ruby's party was lots of fun although also lots of work. i baked 4 cakes the night before, and went up to the park early yesterday to try and get the spot we wanted. which i didn't. the people camped out there must've shown up very early indeed. but with sayfin's help we managed to get a really great spot right next to the playground. me and her decorated before people came. and then we picnicked! ruby didn't seem to really know what to do. she spent most of the day with a confused expression on her face. i don't think she really enjoyed herself until we opened presents. then she started perking up a lot, probably with the help of cake. which she really liked. the day was really perfect and i think everyone had a good time.

we ended up with a ton of picnic food to bring home. and a whole cake. but i'm sure we can find some help with that. thanks everyone for coming!

i was so tired afterward, and also really stiff for some reason. then we slept really badly. so i kind of feel like shit. and then everything has gone wrong today for some reason. also, i'm trying to get ruby to sleep without a dummy, which isn't working very well. but i'm in a pretty good mood considering!

Ruby's party was a lot of fun. Ang baked 4 cakes. We just picniced in the park and Ruby didn't take a nap and got frantic by the end of the day. Many of our best friends and family came along. We ate and drank and talked and ran around. I was so tired afterwards that I fell asleep on the bean bag in front of dancing with the stars with a beer in my hand. A string of bad calls led to Ruby not sleeping very much, which led to neither me nor bastardang sleeping very much. Now its 8am on Monday morning and I feel like hell.

I'm going to do the chaos_by_design quiz cause its there.

( and here 'tis )

The Force Unleashed on Nintendo Wii - that is all.

ZOMGZOMGZOMGZOMGZOMG

I ran a fairly extensive adventure for my eldest son last year, and have since been repeatedly told that I should post it. Would this be an appropriate group for a post? I've not seen text posts here, and so am not sure.

-*-

Does anyone know the names (and addresses, if you have them) of the biggest and best grocery stores in Chinatown? I'd prefer one which has a fresh produce section and a freezer section, too. The Chicago Chinatown official website has a huge list of grocery stores, but I have no idea where to start.

I'm specifically looking for one which sells Malaysian, Indonesian, and Singaporean ingredients, such as Indonesian/Malaysian dried shrimp paste (belacan/trassi) or Thai shrimp paste (gapi), candlenuts, dried whole chiles, fresh turmeric, shallots, fresh galangal, fresh Thai chiles, and daun pandan leaves (fresh or frozen).

Grocery stores outside of Chinatown are okay too, but I live in Hyde Park and don't have a car, so they'd need to be accessible by Metra/CTA. Is Broadway Supermarket in Uptown good?

Thanks!

well i was given my first taste of magpie assault today. i was walking down the street minding my own business when i hear kaa kaa and then whoosh and thud and i felt a beak and claws slam into my head. at first i didn't know what was going on - it felt like a coconut had dropped on me. but i felt it happen again and i shrieked and ran to the other side of the road. i turned around and this psycho bird was just looking at me.  staring me down.
magpie swooping season! bring it on.
i have heard of this mythical season but had not experienced it till now.
at least i can safely tick that box on my citizenship test...
attacked by magpie? check.
i must be getting more australian!

Found in the Pilson Neighborhood of Chicago

(link fixed)

this is one of the saddest pictures i'll ever see. poor ron paul...

The core of pop music is, to me, represented by a distributed, cynical collection of executives, producers and song-writers who aspire to continuously degrade and punish humanity for their ignorance, greed and laziness, whilst rewarding themselves with a perverse amount of riches. They may once have considered themselves artists but have since grown smaller in their dreams, lowered their expectations of themselves and hired lawyers to act as their consciences. Their viral thought-processes have corrupted every major musical genre and have placed every genuine, grass-roots movement of valid expression on the edge of a swift decline into mediocrity.

And when I talk about mediocrity, I'm not talking about musical talent, or song-writing talent. I'm talking about the passion and drive to create whatever you are capable of creating because you have something inside you that needs to be expressed. Pop music takes that and encases it in a smooth resin mould, available at retailers near you.

Having said all of that. I really like the Beatles.

ruby's birthday was nice. i got her a pair of shoes, and a sippy cup. and some striped leggings. my mom and lonnie sent a really awesome stuffed rabbit. whatever you are imagining when i say that is way off.

we went down to the park so ruby could try out her shoes. she did really well with them, and they let her walk on surfaces that she formerly wouldn't, because she's picky like that. it's better for babies to not wear shoes, but depending on where you go she needs them. it's the park, but it's a city park. needles lurk.

one thing she did was run into the seesaw and hurt her mouth. then later, after she calmed down, she was walking on the sidewalk and fell face first. she screamed and screamed, and also gave herself a bloody nose. poor thing. but she got over it pretty quick. we try not to make a big deal of these things, and the result is that she's pretty tough. and also a danger baby.

we tried to get her to follow us around by walking farther and farther away from her, but instead she just let us go and went to do her own thing. i'm trying to teach her to hold my hand and walk with me, it's pretty slow going, she's just awfully independent.

anyway, her party's on sunday. i'm making carrot cake. it should be a good time, especially if we can get the picnic spot we want.

I don't doubt that were it not for modern medical science I'd have died several times already. I got lucifer on my mind today, a wicked grin and a hot cup of tea. Gotta get up and get that tea, but its a good ten second walk for me. I'm more motivated to make the walk right outta here, down to the corner and onto the bus to take me home to curl up in bed next to my woman. Every day I struggle with the duality of what I want to do and what I have decided to do. People say it gets easier when you're an adult, but I never found it this hard to go to school every day. I just did it, and school was much worse than any job I ever had.

I have this constant phlem in my throat like I'm always fighting off infection. I think its got to do with a sinister mold in my house. Lurking in the cracks. A sick house needs to be left and that's what's going to happen. But we've got nowhere to go yet.

In a way a global depression excites me. Maybe we'll end up vagabonds, hard times driving us from door to door. Our attachments to the world of illusion burnt off in the crucible of poverty. I don't idealise poverty. But who, deep down, doesn't wish they were a hobo? With no medical science left to help me out, I'd likely die in the dirty streets, the background infections finally catching up to me. I'd leave my family with nothing but an unmarked grave and a beaten-up accordian.

when I as waiting for my coffee this morning, a guy in the cafe dropped a two dollar coin. He had trouble finding it and since I had seen it fall, I retrieved it for him.

There's only one other person in my training class this morning. The guy whose money I retrieved and returned. How bizarre.

Last.fm in Journal Entries

Are you a last.fm user? The updated Music field on the Post an Entry page can now automatically fill in what you're listening to when you write the post. To enable this feature, fill in your last.fm username in the field under Contact Info on the Edit Profile page. This also adds a link to your last.fm profile on your LiveJournal Profile page. Then download the scrobbler client from last.fm. When it's installed, just click the Detect button by the Music field on the Post an Entry page and the scrobbler automatically pulls through the track information of what you're listening to on your music player or music program.

You can also use the feature without downloading the scrobbler client. If you're logged in and listening to last.fm over the Internet, click Detect to pull through the artist and title of the track playing. If the song changes while you're writing your entry, just click Detect again to update the Music field.

And for more musical accompaniment, last.fm also has a widget you can embed in your profile or a journal entry that displays what you're listening to in real time.



Increased Limits for Poll Results and Comments

Back in August we promised an increase in limits for poll results and comments. And now they're here. You can now view more than 2000 votes in the detailed view of poll results, and the limit for comments allowed for a post has been raised to 10,000, up from 5000. After the first 5000 comments, every comment will require a CAPTCHA.

Feedback Request on New Find Your Friends Feature

We're working on an optional feature that will make it easier for you to find out if existing friends in your web-based email contacts are LJ users. Once you find them, you'll be able to quickly add their journals to your Friends page. We know your privacy is very important to you, so we're interested in getting your feedback about this new feature. A full description, including the proposed privacy settings, is available in feedback. Let us know what you think.

India Travels Community

Have you explored the subcontinent? From the heights of the Himalayas to the beaches of Kerala, India is so vast and varied that you'll discover something new wherever you go, no matter how many people have been there before. We've partnered with travel writer Ajay Jain of Kunzum to create a community where you can share your stories, anecdotes, and tips about traveling in India. What was the most amazing thing you saw? Where did you go that can't be found with a Google search? Where do you want to go next? Selected entries will be considered for publication (with full credit, and only if you give permission) in travel books about India. So whether you've been to India, want to go to India, or aspire to write about India, you should take a trip over to india_travels.

And More

There's lots of other stuff going on, too. See lj_releases to get all the details.

[01] Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?

Oooh, I don't know. Can I back out now?

[02] Would you do meth if it was legalised?

No, it's probably the most terrible drug out there. Doesn't look like much fun, and destroys your body more quickly than heroin. No thanks.

[03] Abortion: for or against it?

For, and frankly still confused by people who aren't.

[04] Do you think the world would fail with a female president?

Whoa, president of the world sounds like a pretty fantastic title!

[05] Do you believe in the death penalty?

No.

[06] Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?

Absolutely.

[07] Are you for or against premarital sex?

It seems pretty unrealistic and backward to assume someone's ever gonna have sex with one person for their entire lives, doesn't it?

[08] Do you believe in God?

Sorry, no.

[09] Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?

Absolutely.

[10] Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?

No.

[11] A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?

I doubt it would end up well, but if there was a loving and supporting family to help her care for it, it might be a great idea.

[12] Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?

I like how this quiz assumes everyone who's taking it is American (and also thinks the president of the United States = president of the world).
Sure, why not? How many kids do you know who aren't out getting fucked up at eighteen anyway? It's normal.

[13] Should the war in Iraq be called off?

No war today guys, on account of a dust storm.

[14] Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?

I do agree that it is illegal, yes.

[15] Do you believe in spanking your children?

No.

[16] Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?

I'd burn it for any amount of money, no matter how small. It's a piece of cloth, who cares?

[17] Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?

Probably Obama just based on the fact he's more likely to actually live out his term.

[18] Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

Goodness! I might cry!

I must be really bored to keep doing surveys. I should go and play spore instead or something. Oh well.

( oh I'm sure this will be reeeeeaaaal controvertial )