I smell like copper now

[cleolinda]

Hmm. I wasn't sure if we were going to get our weekly fix of Qdoba's 3-Cheese Crack Queso for dinner tonight. On one hand, $12 more or less isn't going to pay our taxes. On the other, it adds up. Do we raise the troops' morale with queso, or do we further tighten our belts? That kind of thing. We ended up going anyway, but saving half the food for lunch tomorrow. (I always get a quesadilla of some sort.)

Nothing much else going on. I have a bad habit of 1) paying in cash and 2) never with change, so I have a gigantic stash of coins. And only about half of them are pennies, which means that I have a small fortune in quarters squirreled away. Thirty-eight dollars, to be precise; they're all sorted now, and my fingers are nasty with dirt or tarnish or cocaine residue or whatever it is on our currency nowadays. Ick. And let me tell you, internets, it's an extremely weird feeling to be counting jars of change to pay off debts while Ryan Seacrest and half the world's celebrities are on TV exhorting you to give the starving children money. Because, on one hand, the starving children need it more; on the other, the dying children aren't going to charge 29% interest on your home equity loans if you don't pay them off by June. I try to tell myself that if we don't keep ourselves afloat we can't help anyone else. But... you know.

What else... the Lexicon trial starts on Monday, so I'm sure I'll be busy keeping an eye on that. And then there's the annotating plan--I'm trying to work out how to have footnotes running along the side of the page rather than the bottom, so they're easier to follow. I'm also steeling myself to look back over some of the lesser pieces that kind of make me cringe now. If nothing else, I'll snark on them (would the universe implode from recursive meta-snark?), I guess.

Linkspam:

Yahoo, Trying to Fend Off Microsoft, Plans Google Test.

Florida lawmakers pass "take your guns to work" law.

AP Swallows Obvious Alien Cover Story.

How to identify the look of love -- or lust. "Published in the journal 'Evolution and Human Behaviour,' the research also showed that women who were open to short-term sexual relationships were usually seen as more attractive. They tended to have wide eyes and large lips, such as the actress Angelina Jolie." Uh. Did they really just go there?

Easter Island vandal pays $17K fine.

"Wait a second. Are you asking me to show her a mediocre time?"

'Idol': Best performances ever. All I know is, none of 'em were last night.

Empire strikes back -- 'Star Wars' creator sues.

Judy Blume Doesn't Back Down From Censors.

Pirate's Dilemma author's speech: "To get rich off pirates, copy them."

More Publishers Think Readers Are Dumb Asses.

Top 10 Tips For Writing A Top 10 List [Bloggers].

Scifi Clothing You Can Wear on the Street Without Fear of Reprisals.

Blu-ray 'Firefly' Set In Works.

Lost: The Essential Question [Clips].

Previews for "Equus" Starring Dan Radcliffe To Begin September 5.

Johnny Depp: Real Life Hero; Tidbits: Johnny Depp to marry his longtime love.

The Dark Knight Scene So Shocking, You May Never See It [Morning Spoilers].

Bloom to Get $40 Million Paycheck? Not on Your Life, Says Disney; Next 'Prince of Persia' Rumor: Jake Gyllenhaal.

Slate Posts Spoiler-Happy 'W' Script Review; 'W' Script: "Don't Get Cute Turdblossom, This Is Serious." Also: Side-by-side comparison of the actors and their characters.

Jared Leto Says No To ‘Fight Club’ Musical.

Verne Troyer Sheds Tears Over Working With Heath Ledger In ‘Doctor Parnassus.’

'The Sea Wolf' Nabs Neve Campbell and Tim Roth.

Uwe Boll Trashes Michael Bay, Eli Roth and Anti-Boll Petition. "Well, now, Boll has put out a video asking fans to start up a pro-Boll petition. Oh yes, and he wants one million folks to sign that as well." Good luck with that one, buddy.

The AV Club: I Watched This On Purpose: Eragon.

Comments

[vampirepig13.livejournal.com]

Bothers me: Isn't "queso" spanish for "cheese"? Three-cheese cheese?

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way when it comes to change. Except that I usually use my quarters on buses, so now I have a big bag full of pennies, nickels, and dimes that probably doesn't amount to much.

Even though I'm supposed to be on a spoiler-free diet, I couldn't help but click on the Dark Knight link. ._. The stuff they describe sounds wonderfully creepy, but at the same time I can certainly understand why they might cut it before the film is released.

Re: the Scifi clothing link:

Oh my god, the chucks (http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7375326/c/151.html). I want a pair in black and white SO MUCH now.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

This isn't even vaguely related to anything you posted on, but I really feel like it's an important current event: Raid on FLDS ranch yesterday (http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_8859786). Something like...419 children are now in custody of the state. It's a really chilling story. I don't know if you've heard of FLDS, but it's a crazy ass polygamist cult that marries 14 year old girls to 50 year olds (as most polygamist cults do) and expel most of their young men onto the streets. Their leader, Warren Jeffs is standing trial as an accomplice to the rape of a fourteen year old and sexual exploitation. He's been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for a year.

Also: The Jezebel community has some really interesting commentary on it (http://jezebel.com/377740/your-nagging-ancient-mormon-underage-sex-cult-questions-answered-at-last)

I guess people are scared that this sect, the Yearning for Zion Ranch, could turn into another Waco or Jonestown.

In other news, Uwe Boll is a douche.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I think the implication here is that "queso" means "cheese dip," but yeah, strictly speaking, it is.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I've been keeping an eye on that story. I think I even read the Jezebel article. Have you ever read Under the Banner of Heaven?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I know! I've wanted a pair of Chucks, any Chucks, for a while now. But especially those.

[notemily.livejournal.com]

I always hated the term "Three-Cheese Queso." Queso means cheese! Three-cheese cheese? It's like saying "PIN number" or "ATM machine."

[notemily.livejournal.com]

Dammit! You beat me to that comment.

[glass-radical.livejournal.com]

'Idol': Best performances ever. All I know is, none of 'em were last night.

Thats for damn sure.


Did you see Brooke White's face? From the look of it, she imagines seeing puppies getting run over whole she sings.

My friend: "Man....she..feels too much..."

[kosher-jenny.livejournal.com]

My current pair is about to fall apart, so I actually do have an excuse to buy those, but at the same time I'm not sure if I could stand to see them undergo the usual wear and tear that I put my old ones through (since they are my Default Shoes). They'll go from sleek b&w to old newspaper yellow and black within weeks.

Totally unrelated, but this thread on Metafilter (http://www.metafilter.com/70670/Lies-Ive-told-my-three-year-old-recently) put me in a good mood today. The link about lies told to kids is pretty good, but the real fun is in the comments thread, where Mefites share stories about the amusing lies they were told as kids (or tell their own kids today). There are some great stories in there (if nothing else, the father/daughter early morning walk one deserves a read).

[incogra.livejournal.com]

I have wide-set eyes and big lips, and I've never had a short-term sexual relationship, so take that, science.

Although, I suppose it does give me a handy excuse.

Uwe Boll fascinates me. Sometimes I wonder if he's...how he is just because he thinks it's fun to mess with people.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

No, but now I really want to.

[unheardpublic.livejournal.com]

About Qdoba:

Cleo, I'm from Texas where the queso flows like honey, but I've been in Australia for 4 months now, sans queso, and I'm dying.

Qdoba, with their wonderful burritos of awesome, is the ONE thing (besides, y'know, family and friends etc etc) that I miss.

I'm so glad that you like Qdoba as well, for they are well worth your patronage.

Homesick much.

Z

[ms-treesap.livejournal.com]

What you said! \o/

Uwe Boll = Real Life Troll? :/

[tonks07.livejournal.com]

Those scifi clothes=geek <3

And yea for Johnny Depp!I can't wait to see pics from thier wedding.I'll be it will be elegent and quirky.

"At one point in the new Batman movie, the Joker gets up in Christian Bale's face and quotes that Brokeback Mountain line about "You complete me," but in a really stalkery, unnerving way."

I hope that line doesn't get cut.It's totally a perfect Joker line that goes along with the talk of Batman and Joker being 2 sides to the same coin. Gah! Is is July yet? I'm so ready to see this movie!

[delle.livejournal.com]

Do. It is most excellent and creepy as hell.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Up there with Panera bread and café mocha, I guess.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

By the way, you guys all have Qdoba cards, right? Ten swipes = a free entré. They aren't credit cards, just "you give us your personal information and we give you free food" cards.

[christigilly.livejournal.com]

Because, on one hand, the starving children need it more; on the other, the dying children aren't going to charge 29% interest on your home equity loans if you don't pay them off by June. I try to tell myself that if we don't keep ourselves afloat we can't help anyone else. But... you know.

I'm in the same boat, but with credit cards, student loans (currently more than my rent!), and car payments. The thing is, I can't even afford to tithe (I'm a Christian). I know it's about faith that God will provide, but if He decides not to, all those people won't care, you know? If it were JUST about me not eating for a day so that someone else could, I'd do it. But I don't think God wants me to ruin my entire financial future. I dunno. I feel like I'm rationalizing, but then I think it's also pretty valid. Any thoughts, peeps?

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

Re: footnoting to the side: If you're using Microsoft Word, you could use Comments. On Word 2003, highlight what you want to comment on, and then go to Insert --> Comment. You can still save it as RTF (which I think is what you were wanting to save as), and it should show up right.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's really good, and Krakauer goes out of his way to point out that Mormons aren't the same as and don't approve of the crazy fundamentalists. Also: if you read it, keep a running tally of how many times someone gets into plural marriage because he wants to sleep with his stepdaughter.

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

Very valid. It isn't as though you're withholding money because you really want that shiny new TV. Like Cleo said, you can't help anyone if you're in trouble yourself. Maybe, if you really feel badly, you can contribute your time instead of money, until you can afford to tithe again?

[falco-conlon.livejournal.com]

Oh, ew :(

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Awww! Yeah, I used to get the fajita ranchera burrito (I think that's what it was? Ranchera salsa, no beans?), and then I switched over to the chicken quesadilla, and now the steak quesadilla. Because I never found a rut I didn't like. And lots of salsa roja, although the tomatillo is also pretty good (I wish it were smoother and less cubey, though). Did you move to Australia, or will you be coming back soon?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was also thinking about using Comments (this is how my editor and I copy-edited the book, by commenting on the document back and forth and emailing it to each other). I was wondering if it would still stay in RTF, which is good to know.

[anavidfan.livejournal.com]

I just hocked my ex-boyfriend's Gamecube and a couple games today for grocery money (as my best friend puts it, it's "asshole tax") and plan on dumping out my piggy bank as well. Yay, coin smell.

I don't think anyone would slight folks for not giving when they're just getting by themselves. Isn't the whole point calling in the people who DO have the excess and simply choose not to do any good with it?

Best of luck with the financial woes. I know that my couch and my ass are getting to be much better friends during mine.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah--they gave us a card and I lost it before I'd even activated it, so I asked for another one tonight (and did remember to activate that one). We get takeout there every Wednesday like clockwork, so we definitely need to use it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah... like delle said, it's creepy.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I don't know--that was still better than the time she twinkled through "Every Breath You Take." At least the emotion was somewhat appropriate last night.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Good -- I guess since one in every eleven visits is free (assuming you ask for a cup and drink tap water, like I do), then it's a 1/11 = 9.1% discount when averaged over time.

[unheardpublic.livejournal.com]

I came over to do an internship, but I'm trying to finagle one of the agencies here into sponsoring a Visa so I can live and work and play the Australian way 24/7. Otherwise, the government ships me back in May.

But DAMN I want some queso.

I usually go for the queso chicken burrito. Rice + chicken + queso + salsa roja + EVEN MORE CHEESE = OM nom nom nom (nom nom...nom).

By the by, I think your footnotes would probably rock socks. I love asides, and almost everything you write is side-splitting anyway, so an aside to side-splitting humor would probably tear me in half.

<3 ++

Z

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, we just take it home and drink gallons of tea there, so we never order drinks--not a problem for us. : )

[trasnochadora.livejournal.com]

Lost: The Essential Question will sustain me through many a tough essay tonight.

[hana-ginkawa.livejournal.com]

I so totally want to go and buy all of Judy Blume's books. And maybe, after I'm done reading them, donate them to the local library.

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

Ugh, change. I use the quarters for laundry, and I've started using the nickels and dimes in vending machines for soda. So now I just have thousands of pennies. Motherfucking useless pennies.

[t4-flirt.livejournal.com]

I try to tell myself that if we don't keep ourselves afloat we can't help anyone else. But... you know.

I couldn't even watch Idol last night. I was going to...but Bono was on in the first 5 minutes and we missed it (tucking the wee one into bed). So I couldn't justify watching two hours of people begging for my money when the hubby and I are considering going to food banks to help cover grocery costs. (Thanks, rising gas prices!!)

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Meta-snark! WHEE.

I know just the food-dilemma y'all are in. Since I'm in the red too right now, I have episodes like this one:

Emily & Dave: *make gigantic pot of pasta and turkey, eating half*
Emily: *has half a pot of pasta in fridge*
Emily: *eats it for 3 meals straight*
Emily: *Goshdarnit, I don't CARE if I have no money, I am going to go out and buy a salad before my arm falls off or something*

Sometimes, you just need to go out and buy something different to eat. Heh.

(Also, I do the "saving half" thing, too (except maybe with some salads). It's good for me anyway because they always serve you too much food here in the good US of A.

[soleta-nf.livejournal.com]

would the universe implode from recursive meta-snark?

No. No, that would be awesome.

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Off-topic, unless the topic is your amusement: Cinematical has a gallery of Tropic Thunder photos and posters, including Robert Downey Jr.'s poster (http://www.cinematical.com/2008/04/09/more-tropic-thunder-posters).

[sunihiroku.livejournal.com]

Ugh, when I lived in France, I was DYING for a Mexican restaurant. We found a couple, but the food was totally Frenchified. When in a Barcelona grocery store, I asked the manager (in Spanish no less) where his Mexican food was, and he had no idea what I was talking about. *sigh*

I would have settled for a good margarita, but even though tequila is popular in France, they make margaritas with tequila, lime juice, and SUGAR. It tastes awful. I cried.

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

That line sounds completely awesome (even though I don't think it's from BBM). Creepy is good! No need to cut creepy.