And the answer is...

... yes and it doesn't really matter. It's a personal joke.

This little bit of me...

This little blog of mine has been in decline for some time, as has my brain, which is one of the contributing factors to said decline. I  just noticed on the sidebar that I had hit 1600 posts, which is pretty amazing coming upon my fourth blogiversary in March this year.

 

I kind of miss my brain and the way it used to think, but I do hope to have it back some day. Although I never thought of this place being much in the big scheme of things, in retrospect I think it has been more therapeutic than anything, allowing me to share and vent to some extent, things for which there was no other venue. I do not know where my brain went, or how it took me to the places I did go, and soon I will forget everything that I have written here. This I know. The great thing is that as long as the internet exists, if Blogger exists, servers exist, the data exists, Google and  other search engines exist, this little bit of me will remain to be found again. 

If you were a woman...

Would you prefer:
1. One rose
2. A dozen roses
3. Eighteen roses
4. Two dozen roses

Does the above quantity depend on the occasion?

Does the colour of the roses depend on:
1. One's favourite colour
2. The occasion for which the roses are given
3. The person giving the roses

Which of the following combinations would you prefer:
1. Chocolates and a rose
2. Chocolates and roses
3. Chocolates, roses and champagne
4. Dinner out
5. Dinner out with chocolates, roses and champagne
6. Dinner in
7. Dinner in with chocolates, roses and champagne

Does the quality of chocolates matter?

Does the quality of champagne matter?

Does the choice of restaurant matter?

If budget is an issue, would you take this into consideration and amend your preferences accordingly?

 

My head now hurts.

Seriously...

There is something seriously wrong if:

 

1.  The only thing that makes your heart beat is
     speeding up the Tetris blocks and losing.

 

2.  Doing poorly at Sudoku makes you question
     your very existence.

 

3.  "It could be worse" is tantamount to saying
     "I'm stuck here for the rest of my life."

 

4.  You stare into the distance knowing that
      there is something out there for you, but
      that you can't have it.

 

5.  Your 80 year old dad has more of a social
      life than you do.

 

6.  The highlight of your day is the possibility
      of having a McDouble.

 

7.  You wonder where your brain has gone
     and you find yourself staring at the floor.
 

Me reflecting...

Interesting...

Today's Google Doodle is to celebrate the 200th birthday of a French architect. I know next to nothing about architecture except for a few basic styles and that I have an appreciation for great structures and various stylings, even when I was younger. Apparently this gentleman worked on the restoration of a rather famous cathedral in Paris, one that I visited in my youth. It is interesting to note that the image used on the Wikipedia page (to which the Google Doodle links) may feature the same gargoyle that caught my attention (and countless other visitors I am sure) during that trip.

It seems like a lifetime ago being a teenager in France with a borrowed manual SLR camera, coming back with eight rolls of film. As I have said before, I remember very little from back then, but when I look at pictures, some memories do come back.
 

"inexplicable connectedness"

I think that in childhood there exists a sense of wonder and magic, in my case not necessarily in all things, but it was, to a certain extent, there. At some point in life this was lost, or faded away into the grey mist of memories long since past. As time passes by, each hour, each day so slowly, each year so quickly, I begin to question whether it was there or not. What prompted this one might ponder. Two things, one of which being this:

 

and how I seem to be revisiting the "inexplicable connectedness... moments of synchronicity... the hidden presence..." when for so long I have been distant and apart.

 

(An interesting aside: I googled the name to which this quote was attributed and discovered that Charles de Lint is a Canadian writer, and a rather prolific one at that. I don't get out much...)

 

There seems to be a common theme...

I haven't been to the theatre in quite some time to watch a movie. I would have liked to have seen this on the big screen, but I'll have to settle for DVD. I did watch a few new(er) movies around Christmas, one, a not as funny as I thought it would be buddy/cop movie, and the other two being sequels, perhaps not quite as good as the originals, but could still hold their own. This one may end up growing on me more, and likewise the other, not as cutesy as the original, but definitely more action-packed.

 

Every once in a while I still go and check out upcoming movies, and a few have caught my eye  in the past couple months.

This one looks almost too good, which is usually a warning sign that it might fall short, however, I have a feeling that I will greatly enjoy it regardless.


 

 

This kind of reminds me of a blending of elements and looks from Van Helsing, Underworld and Constantine (I saw it only once, but I recall some of it)... It looks good despite this. I remember the first time I saw Aaron Eckhart... as a biker dude/love interest in Erin Brockovich, and he has come a long way since then. He almost looks too good and not beefy enough to play this role.

And then, there is this... which looks like it will be ridiculously cheesy fun.

 

When worlds collide... Marshmallows

Not quite this when Blogger meets Facebook and Facebook meets Blogdom, but that was what had come to mind. Anyhoo... one day I was strolling (or scrolling) through Facebook and one of the pages I follow had a link that caught my eye. I had a chuckle finding this blogpost... I have not yet tried it. I went to do a search here for the post I was thinking of that referred to this treat, but couldn't find it... However, there was this, which kind of brings us full circle once again.

(For Harvey.)

The circle of my reality...

So here's this video that came up in the Facebook feed.

I went agoogling and found this longer personal interview.

It is a great story and I know that I had posted something about it before. I tried a few different words to search the blog before I finally found it. It would appear that I still seem to be going around in circles...

"Germany is in a complicated relationship with Japan"

Otay, I'm sure a lot of people will find this offensive, but...

It would seem that there is method to this madness. On a more serious note, one of the other things that crossed my path is this:

I have been remiss...

... and it is because of this that it took me two hours and twenty-five minutes to just sort through the information. Frankly, I thought I was going to be done with this blog, but I'm still here. (And, because I can, I shall still...)

To honour the fallen since last time:

US (83)
     Texas (9)
     Florida (5)
     California (7)
     Tennessee (2)
     Massachusetts (2)
     Oklahoma (3)
     North Carolina (2)
     Georgia (6)
     Virginia (4)
     Arkansas (3)
     Oregon (3)
     Washington (2)
     Louisiana (2)
     Arizona (3)
     New York (4)
     Alabama (2)
     Ohio (2)
     Colorado (2)
     Missouri (2)
     Idaho (2)
     Indiana (2)
     Pennsylvania (2)
     Mississippi (1), Kansas (1),
     New Jersey (1), South Carolina (1),
     Wyoming (1), Hawaii (1),
     Wisconsin (1), Delaware (1),
     Maine (1), American Samoa (1),
     Utah (1), Connecticut (1))
UK (3)
Australia (1)
Germany (1)

Friday Funny

 

Made me laugh for obvious reasons, but also this.

Hungry...

Two slices of French bread sliced thin and toasted
Miracle Whip
Carl Buddig Corned Beef
Coleslaw (using just Red Wine Vinegar and Miracle Whip for the dressing)

Slap it together and enjoy.

(The coleslaw dressed this way is a good alternative for sauerkraut, which costs considerably more.)

Stuck in my head again...

So I was watching a movie last month (Red 2) and a kick-ass scene came up (Helen Mirren, 2 guns, fast car - no more need be said), and the song playing in that scene sounded so familiar, yet I could not place it. I know that I googled it thereafter and found it to be the song above, by a band whose first album I thought was most excellent, but afterwards pretty much everything sounded the same. They did redeem themselves a bit, but I only remember one other album that was decent. Anyway... tonight... this came to mind again, so on a whim I went into the dresser filled with CDs (in alphabetical order by artist, which helps a lot) and rooted through five or six with their name on it... Lo and behold, I found the CD that I had forgotten about. I guess I had also forgotten that it had a couple other songs that I liked on it, one of them even having been included in another movie soundtrack. It is just the way my mind works... or doesn't.

It's a good song, great energy, and it does actually address and/or reflect some personal issues. It is one of those "I'm alive!" songs. So... why then, could I not remember it? Is it simply because it didn't stand out, because it wasn't unique, or something else? Someone recently said to me "Some Metallica fan you are..." because I didn't make a connection between the band and a comment that was made about one of their albums. (Metallica being one of my favourite bands of all time...) I don't know... the information is either there and I just can't access the file in my head, or perhaps it has been arbitrarily deleted. I'm leaning more towards it being just like memories of my life, that in the same manner, the music and musical references have been archived and locked away in the dusty recesses of my brain cabinet and I cannot find the key.
 

Little Evil Mini-me: peeps...

Scrolling through the Facebook feed tonight and ... hmmm... part of this sounds about right...

 

.... and then that little evil voice in my head thought of this. Yeah.... I don't know where these things come from. I remember it being "loneliest".

20 things....

Corn

Korn

Dark Chocolate

Grocery Store Rotisserie BBQ Chicken

Christmas

Cheese

Sunsets

Black leather

Antiques

Water

Metallica

Milk

Melancholy music

Tarnished silver

Old Trunks

Hmmm... this is becoming difficult...

I have to think of 5 more...

Pizza

Steak

Bacon

Roses

Hydrangeas

This completely random post was prompted today by my leftover homemade chicken broth which I turned into a milky corn soup, wherein I reaffirmed that I love corn. May I remind you that I am not the type of person who goes around saying "Ooh... I love this!"... But wait... I didn't used to be that type of person. Apparently, being on Facebook has modified me, as I find myself looking at pretty pictures and posting them saying "Love this..."  What the hell? Anyhoo, I sat down here to write the list  and when it became difficult to complete I decided to just roll with it.  Upon completion, it reminded me of a phone conversation I had at work with a fellow a few weeks ago. In discussing advertising, he asked me point blank "Do you like advertising?"  I kind of hesitated and responded with a "yes, the creative aspect of it"...  When we met later that day in person, I told him that he had caught me off guard with that question. The reason? No one had ever asked me whether or not I liked doing something before. The question is... are these "20 things that I love" or "20 things that I like"?