I haven't looked at the Earthquake site for about two months. Haven't felt any earthquakes in those two months either. About an hour ago I just dropped by that site on a whim. And then, just a moment ago the whole house went WHUMP - waiting for the USGS to come up with a measurement - ahhh, here it is: a 3.2 just down the road from us. It's FUN living really close to a fault line, really! LOL.
I couldn't sleep last night so I was up, using the computer. As a result of this non-sleep, I layed down to rest a few hours ago. Naps during the day have taken on strange qualities... when I wake up I'm really confused about where I am at first, who I am, and what I'm supposed to be doing, etc. I used to just wake up, feeling refreshed, but right now I think I'm doing some DEEP STUFF in the sleep state, and I'm more conscious of it. (Just not ALL conscious of it because as I wake up it goes away - I just know it USED to be there - LOL.) Blah! :-)
Although the little smash in the car (John avoiding a cat and tapping a guardrail) was fixed up nicely, the ventilation fan was still making loud noises and John detected a distinctly non-lovely odor coming out of them. This morning, we took the car back to the shop where they said they'd look into it. Turns out there was definitely a dead mouse in there - the guys at the shop even saved it for us so we could see it - LOL. But the great thing? Since it only took about 20 minutes or so for the whole operation, they didn't charge us for it at all. (And we ALREADY liked this place. *grin*) And the fan went back to working perfectly and now we can run the A/C again with the windows rolled up - heh heh.
Having the a/c back is so necessary here. When we were walking the short ways back to the shop after breakfast out (to give them time to work on it), it was only about 10 a.m. and the sun was just searing into my brain. (John had on his Brookings-Harbor Oregon hat so he was okay.) I had to stop in the shade every so often just so I could open my eyes a little and relax. I know I have another life where I died in the desert - I don't even like long flat sandy beaches, unless there are a lot of trees nearby - gets kinda freaky. Must... have... shade!
LOL - thanks 'Reesa! You rock too, and not just because of the same reason you said it was not because of as well. (In some universe, that IS proper language usage, I'm sure.) I can't wait to see your Cobweb Designs site fleshed out so I can ooooh and ahhhhh all over it. Oh, and BTW, I keep meaning to put your link in the left column, but haven't gotten my arse in gear to update this dang template yet - soon though! ;-)
The folks at Pyra Labs HQ (blogger central) are having T1 line troubles, and I'm not sure how that's going to affect blogger so if my posts get more intermittent, you'll know why - LOL. Also, since metafilter was hosted along those same T1 lines, the metafilter site is now done for the moment and a lot of the whole Kaycee story that I've linked to is unavailable. The yahoo group list is still up and running though. This has been a public service announcement.
Last night John and I drove up to San Jose to meet up with a group of old friends. Frank was visiting from the east coast on business, and Ellen (a.k.a. Mui) decided to make a small "do" of it by inviting John and me and our friend Ronni along tom had airport shuttle duty and couldn't make it). Ellen and Bob treated us to some excellent food and spirits at Gordon Biersch and although it was really loud in there, screaming over the din worth it and a ton of fun. We also strolled the streets of San Jose, which has a LOT of rather large trees for a downtown area. :-) Here's a photo I took (thus I'm not in it, but I posted another photo of me a few posts down - go see that - LOL) of the group at Ellen and Bob's place before we left for dinner:
Frank Webster, Ronni Shields, Ellen Young, Bob Young, John McNally
Okay, bats are apparently passe' - now it's snakes. Driving out today, saw two dead snakes in the road, one seemed to be a gopher snake (non-poisonous) and the other could have been a scarlet king snake (consulting the little snake book and comparing with my rapidly dimming recollection.) Both were about three feet long and appeared to have been run over whilst crossing the road. When I got back, I was about to walk up to the gate, when I looked down and saw a little two foot long snake just lounging in the shade between me and the lock. I thought it was a gopher snake, but it didn't seem interested in moving and I couldn't find a stick to move it with (luckily I could tell it didn't have a rattle). So, I went to the other gate instead, got home, and checked on the meaning of snakes. I'm sure none of you will be surprised that it's a symbol for rebirth and resurrection and all that (skin shedding, etc.). :-) Sounds good to me.
Okay - just a few more articles - first, one that really highlights the story from a web point of view and gets the flavor 'correct': The Life and Death of a False Warrior. And then one from MSNBC (oooh - hit the big time) that glosses over the internet detective work that went on behind the scenes and just portrays the 'internet hoax' angle, which is hardly surprising. I still think the most exciting thing about this was the mystery unraveling in post after post on Metafilter, but that's me - LOL. I doubt I'll post anything else about it here, but I'll still be following the story to see where it goes.
Right now I'm damn impressed. Damn DAMN impressed. I hang out a lot on the Metafilter site to read interesting news articles and readers' comments, occasionally posting some of my own as well - it's an excellent group of people. Over the last few days an amazing story broke, and thanks to internet sleuthing by tons of clever MeFi's, a terribly intricate hoax was uncovered from tiny clues in photoshopped images, cached web pages, odd links, individuals in contact over email, chat, and phone calls. It's about a weblogger named Kaycee who was a 19 year old girl with leukemia, and DIED just recently, causing all sorts of outpourings, and a courageous first post (on MeFi) wondering if she actually existed IN PHYSICAL REALITY at all. (I'd link her website, but it's been taken down now.) At first there was outrage at the mere thought, and some sleuthing, and then MORE sleuthing. And the "truth" started to come out that she WAS, in fact, a fabrication. And people were shocked and dismayed, particularly those who had email/phone contact with said Kaycee, people who had set up the websites that "Kaycee" was posting her writing on, people who had actually sent GIFTS and CARDS, etc.
There have been probably close to *900*+ comments posted on various Kaycee threads on Metafilter as the story has unfolded, which you can still catch by using the link above, as it's still unfolding. Since the Metafilter site was getting overloaded, someone started a yahoo group which has public archives, and about 40 links to check out in their links section, and is ALSO still 'unfolding'. Apparently, local reporters are now onto the story and local authorities are also checking out the possibility of mail fraud, etc. I won't go into the sordid details here, and I only heard about this whole thing through the first metafilter post saying that Kaycee had just died, so I'm not emotionally involved with the "being duped" part of it. What fascinates me is that, as an internet "hoax", all the clues to uncovering the mystery were found by internet people, through the internet, and on Metafilter, the whole thing was, by and large, handled with objectivity (and amazement). Overall, this is one of the most engaging dramas I've watched unfold in a long time. Way to go, MeFi's!
On another level, yes, the emotional outpouring that people felt was valid, even if the object of it was not "real". Does it matter that she wasn't real? I think so. To me, it doesn't invalidate the emotions people felt, but it was overt manipulation, a victim-perpetrator drama. There was someone who manipulated people to get attention and energy, and people who were willing to be manipulated emotionally because of, perhaps, their lack of discernment on some level. (As a "conscious creator" I can see how this was created by the beliefs of all involved, which is ALSO fascinating.)
When I read Kaycee's blog before it went away, it was the last two or three posts, and although it was VERY emotionally engaging, it went way off my "smarm" meter and seemed just a BIT, to borrow a term on MeFi, "engineered", and not "real", according to my own standards. It was akin to the kind of urban legend spams that get passed around "if you care, you'll pass this on" kind of stuff that's based in emotional manipulation, plain and simple. What I'd like to add to this aspect of the drama is that just because your bullshit alarm goes off does NOT mean you are "not a compassionate person" - it just means your intuition's trying to tell you something. More often than not, emotional manipulations play on the belief in victims and the pity you should have towards someone who is "less fortunate". This isn't to say that there AREN'T people with difficult challenges out there in every walk of life and that you shouldn't offer your energy where you feel it can do its best, but... things can be designed (and very formulated) to tug on heartstrings (movies do it all the time, but we know what we're getting into upfront, and pay to do it even! *grin*) just to grab your energy. As with anything, use your WHOLE self to decide what to do - heart, brains, and intuition - be in conscious charge of where your energy goes.
Because I had my camera out and was having a little fun with it, I thought I'd take a self-portrait shot. I look a little cross-eyed here, and my forehead really ISN'T five miles tall (only four and a half) *grin*, but what the hell. The paneling behind me is rough-hewn redwood paneling that comprises most of the interior-interior walls of this converted schoolhouse. VERY rough hewn... but in a pleasantly rustic kind of way. LOL.
There's a critter, I suspect a rabbit, who has this strange habit. Whenever we have a red flower that blooms in the yard (started with some anemones last year), they chew off the stem and leave the flower on the ground. This happened with that wildflower in the picture I posted yesterday too. It's funny in a bizarre sort of way. Glad I took a picture of it when I did!
Today must be a day for graphics. *grin* I just designed a new t-shirt for sale on the "Conscious Creation Stuff" pages. It's the first one on the page - colorful and rather humorous - dedicated to those of us who may have had just a LITTLE trouble manifesting some of the things we want in our lives. LOL.
I was out this morning with the dogs and glanced at the front garden and DOING, there was one largish (for a wildflower) bright magenta flower fully opened! So I ran back inside and got my camera, so I could share it with y'all. :-)
Because I had my camera out and was having a little fun with it, I thought I'd take a self-portrait shot. I look a little cross-eyed here, and my forehead really ISN'T five miles tall (only four and a half) *grin*, but what the hell. The paneling behind me is rough-hewn redwood paneling that comprises most of the interior-interior walls of this converted schoolhouse. VERY rough hewn... but in a pleasantly rustic kind of way. LOL.
