On the most recent episode of "South Park," the Church of Scientology and some of its celebrity adherents were the show's satirical targets.
Part of the story had Chuch members declaring one of the boys - Stan Marsh, to be precise - to be the reincarnation of Church founder and "Dianetics" author L. Ron Hubbard.
The episode concluded with Stan, presumably speaking on behalf of the show's creators, daring the famously litigious Church to sue.
(The credits that rolled immediately after listed everyone involved with the production of the show as being named either John or Jane Smith.)
I noticed today that the Wikipedia entry for Hubbard currently reads:
Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986), better known as Stanley Marsh, was a prolific American author and the manipulative, deceitful founder of Dianetics and Scientology.
I'm not sure how long it will be before someone notices that and edits (for those who don't know, Wikipedia can be edited by anyone) out the "South Park" reference, but for right now it's pretty damn funny...
Saturday, November 19, 2005
Match.com Becomes An Escort Service?
Suit Claims Match.com Set Up Fake Dates
The real question is "How hot were the chicks they sent out on fake dates?"
Or, perhaps more importantly, "Did they get paid extra if they were especially friendly?"
The answer to either of those questions could be the tipping point that makes me decide to pony up the 25 bucks a month it costs to join match.com...
The real question is "How hot were the chicks they sent out on fake dates?"
Or, perhaps more importantly, "Did they get paid extra if they were especially friendly?"
The answer to either of those questions could be the tipping point that makes me decide to pony up the 25 bucks a month it costs to join match.com...
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Random Realty Encounters And Shiny New Teeth!
This morning I got up about an hour earlier than usual.
It was my intention to throw a load of laundry into the washer and then head out for a walk once the clothes were ready to be put in the dryer.
Everything was going according to plan until my phone rang. It was my dentist’s office calling to ask if I could stop by at around 10. I said that I could, though this meant that I wouldn’t have enough time to squeeze in a walk.
As I always am, because I hate sitting around at home waiting to go somewhere, I was early to arrive at the dentist’s office, so I decided to take some time to sift through my CDs and find one of the less readily-accessible CDs in my collection to put into the player for later.
While I was doing this I was peripherally aware or a well-dressed woman who appeared, from what I could see, to be reasonably attractive, engaged in some kind of struggle with something in her car as she stood there for an extended period of time having her hair blown about wildly by the strong, cold wind.
Before I got out of my car I noticed that she had finally won the struggle and was on her way towards one of the buildings in the little professional plaza where my dentist is located. As it appeared, at first glance, to be some kind of infant carrier, I promptly pushed any thoughts I might have had about the woman out of my mind.
However, as soon as I got out of my car I heard a woman say, “Shit!” and I saw that the woman appeared to have lost the struggle with what she was carrying.
It turned out not to be an infant, but rather a large bucked filled to overflowing with various tools. I asked her if she could use a hand, and she explained that it was her “Closing gift.”
She tried picking the bucket back up, and as she strained to lift it, all the while trying to blow her hair out of her face, she said, “No wonder I’m so fucking skinny!”
I offered my assistance once again, and she stated that I could carry the bag of tortilla chips that was also, apparently, part of the gift. I indicated that I could carry rather more than that, and she asked that I also carry her oversized purse.
She was going to a building past the one that I was headed for, but I pointed out that I had time to spare, and so could carry my rather light and ungentlemanly load all of the way.
As we were walking, she asked if I was from the area, and I responded, “For now,” explaining that my future living arrangements were presently up in the air.
She asked if I was looking to rent or buy, and when I said buy she responded that I was “talking to the right person.”
I said, “You’re a realtor?”
She indicated the gift she was carrying – which, she explained, was for a “handy” woman – and said, “Duh.”
I laughed and said, “Of course. I mean, who isn’t a realtor around here?”
With a laugh that indicated mock outrage, she said, “I suppose that’s true, but they’re going to be dropping off like flies soon,” a sentiment that she expressed once again before we parted, along with the hope that she wouldn’t be one of them, indicating that she thought the real estate bubble is well on its way to bursting.
Once inside the building without the wind battering her she was better able to handle her burden, and though I had mentioned that I’m already working with a realtor, she asked if I wanted her card anyway, “just in case.” To be polite, I accepted.
I never managed to get in a ring check. I think she was wearing gloves. She didn’t seem overly flirtatious, though she was appreciative of my efforts to help her out.
I guess this is her here, though she had much darker hair this morning than she does in the picture.
Once I got inside my dentist’s building I was assaulted by the smell of burnt popcorn.
Inside his office, the girl with the big boobs told me that they’d be with me shortly, and after a while I heard her complaining to the cute – but far too skinny – Asian girl that she smelled popcorn and that the smell of popcorn makes her nauseous.
I warned her to stay out of the hallways, as the smell was much stronger out there.
Apparently her aversion to the smell of popcorn began when she was pregnant and never went away. It effectively prevents her from going to movie theaters, though if she does go, her defense is, apparently, to buy nachos and simply hold them in her mouth so that all she can smell is her cheese.
The cute Asian girl laughed when she said, “so that all I can smell is my cheese,” and I had to agree that it did sound funny.
Shortly after this exchange was finished I was called back to an exam room and fitted with my partial plates, just in time, as the doctor noted, for Thanksgiving.
After getting some quick instruction in their care I was on my way out with a mouth full of shiny new teeth!
They still feel very odd and cumbersome, and I believe it will be a long time before I become comfortable with them.
Eating with them is kind of a dodgy – and gross – proposition.
I have to say that while it was the most appetizing thing on the menu (which says a lot about the menu) at the cafeteria at work, where I stopped for lunch before a meeting that I had to go to in the afternoon, a pulled pork sandwich is not exactly the ideal choice as the food with which to take your new teeth for a “test drive.”
And while they obviously look better than big, gummy toothless expanses, I do have to say that I’m bothered by just how noticeable the clips that hold them in place are if I smile.
Fortunately I seldom have cause to smile – and usually don’t smile even if I do – so that’s not too much of a problem.
I’m currently working on learning how to hold my mouth in a natural position and to train myself to ignore them.
In any case, I’m back to being about 6,000 words behind on my novel, but I just wanted to share the story of my random encounter with a somewhat attractive realtor in which I got to at least kind of chivalrous and about my new teeth.
Speaking of realtors, mine just called me to set up a time to check out some condos on Monday.
But that will do it for this entry. I hope you all have a good weekend.
It was my intention to throw a load of laundry into the washer and then head out for a walk once the clothes were ready to be put in the dryer.
Everything was going according to plan until my phone rang. It was my dentist’s office calling to ask if I could stop by at around 10. I said that I could, though this meant that I wouldn’t have enough time to squeeze in a walk.
As I always am, because I hate sitting around at home waiting to go somewhere, I was early to arrive at the dentist’s office, so I decided to take some time to sift through my CDs and find one of the less readily-accessible CDs in my collection to put into the player for later.
While I was doing this I was peripherally aware or a well-dressed woman who appeared, from what I could see, to be reasonably attractive, engaged in some kind of struggle with something in her car as she stood there for an extended period of time having her hair blown about wildly by the strong, cold wind.
Before I got out of my car I noticed that she had finally won the struggle and was on her way towards one of the buildings in the little professional plaza where my dentist is located. As it appeared, at first glance, to be some kind of infant carrier, I promptly pushed any thoughts I might have had about the woman out of my mind.
However, as soon as I got out of my car I heard a woman say, “Shit!” and I saw that the woman appeared to have lost the struggle with what she was carrying.
It turned out not to be an infant, but rather a large bucked filled to overflowing with various tools. I asked her if she could use a hand, and she explained that it was her “Closing gift.”
She tried picking the bucket back up, and as she strained to lift it, all the while trying to blow her hair out of her face, she said, “No wonder I’m so fucking skinny!”
I offered my assistance once again, and she stated that I could carry the bag of tortilla chips that was also, apparently, part of the gift. I indicated that I could carry rather more than that, and she asked that I also carry her oversized purse.
She was going to a building past the one that I was headed for, but I pointed out that I had time to spare, and so could carry my rather light and ungentlemanly load all of the way.
As we were walking, she asked if I was from the area, and I responded, “For now,” explaining that my future living arrangements were presently up in the air.
She asked if I was looking to rent or buy, and when I said buy she responded that I was “talking to the right person.”
I said, “You’re a realtor?”
She indicated the gift she was carrying – which, she explained, was for a “handy” woman – and said, “Duh.”
I laughed and said, “Of course. I mean, who isn’t a realtor around here?”
With a laugh that indicated mock outrage, she said, “I suppose that’s true, but they’re going to be dropping off like flies soon,” a sentiment that she expressed once again before we parted, along with the hope that she wouldn’t be one of them, indicating that she thought the real estate bubble is well on its way to bursting.
Once inside the building without the wind battering her she was better able to handle her burden, and though I had mentioned that I’m already working with a realtor, she asked if I wanted her card anyway, “just in case.” To be polite, I accepted.
I never managed to get in a ring check. I think she was wearing gloves. She didn’t seem overly flirtatious, though she was appreciative of my efforts to help her out.
I guess this is her here, though she had much darker hair this morning than she does in the picture.
Once I got inside my dentist’s building I was assaulted by the smell of burnt popcorn.
Inside his office, the girl with the big boobs told me that they’d be with me shortly, and after a while I heard her complaining to the cute – but far too skinny – Asian girl that she smelled popcorn and that the smell of popcorn makes her nauseous.
I warned her to stay out of the hallways, as the smell was much stronger out there.
Apparently her aversion to the smell of popcorn began when she was pregnant and never went away. It effectively prevents her from going to movie theaters, though if she does go, her defense is, apparently, to buy nachos and simply hold them in her mouth so that all she can smell is her cheese.
The cute Asian girl laughed when she said, “so that all I can smell is my cheese,” and I had to agree that it did sound funny.
Shortly after this exchange was finished I was called back to an exam room and fitted with my partial plates, just in time, as the doctor noted, for Thanksgiving.
After getting some quick instruction in their care I was on my way out with a mouth full of shiny new teeth!
They still feel very odd and cumbersome, and I believe it will be a long time before I become comfortable with them.
Eating with them is kind of a dodgy – and gross – proposition.
I have to say that while it was the most appetizing thing on the menu (which says a lot about the menu) at the cafeteria at work, where I stopped for lunch before a meeting that I had to go to in the afternoon, a pulled pork sandwich is not exactly the ideal choice as the food with which to take your new teeth for a “test drive.”
And while they obviously look better than big, gummy toothless expanses, I do have to say that I’m bothered by just how noticeable the clips that hold them in place are if I smile.
Fortunately I seldom have cause to smile – and usually don’t smile even if I do – so that’s not too much of a problem.
I’m currently working on learning how to hold my mouth in a natural position and to train myself to ignore them.
In any case, I’m back to being about 6,000 words behind on my novel, but I just wanted to share the story of my random encounter with a somewhat attractive realtor in which I got to at least kind of chivalrous and about my new teeth.
Speaking of realtors, mine just called me to set up a time to check out some condos on Monday.
But that will do it for this entry. I hope you all have a good weekend.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Word Count Deficit, Putting The "Conspicuous" In Inconspicuous, And The Power Of Time-Wasting
As I said I would be for the month of November, I have been seriously neglecting Threshold of late.
I wouldn’t feel so bad about that if I were actually getting a lot of work done on my NaNoWriMo novel, which is ostensibly the reason I’ve been neglecting my daily entries here.
…
Well, I did spend much of yesterday, well into the wee hours, cutting my 9,000 word deficit down to a mere 2,000, though the fact that I haven’t done any work on it today kicks the deficit back up to 5,000 words.
Ah well.
It’s difficult to bring myself to work on it because, apart from the fact that it’s work, I don’t think I can finish it.
I’m sure I can hit the 50,000 word mark, but that won’t be nearly enough to tell the story that I want to tell, so I find myself wondering if there’s any point to just hitting the requisite word count if I’m not going to have a complete story (even an extremely rough draft of one) to show for it.
I have to say that by the time 2 am rolled around I was almost randomly throwing words in just to pad it as much as possible without giving any real thought to whether or not what I was saying was actually advancing the story.
In any case, there really hasn’t been much to report going on in my life, though I suppose that hasn’t ever stopped me from writing lengthy entries before.
About the most interesting thing that’s happened so far was when I saw three identical, unmarked white vans driving in something of a convoy.
When you live this close to DC, you can’t help but wonder what’s going on when you see something like that. Black vans would have been a little more in keeping with shady, black ops goings on, but maybe whoever makes those decisions though that the identical, unmarked vans would be less conspicuous if they were white.
Good thinking.
I actually had my PDA with me, and thought about taking a picture, but then it occurred to me that I might not be here to write this if I did…
Today found me waking up at the usual time, despite the late night of word count catch-up.
It was gloomy and overcast, so I decided to forego the morning walk.
I had about two hours to kill, as I was supposed to pick up Kathleen for lunch at 11:30.
Sometime after 10 she called to let me know that she was just now on her way to work, as there had been a fire in the morning and duty called, so, as she had just eaten breakfast, she wouldn’t be likely to want lunch soon, and she felt, understandably, that after arriving to work nearly two hours late it wouldn’t be appropriate to duck out for lunch almost immediately upon arrival, and so our plans were cancelled.
I would say that it’s pretty much par for the course for me to get blown off by a woman, but this was different.
It wasn’t different because there’s no romantic connection between Kathleen and me.
After all, there’s never a romantic connection between me and the women I am pursuing romantically either, which is generally why I get blown off.
No, what made this different was that she actually let me know that she was blowing me off…
After that I thought about going for a walk but ended up only walking as far as the bedroom, where I crawled back into bed.
I spent about an hour drifting in and out of consciousness and having odd little “dreamlets” that seemed to involve an episode of “The Simpsons,” the filming of a “Girls Gone Wild” video, and something about those chicks who were chasing Hercules around in the first season of “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.” No idea what was up with any of that.
As I was there dozing I was enjoying the cool breeze that was blowing in through my wide-open windows up until the breeze became a full on wind, a wind which started to get a bit wet once the clouds finally opened up and it started raining.
So I got up and closed the windows and tried going back to napping, but it was no use.
I got up with the intention of doing some more work on the novel, but ended up reading recaps of this season’s episodes of “Smallville” over at Television Without Pity.
Once I got through that, finding myself disgusted with the recapper for his foolish and ill-considered dislike of Erica Durance as Lois Lane., it was time to stop wasting time and get to work on the novel!
Or not.
And that’s where we find ourselves now.
I suppose that I really should get to work on it, though there are several hours worth of recorded movies and TV shows sitting unwatched on my DVR…
I wouldn’t feel so bad about that if I were actually getting a lot of work done on my NaNoWriMo novel, which is ostensibly the reason I’ve been neglecting my daily entries here.
…
Well, I did spend much of yesterday, well into the wee hours, cutting my 9,000 word deficit down to a mere 2,000, though the fact that I haven’t done any work on it today kicks the deficit back up to 5,000 words.
Ah well.
It’s difficult to bring myself to work on it because, apart from the fact that it’s work, I don’t think I can finish it.
I’m sure I can hit the 50,000 word mark, but that won’t be nearly enough to tell the story that I want to tell, so I find myself wondering if there’s any point to just hitting the requisite word count if I’m not going to have a complete story (even an extremely rough draft of one) to show for it.
I have to say that by the time 2 am rolled around I was almost randomly throwing words in just to pad it as much as possible without giving any real thought to whether or not what I was saying was actually advancing the story.
In any case, there really hasn’t been much to report going on in my life, though I suppose that hasn’t ever stopped me from writing lengthy entries before.
About the most interesting thing that’s happened so far was when I saw three identical, unmarked white vans driving in something of a convoy.
When you live this close to DC, you can’t help but wonder what’s going on when you see something like that. Black vans would have been a little more in keeping with shady, black ops goings on, but maybe whoever makes those decisions though that the identical, unmarked vans would be less conspicuous if they were white.
Good thinking.
I actually had my PDA with me, and thought about taking a picture, but then it occurred to me that I might not be here to write this if I did…
Today found me waking up at the usual time, despite the late night of word count catch-up.
It was gloomy and overcast, so I decided to forego the morning walk.
I had about two hours to kill, as I was supposed to pick up Kathleen for lunch at 11:30.
Sometime after 10 she called to let me know that she was just now on her way to work, as there had been a fire in the morning and duty called, so, as she had just eaten breakfast, she wouldn’t be likely to want lunch soon, and she felt, understandably, that after arriving to work nearly two hours late it wouldn’t be appropriate to duck out for lunch almost immediately upon arrival, and so our plans were cancelled.
I would say that it’s pretty much par for the course for me to get blown off by a woman, but this was different.
It wasn’t different because there’s no romantic connection between Kathleen and me.
After all, there’s never a romantic connection between me and the women I am pursuing romantically either, which is generally why I get blown off.
No, what made this different was that she actually let me know that she was blowing me off…
After that I thought about going for a walk but ended up only walking as far as the bedroom, where I crawled back into bed.
I spent about an hour drifting in and out of consciousness and having odd little “dreamlets” that seemed to involve an episode of “The Simpsons,” the filming of a “Girls Gone Wild” video, and something about those chicks who were chasing Hercules around in the first season of “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.” No idea what was up with any of that.
As I was there dozing I was enjoying the cool breeze that was blowing in through my wide-open windows up until the breeze became a full on wind, a wind which started to get a bit wet once the clouds finally opened up and it started raining.
So I got up and closed the windows and tried going back to napping, but it was no use.
I got up with the intention of doing some more work on the novel, but ended up reading recaps of this season’s episodes of “Smallville” over at Television Without Pity.
Once I got through that, finding myself disgusted with the recapper for his foolish and ill-considered dislike of Erica Durance as Lois Lane., it was time to stop wasting time and get to work on the novel!
Or not.
And that’s where we find ourselves now.
I suppose that I really should get to work on it, though there are several hours worth of recorded movies and TV shows sitting unwatched on my DVR…
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Caught!
Suspected "Cell Phone Bandit" Caught
The girl is only 19 and she's robbed four banks...that's a hell of a lot more initiative than I ever showed at 19...
The girl is only 19 and she's robbed four banks...that's a hell of a lot more initiative than I ever showed at 19...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
