Ldy, the lemony, ligerish ducttaparian's Magic Treehouse of Lost Thoughts

Andrew Johnston singing Pie Jesu

2008-04-16T22:38:01Z

This is so amazing. I haven't the words.

Thanks, circlek

A Low Impact Woodland Home

2008-04-15T15:13:47Z

Everything you need to know to build a stylin' hobbit house for less than $6000.

http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

Thanks, marcgunn

random haiku from 2001

2008-03-27T20:40:43Z

cold, sharp; she struck me
just like a piano wire
slim, taut and deadly

she approached her choice
with faith like a coconut
sweet; empty inside

I suck at haiku
But I still try anyway
incorrigible.

Limerickization

2008-03-27T20:10:01Z

SO. I'm looking through random (and I mean RANDOM) old files I have on random old discs to see if I can find a copy of my old resume, and I find this gem, which apparently won me 100 tokens from Hecklers Online on AOL back in 1998:

UPDATED: 12-08-98 NEXT WINNERS: 12-15-98
Limerickization!
___________________________

NEW TOPIC: Jewel
To VOTE on the topic for the week
of Dec. 8-Dec. 15, click HERE!
___________________________

Charlie Brown/
"Peanuts" Winners

Our #3 limerick honors and twenty-five tokens go to dremphy@aol.com.

Charles Schulz, that nutty mastermind,
Once did a strip that was one of a kind:
That time Lucy and Charlie
Hopped on a new Harley
And FOR ONCE Lucy got to be in behind.

Our #2 limerick honors and fifty tokens go to rainlily22@aol.com.

Charlie's head's an exaggeration.
And Lucy's just an aggravation.
Snoopy's a beagle,
And Woodstock's an eagle,
And Linus, he fears separation.

Our #1 limerick honors and a hundred tokens go to ldysaphyre@aol.com.

Schroeder is really a shy gent,
But one thing makes Schroeder violent:
When Lucy is meanest,
She calls him a pianist,
And claims that the last "t" is silent.

OK, so "gem" is overstating it a bit.

I have only the vaguest recollection of ever having entered this contest.

Ten years ago... so weird.

At a pistol range, shooting

2008-03-23T16:20:34Z

At a pistol range, shooting Glocks and revolvers. Happy Easter? :)

Drinking hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's,

2008-03-04T06:13:46Z

Drinking hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's, singing along to dueling pianists. Aaaarooo- Werewolves of London! Desperado! Piano Man! <3

Eatin' a catfish po' boy,

2008-03-02T01:51:08Z

Eatin' a catfish po' boy, drinking heavens know what, listening to banjo, upright bass, and singer/trumpeteer plucked from 1924 <3

Sipping absinthe in a bar

2008-03-01T20:50:20Z

Sipping absinthe in a bar in New Orleans... Wish you were here :)

Theo Jansen

2008-01-25T19:15:40Z

This is insanely cool...

Here's an even better video, of Theo Jansen (designer? architect? engineer? artist? father?) speaking at TED:

This is only a test;

2008-01-19T22:31:05Z

This is only a test; please to ignore. :)

It's good for musicians to speak Roady?

2008-01-15T20:53:04Z

So, I'm just now catching up to this nifty meme:

CD meme
Follow these easy steps:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result in your own journal:

I loved all three pieces... I just didn't think they meshed. But the more I look at it, the more it grows on me.

Link me to yours, if you've done it!

Word Tiles of Doom & Desperation

2008-01-02T18:43:49Z

I love Scrabulous. I really do. And I think I'm getting better at it!

Perhaps my most closely-matched opponent is Adam B., who apparently hails from England. I say "apparently," because I've never met him. In fact, he's my only Scrabulous opponent that I don't know irl (or from here on lj). Most of our games are within a few points of being a tie.

I hates him.

You know. In that good way :)

(I ended up going with "partaken"-- I honestly couldn't find a single other word to make!)

woot... dot com

2007-12-07T22:35:30Z

I know it's late in the day, and I should have mentioned it sooner... but today is a WOOTOFF day.

What this means: Wacky-cool online retailer WOOT.com is selling not one item per day as usual... but bargain after bargain.

One thing sells out, another takes its place.

It's worth visiting, even if only for the nutty theme song and hilariously-awesome product copy :)

Videos

2007-12-04T23:13:16Z

Big Broccoli Ocarina:Angels We Have Heard On High

A big broccoli ocarina can have been done!
As MenT so aptly put it, it's what it says on the tin.

Tommy Emmanuel / J.Shimabukuro: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Thanks to estokes for sharing this one :)

Daft Hands

2007-11-30T20:42:09Z

This darned thing has had 9 MILLION views, so you may have already seen it.

Pretty nifty trick, if you've got time on your hands!!

Thanks to weswilson for the linky.

Bizarro Genius Baby

2007-11-30T17:50:19Z

Mom one, Mess zero

2007-11-29T22:22:38Z

SO. Z was about to head out with some friends to play video games all night (as he does on Thursdays) and he was frantically running around the house searching for a dvd he'd borrowed the month before.

"It's not here!" he wailed. He was certain one of us had moved it.

"Maybe your mom¹ borrowed it," I offered.

"It was in my room. And now it's not!"

"Oh," I said. "In that case... did you check to see if it got stuck between your bed and the wall?"

He retrieved the missing dvd with a flourish. "Yeah, well... WHATEVER!" he said, stifling a grin.

"You're welcome, dear."

Mom Magic. Whatever would we do without it?

1. Meaning his biological mom, not myself, his stepmom. Though re-reading it, it would be pretty funny if I HAD meant me, borrowed it, and put it there. (I didn't.)
X. Hm. I wonder what ELSE might be hiding in the Crevice of DOOOOM! ...has anybody seen the cats?

What has happened to our poor lost ldy?

2007-11-29T19:43:54Z

SO. I was poking through my LJ email archives to find that map thingy that shows all the places I'd been, because, goshdarnit, I couldn't remember if I had been to Texas.

I never found the entry. But lo and behold, there were intelligent, clever and downright witty entries in there! And apparently written by ME! I was aghast. Either I was particularly inspired in entries that contained the word "map," or I just plain wrote better back then.

"What has happened to our poor lost ldy?" I asked myself. I nearly responded, but thought better of it, what with being lost and all.

In the interest of finding this delightful person who apparently existed for several years, I'm going to endeavor to write here more often.

Paul's away in Boston. This is a good thing. Our relationship has been shaky for quite some time, and we always get along better when he's away.

That sounds like sarcasm, I know. But it's not! We text each other and talk on the phone for hours when he's away. When we're together though, not-so-much. (And not just because it's silly to text and phone a person when you're in the same house.) This may be the sole example of a long-distance relationship that works better the longer the distance.

We're considering taking a cruise in March. We've never had a vacation together, and we really need one. I'm not sure if this is a receipe for romance or disaster, but, hey, cruise!

Zack's doing OK, though I'm worried about him. He blew off BOTH his classes yesterday to play WoW¹. We chatted about it. He's only taking two classes, and they're classes he's taking a second time to boost his GPA because he blew it the first time. And history's repeating. I suggested that he spend some time doing SOMETHING-- work on one of the papers he has due, ANYTHING-- since he missed classes "he didn't need" (which he plainly does). And he agreed. And went right back to playing.

It's tough when kids grow up. He's 18 now. And I'm really not all that great of a mom-type-person to begin with (though I really am trying, darnit). Best I can do is open his eyes to what he's doing to himself and make sure he really SEES it before he gets distracted by Tier 27½ armor or whatever-the-heck-it-is that's distracting him these days.

Sheesh. If only my years of hard-won wisdom were competing with something simple, like girls. *eyeroll*

Still, I love him lots and lots, and if this is the worst I have to deal with as a stepmom, I consider myself lucky. Here's hoping I can be a better parent as time goes by.

My life as an MMORPG

Kingdom of Loathing... let's see. These days, I mostly go in, do my Bounty Hunter thing, say hello to clannies, and duck back out again. I've done two Bad Moon runs in a row now, and I'm simultaneously contemplating whether I should do another (and be in Bad Moon when Crimbo comes around) and procrastinating putting months of accumulated junk in the mall. I had the honour of adjudicating Marshall's Iron Chef competition-- maaan, that took ages! All of the entries were excellent. It probably took me as long to score them as it did to put one together.

WoW... I didn't play for three weeks, and now I'm trying to remember what the heck I was doing last time I played. My guild has pretty much disbanded, which is fine-- I've been planning to move to another guild for ages now, I've just been waiting 'til I actually have time to play semi-regularly. I've been waffling between Brave Sir Robin's Men and Gypsy Cab Company. Gypsy Cab has the better raiding groups and larger e-penii, but BSRM seems more my style and pace. I think I'll apply to the latter soonishly.

OK. I'm currently in a production of Oliver,
rehearsing for a production of Blithe Spirit,
simultaneously rehearsing for an ensemble musical production of a retelling of The Wizard of Oz,
considering auditioning for a role in Hello Dolly²;
I've agreed to AD for one director if her play submission gets accepted,
and agreed to do props for another director if HER play submission gets accepted,
and I'm pursuing my own voice-acting thing.
I'm also considering applying to the BFA program at UF ³.

I think this is the most actively involved I've ever been in theatre. And I love it :)

Bonus: I finally have a social life! When I moved down here, I capitalized on a tendency to cloister myself in the house, a tendency which was compounded by working at home and not actually meeting other live human beings. But now I have all sorts of theatre friends. Last night, a bunch of us we went to Fridays for karaoke. Two great things about Fridays:
A. They have Guinness on tap. Ambrosia of the gods, it is.
B. When I asked about MSG⁴, I expected the response to be "everything has it," which was, inded, the immediately-given response. But I was later presented with an officious-looking "Allergen Report," which disclosed that only three salad dressings and one appetizer⁵ contained it. Score!

There was singing and waltzing and some weird hand-jiving thing and food and drink and merriment. Musical theatre people? They're FUN. They can't help it; it's a sickness. I do believe I've been infected.

Oh, nifty thing that happened there... I ran into a woman with whom I did Vagina Monologues last February. It took me a moment to recognize her, however... as she had transformed into a man. See, she's transexual, and apparently her job required her to cut her hair and come to work as the gender into which she was born. It was somewhat disconcerting to have my hello kiss to her be greeted with beard stubble, but it was so great seeing her again.

I joined Facebook awhile ago, and have become ever-so-slightly addicted to Scrabulous. It's entirely-too-easy to consult online dictionaries and word-helpers online, so I'm liking the challenge games⁶ more than the regular games... though both are lots of fun.

Anywho, if I know you on Facebook, challenge me to a game. Please? Pretty please? *shakes a little* It's not a habit. I can quit anytime I want to. Really I can. *twitch*

Well, I should probably cut this off now and get back to doing whatever it is I do with my days. I wish you and yours the best. Wait-- that sounds like I'm not coming back for awhile. How about a bientot! or later gators! or seeya! or ttfn!

~Hugs to those who need 'em, those who want 'em, and those who don't run away quickly enough~

1. I encourge MMPORPGs, just not to the detriment of other things, like work, school, guitar and sex (or whatever the heck it is guys his age do). Technically, according to him, he didn't blow off school specifically to play WoW, just played WoW after blowing off classes. Whatevah!
2. Dear lord, no, not Dolly herself. I'm thinking the wealthy friend or the other friend maybe. Or perhaps just chorus. The director said he'd lend me a copy of the play when he gets them. In a theatre weirdness moment, I went online to find character descriptions, and found them... at the website one of the theatres up north where I used to perform; apparently it's their next show of the season. What are the odds of that?
3. I'm also considering the Engineering program at UF. I don't think I'd do both, though it may qualify as The Worst Double Major EVER.
4. For those just joining us, I'm deathly allergic. OK, maybe not "deathly," but "I'll puke all over you and crawl into a fetal position in the darkest, quietest room I can find for 24 hours" allergic, which is nearly as bad, if not worse.
5. Ironically, one of two appetizers I figured DIDN'T have it.
6. In challenge games, the dictionary supplied with Scrabulous is disabled, and you're allowed to use nonsense words which can then be challenged-- thus, I assume that dictionaries of any type are discouraged... but maybe not-so-much in regular Scrabulous. Depends on whose playing I guess. I tend to try to play with mind alone, though I'll occasionally use tools in regular games when I know there's an awesome bingo just waiting to be revealed.
7. I really liked today's quote from Wordsmith:

If one sins against the laws of proportion and gives something too big to
something too small to carry it -- too big sails to too small a ship, too
big meals to too small a body, too big powers to too small a soul -- the
result is bound to be a complete upset. In an outburst of hubris the
overfed body will rush into sickness, while the jack-in-office will rush
into the unrighteousness that hubris always breeds. -Plato, philosopher
(427-347 BCE)

Happy Thanksgiving :)

2007-11-22T03:21:23Z

Sorry I haven't been 'round much, folks! Things are good. I got cast in another play (Mrs. Bradman in Blithe Spirit), have been asked to consider playing the role of Honey in a "casual" production Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and have been invited to AD for big musical production at the community theatre next year (assuming the director's submission gets accepted). This on top of Oliver (in production right now) and the "casual" ensemble musical production of The Wizard of Oz that will be going up in February.

I'm now strongly considering going back to school. The dilemma? Choosing between a BFA in acting and a BS in engineering. I think I might have to go with the acting, considering how much I love it.

Anywho, I just wanted to take a moment to wish you and yours the happiest of Thanksgivings. I'm cooking a few things (two pies, homemade cran sauce, sweet cornbread stuffing, gravy and green bean casserole) and we're all heading to a friends' house tomorrow.

I know I'm especially thankful for each and every one of my friends here, even if I seem distant of late.

Much love to you :) Wishing you a safe and happy tomorrow!

~Hugs to those who want 'em, those who need 'em, and those who don't run away quickly enough~

ldy @ 2007-11-19T23:00:00

2007-11-20T04:00:52Z

Crappy phone!

At the House of Blues,

2007-11-20T02:42:21Z

At the House of Blues, Orlando, drinking an Absolut Mandarin and 7-Up, waiting for Coheed & Cambria to take the stage : )

Pickle Surprise

2007-11-07T06:24:15Z

And now, for something completely different.

Oliver!

2007-11-02T18:02:01Z

Woohoo! Opening night!

I've been sorta busy, and sorta not busy and kinda sick :/ I'm hoping it passes soon. I hate being sick on opening night!

Monday, I had an audition at our local state-run regional theatre. A REAL equity* audition. It was the first time I've ever had to do a prepared monologue!

It was great. I got the magic 15-minute loading zone parking spot DIRECTLY in front of the theatre, and although I was a few minutes early, they were ready for me. I popped into the ladies room first, and walked under a ladder three times for good measure.

Sometimes, we make our own luck, no?

I was nervous, but I made them laugh. You know, at places they were supposed to laugh. I was so pleased with my monologue selection, and am so happy it seemed to go over well. Hooray for the author, who sent me a complementary copy of the script the day after I enquired about it.

The entire audition took about two minutes.

I've no idea whether I'll be invited to read for anything this season, but it felt good to audition. It felt really good.

As for Oliver, well, it's is such a good show, with such a talented cast and crew. P & Z are coming tonight, along with Matt & Penny (friends of ours we rarely get to see). I hope I'm up for going out afterward! Heck, that's half the fun :)

OK, I'd better go iron one of my costume pieces, and pick up some flowers for the cast and crew (everybody deserves flowers on opening night!).

Later, gators!

* You don't techinically have to be equity to go to an equity principal audition. In fact, they like us non-equity actors, as we'll work for peanuts.
** I have nothing creative to say here!

Random links and thoughts spill out my head and through my fingers

2007-10-24T16:37:24Z

Free Rice! Learn vocabulary, and donate rice to people who need it:
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
This is addicting. I've donated 2000 grains of rice since last night. I'm amazed at how many words I seem to know. I say "seem to know" because I don't actually remember them-- they're not part of my regular vocabulary-- and I'd be hard-pressed to define them by hand (instead of via multiple-choice), but I can pick out a synonym without a second's thought. Freaky. My vocabulary generally tends to top-off around level 45 or so.

If you have a commercial website, you are probably already aware of google optimizer. Did you know they had a tutorial on it?
http://services.google.com/training/websiteoptimizeroverview/2995095/index.html
And a real-time teleseminar next Tuesday?
https://googleonline.webex.com/mw0305l/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=googleonline&service=6&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fgoogleonline.webex.com%2Fec0600l%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26confViewID%3D193793724%26siteurl%3Dgoogleonline%26%26%26

Someone deyo knows is looking for amazing programmers, IT & design for The Next Big Thing:
http://www.reardenlabs.com/spinoffs/index.html
I KNOW I have a lot of brilliant programmers on my FL. Send rearden labs your CV today!

Boing-Boing has links to Mashing Pumpkins, a disc of new Halloween mashups:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/23/halloween-mashups-fr.html
The original site has already been suspended (likely for exceeding bandwidth-- these things are quite popular). I haven't actually listened to these yet, but I have high hopes :)

What else? My dad and stepmom are visiting (briefly) tomorrow on their way to Sarasota (they're snowbirds). My house is a MESS.

I went to a movie audition and a regional theatre audition last week. I doubt much will happen from either of those, but It felt very validating to be driving around town in my character shoes, toting headshots and resumes :)

I saw American Buffalo (a David Mamet play) at the Civic Media Center this weekend. In truth, I only went because two of the three-person cast are in the children's musical I'm doing in February... but it turned out to be amazing. It was theatre in the round (well, imperfect square, really), and it involved the audience far more than I'd expected. At the end, they all drove off in a car that was parked outside, leaving the audience alone and bemused. It vies with "exit, pursued by a bear" as my favourite exit ever :) Oh, the lead character was actually selling junk when I got there, so I picked up a copy of of Bullseye on VHS for a buck (I think he'd have given it to me free, but I enjoy supporting the arts, and especially in unusual ways). It looks pretty terrible, but has Michael Caine and Roger Moore in it. Oh, and even though I went to the play alone, I got to sit with the other witch from the aforementioned production (I'm the good witch, she's the wicked witch), who also came alone. We were both slightly buzzed, and made too much noise while reading about Cher in a GLBT magazine.

Prior to that, I went to a PHP* party to watch the Gator game. I drank free beer, ate wonderful food, rode in a pink 1951 jeep and even got a t-shirt for showing up. This year's slogan: "There is no 'i' in 'team,' but there is a 'we' in 'weasels'" I adore PHP.

Friday, Paul and I had a nice dinner at an expensive Italian restaurant, and then I went out clubbing with a bunch of college girls *grin* I danced to cheesy 80s tunes, drank my first SoCo & lime and several pints of Guinness, topped it all off with a greasy slice of free pizza, and generally had a grand time.

The cats are crazy, as usually. The kitten (Switch) wakes me up most days by crawling under the covers and biting my toes or attacking the oldest cat (Max). I can't even sit in my office with Max anymore without Switch jumping on him. :( I'm going to have to step in with a water gun, because Max doesn't deserve such annoyances. Neither do I, actually... as if on cue, Switch just climbed the back of my chair, and then nearly fell off it when he went to bite my ear. He's got a toy bear on the bed that he wrestles with, and Paul bought him an an attack mitten (it's like one of those huge BBQ oven mitts, but overpriced and cute), but he can't get enough of play time. Sometimes he's laid-back and adorable, but only when I'm relaxing. If I'm working, sleeping or doing housework, then he's the spawn of Satan. RAAAR! OK, even when he's demonspawn, he's cute.

What else? I bought a weed whacker the other day, and it's defective. It's actually got a part from a different weed whacker semi-attached to it. What's up with that?! So much for clearing a path to my door for my parents.

Oliver rehearsals are going well. We open in less than two weeks!

Oh, and I've got another gig using a British accent :) E-learning. Some webcam work, too. The guy seems a little flakey, though... he keeps saying he's going to send me the script and then never does. Oh, well... no skin off my nose!** It will happen eventually, I suppose!

I'm sure I've got other things to report, but unless there's an e-learning script in my inbox, I've got to get cleaning.

Ciao, babies!

Oh, dear-- I thought I'd posted this awhile ago. D'oh! Arrivederci, lovelies!

* I refer not to the open-source programming language, but to two guys who host amazing parties and do a lot of good in the community in the name of beer and football. Actually, one recently married and disappeared, so I guess it's mostly in Huffman's lap now.
** Actually, the term probably comes from fisticuffs (boxing). But I like this person's reasoning better, and would like to further this disinformation :)
*** yawn!

I am called a map!

2007-10-10T19:36:12Z

Hello, I am a helpful map! Areas are randomly colored. There is no map legend. Enjoy finding stuff! :D