If Disney Birds Can Handle It, So Can You

People seem to have this opinion that making your bed each day is some huge imposition or something. I make my bed when I get out of it each day - if I can get out that day.

It's really not that big of a deal. I don't go all out with perfect folds and pillows, but it's tidy. The only time I fully commit to the fluffy frills and mountain of pillows is if I'm having visitors that might see my bed. Otherwise I just straighten out my sleeping pillows and pull my blankets up to look smooth.

It's really calming and makes things feel a little less chaotic. Considering that most bedrooms have the bed itself as the focal point, it makes sense that if it's messy the whole room will seem messy. Plus, it takes all of maybe ten seconds to fluff the damn comforter smooth.

Make your bed, people!

Kids Won't Know the Joy

I really wish Nintendo would continue to produce older generation GameBoys. My Advance SP is, in my opinion, the apex of awesome as far as handheld units go. It's uncomplicated, with great graphics for 8-bit style games, and has the bonus of a light up screen, which sets it apart from previous models.

I know there are newer ones with little SD cards that hold entire games, and touch screens with styluses, and all kinds of new tech. The models after Advance SP worked their way up into the technology that is the touch pads we have now, and if I wanted to play computer style games I'd just use my phone or something. 

I like my GameBoy for the d-pad and classic AB button play. The Donkey Kong and Mario adaptations, Tetris, and Pokemon are freakin awesome on an Advance SP model.  

My only complaint about this lovely flip-open toy is the lack of a headphone port. WTF, Nintendo? Sometimes I wanna hear the glorious critical hit and flinch from my opponent without disturbing everyone else in the doctor's office!

Dialysis and Technology

Put on your nerd glasses, people. It's gonna get medical in here.

I have yet to come across a 3-D printer, much less used one. 

Should the day ever come, I would love to be involved in the printing of organs. I'm seriously shaking just typing about the idea of being able to replace damaged body parts through manufactured materials. Joint replacements right now seem to be primarily steel, but could be synthetic bone and cartilage soon enough. Skin grafts are already being tested, especially since that's one of the least complex parts of our body to replicate. I dream of the day we don't require someone having died in order to replace a heart, or going so far as to pay for organ donations.

Just in dialysis alone, 3D printing could change medicine forever.

Obviously being able to create a functioning kidney is the ideal, but that bad boy has enzymatic production jobs as well as his job to filter. I'm pretty sure, between our mastery of filtration and our ability to provide patients with chemical balance through a machine, we're not too far from manufacturing tissue to do the same.

What if there was a way we could make a hemolytically stable graft flexible enough to move within the lower arm naturally, but easily repaired with new plastic through laproscopy? We already have a pretty strong tube now, but we often have to face the risk of rupture after years of dialysis access points wear it out. For now, that means putting in a new graft, usually in the opposite arm, and using that until it's worn with holes, etc etc. How great would it be to just surgically put the access in and maintain it?

What if 3D printing could make a graft piece that has two prominent sub-dermal injection points (like on an IV line), so we could more effectively use the button-hole procedure for access? God that would be great. Less risk of bleeding on removal, because the injection point would close itself after the needle's out, and faster healing each time since really all we're doing is breaking a thin layer of skin.

I'm only considering this half-cocked, so I'm sure there's details that will either help or prevent innovating something different, but I hold hope. Nothing makes me as sad as seeing aneurysms and surgical scars across the arms of people who have reached a point in their health that requires that much invasiveness.

WTF is a Maker Faire

A Maker Faire is a huge event/convention for DIY, inventions, and creativity. There's a ton of art and technology shared there.

So basically it's like my dreams come true in one place. Apparently they have one annually in the Bay Area, so I may have to make an appearance in the future.

Has anyone in the audience been to one? Any pictures or experiences to share?

Take Me to Church, or Not

So this dude Hozier has been rustling a lot of jimmies with his song, "Take Me to Church."

Kinda like this

I didn't even know it was controversial until I tried googling the lyrics when I couldn't really hear him that well on the radio. The song has a nice sound to it, and I was curious if it was a Christian song, or a guy obsessed with his lady, or what.

For starter's, here's the lyrics:

My lover's got humour
She's the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody's disapproval
I should've worshipped her sooner

If the heavens ever did speak
She's the last true mouthpiece
Every Sunday's getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week

'We were born sick, ' you heard them say it

My Church offers no absolutes
She tells me, 'Worship in the bedroom.'
The only heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you—

I was born sick,
But I love it
Command me to be well
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[Chorus 2x:]
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice

Drain the whole sea
Get something shiny
Something meaty for the main course
That's a fine looking high horse
What you got in the stable?
We've a lot of starving faithful

That looks tasty
That looks plenty
This is hungry work

[Chorus 2x:]
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife
Offer me my deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

No Masters or Kings
When the Ritual begins
There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin

In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene
Only then I am Human
Only then I am Clean
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[Chorus 2x:]
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

To each his own here, as this is art full of metaphors and lends itself to opinion.
Initially, when I was having a little trouble hearing and even after my first read-through of the lyrics, I took this as a guy who is ridiculously thirsty for his woman and used religion as a hyperbolic metaphor for his obsession with her and their love. "Worship like a dog," is a pretty strong simile for unconditional love.

My final opinion, however, after sharing this with Husband and breaking it down, is that the protagonist in the story of this song is not only obsessed with this woman, but due to their relationship has been falling away from his church.
With the terminology in here, it's pretty clear he is referring to Christianity of some sort, starting off with, "We were born sick," referencing original sin. He then seems to be referencing his new religion, this woman, by detailing how it's "better" per-se, than the community he was once in - "If the heavens ever did speak, she's the last true mouthpiece," "My Church offers no absolutes," "Keep the Goddess on my side."
More specifically, he explains his rejection of the current church he is leaving. He mentions "every Sunday getting more bleak," potentially meaning he's lost interest, but then says, "a fresh poison each week," pretty much nailing down that he thinks this church's teachings are actually bad.

"If I'm a pagan of the good times My lover's the sunlight," tells me that the relationship he has with her is probably frowned on in his old church, which has made him choose between the two. She obviously won.

We then delve into church hypocrisy with his combative sounding line, "That's a fine looking high horse," accusing his old community of being judgemental, maybe in connection with his love or other matters.

Is that combative enough? Nah. Let's take a jab at faith practices, "What you got in the stable? We've a lot of starving faithful." Is he still calling the old church hypocrites for not being Christian and helping others instead of spending time judging? Is he saying faith is not enough, or unfilling? I say both!

Both meanings can apply, because then we get back to his lady, his church, "That looks tasty That looks plenty," saying she is enough for him.

He seems to take issue with classic church hierarchy, pointing out that he and his lover are equals in their church - "No Masters or Kings." I would assume the usual argument about priestly vocation is what he is referring to.

In his final blows against the old church vs. new, he tackles sin directly by questioning what could be wrong in their love/love making - "There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin." I have my own opinions on sex, sexuality, and choice in relation to religion, but that would be an entire post on it's own.

To him, the only source of spiritual forgiveness is in his death, "In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene Only then I am Human Only then I am Clean," which seems to be the common rebuttal to Christian arguments about the afterlife. He's gonna deal with it when he gets there.

Do I think he's badmouthing? No. 

He comes off as simply finding himself questioning his faith, maybe feeling conflicted between his lover and his religion, and ultimately having some sort of epiphany about why this church was wrong for him.

Husband seems to think the woman plays a bigger role in his enlightenment, like a sort of antagonist consciously creating the conflict. I see no signs of that in the song. All of his reasoning stems from his obsession with her and the relationship itself posing as the question.

How did this song come off to you nice people? Were you offended, in agreement, indifferent?

My Bad Kinda

I have realized I am a bit of a hypocrite.

I was checking my (Other) box on Facebook, expecting hate mail after a heated exchange about dog breeding on a public page. That's another post for another day.
Anyway, when I saw the telltale numeral warning me of a message, I braced for name-calling, threats, and all of the fun immature things people get bold about behind a keyboard. Instead, it was a message from a pleasant woman whom I had added from a friend request almost a week ago.

I felt sort of silly for not having noticed it that long, especially since I did accept her request. I'm usually thorough enough to catch something like that before hitting the yes, especially when we have no mutuals. I even remember her following my page before that.

Where I'm getting at with this is that I am typically pretty cautious about my Facebook security. Most of my personal page is very specifically limited to certain audiences for my young siblings' safety as well as my own. I'm also not completely unaware of the less than savory people looking to exploit personal information or photos.

With that as my habit, any time I get a request from someone with no mutual connections, I am always immediately suspicious. Where I get hypocritical is that I am always more suspicious if it's coming from a man.

As with my new friend mentioned before, she turned out to be female, and I had expected the request after she had followed me. Regardless of this and the request coinciding with many a feminist rant on my public feeds, I still followed my "procedure" and vetted her page. I always like to be sure it's not some spammer trying to sell something, or a dummy profile made two days ago by some psycho. I don't have a fully developed criteria, and even if I did I wouldn't list all of it here. I have stalkers (believe it or not) and I don't want to enable them. Her page checked out, so I gave her the okay.

I realized today, had this request been from a man with no mutual friends, I wouldn't have even considered it. As a matter of fact, there have been men who follow my feed, have sent a request, and without blinking I have deleted it.
My justification for this is loads of experience with the lovely internet, as well as experiences in the real world and good old intuition. There have been exceptions, which I will detail, but typically the norm is if you're a woman on the internet and a strange man is trying to get close to you it's bad news.
Husband has almost verbatim said, "Unless he's a friend I've met before, I assume any guy approaching you wants the booty." While I'm one to look for the good in people, life has taught me Husband is mostly correct.

The exception to this stranger danger is when I've gotten a message along with the request. While some of those are still, "Tits pls?" and "I jacked off to you," the ones with actual substance have passed muster.
Occasionally I get hit up by military, medical, or educational contacts who have the sense to message me why they sent a request. Even so, both guys and girls with no mutuals usually fall under networking because this is the only other reason I would add them. That means they still won't see most of my personal page, but we can still keep in touch on relevant issues.

All of these standards and justifications aside, I can't help but feel a little hypocritical. Regardless of my reasoning, this standard does in a way make me sexist, and that's not cool. I am constantly preaching equality and that humanity is innately good, but I am immediately guarded when approached by men.

What say you, nice people? Should this change? Am I wrong for my line of thinking?

No Antlers In My Decorating

When it comes to art, like the kind you hang and display, I am not one to DIY. I hate how my sketches, paintings, and basically anything made with fine motor function comes out. So when it comes to home decor, I like to purchase instead of create.

Me being me though, I generally don't go to home decor stores unless I need visual inspiration. I love hitting up antiques stores, mom-and-pop shops, and thrift stores. As My Soulmate says, our home's style is very tchotchke/things gathered looking. I'm a big fan of original/unique looking things. Unique is cozy and fun, like antlers, but I'm not Gaston.

More Infomercial Gifs and My Own Fail

I cannot, for the life of me, make a roux.

Not sure what it is about it that eludes me, but any gravy I make from scratch just ends up really sad. 

There's been times I've not cooked it enough and didn't reach a boil. Sometimes I've flat out burnt it. Usually it seems I over-flour. No one wants soupy flour on their potatoes.

I'll keep trying though. One day I'll make gravy all by myself. Until then, I'll just keep doctoring up powder packets and cheap jarred gravy (which comes out awesome, btw).


Also, check out this mofugga.

Favorite Dinner

My favorite thing to make for dinner is food.

All of it.

Thought you'd get a recipe out of this, didn't you?

Crafty Crafty

I'm not sure what everyone thinks of when we bring up "craft projects."

I pretty much come up with any sort of hands-on creative work, but I know that term can also mean more like the cutesy kid friendly stuff on Pinterest using poof balls and yarn.

Regardless, I've been working at crochet a lot more, and that's where I'm at with craft type stuff.

I'm actually a little frustrated because my latest project, a blanket, is way behind schedule and taking entirely too much time for my patience. I have a variegated stitch I'm doing in order to make a wave pattern, and if I had a nickel for every time I missed a stitch and had to redo a section, I'd be able to buy a blanket already done.

Once it's finished, I plan to make a post on that sumbitch and maybe a how-to video on the stitch I'm using in it.
My sketch books have sat, unsketched in, for a long time now. 

With a starter kit of oil pastels coming in, that will change pretty quick. I love playing with the chalky, imperfect finish of oil pastels, and if I yield anything I'm not horrifically ashamed of I might upload it.
Probably not though.

I Can Do That... Maybe

I am actually torn on whether I am more of a Do It Yourself or Do It For Me person.

Most of the time I like the idea of DIY, but with accepting that I am not 17 (young, strong, and energetic) anymore, sometimes it is just more cost/time efficient to hire someone else.

Infomercial women crack me up

It boils down to a mixture of the two. Everything we have done at This Fuckin House has pretty much all been DIY. I know in the future, like my plans for a kitchen update, I will have no choice but to hire someone. Kitchen stuff is heavy work, and unfortunately that's a space we can't do without for weeks.

February NaBloPoMo

Let me start by saying I am super pleased about this month. It fits perfectly on a Sunday to Saturday calendar!

I am less pleased by my inability to finish any thought I start, so I'm hoping for now that BlogHer can lend me a hand with entertaining you nice people until my brain decides to stop holding itself hostage.

Monday, February 2, 2015
Are you a DIY or a DIFM (do-it-for-me) person?

Tuesday, February 3, 2015
What was the last craft project you attempted?

Wednesday, February 4, 2015
What is your favourite thing to make for dinner?

Thursday, February 5, 2015
Tell us about a dish you attempted to make that ended in disaster. Have you ever re-attempted the meal?

Friday, February 6, 2015
Do you tend to buy or make the decorative touches in your home?

Monday, February 9, 2015
Have you ever been to a Maker Faire? What was the most impressive project you saw?

Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Have you ever used a 3D printer or had something 3D printed? If you could use a 3D printer today, what would you make?

Wednesday, February 11, 2015
What are 5 things you hope they keep making hundreds of years into the future?

Thursday, February 12, 2015
What is something that is no longer made that you miss a lot and wish you could show future generations?

Friday, February 13, 2015
Do you make your bed in the morning, or do you leave it unmade all day?

Monday, February 16, 2015
What was the last mistake you made? How did you try to fix it?

Tuesday, February 17, 2015
What do you think of the idea "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Do you think it's always possible to make something bad into something good?

Wednesday, February 18, 2015
What do you do to try to make other people happy? What do you do to try to make yourself happy?

Thursday, February 19, 2015
Do you make up your mind, or do you think making up our minds is outside our control?

Friday, February 20, 2015
Would you describe yourself as creative?

Monday, February 23, 2015
Do you prefer to have things done for you, or do you prefer to do them yourself?

Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Have you ever attempted to make your own clothes? Tell us about the results.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Have you ever made up your own recipe? Tell us about it.

Thursday, February 26, 2015
What is something you would never attempt to make yourself and would only feel good buying pre-made?

Friday, February 27, 2015
Tell us about your favourite DIY, craft, or cooking blog.