| "Your Personal Penguin" |
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| 03:22pm 27/12/2006 |
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My mom gave me this Sandra Boynton board book for Christmas, and it is one of the more adorable things I have ever seen. It's a picture book that goes along with a song, which is downloadable online.
Go here, and if you watch the video it shows you the pictures along with the song:
http://www.workman.com/boynton/
Sandra Boynton is awesome. I've been reading a lot of her books lately with Ainsley, the girl I babysit, and she is a really funny and clever children's author. I also really like "But Not the Hippopotamus", among others. |
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| Second Shift CDs! |
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| 06:51pm 16/12/2006 |
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mood:  hopeful
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The Second Shift: The Beginning CD set is now on sale for $14 shipped. We're making a limited run of 40 sets, and doing everything on the cheap (burning, labelling, printing everything ourselves) to get as much profit as possible from this effort. Second Shift is very much in the hole; please buy one to help us out!
Click here: http://secondshiftpodcast.com/store.php
They're damn cool looking, too:
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Read 6 - Post |
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| Second Shift t-shirts and such |
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| 12:31pm 24/10/2006 |
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If any of you haven't listened to my show, Second Shift, yet, you should do so. It's what I and others have been working furiously on for the past... 10 months, for some of us!
In fact, we just launched a redesign of the site:
www.secondshiftpodcast.com
We have 9 episodes out right now, and we just came out with something exciting: t-shirts!
We're really deep in the hole as far as money goes, so if you guys want to help me out and buy a t-shirt to help the show, it would be fantastic. We'll be coming out with a CD set eventually, as well, but t-shirts take the least effort, so here they are:
http://www.cafepress.com/2shift
Thanks in advance. Let me know if you buy one (or two, or twelve), and I will ask the Gods to rain happiness upon you. |
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| Rodent escape plan foiled! |
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| 02:37am 25/08/2006 |
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Those gerbils are smart, fast little animals.
My day became worrisome when my gerbil, The Small, didn't respond to my tapping on the cage. I was in a rush to get to work, so I assumed she was sleeping and left the house. Still, I was concerned, so I asked Paul to go over to my house and check on the rodents (current count: two gerbils and one hamster, each in its own cage.)
He called several hours later to say that The Small was missing. He checked her cage and found an escape hole in the back of it, a result of the cage being put back together incorrectly. I came home as soon as I could, which took an hour from work, and Paul and I went to my house to look for her. She wasn't in the closet or under the bed, so we put her cage and food down on the ground, as well as her favorite snack, oats. We also scattered pieces of cardboard around, so if we heard chomping we'd know where to look.
A few hours proved fruitless. We decided a gerbil couldn't fit under the apartment door, so we assumed she was still in the house somewhere. A scary fact, however, was that the landlord had been working on some pipes in my wall and hadn't closed up the hole yet, so we were afraid she'd get lost in the walls. I reassured Paul that she was smart and might come back for food.
We took a break with some Frisbee at Paul's house, and upon our return, found that some of the oats we had put out were gone. Happily, this meant that The Small was still in the house. We emptied the closet where the oats were, but she wasn't there. Frustrated and tired, I tried to sleep, while Paul stayed up and watched Futurama.
An hour or so after I had gone to bed, Paul was walking to the kitchen when he saw a gray tail dart under the fridge. He called for me and I jumped out of bed, and dizzily wandered to the kitchen. We grabbed the flashlight and looked under the fridge, but couldn't see our friend. Paul brought the cage and we scattered some oats near the opening at the bottom of the fridge, and waited.
I put my head down to the floor and strained to look. I saw lots of gray dust bunnies, easy for The Small to camouflage herself in. I sat quietly with my head to the floor, containing my urge to sneeze, and finally I saw The Small wandering over. I took some oats and pushed them near her, slowly. I saw her head dart out into the room, and then she ran back. I didn't want to just grab her, or she'd get away, so I had to wait for the perfect moment to strike.
She seemed intrigued by the flashlight, which I left on, exposing her hiding spot. She smelled my hand and ran away, but eventually wandered back. I kept as still as possible, and cautiously, she stepped out. I waited until her entire body was out from under the fridge, and expertly darted my hands out to scoop her up and into the waiting cage. Paul and I shared a sigh of relief, a hug and a dance of joy. We rescued The Small! |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| Second Shift Episode 3: Stupid Magic |
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| 07:15pm 24/07/2006 |
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Second Shift has not been easy. We've come across plenty of problems, big and small, and have been learning how to manage a team in the process. A talented, amazing, and enduring team - they've been willing to stick through a lot - but there are always difficulties when coordinating 10 people on a complicated process.
In any case, the website is up, along with Episodes 1, 2 and 3. Episode 2 is my favorite of these so far, but please check them out and let us know what you think. We'd love to have more people in the forums:
http://www.secondshiftpodcast.com
While you're there, click on the "Journal" section. We have several well-written articles from the team up there, and we plan to post them more often. The "Cast and Crew" section has pictures of everyone and mini-bios, as well as character descriptions.
I know I don't post much on this journal anymore; I have very little time lately. But this is something huge that I've been working on, so I hope you'll listen.
-Becki |
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| My dog is gone. |
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| 10:44pm 23/06/2006 |
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I am still feeling kind of numb. I haven't entirely dealt with this fact yet. I didn't have time to officially say goodbye to her. I got the call at 10 in the morning that they were putting her down at 11, because that was the only time they could. Not enough time to go home.
Although, I've been saying goodbye to her for at least two weeks. We all knew this was coming, and mentally prepared for it as much as possible. This is first big death in my life. There have been no grandparents' deaths, no close family members or friends. Animals beforehand (birds, gerbil, rabbit) have not been as significant as this.
Brandy was part of the family. Very much so. She had a distinct personality and treated everyone differently. She often snubbed me, just to be a tease, because I would be the one most longing for her attention. She loved certain friends and family that came to visit, and ignored others. In recent years, she liked to lie in the doorway, blocking it. Perhaps for the attention, perhaps to guard it, but she made it her post until the end.
Brandy lived to be 12. It was 1994 when we got her, when I was in fourth grade. She grew up with my brother and I, and was with us at three homes. She was generally healthy throughout her life, except for being overweight (fitting in with the rest of us, of course.) We found out she had two types of severe cancer about a week ago, after she had been old and arthritic for a year or two. The cancer was very harsh, and she was having trouble breathing and moving. So today it was time.
She was very special to me. I cried every time I thought about her getting sick for the past two years, since it was apparent that she was getting old. We all loved her very much and always will.
She was not just our dog. She was a Davis.
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Read 7 - Post |
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| Second Shift |
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| 08:37am 22/06/2006 |
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Hey guys-
Here's the sneak preview of the fantasy podcast I've been working on. If you haven't heard about it yet, it's a serial podcast show, following in the footsteps of old radio dramas. It's about three kids who get transported to another world against their will. Tell your friends! (Really!)
The forums are up, so please register and post in them. I would really appreciate it.
There will be art and more content on the website by this weekend.
www.secondshiftpodcast.com
Temporary preview login (public launch is on Sunday):
Username: Becki
Password: Shauna
Please let me know what you think. The team is very excited to get this off the ground.
Thanks,
Becki |
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| 04:29pm 31/01/2006 |
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The people in my Psychology class today almost made me walk out.
This was toward the end of class, after I was already annoyed at a stupid 420 joke some jerk made earlier. The teacher had made three graphs, and we had to go up and place a dot on each graph, indicating height vs. shoe size, etc. She was explaining direct/perfect correlation, imperfect correlation, and no correlation. She was trying to demonstrate the point that "correlation does not imply causation", so she asked this question:
"One study found that among a certain population, the number of obese women had a positive correlation with the amount of crime in the town. Why might this be?"
As you might guess, people came up with brilliant answers.
"They're upset because they're fat so they go commit crimes."
"They're stressed out because they commit crimes so they get fat."
"They're stealing food."
"The women are scared about the crime in the city so they stay in the house and eat."
ARGH.
First of all, the question obviously did not say that the "obese women" were the ones CAUSING the crimes. How likely does it really seem that a bunch of overweight mothers were suddenly the leading cause of crime in any given community?
The reason, if you couldn't guess, is that both crime and (God, I hate the word) obesity are results of poverty. Crime is pretty obvious, and junk food is cheaper than healthy food - as the professor pointed out, one red pepper costs more than a bag of chips.
But what made me angry is the stupid and hurtful things these people said. Some of them think it's hilarious, and some of them just blurt out the first conclusion that they can think of, however illogical. I hate the notions people have about the reasons people are fat. Whether or not it's "their fault": "They don't care about themselves." "They might have a health problem." "They're depressed and eat all the time." "They don't want to look good." These are all things I have personally heard people say, and that's why it makes me so angry when people don't understand how hard that is to listen to. It makes you not want to go to the doctor, because they'll chastise you too. It's a rough world.
And why can't people just think about what they're saying? Hey, how about this:
Why don't we think about the reasons you're a jackass? |
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Read 6 - Post |
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| 12:12am 29/11/2005 |
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What day is today,
It's Nibbler's Birthday.
What a day for a birthday,
Let's all have some cake.
(And you smell like one, too.)
Finally, the kids I babysat all summer can't say "You're not an adult, you're a teenager" anymore. Other than that, I can't think of any particular significance to this marker.
Oh well. Eat cake anyway, everyone!
And thanks to all for the gifts and good company. I am happy to have such lovely friends in my life, and I appreciate seeing you all.
For those I haven't seen, I look forward to doing so.
(Posting this 11 or so minutes too late. Forgive me!) |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| Tri-Lamb material. |
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| 01:12pm 28/10/2005 |
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I don't usually like when people post test results, but I enjoyed this one in particular.
Link behind cut.( Read more... ) |
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| King of the Koopas |
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| 08:34pm 23/10/2005 |
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Construction is going well.
I will be well-suited for battle soon.
I decided to use duct tape for the covering instead of cloth. It will be stronger and waterproof, and more trademark Becki.
Unfortunately, I ran out of green right as I was about to finish that part.
*breathes fire* |
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Read 7 - Post |
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| Halloween |
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| 07:57am 23/10/2005 |
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I have begun construction on a Bowser costume. I have a shell made of chicken wire, aluminum sheet metal and duct tape. I am very proud.
We're going to Dresden Dolls on Halloween, and it will be fun. But I might spike people with my mighty shell. Beware. |
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| My lack of practice in writing titles lately has resulted in this problem. |
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| 05:25am 12/10/2005 |
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I've had some minor apartment problems before, such as my pilot lights repeatedly going out, the house being really hot, my window screen falling out, and the toilet continuing to run, but this was the first big, immediate and (as if there were a convenient time) 2am emergency.
I had been napping since 9pm, originally thinking I would get up in a little while and do some work, but since had decided to go to bed for good. I was getting up to turn off the lights and say goodnight to Paul, when I went looking for my pajama pants in the bathroom. I picked them up and realized they were soaked, and so was the orange rug. The toilet had been overflowing!
I had no idea how long ago this happened, so I thought maybe if I flushed it again the problem would fix itself. Not so. It overflowed and began flooding the bathroom. I threw a towel on the floor, and it was still running and was about to run into the kitchen. I grabbed my nearby basket of dirty laundry and began throwing it on the floor to soak it up and dam off the bathroom flood. I hopped through the swamp and took the cabinet from the back of the toilet, carrying it out into the kitchen and throwing a bunch of things that were on top of it into the bathtub. I've never understood the mechanics of toilets and ran away whenever problems emerged at my parents' house, but I took a look and pulled on some thing that made it stop filling. I held it for a minute, trying to figure out how to make sure it would stay there. I let go, and it stayed by itself, but I went and got some tape to make sure.
I decided I had a few options: I could wake up a neighbor to ask for a plunger/help, or I could call my landlord. However, I chose to not compound my current problems with my social anxiety.
The plan of action was to head to the 24-hour CVS and buy a plunger. (If my mom had realized I didn't have one, she'd have fixed that long ago, but I hadn't gotten around to it.) I went down to my car and hoped that the toilet wouldn't magically being running again, and also that it wouldn't start dripping into a neighbor's apartment downstairs. I drove to the CVS, and bought a plunger as well as some candy corn and adhesive wall hooks, as to be less embarrassing. I returned to the same condition as before, except that the water had all drained from the toilet. Cautiously, I took the tape off of the toilet mechanism to let it fill again and try to plunge it, which didn't work very well because the plunger was junk, but it seemed like it was ok anyway. I flushed it twice to make sure it was working. Since that seemed fixed, I had to deal with the problem of cleaning up.
I sloppily picked up the sopping clothing and put it into my less-favored laundry basket. Overfilled with heavily soaked clothes, it probably weighed 100 pounds. I decided my only choice was to bring it down to the basement and put it in the laundry, so I dragged it down the stairs and outside, through the rain to the basement entrance. Lucky me - it was locked, and I had no idea how to open it. My house key didn't work. There was no way I could carry it back upstairs, nor did I wish to have it in my house, so it went into my car where I'll try to deal with it in the morning.
I returned to my apartment and began mopping up the bathroom and kitchen. I mopped with some Soft Scrub and then tried to dry it all off, and then wiped down the tub, the sink where I threw the rug, the toilet, the corners of the floor, etc. with the wet cleaning wipes and some paper towels. I decided that it was the best I could do (although I can't smell things either way, so I hope I'm right) and I put the cabinet and the items back. I hung the rug out on my fire escape.
I know I haven't been bothered to write lately, but I thought you all could enjoy this learning experience. This whole escapade took about two hours, so that could be worse, and at least my first class isn't until 11am. I think I did pretty well though - very quick thinking and problem solving, and I didn't panic, just took action.
Candy corn time. |
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| 11:39am 18/08/2005 |
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I haven't updated in a long time and I apologize to anyone who has been compulsively checking, waiting for the day when they'll see my Zoidberg icon again.
Today is my last day of babysitting, and I'm glad. It hasn't been a bad job - although it had its difficulties, such as fighting kids, long hours and frustrating transportation issues - but I'm glad I'll have a little time off to play before school begins. I've worked ALL summer. This is the first summer that I've been so busy. It's been very, very different, probably for all my friends. It was the first summer I didn't spend hanging out with my friends all the time. Also, I got my own place, but had to shuttle back and forth between Fitchburg and Chelmsford and Arlington constantly. It was rather insane; more on that later, hopefully.
Also, one of my best friends was gone, away in California, and that made my idea of summer very different. There are certain things I do that are Steve-things, Steve-inspired, and without him it just isn't the same. Many things aren't the same, and in most ways that's okay, but change can be hard. I miss hanging out with my entire group at once. I haven't been able to do that a single time this summer - the closest try was Diana's party, but Steve's absence was still clear. Other times, other friends have been busy/working/absent for whatever reason. Working and commuting has mostly consumed me, and I've not seen my friends almost any days after getting out of work. I've seen Paul the most, but he has been working many hours as well, and our schedules have completely clashed, making it really difficult.
So, on the friends note, things are changing rapidly. And that's inevitable and everyone has to accept it. We're all moving along with our lives and going in various directions. And we can all certainly stay friends, but it begins to take more and more effort. I'm glad I have such wonderful friends, though, that we can have a great time together even if we haven't seen each other in a long while. I'm very thankful for that, and for you all.
I haven't been updating lately because I've felt that there's too much to say, and I haven't wanted to try and make a huge post on Bill's computer. The keyboard is strange, and it works okay, but I do make a lot of mistakes on it (the keys are squishy. SQUISHY, literally) and it discourages me from embarking on a significant piece of writing. However, I've learned a lot from babysitting and working with kids all summer, and I would like to write a bunch of it out, for the sake of my memory and for (hopefully) my faithful readers' interest. I will soon have an internet connection at my apartment, and this will help accomplish that task, as well as many others. It will also make Paul more willing to stay there. ;-) TV will be nice too.
Other updates:
I am awaiting a desk from Bill. I am using it right this moment, and have been for the past few weeks. I like it very much; it's very sturdy. He said I could have it, since he and Talya are redoing her office and switching desks around. I hope this happens soon.
On the same note, I would still also like a couch. I am planning on moving things around in the apartment, bringing in the other set of shelves and moving the existing ones. I have been putting up a lot of artwork and decorations lately, and it's really cool. I love decorating my living space. It's pretty much all I did last fall, when I had almost no school friends, and it made me feel good. I had a lot of affection for my tiny room, since it was so personalized. That's what I hated about the dorm - having to move out so frequently. However, I have learned a few things about decorating from that practice, and I'm really enjoying my current projects. The walls are becoming increasingly covered with posters and artwork, including a project of my own, and I even bought a plant. :-)
I am getting a new car tomorrow! I had a difficult time deciding between a car from our mechanic and the car Bill offered to us, but I decided to go with the one from Gary. It's a '95 red Honda Civic, and is reported to be in very good condition. I was leaning toward Bill's car, a '95 Buick Regae, because it was bigger, more powerful and I assumed it would have a better feel to the steering and be easier to see out of. I haven't driven either of them, however, so those were guesses based on Paul's Buick, and Bill's affection toward the car. The Honda, though, will be significantly cheaper on gas, and should be for parts too. So I decided it's a better investment. It was a close call, though. I'm just happy that I won't have to drive Colin's car anymore - which I dislike very much - and that we won't have to shuffle the family around with trying to share. I'm very thankful that my parents can afford everyone their own cars.
In my week and a half off before school begins, I will be pretty busy. I am going camping this weekend with Emma, which will be some wonderful and relaxing quality time that we have both missed. Then, I hope to be going camping with Paul for a short time as well, while simultaneously visiting Funspot to play classic arcade games. In addition, I have to attend a court arbitration, to debate an arbitrary car accident in which I arbitrarily tapped another guy's car, and he claimed to be non-arbitrarily injured and rejected the insurance company's settlement proposal.
There's also my grandparents' 50th anniversary party, which my family has been working on planning for months.
School begins on the 1st for me, but most of my friends begin a week later. That's ok. I'm pretty excited about school. My classes sound good, and I've ordered my books from Amazon at a big discount from the school price. I think this new start will be very positive.
I suppose this was a rather long update after all; as I said, there's a lot to say. The girls would very much like to go to the library, however, so I have to rearrange the mountain of crap in my car for them to do so. I hope you all enjoy the final weeks of summer.
-B |
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| 01:18pm 01/08/2005 |
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The weekend was much-needed and very refreshing. I feel much better today. I took Saturday to run around to stores purchasing things, including gifts for my dad and Diana, and that was fun. I got to hang out with Paul, which was good because we're so pressed for time lately. And, Diana had her going-away party/dinner, which was fun. It was nice to see everyone. The kids have been relatively good today.
Steve is coming home Thursday. Yay! |
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| Love that dirty water |
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| 08:27pm 29/07/2005 |
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'Twas a lovely day in Boston yesterday. I went in with the girls to celebrate Harmony's seventh birthday, and I was happy to be back. We went to the park and rode the swan boats, saw some baby ducks, and ate pizza and ice cream. I was pleased to go back to New York Pizza near my school, and as a treat I took them to Ben and Jerry's. It was an expensive ice cream outing, during which they managed to cover themselves in chocolate. We walked around, looked in a few stores and wandered through the Prudential Center shops. Cassidy was interested in a fancy jewelry shop, and we also looked in the candy store. The girls spotted the little courtyard/park outside the Pru, so we went there and they ran around for awhile and played in the fountain while I relaxed. We then got back on the T and traveled home. It was a nice day, a fairly long outing for them. I think we all enjoyed it.
It's so nice to show Boston to people. I lived there for two years, and appreciated it some, but rarely went out anywhere. I do miss walking around, although not to class, but just those days and nights wandering around with your friends. I remember going into the city some time in high school, looking around and realizing "What a cool place. I want to go to school here."
Boston was high on my list of priorities for a college, and Emerson seemed so perfect at the time. I'm glad I experienced it, but I'm also glad it's over. I love being able to go into Boston for an outing, but living there - with the slush and the traffic on the T and having to walk to get groceries - is not a life I'm really cut out for. But I'll always be affectionate toward it. There is a lot that I appreciate, and was happy to revisit yesterday. The ducks, especially. The art on the red line. Even my school, where I used my Emerson ID to get us in to use the bathroom, was nice to see once again.
It's especially fun to show things to others because you notice things that you became used to, that you learned to take for granted, like how fancy and adorned the lobby of the Little building is. And I remember feeling that way, being rather awed by it myself - but over time I started to hate the building, not because of its decorations but because of the fear of confronting people who disliked me. But that's all finished now. I've moved on, and I'm not bitter anymore. That chapter is over, and I am better for it, as unpleasant as it became. I value the good memories still, even though these same people eventually came to hate me.
Such is life. It changes. That's ok.
I am, however, happy that I'll be able to visit Boston on many weekends this year, yet not have to live there. I'm looking forward to it. |
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siralexander's journal
