Photo Dump: Vineyard and Unseen University

Hey Jude Chords

Found here. In general, though, when I want to look up guitar tabs or chords I go to Ultimate Guitar Tabs.

                              Hey Jude (Beatles)

F                C   
Hey Jude dont make it bad      
     F  C7   C7sus4      C7       F  
take a  sad   song  and make it better
 Bb                           F     
Remember to let her into your heart 
                   C               F
and then you can start to make it better

      F              C         
Hey Jude dont be afraid
      F   C7   C7sus4      C7      F
you were made    to  go   out and get her
     Bb                            F            
The minute you let her under your skin
           C                F   Fmaj7 F7
then you begin to make it better


                          Bb      Bb/A   Gm     
And anytime you feel the pain hey jude refrain
      Gm7       C/E   C            F    Fmaj7 F7
dont carry the world upon your shoulders 
                              Bb      Bb/A      Gm   
For well you know that its a fool who plays it cool
     Gm7       C/E       C      F
by making his world  a little colder

  
      F6 F7      C  Csus4  CaddG       C  F  C7
Da da da da da   Da   da    da    da 


      F               C
Hey Jude dont let me down 
     F     C7  C7sus4    C7      F
You have found  her  now go and get her
   Bb                         F
Remember to let her into you heart 
               C                F   Fmaj7  F7
then you can start to make it better


                         Bb     Bb/A   Gm
So let it out and let it in hey Jude begin 
      Gm7         C/E    C     F         Fmaj7  F7
your waiting for someone to perform with
                                Bb      Bb/A        Gm
And dont you know that its just you hey jude you'll do 
     Gm7         C/E     C         F
The movement you need is on your shoulders


      F6 F7      C  Csus4 CaddG    C  F  C7
Da da da da da   da  da   da    da


     F                C   
Hey Jude dont make it bad      
     F  C7   C7sus4      C7      F
take a  sad   song  and make it better
  Bb                            F     
Remember to let her under your skin 
                  C                F
and then you'll begin to make it better 

F        Eb         
Na na na na na na na
Bb
Na na na na
     F
Hey Jude   (Repeat and fade)

Happiness is Good Health and a Bad Memory

"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." - Isaac Asimov

Saw Captain America last night. Haven't seen or read or watched anything Captain America since I was like.. 4. So it never occurred to me that Captain America is a bad idea, or that even though Captain America himself may be a wonderful person, he represents terrible concepts and undermines the Allies side in the war of ideas that was World War II.

In real life we fought a war to the end against a series of nations over the idea of the creation of a superman. The idea that darwinism should prevail in every aspect of how we run our society, the elimination of the old, and the weak, and the sick, and the unintelligent is wrong, and we fought a war that ended with the use of the atomic bomb as a weapon to stop that from being the way the world was run. And Captain America represents the idea that we couldn't win the war against that idea without adopting their philosophy. That the only way to stop them was with their own superman. That premise tastes bitter on my lips.

The movie was enjoyable, and the trailer after the credits was really cool looking, too. That thought just bothers me.

And All The Joy Within you Dies

"Jefferson airplane" is slang for a used paper match split to hold a marijuana joint that has been smoked too short to hold without burning the fingers - an improvised roach clip. It is not, however, the source of the name for the band. Jefferson Airplane is responsible for two songs on the Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.



Their lyrics are beautiful dystopian in their depiction of a world of pain and suffering and love and lies. Their bits of human need for connection and emotion stand out starkly and vividly against a world that is all too willing to take advantage of anyone for any strange or otherworldly reason. Their excellent instrumentation has created brilliant melodies, though they may perhaps have since been done by arguably supperior musicians, the vocals on these two songs have never been done so well...



But this is what it sounds like when the soul cries out because the Devil's gonna follow you e'er you go:



Running and walking for miles and miles in my bare feet...

"Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave." - Indira Gandhi

Dinner

Threw in a small package of smoked sausage after chopping it up with a package of pre-seasoned cheesy jambalaya rice for a kick ass dinner in about 45 minutes with 0 prep. I am going to do that again in the future. Was able to kick it up a notch with some cayenne pepper.

I finished reading the Dante Club today and started rereading Dune. Dune is an amazing book, even in the first few paragraphs it sets itself far and above The Dante Club in every measurable way, style, grace, and character. I'm going to really enjoy re-reading that. About halfway done with Super Freakanomics, too.

Enjoy some music:

Burn the World

Across the Universe by The Beatles lyrics

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind,
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru de va om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they
Tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter, shades of earth are ringing
Through my open ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a
million suns and calls me on and on
Across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Jai guru deva

I guess if she accepted irrational realities, she'd hardly be my fantasy.

In a Related Note, Mankind is Fucked

"Never give up on anybody." - Hubert H. Humphrey

In other news, new construction has begun on a small project over at my dad's house during his vacation. Here are the first steps in production of the BB576 Bluenose:

From the billing boat website: "The schooner Bluenose has a very special place in the history of navigation and yachting. Built to fish off the Newfoundland coast, the ship soon turned out to be such a fast sailer that she won all the great classical regattas along the USA's Eastern coast. She was built in Nova Scotia in 1921, and shipwrecked near Haiti in 1946. A true copy - Bluneose II - was launched in 1964."

Models are awesome. I expect to be working on this ship for a little while, spending a few evenings over at my dad's house trying to get it done. Hope it wont take away too much time from construction on the Unseen University. The finished product wont look anything like this at all, even though the instuctions imply that it should:

Whoops, that is a cat. This is the boat the instructions imply I should end up with:

They are lies, though. And they are mostly not in English. I will be lucky if I even end up with a boat.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse or will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and
       done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won

In other news, Linkin Park covers Adele:

By The Way...

Google Analytics is awesome. Anyone who has any kind of website or blog or anything should use it if they have any kind of remote interest in statistics or demographics or anything like that. It is such an amazing and powerful tool.

Lazy Day

Here I share something beautiful:



After a ridiculously eventful weekend full of doing things and seeing people and all around incredible adventures... staying home all day today except for lunch was a nice change of pace. Jake and Sydney came over to watch some TV, but other than that I just ate a few cookies from the batch that I made last night. I told Zac that if I ever had a cookie jar I would make sure that it always had a fresh batch of cookies in it, and he said he was going to get one, then.

Anywho, sugar cookies are delicious. I am nearing completion of the library on the unseen university, today I finished the majority of work on the dome and on the corner tower, which still needs a roof, but is otherwise very nice looking. I also decided against upgrading my CPU/mobo. I'll put it off for at least 6 months. Maybe I'll consider it in Feb or March. Who knows. That is the sum total of my day. I wanted to spend some time with my dad, but maybe I will get another chance during his vacation. If he does not make time for me during this vacation, I will take that boat from his house and begin working on it by myself. After 5 years, I honestly believe that he has had his opportunity to work on it with me.

We Got Everything You Want, Honey We Know the Names

The grace of friendship -- mind and heart
Linked with their fellow heart and mind;
The gains of science, gifts of art;
The sense of oneness with our kind;

Today was super eventful so far, I've already been to 1/4 Priced books were I found a few gems, and spent some time meandering Jesse Jones park. It's been a very, very eventful weekend overall.

Crepes and very spicy masala chai make for an amazing breakfast.

How I Feel Sometimes

Things That I Feel Are True

"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!" - Friedrich Nietzsche



“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” - Charles R. Swindoll

The More You Know

There's not much else I can say about this:


I enjoy the Big Bang Theory, and it's great to see the Nathan Fillion cameo. Can't stop the signal.

Something Rare

This is an absolute first, this is a video of me. Not only do I appear in person, accompanied by young Tobias Fünke who is portraying the part of the restless distracting cat, I am playing on my guitar. Enjoy this poorly played rendition of Blackbird by The Beatles.




"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." - Thomas Edison

By All Means Use Some Time To Be Alone

"Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over." - F. Scott Fitzgerald



I stumbled upon this truly brilliant recipe for pizza stuffed monkey bread. I was so ridiculously thrilled by it, but it is incomplete. I'm really disappointed that the creator stopped so short of genius. Only brushing the inside of the pan with garlic butter? Bah! To truly make this recipe excel it needs a more absorbent dough and to be doused with garlic butter in spades, truly soaked, a bit, with garlic bits all over the dough, possibly even worked into the crust itself.

I intend to make this in the near future.



"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." - Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988), Time Enough For Love

Seriously... Do Want.

Guitar Pick Punch over at think geek. To never run out of guitar picks again. That is the dream. Maybe sometime next month I'll pick one up.

So, today I share excellent guitar heavy music:

Pictures from Oklahoma

Wildfires on the road home from Cordell

Me beating Grandma at Rook, Grandpa relaxing in his chair:

More of the wildfire:

History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot.

"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction after all, has to make sense." - Samuel Langhorne CLemens(Mark Twain)





I got a speeding ticket on the way to work today... pretty disappointing. Time to get ahold of some lawyers again. Thank goodness Houston cops are just speeding ticket machines that never show up for court. I have yet to pay a speeding ticket fine to the city of Houston, and I would happily pay my money to a lawyer instead given the way they enforce the law.

If there is anyone who has not seen this incredible video about why you should never talk to cops, it is a must see. It is a brilliant speech espousing the fifth amendment of the constitution.



"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Thank God for a constitution that was written with the purpose of protecting its people against the evils of government. Goverment for people who hate government.

I had a lot of fun last night working on the cutout book I picked up from half priced books. Terry Pratchett's Unseen University from his Discworld series of novels, if anyone is interested. I worked on it all evening and was very happy with the results of my very first little paper building. I made the boat house first.

The possibility of creating a miniature paper town in the garage on a table was discussed last night and received favorably. I don't know which building I'll work on tonight, but I'm very excited.

The Fabric of Existence Weaves Itself Whole

"I beg you take courage; the brave soul can mend even disaster." -Catherine II

I guess this is one of those quotes that I feel actually applies to real life in a lot of ways. A lot of times insights into hard work, bravery, and perseverance really inspire and touch me. If I had a doll here, I would show you where the bad quote touched me, but I don't so I wont.

I picked up a couple of cool things right before leaving on my trip for Oklahoma, first I copied the audio books to The Dante Club to Frank Herbert's Dune on my MP3 player. I never got around to Dune, which I know I would have loved, I've read the book several times. The Dante Club never grabbed me, and the audiobook jumped scenes and locations and characters so quickly that I had a lot of trouble keeping track of the larger events and only catching individual scenes. I don't know if the book is like that, but I don't think I'm going to finish the audiobook.

I also picked up a couple of freebies, Einstein's Refrigerator, and a cool puzzle game called Pixel Perfect Puzzles. I haven't read the book, yet, I was too busy getting through book 2 and 3 of Hellboy, and playing Pixel Perfect Puzzle, which is a great little puzzle game, though it looks like it lacks replayability and longevity of games like Every Word, because it only has a finite number of puzzles that while difficult, are mostly solvable in a weekend or so.

Anywho, I met a lot of family in Oklahoma this weekend that I have not seen in years. Some from up in Spokane Washington, some from Thailand. It was a really good weekend, we all celebrated Grandpa's 90th birthday. There was a lot of great food that Grandma and some of my aunts cooked, and both my cousin and I spent a lot of time goofing around on the guitar. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend on the drive with my sister and my mom, and on the way back we ate at a Mongolian bbq in Dallas.

2 things of note. First, on the drive up I saw an RV park named Campers' Paradise, and based on the view from a distance, it does not appear that campers have a very high standard for paradise. Second, while up there, we ate at a mexican restaurant, and when I dipped my chips into the salsa and took a great big bite I found to my horror that it was marinara sauce. Spicy marinara sauce, but marinara sauce all the same. It smelled of oregano and was sweet and... *shudder* That is NOT okay. I may never be okay again. I was truly mortified.

And now.. presenting Unicorns and Profanity:

Violence in the Library

The mighty lion will often climb local trees for a vantage point over his kingdom. The reading lion uses bookshelves almost exclusively.

Having captured his prey through cunning and deception, speed, agility, and strength, the great beast of the wild libraries begins to gnaw on his meal.

Some Great Words

State of the Union?

Okay, so this is a video from the What You Ought To Know website. If you like this video at all, you should really browse around their back catalog of videos, because a lot of them are really awesome.



Will probably be leaving for Cordel Oklahoma tomorrow at around 11 Am or so. I may be gone for a weekend again, or I may find a little wireless hotspot here or there where I can post about life out there. It will be a fairly long drive, and we'll be stopping in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to pick up my sister so she can come along with us. I'm going to bring my guitar and do a lot of studying and I'm going to try to find a decent audio book to listen to on the trip up there too, tonight at half priced books.

I swear on my life I will pick up my tablet and draw SOMETHING... ANYTHING when I get back to work on Monday.

Also, this is one of my best friends and I want to start a brewery with him.. and I'm not sure how this makes me feel about that:

Amazing Guitar

The creator of this guitar talked to Urlesque, this article is mildly interesting, but the guitar is just downright awesome.

I Want to Celebrate and Live My Life

Portal art for anyone? Found this while stumbling around:

Books I'm Hyped About

By the way, I am super excited to have discovered The Club Dumas. Well, but discovered, I mean having been shown by a friend. Alexander Dumas is one of my all time favorite authors for The Count of Monte Cristo and also for The Three Muskateers, so this work of fiction that incorporates his work sounds incredibly entertaining to me.

Inspiration

Toil in the Vinyards

Sad day, this weekend has too much to do. Going to be going up to Oklahoma to visit a large gathering of family, aunts and uncles from far away and around the world. Not quite a family reunion, but more than I've seen in maybe 20 years all in one place together. I was just fine with going until yesterday when Shuck called and told me that there was an open internship for harvesting at the vinyard where he works this saturday. Family before fun, though. I really hope that happens again, though, because I'd hate to miss out on a once in a lifetime experience like that.

There is just something amazing and uplifting to be a part of raising something up from the soil. I really wish I could go and do that this weekend. I barely even know the family I'll be seeing this weekend. *sigh* Oh, well.

Beat Trine today on steam, started playing The Whispered World, kept practicing a lot of Stairway to Heaven, finished re-reading Hellboy Library Edition Volume 2, so it's been a pretty productive day today. THe new funnel I designed for work to help empty our trap is phenomenal. It cut the time taking samples today by a significant ammount and greatly reduced the mess left behind.

Anywho, I'm going to poke around a few more things today, see what I can do before leaving work and what I can do when I get home.

Miracles of the Universe

One of the most recent images from the Hubble telescope of Mystic Mountain. I am in awe at the beauty that is endlessly expansive in every direction in the universe, outward, and inward, larger and smaller.

Everything is amazing. Everything is incredibly fucking amazing. Isn't it special any time you are able to stop and appreciate that? If you ever feel that life is mundane, try to grasp onto that feeling again with all your soul.

Everything is amazing.

Video Dump

I'm going to be headed out of town for the weekend, but I thought I'd drop this video dump while I was waiting for my clothes to dry before I could leave. I just had the worst leg cramp of my life, all the way up the back of my left leg so that I could neither stretch nor collapse my leg, it lasted for about 10 minutes. It's cleared up now, though, so I am still going.









I just got the most ridiculous urge to watch V for Vendetta.

Anywho, I am off for the weekend. May make some posts while I'm gone, but no promises. Will be keeping up to date with the steam sale, though. Holy cow, I mean, I just got bioshock 2 for 4.99$... I <3 Steam and their sales.

Beverages

Summer Sangria(Recipe from Steven Raichlen)

Combine 1 bottle dry red wine, 16 oz club soda, 2 pints blueberries, raspberries, & diced strawberries, 1/4 cup blueberry jam, juice & grated zest of 2 lemons, 4 cinnamon sticks. Add sugar to taste. Garnish each glass with fresh mint.

Belief?

I stumbled upon this today. It seems very simple, but at the same time sweet and very meaningful. I like it, I think I could make one. You could hide a lot of cool things by using audio as art in a container like that.

Progressive

"All our sweetest hours fly fastest." - Virgil

A Father's Love

Meet young Tobias Funke:

From Jun 30, 2011

Here he is, looking at his father, wishing that his father loved him:

From Jun 30, 2011

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Cut the sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch squared strips (fry shape) and put them into a large bowl.

In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice, 1 tablespoon of oil, salt and pepper, to taste, the ground ginger and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, whisking until reduced to a thick consistency. Remove from the heat, pour over the sweet potatoes and toss to coat.

Rub 2 teaspoons of remaining vegetable oil on a rimmed nonstick baking sheet or use a silicone liner and omit oil. Arrange the sweet potato strips on the prepared baking sheet and bake until brown, about 25 minutes, turning after about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve with honey on the side or drizzled on top of fries.

Trivia

A Google A Day is AWESOME! Pretty fun, too.

Celebration of Death

The dream is the herald, the little death the reflection of the final one.



But then you need to feel good again.

Barmecidal

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~Ray Bradbury

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow (I would argue that writing is not as socially acceptable as Doctorow espouses, given how often writers are actually allowed out into society. Writers only happen to be in self imposed chains to their books and word processors, and self medicated by the cheapest alcohol available.)

I love writing.

Very Old Things

I wrote a few original paragraphs today, they are after the video. I'd very much appreciate comments from anyone who reads this about them. Thank you for reading!



Symmetry moped about the dimly lit cellar all saturday morning. Generally feeling disinclined toward any average activity above ground, Symmetry found the level of darkness and hummidity filling the tiny space below her parents home perfectly matched everything Symmetry felt inside herself. Languid, Symmetry thought, feeling satisfaction through her vocabulary usage. Languid is exactly how I would say I'm feeling. Languid and listless. Though, listless in the way that lacks enthusiasm, not lacking energy. I feel like a great coil latched tight with no key to release my spring into its violent explosion, though quivering with all sorts of tension, leaving me with metaphor as my only tool for expressing it! Subconsciously, Symmetry understood a similar unenthusiastic tension resounded through every corner of her self imposed prison, though her melodramatic exploration of language and internally expounding the difficulty others must experience trying to understand her prevented Symmetry from feeling anything unusual.

These feelings typified the last few years since Symmetry threw her twelveth birthday party. That wild energy coiled ever more tightly inside her with every passing month, constantly winding and steadily filling Symmetry till steadying her hands became an impossible chore, causing the fall of this dark curtain over everything in her life. The cellar, however, waited impatiently with its burden since long before Symmetry had ever been born. Lurked. Symmetry might use the word lurked if her preoccupations would allow these feelings in the dark through.

You know... if you..

It Would Forever Unfit Him to be a Slave.

I'm basically posting to share two websites that I feel are very important. The first is a list of 20 websites dedicated to free ebooks. The second analyzes every bill that passes through congress, makes the information easily available and posts them in order, then allows you to state your opinion, and makes it easy to contact your representatives on the issues you care about. Votetocracy is a very cool website.

Frederick Douglas included some very important bits about education in the narrative of his life:

"Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now," said he, "if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy." These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty--to wit, the white man's power to enslave the black man.

Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read. The very decided manner with which he spoke, and strove to impress his wife with the evil consequences of giving me instruction, served to convince me that he was deeply sensible of the truths he was uttering. It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence on the results which, he said, would flow from teaching me to read.


These words I treasure and hold dear in my heart as a glowing beacon of the greatest weapon there ever was against oppression and despair.

Book With a Bang

Batman. That's all I have to say about that.

Amazon is selling these very reasonably priced and deep and expansive science fiction anthologies. I am so much in heaven that I honestly can't read them all. I got the science fiction megapack a while back, and it will serve me well, I'll think about buying more books when I'm done with the ones I have.

I still have to read the 11th Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Reckoning. Not that I'm going to buy it on kindle. Publishers are asking for 12.99$ for that book. It does NOT include sharing, which is why I can't borrow it from a friend. That is more expensive than a paperback, on top of that, I can't loan it out, I can't resell it, and it costs the publisher less money to send it to me than to print a book. Am I being stingy in expecting a sub 10$ price point for digital novels? Please tell me that I am the sane one, and the publishers are evil for charging THAT grade price for a pulp fiction grade novel in a digital format and disabling sharing... because I honestly need to hear people agree with me on this. I need to hear people agree that it is not okay, and it is not worth buying for that much money.

That type of terrible value just makes me mad.

At least Amazon has a ridiculous list of great free music from really entertaining bands. There is something there for everyone.

The pure and simple Truth is rarely pure...

..and never simple.

A Will Finds A Way

"It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well." - Rene Descartes

I am going to cook BBQ pasta salad for dinner tonight. I have cooked this recipe many times and every time I make it I find that I love it just that much more. I am going to look forward to dinner tonight.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
8 ounces smoked sausage , kielbasa, or deli ham
Table salt
1 pound elbow macaroni
1 red bell pepper , seeded and chopped fine
1 rib celery , chopped fine
4 scallions , sliced thin
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (see note above)
Ground black pepper

1. Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add meat, cut into 1/2-inch
chunks, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer meat to paper-towel-lined plate and set
aside.

2. While meat is cooking, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni
and cook until nearly tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in colander and rinse with cold water until cool,
then drain once more, briefly, so that pasta is still moist; transfer to large bowl.

3. Stir in browned meat, bell pepper, celery, scallions, vinegar, hot sauce, chili powder, garlic powder,
and cayenne pepper, and let sit until flavors are absorbed, about 2 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise and
barbecue sauce and let sit until salad is no longer watery, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper
and serve. (The salad can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Check seasonings before
serving.)

Pankaces for 2 (Instead of 20)

3/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp Flour
1 Tbsp Baking powder
2 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp salt
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
3/4 Cup Milk
1 Egg
2 Parts love. Not really, you could probably make these with hate, or whatever. Ambivalence is a good emotion. Meh.

Mix Dry ingredients, then drop in milk and egg and vanilla. Stir lightly, then stir in lemon juice quickly to keep the milk from curdling. Ladle into hot skillet or pancake pan and cook like pancakes, till they bubble through, then flip and cook till firm.

Live and Let Language

"For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity's affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss -- a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity's mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world's thirstiest gerbil." - Molly Ringle

There is an amazing beauty to language, and the way you can tie into a single sentence layers within layers of meaning. So much of what we say is defined by context, and that allows a creative person to craft a sentence that means different things to completely different people between contexts. It's even easier when you stop and think about how many words and objects and ideas are already loaded with symbolism to begin with, like a strawberry, or a cup of lemon ice.

Sometimes it's not even just about meaning, you can layer in humor with sincerity and sadness, tying together these multitude of emotions. I hope anyone who reads this is inspired to make a little more love to the words they write and say because of it, if only for a little while.

To Brew

I would very much like to brew again in the future. I need a keg fridge in my garage to keep fresh brew in, and I need to have the keg in Justin's apartment closet cut open and gutted and converted into a brew kettle, too. When I have about 300$ spare I'll be able to get all of that done, that's not that big of an investment, but, I don't want to hemorrhage cash and I've had a lot of other expenses lately. I always feel this way after visiting the brewery. They had an excellent Belgium seasonal ale there today. I don't ever get to go, because I work so many weekends and recently I have spent other weekends on tea, but this weekend was a nice little treat.

The Human Race Has One Really Effective Weapon...

...and that is laughter. - Samuel Langhorn Clemens

Watched 4 episodes of firefly tonight for the Can't Stop the Signal firefly netflix marathon party. Changed up Our Mrs Reynolds for Hearts of Gold. As it happens.. just today the new Serenity graphic novel that I ordered today, Shepherd's Tale, arrived just in time to read tonight between episodes to completely geek out on serenity.

Last night I taught 3 people to play Go, it was incredibly rewarding and all three of the games were challenging and enjoyable. I would love it if I could play all my friends all the time as much as possible. Go problems are also a wonderful way to improve:

White to play

There is a way for White to capture five black stones.
You need to read a few moves ahead to see the answer to this problem.

This Is La Vie En Rose

When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom

Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar movie... but this video is for everyone who has a special place in their heart for any of their miraculously touching films:

Summer Reading

This has been an amazing summer for reading so far. I've gone through so many books and graphic novels, my head is spinning just thinking about it. I have been devouring them voraciously. Thought I'd put together a quick list of what I've been reading if I can remember them all. I may leave some out on accident, and these will be in no particular order.

Maps in a Mirror collection of books by Orson Scott Card
Deathnote Manga 1-4(so far)
Sookie Stackhouse anthology of books that True Blood is based on. I've read books 1-10, and today I finished the short stories.
Kiss Me, Stranger: An Illustrated Novel(I highly recommend this short novella)
Re Reading the Hellboy Library Collection
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep the graphic novels
The Science Fiction Megapack on my Kindle

I have a lot of fiction to talk about to whoever wont miss their ears, on top of a lot of other media that I am absorbing. Plus.. I've been studying my Go game, and doing some teaching. Will blog more about that some other time. Now for something completely different:

The Language of Hate

(7:36:57 PM) anon: I've watched the BET
(7:37:08 PM) Reztesie: Oh, god... are you going to be okay?
(7:38:05 PM) anon: possibly
(7:38:16 PM) Reztesie: I'm so sorry :( why did you do that?
(7:39:14 PM) anon: i was told that it had bitches, so naturally thought that it was about the american kennel club
(7:40:03 PM) anon: but I was wrong.