A Blog for None and All

cheshirebast @ 2009-09-21T16:19:00

2009-09-21T21:20:33Z

I have finally learned to withhold tolerance. That lesson took more time than I would have liked.

cheshirebast @ 2009-08-14T15:01:00

2009-08-14T20:05:30Z

Jack@Torrance:~$ sudo yes "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

There. That wasn't so hard, was it?

mini-bday stuff

2009-07-24T18:20:46Z

Sunday evening, Spanish Flower in the heights. No need to bring presents (nowhere to put more stuff!) Just hanging out, mixing different groups of friends to see what explodes. Possibility of moist delicious cake that is not, in point of fact, a lie from memeslayer. Call me for more details.

In which Diehl attempts to start a meme and the heavens rumble with our lord's keen displeasure

2009-05-02T21:52:30Z

Having a slow moment after a busy day at the shop. Working in a book store doesn't generally present much in the way of ethical challenges. While processing a special order for a copy of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" I found a conflict between my preference for promoting accuracy and my certainty that the free flow of information is good. (This conflict was quickly won by my work ethic.) This event was really only noteworthy because it made me wonder about some of the weird stuff I've read. So here's the question:

What's the most dangerous book you've ever read? Did you enjoy reading it? Did you agree with it?

And that's the way the gummi bears have thier picnic

2008-10-02T06:56:48Z

Kris now insists that I need a gummy bear patch to wean myself off of gummy bears. I feel sorry for the poor pharmacist who is about to get asked an odd question. We have to start sleeping more.

cheshirebast @ 2008-02-21T21:04:00

2008-02-22T03:05:21Z

Just found that I have a buy one get one free coupon to Noah's Ark cafe. How perverse.

cheshirebast @ 2007-10-08T22:37:00

2007-10-09T03:40:17Z

Quick note between books on bureaucratic structures in Islamic states:

Sorry I've disappeared from the web again, but I now have a new desktop. Also, I got sick of the fighting between windows and mac, (two programs, both alike in dignity) and became a child of the penguin. Ubuntu Linux rocks.

More later. Midterm tomorrow.

cheshirebast @ 2007-09-27T14:31:00

2007-09-27T19:34:27Z

On overhearing a classmate plotting a study group tba on facebook, I finally created an account. I fully expect to ignore this most of the time. The only interesting bit is that I had a friend request from a harper I know within 10 seconds. Weird.

I4C74 4134 357

2007-09-11T21:19:46Z

So we were talking about present subjunctive phrases in Latin that literally should be translated as past tense but are written in present tense for rhetorical effect. This got me thinking about how much of what people in English don't mean to be interpreted literally and thus wondering about the effectiveness of reading primary source Roman material without the cultural context to fully experience it. And then it fell into my mind despite my best attempts at avoiding it: Latin 1337 or "147IN." SPQR could be shortened to "my peeps" for clarity. ZOMGus, ZOMGi, ZOMGo, ZOMGum ZOMGe. LOLere, LOLo, LOLas, LOLat, LOLamus, LOLatis, LOLant. Only problem will be writing i/k for "joking" and all the addresses being 55 55 55.whatever.com

I should sleep more.

Dancing

2007-09-09T18:11:05Z

Played a Contra Dance last night; the band was in rare form. elkethegreyt made some truly horrible puns, we played pretty well and were generally manic. Yay! At one point I gave my violin bow a swish and flick at memeslayer and delcared: "Allegro Kedavra!" (I know better than to mix Itallian and Hebrew, but still, it was funny in context. I kept trying to rush a little...)

Then we went out for cheese fries at 59 Diner. Fun times. After all the angst over the whole school/life thing, it was nice to have a break.

Short break...

2007-09-05T19:57:10Z

Enough reading for a moment.

A few amusing things since last post:

1) An ex-girlfriend sent an SMS asking for a coffee pot back that she had given me when we broke up. That wasn't terribly important, but I spent the last bit of the breakup feeling like I was expected to jump on command, so I felt it was important to "win" this one (or more accurately, discontinue the game). After a bit of discomfort, the details of which aren't really important, I sent

[Ex's name],

When we split over a year ago, I was under the impression that you were giving me that coffee pot, and as such I feel no great need to replace it at your convenience. While not being contacted by you is well worth the twenty or forty dollars it would take to replace, I worry that it would give you the mistaken impression that you have permission to call on me at your will.

At our last meeting in which you returned my tuxedo cuffs, your behavior toward myself and my companion was such that I regretted not simply buying new. Had I recognized the number when you sent me the SMS on 26 July, I would not have called back, but unfortunately, there are many people with whom I would like to talk whose numbers I don't recognize.

I thought that I had made this clear on a voicemail I left you at the end of our process of splitting, precipitated by your behavior after my change of residence. Apparently though, that message was not comprehended, so I will attempt to make it perfectly clear at this time: I must request that you desist contacting me for the duration of this lifetime though all media and devices of communication, in person nor by proxy. We have no going concerns nor unresolved business; our paths separated some time ago. I apologize if there remains any ambiguity in my disposition toward you, but I am sure this conveys the general idea.

without wax,
Diehl

I hope she gets the point now, though I hardly disguised my feelings at the time. I sometimes fear that I am too subtle about such things.

2) K got a car. She then got insurance. The day we got the insurance card, I went to Wal-mart to return a rather large package of beef with a misleading expiry date. Mark's car (which I had occasionally made use of and was the only vehicle I had driven with even faint regularity) had lights that turned on automatically when it got dark. The Scion doesn't.

I got the wonderful job of explaining to a police officer that I'm just running an errand and am driving a black car with the lights off because I thought they turned themselves on because the car isn't mine, and that's why the insurance card is still on my desk instead of in the glove box, and no, I have no idea what the license plates will be, but the car's owner does know I have it and would you mind if I called her to let her know I'm getting pulled over and don't worry about that smell it's just some rotting beef I'm taking to Wal-mart.

Either double-majoring in obfuscation and equivocation was worth the effort, or he believed me, or he just had bigger fish to fry, because he let me go after I turned my lights on. Still a bit nervous, getting pulled over in K's new shiny toy.

Back to politics.

AirTran Delenda Est

2007-07-31T00:55:03Z

Friday: Went to a cool little Scottish store that sells kilts and got the info on folk dancing in the Boston area. That'll be handy for next time I'm up there. Rode the train to MIT on a lark. went to their bookstore. All the geek one would expect. I walked past a singularly ugly building made of brick and steel, alternating. I assume the architect got frustrated and crumpled the blueprints and the contractors built it. There was a cyclotron housed in what looked like a former coal powered manufacturing facility. I found I had shambled back to Mass Ave so I thought I'd walk back to Harvard, got as far as Central Square and got a train for the rest of the way due to needing to meet K. Walking down Mass Ave I stopped at the generically but nostalgically named "Chicago Pizza" for a soda. The more it changes, the more it stays the same. There was an Irish bar called "Asgard" but it didn't look interesting. Noticed in a window that Negativeland is playing in early August at a middle eastern restaurant, but I can't go.

Later, on the train with K, some guys were being loud and obnoxious and calling a female "friend" a slut. K told them off and they apologized. That's it. No yelling back, no gunfire, nothing. My one Texan gene didn't know what to do...

Saturday: My plane back to Houston via Atlanta left at 7:30p. Got to the airport between 5:45 and 6, stood in line at the baggage check for two and a half hours. While waiting, I realized that I'd miss the last connecting flight out of Atlanta, so I called the AirTran number to investigate options. The representative told me of a flight at 1:50pm on Sunday that would let me stay overnight in Boston rather that Atlanta. I told her I was not the only one traveling, though my girlfriend was taking a different airline at the same time. I put the AirTran rep on hold and called K, who informed me that the only place to stay was her parents' (both chain smokers who live a long drive from the airport and everybody was too broke for gas) couch. I switched back and informed the AirTran rep that I didn't have a place to stay in Boston, that I'd stay on the 7:30 (estimated 9:45 by this time) plane and sleep in the Atlanta airport. She informed me that she had already switched me, and that she couldn't switch me back because the flight was closed and already in the air (trust me, it wasn't). I got to the baggage check, and asked for a hotel voucher because of their error, and was informed that it was impossible because I voluntarily changed my flight. When informed that I could not travel with my luggage to be checked, I had no place to stay in Boston, they informed me that I could not check my 100 lbs of luggage until 10am, four hours before the flight. I informed them that I was going to go sleep in Harvard Square, and they apologized for not being able to do anything.

K found a friend of her sister's to come pick me up from the airport and drop me in Belmont where I "slept" on a couch.

Sunday: Woke up in the same clothes I wore Saturday morning, smelling of smoke and dog and human and anger. Forgot my phone, wasn't using my usual backpack. Ralph will mail it. Went to the airport at 9:50 am. Waited in the baggage check line. Checked my stuff. Went through security. They took the shaving cream that I keep in my violin case that has gone through I know not how many airports. I waited. Noticed I didn't have a phone. Ralph's number was in the phone. T-mobile doesn't have signal in Belmont. Running low on change. Eventually got on a plane around 2 or 2:20pm, I think? "Ants Marching" coming on the MP3 player is amusing when flying over Georgian suburbs. Atlanta at quarter till five. Flight to Houston left at 8:05pm. Estimate on screens said 9:15. Waited. Read. Chatted with people. Estimate on screens said almost 10. Waited. Put the finishing touches on the "AirTran Sucks Donkey Dick" hornpipe. (did I mention that there are sessions all over the world? I love word of mouth marketing) Trying to concentrate on staff paper out in an airport inspires all sorts of people to ask: "are you a musician or something?" Got into (or rather, failed to get out of) several fascinating conversations about other people's artistic efforts that have nothing to do with music. Finally got on a plane, no idea what time (I was pretty fried by then, no cash and nothing but granola bars in backpack). It was hot on the plane. The air wasn't on. Finally a steward got on the intercom and explained that the air was off because the engines were. The pilots were due in at 11pm. We got off the plane and back into the AC. Some of us slept. I read. It is odd how funny Latin grammar is in that scenario. A few stand-by passengers strayed up. One introduced herself as "Eris." I started joking and chatting. At about 11:30 we had a pretty good conversation going, I got her laughing, and everything suddenly fell into place. The pilots showed up and were welcomed with cheering, we got in the plane, took off, made great time, and landed smoothly. Met K and M at the baggage claim, went out for breakfast, and slept.

All in all, the universe tends to unfold as it should. Hopefully, a good number of players will think it is a good enough hornpipe to xerox and pass on.

I can't figure out how to get 26 to conform to the law of fives...

2007-07-27T15:30:13Z

Birthday yesterday. I slept in, then met K at her class. We went out for dinner at a really cool little place called Mount Vernon. It's been there in Somerville since the depression and their prices still look it. Had a massive platter of fried seafood and a couple of lobsters. I had the urge to twist off the tail, suck out the tail meat and body cavity and shout out "AEEEIIII! Them is some good craydads!" but managed to resist. Messing with yankees isn't worth that sort of flavor (my lobster was female)(and I can't intentionally slaughter French well enough to pull off a good Cajun accent). So, I had Lobster Anatomy 1312 with professor Boston Native. Half the place is a restaurant and half is a pub. Lovely dinner with K. Very glad I carry a toothbrush in my backpack. One thing about a city full of pedestrians is I don't feel like a freak carrying around a daypack.

After that we went downtown and saw "Harry Potter and the No Child Left Behind Act" across the street from the Boston Commons. I've only read the first book so far, but I got the impression they were skipping over a bit as it felt quite hurried.

Got a happy b-day sms from Kayleen. That was somewhat unexpected.

I have eaten at Taco Bell in a tuxedo, dated a redheaded Italian, admitted being from Texas in a bar in the UK, and now I have jay walked in downtown Boston. I do not know fear.

cheshirebast @ 2007-07-22T20:51:00

2007-07-23T00:53:33Z

Went to Salem yesterday. Wondered around town shopping, went to a Chinese restaurant and finally started reading Harry Potter and the Sophist's Stone. Not a bad book.

Rowling for soup

2007-07-21T06:45:08Z

Cheshirebast's Journal:

A headmaster died in a fictional world. Everyone cares. Harvard square was a boiling mass of the zombie apocalypse as boys with messiah complexes and girls who lack the discipline to be Llewellyn witches lined up sighing "boooooks..." instead of "braaaains" shuffling and camping in queues around the block to enter the bookstore that supplies Harvard University with the gems of modern thought in order to buy that Scottish novel. The herd edged closer to posters of Daniel Radcliffe; they cried out to the heavens "tell us how it all ends" and I looked down and whispered "no."

Subway station was silent as everybody read identical yellow books. A woman in the pizza shop had a plush lion tied to her head. Everyone in costume. Some wore glitter, every color but octarine. No one noticed my muggle costume. K and I went to a gaming shop called Pandemonium. The gaming room in the basement served for cake and ice cream. K got her Rowling fix but decided against the new Kushiel novel. Lots of people were excited about a book release: there is a new "Order of the Stick" book out. I managed to resist blue-green translucent sparkly dice with gold numbers, but barely.

Haven't been around computers much since landing. Woke up Sunday at two, house cleaning, repacking, losing my clothes somewhere, gaming night (munchkin rocks! must acquire a few sets sometime when I have a budget). Left Houston at 5:30 Monday. Watched the sunrise. Landed in Boston quarter past one in the afternoon. Met K at train station. Went out for pizza, got back to her dorm in the evening. Napped for a couple of hours while she wrote a paper due at midnight. Woke up, tried to proofread for her, wound up getting distracted and intimate. Watched sunrise again. Napped. Couple of days I don't remember all that well. Followed K around to catch her if she fell. She slept even less than I did. I'm starting to think K isn't human. Must look into this deeper. Slept well last night and night before. Beach tomorrow. Unsettled by the number of jellyfish in the Charles.

Fakakta alea est.

cheshirebast @ 2007-06-30T22:34:00

2007-07-01T03:41:42Z

I was joking about ways to move an unconscious person from the kitchen floor to a bed, and suggested "a Baron Harkonen repulsorlift belt." Nexx misheard me and thought I said "Baron Munchausen." Could be a cool game where you make up absurd stories about slaughtering desert people, or a movie Terry Gilliam and David Lynch should never make...

I hate the taste of yellow bile in the morning...

2007-06-30T23:43:25Z

Haven't posted in a while. Sorry about that. Distracted by the slings and arrows of outrageous distraction. Haven't even had time to hang out with people IRL much.

Planning on going to bagels tomorrow if I'm stable enough to ride a bus. K is going to a baby shower for her favorite waitress (did I mention we eat sushi too much?) so I'll be walking. I've been sick since late Wednesday night (may have been the Beef Guinness at the black swan session, but not sure of that) and am not quite up to speed yet. I've had probably 15 or 20 hours of sleep and about two solid meals worth of food since Wednesday evening, most of that last night and this morning. Got lactic acid burn taking the trash to the dumpster; I think I'm pretty dehydrated and my shoulders and back still ache from dry heaving.

Played a contra dance a few days ago. Accidentally turned onto Kirby from Richmond, and I found myself wondering to House of Guys out of habit, causing me to curse memeslayer. Those who know him get it...

I'll try to post more regularly, starting with a few observations I've had since my last LJ post. More later.

Happy Ides of March!!!

2007-03-15T18:21:33Z

Been feeling tired all the time lately. Spent most of the break so far either resting to try and get focused or else catching up on reading. I got pretty far behind in one of my classes. I've read Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War before and thought I could cut that. I was wrong...

Other than that, I should be at movie night tonight. Re-watched "V for Vendetta" and "Secretary" last night. That was a strange combination. "Peace is War, Slavery is Freedom, Strength is Ignorance."

Now to polish off Thucydides and get started on Hofstadter.

Contact Info from everyone:

2007-02-10T18:17:24Z

I lost my phone day before yesterday. I got a new one and set it up, so I am reachable by phone, but I am not certain whose phone numbers I still have. Don't be annoyed if I ask you for your information next time I see you, or feel free to bump into me or call sometime. Sorry for the annoyance. (this, on top of the hermitish phase I went through recently, may result in me forgetting stuff I was supposed to not forget... preemptive apologies...)

cheshirebast @ 2007-01-27T14:04:00

2007-01-27T20:04:11Z

In honor of rabbit hole day, aka Lewis Carroll's birthday, I have woken up in a bizarre alternate world where I post to LJ.

cheshirebast @ 2007-01-03T19:35:00

2007-01-04T01:43:33Z

Joseph Campbell is in the back of my head trying to pontificate on the hidden meanings of "the Boondock Saints"... I should have majored in engineering.

Another year flies by and I'm still above dirt...

2007-01-01T03:41:13Z

I guess that's another bet the universe lost. Just thought I'd post to let people know I'm still around, though I've been rather a hermit lately. During times I've had stuff worth posting I've been too busy too, but I'll keep trying to keep up with everything. Katy messaged me last night because she had some of my stuff I'd forgotten at her place. I went by there about noon or so with Kris. She just kinda handed it to me and then shut the door, which was nice. The box had my cuff links and studs, so that mystery is solved now. Then I took a little nap and woke up at 8:30. Dinner took a little longer to prepare than expected. I was supposed to be at bassfinger's house an hour and a half ago, so I'll sign off for right now. Hopefully the next year will have more worth posting. As Al Stewart said: "the more it changes the more it stays the same, and the hand just rearranges the players in the game."

Happy New Year!

jargonwocky

2006-10-23T02:36:25Z

A few observations about tech jargon. People sound silly when they try to say the URL to a site and it comes out "dubdubdub dot whatever dot com." Mark says "triple double ewe" but I think I'm going to take up "sextuple ewe."

Also, I thought of a term to describe quantumduck, bibulb, and bassfingers. "0b501337"

Just a few braindroppings of late.

I'm sorry; did you say "pig" or "fig?"

2006-08-26T21:45:49Z

So, my social policy professor set up a website to give us a bunch of links to various sites we should read from time to time. (if you care, I've put most of them at http://del.icio.us/fiddlerdiehl/fall06).

One link on the list was supposed to take us to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. The professor, however, mixed up the stem directions in the acronym in the URL and I found myself for a moment reading the web page of the Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank trying to figure out what in the world it had to do with political science. It was funny. Guess you had to be there...

Wow my major can get dry sometimes.

cheshirebast @ 2006-08-19T23:05:00

2006-08-20T04:06:01Z

The makeout hobo union: when you need a friendly face to sit on.