I was honored and privileged to be asked to assist last night during class.  Ko Dan Ja Nim Romero was instructor, but there were no other black belts to help out, so we red belts had to step up at various times.  It was weird, I hadn't thought of myself as ready to assist in class, but when I actually do the math, K and I are about 9 months away from our black belt test.  Ive come a long way from those stumbling, bumbling days as white belt.

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

If you joined the circus, what act would you most want to perform?

Ever since I watched Circus of the Stars as a kid, I always thought it would be most supremely fun to be on the trapeze.  It looked like swinging, only with more altitude, and when they're done, they get to fall into a big bouncy net.  What's not to love?!

My second choice would be juggler, because you don't need a lot of equipment to perform, so you can do it anywhere.

My third choice would be to learn anything those Cirque du Soleil people do -- so dexterous and agile and strong!

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

shamelessly stolen from the book jacket of Eight Pillars of Greek Wisdom

• Humanism
• Pursuit of Excellence
• Practice of Moderation
• Self-knowledge
• Rationalism
• Restless Curiosity
• Love of Freedom
• Individualism

Saturday we got up early to participate in a Youth Festival at the YMCA, sponsored by the O'Brien House.  There were lots of groups performing for the audience of kids and their parents, mostly dance groups.  I'm surprised there wasn't a singing group.  This was the first demonstration that I'd been to, and so I wasn't sure what to expect.  There were seven of us total, Master C of course, young Mr. B, Mr. R, and Mr. B, one of the newest (and the oldest) black belt; K and I the red belts; and Mr O the orange belt.  Young Mr. B performed Bong Hyung Ee Bu, and then did a black belt form with Mr. R.  Then I broke a board on stepping side kick (needed a second try, because my aim was way off), Mr O did some sort of hand technique, and Young Mr B (the star of the show, since he's only fourteen and a shining example for the school and for this audience) finished with a flying side kick.  The big finale of course, Master C chopped the cucumber on Mr O's stomach with his katana. 

We didn't have much time for mingling and fielding questions afterwards, because it was also gameday on LSU's campus, and even at noon, the traffic was already getting crazy as people trolled for parking spots.  We have a parking sticker for the Chi Institute though, so we have guaranteed spots and will not get towed, if we ever decide to go down for tailgating.

For lunch we walked to Voodoo BBQ and enjoyed some good food and beers before heading home to take a nap.

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

Dragonball: Evolution

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

Blazing Saddles

I saw Blazing Saddles (1974) for the first time as a youngster -- no clue how old I was, but I'm pretty sure I saw it on HBO or maybe videotape at Shelby's house.

I was hesitant to see it again, because I didn't think it was all that good the first time.  But it came up in my Netflix queue, so I watched it again the other night.  I realize now that I was entirely too young to get it the first time around.  I was quite a naive and protected child, and I grew up in a mixed community, without much overt racism (or at least, I was not aware of any -- could come back to my basic nature).  I think I honestly didn't know what the n-word meant, and just didn't understand why everyone was making a big deal over a black guy coming to town to be the sheriff.  Also, fart jokes never amused me, and still don't, but I digress.

Having seen it now with more mature, less naive, eyes, I can honestly say that movie is funny!  And the ending, with the action spilling over onto other sets, made me think immediately of the end of Python's Holy Grail (which was released in '75 -- I hadn't realized it was a contemporary almost of Blazing Saddles).

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

Dad's down with pneumonia. Mom called today to tell us that he's got fluid in a lung, and they're waiting for a doc to show up and drain it. I really hope he gets over this fast.

new tires, brakes, and alignment: $750. Maybe kind of pricey, but I prefer to think of it this way: that's about two car payments. And I don't have a car payment, so I'm still ahead.

well, I sort of hate to admit it, but I've joined the twitterverse. Actually, technically I joined a year ago, and had two accounts. One account I set up to try using in conjunction with launchy and sites like rememberthemilk.com and gcal.com. I wasn't actually too keen on that after giving them a whirl, because it seemed easier to just write myself a note on one of the random pieces of paper lying on my desk.

My other account was set up to collect weird vocabulary words, especially those I could use for my etymology class. That was a better function for launchy for me at the time.

Now though I want to keep track of the mp3 albums I listen to -- because I'm deleting most of them after one listen, to try to get my collection under control. I've decided I have to really LOVE something to keep it (and really, most of those albums I already have in hard copy, so why are they duplicated, except that it's easier to call up a folder than to go find the CD in the rack in the other room). But I want a record of what I've already heard, for reference and nerditude. twiter seems a good solution for this. I do scrobble my songs with last.fm, but I think browsing back through a list of songs will be more difficult than a list of album titles. Sometimes I try to say a few words about what I've heard, but usually it all just turns into soundtrack for my online gaming, and the music sort of slips past me without making much impression. I'm sure that some of the music is just that forgettable too -- another reason to have a list -- what not to bother with again.

I've chosen one account as my main, and I actually do have it set up to post from my cell phone. I've enabled rtm and gcal again, and that's come in handy for putting some student appointments in my calendar and suchlike. If you are curious at all, or want to share your twitterness with me, you can find me @aemo

Thanks to a twitterer (@gtdguy I think), I found a cool mind mapping program called TheBrain. Apparently there are different templates you can download and install to it, and I swear I spent two hours last night being autobiographical with the autobiography template. You can do it in their online area too, but for something so personal, I'd rather have it on my own machine (generally a big fan of the cloud, though that's another post).

1999 - John Breaux (US Senator, D-La)
2000 - Carlos Flores (alumnus of LSU, president of Honduras)
2001 - George Bush (41)
2002 - Bob Wright ("chairman and chief executive officer of the National Broadcasting Company, and vice chairman of the board, executive officer and a member of the Corporate Executive Office of General Electric," LSU Today)
2003 - Lynne Cheney (replacing Dick as speaker)
2004 - GWBush (43)
2005 - Sean O'Keefe (now Chancellor)
2006 - Dick Cheney
2007 - Donna Brazile (alumna of LSU, "chair of the Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute and former campaign manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.")
2008 - Bobby Jindal (LA Gov)
2009 - Mary Landrieu (US Senator, D-La)
2009 summer - Delano Lewis (former US Ambassador to South Africa)

I hate the rule of the guest star (I really need a proper name for this) = Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize.

Whenever there's a big-name guest star on a murder mystery (CSI, L&O), he is always the guilty one.  Always.  Unless it's an episode with multiple big names, but that happens only rarely.  And I hate this because it takes out all the mystery, of trying to figure out whodunnit and why.  We already know who, so then figuring out why is usually a short leap.

The TV tropes link above says pretty much the same thing, but with more words, and a metrick butt-load of examples.

I guess I can understand why tv people do this: the show gets a Big Name Star to come on; the Big Name Star gets a chance at a meaty role, to Be Bad and Act (Genius! Thank you! No Thank You!).  But sometimes it just sucks all the enjoyment out of an episode.  I'm on this rant today after watching The Closer last night, which was a really mediocre story once Tom Skerrit came in and revealed himself with his mere presence as the bad guy.

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

I watch waaay too much tv, but I guess I'll learn to accept it.  I started watching Kings on NBC a while ago, and was truly disappointed when the network announced that the show would not continue beyond the first season.  Thankfully, all the episodes are being broadcast (have been?  I am behind in my PVR viewing), so I don't have to wait for the dvd to learn the end.  This show could really have been special.

I heard on NPR recently that Cheers had dismal ratings for almost two years before it clicked and found an audience -- there's no time for shows to mature anymore, and that's regrettable.

I started watching a new show called The Colony, which is a post-apocalyptic experiment reality-type show, but (I hope and pray) without the drama of a competition.  This group of colonists are living in an abandoned warehouse after a biological disaster, and have to use their skills and wits to survive -- so it's a staged experiment, and they are somewhere in LA, because they were gathering water from the LA River (that trickle of water running through the concrete culvert, which shocked me when I learned that was really a river, but I digress).  There are hostiles who come around making noise in the night and scaring the colonists, and I'm sure these attacks will escalate, although the psychologist running the experiment has instructed the "hostiles" not to injure the subjects -- but the subjects don't know that!  Tonight was ep 2, but I haven't watched it yet.  I think it's supposed to last 10 weeks, maybe on Discovery Channel, a little bit Survivor or Survivorman, a little bit Junkyard Wars, a little bit Jericho (fictional P-A show from a few years ago).

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Taxman :: April 15; H&R Block; Jack E; IRA; retirement plan; tax shelter
   
2. Material :: matter; solid; liquid; gas; plasma; stuff; text
   
3. Format :: hard drive; essay; term paper; 200 word paper
   
4. File cabinet :: organized; folders; locked info; SSNs; office
   
5. Ignore :: shun; avoid; does not exist to me
   
6. Super! :: awesome; great; wonderful; terrific
   
7. Fireproof :: safe; not flammable; not inflammable
   
8. Blockbuster :: video; movies; Titanic; Star Wars; Jaws
   
9. Snooper :: looper; pooper; spy; nosy nose
   
10. Good will :: peace, good will toward men, or peace to men of good will; donations; thrift store; used clothes; used books; kitsch
    

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

Testing today was awesome, and everyone did really well.  No mishaps, no contact during non-contact sparring (not always the case, unfortunately), no major injuries.  Well, not today anyway.  In the previous month about six people (self included) suffered some sort of foot injury: twisted ankle, broken toes (I caught my big toe on the mat, which sort of stubbed/jammed it up pretty good).  Poor Mr. F, twisted one ankle 2 weeks ago, then last night at practice tore up his pinky toe on the other foot -- he doesn't know which way to limp now, but he still soldiered on and tested for Third Dan (third degree black belt) today.

First was forms (or kata for the Japanese practitioners).  The board called the third, fourth, and fifth gups all together, that's the lowest rank of red belt, and both ranks of green belt.  There's only one each of the green belts, so they might have been a little self-conscious performing alone.  So then we red belts find out we're going to get tested on our cumulative knowledge, and do the green belt forms with them, and suddenly what was supposed to be two forms turned into six.  Unexpected, but we all did well with the pop quiz.  I had suffered some insomnia earlier this week, and one of my techniques to combat it is to review all my forms, so I had that going for me.

Nothing unusual in the one-step sparring, self-defense, free sparring, or terminology sections.  Breaking is always exciting, and sometimes in the past I've choked and not been able to carry through.  This time though, they say the boards were good and light, and my foot went through first time on both the jump spin back kick and the round kick -- like buttah, as they say.  One 1-inch pine board has about the same hardness as a human rib bone.  At the next testing in November, one of our breaks will be wheel kick -- that's the one Chuck Norris uses so often in Walker when he spins around and clocks a guy on the chin.  I need a lot more practice -- but not tonight.

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

I don't usually watch Torchwood.  It feels a bit lightweight, and Captain Jack just isn't quite as compelling as The Doctor.  However, we caught an ad for the current miniseries running on BBCAmerica, and it appeared suitably creepy -- a lot like the Who episode when the Doctor first met Jack, in WWII London, being chased by zombie children in gas masks ("Are you my mummy?").

So we got a late start to Children of Earth (the miniseries) -- we watched Day One and Two last night, even though Day Five will air tonight (love the PVR).  So far, it is creepy and eye-capturing.  If all Torchwood were like this, I'd be a dedicated fan.

Not sure we'll get a chance to catch up tonight -- so NO SPOILERS -- as we are supposed to be online with some friends, and we test for our next Tang Soo Do rank in the morning.  I'm determined to get to bed early tonight, even though I haven't been asleep before 3am any night this week.  :|

Anathem

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com

and now my LJ display is normal again.

IE8, Chrome, and SongBird all showed it normal too.

weird continues

My LJ style is not displaying correctly, and I haven't been futzing around in the code to change anything. Here's an enumeration of the wrong things that are most noticeable:

• my userpic shows up above and left of the header bar, when it should be same level and right-justified


• my info and links list is in a strange font


• embedded videos do not show up in-line, nor is there even a placeholder icon


• text cannot be selected

</li>

I got an email from my boss yesterday asking if I could cover a summer course.  She sent the email around noon; for some reason I never checked my email till 10pm.  So now I don't know if she found someone else, but just in case I'm the last line of defense, as it were, I'm trying to be ready.  Oh yeah, the class starts at 0840.  But that's all I know -- I do not know what classroom, whether they met earlier this week (surely they must have), or how much they have covered.  So I sit here, checking my mail, to see if I have to get dressed, or if I can go back to bed.

No reply yet.  *sigh*

Originally posted on annodoom.vox.com