Teachers. Beetles. Comedians. Some more happy thoughts.
(I feel like my journal needs this picture right now before anyone just flat out stops reading.)
I spoke with Doc G tonight. I'm pretty sure there's no feeling bad after talking to him for at least a solid block of 30 minutes. I'm about a hundred or so pages into his book. It's a very quick read, which is what he had intended. He said that after years of dealing with high school students (he affectionately referred to them as "idiots"), he's learned a thing or two about attention spans.
We had to cut it short because his wife was waving him over to the dinner table. He said he'd like to meet up this Sunday or the next for lunch. I'm very much looking forward to that. Also, the gift I'll be giving him is going to be received on time; his students are studying Beowulf as I type this. Or not. Probably not.
He asked about my condition and seemed sincerely concerned. I hope I feel at least somewhat better when we cross paths. I'd like not to be a mess when we're having .
A couple weeks ago, I bought Bill a Flickr Pro account (and nabbed one for myself) to go along with his new fancy camera. It takes some really great shots and Flickr offers some pretty great storage and display options for photographers for a price that isn't too much to ask for a year. I thought it'd be nice to get him something for being so great to me, even if it was paid for on credit. It seems he showers me with gifts, dates, experiences. We both still have tons of uploading to do. My hope is that he'll not only be able to store and display his own photographs, but connect with other marine biologists/environmental scientists with "fancy cameras". I think that'd be fun for him.
Here are a few pictures I took of a patent leather beetle we found in our back yard.
This one shows how shiny they are.
Probably the better display of its texture. I really need to take more pictures of this stump. It's a funny (in a 5th grade health class kind of way) looking stump.
Bill like's the "struggle" shot.
And here's a picture I took of him one day in New York. He likes it so much, he made it his MySpace pic.
Isn't he lovely?
He doesn't smoke.
Did I mention he took me to see Louis CK on saturday? He was at the Borgata and we had great seats. Maybe twenty feet from the stage. It was a little irritating to be surrounded by an AC crowd. With the exception of a taping of The Daily Show, at every comedy show I've been to, I can't for the life of me figure out why 75% of the people I see are there. This was my second show at AC (the first being the Comedians of Comedy Tour with Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, and Zach Galifianakis) and I've come to realize that casino resorts are horrible. Regardless of the performer, they just reserve seats for their preferred guests as part of a package, as if their preferred guests are at all in the demographic to appreciate Bamford or Galifianakis. A few people left before CK was through with his set. Others laughed so hard and in such a surprised sound you'd think they were just now discovering this whole stand-up comedy thing for the first time. I heard the people behind and next to me say "this guy is funny" as if they didn't know what to expect.
When I was reserving the seats online, I saw that the next ones available were off to the side on the far left, close enough to the front, but all the way to the left. So I called in. I sang something to the tune of, "Hi, I'm trying to purchase tickets to see Louis CK at the Music Box on October 11th, but I have a slight problem: the next seats available online are all the way to the left, and my husband is partially blind. He can't see out of his right eye and I just don't think it would be as good an experience for him because of this. I'd wait until the next seats available were closer to the middle, but I'm afraid to gamble with time before all of the good seats are sold out. Can you help me?" The guy on the phone checked for what was available on his screen and boom; six rows from the stage on the inside aisle. Beautiful.
It really was a great show. Louis CK is a very witty, very angry man. I think he may be my favourite stand-up comedian, but that's yet to be settled because I shouldn't give him extra credit simply for showing up after I've gotten used to all of the humour of David Cross.
For those of you unfamiliar with Louis CK, I've decided to grace your LiveJournal experience with a couple of videos.
Start watching this one at 1:30, because the first minute and a half are the end of another bit... and if you're that strapped for time, but need some kind of dose of comedy, start it at 6:20. It's one of my favourite bits.
Click to viewA pretty decent display of sociopathy.
One of the things Bill and I love about Louis is his unique "devoted, hateful parent" theme. Anyone who watches one of his specials must feel sorry for his daughters. It's not that he's mean to them. From the sound of his stories, he's a very patient, thoughtful parent who puts an enormous amount of care into his role as a father. But then when he's on the stage, he explodes in anger at the ridiculous absurdity of the developing mind and is constantly portraying his kids as idiots who test his will to live with each passing day.
See?
The Environmental Working Group is good people. They're a group of lawyers, scientists, engineers, programmers, and superhumans who take a look at what's going on, review the information, and describe how it fucks you, the consumer. They offer a wealth of information about how kids are getting fucked, how Black farmers are getting fucked, how nurses are getting fucked, everyone! Chances are, if you're a carbon-based lifeform who has ever purchases a bottle of water, you've been fucked, and by whole lot of people.
They even have a Tuna Calculator, which tells you how much tuna you're allowed to have before exceeding the FDA's safety limits: http://www.ewg.org/tunacalculator
Mom just came home and told me to turn on Oprah. Her issue today is factory farming vs free range/free raise meat. She was a fair host, but in the end, showed her support for the more humane ways of raising chickens, cows, pigs, etc. Hell yeah, Oprah endorsement of Prop 2.