Seven.Caged.Tigers

I’m a sucker for a new Eels album. According to the indispensible official eelstheband.com site, Mark Oliver Everett is up to his old tricks and the new album will be called BLINKING LIGHTS And Other Revelations. He says if we liked Electro-Shock Blues that this new album will be right up our alley.

Of course I adored Electro-Shock Blues and am ECSTATIC that the new album is a return to this direction. I wasn’t so keen on Shootenanny! (it was good, not great) and Souljacker didn’t do it for me. You can BET I’ll have BLINKING LIGHTS And Other Revelations bought even before it comes up. I am that kind of girl. E calls it “The mother of all Eels album.” I can’t wait. Grrr…too bad it’s not until 2005.

In other Eels new, both Daisies of the Galaxy and Electro-Shock Blues have been dubbed “Classics” by little ol’ Stylus. Why that’s news, I’m not sure. I could have told you that long ago and DID at rockreviews.net. In any case, I can’t wait to add to my Eels collection. People think I’m strange–and that’s okay because it’s an accurate description.

By the way, E kicks my butt:

I just thought I’d share some (more) odd searches I’ve gotten in at sevencagedtigers.com. I’ve collected some fun ones over the years BUT these from this month alone are near classics. Sometimes I wonder what in the world people are thinking when they type the words they do into an engine…really…if they are even thinking at all…

you can t bring lawsuit band sucking
don t eat dogs
mariah is a racist bitch
am i intelligent?
kroger is a ripoff
quizilla lotion
cat shaking leg
puppy is vomiting mulch
i ve lost my keys
bush insanity
albanian rap
i love gluttony
disney princess in foamy
toronto bed bug infestation
psycho clown doll
metro detroit escort
ice pirates castration pictures
it s happy bunny you suck and that s sad
big ol dork
smash laptop screen drop
silly string & what it s made of
cabbage patch fetish

Finally, I want to mention the bunch of searches for “yiffing” and “scritching” this site has gotten recently. I wrote the words in reference to an episode of CSI. Apparently, people are INCREDIBLY fascinated because the words are all over my searches. Also, I’m a bit disturbed by the sheer number of requests for ‘castration pictures.’ Um. No. None of those here.

By the way, for anybody that cares my husband says that 910 rules. Not make sense? That’s because you didn’t attend Lake Superior State University in the late 1990’s and didn’t live in the townhouses. That’s your loss, I gotta tell ya.

I’m such a nerd sometimes. I’ve recently been playing the good ol’ Playstation 2. Actually, it’s JT’s systems but I’ve gotten more use out of it than he has. The only problem is that there are no good RPGs left to play. I’ve already beated FFX, FFX-2, Kingdom Hearts, and dealt with Suikoden 3 on an extended basis. I’ve also tried Wild Arms 3 and Xenosaga and didn’t like either of those. Basically, I’m left waiting for the X-Men: Legends, Final Fantasy 12, and Kingdom Hearts 2. I’m buying all three when they are released.

Until that time, I’ve picked up FF 8 and FF 7. I already have FF 9. I figure at least that way I can really get a grasp of the older games in the series–it might make Kingdom Hearts 2 even more entertaining that it will most definitely already be.

Like I said, I’m a big nerd. I’m not sure my husband knows how lucky he is to have a wife that doesn’t like romantic movies or books, hates “girl” colors, and plays video games. He is one very lucky boy. At least I think so…then again I’m biased.

New site beta (with lots o’ pretty Blogger code).

‘Nuff said.

Indeed that is how I write. Not too special, but also not exactly chicken scratch. Like I said above, I tend to write in block letters rather in cursive. Why? Well, it takes me less time. It was the way I wrote all the way through college so the art is perfected after all that time. Come to think of it, my script is rather “girly” and I’m not sure what I think of “girly.”

By the way, this idea came from http://www.aroundthewaygirl.org. Thanks to Miss C.

Just FYI, sevencagedtigers.com is going through an overhaul. I’m nearly done with the design (hasta la vista to the lime green) and am pleased with the results. FYI, it combines a Blind Melon song with an explodingdog.com image. It’s rather nifty if I do say so myself. Expect a little green, a little yellow, and a little blue.

Hopefully I’ve got it up some time within the next two weeks. If I don’t, don’t think I’ve forgotten. I’ve just gotten lazy…

I think not. Dear god.

You are a narrative writer. Usually a writer of
stories rather than poetry, you grew up reading
Shakespeare’s less popular and heard of
plays–like King Lear or the Henry series. Your
writing contains a certain order and
organization–be it chronological or otherwise.
If you are to write poetry, it has to convey a
logical (or perhaps unreal) story with some
sort of order behind it.

What’s YOUR Writing Style?
brought to you by Quizilla

I hate my stomach. I’ve yet to figure out what triggers it, but needless to say whatever it is (sometimes pasta dishes, sometimes fried food, sometimes dried onions, sometimes dairy, sometimes dill, sometimes…uhhh…no clue) none too fun. I’m not gonna go into details, but the nausea and bloating are horrible. But I know I’m not alone–it runs in my family.

Anyway, I ate nothing out of the ordinary this afternoon or morning. Toast (with margarine), cereal, coffee, and a TV dinner for lunch (a usual one–I eat them for work). Nothing weird, nothing special. Yet, uh things didn’t work out.

I’m still a bit woozy, but I think I’ll be fine. I’m not going to test my body out though. I’m not a stupid girl.

All those gross and unnecessary details out of the way, I must say I’m proud of a little something I wrote over at Epinions. Way back in the past, I actually lived with a whole bunch of girls. Thirteen to be exact in the course of four years. They were by and large certifiably insane and I wrote about it at the “mothersite.” I don’t often mention it, but I’m pretty active over there as Lambchops (don’t ask if you don’t know because I won’t tell you). I don’t often write about personal things nor do I often write humorous pieces. This “college roommates” thing is both. I hope you enjoy.

Oh, and let me know what you think.

It’s Friday and I am so very ready for the weekend I’m about ready to jump out of my skin. Not that I have a heck of a lot of plans or anything. See, JT is working on Saturday (gack) for time and a half. That’s obviously a good chunk of money, but he’s mostly doing it because it is what is best for the job and its completion. That leaves me. At home. Alone. With my credit cards and a great urge to shop.

Or not.

Actually, come to think of it I have no desire to buy shoes, perfume, or even clothes right now. I think I may have stepped over the line into “crazy world.” Then again it might have a great deal to do with a certain gift bought for a certain person and as suggested by a certain sister. It’s a REALLY good one. And not a hunk of crystal or a gadget (both things I’m famous for). Nor does it have anything to do with M&Ms. Don’t ask if you don’t already know.

Errr….yeah. Exciting life, I know. I’ve been reading and enjoying a video game or two and watching the Olympics. Hubby has been busy studying so I’ve been pretty much left to fend for my helpless little self. Game? Right now Dynasty Warriors 4. It’s difficult–and fun. I also just ordered both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII from Half.com. I’ve played and enjoyed everything (excluding XI) newer. It’s time I go back to what folks call “the best.” We’ll see about that.

Call me skeptical. I love, adore, and for a time even dreamt of my CG buddies Tidus, Yuna, Auron, Rikku, Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri. And that awful Seymous…he is one bad mamma jamma. Anyway, yeah. Enough nerd talk for one day. Weekends RULE!

Considering the frequency of my recent complaints, I decided it was time to talk about something that is in no way serious. What?

Well, we’ll call him “pupster” or “petster” or whatever the hell else he was advertised as. X-Entertainment (a great site, if you didn’t already know) did a hilarious piece on the cat version of Petster. I can’t comment to that motorized monstrosity, but what I can comment is the dog version of Petster that my sister had and we (at least) dubbed “pupster.”

Growing up, Cheryl and I had this really cool dog named Bud. Bud (a she, not a he) was amazingly sweet and adored us like you couldn’t imagine. She was also scared as hell of pupster. For those of you who are unenlightened about the joys of any Petster, these were remote controlled fur monsters that would if tested run at relatively high rates of speed. Anyway, our house growing up (the one the parents still live in) has a very long driveway. So one of us would wrangle the dog and the other would operate “Pupster.” The dog would each and every time freak out. After a year of two of terror, Bud couldn’t even look at the toy without shaking in her furry boots.

By the way, this was Bud. She died a year or two ago at the ripe old age of 17 (or so)…apparently our prods were not enough to lead her to a young death:

As of about 11pm last night, my taxes were FINALLY done. Actually that is when JT and I signed them and he dropped them in the mailbox. It seems that evil tax lady is washing her hands clean of the whole group of us–as though WE were the ones that did something wrong. Ha! I’m just happy that her original request for us to take time off of work today didn’t come to fruition. That was so not cool.

In the future, I’d pay for somebody to do them right. The first year JT and I were married, the guy who did them (on time at least) did them WRONG and told us we owed $1k more than we actually did. Get this–the IRS sent us a letter and told us we owed that amount less. It was incredible, and of course also incredibly maddening.

Anyway, yeah…taxes are done. Woo-hoo.

Oh, and the Summer Olympics are on TV. It’s an event I adore and the fact that I can watch Track & Field really makes me happy. Who needs crappy team sports when you have Track & Field? Not me said the blind mouse.

Damn I’m lazy. It’s been an eon since I’ve gone this long without posting while I’m NOT on vacation. I guess that’s what happens when life gets too–uh–monotonous.

‘Tis the way of the world right now. JT and I are busy putting vinyl tile down in our basement. Not the most stylish thing, but it’s all about the function. We find it INCREDIBLY difficult to clean the poured cement basement and were looking for an inexpensive and moderately functional solution. Voila! Icky, self-adhesive tiles were it.

Speaking of JT, I’ve come to realize he’s a bit crazy. Not in the usual way, but in the way that he doesn’t respond to me and when I call him out on it he ALWAYS says “I said XYZ.” Next time he says that, I’m going to tell him to try opening his mouth when he talks. Seriously. I’m convinced he doesn’t even mutter anything and instead is using his internal dialogue and somehow thinks I’m privy to what is going on in his brain. As you can tell, this frustrates me pretty incredibly.

Oh yeah. And my DAMN TAXES ARE STILL NOT DONE. Yes, this pisses me off and has since, oh, April 15 or so. We had them to the tax BITCH a month earlier. It got to be April 14 and she goes “yeah, I’m missing your mortgage info.” We got it to her. That day. She said she wouldn’t be able to get it done until the next weekend. I was mad by that point in time–had she taken a moment to so much as thumb through our stuff prior to the due date she would have realized this. So she filed an extention & told us we’d owe like $200. No biggie on the money, we kind of expected that. Anyway, the way taxes work is that they accrue interest by the day. A week was no big deal. But that week came & went and she said it would be another week. That week came and went. And then we heard nothing from the lying BITCH for months (and yes, as far as we know we still owe–because of her MUCH, MUCH MORE). So now the extention is up on Monday. She’s gotten back in touch with us and told us that we might need to be home on Monday to sign our documents. So after having screwed with us for five months she honestly thinks it is okay to further mess with our lives and have us take a day off from work?! Seriously, the woman is nutto. I am NEVER EVER EVER EVER going to do anything through her again. I don’t care how good a deal she is or who she is friends with, the woman so does not deserve to be a CPA or “tax lady.” That’s right–she’s a REAL accountant (so the story goes) for a REAL business. Ha. Glad I don’t work there.

Can you tell I’m mad? Probably not. Maybe I wasn’t descriptive enough.

Weekend. Over. It’s been a pretty eventful time with a trip to a Tigers game Saturday night and…uhh…oh yeah I saw The Bourne Supremacy on Friday night. Actually, come to think of it, my weekend was still rather relaxing. I appreciate the occasional low-key weekend. And any weekend sans wedding festivities is pretty quiet.

The Tigers lost. Not that I should be shocked or that I’m even close to a fan of the team (or really any other), but still I’d like to see them win. I’ve never seen them win in “real life” rather than television. Fortunately, for folks like me who don’t really enjoy baseball Comerica Park is a pretty incredible place with lots of bars and the like to entertain me while I’m trying to not pay attention to the (painfully boring) game. Standing atop the deck at Fifth Avenue in Downtown Detroit and looking out over the city I realized that maybe things are finally starting to look up for the area. Michigan in general is in rough shape and any progress is good progress. Downtown Detroit is really starting to look nice with bars and restaurants and arenas and theatres.

JT and I spent most of today cleaning. We have a lady coming over for an appraisal of our house on Wednesday. It sounds like it will be a “complete” one rather than a “drive by” one so I want my house to actually look like we care about it in some respects. My yard is beautiful if I do say so myself and my house is decent. Of course you can’t expect luxury in a 100-year-old bungalow, but still I’d like it to look better. Then again, it’s really impossible to have an impeccable house with completely hand-me-down furniture save for our new oak table and chairs.

Blah, blah, blah. I know I’m boring as hell.

A few odds n’ ends…

First, my husband seems to have forgotten how to spell my name. We are in the process of remortgaging our house down to 4.95% (woo-hoo!). He called the woman who is helping us and managed to completely forget how to spell Michelle. Of course, I do have to say I don’t actually USE that name, but it is my name. After seven years together one would think he’d know…

Second, Jeremy accidentally let Dewey outside–for a few hours. I came home from work & didn’t realize he was missing until like 6:30pm or so. By that time he was gone for a while. I was mad (to say the least) as Dewey is the single coolest cat anywhere. He also knows how to open the front door if it’s not latched. Hence his disappearance. So both of us trudged around the neighborhood looking for our kitty. JT asked the neighbor. Guess what? He saw Dewey an hour earlier. JT did finally find him around the corner and down the street hitting on his girlfriend. Apparently they were sitting there nose to nose. But I have Dewey back now. I’m happy.

Third, I love my car. Not in a crazy, can’t do without sort of way but in the way as compared to my previous vehicle. I drive a 2002 Chevy Impala LS with all the bells and whistles. I bought it off the lot over two years ago now. My previous vehicle was a 1991 Ford Escort Pony–high luxury sans passenger side mirror and ANY whistles. It was a bare bones vehicle. Problem is that now it seems as if I’m destined to drive a junker. I can’t seem to stop hurting my dear Impala. Right now I can’t drive it (again), but this time because I ran over a big ol’ rock and bent at least one and maybe two tie rods. I hate myself sometimes.

Uh. Yeah. That’s about it. Random thoughts about random (not so interesting) life happenings.

Yesterday was JT’s birthday. He’s now officially 28 years old. Since I’m still only 27, I have the right to call him “old.” That is, at least until my birthday in December in which case I join the same ranks and then must adjust my own perception of the word “old.”

In any case, I’m back at work. Yesterday actually went by both quietly and smoothly. There were no big shocks and nothing crazy happened with anything computer-related in the office. I will say what I always have–I keep the office working a bit too well sometimes. I think I need a hammer so I can break some things. Or not. That would just be destructive and I don’t see much use in being destructive for the sake of destruction.

Errr…yeah.

For JT’s birthday he wanted to go out to eat. I told him “anywhere” and he chose Outback Steakhouse. We haven’t been there in a while because the wait on the weekend is usually obnoxious–we’re talking hours sometimes and my appetite can’t stand for that kind of anticipation. I usually get their dainty 9oz filet but instead decided on the lamb chops. I know, I know–”lambchops” ate lamb chops. Let the punning begin! Actually, it was good. I adore lamb–especially in Middle Eastern food. Heck, lamb is the reason I adore Middle Eastern food. Anyway, yum.

Now that day is over and here I sit at my desk writing on my new computer. Life is good. Or at least it’s not bad.