Welcome to the Liquid Stunning

Goodbye

2009-08-02T18:44:34Z

Beautiful, trippy music set to beautiful, trippy video game anime.
Watch, listen, and let your imagination and spirit soar.

sneakydolphin @ 2009-05-19T07:17:00

2009-05-19T11:17:54Z

Your result for The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?)...

The Renaissance Faire Wench (QLAF)

Quirky Liberal Alpha Female

You are perhaps the most popular result on OKCupid, but don’t worry, you are anything but common. I’m guessing you are quite flirtatious, but you are hardly reliant on men. You like to do things the mainstream would consider strange, (like dress in costume, perhaps?), but this gives you an irresistible allure. Eat, drink, and be merry, but make sure whoever you date respects you and does not take advantage of your laid-back attitude. (BTW, you are likely the only type who can see That Creepy Guy (NLBM) for who he is, helping him to bring out the Manga Geek (QLBM) inside. This does not mean you have to date one, however. You are quite flexible and can enjoy the company of many of the types.)

PS: You are one of my favorite types to date. If you happen to be between 20 and 30 and live in New England, perhaps you would like to send me a message.

--BookWyrm85 :-D

You are more QUIRKY than NORMAL.

You are more LIBERAL than TRADITIONAL.

You are more DOMINANT than PASSIVE.

When picking a date, consider: The Lord of the Misfits (QLAM), The Fratt Boy (NLAM), The Snowball's Chance in Hell (QTBM), The Manga Geek (QLBM), or That Creepy Guy (NLBM).

(Image from http://www.buycostumes.com/Lock-Lace-Bodice-Navy-Renaissance-Collection-Adult/27296/ProductDetail.aspx)

Take The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?) at HelloQuizzy

Open House advice

2009-04-30T18:45:09Z

Hi,

I want to hold an Open House for my tiny non-profit.

What would make you want to attend an open house type event? (Keep in mind it's a non-profit which means little money to throw around on this).

"AND THE ZYDRATE GUN GOES SOMEWHERE AGAINST YOUR ANATOMY"

2009-04-19T01:12:34Z

So, I'm finally watching "REPO! The Genetic Opera".

Fantastic.

Goth Prom!

2009-04-09T18:20:22Z

GOTH PROM 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009, 8:00 PM - 1:30 AM @ Town Danceboutique, Washington DC

It's during Memorial Day weekend...

Who's in? :D

http://www.thescene.com/event?event_id=70996

sneakydolphin @ 2009-03-19T16:55:00

2009-03-19T20:56:42Z

Rest in peace, Mrs. B.

You don't have to fight or be in pain anymore.

Enjoy your garden in the sky.

You are missed, and always, always, loved.

Of these, hope.

2009-03-10T03:29:28Z

Tonight went ok. I felt better hearing how my classmates struggled with our assignment too, and how none of them have started our paper which is due Thursday, either.

I got observed in session, tongiht, and was keenly aware of my flaws, but my client said she'd missed me last week (we didn't come in on the snow day), so that's something.

..............................

The mother of one of my very best friends is...in hospital, and not doing well. I'm like an extended part of their family and this troubles me greatly.

She's been fighting cancer for a long time, and this weekend her body seems to have given out on her.

I pray for her to recover, to keep fighting, to get well to enjoy her flowers and gardens again.

My friend, close to me as a brother, called me tonight after returning from the hospital with his father and sister, sobbing and choking.

Breaking.

I feel so impotent to help. I was flattered he returned my call in his hour of need. I offered anything, but...what can I truly give?

Sad, thoughtful, and preparing myself for the best, and the worst...I needed music, tonight, so I'm turning to the angel Gabriel.

Right now, I'm listening to the "Passion" album from "The Passion of the Christ".

Earlier it was pieces like "Darkness", "The Tower That Ate People", "Don't Leave" and "Here Comes The Flood".

I should try and sleep, but I feel like I'm keeping some sort of vigil...letting the music carry me on a voyage.

.............

Ah well, goodnight.

I love you, M.J.B.

Yes, I would like some cheese with my whine. Mmmm, wine...

2009-03-09T17:05:40Z

I feel really weird today.

Daylight Savings is poopy, I miss my hour and my body clock is all out of whack.

I feel stressed and behind in my homework. I was bad on Saturday but good yesterday, and still am not where I want to be with it. I am looking at it piecemeal to avoid freaking out, you know, the old mind trick of "ok, what is actually PHYSICALLY due today" and concentrating on that.

I really regret taking three 1-credit classes this semester, in the midst of two other "normal" 3-credit classes. I kinda wish I had just taken another regular class...but the scheduling was off and I think I remember there not really being anything else this semester I "needed" to take, since I'm getting down to electives at this point, and not many were offered this Spring. Anyway, I regret them at the moment because they take up two whole intense days and require a lot of front-loaded (or end-loaded reading) in a clump.

It's hard to explain but people have to take off work to attend them and they are intense and far away. I have one this Friday and Saturday in Baltimore at the home campus.

Wow, I'm really whiny. I felt so weak this morning - the incubus was with me this weekend and when he left this morning I cried and kind of begged him to stay. I didn't want to face the stress of my week alone. I feel like I am making mistakes but I don't even know what those mistakes are. I just know that things rarely or never seem to feel right, and I can't pinpoint what it is. Perhaps it's the patterns I've gotten into, they're not serving me but I'm not enlightened enough to realize it? Or maybe it's that I'm not really the master of my own destiny at the moment and I'm sick of feeling like a child? I just don't know, but it gives everything else I feel, good or bad, an 'edge' that's annoying as fuck.

I aim with my heart.

2009-03-06T19:22:42Z

Yay - this morning we were discussing The Dark Tower, which I admitted to never reading.

Today baby was helping me at work by handing out flyers at local businesses for my work's upcoming charity event. One of the places was a funky used bookstore.

When he came back, he surprised me with "The Gunslinger"!

sneakydolphin @ 2009-03-05T07:29:00

2009-03-05T12:35:06Z

Is happiness as an "adult" really so fleeting?

Yesterday morning was a good morning, and the afternoon started ok, but then it got retarded until I was pretty much coasting along at a basic level of disappointment and annoyance, which is all too familiar.

Why do people stab at happiness? How come people get so wrapped up in themselves and their insecurities that they can't let you be happy? And if you are happy, you must be picked at until you fall back down to their level and be unhappy like them?

I have a hard enough time being happy on my own - I don't need help bringing myself down.

Just an FYI.

Yay!

2009-03-04T17:26:44Z

I interviewed for an internship 15 minutes from home, and I got it!!!

When I walked in, little did I think that the director of the whole place would come in to talk with me along with the director of the program, based on my resume...and that most of the interview would involve discussing my undergraduate studies in Anthropology in Ireland and that I would hear the names of Durkheim, Focault, Levi-Strauss, Husserl and Heidegger, and the topics of existentialism, philosophy, phenomenology and the deep psychodynamic mythic brought up and praised!

I was in heaven. The interviewers were impressed with my grounding in anthropology and philosophy and my time in Europe, and thought that makes me a strong and better candidate than some of the other people who walk through their door.

OMG I'm so happy right now.

My whole life has basically just been validated. How many times have I had to defend my stuides, my past, my future - my life, to people? "What is a degree in Anthropology going to do for you?" "Why do you think YOU will make a good counselor, miss drama queen herself?"

THIS: A grounding in how people formulate their reality, which in turn gives me a deeper well of knowledge to draw upon as a therapist. The correct personality type to synthesize and analyze while remaining empathetic.

And I'm pretty effing articulate and awesome when you give me a chance.

I'm so excited. This internship placement is going to be very intense and very challenging, and it's unpaid (most are), but omg it's such a good opportunity. I'll work with various clients, I'll get plenty of supervision and advice and help.

I start it in September and it goes through May...and then I'll be done with school and ready to enter the career world.

WIN.

Round Thirteen

2009-02-28T12:37:48Z

What a nightmare.

I dreamed that we were performing "Never Swim Alone"...again. It wasn't PTP's theater, but it was...it was weird. Anyway, the whole thing was a nightmare. We didn't have any rehearsals before this performance, so I was going over my lines 5 mintues before showtime.

I argued with the tech guy because he had someone hanging out backstage that he shouldn't have. I remember explaining that even though community theater is a volunteer endeavor, he needed to treat it like a job, and not have unauthorized people backstage, etc. He was like oh yeah? and I was like "yeah dear, it eats into our quality time, too" and I smirked. It was an awful feeling.

Then I broke the fourth wall and ran out the curtain to a FULL audience to go up to the light booth for something...the director and producer both were not there! They weren't going to come to this production for some reason...whaaaat?

Then I started trying to be serious and I was trying to take my place on stage, but the other two actors had decided to change things around and the set was completely different than I was used to...not to mention, one of the actors had a TV on set and was hoping to tape some show he couldn't miss, and he had some techie sitting there messing with a VHS tape...it was all a huge debacle and I was trying to hold it together without freaking out.

The play started and I began my lines, and around then the techie turned on the TV and popped in the tape and started taping the show and watching it...I walked over in the midst of acting and very cooly whispered "that has to go off..." which she did, but I was so off my game by that point I started making up lines...then my fellow actors came down stage and weren't doing what they were supposed to...

Finally, scene one was over, and I crawled listlessly up my lifeguard stand and the actors started doing a mockery of scene two...that's when I noticed the director, complete with Steelers fuzzy pullover thing, jeans and brown timberland-esque boot things, coming in through a side door...I shrugged at him like "I don't know, I tried!" and he shrugged back at me like "don't worry about it"...

preparing for a gauntlet

2009-02-26T20:46:45Z

Prepping to run a gauntlet...

Got class tonight, and then I'm staying with someone who lives close to campus because I have a 1-credit class which runs from 9am to 4pm tomorrow and Saturday...then going out Saturday night.

Some good news - I got a call back on my cover letter/resume about an internship position in the Fall. Yay! Now to carve out some time to actually do an interview...

Heh, and it's just as well I didn't try to do a raid last night...while trying to study, my eyes got heavy and I passed out by 9pm. Sleepy sneaky was sleepy.

Fish are food, not friends.

2009-02-25T20:34:45Z

I'm off today. I should be doing homework (So.Much.Reading.) and catching up on housework, because I'm booked solid from tomorrow morning through Sunday afternoon.

So, what am I doing today, you ask? Well, after volunteering with my young adult group this morning...

I dismantled my beloved 55-gallon fish tank.

It's a sad day indeed, reminding me of my failure as a fish keeper. All I have left are two very sick goldfish (the new ones I don't even like, the ones that brought the disease in in the first place) and my 3 old golden barbs.

Do you know how annoying it is to dismantle a big aquarium? It starts with a garden hose, and then heavy lifting. It's smelly and disgusting and everything gets wet. Oh, not to mention the gnats. I decided yesterday that this dismantling had to be done, once and for all, the moment I turned on the aquarium light and realized the gnat larvae had taken over and the gnats were breeding like rabbits. No fish to eat them and keep them in check. :(

Thank goodness it's 53 degrees today and sunny. It was so frigid yesterday, I was dreading this dismantling process.

I've set up my old 15-gallon hexagon tank (with heater) to take in the barbs. This in itself has been an endeavor as well. The tank was in storage for a long time, so I had to clean it and set it up. The filter was leaking from the connection between the motor and the unit (it has to be water-tight) and after freaking out about that, got out another motor I happen to have and used that one. Will realized the o-ring on the first motor had dry rotted, so at least I know what's up. Yay for being a fish keeper for years and staying loyal to one brand of filtration devices (AquaClear by Hagen) - so I have all kinds of aquarium crap lying around, such as spare motors.

I'm letting everything settle, and then later I guess I have to throw in the barbs. It's never good to add fish to a brand new aquarium, but I have no other choice.

If they survive, I may eventually buy a few more tropical fish. I love me some tetras, and maybe...just maybe...another pleco. This is, after all, the tank I first had "Big Al" in, over 8 years ago, when I set up my first tropical tank.

Back to feeling like I work in a pet store...

sneakydolphin @ 2009-02-24T19:08:00

2009-02-25T00:11:07Z

       Nursing Program/free tuition

       If you know of anyone between 18-28 years old,
       interested in the Nursing field, University of the District of
Columbia (UDC) is offering FREE tuition, FREE books, a $250 monthly
stipend, and guaranteed job placement as a nurse at Providence Hospital upon
       graduation (it's a 3 year program) with a starting salary of $40,000.

       The program is recruiting new students now!!

A man of wit and lit.

2009-02-23T20:25:08Z

I felt like bragging on behalf of Will, since life is annoying the f*ck out of me in most aspects right now.

He has read 38 of those books on that BBC "how literary are you" book list going around recently.

You go baby.

Not you too.

2009-02-23T03:05:24Z

My 8+-year-old Pleco "Big Al" just died.

I give up.

Bamboozled by Velvet.

2009-02-22T16:51:58Z

The incubus and I just spent the entire morning dealing with my aquarium.

I woke up today to another fish dead. At this point, I only have 6 left. I said, okay...whatever I'm doing isn't working. Eff this.

So we went to the pet store and I looked over the various medications, and realized that I've been treating the tank for the past couple weeks for the WRONG DISEASE.

Now, it was a very easy mistake to make. Both diseases have similar symptoms and life-cycles. In other words: fish start freaking out, fish then get lethargic and stop eating, and become covered in whitish spots.

Both are parasites. Ichthyophthirius multifilis ("Ich") is a straight up parasitic fish louse, and Oodinium pilularis ("Velvet") is a parasitic skin flagellate.

However, both have slight variations that I wish I had noticed. Velvet causes spots, but they are "finer" than Ich spots (which I noted, but figured it was just a weird strain of Ich I hadn't seen before). Velvet causes fish to lose their appetite and gasp for breath. Also with Velvet the skin starts to peel off. It's disgusting. I was watching my fish die as I treated and treated them for Ich, wondering WTF.

When I went to the store and looked through the medications today, it all became clear - it's probably Velvet, not Ich after all.

freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/velvet.htm

So, I picked up a bottle of Copper Sulfate and when we got back siphoned out 1/2 the tank water while the incubus took the top off the aquarium and scrubbed it outside to get rid of the water gnats. (Yes, so gross. Since the tank is sick and I can't use carbon filtration with the medicines, the water chemistry has changed and so algae is starting to grow, and opportunistic bastards like water gnats at the surface/on the glass of the light cover have cropped up. Like I needed more problems.)

Then I added aquarium salt to soothe their breathing and the medicine and plugged in my old aquarium heater to try and speed up the Velvet life-cycle.

This is all I can do. The Copper Sulfate stays potent for a month. Now I wait to see if anyone else dies.

I'm so pissed, because I don't consider myself an amateur "noob" fish enthusiast. I mean, I'm not a trained Aquarist by any means, but I'm a fish nerd - I've had fish for years and read lots of books and paid attention in advanced biology in school.

I'm so mad at myself that this misdiagnosis cost ALL my beloved fancy goldfish, and possibly next my very sick 9-year-old Plecostomus ("Big Al the Algae Eater"), their lives.

The Dr. House of fish, I am not. :(

random dental factoid

2009-02-19T17:47:20Z

Did you know that Novacaine stays in one location because it contains epinephrine (aka adrenaline) - which shrinks your blood vessels and disables them from taking the anesthetic away from the location of the insertion! So, it lasts several hours, until the hormone breaks down and the blood vessels go back to normal and whisk the anesthetic away where it is cleansed from the system in the liver.

Individuals with heart problems cannot have Novacaine because of this hormone additive; therefore they have to get injected with a less potent anesthetic agent called...something...which only lasts about 25 minutes and isn't as effective.

I asked my dentist, while drooling and numb and bored in his chair!

electro-shock therapy

2009-02-19T16:09:43Z

Just got back from the dentist. I’m numb and in pain. I had a cracked tooth/filling, so had to have all the silver filling drilled out and the tooth itself filed down to a nub and a crown put on. (This is my 3^rd crown. I have British teeth or something.)

I also “won the lottery” as my dentist put it – a very, very, very rare chance for the novacaine needle to hit a thread-like nerve in my jaw, which triggers a sensation like a quick and quite painful electrical shock way over in the middle of my bottom lip. Yowza!

Came home to the last of my old fancy goldfish dead. Awesome.

On to the hair salon at 1:30 for a trim, and then class this evening.

I should study, but I think I’m going to play some random WoW for a bit. Blah.

Suffer Well

2009-02-18T15:17:00Z

I feel awful. I've created a massive fish kill in my aquarium.

As some of you may be aware, I have a 55-gallon tank. I used to have tropical fish, but for the past several years, I have had fancy goldfish, with a few leftovers from my warm-water days who can survive in cold water (an algae-eater and some golden barbs).

Well, a couple weeks ago, on a lark while in PetSmart, I bought 3 new comet goldfish and threw them in.

This is bad - you should always quarantine new fish first.

Well...sure enough, the newcomers gave ICK to my entire tank. First they started acting weird, then lethargic, and suddenly they were all covered in white spots. F*ck.

I've been treating them, but it's a BAD infection, and worse is the secondary fungal infections. So far, two of my old fancy goldfish have died, including my beloved Pearl (whom I posted about before, when my Dad saved her from choking on a rock).

I'm so pissed at myself for being lazy and at PetSmart for having "dirty fish". I haven't quarantined new fish in years, and had been lucky so far. This time I was not. Always quarantine your new fish, kids, for 2 weeks...

I'm so sad. I'm pretty much watching my other two fancy goldfish slowly die from fungal infections. Soon I'll be left with the stupid new comets, Big Al the Algae Eater, and the barbs (who are untouched by the plague).

If nothing survives, I'm scrapping the tank. If things do survive, I think next I'm going to go for Koi. They seem pretty hardy.

~~~R.I.P. PEARL~~~ :*(

In other news, I've been mediating and counseling a bit, which includes spending time in court and prison.

I'm starting to see and experience some f*cked up shit, pain and agony, and I am a sensitive person, so I tend to absorb it and freak out in private about it.

Got to work on that.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

2009-02-16T18:09:09Z

I’m sitting here at work, chatting a bit with my boss and listening to the dulcet tones of Lionel Richie on the boombox (yes, I just said boombox) while I catch up on some administrative junk. I stopped off at the grocery store on the way in and got microwavable meals for lunches - the environmentalist in me hates the waste, but I’ve been bad about buying meals out a lot lately, which gets expensive fast. I also picked up my boss an African violet for V-day. I need to focus more on outreach and partnership building going forward, these will be new skills for me to hone, so it’s good.

I’m involved in the first full-fledged semester of the new Counseling Practicum at school (last semester they ran a pilot program - so in a way, we’re still guinea pigs...they're going to shift the Advanced Techniques course to this format exclusively in time). This program involves conducting therapy on an inmate at a maximum security prison facility, whilst sometimes being observed by the professor or a teaching assistant, getting some assistance if needed and then feedback/critique. We keep weekly progress notes and since we audio tape the sessions, I will need to transcribe them eventually and break them down, etc.

Touring the prison facility a couple weeks ago was an overwhelming experience for me, and last week I saw my client for the first time; tonight, I see her again, as I will for the entire semester. Enough time that I “should” be able to make some progress with her. It’s a (theoretically) mutually beneficial arrangement for the inmates and the students. I really hope I can do her some good...ANY good...it's quite intimidating.

This is in addition to several other classes and a new, consuming part-time job with AmeriCorps, not to mention squeezing in days to actually try and make a little money at my contractual positions (local and DC). It’s all been VERY intense and taken much of my energy, so I’ve been keeping a low profile lately.

Luckally I have the attention of my devoted incubus, who cleaned my room and bathroom for me while I was auditioning for Sweeney Todd on Saturday, sort of as a Valentine’s Day present; not to mention buying me the DVD when we went out yesterday. He is supportive and gives me reality checks when I start taking on too much. We are growing together as a couple, give-and-take, and I’m so proud of his adjustment to this area after leaving his home and all that he knew in the Midwest… to better himself and progress, to be sure, but also in part for me. He bleeds for me, yes he does. My very own emo Edward Cullen, see how he sparkles for me. :P

Speaking of auditions, apparently at Sweeney Todd callbacks I was hilarious singing for Pirelli - the only female offered a chance - and was offered the part! Yes, the part Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) played in Tim Burton’s movie last year. The flamboyant “Italian” barbar, Signor Adolfo Pirelli. So, this should be an interesting experience. When the call came in, as you might expect, my reaction was: “Are you shitting me?” Hah!

Ok, I need to get back to work. I’m working on promoting our 5K race on April 4th in Southern Maryland. Contact me if you’re interested in more information on participating in this fun fundraiser!

I'm not the only one, staring at the sun?

2009-02-13T15:57:51Z

I feel a little like I’ve been swallowed up by the world. I’m around, I promise . . .just not terribly accessible on short notice. I’ve been very busy with grad school, work (I have 3 odd part-time day-jobs which I juggle), volunteer work, and trainings centering around my AmeriCorps position. Also, basking in the love, affection and occasional battle-of-will (HAHA PUN) with my headstrong but devoted incubus. Getting ready to audition for “Sweeney Todd” tomorrow , too.

I have lots to say. Maybe I’ll get around to it soon. It just seems less important, lately. The saying.

"Adventures around the Charm City Beltway", or, "I actually used 'Borean Tundra' in a sentence".

2009-01-29T23:24:09Z

So I'm taking an advanced mediation training at the www.gramercymansion.com/ in the foothills of north Baltimore. Wow is it ritzy up here. I feel like I need to go put on my dusty foxhunting attire, what with all the horse farms and rolling hills and Montessori and Prep schools.

Last night was fun getting home in the ice on the backroad - one guy couldn't make it up a hill through the woods, and I barely did. This morning there was an accident (at that very spot), so I had to backtrack to 695 and take the next exit and find my way that way. That's when I saw the "fur shop" next to Morgan Stanley and couture boutiques - oh la la!

Today when I finally arrived, I chuckled to other people and congratulated them on making it to the training through the "Borean Tundra"! They laughed, but I totally meant to say, simply, "the frozen tundra" - but ah well, they got the point. Heh.

Now, after over 8 hours in intense training, I made my way from Stevenson to Columbia, and am on campus for class... Wah! Me brain dead!

At least I got complimented on how my blue scarf goes with my eyes. *coy grin*

Shout out goes to all my peeps in this area...Drew, Amy, Joel, etc. Yo!

What D&D Character Am I?

2009-01-02T15:44:32Z

Take a wild stab in the dark... ;)

I Am A: True Neutral Elf Druid (5th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-10

Dexterity-14

Constitution-10

Intelligence-14

Wisdom-13

Charisma-17

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.

Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)