From theskirtgirlie

- Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.

- NO CAPTIONS!!! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.

- They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason.

- You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like

( tada )

i want to be 17 again.

Real pneumonia is fun!

I sleep all day, and my only complaints are a fever, some chills, feeling faint, and the vague sensation that I'm drowning!

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!

Real pneumonia!

My eyes were swollen shut this morning! That was COOL.

Mom wants me to go to the hospital.

Instead, I'm going to class.

My eye is red again. I feel like all the energy has been sucked out of me.

This is crap.

CNN has a Michael-Jackson-was-taking-this-drug-which-doctors-know-of story as their top story. GOD.

Awesome reddit thread:

"Hitler used to make announcements on Saturday, because it was when diplomats took a day off."
"Today's Friday."
"No one said she's smart."

I'm trademarking "I miss you like polar bears miss their natural habitat."

Also, recent tweets:

9:05: RT @xaeridus - I guess that answers the question: if a political bombshell drops in Alaska and no one is around to hear it...
9:04: @zonker22 I vote PAC. She has a following, but not the political chops for another office.
9:03: My real take on Palin: She can't handle the magnifying glass of national politics. I do think her family needs her. She might be unstable.
~8:00: The only rational conclusion here is that Sarah Palin has a nuclear weapon, and Alaska will secede and join N Korea.
~8:00: Also, Sarah Palin, thank you for ending the 8-day coverage of Michael Jackson. It was about time for MSNBC to stop looking stupid.

The only rational conclusion here is that Sarah Palin has a nuclear weapon -- Alaska will secede and join North Korea. Remember, you heard it here first.

Associated Press, Reuters, BBC America, MSNBC, CNN... I'm available for insightful and hard-hitting political analysis. Feel free to get in touch.

Also, please keep in mind that if John McCain dies before 2012, Sarah Palin would be the President of the United States of America. If he dies after 2012 but before 2016 and if he had be re-elected in 2012, Sarah Palin would be the President of the United States of America.

Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman:

1. "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." --Sarah Palin, explaining why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, interview with CBS's Katie Couric, Sept. 24, 2008 (Watch video clip)

2. "We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ... We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation." --Sarah Palin, speaking at a fundraiser in Greensoboro, N.C., Oct. 16, 2008

3. "Ohh, good, thank you, yes." --Sarah Palin, after a notorious Canadian prank caller complimented her on the documentary about her life, Hustler's "Nailin Paylin," Nov. 1, 2008

4. "Well, let's see. There's ― of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but ―" --Sarah Palin, unable to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe vs. Wade, interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008

5. "All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years." --Sarah Palin, unable to name a single newspaper or magazine she reads, interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008

6. "They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan." --Sarah Palin, speaking at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Oct. 5, 2008

7. "[T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom." --Sarah Palin, getting the vice president's constitutional role wrong after being asked by a third grader what the vice president does, interview with NBC affiliate KUSA in Colorado, Oct. 21, 2008

8. "I told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that Bridge to Nowhere." –Sarah Palin, who was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it [note: and still took the money Congress offered and just reappropriated the funds]

9. "If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media." --Sarah Palin, getting First Amendment rights backwards while suggesting that criticism of her is unconstitutional, radio interview with WMAL-AM, Oct. 31, 2008

10. "I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'" --Sarah Palin, as quoted by former City Council Member Nick Carney, after he raised objections about the $50,000 she spent renovating the mayor's office without approval of the city council

Finally, I never thought I'd be thanking Sarah Palin, of all people, for anything -- but thank you for getting MSNBC to stop embarrassing itself and actually report on news rather than running Michael Jackson shit all day. No matter how complex or talented a person is, there is only so much you can say about them. He's been dead for 8 days and, in the words of Dick King-Smith's Farmer Hoggett: "That'll do, pig. That'll do."

I'm guessing this was written in late 1984; there's no date on it, but the photo included (which shows snow) and parts of the piece makes me thing it was around December of that year. I found the clippings over here, framed, and it's been on my wall since then.

The Chapel Hill Newspaper

Blake's Landscaping

by DAN LEIGH
Staff Writer

[photo with caption:] Travis Blake standing in front of the newly opened garden center. Blake's Landscaping located on U.S. 15-501 South, has expanded it's (sic) services by adding a home garden center in addition to the other professional landscaping services it offers. (Staff photo - Bill Richards)

M. Travis Blake has been landscaping residences and businesses in the Triangle area since 1970. Blake recently added a garden center to expand his professional service, located on U.S. 15-501 south of Chapel Hill.

Blake recently said in an interview he found the block building, which had just been completed, entirely to his liking and perfectly suited to the business.

"We have no power machines and no lawnmowers," Blake said. "We are strictly a landscaping and garden center. We have all the plants in one place, a retail garden center with trees, shrubs, groundcovers, seeds, and pots."

He said he had plants, "from abelias to zebra plants and zinnias," with 160 varieties and soon to reach 250, covering two and one-half acres. "We have been successful and enjoy doing a good job."

He said four people work full time in landscape maintenance, four in landscape construction and four part-time people to operate the garden center.

Blake's Landscaping does business as far as Sanford, Raleigh and Durham, he said. "Our work is seasonal, but we don't notice it. We will be busy until April."


Now 32, Blake began landscaping in 1970, working while he attended UNC. He quit school to run the landscaping business full time, at first working out of his father's pickup truck and then settling into what would be a thriving business. In 1976, he moved to the present site south of Chapel Hill.

In 1977, he sustained a near fatal spinal injury in a motorcycle accident. He was paralyzed from the neck down for four months, with an injury that usually results in permanent paralysis. Blake was forced to change his lifestyle and eliminate much of the physical work he was used to.

"At the time of the accident, I was 25 and in the peak of condition," said Blake, a former track athlete. "The prognosis was that the injury was permanent and the chances of my walking were slim."

He credits the rapid intervention by doctors and a rescue squad that moved him to N.C. Memorial Hospital with preventing the injury from being more debilitating.

"I didn't go back to landscaping right away," he said. "I went back to UNC to finish my two degrees -- a B.A. in biology and a B.S. in environmental science and engineering. Now, I am finishing a masters degree in public health in environmental management protection.


He said that when he was able to walk, he forced himself to walk to class.

"After an accident, you get lazy," he said. "You don't walk, afraid you'll fall down. I didn't avoid anything. I forced myself to walk up steps, and I have seen a gradual improvement to this day.

"Northwestern Bank waited for two years; it could have foreclosed at any time, but it stuck by me," he said. "Russ McCormick, president of the bank, has often said, 'if people will work with the bank, the bank will work with them.' I found that to be true."

In 1980, the building south of Chapel Hill burned and Blake moved in with friends and began to rebuild his business.

"My brother and my cousin worked for me," he said. "And if it had not been for friends, I wouldn't be in business. Customers waiteded until I got back. Chapel Hill is a pretty supportive community. That sort of reaction doesn't happen everywhere. That's one of the reasons why I stayed here and wanted to return something to teh community."

"Landscaping is construction," Blake said. "The difference between a weekend landscaper and a professional is expertise, training and a great deal of experience."

Part of his biology coursework included courses in horticulture and botany. "It takes years to build expertise and do a good job," he said.

He has worked for local florists, greenhouses, FCX's throughout the area and the N.C. Botannical Gardens.

Blake is the president of the newly informed Environmental Designs and Consulting, which designs and installs waste water treatment systems for facilities not already on a treatment system. The firm also conducts water, air and material sampling and helps people secure the right permit for the particular job.

He said he had been consulting full time since early this year, and he talks of his future activiies in terms of four priorities: master's degree; EDAC, his consulting firm; landscaping; and more writing.

Problem: No Nyquil.
Solution: Glass of White Zinfandel and a couple of ibuprofen.

Take that, FDA.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/06/30/acetaminophen.fda.hearing/index.html

This doesn't jive with me.

I mean, I get it, but I was taking twice the recommended adult dose of Percocet after my wisdom teeth came out. I would have been inconsolable without it.

Although, I guess I was taking such a high dose because I'd developed a tolerance to that class of drugs.

... but no one fucks with my NyQuil.

The suggestion to lower the dose of acetaminophin seems a little weird. It's like, people who abuse prescription painkillers won't damage their livers as horribly, but people who actually take the prescription painkillers for pain wouldn't get the pain relief acetaminophen offers. So, the change would make it less dangerous to abuse the drug, and the drug is less effective for its intended purpose? Am I getting any of that right?

They look at the stat that less than 10% of acetaminophen overdoses come from OTC drugs. That makes me wonder how many people who try to commit suicide by ODing on Tylenol actually succeed. I guess that's a sick thing to think about.


I need to go to sleep. It would be nice if I could.


Edit: It also occurs to me that taking drugs with a high probability of dependence off the market is just a really, really poor decision. "Let's make more drugs illegal." "Okay! That will totally not increase criminal activity and the violence associated with conventional drug trade!"

Did you know Cushing's syndrome can be genetic? I didn't. I also didn't know my mom has had a benign pituitary brain tumor since she was a teenager.

Also, I feel nauseous and hot and my eye is still bright red and I *JUST* realized I have my POLI midterm tomorrow. Which is excellent. Because I thought it was on Friday and I've missed a shit ton of class due to the whole feeling like shit thing.

In addition, I haven't seen my dad's face for more than maybe 10 minutes in the last four or five days. I just found out he had an MRI a couple days ago because he probably doesn't have random sciatica and, instead, has a new serious spinal problem. Or an old spinal problem. However you want to phrase that.

(Note: The following stories have probably been written in this blog before, or you've already heard them.)

This immediately made me think I'm going to get a repeat of second grade -- when my dad had been put on painkillers at home waiting to die, until my mom tracked down the only surgeon qualified to install all that titanium on my dad's neck and, consequently, save his life -- except I'll actually know what's going on. When that happened, I was seven years old and just noticed that Dad was sleeping a lot and Mom was calling a lot of people... then I remember playing with a balloon in Dad's hospital room while he recovered, and he couldn't go to the bathroom by himself. What a perceptive kid I was. I figured out it had actually been something important when I asked my mom (post-surgery) if Dad was going to be okay, and she (quite appropriately) took off the kid gloves and told me that she didn't know.

That whole scenario is also somewhat similar to fifth grade, when my dad had Legionnaire's disease. The night the ambulance showed up, I just knew that he and I had bad colds. Then a medic took me into the family room (while Hallucinating Dad was taken out via stretcher) asking me questions to make sure my dad hadn't OD'd. I'd learned how to make a chart in Excel that day, so I proudly presented said medic with a copy of our temperatures since that morning. Then, my mom dropped me off at my grandparents' house at something like 1 AM so I could sleep in the fold-out couch in my grandfather's study. I remember being up until about 4 with absolutely no idea what had just happened.


It's been 32 years since his accident. My mom tried to calm me down about that and suggested that this current situation might have something to do with the spinal injury, but probably wasn't that bad... or something. It was kind of a statement in passing.

Unfortunately, I know two things. One: my dad has not been incredibly lucky, healthwise (well -- depending on how you look at it, I guess). Two: if my dad admits to being in any sort of pain, I know that I have to adjust my concept of a pain threshold to include the pain he's been in daily for the last three decades anyway.

Personally, that makes me think that something that might cause my dad mentionable pain would probably be similar to a scenario in which I was hit by an 18-wheeler and asked to describe my pain. That's one thing I remember about my first panic attack -- after I'd been on oxygen for maybe 30 minutes and was finally coming around, the triage nurse asked me to describe any pain I felt, with "10 being like hit by a Mack truck."

Essentially, my dad's like a dog, sort of, in that you don't know that there's anything wrong with him until it's clear he's in a ton of pain. I'm sure he'd like that analogy.

So.

OH BOY.

Ending on a light(er) note: RT of a RT of a RT of a RT: "RIP BILLY MAYS. THE ONLY KNOWN HUMAN TO SPEAK IN CAPSLOCK"

the end.

I'm wondering if I'm going to get every exotic disease ever.

But, I mean, if a little brain surgery (??) can fix all my problems... cool. I guess.

"Too Soon" MJ jokes are just way too easy to find and I feel like a bad person for finding some of them so funny. So I posted them in response to a joke Aaron made in comment to one of Audrey's entries.

Also, my doctor thinks something really weird is wrong with me, and my hypotension is worse than it's ever been (but somehow I didn't notice). Which is weird.

Okay, June 2009:

David Carradine
Ed McMahon
Farrah Fawcett
Michael Jackon
and now
BILLY MAYS


WWWWWWWWWTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

So my self-confidence and esteem are kind of nil right now.

Feeling stupid and pathetic. And sick. Awesommmmeeeee.

left a candle at alison's, left immediately after. hope anyone who ended up there got a DVD. if not, let me know.