My milk expired yesterday. I made a smoothie this morning with it (still smelled okay) this is what i turned around and saw after blending with my magic bullet. as KTO said,
WHAT. THE. HELL.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Spirits in the Material World [The Police]
I was doing some file organizing/cleaning on the computer and came across this story. I apparently saved it out of an email I sent someone, and I'm glad that I did. While it has nothing to do with Dallas, I thought I'd share it because it's time to post something, and I've got nothing else right now.
but also, it's a 100% true story, and it still creeps me out.
---------------------------------------------
The Backstory:
we were house hunting, had already fired one agent because she sucked, and this was one of our first outings with agent #2, who had been recommended by someone KTO worked with.
The Scene:
A vacant house in a slightly older neighborhood [an established suburb] in the city. Approximately 3.00 pm Saturday afternoon. When our agent called the listing agent to arrange an appointment, she was told that we could go anytime, the house was vacant. So we went at the above mentioned time, almost at the tail end of our house hunting for the day.
What we understood about it before we went was that it was a 3 bed, 2 bath ranch house with a basement. 1 car garage. The homes in the neighborhood are pretty much identical, little shoe-box type homes.
What Went Down:
We enter the house after fumbling with the lock box thing—it was cold and somewhat icy, so the lock boxes hadn’t been working very well. It is one of those enter directly into the LR type homes, typical of pretty much everywhere. The current owner had just refinished the wood floors, and I mean just. Maybe 3 or 4 days prior. The house smelled of stain and polyurethane.
Being a vacant house, there was no furniture in the LR, save a small 3’x3’ folding table where agents sign in, and house info is stacked up. There was nothing in the fridge, no beds, no toilet paper, nothing in this house. Since no one was there, it was about 60 degrees inside, pretty typical for other vacancies we had been in.
The LR connected to the kitchen on the left side of the room, and turned into the dining room at the other end (picture an L shape). The garage entered into the dining room on the right wall. The other end of the dining room entered into the kitchen. The bedrooms and bathrooms were down the left hall past the LR and Kitchen.
We walked around the LR, into the dining (5 minute for both rooms) and then the kitchen (another 5, easily), and then we went into each bedroom, having to turn on all lights as we went. We opened every closet, and probably spent at least 10 minutes looking at the bath and bedrooms. There was carpeting in each bedroom, but tile in the bath and wood throughout the rest of the place.
We went back to the kitchen to go downstairs (the stairs were on the same wall as the entrance to the dining room (they were behind the back wall of the dining room) We spent another 5 minutes in the kitchen, talking about how well it would work for us, and comparing it to other kitchens we had seen. Then we turned on the basement light, and we started down the stairs (which had no door to close them off from the kitchen area)
About 1/3 of the way down the stairs is a landing, and the door to the backyard (the lot slopes from the front of the house to the back). we fumble with the lock for a minute or so, trying to get it open. Finally we do, and out to the back we go.
We look around the back yard a bit, but not much b/c it is cold, and the lot is well fenced, so we can tell what the boundaries are. Then back into the house, and KTO and I go down the stairs while the realtor closes and locks the door. At this point we had been in the house for about 1/2 an hour. I was the first into the basement, so I just started to look at the nearest thing, which was the bathroom/laundry room.
The stairs to the basement end about 3’ from the back corner of the house, so to get to the laundry room I had to do a 180 and walk back along the stairs until I would have been under the kitchen. There were walls that pretty much replicated the dining/kitchen/LR walls upstairs (making the same L shape) so after my 180 I was looking at a door to the bath/laundry, and then wall, and then the opening to the long leg of the L.
So I go into this room (turning on the light as I entered) the room was retarded since the toilet and sink were to the immediate right, the waterheater and furnace were dead ahead, and then along the wall past the toilet and sink was a short little wall, then the shower stall, then the washer and dryer. The back of the room was open to what looked to be a storage area (at this point we couldn’t tell)
The realtor was still messing with the back door, so Karen and were discussing the oddness of the utility/laundry/bathroom when all of a sudden we hear laughter, like programmed sitcom style. KTO asked me if someone was in the house, so I said “Hello?” like anyone might do. We got no answer, but the sitcom laughter happened again, so I said “HELLO!?” louder. At this point I heard someone say “Goodbye”, or maybe just “Bye”, I wasn’t sure. (KTO confirmed the response part about 3 hours later, after we were done with houses for the day. We didn’t discuss it prior to that)
I am starting to get a little freaked out at this point, so we go back to the stairs, which was good, b/c the realtor had just come down stairs. She looked at me like I was retarded for saying hello, so Karen was trying to fill her in while I went around the corner of the utility room toward the back of the basement. That is when I saw the girl.
She was in the back room (About 15 feet away from where we were standing) the part that connected to what I thought was storage) She was probably between 16 and 24, pretty mousy looking. Through the doorway into the room we could see a couch that she was sitting on, and a lamp beyond that, and part of a desk or something that a TV was sitting on. We could not see the TV, only the glow from it. She was sitting Indian style on the couch, rocking back and forth a little bit while watching TV.
The realtor came around the corner and made this little gasp noise, and the said in a rather loud voice “hello?” I repeated hello as well, then the realtor said “we’re sorry, they told us it was empty. Did anyone tell you we would be coming?” we got response, so the realtor took a few steps toward the room and said hello again. The realtor and I both looked at each other like the situation was nuts, and then started to walk backwards to the stairs. Then the girl turned her head about 15/20 degrees in our direction (so obviously she could see us out of the corner of her eye)
At this point I was done, but I said hello a few more times, and got no further response. The realtor said that she was uncomfortable, and we all agreed to leave, so we went back upstairs, turning off the lights as we went. We got into the car, and the realtor called the listing agent to let him know what was up. She left a generic message and we all rode in silence to the next house.
When we were almost there, the other agent called back and our agent told him what had happened—she put it best when she said “after several tries we got no response from the girl, and we certainly were not invited into her space” the listing agent told our agent that “occasionally the family that owns the house has another family member that comes to stay at the house” and that “someone should have informed us of that when we made the appointment” and that was all he said on the subject. No further explanation as to why she would visit a vacant house, or why she would not respond or react after hearing AND seeing someone in very close proximity to her.
My gut says she was ‘special’ and maybe not even supposed to be in the house.
KTO's immediate response was “why would they lock her in there?” and the realtor just kept saying “that was really uncomfortable”. We all agreed that the story from the listing agent seems bogus. Obviously we also agreed that we would not be buying that house.
------------------------------------
Shortly after it happened I kinda wanted to go back to see if it would happen again. But I also believe in not pushing my luck. Plus, even being substantiated by the 3 of us, maybe it didn’t really happen, or maybe the girl was not a part of this world anymore. Re-reading the summary right now, I get chills.
KTO said that the whole time, even after we saw her, it seemed like the place was empty, that there was no life there. We all felt that way walking in, and looking around, and walking out. It was so cold, and freshly clean, you almost couldn’t even picture people living there. The whole place was uninviting and sterile, and the fact that we were in there, making noise for over 1/2 an hour before we went downstairs, turning on lights as we went, and still never heard a single thing until we were near the utility room, that is what really does it for me.
but also, it's a 100% true story, and it still creeps me out.
---------------------------------------------
The Backstory:
we were house hunting, had already fired one agent because she sucked, and this was one of our first outings with agent #2, who had been recommended by someone KTO worked with.
The Scene:
A vacant house in a slightly older neighborhood [an established suburb] in the city. Approximately 3.00 pm Saturday afternoon. When our agent called the listing agent to arrange an appointment, she was told that we could go anytime, the house was vacant. So we went at the above mentioned time, almost at the tail end of our house hunting for the day.
What we understood about it before we went was that it was a 3 bed, 2 bath ranch house with a basement. 1 car garage. The homes in the neighborhood are pretty much identical, little shoe-box type homes.
What Went Down:
We enter the house after fumbling with the lock box thing—it was cold and somewhat icy, so the lock boxes hadn’t been working very well. It is one of those enter directly into the LR type homes, typical of pretty much everywhere. The current owner had just refinished the wood floors, and I mean just. Maybe 3 or 4 days prior. The house smelled of stain and polyurethane.
Being a vacant house, there was no furniture in the LR, save a small 3’x3’ folding table where agents sign in, and house info is stacked up. There was nothing in the fridge, no beds, no toilet paper, nothing in this house. Since no one was there, it was about 60 degrees inside, pretty typical for other vacancies we had been in.
The LR connected to the kitchen on the left side of the room, and turned into the dining room at the other end (picture an L shape). The garage entered into the dining room on the right wall. The other end of the dining room entered into the kitchen. The bedrooms and bathrooms were down the left hall past the LR and Kitchen.
We walked around the LR, into the dining (5 minute for both rooms) and then the kitchen (another 5, easily), and then we went into each bedroom, having to turn on all lights as we went. We opened every closet, and probably spent at least 10 minutes looking at the bath and bedrooms. There was carpeting in each bedroom, but tile in the bath and wood throughout the rest of the place.
We went back to the kitchen to go downstairs (the stairs were on the same wall as the entrance to the dining room (they were behind the back wall of the dining room) We spent another 5 minutes in the kitchen, talking about how well it would work for us, and comparing it to other kitchens we had seen. Then we turned on the basement light, and we started down the stairs (which had no door to close them off from the kitchen area)
About 1/3 of the way down the stairs is a landing, and the door to the backyard (the lot slopes from the front of the house to the back). we fumble with the lock for a minute or so, trying to get it open. Finally we do, and out to the back we go.
We look around the back yard a bit, but not much b/c it is cold, and the lot is well fenced, so we can tell what the boundaries are. Then back into the house, and KTO and I go down the stairs while the realtor closes and locks the door. At this point we had been in the house for about 1/2 an hour. I was the first into the basement, so I just started to look at the nearest thing, which was the bathroom/laundry room.
The stairs to the basement end about 3’ from the back corner of the house, so to get to the laundry room I had to do a 180 and walk back along the stairs until I would have been under the kitchen. There were walls that pretty much replicated the dining/kitchen/LR walls upstairs (making the same L shape) so after my 180 I was looking at a door to the bath/laundry, and then wall, and then the opening to the long leg of the L.
So I go into this room (turning on the light as I entered) the room was retarded since the toilet and sink were to the immediate right, the waterheater and furnace were dead ahead, and then along the wall past the toilet and sink was a short little wall, then the shower stall, then the washer and dryer. The back of the room was open to what looked to be a storage area (at this point we couldn’t tell)
The realtor was still messing with the back door, so Karen and were discussing the oddness of the utility/laundry/bathroom when all of a sudden we hear laughter, like programmed sitcom style. KTO asked me if someone was in the house, so I said “Hello?” like anyone might do. We got no answer, but the sitcom laughter happened again, so I said “HELLO!?” louder. At this point I heard someone say “Goodbye”, or maybe just “Bye”, I wasn’t sure. (KTO confirmed the response part about 3 hours later, after we were done with houses for the day. We didn’t discuss it prior to that)
I am starting to get a little freaked out at this point, so we go back to the stairs, which was good, b/c the realtor had just come down stairs. She looked at me like I was retarded for saying hello, so Karen was trying to fill her in while I went around the corner of the utility room toward the back of the basement. That is when I saw the girl.
She was in the back room (About 15 feet away from where we were standing) the part that connected to what I thought was storage) She was probably between 16 and 24, pretty mousy looking. Through the doorway into the room we could see a couch that she was sitting on, and a lamp beyond that, and part of a desk or something that a TV was sitting on. We could not see the TV, only the glow from it. She was sitting Indian style on the couch, rocking back and forth a little bit while watching TV.
The realtor came around the corner and made this little gasp noise, and the said in a rather loud voice “hello?” I repeated hello as well, then the realtor said “we’re sorry, they told us it was empty. Did anyone tell you we would be coming?” we got response, so the realtor took a few steps toward the room and said hello again. The realtor and I both looked at each other like the situation was nuts, and then started to walk backwards to the stairs. Then the girl turned her head about 15/20 degrees in our direction (so obviously she could see us out of the corner of her eye)
At this point I was done, but I said hello a few more times, and got no further response. The realtor said that she was uncomfortable, and we all agreed to leave, so we went back upstairs, turning off the lights as we went. We got into the car, and the realtor called the listing agent to let him know what was up. She left a generic message and we all rode in silence to the next house.
When we were almost there, the other agent called back and our agent told him what had happened—she put it best when she said “after several tries we got no response from the girl, and we certainly were not invited into her space” the listing agent told our agent that “occasionally the family that owns the house has another family member that comes to stay at the house” and that “someone should have informed us of that when we made the appointment” and that was all he said on the subject. No further explanation as to why she would visit a vacant house, or why she would not respond or react after hearing AND seeing someone in very close proximity to her.
My gut says she was ‘special’ and maybe not even supposed to be in the house.
KTO's immediate response was “why would they lock her in there?” and the realtor just kept saying “that was really uncomfortable”. We all agreed that the story from the listing agent seems bogus. Obviously we also agreed that we would not be buying that house.
------------------------------------
Shortly after it happened I kinda wanted to go back to see if it would happen again. But I also believe in not pushing my luck. Plus, even being substantiated by the 3 of us, maybe it didn’t really happen, or maybe the girl was not a part of this world anymore. Re-reading the summary right now, I get chills.
KTO said that the whole time, even after we saw her, it seemed like the place was empty, that there was no life there. We all felt that way walking in, and looking around, and walking out. It was so cold, and freshly clean, you almost couldn’t even picture people living there. The whole place was uninviting and sterile, and the fact that we were in there, making noise for over 1/2 an hour before we went downstairs, turning on lights as we went, and still never heard a single thing until we were near the utility room, that is what really does it for me.
Friday, April 22, 2011
The Love Cats [The Cure]
Today is a face/off. (face, off? Face. Off.) of one of my favorite songs. i just cant not be happy when i hear it. for your listening pleasure, first the original, then a cover (which i think works rather well)
your thoughts?
ps - don't be swayed by the tons of awesome kitty photos that come with the original version - it was the best video i could find.
pps - try as you might, or might not, you can't actually sync the two up. the tricky version is about 3/4 the speed. i tried a few times, but it never really stayed lined up. it was a good thought, though.
your thoughts?
ps - don't be swayed by the tons of awesome kitty photos that come with the original version - it was the best video i could find.
pps - try as you might, or might not, you can't actually sync the two up. the tricky version is about 3/4 the speed. i tried a few times, but it never really stayed lined up. it was a good thought, though.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Fashion [David Bowie]
On Friday I attended Cre8, the new name for the annual fashion show held by the DFW chapter of IIDA. Actually, my boss (the department director) myself and another teacher attended the event, but oddly enough, the other teacher who actually leads the student group (I'm now a co-chair, it seems) couldn't attend for questionable reasons.
So the school has a student chapter of both IIDA and ASID, as well as countless other organizations (RDI, NKBA, etc) it's all rolled into one overall group, but the primary membership is IIDA and ASID students. And when I say that, I mean that of the 6 students that are members, 3 are IIDA and 3 are ASID. Apparently it's really hard to drum up interest, 1.) because these are spoiled brats who don't understand networking at all because they've never had to work for anything on their own, and b.) because this is a commuter school with retarded hours, students don't want to spend their 1 free hour between classes in meetings, or they don't want to drive to a meeting on a day that they don't have class.
So all of our members participated in the Cre8 event, and their outfit was actually pretty good. I don't know who won the event because we actually bailed early - it was still going strong at 9.30 and I think my boss was sticking around cause she thought I wanted to be there still - but what I learned is that it's hard to network for the school when you don't want to be in the area, and even harder when you are embarrassed to be associated with the school (no fault of the fashion show students, just the general student population I've been dealing with)
On Saturday the awesomeness continued, as I was assigned to present during an open house. They hold these things all the time to drum up enrollment, and apparently the faculty rotate through - since I'm new, the decided that I should attend this one. That's all well and good, but they didn't tell me what to do or say, just gave me a slideshow of student work and said "It's easy, you'll do fine." So what I learned is that just like with networking at IIDA events, it's hard to drum up enthusiasm for a school you don't care for. I spoke about the types of things you can do with an Interior Design degree, about the NCIDQ and the professional organizations and such. I tried to answer questions from parents and students as honestly as possible - which is hard when asked "Why would a student come here rather than a 4 year university" and "Why are there no dedicated studios or workspaces - isn't that counterproductive" Well, yes, yes it is, and i see no merits of this school over a 4 year. So I couldn't, in good conscience, tell prospective students to go to this school. I left most of the presentation/salesmanship up the the admissions person who was there with me.
I can pretend to like a lot of things I don't, and I will do a lot for a job, even if I don't like it or want it (I'm looking at you, target) - but apparently I have boundaries, and I found them this weekend. I'm just going to leave the promotion of the school up to someone else, work on being a good teacher for the time being, and do my best to find a new job.
So the school has a student chapter of both IIDA and ASID, as well as countless other organizations (RDI, NKBA, etc) it's all rolled into one overall group, but the primary membership is IIDA and ASID students. And when I say that, I mean that of the 6 students that are members, 3 are IIDA and 3 are ASID. Apparently it's really hard to drum up interest, 1.) because these are spoiled brats who don't understand networking at all because they've never had to work for anything on their own, and b.) because this is a commuter school with retarded hours, students don't want to spend their 1 free hour between classes in meetings, or they don't want to drive to a meeting on a day that they don't have class.
So all of our members participated in the Cre8 event, and their outfit was actually pretty good. I don't know who won the event because we actually bailed early - it was still going strong at 9.30 and I think my boss was sticking around cause she thought I wanted to be there still - but what I learned is that it's hard to network for the school when you don't want to be in the area, and even harder when you are embarrassed to be associated with the school (no fault of the fashion show students, just the general student population I've been dealing with)
On Saturday the awesomeness continued, as I was assigned to present during an open house. They hold these things all the time to drum up enrollment, and apparently the faculty rotate through - since I'm new, the decided that I should attend this one. That's all well and good, but they didn't tell me what to do or say, just gave me a slideshow of student work and said "It's easy, you'll do fine." So what I learned is that just like with networking at IIDA events, it's hard to drum up enthusiasm for a school you don't care for. I spoke about the types of things you can do with an Interior Design degree, about the NCIDQ and the professional organizations and such. I tried to answer questions from parents and students as honestly as possible - which is hard when asked "Why would a student come here rather than a 4 year university" and "Why are there no dedicated studios or workspaces - isn't that counterproductive" Well, yes, yes it is, and i see no merits of this school over a 4 year. So I couldn't, in good conscience, tell prospective students to go to this school. I left most of the presentation/salesmanship up the the admissions person who was there with me.
I can pretend to like a lot of things I don't, and I will do a lot for a job, even if I don't like it or want it (I'm looking at you, target) - but apparently I have boundaries, and I found them this weekend. I'm just going to leave the promotion of the school up to someone else, work on being a good teacher for the time being, and do my best to find a new job.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Little Horn [Marilyn Manson]
this week: HORNS! (and saxaphone)
the bjork video is weird, but i do love that horn bit towards the end. for a while there was a video of her performing it live, and she really got into it.
the cure song is one of my absolute favorites of theirs.
gomez is an acquired taste, but i love the way this song builds up to the horn and sax-a-ma-phone part.
*edit* apparently i cant embed the gomez one, so you can click the link instead
gomez, detroit swing 66
the bjork video is weird, but i do love that horn bit towards the end. for a while there was a video of her performing it live, and she really got into it.
the cure song is one of my absolute favorites of theirs.
gomez is an acquired taste, but i love the way this song builds up to the horn and sax-a-ma-phone part.
*edit* apparently i cant embed the gomez one, so you can click the link instead
gomez, detroit swing 66
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Architect [Rise Against]
i have to post a link cause the owner disabled sharing, but check out these cool architect posters. supposedly they're going up for sale, and i'm thinking my bachelor pad down here could use some new art!
six architects
six architects
Friday, April 08, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
Without Words [Rooney]
today we're going to go in a different direction, and go with some instrumental pieces. the first is Clint Mansell's Lux Aeterna from Requiem For a Dream. It's pretty intense, but it's also really good. After than we're going to go back 120 years prior to our first selection and go out with a calm piano piece by Erik Satie, Trois Gymnopedies - First Movement. You've probably heard it somewhere, but you should hear it again, right now. I guess depending on your mood it can be sad or uplifting. I'll let you decide which way you want to hear it.
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