COME ON STEELERS!

Whatever.

Just......whatever.

Blown Away

Although the Wyoming Wind Festival is a year-round event, it seems that it is in fullest swing between the months of October and April. So here we go! Hang on or get blown away!

I remember hearing something once about suicidal prairie housewives back in the early settling days who were driven over the edge by the constant, violent wind whipping in through the cracks of their crumbling sod houses. This stuck with me for many years to come, because I, while not suicidal in the least, am emotionally affected by the wind.

Wind makes me irritable. Cold wind, after several months on end, makes me angry. I don't know exactly why this is, but I have been doing some research today that has shed a bit of light on the problem. For me, I think it relates to the fact that I don't like going outside and having my clothes and hair assault me, so I stay inside a lot more, and that is not good for morale.

Wind illness, or P'a Leng (China and Southeast Asia), is a specific disorder that is defined as a fear of being cold or of the wind, which is associated with a loss of yang and upset of natural balance in the body. This relates to what Johnny said earlier about how strong wind blows away our personal atmosphere. It literally destroys our personal space.

I also found an article from a 1901 issue of Popular Science Monthly entitled "Suicide and the Weather" by Professor Edwin G. Dexter of the University of Illinois that says that wind produces a neurotic condition in which self control is in a marked degree lessened. Another article in today's BBC Weather Centre explores  "Weather and Behaviour" and states:

"A persistent or noisy wind can lead to an increase in tiredness and irritability, or even a sudden decrease in mood. Some school teachers have noticed that children tend to be more irritable and that there are more playground 'upsets' when it is windy.

Seasonal winds are known as 'ill winds' in many cultures and have a variety of names such as the föhn (Alps), Mistral (southern France), Chinooks (western Canada and the USA) and the Sharav (Middle East). They are linked to feelings of anxiety, stress, depression and sleepless nights."

Here in Wyoming, we like to make jokes about the wind such as "Do you know why the wind blows so hard in Wyoming?  Because Nebraska sucks!"  etc, etc etc.  Of course, Nebraska turns it around on us.   I've  lived in Nebraska and the wind there is just as bad.

So, sure enough there is evidence to prove that wind really does drive us crazy.  I can just imagine being one of those prairie farm wives during the Dust Bowl, home all day, nothing to listen to but crying children and the whistling wind, getting pelted with sand every time I went outside to do chores, a "black blizzard" looming in the distance.  Not fun.  Just sitting here now, listening to the wind rattle the windows of my warm, sturdy house, makes me slightly agitated.  I also heard that the number of murders and assaults increases during particularly windy weather.  This all comes around full circle from my previous blog post "Wyoming is a Place Where People go to Die."  I hope I don't kill anyone.

On Nature

Because nature wants to eat you and make you unhappy. All the time. See that squirrel outside your window? It wants to steal your car and make out with your Ma.

I Hate Nature from Olde English Comedy on Vimeo.

Pretty.

The Morning Blarg

Hi! I've been off work for 3 hours and still can't get to sleep. It's morning now so I decided to copy my boyfriend and do a "morning blog" today. And here it is. 47 seconds of amazeballs.

Jazz

These are my thoughts exactly...

Do I Want to be a Lawyer? Part 2

This is me and my cousin Eric, the lawyer.

Wyoming Neature Walk

Keeping in theme with the video trend that seems to be sweeping my blog...



"You can tell that it's an aspen tree, because of the way it is!"

Thanks for the Daily Horror

Video seems to be my thing in this space. And I hope I'm pretty good at it. And so...

I'm not sure what this is. It appears to be some sort of gay rights parade interrupted by a robot massacre. Set to the tune of an early Nintendo game.

Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers from beeple on Vimeo.

Smell a poopy diaper!

-Johnny

Looks LIke Its a Video Sorta Day

I'm not even entirely sure what this is even about....Some sort of squid monster threatening kiwis or something. Anyways, there's a six legged mouse.

The Tale of How from Shy the Sun on Vimeo.

NEW DIE ANTWOORD!

Today is a very exciting day! South African Zef style for life! I bring you Die Antwoord's latest video masterpiece...

Hello World

Dear Readers -

Kaichita has kidnapped my family. Once a week, she sends me a new, grisly trophy that she's sawed off of them with a rusty butter knife. As such, I have been forced against my will to contribute to her blog. For the love of God, save my family. Oh please save them....Last week, she sent me my cousins ear in a velvet bag. Please save my family...Please....

Anyway, s'long as I'm here as guest contributor I should introduce myself:

Hey Y'all!

I work at a beer distributor in a particularly thirsty part of my city. You can read more of my stuff here. Typically, I write about politics, current events and economics. I welcome a break from that. As such, I'm pleased to offer the following video that has nothing to do with any of that.....

Never trust a Mummy, ladies and gents. Particularly not a techno-space mummy.

BIRDY NAM NAM - THE PARACHUTE ENDING from Steve Scott on Vimeo.

Blarg

So I had to limit the access to my blog because my psycho ex boyfriend is using it to stalk me and leaving nasty comments. Why do some people have to be so damn crazy? Shit! See two posts below for an illustration of this exclamation.

Love,
Your Mom

Ireland: Part 1 - Dublin

April, 2010. I flew into Dublin from Chicago because it was, by far, the cheapest place to fly to in all of Europe. Ireland was not really on my list of places I wanted to spend any prolonged amount of time in, but it was a good starting off point.

As the plane was descending over the Emerald Isle, I gazed out the window at what really was the greenest place I had ever seen. Shimmery even. I was seated next to a man on the plane who was about 50 years old and had dreamed of going to Ireland his whole life and this was his first time, so he was very excited and it was rubbing off on me.

I made my way from the airport, by bus, to my hotel which was situated right in the heart of Temple Bar. Within Temple Bar lies Grafton Street - probably the most famous street in Ireland, except for maybe that street where Bloody Sunday occurred in Belfast, but Northern Ireland is a whole other story. Anyway, my hotel was called The Fleet Street Hotel and it was well before check-in time so I wandered around, trying to find a pub that was open so that I could have a few pints. I met a window washer named Pat (how original!) who pointed out the towering "spur" monument near the river Liffey and referred to it as "the syringe" and then gave me a ride in his window washer van to the only open pub in the neighborhood. I remember trying to get in to the van on the drivers' side and he said "oh ye're drivin' are ye?" and I sheepishly made my way around to the other side. I wish I could remember the name of the place he took me to, but it was a nice place that served a good lunch and I got quite hammered on Guinness. I met a lovely girl who was telling me all about how I had to go to a store called Penney's before I left Dublin. She also helped me get a taxi and sent me on my way to my hotel. I had a nice little room with a private bathroom (something I took for granted at the time).

The weather in Dublin was quite nippy that week in early April and I was packed for spring-like weather so I really had to layer on the clothing when I ventured outside. I had watched a documentary on famous Dublin pubs hosted by Frank McCourt (the author of Angela's Ashes) before I embarked on this trip, so I had a list of places I wanted to check out. Two places that really stuck out were John Kehoe's and Toner's.

I have never been much of a typical tourist. I am not very interested in seeing all of the monuments and museums and taking guided tours and what have you. I am more of a bar-hopping people person, and to me, the people ARE the attraction. I'm also an alcoholic, so naturally I spent a lot of time in pubs.

This initial stay in Dublin was only planned for 2 days and 3 nights because I wanted to check out a little bit of the city before I had to meet my friend in Scotland. I mostly wandered around Temple Bar, hit a lot of pubs, met a lot of super nice people, struggled to stay warm and stuck out like a sore thumb. I met a nice Irish guy named Jack and he took me to John Kehoe's (crossed that one off my list), which was packed full of Irish men in suits who all got a major kick out of me. I drank a LOT of Guinness. It was a LOT of fun.

Back in my hotel room, I was able to catch my first glimpse of a soap opera called Emmerdale. More on that in blogs to come. Anyway, my last day in Dublin I decided to have a bit of food at a really cool pub with a gorgeous mosaic wall and I met this bohemian-like couple who were really sweet and the guy even gave me a pill that he said would relax me for my flight. I washed it down with a pint of Guinness (what else?) and proceeded to catch the bus to the airport as the pill was really starting to take effect. I had some time to kill so I sat down at a table in an airport pub with a pint of Guinness and promptly fell asleep, missing my flight. Shit. I woke up several hours after it had departed and, in a panic, scrambled to find a way to get to Glasgow. Fortunately, RyanAir is dirt cheap and I was able to get a reasonably-priced, last-minute flight the next morning.

All in all, my first Irish experience was a positive one. Looking back, I was starry eyed and invincible, awestruck and trusting to a fault. I walked the streets of Dublin as if they were my own and I hadn't a care in the world. All of these illusions would disintegrate and float off into random shards of fuzzy memories as my European adventure continued, and by time I would return to Dublin, the city would take on a whole new light.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Getting to know...Me!

Here's a little questionnaire circulating around facebook. I thought I'd bring it on over here for your reading pleasure.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
9:55 AM

2. How do you like your steak?
Medium Rare and juicy!

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Avatar. Almost fell asleep and proceeded to walk out about halfway thru.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Real Time With Bill Maher

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Pittsburgh, duh.

6. What did you have for breakfast?
3 of eggs.

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
Mexican food FTW!

8. What foods do you dislike?
See previous post.

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
Chipotle Mexican Grill!

10. Favorite dressing?
I can't help that I love the homemade ranch dressing. So bad but so good.

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
Nissan Sentra

12. What are your favorite clothes?
Simple, neutral colored clothes with very bold shoes and accessories.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
Bavaria, Germany or Venezuela.

14. Cup half empty or half full?
Always half full.

15. Where would you want to retire?
See three posts below. Wyoming is a place where people go to die.

16. Favorite time of day?
The night time is the right time.

17. Where were you born?
Borrington, WHYoming

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Football. The real kind. Also does Ninja Warrior count?

19. Bird watcher?
Sure!

20. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Both!

21. Do you have any pets?
Too numerous to mention.

22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
I am totally, butt-crazy in love with Johnny and I get to see him in 28 days!

23. What did you want to be when you were little?
A pop star

24. What is your best childhood memory?
playing "let's annoy grandma" with my cousin Todd.

25. Are you a cat or dog person?
I can't choose. They're both great!

26. Are you married?
Nope.

27. Always wear your seat belt?
Always.

28. Been in a car accident?
A handful of them.

29. Any pet peeves?
People who speak in monotone. People who stop by without calling first. If someone stopped by unannounced and spoke in monotone the whole time I would probably go mental.

30. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
Anything, anything as long as there's extra cheese!

31. Favorite Flower?
Orchids are beautiful but I am a sucker for a blood red rose.

32. Favorite ice cream?
MOOSE TRACKS MOTHAFUCKA!

33. Favorite fast food restaurant?
Again, Chipotle!

34. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
Once.

35. From whom did you get your last email?
Photojojo. They're wonderful!

36. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
I would never max out my credit card! If I could go on a shopping spree without creating any debt I would go totally nuts in any number of electronics departments or Canon stores.

37. Like your job?
Umm...

38. Broccoli?
Yum!

39. What was your favorite vacation?
7 countries, 3 months, Spring 2010

40. Last person you went out to dinner with?
My mom and grandma...

41. What are you listening to right now?
The "whirrr" of my CPU.

42. What is your favorite color?
RED.

43. How many tattoos do you have?
One.

44. Do you have any kids?
No.

45. Coffee Drinker?
Ohhh yeah!

And here is a video that I like.

Baa-aa-aa--aad Sheep (a complain-a-blog)

My mom says that she fed me various game meat as I was growing up and supposedly I gobbled it up like nobody's business. Why is it, then, that I cannot stand the taste of things like deer, elk and pheasant now? One winter about 15 years ago someone gave my mom a big, beautiful deer that they'd hunted and she used every part of that deer for all sorts of different types of meat. I was eager to try it but, as it turned out, I just did not like the flavor. It's gamey! So this was a miserable year or so for me because obviously that amount of meat lasted us a long time and she'd put deer in EVERYTHING. She tried to be sneaky and grind it and put it in things like spaghetti and chili but I could always tell. That distinct flavor cannot be disguised.

One time I had some moose that was not bad. It was dry but didn't have that gamey taste. Come to think of it, I did not mind the deer jerkey so much either. Something about the drying process must remove the sourness that I do not like. So there are exceptions to every rule I suppose.

The next thing I would like to discuss is sheep. I do not like the taste of mutton either. It has a very sour and sharp aftertaste that I am not fond of at all. When I was in Scotland I tried all sorts of haggis at various different places and was not impressed with any of it. The seasonings were nice and the flavors beyond the sheep were quite savory but I could still taste that nasty meat through and through. Also, when I was in England, I was interested in trying Shepherd's Pie. Unbeknownst to me, it also contains mutton and it ruined my entire Shepherd's Pie experience. So then someone turned me on to Cottage Pie, which is exactly like Shepherd's Pie only with beef instead of sheep - and all was right with the world again.

Someone also suggested that I try lamb because it has a milder flavor than its parents. I had the opportunity to eat a succulent lamb on Greek Easter at a club I used to work at and everyone was "ooh"-ing and "aahhh"-ing over how delicious it was. So, in good faith, I took a piece. It smelled wonderful. It was juicy and seasoned perfectly. I bit into it.....FUCKING SHIT THAT SHIT IS NASTY TOO!!!!! GODDAMNIT!!! FUUUUUUUUU......!

So anyway, as far as the things that come out of the nipples of sheep and goats, those are gross too. They contain that same sourness that I just do not have a taste for. Icky.

I am jealous of people who like lamb and sheep and game. On cooking shows they're always cooking up beautiful-looking lamb chops and people seem to go nuts for them. It's not fair, but I guess the jerky is good. So there's that.