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hail to the middle fingers

As I exited the Chinatown Metro station, I saw a policeman holding back a bunch of cars, and there were no cars along the perpendicular street.

Faint sirens began to get louder, and as I looked to where they were coming from, a sea of flashing reds and blues were approaching. Policemen on motorcycles, in cars, men with sunglasses in black vehicles. And in the middle of it all was a limousine with some sort of stately American symbol.

I didn't get a good enough glimpse, but it was a presidential motorcade, or someone extremely ‘important’. Which was kind of cool, honestly. First time I've seen it. And a few feet away at that. I could've thrown a rock and cracked the limo's window, if it wasn't bullet-proof.

Next to me, a guy had his fingers up in the air. I chuckled at that. ‘Gotta let 'em know what you think’, he says. Someone agrees, and I swear he looks like my agent at Aquent, someone I haven't talked to or seen in over a year. But if it is him, he's lost 20 or 30 pounds.

Speaking of which, Atkins is going fine so far, amazingly. I do get a little hungry between meals because I haven't found proper snacks (aside from cheese), but on the whole, I am less hungry than an equivalent diet where carbs are allowed.

My pee is smelling different, and looks to be more yellow than usual (that's with +60 ounces of water a day), so I must be in ketosis. Yay.

Yes, I sorely miss drinking tea with honey, and sweets, and pretzels. And bread. But, I will try to endure as long as I can. There are phases when these things become allowable within limits, but I don't think it's something I can do for the rest of my life, as Atkins would like it to be. If it works for me, it's a good basis for losing weight (which I'm not too concerned about, but I'd at least like to fit back into certain clothes nicely).

In the end, though, I'm hoping I can work to a more regularly active lifestyle and moderate eating of whatever.

It's all an experiment to see what works best overall. Should start sooner than later.

FBI behind popular show

A co-worker (Clint) forwarded me a warning from the FBI about jury duty scams. So I go to the site, curious about how this agency went about with its design (typical government style).

What did interest me was all the press releases for stories about vagrants, sex predators, and the like. Each one has a similar feel to America's Most Wanted dialogue. Especially the mad props to Oprah.

Why does Oprah need to be on the cover of every one of her magazines, anyway? Evil, greedy lady.

spit that hot faiyah

I got a bonus paycheck last Wednesday, signifying that I've worked 1500 hours in the last 52 weeks. It was a happy event. Aquent no doubt makes a nice chunk off me, but they're pretty decent overall in terms of benefits, given that the nature of a lot of these jobs is temporary. Still, I'd like to pay less than $300 a month for insurance.

Last night we went to see Lewis Black at University of Maryland's Baltimore County campus. The first comedian up was terrible. Delivery, content, wit, all lacking. I pity him, but damn, he sucked. To his credit, he wasn't a professional.

The two professionals preceeding Lewis, though, were good. The second guy was awesome. Has Lewis's cynicism and some of his mannerisms. I need to find his name.

Lewis himself was awesome-awesome. I'm glad he didn't repeat material from his CDs aside from the opening bit. He's a native of Montgomery County, apparently. And he went to Yale for a master's in fine arts (drama). Weird.

Oh, and Blingo actually works! I won a movie ticket. So did Asma, since she referred me.

We're starting the Atkin's diet starting tonight. I'm still a little shaky about giving up carbs. Tea without honey is a sad prospect.

Still, we did groceries today and we have a surprisingly tasty selection of things to eat. Lots of vegetables and meat, things I've been lacking in general. The good thing is that after the first two weeks, I can start adding back carbs slowly until I get to a good balance of what I need to maintain the weight I want. It's more sensible than I first thought.

No mochas for like two weeks. Maybe three. I can do it.

I miss how I used to write in my old posts. I think that was just a byproduct of being overly idle and bored, something I can't claim to be at present. Maybe I can tap back into whatever with some persistence.

And…yeah. It's unbelievably fantastic outside and I have to stay in and work.

Blah. I want dessert-filled, idle days back.

those sweet 16-bit melodies

For many months now, spanning the past few years, Street Fighter II songs have been floating through my head. Sometimes I'll try to imagine doing a cover of them.

Sagat's stage used to be my favorite, but now I'm thinking Balrog's is more endearing – there's this little part that keeps popping up, after having played in for the first time in, what, three years? It might've been against Klara, I don't remember. Asma's friend Geoff came over Friday night and I broke out the only decent head-to-head game in the household.

Which means I should just buy Super Smash Bros. Melee and stop buying Raymond Feist books.

(His first book, Magician, is lightyears better than the Riftwar Legacy trilogy. Though I am finding his philosophical musings a bit forced and clichéd; but the underlying ideas are interesting.)

Anyway, it wasn't until Friday night that I realized I knew (or remembered) next to nothing about the Street Fighter storyline: Wikipedia remedied that.

It's weird to find the bosses' names have been switched around in the American version. Or that Nintendo of Japan held out on Secret of Mana III, as Geoff had informed me.

Oh well.

Asma and I have been fixated on Lost. We finished the first season tonight (we were averaging 3–4 episodes a day). The show is amazing, if only because it appeals to my interest in the unseen and hidden powers. But it's also a well-written show overall. Funny, sad, touching, mysterious, addictive. Good times.

The weather has dipped a little too fast, but it's amazing nonetheless. Asma and I went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum on Saturday to view gaudy jewelry and outdated displays. (The museum was a bit of a letdown as far as…sophistication? They need more engaging and informative displays.)

We also spent some time on the mall, laughing at the poor turnout of the Million More March and browsing the Solar Decathalon entries. There were some pretty houses in the lot.

More to say. And I think I'm going to make an effort to say them. I hate being off-balance with this and other things.

Debts are detours.

Sagat is still my favorite fighter.

And I love my wife. Caterpillar.

Raphael is cool, but rude;

Michaelangelo is a party dude.

ramadan mubarak, 2005

As per usual, I will probably not fast, or maybe fast a few days.

To compensate, I will cut down on eating. Not that it really counts for anything, but it's a start.

Also, I was walking into Starbucks and a homeless guy was at the door asking for money for food. Since I haven't had any cash on me, I did something ridiculous and bought him a sandwich and root beer. He said thanks, but seemed picky, if that's the right word? He took the root beer but didn't take the sandwich in the bag.

Maybe he thought I was offering him just one or the other? I don't know. I left the bag at his feet after a couple of seconds. I hope the sandwich was appreciated.

who fresh and clean-clean?

Asma and I totally cleaned up the babies' room today, and it looks wonderful. So spacious.

We bought a low table a couple of weeks ago where we could do work on, as a way to spend more time with the kiddies, but I'm just now utilizing it.

A long overdue curtain has also been put up in the room. The weather is fantastic, and the window looks pretty. The cricket songs are pleasant.

Oh, and Elton is becoming more complacement in terms of being picked up. I think (hope) that he's been trusting me more since I rescued his chubby little butt from a bookshelf he managed to launch himself onto a couple of times. I didn't realize until last night just how big he is (or has become).

He is a little explorer and is fairly strong, but if he's agitated or annoyed or anything, he kicks his legs out funny as he runs off. He never thumps like Papaya, and today I hypothesized that it's because his hind feet are narrow, whereas Papaya's are wide.

I write about my pets too much, I know. I could write a ton more about the poopers. Need to start branching out again.

We've caught up with all six seasons of The West Wing finally. Tonight is the first time we get to start following it as it's broadcasted. Yay!

Peace pipe.