The Wiley Workings of a SooooperGenius

Hi, guys!

We here at work got back into the Harry Potter world today with a post DH-story about J.K. Rowling. She apparently took questions during a 90-minute web chat about what she thinks happened to her characters between the end of the story and the epilogue, and here it is:

BTW, we were kind enough to put a spoiler alert in the story so I can't help but do the same thing here:

( DH SPOILER ALERT )

I start screenwriting classes in Sept! We'll see where this goes, huh?
On a completely different note, I managed to flood our basement this weekend by using hooking up a defective water hose to a lawn sprinkler, in the process soaking my copy of Spawn #1. Of course, I also destroyed the carpet and part of the wall, but MY SPAWN #1 is ruined!
Woe is me.

It's a slow writing day here today, so I'm going to play too!

Set your iPod to shuffle and use the songs that come up for each part of your movie soundtrack:

Opening Credits: "Barcarolle" Jacques Offenbach
Starting out with classical music, huh? Must be an opening scene of wide fields, expansive forests and rolling hills leading up to a house in the country, with herds of horses galloping about grassy hills and a lazy puppy napping on the porch ... I mean, gotta use classical music for the nature shot, right?

Waking Up: "Limelight" T.I.
Ooo, and I'm famous too! I like this movie already!

Falling in Love: "Mojo Hand" Lightnin' Hopkins
Okay, first bad sign. I'm falling in love with a woman I need to do some voodoo on make sure she says faithful. Hmmmm. But hey, I know voodoo! That's got to be a plus, right? And I got a love spell right here ...

Fight scene: "Through The Storm" Yolanda Adams
Gospel music for the fight scene. Either I'm getting my ass kicked so badly they're having to pray for my survival, or it's one those slow motion scenes where you can see the spit fly out of the mouth as the blows land. On second thought, it just doesn't work, does it?

Breaking up: "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" Leo Sayer
A happy breakup? It must have been the little woman who was kicking my ass.

Getting back together: "Always And Forever" Heatwave
With her? After that ass-kicking? Wow. But hey, the song says "Always and Forever." Why can't I get rid of her?

Secret Love: "My Man" Billie Holiday
And she had a secret lover, one of those bad boys, on top of being able to kick my ass? Why didn't she just leave? I mean, voodoo isn't real anyway, right?

Life's okay: "This Will Be" Natalie Cole
Ok, I get it. This is one of those "beware of what you ask for" movies. She's stalking me, talking about an everlasting love. I'm going to dump her. If she doesn't get the hint, I'm going to really have to do something nasty to her.

Mental breakdown: "Ain't Got No/ I Got Life (Take 3 )" Nina Simone
Yep, I'm cracking up. She's ruined me. Burned my car, shot my dog, ruined my credit, and now she had me committed. I'm counting all the things that I don't have. Call the guys in white coats. All I got is life. Guess I should be happy with that, but somehow I'm feeling a little crazy.

Driving: "That's What Friends Are For" Dionne Warwick with Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder
Oh, good. Some friends have come to rescue me from this insane asylum. You know, the food here wasn't that bad.

Flashback: "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" John Harford
Okay, instrumental music here. That means I'm telling my friends about how horrible the insane asylum was. It's all in black-and-white, and it's horrible. Really? They made me eat Jell-O. Don't people know what's in that stuff? What's that? She visited me in the loony-bin? What's that funky looking doll she's shaking? Why didn't I immediately remember this?

Partying: "Love Me In A Special Way" DeBarge
Oooo, a slow dance at the party. That means things must be looking up for me on the romance front with another woman. "No, my brother. You've got to get your own."

Happy dance: "Body And Soul" Etta James
Hmmm, not really jumping for joy music. Maybe it's a happy slow dance? That's it! The woman I've been pining over the whole movie is now in my arms and singing to me. Yes! I knew it would turn around.

Regretting: "Thank You For The Music" ABBA
That damn woman who kicked my ass and threw me in the insane asylum trashed my piano, damn it! I won't miss her, but she could sing. I'll take that with me as I move into my new life.

Long night alone: "Harlem Shuffle" Bob & Earl
Okay, I'm out purging her from my system with a little boogieing down at the juke joint. I'm a movin' to the left, a movin' to the right, just jamming my old life away.

Death scene: "Pink Cashmere" Prince
Oh, my God. She died. I left her at home while I was out doing the Harlem Shuffle, and my ex came by and something happened. It was that voodoo love spell from the beginning of the movie. It backfired and that's why the ex has been stalking me and making my life a living hell the whole movie. It's all my fault.

End credits: "Chain of Fools" Aretha Franklin
Perfect ending. She's not really dead. She's coming back. She says she'll be with me, forever ....



Man, that turned dark quickly, huh? Got to the end, and only had to change three lines to make it all fit. Yeesh. Gotta lay off the horror books.

I've watched only a couple of episodes, but I don't know if I want to think that I'm her!

You scored as President Laura Roslin. You may be ill but you have a job to do. Fate has put you in a powerful position by accident, but it turns out you are damn good at it. You are no warrior, but in the political arena you are without peer. </td> President Laura Roslin 88% Capt. Lee Adama (Apollo) 69% Number 6 63% Dr Gaius Baltar 63% CPO Galen Tyrol 63% Tom Zarek 50% Lt. Kara Thrace (Starbuck) 44% Lt. Sharon Valerii (Boomer) 25% Commander William Adama 25% Col. Saul Tigh 13% What New Battlestar Galactica character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Spoilers for HBP.
( Read more... )

Part Two!
I was wondering what they meant in HBP when they said Amelia Bones died nastily ...

( A Taste of Armageddon, Part II )

Four day weekend coming up, so I'm going to try something new. Hope it works!


( A Taste of Armageddon )

( Fur and Film )

( Interview )

I know it's a little late, but here's my next contribution.
I have a good excuse for being late, though, having just suffered through a toothache and an unfortunate goat shooting all during Thanksgiving week (don't ask )...

Setting: Pre-SS

( Pets )

my contribution, a Hermione fic set pre-Goblet of Fire ...
( Holiday )

I admit it. I'm a MacAddict.
Bought my new PowerBook yesterday with Tiger and decided to go pick it up during lunch. I then proceed to spend much of the rest of the day thinking about my new Powerbook, playing with my new Powerbook or thinking about playing with my new Powerbook. Sigh.

Not overwhelmingly impressed with Tiger yet, but I can see how it could be useful down the road. Haven't really had chance to use Spotlight, Dashboard or the new iChat AV yet, so don't now how good those features are yet.

But I am impressed with how the new Powerbooks look and feel. Wow. The 15-inch Aluminum is heavier than my old 15-inch Titanium, but the speakers inside it are so much better, and it's a lot faster and not as flimsy-feeling as the older one. But I'm keeping the older one so I can use it as storage and maybe a server somewhere down the road, since it runs both OS 9 and OS 10. The new ones can't run OS 9, and I really don't want to give up my old software, just in case.

Haven't had chance yet to play with the SuperDrive or burn any DVDs, but I'm really looking forward to it.

One small gripe, though. They tell you you can quickly transfer all of your files from one computer to the other with the Firewire cable. I couldn't, and Apple couldn't tell me over the phone in a two-hour conversation how to make it work. Luckily for me, I have a 20 G Firewire hard drive that I could use to transfer all of my music from one computer to the other. Took a while to figure out why it wasn't working, though. It was that retractable Firewire cable that we were trying to use with it. I changed the firewire cable to a non-retractable one, and poof. all of the music transfered with no problem.

Tonight I'll add all of my programs back to it and we're off and running. No excuse not to finish writing my stuff now...

And here's the final time out of the 382 participants: I finished #342 at a time of 38:45. According to the timing chip they make you wear around your ankle, I was running a 12:29/mile pace. Not bad for my first race!

I was totally whipped for the rest of Sunday, though. Ate breakfast at IHOP after the race, did a little grocery shopping, spent the rest of the day in bed or on the couch. But I finished! Yay!

Pray for me.
On Sunday morning, at about 7:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, I will compete in my first track event since 5th grade.
It's just a 5K. It's only 3.1 miles. It's a mostly flat course down a beautiful stretch of the Potomac River.
But I think I'm having anticipatory pains already. My knees hurt, my joints ache and my back is cramping. And I'm still two days out!
It shouldn't be too bad, though. I've run as far as 4 miles in the training program, including uphill and into the wind and sand on the beach.
And hey! I once danced the samba for 7 miles, dammit! I scaled Mount Fuji in a typhoon! I've fled in terror from a 2,000 pound bull! I can stand 30 minutes worth of jogging with a crowd of 300+ people, right?
Somehow, though, the idea is worrying me. (It doesn't help that Carol is running the 10-miler on the same course, starting 7 miles behind me. If she catches up to me, not as unthinkable as most people may think, I'll be mortified)
My only goal is to finish, though. I'll worry about how long it takes me to finish at the next race. (See, see, I'm already planning to run another! That's good, isn't it?)
Thank goodness for iPods, though. I've found that my iPod is the best way to ensure I don't think about how much pain I'm in. Got some inspirational music on there (theme to Superman, the movie, "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang, and stuff like that) With it, I'm sure I'll cross the finish line.
How will I feel the next day? that's a whole 'nother question.

This city has the ability to ruin absolutely everything.
We get a baseball team, something that should be a joyous event, right? So what do the police do? They decide two nights before the first baseball game that they're going to re-zone all of the streets in our neighborhood. And if you don't have a brand new zoning sticker the night of the game, they're going to tow your car from in front of your house.
Now normally, I wouldn't mind not having baseball suburbanites cruising around the neighborhood looking for free parking. But giving us 2 days to get a sticker before getting towed is a little much. And how did they they tell us about this new zoning? A letter perhaps? A flyer in the mailboxes? Radio announcements?
NONE OF THE ABOVE.
They didn't tell us. The only way I found out about this was that my next door neighbor, a law student, happened to be at home when the signs went up, and went out to ask. She then e-mailed the neighborhood and we all rushed down to get stickers.
Luckily, I got stickers for all three vehicles, but now I have to get the Mustang fixed because the sticker's invalid if you don't have city plates and inspection stickers. I never changed the Mustang from the permanent Mississippi classic plates.
ARGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I don't have time for this. But I guess I'll make time today. It's my fault for letting the Mustang just sit around for the last year. Now I have to pay money to get it towed to a Mustang restoration shop, where it'll be about a year before they can get around to it.
ARRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH.
(It would be a lot better if I hadn't gone down to Daytona Beach on the COLDEST day of the spring so far. Everyone kept saying, "But it was so beautiful last week!" as I struggled through 30 MPH winds to buy hooded sweatshirts just to be able to go out to the beach).

Sigh. I feel better now. Must go get car taken care of.

UPDATE:
After spending from 11 a.m. through 2:30 p waiting on tow truck, inflating tires and finding appropriate keys, the Mustang is now safely parked at the Mustang restoration shop. I won't see it again until it's running and ready to be registered and properly titled. The house just doesn't look the same now without it.
Will take any ideas on how to make parking officials' lives a living hell now.

I had to share this...

I'm sitting in a press conference with Arlen Specter, who is losing his hair because of chemotherapy for his Hodgkin's disease. I am, (with my freshly shaved head, btw), sitting in the front row directly in front of him, when he stops talking about the Patriot Act and goes down this tangent:

"I have been debating whether I should shave my head or not," Specter said. "I've decided not to, but nature may answer that for me. Every day I take a look, and as I get another one of these torture treatments -- talk about torture -- you ought to get one of these torture treatments."

He then looks me directly in the eyes and said, "So every day I look at it and I'm closer to your situation."
The reporters in the room laugh.

Specter goes on: "I'll never be as good looking as you, but one part of our anatomy will probably be pretty close the next time I appear here."

Okey-dokey.

So, I'm sitting at our downtown office watching television when one of our secretaries transfers a call to me. It's this guy who wants to know the name of the woman Michael Schiavo has been living with for the last few years.
I politely tell him that I don't know the name of the woman, and suggest he call a newspaper in Florida.
He then starts this rant over why the media hasn't reported that Mr. Schiavo is an adulterer, and that Terri Schiavo could live if she just filed for divorce.
I say, "excuse me, sir. I don't think Mrs. Schiavo has filed for anything over the last 15 years. And if the media hasn't reported that Schiavo is living with another woman, where did you hear it?"
He goes: "Uhh, I heard it on TV."
I say: "Thank you for your call, and have a nice day." Click.
Sigh. I love the public.

What made me think of this? This true story from a 911 tape in California:

Dispatcher: Sheriff's department, how can I help you?

Woman: Yeah, I'm over here . . . I'm over here at Burger King right here in San Clemente.*

Dispatcher: Uh-huh.

Woman: Um, no, not San Clemente; I'm sorry, I live in San Clemente. I'm in Laguna Niguel, I think, that's where I'm at.

Dispatcher: Uh-huh.

Woman: I'm at a drive-through right now.

Dispatcher: Uh-huh.

Woman: I went . . . I ordered my food three times. They're mopping the floor inside, and I understand they're busy . . . they're not even busy, okay, I've been the only car here. I asked them four different times to make me a Western Barbeque Burger. Okay, they keep giving me a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and cheese, onions, and I said, "I'm not leaving . . ."

Dispatcher: Uh-huh.

Woman: I want a Western Burger because I just got my kids from Tae Kwon Do, they're hungry, I'm on my way home, and I live in San Clemente.

Dispatcher: Uh-huh.

Woman: Okay . . . she said, she gave me another hamburger; it's wrong. I said four times, I said, "I want it to go. Can you go out and park in front?" I said, "No, I want my hamburger right." So then the . . . the lady came to the manager. She . . . well whoever she is, she came up and she said, um, she said, um, "Do you want your money back?" And I said, "No, I want my hamburger. My kids are hungry and I have to jump on that toll freeway." I said, "I am not leaving this spot," and I said, "I will call the police," because I want my Western Burger done right! Now is that so hard?

Dispatcher: Okay, what exactly is it you want us to do for you?

Woman: I . . . send an officer down here. I . . . I want them to make me . . .

Dispatcher: Ma'am, we're not gonna go down there and enforce your Western Bacon Cheeseburger.

Woman: What am I supposed to do?

Dispatcher: This is . . . this is between you and the manager. We're not gonna go and enforce how to make a hamburger; that's not a criminal issue. There's . . . there's nothing criminal there.

Woman: So I just stand here . . . so I just sit here and [block]?

Dispatcher: You . . . you need to calmly and rationally speak to the manager and figure out what to do between you.

Woman: She did come up, and I said, "Can I please have my Western Burger?" She . . . she said, "I'm not dealing with it," and she walked away. Because they're mopping the floor, and it's also the fact that they don't want to . . . they don't want to go through there . . . and . . . and . . .

Dispatcher: Ma'am, then I suggest you get your money back and go somewhere else. This is . . . this is not a criminal issue. We can't go out there and make them make you a cheeseburger the way you want it.

Woman: Well . . . that is . . . that . . . you're supposed to be here to protect me.

Dispatcher: Well, what are we protecting you from, a wrong cheeseburger?

Woman: No . . .

Dispatcher: Is this like . . . is this a harmful cheeseburger or something? I don't understand what you want us to do.

Woman: Just come down here. I'm not . . . I'm not leaving.

Dispatcher: No ma'am, I'm not sending the deputies down there over a cheeseburger. You need to go in there and act like an adult and either get your money back or go home.

Woman: She is not acting like an adult herself! I'm sitting here in my car; I just want them to make my kids a . . . a Western Burger.

Dispatcher: Ma'am, this is what I suggest: I suggest you get your money back from the manager and you go on your way home.

Woman: Okay.

Dispatcher: Okay? Bye-bye.

every once in a while, I run across Web sites that I just have to share.

www.gullible.com (they swear every fact is true)


February 24, 2005

• Aldrich Hutchins, was born in 1943, with 18 toes, more toes than any other person on record.

• Blue pens outnumber black pens by a four to three margin.

• Watermelons have an odd number of seeds 82 percent of the time.

• Worldwide, four out of five English speakers don't know the difference between "affect" and "effect."

• 79 percent of the world's population has never used a computer.


February 23, 2005

• 78 percent of bird species do not associate in groups, casting doubt on the adage, "birds of a feather flock together."

• Worldwide, most people get their hair cut every 6.2 weeks.

• Chalk dust is the number one cause of allergic reactions among teachers.

• The average person infected with the flu will spread it to nine people.

• Every year, the Halloween season sees an 11 percent increase in the sale of toilet paper.


February 22, 2005

• One in six Irish-Americans has spent a night in jail, compared to one in nine non-Irish.

• The idea of using music to communicate with extraterrestrials in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" came from 1960s-era anthropological experiments attempting to communicate with culturally insulated tribes using music.

• The role of Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" was written for Spencer Tracy.

• The most feared of the Gestapo inquisition squads was run by a man named Jurgen Grump. Captain Grump personally carried out over 70 raids on perceived dens of insurgency before he himself was hanged for treason in 1938.

• Bolivia is the only South American country that does not export tobacco products to the United States.

I had a Bree Van DeKamp moment when I read this. Poor Rex better watch out for what he asks for ...


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ A woman upset about an impending breakup with her boyfriend cut off his penis and flushed it down a toilet, police said. Utility workers recovered the severed organ, and surgeons reattached it.

Kim Tran, 35, was arraigned on charges of assault, domestic violence and tampering with evidence. She remained jailed in Anchorage, with no bail set.
Police spokeswoman Anita Shell said the injury to the 44-year-old man was "brutal, brutal."

The couple was arguing Saturday because the man, whose name was not released, wanted to end the year-old relationship, Shell said. The pair decided to have sex, and the man agreed to have his arms tied to a window handle above their bed. The woman pulled out a kitchen knife and severed his penis, police said.

After flushing the organ down the toilet, she drove the man to the hospital and helped him to a nurses' station, Shell said. Police, summoned by a hospital worker, found Tran at the couple's home cleaning up the blood, Shell said.

Water utility workers retrieved the penis, and police said surgery to reattach it was successful.

It's a slow day, so I thought I'd play along with Yahtzee63. Here's my list:

Ten Things I've Done Other People Might Not Have

1. Played a carillon on New Year's Eve at 3 a.m.
2. Been warned to evacuate the side of Japan's Mount Fuji because of a typhoon.
3. Been inside the Oval Office with a U.S. president.
4. Witnessed a state-sanctioned double execution.
5. Been cursed at by a major author for not reading her books, and upon cursing her later in the day, found out the person I was talking to was her grandson.
6. Been a passenger aboard Air Force One.
7. Hit the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency in the head with a golf ball.
8. Voluntarily got aboard a shrimping vessel and sailed out during an Atlantic Coast hurricane.
9. Danced the samba for seven miles as part of a Mardi Gras parade
10. Been hugged (and purred at, by request) by Eartha Kitt

I'm not dead.
Didn't get chance to get a good, ricin-filled breath this time, but what a way to spend a week...They actually called me in piano class Monday night to go back to the Capitol in case people were falling out dead.
But all clear on this end. No Cipro for me this time!
Will be sending more Hawaii pictures, and some piano recitals pictures soon!