unexpected self-revelation Sunday, 25 July 2010 link

Today, Rebecca told me two things about myself that I hadn't realised:

• When I haven't heard something, I automatically reply "whatwhat?"
• "Daddy, I've never seen you cry."

The second one floored me. I slightly lamely replied "That's because I'm tough." What do you say in those circumstances? Maybe I'm more butch than I'd thought.

Other stuff: lost a tooth last week. Wisdom tooth, upper jaw - took about fifteen minutes. And most of that was waiting for the anesthetic to kick in. I was quite surprised by how straightforward and uncomplicated removing a tooth is. The actual removal took about two minutes. The removal was because it needed a filling, and the dentist said "Easier to remove it, and you'll never miss it." He's right, too.

Had the penultimate tattoo session on my legpiece the other day. I can once again confirm that having your inner thighs tattooed is remarkably painful, as is the back of the knee. Still, it's pretty much done; one final half-day session in a month or so to deepen the black in a few places, and we're golden.

Have recently been spending some time playing Echo Bazaar, a rather fun faux-Victoriana/horror/steampunk/cthulhoid game. You've got to like any game that has three choices when you create a character: male, female, and "how dare you ask, sir! That is entirely my own business!". Nice.

  seriously, it would be awesome Wednesday, 14 July 2010 link

So, a conservative commentator recently stated that ""Giving men sex without expecting any sort of commitment is training them to become predators." Now, am I the only person whose first thought was "... how awesome would that be?" Mind you, imagine the scene in bed:

"Now, honey, you need to put these on."
"Infrared vision goggles? Kinky!"

Actually, my first thought was "these people are clearly not having the same kind of sex I am"; but since the author of that post is also the person who thinks that homosexuality causes Nazism and that the holocaust was entirely run by gays, I think we can safely file them under 'working from a different set of basic assumptions about the world' and leave it at that.

A couple of brief snapshots:

• being rung while helping at a 5th birthday party to confirm my tattoo appointment for this week.
• cycling to work in a gale force headwind; rolling along the Old Hutt Road, under the trees, a pair of finches play aerial tag around me for about 100m before flying into the trees.
• riding home the same day, through lashing wind and rain, but with the wind behind me; soaked to the skin but grinning like a loon.
• the receptionist at work emailing around a link to King Missile's Cheesecake Truck song.
• discovering that coworkers all have nicknames based on the penguins from Madagascar. And, crucially, that Rico is a potplant.
• hitting the traffic lights just right, and timing my pace through them, so that I get through all four without having to put a foot on the ground.

At a previous employer, I once had a comment in a performance review: "Goal: work on professional demeanor in office", which I was told translated to "stop fucking swearing so much, you're worrying the Americans." In that spirit, I am remarkably happy to have found Fuck Yeah Profanity - which does what it says on the tin. Warning for the oblivious: it's really, really NSFW.

  it's educational Friday, 2 July 2010 link

...cyclists tend to be very happy while riding, and it's usually only after being nearly killed by drivers that they get angry. (Nearly being killed is irritating.) So, if Rainn Wilson (or anybody) keeps encountering angry cyclists, he may want to consider the possibility that he's actually a really bad driver, in the same way that a man who wonders why women "never have orgasms" might want to look instead to his own lack of sexual prowess.
Unfortunately, though, many people would prefer to keep driving poorly and instead consign cyclists to the park, in the same way that the man who can't please a woman might assert that the onus is on her to masturbate.

BikeSnobNYC

One of the funniest blogs around is the BikeSnobNYC. It's a bit in-jokey, but the guy can write, and he can do lovely takedowns like the one above. He also now has a book out, which I finished reading on Monday night. I can highly recommend it; if you're into cycling, it's awesome; if you're not, it's very amusing, and can help you understand why people might be into cycling. Very, very good fun; definitely someone who made that uncomfortable "successful blog/funny book" transition in grand style.

I am amused to find that there is a Poutine-bot on Twitter that retweets any mention of poutine. Tabarnac!

Both the kids are on a heavy Spongebob Squarepants kick at the moment. We don't mind. Partially because Spongebob is an incredibly good cartoon (seriously, it's hilarious), and partially because it's dramatically raised the level of discourse in the house. Now, when Maggie succeeds in some task, she yells "Victory is mine!" Similarly, "Curses! Foiled again!" and my personal favourite: "What was I thinking? I was out of control!"