what was Belushi's name in Animal House?

This is the absolute coolest.

Mmm kay...You are the Moon card. Entering the Moon we enter
the intuitive and psychic realms. This is the
stuff dreams are made on. And like dreams the
imagery we find here may inspire us or torment
us. Understanding the moon requires looking
within. Our own bodily rhythms are echoed in
this luminary that circles the earth every
month and reflects the sun in its progress.
Listening to those rhythms may produce visions
and lead you towards insight. The Moon is a
force that has legends attached to it. It
carries with it both romance and insanity.
Moonlight reveals itself as an illusion and it
is only those willing to work with the force of
dreams that are able to withstand this
reflective light.
Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizillavia Cat

Your Hair Should Be White

Classy, stylish, and eloquent. You've got a way about you that floors everyone you meet.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Just like Cat. Weird.
 I'm curious, tooFrom Shelly, via Cat:

Instructions: Give your opinion on each of the 5 subjects below. Descriptive links are provided if you want to know more about the subject. What do you think about...

• the board game Trivial Pursuit
I love it. I have 2 sets--used to have four, but the ex and I divided them. I got the newest and the oldest sets. Oh, wait, we had five. We ditched the "1980s" version, which was too damned difficult for anyone to play. I haven't played in a while. Prehaps at Thanksgiving. Or the next NIC Cataloging Meeting?
• the state of Kentucky
What I've seen of it is beautiful. I remember the part that's near, um, that southern part of Ohio. Cincinnati, driving south on 75 toward Lexington. Lexington I remember distinctly, for all the white fences and horses. I'm not usually so taken by bucolic scenes, but I was just flummoxed and could've spent hours staring out the window at all that blue grass. The part of the country that I'm from is not unattractive, but Kentucky's really something.
• the astrological sign and constellation Pisces
Nick's a Pisces. Slippery duality with a fear and dread of being constrained.
• Winnie the Pooh, the fictional bear
I may be the only person on the planet brave enough to admit that everything about this vile creature makes me want to vomit. That voice....
• Castles
Eh. Whatever. Not much experience with 'em. Wouldn't want to clean 'em or pay to heat 'em.


The Saturday 8 via Cat:
1. who was your very first friend?
Disregarding family members, that would be the neighborhood contingent of the [redacted-] girls, Tammy, Sandy & Cindy. The latter were twins, my age, and the former a year younger. We four were inseparable.
2. who is your oldest friend now?
My eldest is probably Fluffy, though she embodies Shakespeare's words:
To me, fair friend, you can never be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still.

And my friend, the longest? Emily. Eric. Aaron. John L. Jennifer.

3. do you make and keep friends easily?

I'd like to say No, but I think that I do. A good friend told me recently that as hard as I try, people seem to like me anyway.

4. tell us about your best friend.

No.

5. tell us about the friend who gets on your nerves the most (and why).

What a truly odd, odd thing to attempt! There are plenty of people who annoy the crap out of me, but are they "friends"?

    I know someone who will ask for things without compunction, but will do so with unmitigated entitlement, and follow it up with almost no sense of gratitude. She would consider us friends, to be sure. Will that do?

6. tell us about the last time you let a friend down.

    Cindy's birthday present is boxed and ready to send. I had it ready on Saturday, but didn't get it to the Post Office before 1:00, when they closed. Cindy's birthday was September 10th. I was going to send it today, but the PO was closed for Columbus Day. Will I do it tomorrow??

7. tell us about the last wonderful thing a friend did for you!

    Fluffy went to the orchard with her husband, a family tradition, and while she was there she remembered how much I love Golden Delicious applies. She got a half-peck for me, just 'cause.

8. what was the last 'friend' thing you did? (see a movie, go out to dinner, go shopping, go to a game, bury a body together, etc.)

    On Sunday I went to Dracula with Pat. It was a good production--great set, terrific technicals (particularly the flying, which was outstanding), and more than adequate acting, for the most part--and even more, a good afternoon out with someone I know pretty well but only in one area. It was nice to get to know more about her, and to share more about me.

---

Four for Friday--the Pick Four Edition via Cat

Q: What are four (4) of your favorite words?
1. luscious
2. fruit-loop
3. contiguous
4. sharp-shooter
Q: What are four (4) things you hope to do this weekend?
1. decent photographs
2. see D & R & H, and E & A & G, and G & A & maybe B, and get through the situation w/Mom & Dad without incident
3. talk about Jill's wedding
4. [censored]
Q: What are the four (4) things you say most often?
1. 'fuck'
2. 'huh?'
3. 'ah, crap'
4. 'whatever'
Q: What are four (4) things you wish you could do right now?
1. feel my feet--they are way too cold
2. turn back time, just a little, so I could finish all the little things I was going to accomplish tonight. Alas, it's meme-a-roo.
3. speed up time, since I'm expecting someone's arrival in about an hour.
4. turn lint into money
Q: What are four (4) things that turn you on?
1. sweet personal (i.e. inside) jokes
2. involuntary sounds
3. my bathroom ceiling
4. formal wear
Q: What are four (4) things you know you can't do?
1. turn lint into money
2. kiss a Doberman on the lips
3. climb even a small hill
4. make money in my current profession
Q: What are your four (4) favorite things to do?*
1. write
2. read
3. kiss
4. people-watch

    *caveat: these are four of my favorite things to do. They are not my four favorite things to do.

Q: What four (4) sounds or noises do you absolutely hate?
1. backing pallet trucks
2. wheezing/gagging cats
3. a child who is talking, trying to gain the attention of its caregiver, who doesn't give a rat's ass that the child is talking, so the kid talks louder, and louder, and louder, until it is finally screaming, and the "care"giver can somehow manage to go on ignoring the child and the sound while the rest of the world wishes they could.... You get the idea. It's not the kid's fault, but they're the ones who take the fall.
4. [neighbor's overheard music]

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Four for Friday from Cat

Q1: If you were given the opportunity to use a syringe full of sodium pentothal (truth serum) on any two or three people in the world (they can be either dead or alive, by the way), who would you choose to use it on and what questions do you think you might ask?
This question is far too easy to answer, although it is difficult to answer in a way that will be satisfactory to those who read the blog who don't know the "behind the scenes" stuff. So I shall, in true "gerbesque" fashion, answer obliquely--
one common search engine hit for the Gerb blog over the past several weeks is variations of this query: "What happened to Johnnie Walker's niteowl blog?" I could also slip a little to N.A. ("How long did you know you'd do it, before you did it?") and Russ (ditto).

Q2: Do you have a favorite childhood memory (ages 3 to 18)? If you don't or would rather not share it, what was your favorite part of yesterday?
My favorite part of yesterday was that I'd asked a friend to come by the apartment, and he said that he would if he could get away from work in time, but the time when he would typically come over went by with no visit. Disappointed but not devastated when I glanced at the clock and realized that he probably wasn't coming, I returned to The Brothers K. It must've been an hour later that I heard his footsteps in the hall. Realizing that I recognized his footsteps, and that he'd come to visit after all--that was a gift.

Q3: If an impending natural disaster was forecast for your town or geographical region, how confident would you be in your own ability to evacuate to a safe location? Along the same lines, how confident are you in your own city or town's evacuation plan and capabilities?
I'm just not worried about it. This little burg is such a blip on the map that we're either screwed or we're not, and my anxiety isn't going to affect "safety" one way or the other. I live in a second-floor apartment in a building with no basement, so if there's a tornado, I'm ending up in Oz. If something other than that manages to make its way to northern Flatland, we're all fucked.

And if that's the case, I'm spending my last however-long hustling my ass to my Nick's or to my friends' house, so I can say what needs to be said and make my peace. Everything else is gravy.

Q4: When was the last time you spent en entire morning or afternoon (4 hours or more) exclusively out-of-doors, and what was it that you did during that period of time?
Oh, shit--that's the Cubs game. Wonderful, terrific, awesome game. Cubs beat the Marlins 14-3 behind Carlos Zambrano's 8 strong innings--and he legged out a triple. Derrek Lee hit two home runs. Ryne Sandberg's number was retired before the game. The game itself was great, like I said. Gorgeous day, Wrigley was as beautiful as always.

    Afterward...sucked. A train. A walk. A boat. A fight. 3 phone calls. Crying. A train. A long car trip. And then 10 days of silence.

    So, no thanks, I'd rather not ponder being outdoors for a whole afternoon. Ick.