Diamond Dreams

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August 29th, 2006

04:41 am - Stolen from a Laurenis
Hmmm..... I dunno, what do you think?

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

May 12th, 2006

05:52 pm - Thesis
Defended!!!

Progress has been made.

This makes me happy.
Current Mood:

ecstatic

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

December 14th, 2005

11:06 pm - Lifted with Love (12 Days of Christmas)
From deafskribbler

( Read more... )
Current Mood:

chipper
Current Music: Mannheim Steamroller

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

October 27th, 2005

09:55 am - Watch where you're going!
Obviously motor vehicle accidents abound. I would like to take this time to make a PSA.

Brought to you by anyone who is not braindead:

"When you are driving your big ass boat of a vehicle, make sure that you can see objects in your chosen direction of motion."

A few weeks ago I was in the drive thru teller of the bank, getting ready to make a deposit. I am at a stop, looking in my checkbook, when something catches my attention. I look up in time to see an SUV back into the front end of my car. The woman (*sigh* yes she was blonde) gets out, looks at me, looks at the car, looks back at me, and goes "I didn't see you, I thought you were the curb."

-Last I checked, curbs don't have crumple zones. Thank you for playing. Asshat.

Right now my car is in the shop getting fixed, and I am getting intimately acquainted with a Toyota Corolla in Lunar Mist (silver.....the color is frickin' SILVER..... just like my car is called sandalwood metallic.... it is GOLD). My baby will be in the shop for a minimum of 8 days. I need a complete cosmetic overhaul on the front end. A few grand in damage.

Yeah....her SUV.... scratched bumper. *sigh*

2 morals of the story:
1. Watch where you're going
2. Drive thrus are not made for backing up. That thru is supposed to be unidirectional.

More motor vehicle hijinks.
- The other day I almost got run over by a semi hauling a load of pigs. On some level I wonder if there was symbolism that I was missing, but I'm pretty sure it was just the guy being an idiot.

-This morning one of my students watched a woman get run over in the parking lot of our university. I do not have enough details yet. She's alive, but apparently not in great shape. Whether this was obliviousness or road rage I couldn't tell you. Given the parking situation here, road rage is a viable option. Given my experience......some form of terminal stupidity set in. Hopefully the woman will heal quickly, and my student won't get nightmares.

So.... even if other cars beep at you, or other drivers rage.... take the two seconds to look at where you are directing your vehicle.
Current Mood:

sleepy

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

June 24th, 2005

12:14 am - Fished from onesexiladee

diamonddreamer

Molly

Agility
8

Strength
9

Stamina
6

Battle Rating
23

Origins
diamonddreamer was hatched from an ancient egg, uncovered in the arctic

Fear my Molly!
Current Mood:

amused
Current Music: Crossfade - Cold

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

June 16th, 2005

08:40 pm - I just remembered why I don't like Texas
Hot hot hot!!!!

A/C is out. Condo is 91. Meh.

Will write more later. Coherent thought is pretty much a distant memory.
Current Mood:

uncomfortable

(Leave a comment)

June 10th, 2005

03:18 pm - Interesting short quiz

Current Mood:

amused

(Leave a comment)

June 8th, 2005

10:38 am - Tag... I'm it!
Tagged by

onesexiladee.

1. Favourite scent: Jessica McClintock, Bath and Body Works Ylang Ylang and Myrrh
2. Favourite way to relax: Reading, driving, giving backrubs
3. Favourite movie you own: The Princess Bride
4. Favourite movie/s you don't already own: Indiana Jones movies
5. Favourite male movie stars: Christian Slater, Johnny Depp, John Cusack, Brendan Fraser
6. Favourite female movie stars: Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts
7. Favourite book genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, romance (most things fiction, really)
8. Favourite clothing store: Lane Bryant, Torrid
9. Favourite non-clothing store: Best Buy, Any book store
10. Favourite cartoon character: Eeyore
11. Favourite CD you own: Stabbing Westward - Wither, Blister, Burn, and Peel, Pink Floyd - The Wall, October Project - self titled, The Cars - The best of the Cars.
12. Favourite CD you don't already own: Any spoken word by Henry Rollins that I haven't bought yet.
13. Not going to tag anyone. If you'd like to do this, feel free!
Current Mood:

content
Current Music: Lords of Acid - The Crablouse

(Leave a comment)

June 5th, 2005

07:50 am - Meme oh my
( well, some of it's true... )
Current Music: White Zombie: More Human than Human (Meet Bambi ... Mix)

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

07:24 am - Hell... a Quiz too

You Are 64% Pure

You have done it in the ass.

You have done it high on grass.

Dr. Seuss Purity Test

More Great Quizzes from Quiz Diva

Current Mood:

giddy
Current Music: White Zombie: Electric Head (Satan in High Heels Mix)

(Leave a comment)

07:10 am - Spring Cleaning
It was getting musty in here. A new paint job and new icons. Some new posts, and we're all spiffed up.

Who needs sleep anyway?
Current Mood:

awake
Current Music: Stabbing Westward - Angel

(Leave a comment)

06:19 am - Lifted from Some Guy....
MEMEMEMEMEME!

1. Comment with any subject that you would like me to rant about, with probable swearing involved.
2. Watch my journal for your rant (it may take a while).
3. Post this in your own journal, so that you may rant for others.

Thanks Anaudic.
Current Mood:

exhausted
Current Music: Stabbing Westward - So Far Away

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

05:18 am - Robbers in the Night...
Okay, so it worked to put the shitty music in my head.

How about some Music of the Night, and I can run through some mental Phantom bits....? Ah, much better.

Lifted this on a random search through friends of friends journals.

Not exhaustive in any way, just what I can remember or see in my office:
( Music File: A - Z )
I really am way more of a music whore than I thought.

Not sure if that's a good thing. Even if it's a good thing, it may be better for the industry than for me.
Current Mood:

guilty
Current Music: Mediaeval Babes: Alba

(Leave a comment)

02:01 am - One of these days...
I'm actually going to use this journal the way it was designed. I will again return to the digitizing of my memories.

( Negative Middle of the Night Ramblings )
Current Mood:

moody
Current Music: Chevelle - The Clincher

(11 comments | Leave a comment)

May 13th, 2005

10:26 pm - Moo-Vee Mee-Mee... Better than an Es-You-Vee
Heh, lifted this with no frills straight outta Compton.... well, from a buddy's LJ (almost the same thing, really :P).

How many movies have you seen?

( Movies Movies, Everywhere the Movies )
I have also seen a lot of movies NOT on this list. I am beyond a Movie Whore. I could probably hook an entire block.
Current Mood:

amused
Current Music: NIN - All the Love in the World

(Leave a comment)

03:57 pm - Use the force...
Whee...

Interesting... and no wonder I might be drawn to the darkside (joking, Cory). And that 38% chance of losing a limb is because they have a klutzy person using a DOUBLE-BLADED lightsaber.
Current Mood:

bitchy
Current Music: Police - Invisible Sun

(Leave a comment)

May 7th, 2005

04:30 am - Almost There
Almost the end of the semester. Almost done with most of the gargantuan pile of crap I had to do. Always almost. And I'm still behind. I was supposed to be done with the online quizzes four hours ago.

So I took a quiz while waiting for the server to come back up, and it made me feel a little bit better about myself, for no apparent reason:

Your SAT Score of 1340 Means:

You Scored Higher Than Howard Stern

You Scored Higher Than George W. Bush

You Scored Higher Than Al Gore

You Scored Lower Than David Duchovny

You Scored Lower Than Natalie Portman

You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the 130-140 range

Equivalent ACT score: 30

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score:

College of William and Mary

New York University

Boston College

United States Naval Academy

University of California, Berkeley

What Does Your SAT Score Mean?

Current Mood:

nauseated

(Leave a comment)

April 27th, 2005

07:20 pm - Oh yeah.... I did it! Now I just gotta keep doing it
Well, I passed my Comprehensive Exam.

And I passed with flying colors. Not that it means anything, since the exam operates on a pass/fail system. Although it did make me feel better to know. And doing so well makes up for last summer, when I did not pass. This also means I don't have to go through scary oral comps.

I ended up with a 3.66 total... which comes out to somewhere in the nature of an A-. My lowest grade from any grader was a B. You only need a 2.5 to pass.

The director of the MA program said that people only have a "high pass," or a score over 3.5, about once a year. So it proves to the professors (and myself) that I am a good candidate for the program, and that I took the previous problem seriously, and corrected for it.

Now if I can just get off my ass about thesis and I'll be happy. I have new revisions to make. Will hopefully do those in the next two days.

So... my to do list for the next week:

( Oh my God, look at the time! )
Current Mood:

busy
Current Music: Is that the tow truck with AAA to change the tire?

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

April 20th, 2005

12:13 pm - The World Around Me
Most days I settle for being unhappy with myself.

Other times, I look around me and realize that certain occurrences scare me silly.

I joke to make things seem less threatening, and yet at times there is a darkness, a deep well of mournful sadness that no amount of laughter can dispell.

Human beings have a capacity for injuring each other that is matched by no other creature on Earth. Such torture, sadism, and pure glee at the sight of another's pain should be unnatural. And yet it is as integral to us as breathing. Even nice people can have the whisper of a thought. Passing faster than the blink of an eye. "I feel justified" or "Well, they got what they deserved." And in that moment we feed the demons that we all possess. Some of us embrace those thoughts, let them swell like perverted desires. Others find ways to compensate. Maybe we do something nice, either for the person we had the nasty thought about, or another "neutral" being. Maybe we even do something completely "selfless." Volunteer to help out people in bad situations. Sometimes we just listen.

In that quiet moment we can be more than the sum of our negative thoughts. We can become as brilliant and benevolent beings. Just as the darkness touches something in our souls, a "Not me" quality that most seek to hide from, the light can reveal a positive compassion. Just as we can reach depths that no other creature is capable of, I think we can stretch above ourselves in the same fashion.

So many things could be settled, so many problems and miscommunications could be avoided if we just listened to one another. Not the pretence of listening. Not that stupid garbage of parry and riposte, where you merely gauge another's speech looking for an opening. Then you thrust in a return, without weighing the true meaning of the thoughts behind the words. As sentient beings, who want others to love us, to care about us, to respect us.... how can we demand or feel entitled to that which we will not show others?

Although I'm not trying to preach religion, or some light fantastic, it was some religious material that set me off.

I'm not a good Catholic.

I never claimed to be.

But the new Pope is a Nazi, and I have some serious issues with that.

Okay... he was "required" to join the Nazi Youth Corps. But he was directly a member of the Nazi party for at least four years of his life. A participation that ended because of the close of WWII, and not because he managed to separate himself from the group. Maybe on some level I just cannot let go of my own need to judge others. But it seems to me that the Catholic "mouthpiece of God" should have been able to fight a little bit harder, push a little bit more..... to get out of something so wrong. And in the wake of a Pope who had to apologize for the Church's involvement (or silent acceptance) in the atrocities that occurred, does this really seem like such a bright decision?

Then again this is the same religion that ridicules same sex alliances. Claims to broadcast the "truth" when it's all really more a matter of perception anyway. Lists as one major part of the etiology of homosexuality as "loneliness," effectively ignoring the fact that millions of lonely people out there are as straight as a freshly planed 2x4. That most people facing rejection and solitude don't question their sexual orientation, they tend to question their personality restrictions on a partner.

So... today is one of those days where I step out of my discontent with myself, and face a broader unhappiness with the world around me. There is hope out there for the human race.... and yet sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't rather shoot ourselves in the collective foot than reach for that hope that hovers just before us.

And the silence of this contemplation reveals no answers.
Current Mood: