pointless rambling!
Jul. 24th, 2003 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotsofplantsStaring at e-mails that I should respond to, but thinking things through enough to convey coherent thoughts takes a little too much effort. So I give you:
The 'birthday meme' quiz result:
Hazelnut
Extraordinary
Charming
undemanding
very understanding
knows how to make an impression
active fighter for social cause
popular
moody and capricious lover
honest and tolerant partner
precise sense of judgment.
From here.
Eh. Possibly the most incorrect of any quiz I've seen so far. So many wrong, so few (what, two?) right. But at least I get to be hazelnut! A understanding hazelnut with a precise sense of judgment, no less. Yay hazelnuts.
Speaking of so many things being wrong, one of the finches is having trouble. It's the white one, for those following along at home. She tries to fly up to a perch, but doesn't seem to know quite where it is and falls to the floor again, sometimes hitting her head on the perch as she falls. She's huddled there now, shivering slightly in her sleep. And I don't know what is wrong, and I wouldn't know how to fix it if I did, and I can't even reach in to help her up to a perch, because I can't explain to her that I'm just trying to help. And I don't want to terrify the little bird. So, I watch and wait and will likely dispose of a tiny body soon. I hate feeling helpless, and I hate knowing that my lack of ability to help will contribute to death.
And I dreamt of my Dad Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The last couple minutes as he died. Still hurts.
Food coloration:
A while ago I read an article about the fact that farmed salmon are given food pellets with dye in them, so that they are pink instead of gray when in the little plastic-wrapped packets in the store. And the writer was all up in arms about this, proclaiming it a horrible thing which 'fooled' consumers (who are apparently not bright enough to read the label to discover it was farmed fish). And I was working with some hamburger tonight, and wondering. Why do people get upset about farmed salmon being fed color, but not about their steaks and hamburger being dyed? It amounts to the same thing; red meat sells better than gray meat.
Speaking of which, some dietary observations:
So my preferred diet fluctuates. In the winter, I want more carbohydrates. In the summer, I normally want vegies and fruits. When depressed, I want sweets. Sick, I usually want salt. After a really good workout, I want protein. Turns out I also really want protein when stressed. Meat, peanut butter, beans, whatever. So I impulse-bought a roast at the grocery store and then realized I'm not sure when I'll be home to cook it. Oops. Also, I'm not sure I can eat an entire roast--I'm used to having roommates around.
I miss my roommates. This is one of the times I wish I had a cat or dog. Friendly warm furry pet to interact with.
On the other hand, I'm trying to get stuff done while there's more space for moving things. Cleaned up some computer stuff (and wow was my box dusty inside!), but my CD drive still won't open. :( Bah. Need to figure out what's up with that, as I had assumed it was a dust issue. Reorganized cables so there's more usable floor space in the computer room, and connected my modem to the phone line, so I can dial up directly instead of having to boot up the gateway box while no one else is home. Did a little miscellaneous cleaning elsewhere. Didn't get nearly so far on my to-do list as I would have liked, but that's life.
I made a to-do list this morning. My memory is so shot that I can't remember the list of things I want to get done. I went to the store twice today because I forgot tortillas the first time. Bah. I don't like living by lists. I really hope this improves.
But one of the things on my list was 'read a book while listening to music', because I haven't been doing much reading lately. Didn't end up reading with music--I was walking home, and stopped on a bench at the park about half-way home. Read for about an hour and a half, with sun and wind and birds in the background. It was very nice. I haven't been getting outside enough lately--I get home and work on things inside, instead of going out to the park to read. That was one of the advantages of the field-work I did as a summer job a while ago. I keep seeing notices hiring for the same job and being tempted to do it again. I miss being outside in the woods so much.
Though apparently the woods are trying to come to me. I've been finding a lot of bugs inside my apartment in the last day or two. Moths and jumping spiders (with pretty decorations) and an orb spider and several earwigs, even (did you know earwigs have maternal care of their young?) And now there's a little tiny fly thing which keeps pummeling itself against my monitor, but is too agile for me to catch. Perhaps I should just go to bed now. Goodnight.
The 'birthday meme' quiz result:
Hazelnut
Extraordinary
Charming
undemanding
very understanding
knows how to make an impression
active fighter for social cause
popular
moody and capricious lover
honest and tolerant partner
precise sense of judgment.
From here.
Eh. Possibly the most incorrect of any quiz I've seen so far. So many wrong, so few (what, two?) right. But at least I get to be hazelnut! A understanding hazelnut with a precise sense of judgment, no less. Yay hazelnuts.
Speaking of so many things being wrong, one of the finches is having trouble. It's the white one, for those following along at home. She tries to fly up to a perch, but doesn't seem to know quite where it is and falls to the floor again, sometimes hitting her head on the perch as she falls. She's huddled there now, shivering slightly in her sleep. And I don't know what is wrong, and I wouldn't know how to fix it if I did, and I can't even reach in to help her up to a perch, because I can't explain to her that I'm just trying to help. And I don't want to terrify the little bird. So, I watch and wait and will likely dispose of a tiny body soon. I hate feeling helpless, and I hate knowing that my lack of ability to help will contribute to death.
And I dreamt of my Dad Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The last couple minutes as he died. Still hurts.
Food coloration:
A while ago I read an article about the fact that farmed salmon are given food pellets with dye in them, so that they are pink instead of gray when in the little plastic-wrapped packets in the store. And the writer was all up in arms about this, proclaiming it a horrible thing which 'fooled' consumers (who are apparently not bright enough to read the label to discover it was farmed fish). And I was working with some hamburger tonight, and wondering. Why do people get upset about farmed salmon being fed color, but not about their steaks and hamburger being dyed? It amounts to the same thing; red meat sells better than gray meat.
Speaking of which, some dietary observations:
So my preferred diet fluctuates. In the winter, I want more carbohydrates. In the summer, I normally want vegies and fruits. When depressed, I want sweets. Sick, I usually want salt. After a really good workout, I want protein. Turns out I also really want protein when stressed. Meat, peanut butter, beans, whatever. So I impulse-bought a roast at the grocery store and then realized I'm not sure when I'll be home to cook it. Oops. Also, I'm not sure I can eat an entire roast--I'm used to having roommates around.
I miss my roommates. This is one of the times I wish I had a cat or dog. Friendly warm furry pet to interact with.
On the other hand, I'm trying to get stuff done while there's more space for moving things. Cleaned up some computer stuff (and wow was my box dusty inside!), but my CD drive still won't open. :( Bah. Need to figure out what's up with that, as I had assumed it was a dust issue. Reorganized cables so there's more usable floor space in the computer room, and connected my modem to the phone line, so I can dial up directly instead of having to boot up the gateway box while no one else is home. Did a little miscellaneous cleaning elsewhere. Didn't get nearly so far on my to-do list as I would have liked, but that's life.
I made a to-do list this morning. My memory is so shot that I can't remember the list of things I want to get done. I went to the store twice today because I forgot tortillas the first time. Bah. I don't like living by lists. I really hope this improves.
But one of the things on my list was 'read a book while listening to music', because I haven't been doing much reading lately. Didn't end up reading with music--I was walking home, and stopped on a bench at the park about half-way home. Read for about an hour and a half, with sun and wind and birds in the background. It was very nice. I haven't been getting outside enough lately--I get home and work on things inside, instead of going out to the park to read. That was one of the advantages of the field-work I did as a summer job a while ago. I keep seeing notices hiring for the same job and being tempted to do it again. I miss being outside in the woods so much.
Though apparently the woods are trying to come to me. I've been finding a lot of bugs inside my apartment in the last day or two. Moths and jumping spiders (with pretty decorations) and an orb spider and several earwigs, even (did you know earwigs have maternal care of their young?) And now there's a little tiny fly thing which keeps pummeling itself against my monitor, but is too agile for me to catch. Perhaps I should just go to bed now. Goodnight.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-25 12:16 am (UTC)Just 'cause.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-25 07:23 pm (UTC)regarding the finch: how old is she? her behavior sounds a bit like how my first parakeet started acting when he got old. sadly, he didn't last very long once he hit that stage... but he had lived a long time. poor little birdie.
regarding to-do lists: on a philosophical note, what do you have against lists? i find that i'm a lot more organized and get a lot more accomplished when i have a list of things i need to do. and grocery trips are reduced by paying attention to my shopping list. i never really thought of "living by lists" as a bad thing, so i'm just curious...
no subject
Date: 2003-07-25 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-26 02:04 am (UTC)By the way, do you still have the old printer I left? Bacause I was repacking some things the other day and found a misc. cord in the oddest place that I think might be the missing printer cord. o.O