barf
Rented "Kingdom of Heaven" tonite. Afterward, I thought it'd be cool to check out the historocity of the film. You know, did these characters actually live and die, how close is it to the truth.

Good luck finding that. I found a bunch of crusaders are good christian websites, and a bunch of crusaders are bad non-christian websites. Not much history involved in either.  ¶ 2:33 AM

 
oh, and by the way,
Where the fuck have you been?

Well, busy. Working all the time, going to school when I'm not working. And still not managing to keep up with those two top priorities. Also, money stuff.

For entertainment, well, I saw Social D this week, and got completely wrecked afterward. And I had a blast, thank you, I woke up with injuries I didn't remember causing. Always a good sign.

Trying, and trying, to do some fiction. And reading alot. And computer stuff. And family stuff, both mine and the future in-laws. And car stuff. And so much more stuff.

Check out the Hard Case Crime series. Biggest hitters in the industry, doing 50's style pop-fiction. Great stuff.

But no, I haven't quit blogging. Just been otherwise directed for a bit. If Sadie ever deigns to acknowledge my application to her design service (that I hopefully actually sent, and didn't just hallucinate sending), and I put the hours into it, I'll be moving to moonoo soon, so I can not-blog over there. I am officially a moonoovian, as soon as I make the shift. God only knows why they let me in, but I'll be bringing down property values over there soon, with thanks to the currently (but hopefully not permanently) defunct Ilyka Damen.

Until then, take it easy, I'm going to go figure out how to drive MT.  ¶ 2:40 AM

 
"Staged"?
I heard a quote on an hourly news blurb in which an Iraqi Soldier told Bush "I like you", and some other stuff before that that was complementary, in a broken English sort of way. Which is to be expected; If I remember right, he was confusing "Everyone" or "Everything" with "Anyone", which threw our ever-eloquent President into a loop.

The gist of it, though, was obviously positive, even if the exact complement wasn't. I was just trying to find the quote, and everything I can find is titled "Bush interview staged" or "Rehearsed". But, from the text of the articles, it dosen't seem rehearsed or prompted, as much as...organized. This person answers a question, then pass the mike to your left, then this person, etcetera etcetera. That isn't "Staged", that's just ordered.

So...what's the friggin deal? I'm surprised this hasn't been covered more by the right blogosphere, a complement directly to the President from an Iraqi involved in the war would be a great soundbite. But the only media coverage I can find is about some practice that seems, to me, to be pretty innocent.  ¶ 2:29 AM

 
zeros
See, here's the key when getting a tatoo: Pay Attention. Know what you're doing, and what the artist is doing.

I don't get people that walk into tatoo parlours and request one off the wall. That is going to be on your body for the rest of your life, period. Shouldn't there be a bit more of a requirement than "Oh, that one's cool."

And, as I said, pay attention to what the person drawing a permanent mark on your body is doing. Part of this (a big part) is knowing at least something about the person doing the work. That means, No Carnie Tatoos. If the artist is known to you only as "Moose" and he smokes and drinks canned Coors through the process, you might want to turn him down. I have very stupid friends who didn't have the balls to say "Wait, stop that, that isn't what I asked for", who are now walking around with really dumb-looking shit on their bodies.

Also, if you're going to get something done in a foreign language, make sure you know what it says. I have a tatoo on my back that is the chinese glyph for "Faithful". How do I know this? Well, before we got the tattoo, we went to Barnes and Nobel and (ahem) ripped a page out of a Chinese dictionary. We had thought about it for a while, found that particular symbol and...ah, acquired an accurate version of it. Then we took it to a place where we knew the people and their work and had it inked exactly like it was in the dictionary. My next tatoo, which is coming very soon, is going to be in Arabic, also from a verified source.

I had a buddy in Basic that had his girlfriend's name in Chinese on his arm. Or at least, that was what he thought. And he told me, about halfway through basic training, that if she ever broke up with him he could just tell people it meant "Fearsome Warrior" or some shit, because who knew? Presumably that's what he's doing right now. The tat probably means "General Tso's Chicken", for all any of us know.

The point is, the understanding that whatever you're getting inked is permanent seems to be lacking with an awful lot of people. It's going to be there when your lover leaves you, when you aren't talking to any of your old friends any more, and when whatever pop fad is long passe. If it means something to you, even something fleeting, than great, but make sure it means something to you, and that it means what you think it means.

blather inspired here.  ¶ 2:55 AM