Things (I love and hate Thursday, Friday night edition)

Becky's latest post reminded me about Things I Love Thursday, which I can't say I often remembered to do during Blog Every Day in April (come on Katie, there were only 4 that you had to remember), but I thought oh hey, what the heck, maybe it's time for another.

But today was not a big 'love' day for me. It just wasn't. And so I present two lists.

Things I Hate, specifically right now.

• Skinny people without much luggage who sit on the outside seat on the bus. Riding on the bus is a necessity in this town. There is no way I'm paying the minimum $400 a semester to pay to park, and I'm just a little too far to walk regularly (and just not in good enough shape to bike to work, and right now it's too slippery to do so anyway). So I take the bus. Along with a million other people. A million other people who should have learned by now basic etiquette of bus riding. Our buses, like many city buses, have 8 or so rows of seats, two each on either side of the bus, with a center aisle in between. If the bus is close to empty, as my one bus often is, then feel free to splay yourself out in a full two seats. But as soon as you see that oh, there aren't any two-seaters left, YOU NEED TO PACK YOURSELF UP. I feel like this is super obvious, but apparently it isn't. On my second, busier bus today, the girl sitting in front of me was sitting on the aisle seat, making it impossible for someone else to sit down in the second seat. There are three, and only three, times when this is acceptable: 1) You are morbidly obese. It's irritating when you realize that you can't sit down because someone is taking up two seats, but it's forgivable. 2) You have just a crap-ton of stuff. I mean more than a backpack and a purse. I mean a backpack, a purse, three shopping bags, and a box of exams. This is also a forgivable offense. It happens. 3) The inside seat is wet or covered in something unsavory. I don't want to sit on that either. But any other time...get it together. Few things in life irk me more than a skinny person without too much stuff sitting in the aisle seat on a crowded bus. People have to stand. There is no excuse. Don't like crowds? Me neither. Have some serious 'personal bubble' issues? Get over it, or don't ride the bus.

• Grad School. I don't wanna talk about it. 'Nuff said.

• 'Open-minded,' 'liberals,' who bash Christians and Christianity as a whole. I just get so irritated and sad when people who supposedly are super open-minded and liberal like to say that it's impossible for Christians to be open-minded or liberal. As a liberal Christian, I can safely tell you...we do actually exist. There are Christians who will not tell you that you or anyone else will go to Hell. There are Christians who believe that two people, regardless of sex, should be able to be both legally and religiously married. Did anyone see that picture of the Christians in Egypt forming a protective 'wall' around the Muslims in Egypt to protect them while they were praying? Christians exist who believe that everyone has a right to practice their own religious practices. What got me going about this right now? Stay tuned for Things I Love, as there is a caveat...

• How I'm also expected as a liberal to smoke pot. Yeah, this is another one of those things. I've been noticing a lot lately that one of the things that liberals are supposed to find funny is pot use. All a comedian has to do is go 'so I was high' and the crowd goes nuts. I don't think it's funny. I think it smells bad, and I have other reasons for not wanting to partake. I do happen to think that it should be legalized...but not so I can go get high. More so we can tax the crap out of it, regulate it, and cut down on some of the drug wars going on. But I've never smoked it, and I have no interest in doing so, and I hate that as a liberal I feel like I have to explain that.

Ok. 'Nuff of that. 

Things I Love

• Fetch with Tia. Tia has this weird, really cute, way of playing. Sometimes it's a bit naughty; she really likes mouthing and grabbing, but my favorite are our games of fetch with her 'baby.' Her 'baby' is a blue rubber bone. She used to be kind of weird about playing with it, and she used to just carry it around. Now though, she's decided that it's the BEST TOY. Fetch with her baby is more like a combination game of fetch and tug. I throw the baby, she chases after it, brings it back, smooshes it into my legs, I grab it, we tug, she play-growls, half the time I get it, half the time I let her keep it. When she keeps it, she'll usually try to get me to tug it again. She gets up on her hind legs, she 'crawls' up me to get it (adorable in the winter, will get horrifying in the muddy spring)...I love it. 

• Two Bands: Mad Season and Tyr. Mad Season I've talked about before. It's a 'grunge supergroup,' comprised of Layne Staley and some other guys. From Pearl Jam maybe? Anyway, I got their CD from the library and have listened to it almost every day since. It. Is. Awesome. I'll do a bigger post on it another time. Tyr is a Viking Metal band that hails from the Faroe Islands. I don't have any of their albums, nor are they on iTunes, but they are on YouTube so I can listen to them at work. By far, their best songs are those that are in Faroese, but they tend to mostly be winners. My only beef with them is that they are decidedly anti-religion. Not Satanic or anything like that, but the lead singer likes to say at the end of his interviews 'and remember, religion is bullshit.' Apparently they're really upset about the Christianization of the Faroe Islands 999 years ago (or something), and quite a few of their songs involve Norse and neo-pagan mythos. Some of their music videos have them bashing crosses and stuff...supposedly it's because, you know, that's what Vikings did?...but I just wish that for once, I could find some good metal that doesn't have a problem with Christianity. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

• Tjett. He puts up with me. And he's super hotttt stuff :)

• Mushrooms. We made some chicken and mushroom marsala earlier this week. Um, delicious. It was my first time making it, and I was very proud of myself. It turned out really good, minus the sauce being very very liquidy. Is it supposed to be? I don't even know. But while making it, I had to taste the mushrooms to see if they were tender...ooooooh, mushrooms cooked in butter.....and the only thing better than mushrooms cooked in butter? Mushrooms cooked in butter THEN SOAKED IN WINE.

No day like a snow day

Pretty much the entire town is closed. They even canceled classes at the University. Frankly, we didn't really get very much snow from Winter Storm Abernathy, but we did a serious amount of ice pellets and graupel (a word I learned yesterday), so the plows weren't able to get out until this morning. The buses just resumed, but my route kind of skips me. I'd have to trudge only a few blocks, but it's a few blocks of unplowed ice and snow. And wind. Tjett can't get out of the driveway (the graupel makes it more like sand than snow), so I've made the executive decision to stay home for a bit.

A 'Skullet' is not a good look for anyone.

This was actually written back in late July/early August. I figured I was long past a blog post, and I felt bad I never finished this, because I thought it was interesting. Enjoy.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend Central Illinois Metalfest with my brother, Nick, and his friend, Vaden. Not to be confused with his dog, Vader, who also visited. It turned out to be less confusing than it sounds.

Since I'm not really 'into' Metal, and truth be told I can't pick out a good band from a crappy band, I spent most of the time trying to figure out what was going on. These shows are really fun...even if you're not a huge fan of the music, live, it's a great time. I think I had more fun this year than last, and I was totally sober this year (I suppose some of that could be WHY it was more fun...I didn't puke in the bathroom, I didn't fall asleep, and I didn't go from drunk to hungover all in one night). This is not a compendium of Metal truths, nor is it to be taken as such. They are simply a neophyte's observations. And if someone reading wants to correct me...please do.

Music
From what I gathered, there are (at least) two types of Metal: Death Metal (Old School Fucking Death Metal) and Grindcore. CIM's website also advertised 'Black Metal,' but I couldn't tell you what that is. Grindcore seems to be popular, especially among the newer bands and younger fans. Nick prefers Death Metal to Grindcore. Grindcore is almost purely technical, while Death Metal has more cool guitar riffs. I think I also prefer Death Metal. For those of you totally unversed, the vocals are nearly exclusively growls, the almost-incomprehensible 'Cookie Monster' voice. The vocalists (almost exclusively men, but there are female vocalists, who, according to my brother are almost always 'gimmicks') generally either use a low growl, or a higher-pitched rasp, or sometimes a combination of the two. Occasionally there's 'harmony' between a couple of vocalists, that's pretty cool actually.

Most of the bands have 4 or 5 members: a drummer, a bassist, and a guitarist or two and a vocalist or two, and often the vocalists are also guitarists. Though not always. And from what I can tell there's no feeling that those bands who have vocalists who don't play anything are any less talented. However, a handful of bands only have one member. This is not super common, but nor is it extremely rare. One of the most popular sets of the night was a one-man band called Putrid Pile (more on names later). He had a pre-recorded drum track, and then he played the guitar and did vocals. In one song he had his friend do vocals with him, but otherwise it was just him. And, again, I didn't get the impression that he was any less legitimate than any of the other bands.

Appearance
Standard apparel is the same for both the fans and the band members. For men, most common is jeans or shorts, any color (though dark washes and camo tend to be favorites) and black band t-shirts. Aside from those working the show, I think I saw one guy wearing a red t-shirt (though I'm pretty sure it may have also been a band shirt), and Vaden wore a navy band shirt. A couple of guys had just plain black t-shirts, and one guy had a 'Night of the Living Dead' black shirt. Hair is generally either long or shaved, and there's usually some amount of facial hair, most popularly in a grown-out goatee. The vocalist for Deceased (my favorite of the night; I even considered buying a shirt and/or CD from them) was a bit older, and probably at one point had an awesome head of hair. Unfortunately, he now has a huge bald spot. And very long hair. Not a good look. Putrid Pile, by comparison, was very clean-cut: he actually reminded me of Ben Lombardi from college, who is now, I believe, a 3rd-grade teacher.  It was a touch eerie.

The few women in attendance wore more varied things. I saw one or two girls much in the same dress as the men, though a few had somehow altered their band t-shirts to be tube tops over tank tops. I also saw a couple girls in very Hot-Topic-y dress, with fishnets and skulls and zippers. And then I saw some girls in much more 'club' attire, and they looked a bit out of place. Very cute, and very out of place.

Tattoos are widely popular. Piercings aren't prevalent, but they're not uncommon. And then usually they're just ear piercings.

Oh, and contrary to the Death Metal episode of Bones (Mayhem on a Cross, which happens to be on tonight), no one was wearing any kind of makeup. I mean the girls were wearing makeup, but no black-and-white stage makeup, or fake blood or anything, and I don't think any of the guys were wearing eyeliner. At all. That actually would have probably been considered a bit gay. More on that later, too.

Band Names
Band names are...well, they're creative. Here's a sampling:

Coathanger Abortion
Embryonic Devourment
Carnal Decay
Lecherous Nocturne
Incantation
Rottenness
Sadichist (whose guitarist is formerly of Gorgasm)
Putrid Pile, as mentioned
Deceased
Malevolent Creation

Typical names tend to have some element of death or decay, or even though I don't think many are actual theistic Satanists, some kind of demonic or at least anti-Christian connotation. I think that in my spare time, I'm going to come up with band names. How about Crucified Fetus? Or Necrotized Stab Wound?

Band t-shirts also have a definite 'look.' Similar fonts: spiky, often hard to read. Nick bought an 'Incantation' shirt, and I could have sworn at first that it said 'Incantatron.' Huge, colorful graphics that depict decaying bodies, demons, or bastardized Christian symbols. Many are actually quite beautiful, in their own kind of disturbing way.

Political and Religious Beliefs
Though I imagine not everyone shares these beliefs, based on conversations with my brother and Vaden,  and some shirts I saw, it seems pretty standard. Unfortunately, it's a fairly racist, misogynist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic culture. I'm assuming they're mostly libertarian, "conservative" but no neo-con, Christian, 'family-first' attitude. Quite the opposite, actually. As I mentioned before, I don't think too many of them are actual theistic Satanists--it's more of a, 'we all think Christianity is stupid and horrible and Satanic imagery is the most opposite of Christianity than we can think of.'

________

Here is where I stopped writing, for whatever reason. Probably because it was getting long, most likely because Tia was being bratty. Anyway, I think one big point I was going to make is that even if I could REALLY get into the music, I could not be REALLY a part of the culture, especially due to the last point.

We did it!!!

A week late is better than never, but TIA PASSED HER GOOD CITIZEN TEST!!!!! It was kind of a pity pass. She did everything really well...until we came to the grooming, and once more, there was freaking out, jumping, and making all sorts of weird sounds (one of the helpers said 'she sounds like a whale!'). So I assumed we failed. Again. But at the end of the class, they were all conversing, and I guess decided to give us another chance. So we walked around a little bit, and they tried again. Same thing. Then they let her lay down, and chew on the leash, and chew on my hands, and one of the girls was able to get about 5 brushes in. And so they counted it. Like I said, a pity pass. But I'll take it!

We were told we'd get a medal. What we really got was an oversized dog tag. It's going to go on my keyring or something, DEFINITELY not Tia's collar. It's some serious bling. She might get beat up at the dog park. We will also be sending in our "pass" form to the AKC so we can get a sweet certificate (that we will be framing).

We're repeating 10th grade

Or whatever  it works out to be in my doggy class school year system. We are currently enrolled in Level 3, which is the Canine Good Citizen class (I call it doggy high school). The CGC test was developed by the American Kennel Club as a way to promote responsible pet ownership and basic doggy manners, or something like that. It's a 10-part test. The tasks are: 

1. The dog has to chill out while people come up to you and shake your hand.
2. The dog has to stay in a 'sit' or a 'down' while people come up to them and pet them.
3. The dog has to stay in a 'sit' or a 'stand' while people come up to them and brush them, and then the owner has to show the dog's paws, ears, and teeth.
4. The dog stays in a 'down' while the owner walks across the room and back.
5. A different person takes the dog from the room and I guess the dog has to not freak out that they're away from their owner.
6. The dog has to walk in a 'heel' around a little obstacle course.
7. 'Defensive walking,' ie you basically walk your dog around while someone else walks their dog around and you have to make sure that your dog doesn't freak out.
8. Apparently also a part of the defensive walking is something where you have to shake hands with the person walking the other dog, and your dog can't show more than a 'casual interest' in the other dog.
9. The dog has to come when called, and then 'sit' and not jump up on its owner.
10. Your dog has to chill out while people run around and make noise.

Tia does rather surprisingly well at much of this...but she has some serious issues. Issues we're not entirely sure how deal with. Our biggest task we have problems with is the 'sit' while being groomed. Here's the thing: We worked with her a TON to get her to let us pick up her paws and show her ears and teeth. And she generally lets us without putting up much of a fuss. We tried the same tactic to get her to let someone come up to her and brush her...and to no avail. At home, it's mostly fine. But as soon as we're at school, she goes ballistic about it. Lisa, the trainer, gave us a suggestion on how to train her with that...but it honestly doesn't seem like much different from what we've been doing, and I'm not sure that it'll 'transfer' to class.

But the biggest issue we have is the simple matter that Tia is noisy. Unpredictably so.  It's the worst with the grooming, but sometimes she just gets going at random times, and for no apparent reason. And the advice that Lisa gave me was to try to quell it before she builds on it...but I thought I already did that! She's just a nut-job!

So tonight, 5 out of the 9 dogs passed the test. Apparently this is way more than usual, but that doesn't make it any better. So for the rest of the class, the dogs who have passed--all the calm dogs--will be on one side of the room learning Rally O (doggy PSEO). All the nut jobs will be on the other side, with my crazy nut job. You put a reactive dog with a bunch of even more reactive dogs, and guess what you get?! Lisa and the 'helpers' have faith that Tia will pass...but Tjett and I aren't so sure. We might have to repeat high school.

10 Things I Hate About Summer

It got HOT fast. A week ago, it was pretty much as though the good Lord switched around April and May just for funsies. It was chilly, cloudy, windy, and rainy. Kinda gross. And this weekend: POOF! 90 degrees!!! Not even kidding. Is it too much to ask for to go from chilly to mid-70s and sunny? Just for a week? A weekend? A day, even?? So I'm hot. My dog's hot. I think I might hate this weather more than last week's. 

Let's be honest here, I REALLY like winter. I realize that may sound odd, but I really do. I think I might like it better than summer, despite the scads of undergrads who crowd my bus and my favorite lunch destinations. But to put things in perspective for myself, I've created a list of pros and cons about summer:

Pros

• Grass feels nice under bare feet.
• Grilling. Tjett's been on a roll, and I am really liking the frequent grilled chicken and veggie burgers.
• Zucchini!!!
• Berries are in season! I like putting them on my cereal or in smoothies.
• Ice cream every day
• Summery drinks, like Absolut Ruby Red and cranberry juice, mojitos, daiquiris...
• The farmer's market. There you can buy the zucchini, and berries, tomatoes, eggs, bread, honey...and Tia has a good time there, too. Everyone likes petting the big white dog!
• Cute tops and dresses. I don't generally do 'cute,' but summer calls for it. Today I am wearing a rather inappropriate-for-work-but-who's-going-to-see-it off-white, flowy tank top. I like it. I don't have many excuses to wear things like it, and it's fun...
• The undergrads are gone! Buses are on time, there are available seats, and lines at restaurants aren't huge, even at noon...
• My birthday
• Our anniversary
• Lots of daylight
• Trees really do look better with leaves
• That humid smell when you walk on trails surrounded by grasses and flowers...

Cons

• Sure, the grass is great until all the bugs come out...
• What good is wearing cute tank tops when everywhere you go is FREEZING because some numb-nuts decided to turn the AC on too high?! Seriously!! Save some money, set your thermostat higher, and let me wear my adorable and slightly slutty clothes without wishing I had a jacket.
• Also along the lines of clothing, I sweat a lot. So my cute shirts often end up looking really, really bad with some serious sweat stains during and after I wear them. It's gross, it's embarrassing, and it makes me less likely to wear cute things because I get so paranoid that I'm sweating right through it...
• I have to put on a copious amount of suncreen so as to not get fried to a crisp. The sun's bad for your skin, period. I found this out (more than I already knew) last year when my face blew up because I forgot to put on sunblock while I was volunteering at the marathon.
• You stick to everything. 
• Cooling takes, I believe, more energy than heating. And you can under-heat in the winter...just throw on a few blankets, have a mug of hot cocoa and you're good to go. But if you under-cool in the summer, you still stick to everything, the dog's still miserable, and sweat still runs down your legs. Ick. And the only real solution is to cool more which means more money, honey...
• The dog's miserable. Poor thing...and I think she's afraid of the fans. I think she doesn't like stuff blowing at her, even though it would make her so much more comfortable...
• Exercising blows. I ran 2.5 miles today, at 7:30 am...and I was sweltering. I sweat right through my shirt, my face was way redder than usual, and I got dehydrated faster. It was awful.
• I get paid less in the summer.
• The A/C in my car broke AGAIN, which means I either have to pay $75 or whatever to get it recharged AGAIN, or else be miserable while driving, and have a miserable puppy in the back seat.
• Jerks who leave their dogs in the car while they shop...When it's cold outside, usually the car will be somewhat warm enough so that in the hour that the owner is in the store, the dog won't freeze, unless it's a chihuahua or something. But some idiots leave their dogs in the car in the summer...I don't care if your window is rolled down 'a crack' or all the way, it's not enough. I was at Meijer yesterday and someone's poor dog was barking and whining through a cracked window of a pickup truck. It's sad, and it's cruel. I hope that dog was ok.
• Yard work.

So ok, there are plenty of things I like about summer. They're just hard to remember on days like today...

Things I Love Thursday

It's been a really long time since I posted anything, and I figured that a TILT post would be a good one to go with...

• Indian food: It had been awhile since I'd gotten Indian, so yesterday my friend Rachel and I went to Bombay, the local/campus Indian restaurant (the owners also have a bigger restaurant a little farther away that has a killer lunch buffet). Bombay has its food organized by price: $6.99, $7.49, $7.99, $8.99, and $9.99. Unfortunately, most of my favorite dishes are in the $7.99 category...not terribly expensive, but it makes me kind of sad. Thankfully, they have a $6.99 daily special, and usually it's some kind of chicken masala. Yesterday it was Himalaya Chicken Masala...served up with a huge piece of naan. Mmmmm....The best part? Leftovers! Hooray for lunch!!! 

• Tia: Well, of course I love her. But this morning she was SO GOOD, or at least until about 10 minutes before I left. I hope she's feeling ok...

• My rock opera: I've decided that it's my new life goal to write a rock opera. I realize that I lack really any writing or composing talent (all the 'original' tunes I think of are really just conglomerates of songs I've heard)...but it's fun to think about. I'm thinking it'll be a Faustian story, perhaps with Vikings. Mephistopheles (or whatever Devil-esque equivalent I think up) will have to 'sing' in near-death growls...like maybe not so much that you can't understand him, but growely enough. The love interest can maybe be Bjork, so someone with a really unique and intense soprano voice. (ETA: The girl from Evanescence. Definitely.) As for the hero? I'm debating. My obvious choice would be Jerry Cantrell, but I like him even more when he's harmonizing. Maybe Viking Faust could have a buddy...