Under anesthetic, subdivided and synthetic

Jesus goddamn Christ, at what point did metaquotes become quotes from the same three people repeatedly with sporadic interruptions of hoi polloi?

1. My doctor
2. The human thumb at Dillon's who overcharged me for NyQuil-D
3. The nine miles of paperwork I had to crawl through to get NyQuil-D
4. Cracked posts on Digg
4a. Cracked posts on Digg posted by "louiebarr"
5. The NFL Network
6. Coughing
7. ESPN.com's habit of putting stories not happening for two-three days in the front image slot (today, college football, specifically a preview of the Big 12 title game on Saturday night)
8. The fetid atrocity "Headline News" has become
9. Who fires Miles O'Brien? Really?
10. Lack of catharsis to be found in making a list
11. LJ's notification e-mails, wherever they are

The great thing about playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is that the cursor helpfully changes color to let you know if the item you're trying to pick up is owned by someone, or if accessing a container or area is otherwise verboten. Of course the color selection is red (bad) and green (good). If you're running through the game at breakneck speed to finish it at some point before, oh, the heat death of the universe, you need to be able to tell at a glance. You can't sit down and stare at the cursor for a few minutes and figure out if it's a few degrees darker than the cursor usually is. You need that instantaneous recognition and ability to distinguish.

And the hysterical bit is that if you do screw up and go rummaging through someone's private sack of rice or accidentally pick up a carrot that doesn't belong to you, this doesn't necessarily trip any switches instantly, at least, none discernible to you, the mere player. No, you get a bounty applied to your name, telepathically applied to the guards in the city, and they come to take your sorry ass away. No habeas corpus here; they don't tell you what was the offending produce or merchandise you're alleged to have stolen (or, in my case, did out of sheer obliviousness). You get carted away sans appeal. And I spend five virtual days in jail, my skills atrophying away as I serve my penance. At this point I've spent more time in jail than I have playing the actual game, and I'm trying to be nice. This says something about the game mechanics, my eyes, or perhaps just my character in general.

And even if I saved the game religiously and at regular intervals in separate slots, how do I know which one to go back to? Unless I check in with the city guard between every encounter, I'm not sure if I'm on the side of the angels until I get someone ten levels higher than mine asking "What's all this, then?"

Other than that, it's just like Grand Theft Auto 400 A.D., with fewer hookers.

Edit: I'm in ur game, bluin your crosshairz.

If you haven't been paying attention -- and God, right now, I don't blame you -- part of Hillary Clinton's claim of "experience" while living in the White House ("Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle") derived from her claim of playing a role in Bosnian peace efforts. Critics have maintained that it was essentially a USO show, as she went with her daughter Chelsea, Sheryl Crow and Sinbad.

Turns out one of those critics is...Sinbad.

"What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.'"

As you may have guessed by now, Sinbad isn't supporting Clinton for president. He's an Obama guy. All because of Clinton.

"What got me about Hillary was her attitude of entitlement, like he messed up her plan, like he had no reason to be there," Sinbad said. "I got angry. I actually got angry! I said, 'I will be for Obama like never before.'"

No, it gets better. The Clinton campaign responds:

Still, defending Clinton against Sinbad the refuter, Singer said, "The sad reality of what was going on in Bosnia at the time Senator Clinton traveled there as first lady has been well documented. It appears that Sinbad's experience in Bosnia goes back further than Senator Obama's does. In fact, has Senator Obama ever been to Bosnia?"

Okay, seriously? I'm less concerned about what this is doing to the standing of the Democratic party than what it's doing to the dignity of the human race right now. And let's not even get started on Gerry Ferraro.

Rrrrrgh. ( 26 pics below.... )

Attention people of Earth: I am not interested in buying magazines from you to "help you go on a trip." I am not interested in the "leftover steaks" you have in the back of your truck. I am not interested in purchasing anything from you, if only because your attitude that the importance of your need to sell whatever it is you're peddling is somehow more important than the rare time I have to myself on a Saturday morning. If you believe banging on doors at random is a valid business plan, allow me to introduce you to reality of the harshest variety.

I have, heretofore, been altogether courteous and polite with my interactions with wandering salespeople. But I'm going to have to step up my game. I'm not planning on shooting through the door randomly as if I were beset by salesmoose, but the thought has occurred to me.

Edit: Twice in one morning? You have bothered me and rattled the birds. Now I'm all in a stabby mood.

While re-scanning a buttload of pics, there was a power surge, and the monitor turned off, while most everything in the house stayed on. Turned the monitor back on, and the PC view is about half as bright as it was originally, to the point of being almost unusable in some applications. Interestingly enough, the TV input works just fine. Switched monitor cables and that's not it. So it's either the video card or, most likely, the PC-input on my several-year-old monitor.

Which is good, because I needed another reason to be pissed off today. So I'm still working on the slideshow for Tuesday, and will have to make six DVDs for that, and I'll be squinting the whole time....

Of all the time I've been using Gmail, it finally bit me on the ass:

This account has been locked down due to unusual account activity. It may take up to 24 hours for you to regain access.

Unusual account activity includes, but is not limited to:

1. Receiving, deleting, or downloading large amounts of mail via POP in a short period of time.
2. Sending a large number of undeliverable messages (messages that bounce back).
3. Using file-sharing or file-storage software, browser extensions, or third party software that automatically logs in to your account.
4. Leaving multiple instances of your Gmail account open.
5. Browser-related issues. Please note that if you find your browser continually reloading while attempting to access your Inbox, it’s probably a browser issue, and it may be necessary to clear your browser’s cache and cookies.

If you feel that you have been using your Gmail account according to the Gmail Terms of Use, you can troubleshoot your problem by clicking here.

And before you ask: no, no, no and no. I was trying to figure out why our e-mail lists weren't working and it looks like I won't be able to.

Up to this moment I hadn't one bad thing to say about Gmail. I'm...deeply disillusioned right now.

Edit: Left feedback, account reactivated minutes later. Excellent response time. Fully reillusioned.

Re-edit: Locked out again. Gyuh.