The rest of my pictures - from flooding to snowing!

` I have taken many pictures of rainbows, drag queens - no relation - and other random things this month. A lot of them were pretty good, so I've decided to show 'em to you. Feel free to peruse this post, although be forewarned that there are messages of 'death, dying and destruction' (as X-Dan likes to put it), and it ends with the oh-so-happy news about my newly-severed nerve! Yay!
` First of all, let me start out with the lovely flood photos from November 7, which is when I had written my Halloween post. It had rained, what, only two days in a row? And look at the pictures I took of Rotary Park! The Snohomish river seems to be cutting right through the parking lot and a farmer's field at the same time!

` Of, of course the housing developments up on the hill had nothing to do with this catastrophe. It's just... an unexplainable tragedy in which not even Port-a-Potties are safe! (Eeewwww....)

` Here's another photo I took while sitting atop Lou's shoulders. See, the river's banks are normally between that second row of trees and bushes and the barn....

` Since the batteries had popped out of my Crappy Digital Camera (CDC) as we were driving down to the river, I was unable to take an overhead shot of the damage from the hill. However, I did manage to get one out the rear window on the way back.

` Later on that day, the sky almost cleared up entirely. In fact, I remember that TallGuy was helping me with laundry, and as we were leaving, a rainbow and its friend appeared! And then something I'd never seen before; as we were driving my clean things back home, the main rainbow stepped in front of a tree and I began to drive after it!
` However, it always kept about 100 feet ahead of us. Damn rainbows.... I eventually gave up, came home, and took a picture of it out the window before they faded entirely.

` Then, after I thought this tricky little optical illusion had gone for good, I woke up in the morning and saw it staring at me! It was back for more! And here I thought I'd scared it off by chasing it with my car! If you look closely, you can see it had brought more friends this time!

` We stared each other down for some time. Several minutes, at least. I won.
` Later on, it was time for Zippy's, and so I gathered up Cheshire and we met TallGuy and X-Dan to debate 'why plant a bush when you can plant a tree?' (Seriously! Even X-Dan has corroborated my story.) It was kind of boring, though, and as you can see, Zippy Himself even got bored with it!

` Then, it was off to Castle, where, as I can recall from this Crappy Digital Photo (CDP), X-Dan was feigning lack of comprehension because he had trouble hearing us due to loudness. Here he is saying; "I'm going to pretend to be oblivious, now!"

` ...And when TallGuy'd had just about had enough of that, he put a plastic horsey on X-Dan's groovy hat!

` And why was there a plastic horsey? Because it was Country Western night! Yeee haw! See? Here they're doing a Green Acres thing....

` Also, I included this picture because of all the pretty lights! Ooooo! Shiny! There was even a person doing showtune-thingies, who could sing pretty well. He said he didn't care if it was Country Western Night! Wheeha to rebels!

` There was much singing and lip-synching, and I was even drawing pictures of my friends as freaks - unfortunately, Cheshire had to use her demonic powers on Dr. Nociceptor.
` In the end, Nociceptor wound up temporarily dead and then all the stage performers got together for a hoedown!

` At some other point in time, I found myself at a Safeway with TallGuy. Weeks earlier I had suggested using the strawberry pop in his van for adding sherbet to and making punch! Since he still had the pop, he was now after the sherbet.
` When he grabbed the carton - as I suspect it was a mutant, muscle-controlling carton - his arm began to behave oddly. This CDP was taken during his Sherbet Arm Circles:

` I'm sure he could have had a great workout if Safeway employees hadn't shot tranquilizer darts in his direction. Then it was off to X-Dan's stepdad's massage... um... parlor, where I tricked TallGuy into lying down on the table.... Don't ask what I did to him. He probably wouldn't want to tell.

` I don't really remember much of what happened that night, though we evidently wound up trashing a very small area of the room....

` Wow! Dirty bowls! We are so evil!!! That must have been after the sugar blackout. And then all of a sudden, it's a completely different day: Ah... political Protestors: The weather gauge of Everett!

` My window decals are back from when I went to Cuyahoga Community College - I have no idea why I never have removed them. Just now, I have finished waiting a few weeks and paying $3 to get them to tell me my Student ID number so that I can access my transcripts online, see how many credits I got, and tell Everett Community College about them so that I can get some financial aid.
` Oh yes! Three dollars for my goddamn TRI-C student ID number! (I never did have a Tri-C card, so I never knew it in the first place....)
` Anyway, that's really swell and all, but what the blazes is this boat? Well, Lou and I were looking at it, thinking it might be a great investment. It was built about 75 years ago and was nearly slaughtered in recent years!

` When the new owner saved it from being made into firewood, he rebuilt it, refurbished it, painted it turquoise and renamed it Phoenix. He said he was once caught on it during a really tall vertical wave like in that movie The Perfect Storm. However, we eventually figured it wouldn't be such a smart idea to invest money in, so instead we're making other plans.

` So, no boat. Although I did go to Cheshire's house and took a picture of the evil kitties. The black one, Fang, is the one that kills and butchers small animals around the house. His rival, Tippy (who is for some reason in love with the dog), instead brings in leaves, pieces of cardboard, gloves and toys of various sorts.

` Here they are cooperating, though it wasn't but a few hours later they spontaneously picked a fight and started tearing around the house.
` Then the next day - must have been on my way back in - I took a picture of a loop of tire tracks going from the road to... the road. Despite the fact that there's no driveway here, we get those all the time.

` This picture here was probably supposed to show a lot of snow on the mountains, but I guess you have to look really close. Because I suck. No wait, my CDC does. Phew!

` A few days later I photographed remains of the plasma building which had been attacked via fire about two years ago.

` Speaking of arson, when I said that TallGuy claimed that Saturn was the name of the perpetrator implicated in the Moonflower Magicks fire.... well, here's a graffito as apparent proof!

` He is 'familey'? What's wrong with 'family?' And then, when I came back a few days later, ah, whatever this means.... Well, at least the spelling was corrected....

` And while I was out there... I'd been meaning to take a picture of the Mason Jar Lid Fish....

` You know what it sounds like? Guess. That's right. Mason Jar lids. Yep. I also decided to look out over a parking lot and check out the scenery. Well, it was also supposed to show the snowline on the mountains, but it doesn't look like it. What do you think?

` Back at home, I decided to check out the banana-flavored condom that X-Dan had given me from some meeting or something he was at. I tried to fit it over my head, but I evidently don't have the skill so I decided to see how well it worked as a glove....

` Almost! And then in some totally unrelated event, I wound up wearing X-Dan's boxer shorts in his grandfather's office. Yay for X-Dan getting wet and stripping his clothes off!

` Later on, at Denny's, we got a whole bunch of Losing Scratch Tickets, and here they are! Wow! We felt like such non-winners!

` Hooray for losing! Later on, I have no idea what was happening in TallGuy's van but evidently I was snuggled in between him and X-Dan...

` Apparently I'm either trying to kill TallGuy or succeeding in making him aroused. I'm not sure....

` Then what did we do? Oh yeah! We went to QFC because after being in the van that long I had to pee really bad! But they had just locked the bathroom when I'd gotten there, so I had to wait seven minutes before TallGuy's van would start again. (Because his van sucks.)
` So then we went to Safeway, where I found someone's camera phone in the bathroom and took a picture of myself looking deranged! Then I ran like hell because I think the guy who lost it was coming back for it.
` Ooooh! Look! Motion trail!!

` Then, apparently I took a picture of a mountain. For a really long time, I stared at it, hoping to figure out why I took it. Then, I apparently figured it out - it was taken the day Lou and I had gone to Sensei Jerry Ferguson's funeral, which I believe was November 17th or 18th....

` Interestingly, the prospect of studying under Sensei Ferguson was actually the reason Lou moved to Everett. It's too bad that the first time I was ever around him was after he was already shut in a coffin.
` Apparently he was one of the greatest people a lot of attendees had met, and one of the best and well-respected karate masters. There was not a shortage of wonderful memories to share. His son, Matthew Ferguson, read a wonderful eulogy, his daughter sang You Are My Sunshine, and his stepson, Jeremy Camden, barely managed through Stairway to Heaven without breaking down into tears.
` During those parts, I was actually feeling both sad and really pissed that anyone would do such a thing as (presumably) shooting himself in the face. Strangely, this is the only funeral I actually cried at. (At least I never get so nervous I laugh at them like Crab- I mean... um. Nobody.) Perhaps this signifies that my mind is able to work more normally now?
` (Incidentally, Lou and I ran into Matthew Ferguson just last night. Apparently he knows Lou's co-worker's brother, who has replaced one of the meth-heads downstairs. Small world!)
` Anyway, we were really sad for a while. Especially Lou. That evening, however, Cheshire's nonbiological mom had made some lovely food that I was invited over to eat. Oh yes, and the weather was apparently so nice it even made the neighbor's trailer look good!

` And then I ran into this girl I have been inviting to Denny's for months, though she never did come. (Lucky I did, because she changed phone numbers!) She was scoping out job availability, and while we were walking down Colby, I looked over and saw what appears to be a bronzed squirrel....

` "McFuzzbuns!" I yelled. "Noooo!" And then, there's another picture, supposedly showing the crazy amount of snow that had appeared on Pilchuck. However, I've since found out - through careful observation - that this peak is not Pilchuck! It is merely nearby....

` As it turns out, Pilchuck is not visible from our window. ...And I have this nagging feeling that I'd figured that out way back in June but didn't remember! Grah!
` And then, let's see.... Oh yes, B-Dizzle is also going to ECC in the winter quarter and now has some lovely computer glasses so he can learn to do graphic arts. So, he's looking almost like a nerdy gangster... can you guess which rap he is most likely doing?

` In case you've never seen the hilarious music video (which is considerably more entertaining than just reading these lyrics here), this is what he's saying:

...First in my class here at MIT/ Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D/ M.C. Escher, that's my favorite M.C./ Keep your 40, I'll just have an Earl Grey tea/ My rims never spin, to the contrary/ You'll find that they're quite stationary/ All of my action figures are cherry/ Stephen Hawking's in my library

My MySpace page is all totally pimped out/ Got people beggin' for my top eight spaces/ Yo, I know pi to a thousand places/ Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces/ I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise/ I'm a wiz at Minesweeper, I could play for days/ Once you've see my sweet moves, you're gonna stay amazed/ My fingers movin' so fast I'll set the place ablaze

There's no killer app I haven't run (run)/ At Pascal, well I'm number one (one)/ Do vector calculus just for fun/ I ain't got a gat, but I got a soldering gun (what?)/ Happy Days is my favorite theme song/ I could sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong/ I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on/ I'm fluent within JavaScript as well as Klingon

Here's the part I sing on...

You see me roll on my Segway/ I know in my heart they think I'm/ White and nerdy/ Think I'm just too white and nerdy/ Think I'm just too white and nerdy/ Can't you see I'm white and nerdy/ Look at me I'm white and nerdy

I'd like to roll with the gangstas/ Although it's apparent I'm too/ White and nerdy/ Think I'm just too white and nerdy/ Think I'm just too white and nerdy/ I'm just too white and nerdy/ How'd I get so white and nerdy

I been browsin', inspectin' X-Men comics/ You know I collect 'em/ The pens in my pocket, I must protect them/ My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored/ Shoppin' online for deals on some writable media/ I edit Wikipedia/ I memorized Holy Grail really well/ I can recite it right now and have you R-O-T-F-L-O-L

I got a business doing websites (websites)/ When my friends need some code, who do they call?/ I do HTML for 'em all/ Even made a homepage for my dog, yo/ I got myself a fanny pack/ They were havin' a sale down at The Gap/ Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap/ Pop, pop - hope no one sees me, gettin' freaky

I'm nerdy in the extreme and/ Whiter than sour cream/ I was in AV club and glee club/ And even the chess team/ Only question I ever thought was hard/ Was "Do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?"/ Spend every weekend at the Renaissance Fair/ Got my name on my underwear...

` ...Yeeeah. Peace out and word and all that good stuff.

` Oh, that's right! Remember when I discovered that our stuff in storage was gone? Well, basically, it was all here on this bathtub. That's Andie's easel (which I decided to leave down there because it only takes up space), and one of Lou's guitar cases.

` The other one was on the floor, and he found the third one - alas, with all the stuff removed from it - at this one girl's apartment. We had just gotten in the door and for some reason we stopped at her apartment, and there was his guitar case! (She let him have it back, of course.)
` They also took my Super Nintendo Guide from when I was, like, ten. What in the hell anyone would want with Mario Mania, sure beats me!
` And next in chronological order is another photo of the progress of the former plasma center that had been standing destroyed far longer than it had stood before then.

` The next photo was taken last Wednesday - while poor Cheshire was bored and on a train to California - X-Dan, TallGuy and I went to Crapplebee's (I mean Applebee's!) because it's so much better than Denny's.

` There are no Thanksgiving pictures - as nothing astonishing happened - but you can be sure that Lou can freakin' cook! I contributed by washing dishes because I was lazy. And then the other day, B-Dizzle showed us his new green-flame lighter!

` Isn't that awesome? Apparently, the blue flame goes over a copper ball, and since copper burns green, the flame changes! And speaking of weird light... the clouds made strange patterns on the ground that evening!

` And the next day, it... snowed? Wait. In November? Uh, it never snows in Everett until, like, January! What the hell? Well, you'd better believe it!

` By sundown, it was one big, pink frosty hell. And there was a friendly, drunken snowball fight on the lawn! ...So, Lou being Lou, he removed the window screen, scooped up roof snow into balls and threw them down at the drunk people!

` One of the first ones hit one guy in the head, but he didn't seem to realize it! The girls were in fact bummed that we hadn't hit him because he had taken so little notice! Ha ha!
` Not only did Lou get to throwing snowballs, but B-Dizzle went out on the roof to check it out and to get much better aim....

` Later on, Lou and I were watching The DaVinci Code for the second time. As I was bored, I began figuring out how to use a cigarette lighter properly. I learned eventually, but not before I got a huge blister. (Yes, it is a huge blister! Ginormous! ...You'll have to trust me!)

` And, as if I hadn't already taken enough pictures out the window... well, here's two more from this morning.

` This one has a bird in the upper left corner. Notice that the first one is taken from farther to the left than the other one....

` I bet if you put them together, you'd have a stereogram! And later on, the sun came out to play when the clouds started getting all cumulus-y. Even though it's yet another shot from our window, don't ya think it's lovely?

` Well, I'm drinking some delicious beer right now while Lou is off watching football at B-Dizzle's. (Well, we were going to do clean, but I figure if he's off doing that, I have an excuse to make another blog post.)
` Because I may sound relatively care-free, you would never guess that I've partially severed a nerve in my right wrist. Now I have a huge, completely numb spot in between my index and middle fingers. A numb spot, that, unlike most of my other numb spots, is never coming back.
` Dammit! And you know what I was doing? I had just woken up and, as usual, I immediately began thinking about things that bothered me. So, I hit a pillow, which usually makes me more angry, but, you know, it's better than hitting the chair.
` Unfortunately, I missed the pillow and the top-left part of my wrist got whanged against the chair and a jolt rocked through my entire arm. After the stars cleared, my finger felt like the nerve had been pinched.
` But feeling never did return. And it probably never will. Nerve damage is generally permanent, at least to some extent. (Which is why B-Dizzle's formerly severed optic nerve will only recover so much.) If only I had a scar-tissue-inhibitor, it could grow back. (At least that works on rodents - sever a leg nerve but then don't let scar tissue form, and the rodent is walking fairly normally in a few weeks!)
` Gee, I guess I learned my lesson not to hit pillows when I'm angry. Then again, I keep waking up so pissed off. Like I'm already mad before I even wake up! Really, I think I should try avoiding being angry to begin with. But not punching pillows, as it has never really helped anyway, is another good thing.
` Well, I'm off to continue getting used to this part of me never feeling again, telling myself; "Think about how much worse this could be," and "Well, at least it won't hurt as much when I punch people!" Strangely, I don't think it bothers me as much as it might other people because I'm used to the sensation of numbness.
` Not only that, but I am feeling somewhat optimistic because I have also realized that I could perhaps use this genuinely-numb spot as some kind of reference point to get feeling back into the rest of me. It's the only 'real one!' Am I deluding myself? Can that actually work?

` Addendum: I am participating in a Great Link Experiment.