l.m.orchard’s blog

Yeah, I haven't used this blog in forever. Here's a cat picture from my Centro.

testing from centro

What is your favorite ring tone?
Submitted by rach. 

My favorite ring tone is the one I'm using right now - the opening 30 seconds or so from the Charlatans (UK) tune "Weirdo".  It has an awesome build up effect from organs to a beat to guitars that gradually grabs more attention, and sounds a bit like James Bond.

My second favorite has been covered by Joi Ito.

If you could watch any movie on the big screen right at this moment, what would it be?

Can I pick a trilogy?  What am I saying - this is my blog, sure I can.

I pick the entire Indiana Jones trilogy.  Man, I'd love to see that whole thing, back to back, in a really nice venue.  And by really nice, I mean one of those theaters with tables and beer and food, and a big screen, and a nice sound system.

So, hopping from a bus today at my stop, I managed to rupture an achilles tendon.  Hurts like a bitch, and it's going to need surgery ASAP.  Until then, I can't walk, and have a splint on my leg as a souvenier from the emergency room.  And now the WoW servers are down.

I am not happy.

What are your personal memories of September 11th?

Car accident on the way to work, morning of.  Startling, but not very damaging, triple rear-end at a light as the plane strikes were announced.  Turning back around, 3/4 of the way to work, everyone sent home.  Sitting at home somewhat shaken from everything, hearing from my cousin in the Air Force stationed in Japan.  Messaging with LiveJournal friends, all scared.  Walking from my apartment to downtown Ann Arbor, to get a drink amongst others, and watch the TV - something I never do.  No contrails in the sky.  Eerily quiet.

Today?  I'm done being scared, and I'm pissed and defiant.  The terrorists are pathetic.  Our government is pathetic.  More dead and wounded now than hurt and killed in the towers.  Less safe than ever before.  Hated too.  Fuckers, all of them.  I'd rather we'd showered the world with as many dollar bills as we've spent on bombs.  Drained the swamps.  Mended the wounds.  Fed the hungry.  Become beloved in the world.  Too late for that now?

Something I wish the Neighbors Atom/RSS feed had:  Names of said neighbors in item titles.  Right now, I get "l.m orchard's Neighborhood >> {TITLE OF POST}" in my aggregator, and have no idea who I'm looking at.  Also, my aggregator works by showing titles first, which I skim, and then post bodies when I click on the title.

What is your favorite way to relieve stress?

Sometimes, I punch inanimate objects that I can't possibly damage.  I used to punch things I could damage - which was satisfying - but then I had all this damaged stuff.  On the other hand, punching things I can't damage mostly just damages me.  I've never punched people or animals.  Well, at least not in anger and not very hard and definitely not in the face.  Lately, I squish things, like little stress balls.  Of course, if I've been punching things, it's a little painful to squish things.  I also take a lot of deep breaths and do meditative things.  Video games are sometimes good, but sometimes just piss me off more.  I've been known to drink a bit while under stress, but I'm trying to not do that so much anymore.  The other thing I've been trying to do is just avoid stress in the first place, but that's not always practical.

So, it looks like the girl has gotten lured into joining Vox.  They have bunnies here, even.  How could she resist?

What song or lyrics are stuck in your head at the moment?  What album is it from?
Submitted by Lox Ly. 

"Sister" by She Wants Revenge has been stuck in my head all day, mostly for the main guitar riff.  Although, the lyrics are pretty twisted.

Moving out here has been so simultaneously extraordinary and mundane.  Settling into the new apartment and daily routines has been same as anywhere - only there are unexpected hills on the horizon and the names of half of everything have changed.  We haven't had the chance to get out socially much yet, so all the acquaintances I've made online remain as relatively equidistant as they were 3 months ago.  But, I keep reminding myself that so many of my blogospheric contacts are real-world neighbors now.

I got happily married, changed jobs, and effectively changed countries with a move from the midwest to the west coast.  It's a lot to process, and my mind's trying to grasp at the familiar and map everything else exotic onto a predictable metaphor.  My mind resists further change, it feels like.  I'm going to have to watch myself for signs of hermitage and social avoidance, though, hoping that the momentum of this world shift can carry me past old habits.  This is an opportunity for self-revision while the situation remains elastic, and I'm hoping to make a few long-needed alterations.

I'm trying to keep cool, but on some days I just want to spaz out like the starry-eyed new-kid-on-the-block that, in part, I am.  I mean, consider the extraordinary:  In June, I was married in Michigan to the girl of my dreams, and tonight I'm sleeping in the Silicon Valley toward which I've gazed nearly since birth.  But, remember the mundane:  I'm riding the bus to work, hacking code daily and helping douse occasional server fires.

But of course, even the bus commute is a bit out-of-bounds for my post-Detroit car-bound normality and the work I'm doing rests within a surreal frame.  I mean, my job is to work on the thing about which I just spent a period of months in my basement writing a book.

Bah, you see my oscillations here?  Maybe if you grab me by the shoulders, I'll make that clicking sound fans make when you hold them in place.