Silly Meme Number Two

Kinda like Mamba Number 5? (Ooh, got that bad song stuck in your head now, huh?)

Got this one from Ogre's swamp. (and the HTML generator works quite well...)


bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

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50 Things I Love About Philly In No Order Particularly - #46

(Like the title says, this is a list of things I've loved about philly, in the 17 years I've lived in this area. Also, like the title says, they're in no particular order. It's also not an inculsive list. These were just the first fifty that popped into my head. I'm gonna dish one up fresh, weekly. Also, I've started at the "bottom" to keep you tuned in. It's part of my nefarious plan for readership. Mwa-ha-ha-haaaaa.)

The Whosoever Gospel Mission

During my time as a student in Philly, I didn’t have a lot of floating cash. I also didn’t have parents who had any money to lend me, appreciably. So, I took some jobs and I lived in the cheapest places I could find.

One of the places I lived in was Germantown.

Germantown is in the north west area of the city. There are some really neat old houses back there. I lived with a bunch of musicians in a house that a three story stone wonder, with servants’ stairs and everything. I also counted crack-vials on the ground while walking to the bus-stop.

But I digress.

There were some really neat-oh things in Germantown (nary a grocery story among them), and one of the neatest was a very special thrift shop. It was called the Whosoever Gospel Mission.

I don’t know if there are more than one of these things in the world. I’m pretty sure there’s only one in Philly. It is THE place to buy used furniture and dishes and the like. I think that a lot of estates give everything to the mission. We got a table there, and any number of dishes.

What a groovy place. If you find yourself wanting to go “antiquing”, but find antique row a bit out of your range, I’d suggest the mission. If nothing else, the name is worth the trip.

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The Whole Tooth and Nothing But The Tooth

My Wisdom Tooth Story

I was just blog surfing and came across a gentleman who was about to get his wisdom teeth extracted. Took me back to the time when I had that surgery, myself.

At the time I was a Temple student. Yeah, those were the days. Dirt poor, taking all sorts of classes, hanging out with friends. Seems more romantic looking back than it was at the time.

At the time, I had no dental insurance. So, I did what the next cheap-ass person would do. I went to Temple Dental school and volunteered to have the soon-to-be-dentists practice on me. I got all the best care, with only a little awkwardness. I even have a gold filling for my troubles! And all at the bah-gain prices of a dental school price compounded with a student discount!

Then I got word that I needed to have my wisdom teeth out, and even with the student discount compounded with the dental school prices, it was gonna be $100 a tooth. I was all ready to borrow the money from my in loco parentis when the dental school dudes said, but we’ll knock off another $250 if you take part in a drug study.

Like it was even a question.

So, the big day comes. I get newly-to-be registered surgeons and aen..anast..oh, those guys that put you to sleep, and a bottle of drugs that might be Tylenol with codeine, might be the new test drug, or might be a placebo.

I think they were A or B, as they worked just fine. I recall almost nothing from the time.

Of course, my roommate, who was kind enough to watch over me as the sleepy-drug wore off (good thing, too, because I would have choked without her there) said that the doctor was dancing with me. Otherwise, the surgery was completely unremarkable.

Well, except for the fact that I only had to pay $150 to get four wisdom teeth out!

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One Channel Removed from My Menu

One of the indulgences we have at the Dusty Aviary is DirectTV. Satellite television is certainly not a necessity, and in our house, it’s definitely a luxury. We have a receiver that is a few years old, but it does have some neat perks, like our own channel lists. I can choose from the hundreds of options which ones I deem worthy of perusing.

Up until today, all of the music channels (well, except the country and rap ones) were on that list. MTV, MTV2, VH1, VH1Classic, and Fuse (or whatever that’s called these days) were all possibilities. I’m always willing to page through these guys in my quest for different music.

But last night, watching MTV was like watching a goddamn car wreck. I couldn’t bring myself to turn the channel as I sickly watched one of their new shows: sweet 16.

I know that people have complained about MTV not showing music at all anymore, and showing stupid-ass original series, but this one, for some reason, really grossed me out.

The entire purpose of this show is to feature one completely spoiled-to-the-rotten-core sixteen-year-old kid, and the party he or she is gonna have for his or her 16th. (And in finding the website, I see that they do, indeed, sometimes feature boys. Gak.)

Last night’s chicky-poo was half Jewish, half Muslim, and she had to choose between a Bah Mitzvah and a Sweet Sixteen. Of course, we all know what she chose. And it was so very important to her to make sure that her party was so much better than anyone else’s. And she’s so, like, unique, don’t you know.

She’s like the slutty snobby bad girl from every teen flick I’ve ever seen. (yes, I have a proclivity for bad teen flicks. I never said my taste was great.)

And MTV is making her a hero. They’re dying to make more Paris Hiltons. Like, I even want to know WHY I know that name! What the hell as Paris Hilton EVER done, besides a cameo on Veronica Mars (a great tv show, by the by) and some, shall we say, risqué home videos? And why would you want to make America’s teen populous want to aspire to that notoriety?

I just don’t get it.

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Somebody Bring Me A Bucket

I’ve written before about my running habit. I’m no champion, but most days, I get on my running shoes and put a couple of miles on them.

This morning, I went for my usual circuit and completely crashed about half way through. Crashed with burning arms, burning legs, burning lungs, and an incredible urge to puke like Mr. Creosote. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME NOW?

I mean, in the three years I’ve been doing this, I’ve had my ups and downs. The first time I conquered Conestoga hill was an up. Trying to get back in after I had the baby was a down. Even during regular times, there are days when it’s easy to do five miles, and days when it’s hard. But it hasn’t been hard like this since I started.

Winter is particularly hard for me as a jogger. I have to use the treadmill, because I’m afraid to hit some ice in the dark and break an ankle. I hate the treadmill. I’d almost rather have bamboo shoots pushed under my nails than run five miles on the treadmill. And I almost never put hills in. I’ve been working on speed – I can run 5 miles in 40 minutes on the treadmill now. But this doesn’t seem to have helped my outside stamina.

The only other excuse is that my body is tired. I gave blood last Thursday. I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, but it seems to hit me harder every time I give blood. I get sick (having two kids in daycare, I’m always fighting something, and losing a pint of blood gives the bugs the advantage over me), and I get tired. But then I feel like a jerk about complaining that giving blood makes me worn out. I've been doing it for 16 years or so without a problem.

So I’m terribly scared that I’m losing my stamina and it’s not going to come back because I almost never get to run outside. I’m frightened that I’m going to get really fat again, because I can’t seem to get a hold on my sweet tooth. And the more scared and depressed I get, the more I want a cookie for comfort.

Now that I’ve put this down in words, I feel better. I’m sure it’s just a phase, and come May, I’ll be back on the 6 mile circuit. I know how to keep the weight off, I know how to train, and I know that I have a tendancy to panic. (who, me? nervous much?) But boy, oh boy, was that an awful feeling this morning!

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Tunes

I swear to Gaia, this is the real rotation of the first 5 songs on my "random shuffle" (is anyone else like me? When you hear people mention their IPod Shuffle, you think of that crazy song from the 80's - hey Moe hey Moe...). Look at this list:

Rob Zombie - Dragula
Tori Amos - i i e e e
Classics IV - Spooky
Maroon 5 - Secret
Queensryche - Gonna Get Close To You
Herp Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - Taste Of Honey

Can you think of anywhere you'd hear Herp Alpert right after Queensryche? Only my laptop, baby. (Oh, and I own these tunes legally, RIAA. You can go through all my boxes of CD's at home if you don't believe me.)

What's on YOUR random shuffle?

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Ranty Screed

OK, Mr Christian Line dude, I'm gonna attempt a reply to your "delusion of 'homophobia' " post. I would have put a very respectful disagreement on your own blog, but since you don't allow comments, I can feel free to be a little nastier on my own site.

You state that the term homophobia is a misnomer, and furthermore quote the symptoms of someone faced with a phobia, stating that you never feel these symptoms when faced with homosexuals. The whacky left are trying to make you look bad.

Your rhetoric does a pretty good job of that by itself.

A phobia is an irrational fear. You believe homosexuality is an abomination based on a few bible verses. I understand that. We all have our beliefs. But, going down the list of other ne'er-do-well-ers from your bible verse, do you want all adulterers (and that's a pretty big portion of the current American population) treated with such disdain, also? How about Hindus or Indians (the American kind) - as they're Idolaters? Where's the protest to get Bollywood banned in the US? Or your outright demands to get all prime time television banned - I can't think of a show that doesn't have someone banging someone else outside marriage at some point.

Seems like you've got a little bit more of a problem with the gays than you do with the rest of the list. In fact, your ilk go pretty far embarrassing themselves (spongebob is gay?) in the quest to isolate themselves (and the rest of us) from gays - definitely one of the symptoms of a phobia.

As for the extreme manifestations of a phobia - they are exactly that: extreme. I suffer from claustrophobia. I have a hard time with elevators and crowded rooms. They make my stomach churn, sometimes I break out into a sweat. I'll bet most people around me don't realize I'm being affected. You wanna split hairs with degree of reaction, that's your deal. It sounds a bit like protesting too much.

What I see is a man who went out of his way to write a screed about how it was completely rational for him to hate homosexuals. Not the acts they do, private or public, but the people themselves. There's a nod to "not tolerating their behavior", but what it comes down to is that the gentleman/woman does not want to face the fact that they exist. He can't even bring himself to use the word GAY, even though it's easier to type, because it puts a nice spin on people that, to him, should probably be eradicated. At the least, they should be swept back under whatever rock they came from.

Then again, maybe you're right. It's not homophobia. It's not fear at all. It's hatred. And, while I completely agree that you have a right to hate anyone you want for whatever reason you put forward, that's NOT something I'd expect from any Christian.

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IT IS COMMANDED!

I want all three of you who read this to go on over to the Therapy Sessions and wish my dirty-bird husband a Happy Birfday!


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OOOh, My First Meme

from Jay at Nascent Musings via BlogExplosion:

A. First, recommend to me:
1. A movie,
2. A book, and
3. A musical artist, song, or album

B. I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.

C. Then, I want you to go to your blog, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything they want!



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My Favorite Photoblog

There are a ton of photoblogs out there, and most of the ones I've run across are pretty good. But only one has me going back and grabbing a few photos here and there for desktop backgrounds (and I dropped some change in his tipjar - as you should if you lift anyone's stuff!)

Graham is an extremely talented photographer, with people and animals (I still love the ostrich!!) and scenery. I live in front of my computer, so having a nice picture to look at is almost as good as having a window to look out.

Stop by sensitive light, gander about (he's not been posting as much recently, so leave some nice, encouraging comments), and enjoy some beautiful photography!

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50 Things I Love About Philly In No Order Particularly - #47

(Like the title says, this is a list of things I've loved about philly, in the 17 years I've lived in this area. Also, like the title says, they're in no particular order. It's also not an inculsive list. These were just the first fifty that popped into my head. I'm gonna dish one up fresh, weekly. Also, I've started at the "bottom" to keep you tuned in. It's part of my nefarious plan for readership. Mwa-ha-ha-haaaaa.)


Cheap Orchestra Tickets

Back in the day, before the whole “Avenue of the Arts” thing, the cultural center of Philly didn’t have a whole lot of centralization. There were the theaters on Chestnut Street, and a few on Broad Street, of course. There was no Kimmel Center yet – it was a distant dream - and the Philadelphia Orchestra was forced to play in the old opera house, the Academy of Music.

The Academy is a beautiful old building – it was built in the 1850’s – and it has that ornate Ormandy feel to it inside, if you know what I mean. But it was built as an opera house, and it definitely had some drawbacks as an orchestra home. One was the acoustics.

The best seats in the house were also the worst ones. You know: the nose-bleed seats. Only a person like me (I have very, very short legs) could sit semi-comfortably in those seats. And Riccardo Muti didn’t look nearly as impressive bouncing around from a mile up.

But the sound in those seats was phenomenal. Lots of connoisseurs (and I ain’t one of them) would purposely sit up there. They used to get really, really mad when plebeians like me would sit in the section. But when I was a college student, I could afford those best seats in the house, because they went for $5. That’s right. A five-spot could get you a fantastic seat. All you had to do was wait in line outside the hall, like a bum outside a soup kitchen. Hey, I was poor, and not too proud. I took perks when I got ‘em.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the best in the world. I heard all sorts of guest stars, Brahms 4 more times than I care to remember, and got to see a little Muti hair flipping around. I think he even walked past me once.

Oh, you can still see the orchestra in the summer out at the Mann, if you know the right place to get the tickets, but it’s not to be compared to the bargain of the old days.

Ok, I’ll stop now, before I break into Memories from Cats…

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Living in the Wild, Wild West

You know, stories like this one remind me of the plot from an old western. Citizens of small prairie town minding their own business, evil cabal moves in to take over whatever business there is there, citizens band together and fight back. Happy ending.

'Cept it's not fiction.

You go, guys.
(of course, I got this from Instapundit)

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It's Your Right to Be A Jerk

Stories like this really torque me.

Whacky liberal professor likens all Americans to Adolf Eichmann. Says folks who died in the WTC (never mind the fact that many were foreign, not little Ameri-nazis at all) deserved what they got.

He's a creep. He's got a foul mouth and mean ideas. By all means, scoff at him. Ignore him. Don't take his classes.

But the stupid school is deciding whether they're gonna fire him. For his opinion.

Only one guy got it right:

Democratic state Sen. Peter Groff cast the lone "no" vote, saying he disagreed with Churchill but that the resolution provides him with undeserved attention and attacks free speech. (emphasis mine)

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