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Jerksblog!

Date-Based Archive

So I've started reading Anne of Green Gables which I've never read before, but had always intended to after having seen commercials for the TV show of it on PBS. I mean seriously, I've been meaning to read this book since I was 10 or 11 and for some reason never got around to it. Sometimes I've had dreams that I finally got around to reading it...

I had, in my head, a very different idea of what the story would be like, and I'm pleasantly surprised that it isn't what I thought at all. Anne's adopted parents, for example, are farmers, which I didn't know or expect. Matthew Cuthbert is a lot like my grandpa (who is also a farmer). Both start their sentences with "Well, now," and are very quiet men. Except my grandfather is a lot funnier when he does talk, and probably doesn't look scary to kids like Matthew.

Anyway, "torn straight from the pages" of the book, here's a poll.

So basically would you put your high stat into Charisma or Wisdom/Intelligence, or ditch it all for a really, really good alignment?

Posted by erin at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Things to Remember to Post about Later

A short list, so I don't forget:

- Robot Chicken
- Toy Fair
- More Adventures in Hair Dying
- I'm Very Busy This Week, the Script for Amber Project

Posted by erin at 01:50 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Naruto Mixed Drinks

So last weekend I watched 45 episodes of Naruto, ending with episode 101. With only 20 more episodes before I'm totally caught up, and as per the series' recent licensing, I have decided to compile a list of Naruto-themed mixed drinks.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, Naruto is the new Dragonball Z, only with many, many more characters, all of whom are ninjas, and each character has a unique (and often tragic) back-story and sometimes a unique clan-related ninja ability.

I think that making up unique (or ripped-off) drink recipes to represent each character is totally apropos for a show that's largely aimed at the under-21 crowd. So here it is, my list so far! Please give suggestions and I will eventually compile one ultimate list:

Naruto Mixed Drinks

"Naruto" - orange crush with vodka, because that would be fizzy and obnoxious

"Sasuke" - 2 parts diet coke 1 part rum (a popular drink that's not as strong as an "Itachi", see below)

"Itachi" - 1 part coke, 2 parts rum, 1 part jaggermiester (to make you lose track of time)

"Sakura" - some fruity pink ice cream drink with almost no alcohol in it

"Ino" - a purple ice cream drink with twice as much alcohol as a "Sakura" but still not enough to hurt anyone

"Tsunade" - a shot of something that taste sweet and messes you up, but should ultimately be avoided while gambling.

"Rock Lee" - gin and 7-up on the rocks, with a stick of celery (get it? Rocks, Celery)

"Gaara" - undecided as of yet, but should be the driest drink possible. Like a dry martini - it should f**k you up.

"Shino" - not sure what's in it, but it's served with a plastic spider on top.

"Chouji" - should be a drink with a maximum number of calories, served with chips on the side (they increase your chakra, at least in GNT3).

"Kiba" - Red Dog beer mixed with... something else with "dog" in the title, as long as there are two dogs, this joke will work, I swear...

Please add suggestions and comments, if you're familiar with the show (or with bartending, heheh)!

Posted by erin at 08:05 PM | Comments (4)

Date-Based Archive Me With Blue Hair

For my friends who may not have seen the blue hair:

Posted by erin at 08:50 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Life-Changing News, I'm Sure

I watched the first intro film thingy for Mahou Sensei Negima which I'm sure is a show you don't care about, except Hal, who's read the manga. The important, earth-shattering event here is that ONE OF THE PROTAGONISTS HAS THE SAME BIRTHDAY AS ME:

But she has a different bloodtype. My bloodtype is O. In Japan bloodtypes are used in a kind of astrology matchmaking lame-o way. Here's another picture of Asuna:

Posted by erin at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive The Gates

So I saw "The Gates" this weekend. Yeah:

N.'s look of disappointment in one of the pictures is because he really didn't like the art project thing at all. I really didn't like that everyone in NYC was also in Central Park. Normally on a chilly day in February there's hardly anyone around. As it was we overheard no fewer than three sets of upper-west-siders discuss whether they were hungry or not. In a snooty way. It's hard to explain why that's annoying. I think "The Gates" project would be awesome if I was totally alone in the park.

Posted by erin at 12:58 PM | Comments (1)

Date-Based Archive Newsflash! Japanese Class

Newsflash, people, I am currently taking Japanese classes at Tenri Cultural Institute, and have been doing so for two weeks now.

The classes are cheap, and short, and since I already know hiragana and some basics, pretty easy so far. No, I'm not the smartest person in class, and no, the class is not filled with other anime geeks. The cross-over between Japan-o-philes and anime geeks isn't as wide a margin as you might expect.

The instructor I have is fairly fresh off the boat. His English is only OK and he ends sentences (in English) with "des" or often "ne?". In fact he says "ne" almost non-stop.

I have noticed that Japanese people, particularily those not so advanced with the English language, tend to explain away a lot of things by saying, "It is Japanese style." I'm keeping track now of how many times the instructor says this during class. During the last class, only once. Sometimes he thinks it's funny, but it's some joke we (the class) don't really get: "It's Japanese style, des ne? Ha ha ha!"

Posted by erin at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Since I'm too busy to post, here's a poll.

I've been too busy to do much blogging lately, so here's a poll:

Greatest Rock Band of All Time

Posted by erin at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Since I'm too busy to post, here's a poll.

I've been too busy to do much blogging lately, so here's a poll:

Greatest Rock Band of All Time

Posted by erin at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Pictures from Jen's Wedding

Or, in other words, pictures of me in a dress!

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=pn04uyv.10wcr807&x=0&y=-4wgynw

Posted by erin at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)

Date-Based Archive Health Insurance; A Big-Ass Problem

An NPR story I heard this morning confirmed something I've been suspecting for a long time; even if you have health insurance, if you get catastrophically ill, you could still easily go bankrupt.

The story details how a study found that half of all Americans who declare bankruptcy have to declare bankruptcy because they had a large medical expense, in the form of an emergency treatment, and even though these people were generally middle class and had health insurance, their medical expenses were too high to cope with. Most of the bankruptcies were declared because of debts around $12,000, but one woman they interviewed had emergency surgery that cost her $58,000.

One story reminded me of the situation I was in two years ago. I went to physical therapy for problems with my knee and found out that my healthcare company had a copay of $25 per visit, and the physical therapist had a minimum of two visits per week. So $50 a week times a minimum number of visits prescribed was an extra $200 a month that I really didn't have, for two or three months. A man in the NPR story had a serious knee injury (torn ligaments and such), and racked up tens of thousands of dollars going to physical therapy, ending in his bankruptcy.

The story also makes the point that health insurance - as a concept - wasn't really meant to pay for routine doctor visits - it was meant to cover catastrophic health problems! Most of the people who went bankrupt in the story did have "major" coverage for just the sort of health emergencies that they went through. It didn't matter. The woman being interviewed was sued by the hospital (after her insurance had paid off only $5,000 of her $50,000 surgery) and was forced to pay $500 a month. She had to sell her house and declare bankruptcy.

The way my parents explained insurance to me as a kid was this: Say you buy car insurance. Your insurance company is betting that you won't get into an accident. If you do, they pay most of the cost for the accident - but then they turn around and raise your premium. So say you were paying $100 a month for car insurance for 3 years. That's $3,600. Then you get in a car accident that does $5,000 worth of damage to your car. You pay a $500 copay or whatever, and your insurance pays $4500, but you've already paid them $3,600 over the years, so really they're only paying $900. Then they raise your premium to $120 a month because now you have a record and you're a risk to them. In only eight months, you'll have paid them back the $900. So the insurance company got their money's worth out of you, and then some, since you probably won't get in that many accidents over a long period of time.

Why get insurance at all? Because if you get into a $5,000 accident, or need $50,000 surgery, chances are you don't have that kind of cash on you. If you put it on a credit card you'll never get it paid off fast enough with the kind of interest rates they tend to have. Plus I know my credit limit isn't even $50,000. Over time, you have the money, and if you've been paying ahead of time to an insurance company, that should protect you from a catastrophic expense. A lot of insurance companies just don't do that. They're negating the purpose of even having insurance. (That, and actively f*cking up regular doctor visits with insane paperwork and crazy rules, but that's another story.)

ET would paint out here: You might pay $100 or so out of your paycheck every month for health insurance, but your company pays around $400 a month for you (which is also what it'd cost if you bought it on your own).

That's all I've got. I don't have a solution for this. There were times at my old company when I wished insurance had never even been invented.

Posted by erin at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)