So yesterday after spending an unfortunate number of hours cleaning my bedroom (I even vacuumed the cobwebs off the ceiling! What? Am I kidding? No, why?) I had a flash of inspiration. I dashed to my back room, flung open the closet door, and dove in! After an epic battle with some stuffed animals and old textbooks, I emerged with a battered old Sketchers shoe box. When I opened it, my face was bathed in golden light as I beheld my Holy Grail:

Ah, Sega Genesis, how I've missed you! Cheerfully I carted the shoe box to my bedroom, and examined the older television sitting on my dresser. It was old enough for me to be able to plug the ancient-technology cable trailing from the back of the Genesis directly into the TV. Plug the machine into the nearest available outlet, stick a Sonic cartridge in, turn it on, and....

"Sega!" the TV sang as the blue logo flashed across the screen and the oh-so-familiar Sonic the Hedgehog music chirped thinly from the speakers.

YES!

It still worked! I was so excited!

My mom was always very strict about the television when I was growing up. If I'm remembering correctly I was allowed to watch two shows every week, so maybe hour or two, with an occasional Disney movie thrown in. That's in a week. Not that much. However my dad was in the navy and was gone on submarines for months at a time, and when he was gone, my mom would borrow our family friends' Genesis and I would get to play a bit. I guess it was something of a consolation prize, something to get my mind off the fact that daddy was gone again.

I was probably sevenish? eightish? and I had a blast playing it of course. But my favorite thing to do was watch Mom play, especially Shining in the Darkness. I remember being really excited because Mom was letting me stay up late - REALLY late! - so I could watch her play just a little bit longer.

I got a little older, and still loved the Genesis (which gradually sort of become ours by default - the family friends didn't really want it). My friend Matt and I would obsessively play Altered Beast and Sword of Vermillion. I got older still, then even older, and suddenly the Genesis had been collecting dust on a shelf for many years and I was ready to move out of my parents' home. I asked to take the ancient console with me, and soon it was ensconced in my tiny garage studio apartment. When I moved from there to my duplex, it was shoved into a closet and forgotten. In the three years I've been moved out, I don't think it's been hooked up once.

Until yesterday!

I spent hours crawling through dungeons with Shining in the Darkness, trying to remember how to bring up the cheat options in Altered Beast (press Start and B at the same time), collecting rings with Sonic, being shamefully schooled by the computer in Mortal Kombat 2, and visiting many other old friends.

I think the Genesis can stay hooked up for a while this time.

^_^

So. Those who know me know about my strange fascination/fear for Brazilian Wandering Spiders.

I am reminded that three years ago in April is when that pub chef in England was bitten by the BWS hiding in a crate of bananas.

Thinking about that I did a quick google search for BWS news, as I do from time to time. Mostly to make sure that there hasn't been a population surge in western Washington. What? But BWS only lives in South / Central America? That's what YOU think. What happens when they adapt to our climate, storm all the banana crates they can find, and TAKE OVER? HUH? HUH?!

Paranoid? Me? Pffft.

But anyway, I found this tidbit of information:

Natural Viagra: Spider Bite Causes Erection
By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 01 May, 2007 12:10 am ET

WASHINGTON — A Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital. Its venom stimulates an hours-long erection. Now scientists have figured out the chemical that seems to be responsible for the penis boost.

In Brazil, emergency room staff can immediately spot the victims of a bite from the Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria nigriventer). Patients not only experience overall pain and an increase in blood pressure, they also sport an uncomfortable erection. “The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort,” said study team member Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia. “We’re hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.”

This information was confirmed in a BBC article.

Wow.

Just wow.

O_O

Doomsday

"If you're hungry... have a piece of your friend."

So my friend Nils and I are sitting on my sofa watching 'Ashura'. It's somewhere between one and three o'clock in the morning and we're exhausted, dozing a bit, not even laughing at the ridiculous movie any more.

Suddenly there was a thumping sound from the front porch, and as we twist around to look towards the entry, the front door FLIES open and a strange woman stumbles into the room.

There was dead silence.

Nils and I stared wide eyed at the intruder, rudely shaken from our Japanese action movie induced trance, unable to make a sound. The tall woman was dressed in a long brown skirt and non-descript top. She stared at us for a long moment. Her eyes slowly got bigger.

Silence. Nils and I continued to give her our best deer-in-headlights look.

"WHOOPS!" the woman announced, flinging an arm in the air and slowly backing/stumbling towards the door. "Wrong house!" As she fled the premises she tossed in a quick "I am so sorry" as she hurriedly closed the door behind her.

Nils and I sat in silence for another long moment.

"I think I'm going to go lock your deadbolt," Nils said finally.

Ah, drunk people......

Despite roadblocks such as laziness and procrastination, I have actually been forcing myself to go to the gym on a regular basis. And by regular I mean just about every day.

A few days ago I happened to think to myself, hey, maybe just for shits and giggles I'll step on the scale.

It had been six days since I started going to the gym regularly and I certainly wasn't expecting anything. I kinda figured, well, maybe a pound or two disappeared.

Then the further I had to push the little slider bar thing, the wider my eyes got.

6 lbs! In under a WEEK!

I'm excited. ^_^

And Mom, I know you're waiting for it: YOU WERE RIGHT!

I learned something today.

Buyer agent Noelle sits at a desk next to mine. Noelle is from England, but is actually Irish - her mother was full blooded Irish, and she spent part of her life living in Ireland, and when she moved away, visited relatives there countless times.

We're chatting a bit as we usually do in the morning, and I mentioned my plan's for St. Patty's day. She turned and gave me a look. "What?" I asked, confused.

Noelle proceeded to explain to me that in Ireland, no one ever refers to St. Patrick as St. "Patty". She said that is a good way to end up dead in a ditch with your head bashed in. I was surprised, and asked her to elaborate.

Apparently in Ireland the term "Patty" is the equivalent to the nastier racial slur against African Americans in the states - and I don't even want to type that word. Therefore, calling St. Patrick St "Patty" is considered horrible and derogatory, and the Irish get pretty anrgy when you insult their patron saint. Noelle told me with a laugh about how when she first moved to the states she was shocked the first time she heard "St. Patty".

So. St. Patrick it is.

Learn something new every day. ^_^

Yesterday, when I got out of the shower, my gaze fell upon the steam covered bathroom mirror. Instantly I leapt over to it, and with my finger a blur of motion, I wrote: