Saturday, September 29, 2007

Fear

This is a personality test I just took, not a horoscope or a quizfarm thing. I don't know how "right" they are, but some of the questions turned in my gut a little, and I surprised myself with a few answers.

Enneagram Type 6 - Loyalist

Conflicted between trust and distrust

People of this personality type essentially feel insecure, as though there is nothing quite steady enough to hold onto. At the core of the type Six personality is a kind of fear or anxiety. [...]What all Sixes have in common however, is the fear rooted at the center of their personality, which manifests in worrying, and restless imaginings of everything that might go wrong. This tendency makes Sixes gifted at trouble shooting, but also robs the Six of much needed peace of mind and tends to deprive the personality of spontaneity. The essential anxiety at the core of the type Six fixation tends to permeate the personality with a sort of "defensive suspiciousness." Sixes don't trust easily; they are often ambivalent about others, until the person has absolutely proven herself, at which point they are likely to respond with steadfast loyalty. The loyalty of the Six is something of a two edged sword however, as Sixes are sometimes prone to stand by a friend, partner, job or cause even long after it is time to move on.

[...]

The truly confounding element when it comes to typing Sixes is that there are two fundamentally different strategies that Sixes adopt for dealing with fear. Some Sixes are basically phobic. Phobic Sixes are generally compliant, affiliative and cooperative. Other Sixes adopt the opposite strategy of dealing with fear, and become counterphobic, essentially taking a defiant stand against whatever they find threatening. [...] Counterphobic Sixes are often unaware of the fear that motivates their actions. In fact, Sixes in general, tend to be blind to the extent of their own anxiety. Because it is the constant back drop to all of their emotions, Sixes are frequently unaware of its existence, as they have nothing with which to contrast it.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Requests

Blogger has released something I love love love: Blogger Play which "is a real-time slideshow of photos Blogger users have recently uploaded to their blogs."

My Requests are two:
1) How can I put the stream from Blogger Play into the sidebar of my blog?
That would rock, and it would put the images to an audience outside writers.

2) How do I get Adsense to display something without the word "blog" in it.
Who displays ads for blogging? Dumb. I write about all kinds of things, parrots, Science Fiction, college... In fact, in all posts outside this one, I write the word "glob" or "bl*g" in a futile attempt to make Adsense display something relevant. I am annoyed.
**Update** Apparently posting this did the trick. Go figure.
**Update 2** I have once again removed ads from my page. Why? I clicked through one of them and it was a series of lists of links to lists of links to lists of links enter your email here bullshit. Yea, clicking on your own adspace is against the rules, and I bet that's why. Of course I've never clicked on anyone else's either, so I guess its all about balance.

Dr. Who loves birds!

This is absolutely marvelous! Here I am, sitting with my conure and waiting for tonight's Dr. Who episode, and what do I find on the internets? I and the Bird #58, a carnival of bird posts in the context of Dr. Who. The circle of geekdom is complete.

Bad Week, Bad Hair

This shitty week had better not follow me into the weekend. First, I failed my physics test. I don't mean failed as in I didn't get the grade I wanted, I mean I got 51/100 points possible. Shit.

Oh yeah, I also slid my tablet, face down, across the floor in my English class. The 3 inch long gash is quite lovely, really. *bangs head against wall*

Thursday I took a calculus test. I won't know how badly that stunk until Tuesday.

Then I got a Shitty McShitstain haircut.

Wet
Dry

"Styled" (by me, so not really)

Hairband

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Another Bad Haircut

I think I'm going to hire Becky to come down here and cut my hair, because really nobody else has a clue.

Of course it was Mastercuts again. My hair had grown out quite a bit and it just doesn't behave in mid-lengths. I wanted it at mid-cheek in front, and higher in the back (to avoid the flare-out tail I get). Instead, I now look exactly like I did right after I got to Okinawa, which means it looks like I had a boy-cut that grew out for 4 months. Great. Anyway, with a comb-headband-thingey it doesn't look entirely bad. I guess I have a reason to wear those now.

Here's a brief review of past bad haircuts. Its now just a little shorter, especially in the back, than this first shot:



No, I can't wear that top, or the shorts I was in that day, anymore. I can't believe I ever could!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

7 Minutes of Truth

Brutally Honest. Watch at your own risk, my friends.



Found via:
Effects Measure

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Toys


Hi Stewie! Thanks for adding us to your roll, Rigel is happy to know he has a following. :)

He has two really favorite toys. One I call jingly balls, plastic whiffle-type balls with bells inside. They are even more fun with a plain tissue sticking out of a hole. The other is my husband’s ring. It’s titanium so it won’t get scratched at all. He likes to take it off our fingers in a wiggle motion and…well the rest needs to be recorded for full appreciation for how much he loves it.

He had no interest in the Bird Buddy (by Happy Hut) except for the strings. Anything with strings is just a toy with annoying things hanging off it.

So yeah, the nice $10 toys, he’s not so interested. Go figure.

I never got him a treat labyrinth because I got him the treats that go in it, and he is uninterested so far. My shirts function very well as shredding toys. *doh* He has a rope comfy perch, but I’m still not sure if he would like a swing. Maybe next month. Speaking of wood ladders, it appears he knocked his over in the last 10 minutes. Huh.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Parrot Photo Shoot

Here's a set of pictures I took after Rigel's bath today. We sat in the sunshine to dry off and he was very photogenic. I had a little trouble with the upload, but finally got it working on slide.com.



I love this, I caught him mid tail-shake!

He has a bunch of new feathers coming in around his beak, so he loves rubbing his face on things. He stopped and just looked at me from this weird position.

Enjoying the sunshine, and chewing on the perch.

Mister Attitude

What a difference flash makes. He didn't like it much.

I like the arrangement here, and in the second one his little prim proper feet. Don't be fooled. Later I caught him chewing on my shirt.

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! No really, its a bird.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Accomplishment (Or Not)

Weekend Goals:
Physics HW___________Due: Monday____Completed Friday Afternoon :)
Physics Lab + Report_____Due: Wednesday__Not Started :(
Chemistry Pre-Lab_______Due: Tuesday____Not Started :(
Calculus HW___________Due: Tuesday____~ Completed Sunday Night
Literature Paper_________Due: Tuesday____Completed (3rd Time) Sunday Night

Clean up various notes________________kinda got around to some of that a little
Go back and do Chemistry HW I skipped___not so much
Go back and do Math HW I bombed______nope
Screw Around on internet_____________excessively
Minor housecleaning and laundry_______done (or not)

So why did I want to finish stuff that's not due until mid-week? First, I'm trying (or not) to get ahead instead of doing all homework the night before its due, because it has been stressing me out. Second, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon which might (or not) leave me in some sort of agony, and I didn't want to skip important assignments because it hurts too much to focus. Oh well.

I'm really hoping the pain isn't too bad because I need to make it to the Math Lab tomorrow night for help on my Calculus homework. I worked all of the problems, but a few aren't coming up with correct answers. I know it has something to do with reversing the chain rule (like you wanted to know), but I can't figure out how.

Eh. So I've spent half an hour doing this instead of, well, anything else. Damn. Off to bed then.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Serenity: Characterization

Captain Mal Reynolds and angelic killing-machine River Tam are dynamic characters in the movie Serenity. I do not think it is possible to look at these two characters separately, because each exists to repair the damage of the other. He struggles to live outside the reach of the oppressive government he fought against in a failed rebellion. It is a difficult task because his crew makes a living smuggling between planets and harbors two fugitives. His disenchantment with rebellion cannot hide the anger seething beneath, or the good in his heart.

The girl, River, is a child genius on the run from government experiments that gave her physical strength and psychic abilities. She is unable to control many of her disturbing behaviors because of the torture and the government secret that is tearing apart her psyche. When she reveals it, Mal must choose between keeping his head low and risking his crew and his ship to broadcast the truth. He initially decides to take his crew into hiding, until the enemy systematically slaughters everyone they could depend on. Left without an alternative, Mal finally lets his sense of justice meet his rage, and he leads his crew on their bloody mission. The experience is cleansing for River’s mind, redemptive for Mal, and the movie ends on a tentatively positive note.