Greetings, passers-by -

Welcome to my journal. It's a quiet place, but I like it. Most of the interesting stuff is friends-only, but the anime babble is here for your amusement.

I have a very open friendback policy, but it would very much help me to know why you find me interesting enough to add if I don't already know you. If you tend to babble in l33t-speak, or you appear to be adding me to fill up your friendslist, I may not add you back.

On the other hand, I welcome intelligent, friendly, and nerdy people, so if you think you're one of them, welcome! :)

NOTE: My username "Arafel" is a reference to C. J. Cherryh's The Dreaming Tree. I am neither Russian nor Jewish, and I do not speak Russian. If your journal is not in English, I will not friend you.

Put your music library on shuffle.
Post the first lines of the first 25 songs that come up.
The game: Guess which songs the first lines are from!
Google = cheating.

Rule from fadingembers: If the first line of the song has the title in it, this is the first line after that.

If the song doesn't have lyrics, or the lyrics are not comprehensible (hello, Cocteau Twins!) skip it.

buttercup0222, you're going to get most of these, aren't you. :)

1. Thought that was a good solution, hangin' with the raisin girl
2. I can't wait to be with you, no, I just can't sit still, are we there, yet?
3. Searching for the answers but we've lost our way
4. Whatcha gonna do with all that junk
5. She packed my bag last night, pre-flight
6. 'Cause it is close to us
7. 'Cause it's cold, cold, cold in my hole, hole, hole
8. There once was a time and there once was a way, we had something going but to my dismay
9. Here's the day you'd hoped would never come
10. Mama I have nothing but cobwebs and dust in the lock
11. Walking through the rooms in my head, I came across your image
12. This I call my sailboat, and these are all my friends
13. Clouds descending
14. A bottle of red, a bottle of white
15. Me, I'm a part of your circle of friends
16. So suddenly the madness came, with it's whiskered, wolven, ether pangs
17. You said I began this messy state of love affairs
18. On the Starship Enterprise, under Captain Kirk
19. I tell you how I feel, but you don't care
20. I can sense it, something important, is about to happen. It's coming up.
21. And so the world goes round and round, with all you ever knew
22. If this is a question, is maybe a lie
23. Where once was light, now darkness falls. Where once was love, love is no more.
24. Don't let yourself get hurt this time
25. I'd like to help you doctor, yes I really really would

It's a happy day for me, anyway, because two years ago on 7/7/07, we bought our house (or, came to mutually agreeable terms, which is the same thing.) The market has dropped in the meantime, but I haven't suffered too much in the way of buyer's remorse, especially considering our great neighbors. Hurray!

4th of July weekend was nice, especially since the cold/flu/whatever that I've been battling for the past week started to recede. It wasn't a particularly bad bug in terms of coughing and congestion, but it made me very tired. My employer gave us the 3rd off, and I spent most of the day relaxing and sleeping.

On the 4th, husband and I went to Sea Bright Beach Club for the day to visit my aunt and uncle and watch fireworks on the beach. Every time we go, we talk about how nice it would be to belong to that club, but 1. we live too far away for it to be reasonable given the NJ shore traffic and 2. the startup costs are expensive and you have to find 5 members to "sponsor" you in once your name comes up on the waiting list. In any event, it was good to see my uncle, who just came through a severe event where he had an embolism in his lung. You'd never know it, though, because he was unchanged besides being a little short of breath. We had a swim in the ocean and played tag with my younger cousins in the pool before the evening's events.

We had intended to go into NYC for lunch on the 5th, but my FIL called up and said he'd like to see us before too long, and husband revised our plans such that we went to Lambertville instead. We'll just have to get cannoli in Little Italy another time. Nothing in Lambertville opens before 11 AM on Sunday, and husband decided we'd get there at 10 AM, so we waited around a lot before lunch. In any case, I bought two Lilly Pulitzer dresses from a consignment shop, and after a trip to the dry-cleaners, they'll be good as new.

Tonight my husband is off to see the Mets as a guest of our next-door neighbor's corporate suite, so I'll probably run some errands and then spend the evening learning to make flying geese units for my next quilt. My life is so exciting. :)

Getting a cold. Or allergies. Or something. It's been a good run, because I haven't been seriously ill since our Italy trip last year (by "seriously ill" I mean "sick enough to have a good reason to stay home from work.")

Note to the media: Could we please have coverage of something in the world besides a faded pop star's death? Was he really all that important? Apparently so.

In a way, I feel sorry for Michael Jackson - he obviously had psychological issues, as well as a severe complex about getting older, which I can identify with. Maybe dropping dead at the age of 50 was a mercy, in a way.

I wonder what's going to happen to his kids. I'd love to see the results of a paternity test.

Nothing in our house is safe from the dreaded Paws of Biscuit. No cake, no cookie, no red bell pepper that was for tomorrow's dinner. For a while, we had a Safe Place to put things for a while; namely, on top of a high shelf where we keep the spice jars. Now, that safety is in doubt.

My husband left me a voice mail telling me all about her latest Discovery. The germ of the idea probably started in Biscuit's little cranium when my mother sent us a gift that came in a giant box full of peanuts. Lazy people that we are, we haven't thrown the box out yet, and her most favorite game last week was to 1. get a peanut 2. play with the peanut 3. get another peanut 4. play with the peanut 5. get another peanut...

You get the idea. There are bits of chewed Styrofoam all over the house.

Anyway, he came home and wondered why every single one of Biscuit's many toys were on the floor. We'd been keeping them above the sliding glass door, where there's a windowsill. It took her long enough, but Biscuit finally deduced that if she jumped from the floor to the counter to the top of the fridge to the tops of the cabinets, she could stroll right over to the windowsill and also to the hiding place for the red pepper (which, after all, was for dinner. Just not ours.)

Biscuit must have had a grand old time all day, throwing her toys on the floor one by one. Husband put them all back, and she's been up there again, batting them down. (1. Throw a toy on the floor 2. play with it 3. throw another toy on the floor...) He just came over to me and asked me to remind him what the difference was between cats and kids, and I reminded him that Biscuit doesn't need to go to college.

Oddly, the bad reviews swirling around Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen kinda make me want to see it. One of my complaints about the original Michael Bay movie was "NEEDS MOAR ROBOTS." Consequently, the reviewers have been complaning that the new movie is plotless and didn't have much to do with humans. Given the G1 series, that sounds about right. Also, "Revenge of the Fallen" has Frank Welker as Soundwave, and that is seriously bitchin' right there. And also a space bridge. (We 80's kids remember the space bridge, right?)

Only downside is that husband is not interested in spending any money on a bad movie, and I might have to find a TF Movie Buddy. :P

(One of these days, I'm going to get around to writing my "Mirage competes at Spa-Francorchamps" fic, I swear.)

Iranian women stand up in defiance, flout rules

A young Iranian woman named Neda is gunned down in one of the most iconic images of the last week. Another walks down the street, defiantly showing off her hair and body in a revealing dress. And still another woman says she's not scared of paramilitary forces -- no matter how many times she gets beaten.

"When they want to hit me, I say hit. I have been hit so many times and this time it doesn't matter. I just want to help my brothers and sisters," says the 19-year-old woman whose identity is being withheld by CNN for her safety.

I am humbled by the courage of these women.

Normally we'd be in Montreal this weekend for the Grand Prix of Canada. But, because Bernie Ecclestone sucks, there isn't one. He'd rather hold a race in someplace like Abu Dhabi, where the only spectators are camels and palm trees, rather than to the packed house at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

So, I'm happy that supposedly the eight F1 teams who are pissed off at the FIA just announced that they're starting a breakaway series. If this isn't just a colossal bluff, I'm going to be first in line for a North American ticket.

While I'm cranky about all those kids on my lawn:

You know what else can FOAD? Using the word "app" for "application." Those commercials brightly telling me "there's an app for that!" make me want to throw the remote. Ugh.

YOU GUYS THERE ARE (AT LEAST) TWO TWIMOMS IN MY OFFICE

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS

I DON'T THINK THAT ONE OF THEM THOUGHT IT WAS HUMOROUS WHEN I SAID THAT WE BROUGHT RUM TO "TWILIGHT" AND TOOK A SHOT EVERY TIME SOMEONE SPARKLED

The ad that pops up during Kelly's "Shoes" video is for Zappos.com.

Fantastic. XD

Dear Twitter,

I am officially sick of you. Die.

--me

On the recommendation of several of you cat-lovers out there in LJ-land, I purchased a set of Softpaws to attempt to curb Biscuit's scratching issues. She was very good as a kitten about using her scratching post and the various items for that purpose that we'd left around the house, but she's a brat cat now and is starting to prefer the couch. Although we can discourage Biscuit from this behavior when we're home, she has free rein when she's home alone.

Some of it is clearly attention-seeking. If we go into a room and close the door behind us, Biscuit wants to come inside too, and she'll start pulling at the carpet because it gets a reaction. I don't care as much because I hate our carpets and I'd like to have an excuse to replace them with hardwood, but husband does not share that view. But, once he found a claw-nick in his prized leather chair, something had to give. Biscuit also likes to get us up in the morning, and her preferred tactic is to pick at the mattress to make noise. This is extremely annoying.

I was nervous about how Biscuit would react to the claw-sheaths, but it turned out that she was much more cranky about getting her nails trimmed than anything else. We've been very careful with the claw nippers, so Biscuit complains and wiggles rather than turning into a Screaming Ball of Rage like Natalie did. Once the fronts were done, I put glue in the Softpaws tips like the instructions directed, and one two three they were on the claws. Biscuit didn't and doesn't seem to mind them too much - she picked halfheartedly at one paw and then ignored them completely.

There's been one unintended side effect. When Biscuit wants something at night, like a drink of water from the faucet or a snack, she bugs me because she knows I'll get up. Husband is a much more sound sleeper and will ignore her. Last night, Biscuit realized that clawing at the mattress was not getting the effect she wanted. I woke up to a warm lump on my chest and a paw very gently and persistently patting my nose. My husband thought it was adorable.

Hopefully today's post will be 100% fap-free. :P

The garden is coming along very nicely this year, except for the daffodils. (Should have fed them in the fall. Oh well.) The nice thing about planting perennials is that they take care of themselves if they're happy, and you don't have to buy new ones every year. This year I decided to move some stuff around, and everything appears to have taken well to their new locations. The catmint in particular is happy as can be, and it's already much larger this year than it was at the end of the summer last year. My husband moved our enormous Russian sage out to the mailbox, and I'm hoping it will take. It was too big for its spot, but it has some room to grow in the new location.

Most of my plants came back except for the rosemary, which was a goner due to the cold winter. The lemon balm is mounding up beautifully, and I'll probably have to give it a haircut a couple times this summer. Better find some uses for it! My MIL was overjoyed to have someone to give her excess plantings to, and now there I have a big pile of irises, lilies, sweet woodruff, and creeping geranium that all have to be planted.

The constant deer raiding forced me to stop filling the bird feeder for the winter, but now that there's forage for the deer, the birds have come back. We have a boy and girl cardinal who have claimed our back yard, and there are goldfinches everywhere. They're so pretty with their bright yellow plumage and little black caps, and we hear them chittering away all the time. Last year I had a finch feeder hanging on one of our cherry trees, but I put the regular feeder too close to it and the finches stopped coming. This year, I put the finch feeder near the living room window in hopes that watching the birdies could be Biscuit Entertainment. She hasn't noticed. Dumb cat.

In our rail boxes and hanging baskets, I decided on lantana, because it's drought-tolerant and likes heat. It gets damn hot out there in the summer. The boxes have orange lantana, silver dusty miller, and purple sweet potato vine for contrast, and I'm excited to see how they will look once they really start growing. In the back, I bought two huuuuuuge new planters and put bacopa and snapdragons in them. Now we have to throw out the crummy old foam planters that Betty left. They're looking pretty sad after a few winters.

Never thought I'd be the gardening type, but it's pleasant to have a back yard full of greenery. Once we get our fence up, it will be very pleasant indeed.

Miss Kitty has been in more trouble today than any other day since we got her.

Got a call today at work from husband, who said he had good news and bad news.

Him: She's been active today.

Me: What did she do?

Him: Threw sofa pillows on the ground. That's the good news.

Me: What's the bad news?

Him: She barfed on a chair. Big-time.

Me: *groans*

Hopefully we can get a replacement slipcover. At least the chair was a stock item.

When I got home, I decided to take another plant outside for the summer, because Biscuit had been chomping on it and it was looking a little sad. About ten minutes later...

Me: Where's the cat?

Outside on the porch were Biscuit-sized kitty pawprints. I called her a few times and then spotted her by the garage. She ducked into a bush, and I scooted after her (mind you, I had only socks on, and it's wet out.) Biscuit was not at all interested in coming out of the bush, so I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hauled her out, to mighty squalling and complaining. She's one wet little kitty, and she didn't like getting toweled off, either. Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful.

We're watching Obama's press conference, and I'm just loving that we have a commander-in-chief who does not make me wince every time he opens his mouth. And the question he had to write down? PRICELESS.

Somewhere, my father's head is exploding.

Okay you guys, what's the big deal about Dreamwidth? Four or five of you have been posting about it, and it doesn't look all that different from the other LJ-based journaling services. Fill me in!

Biscuit is a teenaged kitten, and she's got to have her paws in everything. Anything remotely edible will be sampled. So far, Biscuit has eaten just about everything she could get her teeth on, including pasta, asparagus, the mini-cakes I made for dessert, and the tulips someone brought us for Easter. Anything you don't want to have Cat Scanned, you'd better put on a high shelf or in a cabinet.

On Saturday, husband called me on the cell while I was out:

Him: Guess what your cat did. (when she's bad, she's my cat.)

Me: What?

Him: She ruined two pounds of tomatoes. She clawed them, she bit them, she shredded them. Now I have to go out and get more.

Biscuit has also taken to biting toes to get attention, and dashing across a room to wrap herself around a leg. We play with her often, but obviously it's more fun to ninja on our feet. If she wasn't so cute, I think we'd have kicked her out by now.

Have you guys heard of PaperbackSwap and Swap A CD? I just joined, and already several folks are going to take some unwanted books and CDs off my hands. Sender pays for shipping, but then you get credits towards requesting more stuff. Fantastic!

Watching "Stardust" on Showtime tonight.

Cross-dressing Robert DeNiro doing the can-can? LOL.