Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 4:00 PM

A couple miscellaneous tidbits...

• Want a free frozen lemondade from Burger King? Coupon here. It expires on July 1st, so redeem it soon.
• It may be too early to plan yet, but I want to see the exhibit on Elizabeth I at Folger Shakespeare Library that will be running from March 19, 2003 through late July, 2003.
  If possible, I'll try to go to D.C. in late March or early April so I can also attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court...
  Oh yea, and maybe time it for the cherry blossom festivals or something. [You can see what my priorities are]
• Thanks to clues given on Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me! I managed to find Ari Fleischer's wedding registry (search Target "Club Wedd" for the groom's name). It raises some interesting questions:
  • Why does he want the Forrest Gump DVD, when he already works for the man?
  • I find his choice of dinnerware to be pretty ugly.
  • Ian wants to buy Ari one of the tacky-looking $3 mugs, just 'cause, though given the reception given to Wait Wait's gift... well, we'll be discussing this issue for a while...
• I'm somewhat disturbed by the upcoming "Jewxploitation" movie The Hebrew Hammer -- it's like Undercover Brother for Jews instead of blacks.
• For folks who like free, creative, and mostly-nonviolent games, Orisinal has just posted some new Flash games. I particularly like Bubble Bees and Bauns, but they're all pretty fun. I recommend checking them out...
  Ian wants me to point out that Swordsman is not non-violent, but still fun.
• Meanwhile, I'm spending this afternoon as I do most Saturdays, listening to the A Capella show on WERS (88.9 FM; Emerson College radio station). Earlier, I listened to several tracks by Da Vinci's Notebook -- very funny stuff.
• For a different sort of odd humor, Ian discovered some interesting information on the origins of Naugahyde.
• Woo-hoo! Real Genius is finally out on DVD!!! Hooray! No bonus tracks, it looks like, but widescreen at least! I am so psyched.
• I've been toying with doing another mix album similar to my Insanity CD. I still have only a few tracks, but may have to do it, because I just came up with a title that I have to use:
  
  Attention Def... Jam
  I can't just let a title like that lie, so now I've got to come up with tunes to match... [Recommendations will be welcomed -- follow up in the comments section.]

That's about it for now. I could probably keep coming up with random tidbits forever (thus my subtitle above). We're going out to my in-laws tonight for dinner (and to pick up my purse).

Toodle-pip!

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:45 AM

So, the rest of my birthday went pretty well, though not entirely according to plan.

We had a late breakfast at the diner. Shortly after noon, I got dressed up in the Victorian garb my mother made and went down to the pond, where Ian snapped about a roll-and-a-half of photographs. Unfortunately, most photo places we phoned take a minimum of 3 business days to deliver if we want digital prints as well, so I won't be able to post them to the website until late next week.

We lounged about the house for a while, I'm reading David Starkey's Elizabeth: The Struggle for the throne, while Ian tried to make tapioca pudding.

In the late afternoon, we headed down to the comic shop. The only thing in my bin was the latest Dork Tower, but it was a laugh-out-loud issue. Quality in lieu of quantity.

After that, we decided to grab a quick dinner at Solea, a tapas restaurant that recently opened in Waltham. Good choice. We ate:

• Ceviche - Seafood Marinated in Citrus Juice
• Boquerones - Fresh Anchovies & Salmon Roe on a Tostada with Créme Fraiche
• Buñuelos de Alcachofas y Espinacas - Artichoke & Spinach Fritters
• Patatas Bravas - Wild, Hot & Spicy Potatoes
• Pato Braseado - Roasted Duckling with Berry Sauce

All items were excellent, and the amount of food was just right for the two of us. Because it was hot out, we ordered drinks, and because my first drink was so good, I ordered another with the meal:

• Caipirinha - cachaça (sugarcane liquor), sugar and lime
• Mojito - white rum mulled with simple syrup and (fresh!) mint

Absolutely magnificent, though I did get a little tipsy. But, Ian was driving and it was my birthday, so I decided to indulge myself. The whole meal was delicious.

From there, we went to Ian's parents place, where we picked up Leila and Joanne and headed out to the drive-in. Unfortunately, something happened that we didn't predict -- we got all the way there, only to discover they had sold out. So, we drove back to Wayland and hopped online to check movie times. By then, it was nearly ten o'clock, so we said our farewells to Leila & Joanne (and inadvertantly left my purse at their house)

Thanks to Ian's excellent driving skills, he and I managed to get to a 10:30 showing in Danvers.

Lilo and Stitch is a hoot! Really funny movie. I recommend it and may see it again. During the trailers, we noticed that The Powerpuff Girls is opening the same day as Men In Black 2, so I'm hoping for another double-feature at the drive-in, which this time we'll show up early for...

And that's about it for now. It wasn't my best birthday ever, but it was a lot of fun, and that's what's important.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:56 AM

<bwanno-bwanno-bwanno-ba-bwa>Today is my birthday...

Yup. As I said earlier, the cosmic binary odometer rolls over today, as I go from 11111 to 100000 years old.

My plans for the day include

• Breakfast at Ernie's -- a little place around the corner with the best diner food I've had
• Going down to the pond to take photos of my new hair and the amazing new outfit my mother made for me
• Maybe do a few things around the house
• Going to the Mendon Drive-In to see Lilo & Stitch and Spider-Man

Classes were really cool last night.
 For U.S. Gov't, we have to pick a topic and write a paper explaining where to find information on that subject on government websites. Our entire grade is based upon that one paper, but he's going to be very hands-on (with lots of lab-time in class), so now I've just got to pick a topic (I've already got a list of 20-30, ranging from the proposed John Adams memorial in Washington DC to how individuals can recover Holocaust-era assets; I'd rather choose something more service-oriented, but am still looking around).
 Management, well the professor acknowledges that the books are dull, but he looks like he'll make the rest of the class interesting. That class includes two papers. For the first one, we are to interview a library manager (not one we're working for). He recommends we take advantage of this opportunity to aim high and network; some students have gotten jobs out of this. I'm not interested in Barry Margoulis (head of BPL) because I will never work there due to the residency requirements, but hmm... Boston Athenaeum? The Waltham branch of National Archives? Maybe a local corporate library? I have to present the teacher with something on Tuesday, but I'm open to suggestions.

This morning, I awoke at 9, after dreaming that Ian & I were on a cruise ship. Mind you, when I awoke, we hadn't left port yet, but we were enjoying the all-you-can-eat buffet. [I guess that means I ought to grab breakfast soon...] After waking up, it was my normal routine on the computer -- morning comics, news, since it's Friday, Ebert's reviews... I opened the cards and gifts I received through the mail...
I know I'll talk to you later, but "Thanks for the shirts, mom! I'm wearing the short-sleeve top right now. How did you manage to match my hair-color when I never knew my hair would be purple!?" [I'll post photos as soon as I can]

For amusement's sake, I've been looking at on-line (newspaper) horoscopes. Since this post is getting long, I'll post them (shortly) on a link-page.

Added 10:20 AM

If you're interested, you can read my horoscopes here.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:10 AM

Yay!

I just got a new commenting program working for my journal!

YACCS only accepts 25 new members every midnight, with the notice that they normally reach that quota a few minutes after twelve.

But, I made it, and now have commenting again on my website. Sometime soon I will recopy all the previous comments into the new site and remove those links.

Anyway, now that I've got commenting working again, I'd love to hear from anybody who's reading my journal. Just drop a note and say hi!

Later!

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:42 AM

First of all, I just want to plug Revlon's Clean Touch. Worked like a charm at getting the dye stains off my skin. My fingernails are still tinted, but I'm otherwise back to my normal flesh tones.

However, it is quite clear that for now, my hair is purple, instead of blue. While I like purple (as my site design may attest), I also wear a lot of greens and blues (I'm a winter, doncha know), so wanted my hair to be blue in order to coordinate with more of my wardrobe. I'm not sure I can wear green with purple hair, fearing that such a color-scheme would invite comparisons to the Joker, Incredible Hulk, or a really confused Drazi.

But, for now, purple hair it is. I'll see about taking and posting some photos soon, but right now my hair color is about as dark and intense as it was originally (on the plus side, my roots hardly show!). Visualize a pair of brand new jeans, where the denim is still really dark, and then shift the shade from navy to purple. Oddly enough, this purple seems less outré than the blue was, it's so dark. Looks somewhat like some of the naturalistic dark plum dyes (at least, under indoor lighting).

But <whine> I liked being blue. As I've characterized it to friends, dying my hair blue has been like a spa treatment that affected everyone around me. Instead of relaxing me internally, it modified other peoples' attitudes and responses.

How could it not improve my mood when my appearance made so many people around me smile? If anything, the blue hair forced me to be more extroverted, and rewarded me for doing so.

But, now I'm purple. We'll have to see how it goes. If all else fails, maybe it's a good thing that I didn't return that shampoo that faded my haircolor so badly. I can always try stripping out the color and re-dying it.

Anyway, Summer Session II starts today, and I begin two classes that will run through August 1.

Anyway, that's how my life is going on the day before my binary odometer rolls over. How are you?

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:15 AM

I am such a geek

I just reread my last entry, which basically boils down to

There's new evidence in the debate over who wrote Shakespeare's plays. That's so cool!

Maybe cool to me, but I wonder how many others will have that reaction.

Sigh. It feels as if I am doomed to be esoteric.

Hmm; when my hair was blue, I noticed that it chased the blues away. I wonder if purple hair will turn me towards or away from that kind of prose?

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:05 AM

An "oh cool" and an "oh my" to close out this evening.

The "oh cool" is that Neil Gaiman has redesigned his website.

The "oh my" is a New York Times article revealing that the Funeral Elegy was not written by William Shakespeare, as was previously proposed. One reason why this is so stunning is that it has been a major argument against the Oxfordian camp (those who believe the Earl of Oxford wrote Shakespeare's works). The Funeral Elegy was written 8 years after Oxford's death, so if Shakespeare wrote the Elegy then Oxford couldn't be Shakespeare. But if the Elegy was written by somebody else, then... well, you get the idea.

Me, I guess I'm what the article calls a "passive Stratfordian," believing that William Shakespeare from Stratford was the author, although I follow the debates with some amusement. I like the idea that Kit Marlowe's death was faked and he went undercover to write as the Bard, but the record doesn't seem to back that up. Marlowe was too well-known to have stayed in London, and the plays are too tied to the makeup of the cast for them to have been written abroad and sent back...

For a good source on the debate, including all contenders for the title of "Bard," take a look at Shakespeare Authorship. The site's authors are Stratfordian, but they show evidence from all sides and let you, the reader, judge for yourself.

Ah well, I'm rambling. Good night.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:32 PM

Okay, I'm going to be petulant and gripe for a minute or two.

The Special Effects "Blue Velvet" hair dye turned my hair dark purple.

I don't want purple hair, I want to be blue!

<stomp><stomp><stomp>Rassen-frassen-mumble-grumble...

Now I'm off to the drug store to see if they have some product called Clean Touch that DyeMyHair.com recommends for cleaning stains off the skin.

I am not happy.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:16 PM

Sigh...

So, I decided tonight to re-color my hair before classes begin tomorrow, given that my blue hair was starting to look dark turquoise. So, I bought some hair dye at Newbury Comics, and spent this evening coloring my hair.

I can't tell exactly what the final shade will be, since my hair is still wet, but my hair is definitely darker now -- it's mostly matching my (black) roots, which it hadn't before. Unfortunately, during the rinsing process, purple dye has stained my ears, shoulders, back, hands and fingernails, legs, the soles of my feet, and parts of the bathtub (fortunately it's blue porcelain). I was very proud of myself in keeping the sink area clean while I dyed, but I didn't think I'd have such a problem rinsing off after the dye had sat. [I didn't have these kinds of problems the last time I dyed my own hair]

Oh, well, I think I'm going to take another shower and try to get this stuff off of me (nail polish remover works somewhat for some of the smaller stains, but this is just too much. And I definitely want to SoftScrub with bleach the bathtub before Ian gets home.

I did this so I'd look nice before classes begin tomorrow, but right now, I think I look worse. And, tomorrow, which I was going to spend mentally and practically preparing myself for class, I'll probably spend doing further cleaning.

As I said in the beginning... Sigh...

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:30 PM

Well, I just read book #81 for the year (mind you, today's the 170th day, so I lost my record of a book every other day) but I'm still pleased. At this point, I've read so much about Christopher Marlowe's life (and how he's portrayed in modern fiction) that I'm tempted to write an essay about it.

I've also added a more robust search feature to my Archives page, for anyone whose interested. (I'll confess, this is largely out of my own self-interest, as I was trying to find something I had written here a few weeks back).

BTW, for anybody in the Boston area, They Might Be Giants will be giving a free performance tonight at 7pm in the Borders bookstore in the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 PM

Fortune cookie I got tonight:

Rely on your own good judgement to lead you to success.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 AM

Two pieces of good news this morning.

First of all, I just got search working on this journal. In the past (mostly as an exercise in HTML-design) I've had a link to Google, which would allow searching of the world-wide web. But now, thanks to this Blogger FAQ entry and Atomz, we can now search for terms exclusively within this site. Cool, huh?

Secondly, the Mendon Drive-In (about an hour outside Boston) just posted its schedule for Friday movies. And, yesss!!! Double-feature: Lilo and Stitch followed by Spider-Man. And both for just $15 per vehicle. Well, that's what I'm doing for my birthday. Anybody else care to join us Friday night? We might be able to give more people a ride to and from the theater, but you'll have to bring your own chairs/blankets and boomboxes, because the view from our backseat ain't the greatest. If you're interested, phone or e-mail Ian or me and we'll see about arranging a group expedition.

<Humming to herself>Hey, a movie! Yeah, it's going to be terrific...

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:42 PM

Oh, well, looks like I'll be out of town the day of Blogathon. I'm rapidly switching between feelings of relief and sorrow at being unable to participate.

So, what is Blogathon, for those of you curious but too busy to check the website? Basically, it's like those old pledge drives for charity. Participants choose a charity, seek out sponsors to make pledges, then commit to "update [their blogs] every 30 minutes for the 24- hour period beginning on July 27, 2002, at 0600 Pacific Time." Sounds daunting, but fun.

But, alas, not for me, not this year...

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:33 PM

Oh, my word...

I'll have to check my calendar; I may be out of town on that day, but if my calendar is open on that day... well... I'll have to think about it... (would anybody pledge if I did participate?)

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:16 PM

For what it's worth, I've made minor updates on many of my pages today, including several new quotations. I've also tweaked the About Me essay a little bit since I first announced it this morning.

Second, I just posted a review of Untam'd desire: Sex in Elizabethan England to Amazon reviews. It'll take a couple days for it to appear on the site, but "[i]n short, fascinating subject matter hampered by a needlessly complex writing style."

Meanwhile, I'm organizing my workspace, dealing with the finances, waiting for Ian to get home, and trying to figure out why my computer clock is currently losing about a minute per day (the operating system has an automated weekly Internet-time synch; I wish I could increase its frequency).

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:40 AM

Okay, I've now got a one week breather between classes; so have a little time to post. And fortunately, my next two classes have a much more leisurely pace than my first two, so shouldn't be as all-consuming as my first two were. I spent much of this weekend sleeping off my exertions from these classes.

• Information Design was very worthwhile, though I didn't get to bed before 1am any night that week in order to get all the work done. This was complicated by the fact that I finally gave into a friend's recommendations and read some online Harry Potter fanfic, not realizing that they were novel-length stories. Whoops! But, alls well that ends well, and I'm quite happy with the work I turned into the class. I'll have to check back to the school website to see which (if any) of my ideas they actually implement.
• More worrisome this weekend was the e-mail I got from the professor of my first class. As I said earlier, the assignments were due Monday at 9am, because (the teacher said) he had to turn the grades in by Friday. So, I e-mailed the papers in to the professor Monday at 7am. Friday night, I got home and checked my e-mail to find a message from the professor, saying "I did not receive a copy of your final papers..."
  Panic!!!
  I re-sent the e-mail (showing the original timestamp) and got another e-mail from the professor this morning says he got them no problem. Still, I was hoping to find out how I did in the class by now; I guess that will have to wait.

Let's see, what else is going on besides academics...

• Ben Schreiber has posted some pictures from last weekend's Brandeis Kook-Out on his website.
• Friday night, the best man from our wedding -- a friend of Ian's since they were six years old -- was in town for a visit. A very fun evening.
• This morning, I finally posted my About Me essay to the website.
• My mother just sent me a package including an absolutely gorgeous outfit she made for me. I don't want to say too much, but they're Victorian-style out of metallic denim. Think steampunk. [I want to get a trilobyte locket..] It clashes a bit with my current haircolor, but I'll try to post some photos of me in the outfit soon.

I'll post more later, including some of my observations regarding life with blue hair. Ciao for now!