Mosaic Life

“The South has the sniffles from pollen.”

This article on Yahoo! news is cute. The sniffles. That’s the best they’ve got?

Atlanta’s pollen count hit 5,499 particles per cubic meter of air Monday, the highest so far this season and the fourth highest in the 12 years that the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic has been keeping records… A reading of 120 is considered extremely high in the Southeast.

That’s serious pollen. That’s not “sniffles” pollen. That’s sinus headache, violent sneezing, watery eyes pollen. I haven’t worn my contacts or eye makeup all week because neither go well with crusty eyes.

On the bright side, bees are enjoying this weather, right? They best be. I’m expecting them to crank out some serious honey this year. Happy spring, everyone!

In Which I Argue with Signs

On a church sign: There is no right way to do a wrong thing.

Oh yes there is. Haven’t you ever seen Ocean’s 11? There most certainly is a right way and a wrong way to rob a casino. Donning a ski mask and marching up to the front desk with a water pistol? Wrong way to rob the casino. Getting a bunch of professional crooks, plotting out things with blueprints, you know, doing all the stuff they did in the movie? Obviously the right way to do a wrong thing!

I don’t even get what they’re trying to say here. I understand their little word play with “right” and “wrong.” Are they hoping that some one might be driving by, thinking about how they can properly get their arson on, when they see the sign and realize that really, there’s no way they can set that fire the right way, because setting a fire is wrong?

The only logical result from following this sign’s advice is to become a very sloppy wrongdoer. And let me tell you, that’s not what we want. When my car got broken into and the wrongdoer ripped out my cd player and damaged my dashboard, that was the wrong way to steal a cd player. But when a wrongdoer stole my friend’s CD player, it was obvious that he knew what he was doing. He gingerly pulled out the CD player, leaving a minimal mess of cables.

So to sum up, Sign, I disagree with you. You’re not discouraging wrongdoing, you’re just encouraging sloppy wrongdoing. And if someone ever decides to vandalize you, I hope they take your advice and misspell their graffiti.

FSU in the Spring

We got back from Florida State University last night. I enjoyed the short trip. Brandon did a great job presenting his paper, we got a chance to walk around campus snapping pictures like the tourists that we are, and we got to eat some pretty decent Italian food.

We also got to experience a pretty nasty hotel the first night, along with some sub-par Mexican food. Lesson learned: it’s worth paying extra money for comfort and quality. We’re too old to be staying in squalor. When you’re a teenager it’s all well and good, but when you’re older and you’ve seen dateline specials about just what all is on the comforter and growing in the bathroom, it’s just not cool. We checked into a much nicer hotel on Saturday. Totally worth the extra money.

Brandon’s experiencing the glory of spring in the south for the first time. Hello, pollen! He was so cute. He was all like, “What’s that all over the car? Will it blow off when we get on the interstate?” And then I started sneezing and got a sinus headache and became a little jealous because he doesn’t seem to be bothered by pollen.

Here’s Brandon’s take on the trip, and my photo set on flickr.

Going to Flahrida

We’re leaving tomorrow to go to Tallahassee for the weekend. Brandon’s presenting a paper at FSU. Here’s the schedule for the conference.

The last time we went to Tallahassee was waaay early in our relationship, and in Brandon’s ignorance he followed my directions which were vague at best, and we got lost. This time he knows better.

And now I will venture further off the subject and talk about a peeve I have, not a pet peeve, just a minor one. It gets on my nerves when people pronounce Florida “flahrida” rather than “floorida.” I don’t usually care how people pronounce the names of states, it’s just that “flahrida” sounds so New Jersey-ish. I noticed that George Costanza (Seinfeld) says it that way, and he says it repeatedly through that episode where he tries to talk his parents into moving to Florida (into the Del Boca Vista condos).

I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing while Brandon’s attending other sessions. Anyone know of fun things to do in Tallahassee?

Cat Attack!

This video is hilarious. Apparently, the cat is a little camera-shy and doesn’t take kindly to reporters. Or this one anyway.

Missing the Days of Hitchcock

I just read an article about how graphic ads for the horror movie “Captivity” were pulled in Los Angeles because of the disturbing images of the torture and death of a woman in the movie. Here is a description of the scenes:

The billboards, first posted March 13, feature four frames with captions above each one. “Abduction” shows Cuthbert with a gloved hand over her face; “Confinement” features the actress behind a chain-link fence with a bloody finger poking through; “Torture” depicts Cuthbert’s face, covered in white gauze, with tubes shoved up her nose; and “Termination” shows her with her head thrown back, seemingly dead.

Is it just me, or has advertising for horror movies gotten a lot more gruesome lately? It’s been going on for a while, a three or so years I guess, but the most recent reminder for me was the commercial for the movie, “The Hills Have Eyes II,” in which you see a body (maybe dead, maybe unconscious) being dragged through the desert by a rope. There’s also some kind of freaky monster with a long slimy tongue that appears to be tasting the inside of a victim’s ear. I dunno, my point is, it’s disturbing. Even for me. And I’m not all that sensitive. I can watch the surgery channel or see images from a crime scene and not budge. But I always flip the channel when these commercials come on.

And I know, it’s lame to ask this question, because so many issues in society come down to this. But really, what about little kids? They see these billboards, these commercials. These commercials don’t just come on late at night. They come on during shows that a lot of kids watch. And I’m sure parents aren’t able to snatch the remote and turn the channel every time a commercial like that comes on.

When I was a kid, I snuck into the living room after I was supposed to be in bed because my older cousins were up watching a movie. I hid behind the couch and watched this scene in which these hooded figures snuck into this dormitory and stabbed the people to death in their beds. I slept with the covers up to my neck for a long time after that, as if the blanket were stab-proof. That scene that bothered me so much probably lasted less than a minute. And really, it wasn’t much more gruesome than these commercials/ads.

Horror movies never really appealed to me, and I realize there’s an audience for it. But I can’t imagine how hard it would be to have to explain to my kid what’s going on in these graphic commercials.

P.S. I have no problem with horror movies. If you like them, good for you, enjoy.

I knew it wouldn’t last.

Looks like my little hiatus didn’t even last a month. Oddly enough, it’s harder for me to not write. I thought maybe taking a break would be nice, that I’d break myself from the habit of wanting to write about these random and inconsequential experiences. Not so.

So did anything come of my little break? I guess it helped me realize why I write. Throughout my life I’ve always kept a journal. It’s probably a little vain, but I really like going back to things that I’ve written a few years ago to see how I’ve changed, if my writing has improved, how my outlook on life has developed. Does my writing need to be public? Of course not. And I suppose that question is what most influenced my little hiatus. Like I said, things have changed since I first began blogging. People don’t comment like they used to, which takes a lot of the fun out of it. Like the Dane said, “…Much of the life of a good blog rests in the conversations that occur within the comments. Even comments on boring posts have the potential to offer a sort of second life to a blog.”

If I’m going to keep blogging, I must realize that things have changed. So my motive for blogging must change as well.

I blog because it’s my outlet. It’s my way of keeping in touch with people. And apparently, I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet.