Another Meme, from JenFred

This was from JenFred’s MySpace.

50 things about me you may not know

After you’re done, repost and erase my answers and replace them with your own. Enjoy!

1. What is your middle name? Robert

2. What color underwear are you wearing now? black

WHERE IS NUMBER 3? in Hell

4. What are the last 2 digits in your phone number? 69

5. What was the last thing you ate? A glass of vino

6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? silver. not gray, silver

7. How is the weather right now? overcast and chilly

8. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? my aunt

9. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? opposite? ignoring the heterosexist assumption, eyes and hands

10. Favorite type of Food? Italian…perhaps gnocchi alla vodka

11. Do you drink? jes

12. Do you smoke? nein

13. Ever get so drunk you don’t remember what you did? I went to Jesuit school. what do you think?

14. Hair color? light with blondish highlights

15. Eye color? hazel

16. Do you wear contacts? nein…neither glasses

17. Favorite Holiday? 4th of July…pyromania rocks

18. Favorite Month? July

19. Have you ever cried for no reason? yup

20. What was the last movie you watched? Eating Out.

21. Favorite Day of the Year? Thanksgiving and/or the 4th of July

22. Are u too shy to ask someone out? waaaaay too shy

23.If you can say something to someone right now what would it be? burn in Hell, Ann Coulter

24. Hugs or Kisses? yes please

25. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate

26. Do you want your friends to respond? I highly doubt it

27. Who is most likely to respond? non-sequitur question. this is a blog.

28. Who is least likely to respond? a rational Bush voter, since they don’t exist

29. What books are you reading? ‘The Sigma Protocol’, by Robert Ludlum; ‘Language Universals and Linguistic Typology’ by Bernard Comrie and “How Children Learn Language” by some U of Hawai’i Professor

30. Piercing? none as of yet

31. Favorite Movie? the top bracket includes ‘Silence of the Lambs’, ‘The Broken Hearts Club’, and ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’.

32. Favorite baseball Team? don’t really follow team sports.

33.What were you doing before this? watching ‘Family Guy’ and sweating on the NordicTrack

34. Any pets? the queen bitch of the felines, Sam

35. aim? for the balls. ctblood though.

36. Butter, Plain or Salted popcorn? mmm butter. I used to get a water cup and fill it with butter to pour on my popcorn at the movies.

37. Dogs or cats? cats

38. Favorite Flower? plumeria. my aunt’s one of the premier plumeria growers in North America.

39.Have you ever been caught doing something you weren’t supposed to? not lately

40. Are you taken or single? single. sencillo. soltero. solo.

41.Have you ever loved someone? jes

42. Who would you like to see right now? the director of grad studies at Georgetown with an admit offer in her hand

43. Are you still friends with your ex’s? not really

44. Have you ever fired a gun? I’m a life member of the NRA

45. Do you like to travel by plane? jes

46. Right-handed or Left-handed? left

47. If you could be with someone right now, who would it be? depends on what we’re doing…going to Six Flags? practicing Masonic ritual? making hot sweet love?

48. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2, one of which is memory foam. mmmm memory foam.

49. Are you missing someone? jes…my girls, my east coast people

50. Do you have a Tattoo? nope

As I descend further into academic madness….

IM from today. Can you tell I spent 3 hours debating Marxist social theories today?

ctblood: there are all sorts of masonic sites in DC…they just blend in
ctblood: but anywho
ctblood: enough about men in aprons
HMBI4: haha yea
HMBI4: hey how did u phrase it
ctblood: ?
HMBI4: when i was applying to ibanks [international banking jobs]
HMBI4: something about the blood of the working poor
ctblood: something about oiling the machinery of capitalism with the blood of the working poor
HMBI4: hahaha ah yes
HMBI4: i think im going to use that in my goldman [sachs] cover letter
HMBI4: as my opener
ctblood: I believe the term ‘jeweled harlot’ was thrown in there somewhere
HMBI4: i’ll use that as my salutation
ctblood: Dear jeweled harlots, I’d like a job helping oil the machinery of capitalism with the blood of the poor, please
ctblood: six figure bonuses a plus
HMBI4: i can provide the blood of my friend chris trueblood, a lifelong academic
ctblood: no blood left
ctblood: it’s all dried into a cynical, communist powder
ctblood: bright red, of course
HMBI4: communist powder wouldnt do a good job oiling the machinery of capitalism
ctblood: freezes the machinery in its tracks
ctblood: like throwing holy water on a republican
HMBI4: hahahaha
ctblood: “she buuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrns!”
ctblood: can I blog this?

Rumors of my demise…

are greatly moderately somewhat exaggerated.

To recap:
Saturday (last Saturday), I woke up feeling woozy. As the day progressed, this turned into a headache, sore throat and backache. Sunday the conditions worsened, and Monday my tonsils were so swollen it made breathing difficult. Kaiser being Kaiser, I couldn’t get a doctor’s appointment to save my life (literally), so I called in Ma and the big guns, and together we managed to wrangle me into a doctor’s office.

The doctor took one look in my throat at my bacteria-enrobed tonsils and said, I kid you not, “holy shit!” and proceeded to tell me that it was a good thing I came in when I did. I neglected to mention that if Ma weren’t a fairly high-level administrator at Kaiser and renowned as the Angel of Death, I wouldn’t have seen him when I did. Anywho, he did a mono test and gave me a shot of rocephin (antibiotic) in the ass and prescriptions for vicodin and penicillin (sadly, not in the ass) and told me to return on Wednesday if I didn’t feel better.

Well, the rocephin did wonders in reducing my tonsils. Sadly, the bug was penicillin resistant, so I didn’t feel anywhere near better on Wednesday and my tonsils swelled back up. And the vicodin, being a narcotic, interfered with my breathing reflex, so I’d be lying down, wondering why my nails were turning blue.

On Wednesday I called for a follow up since I still felt like crap. Lo and behold, Kaiser’s phone lines were down, so I was unable to make an appointment, or get my lab results, or let out a primal scream in someone’s ear.

So Ma carted me off to the urgent care at the local Kaiser hospital. Kaiser again being Kaiser, the urgent care was mislabeled, so we had to walk all over Creation to find it, which is wonderful when your brain isn’t getting enough oxygen as it is.

Bullied my way into urgent care, and got seen by a doctor who clearly had had better days. Usually when I tell medical personnel that I’m an EMT they’ll speak geek to me. This douchebag kept explaining what an antibiotic was. So, after both Ma and I insisted I wouldn’t leave without new antibiotics and painkillers that didn’t try to suffocate me, he finally ordered new drugs and another shot in the ass of rocephin.

Slowly but surely I got better over Thursday and Friday and Saturday, and by Sunday I felt like a human being again.

Joy for the missing of an entire week of classes.

Oh, and, newscasters? Hurricane Rita isn’t going anywhere near New Orleans. No projection for the past 48 hours has shown it even hitting Louisiana at all. So stop capitalizing on people’s misery by trying to insinuate Rita’s gonna re-rape New Orleans. And go digging somewhere fruitful, like Karl Rove’s garbage.

Colossal Ineptitude

Via Bitch, PhD, this article written by paramedics stranded in New Orleans (they were part of the contingent that for some reason was allowed to cut in line and board buses intended for the evacuation of the Superdome).

It only serves to reinforce the assholery and ineptitude and blatant racism demonstrated by local, state and federal troops in New Orleans. It also justifies the reaction I had when I saw the 5-0 pointing shotguns at people stealing groceries. I’d've shot the police in the head. Repeatedly. And I’d've done so to any ‘law enforcement’ who tried to tell me I couldn’t ’steal’ food and water to keep myself alive. Honest to God, there were so many more important jobs for them to do than point guns at people trying to stay alive. And then to read that on top of denying people access to supplies, the soldiers were willing to force people places but not give any information on how to get water, how to stay alive. And then the ‘law enforcement’ from adjoining cities shot at them when they tried to flee the city. Kinda pokes holes in the Republican talking point that people refused to leave the city. I’d refuse too if the po-po was pointing guns at me.

Yes, I’m aware the area was under martial law, but that excuses not one whit of it. Martial law doesn’t give anyone the right to act in a way clearly detrimental to the greater good. The intent of martial law is to enable the State to stabilize and protect the people, possibly at the expense of some other people. Shooting at paramedics does not in any way help the situation.

Although I’m a pinko commie liberal, I think the death penalty ought to be applied to all those asshats whose inaction and inappropriate action contributed to the thousands of deaths in the Gulf South. The police threatening to shoot people stealing food. Guard troops deliberately stranding people without food or water. The ‘law enforcement’ shooting at people trying to flee the city. The director of FEMA for doing nothing for close to two days and then being a fucktard whenever he opened his mouth thereafter. The President for sitting on his ass and playing the guitar while people died. And no, I’m not advocating assassination, for you USSS and FBI reading. I’m talking stringing these clowns up in a court of law and making them answer to what amount to war crimes and thousands of negligent homicides. Fuck Bush talking about rebuilding Trent Lott’s house. Fuck Condi for shopping for thousand-dollar shoes and having a woman ejected who confronted her about her asshattery. Fuck Cheney shopping for a million-dollar mansion while NO sank. Large-scale abrogation of duty such as has been demonstrated in the Gulf South should be swiftly and harshly punished. This cannot and must not happen again. Plus, it’d be a nifty way for Republicans to put their money where their mouth is. They think the death penalty deters murder. Let’s see if it deters Republicans from committing massive negligent homicide.

Equality, Pure & Simple

We interrupt the mundane details of my life with historic news from Sacramento: The State Assembly passed, by zero margin, AB 849, which legalizes gay marriage in California. This marks the first time in North America that a legislature has granted equal marriage rights without a court order. Consistent with my view of California as The Greatest State in the Union, I have to consciously keep myself from jumping up and down in joy over this. The old adage is true: as California goes, so goes the rest of the country. This time we were beaten to the punch by Massachusetts, but that was a court-ordered scenario. I’m unspeakably proud of my Senator, Martha Escutia, and Assemblyman, Ron Calderon, both of whom voted ‘aye’ on the measure.

Do I think this is the final word? No. I know it’s not. Schwarzenegger, in keeping with his penchant to do both the wrong and the unpopular thing whenever possible, will probably veto it. And there’s the CA Supreme Court case that has yet to be decided, as well as two measures that are trying to get on the ballot to ban equal marriage rights.

But I do think this is the straw that will break the camel’s back. This will energize LGBT activists to do the same elsewhere, and intensify efforts here to keep the Legislature’s decision upheld. And I do think this will be the end of Schwarzenegger’s career. Why? He’s in a real catch-22 situation. If he signs the bill, his GOP support will evaporate and he’ll lose the Republican nomination for Governor next time around. If he vetos the bill, any and all support he still enjoys from Democrats (which ain’t much; his approval rating here is like 35%) will evaporate instantly, and he won’t be able to get anything done at all while he remains in office. Because in California, you need the Democrats on board, or at least not violently opposed, to get anything done. All our efforts will be poured into making his life hell. Let’s face it, he’s the lone Republican in statewide office in California. Lieutenant Governer Bermudez makes a living giving Arnie the finger. Attorney General Lockyer makes a living suing to prevent Arnie’s dreams from being realized. If he signs it or if he doesn’t, Schwarzenegger’s support evaporates, and he’s out of a job at the next election. The Republicans will be divided on who to support, and Democrats will be energized to get a Dem in office to spank the Republicans, and lo and behold, a Democrat sits in the Governor’s Mansion and signs the marriage equality bill when it passes the next sitting of the Legislature.

God Bless California

Back to the Grind

Well, back from Catalina. Best trip to date, happily. I haven’t the time to post about it fully now, as I have to get ready for class, but I’ll leave you with this free-association list, which will serve not only to tittilate you but also to remind me what I have to write about.

“Did this boat come from Long Beach or China?”

“Cause they’re oooooold! ::high five::”

Drinking buffalo.

clamato pants

the third mai tai

chicken-foot bone

bloody marys

slush funds

bomb threat

duct tape

The Margaret Bea Brockman Commemorative golf hole

8:30PM

wiki whacked

“could you hear Zane Gray roll over in his grave?”

Capt & Tenille

naked Indian children

coughing fireballs

early bird specials

going ’shopping’

::snort::

“Put your shirt back on”

4AM cigarettes

barbecued ice cubes

“ah-so, asshole”

the one-eyed lady

“Want to see my house? It’s $500 a day and horrible!”

On The Upswing

Well, things look brighter today. I don’t think it’s due to any external factors. I just feel strangely at peace. The laptop’s still dead, and my efforts to resurrect it and/or retrieve data from it were for naught. Oh well. I have my academic work backed up, and I only lost pictures from an event where lots of people took pictures. I still can’t afford a new computer, but I can use ma’s desktop until I can.

I did hear from Paul that he’s okay, which was a relief. His part of Mississippi just got power back today after being knocked out by Hurricane Katrina. It looks like wheels are finally starting to turn for the relief efforts, and some things are getting done. It’s still woefully inadequate, but I think some good will come out of it: nobody will dare underfund flood protection anymore, the American populace is waking up to the shafting we’ve gotten from Bush and his henchmen, and maybe, as people become more and more aware that the people left behind in New Orleans were the poorest of the poor, a wheel or two in the social justice machine might get engaged. It’s probably a pipe dream, but I’ve gotta try to see the positive aspects, since this week has been nothing but negative in just about every respect.

We’re off to Catalina again for Memorial Day, which is always fun. We leave Sunday morning and come back Monday night. It’ll be a short trip, but everyone has different schedule limitations. Expect reports of my adventures when I return.

Update, and back to my bitching

Nice lady at Verizon Online support fixed the email issue. But hey, send email to me to whatever the hell address you feel like, mmkay?

I think we finally have our ‘high crime and misdemeanor’:

We’re naming it Lake George, ’cause it’s his frickin fault. Have you seen all that data about the levee projects’ funding being cut over the past three years by the Prez, and the funding transferred to Iraq? The levee, as designed, might not have held back the surge from a direct Class 5 hit, but it certainly would not have crumbled on Monday night from saturation and scour erosion following a glancing blow from a Class 3. The failure was in a spot that had just been rebuilt, not yet compacted, not planted, and not armed (hardened with rock/concrete). The project should have been done two years ago, but the federal gov’t diverted 80% of the funding to Iraq. Other areas had settled by a few feet from their design specs, and the money to repair them was diverted to Iraq.

And I heart Anderson Cooper even more now, with his exasperated bitch-slap of the bitch representing Louisiana in the Senate:

Cooper: Does the federal government bear responsibility for what is happening now? Should they apologize for what is happening now?
Wench Landrieu (D-LA): ….there will be be plenty of time to discuss those issues….
Cooper:Senator, I’m sorry… for the last four days, I have been seeing dead bodies here in the streets of Mississippi and to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other — I have to tell you, there are people here who are very upset and angry, and when they hear politicians thanking one another, it just, you know, it cuts them the wrong way right now, because there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats because this woman has been laying in the street for 48 hours, and there is not enough facilities to get her up. Do you understand that anger?

Our God is a Vengeful God

Well, the laptop finally good and died for real, like hard drive failed and all that fucking jazz. I haven’t the faintest fucking idea what I’m going to do now. I can’t afford to buy a new computer (especially since the God-damn mother fucking State of California still hasn’t paid me for July and August), I’ve just started a new semester at school, and I basically lost all the pictures that I hadn’t backed up and/or sent to Flickr. Which means about 90 photos, mostly from my cousin’s daughter’s blessing ceremony, are toast. The last resort is to go tomorrow to Judy’s and see if I can get the hard drive to start in target mode using her computer, and, barring that, go to Apple and see about a new hard drive, which’ll, you know, cost more than a new computer, but hey, can’t hurt too badly to ask.
Just when I think the karmic balance is tipping back in my favor something like this happens. The DVD I ordered a bloody month ago finally arrived today, so I thought that might be a good omen. Then my verizon email decided it wanted to act like it was full when it actually wasn’t. And then the laptop melted down. So if you’ve sent email to my verizon address since about 1:30 AM PDT on 1 Sep, you’ll have to resend it. And I was waiting for some rather important emails, too. So I think I’ve fixed that, but God only knows if I really have. In the meantime, I suppose you should use the email for this site, chris at blizl dot net. But with my fucking luck, Canada will have a nuclear bomb lobbed at it and Toronto (where this site is hosted) will evaporate. Of course, you’ll never see this post, since Blogger will eat it. Just you watch.