From the Pen of the PenguinLady

Random Reviews

allouh@yahoo.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:49:16 GMT

It's after midnight and I'm coming down from a mild panic attack, so thought I'd drop in and leave some reviews of things I've seen/read/used lately.

Books:

On our trip, I used the flight and airport time to my advantage and read a few books.

The first was Dune, which was eerily appropriate for an adventure that went into the desert. This is one of Ferret's favorite books ever, and thus I felt I should do my wifely duty and, y'know, read it. Reading it while in an Arabic speaking & Muslim country added a really interesting level to it, since I encountered the same words in the book in daily life there. For example, erg being desert dunes. It was a good story with some classic themes (and knowing that he based the Draven vs Vertise feud in his roleplaying game on the book made it even more exciting). I did think that Paul became a bit too automaton toward the end, but... I guess that was what he was supposed to do. We have the audiobook as well, and hearing the words pronounced for me helped a great deal. All the strange words - gom jabbar, lissan al gaib - thrown around in the first few chapters almost put up a barrier to entry for me, but from listening to the audiobook, it helped. The added benefit is that I feel I am more literate with my hubby; we had a conversation this morning about how many kilometers a thumper would sound, and trying to figure out the distance to Calgary in "thumpers".

The second book I read, and I bought it out of sheer amusement, was Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. It's pretty much as advertised. Whole portions of the original, now with 25% more zombies! I wouldn't go past "it was amusing at times", but hey, it passed the 4 hour layover we had in Casablanca. They have Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters now, and I just don't see that one. Zombies can fit into any story. Seriously! No part of Sense & Sensibility that I remember happens at sea, or even near the sea (ok, technically, I guess London is near the sea, sort of, in that the Thames is an estuary). P&P&Zombies did not impress me enough to make me want to find out how he bridged that gap.

The last book was Ann Granger's A Mortal Curiosity. I'm a sucker for a Victorian murder mystery, especially with a female protagonist, and when I picked up the same book twice in 2 separate bookstores, figured I should give it a try. It was all right. I spotted the "twist" very early on, if I didn't quite know whodunnit. The odd thing was that the author seemed to almost shoe-horn in descriptions of people and places at the END of the book. "Hey, you've read 200 pages of this place and this person, I should tell you what they look like!" She also didn't quite build up the atmosphere, which - in my truly amateur opinion - is crucial to the Victorian genre. However, I found the hero and heroine engaging enough that I bought her other book, A Rare Interest in Corpses, the first book of the series, which I did not know when I bought the other. It is sitting next to me, and I'll probably keep reading it for a while before turning in tonight.

Movies & TV:

OMG, y'all, Glee is my new favorite TV show, like, ever. It makes me so very happy. While our school didn't have a glee club, per se, we had chorus and "ensemble" (girls ensemble, boys ensemble and mixed, which was maybe a total of 12 kids). Still brings me back. We didn't have the "football vs glee" problem though - our best singers were the co-captains of the football team. Reminds me of the time I was in a play and one of the captains had a love song with my character... and we did that scene during school assembly. Yikes. I hid in the library for a while after that.

Castle has thoroughly won me over as well. I resisted at first, but Nathan Fillion's smarmy charm finally wormed into my heart. I've seen photos from the Halloween ep, and it looks very funny.

Dexter continues to confound me. I guess keeping true to actual serial killer behavior patterns and methodology would limit the show, but it completely bugs the shit out of me. I prefer Criminal Minds because it has more authenticity. Watching all that A&E stuff about forensics and serial killers is a detriment to my entertainment enjoyment.

Strangely, Kung Fu Panda was better on a second viewing. I mean, we liked it the first time, but last week were bored and it was free on the cable streaming service, so watched it again. I don't know why it was more fun, but it was. Jack Black needs to do more kid stuff like this.

Meet the Spartans was so hideously bad, it wasn't even funny anymore. Ok, the penguin bit was a tiny bit funny, but not really. I blame Ferret for putting it on the Zip list. Coincidence that we canceled our Zip.ca service directly after? Maybe... (Zip = NetFlix for Canada)

I watched an old movie this morning, which just happened to be on, and it moved me quite a bit. And the Band Played On was about the early days of the AIDS epidemic, and stirring and infuriating and... wow, we've come so far even in the 11 years since the movie was made.

Random otherness:

Boo for snow on Halloween! The weather has come between me and my favorite holiday. My poor pumpkin hasn't even been carved yet, and will probably end up sitting in slushy snow next weekend.

Yay for Aveda products. I won a raffle and got a huge basket of Aveda products from my local salon, and I'm quickly learning to like a lot of them.

Yay for argon oil. One of the stops in Morocco was at a factory which processed argon oil into cosmetic and cooking preparations. I bought a small bottle and love it. It's made from a nut, and is very pure. Wow, it makes my skin soft.

Yay for mint tea. Writing this and drinking peppermint tea has totally gotten me over the mild panic attack.

Ok, good night!

The best part of traveling...

allouh@yahoo.com — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:09:13 GMT

... is coming home in the end.

The trip was great, but exhausting. We both got quite ill; however, Ferret got very sick at the end and is still feeling bad. The whole tour group got a tummy bug at one point or another. Let's just say that it is super-great to not have to brush your teeth using bottled water anymore.

Casablanca was kind of crap. Nothing like the movie at all - the French charm has been sucked right out of this city altogether. It's the industrial capital of Morocco, and boy-howdy you can tell. It's dirty and ugly and there really isn't much to see there. We saw the Hassan II Mosque, the second largest mosque in the world (after Mecca), which can seat up to 100k worshipers. It was only built in 1993, but it is gorgeous.

Rabat, by comparison, was beautiful. That is the capital of Morocco and contains the Royal Palace, where Mohammed VI spends much of his time behind the golden doors of his throne room. There's also the Chellah, a walled city that started in 40 BC by the Romans, and contains ruins up through the 1700s. The Kasbah Ouiadades was out-and-out phenomenal. It's a 300 year old medina (small walled city), where the same families have lived for all of those years. We got to even go into our guide's home - four tiny rooms, with just a large skylight for a window.

From there, we drove to Meknes, the agricultural capital of Morocco. The countryside looked a lot like other Mediterranean countries, so it's no wonder that the Romans liked it there. Meknes is known for its wine... however, you have to remember that this is a Muslim country, where alcohol is not encouraged. So, you can imagine the quality of wine from that sort of attitude. I don't remember too much from Meknes, because I was starting to get sick with the tummy bug at that point. There was a mausoleum of somebody important, and a whole bunch of gates ("bab"). And then we went into the souk. I think I'm fairly hearty about where food (especially meat) comes from. I was raised with the idea that food doesn't have to be perfectly sterile to be okay to eat. However, going down a hall where there were all these pastries and sweets and dates absolutely covered - and I mean that, covered - in bees, wasps and flies, then turning the corner to the butcher section... my already tender stomach was utterly turned.

Unfortunately, that meant that I missed out on some of Volubilis, a beautiful Roman ruin. We had a terrific local guide, too, and I normally adore listening to educated men talk about stuff. Ferret took control of the camera and I just trailed around, sitting down whenever we stopped.

Fes, though, made up for it. The old medina was built in 808, and the "new city" in the 15th C, so you can imagine the history there. Fes is this amazing labyrinth of tight alleyways where there is no car traffic, just pedestrians and donkeys carrying all manner of things. We were there during a special day of Ramadan, where children are encouraged to fast just a little bit (it's part of their culture, and our guide assured us that children are not forced to fast the whole day, just encouraged to take part for some of the day). We saw all these adorable little tykes in their special day costumes, and OH they were just so beautiful. We got a picture of one little girl, and I wish I had my camera ready earlier, because the whole family was worth a picture. As we were coming back from a tour, we saw a festival going on where a little boy was sitting on a pony and a little girl was being hoisted in a decorated white chair - our guide said that they were being congratulated for fasting the whole day.

A word or two about Ramadan: very interesting. Our tour leader was Muslim, and observed Ramadan as best he could. He did not eat or drink with us all day long, nor did our driver. We had dinner together after the sundown prayer. There were frustrations: not many places were open for food or drink during the day, the menus were often limited (three meals in a row, what I ordered, they didn't have), and we had to go to tourist destinations to eat during the day. But, our guide told us that it helps the people who observe Ramadan to understand real poverty - they understand what it is like to be really hungry, or to not be able to do what you want - so they are more likely to be charitable. Islam is actually a lot about being charitable, and actually DOING it, rather than talking about it (*cough* Christianity, I'm looking at YOU *cough*). Since we don't drink, it wasn't a deal that there was no alcohol or smoking available, but it was quite a deal for some of our other members; it made them think about the amount they imbibed. And the call-to-prayer five times a day actually made it so we thought about time differently. Ok, there's the call, time to stop for a little while so our guide can pray. I found it very eye-opening, and can say that I have a deeper appreciation for Islam now.

From Fes, we took a day trip to Sefrou, a poor city. This was a place that had been settled by Jewish people five hundred years ago, but after the 6-day War, the Jews all up and moved to Israel. It's very interesting, because it's now a Muslim and Berber city, but the Jewish monuments (synagogues and community buildings) still remain.

We started through the Atlas Mountains at that point, and ended up at a Kasbah for my birthday. And yes, I rocked it. We were in another small, Berber village, and it was beautiful. We wandered through their fields and watched children on donkeys getting water and men picking apples. A woman invited our whole group (9 people) into her 3 room house and offered mint tea, cookies and fresh walnuts. She looked about 45 or older, but someone asked her age, and she was the same age as I turned that day. Life was hard. Even without understanding each others' language, the ladies of our group managed to make some comments about the men and the Berber women understood. Some things are universal.

Then it was camel day! I have found my inherent talent: I can ride a camel easily. Poor Ferret nearly dislocated his hip getting on his camel, but survived as well. The Sahara was lovely and so quiet at night. There were several little cats that lived with the desert people nearby that played on our roof (I was rooting for a "death from above!", but they never did it). The stars were very bright, and different from North America.

We then wound our way up the Atlas Mountains, through the Dades Valley to stay at a Berber auberge made of mud and hay bricks. I found the place absolutely delightful, but it was definitely rustic. They didn't turn the power on until sunset, and there was a cow right outside our window who lowed quite forlornly when milked (at sunrise). The view of the mountains was breathtaking. This was the Valley of the Roses, where they use rose bushes as hedgerows between their crops, and then harvest the roses for perfume, soap, etc every spring. We took a 10k hike up into the hills there, to a 300 year old kasbah. When I say "10k hike up", I really mean that the first 5k was pretty much UP HILL. Not fun. But worth it! The family that owned the kasbah came out and fed us mint tea and "berber omelette", which was a tagine of eggs, tomatoes, onions and garlic served with bread cooked over hot stones (sometimes, the stones still embedded in the bread!). The lady of the house brought out a tin and a kettle and washed our hands. Later, she put henna on the hands of the women in the group, little round suns of brown on our palms. It was something really special.

Ramadan ended while we were there, and we could hear all the men of the village chanting and singing in the fields, and saw them parading in their pristine white djellabas.

Our next stop was lunch in Ouarzazate, the Hollywood of Africa. Lots of movies were made near there, including The Mummy, Prince of Persia, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, and Kingdom of Heaven. We proceeded on to a famous (in Morocco) kasbah called Amridril, but it was overshadowed by our stop that night at the complex of Ait Ben Haddou. That was were they filmed Gladiator and Prince of Persia, and is a 500 year old collection of kasbahs. People still live there, too, with their donkeys, sheep and goats. It was really something to see.

(GEEK NOTE: In the game Prince of Persia, they often show the traditional Arabic architecture, which is round with onion-shaped domes. Persian architecture, as I learned on this trip, is actually SQUARE. The round ones are Ottoman, the square ones are Persian. Morocco is the only Islamic country that was not captured by the Ottomans, and maintains the Persian style architecture. Get it right, Ubisoft!!!)

Finally, we got to Marrakech. By then, my poor hubby was as sick as a dog, so he did not get to enjoy this city as much as I did. The thing to see there is Place Djemaa el Fna, a roaring plaza filled with buskers and snake charmers and monkey men and ... well, anything you can imagine. I was tempted to go to a hammam (bath house) because it was just so darned cheap (like, $35 for the "deluxe" package), but being naked where I can't communicate just didn't appeal to me. I had a lot of fun in the shops there, and managed to bargain a few things, including a lovely hand-worked garnet & silver necklace that I got for about $25. Ferret was feeling just alive enough on our last day to make a bit of a walk down to see the Saadian tombs, where some very important people were buried, and the architecture was amazing.

I think most people are friended on Facebook, but in case you missed it, the photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41505243@N06/sets/72157622344725647/

Hooray!

allouh@yahoo.com — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:00:19 GMT

We're going to Morocco! Just booked the tour and flights today. I'm so very, very excited. Camel riding through the Saharan Dunes! A night in a Bedouin camp! A night in a Berber village! Fes! Marrakesh! Ramadan! Exclamation points!!

Music I Love

allouh@yahoo.com — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:21:22 GMT

It's French. It's repetitive. J'adore.

Heard Around the Baudoin Household this Weekend.

allouh@yahoo.com — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:24:57 GMT

"Hang on, I have to work up the stats on your zombie army."
...geez, what sort of GM doesn't have stats worked out for the revenants that will rise the moment your troops fall? Not like that isn't standard or something! ;)

"Well, we have two dragons. Strafe dragon fire!"
...because when you're 21st level and are currently using dragons as mounts, you want to use them for everything!

"Snacks can't be too ghetto if they include bruschetta."
...but they can be if they're all left over from the previous day's session!

And the weekend's most satisfying sentence:
"You have successfully killed Pascale Vertise."
...makes no sense unless you're in the know, but holy hell, that was the most satisfying kill I may have ever had in a game.

Updates of a Random Nature

allouh@yahoo.com — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:24:15 GMT

1. Ding-dong, the jerk is gone! Our Senior VP bounced him, actually apologizing for not doing it earlier. I heard there was a beer bash at 9am, right after the news came out. Now we get to remodel the whole department based on what actually works.

2. Snow on May 19. *cries*

3. It doesn't look like Morocco is going to work out. The timing just is too difficult. We're thinking Ireland/Scotland instead... which is not a bad compromise!

4. We're on session 56 of Ferret's game and have about 5 sessions or so left. It's incredibly exciting, but also so very sad that our friends are moving away. How often do you get to play a 21st-level character (that grew to that level rather than started epic)? I don't know who we're going to play with when Jay & Tory leave us. Much sadness.

5. I *really* need to get out of the house. Since I quit bellydancing, my chance to get out at least once a week has diminished, and I barely get out anymore. Sad when grocery shopping is one's outlet for interpersonal interaction!

6. Holy crap, "Glee" was funny last night. Anyone who spent any time in a choir in high school should watch this show. Jane Lynch is one of the funniest women in entertainment.

Best. Movie. EVAR.

allouh@yahoo.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:45:29 GMT

Love it, love it, love it.

Sorry I've been lax on posting real updates; nothing is going on!

A-dorable

allouh@yahoo.com — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:08:54 GMT

Apparently, this couple has been married for 62 years. Easy to see why. :)

Playing for Change

allouh@yahoo.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:39:48 GMT

I saw these, and they're just amazing. To think that they laid tracks one by one all over the world is just fantastic.

Bionic Penguins!

allouh@yahoo.com — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:12:52 GMT

Rock vs Wreck

allouh@yahoo.com — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:29:41 GMT

Alternate title: How I did not opt for feline sexual reassignment surgery.

Ferret and I trade off a lot. I'm good at one thing, he's better at another. It's fair and balanced, and thankfully works out for us. One of the best ways, though, is that when I fall apart, he's my rock, and when it's his turn, I can be his rock. (Unfortunately, I think he has to be the rock more often, but I'm getting better at that.) In a crisis, whomever is more affected gets the leeway to fall apart, while the other one handles the situation.

On Thursday, I noticed one of our kitties was not feeling well. I took him to the vet and it turned out that it was a fairly serious (but common) urinary tract infection, which would require emergency care. As the treatment progressed, however, it was discovered that poor Mr. Bug had the kitty equivalent of kidney stones, and would require surgery. Since I had taken off of work early on Thursday to handle the initial shuttling of felinage, Ferret agreed to pick Bug up at the Emergency Clinic on Friday and take him back to our vet for the surgery.

And that's when he fell apart.

Can I just say that I love, adore, cherish the fact that my husband loves our cats so, so very much that just thinking they're in pain hurts him deeply? I think it's going to make disciplining our children a tough deal, because he's going to be the ol' softy.

Anyhoo... we made it through the day, and Bug got through surgery just fine. He had to go back to the Emergency Clinic again for observation, but hopefully will be home either today or tomorrow. The report this morning was very good, so everything sounds fine.

And yes, my vet actually said one of the treatments for these stones was "turn[ing] him into a girl, basically". For those less squeamish, "flare out the tip of the penis so that stones can pass through more easily". I opted to go for the "uh, let's just get rid of all the stones, m'kay?" route instead. Crazy amounts of money later, he is doing very well.

BSG Finale: Thoughts

allouh@yahoo.com — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:46:28 GMT

Wow. That was disappointing.

For a show that was unflinchingly brutal from its first moments, it went out with a whimper. It seemed so wrong that pretty much everybody got some sort of happy ending, or at least a non-violent ending. Really? No major character dies a noble (or even ignoble) death?

The worst part for me was watching Galactica herself go gently into that good night. I have the bad habit of giving personalities to inanimate objects - Hogwarts, the TARDIS, even the Enterprise to a certain extent - so that they become characters themselves. This ending for her? Sucked. She was the last battlestar of the Colony Fleet. She needed to go out in a blaze of glory, taking as many of them with her. This "limping gamely into the sun" thing... bleh. She and Laura and Bill needed to ram themselves down the throat of the basestar, nukes hot, and blow the entire remaining Cylon population to kingdom come.

I also find it hard to believe that the entire population would say, "Leave behind all our time/effort saving technology that we've known since birth, and we'll become hunter-gatherers? SURE!" Patently ridiculous. There could have been better ways to explain it all away.

The first hour, though, was pretty good. I gasped when Galactica jumped into the "parking space" and the battle started. That was intense, like one would expect. This show is one of the few that have gotten a physical response like that from me (the other time was in "33" where I held my breath at the end). More like that was what I expected from the ending.

Happy Persian New Year

allouh@yahoo.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:55:08 GMT

One of the delightful ladies I work for comes from a Persian family, and told me all about Persian New Year. I thought I'd share, since it's something I've never heard of. :)

The Persian New Year is one of many few pre-Isamic traditions we have kept alive. Some people say it’s Zorastrian and I have also heard people feel that it’s just tradition with no religious history. Regardless, everyone who is Persian, Christian Persians, Jewish Persians, Muslim Persians, Agnostic Persians, we aalll celebrate.

The theme is centered around new beginnings, which is most appropriate because it is always on the first day of spring. This day is called Noruz. We clean our houses, buy new clothes and set up a table full of items that symbolize new beginnings, good luck, wealth and health. This table is called a haftsin, pronounced, haft-seen.

To bring in the new year, the Tuesday before the first day of spring (3/17 this year), we have Charchanbesui! This is a tradition in which we jump over a bonfire to rid ourselves of any negativity or evil we have picked up in the last year. This has very Zorastrian roots, I think, since Zorastrianism is centered around fire. I think they have fire temples. We celebrate for three weeks or so by visiting out elders and giving money to children (but only after they politely say happy new year to their elders. This is best part of it as a kid bc the kids get rich!!). The elders then repay visits to those who have visited them. Each visit could be as long as dinner, drinks, tea, cookies and dancing through the night. And at the least, it’s tea and cookies. A Persian woman has to keep their house stocked and ready to go for these visits because they happen at any time during the New Year (or any time of the year really, bc Persians are just like that!).

Then at the end of the three weeks we have Sizdabedar, a picnic with family and friends. At this Picnic, there is barbeque, backgammon, volleyball, soccer, tea, and food. We also take germinated wheat that was on the haftsin and throw it into a running steam of water on Sizdabedar. This symbolizes inter-connectedness with the world and all that good stuff. There are so many Persian celebrating this in the South Bay, California that the rivers in the parks get jammed. Now, most cities don’t allow it anymore! Anyway, Sizdabedar is the last event of the tradition. Good times!

"A Samaritan tosser wouldn't do that for his own grandmother!"

allouh@yahoo.com — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:20:09 GMT

Cracked me up:

Looking for a Book Rec

allouh@yahoo.com — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:39:11 GMT

Has anyone read Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen? I've seen reviews that it's "omg awesum!!!eleven!". Curious to know if it is, indeed, any good, especially from a woman's/woman-friendly POV.

I don't read a lot of fantasy. Most of it is through the male gaze, and I can take only so much of that before I feel completely disconnected and othered. The female-centric fantasy often goes way into the realm of "twee", and I just can't abide that. What can I say? The standards I set for books are incredibly high!

Unfortunately, the one type of fantasy that I really want to enjoy is "military fantasy" - a fairly narrow genre that appeals to my realistic, forensic, Virgo nature. And of course, finding military fantasy with a woman protagonist? Apparently there's only one. (The first one I read, that got me hooked. Hence why I don't read very many of them.) Finding one that doesn't rely on the male gaze for every. single. line? As we'd say back home: pert' near impossible.

I've been trying to learn more about medieval military tactics for Ferret's game, and reading a novel about it beats the hell out of trying to find a history book about it. Most historical texts don't go into the detail I want, anyway. Also, historically-speaking, all war was made largely by men, so not a heck of a lot of female-gaze there, either.

Am I just screwed? I'm hoping there's some fabulous series out there, with a strong female protagonist and crazy level of details about a military campaign, that's well written and under-appreciated. But that hope might be pert' near impossible.

"Please Don't Divorce Us"

allouh@yahoo.com — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:09:34 GMT

My sides!

allouh@yahoo.com — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:34:17 GMT

They hurt from the laughter!

Random Thoughts for Today

allouh@yahoo.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:22:33 GMT

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGEL! :)

2. Snow. Really? Again? Somebody remind me why we left SoCal. (And I LIKE snow.)

3. This headline: Shockingly, caving to right-wing interests does not achieve progressive goals. Obama took out the family planning part of his stimulus package - which really does hamper the ability of women to work - and the Republicans turned their backs anyway. We've been fighting for the SAME rights for more than 100 years, why would the opponents of women's rights give in now?

4. Way to go Lilly Ledbetter!

5. Wine + Friends + Ice Cream Cake = Really Fun Evening.

6. What sort of business has a busy signal? I thought everyone updated to Voice Mail.

7. Work Update! (I kinda forgot to post about this.) The VP decided not to fill the Manager position, and instead, gave me and my colleague Kay a soft promotion. We have the same title and same pay, but have slightly more responsibilities. Um, yay? The only real difference I've seen so far is a huge increase in volume of my (already huge) inbox.

8. My husband is insane. On Saturday, we started talking about taking another trip, this time to Morocco. We found this tour, which includes a camel ride through the Sahara and a night in a Bedouin camp. Amazing. The timing is too tricky though - do it before/after IVF? Can I even ride a camel after pregnancy? (A Google search found surprisingly little...except that apparently there is a sexual position called the "camel ride" which is beneficial for sex during pregnancy. Who knew?) It would be awesome, but... not sure it will work out.

9. Belly Dancing! Starts again 2/9! Woooooooo!

10. Reducing caffeine helps me sleep. Headline news, I know, but I had no idea it was affecting me THAT much. I read that caffeine should be avoided during IVF, so I've been cutting back. Since I cut back, I haven't had poor sleep, haven't been waking up multiple times during the night, haven't stared at the ceiling for hours. I have a cup of half-caf/half decaf in the morning, sometimes a cup of green tea and that's it. I don't even need my audiobook to fall asleep at night. For a person who's had chronic insomnia for ... my entire life, this is a major breakthrough.

Gong Hoy Fat Choy!

allouh@yahoo.com — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:16:20 GMT

Happy New Year to all you Oxen!

When the animals were integrated is not known, but why the animals fall in the order they do has a colorful past.

One story has Buddha inviting all the animals in the kingdom to a meeting. In another, it's the Jade Emperor holding a great banquet. Some animals outwit others to get there first, with their places in the zodiac assigned according to when they arrived.

A third legend is more like "The Amazing Race," in a competition that includes a river crossing followed by a gathering at the emperor's palace. The kindly ox agrees to carry the scheming rat and the cat across the water on his back, but the rat betrays his friend the cat by pushing him into a swift current and hops off the ox to claim the top spot.

Always, the cat and the rat were once best friends but wind up mortal enemies.

allouh@yahoo.com — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:09:16 GMT

We had our initial appointment with the Regional Fertility Clinic yesterday, and I'm actually feeling much more positive about the whole process now.

I finally had a doctor actually acknowledge the PCOS (I've been trying for YEARS to get that diagnosis, and the other doctor put me on a treatment for it, but didn't say the words) - she wrote it on my chart, said the words and everything! It was relevant, though, because I very well might hyperstimulate, which means when they give me the drugs to make me form eggs, my ovaries will go crazy and produce extra stuff that, should I get pregnant that month, will make me sick. However, they have a plan in place for that! (I love that.) If I hyperstimulate, they harvest the eggs and freeze them, and then we implant a few months later.

Everything else came back good - my levels, his levels. They even commented that we were "young", so after all the fear put into my by my GYN that I was "getting OLD!1!!eleventyone!", it turns out for IVF, I'm not really that old. Our odds are 60% for fresh embryos and 50% for frozen, so it's not too bad.

Because everything else is good, we can even do it where the sperm/ova are allowed to co-mingle themselves and be more natural about which sperm goes with which egg. The whole "a person in a white lab coat selects a sperm and an egg and puts them together" thing was really going to bother me. But this is more acceptable.

The long and short is that we're on the waiting list, so hopefully will get a call in 4 - 5 months for the next step. Granted "the next step" includes lots of needles, but it also has "the good drugs" as the doctor said.

What makes me happy

allouh@yahoo.com — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:38:11 GMT

Facebook is mostly "meh" for me, except for reconnecting with people I haven't seen in a long time. But the photo-tagging feature is fantastic. I found this photo today of the four Hendrick's Chapel Choir members who sang with the Syracuse Oratory Society & Symphony Orchestra. I rarely see a picture of me at that age with such a huge smile.

That's Jason, Jen, me and Jamie, during one of the highlights of my life, before singing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in 1995.

Just looking at this makes me happy.

Dragon Age: Origins Video

allouh@yahoo.com — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:03:27 GMT

This is the game my hubby has been working on - he's the second guy, in the crazy shirt (sigh).

Fun Meme

allouh@yahoo.com — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:38:52 GMT

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world Both!
8. Climbed a mountain Adirondack Mountains count.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea ... and saw tornadoes at sea, too.
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning Never eat white pizza again.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty ... way back when you could.
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train ... badly.
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (See #7.)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Skied a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors (Which ancestors?)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing I've climbed rocks. It counts. ;)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke ... badly.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa ... but want to go back.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person ... eh, not really impressed.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris Ok, they actually don't allow you to go to the very top anymore, but I've been as far up as you can get, so I'm counting it.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling Learning to scuba is on my list of things to do.
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving - On my list!
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check Who hasn't?
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square ... and thought being mugged would be a fun experience.
74. Toured the Everglades in a rowboat!
75. Been fired from a job Being laid off counts.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican ... meh.
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem - Totally on the list.
84. Had my picture in the newspaper About once a week in high school.
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone ... unfortunately.
99. Been stung by a bee An entire hive!
100. Ridden an elephant Wish I could find that picture! His name was Harry and I was 5.

Prop 8: The Musical

allouh@yahoo.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:50:49 GMT

This might just be the best thing I've ever seen. Ever.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

allouh@yahoo.com — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:18:42 GMT

I don't personally know any Transgendered people, but when I saw this quote on a blog, it completely tugged at me:

Today most of all, we remember those who were killed. Because we die violently, unmemorialised, and are mocked after our deaths.

No human being deserves that simply for trying to be happy as a person, to be who they think they should be.

Peace to all.