I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Escher

Who Should Paint You: M.C. Escher

Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait. And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

What artist should paint your portrait?

Happy Birthday Wolfgangerl!

Happy Birthday Wolfgangerl*! Today is the 250th birthday of Mozart. In celebration of which, everyone in the classical music world is going apeshit... I mean performing his work. My choir** will be performing his Requiem in March and the orchestra with which we're affiliated is having a Mozart's Birthday Party! concert tonight, which they've billed as a special gala evening. Woo and hoo. Because we all know what happens at a special gala evening don't we? No, me neither. But I aims ta find out. I am, of course, going. With a fellow music geek from choir. And I shall report back posthaste. Play nicely while I'm gone. In the meantime, go try to solve Misty's Mug Shot Match, featuring, among others, mine own mug.

*the affectionate form of Wolfgang. Apparently. How sweet.
**the choir that, in its infinite charity, allows me to sing with it - I certainly don't have a choir

Yackety Yak

W00t! I just found out today that I have won Alan's "Winds of Change" contest. On January 17, Alan challenged his readers to come up with a environmentally safe way to deal with the global threat that is cow farts. Yes, you read right, cow farts. Apparently, methane gas will be our ultimate downfall as a planet. In his words:

"... environmentalism was at least partly to blame for global warming.... it seems that while carbon emissions are the prime cause of environmental damage to the atmosphere, a serious secondary cause is the emission of methane. ... We’re talking cow farts here. The environment is going to hell in a handbasket, and it’s all the fault of farting cows."

He then challenged his faithful readers to propose "... the most original use for bovine botty-burps you can think of. " And apparently, my cow fart proposal won. Mom would be so proud.

My prize is a one-of-a-kind (nearly) T-shirt from Kathmandu with five embroidered (YES! embroidered!) yaks with the legend, "Yak yak yak yak yak," beneath.

You can read Alan's full post and my brilliant, tour-de-force, award-winning plan to save the planet from the scourge that is cow farts here. Thanks, Alan!

What file extension are you?

Thanks GW! I saw it on your blog first.

Badger Bridge is burning down

This just in. Due to colder than normal temperatures in Surrey, England, locals have been burning badgers in an effort to keep warm. Previously, residents had used beech wood as an alternate heat source but recent studies have shown that while beech burns hotter, badger burns longer. "We kept the entire lounge toasty warm the whole night with just one badger!" said one satisfied resident.

One drawback to the practice of badger burning is the clouds of oily smoke that result. This photograph was taken early this morning in the village of Windlesham with Bagshot*and shows the amount of smoke produced from just a handful of homes. NASA officials reported that the smoke can be seen from space, via the Hubble telescope.

East Surrey Badger Protection Society members remain horrified and are joining with the Environment Agency of England and Wales and the Badger Racing Association in an effort to stop this heinous and environmentally threatening practice before it spreads to other parts of Great Britain. No badgers could be reached for comment.

*Windlesham with Bagshot - Probably,'Win(d)el's homestead/village' but perhaps, 'windlass homestead/village'. 'Bacga's corner of land' or perhaps, 'badgers' corner of land'.

Bestest test

Saw this riveting test on Mr. Fabulous's's's's site. Took it because one simply must, mustn't one? Even if it does make one feel like one is approximately 12 years old. But wow! It's just so fabulous! Because... people... this is me! I am so all about the cute and perky...

You Are 30% Boyish and 70% Girlish

Even if you're not a girl, you're very feminine.You're in touch with your feelings, and your heart rules you.A bit of a emotional roller coaster, one moment you're up and the next you're down.But no matter what, you try to be as cute and perky as possible.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Yeah. Right. Bollocks. Back to badgers, then.

Frosty

My front screen door this morning. -10 Celcius with a -22 windchill.
F-f-f-f-freezing.

I'm just a happy little bunny

Four the record

I've been tagged by Anna.

Four jobs you have had:
clerk at K-Mart
day camp counsellor
clerk at life insurance company
administrative assistant at a professional association

Four movies you could watch over and over:
Four Weddings and a Funeral
A Fish Called Wanda
Star Wars
Dr. Zhigvago

Four places you’ve lived:
Saint John, New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Chamberlains, Newfoundland & Labrador
St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador

Four television shows you love to watch:
Gilmore Girls
Grey's Anatomy
Sex in the City
Six Feet Under

Four places you’ve been on vacation:
Athens, Greece
London, England
Tunis, Tunisia
Malaga, Spain

Four of your favorite foods:
bananas
blueberries
pizza
eggs

Four places you’d rather be right now:
Grand Falls-Windsor, NL
Corner Brook, NL
Ottawa, ON
Fredericton, NB

Four sites I visit daily:
My Boyfriend is a Twat
Momentary Lapses of Insanity
Scaryduck
Yahoo

And I'm supposed to tag four other bloggers, but I'm going to opt to an open invitation to anyone who wants to post this meme to their blog to do so.

This isn't scary but one of them is a duck - sort of...

Orphaned squirrel monkey Loki clings to his toy duck at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006. Loki, who lost his mother shortly after birth eight weeks ago, has been hand raised by zoo staff and will be introduced to the rest of the Squirrel Monkey's when once he is weaned and learns to regulate his body temperature. (AP Photo/Paul Miller)

Okay, everyone together now.... aaaaaaaaw!

Update: Loki

I should just join the circus

There'd be fewer clowns. Have any of you tried online dating sites? Mir sounds about as enamoured of it as I am. She commented on her blog today that although she has clearly stated in her profile that she's only interested in non-smokers, only smokers contact her. I've also specified non-smokers and so far have only had one smoker think I was kidding. The choices are: non-smoker, smokes occasionally and smokes often. I could see an occasional smoker, say someone who only smokes when he has a beer, thinking I might be willing to tolerate that, but would not Mr. Smokes Often realize that chances are I'm going to chuck him and his filthy habit out into a snowbank?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those militant ex-smokers who is smoke-freelier than thou. I have friends who still smoke and I don't nag them about it, nor expect them never to smoke around me, but I don't want a partner who smokes. There are criteria in your profile that you're willing to grant some wiggle room on. If I set the height preference for someone between 5' 6" and 6', I'm not going to throw you back for being 5'5" or 6'1".

But smoking? Non-negotiable! First of all, it took me too long to give up the stupid things myself and I don't need the temptation or someone else putting poison in my lungs (if I'm not getting the fun of doing it myself, no one is) and secondly, when you're not smoking yourself it stinks.

While I've not had a suicide of smokers plague me, I do seem to be a magnet for married men. Which is another criterion in which I allow no wiggle room. I'm not out to play sharesies, boys. The worst of that bunch sent me an epic of an email explaining what a negative, soul-destroying nassssssssty woman he is married to. But he was staying for the sake of his daughter, who will graduate from high school this June and then he's OUT OF THERE! Was I still interested? In being named co-respondent in his divorce? Umm... let me think that over for a minuteNO!

And Dr. Jekyl types. Granted, nowhere in my profile do I state that neither married men nor psychos need apply, but I should think that both restrictions would be implicit. One guy ensured I had every possible phone number I'd ever need to reach him, sent multiple photos and offered to send photos of his kids (never send photos of your kid to a stranger over the internet, dude). Over a period of about three weeks, he emailed me daily, then phoned me daily, and took me to lunch. His last words to me? "I'll call you tomorrow," and based on past performance, I pretty much believed him. That was on Christmas Eve ... and as I said, those were his last words to me.

And then there's Dr. Jekyl #2. We get close. He tells me he'll be in town (he lives a fair distance away). He bolts. We get close. He's going to be in town again. He bolts. During the last (and it is the last) round, he sent 3 long soul-revealing emails and we had one hour-long phone call and a 1/2-hour long phone call and longish instant messaging and he said he definitely wanted to meet me when he's in town later this month. This from a guy who claims he hates talking on the phone, emailing and instant messaging. And then... silence. I IM'd him on Sunday evening after he'd been to his cottage for the weekend (where there is no computer) and he said he couldn't chat because... he had to unpack. Now I'm a patient woman. I can put up with a lot of palaver. But when a man would rather unpack a suitcase than talk to me, it's time to get out of Dodge, doncha think? Of course that's this week... once he drinks the potion again next week, he could change his mind again. But the news flash is... there I'll be... gone!

And now, we're down to the latest contestant, folks. This one is content to IM till the cows come home. We're on week five of the IM Marathon of Hope. And what commitment-phobe man wouldn't love the IMing? You don't have to spend any money. You don't have to dress up. You don't have to get dressed at all. If you get bored, you just claim your phone just rang, or someone's at the door or your kid needs to go to the ER. None of the fuss and muss of real dating where you'd be stuck face to face with this woman and you have no way out until the check comes. What's not to love?

Pass the rubber nose, Bozo. Mama's joinin' the big top.

More booze & badgers

Is this the pub of which GW spoke? The Wisconsin branch, perhaps...



Patience. I'm almost out of badger material.

Doors and sardines

Spent a good part of today running around town putting up audition posters for the next play. Working with a shoestring budget isn't as much fun as it sounds. Good exercise, though. I felt well excused from a visit to the gym today.

And the play? Hilarious! I laugh out loud just reading the script. There was a good movie made of it in the early 90's. Well worth renting, especially if you've ever been on or back stage. And you'll never look at sardines the same way again...

Motivation

Thanks to Misty for this suggestion.

And the monster is legion...

You can blame... um, thank Ricardipus for this one...

I've created a monster...

Oh, it just gets worse. Click on the badger... again, mind the volume...

The one consolation? Dave Barry has badger mania goin' on at his blog, too.

Badger racing

I think this is what Zoe referred to in her comment. Oddly, I had this in reserve to post (oh people, I have so much badger material to post I may never leave the house again). I'll warn you though, the audio can be loud, so if you're surfing from work, either mute the sound or turn your speakers way down... Second warning, it's gambling people. If you're at all addictive, just don't go there...

Badger badger badger - Part the Third

Badger, badger, badger - Part the Second

Heavens! I never expected such a reaction to the badger theme. We have everything from a question as to whether badgers make good pets (I'm thinking... um... NO! They're members of the weasel family, which is great if they're defending you in court, not so hot if they're snuggling up to you in bed. A life lesson for us all.), to an offer of a recipe, in the absence of a suitable badger recipe (something tells me they're not good eating, either, hence the dearth of recipes in the, badgers, cooking thereof, section of my cookbooks) for bandicoot (I've yet to research their taste potential but I'm thinkin' we're still in 'um... no!' territory on this one, too) to the creation of this, one of the longest, most convoluted, difficult-to-follow sentences in the history of blogging. Oh! And a direct demand for more badgers! Well! I mustn't disappoint my readers on the interwebbynettybloggythingy.

In answer to other questions, I have never tasted Badger beer, nor did I know it existed until the fateful Googling episode in which I discovered the world-wide popularity of badgers. Alan assures us it tastes vaguely like giraffe sputum. I have to admit to being with Misty on this one. How does he know what giraffe sputum tastes like? And do we really want to know?

I think I will steer clear of tc's request for a black and white striped design to match the badger theme. I think it might be rather hard on the eyes. But mostly, I just don't know how to do that.

What I do know how to do is bring you more badgers... stay tuned.

De-Lurking Day

Okay, I missed it. It was Jan 5. But I think I should be offered an extension due to the time zone difference...

What the stylish cubs are wearing this season

Badger, badger, badger...

Who knew? 200,000 image hits alone on Google. There are people, dogs, horses, products, teams, knitting patterns (yes!), you name it, someone has named it badger...

I keeps me promises, me

Earlier today, in a galaxy far, far away, I promised Misty some badger recipes. Being a woman of my word, I present: Badger recipes and more.

Time wasting 101

As if I don't already waste enough time online, today I found these:

• Everyone's dragging over at wannaspell.com
• Everyone's attracted to Kevin's Fridge Magnets
• Everyone's stuck on Magnetic Poetry

And now I must go do something productive. Play nice while I'm gone, kids.

Spoof signs

This has happened to me. Really. Okay, no, but the signs are pretty funny. Go to the BBC website for more.

I owe, I owe...

...it's back to work I go...

2006 - The Year of Serious Wrath

So. This is it. The year I get my act together. Or so I thought...

Except, this morning, after taking several excellent pictures of the birds in my backyard, I managed to delete 44 pictures from my digital camera while uploading them to my computer. Not sure how. Presumably, in the midst of my usual frenzied multi-tasking computer style, (must check email/comments/other blogs/news/weather NOW!) I clicked where I shouldn't oughta have clicked. Most of the pictures are replaceable - just snaps taken fiddling around with the macro settings. And the birds might come back tomorrow morning. Still. What a doofus!

Update: Umm... never mind... found 'em...