Friday, December 24, 2004

Yuletide Lads a.k.a. "Creepy Santas"

My friend L. forwarded me an email from the Icelandic Tourist Board and in it was this little gem of a media quote:

ABC - Good Morning America
December 19, 2004
“… In Iceland, there are 13 Santas. Instead of bringing gifts, they take turns sneaking into town and creeping out the locals. The 13 Santas live in the mountains with their troll-like mother and her giant cat, which eats all the children who don't receive new clothes for Christmas. They party for 13 nights, and then things really get interesting. "That's when people come out of their graves," said Iceland native Hoffy Steingrimdottir. "Seals take on human form. And cows develop human speech." The moral of the story? It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe. The other moral of the story? They've got some good hooch in Iceland.

***
Those "creepy Santas," by the way, are actually called Yuletide Lads and have fascinating names (translated) like Gully Imp and Pot Licker. To learn about Iceland, go here: http://www.goiceland.org/

A very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and best wishes for a happy & healthy new year to everyone!

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Random song lyrics meme

I so love this meme that I've done it two times now.

First one is here.
Second one? Right below. Put your guesses in the comments. Same with the above two.

Step 1: Get your playlist together, put it on random, and play
Step 2: Pick your favorite lines from the first 25 songs that play
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song the lines come from
Step 4: Cross out the songs when someone guesses correctly

1. "The devil came and I swear he made me do it."

2. "I can say that I don't know what I'm doin' but I can't say I have the time, yeah."

3. "Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky"

4. "She's the one they're going to miss, In lots of ways"
"Our House" by Madness (guessed by James)

5. "And we still haven’t walked in the glow of each other’s majestic presence"
"Ana Ng" by They Might Be Giants (guessed by James)

6. "All that I have is nothing when it compares to you"

7. "Woo, woo, to relieve my bellyache, I say"
"Coconut" by Harry Nilsson (guessed by James)

8. "Here she comes like a brand new day"

9. "this guilt trip that you put me on won't mess me up, I've done no wrong"

10. .."All their voices can be heard, Long past their woodland days"

11. "He's jammin' down the pedal like he's never comin' back"

12. "Why can't we be ourselves like we were yesterday"

13. "Playing dead and sweet submission, Cracks the whip deadpan on cue"

14. "I love the way you laugh when I try to be funny."

15. "It's not such a beautiful day, but I'll stumble through all the same"

16. "But my heart got heavy and my hair grew long"

17. "If you wear this sweater, all the kids will love you better."

18. "A cavern gasps, a dragon screams"

19. "I wish we could dress in only happy cloaks"

20. "Colored lights can hypnotize, Sparkle someone else's eyes"

21. "I pray my wish will come true, For my child and your child too"

22. "Like the leaf clings to the tree, Oh, my darling, cling to me"

23. "Rhinestone fools and silver dollars, Curdle into bitter tears"

24. "Here she comes like a brand new day, Belly dancing across the room"

25. "On a long lost ocean wave of light, Submerged and unafraid"

Saturday, December 11, 2004

“Humpty Dumpty saw it too,” the White Queen went on in a low voice, more as if she were talking to herself. “He came to the door with a corkscrew in his hand --”

“What did he want?” said the Red Queen.

“He said he would come in,” the White Queen went on, “because he was looking for a hippopotamus. Now, as it happened, there was’t such a thing in the house that morning.”

“Is there generally?” Alice asked in an astonished tone.

“Well, only on Thursdays,” said the Queen.

-- Through the Looking Glass

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Fun with Food and Color

The most popular color in the world is .. blue. That's very cool. My favorite color happens to be green (notice the color of my blog? *g*), but I definitely like blue a lot as well. In fact, I like most colors except for some varities of yellow for whatever reason, but that mostly applies to clothing. ;-)

The other fun color facts are great, too. I'll have to remember to get a silver car.

Anyway, I received the following as a forwarded email. I thought it was funny. Hope you do, too.

Holiday Eating Tips!

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? 
It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's  a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's
later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes.  Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother?   It's like buying a sports carwith an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is  to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between  now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need  after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted  Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near  them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of  attention.  They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind,  you're  never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each.  Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by:  "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid  in  sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Festive

This week's mood on Moody Monday is Festive. There are a few pics I could use for this one, but I decided on one that I'd used for a Baker's Dozen awhile back because I really like how it came out. Anyway, I posted it over here instead of using an old link. The funny thing is, it posted twice, which is supposedly impossible with the account type I have on fotolog.
Reflections

For my contribution to this week's Photo Friday challenge, Reflections, I thought I'd use one of the photos I already have online and debated between two very similar entries. Although I really like the color in this one better, I opted to go with the photo I'd posted in my fotolog instead. The reflections in the little pond are easier to spot in that photo.

On a side note, although I have the free account on fotolog which only allows one photo per day to be uploaded on my account, I still somehow managed to load two of the exact same pictures today. I've got ten minutes after the initial upload to delete or edit the pics, and I didn't notice the error until much later because I was at work at the time. I just find it very interesting that I was able to upload twice without receiving any sort of error message.


Saturday, December 04, 2004

Madness Meme

http://mmadness.blogspot.com/

1. How did you choose a name for your blog? I took it from my favorite poem, "Jabberwocky."
My first post, explaining my name choice, is here.
2. How many times have you changed the name of your blog? Never
3. How many blogs to you update regularly? Three: this blog, my photo blog and my Live Journal.
4. How many times have you moved in your life? Never
5. On a scale of 1-10, how stressful is moving (in your opinion)? I've only helped other people on their moving days, but the stress rate leading up to the actual move day seems to be pretty high.
6. When moving, do you/would you rent a moving van/truck? Yes, I would rent a moving van/truck.
7. Do you wear glasses? If so, how old were you when you needed them? Yes, and I was in the third grade when I got my first pair. So I guess I was around nine years old at the time.
8. What one question would you hope someone running a meme, would ask? That is a great question, but I don't have an answer at the moment. That's what I get for doing this meme while watching The Perfect Storm. I'm very distracted. :P I'll have to tackle this last question at a later date.
Ninjai

I'm deleting old emails, and I came across the links for Ninjai: The Little Ninja. The home page gives you information on how Ninjai was developed. If you want to skip the main page and go straight to the chapters in the story, click here. Also, check out the game page. It's been awhile since I've visited this site. In fact, I don't think all the chapters were up the last time I'd stopped by, so I think that's as good an excuse as any to rewatch them all. Don't you?

**

Have you seen the snowflake website?

Friday, December 03, 2004

Baker's Dozen, Take Two

Well, I couldn't resist. The other night, I did a second Baker's Dozen entry. This time I stuck it on my photoblog. The original one is in the previous post. I also stuck a so called "posed" photo from the breakfast here. Most of the photos I took last weekend were fuzzy or too far away. If I'd used my digital camera, the photos would still look decent when I resized and cropped them. As it stands now, with my film camera, the photos, when zoomed in & cropped under Photoshop, look okay. Oh well. The weekend was fun regardless.

Also for fun, check out this really cool optical illusion.

Lastly, I'm wondering if I should put up a site (or have my sister do it) to replace the missing Boston Scapers one? No one uses it, but it was a way for new members to find the yahoo list. *sigh* And I thought that I could become less active in the group and pay attention to the things I'd neglected this past year (oh, like "Shades of Grey", classes, work, non-Scaper friends, writing projects & submissions, film & video projects, my finances, my health, just to name a few things) to help with Scaper-related things & to keep up with Escapade (also a missing site now). It'd be a shame if it all fell by the wayside now. *hm*

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Winona Forever!


Ben Browder at the Creation Entertainment Thanksgiving Convention, NJ, 28 Nov. 2004

Baker's Dozen:

1. Scooby Doo and Hong Kong Phooey distracted us, but we didn't get lost! (yet)
2. Poor Jo desperately trying to finish the con books in time for the breakfast .. Then bringing them to breakfast and having to say, "These are for you, but you can't have them yet." (btw, the books came out great!)
3. Meeting Twich, shaking her hand and then being told that she'd just shook Ben's hand. Per Twich, it's "six degrees of Ben"! *snicker*
4. Pool in the bar Saturday night. Meeting up with other Scapers there. Having Anth recognize me from my silly little photo and message. :D
5. Hey, it's Tucker Smallwood on the elevator. "I'm so tired .. need sleep." He nods in agreement.
6. Talking to Gerry, Steve and the lovely woman who was with them.
7. Riding the elevator with Gigi and friend then trying not to invade their space while waiting to check out of the hotel. Getting a big smile from Anth at breakfast, at the photo op & in the autograph line. Being mesmerized by Ben's blue eyes at breakfast.
8. Sunday night dinner in the bar & Monday morning breakfast in the restaurant .. little white roses, pictures, laughter, food, fun!
9. Signal Room (acoustic performance) Sunday afternoon & listening the CD on replay during most of the drive home
10. Ben recites a few lines from Jabberwocky! :D Can I get a HELL YEAH?!
11.Jo & I decide to stay an extra night. Trish decides to do the same. Best decision ever!
12. "Wow, we're in Rhode Island already?"
"Did we miss the exit?"
"Are we going the wrong way?
"I can't believe we're stuck on the Braintree rotary." (as we circle for the fifth time) *g*
"Hm, south .. or north?"
"I don't know how to get home from here."
"All roads lead to Norwoodopia."
"We can't blame Scooby Doo this time."
much giggling ...