That's one way to say it.
I've not, for the most part, had to deal yet with death on a personal level. I mean, my grandfather died when I was two. I don't remember him at all. A cousin died at sixteen about four years ago, but he grew up across the country from me and I never really knew him. Recently one of my great aunts passed away, but I only have vague memories of seeing her at family reunions when I was a child. I've had a number of pets pass away, but it's not the same, you know?

That's it.

None of my friends have ever passed away. None of my daily acquaintances. All of my immediate family is healthy. My living grandfather got very sick once, but he got better. Nobody that I've ever been really close to has died.

How will I handle it when I am suddenly confronted with death?

I don't know how to deal with people I am close to when they are confronted with death. I don't know how to relate. I feel suddenly inadequate.

Can I really understand the life and death cycle on a deeper level without ever having been confronted with it?

I think I still have, to the core of my bones, some misguided feeling that I am immortal. That I always have been, just as I am now, and always will be.

Also, I think I have the same notions in relation to everyone I am close to, to family, to friends. To anyone I love. They will always be, just as they are now. I know it's irrational, but some deep part of me still feels it.

Do most people feel that way?

Some people?

Is it just me?

It's all so irrational, but so deep within me. How will I get by when I am actually faced with death, when these deeply held beliefs all crumble?

Tuesday, October 26, 2004



Now isn't that sexy?
Jon said that he'll marry me if Bush wins a second term. I'm prepared for the worst -- Canada, I've got you on my radar.
I nearly cried on the table last night.

We were doing energy work. I'm actually a bit of a skeptic when it comes to energy work; it sounds like a lot of feel-good goopy hocus pocus to me. People may break down when I massage them because their muscles can hold emotions within? We need to remember the emotional and spiritual connection when thinking about mind/body, because it's all interconnected? Maybe, but I'll withhold judgment for now. I believe in the things I can see.

So anyway, we were doing hands-on energy work. Broke up into groups of three; a counselor, a scribe, and a client. I got to be the client first.

So my upper rib muscles and the muscles over my sternum have been sore the last few weeks. I'm not sure why. I've figured it's something to do with the dancing I'm doing recently; I'm using new muscles in ways I haven't before, and they are sore as a result. The soreness is a good sign.

On a whim, when asked where my 'counselor' should do her hands-on work with me, I indicated that my upper ribs should be touched. I lay down on the table, she touched...

And man, it was emotional.

I had images of cold steel, hard, light glinting off of it. Where her hands were, all gray. The rest of my body, red, warm, but still cold where our connection was, that part of my body, her hands. The image shifted a bit to steel padlocks, a lock, locked. Her hands, the connection, felt so far away. Here I was, but that part of me was almost unreachable, was somewhere else. And I felt inexplicably sad. And I almost cried. It took a while to come down from that, even after she stopped touching me.

I don't know if there are actually emotions locked away in those muscles, or what the deal was, but it was an emotional experience. Maybe there is something to all this energy stuff, and I need to just be open to it? I don't know.

Later on, when I was 'the counselor', my client asked that I put my hands on her forehead, with my fingers cupped over her eyes. I did. She visualized this, visualized that... then asked that the pressure be a little less. I realized that I was putting some of my own energy into her, that I wasn't being really open to the messages coming from her body, wasn't listening to what was coming from her. I let up the pressure.

Momentarily, a vision come to me of her head as a glowing white-green ball of energy, much like the bauble Eilonwy carried about with her in The Black Cauldron. I listened. And she felt a difference, and her experience was deepened, improved. That she could feel a difference when all that had changed was the way that I was thinking, receiving her... I dunno. That's something, too.

Then I went dancing, and I swear, I was aware of people's energy in a way I'm usually not, and it made my dancing better.

I don't know what all this is about, or if I can be aware like that more of the time, if I can cultivate an energy awareness. Our teacher last night talked about quantum physics, how if we studied it, we would learn that we all have pockets of energy rooted in our bodies, more commonly known as auras. Magnetic fields and such. It's so outside the realm of things I know, have been taught, have believed in. But is that cause for me to cast a quick judgment and throw it all out the window?

My upper chest muscles are still sore. Not as much as they have been, but whatever's going on, physical, spiritual, emotional, whatever - it's still there.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Creepy! I browsed to The State Quiz from some girl's blog, which I had in turn browsed to off of my youngest sister's blog. It pegged this particular person as "Nebraska", her childhood home state. Then I took the quiz, and it pegged me as Minnesota, the state where I spent my childhood.



You're Minnesota!

You love hanging out around lakes, even if they're frozen solid. Given your probable Scandanavian heritage, it all just demonstrates that you're pining for the fjords. Your obsession with wrestling got a little carried away for a while there, and this should prompt some serious reflection about the separation of mind and body. It may be time to celebrate, even throw your hat up in the air. You're going to make it after all.

Take the State Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

6 questions, 64 possible outcomes, and it manages to link me to Minnesota.

Why not Guam, or Idaho, or The Moon? Crazy.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

From MSNBC:

FDA approves computer chip for humans

Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved Wednesday for implantation in a patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records. . .
How crazy is that? Kinda scary, I think.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

  1. My butterfly has passed on. This before I was able to snap a picture. I suppose I could snap a picture of his corpse and post it still.

  2. The last several nights in a row I've had nightmares all night long. I meant to post about them all, but I don't think I can right now (see item 4). At least some of them involved seeing a bear attack and maul people I know, and being pushed around by several dirty cops, led by Ian McKellen who, for whatever reason, was the chief of police (and a dirty bastard at that).

  3. For the first time in my life, I had a knife pulled on me. So much excitement. I'll post about it later; if I don't, remind me.

  4. I'm sick. Caught a goddamned cold, from my goddamned roommate. I planned not to be sick, but man, I went and screwed that up. So now I'm all busy feeling sorry for myself and stuff. Oh, woe is me, I have work in the morning. Oh, woe is me, I have school all the time. Oh, woe is me, I have so much homework to do. Oh, woe is me, I've no one to take care of me, and I'm in no shape to take care of myself. Woe, woe, woe. I might just cry myself a river.


More (and more sensical) updates to come, when I am less under the weather.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

I HAVE A BUTTERFLY!!! It's a boy -- I've discovered this from the wing pattern. HE HATCHED! Isn't that super-awesome?!

Pictures soon to come. I would take them now, except my roommate isn't here, and I don't know where he's put his camera.

Butterfly butterfly butterfly! My first baby butterfly! I've never hatched a butterfly before; I'm so very, very proud. I'm going to be such a good mommy. I just fed him and put him into a bigger container. I am going to let him free, but I'm going to wait until daytime. Right now it's dark, rainy, and cold. Not the ideal environment in which to send off your first child to fend for themself.

BUTTERFLY!

I'm so, so excited!

Pictures soon, both of he in his cocoon, and of he now, wings and all. Promise.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

I'm feeling much better this morning. Christa got in last night; it's nice to have her around again. Good times with the roommates.



So anyway, I'm working again now. Yesterday was my first full day.

Had I mentioned that my last contract ended because MS wanted to outsource the work I was doing to India?

Ironically, my new contract is through an Indian company, but back again at MS. Full circle.



It's a small, small world -- it turns out that I'm in the same cube-farm as CRM Product Management. So strange seeing folks from the old team wandering around the hallways at work. I'm not sure I'll get used to that.

Monday, September 13, 2004

Being sick, working full time, and going to school all at once is a bit overwhelming. I wish I had someone to take care of me. I want someone to cook me soup and pour me orange juice and make my life all better.

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

I haven't been able to publish for two days, but blogger just sent me an email that seems to indicate publishing will work now. Here goes!
I just took the TIPP Learning Assessment for my massage school. I was inclined to dismiss the resulting profile as bunk, although some does seem to fit me (espeically within the "Areas to Develop" section). Following are some excerpts from its assessment of me -- if you feel like reading through them, let me know what you think.
. . .

INDIVIDUAL DESCRIPTION
In the playground of your mind, you learn through relationship and can see the relationships that exist between objects, concepts and people. Whether through instructors, work associates or more personal connections -- these relationships are key to how you learn best.

You are a people person. While some view the learning relationship as a component of their learning process, for you, it determines whether you learn. The relationship, and sometimes even the person(s) involved, acts as a guide - directing you on your learning journey - to a greater level of self-understanding and personal knowledge. Thus, mentors who encourage self-discovery are likely the instructors to whom you are most drawn.

You enjoy the act of communication almost as much as relationships themselves. Language, whether written or spoken, is used to develop deeper, clearer, more meaningful relationships - which in turn, help you to experience learning in a meaningful way. No doubt you have spent hours sharing your thoughts and feelings, opinions and attitudes and relationship perceptions with the "teachers" in your life. The time spent, while socially satisfying, provided you with an opportunity to implement the very language you love.

It should be noted that learning relationships are not exclusive to people. These meaningful connections can also include animals. Although odd to some, you may find that one (or more) of your most significant emotional relationships involves a beloved pet. Depending on your social circle or your introverted or extraverted preference, your pet might serve as a major learning relationship. Your language may not be the same, however, given your gift for creative communication, any existing language barriers are likely broken down.

Typically, your performance in traditional learning arenas (school, classrooms, etc.) is directly related to the subject matter and the facilitator. A preference for the humanities (behavioral sciences, language, literature, philosophy, etc.) accentuates your social interest. However, when the instructor is not relationally oriented and doesn't provide learning activities or offer individualized support, the material becomes much less engaging -- once again emphasizing the value of the learning relationship.

Your ability to grasp theory is high. This has to do with your natural inclination to approach things in a relational way. In fact, one of your greatest strengths is the ability to analyze and articulate general themes and patterns in communication and social behaviors. To share your discoveries with others is your personal pleasure and one of the many ways you contribute to the lives of those around.

Although there is a traditional quality to your learning process, your need for personal enrichment freedom over shadows most of your conventional perspectives. The ultimate search for meaning, is likely one of your objectives, both in life and in learning. Thus, you may view traditional attitudes as a limit to your learning success. However, when structured as an opportunity for self-discovery and the freedom to experiment, even more formal learning activities are appreciated.

Finally, you learn by gathering information through your five senses. Although you are drawn to "the metaphor" or may search for the deeper meaning of someone's behaviors, your initial introduction to any learning material should be by sight. You take in material best through our eyes. You need to see what is asked of you. You need to see and/or read the directions. Reinforcing what you have seen through experiential learning opportunities helps you to internalize the information even more.

. . .

AREAS TO DEVELOP
Although your people-orientation and ability to communicate are great strengths, focusing on them alone can limit your learning experience. For example, words without action can result in simply talking about doing something, but never really following through. While learning about a particular subject, you could find that you'd rather share your thoughts and feelings about the topic instead to studying it in depth or developing the skills necessary to implement it fully. Certainly the learning process is valuable overall. But don't forget, the result of most learning experiences includes both process and product - the combination of which demonstrates personal growth and discernable learning success.

Given the significance of the learning relationship, you might have a tendency to obsess on or romanticize those with whom you're connecting. Once you encounter a relationship that invites the process of meaningful self-discovery, you never forget it. In fact, it is often hard to relinquish when the time comes to do so. Being mindful of that, we encourage you to remember that every relationship has a beginning and an end. It has an ultimate purpose. When you realize the purpose of each relationship, the need to hold on becomes less intense. Thus, the learning process remains about you and your ability to learn -- instead of focused on the other person or the relationship that's shared.

Last but not least - remember your playful learning quality. Learning through play is important and can be extremely valuable. It can help you live more in the present and celebrate the temporary. Consider this scenario the next time something big is required of you: Your editor calls you with a hundred revisions to your latest draft. Instead of stewing over the criticism or simply the work that is required, head for your nearest playground. Hop on a swing and feel your stomach do somersaults and the wind on your face. When you're done, keep that sensual memory handy for when you begin writing. Getting back in your body can help you get out of your head. Besides, your heart writes all the true stories.

. . .

Monday, September 06, 2004

As I've been finishing up my move and sorting through contents of boxes that haven't seen the light of day for 10 years, I've come across some old poetry. I'm going to post it, here and there. Be warned that some of it is a little dark.


desperate consumption of
salt water sex
trying to satiate an
all-consuming thirst.
loneliness,
empty.
my lips crack painfully
hard tanned leather

. (I fall back to frightened child
. trying to hold at bay
. phalic games, talk
. limbs of a too big alien culture
. But my hands are too small
. pebbles swept away by the flood
. A man-driven storm
. ravages my small ragdoll
. limp beaten form)

must pump harder
faster
engage the thrill
what once devastated
will surely be my salvation
drink more
yet the thirst grows

. (Broken, sobbing
. he has poured my cup out
. Puddle on the floor
. ever pooling out of reach)

salt eating away
dry chapped empty hole consuming

by Kathryn Krueger, written in April of 2000.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

My caterpillar is pupating! How awesome is that? I snapped a few pictures and will post one sometime soon. Try to contain yourself until then, okay?

Friday, September 03, 2004

Yesterday I was eating some fresh broccoli when, lo and behold, I noticed a caterpillar nestled under the florets! He looks like this:



I named him Moses, for although he was not found hiding away in a basket amongst the river weeds, he was found hiding away amongst my broccoli florets, and I set him up in a glass on my table. Inside the glass I put his bit of broccoli, a branch and some leaves from a neighborhood tree, and several drops of water. I covered the top with saranwrap, and punched a number of holes in the wrap to allow him oxygen and airflow.

Moses was slow and lethargic when we first discovered him, but has become much more active. I suppose he was cold, living in my crisper drawer, and is much happier now that he has warmed up.

When I sat down to eat my breakfast this morning, I peeked into his new abode and noticed a mass of yellow-green balls piled at the bottom of the glass. Eggs? Perhaps there will be many Moses Juniors in a short time!

Chris and I think he is an Imported Cabbageworm, the species shown in the picture above. I'm hoping that he will pupate here in our kitchen. He would be the first butterfly I've ever raised.

Thursday, September 02, 2004

So much drama and intruigue in my job world lately; moreso than the last time! Riding on past experiences, I'm a little hesitant to post much about it until I make this site a little secure.

Ask me sometime in person, though, and I'll share a few good stories.

Or maybe I'll get my butt in gear with this site sometime soon. Wouldn't that beat all.
Busy, busy, busy.

Monday, August 23, 2004

So I have no job now, and we have internet access in the apartment, but I've been super-busy lately. Funny how that works -- the more time I think I'll have, the busier I seem to get. Maybe I'm more liberal about trying to fit things into my schedule right now, since I imagine that I'll have all the time in the world -- if I thought I had less time, I'd schedule less and attempt to do less, and would end up having more free time in the balance.