Random from the past: plot bunnies, Twitter hilarity, San Francisco, stuff.

From September 14th:
Plot bunny, free to a good home: in which Sherlock of the new BBC Sherlock series, is, well. ( Spoilers for The Demon's Lexicon )

From September 15th (Wednesday) and 16th (Thursday):
The #rockretractions hashtag was hilarious fun, taking various lyrics and sentiments from assorted rock songs and considering how things might have changed. Such as: @jaredgriffin: Actually, education is pretty important, but we are still adamantly against thought-control. #rockretractions and @alyankovic: On second thought, it actually might behoove you to fear the Reaper a little bit. #rockretractions


Then there was some guy on BART who was sort of passed out in one of the spoonie seats, with his bike blocking the other 3 spoonie seats in that little section. Fortunately the car was not amazingly crowded. And he did show vague signs of alertness later. But oh man. D:




Friday, I discovered that the perpetually-soft tire was in fact flat, and no amount of air was resurrecting it. I was filled with woe, and frantically made with the waving-about of schedules.


9/17/2010 2221: Fic bunny: five sex toys that B.S. Johnson ought to never have made.

11:19 PM 9/17/2010
amberite's cat is elderly and ailing. http://community.livejournal.com/nuke_our_cat/


http://qdb.dreamwidth.net/dw/320

From Twitter 10-05-2010: Glee: Grilled Cheesus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grilled_Cheesus

Context as well as just the tweets.

( Spoilers about Glee: Grilled Cheesus, in convenient Twitter import format. )

Tweets copied by twittinesis.com

I had really low expectations when I saw that this was going to be a Special Religious Episode, and they didn't quite sink as low as I thought they would. Kurt got to keep most of his dignity and most of his religious convictions. Sue's side ... erk. :(

(old stuff) Sept 18 & 19: Book party & slumber party! Lunch!

Saturday the 18th was interesting. I went to my aunt's for the now-customary Saturday dog training stuff, and helped out as per usual. She picked me up, due to my flat tire; it was going to be a long day, since that evening was Seanan McGuire's book release.

After the training class, my aunt and I looked at dog paperwork (and snarked some of the amazingly bad writing). One of the things was a document on a dog's sense of smell. It had the amazing statement "holes in the roof of the living dog", meaning "holes in the skull, covered by the tissue of the dog's mouth". We howled with laughter.

I got ready. I'd had the foresight to bring washcloth/makeup/etc. with me. Steph was intending to show up around 3pm.

She was a little behind schedule, which resulted in me waiting somewhat nervously in the living room with a book, all polished up and perched on the edge of the chair. But she arrived in a reasonable time, and just as she was doing the Meet The Aunt thing (or, rather, re-meet, as they'd very briefly met when I was visiting Grandma's in the winter of 2002/2003), Kat called. Hi, Kat.

We drove off; the plan was to take BART to the thing. So off we drove. There was a bit of a muddle with that horrible five-direction intersection between John Daly Blvd (2 directions), Junipero Serra Blvd (from whence we were coming), 280, and 1. We got back to the BART station OK, though, and then we rode in. sithjawa was glad to be Not Driving at last.

Book event was fun! Steph and I ran over to the cafe to get a snack lest we fall over on the floor or eat someone's face off out of low-blood-sugar crankiness. Tif arrived somewhat later than we did, but had not missed too much. There was lovely shortbread, cake, and rather a lot of Halloween candy. Also music, hilarity, a drawing, cheering, and general funtimes. I thought I recognized someone, but was mistaken; someone thought he recognized me, but was mistaken. Then emceeaich and cynthia1960 hailed me, and no-one was mistaken there.

I delivered greetings from the internet unto s00j. We learned that "Luidaeg" is less "lou-sha-k" and more "lou-shak", leading to Seanan's declaration that "Yes, it scans to 'Love Shack'", and something resembling "The Luidaeg is a scary old fae who wants to ... eat your face off! Luidaeg baby (Luidaeg baby!)". The notorious salad of doom!

We followed up the happy book stuff with dinner at the Moroccan restaurant next door, and general chatter.

Then Steph and I took BART back to her car, and she drove us home. A slumber party, with lots of giggling, ensued.


Sunday morning, the 19th, we were to meet the boys for lunch at the Alamo Cafe. We assessed everything, and decided that we would be brave, and would attempt to park near the cafe. On the way, I realized that Jed lives in SF now, and therefore might actually be up for last-minute social. I texted him while we were on the way. There were a few adventures of navigation, but we arrived in the general area in good time, and made for the parking.

This did not quite go entirely so well. Things were all fux0red for Sunday Streets, and the upshot of wrestling with the bus resulted in walking the entire way. My legs were decidedly unhappy with me.

http://www.tripline.net//trip/Why_I%27m_Never_Doing_Anything_With_Disrupted_Transit_Again-02276570112310038097D590E3CC515F

Happily, jld had been able to join us, and there was a lot of cheerful geekery as well as general hilarity. Then Steph drove me back home, and headed off to see her East Bay friends. Good times!

MythBusters: "Hair of the Dog": one volunteer's experience

Adam Savage announced that long-time MythBusters medic Sanjay Singh has died, and tonight's episode is in his honor. I had the honor of meeting him when I washed out from "No Pain, No Gain", and he exemplified the caring, safety-conscious attitude I have come to expect from the MythBusters. He will be missed.

Hair of the Dog

The MythBusters called for volunteers to help out with "Hair of the Dog", in testing possible methods to help defeat a sniffer dog. Of course, we didn't know exactly what we were signing up for at first.

(I've tried to make this not take up too much space, but if you want to flee now, jump to the end. This also uses nesting cuts for the spoiler-phobic, since I'm posting before 9pm PST (but after 9pm EST), and you can expand them from http://azurelunatic.dreamwidth.org/2010/10/06/#entry-6434015 )



Call for Volunteers:
We need 200 volunteers! May 6/San Fran/8:30a-5p. Must be over 18. Free T-shirts+lunch! For more details: mb@beyond.com.au

A little nervous:
[#MBMole] We're visiting a pet store to buy lots of tarantulas! They will NOT be harmed in any way. Hosts on the other hand...Muwahaha

Heard back from MythBusters with details. It involves sniffer dogs, and the volunteers are to be lining up as if in a line for a concert or other event. This has costuming potential! Dress code: anything you really want to wear, except no logos -- and bring layers/hat, as this is going to be involving standing outside in San Francisco weather.

( I prepare. )

114. azurelunatic

Very excited for volunteering for @mythbusters in the morning. Hope I can sleep... 12:34 AM May 6th via Echofon

( I found it hard to. )

( I didn't get much sleep, so my morning was really entertaining. I tripped balls on caffeine. )

We were called to attention by the pretty blonde lady in the red jacket (the director) and told that we would need to get ourselves signed in. ( We were all very excited. )

After we were signed in, we were directed to wait and keep the hell out of the way. This translated to going into the building. The cavernous space dwarfed the handful of tables with folding chairs set up. This space is evidently a favorite location: this was where they had tested the bullet dropped vs. bullet fired in "Knock Your Socks Off". There were even snacks, for people who'd not had breakfast: soda, pastries, apples!

I found a table with a few available seats and sat down; I was joined by @MrsGneissGirl. Fiber geekery hilarity ensued: she was knitting, I was crocheting frantically on Dreamsheep Alpha to get it done for the party the very next day. Other people had fiber arts projects as well. I felt all warm and fuzzy.

I was sipping from one of the bottles of nice chilled water when I realized that water bottle labels might be a problem that would have to be bleeped out onscreen; I peeled them off. This would stickily haunt me throughout the day.

People kept on filing in, and people started to get bored. Someone joked, half-seriously, that the myth was about what people who were bored waiting in line would get up to. Indeed, people were pacing the length of the building, there was a certain amount of experimentation with echoes, and I felt the urge to turn cartwheels. (I didn't actually, though.)

I broke out the crocheting once again. There was a knitter at my table. There were several knitters about. My table started chatting, and determined that we would, for entertainment purposes, start generating urban legends, and see if any of them made it back to the MythBusters for their show. We created a tentative name: MythBuilders! We discovered that many of us were on Twitter, and exchanged usernames quickly. I had mastered the skill of adding someone via text message, and added my fellows this way, which had the bonus of sending their tweets to me as text messages. @Back2Bethel and @JulianaMarie added me immediately, having more modern phones; @MrsGneissGirl had an older phone but promised to reciprocate as soon as she was at a computer.

( We got silly fast. )

I was delighted to learn that JD Nelson would be present. (JD Nelson is an actual officer of the law, not to be mistaken for the similarly-named, and fictional, JD Neilson.) JD Nelson often shows up when the MythBusters are dealing with explosives, firearms, and other reasons that officers of the law might need to be present. This time, it was because of the sniffer dogs who would be present.


Tory holds forth on something, with JD Nelson standing by.


We got our safety briefing. (Safety Dance != Safety Briefing, Skippy's List reminds us.) Basically, the sniffer dogs are police dogs but not the sort where you're in biting danger: they're sniffy, nosy dogs, but we're not to touch them, only their handler should while they're working. (Which is exactly the sort of stuff I am used to: working dog is working; do not touch working dog while working dog is working.)



Back outside to file in for time-lapse thingy; we were to go in at a steady rate, as doing it speeded up would make it look like a demented caterpillar. We were instructed that no-one was to go over the black line with any part of their body, as that would make it necessary to re-shoot the whole thing. We were also to not look at the camera, which would make it All Weird.

Grant takes a picture of the volunteer crowd: http://twitpic.com/1ljx8e (I'm somewhere invisible in the back)




87. MythBusters Official MythBusters
Looks like a lot of our followers are volunteering with us today! about 17 hours ago via TweetDeck

86. azurelunatic
In crowd, and @grantimahara is taking pictures of us! #MythBuilders 0944 (RT by @Back2Bethel)

85. azurelunatic
Having who came the furthest contest. Alaska or Canada. #Mythbusters 0951

84. azurelunatic
"Quiet please" is marred by giggles in the back of the crowd and seagulls. #Mythbusters 0956


( We had an amazingly fun day. Spoilers lurk below. )

getting to be lunchtime, a break was called. They said that it would be about a half-hour lunch break, then they would get back to filming. We rushed for the bathrooms again, grabbed soda, and queued up at the much-hailed taco truck.


52. azurelunatic
I spy jdn. JD Nelson, that is. about 13 hours ago via txt



( Lunch hilarity. )

We finally got back out there in the heat. ( Afternoon filming, spoilery. )

29. @Back2Bethel
Wrapping on the @mythbusters set, then back to the BART, Livermore, & First Street Alehouse about 11 hours ago via txt


28. azurelunatic
My FEET have PAIN. about 11 hours ago via txt

27. @JulianaMarie
Missing @back2bethel, #Myuthbuilders temporarily apart about 11 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®



All the volunteers got a T-shirt. However, they were short on the adult-sized t-shirts, and long on the small ones; people who didn't get a shirt got their names taken down so a shirt could be shipped.

Getting shirts issued turned into Grant and Tory signing shirts.


( Read more... )

I am thrilled to meet Grant. Behind us, Tory has decided the best and most stable surface for signing the shirt is a fan's back.



I am thrilled to meet Tory. Tory said that he liked my flair, then noticed the blacked-out buttons on my hat, and commented that someone must have Happened to my hat. "Actually, I did that myself at home before coming here," I said.
"You know the drill then!" Tory said, or words to that equivalent, and seemed mildly impressed.
Our Meg waits in the background.



Our Meg gets a photo with Grant and Tory.

Earlier, she'd mentioned the decision behind her outfit: they said clothes you might wear to a concert, right? And, well, she goes to some really fun concerts.



Our lovely director, the Woman in the Red Jacket! Officers and K9s are visible in the background.



Meet the "Myth-Builders": @MrsGneissGirl, @Back2Bethel, @Azurelunatic, and @JulianaMarie. BFF!



( End of the day. )

 From MB executive producer - Thanks to all today's awesome volunteers. You guys rocked! Our fans are the best!!

59 tweets for 2010-10-6

In the last 24 hours, I posted the following to Twitter:

• Tuesday, 2355: @ifonlyella LAL MIGHT BE RIGHT. HAVE YOU BEEN MARKED? @laliandra
• Wednesday, 0102: @afuna Indeed!
• Wednesday, 0149: Attn @tiferet93 and other #android #dreamwidth users: survey on planned client: http://espost.dreamwidth.org/413.html
• Wednesday, 0217: My top reasons for FB unfriending: drama & because sometimes people are doooouchebags. http://www.labspaces.net/106814/Researcher_finds_top_reasons_for_Facebook_unfriending
• Wednesday, 0218: (I've unfriended, like, 3 people on Facebook ever. All coinciding with real-life defriending.)
( read the other 54 )

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