Random thoughts

[Garren Jacobsen]

I saw one really tiny (like three inches) scorpion once in school. It accidentally got squished during a rehearsal. There were a lot of animal lovers that were absolutely heartbroken that such a creature had died. So, I made dead scorpion jokes the rest of the day (some of them may have been Mortal Kombat related).

As an aside, let me just say driving is by far the most rage inducing experience one deals with on a daily basis where I live. (THE SPEED LIMIT IS 70 NOT 50 @#$@%@$%!). Sorry flashback from...today.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Any bug that whose length can be expressed in inches plural is not tiny. Especially if it stings.

I once saw one of these when picking up my daughters at preschool:

That black needle thing that goes off-screen is ~3 inches long!

…and used for gathering sap or something. Not stinging. But unfortunately for the megarhyssa, I didn't know it was harmless to humans. My reaction to its presence was… not harmless.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I'm doing some work on vote by mail and its various effects on voting and elections (sorry if this treads too close to politics) but it made me realize that we could make voting as simple as thinking and people still wouldn't vote. And that makes me kind of sad for various reasons.

 

[Tom]

Urg. Today was not the best day.

I got really mad about a guy who hangs around the edges of my circle of friends at school. This kid has been bugging us all year. He insults everyone, tries to pick fights, makes suggestive comments about the female members of our group, and mocks me about my gender identity and sexual orientation.

Today I was too tired to think up any comebacks to his comments, so I just had to sit there and grind my teeth. (I tried to pull an all-nighter to study last night, but ended up falling asleep with my head on my keyboard at 3.) Nobody bothers to confront him because he's all talk and no real fight, but I'm sick of putting up with his sh*t. I'm going to kick his scrawny ass the next time I see him.

 

[Ireth]

I am SO GLAD it's Thursday night. Dad's home from work now, so I won't have to bear the brunt of sibling-sitting duties for the next few days. It's been a long week. x_x

 

[Tom]

I'm still discovering aspects of my synesthesia that leave me baffled. The other day, I was talking to someone in my math class. We were discussing multiplication, and the tricks for remembering different numbers' tables. I was complaining about seven, and I said something like, "Seven doesn't have a logical pattern, the little b******. He's so unpredictable."

It just sort of...slipped out of my mouth. The other person sort of stared at me, and asked, "Why did you call seven 'he'?"

Up until that point, I had no idea that I had assigned genders, personalities, and associations to numbers. Once that comment called attention to it, I started noticing myself doing it all the time. I also, for the first time, drew out my number form, and realized how insane my idea of numbers is. :O And for years I thought this was how everyone saw the world. This...this is almost mind-blowing, guys.

P.S. Here's a number form, for anyone who doesn't know what it is:

 

[Philster401]

That's weird i always thought if 7 as feminine because of it's the lucky number and lady luck.

 

[ThinkerX]

The daughter and I got back from my niece's wedding a little while ago. After my brother escorted said niece down the aisle, gave her away, and the ceremony concluded, I turned to the daughter (she's 23, probably in the same age range as Ireth and Chesterama) and asked:

'How long before I give you away?'

'Daddy, that's real unlikely. I'm probably going to be a crazy cat lady.'

'Daughter, you can't stand the cats we have.' (She's brought home three fur balls over the past few years, we have two left).

'Well, then I'll collect some other sort of animal. Birds, maybe. I can knit little sweaters for penguins.'

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

That's weird i always thought if 7 as feminine because of it's the lucky number and lady luck.

And that's why 7 must be MALE--the song "Luck Be A Lady Tonight," clearly indicating that Luck is a guy every other night.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I think I understand why there are so many sci-fi/fantasy novels that use an army of really big sentient bugs as enemies. They are relentless horror beasts that deserve nothing but death when they invade my territory and try to steal my food. Recently ants have decided to invade my apartment. We're currently baiting them and I hope that works. That first night I felt like the incredible Hulk. "BRIAN SCOTT ALLEN SMASH!" I hate ants in my house, but I let them live if they're outside and not a threat to anyone. But once they enter my house they have violated my sovereign territory. And like any good sovereign I injure my enemies so that they may not retaliate against me.

By the end of the week future antly generations will sing the Rains of Antemere to commemorate this colony's death!

 

[Tom]

That's weird i always thought if 7 as feminine because of it's the lucky number and lady luck.

Well, it's different for everybody, and the way synesthetes see things doesn't always line up with general perceptions. Sometimes it's funny--I'll see a kids' cartoon or something that anthropomorphizes numbers, and I'll do a double take and think, "That's not right--6 is feminine!" or something like that.

Here's the first ten numbers and their genders:

1--androgynous
2--feminine
3--masculine
4--masculine
5--feminine
6--feminine
7--masculine
8--masculine
9--feminine
10--sometimes masculine, sometimes androgynous

 

[buyjupiter]

I think I understand why there are so many sci-fi/fantasy novels that use an army of really big sentient bugs as enemies. They are relentless horror beasts that deserve nothing but death when they invade my territory and try to steal my food. Recently ants have decided to invade my apartment. We're currently baiting them and I hope that works. That first night I felt like the incredible Hulk. "BRIAN SCOTT ALLEN SMASH!" I hate ants in my house, but I let them live if they're outside and not a threat to anyone. But once they enter my house they have violated my sovereign territory. And like any good sovereign I injure my enemies so that they may not retaliate against me.

By the end of the week future antly generations will sing the Rains of Antemere to commemorate this colony's death!

Combined with the buggy post I wrote, I think we have the calling card of oh it must be Spring.

Remember, flame throwers are ALWAYS an option.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Remember, flame throwers are ALWAYS an option.

Don't tempt me or my wife.

 

[Devor]

At our first apartment, in the few months before we had children, a bug bomb went off right across the hall from us, and overnight we had a thousand black roaches move in. They scuttled under a crack in the door and were all over the floor, the cabinets, the food, the walls, some of the furniture. I remember huddling in our beds with that jittery sort of terror trying to figure out what to do about it. The welcome mat still makes my foot hesitate sometimes.

I don't even remember how we got rid of them. It must've been some sort of over the counter poison because we didn't call anyone. But that was a horror I won't be forgetting.

 

[skrite]

At our first apartment, in the few months before we had children, a bug bomb went off right across the hall from us, and overnight we had a thousand black roaches move in. They scuttled under a crack in the door and were all over the floor, the cabinets, the food, the walls, some of the furniture. I remember huddling in our beds with that jittery sort of terror trying to figure out what to do about it. The welcome mat still makes my foot hesitate sometimes.

I don't even remember how we got rid of them. It must've been some sort of over the counter poison because we didn't call anyone. But that was a horror I won't be forgetting.

oh....dear....God!

 

[Tom]

That is like...nightmares upon nightmares. But you survived to tell the tale! Good job!

 

[Devor]

I remember looking at the alarm clock that night wondering how it got to be 9 pm, only to shriek as a black thing ran across the numbers and revealed the rest of the 8.

I just have to wonder how the people across from us lived before their bug bomb.

 

[Mars Enyalios]

A friend and I talked today about the Hugo awards catastrophe and I came to the conclusion that a lot of people are rude and insensitive.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Devor, I think your cockroach story scared Mars' avatar.

 

[BronzeOracle]

That cockroach story is hideous - like something out of Indiana Jones! :/