First on the agenda, I want to thank the Jamey/JustNoPoint tag team for jumping in and fixing server issues. How else would we be able to check the forums for the latest rants and rambles?

.::.

So over the mini break, I was able to wash a ton of dishes. I am not only talking about the simple, white plates that can be easily loaded in a dishwasher, but the greasy awful pots and pans caked with burned crust and cedar planks stuck to the bottom that were used to cook a turkey, prime rib steak, and every other delicious thing at Thanksgiving. I did it without any reserve. I did it because I like it, LOVE it even! When I am in the zone, organization becomes as clear as day for me, where I see how everything should fit like Tetris blocks and I continue cleaning until everything is spotless. The endorphins I get from a whole night of cleaning go away the following morning when the kitchen gets dirty again right after breakfast.

.::.

I just came back from a quick jog around the ice covered park. I would say that the snowfall could easily have been around twenty four inches, so I was actually running on top of packed snow. It was beautiful, nonetheless. I had one of those moments where I was staring at Parliament in the distance across the canal and I held up an invisible camera to snap an imaginary photo that I will only remember from memory.

I have no idea if it'll amount to anything but I've signed up to an online python course through MIT for spring 2014. Would be nice to be in a position to make real changes around here and some commission doing on the side.

That's awesome, JNP! I feel like DD has survived solely on the dedication of its people. : )

—

I went to light a candle with a match yesterday in my room. Somehow I lit the match and broke it simultaneously, and the lit end went flying onto my desk (which is basically a mountain of papers). I managed to blow it out and then grab it out, but I had a panicked moment where I could just picture my whole bedroom alight. O.o

I ordered a bunch of American Apparel cotton shirts online a while back. Even though I like the fabric material, the off-white, cream colour never paired with my wardrobe's deep yellow, white, grey, and black scheme. Well, I decided to hand dye some shirts myself with extra turmeric I had in my spice rack and now I have two awesome mustard yellow shirts.

It is the time of year again, I picked up a new crochet needle and ball of yarn at the craft store. I want to make a slouchy beret for winter.

http://www.claudineko.com/storiesamericanapparel.html

Dude weirds me out a bit. I'm not sure how much of her story is actually true, but given how much gets written about the guy and his antics, I'm betting it's not too far off, and I'm always fascinated by how he manages to stay in business and out of jail. He's like a walking reality tv show without the cameras. The only reason I'm bringing it up though, is because I literally just found that article this morning before I saw this and the coincidence seemed too sublime to let pass.

@lba

I read that article previously when I wanted to know what brand I was sporting. More than half of my clothes come from AA and the other half is Old Navy. I am slowly leaning toward the sophisticated look of Anne Taylor/Loft (Ha, maybe in my thirties).

However, regardless if the CEO of AA is known for his eccentricity, questionable interactions with women, and open sensuality…I still support the product because: it is based in Los Angeles, the models are required to maintain a natural look (no excessive makeup or haircuts), it does not flash name brands all over the product, not made in a sweatshop overseas. I am also sensitive to fabric materials and the cotton feels better against my skin than synthetic fibers. Yeah, there are controversies surrounding their ads, but I feel that the photography is shot in a way so that what you see is what you get.

Good on you with the clothes dying and the beret Kawaii!

For myself I tend to go for particular styles and quality of the materials rather than brands.
I wear a lot of dark colours these days… black long sleave shirts or really deep blue, or black with a thin grey pinstripe, different shades of dark grey trousers. It works well for me.

With that American Apparel guy, I don't think its simply about his own behaviour, but what people tolerate from him… and then report. If you have an understanding with a person where you comfortably talk to them while they wank in front of you, you normally don't excplicetly describe those encounters publicly, do you?
…Unless it's not a comfortable situation, then you take that to the police…
So there's more happening than just the guy being a 1970s style letch- people like that reporter are exploiting that aspect of his personal relations for their own objectives.
ie. the reality TV aspect isn't being driven by the man, but his followers.

Wow….

I was just watching the shows of Shark Week and one of them was about this place called Osprey Atoll. Apparently it doesn't fall under Australia's conservation law… yet. Now I'm hoping that the Australian government will move on it soon or the same thing that happened in the reality show “Jungle Gold” may happen there…

After the show Jungle Gold showed up on TV, illegal chinese miners descended into the country to mine the gold there. Now I'm afraid that hordes of fishing boats will show up at that atoll and fish up the sharks there for the main ingredient of Shark Fin Soup. And unfortunately it wouldn't be “poaching” because there's no law protecting the place.

I guess I shouldn't be thinking of things like this on the day we lost a great man…. :(

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
I ordered a bunch of American Apparel cotton shirts online a while back. Even though I like the fabric material, the off-white, cream colour never paired with my wardrobe's deep yellow, white, grey, and black scheme. Well, I decided to hand dye some shirts myself with extra turmeric I had in my spice rack and now I have two awesome mustard yellow shirts.

It is the time of year again, I picked up a new crochet needle and ball of yarn at the craft store. I want to make a slouchy beret for winter.

I've just discovered the joys of arm knitting. Usually I get halfway through a project and then find some new yarn or a new pattern and get distracted, so I half a million half-knitted scarves and stuff in a box in my room. Now I just want to arm-knit scarves for everyone I know. : )

—

Other than arm knitting, I am having a really awful day/week. Lots of stressful family stuff, on top of exams. And I sent my prof some research work I did for him and haven't heard back. Super worried that it's because I made giant mess of the whole thing.

I think that's a strong part of it, but he's also very much part of it. His company gears their advertising and image based on his decisions and personality. AA has a strange sort of cult of personality built around the guy, and it's well known in the apparel industry that he openly encourages his form of sexuality and is ok with his followers promoting and discussing him that way. Everyone just kind of overlooks it because AA does so well at what they do.

I personally won't print on AA apparel, but that has nothing to do with the company. They make excellent quality stuff. I just don't use their apparel because of the price. Most retailers outside of the high-end ones, like Urban Outfitters, won't pay the extra $5 per shirt that AA adds to my bottom line, so I've found cheaper, alternative sources for stuff that's still made in the US, but maybe doesn't have the same brand recognition and go with them. I have no problem at all with AA and their product. Dov Charney is a serious skeezbag on his own but that's not why I posted the link. I just thought it was an interesting read, worth sharing, and kawaii's post happened to remind me of it.

ozoneocean wrote:
Good on you with the clothes dying and the beret Kawaii!

For myself I tend to go for particular styles and quality of the materials rather than brands.
I wear a lot of dark colours these days… black long sleave shirts or really deep blue, or black with a thin grey pinstripe, different shades of dark grey trousers. It works well for me.

With that American Apparel guy, I don't think its simply about his own behaviour, but what people tolerate from him… and then report. If you have an understanding with a person where you comfortably talk to them while they wank in front of you, you normally don't excplicetly describe those encounters publicly, do you?
…Unless it's not a comfortable situation, then you take that to the police…
So there's more happening than just the guy being a 1970s style letch- people like that reporter are exploiting that aspect of his personal relations for their own objectives.
ie. the reality TV aspect isn't being driven by the man, but his followers.

I have completed my yellow hat after thirty-six hours of crocheting. At first I wanted to make it really slouchy but I ended up with a very snug fitting beanie. It felt so nice to give my eyes a break from the glaring computer monitor and focus on something without the eye strain.

HippieVan wrote:
Arm knitting

Cool! I just looked that up online and it looks so intense, like you need to use your entire arm to make a scarf. I have a box of yarn that is filled with some unfinished crochet projects that I will complete eventually. It's just that some of these projects require complete isolation due to the amount of counting for each round.

Thank goodness it's Friday of this stressful week. Hopefully you hear back from your Professor by next week. Good luck on your exams/papers!

ozoneocean wrote:
…Unless it's not a comfortable situation, then you take that to the police…

There is a saying I learned from a teacher in high school: “Sexual Harrassment is when ugly people flirt with you. Otherwise, it is just flattering.”
Eventually, I was proven wrong in college where I met a few attractive men who turned out to be incredibly creepy weirdos (beware the Physiological Science grad students!).
–
And nice color scheme, it is very professional.

lba wrote:
Dov

Americans in the USA grow up in a very prudish culture. I know because I grew up in it. The media needs someone like Dov to counteract the puritan way of life and if exposing what he does behind closed doors fuels a response, more power to him, because I can bet money he is not the first man to jack the beanstalk in front of a woman in Los Angeles.

Also, yes, their shirts are horrendously expensive.
.::.
Oh, and can I just express how much I love bar soap? I have been using liquid all of my life and just recently switched to goat's milk soap and the simple Ivory bar. I have so much soap in my cabinet, you would think I was starting a Fight Club.

That's a cute bear with a cute hat. And quite easy on the eyes. :)

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
There is a saying I learned from a teacher in high school: “Sexual Harrassment is when ugly people flirt with you. Otherwise, it is just flattering.”
Eventually, I was proven wrong in college where I met a few attractive men who turned out to be incredibly creepy weirdos (beware the Physiological Science grad students!).

Yeah, how people act is such a huge part of their attractiveness anyway. There was a guy a while back who I was kind of vaguely interested in, and he started coming on to me WAY too strong and throwing out barely-veiled sexual remarks whenever I was around. It took no time at all for me to completely lose interest.

You finished that hat pretty fast, btw! I will post some photos of arm-knitted things later on.

—

My little sister and I had kind of a crappy day yesterday. So we were sitting on the couch and lamenting, and I was watching the Pogue's Fairytale in New York video because sometimes I like to make myself even more sad(and also it's a great song). For whatever reason The Darkness' christmas song was in the related videos, and my sister had never heard of them. So I showed her a bunch of their videos and it totally cheered her up. :) And today I went out and bought a whole bunch of new yarn, which always makes me happy.
Hooray for happy things that make bad days less bad!

I'm awfully tempted to try knitting. As a child I was always amazed when my grandmother did it. Table covers, coats, etc… all from a couple spools of thick string.

Quack! I managed to fall on my tail bone this weekend… stupid stairs. Luckily nothing broke but the doctor couldn't rule out spraining or cracking or anything. The worst part is that everything hurts except standing or sitting. Oh well nothing that painkillers and comfy pillows can't handle.

in other unrelated news, I've turned in my thesis on male-circumcision…

Ahahahaha, Kawaii! "Jack the beanstalk! Ha!

————

Hippie, ah The Darkness were so cool before they went full hipster. :)
Back in the day with that Christmas song and all the rest, that was gold!

———–

Gullas? Circumcision? ooo… That's seriously your thesis subject? o_O
I hope your arse-bone recovers!

———–

Sooo, the 2013 DD rado play, The Third Duck, is halfway finished. This week's Quackcast had issues so I will have he play ready for Thursday instead of a Tuesday Quackcast. ^_^
It took this long to do because… life. It happened to DD and it happened to everything and I have a lot to do always. It can be hard to parcel out what creativity I have into neat bundles of productivity sometimes… But hopefully the play should be a cracker! I'm working hard on it.

gullas wrote:
Quack! I managed to fall on my tail bone this weekend… stupid stairs. Luckily nothing broke but the doctor couldn't rule out spraining or cracking or anything. The worst part is that everything hurts except standing or sitting. Oh well nothing that painkillers and comfy pillows can't handle.

Oh man, good luck. I hurt my tailbone when I was a preteen (I was pretending to be a mermaid on some rocks at the beach and slipped, lol) and it never really got better. I have to be careful about how I sit or it starts bothering me again. And I keep a cushion on my desk chair so it's a bit softer. It suuuuucks. Part of it might be my fault because when I'm not thinking about it I tend to sit rolled back a bit, though. So hopefully you fare better than I have!

@gullas
Ouch! Lucky for modern day homosapiens, we evolved to the point that the tailbone is vestigial thanks to our Cro-Magnon ancestors. I hope sleeping is not painful, unless you learn how to sleep while sitting or standing. You should take advantage of all those natural hot springs in Iceland and just soak for a day.
Re: Thesis subject- Congratulations on completing your paper! I am sure it will make the cut.

@ozoneocean
Two years of working in an elementary school has trained me to use toned down euphemisms for everything and anything.
I am exicted to hear this year's Radio Play. If it takes two days to complete it, then it will be worth it.

@Lonnehart
Just start knitting. I am sure you can buy some string and knitting needles somewhere in Guam. I know crocheting is very popular in the Philippines. Youtube is full of tutorials, etc.

@HippieVan
Yes!! New yarn is the best thing ever. Some brands are scented, some are super soft and others are coarse. I prefer worsted weight, natural/synthetic/blended, and inexpensive.
.::.

Most recently, I have been working on a yellow and gray scarf in the style of the early Harry Potter films. I wanted one ten years ago before I knew anything about crocheting, so I am now realizing a decade long dream. It also dawned on me that I would likely have been sorted into Hufflepuff, which is rad because I like the house colors and badgers are badass.

@Ozone and kawaii


I'm looking at it from a biological perspective and from religious-historical context. Mainly because it is not common here in Iceland nor are people fammiliar with it to begin with.

@hippewan
Well it's day three so either I've got more used to the pain of sitting down or it's actually turning a bit better.

Yay - the Radio Play's coming. THE RADIO PLAY'S COMING!!

@gullas - Glad it seems to be healing OK. I had a similar episode awhile back. I was walking down our wooden staircase one night, wearing socks, and slipped. The bump-de-bump bump (as I bounced down each step on my tail bone) brought the whole family running. They were aghast! I had been carrying a glass of red wine and it splashed all over the white walls. A scene from American Horror. The walls are now painted a light cinnamon and my tail is just fine.
So it's kind of an off-week when it begins with holing up in a hotel because a snow storm has drivers sliding around, stalling, losing traction. There was an 18-wheeler that had slid across the highway exit ramp to the bridge I needed to take from Delaware to NJ. Nobody was able to get off that highway for that bridge, and the 2 exit lanes had to merge back into the highway traffic, which was speeding along at 3 miles an hour because you just never knew when an accident was going to make it single lane traffic. Back roads were not an option, even if I knew the area.

So we got home yesterday, which made it feel like Sunday and I'm still not caught up with the calendar. Or my work. But no accidents!! so I feel like I'm ahead.

Kawaii, Katch is a real badger fan too :D
Nice scarf!

Gullas- the study of cockology! Hahaha, not my cup of tea… The circumcision thing is interesting though I suppose. From what I've read it's been part of a lot of religious practice, particularly Jews and Muslims, stemming from some primitive medical traditions. I think there are various African cultures that have some bizarre and painful male circumcision practices too that are religious/traditional with no medical/health origin.
And throughout the centuries it's been a part of medicine on and off because of venereal disease, and fashion.
According to the latest literature medical circumcision is one of the more effective practices at reducing the transmission rates of HIV in Africa.
That's what little I've heard about it anyway… For people and their relationship to it though it mostly comes down to their own experience with it- if it's unusual to them they don't like it. If they grew up with it it's normal.

I read on the Reykjavik Grapevine that Iceland and other Nordic countries feel very strongly about this issue that they are willing to fight for a ban. It is actually a current topic of debate. I think the main issue is if there are people from certain religions living in Iceland (I know that Sweden has an upsurge of new immigants) that would frown on a law outlawing one of their oldest practices and beliefs.

@ozone
It's actually the study of foreskin-ology ;) But basically that's what I found out although in the 18th century it resurged for men and women alike as a sort of remedy for mental ilnesses(for example masturbation) and backpain… And there are some more primitive tribes out there that have their own different methods. One is particularly brutal is where the foreskin is crushed “off”, that sometimes can lead to more bits getting squezed so in order for the boy to become somewhat more ‘acceptable’ in the tribe, a whole emasculation surgery/method has to be performed on him.


@kawaii
Yeah, both the head of pedatricans and the Children's Agent (a goverment agency deticated to the rights of children) here along with their similar representatives in Scandinavia recently signed a pretty harsh statement that condemns rutine ritual circumcision…

“Kroff Dinner!”
This is just too perfect. It captures the essence of how I imagine the Quackcast (at least when ozone's hair was longer).

Ugh, why are brains so stupid sometimes? I met a guy at a party a little while back who I really liked, but have no real way of meeting up with again (other than by chance, I guess). But my brain is like “Nooope, I love that guy and couldn't care less about the hundreds of other fellas you see every day at uni. This makes perfect sense.”

—

First exam tomorrow. I can't wait to get these over with and get on to Christmasy things instead of being cooped up and studying all the time!

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:

“Kroff Dinner!”
This is just too perfect. It captures the essence of how I imagine the Quackcast (at least when ozone's hair was longer).

Ahahahahaha! That's genuious! That is the two of us SPOT on! wow!

Oh, EVERYONE SHOULD CHECKOUT THE LATEST QUACKCAST!!! http://theduckwebcomics.com/quackcast/

—————

I know what you mean hippie… it's some primitive part of the brain that fixates on stuff, not just potential mates but everything else too, it's like: “WANT”
And it just obsesses… I get that with this this damn fetish for my perfect hussar uniform I have. Even though it has no practical aplication and I have no where to wear it, it's still “WANT” @_@
But with people, yeah, it's annoying. Probably best to ask for phone numbers or email or something if someone piques your interest, just in case. You don't have to contact them, but if your brain says you must then at least you have a way of doing it. And maybe just having a contact method will be enough to short circut the “want” fixation and you won't even get to the stage of calling them…

I'm going to use that as the default image for future Quackcasts!

kawaiidaigakusei wrote:
Re: Thesis subject- Congratulations on completing your paper! I am sure it will make the cut.

… you seriously wrote that? HILL-larious!

So the other night I had a dream where Ayesinback came to my house to demand I start working on the DD Radio play 2014. And I was like DD Radio Play 2014? And she said yes and showed me cover page. Right and why did I answer the door…

The things the brain comes up with sometimes.

As for obcessions? Yeah I jst blew $300 better spent on other things on more model kits. How do I mange to do this? Just have to have that kit! Yeah I just have to add that Grille ausf M to the collection.

bravo1102 wrote:
So the other night I had a dream where Ayesinback came to my house to demand I start working on the DD Radio play 2014. And I was like DD Radio Play 2014? And she said yes and showed me cover page.

A dream, ey? Did you ask Judy? You've been very tired … Reality blurs …


If I had time, motivation, even talent, I'd like to do a comic entitled Reality Blurs. It would be auto-biographical, bravo would show up every so often. Most of you would, popping out of Hippie's van like drunk ducks from a clown mobile. Why – that could be the next radio play! Not an omnibus. A Drunk Duck Clown Bus!

But what am I doing?! Let's not start talking about DDRP 2014 without a full obeisance to the DDRP 2013. Was it the anticipation, or was it The Best DDRP Yet? Either way: magnifico!!

— wildebeest obeisance

@gullas – not every place in the world has a fully stocked Phallological Museum http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/icelandic-phallological-museum. btw Ducks: if you want to google it, be sure to use Phallological or you could end up in places you may not want to be. I know whereof I write.
Quite a spiffy-looking museum; it makes one believe there's some communal interest in the subject matter overall. Is this why I think vikings are cocky? Or was it just the THOR flick? dunno


— more wildebeests, cavorting in the snow

I have the front, back, and one sleeve done of the sweater I'm knitting for my son's Christmas gift. Do I (again) forget about Christmas cards/letters and go all OCD to finish it with a slight chance of success, or just accept a lack of time (again) and get on with the season. dunno. dunno much (other than obscure trivia about world museums).