I went to the student health center today because I can't think of a more fun way to waste 90 minutes other than possibly poking myself in the eye with a pen. Repeatedly. However, my leg that I hurt on Sunday was still hurting when I walked and the bruise has flowered into a truly breathtaking and unique array of colors (anyone else ever had a bruise that was yellow with purple spots? Cause that's what I've got going on. Pictures upon request) and I'm just stubborn enough to be That Girl who walked around on a fractured shin for a week before she realized it.
Anyway, after an amazingly speedy health center visit (vitals, initial exam, X-ray, and follow up to X-ray, and dropping off of prescriptions all happened in under 2 hours) I got good news, better news and kinda sucks news. Here they are:
Good News: My leg isn't fractured, just deeply bruised.
Kinda Sucks News: I still can't play soccer until at least next weekend, because that's how bad the bruise is.
Better News: I got a prescription for Percocet anyway.
The rest of this week is looking up. And by "up" I mean "it could suck, but I'll be on codeine so I won't care". Woo!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Power of Facebook
Yesterday I went to play soccer with the music engineers again, because that's what I do on Sundays now. Although I actually got a ride this time, so I didn't have to bike a mile, play a bunch of soccer, and then bike a mile back because that shit is exhausting. Anyway, I haven't been playing with shin guards because the last time I was on a soccer team was when I was 15 so it's not like I just carry the things around. Up until yesterday it hadn't been a problem.
Yesterday it became a problem.
I'm currently sporting the second largest ugliest bruise I've ever had* on my right shin below the knee, just on the inside. It came from running into another player's shin, only that other player was bigger, faster, and stronger. Also he was just kind of going after everyone on the field and in retrospect I wish I'd been a classic soccer player and taken a dive after he hit me and maybe gotten him carded. But whatever. I kept playing for a few minutes until I realized that I had a giant lump rising already and that I'd be limping for the rest of the game if I didn't do something about it. I ended up sitting out the rest of the game with a bag of ice on my leg.
I came home, and put something on facebook mentioning icing my shin, and less than a minute later had a reply from my father, who coached kids soccer, asking if I was playing without shin guards. I answered in the negative, and got a reply from my mother stating that she had found my old shin guards and would be mailing them off the next morning.
I complain sometimes about the fact that both my parents have eyes on my facebook account, but every so often it works out well.
Also, despite several hours worth of icing this bruise last night, it's still large and lumpy and still throbs when I walk. Considering how much I walk due to my lack of a car, I'm not looking forward to the rest of this week. At all.
*First is from that time I got hit by a car. I think I had a bruise on my thigh that actually exceeded the area of my thigh. There was just like a dark purple stain hanging out in the area around my thigh, that's how extensive the bruise was.
Yesterday it became a problem.
I'm currently sporting the second largest ugliest bruise I've ever had* on my right shin below the knee, just on the inside. It came from running into another player's shin, only that other player was bigger, faster, and stronger. Also he was just kind of going after everyone on the field and in retrospect I wish I'd been a classic soccer player and taken a dive after he hit me and maybe gotten him carded. But whatever. I kept playing for a few minutes until I realized that I had a giant lump rising already and that I'd be limping for the rest of the game if I didn't do something about it. I ended up sitting out the rest of the game with a bag of ice on my leg.
I came home, and put something on facebook mentioning icing my shin, and less than a minute later had a reply from my father, who coached kids soccer, asking if I was playing without shin guards. I answered in the negative, and got a reply from my mother stating that she had found my old shin guards and would be mailing them off the next morning.
I complain sometimes about the fact that both my parents have eyes on my facebook account, but every so often it works out well.
Also, despite several hours worth of icing this bruise last night, it's still large and lumpy and still throbs when I walk. Considering how much I walk due to my lack of a car, I'm not looking forward to the rest of this week. At all.
*First is from that time I got hit by a car. I think I had a bruise on my thigh that actually exceeded the area of my thigh. There was just like a dark purple stain hanging out in the area around my thigh, that's how extensive the bruise was.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
CBII: Book #2 - The Monster of Florence
The Monster of Florence written by Douglas Preston in collaboration with Mario Spezi is a terrifying book for almost all the wrong reasons. A factual account of the serial murder of 7 couples in the Tuscan countryside around Florence involving postmortem genital mutilation, the more chilling aspect of the book is simply how badly bungled the investigation was. By the end, over zealous prosecutors scared of losing face had arrested Spezi and Preston both and charged them with hastily made up charges to keep them from releasing information they had uncovered on the Monster case. This happened in 2006, the murders started in 1968. No one has ever been formally convicted as the Monster.
In 1974 Florence was rocked by the murder of two young lovers who were enjoying an evening parked in the Florence countryside, a popular past time for Italian youths who usually lived with their parents until marriage and would take to the privacy of their cars for romantic interludes. Both victims were shot, the man left in the drivers seat leaning against the window he'd been shot through. The woman's body was dragged away from the car, stripped, and her genitalia removed with a knife. The woman's body was left in a public area, sure to be found. Over the next 11 years, six other couples were murdered the exact same way and one gay couple was murdered in a what appeared to be a case of sadly mistaken identity. In that case, there was no mutilation of the victims, and both were found in the car dead of gunshot wounds.
The investigation turned up little evidence, which is not surprising given the fact that very few of the crime scenes were ever properly secured and evidence collection was iffy at best. The only hard and fast facts the investigation had to go on was that all the murders were committed with the same gun, identifiable by the mark a faulty firing pin left on the shells*. An anonymous tip led police to discover the weapon had been used in a previous double murder committed in 1968. Despite this clear connection to a group of men who conspired together in the 1968 murder, the investigation into the Monster of Florence devolved into ever more far fetched tales of satanic sects, cover ups, counter cover ups, and conspiracies involving only the most wealthy and powerful of citizens. On April 7th, 2006 Mario Spezi, a journalist who had covered the entire Monster case for a newspaper in Florence and who was very vocal in his criticism of the investigation along with his belief of who the real killer was, was arrested in Florence. He was not told of the charges, which were sealed by judicial order, and he was not given the chance to see a lawyer for five days under a special provision to prevent mob bosses who had been arrested from passing on retaliation orders through their lawyers. He was eventually released, after the international journalism community rose up to condemn his arrest as a violation of freedom of the press.
The Monster of Florence is a book that details the worst of police work coupled with the worst of humanity. The lasting implication is that a vicious killer is still walking free due to investigators ignoring facts that didn't fit their personal theories and only collecting evidence that backed up what they believed. Politics played more of a role in the investigation than facts, and by the end of the book several investigators attached to the Monster case had been disgraced, while other had received promotions for moving the investigation forward incrementally, if at all. It's a deeply discouraging read, and while it's an excellent overview of the crimes and the investigation, there's no satisfaction to be had. The book ends by touching on the arrest of American Amanda Knox for the murder of her British roommate, with suspicions of shadowy "sex games" being throw around by investigators and a local conspiracy theorist who played a large part in the later years of the Monster investigation attempting to tie the two cases together. It doesn't inspire much hope in the reader for the outcome of the investigation into Ms.Knox or for the prospect of someone finally seeing justice for the violent deaths of 14 people.
*If some of these details sound familiar, it's likely because a very gently fictionalized version of The Monster's murders appeared in Hannibal by Thomas Harris. He even based the Pazzi character off a real investigator on the case, only the real one didn't end up hung from a window after being disemboweled.
In 1974 Florence was rocked by the murder of two young lovers who were enjoying an evening parked in the Florence countryside, a popular past time for Italian youths who usually lived with their parents until marriage and would take to the privacy of their cars for romantic interludes. Both victims were shot, the man left in the drivers seat leaning against the window he'd been shot through. The woman's body was dragged away from the car, stripped, and her genitalia removed with a knife. The woman's body was left in a public area, sure to be found. Over the next 11 years, six other couples were murdered the exact same way and one gay couple was murdered in a what appeared to be a case of sadly mistaken identity. In that case, there was no mutilation of the victims, and both were found in the car dead of gunshot wounds.
The investigation turned up little evidence, which is not surprising given the fact that very few of the crime scenes were ever properly secured and evidence collection was iffy at best. The only hard and fast facts the investigation had to go on was that all the murders were committed with the same gun, identifiable by the mark a faulty firing pin left on the shells*. An anonymous tip led police to discover the weapon had been used in a previous double murder committed in 1968. Despite this clear connection to a group of men who conspired together in the 1968 murder, the investigation into the Monster of Florence devolved into ever more far fetched tales of satanic sects, cover ups, counter cover ups, and conspiracies involving only the most wealthy and powerful of citizens. On April 7th, 2006 Mario Spezi, a journalist who had covered the entire Monster case for a newspaper in Florence and who was very vocal in his criticism of the investigation along with his belief of who the real killer was, was arrested in Florence. He was not told of the charges, which were sealed by judicial order, and he was not given the chance to see a lawyer for five days under a special provision to prevent mob bosses who had been arrested from passing on retaliation orders through their lawyers. He was eventually released, after the international journalism community rose up to condemn his arrest as a violation of freedom of the press.
The Monster of Florence is a book that details the worst of police work coupled with the worst of humanity. The lasting implication is that a vicious killer is still walking free due to investigators ignoring facts that didn't fit their personal theories and only collecting evidence that backed up what they believed. Politics played more of a role in the investigation than facts, and by the end of the book several investigators attached to the Monster case had been disgraced, while other had received promotions for moving the investigation forward incrementally, if at all. It's a deeply discouraging read, and while it's an excellent overview of the crimes and the investigation, there's no satisfaction to be had. The book ends by touching on the arrest of American Amanda Knox for the murder of her British roommate, with suspicions of shadowy "sex games" being throw around by investigators and a local conspiracy theorist who played a large part in the later years of the Monster investigation attempting to tie the two cases together. It doesn't inspire much hope in the reader for the outcome of the investigation into Ms.Knox or for the prospect of someone finally seeing justice for the violent deaths of 14 people.
*If some of these details sound familiar, it's likely because a very gently fictionalized version of The Monster's murders appeared in Hannibal by Thomas Harris. He even based the Pazzi character off a real investigator on the case, only the real one didn't end up hung from a window after being disemboweled.
CBII: Book #1 - Hater
Hater by David Moody is very similar to Stephen King's Cell but with even less of an explanation as to why normal, ordinary people are suddenly overcome with the urge to murder those around them in exceptionally violent ways. Furthermore, the people affected in Hater retain some sense of logic rather than abandoning all vestiges of humanity.
Hater is set in England, and for the first half of the book the narrative is split between a low level British civil servant, Danny McCoyne, who worries about making enough to properly support his wife and three children while at the same time expressing mixed emotions about his family overall. This would seem to make him a sympathetic character, although some of the anger and frustration Danny expresses about his wife and children make him hard to sympathize with. (However, I know that I'm absolutely unsympathetic towards people who come of age in a time when condoms and birth control are freely available complaining about children they've had.) Most of his concerns revolve around his job and his relationship with his family, until the mysterious killings begin. At first it just seems like a few people who went mad and killed people, then Danny blames the media for glamorizing those killings and causing copy cat incidents, before it becomes clear that something very different is happening.
In between Danny's perspective, we flash to incidents of both people turning into "haters" as they've been dubbed by the media, and people being attacked by the haters. They're generally terrifying scenes, featuring one person beating another to a pulp with their bare hands or whatever objects are nearby. Danny and his family end up witnessing some of these incidents, adding to their sense of unease and confusion. Especially after a mandatory curfew is put in place, all businesses are closed, and the military begins going door to door to inspect for "haters". Without spoiling the novel, I will say that this is not like some books or movies where a central group of characters observes the changes happening all around them without having the crisis touch them personally in some way. Danny and his family are directly affected, and the last fourth of the novel deals with that and paves the way for a potential sequel called Dog Blood which will be out June 2010 according to the author's website.
I found Hater to be a reasonably engaging read, difficulty in sympathizing with Danny aside. It truly paints a terrifying image of a society gone crazy, where you don't know if you're going to be the victim of a violent attack coming from a stranger, a co-worker, or even a family member. The rapid breakdown of society as the hater phenomenon spreads is awful and completely believable at the same time. However, I felt Moody made a misstep when he began to try and portray the hater perspective and paint a "who's REALLY the hater?" picture. I understand what he was going for, but it's hard to swallow an attempt at moral relativism from a person who is eager and willing to kill an "other" on sight with their bare hands, unprovoked. There's really only the most cursory explanation of what makes a "hater" different from an "other" at the end of the book, and I think that was done on purpose to set up the next novel(s). I think it was an interesting book, and I can see reading the follow up, but as someone who began reading Stephen King at 11, I wasn't particularly haunted or disturbed by the book. The violent attacks are graphic, but not overly so. If you're a fan of horror and have a strong stomach for gore, Hater is a quick read that's well paced and engaging.
Hater is set in England, and for the first half of the book the narrative is split between a low level British civil servant, Danny McCoyne, who worries about making enough to properly support his wife and three children while at the same time expressing mixed emotions about his family overall. This would seem to make him a sympathetic character, although some of the anger and frustration Danny expresses about his wife and children make him hard to sympathize with. (However, I know that I'm absolutely unsympathetic towards people who come of age in a time when condoms and birth control are freely available complaining about children they've had.) Most of his concerns revolve around his job and his relationship with his family, until the mysterious killings begin. At first it just seems like a few people who went mad and killed people, then Danny blames the media for glamorizing those killings and causing copy cat incidents, before it becomes clear that something very different is happening.
In between Danny's perspective, we flash to incidents of both people turning into "haters" as they've been dubbed by the media, and people being attacked by the haters. They're generally terrifying scenes, featuring one person beating another to a pulp with their bare hands or whatever objects are nearby. Danny and his family end up witnessing some of these incidents, adding to their sense of unease and confusion. Especially after a mandatory curfew is put in place, all businesses are closed, and the military begins going door to door to inspect for "haters". Without spoiling the novel, I will say that this is not like some books or movies where a central group of characters observes the changes happening all around them without having the crisis touch them personally in some way. Danny and his family are directly affected, and the last fourth of the novel deals with that and paves the way for a potential sequel called Dog Blood which will be out June 2010 according to the author's website.
I found Hater to be a reasonably engaging read, difficulty in sympathizing with Danny aside. It truly paints a terrifying image of a society gone crazy, where you don't know if you're going to be the victim of a violent attack coming from a stranger, a co-worker, or even a family member. The rapid breakdown of society as the hater phenomenon spreads is awful and completely believable at the same time. However, I felt Moody made a misstep when he began to try and portray the hater perspective and paint a "who's REALLY the hater?" picture. I understand what he was going for, but it's hard to swallow an attempt at moral relativism from a person who is eager and willing to kill an "other" on sight with their bare hands, unprovoked. There's really only the most cursory explanation of what makes a "hater" different from an "other" at the end of the book, and I think that was done on purpose to set up the next novel(s). I think it was an interesting book, and I can see reading the follow up, but as someone who began reading Stephen King at 11, I wasn't particularly haunted or disturbed by the book. The violent attacks are graphic, but not overly so. If you're a fan of horror and have a strong stomach for gore, Hater is a quick read that's well paced and engaging.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Texts From Early Afternoon
Me: I'm eating orange chicken*. Just thought you should know.
JJ**: S'okay. I'm making out with my new gf.
Me: I think I prefer eating my orange chicken to making out with your girlfriend, so we're even.
JJ: … Well played.
*Orange chicken is my brother's favorite food.
** JJ is my brother.
JJ**: S'okay. I'm making out with my new gf.
Me: I think I prefer eating my orange chicken to making out with your girlfriend, so we're even.
JJ: … Well played.
*Orange chicken is my brother's favorite food.
** JJ is my brother.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
For Maine
And so we have an example of what political scholars actually mean why they refer to the tyranny of the majority. Apparently, the anti-marriage campaign used the threat of gay marriage being taught in schools to great effectiveness which is both idiotic (when, exactly, did any of you public school kids out there have a class that sat you down and taught you about straight marriage? Cause I didn't. I wouldn't expect gay marriage to be treated any differently.) and insensitive, since if gay marriage was taught in schools it might make some of the gay kids in those schools feel better about their orientation. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that no one is gay until they learn about it, after which point it becomes irresistible to live a life that at current time carries the heavy threat of violence, persecution, and government mandated limited rights. My bad.
But nobody won over a gay rights opponent by using logic, so I'm gonna fight fire with fire and use some Jesus:
"Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted" (Mark 5:5)
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill." (Mark 5:6)
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." (Mark 5:7)
"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." (Mark 5:10)
"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law." (Luke 6:31)
And lets throw in some old testament, just for funsies. (and because the only proscriptions against homosexual activity are in the old testament, right along with calling lobsters an abomination. You hear that, Maine? They're sea cockroaches! And Jesus never hated on the gays.)
"Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:18)
Also, thought question for today, if the civil rights laws in the 60's had been put to a majority vote rather than instated by judicial and legislative referendum, do you think we'd have a non-segregated society today? Or a mixed race President? People hate change. That's all this boils down to.
But nobody won over a gay rights opponent by using logic, so I'm gonna fight fire with fire and use some Jesus:
"Blessed are they who mourn; for they shall be comforted" (Mark 5:5)
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill." (Mark 5:6)
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." (Mark 5:7)
"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." (Mark 5:10)
"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law." (Luke 6:31)
And lets throw in some old testament, just for funsies. (and because the only proscriptions against homosexual activity are in the old testament, right along with calling lobsters an abomination. You hear that, Maine? They're sea cockroaches! And Jesus never hated on the gays.)
"Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." (Leviticus 19:18)
Also, thought question for today, if the civil rights laws in the 60's had been put to a majority vote rather than instated by judicial and legislative referendum, do you think we'd have a non-segregated society today? Or a mixed race President? People hate change. That's all this boils down to.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
To Flu or Not to Flu
My University keeps sending me e-mails about the availability of the H1N1 vaccine, both nasal spray and injection. I'm still deciding if I should get it or not.
I know some of you out there are thinking "she could get this vaccine for free and has to think about it? Crazy bitch." Here's the thing though; I don't get the flu, even the normal flu, and I don't get the normal flu shot because I have a bad reaction to it. Not swelling and hives bad reaction, but like, temporary fever, heart racing, fever dreams for a day bad reaction. And I can't remember the last time I actually got the flu, maybe sometime in elementary school.
Meanwhile, this year, H1N1 has been cutting a swath across Maryland and my sister already got it before my mom could get her vaccinated. She was sick for about 2-3 days, ran a high fever, but that was the worst of it. She didn't get pneumonia or bronchitis (she's had both before after a flu, I've never had either) and she didn't have any terrible lasting effects. Other kids she knows in the area were sick for upwards of a week and had to be put on steroids afterwards to help them recover.
Basically, I have to decide whether I want to gamble on the idea that 1. I'm at least somewhat resistant to the flu and 2. Even when I get it, I don't get it badly or put up with some shitty side effects for a day or two. The fact that I'd have to ride my bike home with shitty side effects is also a factor I'm considering. And H1N1 hasn't really hit Florida, although in two and a half weeks I'm going to be back in Maryland and then in New York.
I have no clue what to do. Basically. Just like the rest of my life.
I know some of you out there are thinking "she could get this vaccine for free and has to think about it? Crazy bitch." Here's the thing though; I don't get the flu, even the normal flu, and I don't get the normal flu shot because I have a bad reaction to it. Not swelling and hives bad reaction, but like, temporary fever, heart racing, fever dreams for a day bad reaction. And I can't remember the last time I actually got the flu, maybe sometime in elementary school.
Meanwhile, this year, H1N1 has been cutting a swath across Maryland and my sister already got it before my mom could get her vaccinated. She was sick for about 2-3 days, ran a high fever, but that was the worst of it. She didn't get pneumonia or bronchitis (she's had both before after a flu, I've never had either) and she didn't have any terrible lasting effects. Other kids she knows in the area were sick for upwards of a week and had to be put on steroids afterwards to help them recover.
Basically, I have to decide whether I want to gamble on the idea that 1. I'm at least somewhat resistant to the flu and 2. Even when I get it, I don't get it badly or put up with some shitty side effects for a day or two. The fact that I'd have to ride my bike home with shitty side effects is also a factor I'm considering. And H1N1 hasn't really hit Florida, although in two and a half weeks I'm going to be back in Maryland and then in New York.
I have no clue what to do. Basically. Just like the rest of my life.
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