Today, I have shredded in excess of four thousand pages of social security numbers, with still roughly five hundred or so that must be fed by my hand to that mechanical contraption that shares its name with that of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' arch-nemesis. It is an exceedingly tedious and boring and noisy task, but it keeps me from focusing on this gnawing pain in the pit of my gut.

Usually the hunger pangs don't set in until about 12:50PM, but today they were upon me even before 10:00AM. I think it's because I actually ate three meals yesterday (!), whereas I'm used to only eating once a day in the evening. (Sure, I suffer around midday, but eventually my stomach gives up its futile protest and the pain subsides.) But yesterday there was food! I never eat breakfast before I leave for work, but since yesterday was the last day for one of our employees, the staff put together a farewell continental breakfast for her. I got half a sweet roll and two cups of juice. Yesterday also happened to be the college's annual HOT DOG DAY (!), so while I don't eat beef hot dogs, I did enjoy a lunch consisting of a hot dog bun with ketchup and mustard in addition to some cookies and a soda. And then I went to TGIFriday's for dinner with my mom and my cousin, which also involved eating. Anyway, apparently my body got used to food and now it thinks it's supposed to receive nourishment several times a day. HA! I'm debating breaking open this bag of chips that I saved from HOT DOG DAY, but I don't want my stomach to get the impression that giving into its bellyaching will be a regular thing. (more...)

What's up with some of you people not having comments on your blogs? Or even posted e-mails -- like a certain Miz Omni? You've gotta have one or the other so I can tell you stuff! Sometimes I've got stuff to say about posts -- like the one about the intelligent telepathic parrot! -- that I can't say out in the open, so at the very least I could write something in the comments about how I actually wrote a story about a really smart parrot once, so e-mail me if you want to read it too, 'cause I think you'd like it! But then if I write that here, everyone will want to read it!

Ha, yeah right! Nobody wants to read my stories. 😛 (more...)

So over on TAB's blog in the comments section, in response to a comment from TAB regarding the shows he watches -- mostly animated fare, including "Justice League Unlimited" -- I asked why he hadn't included "Teen Titans" among his viewing list. I mean, it's in the same superhero show category and airs right before JLU (or at least it did before they broke in with episodes of "The Batman") -- and I kind of think of the shows as two parts of the same superhero viewing hour, so... yeah. Anyway, he pretty much responded that he didn't like the show because it's got an anime flavor to it -- and TAB doesn't like anime. Another of his readers then commented that he doesn't get into anime either, noting, with respect to the TT show, that he's used to the Titans as rendered by the comic book artists, so he finds their new animated appearance to be offputting. That (as noted below), I can understand. As for the rest, well, here's what I wrote: (more...)

So I finished reading Elizabeth Cook's Achilles today. Again, not bad, though I didn't quite get the part at the end with Keats (or, I kinda got it, but could've done without it and didn't think it added much to the book). And I learned a few things that I didn't know about the Trojan War -- for example, I thought Pyrrhus was a fucking badass and loved him when we translated select books from Virgil's Aeneid back in high school, but I never knew that he was the son of Achilles. And I didn't know much about Chiron at all -- interesting character, or at least Cook made him so. Good stuff.

Anyway, I was inspired to do a little reading (!), so here's the passage below as read by your buddy Wes.

When he had finished killing Hector the Myrmidons had each had a go, killing him again and again. They took it in turns to shove in a spear. Some jabbed; others wiggled, getting the feel of the man, till Hector's body, stripped of the armour he had stolen from Patroclus, was ugly, squelching pulp. Now all those wounds are sealed. Achilles has never seen a body so perfect. It has only one mark: a stain like a kiss at Hector's throat. (p. 42)

What do you think? Should I be reading books on tape? That would be an awesome job! Until next time, minna-san.

So I was browsing on eBay and I came across this...

...and it took. my. fucking. breath. away. Seriously.

Oh, precious Chun-Li, how I love you and lust after you! Alas, I cannot afford a woman of your surpassing beauty and 1/8th scale form! You're also too high maintenance, as your resin model kit comes unassembled and unpainted! And though I would devote all of my leisure to your successful completion, my love -- yes, I would make you whole! -- I doubt that I could ever make you look quite as beautiful as you do in the picture above. Adieu, my love, adieu! We shall not soon meet in this life.