Category: How I love the Interwebs

Because the last quiz was so much fun…

You know I love my iPod. You know I love memes. You know I love quizzes that compel you to comment. How could I resist an iPod-shuffle-meme-lyric-quiz? Thanks to Alison for this one!

The Rules:

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 50 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing. (I got to 35 before the baby woke up)
Step 3: Bold out the songs when someone guesses both artist and song title correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game post your own.

And, after seeing what the iPod coughed up, I am adding Step 6: Do not mock my taste in music!

  1. Baby we can talk all night But that ain’t getting us nowhere: Meatloaf – Two out of three ain’t bad
  2. My friend assures me, “It’s all or nothing.”

  3. Love makes me treat you The way that I do: Billie Holliday – Baby Ain’t I Good to You


  4. Come out Virginia, don’t let me wait: Billy Joel – Only the Good Die Young

  5. Summer has come and passed The innocent can never last: Green Day – Wake me up when September Ends

  6. Throw away the radio suitcase That keeps you awake: Our Lady Peace – Clumsy

  7. This thing called love I just can’t handle it : Queen – Crazy Little Thing Called Love

  8. love I get so lost, sometimes: Peter Gabriel – In your eyes


  9. Bill Barilko disappeared that summer: Tragically Hip – Fifty Mission Cap

  10. Wake up maggie I think I got something to say to you: Rod Stewart – Maggie May

  11. And the men who hold high places will be the ones to start: Rush – Closer to the Heart

  12. Sundown in the Paris of the prairies: Tragically Hip – Wheat Kings

  13. I can see her lyin back in her satin dress: Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown

  14. The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stony ground: Beautiful Day – U2

  15. How do you document real life When real life is getting more Like fiction each day: Rent soundtrack

  16. I’m trying to tell you something about my life, Maybe give you insight between black and white: INdigo Girls – Closer to Fine

  17. Take me out tonight, Where there’s music and there’s people: The Smiths – There is a light that never goes out

  18. Stayed awake all night toss and turnin’, Now my blood shot eyes are burnin’

  19. Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go: Ramones – I wanna be sedated

  20. Standing in the dock at Southampton, Trying to get to Holland or France: Beatles – Ballad of John and Yoko

  21. Everyone who sees you thinks you should be smiling: TPOH – Hard to Laugh

  22. When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school,
    It’s a wonder I can think at all: Paul Simon – Kodachrome

  23. Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you’re never coming round: Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart

  24. At home drawing pictures of mountain tops with him on top: Pearl Jam – Jeremy

  25. I I will be king And you You will be queen: David Bowie – Heroes

  26. I’m so cool, too bad I’m a loser: BNL – Falling for the First Time

  27. Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick, and think of you: Cyndy Lauper: Time after Time


  28. Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played: Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen


  29. There is freedom within, there is freedom without: Crowded House – Don’t Dream It’s Over

  30. I can’t stand to fly, I’m not that naive. Five for Fighting – Superman (It’s not easy)

  31. She’s got a smile that it seems to me, Reminds me of childhood memories: GNR – Sweet Child Of Mine

  32. Here they come, walking down the street: Monkee’s Theme

  33. 1 2 1 2 3 Yeah I was working part time in a five-and-dime: Prince – Raspberry Beret


  34. Music is a world within itself With a language we all understand: Stevie Wonder – Sir Duke


  35. Well, I don’t hate my parents, I don’t get drunk just to spite them: TPOH – I’m an Adult Now

I found this one way easier than the movie quote quiz. What do you think?

I thought for sure I’d be the dash — or, the ellipses…

Filched from Toddled Dredge, deep in my unexamined Bloglines account:


You Are a Comma


You are open minded and extremely optimistic.
You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything.

You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests.
You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time.

Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to.
(But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.)

You excel in: Inspiring people

You get along best with: The Question Mark

The movie quote meme

Filched from Alison at Party of 3, the movie quote meme.

The rules:

* Pick 10 (or so) of your favorite movies.
* Find, remember, or look up a quote from each movie.
* Post them here for everyone to guess.
* Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
* NO googling or cheating by doing an online search. Cheaters never prosper.
* Share the fun and only guess one movie.

Edited to add: They’re all outed, but this was so much fun we’ll play again soon! I can’t believe it took less than 24 hours to get them all! Let me know if you do the meme so I can play along, too.

  1. You just got lesson number one: don’t think; it can only hurt the ball club. Kate guessed it! Bull Durham, best sports movie evah!
  2. You know, there’s a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don’t all bring you lasagna at work. Most of ’em just cheat on you. Natasha and Reluctant Housewife guessed it: Clerks. As Natasha notes, it’s Silent Bob’s only line in the whole movie.
  3. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever. The End. Mad Hatter guessed it: Moulin Rouge! Although after calling one of my all-time fave movies “wretched” I may have to reassess my endless affection and admiration for her.
  4. It also left a man’s decapitated body lying on the floor next to his own severed head. The head, which of this time, has no name. Trixie guessed it: Highlander! We considered naming Lucas “Connor McLeod”, partly because McLeod is my granny’s maiden name and partly for the geeky insider’s joke!
  5. Bye-bye boys. Have fun storming the castle! Madeleine guessed it: The Princess Bride, of course.
  6. Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism’s in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, “I don’t believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people. Liz, Kerry, Renee and Anne guessed it: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It was the first “boy drives to your house, picks you up and takes you to a movie, then takes you to a park to make out afterward” date I ever went on!
  7. Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I’m being repressed! Miche guessed it: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Are there any movies more quotable than Monty Python? It was so hard to choose!
  8. It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing. Mama V guessed it: LOTR – Fellowship of the Ring.
  9. That ain’t no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can’t be un-did, homeskillet. jo(e) guessed it: Juno! (Great movie!! I saw it when I was waiting for Lucas to arrive, one Tuesday morning all by myself in the theatre. It was actually my second attempt at seeing the movie; the first time, I lost my mucous plug in the cinema washroom between buying my popcorn and the start of the movie, and left the theatre in a fit of optimism in thinking the baby was on the way — about three weeks before he actually did arrive.)
  10. I can’t fire them. I hired these guys for three days a week and they just started showing up every day. That was four years ago. Chrissey, B&P, Suze and Rebecca guessed it: High Fidelity. The intersection of Nick Hornby and John Cusack — does it get any better than that?
  11. You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for a buck fifty in late charges at the public library. Erin guessed it: Good Will Hunting.
  12. Naked blonde walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm, and a two-foot salami under the other. The bartender says, I guess you won’t be needing a drink. Naked lady says…OH SHIT!!Liz and Anne guessed it: The Breakfast Club!
  13. I have no thought at all about my own reward, I really didn’t come here on my own accord. Just don’t say I’m damned for all time.NoMoEarth and Reluctant Housewife guessed it: Jesus Christ Superstar! Props for getting an obscure one! My mother used to listen to this soundtrack when she cleaned the house, and I had the whole thing memorized by the time I was ten years old.
  14. It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses. Nancy, Kerry and Karen guessed it: The Blues Brothers!
  15. All the ways you wish you could be, that’s me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not. kgirl guessed it: Fight Club. I don’t know why I love this movie so much, but I really do.

FWIW, all of these quotes are from movies I own or intend to acquire. Have fun!

Thursday Thirteen: Things I’d forgotten about newborns

I’ve seen the Thursday Thirteen meme around forever, and have been meaning to play along. This is another one of those posts I’ve been writing in my head for days and pecking out in stolen moments over the last week or so.

thursdaythirteen300.jpg

Thirteen things I’d forgotten about newborns:

  1. How you start hearing phantom cries in the white noise of the shower or dishwasher or vacuum cleaner, and how you are always listening for them, even when baby is out of audible range — like, in the car with Daddy.
  2. How the three hours between feedings can seem like an entire day during daylight hours, and pass in the blink of an eye overnight. As in, “Oh my god, I swear I just closed my eyes – and you want to be fed AGAIN?”
  3. The way their feet, still reflexively curled as they were in utero, get stuck in the legs of the sleeper or curl up in the belly part.
  4. The way they gaze at you with the deepest and most intensely searching looks, and how you’re sure that you’ve just made an important cerebral connection with them, just before the biggest poops.
  5. How a fresh diaper acts as a laxative, stimulating the bowels to move almost invariably.

  6. How open air acts as a diuretic, and that baby boys love to make fountains.

  7. How much they hate it when you sit down. Under no circumstances may your butt come to rest on any piece of furniture. You can stand, you can sway, you can walk, you can dance and you can pace, but even if you maintain the exact positioning and orientation of your standing self as you ease your body into a sitting position, they will know and they will complain.
  8. That it’s HARD mothering a newborn. Intensely gratifying, but oh so very hard.
  9. That it’s easier to zip an angry cat into a wetsuit than wrangle a wriggling newborn into a sleeper, especially at 3 am.
  10. The endless loads of laundry. (I know, I’ve done nothing but kvetch about laundry and shovelling since the baby was born. But if I could eliminate those two things, I swear I’d have a whole extra day each week!)
  11. That they are fiercely strong little buggers. If a newborn doesn’t want to straighten his leg so you can bathe behind his knee, he damn well won’t do it despite the fact that you may be 18 times his size and 38 and a half years more experienced.
  12. The way the first smiles make it all worth while. You don’t realize how much you value an actual interaction with your kids until you start getting those first beaming, natural and gorgeous smiles. I’ve told Lucas that each smile buys him three hours of crying… lucky for both of us, he’s building up credit by the day.
  13. That it’s folly to think you have time to blog 13 things at all with a newborn in the house!

The sky is falling!

No, not really, but there are two really cool reasons to look up into the night sky tonight.

Way back in the day, blog used to cater more to my inner geek. I wrote about why we should explore space, and ranted about the evolution versus creationism debate. I don’t remember when I last wrote on the subject, but when I saw this meme at About Miche, I couldn’t resist:

JustSayHi - Science Quiz

(I would’ve done better if there were more astronomy questions! Theoretical astronomy and cosmology – stuff like chaos theory and string theory and the origins of the universe – have long been a fascination of mine.)

So, back to the free show in the sky tonight. First, there will be a gorgeous total lunar eclipse tonight, and for a nice change it is both at a reasonable hour AND at least here in Ottawa, the skies should be clear. The eclipse will be visible from most of North America, as well as South America and Western Europe, and the next lunar eclipse visible in Canada won’t be until December 2010.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow — that is, the earth comes between the sun and the moon (as opposed to a solar eclipse, when the moon passes between the sun and the earth.) The moon won’t disappear completely, but will become a deep red or orange colour. You can see the earth’s shadow take the first ‘bite’ out of the moon starting at 8:43 pm EST, and totality begins at 10:01 pm and will last until 10:51 pm. For more info on lunar eclipses, see this excellent primer.

As if that weren’t cool enough, you will also be able to see the American military spy satellite USA 193 as it passes over Ottawa starting at 6:06 pm EST tonight. (You can get information about tracking the satellite in your hometown’s sky starting here.) This is the satellite that’s been in the news lately for its decaying orbit – either the US military will shoot it down in the next couple of days, or it will crash to earth some time in March.

You should be able to see the satellite with the naked eye. It will be about as bright and the same size as the brightest stars, and will take about five minutes to move across the sky. It will rise in the southwest and rise more or less overhead across the southeast sky before disappearing to the northeast. This website has a star chart with the path marked across it.

Cool stuff!

The one where the baby is *still* mere hours, days, weeks or maybe months from being born

I’m trying to be patient, I really am! But it seems like every time I settle in and convince myself that there is nothing to do but wait it out and enjoy these last few days, my body throws something new at me that gets me all excited again — for nothing!!!

While my labours with Tristan and Simon were quite different in a lot of ways (with Tristan I went into labour spontaneously two days past my due date, and with Simon I was induced 10 days past my due date) in the end they were both fairly linear in their progression. Once labour started, it moved, albeit at differing speeds and stages, pretty much unerringly toward birth.

Not so much this time around. Believe it or not, I’m fairly content with the waiting. At the most, this baby will be here sometime in the next 10 days or so, and that seems perfectly reasonable to me. It’s the “Ohhh, I think this is it, here we go!!” excitement, followed by the letdown of “Oh, never mind, we’re back to waiting again” that’s really starting to fray my nerves. First there was the 12 hours of progressive contractions last Thursday, after which it took me about three days to get my head back into a place where I was content to wait it out another week or more. Then yesterday with the lost mucous plug, I really thought we were good to go, until my midwife confirmed that in the absence of other symptoms, it really doesn’t mean much more than “Baby could come any time in the next couple of days or weeks.” Whimper.

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You might remember my sweet bloggy friends in Toronto and environs got together and chipped in for an absolutely gorgeous hand-made baby blanket and pillow for the Player to be Named Later. Yesterday, just as I was trying to wrangle my excitement over the non-progress of the lost mucous plug back into perspective, the doorbell rang. It was the postlady, with a package from Marla.

In the package were the blanket and pillow and an equally adorable little taggie blanket for baby to play with, and there was also an extra little care package from Marla and Josie.

Baby gifts

Look at these and tell me they are not the most adorable things you’ve ever seen!!

Baby Chucks!

Marla has predicted that Baby was simply waiting for his care package to arrive, and would make his grand entrance within 24 hours of me receiving it. So Canada-Post-As-Oracle dictates that he has until shortly after noon today to arrive. Hmmmm, unless this is a *really* sudden and fast labour….. but I’m secretly hoping she’s right!!

Thank you again to Ann and Andrea and Jen and Nicole and Kate and Nadine, and especially to Marla and Josie. I love all of you!

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Or, maybe the Player to be Named Later is just waiting to see the outcome of the Canadian Blog Awards. Today is the final day for voting, so if you haven’t done so already, this is your last chance to vote for us! Don’t do it for me, do it for Baby! (Shameless, aren’t I?)

Playlist for labour, and your latest update – now more convenient!

My brain is moving even more incrementally slowly than my cervix. Two days ago, I posted about a song that made me think of the end of pregnancy. Yesterday, I posted about my iPod. Today, how about suggestions for a playlist for labour?

A while back, I had a post about the best pregnancy songs, and y’all had some great suggestions. Labour is a different creature altogether. You want some loud, harsh music to drown out the contractions, some soothing songs for those quiet lulls, and some high-energy music to inspire you through to the finish. (At the very least, I’ve gone through and made sure all the Christmas music has been removed from the iPod once and for all. I can only imagine how irrationally irritating it would be to be labouring along and suddenly have the Twelve Days of Christmas stuck in my head!)

Any thoughts on what you had or would want on your delivery-room playlist?

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I’ve had a Twitter account for half a year or more, but never actually got around to using it. For those of you who don’t know it, Twitter is a way of broadcasting what you’re up to, in 140 characters or less. It reminds me of the “status” feature on Facebook. So, rather than sticking up random blog posts, I can keep y’all updated through the Twitter badge over there in the sidebar, just under the (really rather annoying and kind of creepy) Babywatch ticker. If I wasn’t so embarrassingly technologically inept, I could probably figure out how to send updates from my cell phone. But I am, and besides, Beloved is carrying the cell around like a talisman these days, waiting for his summons!

So, as long as I’m within arm’s reach of the computer (and those of you with whom I’m currently playing Scrabulous know is most of the time!) I’ll post an update at least every couple hours. All DaniGirl’s Uterus All The Time — does it get anymore embarrassingly narcissistic exciting than that?

As if the Captcha Oracle wasn’t enough fun…

I really wish I had something better for you this Monday morning than a meme — but I don’t. But after all the weekend fun with the Captcha Oracle, this one seemed to at least fit in thematically. I wasn’t going to post it until I had my answers, but some of them were too priceless NOT to share. Thanks to Suze for the blog fodder!

iTunes Revenge

Rules: Put your music player on shuffle, press forward for each question and use the next song title as the next answer. (And yes, I have done something similar before… but this one has different questions.)

What does next year have in store for me?
Everybody Wants to Rule the World – Tears for Fears (ha! Good start!)

What’s my love life like?
Silver Bells – Perry Como (WTF? I thought I deleted all the Christmas music?)

What do I say when life gets hard?
Boots or Hearts – Tragically Hip (Okay, that’s kind of eerie in a way only a few people would understand. This was my theme song when I was going through my divorce. Way too weird!)

What do I think of upon waking up?
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard – Paul Simon (???)

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
(I skipped this one – the answer is “A Whole New World” from Disney’s Alladin.)

What do I want as a career?
Something – The Beatles (Well, that’s plenty specific.)

My favourite saying?
Looking for a Place to Happen – Tragically Hip

Favourite place?
Silly Love Songs – Paul McCartney

What do I think of my parents?
The One I Love – REM (Awwww!)

What’s my porn star name?
Red Rain – Peter Gabriel (snicker)

Where would I go on a first date?
Come What May – Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (On the first date??)

Drug of choice?
Fall Down – Toad the Wet Sprocket (Yes, concussions can be a rush.)

Describe myself.
When You Were Young – The Killers

What is the thing I like doing most?
Here for a Good Time – Trooper (snicker)

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
Hard to Laugh – The Pursuit of Happiness (Yes, it’s hard to laugh when you are dying of impatience – but I’m managing!)

How will I die?
Too Much Love Will Kill You – Queen (I swear, I am NOT making these up!)

And now, the question we are all dying to have answered, WHEN will this baby be born?
Stuck in a Moment – U2

Hard to laugh indeed!

The captcha oracle

You guys are making me laugh with your captchas, but when I went to comment on the thread and tell you so, I had my own predictive captcha experience. In fact, I had to get a screen capture and show you what the Captcha Oracle has in store for me:

captcha1.jpg

Cuz that’s what I need. A stubborn, reluctant and stuck baby who is bigger AND BIGGER AND BIGGER by the hour!!!!

Oy!

The rockstar meme

Maybe it’s the result of too many years reading Dave Barry, but my ear is always attuned to turns of phrase that might make a good name for a rock band. MamaTulip tipped me off to this meme, and then I saw it at Suz’s place too. I couldn’t resist!

Directions:

1. Click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. Click on this link: http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. Finally, click on this link: http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/

The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.

meme-image-2.gif

(Flickr image courtesy of javieketela)

Wicked cool fun!