Archive for Deborah Lipp

Bond Collector’s Weekend #9

May 4, 2006 / / 9 comments

I am so excited to be going to this event. I had a good time last year. In fact, I had a great time, despite sore feet from all the walking.

This year, the “weekend” (Friday through Monday) will be a Carnival Fascination cruise. Saturday will be the Death March through Nassau (and in August, I imagine it will be genuinely deathly). The rest of the time will be shipboard. My only disappointment is that some of the wonderful friends I made last year won’t be able to attend this year.

I am so thrilled. Arthur is joining me. The ship has a spa, pools, nightclubs, dining, lots of amenities, and an entire teen program with a lounge, video games, and (best of all) other teens to hang with. I’ve always wanted to try a cruise, and I loves me some spa time.

I have an evening gown, new shoes, new Death March shorts, and my costume is just about together. Can’t. Frickin. Wait.

Visigoths and earthworms

May 3, 2006 / / 12 comments

I may have to create a new category for “dating hell.”

This time I won’t even get as far as a Date From Hell.™ I will stop this at the Phone Call From Hell™ and pause to once again thank the Gods and my own inner wisdom that I don’t give these bozos my real name.

Guy pursued a lot on the ‘net. First contact, I wasn’t sure I was interested. Second contact, I was made slightly uncomfortable by something he said. Third contact, kinda nice, kinda too pushy, but I started second-guessing myself. Don’t I like pushy guys when I meet them? Shouldn’t I give this one a chance?

So anyway, phone call. Just as he calls, Arthur came home. So I said “My son just came home. He just had his first shift on his first job.” (Which, by the way, yay Arthur.) Well that was it. This guy launches into this stentorian monologue: “That’s fantastic! That’s so great! He will have skills for the rest of his life. You have done such a good thing for him. He’ll learn morals, he’ll learn ethics, he’ll learn how to connect with people. No matter what he does in the future, these skills will be his.” On and on and on. And it doesn’t sound bad to type it, but it was so bombastic, and so lectury, (and so loud and so rapid-fire) and we had just started talking. We’d never spoken before. Isn’t this a little over the top? He doesn’t know anything about Arthur, and he doesn’t know what I’ve done or not done, and hey, why does he need to learn morals? He already has morals. » Read more..

This time, for sure, Rocky!

May 2, 2006 / / 6 comments

Okay, here’s the totally official trailer. In English.

I am too thrilled for words. It really is a wonderful snippet of film. Oh, Gods, she says “blunt instrument”! I love Fleming references.

The New York Times on Net Neutrality

May 2, 2006 / / Comments Off on The New York Times on Net Neutrality

In today’s Op-Ed:

The House Energy and Commerce Committee defeated a good Net-neutrality amendment last week. But the amendment got more votes than many people expected, suggesting that support for Net neutrality is beginning to take hold in Congress. In the Senate, Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, and Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, are drafting a strong Net-neutrality bill that would prohibit broadband providers from creating a two-tiered Internet. Senators who care about the Internet and Internet users should get behind it.

Just review the book, gorram it

May 2, 2006 / / 22 comments

In the brief life of The Way of Four Spellbook, I’ve gotten exactly three reviews, two very positive (About.com and Publisher’s Weekly). One, not so much.

I can take a bad review. I even link to the About review despite the fact that she calls me annoying. The reviewer is directly addressing the tone in which I write. She is entitled to an opinion about that; hence the word “review.” (Besides which, I even annoy myself.)

But a lot of reviewers don’t show evidence of actually knowing what a book review is. » Read more..

Big Bond News

May 2, 2006 / / Comments Off on Big Bond News

I mean BIG.

So big.

Teaser trailer is out. It’s in French but Oh. My. God. I’m drooling.

And as if that’s not enough, I have new wallpaper.

Oh, happy day to be a Bond fan.

Update: Nevermind.

Monday Movie Review: Trembling Before G-d

May 1, 2006 / / 7 comments

Trembling Before G-d (2001) 10/10
An exploration of the lives of gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews. (Documentary)

Trembling Before G-d presents us with people who, on the face of it, are suffering massive cognitive dissonance. The Ultra-Orthodox and Hasidim featured here believe in the Torah as God’s word, and in obedience to Jewish law. As an Orthodox rabbi explains, no matter how much compassion he may have for gay Jews, he cannot tell them it’s okay to do something for which the Torah prescribes the death penalty.

» Read more..

Happy Beltane

May 1, 2006 / / 5 comments

Have yourself a frolicsome Beltane! Some people refer to Beltane as the Pagan New Year, others give Samhain that name. Indeed, I believe the year is divided, like night and day. Beltane is the beginning of the day part of the year, and Samhain begins its night.

What would Beltane be without a maypole? People count off, so that every other person weaves under and clockwise, or over and counter-clockwise.

Instructions are given:
Count off!
» Read more..

Tuna Fish

April 30, 2006 / / One comment

My sister-in-law just had a baby. (Yay!) (He’s really cute.) (Totally YAY!) (SOOOOO cute.)

Okay, I’ll start over.

I sometimes think about tuna fish. Not, y’know, the food. Although that too. But the phrase. Because isn’t it redundant?

It peeves me that Brits & Aussies call beets “beetroot.” Do we say “carrotroot”? Do we say “lettuceleaf”? No. Therefore, whence “beetroot”? Yet we do say “tuna fish.”

So on Sunday, my sister-in-law (the brand new mom) and I were discussing food cravings during pregnancy, and I mentioned how funny it was that Arthur pretty much hates every food that I gorged on in pregnancy. I craved mashed potatoes, he can’t stand ’em. I ate an absolute ton of tuna, he won’t touch the stuff.

And New Mom said that she, too, craved tuna during pregnancy.

“But not, y’know, tuna steak. Tuna fish. In the can.”

So that’s interesting. “Tuna” means tuna steak, or sushi, or sashimi. “Tuna fish” means Chicken of the Sea.

And the baby? Really cute.

Another Day, Another Meme

April 28, 2006 / / 3 comments

Got this from Shakespeare’s Sister:

Accent: Pretty strong New York accent, I’m told, although I was raised in New Jersey.

Booze: Vodka (Stoli) martini with a twist.

Chore I Hate: Washing the floor. If anything could ever make a person feel like Cinderella…!

Dog or Cat: Cats!

Essential Electronics: Computer, duh.

Favorite Cologne: Spellbound

Gold or Silver: Silver. Very lunar & witchy.

Hometown: I don’t identify with any one town. I live in Rockland County, NY but I still think of myself as a Jersey Girl.

Insomnia: Very rarely, but with the disk problem in my neck, I don’t sleep well.

Job Title: Technical Writer. Or Queen, take your pick.

Kids: Arthur

Living Arrangements: Townhouse condo; me, Arthur, and the Gang of Two

Most Admirable Traits: Honesty (bluntness, even); loyalty; willingness to communicate fairly and openly

Number of Sexual Partners: More than Shakes. More than any of the ones linked at Shakes.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Most recently, knee surgery in 2003, I was in the hospital from Tuesday through Friday. Before that, I think the only time was when I was five. (On edit) Oh, yeah, there was this other thing. Not going there.

Phobias: Car washes

Quote: “Just go ahead and admit you’re an asshole. You would be in some good company.”

Religion: Wicca

Siblings: One older brother. Four younger sisters. One younger brother. Two step-sisters.

Time I Wake Up: The alarm goes off at seven during the week. Weekends I can stay in bed as late as nine.

Unusual Talent or Skill: I can lick my nose, cross my eyes one at a time, and bend my fingers back to touch my wrist. This makes me very special.

Vegetable I Love: Almost all of them, but fiddlehead ferns make me shudder with delight.

Worst Habit: I have a blurty thing. And my voice is too loud.

X-Rays: Gazillions. I think my left leg must glow in the dark. I have to say the screws in my knee are very entertaining on an x-ray.

Yummy Foods I Make: My specialties are my goat cheese primavera, my marsala portobellos, my breaded spinach, and my split pea soup.

Zodiac Sign: Taurus with a Capricorn moon and a Scorpio ascendant.

Roberta, Arthur, and Tom, you’re tagged.

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