With bonus computer geekery question

I could totally go to Plymouth this weekend. I mean, I could get up, call my aunt, and see if it would be an okay weekend to visit, and if it would be, there's a train out after work that would get me there in an hour and a half, and I could come back sunday night and not even miss meeting for reflection assuming the trains worked out right and all that. and this would be a stack of books, two pairs of Jeans, and a pile of tops and underwear in a backpack--I could pack this before work, even. Round trip would be about $15, counting the metro. So it would be doable. The question is, is this a good weekend for me to go? I mean, I'm freaking fragile lately, and I don't want to spend the whole weekend in tears. I'm leaning away from doing that, but perhaps towards going to cambridge.

In completely unrelated news, I have this now, and it's...wrong, somehow, and I don't know how, so I'm trusting someone out there will know. It won't play in my DVD player on my computer. It claims it's the wrong region code. Now, I bought it thinking it would be a region one, just like Amazon lists is, so I could send it back and get my money back. Only, it's the *right* DVD. Or it's a really freaking good fake. But there should be a little globe type thing on it somewhere, with a number in it, right?, and there isn't. Anywhere. At all. I pop it in my player, and it says, "wrong region code DVD" or whatever. So I don't know what's up with that, but I'd appreciate any help/suggestions/whatever. Obviously, if it's just a flawed DVD, I can return it and get a different one. but if they're all going to be like this one, I don't know what to do. Ultimately, what I'm asking is, a)what's up with this? and b) Is there still anyway I can watch it as it is?

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oh, the poetry:

When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you.

I think On Screaming may be my very favorite part. I had to send it to my dad.

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I'm just all linky today. Sean Stewart interview that said some wonderful things. Let me cut some snippets for this:

"I have always felt a huge pressure to write really good, really thoughtful science fiction, rather than that other stuff," he said. "One thing about the 'A.I' game is that I was writing so many characters so fast that there was absolutely no time for tasteful. It was enormously liberating. So they'd come to me and say, 'OK, now we need an exciting scene with a murder by a crazed sex robot.' And I'd say, 'Bring it on! I am your guy!' "While Stewart's new novel, "Perfect Circle," is disappointingly light on crazed sex robots, he says the giddiness he felt writing for "The Beast" can be found on its pages.

...

"I was actually writing a book about family and what's forgotten and what's never forgotten, and what we love and what we can't get over loving," he said. "Sure, the occasional person gets shot and has gasoline thrown on them. But without that emotional center, the book didn't feel urgent to me."

...

He said that those [fantastical] elements can be used to dramatize themes in ways that literary novels can't. It's one thing to talk about missing somebody; it's another to see their ghostly reflection in your oven door.

"Ask yourself if 'Hamlet' would be better if Hamlet went up on the battlements to consult with his psychiatrist," Stewart said.

(no subject)

If you have iTunes, you can go watch the video for Run, by Snow Patrol on the music store (free music videos make so many things better). THis is the song that makes me cry, the song I always think of that prague picture for, and vice versa. The video is really lovely, very appropriate for the song, and there's a scene in it that looks just like a protest scene, and I got all choked up completely and wished I wasn't at work. I may have to figure out what that story is, because I suspect it's sad, and I'm not in a happy story mood lately.




The various links I've had today, I should say, are from Gwenda Bond, who has a very fun journal that I recommend everyone keep an eye on. J-walker is my favorite way to do so.

Jealousy, turning saints into the sea

Some other good music, thanks to various sources:

The thrills, courtesy of B. I adore Big Sur. (the radio player in the corner has a drop down menu. Big Sur is a the second song on it.)

The Killers, with the utter fabulousness of Somebody told me, I didn't think could be topped, but then someone requested "Mr Brightsides, and it's even better, I think. Which is something rarely said about a band that's already had a song about the problems with androgynous signficant others.

I have a list of CDs to look for right now:

• Tim Booth (don't swoon Hannah, we're to broke to buy British music)


• Ash (and Ash)


• Ambulance LTD (well, I'm just guessing, based on how a coworker liked it)


• Franz Ferdinand


• Snow Patrol


• The Killers


• The Stills (okay, that's just because the name of the album is "Logic will break your heart", and the song titles sound so good too.)


• Morrissey's new one


• Marroon 5 (I can't help it, I love them)


• The Wrens

And every time I look up any bands on amazon, I end up finding new ones that I really want too. I think I'm going to be bad and go down to the CD store after work. Used only. Chance says I have to call my temp agency first, but I can do that if I get a CD as a reward.

(no subject)

Also (yes, I'm quite bored), best new word of the day: apophasis. "I'm not going to name names, but some Kitchen Manager needs to start washing his own coffee mugs."

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So, I get the yahoo horoscope/astrology things on my.yahoo.com, cause it's my home page. And some days, it's amusing, and some days, like today, it's just plain scary.

"Daily singles love: You can do great things with a pair of scissors, a couple pipe cleaners and some colored felt. Make a little craft to express how you feel. Then leave it where you-know-who will find it."

Suddenly, I find myself wondering how many dirty pictures you can make with a pair of scissors, a couple of pipe cleaners, and some colored felt. Andrea, I think we've found a party game that could top trivia pursuit.