11:56 PM: Holidailies Triolet III

My thoughts are scattered like the wind;
I'm not sure of the reason.
Is it payback, 'cause I've sinned?
My thoughts are scattered like the wind
Is it the pills? Or sloth? Or tinned
Sardines? Or just the season?
My thoughts are scattered like the wind;
I'm not sure of the reason.

(It's not a cheap excuse for an entry, it's an annual tradition!)

11:56 PM: Happy Festivus!

I haven't gone as far as to get the traditional aluminum pole, but I do have a sign on the door of my apartment wishing everyone a happy Festivus and yada yada yada. Who knows, maybe next year I'll get together with some friends for the airing of grievances and feats of strength.

Meanwhile, I've been starting to go a little stir-crazy in my apartment, plus I've been running out of food, so I went grocery shopping earlier tonight. When I first started walking there, the weather was nice enough. At an intermediate stage, it had started raining, with large gusts of wind, one series of which totalled my golf umbrella. And by the time I was ready to go home, the weather had hit the drenching downpour stage; in the fifteen seconds it took me to exit the supermarket, dash to a cab, load the trunk, and get inside, I got soaked. But I got some air, and some exercise, and some groceries, so I figure it's all good.

Finally, as a Festivus present of sorts, should anybody be interested in my final project for Magazine Design and Production, warts and all, it's available in the form of a 5-megabyte PDF. See how Chris Bridges upstages me in my own magazine, with his superior Photoshop skills. (There are credits on the final page. Speaking of which, I accidentally omitted ITC Franklin Gothic Book from the list of typefaces used; it's found on the cover.)

And I'm out of time. Who knows, maybe before Holidailies ends, I'll succeed in writing an entry that doesn't suck. It could happen...

11:54 PM: Link Catchup

I don't have a real entry tonight, but here are a bunch of links I've been meaning to pass along:

The 10 Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time, by John Scalzi.

On Little Dot, which considers the obsessive/compulsive fixation of Richie Rich's compatriot.

Perverted, God-Hating Frenchies vs. Inbred, Sex-Obsessed Yokels: Why Can't Liberals and Conservatives Get Along? Because They Fundamentally Misunderstand Each Other.

And I just had to track this down after hearing about it... a Holocaust fanfic story in which Dr. Mengele and an Auschwitz-prisoner Mary Sue fall in love.

I'll give you a moment to assimilate that.

Anyway, I haven't found the story itself, but here's a message board thread with many illustrative excerpts. (If you're not familiar with the concept of a Mary Sue, move along. In fact, if you can resist the train wreck and/or don't have a very dark sense of humor, moving along is probably a good idea regardless.)

11:30 PM: Side effects and sugar

Y'know, starting on a medication with a mile-long list of potential side effects is a great way to rediscover your latent tendencies towards hypochondria. (Oddly, this is not actually listed as a potential side effect.) Every twitch, every sneeze, every single bodily function becomes a portent. Even the lack of an e-mail from Netflix today doesn't mean that the postal service is a bit busier than usual, but rather is the first sign that Paxil is causing me to break out in leprosy.

...okay, I may be overdramatizing a tad.

In other news, there isn't really any other news. So instead I'll provide one of my favorite comfort food recipes, one I haven't made in quite some time:

Cinnamon Toast

Ingredients:
Sliced sandwich bread
Butter or margarine, preferably soft
Cinnamon
Sugar

Spread a thin layer of butter or margarine on the bread, then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Place in toaster oven, which probably ought to be preheated if you're a stickler for details. Toast until the butter/sugar/cinnamon mixture is bubbling. Remove. Eat. Enjoy.

I got this from The Charlie Brown Cookbook way back when, then introduced it to various relatives. (My aunt never got the butter-spreading stage right, which may have been a ploy to get me to make it for my cousins when I visited.) Not the healthiest thing in the world, but yummy.

You scored as Euterpe. You are Euterpe, the muse of music. You are an inventor, and you constantly come up with new ideas. You are happy when everyone else is happy. Euterpe 69% Melpomene 56% Polyhymnia 50% Terpischore 50% Clio 44% Thalia 38% Calliope 38% Urania 31% Erato 19% Which of the Greek Muses are you? created with QuizFarm.com

I'll Never Tell....

Which Buffy Musical Song Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

11:39 PM: Partying and paroxetine

Sorry about the past two days... I spent Saturday night celebrating a couple of birthdays by participating in what turned out to be the world's slowest pub crawl. Or so I'm told; I have no grounds for comparison... but considering that we ended up hitting two bars in the space of five hours, I don't find this hard to believe. (I suspect the sub-freezing weather played a role in this.) Anyway, it was mostly fun, and I successfully made it through six hours of socializing, so that much is good. (Plus there was some really good homemade fudge at the end of the night. Mmm, fudge.)

Otherwise, I've gotten my prescription for Paxil's generic equivalent and a wicked-looking pill guillotine, and I just took my first half-pill. (The plan is to upgrade to full pills after a week or so.) The bottle has a very long list of possible side effects encompassing just about every medical condition yet indentified: nausea, dizziness, vomiting, dry mouth, drowsiness, insomnia, constipation, diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight gain, blurred vision, tingling sensations, suicidal tendencies, decreased interest in sex, painful erections, and others. The psychiatrist has helpfully informed me that it's not unlikely that I'll have some trouble with one of the minor ones for a week or so -- possibly insomnia, possibly diarrhea, possibly headaches -- but that I ought to be able to ride it out. Always nice to have something to look forward to. [wry smile]

(Don't worry; I do have a number to call in case of serious or pervasive side effects. Also, I currently have no plans that would require leaving the apartment anytime soon... which is precisely why I'm starting now.)