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Lauren's Journal

lauren
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07/29/2008 12:11 #45182

I have asked this before...
Category: pets
My brother's wedding was pretty awesome...beautilful redone barn in the middle of nowhere...the ceremony was outside and then dancing and nonsense inside afterward. I will post pictures but, how do I do it again? I tried yesterday and I think I screwed it up. I am usually not this technologically impaired...estrip manages to confuse me though...

Oh yes and... Felly and I got home from out four hour drive on Sunday and were watching a movie when we here a loud crash outside and then instantly see a cat flying inside of the porch. We go out there and lo and behold, the cat had somehow managed to jump up onto our flower box and knock it to the ground. Most of our flowers were severed or decapitated by the fall and are looking pretty sad. Poor poor flowers. Now, as a result, neither cat is allowed outside although it is only our crazy must eat and destroy everything cat that should be denied access. Had to ruin it for everybody. This is also the cat that recently chewed off the entire green part of our indoor spikey plant that is already sitting on top of 9 books so he can't reach it. So much for that idea. Bastard cat.


metalpeter - 07/29/08 18:14
I don't know why cats like plants but sometimes it is not that they eat them but kinda like them in there mouth. Maybe it is the smell. I thought that they made something that didn't harm the plants but that made it so the cat didn't like it.

In terms of pictures:
When you go and write your journal below the journal there is a little like bar that says "NEW: select multiple media files to upload" as you mouse over it the arrow turns into a hand then click on it. That should bring up a window that along the top of it say "Select File(s) to upload by estrip.org . How the area of the computer is picked that I don't know but for me it all ways picks where ever I saved something last or I think that is how it works. Towards the top of that page if you are not where the files you want to upload are then you can use the arrow next to (in mycase new folder) to navagate or move to different places on your computer. Or in that case if you are in the right place those up and down arrows to find your files. Once you find the files you want to upload click on one of them with your mouse pointer. Then hold down the control key and find the next file to upload when you find it keep holding the control key down and click on it. Each picture has a name or some thing under it, each time you select a new one you will see the name get added to the little bar next to file name in that same window that has the pictures up. When you have found all the files you want from that area hit the open key and that should start the upload to estrip. You can also do just one file at a time. I think the max is 20 pictures at once. You will want to start out with only a few at first and then work up and see how well it uploads them. On my computer it will only upload 6 at a time any more and I get errors. I think it has to do with the picture size. As the pictures upload kinda below your journal you will get a status report and your pictures will show up in small size and there code will show up in your journal. So say you type a story and then upload a picture then you type something else and upload pictures from that. Even though you may have typed 40 lines of text the pictures at the bottom show up in the order they are uploaded (kinda). When your journal is done hit publish. If for some reason your pictures don't show up, that is all most all ways because they are to big, but hopefully that won't be a problem. This is at least How I do it on my computer and I assume it works the same on all PC's. If you try and it and it doesn't work, I'm not voluntearing (my shitty spelling) yet, I'm sure I could show you or work you through it.
carolinian - 07/29/08 12:29
You might want to consider planting some designated "eating plants" that the cats are allowed to nibble on. Pet stores often sell seeds for fast growing plants and grasses that you can put into a pot and with a little bit of water will grow in a few days. Back when we had plants (and before we came to the realization that we did a far better job of killing our plants than our cats did) we'd plant a little pot of Cosmic Kitty Herbs at let the cats nibble on that.

07/23/2008 18:01 #45114

Star Wars
Dumm dum duh dummm duh duh dummm...

OK.
So im watching this really fascinating show on the history channel about Star Wars as an epic myth full of symbols and metaphors and all that good stuff and...well, its cool. For example, they are talking about Luke and how he represents the kind of average hero (much like Harry Potter) who has insecurities and normal people stuff and how this figure is present in many more ancient mythological stories. Also very interesting ideas about technology (ie the Death Star( vs. humanity (ie The Force) and the dualism/struggle going on and how this is a modern type myth. Oooo and they just talked about Luke as a Messianic figure who redeems "the father" (Darth vadar) and how Odysseus became his father in order to grow up.

Im into this shit.

I guess part of the reason I like this so much is that I have noticed, as I am sure many of you have also, the increasingly huge trend in these epic, multiple film movies (ie, harry potter, lord of the rings, Batman, etc etc) are HUGE at the box office. Although I don't always think that there are always conscious connections between these modern films to these age old classic myths, I think that it shows a deeper human connection and why we continue to be fascinated by and drawn to these types of stories. heroism. good and evil. love and hate. journeys that require courage and overcoming fears and insecurities. being extraordinary.

what i am thinking is why this sudden surge in pop culture? is it a surge? is it just more accessible now because its on film and not in words? or are we as a culture more lost and seeking that human connection...that feeling that we just don't get from computers and other forms of technology? is it a catch 22 that it is film and media technology bringing these mythic sagas back into our lives? what impact are these films having on us...billions of dollars means something!

sometimes i think about these things...
heidi - 07/23/08 22:51
I think people (generalization) are yearning for models and stories where individuals make a difference, where things can be -changed-, where they're not impotent drudges in ticky-tacky boxes. I see it as both as an identification of the self being plucked from obscurity to do great things, and identification with an epic story. There have always been these stories (David & Goliath thru Harry Potter), I'm not enough of a film buff to know if there has been a significant change in the relative quantity of epic movies over time. You've certainly made an interesting observation.

07/22/2008 13:19 #45102

YAY!!!
Ok so, (e:strip) wasn't working for us from our home and then I remembered that sometime ago we had this same prob so I erased the cookies and temp internet files and now it works! yay! anyone know why this is?

ah. so, I have to write something for my brothers wedding. like, to read, at the wedding. i looked and looked for some nontraditional something or another, but Felly made the argument that it would be way more meaningful and personal if i just sucked it up and wrote it and even though im skerred, she's right. so, thats my job for today and tomorrow.

other than that, they have been showing the downstairs apt over and over and over again with no luck. not like i am particularly interested in having a downstairs neighbor, i can't help but want to put in my two cents about why they aren't renting the place. PAINT!!! there is, in my opinion, nothing worse than a cream colored apt and that is all that place down there is (and all ours was when we first moved in). if they just threw up some warm neutrals that place would seem a whole lot nicer and worth the price they are asking. either way i hope somebody cool moves in who maybe smiles every once and awhile and doesn't have a shit fit that our dog runs laps around our living room every now and then.
fellyconnelly - 07/23/08 07:13
well i can see how the paint could be a deterrant if the whole thing is painted in browns and blues and their couch is is more of a purple and peach...
james - 07/23/08 00:35
I was in a car accross the street from my old apartment, owned by the same people who own yours, and I told the people I was waiting with about how they rented our place out for $100/month extra because of the paint job. Which makes me wonder why they don't just paint all of them shnazzy colors.

ESquare is unsmart.
tinypliny - 07/22/08 22:55
Actually, I have had this cookie issue at work (several times) with M$IE, but not at home with firefox/opera. Recently, I installed Firefox at work (without permission/admin rights because I was really fed up with M$IE and all its bugginess). I haven't had the cookie issue in Firefox yet.
metalpeter - 07/22/08 17:29
Cream is a nice color on a lot of things like big trucks. But if you are going to go for that kind of a color just plain white is better. With out seeing it, it is hard to tell really. Sometimes the carpet and the walls don't work together. Sometimes the windows are to close to the ground (you don't want to be easier for someone to come in through a window then the door that is how you lose all your stuff). What they really need I'm guessing is someone (not me) but who is kinda like me in that they are going to hang posters and or art all over the walls so the wall color doesn't matter. I hope who ever winds up moving in as a good or atleast not a bad person or group of people down below. Oh in case I forgot ralphlie is pretty cute, hopefully if they have a pet they will get along with him.

07/19/2008 12:22 #45070

But you're so...
Category: randomo
I don't know if I will be able to fully articulate what it is that i want to say here, but I will do my best.

so there is this guy who lives in the apt. building across the street and really likes ralphie. fine. so he comes over and we chat while ralphie bites him. fine. so of course i talk about "we" all the time and he asks who "we" is and i tell him i have a girlfriend and he sees Felly with Ralphie and blah blah blah. No problems...but yesterday he asked me, in the most polite and not intentionally harmful way possible: so uh, do you have a gf cause you don't like guys or...? and I reply, no, I just fell in love with a woman. he then proceeds to go..ok well, ya know i was just wondering because you are a beautiful woman ya know...

AHHHHHHH!!!

seriously. and of course, i can't ever open my mouth at the proper time so we just move on past that and start talking about the Italian festival or whatever, but shit man...shit. no, not all lesbians are ugly. no, not all lesbians hate men. no, not all lesbians were deeply hurt or rejected by a guy which 'turned' them gay. Fuck. sometimes i want to lie and just say that i have never been with a guy and never want to ever and have no interest in the matter. but that wouldn't be very honest would it...course then again neither is keeping my mouth shut when my insides are churning...

What is perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that I know there is no harm intended. This guy is sincerely a nice guy, but he just doesn't know any better. My problem is I tend to get a little excited and start stuttering and shit when I try to explain my views on these types of things...you should have seen the conversation i had with my little brother about feminism and racism and why i do what i do. ug. and maybe i wouldn't get so damn frustrated if it wasn't for the fact that I HEAR THE SAME SHIT over and over again from people. And yet it never ceases to amaze me. poo.

Ok, i feel a little better now.

My brother is getting married next Saturday. I am so happy and proud of him that he is not doing the traditional "a marriage between a man a woman" bullshit... and my mom is very sad that they aren't getting married by a minister and I am not going to read Corinithians... at the wedding i went to a couple weeks ago it was very much like that and my friend, who i love dearly, kept smiling and looking at me when they would say things like "man and woman". Yes yes, i know. thanks very much. I'm not bitter, I swear, I just get very very tired sometimes....

BUT, I digress...... :)
tinypliny - 07/20/08 21:58
Yeah, very annoying. I agree. :/
metalpeter - 07/20/08 18:08
Just wanted to say it was nice to see you and felly today. I had seen pictures of Ralphie but the pictures don't convey how the famous little guy is so small and cute. If he tried to lick my toes I might have freaked out also.
trisha - 07/20/08 11:24
i know just what you mean... i always think of the best things to say AFTER the incident...then i stew for a few days, and lose sleep and all that. mostly i just let things go too. i think it is maturity and mental health, however i remind myself lately that it's healthy to RAGE too.
metalpeter - 07/19/08 18:10
I'm a guy so what I'm going to say may sound kind of stupid what it is a valid point, sort of. I will also say that this is not true of guys and some of what I say doesn't fit in with all of my beliefs.

Lots of guys learn about gay and bisexual (yes there is a difference)from porn and other media and our own fantasies. If anyone has ever watched a video or porn and two ladies get it on they are all ways model quality and young. They don't show the couple who have been together for 30 years. In most of these same movies those girls are also shown to be into men. Yes some of these actors are really bi and some of them just like to mess around on camera and then some are "Gay for Pay". "Gay for pay" is when a girl isn't gay but does those scenes for the money (some times very good money). I used to think that porn didn't effect how people think, but I have changed my mind and think that it can, or maybe it just reinforces what we all ready think about.

When guys think about 2 girls yes that is a fantasy and some lucky people get to do that and some really lucky people do it a lot. But the thing about that again it is all ways women who like both women and men or at least two of them are.

So I think us guys in our own egotisical mind and self centeredness think hey if a girl doesn't like dick or doesn't like men she must hate them. I also think lots of guys hate women, but since they love them sexually that is stronger then there feeling of hate. I also think that us guys something that we don't know about personally can be hard to understand. I'm not sure where it comes from but there is a sterotype that lesbians hate men and are mean, hey maybe some do I wouldn't know. I do think that mens thoughts on wanting to be with two women is a factor.

07/17/2008 14:06 #45050

Catsup
Category: randomo
Yesterday Ralphie got to spend some quality time with some of our neighbors' dogs. Two pitts and a rotweiler, all full grown. Amazingly enough, not only did Ralphie not bark, but he completely submitted and played well and didn't die. I had to back off and not freak out cause my instant instinct is to pick him up and save him from being eaten alive, which obviously didn't happen. Although at one point one of the pitts did get a little too aggresive and i did end up picking up Ralphie, simply because that dog could fit an entire weiner in his mouth and not choke. When i picked him up he was covered in drool and his heart was racing, but I think overall he had a pretty good time. Also, Ralphie can now sit, lay down and roll over, all through the use of hand signals. He is a smarty pants.

I have five full weeks left until school starts up again. Damn. And four out of the next six weekends are booked with two weddings, a BBQ and the Elmwood Arts festival. I kinda like that though.

In other news, our landlord is resealing and putting new lines in our parking lot, which really in the end is a good thing because obviously people have issues with comprehending the importance of proper spacing when parking in a lot without lines, but right now its a pain in the ass. I think (e:fellyconnelly) wrote about this, but our landlords, "esquarecapital" are redoing the old YWCA on north...the giant creepy building with the huge columns going up to the 2nd or 3 rd floor and turning it into senior housing...which i think is great because what the hell else would you do with a building like that? However, the parking lot is still total sketchville...behind Latina's Food Land with no lights. Although I can commend our landlords for giving us another parking option, I politely decline.

OH! I forgot...NEW SEASON OF PROJECT RUNWAY...makes me a happy girl, although the "new time" is kind of a bummer cause we don't get out of dance class till after 9 which means we have to wait to watch it till 11 after Sheer Genius is over. Ah well, so is the life of someone who religiously watches a TV show. Anyway, I think people who tan are silly and I think people who think being orange looks good are confused and need some guidance. And, if you look like an alien and are orange, you might need professional help. That is all.

tinypliny - 07/17/08 20:37
Yeah, I think Raphael is a very sexy name. I think I know what I will name my kid when it gets here some day. :)
tinypliny - 07/17/08 20:36
LOL. I am not really sure I would okay with seeing ghosts - known or unknown. Hypothetically speaking, why on earth would you feel safe if you knew than an other-worldly entity is stalking you?!
metalpeter - 07/17/08 18:49
You are right that is a crazy statement because it should say knew or had known, yeah seeing ghosts of people who are still alive would be screwy. What I meant is that some people get alzhiemers or other things with old age. Now if you saw a ghost that was trying to say something to you that might think you where out of your mind, but it it was say someone who died when you where a kid or that kid who drowned when you where young you would know them and feel safe, or at least a little more safe.
lauren - 07/17/08 18:49
(e:tinypliny) haha i think raphael is kinda sexy and for some reason, it makes sense :)

(e:metalpeter) hopefully we will see you at the festival and also be sure that it is you and not some peter imposter :)

(e:bailey) I am by no means an expert as this will only be my second festival, but it is on Elmwood around W Ferry and impossible to miss... August 23 from 10-6 and the 24th from 11-5...lots of art, food, music, dancing, people watching etc. you shouldn't miss it! and yes, unfortunatly you did miss buffalo pride :( oh and HAHAHA ooopma loompa!!
tinypliny - 07/17/08 18:32
"If it is really haunted I hope the old people see ghosts of people they know other wise they will think they are losing their mind when they aren't."

That has GOT to be the craziest statement ever. hahahaha.. And I introduced (e:FellyConnelly) as Raphael to my friends!!! Imagine - a name from the 1400s, of all names!!
metalpeter - 07/17/08 18:16
The dog adventure sounds cute. In terms of tanning I do get it. But then again I do like that dark white look. If you are going to be going someplace with a lot of sun it is a good idea so that you can get your skin to protect you instead of burning. The problem is a lot of people over do it and get orange and for a lot of people it is a Fashion thing like those Sun Glasses that cover their entire face. In terms of the Festival hope fully this time someone won't get in your way of the Belly dancing (I assume they will still have it). I still find it funny that I wasn't sure enough if that was you and felly (that is right I don't know her real name I always think of her as felly) but that is also true of (e:tinypliny) also. In terms of that place being an Aged home you mean for people who are older and not a nursing home right? There is one other thing that building would be good for, an insane asylum. If it is really haunted I hope the old people see ghosts of people they know other wise they will think they are losing their mind when they aren't.
bailey - 07/17/08 14:57
Oh man. You have no idea how jazzed I am that PR is back on. My sister just picked up a DVR, so we record all those shows since she works until 12. I think that Oompa-Loompa has a snorting problem as well. He does an awful lot of sniffling. I'm also really excited that most of these designers are freelancers.

Anyway, so when is this Elmwood Arts Festival you speak of? What kinds of things does it have to offer? Where exactly is it? I am very interested in checking it out. Unfortunately, I am missing Rochester Pride this weekend, and most other Rochester festivals, and it makes me sad. I believe I missed Buffalo Pride if I am not mistaken?

Well, back to waiting for the gas man to get here before I go out pants shopping for the new job I start tomorrow. Ugh. Have a good day!