Occupy Wall Street

This speaks for itself. To whomever wrote this: THANK YOU.

Must... Log... Off...

Yeah, this was me all day on Google+. Okay, I'm done. No really, I'm done now. Wait! Another interesting person! And now my stream has more updates. Oooh, look at all the replies. My little red box up there is going insane.

No really, I'm logging off for now. I can check this in the morning.

But first I'm just going to reply to this reply.

IT NEVER STOPS.

... Elsewhere in the universe ...

What was that I heard about FB having some updates? Meh. I'll check it out later. Right after I finish this post.


~Sass~

LXD: Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

I love this show. LOVE. Despite the title sounding like another bad reality dance competition, and despite the beginning-of-every-episode narrator that makes me roll my eyeballs, this show has turned out to be creative gold. There is an actual plot here that has the potential to turn cheesy at a moment's notice, but the writers handle it well. I can't get enough of it.

Besides, even without a plot the show is worth watching just for all the pop-n-lock man candy.

(And if you notice, Glee kid Harry Shum, Jr snuck his way into this cast!)

The writers, directors, and choreographers keep this show fresh every episode, adding new spins or different viewpoints. No two episodes are the same. In fact, I think I may have to make a new playlist on Spotify specifically for all the music I've heard so far in this show.

The third episode is really what got me hooked, and since Hulu is nice like that, I'm going to embed it for you here:



I'm currently in the middle of season 2. It's a full on creepy-scary sick effects visual adrenaline fest. It's original. It's addicting. What are you waiting for?


~Sass~

Case of the Mondays

What I think about when I get to work:
1. Damn I have a lot of homework to do.
2. Damn I have a lot of house work to do.
3. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I think about when I get home:
1. Don't want to do homework.
2. Don't want to do house work.
3. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I think about when I'm doing my homework:
1. I should really do some house work. This place is a mess.
2. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I'm thinking about when I'm doing house work:
1. This is way better than doing homework.
3. When am I going to have time to work on my novel?

What I think about when I'm actually writing my novel:
1. I should really be doing my homework.
2. I should really be doing the house work.
3. I should be working right now, but eff it, it's almost the end of the day.


Brought to you by A.D.D. Because only having one thing to think about is clearly too boring!

Children's Books

As a parent, a writer, and an avid reader I did my son a favor and started reading to him before he even knew a book could be used as anything but a teething toy. (I'm telling you, Brown Bear looks like it went through a trash compactor.) The books get cuter and cleverer. We both enjoy them. My 18-mo old son even walks up to me a few times a day with a book and sits in my lap so mommy can read to him.

Imagine my excitement when they started making humorous kids books for adults.

I don't mean humorous in a Disney sort of way. You know, where the movie is fun for the kids and a few adult jokes sneak into the dialogue in such a way that the kids are none the wiser. No, I mean like adult humorous.

Samuel L. Jackson narrates one of my favorites:



And now there is a new one to prepare your child for the upcoming apocalypse!

That's Not Your Mommy Anymore



I heart the writing community. I hope someday my son will find as much amusement in reading and writing as I do!


~Sass~

No Less Miraculous

Already breaking my promise to keep my social media updates unique from each other. This was interesting, though, and I've wanted to talk about this for quite some time. Be warned this is a RELIGION thing and it's bound to offend someone. You are free to leave this post at any time but please stay.

What got this started was a video about quantum physics and how the person who posted the video didn't get it, basically said scientists are full of crap, etc etc (I can't find this video because the person that started the convo didn't link it, so I am basing this on her testimony). Jennifer Bailey responded on Google+ and of course I jumped in because I love me some science (why I didn't go into the field as a career I have no idea). Since I don't know how to directly link a specific post I'll re-post it here for you all:

Was reading through my Sparks and some guy made a video about how butthurt he was over quantum theory. I don't even want to show the video because it's just completely painful. He says things like: "Scientists don't really know what they are talking about, they just guess all the time. There are no facts about anything, ever."

Well, the poor guy is sort of right. I think he's trying to understand what a theory is. But he clearly is biased and neglects the entire spectrum of how the entire point of science is testing a theory so the percentage of error is negligible. Observing something so many times that it becomes what we'd reasonably expect to see.

He didn't like the idea that the whole entire universe is just energy. I can understand how it might be hard for a mind to grasp that. It is hard to comprehend if you're just suddenly confronted with that idea without the physics background to back it up. It may indeed be difficult to come to grips with the fact that at the sub atomic level, particles aren't even ... anything. They're stable probability patterns.

We're all just... math. :)

I find this exceptionally incredibly cool and vastly freeing and wonderful.

But I guess I can understand someone, without having any background to be prepared to hear this sort of thing, will just outright reject it and start coming up with theories of their own to deny the truth.

My response:

+Jennifer Bailey: "I find this exceptionally incredibly cool and vastly freeing and wonderful."

I do too! I love that I don't know everything about the universe (multiverse?) and I think it's more fun to explore the possibilities than have the answers handed to me. Life and existence are magic enough on their own. Maybe this is why I'm not into religion? (I'm not trying to knock anyone's religious beliefs.. I just don't get the appeal. Not my thing.)

And then here comes Tim Elkins to put words to my feelings like he's all up in my head:

+Sarah Rios, I've always thought that compared to other creation stories, it's just as miraculous that billions of years of random interactions resulted in every one of us and every thing we see. It's still awe-inspiring. Having no overarching purpose or divine guidance does not automatically mean that the universe is worthless and meaningless.

It took him about two seconds to voice what I had been trying to figure out how to say for years. (I mean it... years.) I guess I am not like billions of other people in this world that feel there needs to be a divine purpose behind everything. In fact I feel like a divine purpose kind of spoils it all. I very much don't like the idea of having an unavoidable fate, and I find it kind of silly that a diety or dieties has a giant cosmic plan for every living thing down to the smallest bug on this earth / in the universe (it also strikes me as slightly narcissistic if we think that humans are the only "worthy" lifeforms deserving of divine attention). If in fact a higher being does exist, I like to thing such a thing would have more fun in creating life and turning it loose to see how things unfold. Higher beings wouldn't be micromanagers, would they? What fun would that be? The insecurities in a person necessary to trigger the need for micromanaging probably wouldn't be present in a higher being. Or maybe that's just me?

I honestly do not believe in a higher being. It has taken me years to admit that to myself, and I still haven't broken this news to my husband. He thinks I'm agnostic. Who said agnostics were basically atheists without balls? Description is accurate with this blogger. I shamelessly hit behind an agnostic label rather than admit to being an atheist. It's probably time I own that label.

Personally, I think there is enough miracle in the universe without needing an imaginary figure in the background to orchestrate it all. The idea that we were all created out of pure RANDOM is mind-blowing and much more exciting than a bored diety (or lustful/vengeful/etc dieties...to each their own). That said, I do think faith in something is necessary for the mental and emotional health of one's self. If religion fills that void then more power to you, it's just not something I subscribe to.

That was my heavy post for today. You all can breath easy until I make a post on another hot-button issue.

Have some Batmanning:





~Sass~

Variety?

Since rejoining the world of online everything I've tried to make posts unique between my FaceBook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts. A lot of people post the same things on all three, or the same things on FB / G+ and then use Twitter for the "chatting" (but also still posting the same things there from FB and G+). My thought is... if there is anyone out there that actually follows me everywhere, would they really want to see the same things in three different places?

My thought is no.

It *is* tempting to post the same things in all three places, especially when there's something hilarious or exciting to be shared. Like this giant swing thing I posted on FB this morning:



(makes your stomach drop straight to your feet, no?)

Or this cat picture I re-shared on G+ (originally from Richard Sexton:



I've found that I don't usually like posting links on Twitter. I'm one of those that mostly uses it as a source of chatter, and even though some of it is interesting I don't usually repost it to FB or G+. Example: convo I had this morning on Twitter about Marylin Manson's new song "Born Villain." Like woah Shia LaBouf really showcased his dark side with the directing of that video, and no, you don't get a link because it's WAY not appropriate for anyone under 18 or even some adults with weak stomachs. You can search that one on your own if you want. But that's an example of things I do on Twitter that never make it to FB or G+.

With the exception of today's (and the previous) blog post, I think I'll even try and keep the blog content unique to itself and not let it bleed over to FB / G+ / Twitter.

Don't get me wrong, I don't disapprove of those that post the same things in all places. I follow quite a few people that do that. I just figured I would make my own online presence somewhat different to follow and see if it works for both me and the few people that follow me. I would be interested to know if there is anyone else that does this (Scalzi comes to mind as someone that keeps it "fresh" sometimes between these outlets).

TTFN, and THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY. That was worth typing out in all caps. It's been one of those weeks.


~Sass~

Gear Ring

Yep, I need one.



Buy it here.



~Sass~

I was RESTING MY EYES

Brief tangent before we even start: I have issues with starting blog posts, social network status updates, and paragraphs in general with the word "So." I almost did that here. Almost. I caught myself just in time. Improving my writing one repetitive word death at a time.



Teh Sass has issues keeping up with her writing. News at 11.

I've decided that I'm going to try blogging again once a week. I think I can handle that, even when school starts again in a few days. It won't be the TLDR once a day posts of yore but it's better than writing a couple of posts once a year right around NaNoWriMo time. (Sadly, that was one of the reasons I came back now -- I remembered it was almost time to get obsessive about NaNo. Blog? What blog? Oh YEAH. That one! Aww, look at all these kyoot widdle posts from like THREE YEARS AGO. Holy crap.)

I miss my blogging sessions. They were great exercises in creative flow. I miss the process of composing my [many] thoughts into a random bit of silly, finding just the right picture to punctuate my statement, and leaving random bits of youtube for myself to remind me of what was interesting to me at the time. Plus, doing the blog thing is kind of a warm up to doing the novel thing. I haven't written something worth squat outside of NaNoWrimo in YEARS. What the eff happened to me? Gah!

I will get back into writing on a regular basis. Oh yes, I will.

In other news, I've returned to the social networking scene and revived my Twitter account as well as joined Google+. Not gonna lie, Google+ is the best thing on the internet since captioned cat pictures. I'm slowly trying to coerce friends and family to join me there. Something I was pleasantly surprised to see was all the photographers that popped out of the woodwork in Google+. Photographers and Nerds. Artsy peeps and the tech-savvy. My kind of crowd! Part of me actually hopes it stays that way. Please, Google, please don't allow business pages on Google+, or if you do, do it like you did with the games and make them completely ignorable!

Seriously, love me some Google+.

Another thing I usually do that probably annoys you as much as it does me: start my ending paragraph with "Anyway." Not gonna do it. There! See me not doing it? VICTORY IS MINE.

See you guys next week. Gotta get back to the grind!





~~Sass~~

Battlestar Galactica

First, the Ramen noodles were awesome (see previous post).



Second... OMG. I got on the BSG wagon a few years late but holy crap. Drama! Politics! Space battles! The human race is going to destroy itself... no, maybe it's not... oh wait, yes it is! Ahh!

I finished all 4 (new) seasons within a few weeks and it was one hell of an emotional roller coaster. I gotta give kudos to those writers for the way they manipulated those characters. There had to be a psychiatrist on that writing team having a psycho-gasm with all the bad shit people did to each other in that show. Baltar was a freakin' head trip, and although my friend thinks he should have been thrown out an airlock early on, he was actually one of my favorite characters. It was amusing seeing the desperation on his face at certain points, especially when number six would randomly appear to mess with him even more. And then I always wanted him to do the right thing, but half the fun was waiting to see what he would do wrong...

Now, I didn't see the original Battlestar Galactica. I've only seen the new one. One of my fellow geeky coworkers was all up in arms about the changes they made from the old one. It took my good review to get him to get past the first episode. His biggest beef?

Starbuck? Originally a guy.
(But she still smokes and sleeps around.)



My coworker likens Starbuck's gender change to rewriting Star Wars so that Han Solo is a girl (while that's actually an amusing thought, I get his point). Since I haven't seen the original I can't comment. He keeps bitching about Starbuck every time I ask him where he's at in the series, but he's still watching, so clearly it doesn't bother him as much as he says it does. So what else changed?

Boomer? Black dude.
(Not even close.)



Cylons?
(From Toaster to Titillating.)

Centurion gets a face lift...


And then we have skinjobs!


There are a lot of other changes from what I hear, but the writers gave themselves a valid reason from deviating so far from the original. I call it the Star Trek plotline escape.

Seen the new Star Trek? That whole oops Spock created / went through a wormhole and messed up the space-time continuum so that everything changed but the same players are still there thing? Yeah. It's kind of like that in the new BSG. There's a line repeated through most of the series (although a lot more often in the later half): "This has all happened before, and it will all happen again." Yes, yes, we get it, history repeats itself. But wait! There's more. At the very end, in the last episode, there is a conversation going on in which this statement is given (I won't spoil anything for you by saying who said it etc etc... it's non spoilery on its own):

"Let a complex system repeat itself long enough, eventually something surprising might occur."

(Fair warning, the following assessment is slightly spoilery in concept.)

Put those two quotes together and BAM! There's your reason for the changes. This is NOT the same Battlestar Galactica. It wasn't meant to be. This is history repeating itself. The old BSG happened, yes. Starbuck was a dude, the cylons were toasters, etc. But now it's happening again. It's the same, but different. Starbuck is a girl. The cylons look like hot chicks. Why all the changes? Because the complex system is creating surprises on its most recent repeat. Oooo. Some of you may think this is a cheap way to bring back the awesome show to end all awesomeness, but you lore sticklers gotta admit it's a good way (or at least an acceptable way) for the new writers to justify their adaptations.

And someone said they didn't like the ending to the new one, but I actually thought it was good. It resolved the storyline in a satisfying way. Plus it was a much happier ending than I expected compared to all the pessimistic build up (maybe that's why people didn't like it?).

My recommendation? If you haven't watched it, go seek it out. Netflix, your local rental place, a friend that has the DVDs, maybe even a library, whatever. Get your hands on that series and go watch.

I'll even see if I can find the original BSG and watch it while you watch the new one.



~Sass~

Ramen Noodles of Win and Awesome

Happy New Year everyone :) Yes, it's over a week since the coming of 2011, but I haven't blogged yet this year so I thought I'd play catch up and throw that out there.

Today I've been struck with the Ramen Noodle bug. Good Morning America (or some similar show... I don't know because I wasn't really paying attention) had a special on the popularity of Ramen Noodles and how the craze is coming to America. They don't mean the Ramen noodles in the packaging with the little flavor packet. They mean Ramen noodles that have been deliciously re-invented into bowls of yummy goodness. Of course I immediately had to run to my computer and look up recipes for Ramen noodles, and then run upstairs to check the expiration date of the box of chicken Ramen we bought from Costco forever and a day ago.

Sad story - we have actually reached the recommended use-by date on the package. 01/05/11. It's only 4 days past that so I figure if I cook all of them today I should be good. Right? Let's hope so. If not, I'm denied Ramen until we can get to a store and it's snowmageddon out there so I don't want to go driving for a cheap package of Ramen.

Anyway...

I'm now struck with extreme indecision. How many recipes could there really be for Ramen noodles, you ask. Too many, I answer. Google "ramen noodle recipes." I dare you.

The one thing I got from going through the search results is that I could pretty much throw anything I have in my cabinets into ramen noodle soup (within reason) and it will turn out divine. I'm favoring recipes with shrimp or chicken since we have a frozen abundance of both. I believe I also have a choice of veggie or chicken broth, and we even have some dried shiitake mushrooms that I could use to make Shiitake Dashi broth.

(I say this like I'm actually going to do this myself and not have my husband make it. He usually cooks. For the sake of this blog, I'll pretend I'm the one that will be cooking.)

The recipe here to the right actually looks really good and is really easy to make. I may go with that one. Veggie broth, veggies, Ramen noodles, soy sauce, chili oil, minced fresh ginger root, and green onions. Looks like that cook also garnished it with a lettuce leaf and a slice of mushroom. I think I see regular onions in there too. Mmmmmmmmm. Along with all the tea we just bought from Teavana yesterday, it looks like I'll have a lot of warmth to combat the extreme cold blowing through Colorado the next few days.

Okay, enough blogging. I've made myself so hungry I think I'm getting heartburn. I'll let you know which recipe I picked and write it out for you if it turns out to be as dreamy as I think it will be.


Today's LOLvideo:



Enjoy!



~Sass~