rants and ramblings of utter randomness

Day 10: A song that reminds you of your father.

Well, since I was fortunate enough to have two, I get to post two songs.


My dad and I were both John Denver fans, and we especially liked this one. Somewhere I have a picture of twelve-year-old me standing next to a Toledo scale.





This was my stepdad's favourite song in the world, and for good reason, because it's gorgeous. It was sung at his memorial service, and I always think of him when I hear it. This is Nat Cole's version of Hoagy Carmichael's classic:



( meme list )

Still frustrated about watching Olympics online. NBC has 'highlights', but to see the whole thing live you have to have TV access to begin with, because they're exclusive like that. BBC is only available in the UK, and CTV keeps saying 'video error', which I'm pretty sure means 'unless you're in Canada, you're SOL.' afsd;kjfasdafsdhlasdf. If anyone has any ideas, lay 'em on me.

I did manage to see the tail end of the ceremony last night, and watched k.d. lang's performance on video this morning. I also watched video of Team Canada and Team USA entering the stadium, but other than that there was ABSOLUTELY NO JOY.

This does not bode well for the rest of the games. I think I'm going to be doing a lot of watching over at Mary's.

Oh, and according to bjohan57, a lot of the Twitter coming out of Canada last night about the opening ceremonies was basically 'wtf, where's Paul Gross?', because apparently even though both the GG and the PM were in attendance, Canada isn't properly represented without Paul. Awwww. \o/ Also, yeah, where was he? Did anyone even think about asking him?

In other news, working a night shift tonight. This morning, going somewhere with Mary and Juliana and Amelia and *gasp!* maybe even Caleb OMG.

In honour of Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit (which I honestly didn't know about until LJ told me), here's a picture of mr_t00by at the site of the (former) Berlin Wall, with one foot in the East and one in the West:

( cut for delicate browsers )

I'd do what LJ's Writer's Block suggests and talk about the Cold War, but my brain is fried from being in two political systems at once last night (AVISO: This condition will likely not last long, you have been warned).

For some odd reason, there's a fireworks display outside my window. Well, okay, not immediately outside my window, but close enough for me to see it, so Pawtucket or Central Falls or North Providence (I have no idea which because I have no sense of direction whatsoever). Did I miss a holiday? (Hmm, it's stopped now. It only lasted about a half-hour, I wonder what it actually was. Tomorrow is i_am_a_hannah's birthday, so maybe that's it. :) )

Also, I spent the day with my mom, taking her to the cardiologist and the DMV and shopping, and she's really doing fine. The doc's cutting her lisinopril dosage in half, and is considering cutting it out altogether. Yay for one less med! She's also not showing any signs of being short of breath anymore. When I used to go shopping with her, she'd have to keep stopping to catch her breath, and she doesn't now. She says she's tired, but that's it, and my guess is most of her tiredness is the eleventy-million other meds she's on. Since this was what her surgery was supposed to accomplish (not being SOB, not her being tired), I'd say it worked. :) The doc also said she could drive again, and she's very happy for that, because she hates not being independent. So, yay, everything seems to be going along nicely. :D

In other news, I'm having minor writers' block, and I obviously won't get my ds_aprilfools table done in April. I am planning on finishing it, though, 'cause it's fun and I should be able to write again soon. My blocks don't last very long, thankfully. I'm going to work through this one by a. cleaning my room, b. Doing more research for the Barrett's Privateers story, and c. Making a rough outline of the kidfic. Not necessarily in that order, 'cause I'm lazy and hate cleaning my room.

In still other news, Ellen is back from the car hospital, and is also doing quite nicely. She has brand-y new brake rotors and pads, and a new temperature sensor for the engine, which it looks like will help her in going up hills better. The old one wasn't working. No wonder the poor thing didn't want to go up hills. Her engine sounds great, now. Yay. She's been behaving since she came home. Al the mechanic is a nice guy, and she had Bucky with her the entire time (I found him at the Salvation Army and was going to keep him, but decided Ellen needed company. Yes, I'm odd).

In conclusion, Paul Gross with a mullet:



omphale23 has labelled the hairstyle the Paullet (in the same post where, I might add, she also commits Aspen Extreme fic). I haven't sufficient words to thank her for either of these things. I am not worthy.

Clearly the bullet list is my drug of choice these days:

• Where is Stan Rogers when we need him?
  
  He wouldn't have been at all surprised, I'm sure. :(
  
  
• I really want to make a list for mission101, but I don't know if I can come up with 101 things I want to do in 1001 days. I want to make them meaningful, you know? I don't want to list something like "start list" and "finish list" and "go to the bathroom".
  
  
• My mother's blood pressure is in the 90/50 range. She also has chronic anemia. She's been dizzy and weak. She's on several BP meds and Lasix. When she told me what her BP was (and it's been somewhat below 90/50) I practically ordered her to not take the Lasix or the BP meds until she saw the doctor. The doctor cut her Lasix in half, and also halved her lisinopril. IMO she needs to not take ANY Lasix. No edema, no symptoms of CHF. She's post-op but doing well considering. Also, one of the side affects of Lasix is ANEMIA. *headdesk* The doc said she may have to go over to Westerly Hospital for blood if her labs come back anemic. Yeah, I'd go with that, but um. I think the fecking meds are causing an exacerbation of the anemia. Of course, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. If I did, I'd have a newer car.
  
  Dear AMA,
  
  Giving meds isn't always the answer. People aren't robots, they don't always respond the same way.
  
  No love at all,
  
  Me, on behalf of my maternal unit.
  
  
• songdogmi (not to be confused with songdog, although both are Very Nice People) links to this:
  
  Killing wolves is still illegal in Michigan
  
  Why was it ever legal? Wolves are LESS AGGRESSIVE than dogs. Do we want to open up dog hunting? I don't live in Michigan, but it seems to me that unless an animal is directly attacking humans/livestock/pets, we should leave it well alone. And anyway, since wolves and dogs are almost identical genetically, how is a hunter going to tell he/she's not going after someone's Malamute? I don't remember any news article about pocket DNA tests being invented for use by hunters. wtf?
  
  Also? Cutest. Thing. Ever:
  
  
  
  (from this site, which says "wolves need friends, not owners.") See? Fraser was right. *g*
  
  
• Fannish projects are humming along, despite RL issues. Yes, even axial_tilt. I've also started writing what will likely be my longest fic ever (no, not the Barrett's Privateers one, although that's in the works and I'm gathering info, 'cause that one's hard). I really like the tiny scene I've written; it's one that's been in my head for weeks, and it turned out pretty good on (virtual) paper.
  
  
• Night shift tomorrow. I'll make the obligatory "entertain me" post, I'm sure. No youTube, though, because Butler Hospital is Big Brother about youTube. :/
  
  
• I'm going to have my Tarot cards read with tapped_trish, et. al. on Thursday. I haven't done that in ages. I can read my own, ostensibly, but I haven't in ages.
  
  
• My house is clean save for my room. I'll clean some tomorrow when I'm not writing (see list item re: axial_tilt). But my kitchen! My dining room! My living room and bathroom! Yay!
  
  
• Little Mosque holds its own opposite American Idol.
  
  I cannot tell you how pleased I am about this. LM is cute (not great, but cute and very watchable). AI is teh evil, and shouldn't be shown to kids under, liek, fifty. I loathe it from the depths of everything I have depths of. Bleh. Ick. Ptui. Yay, cute little sitcom!
  
  
• Here, have some Stan Rogers:
  
  Free in the Harbour
  
  
• ETA: How could I forget to add this? Happy birthday to mickeyvt, and kupukello! Many happy returns, dears.

THERE ARE NO WORDS.

NONE.

Memeage from everyone and their unspoilt dog.

( Am I spoilt? )

In other news, mr_t00by is back safely from Germany. Whee!