intellectual properties

truly randomata

small piece of random information i read once and have never forgotten:  the first stall closest to the door in a public bathroom with rows of stalls is usually the cleanest.

i have no idea whether this is true or not but i take note every time i walk into a public bathroom with stalls and now usually go in the first one if it’s available.

what random pieces of information have stuck in your brain and affected your actions, whether you know if they are true or not?

fire dragon

FIRE DRAGON – 1916, 1976, 2036

The most righteous, outgoing and competitive of all Dragons, the Fire Dragon will expect a lot from everyone. But while he may be demanding and aggressive, he is also blessed with enormous energy and has a lot to offer in return. The trouble is that he may go around with an air of superiority plus authority and make people fear or shy away from him. His leadership qualities are often marred by his desire to be treated like the Messiah. Fire matched with his forceful lunar sign will give him overzealous and dictatorial inclinations. He pushes too hard even where there is little resistance.

In reality, he is an open and humane person given to impartiality and uncovering the truth at all costs. His criticisms are objective and he has the power to arouse the masses with his vibrant personality. A natural empire builder, he will look toward the supreme order of things, with himself at the helm, of course.

Because the Fire Dragon is often enveloped by insatiable personal ambition, he is short-tempered, inconsiderate and unable to put up with anything less than perfection. He also overgeneralizes or jumps to conclusions, frequently lumping people into categories without allowing for or even perceiving their individual differences.

Nonetheless, here is a performer of the highest degree who could easily be a source of inspiration to his fellowman and a personality who will catch the public eye – when he learns to master his negative traits and communicate more humbly with others.

in general, i do not believe in astrology as an oracle or predictor, but even so i always consider what it says in terms of whether it is true about me or not, regardless of the stars.

i like to see myself as defined in the 2nd paragraph, but am i also an egoist who jumps to conclusions?

imprint/POV

imprint.jpg, originally uploaded by amyleblancdotcom

a call to peace

Jon Stewart’s commentary on the Arizona shootings last night on the Daily Show was thoughtful, heartfelt, and encourages taking this painful incident as an opportunity for a positive move forward away from our current toxic political discourse instead of devolving into more vitriol and hateful rhetoric. watch:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-10-2011/arizona-shootings-reaction

And wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t take this opportunity and the loss of these incredible people and the pain that their loved ones are going through right now, wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t take that moment to make sure that the world that we are creating now that will ultimately be shattered again by a moment of lunacy, wouldn’t it be a shame if that world wasn’t better than the one we previously lost?

shifting sites

like most everyone else who was paying attention to the news on saturday morning, i was shocked, then devastated, then angry as the events rolled out in Arizona.  i am not going to get too political about this, outside of saying that, like heavy metal doesn’t cause suicide and rap music doesn’t cause gang violence, while i know there is not a direct cause—>effect correlation between use of imagry and language regarding guns/hunting to refer to “taking out” your political enemies, it still makes me angry that there is so much denial about any COLLECTIVE cultural responsibility and taking back/revisionist history going on with Palin et.al. but, i agree that pointing fingers in this case gets us nowhere and only inflames the political situation when there are larger, more definite problems that lead to this unfortunate tragedy.

in the end, i agree most that more than whatever part the inciteful language may have had, the real cause of the problem here was lack of mental health care for the assailant.  Giffords’ support for the right to bear arms (and buy weapons and ammo at wal-mart and sporting goods stores) is tragic irony enough, but the larger fact that that the reason Giffords was put “on the map” with crosshairs over her district to begin with was because she voted for the public health care option should be the real focus here. had Loughner had access to mental health care, had his family had better access to support, this might never have happened.

congress – are you still working to repeal “Obamacare” ASAP?  maybe you should rethink that. for the health and safety of us all.

rawk

ra ra ra, originally uploaded by Bex from Hex.

a, b, j

12.31.10 – 1.01.11

NYE 2011

fresh platinum: check. awesome black Miranda Caroligne dress: check. 3 pairs of shoes: check. false eyelashes, with spare glue: check. xtra contact lenses: check. red bull: check. champagne: check. protein bars: check. warm furry fleece Tamo Design coat: check. 3+ fantastic parties to attend in the next 12 hrs: check. ♥ Jay Oberhelman to kiss at midnight and beyond: check. BRING IT ON, 2011.

i wrote that facebook status update at 6:15pm on friday, December 31 2010 and then got up off of the couch to get in the shower and get ready to head out to dinner and then the long night of NYE. i was a bit giddy and did a little jump/skip/woohoo! move as i crossed the room. as soon as my feet hit the ground, i felt something in my neck snap/crackle/pop. i knew it was bad because it didn’t really hurt but instead i was instantly nauseous. and shocked. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? my back/neck pain had subsided to a quietly annoying ache over the past couple of weeks, i was back to my of my regular routines at the gym (except yoga), and NOW, on NEW YEAR’S EVE, i do a little bunny hop and everything goes out of whack?? i was stunned. and pissed. is this really how my year would end? i really thought i was almost recovered.

i didn’t want to believe that my night my possibly be ruined before i left the house, but i couldn’t really turn my head. so instead of getting ready on time i swallowed a handful of ibuprofen and went back upstairs to bed and lay there with a heading pad wrapped around my neck. after a while i got up and slowly got ready, but was a bit deflated. would i be able to enjoy even some of the party like this, let alone make it an epic adventure? GAH.

the show must go on, i said, and so there was a substantial amount of MIND OVER MATTER and self medication. a little too much self-medication. eventually we got to the party where jay was to DJ a 12:30am set. it was a massive underground event that, unfortunately, suffered the fate of so many massive undergrounds before it: cops at the door before midnight even happened. but our team was prepared and the after-party, which was thankfully within walking distance, became the now-party and while it was sad that so many people were scurried out into the cold, wet, raining streets of san francisco before they could even toast the new year, we rebounded pretty quickly. and then it was dance dance dance all night long.

we left that party at around 7:30AM and cruised by Breakfast of Champions, the epic all-day New Year’s Day event, but the line was around the block, it was raining, and we just weren’t Champions enough to stand in line in the rain for an unknown amount of time to get in. also, by then my neck was starting to really hurt and jay was totally exhausted, so it was over the bridge and off to bed….

New Year’s Day was rough for me as after being up all night i couldn’t really fall asleep with the neck pain. Jay was less incapacitated than i was and got up and went to Tahoe to go skiing. he’s still there. i made it out of bed in time to go have dinner with some friends, and then, mostly because i had been in bed all day, went out that night to see Modeselektor and danced until 2:30am sunday morning.

then yesterday i went to jason’s and hung out with him and Neva and the hot tub.

and now it’s the first Monday of 2011 and i’m not really sure how i feel about it all.

QOTD

“…set your world aflame and revel in the heat…”, mugsie says.