Cute Little Totoro

This entry is of not intended to interest anyone but myself. It is here only as a reminder to myself. You do not have to read it, in fact, I would advise against reading it. If you do, and are bored, too bad. You were warned.

March:
Big O Vol 6
Psychic Academy Vol 1

April:
X Inu Yasha Vol 17
Alice 19th Vol 4
X Hellsing Vol 2

May:
Yu Yu Hakusho Vol 4
Demon Diary Vol 7
Vampire Game Vol 6
Psychic Academy Vol 2
Hellsing Vol 3
Trigun Maximum Vol 1

June:
Alice 19th Vol 5
Inu Yasha Vol 18

July:
Vampire Game Vol 7

September:
Vampire Game Vol 8

Not much happening right now. Well, I'm not doing anything. A lot of things seem to be happening. There's a budget meeting going on in the other room, Kristian is installing the new code box, and Chaz and Hopie are repectivly playing and singing 90's hits with more enthusiasm that anything else, including knowledge of lyrics and chords. They're doing pretty good, though. Banji is doing something, possibly writing the SALT agenda.

I bought the pants. That's something, anyway.

I miss Laurie's chair. When I first moved into the house, a lot of Laurie's furniture was still in the room, which was nice, because I didn't have to sleep on the floor. One of the peices of furniture was a nice easy-chair sort of thing, which was soft, and covered in blue velvety stuff. It was very nice, especially it was much nicer than the half broken office chair that currently serves as the only non-bed seat in the room. But then she thoughtlessly moved her furniture into her apartment. Ah well. All life is suffering.

Wait, no it isn't. Never mind.

Hmm. Also, Josh Turner is cool, and so is Mindy Smith. And Dolly Parton.

Power to the people everyone! Choose my future! Rock the Vote!

Should I buy these pants?

Post votes in the comments section.

So I was wandering along the internet, looking for things to do, and suddenly I thought "hey, I'll look at people's blogs." And so I looked at people's blogs, because it was a good idea, or at any rate, not a bad idea. I do have bad ideas sometimes. Like being an engineering student for 2 years, and not writing a research paper last year for a class. Anyway, I was looking at blogs and I was like "jeez people, update a little more often." I was filled with rightous ire at those who had not posted blog entries since I checked blogs at ten this morning.

And then I realized that I had not updated my blog since yesterday. How dare I complain about people's lack of posting, when I myself was equally un-up-to-the-minute. I cried with shame, and vowed to write an entry posthaste. Then I went to the edit your blog page, and realized I had extremely little to say. Then, without remedying that situation, I started typing, and looked up "posthaste" at dictionary.com to make sure it meant what I thought it meant (it did), and you know the rest.

The rest is pathetic.

Friday I went out with my field methods class, and we studied the stratigraphy of St. Louis. Basically, that means we drove along the highway and stopped at those places where you can see rock. I don't know if you look at those a lot, but next time you're out driving and see one, think about what it would be like to be standing by those rocks in a pouring drizzle, looking at them. Just think about it. Looking at highway outcrop after highway outcrop of flatlying limestone, dolomite (like limestone, only not), and sandstone. The most interesting outcrop wasn't even on a wall, it formed the bottom of a dranage ditch that went along the side of the highway. That means that we literally went and looked at rocks in a gutter.

Good times.

In other news, one of the kitties at home, Annie, is blind in one eye. The lens has fallen forward. I don't know what that means, but it sounds gross, but it doesn't look like she's in any pain. Poor kitty, though.

I knew more than half of the IDs on the Immegrant Expirience exam. So that's good. I don't think I'll need to take the final for that class. Though I may very well go to my grave wondering what the heck "street money" is. But that's a small price to pay to be able to not take the two 4-6 page essays about something more boring than words can express take home test.

So that's all ok.

On the other hand, I have no idea how well I did on the Petrology exam. I may have gotten an 80. I may have gotten a 40. I just really have no idea. So I'm going to stop thinking about it until it comes back. If you really want more about it, check out the List.

The rest of this entry will be mostly written by people much more talented than myself. Which should be good.


On to things that rock. Things that aren't rocks. Ok Go is super cool, and if you have some sort of illeagal music thing, you should download their album. I especially recomend "Hello, My Treacherous Friends", lyrics below. This song is every bit as cool as the lyrics suggest.

Sitting for lunch in a square in this town
(this town that I'm new to),
new fellow from my new town sat me down
and explained it to me:
how when I spin from him I spin from myself,
the center can double the speed of the crust.
Thank you, my treacherous friends.
I'm cringing for myself when I cringe for you.

Hello, my treacherous friends,
and thank you for joining me here tonight.
I brought you all here to discuss, as I must,
how grateful I am for your insights.

With regard to my newborn arachnid kids,
there's something we must discuss:
perhaps we should sit them down and explain
how not to be saved.
Perhaps you could help me to demonstrate
how your center can keep up its sickening spin.
Thank you, my treacherous friends.
Perhaps for my children your surface will smile.

Hello, my treacherous friends,
and thank you for joining me here tonight.
I brought you all here to discuss, as I must,
the fate of my children, the spiders.

Hello, my treacherous friends,
and thank you for joining me here tonight.
I brought you all here to discuss, as I must,
how pleasant has been this demise

Isn't that great?

Next, this poem by G. K. Chesterton.

The Sword of Surprise

Sunder me from my bones, O sword of God
Till they stand stark and strange as do the trees;
That I whose heart goes up with the soaring woods
May marvel as much at these.

Sunder me from my blood that in the dark
I hear that red ancestral river run
Like branching buried floods that find the sea
But never see the sun.

Give me miraculous eyes to see my eyes
Those rolling mirrors made alive in me
Terrible crystals more incredible
Than all the things they see

Sunder me from my soul, that I may see
The sins like streaming wounds, the life's brave beat
Till I shall save myself as I would save
A stranger in the street.

That's it. You can go home now.

Well, first things first, the eleanorquantifier, cutelittletotoro, list of terror network just reached an imposing 100 visits. Woo hoo. Second, I'm 5 foot 4. Rory is about 5 foot 8, and Beth is a bit less than 5 foot 0. I'm am the average height for american women who spend too much time at the Rockwell House.

I'm also the hieght of the average american woman.

Cool coincidence, eh?

No, not really.

And by mean, I mean good, not, you know, cruel and bad spirited. It wasn't like that at all. There were games, and fun people, and refreshments. Indeed, a good time was had by all. And I saw three of the absolutly creepy/hilarious comercials in the world. They were on the internet, and I'll find them and show them to you later. Emily's cool roommate Crystal showed them to us.

I did some homework today. I never did figure out those norm calculations, though. I guess I'll just try again tomorrow.

Woo Hoo! My climb to world-wide fame has advanced another step! The wonderful Miss Melanie has put me one her list of people she wants to see again at least once before she graduates! Apparently I'm a hilarious Episcopal conservative.

Hurray!

I guess this means I should go to a CLA meeting sometime soon. I haven't been in months.

Oh well. Back to work. If anyone knows how to do CIPW norm calculations, let me know.

P.S. If you haven't noticed by now, the way to my heart is attention and compliments. Arrange your actions accordingly.

Emily's St. Patrick's day party is today. Today, or course, being the Feast of St. Joseph. So, we have little to do untill 9. Which is soon. But not now. Now is now. 9 o'clock is later than now.

Beth has pretty, soothing music. And she's cleaning. She seems to enjoy it.

Now she's put a video on my head.

This is the best.

I've updated my blog, which fullfilles my obligations to those of you who read my blog.

Especially since I don't think I have any actual obligations to you all to fulfill beyond those demanded by our common humanity.

Oh, and the new Witness is out. And it looks super good. It looks better than Stud Life.

Ah well. Good night.

Darcey is cool!

Mike talked about my blog! He gave it glowing praise! He's the best! If he weren't already on the top of my blog links list, he would be moved there. Maybe I can arrange something else. Like little "*"s by his name, or something. We'll see.

Beth, Rory, Kirsten and Cecily are also cool, becasue they left comments. Rory is somewhat less cool. But still cool.

I added the List for all to see. Leave comments on the List site if you wish to either protest your own or someone else's inclusion on the List, or to nominate someone for List-hood.

That is all.

After a quick check through my webstac account, I just discovered that what I thought was self-depreciating hyperbole was, in fact, almost entirely true. Read and marvel:

Fall 2000:
D+ - Accelerated Calculus I
Spring 2001:
F - Architectural History II: Architecture Since 1880
Fall 2001:
F - Differential Equations
Spring 2002:
D - Differential Equations
D - Engineering Mathematics
Fall 2002:
Withdrew from Present Moral Problems halfway through the semester.
Spring 2003:
D+ - Earth Forces
Fall 2003:
Lowest Grade was a C+, in Introduction to Geochemistry. Which is a great improvement, and the only reason for that "almost," above.

Oh, such a terrible student.

Of the things listed on the last post's to do list, I accomplished the following:

- I breathlessly awaited the coming of Rory and Beth

Oh yeah. Watch me suck. Maybe I should start calling this blog "ryan fails to satisfactoraly complete 1 class every semester." It certainly would be the most accurate summation of my college career to date. Exept for last semester. Where my lowest grade was a C+. Which the EPSc department considers passing.

Ah well. School isn't everything.

Stereonets are fun.

Ahhh. Such a lazy day. I just feel like lying here, not doing anything. Not doing anything is nice. I wish I could do it for a bit more of the day. But no, that cannot be. On the to do list for today:

- At least two of the four homework assignments I haven't done for Petrology. (Such a terrible student.)
- The homework for Earth Forces, which is either a problem set, or figuring out what my research paper is about and writing a paragraph-long description of it.
- Breathlessly await return of Beth and Rory.
- Begin memorizing the Greek alphabet.
- Change the newspaper in the birdcage.

That shouldn't be too bad, should it Or wait, maybe it will. I seem to remember that I didn't do those homework sets in the first place because they looked like they would take 3-4 hours to complete. Maybe I should take that Greek alphabet thing off.

Well, to cheer myself up, I'll list all the nice things that I did this week instead of the terrible school work I should have done:

- Obtained long awaited copy of Vampire Game Vol. 5 last Saturday
- Had a lovely dinner with Amy last Sunday
- Slept till 11 for the past few days.
- Had dinner with the lovely Miss Cecily on Friday
- Started silly blog.

Ah well, off to do the things I have to do.

Advising appointment at 9:00 Wednesday morning.

l love the belief-o-matic. It's so fun. I took it once pretending to be a chair. Chairs are siekhs. Rory, Beth and I took it for a Christmas tree. I forget what they are. I think Hindus.

Your Results:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.


1. Eastern Orthodox (100%)
2. Roman Catholic (100%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (95%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (86%)
5. Orthodox Quaker (84%)
6. Orthodox Judaism (71%)
7. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (69%)
8. Islam (65%)
9. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (63%)
10. Jehovah's Witness (58%)
11. Hinduism (57%)
12. Sikhism (49%)
13. Bahá'í Faith (45%)
14. Liberal Quakers (40%)
15. Reform Judaism (39%)
16. Jainism (35%)
17. Unitarian Universalism (29%)
18. Mahayana Buddhism (28%)
19. Theravada Buddhism (27%)
20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (25%)
21. Neo-Pagan (20%)
22. Scientology (20%)
23. Nontheist (18%)
24. New Thought (16%)
25. New Age (13%)
26. Secular Humanism (11%)
27. Taoism (9%)

And today's theme is BLUE! I just got very bored while watching tv, so I decided to play around with forces beyond my understanding, namely, the html code of this page. I have spent the last hour on this labor of love, and I'm quite pleased with the results. Really. I don't think it's the least overpoweringly blue. For the most part, I don't think it's too much because it's exactly the same color scheme as my computer desktop.

Which I thought was a bit much at first, but have gotten quite used to. If you don't like it, too bad. No one made you come here. Though if you leave a cogent enough argument in the comments section, I might change it. Or I might put you on the List.

On a totally unrelated note, Mike is the coolest ever. He has the illustrious distinction of being the first person who wasn't me or me pretending not to be me to leave a comment. And it was two comments! And I was right! Hurray! As soon as I remember how to put a links section in, I'll link to his lovely, much more serious and verbose, blog.

And finally, I'm not sure how many people know what the three person rule mentioned in yesterday's post is. Basically, it says that if three different people tell you something, then it has to be true. I have been trying to convince Beth of its validity for a while, because apparently it is my mission in life to convince Beth of the truth of things that are obviously untrue.

On another totally unrelated note, next time you see Beth, tell her that if three people tell her something, it has to be true.

I thought I would share this with you, my loving fans. Or at least with my eternal friend, cold, empty internet-land. These articles came out in the time before I had this lovely blog, so I was unable to show them off. These are the two most memorable things I have read in Stud Life ever (aside from the April Fools Day issue last year). Behold their majesty:

"Free Market"
This has got to be the most terrible, god-awful, idiotic article to ever besmirch the pages of our...um..."fine" student newspaper. This is even worse than a lot of the stuff in Southpaw. And surprise surprise, it was written by Shawn Redden. I think I'll just let you read it for yourself. But first, this excerpt:

"The idea that we have a 'free market' is nonsense. The apocryphal idea of its reality is doubtless the most dangerous illusion our society confronts, since it may lead the entire species to self-destruction.

Thanks to the 'free market,' we live in a Hobbesian world of war against ourselves, treating fellow citizens as enemies and competitors. "

"Gay Marrige Unconstitutional"

In contrast is this fine article, which not only expresses and argues for the position on gay marrige that I and a lot of people very different from me hold, but it is also written by none other than Roman Goldstien. I think that if Roman, Mike, Kevin Vallier and I all hold such similar (mind you, this may not be exactly Mike's position, but it sounds very much like what he has said in the past), that this situation is an excellent example of the the three person rule.

Also, catching up, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the concealed carry bill was constitutional. While I run the risk of alienating a good 75% of my friends and family by saying this, I am very happy about this.

That's all for now, boys and girls.

Kevin sent me this article from the Wall Street Journal. Someone seriously should make the Episcopal Church go sit in the corner and think about what it's done.

There is a special place reserved in Hell, or at least Purgatory, for those who correct the grammer and pronunciation of others without their consent.

I know I'll be there. And I'll deserve it, especially after reading the rest of these things.

I lack a Dantean genius, so all I can think of as a fitting punishment is a devil poking you (and by you, I mean me) with sharp sticks while shouting "NOOK-U-LAR!" and "I DID REALLY GOOD ON THIS TEST." But that seems to lack something. Something ironic. Maybe they'll make you talk a lot, and incessantly point things out in your speech, perhaps things that aren't even wrong.

Oh, it'll be great.

Yee-Haw! I have blog that is more than an inane and self-centered collection of away messages! This will be an equally inane, even more self-centered collection of poorly constructed sentences!

Rory will be so pleased!

And by pleased, I mean dissapointed!