I tried to find something either profound or really funny, but I could not think of anything. So here is my go-to quote from one of my go-to people whenever I need to come up with something from someone important. It's one of those things that will always be true. No matter how easy whatever it is you are good at may seem to outsiders (even if it doesn't seem easy at all), so much goes into being really good at something that they'd be amazed at how much like work it actually can be. And once you think of it like that, it's probably not really as amazing as it originally seemed.

"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all. " - Michelangelo

This is a ridiculously lazy post. I've spent all of my post-work hours watching way too much TV and fixing up a contract for one of my friends who is (hopefully) about to get a lot of money taking pictures for a local college's big ol' homecoming coronation events. Anything to get a little sliver of the Big Money pie!

A favorite YouTube. Well, all I really watch on YouTube are music videos, clips from movies/shows and the occasional comedy special. I did have one non-music/tv/comedy clip bookmarked, and that was the classic "Kelly Kapoor: A Tribute", but surprise, surprise, copyright infringement got it pulled. So, music video it is! Here's the video to the latest song I heard at work one day, then waited and waited to be played again, then frantically scribbled snippets of lyrics for in order to find out what it was. Turns out that the song originally known as, "Jamiroquai.... sipping wine... killing time..." is actually, "Seven Days In Sunny June." It is Jamiroquai though, so I got that part right.

( I'm glad he got rid of that silly hat. )

I am trying to watch the Emmys (and the game) as I do this, so there will be random brusts of  "Suck it, Emmys!" and "Yess! Emmys!". Probably more of the first than the second. First off, the Emmys suck. But thank goodness they lump everything together, so when they get to the big reality/miniseries/movie/variety segment I can flip back over to the Cowboys/Giants to pass the time before I tune in, hopefully, in time to see Michael Emerson get what he deserves.) Are you kidding me... Aikman, Emmit and Irving are on the sideline. I don't even know you Tony Romo and other assorted Cowboys, but you guys are no Aikman, Smith and Irving. Oh, The Daily Show just won something... is it sad that since the election I have watched probably five episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report... combined. That is just sad.

A favorite site? This is probably the hardest one yet. I'm not a social networker. I don't myspace, facebook or twitter. I don't check any big news sites. I don't read any of the big blogs. Yet, I spend a lot of time online. Clearly I need to better manage my time. I check about 10 sites regularly... most of them you already know... LJ, TWoP (well, not so much over the past few months, but that's about to change.), a local blog aggregator, my friend's message board, a couple of random boards I lurk on... that's really about it. I can see this is gonna suck... just like the Cowboys are managing to do.

( Here are some random sites I have bookmarked for various reasons. )

Outstanding Comedy. 30 Rock? That is just a guess. ::is over 30 Rock:: Shocking! 30 Rock!

The Drama category is up next and there are two shows I love (Lost and Big Love), one I should, but don't quite yet (Mad Men), one I watch (House), one I used to watch (Dexter), Breaking Bad and Damages. I really, really want Lost to win, I know Big Love has no shot and am pretty sure Mad Men is going to take it. But the Cowboys are winning, so at least I've got that. Shock of shocks, Mad Men wins! I am slightly angry, but can't get to ranting about it because it's 11:03... and time for Mad Men.

Yesterday I had a picture of a library, so it is only fitting that the topic for day threee would be "a favorite book". Too bad I can't say I planned that. Anyway, my book is The Giant Golden Book of Elves and Fairies with assorted Pixies, Mermaids, Brownies, Witches, and Leprechauns, written by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by Garth Williams. Here's a picture from the inside, because the cover is kind of big.
( I never really owned this book, but not for lack of trying. )

So today's meme requirement is that I post a favorite picture. First I was gonna go with a painting (but I didn't want to chose something predictable. Something by Michelangelo, some sort of Roman statue, a painting of Heliogabalus smothering his dinner gusts with a deluge of rose petals, a picture of some band I like. No to all of them. Instead, something much more interesting. Well, maybe not more than a Michelangelo. Let's not be crazy.)
( Big ol' picture ahead! )

Tomorrow: a favorite book/fanfic. I am pretty sure it will be a book.

Oh look, a meme! Taken (without permission) from eevilalice .

Coming Attractions:
Day Two: a favorite picture
Day Three: a favorite book/fanfic (It will be a book.)
Day Four: a favorite site
Day Five: a favorite youtube clip
Day Six: a favorite quote
Day Seven: whatever tickles my fancy (could be anything!)

( Because my meme tag feels neglected. )
* The title of this post is in no way a statement at all related to anyone from the El Sobrante area of California, that's just my Latin degree usage for the month of September. As far as I know, Les Claypool and friends are all still alive and kicking.

Non Heroes-related things first!
1. Why can't I find an downloadable online-watchable version of the Hall of Fame induction ceremony? I know where i should be able to find it, but I am currently getting the dreaded "Error 503 Service Unavailable" message. Fail!
2. Why did Michigan State even bother beating Connecticut if they were gonna get to the Big Game and embarrass themselves by choking spectacularly when it really matters? This is why I hate the late-tourney upset! You end up with some no-business-in-the-finals team wasting space on the court and making for bad sports/television. Do you know what this means? Loudmouth Tarheel fans coming out of the woodwork talking trash about being a dynasty and "oooh, we got two titles in four years" and all of that. Excellent. Only, not.
3. I really want some Taco Bell.
( Meme! )

( Thoughts! With spoilers for whatever episode that was that just aired. )

I was bored, and it's not time for the obligatory "How my picks fared in the tournament" post (I called five of eight games. Not too good, but nothing that can't be corrected later in the weekend. My brother, on the other hand, ended the night 8-for-8.), so here are some memes. (Also, the post I was gonna make got eaten thanks to blogthings' weird thing where you click on "LJ" and it takes you to a "new post" window which, if you had forgotten, and left the start of a new post in it, means that your old post goes the way of the dodo, while some stupid code saying that "if you were a president, you'd be Kennedy" reigns supreme. High five, blogthings!)

Anyway, today memes, tomorrow I will either resurrect the TV post (I just started watching two new shows.. well, one "new", one "new to me", and now I'm gonna talk about them. Oh, and Lost, I'm probably gonna talk about Lost.) or work (Someone, I will not say who, may or may not have done something that may or may not end up in a lawsuit. Could go either way. Where's the ::shifty eyes:: icon when I need it? Good times!)
( Wasting time? It's what I do! )

Memes! But none of the "good grief, why are you typing so much?! People have lives, you know!" question-and-answer variety. Those come later. These are much different and way less wordy. (Mainly because it is freezing in here and my fingers are way too cold for all of that typing.)

( Meme I. In which things are made... )

( Meme II. In which things are drawn... )

( Meme III. In which costumes are worn. )

That's right, one last meme to close out the new year!

1) Harken back to your archives.
2) Collect the first sentence you wrote every month for the whole year.
3) Entertain us.

I will harken and I will collect. But, I promise no entertainment. Sorry.
( So, in 2008, I said some things... )

Good grief. People outside are already shooting. The ball hasn't even dropped. This happens every year! Some people have no patience!

ibroketuesday (watch Mad Men!) tagged me for this meme in which there are questions and I was to answer them. And since I cannot resist a meme that is not of the "pick random names and then answer questions about them!" variety, here I am... meme-ing again. But first, a crabby Santa! I shoulda printed this out and used it as my Christmas card. It would have saved me a trip to two office supply stored and one horrible (but delightfully cheap) big-box store I hate with a fiery passion (where I spent a good five minutes lost in the parking lot, unable to find the car. The worst part is that if it would have been stolen, the post-laundry day laziness that had my basket still in the back seat meant we'd have been without a car and I'd have only had the clothes on my back and the few things that did not go in to get washed. Meaning all I'd have left are the "it's laundry day" clothes, and that would have been Officially Terrible.) Sidetracked already! Here is the Santa I was only going to post to get the cut-text below my userpic, before I rambled on enough to get me past the pic without the Santa who, if I did not mention it, I would not have had anything to ramble about to get to the point where I did not even need to post it. What?


( meme.... )

See, if you hold off on making your "everyone else is doing it!" meme post, you get to add more to it. So, here are my memes that squerb did yesterday plus the ones that mole and tuesday did today. And now, back to working. I lost an entire day due to widespread power outages (by which I mean, we added "blown fuse in the front of the house due to overuse of extension cords" to "blown fuse in the back of the house. And not a newly blown one, but a super blown one that has been fried since Friday.") and only have 40 minutes until the Perdue game.
( quizzes, quizzes, lyrics and Santa! )
And now... Christmas! My sister moved back in Saturday, and in her anger that I did not find her someone with a truck to help her move her furniture, she tossed the Christmas tree (still up from last year in the living room) onto my bed. So, instead of dealing with the hassle of relocating it to its proper home in the living room, I put it up back here. (Making me perhaps one of the only people you know to put up the Christmas tree before cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't get around to that until Sunday.) All I need to do now is dig my way into the kitchen closet to get the ornaments and I'll be good to go!

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! Last Tuesday I gave change to a homeless guy (19 points). In July I invaded Iraq, broke it, and couldn't glue it back together before Mom got home (-1012 points). Last week I gave irvys_sefie a Dutch Oven (-10 points). Last Monday momar_moleand I robbed a bank (-50 points). In June I ruled Canada as a kind and benevolent dictator (700 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-353 points). For Christmas I deserve a spanking! Sincerely, jimmiefearsylar

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

If we have learned anything from these Dear Santa letters it is that mole likes free money. I mean, first Ang's purse and now this! I know times are hard, but come on! I bet Irvys does not find my actions towards her very kind and benevolent. What can I say? I love Canada!

Here is a meme I stole from somewhere else. Basically it is an excuse for me to actually use the camera I tote around every day and to not be working on the work I should be working on or the painting stuff that I could be doing. And if there is anything I will do, it is not do what I should be doing.

1. If you're reading this meme, consider yourself tagged. (I'm not a tagger, so consider yourself not-tagged)
2. Post these directions, or directions of your own making on your blog.
3. Post six seven pictures of what's going on in your life right now. They don't have to be interesting, so don't worry.
4. Give each a title.
5. Bask in your artiness.
( I'm not much of a basker, so here goes nothing... )

On an unrelated note: Oh man! I am in the middle of the last episode of the second season of Mad Men (which I will most likely be talking about in my next post. Not just the show, but something really cool and show-related that I found but can't discuss until the show is done) and now I am mad that I will have to wait forever and a day to see season three. I am not sure what's gonna go down in the last 20 minutes, but I hope that at least one of the characters I hate gets what's coming to them! I am assuming they will not, but man, with so many unpleasant people doing so many unpleasant things, someone needs to get something!

But not that page 123 one, because the three books I had near me had these sentences.
"We're not spies!" (The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives)
Cicero was an amatuer farmer and an excellent politician. (Latin Quips at your FIngertips)
I don't want to talk to this man. (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius)
Those are all boring.

So instead, I'm doing other memes.
( Which memes? These memes. )

I should be either working on stuff for my don-have-to-leave-the-house job, coming up with something for tomorrow's meeting for my one-time-thing-I-am-doing-to-get-paid assignment, or getting in the bed to prepare for waking up early for the out-of-the-house job, instead what am I doing? Watching "V" (You know, the old miniseries where the crazy lizard aliens came "in peace", but forgot to mention the whole "to harvest humans for food" thing?) and talking about Halloween. Oh how productive I am!

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
jimmiefearsylar goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as jimmiefearsylar, because costumes are for suckers... I just want some candy!
amethystshard gives you 3 softly glowing cola-flavoured gumdrops.
barkinmad tricks you! You lose 1 pieces of candy!
cookie_simone gives you 1 light yellow cinnamon-flavoured jawbreakers.
eevilalice gives you 15 pink raspberry-flavoured wafers.
forsquilis gives you 8 green coconut-flavoured gummy worms.
ibroketuesday gives you 10 light orange chocolate-flavoured wafers.
irvys_sefie tricks you! You get a clothespin.
momar_mole gives you 12 mauve cherry-flavoured gumdrops.
resol37 gives you 9 light orange grapefruit-flavoured gummy worms.
squeegee_burble gives you 17 milky white raspberry-flavoured wafers.
jimmiefearsylar ends up with 74 pieces of candy, and a clothespin.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

( 'trick or treat!' is just a nicer way of saying 'give me candy!' )

First off, a semi nerdy meme. But it's the kind where you learn something in the end, so I like it! It beats the same old '"what color is our cell phone?" ( I don't have one!) or "What is your favorite food?" (chicken.) thing. And it has the added bonus of being both topical and something that is making fun of someone stupid. It's the rare Win/Win/Win!

Meme 1: As was demonstrated in an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade.

The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historic, to your lj. (Any decision, as long as it's not Roe v. Wade.) For those who see this on your f-list, take the meme to your OWN lj to spread the fun.

( What have I learned? I can't spell s-e-p-a-r-a-t-e )
Well, that was long! (But educational! You have to give me that!) Now, on to something a bit less "college research paper" and more 'wasting time on LJ! "A few weeks months (I really did think it was three or so weeks ago. It was July!) back bean did a meme where you take a picture of what's in your bag and then talk about it. I wanted to do it then, but I had no (locatable) camera. Now I have one, and I am not finished with my recap yet, so here's a look inside my bag. (This is kind of timely, as this week they have instituted a Random Bag Search policy at work. I don't really care about that one, as they all know what's in my bag anyway. Now, the "We tell you when to go to lunch" and the "Everyone stays in the building until 30 minutes after we're closed, no matter if you're finished or not" policies? Those suuuuck!)

1. Take a picture of your bag
2. Now dump everything out and neatly adjust them, and take a picture (no matter how embarrassing)
3. Talk about the items inside.

( Bean has 12 items.. that's a lot! Will i have more? Or less? Probably more. )
Today (hopefully before work!) "One Of Us, One Of Them" (maybe) and something else. But, if I don't get that stuff up before the show, I want to go on record as saying that I am pretty excited about something that's gonna happen tonight! I really hope they don't mess this one up!

Tonight's Debate Night, and I'm excited like it's NCAA Finals night! (Only possibly moreso, as while my team is represented in the debate, as of late, I have not been faring so well come the end of March Madness.) Perhaps I will print out some cards and see if I can defeat Ma in Sarah Palin Bingo. Of course, there's really no way I can lose. When dumb people get live mics on national television, we're all winners.

And now for Random Kind-of-Debate-Related Stories! Today Ma comes in here like "If she has a journalism degree how come she's always acting stupid. First off, this was where the conversation started. So, after finding out who "she" was, I explained that she was probably not acting. On one hand, I am glad that her idiocy has people (finally) paying attention to politically-related things, it's so sad that she is so old, yet so dumb. And she's actually in charge of stuff. Terrible! Speaking of which, my supervisor spoke to me the other day about her thoughts on the election, and it seems that she too may be an idiot. Only, replace "may be" with "is".

She likes John McCain because he picked Palin, and therefore will be voting for them. (Fail. Like him because of his politics, not because he picked a girl.) Also, she hates Obama. Why? Because "he's not American" and "he''s rich." I wanted to explain to her that it is, in fact, illegal to run for President if you were not born in America, and that if he were not American, there's no way he'd be an official candidate, especially not one of the Final Two. And the rich thing? Are there poor politicians? Who are they, and how did they get elected? To show you the special type of special I'm dealing with, today she left us a note. In it was the word "reflexs". I had no idea what it was until somone said, "Yeah, she said something about how it reflects on..." Oh. Spelling fail. Seriously, can't we look into instituting some sort of pre-vote testing? This may be an idea whose time has come.

( What's my alignment?! )

My friend just stopped by a minute ago and was like "I bought you something". Being one of the vaguest statements ever, I was like, "Oh man! This will be good! Or wait.. could be bad. Man, I hope it's good though!" What did he bring me? A mix tape. Not a mix CD. A mix tape. More specifically, an Ill Al Scratch mix tape? A mix tape from a one-hit wonder rap group from around freshman year of college. Still in the plastic. I was like "What is this, a present from 1998?" (Close, 1996!) I don't even own a tape player! What am I gonna do with two tapes? (Give one to my brother tomorrow.) It's like an ancient artifact or something. Craziness.

While wasting time before cleaning my room (I don't work til the sun goes down), and doing a search for "Pink Floyd songs by singer" (There is a similar Wikipedia page for the Beatles, but there is no such entry for Floyd), I found this. And what is "this"? A music meme. How shocked are you? Not at all? Excellent.

1. Quick, pick a band!
2. Click the cut.

( More instructions to follow. )

I have another thing I am working on that I want to start posting (step 1: get from "should be starting any say now" to "actually working on"), but I can't decide where to put it. Here is where people who actually kind of know me are, but the other LJ is where people who don't really know me, but are mostly arty-types are. So, if something randomly pops up here and disappears, or perhaps shows up twice for a minute and then moves, that is why.

squeegee_burble started a new meme that combines three of my favorite things. Good music. Pretty pictures. Wasting Time. Seriously, that mixture counts four about how I spend about 27% of my time. Thus, this meme is mathematically proven to be one of the best things ever.

Rules!
1) Open your top 25 most played songs on iTunes. (Wait! I just now see that I read it wrong! I did the "random shuffle" thing. Oh well, this took so long that there is nooooo way I am starting over! Plus, my 25 top played consists of not that many groups, most of which I don't even know what they look like. This is due to my love of the fanmix.)
2) Post pictures of each band.
3) Once the band has been guessed, edit with an upload of the song! This way we can ALL SHARE THE LOVE!

( This way for the pictures! )

I don't have anything to do, or anything to talk about, but I was bored.. so I was like "I should post something!" This is what I do when I should be doing something productive, like finishing any one of the five pictures that people want me to draw that I am not working on because I get bored easily and I am like "enough of this! I want to do something new already!" or combing my hair that I washed a while ago and that has already dried because, even though it is 2:55 in the morning, it is 90 degrees! Instead, I think I will watch a few more episodes of "Rescue Me" before I get sleepy. There's always tomorrow (day off!) for all of that Getting Things Done.

( Did I mention we got the car fixed? And it only took three years! )