On getting stoned.... and tea.

What a crazy freaking day it was. I had to go to the dentist today. It sucked, it always sucks, but at least I made a new friend: nitrous oxide. Mmmm... I was there for almost two hours, and I barely even noticed it! I had my headphones on, and was listening to Weird Al on shuffle, which (combined with the drugs) was very interesting. The few times I bothered to focus my eyes, I was watching billiards, then poker, then I'm not entirely sure, but there was a lot of fast movement, so I tried not to focus anymore.

I'm not sure if I liked it or not. time was... strange, to say the least. It felt like riding wave after wave of blacking out; I never went entirely out, but I was never really clear either. It just was degrees of how out and clear I was, and it really was like a wave. For a while (a few minutes, maybe a month, I dunno), I could have sworn I was going to die, but I didn't seem to mind too much. Hell, you could have told me that a five year old was going to be drilling in my mount and I doubt I would have cared!

With about ten minutes left, they started weening me off the "good stuff", and switched me to straight oxygen. That sucked, it burned, and I wasn't ready to come down yet. I think I might have begged for them to do more work, but to be honest it's not entirely clear anymore.

I started really cleaning up on my way back to work, and by the time I got there I was feeling pretty clear. I may have been talking to myself in the car, I'm not really sure...

the only thing I really remember is that at one point I really had to pee, but had completely forgotten what peeing was, and just knew I had an uncomfortable pressure somewhere past my feeling range. Since I wasn't sure how to explain this to the dentist without sounding like an idiot, I decided not to say anything. That's probably for the best, as I'm afraid of what I might have said!

Of course, that's not even the exciting thing that happened today, just a fun little aside. The best part of my day was getting home, and having this waiting for me:




What could be in the box???



Let's find out together, shall we???



That's right, it's tea! Tea, and a very cool tea pot!



In case you can't tell, that's the tea on the left, and the teapot on the right. More on the pot in a minute...

What kind of tea did I get? Blood Orange, Rooibos, Spearmint, and Chamomile. Ok, technically not tea, since it does not have real tea in it. Herbal tincture would be a better description, but then I'd just sound like an idiot!



Here's a close-up of the Blood Orange tincture. Delicious smelling!!! Kinda looks like potpourri, doesn't it?



Brewing brewing brewing. The teapot is super cool, you put your water in, microwave it, then throw the loose tea or herbs in, and let it brew a few minutes. In the case of these brews, 7 minutes at 180 degrees is the magic number.

How do you get the tea out without the leaves coming out?



Kinda hard to see here, but it goes so damned fast I didn't have time to line up a good shot. What happens is this: you set the pot on TOP of your glass, and the pressure opens up a valve that lets the liquid drain out the bottom (into your cup!) while straining the leaves up top. Then you just throw the leaves out, and enjoy.

So, my verdict? The pot is super cool, and I can't wait to try some real teas, and some other herbal concoctions in it. As for the four sample flavors I got?

Blood Orange - Kinda weak, needs 2 teaspoons full per pot of water. Pretty tasty, kinda like licking the rind of an orange. Not bad, but I probably won't buy it in larger quantities.

Spearmint - Amazing. The smell is mind blowing even before brewing, and the flavor is pretty intense. It's a great pick-me-up tea, I'm just sorry now that I drank it so late in the evening...

Chamomile - Delicious. My favorite so far, I'll probably be buying this in bulk. I like chamomile anyway, and the difference between this and that crap you buy in a bag is amazing. This will probably be something I'll be drinking every night, that's how much I love it. If I ever have a daughter, I'll name her Chamomile. Or not, if the misses says no. Damn women!

Rooibos - I dunno, I haven't tried it. I've never been a big fan of this (it's also called Red Tea, so look out for it), but maybe it's really good when it's fresh. I'll have to get back to you on this.

I generally avoid plugging other people's stuff on here, because you're here to see me DAMMIT, and I'm not sharing my limelight with just any old internet bum wandering around cyberspace. I'm making an exception: go to www.adagio.com now. NOW! Go, I'll wait....

Hmmm... Lalalalala.... I wonder how many holes I' have in my chair... Let's see, one... two... three ~CRUNCH~ three. :)

Back? Ok, cool. If you like tea, you should buy it from there, I can say that it is very fresh, and 1000 times better than anything you've ever bought in a store.... Unless you go to a tea store... and if you do have a tea store nearby, let me know how it is, I've always wanted to go to one.

Well, I've got a ton of internet out there to surf around on, so I'll be seeing you. Have a good tea-filled night, I'll see you again next time.

Dr S

PS: A quick follow up: I gave up on the dream thing. I just couldn't keep up with reminding myself to do reality checks all day long; it became impossible to get anything done. Maybe someone else out there can try it and let me know how cool it is.

Be The Bigger Nerd

I want, so badly, to point at my roommate and call him a nerd. He's spent the whole night waiting until the midnight release of the expansion pack for his MMORPG World of Warcraft. They are actually having a "release party" at the store, and he's been there since around 6:00. That's 6 hours of waiting for a game. Not even a full game, just an expansion to a game he already plays.

I really really want to call him a nerd. Then I started thinking about how I spent my evening, and am I really any better?

I spent the night breaking my operating system. I did it in the guise of upgrading, but if I'm being honest I knew that there would be things I'd have to manually fix, and I looked forward to it. Some of them I expected (I have to rebuild my keyboard shortcut bindings, mouse bindings, things like that), some I didn't (took forever to get my USB hard drive running properly again), but I knew going into it that I would have to fix some things. And I did it, not in spite of the problems, but because I knew that there would be.

You see, if my system is stable too long, I get thinking about ways to make it better, and invariably they cause a lot of work for a little reward. I do it because, deep down, I enjoy spending hours at my command line writing dirty hacks to get a cheap effect to work. Sometimes I get something useful (I can now run both Flash and Java on my 64-bit laptop, even though they haven't been released for anything past 32-bits), other times I get something silly (I have a media player that manually runs 7 other media players). It's always fun to try to figure out how to get it to work.

So I started thinking, how is my nerd habit any different from his? He plays RPGs online against other people, I hack Linux. Here are some comparisons...


He talks to other players online within the game, and they all share a common interest (the game). I talk to other Linux users on web forums.

He uses massive amounts of bandwidth to run his game. Tonight alone I used more bandwidth than the average user will go through in a month.

He has clearly defined goals that, with team work, he pursues. The reward is usually minimal, but the main reward is pleasure in a job well done. I have goals that are usually clearly defined, and work with others on the web to make them happen. If I happen to meet a goal, I don't really get a reward, aside from getting something cool to run, but the high is amazing.

He kills things in his quests, usually orcs and trolls I think. I hate trolls (bastards), but I don't kill them. Instead, I kill software bugs.

He has to find creative ways to meet his end. In my world, they're called quick and dirty hacks.

He disappears for long periods of time when new expansions come out. I don't expect to see him again now for at least a week. I have, in my younger days, locked myself at my computer for days on end trying to get something to work, stopping only for food, cigarettes, and the occasional pee break.

I don't really know who the bigger nerd is in our house. I guess maybe it's all in how you look at it. Deep down, I hope that everyone out there has one hobby, one thing they like to do, that is as all-consuming as his game, and my computer. If you don't, isn't it time you become a nerd too? Find one thing that you love to do, and just do it to your best. You'll be glad you did!

Dr S

Podcasting, The Linux/Windows/Apple Connection, Could I Be Dreaming?

Wow, it's been a long freaking time since I've posted, huh? Sorry guys, I wasn't ignoring you, I've been super busy lately! I'd promise to try to do better, but if you're smart you won't believe that any more than I do!

So I've gotten into podcasting lately. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's really awesome, you've got to check it out! A podcast is similar to a radio show, only you download it and store it on your computer (or iPod if you're like me) and can listen to it whenever. The shows I've been listening to are all tech-oriented (Diggnation, Sourcetrunk and Lug Radio), but there are a ton of other types out there, covering everything from news to sports to music to fashion... I could go on and on, but why not just search them out for yourself? :)

I spilled Mountain Dew on my laptop and now some of my keys are sticking, so I'm sorry for any typos I may have... In my defense, it wasn't my fault, my Dew literally exploded when I opened it, and hit a few the keys on my laptop even though I was at least 5 feet away. Grr!

I was at the bar tonight with my roommate (we were hungry and too tired to cook), and he said something that made me stop and think. He does phone support for internet service, and gets to answer all sorts of strange problems... Anyway, he said "How can anyone use a Mac? You can't really DO anything on them!". Well, it got me thinking, I feel the same way about Windows. How can anyone use Windows? The uses are so locked down, the whole system is so limited, you can't really DO anything useful on them. I have a feeling that people who use BSD (an incredibly powerful OS) feel the same way about Linux users (of which I am one). Dunno what that means, but I thought it was interesting enough to share...

Finally, I'm trying something new in my life. It's called lucid dreaming. Basically, it is the ability to control what is happening in your dreams. I wish I could say I'm trying it for a noble reason, like self exploration or contemplating the void, but really I just want to be able to slap stupid people around while I'm asleep and have everyone worship me as supreme world leader. Hey, it may not be pretty, but at least I'm honest!

It's really strange trying to get started with it, as most of the work you do is while you are awake. You have to get in the habit of doing "reality checks" all the time to see if you are really awake or asleep. They are things that are simple to do when awake, like turning on a light, or reading a sentence twice to see if it changed, but in your dream you will know when they fail, thus you will know when you're asleep.

It has lead my girlfriend to think I may be crazy though, as I now have a sign above my computer that says "Could I be dreaming?" I swear, I do have a good grip on reality, I'm just trying to enforce the reality checks in my waking mind...

The rest of the work is simple; when you get ready to go to sleep, find something to focus on that you can use to remind yourself you are asleep. The common example is to look at your hands just before turning off the light and saying "When I'm asleep, I will look at my hands, and it will remind me that I'm dreaming". Then, when you are dreaming, if your dream leads you to look at your hands (pretty common really), you will remember that you are dreaming, and (hopefully) take control.

Anyway, I hope to get it working soon (it takes a lot of practice), I'll let you know how I do.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and wish you all a wonderful new year.

Dr S

Fuck it

Hey, do you remember when I was able to keep up with posting a new poem or four, and a new entry every week? Me neither! I know at one point I had PLANNED on doing that, where the fuck did I go wrong?

So I spent like an hour trying to write something tonight, and pretty much everything was utter shit. I ended up getting really pissed off at myself, and scribbled out the two meager ones I just posted on the poetry blog. Sorry it's not more, but at this point I'm honestly thinking about just walking away altogether. Yeah, I know, how "tortured artist". Shit.

I guess for now, do whatever it is you love doing, because tomorrow you might find yourself completely incapable of stringing a few fucking words together. Seriously.

Dr S

One month...

Wow, it's been a month since I've updated the ol' personal blog! Sorry guys!!!

Ummm... not much has really happened. Hope to have some new poetry up soon, but that's about it... Still kicking around ideas for another book...

So I'll tell you about some of the weird stuff that's happened lately. I found "Christmas Crunch" (the Chrismas version of Cap'n Crunch) at the store the other day. WOOHOO!!!! I'll have pics soon (I took some, but they were too low quality to share). I also FINALLY found the Jones' Soda Holiday Pack, in both "dinner" and "desert" versions... My thoughts are as follows...

Some things should never, ever, EVER be made into soda. This includes peas, dinner rolls, turkey and gravy, and (most importantly) antacid. The sweet potato was ok, but even that was a stretch... If you find the dinner pack, get it for the novelty, but don't expect too much from it.

The desert pack, however, rocked my world. The five "pie" flavors were apple, cherry, key lime, banana creme, and blueberry. All were delicious. Some of them even had a hint of crust flavor, and I have no clue how they did it. If you find the desert pack, snatch up three or four of them, you're gonna want it!

In the end, the best reason to buy either of these is that you are doing a good deed as well as getting soda. A percentage of the sales of the dinner pack get donated to Toys for Tots, and the desert pack goes to St Judes Children's Hospital. The goal is to raise $25,000 from the first, and $50,000 from the latter. Both are great causes, but you hopefully already know which one has a spot in my heart...

Moving on. I know I've mentioned before that I love working downtown, and I know I've mentioned that it is due to the freak show. Between "nude" PETA protestors (they weren't really nude), people doing crazy things to get a dollar from you, and the various nutjobs wandering around, you get a true sense that anything can happen down here. I'm sure it's similar in other cities, but in my town, downtown is just like a magical circus side show. Today's attraction: drunk Santa, wandering around wishing everyone a "Meeeewy Chwishmassssh". I watched him con the local popcorn shack into giving him some red and green carmel corn (for his "reindeer") and a soda, then he wandered the street for a while generally being a nuisance. It's really hard not to laugh when you see something like that... Thank goodness the kids are all in school right now though, I can't imagine how much seeing that would scar a small child!

In work related stuff... I agreed to let a couple of temps come in and help me with some side projects (they needed the work, and my department isn't paying for it, so how could I say no?). At first I was psyched to have some help to do the "crap" projects (I don't wanna do them, and I don't wanna waste my coworkers time either), but now I'm kinda wishing they would just go away. I miss working alone! I like knowing that I can accidentally let out a squeaker without worrying who heard me, and I hate feeling like there is someone standing right over my shoulder all the time... I can't wait until these projects get done so I can have my office back to myself! GRRRRR!!!

On my computer front, I finally started playing around with GiMP hardcore. GiMP is the open-source equivilant of Photoshop, and (in my opinion, having spent a few hours with both) is much more powerful, due to it being easy to modify. I will have some cool pictures up later, but for now just know that if you ever wanted to try manipulating images, now is the time to get in!

Dr S

More from MirrorMask

Just thought I'd post some video links for you to see how cool this movie really is...

Helena and the Clock People
The Trailer

Also, if you hunt on Google Video, you can find the entire movie up (at least for now). If I could convince you to watch one movie, just once, it would be this one. That's saying a lot for me; I've seen many great movies in my lifetime...

Movies and games...

Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I've been super busy lately. I'd like to say I was doing something constructive, but I wasn't. I've been watching bad movies and playing great video games.

Movies first. I don't have a huge DVD collection by any accounts, but I do have a number of movies I haven't seen yet. When I bought them, I had every intention to watch them, but then for some reason I didn't. So I started watching some of them on a portable DVD player in my free time. I'm glad I did, some of them are going to be sold, and others are going to be put on a shrine.

First up is Deal Alive. I've seen it before, but it's been many years, and I thought I'd watch it again. I'm so glad I did. If you're into bad horror movies like me, this movie redefined the genre. The main character is a girly mama's boy, who falls in love with a hot... I think she's supposed to be latin, but I'm not sure. Anyway, mom doesn't like it and tries to break them up... then gets bitten by a claymation rat monkey and turns into a zombie. She spreads the infection and... well, you just have to see it to believe it. The highlight of this movie is when Lionel (main character) straps a lawn mower to his chest and literally mows down the zombie hordes. Amazing.

Next up is a three pack I picked up many years back. It was only 5 dollars for three DVDs, which should have told me something, but since they were horror movies I thought maybe it'd be ok... It's a three pack of "zombie" movies, but they have a few problems. First, the zombies aren't really zombies (they don't eat braaaaaaaains), they're more like vampires (blood sucking bastards). In one of the three, there isn't even THAT, just a weird cult trying to resurrect a witch.

That's not the biggest problem though. The biggest problem, not mentioned ANYWHERE ON THE FREAKING BOX, is that they are all foreign films, which means that they are subtitled. I hate subtitles. They kill the mood of the movie; it just isn't scary when you have to read the bottom of the screen to find out what's going on.

On the plus side, two of the films are French. Why is this positive? French horror movies have nudity. Lots of nudity. Not nudity like in the US horror movies (topless heroines being chased, maybe a butt thrown in every now and then). Full. Frontal. Nudity. I may not understand what the hell is going on, but I do understand that the nekkid chick is gnawing on that other nekkid chicks leg. I love the French.

Even this comes with a price though; full frontal MALE nudity as well. I can live with it, but my finger is perpetually on the fast forward button in case they do a close up. Eeeeeew.

Ok, now for a non-zombie movie. MirrorMask. If you haven't seen or heard of this movie, don't feel bad, most people haven't. I only heard about it by accident; I was watching the now defunct TechTV, and they did an interview with some of the graphic designers on the film. There is a lot of CG in this movie, a LOT, and it shows how the technology can be used to make the unbelievable real.

The plot is a little thin, but you aren't seriously going to watch this movie for the plot are you? You watch it because it's beautiful, it stirs something deep inside your heart, and the images stay with you for a long time. Go rent it, and if your local video store doesn't have it, burn them down. No, don't really, just buy it off the net instead.

Here is the Mutant Review for MirrorMask. Read it to get a better idea of how great this movie is, then go rent or buy it. Go now, I'll wait...

Lalallaa... hmmmm... hrmmm...

Back? Ok, now watch it, and have your mind blown away.

Speaking of minds being blown, I've been playing some amazing games lately. First up is FFXII. I can't say much about it, I've just started in (only about 6 hours), but it's beautiful, fun, and the controls are pretty intuitive. If you have a PS2 and like RPGs, you should check this one out.

Then again, if you have a PS2, you should be playing Guitar Hero 2 instead. We were smart; my roommate pre-ordered this the first day it was available, so we had a copy the day it came out. He has already played every song on it. It is so much fun, there aren't even words for it... If you've ever wanted to live out your rockstar dreams, get this as soon as you can. If the first game is any indication, you might consider buying it online; when I bought the first one, I spent weeks searching the stores, but they sold out the same day they got the game in...

Favorite song so far is probably "Monkey Wrench" by the Foo Fighters; on normal it's easy, but on hard it's fun. I played Freebird last night (WOOT) and got a 5 out of 5 stars on my first attempt (and a leg cramp, it's hard to play a 10 minute song standing up!).

Well, I'm off to do something else unconstructive...