Neil DeGrasse Tyson -- I scream for you like a leetle girl!

I did scream for you, Neil, my beloved astrophysicist, although I did not scream for Wil Wheaton, even though he probably deserves it, what with all the cool roles that I've never seen him in -- besides Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: TNG back in the day.

And where the hell was this? It was at Star Talk Live at the Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, also starring Paul F. Tompkins and Kristen Schaal. I'll let my Blogging Notebook of Rich, Chocolatey Doom take over from here:

Despite my success, that was just temporary

So, I've gotten actual praise for my last article, namely by Matt Crowley, and the equally-bald organizer of our meetings, Paul Case. That looks promising, in terms of me becoming a writer. But now, what little confidence I had is waning. Apparently, I just don't have the discipline to keep up.

Matt Crowley on investigating "bigfoot dermal ridges"

As promised, this is a post that is not about my daily challenges: Rather, it is a tale of what happened at the Skeptic's Meeting last Tuesday, when one of our members, Matt Crowley, gave us a talk about his years of experimentation in footprint-casting and discovering the secret of how some of the so-called bigfoot 'dermal ridges' are formed.
` And who is Matt Crowley? He's worked much of his life as both a pharmacist and a Jim Rose Circus sideshow performer called 'The Tube' -- although I highly doubt that he has ever entertained customers at the pharmacy by putting a condom into his mouth and pulling it out of his nose.
` If you would like to see some of Matt's abilities, including his vomit-inducing 'tube' act, I will not ruin this post with it until near the end. All I can say is, I'm glad I didn't see that just before eating some delicious fish tacos while sitting right across from him.

Besides his stomach-churning creativity, Matt is also a man of great non-freak ingenuity, a man who apparently invented the duct tape wallet (technically, it was gaffer tape) when on the road with Soundgarden at Lollapalooza in 1992 (daaarn yooou, Chris Cornell!), and here he is showing us folks his most awesome toolbelt gadgets -- a 'hidey hole', and also a really cool Swiss Army Knife-type thing:

(Apologies to that guy in the corner, whose name I keep forgetting, which I also apologize for.) [It's JC.] One of the other members (I keep forgetting her name, too) asked, "Is this craft time with Matt Crowley?" It indeed was -- he also showed us a key pouch he had made from fabric used by firefighters, as well as his glorious red polypropylene wallet.

He also used to make and sell lamps with Kevlar fiber shades. (And as The Tube knows, Kevlar is also good for keeping your chest safe when exploding firecrackers on it.)

The ironic thing is, I did not know that Matt was one of our group members, but I had heard an interview with him on an episode of Monster Talk, where he discussed such side show props as the Minnesota Ice Man and the people who make them.
` Speaking of items which have been examined and even considered as possibly real by some bigfoot researchers, I will save the rest of the conversations (as well as the opening media humor) until the end of this post and get on with the main attraction already:

I really need to stop pleasing other people -- it does not make them happy

It's true. My emotional co-dependence started with my abusive dad, constantly trying to prove to him that a) I wasn't part of a conspiracy to kill him and b) reality is real, which never worked due to his mental illnesses.
` As I have found through the years, appeasement gets you victimhood rather than respect with people like manipulative roommates, which is why Lou Ryan and I have had to expel 14 of them from our home.

And now, I'm appeasing anyone who comes by this blog with... some sort of material:

I was working on my next post last night -- these things always take way more work than I think they're going to! I'm so conflicted -- should I study for my Spanish final right now, or try to finish this post I've been working on for months, and which I even have a deadline for?
` Also, my psychologist gives me homework to complete, but this time, I have two weeks to do it rather than one, so I'm off the hook for a while -- although the library book that I'm using is being requested by other people so I can't keep it for much longer.
` Of course, I should study Spanish because that's most important, but I'll try to squeeze in other things besides cleaning the kitchen, which I've spent the morning doing.

Anything to prove that I'm trying to be a good blogger -- got to blog about something, right?

Also, I don't know why I let this get to me, but while I was washing the dishes this morning, I kept thinking about how my crazy roommate told me last night that we should take advantage of a good deal on a dishwasher because, basically, I don't do a good enough job washing dishes.
` His bizarre fear of food poisoning is the very reason I keep some dishes soaking for days, just so that I can scrape every last spot off them -- and I'm still missing some, evidently. I don't know why his comment bothers me, I mean this guy does often need someone to say, "Do you even know what you look like to other people?"
` Why am I even reacting to it at all?
` After all, this is coming from someone who I've seen spend two whole minutes looking for a plastic spoon instead of washing any of the dirty spoons by the sink, and who was dumbstruck when I suggested that whenever I fail to scrape every last speck off a dish, that he should take the opportunity to do so himself rather than putting them on the counter for me to try at again.
` Evidently, I'm just not thorough enough for him -- this is a guy who has claimed to require a half hour just to dry himself off after showering, otherwise he's too wet to put on clothes. Why should I take him seriously in this matter?

In fact, the last time I remember this roommate doing any dishes over a month ago, at which time I was actually trying to convince him to see a psychologist and, after some screaming and outrage, he asked me to prove to him that I don't have any ulterior motive for trying to get him help.

What does that tell you?

Srsly... I'm rlly sck...

So sck tht wrtng wth vwls is dffclt. Not really, but the nausea has similarly been abridging my thought processes.

I'm way behind on Spanish homework, as well as other things I actually have to do, except cleaning the kitchen. I actually missed school today. (GASP!) And there was a first draft due and a quiz! I'm so horrible! Finals are coming up, too, so I'd better get my ass in gear -- literally, and I'll let you fill in the blanks there!

Luckily, the nausea is going away and although I didn't get any sleep last night, I probably will tonight -- I'm exhausted, and it's not just because of my having to run to the bathroom every five minutes:
` I spent last night saying, "Lou, you're snoring!" progressively more and more loudly, and him saying, "Oh? Sorry about that, hon. Sznnnnnszzzszszsszs!" until four in the morning when he finally said, with much irritation, "Well, this is the first time you've woken me up about it!"
` So, I'm still working on actually waking him up. It used to work, but now, I guess, he's so habituated to it that he can respond in his sleep.

Finally, my office is clear of foul alien invaders!

Freezing cold as I am right now, I'm back at it again! Vada sends her greetings from her spot by the radiator:

If there wasn't such an annoying sound in Lou Ryan's downstairs studio -- which has been going on for weeks, now -- I would be down there right now, finishing my online Spanish homework. As it is, that noise is at least as loud as our 1968 bathroom fan, which I am also listening to, as someone is taking a shower right now.

Luckily, the annoying sound is going to end sometime today, so I am happy to be getting back to my blogging, and also my homework and email, which I haven't done much of because of lack of quietness. Spanish homework especially requires quietness because it involves listening and using my language faculties.
` With the power of Ritalin, however, I can at least put my earplugs in and rant about what is on my mind. Not that I would consider this post as ranting. In fact, I am excited at finally having my office to myself!

You see, last night, I got tired of having someone else's stuff on my office floor, and all the stuff that's supposed to be in that spot just taking up space elsewhere, so... I moved it myself! Ingenious, I know.
` After that, I spent hours sweeping the floor with the mini-broom and the vacuum and then scrubbing mold off the walls. Why mold? Because this room is so cold that I have a condensation problem (I am currently wearing many layers of clothing, plus my bedspread), and in the corner, behind the former not-my-desk that was in here, the wall has evidently been invaded by alien fungi from the planet Outdoors.
` Check it out:

All noise and no sleep make Spoony a dull writer: A slapstick comedy

For a while, I was used to being able to leave my office whenever my roommate downstairs would start blasting his music, but for some time there's been a noise at the other end of the house -- a studio cooling fan that for some reason is far louder upstairs than it is downstairs.
` Even my earplugs are ineffective against this menace, especially considering how much sleep I keep losing.

It also doesn't help when I come home late at night with something unusually expensive for keeping my blood sugar up at school the next day, and by the next morning there isn't even enough to fill my little jar!

I don't know who did this, but I know where they live!