When the zombie plagues start, keep plenty of shoes on hand.

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Quote of the Moment

Marge: Homer! Did you barricade the door?
Homer: Why? Oh, the zombies! No.
- The Simpsons (1989 - )

Haven't heard anything about the gunshot like sounds last night. Guess they probably were just fireworks.

What Your Taste in Music Says About You

Your musical tastes are intense and rebellious. You are intelligent... but in a very unconventional way. You are curious about the world. You love doing something new. In fact, you enjoy taking risks and doing things most people would shy away from. You are very physical. It's likely that you're athletic, but not into team sports. You have the soul of an artist. Beauty and harmony are important to you.

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Quote of the Moment

Carl Denham: Holy mackerel! What a show!
- King Kong (1933)

Watching: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007); King Kong (1933)
Drinking: ice tea

About an hour and 20 minutes ago (11:42pm) I heard what sounded like 2 quick successive gunshots outside (my window is open). Now, every so often late in the evening you do hear kids setting off fireworks, but this didn't sound like that. This sounded like 2 "movie" like gun shots. Went and looked out the windows but nothing outside seemed unusual. Pretty calm actually. In the time since I haven't heard any sirens or anything either. Guess I'll wait and see if there's any news about it tomorrow.

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Quote of the Moment

Sam Gerard: You play any tricks, I gotta shoot you!
- U.S. Marshals (1998)

Drinking: water

► Nearest I can tell, Dad and Claire should be in close to Europe by now, as they left for their plane ride to get to their 16 day cruise around Italy and Greece. They stopped by yesterday to see me (the others all being out at their in-laws for Mother's Days) and give me contact information. Dad also called me this morning to get my email address in case he can send me emails from the cruise ship, which would honestly shock the hell out of me since he can barely use a computer to check his hockey pool scores.

Oh, had a talk with Darren tonight and officially I'm back to paying $200 rent come the end of the month. This means they'll be picking up my groceries again, although I'll still buy them for the rest of May.

► Since Saturday I've been having some mild dizzy spells, most likely psychosomatic. They seem to go away when I'm laying down so I've been spending most of the past 3 days in bed watching DVDs. I've watched about 10 so far, so that's helping cut down on the stacks on my night table. I'm going to try to watch more.

Just finished watching Bandidas. An action comedy western starring Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz as to female bank robbers from different backgrounds in turn of the century Mexico. In all their pouty lipped, heaving bosomed, cleavagy, Latin firebrand sassiness. I liked it!


► Also, I finished reading Terry Pratchett's Mort on Friday and immediately started Reaper Man after it, but I only read a page and a half so I'm not sure how much that counts.

► Saturday night I had to babysit Max for a few hours, which was tough because of the aforementioned dizzy spells, but I got around it by laying on the couch in the family room and letting him take my slippers off and put them back on me (repeatedly, and sometimes on the wrong feet), and run around the room wearing them. We also kicked around a little ball he had when I was a little more steady standing up. I swear, he must love my name because he says it a lot ("Deh-wick! Deh-wick!"). He has trouble saying Darren's name so he just calls him "Uncie D" (I think cause the first syllable in Darren is the same as Derek he thinks it's the same name and shakes his head no, says my name instead, and points at me).

► So Liv Tyler's marriage is over. Does that mean I finally have a chance? No? Just checking.

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Quote of the Moment

Freddy Benson: I've got culture coming out of my ass.
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

watching: Bandidas
Reading: Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett; Essential Avengers Vol 2
Drinking: cranberry juice

Deana came by tonight to wait and see Brett and Max (they're spending the weekend here at the house). Seems Deana decided to get another new tattoo today, this one is a Celtic cross just below the base of her neck between her shoulder blades. She now has 8. While talking to me she said Darren questioned why she got a Celtic cross when we're mostly French. Turns out she has some surprising information.

All this time we've been under the belief that the 4 of us (Deana, Darren, Brett and myself) are half French, quarter Scot, 1/8th Irish, and 1/8th English:

► Grandfather (Paternal) - French
► Grandmother (Paternal) - Half Irish/Half English
► Grandfather (Maternal) - Scottish
► Grandmother (Maternal) - French

Apparently the mother of one of Deana's best friends (who she also has a friendly relationship with) is into genealogy, and did some research on my Maternal Grandmother's family (of which she's a distant cousin of ours) and discovered that while my Grandmother's family are francophone, they're actually of Celtic extraction. So, we're actually mostly Irish and only a quarter French. I guess all the times I used to joke that my dark hair, black eyes, and pale complexion were the result of my being black Irish, I wasn't far off!

Now if we can just find out about the Canadian Indian connection on my Paternal Grandfather's side.

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► My back and my ribs are still really hurting. I'm wondering if it's the mix of humidity and windy cold we've had lately. Guess I'll take another extra-strength acetaminophen.

► Ok, when I move out at the end of September I want to live in Elizabeth Hurley's cleavage. **melts**

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Quote of the Moment

Jack: Conan, this is important to me. So, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way.
Conan O'Brien: What's the hard way?
Jack: You do a live Christmas Eve special from Kabul every year until the War on Terror is won.
Conan O'Brien: Tell Tracy I'll see him tonight, you black Irish bastard.
Jack: Back at you, red.
- 30 Rock (2006 - )

Since yesterday my back and my ribs have been acting up. My lower back is all sore and tense and hurts, while my left ribs seem to be a bit looser and snapping and popping around a bit more freely than usual. My right rib cage is aching and I can't help but wonder if that and my aching back are sore cause of the left side. Dad's talking about getting me some of that Lakota pain reliever rub-on stuff.

I ache.

( Other things, and capture pics of my watch... )

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Garfield Minus Garfield


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Quote of the Moment

Hal: Okay, who do you think is the most beautiful woman in the world?
Mauricio: Wonder Woman.
- Shallow Hal (2001)

Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett; Essential Avengers Vol 2
Drinking: water
Eating: brownies

When I get a thing of jujubes I like to eat the colours/flavours I don't like first so that I'm left with the ones I do like last (red and yellow). It's annoying when other people ask for some and just take reds. At least I managed to get a bag with an unusually high percentage of red jujubes yesterday.

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Quote of the Moment

Jeffrey Goines: There's no right, there's no wrong, there's only popular opinion.
- Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett; Essential Avengers Vol 2
Drinking: water
Eating: jujubes

Mother
Tell your children not to walk my way
Tell your children not to hear my words
What they mean
What they say
Mother
Mother!

Sorry... I've got Danzig's Mother stuck in my head (the song... not his actual mom). I just ate supper. Fried up some Steak-ums and made 2 sandwiches. God I love those... Haven't had them in years as you can only buy them in the US (Darren picked up a box of frozen ones on the weekend).

( Finally got a few things I've been needing, and stuff I didn't... )

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Quote of the Moment

Darkseid: Let the universe howl in despair for I have returned!
- Justice League Unlimited (2004 - 2006)

Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett; Essential Avengers Vol 2
Drinking: ice tea
Eating: jujubes

With this post I think I officially cross over to curmudgeon. Just a short list, off the top of my head, of some of the things that bug me:

► The saying "have your cake and eat it too." That has to be the stupidest, most illogically trite saying ever. What the fuck are you supposed to do with cake if not eat it?
George Carlin: "When people say, 'Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too.' What good is a cake you can't eat? What should I eat, someone else's cake instead?"
► When people say "literally" when they mean "figuratively."
► While we're on the subject of language, people, please stop saying you give 110% or any number greater than 100%. Every time I hear an athlete say that they gave it 110% or 150% or 1000% I want to smack them.
► Dennis The Menace. Seriously, was this comic strip ever funny? Every time I read it in out newspaper I wonder how no one has shot Dennis in the face yet.
► X-Men heroine Rogue's name is spelled Rogue, not Rouge.
► Any time there's a new movie that gets released and it's a critical and financial bomb, there's always people calling it the "worse movie ever". My god people have short attention spans. Unless you've tried to sit through Manos: The Hands Of Fate you've not seen the worse movie of all time.
► When people equate killing with character depth. Wizard Magazine just listed their choices for the 200 "Greatest Comic Book Characters Of All Time", and number 1? Not Batman (#2), not Spider-Man (#3) and not Superman (#4)... Wolverine. And why? Because he kills and the other 3 don't. Riiight.
► Why is it, when you're at the store, there's always people standing in the center of aisles having conversations and blocking the way of everyone else. Are people really that oblivious? Or are they obnoxious or just stupid?

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Quote of the Moment

Peter Griffin: Another thing that grinds my gears is when I can't find the droids I'm looking for.
Stormtrooper: Yeah, me too. What gives with that?
- Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)

Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett; Essential Avengers Vol 2
Drinking: water
Eating: Twix

Note: I'm seriously getting sick of all this recent "slice of pathetic life" stuff my journal has turned into. I need to start posting different things again.
End Note

( My daily twaddle... )

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( Blankie stuff... )

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Quote of the Moment

Manfred Powell: Enough of this twaddle!
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett
Drinking: water

So yeah... that was tense at times.

( Family drama, sheesh... )

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I'm a wee bit burned out from 60s Avengers cheese, so I've put aside my Essential Avengers Vol 2 TPB for a little while and read the comics and Justice League Unlimited digests I bought on Wednesday. I'm also now reading Terry Pratchett's Mort and nearly 100 pages in. Feels good to read a Discworld book again. Hell, feels good to read again period. I just hope I can keep it up. I've got a lot of unread books and trades.

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Quote of the Moment

Judge Larren Lyttle: **dismissing the prosecutor's claim that Sabich's sarcastic reply "yeah, I did it" was a murder confession** Shoot... in my neighborhood, had Mr. Sabich come from those parts... He would of said 'yo mama.'
- Presumed Innocent (1990)

Reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett
Drinking: water
Eating: my insides

Depressed today and feel like crap. Yesterday it became official, Darren and Jen want me to leave. Dad had dropped by in the afternoon to tell me that Darren said the 3 of us, and Deana need to get together and talk on Sunday. I told him that pretty much means I'm out. It was confirmed later in the afternoon when Darren got home from work and started asking me if I had a talk with Dad. He's trying to put it off as no big deal and keeps saying it'll be better for me and bring us closer again, which is a joke given how they're been ostracizing me for the last couple months. Supposedly Darren had mentioned this to Dad a few days ago. I don't know why Dad would have waited so long to tell me, or why Darren and Jen had been telling me how I can clean out the big closet up here for my stuff. Seems pointless in the face of their wanting me out.

As of right now I think I'm here for the rest of May (Dad and Claire are going away on a 2 week cruise in a week and a half so we can't do anything while he's gone). I've no idea when I'm moving and where to. I haven't talked to Deana about any of this so really, I have no idea.

I've been living in this house for 23 years, and with my agoraphobia and through all the problems I've had over that time it's been my only safe haven. That's now gone, and my nerves are pretty much fucked at the moment worrying about the sea of uncertainty ahead of me. I'm wondering if I should start packing stuff now. Though I'm going to need a few big bins for my DVD and figure collections, and a shit load of boxes. Also numerous comic boxes for my collection of comics (currently in a big filing cabinet) and my TPBs.

Didn't win the $20 million lottery either. That would have helped. At least Darren seems to be a bit extra cordial to me now. They went to Ottawa shopping for the day, he offered to pick up a blanket I've been wanting, I gave him $20 for it.

My nerves don't feel so good... Head either...

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Quote of the Moment

Spock: I have a responsibility to this ship. To that man on the bridge. I am what I am, Leila. And if there are self made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than someone else's.
- Star Trek (1966 - 1969)

Rather sore and tired tonight. As foretold yesterday Dad picked me up this morning so I could go over to his and Claire's place to assemble a set of metal lawn furniture for them (cause I do it so well apparently). Dad helped and it took us 2 and a half hours. the thumb and finger tips on my right hand are all sore and numb from working the bolts with an Allen key in the cold (we're having a slight cold snap at the moment). So that was rather tiresome, if somewhat fun (I do like assembling things).

Also sore because later when I was back home late this afternoon Deana showed up to get her summer tires out of the shed. I went out back to help her but that smartass Bruce decided to attack me. He repeatedly took running jumps at me and chomped up and down on my right hand and forearm. He wasn't biting, more playing, but he did scratch me up and my bad ribs hurt.

It's the same crap he used to pull on me when he was a puppy. Also one of the reasons I can't take him for walks or go out back to clean the yard.

( The rest of the stuff... )

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Garfield Minus Garfield


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Quote of the Moment

King of Swamp Castle: Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who.
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Few minor things of note today:

► The comic book DC Universe #0 came out today, for all of 50 cents (I picked up a copy). The comic is making headlines in newspapers because the final page shows the return of long dead legendary comic book superhero, The Flash (Barry Allen) (highlight the white text to see who). Well... it doesn't actually show him, but we do see a yellow lightning bolt streak across a large white moon against a red sky and other things in the comic hint of his narrating the issue. Besides, the writers Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison have both confirmed he's back.

The New York Times and the New York Daily News both have articles on the resurrection, while the Village Voice has a rather snarky article insulting the Daily News for running it as an exclusive (despite it not being pictured on the cover page they prominently feature in the article.

Oh, the dripping pretension.

► So it looks like Ian McKellan is officially, but not quite officially signed on to reprise his role as Gandalf the Grey in the upcoming film adaption of The Hobbit. The article says he's basically signed on, but that the final arrangements of the deal have yet to be finalized.

I just hope they get Ewan McGregor to play the young Bilbo Baggins. I think he'd be fantastic.

► Under the category of junk I don't need but want, place Iron Man's disembodied head. My buddy JR popped online for a bit earlier tonight and sent me this link. As a tie in to the new Iron Man movie opening this Friday, 7-Eleven is selling commemorative plastice Slurpee drinking cups, including one that's shaped like Iron Man's head/helmet. I so want one!

Unfortunately Darren told me that we no longer have a 7-Eleven in town, as the one we did has been turned into a Quickie-Mart (though I think the chances are nonexistent). He said I could still check it out to see if they have them. I might ask Dad if we can stop there to look tomorrow when he drives me home.

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Quote of the Moment

Bilbo: I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Talk about an "Oops" moment. I bought a can of compressed air today, the purpose of which is to blast any dust out of the motor of my ceiling fan. I figure that has to be why the damn thing isn't working. So, I get the can, attach the thing straw like nozzle that comes with it, stand up on my chair placing the nozzle to one of the many holes around the base of the fan. I then squeezed the trigger only to have the nozzle to fire like a crossbow bolt into the the base of the fan. Where it currently is.

First time that's happened to me with a can of compressed air. I gather I didn't affix the nozzle firmly enough. This means I have to disassemble the ceiling fan to get the nozzle out, when the whole reason I bought the can was to avoid having to do that.

**sigh**

Eh, I think I can take it apart myself. Shouldn't be too difficult.

( Just a rundown of today's nonevents... )

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Quote of the Moment

Armand: It's like riding a psychotic horse toward a burning stable.
- The Birdcage (1996)