"His legs flail about as if independent from his body!"

I actually managed to cajole Scott into going with me to see Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance tonight, and he admitted afterwards that he did not hate it. Yay! I decided at the last minute (Wednesday, so I guess it was like, the last 30 minutes in this analogy I have going) to check for tickets, and came up with 2nd row, so I had to buy them, you know? And, being the best girlfriend ever (ha) I never insist that Scott do something with me that I know he would hate or that he wouldn't enjoy in the least (so I don't drag him to a bunch of girl movies - or at least I don't think I do. He may see things differently!) But he said that out of all the things that I could have bought tickets to see, this was something that he would probably dislike the least. So he went with me.

And I enjoyed the performance - it's not that much unlike clogging, which I used to do, if you'll remember (there were some videos in the sidebar until my soon to be ex-hosting company, GoDaddy, got their panties in a wad over "non-web content" on my server. So I deleted the videos, but I'll reupload when I switch everything over to AN Hosting / midphase, my new host.) Anyway, the Irish step dancing, or whatever the proper term is, was similiar to clogging in foot movements, but is a bit more kicky. And the music is a lot more Irish, obviously.

The guys tended to wear very unfortunate pants.

The girls were all wearing floufy waist-length hair extensions, which were very pretty and bouncy and made me decide that I want some.

There was some singing, which didn't make a great deal of sense to me - I guess it was filler so that the dancers could change and whatnot. The singing was either partially in Irish or she sang very longingly about lawn chairs. I seemed to hear "lawn chair" a lot - or not.

I think the moral of the story was - if a dark and evil princess threatens to steal your man, you can scare her off if you and your girlfriends rip off your dresses in unison to reveal matching two-piece costumes underneath.

The quote that I used for a title is from a Friends episode - appropriate because Michael Flatley, Lord of the Dance is revealed as a phenomenon that scares the beejeezus out of Chandler, and the reason for his fear is elucidated in that quote.

That is all. I hope everybody had a happy Valentine's Day!

The suckage of GoDaddy and their stupid TOS

You can't see this right now, because GoDaddy has helpfully suspended my account. Do you know why? Because I have

"... content not directly related to your live website on your hosting account [and am] in violation of the TOS as the hosting is not meant to be used as a file repository for non web related content. Once you can confirm that you have removed all non web related content please reply to this email again."

Do you know what the "non web related content" is? It's my very amateur, non-copyrighted clogging videos and the also very amateur, non-copyrighted video of my high school senior year Homecoming pep rally routine to Thriller. Good grief. I guess I'll have to remove those links in the sidebar, even though I do get a fair amount of hits from people looking for clogging videos. (Seriously, I really do.)

I only stay with GoDaddy because they're so much cheaper than other hosting companies and I, as a medical student with a pretty high tuition cost, don't exactly have lots of money to throw around. If only I had more traffic, which would mean more people clicking on my G**gle ads at the top of the page, and more people using my Amazon affiliate link when they buy from Amazon ... sigh.

So I'm in the process of deleting those oh-so-threatening clogging videos. I'm not sure what harm they were doing to anyone, but whatever. I'll play by the rules, but I'm still putting GoDaddy on my List. You know, THAT List.

Ode to a Pen

I was in T.A.G. when I was in elementary & high school (Talented and Gifted - or so they said) and occasionally, we'd go on these educational field trips with other TAGers from the county. One trip was to listen to some guy who was instrumental in bringing a primary care center to the county (in retrospect, I probably should have paid attention to him instead of writing poetry about writing instruments.) Give me a break, though, I think I was only about 13 years old (circa 1992) when this was written. Maybe not even that.

My friend Rebecca and I were trying to pay attention, but were bored to tears (as it turns out, "tweens", even smart ones, don't care so much about bureaucracy (I first typed "bureaucrazy" - ha) and construction.) Our gaze kept landing on another guy, who was positively doing acrobatics with his ink pen (I guess he was taking notes, for whatever reason.) He was twirling and flipping in a way that I'd never seen before and have never seen again. (Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic.)

So in true junior-high-girl fashion, Rebecca and I started writing notes to each other, and turned it into an ode to Steven and His Acrobatic Pen. My contributions are in bold (because it's my blog, yo) and hers are plain text. Behold:

This bites
The big pen
That twirls and flips
From his fingertips
It's caught our eye
Wonder if it was a good buy?
I don't know, but it's really fly.
He's a smart guy! Oh my, oh my.
Ooh, watch it spin
The way he works it must be a sin.
Wonder where it's been?
Maybe dipped in gin.
Goodness, watch that silver shine
How I wish it was mine, all mine
I'll bet he was a real good time
With that pen, some Vaseline and twine
Before now, I thought we could show this to him
But I'm sure he'd think we were really dim.
But it's okay, it'll be all right
I think I'll buy a pen like that tonight
And learn to flip and twirl and spin
Or maybe it's a talent for only men!
Maybe he could teach me
Maybe I could try
Maybe my twirling pen
Would catch someone's eye
You might spark some poetry
Oh gee ... would you teach me?
I think I'll save my money
To get a pen to impress the honeys
Do you mean the ladies?
Surely it's not true - I wish I wasn't beside of you!
Now my friend, don't be concerned,
It's the stare of only guys I wish to earn
We're drifting from the subject, Mr. Flip-and-Spin
Now he's got a ball to roll - made of gum wrapper tin!
Watch him poke it
Watch it slide
Where's that pen?
Did he make it hide?
I don't know, don't ask me
Where oh where could that pen be?
Look, it's back! Oh joy, oh joy
Is it a writing utensil, or just a toy?
Maybe he uses it to pick his nose,
Or does he twirl it between his toes?
That should be a new Star Search event
Twirling pens and rolling gum balls made of mint!

I think I'm a lyrical gangster.

EDIT - 7/13/07 - Thanks to Harvey, I now have a video to illustrate what I'm talking about. I'm not sure if my "pen twirler" is one of those on YouTube, but it's similar to what I remember him doing! He was way ahead of his time, I guess.

Sometimes, I'm still a Clay Aiken fangirl.

Once a Clay Aiken fangirl, always a Clay Aiken fangirl - I guess. I mean, I'm not as looney tunes as these people, and I usually point and laugh at all of their video montages (seriously, if these people used their time and talents more constructively, I wonder what they could get done?) But this one is so pretty - particularly from 3:20 to the end - and I like the song (Ordinary World by Katharine McPhee.) Clay does make me smile, I have to admit. But I don't want to have a million of his babies or stalk him around the country. Nor do I want my first thoughts to be like this:

I woke up this morning wondering what Clay will wear for the Hard Place Tour this summer. I'd love to see him in some beautifully fitting soft linen pants (unlined of course) and a gauzy shirt tucked in (no undershirt) with the sleeves rolled up and at least three buttons open at the top.

Ack.

This reminds me - Mia? Corrie? Misfit? Katrina? Jodi? Karen? Are y'all still reading? I was thinking of you today.

New mpg files for download

Update - 11/25/07: Files Removed. Don't hate on me, blame GoDaddy.

I've added some new files to the server in the past few days - here's a list, to help Googlers who are looking for them. Sorry for the dry post! P.S. - I have two exams on Monday (Pathology & Patient Care) and two on Tuesday (Psychopathology & Immunology) so I'll be scarce for a few days. Don't miss me too much. :-) We have:

House MD, Season 3, episode 2 - Cane and Able (aired on September 12, 2006)
House and the team treat a young boy who claims there is a tracking device in his neck and believes he has been the subject of alien experimentation. Cameron is outraged when she learns Cuddy and Wilson have been lying to House about the diagnosis on his last case (episode summary from TV.com).

House M.D., Season 3, episode 3 - Informed Consent (aired on September 19, 2006)
House puts a well-known medical researcher through a battery of tests to determine why he collapsed in his lab. When the team is unable to diagnose the problem, the doctor asks the team to help him end his life. House is forced to use his cane again after the ketamine has worn off as he deals with a clinic patient's teenaged daughter who has a crush on him (episode summary from TV.com).

House MD, Season 3, episode 4 - Lines in the Sand (aired on September 26, 2006)
When doctors are unable to diagnose why a severely autistic boy screams loudly for no apparent reason, House takes the case. As the boy's condition worsens, it becomes obvious that House relates to the boy because he has no social niceties (episode summary from TV.com).

Saturday Night Live - Ellen Degeneres and No Doubt (aired December 15, 2001)

Family Guy, Season 6, episode 1 - Mother Tucker (aired on September 17, 2006)
Peter's mom gets a divorce. Peter feels abandoned until he sees a father figure in his mom's new boyfriend, Tom Tucker. Meanwhile, Brian gets his own NPR style show on the radio(episode summary from TV.com).