Poetry
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon, writing
Whoa; a wave of TIRED just hit me like a ton of bricks (yay for tired cliches haha). Do you think I’d be a failure if I went upstairs and dozed for a half hour? The problem, I suppose, is not the dozing but the waking.
I am, foremost before any other self-appointed name, a poet.
For Words
Sometimes the heart has no words
for words
and here I am,
alone.For I seem to have no head
for words
just when I need
them most.
I’m going to cheat a little and post this a bit early and my next one a bit late to see if I can’t grab a cat nap. I shall return!
Naming in New York #1
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
New York City has an interesting naming scheme.
That is, in Queens, there are districts which are cities, like Flushing, Astoria, Bayside, Oakland Gardens, and the like. One of those names—not “Queens”—is what you write in the “city” section of any postal mail. If you’re sending something to Manhattan, you write “New York”, even though Manhattan also has districts: Little Italy, the Financial District, TriBeCa (more on capitalization in a minute), Harlem, and the Upper West Side. If you’re sending something to Brooklyn, you write “Brooklyn”, even though there are districts in Brooklyn, too, like Bensonhurst, Brownside, Bed-Sty, and Coney Island. If sending to Staten Island, you write “Staten Island”—and I don’t even know what you’d write for the Bronx because I never went up there and know nearly nothing about it except the D, 2, and 4/5/6 lines go up there. (And even that I had to look up in my handy dandy subway map. >_>)
As for capitalization: there are districts in the various boroughs (New York City is made up of five parts, called boroughs, which are: the Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan) that have odd capitalization… DUMBO, TriBeCa, NoHo, and SoHo are the four most well-known. People outside the City usually don’t know what the capitalization means, and honestly: you’d have to be there to understand it. DUMBO means “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”; TriBeCa is “Triangle beneath Canal (St.)”; NoHo stands for “North of Houston (St.)”; SoHo means “South of Houston (St.)”…
It makes sense when it’s explained, but there are other confusing precautions New Yorkers take to keep their City their own. More in “Naming in New York #2″!
Lunch time!
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
I know it’s late to be eating lunch at 3:30 pm, but I guess that means I’ll have to re-evaluate when I start making dinner, so some of the list in the second post will probably be shifted around.
BLTs all around for everyone ‘cept me (I had a CLT, cheese lettuce & tomato) and Johnny (who’s still asleep). And Dr. Pepper all around for everyone including me. But not Johnny, ’cause he’s asleep.
The Other Kittehs
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
I have Cleo, but my family also has four cats. We had two before my mom’s friend, Joanne, died… and thereafter we inherited two more. If you have one cat, you have one cat. If you have two cats, it’s okay because they can be friends. But if you have three (or, in our case, five including Cleo)… you start to be that guy who has all those cats…
Sassy: aka Squeezebox, Scaredy. She loves being petted, but she thinks everyone’s out to get her, and she meows unnecessarily. She was one of Joanne’s cats before we got her.
Alex: aka Picasso, Freaky. His right back leg broke when he was a kitten and it set incorrectly, so now he’s a grouchy cripple. He was also Joanne’s cat. Mom and Dad have been treating him like he’s about to die… for the last two years.
In Debt: aka Flash, Fatty. He’s the second of the two cats we got for ourselves. He’s orange and basically doesn’t care about anything except food. Hence the “Fatty” name.
Mimi Sequi Atrayu: aka Master Control, Cranky. He has a long name because when we got him we didn’t think we’d ever be getting another one (at least not for a long time) so we used all the names we had. Points if you can tell me the names’ respective origins.
Things I CAN Live Without
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
Like the previous post, these are things, not people or places.
1. Stupid humor. -_-
2. The phrase: “Where you at?” I hate hate HATE that phrase. It can just suck it for all I care… Which is why my brother constantly says, “Where you is?” -_-
3. Bruised fingertips, usually caused by failing to catch a flag toss in Colorguard. -_-
4. Hair that has been shed. That is, cat hair and human hair, mostly. Cats because they make me sneeze and humans because it just freaks me out. -_-
5. Lack of decent public transportation. Which is all of Southern Cali. Which is FAIL. -_-
Things I Can’t Live Without
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under blogathon
This is a list of THINGS. Not people (though I do love me some peoples) or places (though I do love me some places, too). Just things. That’s all. And it’s going to be short because I was late posting the last one so I only have 15 minutes or so. These are the top five things I could think of in the time given.
1. Computer. Duh.
2. Internets.
3. Books and bookshelves.
4. Blank notebooks and pencils.
5. Postage stamps. Like way.
What do all these have in common? (I can carry them all… ‘cept the bookshelves, of course. >_>)
Anime
by V.E. on July 25th, 2009
filed under anime/manga, blogathon
I wrote this in the Who I Am section before deciding it should be in this section. Obviously, this is titled “Anime” and the former is more an introduction.
I tend toward dark, strange, and amoral. Some of my favorite characters are Aizen, Soujiro, L, and Knives. (And yes, I realize, all of those are anime characters. I watched more anime in college than I’ve ever watched American television in my whole life.)
I may be an otaku, but actually, if you meet me at an anime or gaming convention, you’ll immediately find out that I’m actually pretty tame… as fans go.
My “gateway anime” (similar to a “gateway drug” but with anime) was Sailor Moon in junior high school, but these days people often watch Adult Swim and discover Japanese animation through Inuyasha, Bleach, or Naruto.
Recommendations
Cutsie: Ouran Koukou Host Club, Magic Knights Rayearth
Mecha: Full Metal Panic!, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Period: Samurai Champloo, the 1st season of Rurouni Kenshin
Gothic: Hellsing, Ghost in the Shell
Overall: Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note
Where to buy all these and much, much more: RightStuf International
