Welcome to the page reserved for me to put random crap that I'm thinking about, want to complain about, or just feel like sharing with the world. Yes, kind of like a blog, but not nearly as trendy.
A True Rant : National Look Around You Month
Have you ever noticed that nobody seems to notice what's going on around them anymore? I'm not talking about current events, or world news or anything like that, I mean the things that are physically happening around them. They walk/drive/live in a little bubble of oblivion, completely missing what's 10 feet away from them because they have their heads down, their iPods turned up, and single-track minds. People, LOOK UP ONCE IN A WHILE! There's a whole world around you filled with fascinating things, IF YOU'D JUST PAY ATTENTION! It drives me crazy to be riding in the car with someone and say 'look, a hawk!' as we speed past a hawk perched by the side of the road, only to have them reply 'what? where?' (It makes me less crazy and more worried when the oblivious one is the person driving... if they're not looking around, what are they looking at?)
This phenomenon was proved to me last night. Around 9:00 I was walking to the campus center to print out some junk for class when I looked at the sky. There was a huge ring around the moon. I've never seen anything like it before. For some reason I had stuck my camera in my backpack that morning, so I pulled it out and tried to take pictures of it. These were taken with a 5 second exposure and no tripod, so they're not the greatest, but they give you a rough idea of what it was like.
That's an average-sized, high-in-the-sky full moon, and it's a good 5 moon-widths to the edge of the ring. It was huge. With my hand about 6 inches from my face, it was bigger than the spread of my thumb to pinky. The middle of the ring was cloudless... you could see a star by the moon and an airplane's vapor trail across the middle of it. I have no idea what made it, or why, or how, but I can honestly say that next to the northern lights (and maybe the stars in Nebraska), it was the most impressive thing I've ever seen in a night sky. AND I WAS THE ONLY PERSON WHO NOTICED IT!
I stood on the sidewalk in the middle of campus for a solid 40 minutes staring at it. During that time I dragged 8 people out into the cold to show them. (They were just as impressed as I was.) Also in that span of time about 30 people walked past, some even stepping around this lunatic standing in the middle of the walkway taking pictures of the sky, but nobody even looked to see what I was looking at. I told people. I pointed. I said 'hey, look at the moon.' 'Look at the sky... do you see the ring?' 'LOOK UP!' and except for a few exceptions they just kept on walking. Head down, iPod on, cell phone in hand, brain off. The few who did actually look up were impressed. Never mind the fact that to get to where I was, they had already walked for 5 minutes without noticing it on their own.
I'm declaring February national 'Look Around You' month. Look up as you walk to class. Hang up the phone. Turn off the iPod. Listen to what's around you. See the hawks by the highway (there's a lot of them; you'll be surprised). Notice sunsets and clouds. Look at the patterns the bare trees make silhouetted against the winter sky. There's a whole world of cool stuff out there, just waiting to be noticed. Don't waste it.
An Announcement
Hear ye, hear ye... be it known, that for catching Brad the Rad in a flat out lie during conducting class, Sarah officially wins for today, the 30th day of January, MMVII.
A Sighting
I was driving back from Jolene's on Monday (1-22-06). I was crossing the bridge over the Mohawk river on Rt. 30A (into Fultonville) when I saw a large bird soar across the sky just in front of me. It was dark brown with a large wingspan, white head, white tail and a curved beak. I was pretty sure it was a bald eagle, but I didn't know if they had a white tail or not. I called my dad, who looked it up and confirmed that they can. I did indeed see a bald eagle. Pretty cool, eh? And no, I did not take this picture. 3 cheers for the internet.
21st Century Evolution.
Two Culinary Disasters
These are 3 pictures from July of 2006, I believe. Yes, I'm just now getting around to posting them. They occurred within a few days of each other, after my sister discovered that she's allergic to eggs. My mom decided to try her hand at baking some egg-less desserts, mainly brownies and a cake. The brownies turned into a rock. I was in the kitchen while she was trying to chip them out of the pan. I decided to help, and suddenly the entire thing came out in one big piece. And that's what I'm holding.
Attempt #2 was a cake. It also had some issues. My mom and I laughed about it for a while. So did everybody else after they saw it.
We called it an inside-out cake.
Reflection
I'm writing from my school's chapel balcony, listening to a concert given by my school's wind ensemble. There's a freshman sitting to my right who's clapping very enthusiastically after each piece. I admire her innocent "genuinity", for lack of a better term. I'm too bitter & jaded to think that everything is as wonderful as she thinks. Damn you, musical training & persuit for unachievable perfection.
Bumper Stickers
I've always wanted to get hired as an apprentice to an actual Jewish carpenter, and then get myself one of these bumper stickers.
Fun With Office Supplies
I worked as a counselor for the Vivace String Camp last week. The counselors had rotating shifts in the office. One of those mornings, I was extremely bored and insanely tired. This was the result. There were a few other results as well, but I've yet to track down the pictures.
The (potential) death of a painter
This is something I rigged up while painting a house a few years ago. We're standing on the roof of the garage, about second story window height. You can see the ladder used to get onto the roof, but it didn't help me reach the trim along the roof. How do you use a ladder on a peaked roof? Simple, you modify your ladder. Two notched 2x4's later, and it's easy. At least it is until you run into a wasp nest, but that's another story.
I found this in my refrigerator after Easter break. Yes, it's full of milk.
A quote.
Michelle: lin called you a genius
Michelle: you can totally die a happy person now
The gingerbread house is still causing quite as stir...
Caputo15255: reflecting on your 'christmas in the slums' i'd have to say you are quite possibly one of the more cynical and inspired young men i know. i really appreciated that, and the good laugh. i just want to say thank you for making mine, and im sure plenty of others' days, just a little bit brighter.
A realization.
When you have lunch with a blind person, it doesn't matter how bad your haircut is.
An announcement.
The other day, I played my 1,000th game of spider solitaire (medium difficulty). I won it, if you were curious. My current stats are 396 wins, and 606 losses, for a win % of 39. On top of those, I have 30 games on difficult and 152 on easy. Do the math to find out how much time I've wasted. The last time we calculated it, my roommate and I averaged 8-10 minutes per game.
It seems the gingerbread house is causing quite as stir...
Jess: wow, i knew you were a pyro and that you made bread dough quite often, but... putting the two together? that's pretty sweet! *** Auto-response sent to Jess: lets see... music "history" test, FAMILY NIGHT! ...and, some new crap on the website. http://www.ferret19.com Jess: and sick, of course Jess: but sweet all the same Jess: props ferret1919: thanks! *** Auto-response from Jess: If you think I'm weird, just wait until you check out how sick and twisted (yet highly entertaining) one of my friends is: http://www.ferret19.com/gingerbread/gingerbread.html
A Fan.
ferret1919: here ferret1919: http://www.ferret19.com/gingerbread/gingerbread.html ferret1919: you're sick ferret1919: you'll like that Bre: oh Bre: my Bre: I wish you could see how hard I'm laughing Bre: Oh my Bre: You sick and twisted person Bre: You're a genius! Bre: I gotta go to bed right now so i can dream twisted and wonderful dreams of blazing pretzel houses run by gingerbread men and their meth labs Bre: goodnight and THANKS!
To which Jolene responded...
Jolene: wow Jolene: she's more twisted than we are
A shocking discovery.
Y'all know the song Teenage Wasteland, by The Who? You know the one I'm talking about... it starts out with a blippy synthesizer for a while, then the piano comes in... dum...dum, dum!, then the drums, it goes nuts, and Pete Townsend starts singing 'Out here in the fields...'. It's the opening theme song to CSI: New York, and it was in an episode of House a while ago.
Anyway, I just discovered that Teenage Wasteland isn't its actual title, despite the chorus being 'Teenage wasteland, teenage wasteland!' It's really called 'Baba O'Riley', and it's from the album Who's Next.
Bri and the Bear
Bre is an art major. She painted the awesome painting hanging in my living room and the one in my
parents' dining room. (You'll see them eventually.) She lives in a freaking awesome house way out
on the edge of the boonies. A few days ago, a huge bear walked around their house. They had no idea
until they found the tracks later on. The tracks on the right going up around the house belong to
the bear.
How to Avoid Post-Performance Depression
I had just come back from playing in a performance of Handel's Messiah. It went really well, I played my guts out, and I had nothing left. As I returned to a nice, empty apartment, I was looking forward to a quiet evening with the lights dim, Norah Jones on the stereo, a hot cup of coffee and a notebook in which to scratch some thoughts.
Then people came in, started being loud, and I snapped. Chris took the pictures and has been bugging me to post them since.
This is Chris. He lives in the other half of the apartment.
He was packing up to leave for
Christmas break when he discovered
that he didn't have enough hands
to make only one trip to his car.
But that didn't stop Chris.
Jan. 21, 2005
This is in my church's main office. That's the desk of one of the secretaries.
A clip from an IM with my roommate
ferret1919: so you're cynical...
Josh: yep
ferret1919: sounds like a job for captain bacardi
Josh: hahaha
This morning, some two days later, I came back to find this on my computer...
Josh: this also sounds like a job for captain bacardi
*** Auto-response sent to Josh Mills: taking pictures of stuff at night
because i don't want to deal with people and pretend to be all
merry christmas oh it's so good to see you even though it's not.
Dec. 24, 2005. 12:30am
This year, my family is lacking a little in the area of Christmas. Decorations, to be specific. This
is our christmas tree.
This is a close up. Notice anything missing? It's been like that since we put it up, the day after
thanksgiving.
This is our advent calendar. It just went up today. This evening actually. No, I didn't put it up. My
mom did. But the sad thing is, it's going to stay like that until it comes down. I'm not sure why it
even went up in the first place...
