At long last, the new windows for my bedroom have been installed! Farewell, noisy, drafty, rattly windows. No more having to prop them open with a stick. No more storm windows that get jammed halfway up when I go to pull down the screens for the summer.

The call that "Joe" the contractor was coming came early this morning as I was getting ready to go to work, so I had to call in and tell my boss that I was going to be late due to having to move furniture and boxes before said contractor arrived. Then, I had a long busy day at work, followed by coming home and having to vacuum the rug before I put the furniture and the books back. So, I'm very tired right now: all this after not being able to sleep last night, because my sinuses have been utterly rotten. I don't know what's the matter, but they've been a mess since the beginning of May. They pack up solid the moment I lay down and no amount of blowing my nose, taking medication or using nasal strips seems to help. Anyone got any ideas what could be behind this?

I've peeked at my mother's journal and letters to penfriends: learned some things I almost wish I'd hadn't, that way >.

Eeek! Forgot about these over the 4th of July weekend:

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Just back from watching the fireworks/brass band concert over in Wilmington. I don't know of a better fireworks show in the area, and the folks in Wilmington take the Fourth very seriously in a good way: they make a whole three-day celebration out of it.

And whoever did their fireworks was really clever: about twenty minutes into the show, the fireworks just seemed to... stop, leaving the crowd (bigger than we've ever seen it) collectively scratching their heads... Then the lights came up on the bandstand and as the band struck up "Stars and Stripes Forever", a wild salvo of fireworks started up in mad earnest, lighting up the whole night sky! Awesomeness!!

I missed the bicentennial by about six months, but at least I was conceived during the bicentennial; makes it easy to calculate how old the U. S. of A is.

Happy Birthday, U.S. of A.! And to everyone who lives here, have a blast celebrating your freedom and independence! Enjoy your parades and cookouts and fireworks shows! My plans include watching the Boston Pops concert and helping my dad roast hot dogs over an open fire (I doubt we'll be able to eat out this year, due to all the raaaain we had making everything moist, and the mosquitoes which like to congregate in our yard).

"This is the only country in the world," said Wednesday, into the stillness, "that worries about what it is."
"What?"
"The rest of them know what they are. No one ever needs to go searching for the heart of Norway. Or looks for the soul of Mozambique. They know what they are."

Wednesday and Shadow, American Gods, Neil Gaiman

And if someone could clue me in on the chapter where someone, I think Wednesday, describes the U.S as a cluster of little countries all united by McDonald's and chain stores, I'll be in your debt.

EDITED TO ADD: Found it!

"It's almost hard to believe [San Francisco] is in the same country as Lakeside."

Wednesday glared at him. Then he said, "It's not. San Francisco isn't in the same country any more than New Orleans is in the same country as New York or Miami is in the same country as Minneapolis."

"Is that so?" Shadow asked mildly.

"Indeed it is. They may share certain cultural signifiers -- money, a federal government, entertainment -- but the only things that give it the illusion of being one country are the greenback, 'The Tonight Show' and McDonalds."

:: Off to help cook the infamous Loaded Baked Potato Salad::

In amongst other errands, I had books to return to the Pollard Library in Lowell; I arrived there to find that someone had smashed the outer pane of the double-hung glass in one of the front doors. The library itself wasn't open due to the librarians taking an extended holiday (no doubt due to budgeting reasons), and I wasn't the only one to find this out: a guy coming up the steps behind me suspects who might have done it, as, according to him, a guy he knows has been smashing random windows downtown. Whoever did this, I hope there's a good reason behind it, ie. he's mentally ill or something, otherwise, this was a very, very low thing to do, even if the place was closed.

Does this remind any other Mecha-huggers of the scenes at the dinner table in a certain movie...?

I usually don't write about political stuff, but since these two things affect me personally (directly or indirectly) I thought I'd weigh in on them:

Bad news: The sales tax is going up, in a bid to try and deal with the state budget deficits. Now, if Gov. Deval Patrick and the rest of the dang pols who make more in a week than I make in a month would just cut down on their own spending and/or salaries (hello, people? You do not need to drive a gas-guzzling Cadillac; a Ford sedan or a hybrid will do the same job at half the price. Come down to our level and maybe things will straighten out). Consequently, I am now scrambling to lay in supplies of toiletries, OTC medicines and other taxables before the sales tax price goes into effect. I guess after this, I'll have to join the wave of people who'll be going across the tax-free New Hampshire state line to get my necessities. I think we're about due for another Boston Tea Party of some kind: maybe get enough people to dump toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo and all sorts of health and beauty aids on the steps of the State House. :: Hands Deval Patrick a "Redcoat" style British army officer's uniform, along with a powdered wig::

Good news: The state is tossing around several different plans to reduce the number of impaired elderly drivers on the road. Originally, they were going to start retesting everyone more often, but it was decided this would cost too much. Looks like they may be testing only older drivers more often (which they had tried to avoid at the risk of looking ageist), but the hard part is deciding at what age to start doing this. As long as it goes into effect soon: there's been way too many horrific cases of "driving while elderly" lately. Including a Mrs. Tolliver who hit the gas instead of the brakes and plowed into the entry of a Wal-Mart, hitting a carriage containing a baby. And then there's the old bat who has utterly *NO* remorse for running down a four year old girl who later died of her injuries. After the time I got knocked down by that old coot who inSISTed he had the right of way, that one did not surprise me. I honestly hope they charge that one with vehicular homicide and give her the maximum sentence. And put her in general population in the Billerica House of Corrections. I also hope on her very first day, she pisses off "Mean Jolene", the six-foot-three, two-hundred pound female truck driver who's in for beating her ex to death with a tire iron. Probably won't be too hard: I know how most Mrs. Tollivers behave. They seem to sense your berserk buttons and then they wonder why you go bats on their withered asses.

My last hatchlings didn't turn out so well, so I decided to take a break from the place for a while... But I couldn't resist breeding a few Summer eggs:

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Easy answer: Ascendant Radio, the personal radio station of Familia Grigori, my gang of online gaming pals. You never know quite what's going to be spinning: from movie soundtracks to hip-hop to heavy metal; you might hear Enya followed by Public Enemy with some Brazilian funk after that. Right now, our DJ is hosting an all-night Michael Jackson tribute.

...I am *contra*-Twilight.

I am really getting royally ticked-off with the sheer amount of antis who call Esme Cullen a loser just because she chose to be a stay-at-home mom. Not every woman can balance a job/career and taking care of kids. Case in point, my mother, who is emotionally high-needs because of her depression and PTSD, and whom Providence decided to give the responsibility of an equally emotionally high-needs kid with an autism spectrum condition. Add to this, Stephanie Meyers is Mormon, and they have a more traditional/conservative view of gender-specific roles in the family; doesn't make them bad people, just makes them different from the current cultural norm.

And I've frankly had it with the ones who level the pedophilia accusation against Edward. Just me saying it, but it denigrates the victims of actual cases of pedophilia, ie. kids who have been sexually used and/or abused by adults they trusted. Edward might have almost a hundred years of experience, but I get the feeling that his turning freeze-framed his emotional development along with his physical development. It's kind of like Ivy the Archive in the Dresden Files: she might have the entire knowledge of humanity combined into her pretty head, but she's still a kid who does kid-like things such as writing in crayon or cuddling Harry's cat Mister or watching the otters play at the aquarium.

Well, I'll let the comments (my comments specifically and the replies therof) to this entry in the LJ of Michelle Belanger, a very talented Gothic singer/writer/composer and psychic vampire, speak for some of my feelings: http://sethanikeem.livejournal.com/240159.html

First Ed MacMahon (who grew up in Lowell, MA, the next town over from where I am), who's now probably helping Johnny Carson host Heaven's answer to "The Tonight Show", now Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson in one day. I was born at the end of the Seventies, so I was too young to remember her in "Charlie's Angels" et al, but I always thought she was a lovely woman, and I admire her for carrying herself with so much grace and dignity, even during her illness.

And Michael Jackson... it's sad to see the King of Pop go, and while I don't know what to make of the child molestation accusations (Did he or didn't he? I guess that's between God, his victims and him now), I find it more than a tad disrespectful that some people are making pedophilia jokes about it on some web forums. He might have morphed into a total freak-a-zoid, but even freak-a-zoids deserve some dignity and respect at a time like this.

On that "note" (all puns intentional!), here's my favorite Michael Jackson video. Naturally, it's "Thriller":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8

This entry needs a soundtrack, so open this in a new window or tab (you'll see why I chose this particular song, in a moment; if any of you watch the show "COPS", you'll really get it...): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PFNZ3QRRxM

On the way back from work, I was crossing the street -- or starting to -- when a guy in an SUV blew right through the red light. I'd taken just two steps off the curb when I saw him coming and I literally jumped right back on the curb. Fortunately, there was a lady cop in a cruiser sitting in the parking lot of one of the gas stations, so she took right off after him and pulled him over. Then, as I was running up to where they'd pulled over (just to let her know I was fine and to thank her for doing her job), *another* cruiser comes wailing in behind them. The lady cop asked me if I was all right: "I saw you jump a mile there." When I thanked her, I think I embarrassed her a little, but hey, this guy needed a slap on the wrist for narrowly missing me, and I'm grateful to her.

I also managed to make eye contact with the jerk driver, as he was sitting there, and I gave him the rarely seen but thus more effective Look of Death. I hope he got the idea: you don't go plowing through crosswalks, because someone might be crossing in it...

Okay... thanks goes out to everyone who sent in their Friends request on my shiny new MySpace page... But I seem to be having a problem: Every time I go on there since last night, FireFox randomly crashes. I can't figure out what's up and if anyone has had this problem, do you have any suggestions on fixing it? Thanks in advance!

Watching good movies/anime or reading good books in the evenings, going out and having adventures during the day, ie. going to bookstores/museums/the library (or all of the above, in Salem).

http://www.myspace.com/matrixrefugeespace

Yes, you read that right, I now have a MySpace page, though I've been updating it only once a week. I know I swore I'd never get one, but... since a number of my friends in MxO have one, I created it in order to keep in touch with them once the game shuts down. Plus, their security has gotten a lot tighter and you have a lot more control over who's on your friends list (that and as innocent as I might be, I am not stupid enough to do the kinds of inane things that a lot of girls do which get them into trouble. Though of course, there's always the incident of the madwoman in Missouri who drove a girl she just didn't like to suicide...). On a lighter note (all puns intended, as you'll see...), I like their embedded music player, so you all can get a chance to listen to some of my favorite tunes. This could be useful once I actually start getting stuff published as well. So, if any of you are on MySpace, I'd be delighted if you friended me.

Just... "John Carpenter's Vampires". I can just hear the Catholic League fuming over the way the Church is portrayed, but if that's the case, they'd better not touch Walker Percy, since he's not above writing about seemingly nice priests who turn out to be bastards and bad Catholics who are in fact good if not exactly nice guys. Move over, Edwierd: Valek would eat you for a snack, if Jack Crow didn't rip your little toushe off and hand it back to you in itty-bitty, tiny pieces. This from John Carpenter, on casting James Woods as a bad-ass vampire hunter: "James Woods is the kind of guy you’d believe could and would chew off the leg off a vampire". Based on that alone, I think I'd better get back to working on my Moonlight/Shark crossover...

Also, this has to be the best bit of expository dialogue on vampires, ever: ( Cut for naughty language )

You know, if your significant other makes you decide between them and your friends (for whatever reasons or in whatever manner), this is a bad sign that they are a control freak of the biggest sort. So the answer would be: I'd take my friends, and enlist their aide in getting Mr. Edwierd-wannabe off my back.

:: Isn't sure why she chose one of her "Constantine" icons, but if the icon fits the mood::

( Cut for more triggers )