Zombies
Fact or Fiction?
We all have seen movies (or at least trailers) about those flesh-eating, brain-craving, decomposing, dead, but reanimated corpses that become zombies right? There's been movies about this since what, the 1940s or 50s?
"They're coming for you! They're coming for- WAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" *crunch crunch swallow gurble*
Night of the Living Dead. The Return of the Living Dead, The Return of the Night of the Living Dead, The Return of the Return of the Living Dead 105, Dawn of the Dead, Shawn of thd Dead, yadda yadda.
Those are definitely fiction.
Then we have the live zombies, those that are just like us but lack a certain free will, such as the Haitian zombies found in the voodoo tradition. These zombies were people like us that unfortunately underwent some sort of ‘zombification’ via spells or potions, and now are nothing but dolls to use as slaves. ... *shudders*
That was... fact. Fact, yeah... I guess. Scary to think that it actually happens. Brain deadness of a sort, I suppose.
But what about DEAD people that actually come back to a state of ANIMATION (not alive... alive would be like those ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ type of things). Animation as in, they just spring back up after being dead, but there is no thought, coherence, recognitions, etc, etc. They are just... moving corpses.
Is this idea conceivable? If it is, is it possible to happen?
Hm.
Read on: http://65.127.124.62/south_asia/4483241.stm.htm
Nothing too big... it may actually be shorter than what I just wrote.
However I begin to put aside the whole 'fact of fiction' concept and I begin to wonder: Fake?
Activity
Got this from Karnov's.
1) Grab the nearest book.
2) Open the book to page 123.
3) Find the fifth sentence.
4) Post the text of your sentence in your journal or weblog along with these instructions.
5) Don't search around for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.
"The Greeks also used it as an incense in their temples."
This was actually the 2nd book I grabbed... the first and closest to me was a knotting book and aside from the Introduction all other pages were picture instructions. Soooo No 5th sentence. I had to go to my book case, close my eyes and pick randomly. ^_^
So what do you think this book is about?
The Peach
A little test from OkCupid that I got from Lore's. ^_^
- - - - -
The Peach
Random Gentle Love Master (RGLMf)
Playful, kind, and well-loved, you are The Peach.
For such a warm-hearted, generous person, you're surprisingly experienced in both love and sex. We credit your spontaneous side; you tend to live in the moment, and you don't get bogged down by inhibitions like most women your age. If you see something wonderful, you confidently embrace it.
You are a fun flirt and an instant sweetheart, but our guess is you're becoming more selective about long-term love. It's getting tougher for you to become permanently attached; and a guy who's in a different place emotionally might misunderstand your early enthusiasm. You can wreck someone simply by enjoying him.
Your ideal mate is adventurous and giving, like you. But not overly intense.
DREAD: The False Messiah
CONSIDER: The Loverboy, The Playboy, or The Boy Next Door
Your exact opposite:
The Nymph
Busy Weekend
Before we brought home the furniture, which included a sofa, love seat, sofa chair, a table and its four chairs, we got a call from Magda. She was having problems with the router that Hubby set up Friday evening. So he’s there trying to troubleshoot with her over the phone while I vacuum and mop the now empty living and dining areas - I wanted to have the place clean and ready to receive the new items.
Husband was perplexed. He had left everything working a-okay the previous night. They had shut down and restarted plenty of times and he had even tried remote-desktop connectivity with our laptop. All had been fine. Well, when he wasn’t able to help her solve the issue over the phone (we thought maybe she had changed something when she went back on her own to change passwords and such) we told her we’d go see her again after we finished bringing in our new stuff.
So at around 7 pm we dropped off the last piece of furniture (the table and chairs) and then headed over to her house, which is about 35 minutes away from us going in the expressway. Once there Husband got to work while we started chatting away. Hehehe.
All was working properly with the connections except for one minor detail. The modem’s IP had changed (see, she could do everything except browse the net), so my Husband asked if perhaps she had done some turning on and off of her equipment. Yeah, apparently that had been it. So problem solved. He reassigned the new IP and all that jazz and began to tell her step-by-step what had been going on.
Coolios. I then went to the kitchen to prepare some food and we ate while we watched Alien Vs. Predator. I like that movie! It was cute. ^_^ No spoilers here, in case you haven’t seen it.
We left Magda’s house at around midnight! So no more time to fix our furniture. But today we did!
We moved sooooo much stuff around. Right my office and the bedroom look like crap. But the living, dining, and entertainment room look alright. I still need to make those curtains and hang stuff up on the walls, but at least the rooms look organized. Hm... now to continue with the laundry. ~_~
Furni
So I am sleeping... all nice and comfy in my bed when I turn to my side and I feel something cold on my right leg.
Hmmm... What the!
I open my eyes, sit up and pull the covers.
>_< “NOOOOOOOO OHHH NOOOOOOOOO!!!” I shout and Husband jolts up, eyes wide and still unfocused.
“What? What?!”
“Chico! He pooped on the bed!!!”
Yeap, the nasty boy had been so pissed at us that he left me a present during the night. >_< My sheets, my comforter, my leg, my foot! Argh! Husband got up to get some paper towels for me to wipe my leg and then I went to the bathroom to take a shower while he pulled the sheets off the bed. After my shower I had to scrub the mattress while Chico looked at us from his curled up place at the floor.
Stinky cat.
I had no other clean sheets so we just threw the pillows back on the plain mattress and went back to sleep... We were Tired. After a few Chico climbed up... now that the bed was clean again, and curled up between us. He finally began to purr.
~_~
I got up at around 1 pm when husband was moving stuff around in the kitchen. I asked him to make me some egg sandwiches while I separated clothes in their respective colors to wash. Then we remembered...
OUR NEW FURNITURE WAS READY TO PICK UP TODAY!
Screw cleaning. ^_^
We phoned my parents so they could lend us their big mother truck (and come pick up our old furniture, which they are keeping, by the way since they have room in their home). Now we’re ready to go. ^_^ I can’t wait! My pretty new furniture is here, Yey!
Workshop Day 2
Husband went to check out of the room rather early, while I was taking my shower. He told them at the front desk that I’d be turning in keys at around 11... ~_~ He should have just let me do the checking out myself. I had people trying to get in to do their duties all while I was putting on my clothes, packing, and finishing off my make up. It was rather annoying, but I understand it wasn’t their fault. The computer said we were checked out and they were going by the printouts.
Ayayay.
Well, I did get out at 11 and waited at the lobby, playing some games in the computer, while Hubby got his lunch break. We ate there at the hotel’s restaurant and then he went back to the workshop and I kept playing games at the lobby. Teh workshop finished at 3:15. I got to meet the instructor and he reminded me a lot of one of my friends from college. Very nice, funny type of guys - those that always have some sort of witty remark to make regarding most anything. We talked for a while and requested that if he was ever in our town, to let us know and we’d treat him to a nice Bangla-Mex dinner. ^_^
We left the hotel and headed to Sahadi again but this time to buy some spices that we lacked. I phone my girlfriend, Magda (with whom I had already made plans to meet so that we could have dinner together) and she met us there. We ate Vietnamese and then went to Best Buy to help her purchase a router for her home.
The remainder of the evening we spent at her house, setting up the router... well, my husband did that, she and I were just chatting away trying to scare her kitty cat. Hehe. I think I had too much popcorn because by the time we left her house (9pm already) I started getting really nauseous.
We got to my mom’s at 9:40 pm to pick up the babies. Tushi was very happy to see us, but Chico was distant. I think he was pissed at us. Anyway, we took them home and I began to get a horrendous headache and my stomach got worse. We got home and I rushed inside to purge everything that I had eaten the entire day.
Bleh... Don’t mix foods. Not good. Not good.
I took a shower and went straight for bed. Husband did the same. We’d worry about putting away the luggage later.
Workshop Day 1
Bleh bleh…
I was sooooo bored in the morning. I spent it in my room and although I wanted to take a nap I couldn’t. I kept hearing knocking that I thought was to my room but it wasn’t. So meh, I took my book and went outside to read at the lobby. Husband came every 2 hours to check up how I was doing. He was having lots of fun. Said that while the first day of the workshop was supposed to be the fundamentals of networking, that it wasn’t all textbook.
The instructor covered many many things that one just doesn’t learn in school, but from experience. He has been a security advisor for the Pentagon, Cisco, several banks and hotels and he went to Berkley at the age of 12... Sooooooo I guess he is a genius. :D Plus he seems like a very nice person.
So the 8 hours of workshop he told them many secrets of the trade and Zulfiker did end up learning a few things to handle his network at work a lot better.
After the workshop we went to the mall and I did some light shopping. So it’s all good. We came back to do some light exercise and then play tennis to open up an appetite.
We ended up going for dinner at around 8:30pm and went to a place called Sahadi.
OH MY GOODNESS I HAVE A NEW FAVORITE RESTAURANT!
Sahadi is a wine and Asian spices store and they also have a small lounge next to the actual store. We go to this place often when we are buying for particular spices, as their selection is BIG. I had seen the restaurant menu before, but the thought of a 10 dollar tuna sandwich always put me off.
But tonight we figured we’d give it a try since Husband wanted some Asian that wasn’t Chinese.
We walk in and the place is very small, dimmed lights, bar at the end, wine racks all over the place, I think it was karaoke night because there was a guy singing at the front. Very nice environment with about 10 small tables; 2 waitresses wearing suits and the bar guy.
I wanted to taste something called Falafafas (I think… I am not all that sure about the name, I think is Arabian), which was hummus with some vegetable patties. YUM I now want the recipe! Hubby ordered tundoori chicken and I had a vegetarian pasta. We finished off with a 3-leches cake (cake soaked in 3 types of milk, very yummy).
I truly enjoyed the food. The taste was excellent, presentation was nice, and servings were just right. Prices for this area are in the higher range (few things are less than 15 bucks, like the appetizers only) but it’s worth it.
Now we’re going to come to McAllen at least once every month just so that we can have a nice dinner at Sahadi.
Workshop
Today Husband and I traveled to McAllen, a city an hour away from ours. He has a 2-day technology workshop (or symposium, or something or other) to attend and we are staying at the Four Points Sheraton. His company is paying for everything, so it’s cool. He picked me up at home noonish and we arrived here at 2 something (because we ate before coming here). The conference will be in this same place and we chose to stay here not only because he’d just have to walk down to the lobby to attend but because of the wireless access. ^_^ He needs to access his office’s server to update a couple of things and it is important that he had a net connection to do so.
The place is not too bad. Hopefully I won’t be too bored for the next few days. Our room is on the first floor and the terrace exits into a little garden that leads to the pool and a Jacuzzi. Next to the pool you can see the tennis courts and there is a gymnasium on the 2nd floor. Oh yes, restaurant and the hotel’s bar next to it. :p hehe. The mall is a block away from the hotel and the airport right across… but not like I am going to go to the airport… Mall probably, airport… nah.
We left the babies at my mom’s last night. Tushi and Chico were very hyper because they got to see Chiquita (our first cat that now leave with my mom), Leche (the Corgy) and Machin (the Chihuahua). But this morning I found out that after we left, they became extremely nervous. Tushi cried most of the night and Chico was all serious and on his own corner. They missed us. :(
And we won’t get to see them until Friday night or so! *cries* I will miss my babies!
Horoscope
This is what I got for today:
You are looking quite attractive today, in fact, you might have to downplay your looks in order to deflect unwanted attention from lusty strangers. Enjoy the compliments, though, and the interest of someone you have long desired.
Wooooheeeeee.... well! Now those are the sort of horoscopes I like to read! haha. what a boost for the ego. Now, who have I long desired...
*gasp*
Oh Orlando Bloom! You're mine now!
Saving Money
I think I just saved a little over 7 bucks in laundry detergent per month. Big deal eh? Well yes. I can put aside those 7 dollars and buy me a nice little dress or a new flash drive with tons of GBs after a year. See, Liquid detergent runs from 3 to 5 dollars and I buy a new 100oz bottle about every 2 weeks. My detergents usually costs 3.75 plus the tax and all that. Well, I was running very low on detergent this week and when I went to my Mom’s to feed the doggie (she’s out of town) I noticed she had a bar of Don Maximo at the sink. Don Maximo is a bar soap used in Mexico to wash clothes by hand, soak things that are extremely dirty (oil, paint, etc), and a diverse other things. I used to see it used a lot by men too because it is great for getting rid of oil stains. And it smells nice and clean too. It is sort of rough and it resembles face scrub.
Two bars of Don MaximoOne can buy this soap for about 60 cents a bar if bought in the US... But I know she usually keeps stocked up on things she likes so I went to the pantry closet and took several bars of it for moi. Hehehe. She had like 5 cases of the stuff. It’s great living next to Mexico. ^_^ Can buy so much with a few dollars.
So I came home, put a small container with water and dissolved one bar or soap. Made this nice thick solution with still some chunks that did not get dissolved. I poured it in my empty container of Purex, filled it with more water and began to do laundry. This will last me more than 2 weeks since I need a lot less than a full cap to wash (and I will be helping the environment since I am recycling my plastic container over and over again) .
So for now, I won’t have to buy detergent for about hmmm 3 to 4 months. ^_^ and when I do... it shouldn’t be more than 64 cents a month. ... well... not really. I’m just going to ask my Mother for more.
Mwahaha.
Zoya
ZoyaGoddess of Life; Representative of Life for Humans and Animals on Earth.
The 2nd completed 3D work. Thanks for the input everyone. I ended up using a shadow in between and I'm pretty content with it.
Model: Victoria by Daz
Background: 'Enchanted Forest' by Kajiri (277084_9620) from Stock Xchng
Yum
YumThis is my first completed work. Took me quite a while to get the whole piece completed because of the eyes, and I am still not quite happy with them... but my skill is still not good enough to do what I had pictured in my mind.
Body Mats: Chrislenna by Vali
Backgrounds: Level 9 by Daz
Comparison
No spotlight / SpotlightI need help here. I am trying to give her a cautious look when she emerges from the woods. She has found something. I am playing with light but... I can't decide yet. I like light on the 2nd one it just matches well with the position of the hands and her expression. The first you can see all the details of her pretty face but not the same 'who goes there!' effect.
arghhh. what do you all think?
Isaura
IsauraThis is the new knot mentioned in an earlier post. It is a Pretzel or Celtic Knot... I guess people use whichever they like most. I will use Pretzel... 'cause I'm hungry right now. ^_^
I did not tighten the knot too much for this design because I liked the girly flare it gave like that. But tight is equally beautiful, just a lot more sophisticated looking.
Fabiola
FabiolaVery basic: Full Square Knot (FSK) with wooden beads. In between the beads I used a Button Knot, which basically is a FSK set that loops onto itself and resembles a little button. ^_^ Hehe, when my puppy outgrows her current hemp collar, I may make another with BKs ever 5 knots or something so that it resembles a spiked collar. hehehe
Oiii
I’m feeling a little weird.
For the past month Hubby has been researching here and there for the best Projector for his money. Nothing too fancy but with our current budget anything would still be in the high price area.
He almost had me convinced and it was just a matter of deciding one brand over another. The price would be 25 or so a month for about 3 years. Twenty-five a month really isn’t that much and since we are one month away from finishing off my new furniture (on lay-away at the moment), he would just use that freed-up money for the gadget.
Today he called me during his lunch hour and said that he had decided on a Dell projector, he didn’t go into specifications, but I am sure it is around 1200-1500 lumens (the higher this number the more light you can have in the room and still see a clear picture), and SVGA or XVGA (display resolution), with enough ports to connect his laptop, the DVD player, or the TV... There was another brand (can’t remember it at this moment) that had pretty good reviews, came bundled with a screen, and had a 3-year warranty and I asked how come he hadn’t chosen that one.
He said that the lamp lifetime of that projector was 2000 hours and the price of each lamp was about $500, and that the lamp price for the Dell projector was a little over $200. I was like... umm... you did not say anything about no lamps! And each projector has at least 2 lamps.
We watch a movie daily, some along the lines of 3 hours each and this is during the weekdays. About 5 movies during the weekend. That’s 120 a month which means we would be purchasing from 500-600 dollars worth of projector lamps every 16 months...
Our Sony TV cost us 900 bucks 3 years ago and it hasn’t needed anything replaced yet.
“But mi vida! We probably won’t use it that much, only for like Super Bowl season and that. Plus is just 25 bucks a month.”
Yeah, 25 dollars is no big deal but... two days ago, his dad called from Bangkok. His parents had gone to Thailand because his mom had to have an operation. They had problems at the hospital because they wouldn’t accept his Bangladeshi account, so he called to ask if Hubby could wire transfer $8,000 from here, the States and that as soon as they returned to Bangladesh that they’d send the money to pay us back. My Husband, very apologetically told him he couldn’t because he did not have that cash handy... not even in credit cards. And it is the truth. We live day-by-day.
So after finding out that his parents had required his assistance and Husband hadn’t been able to help, but that his sister did... How could I even allow for such eccentricities to be purchased for my home?! His family don’t hold us in the best of places because of what I am (and am not) and because of how ‘he has changed’... imagine if they find out that the same week that his mom was undergoing surgery that he purchased an expensive gadget?
I felt his disappointment when he said “oh, okay... you’re right” and it made me feel so guilty that I couldn’t comply with him on this but... oh man.
No. No. I’m right. Yes, I am.
New Decorator
I made several hemp pieces these three days. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for one which has a new knot for moi - a pretzely look.
I've also been reading a book titled New Decorator by Julia Barnard (from Creative Home Arts Library; ISBN: 0-7894-8976-7) that I got from my grandma. well, not really reading. I've been flipping around admiring all the wonderful photos, but I will read what interests me more, which at this time is wall decorating and better use of space.
The book talks about colors schemes, lighting, furniture, space, motiffs, windows, ceilings. All the basics for having pretty rooms. ^_^ It's nice.
Hemp Key Chain
We will make a 3.5" key chain out of hemp. The knot technique used in this exercise is called Half Knot, one of the most basic knots, which will also serve as basis for more complicated knots in the future.
- Get your ruler and measure at least 1 yard of hemp twine or cord (36 inches) and cut it.
- Measure another piece of hemp, but this time make it at least half a yard (18 inches). Cut it.
Measuring the hemp
- You can add a drop of glue on the ends of the freshly cut hemp, so that the ends do not untwine. This is optional.
Adding glue to the ends
- Fold both pieces of hemp in half and place them together at the middle.
Folding the hemp
- Now we’ll tie the hemp to the Key Ring using a Lark’s Knot. Place the loop end of the hemp Over the ring and bend them (going into the ring).
- Pass the hemp threads into the loop of the hemp and tighten the knot.
Lark's Knot
- We are now ready to begin knotting. Give the ring to someone to hold it for you or hold it with a tablet or a nail at the wall, etc, etc. Whatever makes you comfortable.
- Fix your work piece. Make sure that the longer cords (Knotting Cords) are on the outside and that the shorter ones (Bead Carriers) are in the inside just as we had them placed in step 4.
- Take the Left Knotting Cord and pass it Over the 2 bead carriers and Under the Right Knotting Cord. (Looks like the shape of a number ‘4’ )
- Take the Right Knotting Cord (which should be over the Left cord) and pass it Under the 2 bead carriers. Then push it up into the loop that was formed by the Left Cord (the tummy of the ‘4’ ). Then Tighten your knots by carefully pulling on the two cords until your knot is snuggly at the very top.
- The cords will now be inversed (Right cord becomes Left and the left one becomes Right).
- For the Half Knot you will always begin your knotting from one side (in this case the Left side).
Half Knot (HK)
- Repeat steps Nine & Ten, 7 more times. You will have a total of 8 Half Knots which (with our thin hemp) is the number you need to make a pretty Half Knot Twist (you’ll begin to see your work twist as you get to your 4th knot, a total of 8 will complete the full twist). Notice that your work will twist, so you may have to flip your project so that your cords don’t get all messed up. Don’t worry, just make sure you begin knotting again from the Left Cord (since that is how we started this project).
Half Knot Twist (HKT)
- Now you have 1 full Twist. You can continue making up to 5 sets of HTs (in other words, 40 half knots) to have a 3” key chain without any beads. But if you want to have beads…
- After you have made 2 full Half Knot Twists (16 knots) get one of your wide-whole beads and pass the 2 middle Bead Carrier threads through the whole. The outer cords will basically ‘hug’ the bead once you put it all the way to the top. (Note: You can also just pass the 4 cords through the bead and not have any cords hugging the bead, you just gotta be careful not to switch your cords when you begin knotting again).
- Start another set of Half Knot Twists (8 knots) and then slip in another bead in the carriers. Tie 2 more sets (16 knots) and we’ll be making an Overhand Knot (disregard the loop in this picture, simply try to tighten the overhand knot towards your last Half Knot.
Overhand Knot (OK)
- Put in another bead, this time through All the 4 cords and make one last Overhand Knot. Pull tight and add 1 or 2 drops of glue for added security.
- To finish, get your scissors and trim the remaining loose cords about half an inch under your knot.
My key chainNotice how in my example I have the first bead being ‘hugged’ (only the bead carriers went through) but the 2nd isn’t (all 4 cords went through). Either way is fine and both look equally pretty.
Ok. To summarize, We did :
- 1 Lark’s Knot
- 2 sets of Full Half Knot Twists (16 half knots)
- 1 bead
- 1 Full HK Twist
- 1 bead
- 2 Full HK Twists
- 1 Overhand Knot
- 1 bead
- 1 Overhand Knot.
Congratulations!
