Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Things With 8 Legs Really Are Just...Unnatural.

Yep, it's time for another anti-spider blog. Let us begin, shall we?

I know it's been a while since my last spider rant (a few months, I want to say, but I'm not entirely sure...). And honestly, I thought I had gotten it out of my system. But a series of events has occured that has forced me to write another post.

Mainly, I got mauled by a spider last week.

That's right. Not just bitten. Mauled. As in, something a bear would do was commited by a spider last week. I woke up one morning and my back was itchy. I wasn't overly concerned, as I usually get dry skin on my back fairly bad. However, I looked in the mirror and was promptly horrified.

My back and shoulder are covered in bites. It looks as though I was going at it with a spider American Gladiator style, except that I was asleep the whole flippin time and couldn't properly fight back.

And now everything itches. It's been almost a week and I have been scratching, and scratching, and SCRATCHING my bites, and it makes everything else itch too, like my skin is being sympathtic to the bite region or something. It is really starting to irritate the living daylights out of me.

I am putting this on my list of why spiders are evil. Cause, let's face it, they are. Evil and unnatural.

Thank you for your time.

~Meaghan

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Screw It Being a Man's World.

Today in my Biology class, I learned that the two men who took credit for discovering DNA helixes and how they work stole the prior research from a woman. Rosalind Franklin was the first one to photograph and work with DNA via X-ray diffraction in the 1950's. Thanks to her breakthrough with it, scientists were able to see the way that double helixes cross and spiral.

And then James Watson and Francis Crick stole credit for it. Granted, Crick and Watson did elaborate on what Franklin did, but seriously - the guys went into her lab when she wasn't there, looked at her research and X-rays, and then read various articles that she had written about her findings before they came up with their models. They were also the ones who recieved the Nobel Prize for it, not Franklin.

Anyone else think this is terrible?

I don't understand why we ever had this notion that women are only good as homemakers. Seriously, nothing pisses me off more than the thought that if I was born in a different era, I would be forced to stay at home and play the role of a wife. Let me take a moment to clarify, though, before I offend anyone.

I am not against being a wife, having kids, and being a stay at home mom. Honestly, if I ever find the right guy, I think I could be perfectly happy doing just that. However, I never, EVER want it forced onto me. I want the opportunity to chose what I do with my life up until that point, and I want to be able to have credit given me where credit is due. I don't want my gender ruling my life or my place in society. I expect to be allowed to vote, write, compete in the job market against others, have my voice heard, etc. I, in short, want - no, demand - that I have every right to be happy and successful as a man.

And that's because of the era I'm living in. It is still to an extent a "man's world", with woman's issues (such as abortion) in the Congress (which is run primarily by men - what do they know regarding such things anyway?) and slight pay differences in some places. But still, I have the ability to go to college and to vote and to keep this blog. I am planning on going into science, which is a field no longer primarily dominated by men, and I am planning on somehow impacting society, be it through teaching, writing, or research.

Why couldn't Rosalind Franklin have the same thing? Why did it take us so long as a society to get to this point? I don't understand. I don't understand why women were looked down for so long (and in some places still are). I don't get why we are considered the weaker of the genders.

And don't even say childbirth. I may not have any kids, but I know how much work is involved in that. Show me a man who can do that, and I'll zip my trap.

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't think it's fair for men to take credit for all the major breakthroughs in life, especially when it's not their idea, just because women aren't as "great", "powerful", or "strong" as they are.

*gets off her soapbox*

That is all. And if I meet a guy, the minute he makes me change is the minute it's over.

~Meaghan

Monday, March 29, 2010

I Don't Care If This Counts as Word Vomit

I'm going to do it anyway.

This is the second blog for the day, but I am so awake right now that I feel like blogging all over again. Besides, holding in words is a bad thing. It is always good to get them down on paper or the computer or even on a napkin, cause you never know what sort of ideas you are going to come up with on a whim. (The people who know me know that I usually by college ruled notebooks in bulk - this concept is why.)

Anyway, I was kind of having a time of it. My roller skates are a pain (or at least the arguments they have brought about with my mom have been a pain, as I have yet to take the skates outside..), my job is sucking the life out of me, new job applications freak me out, change is scary, school deadlines are approaching, etc.

My dad picks me up from work tonight, though, and things changed a little. It turns out that he Googled my username (birdgirl90 - it's my username for everything except youtube, if anyone was curious...) and it turns out all of my stuff showed up on the first page of searches. This thrilled me, as I am trying to get noticed for something like my writing or my wit or whatever it may be that people notice with me.

So I tried it, and sure enough. This blog came up, my accounts at various forums came up, a lot of my old fanfiction came up, and my Myspace page came up. Which is funny, cause I really prefer Facebook over Myspace and pretty much don't use Myspace anymore.

Still, I am estatic. I may not have a page view counter on this (I have yet to figure that one out) but I have a feeling people are reading this. Especially considering how much I've been whoring out this blog on all the forums and Facebook and everything else I'm a part of.

This then brings about a question: do I even write about anything that is of interest to other people besides me?

I thought about it for all of two seconds and decided it ultimately did not matter. It's my blog, I can write about what I feel like, and if the general population likes it then great, if not it really is no skin off of my nose.

That being said, I like having other people at least share in the drama of my day to day life as a Colorado young woman.

Anyway, that made my day and made me want to blog. I really should be getting to bed now, though, as it's almost 11 and I have class in the morning. One last thing before I go: if anyone is interested in following me at Twitter (I still am not sure how I feel about it, but I think I like it), I am @birdgirl90 and you are more than welcome to look for me. I have a Facebook page too, but I don't feel like giving that out here.

Okay, I'm done. Goodnight, my dear Cyberland Readers, and sweet dreams of the golden keyboards.

~Meaghan

Some Things Are Harder Than They Should Be.

Like me trying to find a new job. (I think this is a safe place to talk about it, as I am fairly sure that none of my coworkers read this. And it's my blog, so I should be allowed to talk about what's bugging me anyway. Right? Right.)

Today I started to fill out applications for Borders and the bowling alley. I quickly stopped without saving any of the information, as I hit a point where the application asked for references of people who have known me for at least five years. Okay, I just moved out here to Colorado in 2005; most of the people back in Missouri don't keep in touch or didn't know me for at least five years, and most of the people here haven't known me for five years. Hell, it'll be five years in August.

I think they are making this application process a lot more difficult that it needs to be. Or I'm just really paranoid and having trouble because I'm making it a lot harder than it needs to be, which would not surprise me.

I know the economy is bad and that I should be glad I have a job right now, but I have to say that Sylvan is sucking out my soul. Everytime I go to work I feel overwhelming dread and dispair. This isn't to say that I don't like the all the people I work with. In truth, most of the teachers are fun to work with. And I love all the kids who come in for help.

But-

I can not stay there any longer. I've been there almost two years and I make just above minimum wage. For the number of hours I work a week and the kind of work that I do, I could easily work the same amount of hours in retail, do something more stimulating, and make more money while doing it, as well as having the opportunity to go full time when I'm done with school.

It just makes more sense to me. I am becoming resentful about going to work and about having the nit-picking and the cranky parents and whatnot. I would much rather work at a bookstore or clothing store where I still have to deal with cranky people but where it all balances out because the work is more stimulating and I can get a discount of stuff.

I feel slightly like I am breaking up with Sylvan, though. And I can't even tell the people I'm working for that I'm looking, which is hard. Change scares the heck out of me, but change must happen if I am going to be happy in my life. Even if I do feel slightly guilty about it.

Okay, that's my rant for the day. Please excuse me while I scream into a pillow at how much of a pain it is for me to get out the hell-hole I call "my place of employment".

~Meaghan

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Holy Toledo, Batman.

TV's Frank (Frank Conniff, brilliant comedian and commentator) is now following me on Twitter.

I am waay too easily starstruck. *slaps self in face* Okay, that's better.

That's all. You can now return to your regularly scheduled routine.

I Finally Caved and Joined Twitter...

I know, I know. It's just like Facebook and all the rest: I say I'm not going to do it cause I'm all about non-conforming and crap, and then I go and join. And I like it.

I know nothing about Twitter except that it allows me to stal- I mean follow my favorite celebrities. Oh, and it gives me another place to complain or whatever, and to shamelessly push this blog. Oh yes, I am going to get the viewer count up on this if it kills me.

So, school is going, and I have, yet again, another mountain of homework for this week, and instead of doing any of it, I joined Twitter and am now currently blogging about it. I am such a good procrastinator, I could make a career out of it. No joke at all. Although, I think I might get bored not doing anything stimulating with my life...

I don't know how I feel about Twitter. Give me a week and I will let you know how it's working out for me. Geez, it sounds like I'm breaking in a new pair of shoes or something...

On other fun and exciting news, I got my Bio test grade posted. I somehow passed with a B on it, which is really remarkable considering that I missed one class period due to not feeling well and that I really had no idea what was going on. My overall grade in the class is hovering around an 80%, which is again fairly remarkable because the average they expect from the class is a C or lower. Still, it's low compared to what I'm used to, but I think I'm going to choose to not worry about it. My professor has assured me that it is bound to get more interesting from here on out, mainly because we are done looking at the functions of cells.

If I ever have to learn about the organelles inside plant and animal cells again, I think I'm going to run out of the room screaming and crying at the same time.

Today, among joining Twitter, I also spent a good part of the morning putting various songs they did on MST3K onto my iPod. My favorites by far are the Godzilla Geneology Bop and the Pleasant Journey. I really like the Fugitive Alien Medley and the Hike Up Your Pants song, but I haven't found those on audio file yet...

If you haven't figured it out by now, this is probably a good time to tell you that I am, in fact, a nerd. Not a full-fledged, Big Bang Theory type (yet), but a nerd of sorts. I mean, I try to do well in school, I can quote various things such as Star Trek, Watchmen, and the Lord of the Rings, and I have taught myself one phrase in Vulcan. And I have Star Trek ska bands that I occasionally listen to (Nerf Hender, people, Nerf Hender...).

After the excitment of putting MST3K music on my iPod, my little sister Katie and I walked over to the local 7-11 to get food. I love their taquitos - terrible for you, but oh so good.

So anyway, this has gone on waaay too long, and I am rambling like you would not believe. I better stop while I'm at least somewhat ahead...

Until next time, Cyberland Readers,

~Meaghan

Friday, March 26, 2010

I Got My Derby Skates!!1

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I have this rather crazy dream of becoming a roller derby queen. It's crazy because I'm 19 and have another year and a half before I can try out. It's crazy because roller derby is a contact sport where people actually get hurt. It's crazy cause I'm a fairly nice individual most of the time and have been told I sometimes let people just walk all over me.

It's crazy cause you actually have to know how to skate.

So I ordered a pair of roller derby skates from Target last week so that I can start practicing. They came in yesterday and I am so thrilled. They are a men's size 8 (all derby skates for some reason are in men's sizes and not women's even though it is a woman's sport...), black, sleek, and just all around amazing.

So far I have discovered that I can skate really well on carpeted surfaces, such as the living room, hallway, and dining room. Now I just have to practice on non-carpeted surfaces, such as the kitchen or bathroom.

As I have said before, I am pretty excited. I am begining to get to that point where I don't just take stuff lying down (I blame improv), I am starting to come into my own, and I'm not as nice as I used to be. I think I am finally becoming a functioning, successful adult. Ok, well maybe not successful, but still..

I am going to use my skates to usher in the rest of that. Some people get tattoos, some people move out, I am going to do roller derby.

Now, about learning to skate....

~Meaghan

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Farewell, GPA, It's Been Great...

That's right. I just completely and totally bombed (as in bad and not good) my math test. I know it.

I know a lot of people will tell you that if you feel you did really bad, in actuality you probably did better, but I'm not buying it today. Something about not being able to find the horizontal asymptote or being able to graph based on numbers selected along a specific interval tells me that I failed.

Seriously, I went through before I turned in the test and calculated point value based on the ones I know I got right and the results were not promising. At worst I got a 50%; at best it went up to a 60%. Granted, this is the class that I have a 97% in right now, but still. I am known for being an overachiever, someone who actually cares about their grades (mainly cause I pay for school myself).

This coupled with my Biology grade shows that everyone was wrong in their assement of me as a student. (My bio grade is a very low 82 %, but let's not speak of that, shall we?)

I think my problem this semester is that I have been going to school since May, and am now finally burned out. I mean, there are only so many papers you can write before you stand up, scattering papers or the laptop or whatever, throw your arms in the air and shout "ENOUGH!!!!" *

*this may be overkill, but you catch my drift...

Oh well. I finished summer semester with a 4.0 GPA; last semester I had a 3.67. With any luck, I can work my ass off and try to pull out this semester. I think that as long as it's not a 2.0, I'm not going to worry about it.

And summer is looking better by the hour...

On other notes, I recently discovered the movie "Whip It" with Ellen Page in it. I had read the book it was based on years ago, and I have to say the movie is now one of my favorites.

As soon as my skates get here, I can see if I have what it takes to do roller derby. I'm gunning for roller derby queen in 2011/2012. Woot!

I'm trying to think if there is anything else exciting going on. I'm think about changing jobs for something a little more challenging and higher pay, but I have to wait until after our vacation in June. Which is fine.

I joined the Cinematic Titanic forum. I take back all of my previous bitching about them; I don't know why ordering DVDs was such a pain, but I think I'm going to try again down the road. (I'm broke right now ): )

Okay, well that's it. I'm just wasting time in the computer lab before my next test.

Until next time, dear Cyberland Readers,

~Meaghan

Have some forklift action (or at least music):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wErpaF1jvjU&feature=related

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

...even though it is spring.

We got a blizzard last night. I have to say, I have been wanting a blizzard for sometime now, even though I hate the snow. The main reasons are a) it's Colorado, b) I want school and work to be cancelled, and c) I really just want a reason to do nothing but stay home, drink green tea, and knit (or write, or read, or get caught up on homework...etc..).

But no.

It blizzarded alright, with snow drifts almost up to my knee (I'm 5'4 if that gives you any insight into the depth of the snow). But I was at work when it started and had already skipped school yesterday (don't say a word - it's my money and my education, I'm allowed to skip.). To top it off, it got so bad that my dad got snowed in at King Soopers and had to spend the night there away from us.

Today it is beautiful, the sun is shining, and it is mild temperature wise. Which means that I will have class tomorrow and I have to go to work in the next 20 minutes. Oh, and my roller derby skates that I ordered are going to be late coming in because of the weather.

Did I mention I'm dog sitting again this week too? I swear, it snows everytime I dogsit...

Maybe the next time a blizzard comes through, it will actually cancel everything the next day. Needless to say, while the snow is impressive, I'm not 100% satisfied or thrilled. I think that means I get a refund.

Right?

Until the next time, cyberland readers...

~Meaghan

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Have I Ever Mentioned My Extreme Dislike of Ice??

If I haven't, I'm about to.

I almost did it. I almost made it an entire Colorado snow/ice season (in most places I believe it is refered to as winter; here, it's more like fall/winter/spring) without falling on my ass from ice. Slipped? Lots of times. But I never once fell.

Until last night.

I dog sit for my neighbor about once a month. It seems that it snows almost everytime that I do so. This weekend was no exception. We got 10 inches of snow and a boatload of ice on the sidewalks. (This is the setup to the story, hang in there...)

So I had to take the dog out last night and she chose the slickest, most ice covered part of the complex to walk in. It was all well and good until the way back, when I for a moment lost focus on putting one foot in front of the other and proceeded to hit a patch of ice. My legs flew up from under me like one of those over-acting comedians and before I knew it, I was flat on my back, looking at the stars while a couple of neighbors asked me if I was okay and the dog sniffed me to see if I was still alive.

The worst part? I knew it was going to happen before it did. I saw the patch of ice, thought 'I bet I hit that', and fell. And as I picked myself up, the neighbors who asked if I was okay also put in a bit about how that looked like it really hurt.

It did, but I think I just kind of shrugged it off. I know it hurts like heck today.

The good news is that I fell the way you theoretically are supposed to and avoided hitting my head. However, my elbows and various other parts are bruised like you would not believe.

The moral of the story? Don't celebrate going a whole snow season without falling until you are completely sure the season is over.

~Meaghan

Saturday, March 20, 2010

2012 - The End of the World of the Living?

Let's face it: everyone has their own theory about what is going to happen in 2012. I'll admit, it can be a scary thing to think about. Some people are saying the whole world is going to explode or something.

I have my own theory.

The Zombie Apocalypse.

That's right, folks, zombies are the only logical answer for what is going to happen in 2012. What, you think I'm crazy? Think about this: every time there is a major outbreak of disease that has people out for the count, the government calls it a crisis. Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, it's the government covering up something much more dangerous and crazy? I wouldn't put it past them, to be honest. It would be very easy for the government to have the CDC release something like swine flu to cover up, say, military experimentation gone wrong.

I swear I'm not paranoid.

What am I getting at? I'll tell you what: there are probably hundereds upon hundereds of T-virus (the stuff that causes you to turn into the undead) outbreaks worldwide. Our governments are just really good at disgusing them.

How does this tie into 2012? My theory is that in 2012, the T-virus experiments and consequent outbreaks are going to somehow leak out from the hands of the scientists who posses the test tubes and leak into the general public, causing all of society to turn into cannibalistic undead creatures in the style of "Dawn of the Dead" and "Resident Evil". That's right.

What do we do? Don't panic is a good first step. Many movies have predicted zombies rising; while they don't all agree on a lot of things (the virus, the outbreak, etc.) they all hit on parts. Start watching the movies. I recommend you start with Resident Evil.

The trick for survival is to not get bit. Always shoot the zombies in the head, and weapon wise, unless you are a very good shot with a gun or at completely close range for something like a machete, you should probably not worry too much. The main thing you want to do is find a safe, secure area that is not easibly broken into and that preferably has a food supply inside. Great examples are places like Sam's Club or Costco, or the occasional Wal-Mart. If you are in a bind, you can take over a shopping mall, but this is a last resort because of the various entrances and the wide square milage to protect inside. Sam's Club/Costco is ideal because of the cement walls, high up windows, and minimal doors.

Cars are great cause they can get you where you need to go while you run over any zombie in your way. Please note, though, that you don't want to go out of your way to run over the zombies because it will damage your car and use fuel that you should be conserving to get to your safety zone.

If anyone you know gets bit, you have to kill them as hard as it may be. This way they can die in dignity and not as a mindless monster; it also protects you from the horrors that will come about otherwise.

This concludes today's blog. I am thinking about starting a zombie 101, but we shall see about that. Until next time, Cyberland readers, start preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse (aka Zombie Holocaust).

~Meaghan

Sunday, March 14, 2010

I Finally Bought a New Laptop....

...and his name is Crow. Crow T. Robot, as a matter of fact.

Okay, so I finally got around to buying a new laptop. I got this one at Best Buy for a steal pretty much and it's awesome. It's a Toshiba Satellite, and actually this is the second one. The first one lasted all of five minutes before it crashed from an internal error, forcing me to take it back to Best Buy for an exchange. Now that it works, though, I absolutely love it.

I think the funniest thing about it is that when it first started up, it asked me for my username and then it asked me to name my computer. At first I was like "what the heck is a good name for a computer?" and drew a complete blank. And then it hit me - why not name it after my favorite robot of all time?

And so my computer's name is Crow T. Robot after Crow T. Robot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, and I will be referring to him as Crow from here on out.

And since this is my blog and I can, I would like to point out that this is named after Trace Beaulieu's Crow and not Bill Corbett's Crow. To anyone not knowing the differences, Trace's Crow is a lot more innocent, naive, and just plain sweet. Bill's Crow is more bitter and vindictive almost, cynical if you will. I hate that. I love Trace's Crow and wish that, were he real, I could adopt him. *Climbs off of soap box*

What makes this new computer so great? It burns CDs/DVDs, plays CDs and DVDs (which is good cause I love watching movies on my computer), runs the internet, has a bulletine board feature, is sleek in design (at least to me), and has a waaaay bigger memory and hard drive than my old one so that my iTunes won't overpower it.

The downsides? Trying to get all of my crap from my old computer transfered onto Crow. It sucks.

Other than that, I love it.

Okay, that's today's super awesome blog update. I will update again soon.

~Meaghan

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I Love Dancing

Even if I do have two left feet.

Last Sunday night, two of my gal pals and I went to this place called Cowboys. It's a bar (no, I'm not 21; yes, it was all ages night; no, I did not get wasted off of my Coke), but it's a cowboy bar. There's like a big dance arena and pool tables and karaoke, and it was soo much fun.

We ended up not getting back home until like 2:30 in the morning.

Of course we did the karaoke - Johnny Cash was rolling in his grave, I can almost guarentee it - and we played pool. I learned how to line dance, two-step, and kinda how to swing. And, a few guys asked me to dance, which was fun. All in all a good time.

I have to say, though, that it is not something I can do every night or week. I am not cut out to party all the time. But once in a while....

Okay, that's about all I got. I ordered some DVDs of MST3K from this guy online and I should be getting those today or tomorrow. Still haven't re-tried Cinematic Titanic - I'm kinda hesitant to. But we shall see. Maybe in a few months.

Until the next time, Cyberland, keep writing and reading.

~Meaghan

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Viruses and Fish

So yeah. Yesterday, I got myself a big ol' piece of spyware installed upon my laptop. As if that were not enough, while my dad (who actully knows how to deal with that sort of thing) was messing with the spyware, he discovered eight hidden viruses that my anti-virus software was not picking up on.

Whoop de flippin doo.

I am not thrilled about this, can you tell? It just irritates me that that sort of crap can get on my computer. Really? All I do is check my email, go to a few fan forums, read fanfiction... Okay, I do a lot of online stuff. But still.

On a different tangent. How many of you readers have seen this ad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bJOIqVAD-s

That song gets into my head so often. I have only seen the ad a couple of times, but it's so flippin catchy. Right? Don't look at me that way - you know you secretly think the song is awesome too.

Okay, well that's about it. My mom just told me to get a life. I don't know what to say to that....

Until next time,

~Meaghan