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oh... look at that. I graduated.
Mom brought me a tall, thin envelope this morning. I was half asleep (ok fully asleep) and struggled to open it. This is the strongest glue I've even dealt with.
How many horses had to die to keep this envelope closed?
I finally get it open and pull out the white paper.
Congratulations on achieving your High School Diploma Equivalency. The State Board of Community Colleges shares with you a great feeling of satisfaction in your accomplishment.
I look at it again.
I turn it over and read.
... has been awarded this diploma which is a legal equivalent of a North Carolina High School Diploma
I stare a moment.
Then it sinks in.
I'm now a high school graduate (and/or equivalent).
So.... YAAAAAY!!!!
02/26/03 - Updates & Such
So much to say, no idea where to start.
It's been a while since I've made a real post to Malbela, having not really made the effort since Diana came home while I was in Raleigh. I just got tired of Crazy Hosting being constantly down, or slow, or slowly going down. No one, including myself, could go to my site during the evening. And sometimes it seemed that evening started at about 2pm.
I've written several emails to Crazy Hosting, none of which have been answered. So I moved over to e-starr.net.
While I was moving I download a backup from Crazy Hosting and noticed that it downloaded much too fast. So I opened it up.
It was totally empty.
So repeat after me: "Never Do Business with someone who openly questions their own sanity".
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Other site news:
The cover model this time around is Rivers Cuomo of the band Weezer. It's not only the first time a guy has been the Malbela cover model, it's also a little departure from the normal design of Malbela.
And I know this is silly... but I love the hex for the light blue background on this page. It's #BADBEE.
For some reason I find that terribly funny.
The Forums are live again. If you previously had an account with the forums, you'll need to set it up again. I was going to save all the posts, but the two forums were a tad incompatiable (Or I'm just really lazy... one or the other). I have saved all the other posts though, and I may post them to their repective forums in the future.
Andria will start posting to her new blog in March.
AnimeSpoiler is also hosted now. If you ever wanted to know what happened in an Anime Series without having to actually watch it... this is the place. Pook is running it and is currently accepting submissions. Be the first to ruin your favorite anime for everyone!
And yes, I do know that as of now, most of the side buttons don't work. I'm going to finish them later today when I upload a bunch more stuff (The wallpapers & such!)
I'm also working on new layouts, new wallpapers, & new winamp skins... and one might be an entire set.
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On a more personal note...
I've somehow developed a backlog of books to read. I never have a backlog.
I've always been one to read three books at once. I'm someone who watches TV and reads at the same time. I eat while reading, read when I relax, read in the car (I don't drive of course). Hell, I used to read walking to and from my bus stop every day in school. The neighbors always thought it was funny to see me with my head buried in a book walking down the street, not missing a step... but the fact that invariably break my neck somehow if I didn't have reading material. Lately I've added audiobooks, so that I can "read" while knitting.
I'm the type of person who'll finish a 500 page book in an afternoon. I usually go through about 8 to 10 books a week.
Of course this means I never pay full price for a book, hoping that I can get them used or as gifts. (Maybe I should post my amazon wishlist now as a hint lol).
But somehow I've got a stack of books waiting to be opened.
What's waiting or currently being read?
Blood Stains by Patricia Springer
STDS9: Lives of Dax by Various writers
ST: Gemini by Mike Barr
Everythings Eventual by Stephen King
Zero: The Biography of a dangerous idea by Charles Seife
Sexy Origins & Intimate Things by Charles Panati
ST: Preserver, ST: Dark Victory, ST: Spectre by William Shatner (and a large team of ghost writers)
Crime Files Vol. 8: Last Dance, Last Chance by Anne Rule
Danse Macabre by Stephen King
FREAK! By the National Enquirer Staff (It's about Micheal Jackson and even though it says it's written by one guy, it reads like it was written by 5 or 6, each with a different writing style and none checking to see what the other one wrote. however it's highly entertaining.)
and that's just the books sitting beside the bed, waiting in queue to be read. There's also at least three boxes waiting to be gone through, and various others scattered through the house.
At least I'll be entertained.
Posted by aristan at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)
We want Frenchie Back
Fox says it doesn't want people who's taken their clothes off for a living as stars on one of it's shows... guess that didn't apply to it's movies in the 50s when that nude pinup model was making tons of money for them.
What was her name?
Oh yeah, Marilyn Monroe.
I'm not a big fan of American Idol, and this makes me even less of one.
Huny of thatbitch.com fame happens to know Frenchie and had this to say in a a post:
hmm...I guess I was mad silly believing that whole "american decides!" ridiculousness...we don't even decide who governs us as president...c'mon now...change that shit to "american decides! after we filter out the naughty people that don't fit in the barbie box" and stop insulting a girl's intelligence.
America is such a Puritanical country, we're afraid of people's primary and secondary sexual characteristics. We consider ourselves to be so risque, so daring... and the rest of the world wonders how soon we'll be putting our women in the burkas.
Italy put a hardcore porn star into government office. One of the leading European chat shows is hosted by an ex porn star. And Fox thinks America can't stand the fact that a girl who once undressed for a living could be the "American Idol"?
Frenchie showed some skin (and probaly a lot of it) on a website. She didn't kill anyone. She used the money she made to go to school, to further her education. And it's not like she was out on the street corner. She was performing from a safe enviroment that was then piped to the homes of people who wanted to view it.
And it's not like she's the first public figure to have nude pictures spread around... Hell look at Madonna. She started her career with her shirt off, and has rarely put it back on since!
Let's let Fox know we want Frenchie back! And if we don't get Frenchie back, let's boycott the American Idol Series and it's products.
Support the Idol-In-Exhile!
Posted by aristan at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)
Be Like Mike?
God I love Sharon Osbourne.
Entertainment Tonight has been featuring celebrities falling over themselves to say that the ABC special "Life With Michael Jackson" was wrong. One of the guys from Nsync was saying that Jackson has accomplished a whole lot, and this takes away from that and that Jackson was a very nice guy. Why do I feel that's because the Nsync guy was a little too old for him?
If one of the things he's accomplished is making out with little boys, I don't care how many Platinum records the guy has.
Of course Sharon Osbourne was on there, saying the exact opposite of every other celeb. Sharon has become the voice of the Everyman I think... she says exactly what all of us who don't have millions are thinking. She basically stated that Jackson was certifiable, and that he and his supports say it's all because of his abused childhood. She then stated that a lot of people have gone through a lot worse and haven't come out as crazy as Jackson.
Sharon. I love you.
Of course I don't believe that Jackson has molested anyone. I think he's emotionally stunted, a 10 year old boy trapped in a 44 year old body.
One other thing... someone explain to me why the national Terrorist warning level is at Orange, the second highest level, yet the US military Terrorist Warning Level is only at Bravo?
The national Alert Levels are Green (low), Blue (Guarded), Yellow (Elevated), Orange (High), and Red (Severe).
The Military Alert Levels are Normal (as in no risk), Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta.
Bases just raised to Bravo in the last couple of days, having been at Alpha since soon after September 11th, 2001. Yet the National Alert Level has been all over the place. Does the Military face less of a risk, or is the national alert system just bouncing around to keep us on our toes?
PS: #AFSM has also moved to Esper.net if you didn't know. So reset your servers.
Posted by aristan at 04:44 AM | Comments (0)
Raleigh Update 2
Dammit I miss cable... maybe I should go upstairs to see how many people are in that tap class. At least that's what it sounds like.
Got almost to the Jungle Temple in FFX before I died... still not sure if I want to walk over and get a memory card. I'm already almost broke.
I just did the dishes and straightened up their video collection.
And the cat still hates me... a lot.
You don't do things on purpose, so people tend to
cut you some slack. Still, it would be best if
you stopped doing things all together.
What Lord of the Rings engrish subtitle are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
I'm bored ;__;
Posted by aristan at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
The Plate of the Gods
Thank god. Someone finally did it.
Other people are saying that they're great for fondue, salsa and chips, or even a 50's style dinner party. Screw that. They'd be my every day plates because I have food neuroses. Food can not touch. Food must be eaten one item at a time (all veggie, all meat, etc).
Why yes... I am insane... Why do you ask?
Posted by aristan at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)
Raleigh Update 1
Via Snarkcake:
Vote for your favorite shows from Sony Pictures... Designing Women, Bewitched, The Facts of Life, Newsradio, and more might be released to DVD.
Let them know which shows you want and how you want them!
(read that as "Vote for Full Seasons of Bewitched and Designing Women NOW")
Ok... the people upstairs seem to have opened a slaughter house. There was a bang (not a gun bang but a something heaving falling over bang) and then it sounded like someone dragging a large object in circles around the room.
This is following their earlier plan of running what was either a very old worn out vacuum or the world's largest vibrator.
The cat also hates me and refuses to eat. He has come out of the bedroom now and is sitting in the chair in here watching me. I think he may have become so hungry he's planning on eating me.
Diana forgot to tell me where the dumpster is. So I can check the mail, but I can't take out the trash.
And Finally... I'm going the nearest thrift store and buying Diana and Chris a lamp.
Posted by aristan at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)
god... now I'm hungry.
Newest Friday Five
1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn't have breakfast, why not?
I'll probaly have egg muffins... It's Eggs, Bacon, Cheese, and a little heavy cream that's poured into a muffin tin and baked for 20 minutes. They're really good. Yesterday I had a chef salad.
2. What's your favorite cereal?
I always loved Cap'n Crunch. Mainly because I only got it when I went to visit my Aunt Emily and my cousin Tammy. I'd spend the night, get up in the morning and have Cap'n Crunch... and Tammy, who was close to my dad's age and past the need for wacky straws or puffy stickers, always saved all the toys she got from the cereal she'd bought since I'd last visited.
3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change?
Hardly ever. Occasionally I'll order in, but I don't think that counts... I don't even do that anymore. I really don't care about eating out... but a steak would be nice right now.
4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that?
Oh... I don't know... I might just pick something up... I'm staying at Diana and Chris' house and they don't eat meat... but I don't eat carbs. I'm worried about cooking bacon or steak in their house.
5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why?
I don't think I have one that I can eat at anymore. I usually love dishes from Resturants, not the place itself... the blooming onion at Outback, the shrimp alfredo at Romano's...
But I can say that my least favorite Resturant is Frankie's... last time I was there, they brought our food out cold, didn't refill our glasses, didn't bring the food nearly at the same time for everyone... and then got mad when I asked where the sauce was on my chicken alfredo.
It's all because the waitress saw a table of eight people and more than strongly suggested we get the family style meal (in other words, serve your self) and we didn't want that.
She got a bad tip too... only what was required because we were a large group.
Posted by aristan at 03:43 AM | Comments (0)
leaving on a jetplane
Leaving today to housesit in Raleigh for my sister. Taking my Brak Show, ATHF, and Sealab 2021 videos with me because she doesn't have cable. ;___;
I should be back in about a week, but I won't be totally gone. I'll still post to malbela, you can email me at Aristan@malbela.com, and of course the IM address is MalbelaCom. Of course, it's Dialup... so no Fserv on AFSM and no new downloads while I'm gone.
Now, if I could find hundreds of episodes of Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Lab, and The Powerpuff girls to take with me along with my knitting and books...
Tata.
Posted by aristan at 02:13 AM | Comments (0)
well...
well... I don't know what to say.
If he'd wanted that picture of her tits that bad, one of us should have sent it to him.
:::shrug:::
Posted by aristan at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
Dream a little dream of... Lisa Turtle?
I had the strangest dream the other night.
In the dream I had gotten a job at a huge newspaper/magazine/publishing house. I don't know what we were printing, but we printed a lot of it. I've been dreaming a lot of getting a new job lately, since it's something I know I need to get and soon. For some reason in these dreams it's always my first day, I'm always scared to death, and I'm always working for a company so big that all of it's employees actually live in the building.
At the start of the dream, my first day had apparently ended, and with a couple of other people were headed back to our rooms... huge rooms filled with everything we loved, wanted, or needed.
As I'm talking to both of the young ladies I'm walking with, one who'd worked there a while and the other new like me, I realized that the young beautiful black woman I was talking to was LISA TURTLE.
Lisa Turtle. The Fashion hound from Saved by the Bell. She invited myself and the other young lady to see her room. We walk in through a pair of doors that open Star Trek style, right down to the swoosh.
We looked around in amazement. Lisa's room was a mall. The walls were bright sunshine yellow, the floor all burgundy carpet. Stores lined the walls, surrounding a central area that holds Lisa's bed and person things... but something was wrong. Lisa's stores were all going out of business.
Lisa looked at us, and then begged us to go deep into the basements of the building for her, to find... well that I don't remember. But she needed something.
I headed off, determined to save Lisa's mall/bedroom.
Unfortunately I immediately get lost in the basement. A security guard stops me and asks if I need help. The security guard looks exactly like my friend Jan, who happens to be a Sheriff's Deputy. I say yes, and she gives me directions to whatever it is I'm looking for, but as I turn to go she stops me.
"Or you could take the easy way."
"The easy way?"
"You know which one."
"Oh... I can find it if I take the easy way?"
"Of course."
"I'll do tha..."
I chose that exact moment to wake up.
Posted by aristan at 09:15 AM | Comments (1)
History Repeating
The History Channel just played a old Metrotone about Ellis Island. The film was done in the 1970's and looks it. Everything toned in yellow, then switching to pink, then back to yellow. These people were not satisfied with Black and White footage at all.
It showed Ellis Island as the ruin it was in the Seventies. Even though it's preserved as a museum now, 30 years ago it was full of leaves, the roof caved in at places, and the brush was waist deep.
Looking at the old footage from the heyday of the island's roll in immigration, it's weird to see the building in use, filled to the brim and to see the New York skyline with so few Skyscrapers.
The scene then switches to 1972, the Sky tinted yellow to give it a mod glow... and to see Ellis Island in ruins, forgot against the New York skyline. A Skyline with the World Trade Center front and center.
To the kids this was undoubtably shown to in the 70s, Ellis Island was something forgotten, a modern ruin, something cast by the wayside in our need to grow. The Twin Towers were the future.
When you look at it now, and with hindsight being 20/20, you notice the changes.
Ellis Island is restored to it's former glory, perserved as a museum. And the New York skyline is missing the WTC again.
In other news, I've apparently taught myself CSS.
So be very afraid of the next edition of Malbela. Be very afraid.
Posted by aristan at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)
Quality News
via FARK
Some Thoughts that have occured to me to explain this
Scotty: Captain, 'm givin' 'er all I gah'.
apparently Columbia did a slingshot around the sun, sent Challenger back in it's place, and they're now looking for whales in 1986
It's stuff like this that makes me wonder why we just don't take everyone in the media out back and shoot them.
I pray at night for my generation's Walter Cronkite to show himself... and I pray even more that it not be Geraldo Riveria.
I found out that Johnny Cash has released a new album on which he covers Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. The cover of the NIN song Hurt is great, and the video is great too. The video was even directed by the guy who did NIN's "closer" video.
VH1, MTV2, and CMT have all added the song to their playlists, much to the shock of myself and a lot of others. VH1 even has celebs doing special introductions for the video.
Posted by aristan at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)
Give My wife my love, and then nothing more
First off, If you've come to Malbela to get away from everything and to avoid hearing about events in the world, you've made a poor choice. Please don't read any further. I don't plan to put anything behind the cut, I don't see the point in it.
I refuse to censor myself.
This Morning, Columbia exploded over the Southeast United States, scattering debris over thousands of miles. Of course the news turned immediatly to the possiblity that it was terrorism.
Let me state this for the record. I do not believe it was terrorism. The very idea of that possiblity is irrational, illogical, and frankly just plain stupid. Of course the US media went for that because linking Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to anything from Tragic accidents such as this to minor things like getting Onion Rings instead of Fries at Burger King is "good" news these days.
I don't mind my news Liberal. I just wish it didn't sound like something out of the Weekly World News.
I didn't hear the news until about 7pm. I hadn't felt well and took a nap that lasted longer than it really should have. I got up and checked my email then checked out FARK where I saw the newsflash. I read the articles and the comments section there on Fark.
I then went onto IRC and apparently broke some sort of taboo by talking about it. Apparently everyone had already discussed it enough and was over it by the time I got there.
Oh well. That's why I have a blog to bitch about things in.
Fuck... I didn't mean to turn this into something about me.
I'm sure you've all heard about the plane that was supposed to be nearby (Impossible at about 40 miles up), or the fact that we're 17 years to the week of the Challenger Disaster or 36 years to the week of the Apollo Disaster. The end of January and the beginning of February doesn't seem like a good idea to go off into space anymore.
I know you've heard about how there was an crew member from Israel and how the flight scattered wrecked over the town of Palestine, Texas. First off, Palestine Texas is pronounced "Pal-is-teen". And secondly... Palestine in the Middle East is the Muslim areas. Wouldn't it make more sense to scatter the debris over a town named Jerusalum or Israel if this was a terrorist attack?
I'm sure you've also heard that the teacher was supposed to be on this flight (Not sure about this, I know she's scheduled for one later this year). She was also the backup for the teacher who was on Challenger.
I remember reading a week ago on Weezer.com about William McCool. He was a Weezer fan just like me, and was actually taking a Weezer CD (the blue album) with him as one of use personal items on the flight. He was gonna take a picture of the CD by earthlight. The blue album against the blue world. I know it's silly to remember that, but it's the first time I read about this Columbia flight.
I never followed NASA, I never really wanted to be an astronaut. However I can see the allure that space travel has. The chance to be truly outside the protective bubble of Earth and seeing everything clearly.
They were Heroes. They were helping the human race. To take us beyond the tiny little insignificant spot in the backwater of the universe.
For that, and for them, We should mourn.
When Challenger exploded, Ronald Reagan gave a speech that is just as true today.
There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and a historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'
You can keep up with the last news at Space Flight Now
Edit - 11:04 - The Hardees Space commercial is kind of in bad taste right now.
Rockets taking off and "We didn't know if they'd make it. Or if they'd come back. But They weren't big chickens. Don't be a big chicken. Eat One."
The entire thing is set to images of NASA Rockets landing and taking off.
Posted by aristan at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)
from the 'why?' files...
MACamp is now available for windows.
and no, it's not just Winamp.... it's a totally different program from different people.
Posted by aristan at 03:26 AM | Comments (0)
History in an MP3
I've fallen in love with sites that offer MP3s of old Vinyl Records. Not your big rock or pop groups, but of more unusual fare.
Take The 365 Days Project. Every day during 2003, an MP3 will be uploaded.
So far we've learned how to pick up chicks at a women's clothing store (need a hint? It's called lying), found out the best way to get motivated to sell more Mary Kay, and been graced with the musical stylings of Miss Esther Rolle star of Stage, Screen, and now music. If her stint as Florida on TV's "Good Times" wasn't enough for you, you must download this MP3.
While 365 Days offers some great MP3s, it's not the only site.
Over at Sharpeworld, they have even more MP3s, including more from the "Picking Up Chick" album, including some great lines such as "snow white cleavage" and "texas sized titties".
Over at UBU they've archived one of the first "Multimedia" magazines, dating from the 60s.
Aspen was a box of papers, films, and records that was sent out to subscribers. It included Classical Music, Jazz, and John Lennon & Yoko Ono chanting Newspaper Clippings on one recording.
You might also be interested in Singing Science Songs, a collection of Educational records, or even The Marcy Zone part of Sharpeworld, a collection of MP3s from the Christian Childrens records by Little Marcy, a ventriliquist and her dummy. "Big Marcy" is noted for being one of the worst Ventriliquists ever... apparently the only time she tries not to move her lips is on the records. Must Download? "I love Little Pussy".
Posted by aristan at 03:14 AM | Comments (0)
Posted by aristan at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)