New Chuck Palahniuk Book! and Bacon Flu

New Chuck Palahniuk book (the genius who gave us Fightclub).

http://bit.ly/127zGs

Pygmy, coming 5 May 09

Last night, I was at a poetry/short story reading at a very seedy looking warehouse-turned-bar place, and one of the readers had a bit of a cold, thus, her voice was thick with not a handful of throat-clearing here and there.

"IT'S HERE! BACON FLU!"

Poor girl.

Oh, and I almost killed my friend, again. I blame Bertha, my GPS navigator. She really takes her time when tracking satellites, and refused to adhere to the windshield. I called it quits with Bertha last night, and added "GPS Navigator" to my list of things to buy before heading for England. I'm going to need a very handy one anyway.

Oh wait, an iPhone can do that. Ha!

According to a NY Times article, which I do not have the energy to find right now, the first confirmed bacon flu death in the USA is here. Sadly, it is becoming more and more evident that a zombie outbreak is far from the horizon. My apocalypse readiness kit shall have to wait another day. Did you know, a few weeks ago my mother bought a box of green tea, nothing special, except it's a box that could last a nuclear fallout. She also happens to love spam, and our pantry and cupboards have stacked to the ceiling with it, sardines, garbanzos, chicken noodle soup, campbell cream of mushroom/asparagus, boyardee spaghetti, cans and cans of diet coke (actually we ran out of diet coke 2 days ago so I ahve to pick some up on my way back from my upcoming French exam), Arizona sweet tea, and A&W rootbeer.

Now, all we need is a fallout shelter

minus the deluded happy family.

Still no zombies!

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

The first pandemic we've had in half a decade and STILL NO ZOMBIES?!

Btw, people, it's freaking treatable, as long as you tell your doctor that you've been having flu-like symptoms. This isn't SARS (Severe Asian Racism Sydrome) or Bird Flu. Gawd you guys. I've seen people going vegetarian 'cause of this shit. :rolleyes: Seriously, viruses don't cope very well with heat, especially flu viruses. That's why your vagus nerve stimulates your hypothalamus to increase your temperature when there are foreign bodies hanging around, it also stimulates other things critical for an inflammatory response.

This isn't the freaking Ebola or West Nile, or Spanish Flu or the Plague (yes, the plague still exists, and not just in level infinity military bases).

Manchester! not London!

It's funny how my mother tells people (specifically relatives in the Philippines) that I'm leaving for London.

Probably because Manchester is not as popular.

But I'm going to Manchester ! Manchester ! Whose football club beat the crap out of someonethis weekend ? Heh...

Film : Osama

A pre-pubescent girl has her hair cut off by her widowed mother, her body wrapped in a gallabiya, and is sent into the streets of a newly liberated Afghanistan as a boy. The first film from a post-Taliban Afghanistan, guaranteed to leave you feeling queasy and nauseous from its gripping rawness with a backdrop of beautiful snow-capped Afghan mountains.

In the news : New Afghan law to allow marital rape and other Taliban-like feminine restrictions.

Now, I always like to view things in light of cultural relativism, but rape is rape, and this is certainly not protecting women from men other than their husband.

Yay!

Yay! I finished translating Alizée's "Mes Courants Electriques," so now I can finally move on to Psychédélices, then Najoua Belyzel.

o.O

Exam week. Please end now!

Film : Pan's Labyrinth

El laberinto del fauno

Pan's Labyrinth

Best film I've seen in a while, and I watch a lot of films.

Actually I've been putting it off since it came out, so shame on me.

Umm, I don't know what to say other than I am still awed by its depth. Can fantasy save us from authoritarian oppression ? It's like a fairy tale for adults and children. Take it at face value and you'll be viewing something Walt Disney would've conceived but never put to parchment. But what's the point in that ? I say we take the magic chalk and draw a door into the labyrinth.

Moral I got from it ? Everything that politicians tell us, left, right, and center, they're all fantasies. We create our fantasy from their words, then create more fantasies to escape the reality of impossibility. Pan's Labyrinth is ultimately a politically charged film. It could be a criticism of Marxism, an insinuation that any form of Marxist rebellion is bound to be useless, just like Ophelia's fantasies did not save her from bodily death. Or it could be a criticism of how useless and disenchanted we all are with our hi-def tv's and 24/7 broadbad internet, how oblivious we are of our lack of authority over so many things.

I take that back. I'll take it at face value as it's so much more enjoyable that way. :P

Charlie horse be gone !

Rosel, next time, stretch for at least 15 minutes before jogging for 3 miles straight. Thank you.

And make sure the stretches are actually good stretches, you know, pilates-ish stretches. Stretch those damn calves dammit, and those thighs too. And warm-up considerably before attempting to do a 5k. It's really unhealthy. Now you have severe tenderness in both your legs, and your thigh muscles are as hard as rocks, in a bad way.

And for the love of everything beautiful, start studying!

Thank you !

--your soul

Charlie Horse

So my leg started to hurt this morning. It might have been due to my stepping on a storm sewer thing, but due to rage and adrenaline I felt nothing.

And now, while I'm typing, I've got a fucking HUGE charlie horse going on with my right leg. Oh god I can see the damn thing quiver every time I move the leg, and I need to reach the remote!

(I need to study)

SO MAD

I never thought I would be pissed off on something that occurred on the Internet.

I must be honest with you. This is perhaps our last chance to organize a North American fan meeting. And you're not going to get many guests with the location you've chosen.

[insert list of non-attendees]

Where were you when we were brainstorming locations? Where were you when we were polling for the first time? Where were you when we were doing a final poll? Did you speak up? Did you even spread the word? I begged and pleaded for everyone to spread the word, and you didn't. Yes, I'm referring to All My Love from tatu[dot]ru, who has a very popular tatu website called allmylove.org, who has more tATu connections than I do, who has more free time than I do. Did you even spread the word? No, you specifically told me that you will "advertise" when we have decided on a location. AND we did, democratically do.

You didn't even bother.

And now, TWO MONTHS later, when everything has been decided except for what brand of cheap vodka we are buying, you complain about how "none of your closest internet friends are going to be there so you're not going" even though you live an hour away from NOLA. And you're telling me this is my (our fault). I kept the threads alive even when no one was replying. I made up time I don't have to type out everything, to create the threads, to tell people. Where were you? Hein? Where were you?

And now you, All My Love, are creating a different Fan Meet. Good for you ! And Good luck. I hope the people who promise to show up actually show up.

Running 3 miles straight is such a stress reliever.

Almost over

My life as a student in a shitty American University that is about to cut 21, yes, you read that correctly, 21 degrees along with ALL their offered courses, is about to come to a close.

My only regret is that I should've ended it with flying colors instead of the fuck-faced grades I'm gonna be spewing out.

predictions

French : B-

Orgo : C-

Intro neurosci : B-

Genetics : C+

Global Lit : A++++

So, that's pretty much shit. Bye GPA.

And if for some reason the Royaume Uni decides that I do not deserve a student visa, then I am fucking screwed.

Screwed I tell you, S-C-R-E-W-E-D.

Call from Manchester

I got the call this afternoon ! Wahoo !

Who's going to Manchester ?

Who's going to live in England for 3 years ?

Who's attending University of Manchester ?

Who's moving to Europe ?!!!

Uhuh, uhuh...that's right, yeah girl that's right.

Oh, who's going to be an American citizen soon ?

AND moving to Europe ?

Yeh mate, I get the best of both worlds...oh yes, yes, yes yes yes yes

I GO IN SEPTEMBER.

Sorry, I'm so incoherent.

insomnia and gummy bears

So last night, I went to bed at 4h30, with the intention waking up at 6. I never heard the alarm clock. What woke me up was the neighbor's lawnmower.

Damn you insomnia.

espresso espresso espresso

storm storm storm

a storm is brewing

at 2AM last night, I jogged for around an hour on the treadmill, intending to jumpstart my diet which was supposed to commence today. i say "supposed to commence" because :

ma prof m'a donnée deux paquets de gummy bears. comment dit-on «gummy bears» en france ?

i got 2 packs of gummy bears from my french teacher.

so, diet will not commence today.

le sigh...

Ok, back to the question of comment appelle-t-on gummy bears en france.

upon googling, this is what i got :

Juust kidding...je vous plaisante.

so, after consulting mon amie parisienne, she says they just call it 'nounours,' the childish word for bears, or 'des Haribos' (the company is Haribo). officially, Haribo calls it 'ours d'or' (golden bears) but nobody really says that. so voilà, je suis un funny bear, un funny funny funny funny bear.

Update : I left my gummy bears in ze car. And zey melted into gooey poopy shit. :(

Film : The Secret

I can't believe this went direct-to-dvd. It's good fodder for while doing orgo homework, but I would've thoroughly enjoyed it just the same if I were to watch it with kettle corn and spiked soda. Olivia Thirby was especially amazing. I have a new celebrity crush.

Mad

I'm mad. I can't import my tabulas blog. Oh vell. Hello world. Here begins another whim. Sigh...

Currently watching : The English Patient starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes.